The Avengers itself still works pretty well even if you haven't seen some (or any) of the previous films. It manages to give each of the heroes enough of an introduction to get the audience familiar with them and just about keep everyone on the same page. Very tightly written script.

Snyder really botched the female characters. Silk Spectre is probably my favourite character in the comic, but Malin Akerman was almost painful to watch, like she had no idea what she was doing or saying in any scene. On the other hand, Dr. Manhattan and The Comedian were done near-perfectly. It's a real mixed bag.

It actually managed to be more dark, bleak and unpleasant than Alan Moore's writing, which is some feat. I don't remember the characters all being such assholes in the comic…

That's a reasonable view. I too am still completely ready to defend Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, which is easily the best thing he's made. And 300 was fun enough for what it was. But after that he got trapped in the Shyamalan spiral where his every movie is worse than the previous one.

The words 'come back' there made me think for a moment Miller had directed a Superman film that I'd somehow missed. Way to disappoint.

The grimness of the Nolan movies is somewhat overstated, IMO. Only The Dark Knight is really brutal and bleak; Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises are relatively lighter in tone, and even have some humour in them. What they are compared to previous Batman movies is realistic, as realistic as a movie about a guy…

There was nothing 'borderline' about it: it's honestly the most flat-out pro-fascist film I've ever seen. I literally came out of that film thinking to myself "You know, maybe military rule isn't so bad, if it protects our country against the foreign invaders. Isn't that what freedom is really about?". That shit is…

I can't believe the guy is still getting work after Sucker Punch and that fucking owl movie. Maybe this will be the one that finally does for him. Maybe.

I do love how Leonidas mocks the Athenians as a bunch of boy-lovers. That line may well have been meant as irony, but if so it went straight over Gerard Butler's head.

It's pretty much impossible to make a James Bond film and not have it be a hit (as long as you cover all the basic tropes of the series). There've been 24 of them, and they've more or less all made money. The brand is just that strong.

I believe the people criticising that plot point aren't criticising the character of Superman for killing Zod, which probably does make sense in-universe, but rather the scriptwriters for putting him in a position where he had to do it. That ain't the Superman I remember.

It was not as bad as it could have been, which is a kind way of saying, yes it was.

Yeah, 300 was pretty much on Zack Snyder's level, and he did a perfectly good job of adapting it. Watchmen was way beyond him.

Tucker never actually murdered anyone, so he would immediately be at a disadvantage there.

I seem to remember that was what Obama said about watching the show as well. Something like: "I wish the Presidency had as much power as he does. I watch it and I think, man, this guy's getting stuff done!"

I guess it's a generational thing, but I was fascinated to discover that the dad of the Kardashians was involved in the OJ trial. Is that how they became famous in the first place? (Or does no one know the answer to that one?)

Hee. Yeah, I too used to mock furries before realising I was into some pretty weird shit myself… let he who is without kinks throw the first stone.

I kind of know what you mean, but at the same time, the 'fursona' stuff clearly is a support mechanism for many people, and a pretty harmless (if potentially expensive) one. I have the same impression as you that many furries are actually deeply fucked-up people, often from traumatised backgrounds, but if anything…

I don't think there's really any limit to what people will do for the chance of sex. Best motivator there is.

I guess my fundamental problem with that movie is that it takes a horrific genocide in a 'Third World' country and basically uses it as a backdrop for a love story between Westerners. Granted, a straightforward historical film with Indonesian characters would never have been made, so we have to take what we can get……