after "Raising Arizona" (1987), who could doubt the Coen brothers' gift for visual comedy and tempo?

"WarGames" (1983) steered toward predictable, and drifted into trite, yet its direction and cast betrayed a warm heart in a Cold War.

act one of "The Core" (2003) promised a mediocre action movie lacking original ideas; but it was so much less.

its mysteries a mask, its faces and silences layered with meaning, cinematography half its story: "Wallander" (2008).

charmed by "The United States of Tara", from the very first episode. smart writing, gifted cast, flowing easy.

We appreciate documentaries which trust the viewer to stay the course, that hold our attention for hours, without constant repetition.

"In Search of the Trojan War" (2004) takes us on a bookish odyssey, spanning three continents, to Homer's oral tradition.

Tom Tykwer might better make a documentary about modern architecture, rather than a monumental waste of time: "The International" (2009).

extemely dubious of Matt Reeves' efforts to remake the utterly fabulous Swedish "Let The Right One In" in the English language "Let Me In".

"Greeks: Crucible of Civilization" (2000) is an ankle deep history of democratic Athens, punctuated with a knee deep ode to Socrates.

"Dexter" only came into its own as a television series once it moved past the storyline of the original novel.

too many TV documentaries smell like old fish hastily wrapped in new paper. and they skimped on the paper.

an excellent example of using @KickStarter to fund a new project. also, a cool looking iPhone gadget for your production kit. http://ping.fm/r5kQ6

reading about @Twitter's new app for @GoogleTV. http://ping.fm/4qMde (#TweeV)