DSL's Movie/TV Reviews and Discussion

[Dr. Strangelove]

Oh well for sure. Jar Jar is there to sell dolls to the kiddies. If there's something that Star Wars has always stood for it's MERCHANDISING. And it's not as if the original films don't have the Ewoks, CP3O, and R2D2 to lighten things up. Jar Jar's particular brand of humor is just pretty low brow. Poop jokes, fart jokes, sticking his tongue out, that sort of shit. And he represents to me the sort of obnoxious & noisy chatterbox character that modern producers think movies need to hold a kid's attention.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I saw no standing ovations for any of the three prequels. But nobody was throwing stuff at the screen either. At the end of Revenge of the Sith when he becomes Darth Vader is top notch comedy.

Anakin, you're breaking my heart! is another great laugh-out-loud moment.

[Hannibal]

I don't think that you saw characters or machines being added specifically to sell toys until the prequel trilogy. With the Ewoks being maybe the lone exception, almost everything that was in the original trilogy was cool on screen before it was a toy. George was still trying to tell a story. WIth Ep I you had Jar Jar obviously aimed at kids, and some other stuff like pod races contrived to sell toys or video games.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I don't think that you saw characters or machines being added specifically to sell toys until the prequel trilogy. With the Ewoks being maybe the lone exception, almost everything that was in the original trilogy was cool on screen before it was a toy.

I agree with that. I just think of Star Wars being one of the earliest movies that generated such a huge variety of toys and other stuff aimed at kids. Not that they planned it all that way. Hell, they were just hoping to get the movie shown in a decent number of theaters.

[froot loops]

The tent they have at Hollywood Studios to sell mechandise during Star Wars weekend is gigantic. It was a pain because it occupied the parking lot we used.

[CGVT]

[Hannibal]

I fully concur re the god-awful Annakin-Padme relationship. And, to be fair, JJ didn't do tLJ, so I guess I can cut him some slack on that. And, to be fair, JJ had to clean up Rian's disastrous mess in Ep9. That said, JJ's plot holes can be implausible, even by sci-fi standards -- for example, Rey picking up a light sabre and defeating Kylo.

I watched them all with my son last year. We may have varied slightly on the list, but here is my rating of the movies:

5
4
Rogue 1
6
Solo (these 5, IMO, were all enjoyable to varying degrees)
-----------------------
3
7 (these two had moments and I didn't necessarily begrudge the time spent watching them)
-----------------------
6, 1, 2 (in that order, though there isn't much separation)
-----------------------
9 (plot? JJ don't care!)
-----------------------
8 (it's impossible to overstate how terrible this film is)

I would argue that the real clean-up job in the new trilogy was Rian Johnson having to pick up Episode VIII with no decent material to work with. Episode VII established no good protagonists, villiains, or story. It was quintessential JJ Abrams Mystery Box Theater 3000, Rian Johnson had the unenviable task of trying to explain why Luke Skywalker became a hermit, and all kinds of other nonsensical crap that JJ left him.

[iam416]

Perhaps. But, there's little doubt that Rian didn't rise to the occasion and, in fact, made things much, much worse.

But, you're right that JJ is to blame for Luke and his transformation from someone willing to give his life to save the cause and his father to some angry bitter dude who just doesn't give a fuck. Rian, I suppose, had a chance to soften that shit up considerably, but, in fact, leaned into it big time.

[Hannibal]

Heh. Well, Rian could have definitely done better than making a Gender Studies Professor the lady in charge of the Resistance fleet.

Also -- LMAO the army of the guys in charge in Episode VII is "The Resistance". Talk about failing scriptwriting 101 JFC.

[iam416]

I don't necessarily have a problem with Admiral Holdo....IF....IF she was written well. Instead, devises a genius plan that more or less relegates all Resistance efforts to destroy the Death Star in previous episdoes as fatuous because, well, just go hyperspeed into that thing and it'll blow up! Moreover, after devising this genius plan she shares it with no one under her command until the the last minute.

I understand why she was written that way, but it's total trash.

[iam416]

Speaking of entertainment, Neil Young decided to take on Joe Rogan and demand that Spotify remove him or certain episdoes of his. In other words, Neil Young, famed anti-establishment musician, sided directly with the establishment to censor shit he doesn't like. Spotify, of course, told him to go fuck himself.

Hilarious.

[froot loops]

Could you imagine how many times Hannibal has hate watched the Abrams TED talk?

[froot loops]

Neil is not going to win that battle versus Dr. Joe Rogan.

[Mike]

I’m sure Spotify had to add extra servers to handle all that Neil Young traffic.

[iam416]

Heh.

The funny thing is that I doubt Young has listened to a second of the JRE. He spends 2-3 hours every damn day talking with various guests in-depth. It’s so much better than the hot-take news world. Which is probably why JRE draws more people than CNN. By a fuckton.