* Holy Motime–Dave Fiore, scholarly scourge of the primordial comics blogosphere, is back! Here he is arguing that “the liberation of the secret self” which I spy in the costumes and superpowers of superhero comics isn’t always so liberating. References to the bildungsroman abound, as they are wont to do when Dave’s on the scene.
* Speaking of triumphant returns to the fold, Johnny Bacardi is totally back too.
* Final Girl’s Stacie Ponder pays loving tribute to her VHS horror-movie collection. Normally I’m averse to these kinds of nostalgic attachments to outmoded media, but the thing that’s so endearing about a VHS fetish is that it’s impossible to make the usual pretentious arguments that they sound or look better than that cold newfangled digital stuff–they look and sound awful! It’s pure attachment to the objects and the experiences that surrounded them, which is adorable.
* Rich Juzwiak of FourFour hated The Orphanage. Paging Jason Adams!
* Jeff Reichert at Reverse Shot has written a very good review of There Will Be Blood that begins with a description of the film’s final shot so you should by no means read it unless you’ve seen the movie, but if you’ve seen the movie you should read it.
* Famed horror artist Steve Bissette is a big-time Peaks Freak, and in this epic post he outlines the entire release history of Twin Peaks on home video/DVD/laserdisc, explaining just why the Definitive Gold Box Edition is the bee’s knees. (Via Heidi MacDonald.)
* Finally, Glenn Kenny asks: Antonioni or Thunderbirds?