Shane Black wrote Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, Last Action Hero, and The Long Kiss Goodnight. That’s a pretty good pedigree. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is his first directorial effort, and it’s sorta Last Action Hero as an semi-indie crime flick. (Warner Brothers distributed it, so not really indie, but you know.) It’s packed precisely full enough with metasnark. Any more snarkiness, and the schtick would be tiresome. Any less snark, and we might notice that the plot is about as thin as they get. (Which, in all fairness, is no doubt intentional — the whole movie is a deliberate self-referential homage to bad pulp detective novels.) The meta, the breaking of the fourth wall, works because it serves characterization: Robert Downey Jr.’s voice over is not constantly present, and it’s a device to bring his personality to the forefront, so that’s all right. ...

Hey, Greg. I guess the accurate way to say it is that our lives intersected around MUDs, and I liked knowing you, and — this is trivial, but every time I pruned my friendslist over on Livejournal, I never wanted to remove you despite the fact that I hadn’t talked to you in years. The world’s gonna miss you.

As Neo-Victorian morality dramas go, the superheroics were pretty good. The intrepid examiner of social mores as viewed through the lens of Hollywood blockbusters might wish to keep a running tally of the number of times females are depicted as safer without their powers. The plot was thin, the acting was fairly vaporous (except for Pyro, who was suitably adolescent), the love triangles were unconvincing, and the ethical dilemmas… Professor Xavier displayed little angst over his hard decision, Wolverine was completely willing to use a weapon he’d been horrified by as soon as an opportunity presented itself, and Iceman was just a jerk. Power’s there to be used, apparently. ...

Last week’s list is here. This week’s list: 1. Sayid{{ double-space-with-newline }} 2. Mr. Eko{{ double-space-with-newline }} 3. Sawyer{{ double-space-with-newline }} 4. Jun{{ double-space-with-newline }} 5. Kate Commentary and spoilers after the jump.

Last week’s list is here. This week’s list: 1. Sayid{{ double-space-with-newline }} 2. Mr. Eko{{ double-space-with-newline }} 3. Sawyer{{ double-space-with-newline }} 4. Jun{{ double-space-with-newline }} 5. Kate Commentary and spoilers after the jump.

Last week’s list is here. This week’s list: 1. Sayid{{ double-space-with-newline }} 2. Mr. Eko{{ double-space-with-newline }} 3. Sawyer{{ double-space-with-newline }} 4. Locke{{ double-space-with-newline }} 5. Jun Commentary and spoilers after the jump.

Andre the Giant has a posse. William Shatner has a DVD club (original). The movies listed (original) do not suck, and I know they had Ginger Snaps earlier, so um $4 a DVD! Sure.

S. and W. are here, which means it’s time to kick off my film club down at the Coolidge. I’m gonna try and run about once a month; it needs to be a weekday night, because it’s hard to get the screening room on weekends. Optimal nights for me are Wednesday and Thursday; if you have a preference, express it now. So the question arises: what’s a good kickoff movie? Imma break it down into some categories, and y’all tell me where your yearnings lead you. Or suggest something else. ...

Holidays, New England style: MLK Day — nothing special President’s Day — nothing special Patriot’s Day — the Boston Marathon & Red Sox Easter — nothing special Memorial Day — spend five hours driving to the Cape July 4th — Boston Pops on the Esplanade Labor Day — spend five hours driving to the Cape Halloween — Salem Thanksgiving — Plimouth Plantation Christmas — Christmas Revels New Year’s Eve — First Night That’s all the cheese I can think of off the top of my head. What’s missing?

Lost Badass List: 5/11/2006 Mr. Eko Sayid Locke Sawyer Jun Commentary and spoilers after the jump.