Movies you've recently watched

Can't say I've seen many films these past few years that I would genuinely recommend friends and family, but that being said I recently saw the crime thriller Dragged Across Concrete (directed by S. Craig Zahler of Brawl in Cell Block 99 and Bone Tomahawk fame) and it was quite a fun ride. Pacing is slow (intentionally) but it builds up to such a crazy rollercoaster that it really pays off towards the climax and resolution of the film. I'm torn between this or Cell Block 99 as my favorite film of his, but I think Zahler is on a roll and am looking forward to what he does next. Definitely recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Heat or films of that ilk.

I liked Bone Tomahawk a lot more than CB 99, both pretty different. Thanks for the write up. I missed seeing DAC last month cos work was extremely busy, hope to have the time to hit it up before it disappears from theaters.

Ever watch Green Room or Blue Ruin?
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Ever watch Green Room or Blue Ruin?

I really liked Green Room. I was just down for evil Patrick Stewart and ended up getting quite a bit more, hehe. One of the best low-budget movies I've seen in some time. I really admired how much they did with such a limited set. I still need to sit down for Blue Ruin.
 
I've rewatched "The Thing" recently. And i'm talking about the one from 1982. The special effects and the way the monster looks still looks amazing too this day! :ubik:
 
I liked Bone Tomahawk a lot more than CB 99, both pretty different. Thanks for the write up. I missed seeing DAC last month cos work was extremely busy, hope to have the time to hit it up before it disappears from theaters.

Ever watch Green Room or Blue Ruin?

I have not. :( I will definitely check those out sooner rather than later. I've heard good things about both. And yeah, if you enjoyed Bone Tomahawk, DAC might be up your alley. Not as gory as BT and definitely not reinventing the wheel, but still an enjoyable watch.

I've rewatched "The Thing" recently. And i'm talking about the one from 1982. The special effects and the way the monster looks still looks amazing too this day! :ubik:

Can never go wrong with The Thing. :badbone: Something about 80s movies haha.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Was pleasantly surprised by Avengers: Endgame. As someone who thought Infinity War was a boring, predictable slogfest, nearly everything they did in this movie abated my concerns with its first half. And it's all spoilery of course, but in brief, they made good on the damage done by the snap, which was something I had utterly no faith they could pull off.

I spent most of my Infinity War review complaining about how ridiculous it was for a comic book movie to attempt to pull off a mass-death sequence involving key franchises and expect it to emotionally resonate with an audience that has been trained like dogs to lap up every morsel of new Marvel movie info. And while OF COURSE 100% of those superhero deaths were reverted by the end, it didn't matter. Because the emotional impact of those deaths had already taken its toll on the main cast within the scope of the story. The effect it had on the characters vindicated the momentary embarrassment of asking the audience to doubt "the snap" was fleeting. The writers took that opportunity and did some really interesting and entertaining things with the (some of) the characters. So that won me over, right from the get-go. Salt-and-Pepper Hulk needs his own movie now.

The 3h length felt appropriate to me, because in a movie that ends with two massive armies duking it out over a blinged out cosmic football, it still afforded enough space to land the emotional punches without feeling cheap or forced. And they held true to hanging it up for two of the biggest characters in the franchise. Good on them. It certainly felt like it was time, and it's appropriate that it was Tony, given that the success of his first movie is what forged this whole thing.

Now, I do appreciate that a rematch with Thanos seemed the most appropriate way to up the anté here. But the way in which that opportunity manifested felt grossly contrived. Every ridiculous step in the process that led to Nebula opening a time portal for Thanos and his forces to appear, create a massive crater, and have everyone survive with a few scrapes. Come ... on. It was so happenstance and pat that it almost felt like it required some kind of "the stones are calling to me" grounding or something to justify it. But whatever, it truly was "inevitable." And it created some really fantastic moments. I had forgotten how much I had wanted Cap to wield Mjolnir until it happened, and that was a great fucking moment. Even if it didn't really add up to much more than spectacle, it was good to see that promise delivered.

Ending something is hard. But despite the overwrought nature of this universe, they did a great job hitting the right buttons to bring this to a satisfying closure, even saying that as someone who only enjoyed maybe 1/4 of the Marvel movies I saw. This one earned the emotion and spectacle that most of these movies simply claim as a matter of course.
 
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Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Was pleasantly surprised by Avengers: Endgame. As someone who thought Infinity War was a boring, predictable slogfest, nearly everything they did in this movie abated my concerns with its first half.

Glad you enjoyed yourself, and even though it was messier and more indulgent than the relatively focused and restrained Infinity War, it took the time because it could and actually used it, had the better moments and emotional resonance, and indeed earned this. It was also fun and inventive in addition to paying all this off and maybe breaking every box office record. So, kudos to Marvel.

Now, as many have pointed out, and I felt this way watching, this was more like a season/series finale than the conclusion to a bunch of films. Of course it's not meant to be the end, never will be, etc, but I can't help but feel like they almost did too good a job putting a bow on this so it won't be the same again and that much harder to keep their unprecedented winning streak going, critically and financially (even nu-Star Wars had a bomb four films in). Like, where do they go from here? Besides another GotG, Black Panther, and I guess Spider-Man, I can't think of anything must-see from Marvel now. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt because they've always found a way, but it feels like the end of an era where there's now more questions than answers.
 
I enjoyed Endgame more on the first watch than the second. I think I prefer Infinity War over this movie because there's more Thanos and the build up to the snap was a bit more intense compared to Endgame. On my second viewing, it was a different kind of excitement because you're in the know of what's to come and the 2nd act (Time Heist portion) kinda fell flat. Overall, it's definitely a lot of fun (thanks, Thor) and I'll watch Infinity War x Endgame (together) again when it's available on BR.

Did Peter Parker show up before the movie to say "Hey, we'll play the trailer for the new Spiderman film after the movie ... so as not to spoil folks."? I thought that was weird haha. I mean, what's the point. We know there's another movie with the same actor in it.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Did Peter Parker show up before the movie to say "Hey, we'll play the trailer for the new Spiderman film after the movie ... so as not to spoil folks."? I thought that was weird haha. I mean, what's the point. We know there's another movie with the same actor in it.
It's because of what is conveyed about Tony.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Speaking of Spider-Man, I saw Far From Home and it was a perfect...ly adequate entry in the Marvel canon. Again, the strength of these movies is they're not afraid to do weirdly specific, everyday and even casual stuff with the characters, but the downside is it can feel like we're also not aiming very high here and it is just a casual experience, "hang, no pun intended, with Spider-Man for a couple hours, no big deal." Maybe that's exacerbated by following the transcendentally good, existentially significant for the character Spider-Verse (which I saw a couple weeks ago and it mostly lived up to its excellent reputation after a slow start). The best part of FFH was Mysterio's fever dream-like illusions, which there could have been more of. Otherwise, eh, it was aight; mid-tier Marvel but getting raves as usual. It also introduced something of a significant dissonance for me because of the appearance of a certain actor, but I haven't seen that much discussed so maybe it's just me. Anyway, the obligatory updated Spider-Rankings!

Spider-Man 2 - Still leaving it as the quintessential Spidey-movie and a transcendent classic of the genre.
Into the Spider-Verse - The existential Spidey-movie and transcendent classic of the genre.
Homecoming - Was different and paid off well enough on the promise of Holland's Civil War appearance.
Spider-Man - Iconic, innovative, and influential, but penalized for organic web shooters, Macy Gray, and other goofy shit.
Civil War - Penalized for not being a Spidey movie, but 100% great Spider-scenes.
Far From Home - Like I said, it was good, not great or significant.
The Amazing Spider-Man - A decent enough retread, uses real web-shooters, but penalized for Andrew Garfield.
Italian Spiderman - Should be higher.
Spider-Man 3 - A mess that's as bad as you remember, but also better than you do too.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - A miserably messy retread AND a dead end. Led to MCU and Spider-Verse though.

Most of the top seven could be flipped or even move around a couple spots with their adjacent Spidey-films, showing just how consistently good Spidey's been on the big screen. Except for the bottom two of course (Bonus: A lady's POV, largely by era, The Raimi trilogy, dancing and all, Spider-Verse, the Holland movies, and then the Amazing movies, with 2 edging out 1 because it kills Emma Stone =).
 
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Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
*Final Attack-Revive*

Been catching up on my Tarantino lately:

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - It's great! A fine escape that registers in the top half of my Tarantin-O-Meter. Now I'm digging on the soundtrack which is basically like listening to 1969 LA radio, ads and all, "Tanya tanning butter, with no sunscreen for a genuine Hawaiian tan!"

It's rather star studded, which is a smart pivot by Tarantino, but they're all basically character actor roles in a pretty delightfully weird, eclectic and meandering movie (think Jackie Brown meets Basterds). Leo's role is the most showy, but it's basically making fun of him half the time.

The best part might be the meticulous care taken to restore L.A. to it's 1969 glory. It might be Tarantino's best directing job too; not necessarily his best movie, but he's much improved technically/visually from his 90s heyday or even the Kill Bills.

The Hateful Eight - It's good(?). It's like The Thing crossed with Reservoir Dogs but adapted as a Western. So, weird movie! I'm kind of transfixed by the climax.
 
I enjoyed The Hateful Eight because of Walton Goggins (Chris Mannix).

I'll go backwards in my watch list.

Hobbs and Shaw - at 2 and a half hours long, this felt looooong. It's not even the kind of bad that is so bad that it's good. It's one of those mid-tier bad movies that's forgettable like most films with The Rock. More importantly, it didn't feel like a Fast and the Furious movie, which's weird. I can appreciate the complete disconnect from the franchise (because of the feud between The Rock and the rest of the FATF cast) but this feels like a MI meets xXx film. Shaw's jokes on Hobbs' character were gold, watch it if there's a reel on YT many months down the road.

The Lion King - the problem with this movie was that they aimed to make it as real as it could be with the look and behavior of every animal on screen, which meant - emotions fell flat because you were so used to seeing the cast incredibly animated in the original film (thanks to animation). Pivotal scenes fell flat because there was no fear or rage in the expressions of our beloved cats and most of the voice cast were lazy as hell! Beyonce didn't act and Chiwetel as Scar was meh. Donald Glover as Simba was off and his duet with Beyonce was forgettable, he couldn't keep up with her range. The movie mirrors most of the original. The CG is extremely impressive though. The rest - naaah.

The Farewell - I didn't think I'd like this film as much as I did. Check it out if you come across it. The film opens with a grandmother being diagnosed with cancer and the family decides not to share this with her. The family decides to hurry a wedding, so they have an excuse to visit and spend time with the grandmother without her being suspicious of why everyone wants to spend time with her.

Yesterday - you don't have to be a Beatles fan to watch this cute, pretty decent film and it's fun.

Toy Story 4 - not the best in the series and it says a lot when the new characters (are so much fun!!) outshine the original, mainstay characters.

John Wick 3 - best part was seeing those cool action stars from The Raid franchise. The first one was the best one. The fight scenes here are long-drawn and a little more elaborate but there's no sense of tension and they aren't anxiety inducing like The Raid/ The Raid Redemption (the model the Wick action crew were going after in this film).

Dark Phoenix - no comment. I'd love to hear what Griffith has to say about this one
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I enjoyed The Hateful Eight because of Walton Goggins (Chris Mannix).

He was good, great shit-eating grin, but Samuel L. Jackson and Kurt Russell were my jam in this one. Pretty much everyone was in good form, though. I'm still torn on this one, I like and enhoy it, but it's weird that it's basically a worse version of The Thing. Just goes to show again how influential yet criminally underrated John Carpenter is.

Dark Phoenix - no comment. I'd love to hear what Griffith has to say about this one

My comment on Dark Phoenix is hopefully I never, ever see it! Though, I'd like to hear what you think of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, all the more because it's curiously absent from your list.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Terminator Salvation - Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and I was sure it was going to give me a reason to disown it at some point. But given the sorry state of Terminator these days it's sad that a movie I wouldn't even sit all the way through up until this point now looks like a respectful effort in hindsight.

The Good: It did "The War Against the Machines" movie Cameron never has (besides Battle Across Time 3D =), which is what I always wanted and thought was the only sensible place left to go after T2, and it had plenty of it, even if not all the details match up (and I think Cameron's flashbacks contained more all-out war action). It did manage to keep the dates of Judgement Day etc murky so you could ignore T3 and fit it in the continuity of the first two as a prequel/sequel. The cast is impressive, you can't ask for better than peak shouting Bale as an older Conner, and Hamilton and Arnold are appropriately relegated to audio/visual cameos. Oh yeah, Stan Winston skeletal Terminators, lots of practical effects, the T-800 restored to its place as an unstoppable monster, and there's no insane gimmick terminators futily trying to top the T-1000. On the other hand...

The Bad: This movie is mediocre, underwhelming, unnecessary, and there's nothing really special about it other than what I noted above, so while it's not as embarrassing as things would get, it's not exactly a worthy successor either. It tries and it doesn't shit all over everything, but it isn't really going for anything either (probably it's saving grace though). The Marcus subplot is the main outlier and pretty much a wash in how silly/unwanted it is versus trying to introduce something different and interesting that isn't completely ill-fitting. Better than another T-X/T-5000/Rev-9, but spending that time fleshing out John Conner, Kyle Reese and their relationship probably makes for a better movie (ya know, like Kyle and Sarah, John and his T-800). Also, it's supposed to be the first in a trilogy, so it's pulling its punches on the stakes and how definitive it's even trying to be, but again, that might work in it's favor since this stops them well short of cocking up the final assault on Skynet and the time travel plot being set in motion, but instead reasonably explains how John Conner goes from being a guy to THE guy.

The Ugly: These Terminators should be called Throwinators; they don't kill anybody when they grab them, they just throw them like wrestlers! In the originals if the Terminator got you, you were dead, that's why they were scary! I get that John Conner can't get his skull smashed in the first act, but then don't have him wrestling terminators like it's a good idea.


Anyway, I saw T3 in theaters when it came out (and needn't ever again =), Genisys looks unwatchable, and this one is the most defensible, or just least offensive, of a bad bunch... so I guess I need to see T3 Part IV: Darkest Timeline to see if having Cameron involved at all does indeed make for the best T2 follow up. Working against it is the fact I don't think Cameron gives a shit, or wants any Terminator movies besides his to be good anyway, as evidenced by the plot points that make this sound like another awful retread/reboot where they're just changing the names while doing the same shit and trampling all over the originals.
 
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My comment on Dark Phoenix is hopefully I never, ever see it! Though, I'd like to hear what you think of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, all the more because it's curiously absent from your list.

I was kicking myself for not having the time to watch it on the big screen. Life's been a bit hectic this year (wait, I just made a post about playing Breath of the Wild for 70+ hours!! That doesn't count, does it? Haha). I still need to hit this one up and The Irishman and Joker :sad:

Frozen 2 - Watched this last week and what stuck out for me was how much of Breath of the Wild is in it (hey, it's one of those things where if you seek it, you'll see a lot of similarities like elements, water/ice rune, backgrounds or landscapes and so forth). That aside, I liked it more than the first movie and I felt like some of it will be lost to kids, while grown ups can appreciate it more - especially
the song that sounded like music from the 90's and the feeling/ song about loss
. Visually stunning, decent songs. I would have liked it more if
the castle would have been destroyed at the end because of what it stood for but I get why they couldn't have something that drastic happen - merchandising nightmare!!
Overall - I enjoyed it.

The Lighthouse - One of those movie of the year contenders for me. I know Parasite is getting that sort of buzz and kudos to it for being good, but The Lighthouse is pure orgasm on screen. It's not perfect and that's what makes it exceptional because it warrants another viewing, gets you to think/ talk about it after you've watched it and it's backed by great talent behind and onscreen. It's also one of those love/hate movies like Eggers' The VVitch. This isn't straight-out horror, more of psychological drama. Willem Dafoe is the fucking man. I kinda wish I'd watched it with sub-titles because sometimes it would get hard to follow him and it may have been intentional like The VVitch but overall, the constant banter between the 2 leads was fun and menacing at times. It's also very layered with symbolism and Greek mythology. Without divulging much - it's about 2 folks stuck on an island with a lighthouse and their job is the upkeep of the lighthouse.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I still need to hit this one up and The Irishman and Joker :sad:

Frozen 2 - Watched this last week

I find your lack of priorities disturbing.:stop:

I might get to go see Joker or It 2 at the dollar theater since the in-laws are taking baby this Saturday... I just wonder what deal I can swing for the new Star Wars Thursday so I don't get it spoiled for me that Vader is back and revealed to be Jar Jar Binks all along; you've done it again, JJ! I notice TLJ stans got upset that even the cast and crew of these movies acknowledged TLJ maybe wasn't the best Star Wars experience. I don't know why liking or disliking these dumb movies is so politicized, except for the politicizers having weak reasons for their positions.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
I notice TLJ stans got upset that even the cast and crew of these movies acknowledged TLJ maybe wasn't the best Star Wars experience. I don't know why liking or disliking these dumb movies is so politicized, except for the politicizers having weak reasons for their positions.

It is truly insufferable that saying "TLJ is the best SW film" quickly became and remains to this day a prime means of virtual signaling. It was absolutely mediocre, as was the previous one (can't even remember the title), and as will be the next one.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Dude you into trump or something bro? :rickert:

Yeah, I feel the same as I did coming out of the theater, it was a mediocre Star Wars movie, even if it was more interesting as a movie about Star Wars (should have been Johnson's fan film tribute). But it also committed the cardinal sin of being the final word on the matter (whatever happens, Han, Luke and Leia aren't going to be good in this coming movie, Rey's and Fin's momentum was completely stifled, etc). That's the main thing TFA had over it, remaining potential, and why so many resented it after, including the cast apparently; that potential was seemingly gone and wasted. Now I can only imagine they're going to dig a deeper hole to nowhere dusting off poor Palpy only to have him immediately thwarted again by far less impressive characters and means. Hopefully they've got some good surprises left, but I've seen nothing to indicate that in these recent works. The contrary, in fact. I think they're going to do some desperate, potentially pathetic things that don't actually fix their problems or please anybody. There's actually a future imaginable where Star Wars becomes another irrelevant franchise, which would have seemed impossible after 2015, but they keep working from a place of expediency rather than building something with a little sustainable substance, which was apparently why Arndt was initially thrown overboard; he wanted to take the time to plan out a trilogy, Disney needed more Star Wars NOW.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
The future is now as far as I am concerned. :iva:

Well, THAT happened 20 years ago, but I'm referring to THIS going from an outlier to the norm:


Imagine a world where Star Wars becomes like the Terminator franchise, or to your point maybe it already is but just hasn't faced the full repercussions yet.


Speaking of the TLJ nonsense, this pops right up in my google when I'm going to Box Office Mojo:


These fucking media mavens quoting each other about this "serious issue," namely people being rude to them personally on the internet (you'd think people were dying in armed melees in the street by the concern in these articles, rather than just being mad online about movies). I've heard just about every fanbase be referred to as toxic now, or fandom itself, which is true insofar as it's a stupid thing to so define yourself by, but otherwise, give it a rest with this story, stop constantly reading your replies, or logoff, there's nothing to see here. Worry about the people who actually vote in elections with this mentality, not dopes watching TV/movies; the conflation of which is another, much bigger, problem (people treating politics like entertainment or their entertainment like a substitute for politics). Welcome to the Internet, "media experts." Don't read the comments.
 
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Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Well, THAT happened 20 years ago, but I'm referring to THIS going from an outlier to the norm:


Imagine a world where Star Wars becomes like the Terminator franchise, or to your point maybe it already is but just hasn't faced the full repercussions yet.

Yeah, I mean it's maybe not as bad as the Terminator movies (yet), but I'm frankly surprised these movies still have as much sway as they do. But by definition as more of them get made their special status will erode.

Speaking of the TLJ nonsense, this pops right up in my google when I'm going to Box Office Mojo:


These fucking media mavens quoting each other about this "serious issue," namely people being rude to them personally on the internet (you'd think people were dying in armed melees in the street by the concern in these articles, rather than just being mad online about movies). I've heard just about every fanbase be referred to as toxic now, or fandom itself, which is true insofar as it's a stupid thing to so define yourself by, but otherwise, give it a rest with this story, stop constantly reading your replies, or logoff, there's nothing to see here. Worry about the people who actually vote in elections with this mentality, not dopes watching TV/movies; the conflation of which is another, much bigger, problem (people treating politics like entertainment or their entertainment like a substitute for politics). Welcome to the Internet, "media experts." Don't read the comments.

Haha, yeah that whole pop culture industry just sucks. I steer clear of it as much as I can.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Yeah, I mean it's maybe not as bad as the Terminator movies (yet)

They're definitely better made, and more reverently for better or worse. BUT, I decided to think way too much about this and the parallels are more direct than you might think:

T3/Episode VII: Basically a remake/ripoff of the classics made by others masquerading as a true successor for purely commercial purposes, combining key members of the old cast with new players.

Salvation/Rogue One: A more grounded, grittier though ultimately underwhelming take on the material moving on from the previous cast and story beats.

Genisys/The Last Jedi: A controversial entry throwing continuity out the window to subvert your expectations and explore meta themes.

Dark Fate/Solo: A troubled production featuring competing visions of the franchise by different filmmakers where it becomes clear the audience has already lost faith.

The distinction Dark Fate has over Solo, or perhaps The Rise of Skywalker will prove a better comparison, is the return of the series original creator. This is the elephant in the room, because as much as George Lucas fucked up the prequels and Star Wars itself, it was his to do so, and what's the point of Star Wars, particularly a safe, mediocre Star Wars, if it's not coming from him somehow, even indirectly like the old EU? It's like, do I care about Terminator not made by Jim Cameron? Is there a compelling argument for it? Not really. I think the same is proving true with Star Wars, it just took a while because everybody was happy to kick Lucas to the curb after the prequels, but at this point I'd rather experience George's bad ideas than Disney's endless lack of them. Even if they sucked, at least they'd be interesting and have some sense of authenticity.

I'm frankly surprised these movies still have as much sway as they do. But by definition as more of them get made their special status will erode.

The thing that's been off to me since the post-Lucas films started is how truly average they are as action adventure movies. Outside of maybe the Holdo Maneuver I can't really think of something that makes them stand out or pushes the envelope following 30 years of action movies since Jedi; it's all pretty typical stuff we've seen many times over, and not even among the best quality. Marvel has tons of weightless CGI action, but the ideas are still WAY bigger and bolder than anything we see in these movies (it's weird to me that Star Wars is somehow worse than the Fast & Furious franchise). Even the prequels were trying more, ahem, avant garde stuff. =) Yet it's all still treated like something special because... Star Wars! To people viewing these movies objectively, like in China where they repeatedly underperform, it must seem like we're collectively delusional about Star Wars as a special film property, because we are.

, yeah that whole pop culture industry just sucks. I steer clear of it as much as I can.

Problem is I actually like and wish I could partake in more heavy analysis, the problem is I end reading all the dumb, pandering bullshit too.
 
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Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
It's like, do I care about Terminator not made by Jim Cameron? Is there a compelling argument for it? Not really. I think the same is proving true with Star Wars, it just took a while because everybody was happy to kick Lucas to the curb after the prequels, but at this point I'd rather experience George's bad ideas than Disney's endless lack of them. Even if they sucked, at least they'd be interesting and have some sense of authenticity.

I agree in principle... but Lucas really shat the bed with the prequels...

The thing that's been off to me since the post-Lucas films started is how truly average they are as action adventure movies. Outside of maybe the Holdo Maneuver I can't really think of something that makes them stand out or pushes the envelope following 30 years of action movies since Jedi; it's all pretty typical stuff we've seen many times over, and not even among the best quality.

This is true, but it also highlights a truth people seem to have trouble facing: the reason Star Wars was so impactful back then is because its special effects were insane for the time. The original movie worked because it had a super simple fairy tale story (peasant boy becomes knight like his dad and ends up being the chosen one, defeating the dark knight, saving the kingdom and kissing the princess), aped great cinematic shots from old movies, and had crazy SFX. That's the foundation for Star Wars' popularity, and it's really quite basic. I guess I also should mention great actors that gave life to the characters and made them relatable. Then The Empire Strikes Back managed to do a good job of following up on it and giving it more depth (it still isn't quite as great of a movie as everyone seems to think it is IMHO), and Return of the Jedi provided a decent ending. All that put together established that saga as a cultural milestone.

Where I'm going with this is that Star Wars at its core was 1) endearing characters 2) amazing SFX 3) decent story. And there's only so much you can get out of that. For example what Star Wars never had is a rich universe. There's no depth to it, it's just there because it needs to be. So the opportunity to do prequels and sequels was always about the characters. And they've done those, and have ruined it in both cases. For different reasons, but either way it's been ruined. And honestly... I don't see what else they can do with it now. Everything they've produced feels so derivative and hollow. I watched a couple episodes of The Mandarolian, and so basically, Bobba Fett is a species, and Yoda is a species. It's the same creatively bankrupt shit that's always gone on with Star Wars. Han Solo was a smuggler? Well there's like a whole industry of smuggling in Star Wars now, and every smuggler is a Han Solo lookalike. Yoda was a small alien and the greatest Jedi master? Well he's part of a race that's naturally super strong with the force. Bobba Fett? Yeah there's a whole race of bounty hunters that look just like him. It's frankly pathetic and borderline insulting to the viewer's intelligence. It also just retroactively dilutes what made these characters unique and interesting, because they're now just one specimen among thousands of others.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I agree in principle... but Lucas really shat the bed with the prequels...

Sure, but then that should have been that, or he should be contracting it out like the EU for years, but this weird arrangement where even he thinks the direction it's gone is beyond the pale, and actually has a point, is sure a strange turn.

All that put together established that saga as a cultural milestone.

Where I'm going with this is that Star Wars at its core was 1) endearing characters 2) amazing SFX 3) decent story. And there's only so much you can get out of that.

Put another way, the movies went from genuinely being transcendent experiences to below average movies.

For example what Star Wars never had is a rich universe. There's no depth to it, it's just there because it needs to be. So the opportunity to do prequels and sequels was always about the characters. And they've done those, and have ruined it in both cases. For different reasons, but either way it's been ruined. And honestly... I don't see what else they can do with it now.

Yeah, there was an opportunity with TFA to create likable new characters to take the torch from the old ones, but for some reason they tried to accelerate the process immediately and make a longterm problem, you can't keep running back the same old faces forever, into an immediate crisis. It's inexplicable to me they didn't error on the side of exploiting the shit out of Mark Hamill. Now even their purported new stars want nothing to do with it either... and nobody cares!

Everything they've produced feels so derivative and hollow. I watched a couple episodes of The Mandarolian, and so basically, Bobba Fett is a species, and Yoda is a species. It's the same creatively bankrupt shit that's always gone on with Star Wars. Han Solo was a smuggler? Well there's like a whole industry of smuggling in Star Wars now, and every smuggler is a Han Solo lookalike. Yoda was a small alien and the greatest Jedi master? Well he's part of a race that's naturally super strong with the force. Bobba Fett? Yeah there's a whole race of bounty hunters that look just like him. It's frankly pathetic and borderline insulting to the viewer's intelligence. It also just retroactively dilutes what made these characters unique and interesting, because they're now just one specimen among thousands of others.

This has always been the Star Wars EU's problem; the only civilian occupation/creed is smuggler or bounty hunter. I'm strangely fine with that on this program because it's just scrawling in the margins to give me the old school, low stakes Star Wars adventure of the week rather than rehashing the already settled SKYWALKER SAGA and Palpatine for the umpteenth and least interesting time, likely with disastrously bad results. The problem with The Mandalorian is going to be when fans and suits insist on the Baby Yoda trilogy and then what works for me as a cute, novelty character is suddenly supposed to be the center of the galaxy, and then it just becomes another lazy, uninspired rehash.
 
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