Yes, like our beloved president, we've done it! And without the large banner or casualties (recorded or not, immediate or delayed) usually associated with "missions." Indeed, we've done it twice this time. Not content with publishing one issue, we've also added the entire contents of the Douglas Sirk print issue of Bright Lights from the halcyon winter of 1977-78. Blame it on our record caffeine intake, or perhaps those fistfuls of pretty pills so thoughtfully provided to Bright Lights' staff by the drug companies. (But take a hint, fellas; in the future, please label them.) Anyway, you can read about dapper Doug here, or just glance to the right and click on the links.

This issue we've also added two associate editors to the roster, BL regulars Megan Ratner and Robert Keser. They join Alan Vanneman in this exalted status. Wilkommen, Kameraden! (We're frantically trying to learn German — through an excellent online translation service — for the obvious reasons.)

The "official" new issue of Bright Lights contains, as our leaders might put it, a Köstliches Festmahl. From new writers come a number of provocative pieces. First up is Stephen Glaister's intricate, persuasive redemption of Spielberg's wrongly dished AI: Artificial Intelligence. Boston-based Tom Sutpen parlays the passion onto Losey/Pinter's The Servant, Shirley Clarke's sadly unavailable Portrait of Jason, and Allen Baron's legendary (also unavailable) late noir, Blast of Silence. New York-based critic Dan Callahan takes a pithy look at Klute and the Jane Fonda legend. And finally, recent emigré Peter Crowe boldly declares Ken Loach's Sweet Sixteen in the running for "best British film of its time." Guten tag, guys!

BL quasi-regulars are also here in force. Boris Trbic expertly explains why subtitles are misleading, confusing, even unnecessary. Natalie Reitano handily uncovers the too-numerous flaws in Regis Wargnier's Darwin drama Man to Man. Paul Brand returns with a bull's-eye of his own on the Archers' A Matter of Life and Death, while Taiwan expat Ian Johnston offers artful analysis of Fruit Chan's appetizing Dumplings and Hou Hsiao-hsien's cozy Café Lumiere. And for good measure, Mark G. E. Kelly slams the amusing but perhaps over-revered Team America: World Police. Wieder freue mich ich, Sie zu sehen!

BL stalwarts (including yours truly with "Little Stabs of Happiness and Horror") have returned to praise and pan in equal measure. Alan Vanneman continues his exegesis of Fred Astaire movies by joining the Easter Parade, surveys a slew of jazz documentaries and footage on DVD, and draws his gun on our favorite existential TV western, Paladin. Megan Ratner made it to Berlin this year and writes it up with her usual verve. Robert Keser cannily critiques two Chicago-based festivals, the European Union fest and the international documentary fest, and devotes a separate article to Alain "No I'm Not Dead" Resnais' latest, Not on the Lips. Meanwhile, Matthew Kennedy lays the lorgnette, as only he can, on three German (again) queer silent movies, Cukor's classic Dinner at Eight, and John Stahl's creepfest Leave Her to Heaven. Nett, Sie hinter zu haben, Freunde!