It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present.

You believe that someone out of the past can enter and take possession of a living being?

We may be through with the past, but the past is not through with us.

Welcome back to The Next Picture Show, a movie of the week podcast devoted to a classic film and the way it's shaped our thoughts on a recent release.

I'm Tasha Robinson. And because the situation this week is so serious, I have banded together with my greatest allies and enemies.

Keith Phipps. Scott Tobias. And Genevieve Kovsky. On the first half of this episode, we discussed Brian Singer's 2003 film X2, which has mutant

heroes and villains joining forces against a genocidal technological plot that would murder all

mutants. In this episode, we're looking at Avengers Infinity War, in which heroes joined forces

against a genocidal, essentially magical plot that would murder literally half the inhabitants

of the

universe. It's hard to remember in 2018 that there was a time before the Marvel Cinematic Universe,

before the era in which Disney produced Marvel Studios planned movies were laid out in an ambitious

schedule unfolding years into the future. It's also hard to remember that less than 20 years ago,

Hollywood really hadn't meaningfully

cracked the superhero movie code, and that superhero comics on screen reliably produced some

pretty awful movies. But starting with 2008's Iron Man, Marvel's team launched a winning

formula, equal parts smart alec banter and high stakes, with a lot of thrilling on-screen action

and protagonists with strong individual goals

and personalities. The individuality became increasingly important as these movies piled up,

and as they started to cross over. If Tony Stark and Bruce Banner and Thor and Black Widow all

essentially looked alike on screen, as so many previous comic book heroes and villains before them

had, it wouldn't have been remotely meaningful when they all met up and started to clash with each other. The fan response to Avengers Infinity War and the

...