I wasn't entirely on board with the flashback nature of the story at first, but now I see that they are using it to very good effect, revealing character, complicating people's perceptions, drawing out implications... it's clearly well thought out as well as well written.

It feels tight and interconnected, but not in the somewhat artificial way that Christopher Nolan's stuff can sometimes take on. I'd like to see the theatricality ramp up a bit--so far there's no real villain, just henchmen and suggestion. I hope it doesn't stray into supernatural territory, but if the writer and director choose to go there, I have some faith that they'll do it well.

A movie critic's job is to help you decide whether or not to see the movie. That necessarily requires them not to spoil the movie.

I liked the original, but it's far from a perfect movie. Verhoeven's trademark violence-as-a-commentary-on-violence never really worked; some humor was corny; and Nancy Allen was about as much a cop as my mom.

But this... ick. They could have easily created a new RoboCop that just mentioned the first one as an earlier attempt.

We had a thread about this at one time, awhile back. I'm on record as abhorring spoilers, regardless of the age or fame of the story.

To me, the point of most stories is not so much WHAT happens as HOW it happens, so I don't want to know those details before seeing the movie. But the traditional definition of a plot twist that creates a spoiler is indeed WHAT happens in a story with a big surprise development or revelation. There's nothing special about "Bond escapes the bad guys" but if you say HOW he does it at the beginning of The Spy Who Loved Me, you'll ruin a great moment in cinema but not the rest of the movie. Whereas there's nothing special about HOW the ending of The Usual Suspects plays out, but if you reveal WHAT happens, you'll ruin the whole film.

A really good twist is one of the reasons I love movies and TV, so I'd never want to take that away from someone just to feel superior that I got there first. This attitude some people of have of "It's been 25 years! You're a loser if you haven't seen that movie by now!" is stupid. Young people have never had a chance to see it, for one thing.

Having said that, I'm all in favor of a full discussion of a film if you say that's what you're going to do or you have a clear expectation that your audience has seen the film. Too much film criticism is done in movie reviews. That's why I like fan commentaries.

To address your specific example, practically all kids see Star Wars when they're young, so joking about Luke Skywalker's paternity among adults is safe. You can't say that about practically any other movie, tho. Maybe Wizard of Oz.

Also, Keanu Reeves didn't get nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Man of Tai Chi.

Seriously: today I felt so cheerful that it was like I knew what Zooey Deschanel feels like every day.

Think of this: if you had predicted in 1984 that by 2014 there would be a gigantic worldwide network of supercomputers accessible to nearly everyone and it would be CHOCK-FULL of free porn and adorable animals, people would have said you were living in a crazy fantasy world.

Naw. If you have to make a law against it, it means you are terrified that it will become normal. This is one train that is on the express route.

I won't list all of mine because I've fallen behind on some.

Extended Edition
Filmspotting SVU
Friends in Your Head
HDTV and Home Theater Podcast
NPR Planet Money
NPR Science Friday
Radio Free Skaro
Science Talk
Slate Presents Lexicon Valley
The Bugle
Film Pigs Podcast
Skeptics Guide to the Universe
WTF with Marc Maron

(plus monitoring 1 million podcasts that do commentaries)

This movie is NOT a movie about storytelling and it is NOT about all our relationships to all authority figures.

It's a perfectly good movie. It's just not the meaning of life.

OR how about this. He likes movies, right? You throw Trey a party and watch THE GAME.

Then destroy his life.

Have him followed, his residence ransacked, his finances ruined (let's say he has finances in this scenario). All of his shoes are replaced with Crocs. He begs for help, but everyone he knows shuns him for fear of having their life ruined.

Then have another party or whatever. I don't know. Destroying his life is the fun part, really.

Back on topic....

Maybe something that harkens back to Trey's first love: puppets. I mean something like the Warhorse puppets or The Sultan's Elephant.

He likes magic too, right? So we create a giant marionette of a magician and his assistant--like at least 10 feet tall--and perform a giant-size magic show with them. Perform it for audiences in a warehouse or something. The magician saws the assistant in half, makes her disappear, the whole shebang. For the finale, Trey puts on a rabbit suit and pops out of a top hat.