Can a certain level or type of violence actually make a popcorn action film less enjoyable and/or null the would-be happy ending? Arguably there should be some kind of proverbial line in the sand when it comes to casual carnage in 'just for fun' action pictures.

The rescheduled, heavily cut, and seemingly dumped January release may look and feel like both a punchline and a 'why they hate us' representation of everything wrong with popcorn filmmaking. But unlike certain re-imagined fairy-tales, it didn't cost $200 million. It cost just $50 million.

The Onion arguably took the fall for our national misogyny. Maybe they really are the satire we need, rather than the kind we think want.

If you've been paying attention to the various trailers being unleashed in the wake of Breaking Dawn -- Part 2 last November, you'll notice a fevered pitch by the studios to plant their flag in the sand in the newest 'hot' sub-genre.

If history repeats itself, something out there to be released this year will change the game. If the pattern holds we will have a major smash hit that will not only make a lot of money for its studio but will also blaze a trail in terms of what the next decade of blockbusters will look like.

These five films aren't so much the best or even the most underrated, but merely five films that merit discussion and are worth digging into just a little bit more than usual. Agree? Disagree?

A company that made its billions partially by catering to young females has now set its course for young boys almost exclusively. If you look at Disney's release schedule over the next two years, you'll see a clear pattern.

By arbitrarily inserting token love interests into movies that neither require them nor benefit from them, you not only insult the actresses involved, but harm your own movie in the process.

2012 has been a banner year for, among other things, somewhat original, non-franchised *movies* often targeted at adults.

There exists at least a handful of comic book adaptations that either completely eschew or compartmentalize the origin material. Be they successful as art or not, they represent the idea that it is possible to start (or restart) a comic book series without retelling the same origin.

This weekend is surely as shining an example as anything that the mainstream film landscape has somewhat self-corrected. We may like to say 'they don't make 'em like they used to.' That may have been true for a time, but it's not true anymore.

That afternoon, Julia Child mastered French cooking, Meryl Streep and Amy Adams mastered Julia Child, the ill could walk, the young could dream, all could laugh and Nora Ephron, in her inimitable way, had orchestrated the whole thing.