1. On the surface, it seems obvious why you'd attempt to reboot the Superman franchise using the Christopher Nolan-Batman model. Nolan's Dark Knight films are terrific, brooding and powerful, and, oh by the way, they grossed a combined $2.5 billion worldwide. But their trying to make a tortured-superhero Batman movie out of Superman was, frankly, a lousy idea. Batman is a hero, sure, but a twisted, human one; by the end of the second film, you're legitimately wondering, in name of his personal vengeance and obsessions, whether or not Batman is doing more harm than good. That is not who Superman is. Superman is brightness, goodness, a shining example for humanity to aspire to. Superman needs to have a light touch. Man of Steel does not have a light touch. Man of Steel is loud and bludgeoning and exactly the wrong kind of Superman movie to make.

1. The Hangover, Part III is better than Part II, but not by much, and really only because it didn't just recycle, almost beat for beat, the plot of the first film. The plot it lands on this time isn't much better, though, and all told, it doesn't have much more energy than that film did. The two sequels to The Hangover don't even have the energy to try to recapture the lunacy of original; they can barely muster up enough juice just to bring the cast back together into the same shot every once in a while. These movies have become such a franchise—it amazed me to see a Hangover-themed slot machine at a St. Louis riverboat casino—that people are starting to forget what made the first film so funny and so fresh. These two sequels are doing their part in that as well.

1. I've never gotten the sense that J.J. Abrams really cares all that much about the Star Trek franchise. Abrams has said that he was far more into Star Wars—as any reasonable person would be—and that his first, well-received Star Trek was more about rebooting a franchise than any particular passion he had for the original brand. The first film, thusly, has a shake-it-up quality that's sort of irresistible, sci-fi nerds both adhering to and upending the expectations of fanboys. (They even make a "Beam Me Up, Scotty" joke.) It was fun, if ultimately a bit empty. But I'm not sure you can pull off an improved sequel—almost an expectation, in the world of The Dark Knight and Spider-Man 2—without some real, deep affection for the material. Abrams is going to direct one of the upcoming Star Wars films, and in Star Trek Into Darkness, you can almost feel him rushing through this to get to something he really cares about. Abrams is too natural an entertainer to let anything get boring, but this one, in many ways, feels like everyone just going through the paces.