Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Other than the Nazism and Stalinism and such, the late 1930s were a pretty cool time, at least according to Sky Captain and the Computer Generated Backgrounds That Substituted for Interesting Characters. The plot is standard pulp fiction/adventure comics fare: the Wizard of Oz (played by Laurence Olivier) wants to destroy the world, so feisty and morally degenerate reporter Polly Perkins must team up with her old love Sky Captain in order to prevent the invention of color television or something. The visuals have visual appeal; but the plot falls flat; the characters never inspire; and the whole thing gets a bit dull. Worst of all is Gwyneth Paltrow as the insufferable Polly Perkins, who, in spite of being the "heroine," is pretty much evil, selfish and unlikeable. In fact, if Sky Captain had just put a bullet through her head in the opening sequence, the world would never have been in peril, and everyone could have just gone home to enjoy an FDR fireside chat and a nice, hot cup of Postum.