Zack Snyder, Part III: Man of Steel (2013) and the Importance of Being Clark

I'd argue the first 20 minutes of Man of Steel is unnecessary, really only benefiting from giving Ayelet Zurer's Lara screentime (compared to Martha Wayne, who has never had a line of dialogue in a Batman movie) and Michael Shannon's Zod an earlier introduction than he otherwise would have had. But it's weird and exciting …

The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005-2012): The Dark Knight Rises

I love The Dark Knight Rises, but it has its problems. For the longest time, about six years now, I've pondered why the movie still works for me even though its conceit contradicts the ending of the last movie, it has clunky pacing, some atrocious expository dialogue and an anti-climatic ending that seemingly undercuts its …

Zack Snyder, Part II: Sucker Punch (2011) and the Influence of Terry Gilliam and John Boorman

So, after watching Sucker Punch (2011) and Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985) back to back, it occurred to me how much the former owes the latter. In fact, I thought I'd hit on a fresh take, but turns out everyone already pointed it out in 2011. As Dan Jolin stated in his Empire Online review: One could alternatively describe …

The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005-2012): The Dark Knight

The major shift in the The Dark Knight from its predecessor is that it's very much not concerned with portraying Batman as a monstrous, supernatural presence. Comparisons include the opening of Batman, the scene in Batman Begins at Arkham with the henchman asking, "Is it true what they say, that he can fly?" and in Batman v …

Zack Snyder, Part I: The Auteur of All Your Pain

So Zack Snyder fascinates me. He's had a consistent output of films since his debut with 2004's Dawn of the Dead remake. The man's a workhorse, releasing a movie every two to three years (sometimes only a year apart between Legend of the Guardians and Sucker Punch and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and …

The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005-2012): Batman Begins

The Dark Knight trilogy is fascinating, because it's been so venerated for so long it's rarely approached as just three movies. People accept its greatness, especially The Dark Knight, and take for granted that it exists. Even the criticisms have been canonized at this point: Batman Begin's third act, the Joker's overly complicated plan and …

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Having watched the first season of Westworld recently, it's clear that many others have picked up the ball in the years since Blade Runner (1982). Exploring identity, time, memory, and the thin line between humans and robots is thoroughly trodden ground and has even become a bit of a cliche in of itself. So color …

Bourgeois Man vs. The Damsel in Distress: A Unified Theory of Batman

I'm going to struggle to achieve a kind of Theory of Everything for the original franchise by contextualizing it as a proto-series for the Christopher Nolan films and the current DCEU incarnation of Batman. I've rambled on, constantly, previously about a few narrative and thematic choices that are unique and recurring in these movies, and …

Blade Runner (1982)

Smartphones dominate our lives, billionaires launch cars into space and social media can make and break careers. And as 2001: A Space Odyssey celebrates its 50th anniversary, people can't help but contemplate the future of artificial intelligence. When IBM’s Watson, for instance, dominated on Jeopardy in 2011, philosopher John Searle argued that the supercomputer doesn’t actually …