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Is this better than Lonesome Dove? Depends on who you ask. I think that viewed objectively it is indeed a better mini-series. Two things complicate this in many people's minds. First, when it comes to the books I think most people think Lonesome Dove is a better book. Second, the first mini-series was so one of a kind that it really left an impression with people. Really got in their heads. By the time this came out people didn't find a western mini-series as groundbreaking. But if you watch them back to back now I think this one comes out on top. It features some great performances and, as others have commented, is a bit darker in tone and feel than the previous mini-series. If you liked Lonesome Dove this is a slam dunk for you to like.

Okay - so I'm not sure if Aleem Hossain is a guy or a girl - so forgive me if I screw this up - I think he's a he... here it goes:

THIS GUY ROCKS. Wow. His film is only like 10 minutes long and it blew me away. To talk too much about the plot would be unfair - you have to see it for yourself. Suffice to say - if you like cop films - search this film out. If you don't like cop films - Hossain just made the cop film for you. Don't want to say more about it...

So I'll just say this. Hossain can direct. And write. And everything else it took to make this film. The film is expertly crafted and the amount of ground it covers in ten minutes is awesome. After watching this short I had a rare feeling for short films - that I wanted to see what this filmmaker was going to do next. He's clearly mastered a number of genres of film-making and has a tremendous imagination and sense of story. There's great camera work, visual design, and editing to boot.

So - if you want to see the best short film I've seen in years (and I've watched a lot of shorts) - check out Pinkerton. I'm always annoyed at the top ten "up and coming director" lists in the various industry publications - they rarely seem to get it right. And until I see Hossain's name on one of those lists I will continue to think they are flawed.

I so wanted this film to work. A Christmas Story is a real classic. It combines a tone and sense of humor that I think is pretty unique and has really become one of my favorite films. I was disappointed to see that the original cast had changed for this sequel but I still figured it might work. Culkin is a good actor and it seemed plausible that it could all work again. But the thing is - the movie almost suffers from trying to hard to be like the original even though it isn't anything like the original. This has a strange effect and leaves the viewer wondering what kind of movie this is. Others have also commented that Charles Grodin is positively terrible in the film - and that's sad both because he was actually a pretty charming guy in other movies and because the original Dad was so good.