I have encountered naysayers in the past who scoff at the notion that anything productive can arise from comparing movies from different genres or eras, or whatever else.  “An Italian neorealist social drama vs.  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen?  Are you off your gourd, sir?!”, they might thoughtlessly jeer.  How I pity those wretches and their sad, dark existence.  In one of my previous User Showcase posts, Comments: Stepping Up Your Game, I discussed the insights than can be achieved by comparing and commenting on seemingly nonsensical matchups.  What I didn’t consider at the time, though, was that doing so was but only one aspect of a greater philosophy geared toward attaining true cinematic enlightenment.

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