AlexanderKominek

I haven't seen either of the films (I know, I know) but after listening to this episode, I want to see Udo Kier and Tommy Wiseau together in something.

Avengers gets a hard "no" from me. Yes, the Marvel movies are culturally significant. Yes, they represent a needed break from the "dark and gritty" Nolan Batman movies. So let's induct Jon Favreau's Iron Man into the Canon instead. It's a much better movie. Its story is tighter and allows us to experience a single character's complete arc. The big, city-demolishing battle at the end feels somewhat more personal. RDJ's blockbuster movie Renaissance? Started with Iron Man, not Avengers. I think Whedon did the best anyone could have within the constraints of making a PG-rated team-up of five(ish) protagonists from films with different tones and rules, but in the end, these constraints prevent Avengers from being Canon-worthy.

When I was a kid, the dying horse made me cry. I watched this again as an adult and felt nothing. Maybe that speaks to the whole point of the movie. I still love the practical effects, character design and general weirdness but I'd rather see something with fleshed out characters and a story other than "boring kid bumbles through the plot until magical deus ex machina" (c.f. Harry Potter, Star Wars, Hunger Games, etc.). I'm voting "no".

Love, Actually is two pretty OK short films surrounded by a bunch of sloppy, contrived writing that feels like a first draft. Liam Neeson: good. Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson: good. Everything else: unbelievable, fake, contrived, goofy. I kept waiting for a good explanation for lots of things (like the scene in Superbad where the cops reveal they knew McLovin was fake the whole time) but never got it. Why a lobster? Why do the Americans go so crazy over the accent? No reason at all, just contrived writing. This movie is like The Big Bang Theory of Christmas movies: lowest common denominator pap.

If I had to pick one of these movies to watch, it would be Minority Report. I loved it when it came out. It was a Spielberg movie that didn't look like a Spielberg movie. But I have to vote Top Gun on this one. It's such a part of the pop culture tapestry. I don't see anybody ever quoting Minority Report, but Top Gun has so many (dumb) quotable lines. I would have liked to see Top Gun vs. Rain Man, but I think in that case, Rain Man would be the clear winner.

I'm abstaining from voting this week. Both of these movies are boring AF (as the kids today would say) and neither deserves to be in the canon. These movies are basically the Star Wars prequels with swords and orcs instead of lightsabers and clones. Yeah, I said it. Fight me, nerds. There's a single story stretched across three four-hour films, and it would be much better, more exciting, and actually watchable if someone cut all three into a single, lean, mean, 2-hour film. Where's Topher Grace when you need him?

Would have loved to see a Shakespeare In Love / A Knight's Tale showdown. And I would have voted for A Knight's Tale, which does the whole anachronistic history thing but has a lot more fun with it.

Do we need to put either of these into the Canon? Can I vote "None of the above"?

There must be a bunch of people who grew up with the Superman movie and are voting out of nostalgia. Or else they didn't watch the films again. Superman: Reeves is great. Kidder is good. The score is awesome. The effects were revolutionary for the time and mostly hold up today. However, the first act could be cut down to five minutes and you'd probably have a better movie. Each of the actors seems to think they're in a different movie with a different tone. Batman: With Batman, you get a consistent movie from start to finish. Amazing production design. Great performances from both the hero and the villain. The movie assumes the viewer is smart enough to get who Batman is without a 30-minute origin story. Amazing use of colour. Tim Burton at his least Burtonesque (which is a good thing - c.f. Batman Returns). An equally iconic score. Most importantly, Batman holds up today. Superman does not. Anyone who did not re-watch the movies and is voting purely based on memory, take another look at both films and change your vote to the correct choice (Batman).

In Canada, the legal drinking age is 18 or 19 depending on what province you're in. In Québec (where a lot of this movie was filmed) it is perfectly legal for 18-year-olds to drink in bars. Maybe the filmmakers forgot that the movie was supposed to be set in the US during the "Peach Pit After Dark" scenes.