I think it might actually be even more insidious than you realize—most people don't watch these movies and think "oh, I'm not as good as the special people." They watch these movies and immediately map THEMSELVES onto the special people (because they're the protagonists), and think of other people as mediocre.

I will definitely not accuse it of failing to scratch that itch!

The Cabin in the Woods critique is spot-on. People think it's a brilliant satire of the entire horror genre, but it's basically just taking potshots at an outdated, easy target that everyone already makes fun of anyway. I've discovered that the main people who think that Cabin in the Woods is great as parody or satire…

This guy also has the best goddamn vines.

What I don't understand is why digital color correction is used so often to flatten out the color palates of movies in general. I mean, teal/orange is a pretty big offender, but we also have the movies where everything is just yellow, or just gray and desaturated brown, or just green and blue. You can literally color…

Both? The First Avenger looks great, has fantastic performances, and has a ton of things *happening* onscreen, but virtually no sense of stakes. All the pieces are there, but nothing feels at risk, so there's no tension and it's not as great as it should be.