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All this nostalgia for the late 90s is quite funny to me because, if you were posting here in the late 90s, you'd remember just how much everybody was sick of Venis, Godfather, Too Cool, NAO and the like, even complaining about too much Austin and Rock. I mean, if you go back and watch a couple Youtubes, or a Raw or two, you'll be all "Wow, everyone is so over! This is awesome!" but when you watched every show, week after week, that shit grew tiresome. Yes, even Austin stunnering everyone because it was the same thing every week, with the same complaints as with Cena: always going over his opponents, only losing due to major screw-jobs, with an announcer talking about him all show long, even while other guys were in the ring. I can remember people during the Attitude Era clamoring for the Hart Foundation era. In short, we wrestling fans are never, ever happy.

Fair point, just curious, especially as Pitchfork had it in their 'Best of' list, but I totally understand.

So, would the Jai Paul album count for this as it technically "Came out" this year, even though it was an illegal leak and hasn't actually ever been released? Because I have been spinning that like crazy lately...and by "spinning it" I mean, playing it on iTunes but you know "iTuning it" sounds pretty terrible.

After watching the incredible video of Brent Musburger introducing himself as Kirk Herbstreit and his partner Brent Musburger, I'm totally hoping Phillips says "I'm Brad Maddox" and I don't think I want to know if that's not the case.

Yeah, I agree. You can just jump in any old week and get into it. That's what I did, still haven't gone back and watched much stuff (Save Big E.-Rollins) from before last June when I got heavily into this show.

I'd say it's more of a character piece than strict police procedural. I mean, there's details on how to arrest them so that charges will stick and fighting with superiors who want stats more than real world results and stuff, but the whole roster of characters is so rich that it's so much more than a police procedural. There's all sorts of awesome character arcs: McNulty's redemption followed by crash followed by finding out what really makes him happy; the slow reveal of Avon Barksdale; Omar's revenge; Stringer Bell usurping Avon's empire; Frank Sobotka's story; Bunny's attempt to curb crime; the stories of all the kids in Season 4; the rise of Marlo Stanfield; Cutty Wise's story; the election of the mayor. Man, there's so much good stories in there and they're not strictly police stories in the slightest! While it is gritty and ultra-realistic and there are some moments that are just devastating, there's also equal amounts of "Whoa, that was bad-ass" and dashes of humor in there, too. I've probably legitimately laughed out loud at least once per episode in there. Which reminds me, I really have to finish watching Season 5 already.

What?! Why?!?!

Yeah, but it looked good and was a believable finisher: a guy jumping onto you in the corner with all his weight. But Rawley's deal looks like crap because he can't obviously jump and land with all his weight on his flying ass-splash, so he has to brace the landing with his legs on the way down, so it looks more like a guy in a real rush to sit down on the couch and/or toilet, then a big move that puts away an opponent.

Oh I think the 5 pages or so last month thoroughly covered all the bases.

Oh good, these (TDKR and 'Raiders of the Lost Ark') discussions again. Somebody wake me up when we get to Page 10 and three people are done having the same arguments over and over.

Mojo could be good, but he needs a lot of work. He's a big dude but nothing he does looks hurty. That finish of his is S.A.W.F.T. Good God yes! "Hey, we got a big former football player with lots of energy, what should his finisher be: a spear? The Pounce?* Something that shows off his strength or athleticism? Nah, let's just have him run and sit on people." Emma-Nattie was lots of fun. Cass-English was great. Alexander Russev needs to pick a direction and go with it, I think. Is he a Bulgarian brute, like a caveman with his lack of boots and rustic tights? Fine, then stop perming your hair and trimming your beard. Is he a big athletic type? Fine, lose the garbage bag tights. Also, he's really impressive, but every one of his matches feels the same. He needs to vary his offence up a bit. * His finisher TOTALLY should be The Pounce

Kassius Ohno was RIGHT THERE. Don't like him rocking the muffin top? Here's a black t-shirt and tactical vest. Duh. It would throw off the dynamic of sleazy guy, bumping guy and big guy. Instead it would be sleazy guy, high-spots guy and sleazy bumping guy. If not Ryan, I'd probably go with Leo Kruger or Connor O'Brien in the Reigns spot. O'Brien would probably be really good, as Rollins and Ambrose could make him seem like a bigger deal and all he'd have to do is come in and hit a big move...and stop being a time-traveling vampire.

He's dropped weight and is now under 300 lbs and ridiculously cut. He's solid, not anything special, but all he would have do to is a spear to replace Reigns' role in The Shield while Ambrose and Rollins do the heavy lifting.

Thank your deity of choice that there's no chance of Naked Bray. Realistically, there's a statistically equal chance that he ends up Naked Bray, teaming with Santino by March 2015 as there is that he ends up a longterm top of the card heel. Well, I'd say with WWE being PG there is much less of a chance of Naked Bray, unless he were to be Naked Bray wearing a bodysuit. And there's only one bodysuit man... [img\http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DvsjGiMoUEc/Ts_c4XOQwpI/AAAAAAAAAnk/zvuJkhdRAec/s1600/bodysuitman.jpg

Dunlop straight up lies to his players about their hockey future, and the steel mill is still closing. That's a pretty fucking depressing ending. He lies to his players to get them to play to try to drum up interest in the team. It doesn't work, but at least they get their moment of a winning streak and going to the finals, or whatever it was, rather then the team just folding and the players all quitting.

I'm pretty sure I know my #1 from my #2. #3-6 I'm unsure on. You've got lots of time to see more, as I'm expecting to make the deadline some time in late February. Get on it, Natural!

I have a reasonable belief that every film in my Top 5 right now might not be there in two weeks' time if some stuff I'm expecting to be good is as good as expected ('To the Wonder' and 'Only God Forgives' are two of my most-anticipated films of the year and I've finally gotten ahold of both) and depending on how quickly some of the Oscar stuff turns up locally ('Her', 'Nebraska', and 'Inside Lewyn Davis' are all flicks I'm really interested in that haven't come anywhere near my neck of the woods). So as it stands right now, here are the 10 most reccomendable films I've seen, this year, which will almost certainly not be my Top 10 when all is said and done: Gravity: In as much as it was the ultimate movie-going experience I've seen in quite some time, it has a decent shot at #1. If it doesn't come across the same on DVD, that's more of a vote in its favour than a detraction. 90 minutes of pure suspense and entertainment. The Last Stand: Old-fashioned action romp about a small-town sheriff played by Arnold Schwarzenegger who decides to stop a major criminal and his cartel from escaping through his small border town. Ignore the previews which presented this as a buddy cop flick with Arnold and Johnny Knoxville, the latter's role is not nearly as crucial as it would suggest, and enjoy the surprising carnage that comes along in the last stretch of the film. Pure entertainment. Mud: Awesome little indie film about a mysterious drifter named Mud (Matthew McConaughey) who enlists two young boys help to get a boat out of a tree and make it water-worthy to facilitate his escape. Wonderful performances, music and cinematography. Oblivion: An entertaining and engrossing little sci-fi film about a sort of maintenance worker (Tom Cruise) left in charge of monitoring and protecting the machines that are attempting to clean up and keep the Earth going after some form of apocalyptic event. Really neat visuals and an amazing score by m83 highlight this one. Pain and Gain: Maybe the best film Michael Bay's ever directed? A group of body-builders (Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson and Anthony Mackie) kidnap a millionaire in order to take all his stuff, but things, of course, go awry. Really dark and really funny. Philomena: Steve Coogan is a deposed, disgraced former publicist who decides to use his forced retirement to write a book about Russian history that no one wants to read until he gets roped into writing a human interest story with the titular Philomena (Judi Dench) a woman who gave a child up for adoption at a convent in her teens and decides to track him down. If this all sounds like a wacky road trip film, well, it's not even close. Despite being co-written by Coogan, it's actually a really frustrating, surprisingly dark look at misdeeds by the catholic church, and while there are funny moments about the odd couple of Coogan and Dench, it's more like comedic flourishes in the midst of a drama that never quite goes exactly where you're expecting it to. The Place Beyond the Pines: Even though I'm not quite sure the film pulled off everything it intended (I find the third act a little wonky), it's still really fascinating and full of great performances. A stunt rider named Handsome Luke (Ryan Gosling) turns to a life of crime to provide for the son he didn't know he had with Eva Mendes, while being pursued by cop Bradley Cooper. Also includes one of my favourite working character actors, Ben Mendelsohn. I really loved the use of the handheld camera in the scenes with the dirtbikes that really emphasized the speed of what was being done. Had a really neat score by Mike Patton, as well. The Sapphires: In which Chris O'Dowd plays a manager to a girl group of Australian aboriginal women who want to entertain the troops in Vietname. Great music and a terrific O'Dowd performance highlight this one. Stoker: Interesting and dark film about a withdrawn teenage girl (Mia Wasikowska) who begins to suspect something is not right about the sudden visit of her uncle (Matthew Goode) after the death of her father and his relationship with her mother (Nicole Kidman). It's the first American film directed by Chan-wook Park and is full of his trademark visual flourishes and dark, dark subject matter. Upstream Color: I can't even pretend to completely understand this one, but to say it's a film about a woman trying to rebuild and make sense of her world after being abducted and hypnotized with material derived from plants is to completely undersell what the film is, but it's the best I can do. Plot unfolds in a distinctly non-linear fashion and it's hard to tell what's real and what's not. But it's completely fascinating and engrossing and strangely beautiful, even if what's going on onscreen isn't always as beautiful as it looks.

It was pretty much amazing, I thought. This whole build-up to "Will Joseph Park turn into Abyss or won't he?" ended with a kick in the balls. Then Bully sprays lighter fluid all over him, Park rolls around in the ring for a while, not leaving even though he's about to be set on fire until he gets lighter fluid in the eyes. Then Anderson comes out with this ridiculous gangly-looking angry strut, runs into the ring and gets shot in the eyes with lighter fluid, then does an amazing angry face with one eye closed and, as mentioned, doesn't think to blow out the flame of the lighter.

Bridges had a lot of interesting to wonderful work before 'Lebowski': he was getting lots of attention as far back as 1971/72 (He was great in 'The Last Picture Show', got some good reviews for 'Fat City'), I loved him in 'Against All Odds', have heard good things about 'Star Man' and 'Tucker: The Man and His Dream', and I still think the best acting performance he ever did (Save 'Lebowski' where he says he was most playing himself) was 1993's 'Fearless'. Also, I don't think the ending of 'Slap Shot' is depressing at all. They have the big cathartic brawl, take out all their frustrations and the guy wins back his girl. 'Slap Shot' is awesome.

I'm planning on hitting a bunch of flicks up in the next week or two (Pacific Rim, World War Z, To the Wonder, The Iceman, maybe Anchorman 2) at which point I'll start to post some recs.

It's that time again. After internet issues kept me from completing last year's poll (And I want to thank whoever took over for me...but I can't remember who it was and can't find the discussion, so someone let me know!), I'm back to run this year's poll. Rules are still mostly TBA (I expect to do something like a Top 10, with votes up to 20-25 counting for a single point, and a mid-to-late February deadline) but I thought it would be good to get pimping and discussion going now. Anything on Rotten Tomatoes with a 2013 listing is eligible, if anything is listed as other than 2013 on there and you think it deserves mention in this thread, bring it up and we'll reach some sort of consensus. I'll make a master list of recommended films in this first post once we get some discussion going, myself included. So have at 'er, DVDVR! EDIT: Due Date: February 22nd, 2014. Ballot Length: No More than 25 with extra weight given to those in the Top 10 How to Send 'Em: Email 'em to me [email protected] or pm them to me thru the board! MASTER LIST

American Hustle is tremendous fun. I really wanna see Christian Bale win the Oscar and stumble up to the podium in character, all slouched and mumble off an acceptance speech. Jennifer Lawrence pretty much steals every scene she's in with her 'Real Housewives' accent (and just being pants-meltingly hot doesn't hurt either). Also really liked Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner, Shea Wigham and Louis CK in their roles (CK is shockingly great in his role) and loved the cameo I didn't know about so I'm not gonna spoil it for you either...if you find out elsewhere, your loss. It didn't really break any new ground or anything, but it was just this perfectly entertaining character-driven flick. I can't ask for anything more, really.

Saw it back in the spring when it came out. I'm typing on some kind of suboptimal tablet thing here so I don't want to make this real long, but I saw it as being about scientists playing God or trying to copy what nature does, along with the idea that what we see as love, even what we feel for a person we see as our soulmate, is really just chemical reactions and pheromones and whatever. That "those are just words, they don't mean anything" scene still stays with me months later. Shane Carruth was relatively open about discussing it, I think, and there are interviews with him out there if you want to go looking for them. I still haven't watched it because I finally sat through Primer to prepare for Caruth's second film, and my brain is still partially melting in regards to that film. It's on my lengthy list of stuff to watch for the inevitable best of 2013 lists. I hate being in South Alabama where a lot of the good end of the year stuff does not play. It's streaming on Netflix Canada, I'd presume it might be on US Netflix...? I liked it a lot more than 'Primer' which felt to me like a filmed math/physics class.

It was a lot of fun. It was the perfect subject matter for a Michael Bay film: beautiful people doing bad things. Really dark and really funny. It was like 'Fargo', not as good, admittedly, but awful, dark things going on, but still making you laugh. I might sneak it into my EOY list. Director Tarsem Singh, talked about how Michael Bay is an auteur here And Bay's stock has been big things happening with beautiful people, so 'Pain and Gain' is really even more in his wheelhouse than anything he's done in years. Because the main characters are bodybuilders, he can just train the camera on pumped-up Wahlberg, Mackie and Rock and people working out and it's so very Michael Bay but not in a distracting way like a random camera angle up underneath Megan Fox in tiny jean shorts in 'Transformers 2'. Saw it back in the spring when it came out. I'm typing on some kind of suboptimal tablet thing here so I don't want to make this real long, but I saw it as being about scientists playing God or trying to copy what nature does, along with the idea that what we see as love, even what we feel for a person we see as our soulmate, is really just chemical reactions and pheromones and whatever. That "those are just words, they don't mean anything" scene still stays with me months later. Shane Carruth was relatively open about discussing it, I think, and there are interviews with him out there if you want to go looking for them. I've toyed with whether or not to read those interviews because on one hand, it might be quite illuminating, but on the other, I'd hate to have him say it's about one thing and have it be the opposite of how I'd figured it out and ruined it. From what I've gleaned, he also gives out somewhat contradicting info in different interviews, in one he said that the Sampler and the Thief didn't know each other, however in another he suggested there was a lot of mentoring going on between the two. I'm not sure there's been a prettier film this year, though, even when awful things are happening.

By the by, has anyone here seen 'Upstream Color'? I just watched it and it kinda floored the shit out of me and now I'm wanting to discuss it. I'm entirely sure I don't understand it entirely, don't know what it symbolized if anything, but I'm not positive it's not my film of the year either. Anyone?