Just saw "Diner" and am wondering how I spent significant portions of my life in Maryland without knowing about it... it kinda makes me want to move to Baltimore.

(oh, and if you haven't seen it, do not, for the love of all that is sacred, watch the trailer. The trailer is terrible. If I'd seen that trailer first, I prob'ly would never have seen the movie.)

ok, that clinches it, your teamed now.

...never heard of this. preview?

a bunch of guys talk about nothing in particular, for the entire movie. One guy's gonna get married, and another guy is a compulsive gambler, so there's stuff connected with that, but I certainly wouldn't be able to describe the plot. it's a comedy, but not in a 'Laugh! or I'll beat you over the head!' sort of way many comedies tend to be. Much of this talk happens in a diner in Baltimore. Set in 1959, but not in a cutesy or especially nostalgic way, except I guess for the music, and maybe the cars. the cast is great -- some famous folks back before they became so, most notably kevin bacon.

well, you say nostalgic... maybe it is. I don't know. but not cutesy nostalgic, is my point. a lot of films set in the '50s tend to be.

by hacky i mean stuff like MAN OF THE YEAR (ugh) and SPHERE ( which was a prime example of a director stepping outside their wheelhouse and doing something in a genre they should never attempt).

AVALON is a little more sacchrine-ish, in terms of its nostalgia, when compared to DINER, but still a good film.

LIBERTY HEIGHTS is also kind of treacly, but i still enjoyed it a lot - the cast is great, including Ben Foster (who's pretty much always great).

DINER remains his crowning achievement, though.

it was the 2nd script i ever bought, to try and learn how to write them.

DINER, technically.

though some say TIN MEN.

maybe it's a quadrilogy

oh.

ALIENS.

which is still my favorite movie of all time.