First, it was Bernie Mac, dead of pneumonia.

Then, Isaac Hayes, dead of treadmilling.

Who will complete the trilogy of dead African American celebs? I asked my colleagues:

"Morgan Freeman was supposed to be the first one, but somehow escaped the grim reaper in his car crash."

"Samuel L. Jackson, he was working on a project with Hayes and Mac."

But the best answer:

"Robert Downey Jr."

Reunited and it feels so good: A pair of well-known duos make their returns to multiplexes this weekend. Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly (Talladega Nights) team up as middle-aged sibling rivals in Step Brothers (read Lance Goldenberg's review).

Meanwhile, Mulder and Scully are together again after a 10-year layoff in The X-Files: I Want to Believe. If the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are any indication, this may be the last go-round for the FBI agents with a penchant for investigating the supernatural.

With The Dark Knight raking in monster box-office and critical raves, and this week's CL cover story focused on what our superheroes say about who we are as a culture, Joe Bardi and I were inspired to each make our lists of the best superhero flicks of all time. Joe offers 10 films in eight entries, while I give a traditional top 10 list. Enjoy!

Joe's Picks:

1. Batman Begins/The Dark Knight: The new kings of the comic-book castle. Begins sets the table, and then The Dark Knight redefines the genre for the 21st century. I don’t see how anyone — not even director Christopher Nolan and his team — will top Knight for a long, long time.

2. The Matrix: Though not based on original graphic novel source material, there is no denying that The Matrix set the standard for all the modern comic book/superhero franchises. There is no Dark Knight without Keanu and Co’s reality-bending excursion into virtual reality.

3. Die Hard: Sure, Die Hard might seem out of place on a list of flicks about guys dressed as insects and flying rodents. Still, how can a list of superhero movies not include NYC cop/terrorist-killer John McClaine? In the original Die Hard, Bruce Willis tries his best to make McClain an everyman, and winds up creating one of the quintessential superheroes of the 1980s.

4. Superman/Superman 2: Really more of one big movie than two individual films. Superman and Superman II were both the babies of Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon, Goonies). After Donner had completed Superman and was halfway through shooting Superman II, the studio replaced him with A Hard Day's Night director Richard Lester, causing Superman II to suffer a bit from the lack of consistency at the helm. Still, I find the sequel more fun to watch than the original.

5. Iron Man: 2008’s other excellent comic-book movie, and the first one from Marvel’s new production company. Iron Man manages to combine a terrific performance by Robert Downey Jr. with a plot that carries weight in these over-militarized times. It’s also damn funny.

6. The Incredibles: A Pixar animated feature about a family of superheroes, The Incredibles manages the difficult task of satirizing the superhero flick while delivering an excellent take on the genre that appeals to the whole family. Can’t wait for the sequel.

7. Spider-Man 2: I was never a huge Spider-Man fan, though I do appreciate what director Sam Raimi brought to the web-crawling franchise. Spider-Man 2 is easily the best of the Spidey flicks, primarily because of the villainous Doc Ock and his amazing tentacles.

8. Batman: The Tim Burton/Michael Keaton original holds up today largely on the back of the amazing production design and Jack Nicholson’s inspired performance as The Joker. I’m partial to Batman Returns, actually, as I find it a much more entertaining experience than this brooding original, but I fear villagers with pitchforks might show up at the Loaf office if I rank Returns over Batman. So I won’t — but you’re all wrong!

The Bank Job: Jason Statham (The Transporter, Snatch) stars in director Roger Donaldson’s account of a real-life 1971 London bank robbery. Saffron Burrows costars.

Penelope: Cutie-pie Christina Ricci (The Addams Family, Buffalo 66, Speed Racer) is the title character in this modern-day fairy tale about a girl born with a porcine snout. Reese Witherspoon and James McAvoy (Wanted) costar.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: Milos Forman’s 1975 classic gets the Blu-ray treatment. Jack Nicholson stars as a free spirit who enters an insane asylum to avoid prison work detail, butting heads with the icy Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher). Also stars Will Sampson, Brad Dourif and Danny DeVito.

You read the familiar lament when critics review a surefire blockbuster: "It doesn't matter what I write; people will go see it anyway."

That's mostly true for Hollywood's big-budget releases, but as Erik Lundegaard points out in making the case that we need movie critics, these arbiters of taste have a measurable effect on box-office receipts.

Using basic math and the compendium of critical reviews from Rottentomatoes, Lundegaard shows that across the board — from art-house flicks to major studio releases — better-reviewed films earn more on a per-screen average than movies that are panned. Of 234 films released in 2007 and reviewed on Rottentomatoes, Lundegaard discovers:

While there were fewer "fresh" films (i.e., movies that critics liked) and they showed on fewer screens and took in less overall box office, they tended to make almost $1,000 more per screen than "rotten" movies (i.e., movies critics didn't like). So, on a per-screen-basis, more people are following critics into theaters than not.

With that in mind, here's a link to my review for Hancock.