Man of Steel (2013)

The first 20 minutes of this movie should have been left on the editing room floor.  Everyone on Krypton understands the importance of the codex, and that natural childbirth hasn't occurred in generations, and so on, but it's all a mystery to us.  This is terrible storytelling.  If they wanted for these things to be a mystery, we should start with Clark, for whom it's a mystery, and follow his POV.  For that matter, all of the flashbacks could also be dropped (except for the very last one).  With those simple changes, this is a much tighter, stronger film.

Even then, there are lingering issues:

• How much did IHOP pay to be featured so much in this movie? 
• Why can't Zod restart the Kryptonian species in another solar system?  They seem to be trying to paint him as a complex character at the start, so why is he suddenly completely amoral?  Also, Michael Shannon is no Terence Stamp, and yes, I readily admit that assessment is entirely fueled by nostalgia.
• Why does Superman have to fly up into the beam of the World Machine instead of smashing it from above?  Because it "looks cool".  Yawn.
• The destruction of the World Machine, followed by the mano-a-mano fight with Zod, is waaaay too long.  And I don't buy the agony over what to do with Zod in the end.  Sometimes you have to put mad dogs down.