MAKE IT STOP
Too self-serious (The Dark Knight) or too bloated (The Avengers), the genre's last great film was Spider-Man 2. What happened?
Sujay Kumar is the ex-entertainment editor of The Daily Beast.
ALL SHE DOES IS WIN
Julia Collins battled past winners for Jeopardy! supremacy at the Tournament of Champions. Unfortunately, she was also really sick.
THEY'LL TELL YOU I'M INSANE
“Blank Space” telegraphs a keen self-awareness of Taylor Swift’s caricature as a man-crazy psycho-bitch.
Mint Condition
The $3.2 million copy of ‘Action Comics No. 1’—the book that ushered in the golden age of superheroes in tights—sat almost unnoticed last weekend. What’s the world of fanboys coming to?
Self-Assured Superhero
With a superhero who gets in costume in the first five seconds, the CW show zips along blissfully like the first film in a big-budget franchise, flagging only when the speedster pauses.
I’M A CREEP
The real meat of “Stalker” is not gruesome violence against women—it’s the pseudo-intellectual conversation about misogyny.
Tired Origin Story
When the Batman story is stripped of the cape and cowl and light whizbang, what’s left is a mediocre and often cheesy cop drama.
Pakistani Denzel
Kumail Nanjiani—the unlikely hero of the HBO comedy, which wrapped its first season Sunday—talks about playing ‘Mario Kart’ in Karachi, ‘Game of Thrones’ spoilers, and nerd culture.
#cloneclub
The clone saga Orphan Black is pulpy, adrenaline-fueled television at its finest. But how long can a show depend on the spellbinding performance of one actress?
Kaboom!
The biggest threat to Captain America and the superhero film is not HYDRA or S.H.I.E.L.D. It’s the clunky, overblown, CGI climax that’s become a signature of the genre.