So far, they seem to be like Bizarro versions of the prequels where Lucasfilm learned all the wrong lessons. "Clearly, the problem was the lack of fan service, not the lack of a coherent story or developed and identifiable characters with understandable goals and some sort of unifying obstacle. Let's make a couple…

I like to think of them as comedic takes on different kinds of mental illness. And I think PTA did, too, judging by Punch-Drunk Love.

For me, somewhere around Little Nicky is where I stopped watching "Adam Sandler" movies. Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, and The Waterboy are, I think, legitimately good "funny weird" films. After that, he leans a little too hard into sentimentality and then eventually figures out that people will go to his movies based…

The complete lack of story in the final films tell me he got his way, eventually.

That's a mini-series on HBO, right? I don't think that's a good comparison to things like, say, All the King's Men or Revolutionary Road.

I wasn't a huge fan of the movie. Narration is a tricky thing to use in a way that actually serves drama and I feel that the movie doesn't thread that needle. The narration is just really heavy-handed and spells out the subtext of the text what's on the screen provides.

I get the feeling that he may be a legitimately good writer who just gets unbelievably fucked by studios. In TV, the writer-executive producer is pretty much God. In film, the writer tends to be the low man on the totem pole.

Kate Winslet has sort of made a career out of it. If you see a movie poster for a "modern classic" novel and her name is on it, it's a ridiculously safe bet the movie is going to be terrible.

I think the East Texas and border references are different, one referencing the McCarthy influence and the other Sicario.

Renner, like Chris Evans, does pretty stellar work in independent fare. His mainstream roles tend to be boring af, though. I'd recommend The Immigrant and The Town, if you haven't seen those.

He has a professional reputation that makes Edward Norton appear to be the most beloved, trusted, and down-to-earth actor on the planet by comparison.

The writing, not Vaughn's performance, is what caused problems for him. There is just no way to sell staring at a ceiling and literally telling your lover that you had to beat rats to death as a kid. It's pure anti-drama. But he was great in the few well-written scenes they gave him.

I'm 32 and—as you suggest—grew up in the era when Venom became popular. Early Venom is entertaining and interesting for what is, beyond the look of the character, a very, very standard comic book villain. The introduction of Carnage is where I think he starts to get overexposed and the the mid-late 1990s is where he…

It's common for people from dysfunctional backgrounds. Because the great thing about surviving a troubled home is you subconsciously use that relationship as your model for all future relationships even if it consciously horrifies you.

There's one just outside of Downtown San Antonio. I haven't lived in other parts of the state, so I don't know if it's just a South Texas thing or more widespread.

I still can't believe drive-thru bars are a thing in Texas. "Our public transit system is nearly non-existent and we allow people to purchase cocktails while driving. Now, why are all these people dying."

Wait. This aired for more than a single season? After that godawful pilot?

He was one of my favorite actors and, somehow, even made that godawful Attila the Hun tv movie on TNT watchable. It's a shame he died right when it looked like the Deadwood reunion movie was finally going forward.

In a better-written season "Who is Savitar?" would be replaced by a redemption arc for Thawne as the show makes it clear that Barry really is the Richard III/hero-that-becomes-the-villain character in their story.

Yeah, I think we agree. My main issue, which also seems to be yours, is that the later seasons borrow the basic plot structure of the first season—with much worse pacing—and forget to festoon that structure with anything worth watching.