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I totally, totally understand why they bring the NAO back as they're super-over. I don't really get why you'd turn them heel right away but...

It'll be interesting to see what happens with 'Wolf of Wall Street'. You've got the controversy and people trashing it, you've got the ardent admirers of the film, and you've got people like Sam Rubin reporting that this is one of the dirtiest Oscar races in years with the Weinsteins doing everything they can to secure the victory for the film. Should be fascinating Oscar-watching. Plus now you've got one of 'Wolf's chief rivals shooting himself in the foot ('American Hustle' director David O. Russell today compared Jennifer Lawrence working on 'The Hunger Games' to being a slave a la '12 Years A Slave'...YEESH!).

Wow, even by WWE standards was that a badly-planned out angle aborted with little to no pay-off. Week 1: "Hey, let's have Bryan get brain-washed by the Wyatts and join them!" Week 2: "Instead of using Bryan to get Harper/Rowan over, we'll team him with Bray to get them over as a scary team!" Week 3: "Shit, abort! Abort!"

Haven't seen 'Dallas Buyers' Club' yet, but man was McConaughey winning the best moment of the night, or what?! It's got to be surreal for people, like my best friend, who haven't really noticed the insane McConaughey renaissance of the past year or so, where he all of a sudden started trying. Then he walks up there and adlibs the most enjoyable, entertaining speech of the night. I fully expect the Oscars to shake down like tonight, Cuaron taking best director while 12 Years wins best picture.

Nebraska just might be my favourite film of 2013. Just a terrific little film with Bruce Dern as an old guy who believes he's won $1 million dollars in a Publisher's Clearing House-type contest and wants to go to Nebraska to claim his prize, so his son (Will Forte) drives him there. Dern's always been a favourite of mine, but man does Will Forte hold his own here as the son who never really felt good enough for his father trying to give his dad some peace, even while he knows the whole thing is bogus. It's a film that really understands family dynamics and the differences between past generations and current. There was a scene where Dern's brothers and he all get together, and the women are in the kitchen gossiping and catching up on news, while in the living room the men all sit there in near-silence watching football on TV, punctuated by the occasional question about cars. Plus, it's also got Bob Odenkirk in a small role and June Squibb stealing nearly every scene she's in. It's the kind of film director Alexander Payne does so well and it might be my favourite of his films that I've seen. So good.

That's an absurd thing to say. You just have bland taste in pro wres. Not everyone has to be an angry short guy who always has *** matches. Sometimes you need a pimp. Oh man, FSW, you're my dude, but you've got Gregg all wrong. He's just as big a fan of big goofy gimmicks and silliness (Witness his love for Emma, Bayley, Enzo Amore and all things ECW) as he is guys wrestling *** matches.

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.