Today's Pop Culture Observations

Marvel Comics has been winning the big screen war lately (Chris Nolan's Batman films the only exception), but DC seems to have the small screen under control. Their animated series have been phenomenal since Batman: The Animated Series debut in the 90s. The latest, Young Justice, continues the trend of sharp writing, intelligent use of classic characters and new spins on familiar stories. Last night's episode might have been the coolest Amazo has been since Grant Morrison still wrote coherently.

Julie & Julia. Cute film. Meryl Streep as Julia Child is the selling point, but a toned-down Amy Adams is good, too.

Donnie Darko is one of my favorite films. Dark, mind-tripping and filled with great lines, apocalyptic imagery and an amazing soundtrack. Unfortunately, Richard Kelly has yet to impress me since. Southland Tales was a mess of genres and bizarrely uneven tones. The Box, which I finally watched today, is an arresting idea that simply goes nowhere. Darko succeeded in leaving the viewer with questions that intelligent discourse could resolve or at least agree to disagree...The Box simply asks the questions and ignores even the hint of payoff.

Does "From the Mind of James Cameron" and "Shot in 3D" compel you to go see a film? Because that is the entirety of the Sanctum marketing campaign. No thanks...

If you don't watch Archer, you're missing out on the best James Bond parody since Roger Moore had the role. Yeah, I said it...

Apparently Fringe is actually doing well on Fridays. Perhaps great TV can actually overcome network shenanigans. Somewhere Joss Whedon is...well, he's probably shrugging as he figures out where to put his impending Avengers cash.

Dear Nicholas Cage: Stop...just stop...please.

Best moment of this week's 30 Rock: Jack muttering "crap" and the voice activated TV switching to Keeping Up With the Kardashians.

Community...brilliant. You almost made D&D cool again...if it ever was.

Justified returns next week on FX. Raylan Givens might be one of the best characters on TV and the new season ad featuring a conversation about Han & Greedo and "who shot first?" is awesome.

Go Packers!