I almost saw this on the weekend but thought better of it after reading all the negative comments here. I'm not surprised the writing is nonsensical and awful, as Damon Lindelof did after all write the atrocious LOST.

I like both Red Planet and Mission to Mars, probably equally. It's fascinating how both films have a good first half and then fall over themselves in the second. Mars has the better plot, but Red Planet just feels more exciting I guess (plus it has Val Kilmer).

My favourite EVA scene of all has to be from 2010 where John Lithgow has to spacewalk from the Alexei Leonov to Discovery One. The character's palpable fear and the heavy breathing on the soundtrack makes the scene really chilling. I guess the one in SpaceCamp is quite nice too.

I think some directors have said that they're keen to use mostly practical effects, Nolan for instance. And even Peter Jackson and Jon Favreu have attempted to stay as practical as possible on some of their films, at least when starting out.

I'm really hoping that we'll get more of a return to practical stuff in the coming years, as I think the technology and techniques have vastly improved over the last 3 decades and we could see some truly timeless effects (as I think CGI tends to date itself rather quickly, Exhibit A being Jabba in ANH:SE). The advances in compositing and rotoscoping especially (or rather, the ease of these techniques with digital stuff) and the use of computers to better combine and blend elements should make the entire visual effects process a lot easier and more seamless than it was its heyday (that I would argue culminated with Independence Day) - which were its greatest weaknesses.

Just imagine had the industry continued to refine and hone their puppetry, animatronic and motion control skills where we would be today, using the incredible sophistication of make-up and costume arts as an example of the leaps and bounds possible.

I refuse to believe this movie is less coherent and awful than Transformers 3.

I'd show them V, though that's a series (new one, I never saw the original). It would show them that no matter how good they appear to be or are, humans will react to them in every way possible. We're a complex species, ranging from extreme distrust to blind devotion and everything in between. Some of us will fight to the death, and others will want to become slaves. In fact, we'd probably be in the midst of a global civil war as they'd be watching it.

It's worth bearing in mind that Mjolnir is merely Thor's weapon of choice, it may have powers (principally over weather and lightning, and allow him to 'fly') but it's neither the source of his powers nor his only power (as evidenced in Avengers when he's fighting without it). It's easy to confuse what happened with the hammer in the Thor film, which was a specific test of his character, with Thor generally.

There have been other wielders of the hammer throughout the comic run, and some have been able to use Mjolnir's powers, but none to my knowledge have stripped Thor of his own natural ones. (In fact, there's a long run where Thor fails to prove himself worthy and ends up killing most of the Marvel heroes without it anyway.)

I don't recall that being established at all... Thor merely regains his powers by picking up the hammer.

Black Widow in the poster isn't the most egregious example I've seen; to my eyes it seems the mock poster is making a mountain out of a molehill in this case. The feminine anterior pelvic tilt angle she displays is a lot more natural that in poses you find in women's magazines and real comic covers. The fashion industry thrives on poses that accentuate the female form - that's where the common comic book pose you see comes from.

But the problem I find here is that the mock poster then comically overexaggerates the tilt on the male characters - in poses that you'd never, ever find female characters being drawn in. Shame really, because instead of drawing attention to an issue seriously the artist chose instead to clown around.

Definitely so. Apparently, Mystery Men is supposed to be funny.

Comedy is highly subjective, and is informed by cultural norms as well as much as taste. People from different countries and continents will find humour in different things. The Koreans for instance, seem to love visual humour and often have people slapping each other, something that may be frowned upon and considered distinctly unfunny by a society on the other side of the world. The Chinese taste for humour is often based around language, so if you don't understand the pun then you won't find it funny.

Whether something is funny or not is also affected by age and generation, such that I don't find Charlie Chaplin funny in the slightest, nor the Three Stooges... but equally my grandmother is unlikely to laugh during Spaceballs or at the typical lowest common denominator fart jokes in contemporary 'comedy' films.