Even if Star Wars inaugurated the era of big impersonal blockbusters, the film itself was a very personal blockbuster. Who but George Lucas would come up create a film that's a bricolage of samurai film, western, pulp sci-fi, myth, and experimental cinema.

So long as they don't claim that it came about because of "states rights."

How the fuck can cousins be identical?

Thanks!

Is this the first time that Jesse Eisenberg has worked with Woody Allen, because for some reason I'm have a hard time believing that he's never played a Woody Allen surrogate. You would have thought that'd have happened years ago!

Hey, man. That's The Ohio State.

What I love about the first three series in Star Trek is that they all take a slightly different view of Roddenberry's secular humanism. The original series speaks to the values of discovery and knowledge. The Next Generation mostly looks at how this belief might function in practice. And then DS9 questions the very…

Netflix!

Like most of America, I went to see Batman v Superman, and while it's not a good movie, I'm reluctant to join in on the schadenfreude. Most of the movie's failures come at the script level. Character motivations are muddy and they're mostly just put into place to serve the overall plot.

I kind of wonder what's going on with the writer who put down those words. I mean, the film's not that great. But I think "grotesque expression of modern emptiness" is a tad hyperbolic.

In trying to keep in line with the anti-killing philosophy of Buddhism, doesn't Bushido suggest that it is the sword not the samurai who kills. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that Zack Snyder is just a Buddhist at heart.

I actually prefer that Batman doesn't kill, but it's not like various versions of the character haven't killed the "bad guys." In the early comics, he killed with little thought. So, yeah, it's not the Batman I like, but it's not breaking some inviolable rule.

I like to think that Batman v Superman is this generation's Dr. Strangelove.

But the only way that would make sense in the case of Superman is if Ignatiy thinks that a pair of glasses are a legitimate disguise outside the world of superheroes.

"I don't think the movie even clarifies that Clark Kent and Superman are the same person."

The Funny or Die skit was pretty good, but, my God, you just can't parody that original video. "They're very expensive sounding sounds." Thank you for bringing this to my attention, AVClub. Today, you're a force for good.

Well, if you're covering "MMMBop," then you're doing something wrong…with your life.

Man of Steel is the only Snyder film that I actually like, but I admit the guy has a unique visual aesthetic, which can't really be said for any directors of those Marvel movies. (Maybe you can claim that Joe Johnston is Spielberg lite?)

It was faithful enough to the original that I enjoyed seeing moments from the comics realized on the screen. But Snyder really didn't understand the source material, which meant that the changes he did make threw the entire endeavor off balance.

I try to be at least a little discerning when it comes to big blockbusters. I haven't watched those awful looking Transformers movies, for instance. But it's Batman punching Superman, come one!