This is why I feel this kind of conversation gets tricky. Art, at it's best, I suppose, reflects life. And I don't know a single human being who is 100-percent psychologically healthy. In fact, a psychologically healthy piece of art is very often not entertaining or boring. We all have our prejudices and our…

Well, all three movies certainly take the message to extremes. But I do think that American culture is superficial and ultimately soul-crushing. It's the old Nietzschean "trading adventure and passion for comfort" conundrum. Does it seem silly to complain about being "comfortable" or is it sillier to spend the only…

The Dark Knight is actually pretty interesting thematically. I think it's pro-neo-conservative outlook is softened by the fact that the Joker's rants actually make a lot of sense, it's his methods that are disturbing, not his philosophy. If he wasn't a sociopathic murderer, the Joker would easily be the hero of the…

When Batman Begins came out I couldn't reconcile that it was supposed to a "realistic" take on the character and yet I was supposed to accept that he was trained by a group of Ninja Terrorists—who were mostly Europeans. I took a lot of shit online during those years.

Yeah, but at least the comments aren't just an echo chamber constantly re-iterating whatever the writer wrote already in the article. I return constantly to the AV Club specifically because people disagree and nobody gets bent out of shape about it.

Critics love Marvel movies. Not sure what you're talking about. If anything, I think the quality has been over-sold. People (including many critics) were talking about Winter Soldier as if it were a Canon movie with a budget, as directed by Gareth Evans. When I watched it, I was like, "This is…alright? Why is Nick…

Marvel just doesn't take any risks. I mean, they took a risk by attempting to build an integrative cinematic universe, but beyond that, they create the most boring kind of art, I think. It's "good enough" but it's not exciting in any way. It's competent and it meets expectations without any desire to exceed them.

Word. I watch the Marvel movies and I'm like, "These are…passable." But everyone seems to love them. (Iron Man and Avengers are good movies, and I actually liked the Incredible Hulk. Though, Avengers doesn't hold up all that well after the thrill of "Hey, it's a fucking Avengers movie" wears off).

Great production. Meth and U-God own the album lyrically. U-God's best work by a nautical mile. But still, the fact that U-God is arguably the best lyricist on that album says a lot about where everyone else's heads were at.

Badass Digest? Haha

Word. I was going to write "The acting alone…" but then I realized the writing, the directing and just about everything else is at the same level of the amazing acting.

I was watching the last episode and wondering why the series doesn't get more heat. In my opinion it's obviously the best drama on TV right now. My only real guess is that it doesn't have a self-absorbed, megalomaniacal, white male lead, and that therefore the tragedy is "real" or whatever (in that sense the show has…

So if want to fight with knives, you're ok with that?

Agreed. But my entire point was that while MMA appears to be more violent—that there are certain safeguards in place that actually make it less so. And so there's no reason why boxing cannot take extra precautions, as well.

Agreed. But also, from the other end…it shouldn't be too much ask that procedures are put in place that protect the athletes as much as is possible. MMA has done a fine job at this and their rates of head injuries and deaths are a fraction of boxings, even though MMA fighters are often still being punched in the head…

In Falcon and the Snowman, Sean Penn gave a performance of a cokehead caricature, while Hutton gave a subtle, expert performance of a man trying not to crumble under the weight of immeasurable pressure, and, as usual, Penn gets all the credit for that movie, because he's fucking Sean Penn. Hutton should've been a…

Well, comparing Kanye to Roth is quite apt. Both are self-absorbed narcissists whose fans conflate the blunt-force self-disclosure of such self-pitying egomaniacs for insight. Lena Dunham falls into this category, as well, although with much less misogyny. What Kanye has going for him is that, regardless, he's still…

Yeah. Unfortunately the existence of NARC alone will always give Carnahan some leeway for me. I haven't seen STRETCH but every other movie of his has been pretty terrible, and yet… when another film of his comes out, I'm always pretty interested. NARC is just that damn good. He's gotta have another decent effort…

Yeah, the thing people don't understand is that the "Hero's Journey" is basically what has made so many movies so boring.

Touche.