And since we never actually hear Vulcans’ last names, they will probably reveal that Spock’s is Palpatine.

[W]hich we’re going to assume is a nod to some canon thing about the very first time Kirk boarded the Enterprise. (Some of us know more about Wars than Trek, alright?)

Doesn’t pretty much everyone want to go to space.

he’s definitely done the ‘i’m from staten island, here’s some goofy things about that place’ thing a few times, but maybe there’s only so many times you can do that.

“...now space is a lot like staten island...”

Counterpoint: Empire Strikes Back was released in 1980. Audiences were still pretty used to downbeat and bummer endings, the previous decade having seen a sort of all time high for such things. Consider the endings to the films in what was the closest thing to a sci fi blockbuster franchise before Star Wars, the Planet…

“The article seems weirdly sarcastic about everything.” - The A.V. Club

Yet, whenever they make a big movie for adults, it tanks.

I don’t think they’re pissed off at blockbusters per se (even The Godfather was a blockbuster of sorts). I think the bigger beef these days is that a lot of these IP franchises, and Marvel by far is the worst offender, impose a “house style” that leaves very little room for innovation or experimentation. That, and the…

I was just pointing this out on another thread, but Coppola came into his own in an age of unusual daring and experimentation for Hollywood. Those sorts of eras crop up from time to time in pop culture, and when they do they’re wonderful, but they tend to fade out pretty quickly. Before the “New Hollywood” age broke…

Mad Men was a great show, but it really was a lightening in a bottle phenomenon. It came about at a time and place where nobody was really expecting much (recall, AMC had just shed its cheaper alternative to TCM format; the closest thing to a dramatic original series they’d offered was Remember WENN). Though it…

“Behold the horrors of late-stage capitalism,”

There are a lot of problems with this, starting with the fact that it might be hard to sustain an 86 minute feature (like they used to have before Hollywood decided every theatrical release needed to be 120 minutes plus), let alone a whole series. I watched the preview, and the only jokes that “land” are the fact that…

“...like pretty much every other big conversation to sweep across social media in recent years—which is to say, it’s been acrimonious, divisive, and loud.”

I’m actually fond of The Final Frontier. Mind you, I don’t consider it a particularly good movie. I mean, there are major tonal problems (most of the attempts at broad humor), and the seams of the threadbare production values definitely show. But it’s really a sweet, thoughtful, throwback of a science fiction movie.

In “old” Star Wars, George Lucas had a story he wanted to tell. Often times the story was really weird and not terribly exciting, and he was frequently inept in the way he went about telling it. But he still had a fairly clear idea of what the story was.

ST V has unofficially been treated as non-canon by pretty much everything that has come since.

I’ve appreciated Handlen’s Discovery reviews. They remind me of “classic” A.V. Club - in depth, and actually critical. Unfortunately, it seems like a lot of the folks still watching this show would prefer fanboy patter.

The Spielberg *segment* of the Twilight Zone movie was awful, along with the Landis fiasco (the latter being a discussion for another time). The parts directed by Joe Dante and George Miller were pretty good.

I always thought of that as kind of a dated 60's pop song until I heard his own version of it - quite beautiful, really: