I haven't seen the movie yet, so I can't knowledgably speak on it -- I have tickets for tomorrow night. (Speaking more broadly of QT, I think RESERVOIR DOGS is Tarantino's leanest storytelling, JACKIE BROWN is his best film, PULP FICTION's popularity is by no means unwarranted, and everything else since has been lacking, sometimes embarrassingly so.)

That being said, I get worried about this divide opening up between professional critics and "mindlessly enthusiastic fanboys" of late. (It played out last week over on Ebert's blog, and elsewhere.)

This is partly because I think using "fanboys" as a pejorative is a mistake -- Look at all the pro critic film geeks (David Edelstein, Roger Ebert, Elvis Mitchell) who went head over heels for all the blatant homage-dropping in the KILL BILLS. It was nothing if not fanboy. Or, to bring it closer to home, would you have picked I'M NOT THERE or CONTROL as the best movies of 2007 -- a position I shared with regards to Todd Haynes' brilliant film -- if you weren't a Dylan/music fangirl?

I'll be the first to admit fandom can get tyrannical, and it has taken on some very worrying aspects. (And, FWIW, I skipped both TRANSFORMERS 2 and GI JOE, because I've reached the age where I won't drop money on obviously terrible films.) But at its heart the "mindless enthusiasm" is based on an unabashed love of the cinema experience. Really, what's the harm in that, and how is it so different from the experience that propels professional (re: paid) critics to their fortunate employ?

And by pejorative I meant perjorative. Typos ftl.

Re: Jewish characters in Coen movies. Walter Sobchak and Barton Fink, yes, but don't forget Verna and Bernie Birnbaum from their magnum opus, MILLER'S CROSSING (my favorite Coen flick, even over LEBOWSKI -- Then again, I'm Irish.)

Didn't go through all the responses, but only deeply pretentious people think R.E.M. peaked with Reckoning.

Sorry your new favorite band got popular all those years ago. Grow up and get over it.

Tbh, that's pretty close to a push-polling question. Do you think the Senator [a] beats his wife or [b] enjoys a happy marriage?