Saturday Evening Movie Thread 12-21-2019 [Hosted By: TheJamesMadison]

World Building in Star Wars

Okay, it’s going to be the topic on every movie goers’ lips for the weekend, so I capitulated.

Maybe it’ll drive more clicks to the site and Ace will get more ad pennies for more advanced shelving equipment that spins in the right direction.

So, racking my brain for a topic about Star Wars, I started thinking about the narrative successes of the first film in the franchise contrasted with the narrative failures of the prequels. There are several big reasons, but one of them is definitely the approach to building the world around the story at play. In short, the world building is details that fill in the edges of the story and screen, igniting the imagination, while in the prequels they come center stage and squeeze out anything that could be called drama.

Anyway, let’s dig into it.

The Original Trilogy

The story of the first Star Wars is really just Joseph Campbell’s work on the hero myth and journey distilled into a techno fantasy setting. The story is super clear: a farmboy gets his call to adventure, goes under the wing of a wizened wizard (from SPACE!), and defeats the bad guy with gifts he’s always had but needed to learn how to use. It’s really basic stuff. The characters are simple archetypes cast perfectly with likable actors. The delineation between good and bad is clear not just narratively but visually as well.

You could take the Star Wars story and just plop it into any setting because it’s a tale as old as time, to coin a phrase.

Around that simple story, though, is a new world. The setting of the film seems to spill over on every side. Yes, we have the Empire and the Rebellion, but we also have hints of the Old Republic, a Senate, the Emperor, an ancient religion called the Jedi (or the Force), and a host of new species that all look different and sound different. There are droids that speak English and those that speak their own clicks and beeps.

The key to the opening up of the world is the cantina scene. Up until that point, we’ve mostly seen humans and droids. There were also jawas, little hooded scavengers, but it’s felt almost grounded. And then, the cantina opens up and we see a sampling of the host of new creatures that populate this universe. None of them are explained, and they seem to just be in the middle of their own stories (there’s an Expanded Universe short story collection that details at least one of their lives completely). The lack of explanation and the simple look at what’s out there ignites the imagination. It sets us off in completely different directions of our own making, using these new creatures as starting points. We know we’ve gone from the familiar to the fantastical.

The rest of the trilogy follows the same basic model. The Empire Strikes Back actually decreases the visual scope of the film as it goes along, starting as a big battle on a snow planet and ending with two people in a lightsaber duel in a series of rooms. There’s little concern for definitions like who the Emperor was before he was emperor, what the governing philosophy of the Empire is, or even what the mechanics of the mining operation on Bespin are. We’re just carried along with the fantastic sights and sounds, focusing, once again, on the human centric journey at the film’s core.

Return of the Jedi ends up taking a step backwards a bit (repeating the Death Star visual, but at least giving it a different, unfinished look) while introducing us to ewoks (there is really only one of those who carry any great worth, and he’s well-known around these parts) and giving us the first good look at Jabba. It’s really our first introduction to the gangster side of the Star Wars universe. It doesn’t talk about how he functions with other gangsters, just showing us as he rests and enjoys what seem like a series of easy days ruined by some pesky wannabe Jedi.

The world building was never the point of the story across the original trilogy, it was just the stuff that got painted into the edges, and it ignited imaginations for decades.

The Prequel Trilogy

The prequels were very different beasts.

It is my estimation that Lucas wanted to make, not just new Star Wars movies, but important Star Wars movies. He had a thematic goal. He wanted to contrast the fall of a republican form of government into tyranny with the fall of a good man into evil.

Given that goal, it’s obvious that the setting becomes a lot more important to the story itself than it was in the original trilogy. The Republic needs to fall, not just exist in the background while people have adventures. The problem was that Lucas didn’t really understand how to strike the right balance between storytelling and making the fall of an inefficient republic compelling.

In The Phantom Menace the world building gets very tedious very fast. Just mentioning trade routes in the opening crawl is eye roll inducing. Stepping back from the purpose of drama, it feels like a good place for the beginning of an end to a republic (something rather anodyne that gets blown out of proportion), but what follows is even more dull. Lucas felt it was necessary to show, in rather excruciating detail, how the Senate can’t get anything done. That becomes the central focus of the “drama” a big Senate hearing where nothing happens. It’s like reading a Wookipedia article about a boring parliamentary maneuver from another country. You don’t know the people, the stakes, or the result, and you find it hard to care.

The second film, purely in terms of world building (the movie is worse), does it better than the first. In Attack of the Clones, Lucas introduces us to new worlds, aliens, and technologies. We don’t get detailed histories of them (like the cloners on Kimino), just a view at their methods. Perhaps it takes a step too far in showing those details (or perhaps the visuals just aren’t that engaging), but it’s a definite step in the right direction. Instead of copying the Wookipedia article, Lucas just read it over and placed the characters there. The characters are still dumb and make curious choices, at best, but at least the world they inhabit feels less stolid.

Revenge of the Sith is where things really come together fully. The point is the fall of Anakin and Obi-wan’s powerlessness to stop it (mirrored by the Jedi as a whole being powerless to stop the rise of the Emperor). We get new worlds and new aliens, but they never dominate the screen. We even get the dramatic fall of one system of government into another (done with a parliamentary speech) and it’s contrasted with physical action (Anakin taking over the Jedi Temple). The world is largely built by the point, but the setting does go through rather large changes, and the changes progress in interesting fashions, combined with the fall of an individual.

The Sequel Trilogy

I’m not going to spend too much time on this, because the setting is really just a repeat of the original trilogy’s setting with new names. Instead of the Empire we have the First Order and instead of the Rebellion we have the Resistance. JJ Abrams tries some of the same things like a cantina scene, but we’ve already been exposed to so much weirdness (both in this movie and across the whole franchise) that it doesn’t feel as effective in the least.

The Last Jedi does it both well and poorly at the same time. Canto Bight, the casino planet, is a narrative sore thumb that sticks out, and it includes a lot of dialogue explaining why everyone is there. It’s an interesting idea (that weapons manufacturers have their own casino planet to hang out on), but it’s divorced from the rest of the story and just doesn’t fit. On the other hand, the planet of Crait, is great. It’s visually interesting (the thin white layer of salt covering the red ground beneath) with a big old Rebel base lodged into a cliff face, is a great starting point of an idea, but the history of those things aren’t that important to the story right then. So they sit there as drama and action play out in front of it. Why is the base there? What are the red crystals beneath the surface? Why is there this perpetual layer of salt over everything? Nothing gets answered, just like who the aliens were in the cantina never got answered.

The Rise of Skywalker does setting and world building better. Freed from trying to replicate A New Hope, JJ Abrams and Chris Terrio were able to set their eyes on creating new things, so we got Kijimi, a planet that Poe Dameron once lived on and scraped a living together. There is talk of his life as a spice smuggler on the planet, and the gang he used to grow up with. It’s another view at the sort of world that Han Solo lived in before he was introduced to the franchise, and again, it just invites the sort of speculation about what things mean and where they came from.
The Point

My point being that world building can never be the point. When it becomes the point, it can often feel like reading Wikipedia articles. Sure, there’s detail, and it can be exciting to freeze frame things and point stuff out, but ultimately when it becomes the point it distracts from the story itself.

I’ve been thinking of this because I’ve read quite a few very positive reviews of The Phantom Menace and they all seem just so excited to get more detail about the Star Wars universe. Across the board, they’re about how they know so much more about the Jedi and the Senate, while the rest of the world watches the movie and sees a boring, meandering mess of narrative without a discernable point.

Anyway, to distill this whole thing down: I saw The Rise of Skywalker.

Movies of Today

Opening in Theaters:
Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
Cats
Next in my Netflix Queue:
Rambling Rose

Movies I Saw This Fortnight:
Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (Netflix Rating 4/5 | Quality Rating 3/4) Full Review "The movie’s good. It’s big, spilling over the sides, but it’s heart is clear. It intelligently synthesizes the previous two films into a rousing and interesting conclusion. Count me as a fan." [Theater]
Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (Netflix Rating 5/5 | Quality Rating 3.5/4) Full Review "I adore, not just love, adore this bulk of the film. It’s fiercely intelligent and penetrative of the meaning of Star Wars. It’s compellingly packaged in characters and drama. It’s really well acted. It’s some of my favorite Star Wars ever." [Personal Collection]
Buddy Buddy (Netflix Rating 2/5 | Quality Rating 1/4) Full Review "This is such a sad way for the great Billy Wilder to end his career." [“Library”]
Kiss Me, Stupid (Netflix Rating 4/5 | Quality Rating 3/4) Full Review "It’s lesser Wilder, but it’s still entertaining and works as a whole." ["Library"]
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (Netflix Rating 4/5 | Quality Rating 3/4) Full Review "The film is fun, and a pleasant diversion. A good time at the movies from a master of the craft." [Amazon Prime]
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Netflix Rating 4/5 | Quality Rating 3/4) Full Review "The men on a mission story is well handled. The central villain is great. The movie looks good, and it ends with a very good final sustained sequence. Not great, but a solid entertainment." [Personal Collection]
The Front Page (Netflix Rating 5/5 | Quality Rating 3.5/4) Full Review "It’s quick, clearly told, and fun as it embraces a sense of chaos in the service of its story." [Hoopla]
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Netflix Rating 5/5 | Quality Rating 4/4) Full Review "A proposed alternate subtitle: The Humiliation of Luke Skywalker." [Personal Collection]

Contact

Email any suggestions or questions to thejamesmadison.aos at symbol gmail dot com.

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I've also archived all the old posts here, by request.

I'll add new posts a week after they originally post at the HQ.

Posted by: OregonMuse at 07:59 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Get the popcorn

Posted by: Skip at December 21, 2019 08:03 PM (ZCEU2)

2 Oh, edgy.

Posted by: Bete at December 21, 2019 08:03 PM (Ojki1)

3 Hey Pre-Christmas Movie Thread! Thanks TJM!! :-)

For me, there are no Star Wars movies behind the first three. Everything else doesn't exist.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 21, 2019 08:04 PM (L2ZTs)

4 Corgis dutifully called btw

Posted by: Skip at December 21, 2019 08:04 PM (ZCEU2)

5 Oh, edgy.
Posted by: Bete at December 21, 2019 08:03 PM (Ojki1)

=========

No one else is talking about this stuff.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the ~~Force~~ Schwartz at December 21, 2019 08:04 PM (zZbCU)

6 Term limits for James Bonds.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at December 21, 2019 08:07 PM (LxTcq)

7 I liked Rogue One. I liked Donnie Yen

Posted by: Moon Moon Blutarski at December 21, 2019 08:07 PM (VNfwt)

8 7 I liked Rogue One. I liked Donnie Yen
Posted by: Moon Moon Blutarski at December 21, 2019 08:07 PM (VNfwt)

========

He is one with the Force.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the ~~Force~~ Schwartz at December 21, 2019 08:08 PM (zZbCU)

9 Had a co-worker who saw it and liked it but a comment on a blog woman said she got drug to see it and didn't like it.
My chances of seeing it are slim, hardly see the repeats free on tv now.

Posted by: Skip at December 21, 2019 08:08 PM (ZCEU2)

10
Yeah, and for some weird reason my brain remembered Tuck, Everlasting, which is a movie I never watched.

Tuck Everlasting is, as you all know, a movie about obama's big ugly wife and her underwear.

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 08:09 PM (b7jqk)

11 Term limits for James Bonds.
Posted by: BourbonChicken at December 21, 2019 08:07 PM (LxTcq)

Termination limits for James Bond!

Posted by: Commissar Judge Hrothgar at December 21, 2019 08:09 PM (BiNEL)

12 Tuck's Everlasting?

Posted by: klaftern at December 21, 2019 08:10 PM (RuIsu)

13
Do they ever go back to the planet HOTH?

Do we ever see TON-TONS again?

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 08:10 PM (b7jqk)

14 Thanks TJM for your enthusiasm.

But I have come to loathe the entire franchise. I will hang on to my DVD copies of the Real Ones (the actual originals). But naw. I simply do not have the strength to overlook the skullfuckery that has been done to the Star Wars franchise.

Do not take it personally. My kid brother is a yuge film fan, and is in fact a film student (when he's not flying Black Hawks). You guys would be fun to hang around with.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Not Paying Attention at December 21, 2019 08:10 PM (x8Wzq)

15 I wonder if Lucas ever envisioned the adding of every freak notion to his little space western by Horryweird? I doubt it.

Posted by: Eromero at December 21, 2019 08:11 PM (UUkQp)

16 Everyone, at another site I read, someone who's big on posting comedy at Twitter, posted that they forced a bot to watch 1000 hours of Hallmark Christmas movies, then had the bot write a script of one on its own, and shared the first page of the screenplay to his feed.

I thought this was so good, I transcribed it for y'all. Here's the script the bot came up with:

CHRISTMAS IS A TREE YOU MUST MARRY

EXT. TREE SALES DEALERSHIP IN SMALL SKI TOWN

A WOMAN and her FIANCE shop for a tree to summon Santa Claus. They love Christmas and consume only candy in cane form. The sky snows water on them. They do not know of Hannukkah.

FIANCE
Let us pick this wood. Resembles you. Engaged and asking for kiss.

The fianc� kisses the tree and it falls on him and he dies from trunk wounds. The woman's eyes leak salt ornaments.

WOMAN
Ho ho no! I needed him for my wedding. For me, love is coal.

Tree seller, ANGEL HEAVENGOD, inspects the events in a manly way. He's the town's tallest unwed object. All want his hugs.

WOMAN (CONT'D)
Telephone the police, Mr. Hunk. Tell them a tree deserves prison and that I am now single like you.

ANGEL HEAVENGOD
Oh. But why? All is good tidings.

The woman looks. Fiance's body is gone. Nothing is very dead.

WOMAN
Thought my boyfrond opened death's gift. Am I single or simply insane?

ANGEL HEAVENGOD
Your body carols a Christmas fever?

Angel presses his personal mistletoe against the woman's head. It glows red, indicating severe Christmas fever.

WOMAN
Nog! Will I die before Santa dies?

ANGEL HEAVENGOD
Of course yes, but not now. The fever cures if married on Jesus eve. I will marry you healthy.

We see now that Christmas miracle fiance's ghost into the tree that sleighed him. He talks but only the woman can hear his treely word logs. This does not break any Bible rules.

FIANCE
(wooden)
He likes like devil! Only true tree love gives the Christmas cure. Must marry me! Your fianc�. The tree. Tree fianc�. Treeance. Me. I'm me.

The woman screams. She has just now found out about Hanukkah.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 21, 2019 08:11 PM (L2ZTs)

17 Barely remember Tuck Everlasting, about some person, or
humankind that lives forever

Posted by: Skip at December 21, 2019 08:12 PM (ZCEU2)

18 14 Thanks TJM for your enthusiasm.

But I have come to loathe the entire franchise. I will hang on to my DVD copies of the Real Ones (the actual originals). But naw. I simply do not have the strength to overlook the skullfuckery that has been done to the Star Wars franchise.

Do not take it personally. My kid brother is a yuge film fan, and is in fact a film student (when he's not flying Black Hawks). You guys would be fun to hang around with.
Posted by: Pug Mahon, Not Paying Attention at December 21, 2019 08:10 PM (x8Wzq)

=========

Star Wars is a small part of the film world. I enjoy it. I enjoy revisiting it, but I watch a lot of other things.

I'm terrible to hang around unless I have an 18 year old Scotch in my hand, paid for by someone else.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the ~~Force~~ Schwartz at December 21, 2019 08:12 PM (zZbCU)

19 In the original tie-in comics for the original movie Jabba is depicted as a humanoid greenish walrus. Not the giant slug we later see.

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 21, 2019 08:13 PM (s9g5q)

20 Unfortunately the only SW movie I saw in its entirety was the JarJar Binks one. Traumatic.

Posted by: kallisto at December 21, 2019 08:14 PM (Lv3JC)

21 Bill Bilichick has FUCKING REAL TITS!!!!!!!

Why won't anyone talk about this????? Is he "transitioning"?

Posted by: SSBN 656 (G) at December 21, 2019 08:14 PM (5AVMW)

22 Going to see it tomorrow with daughter #2 and her hubby.. both big Star Wars fans..
I don't want to read too much about it and get spoilers, but I hear it wraps things up nicely. I hope so.

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at December 21, 2019 08:16 PM (CjFDo)

23 Treance? That is pretty f'n weird.

Posted by: freaked at December 21, 2019 08:17 PM (Tnijr)

24 Star Wars will always have a special meaning far, far beyond the story. I was in kindergarten when The Empire Strikes Back came out. This was just the ultimate thing around that time for all of us kids.

I remember that one of the ladies in the day care center at which I was either in day care or kindergarten had a record which featured the audio from the movie. It also came with a storybook to follow along. I and the other boys would take turns acting out Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker and with that record, we were sure to drop the needle at the part with the battle between Luke and Vader, and we reenacted that scene over and over and over again.

There was, and always will be, an emotional attachment to the original Star Wars trilogy therefore.

Depressingly, I am curbing my enthusiasm for Star Wars IX until I get more intel.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at December 21, 2019 08:17 PM (Yfuhb)

25 Posted by: qdpsteve at December 21, 2019 08:11 PM (L2ZTs)

Ha! I think i burst a blood vessel in my lung (fighting a cold - laugh=cough)

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Not Paying Attention at December 21, 2019 08:17 PM (x8Wzq)

26 Pug, I love it too! Almost want to see it made into a real Hallmark Christmas movie...

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 21, 2019 08:17 PM (L2ZTs)

27 So at the end of Episode 9 will the ghost of Obi-wan - this is not the movie you are looking for. Will he?

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 21, 2019 08:17 PM (s9g5q)

28 I will be interested in what you think of Rambling Rose. TJM. I've never seen the movie, but I have read the novel.

And, for what it's worth, I used to know Calder Willingham's son, who let me see a lot of his dad's unfinished work.

Posted by: Mary Poppins'Practically Perfect Piercing at December 21, 2019 08:18 PM (Ki5SV)

29 qdpsteve has been posessed by the soul of saf.

Posted by: kallisto at December 21, 2019 08:18 PM (Lv3JC)

30 kallisto, uh whuh? ;-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 21, 2019 08:19 PM (L2ZTs)

31 Treance, new meaning to having wood?

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 21, 2019 08:19 PM (s9g5q)

32 Star Wars cured me of my contempt of Trekkies.

Posted by: Minuteman at December 21, 2019 08:20 PM (ZY3KJ)

33 Anna, I was thinking the same thing :-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 21, 2019 08:20 PM (L2ZTs)

34 *starts building altar to Angel Heavengod*

Eh, what could go wrong?

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Not Paying Attention at December 21, 2019 08:20 PM (x8Wzq)

35 I always liked "Damnation Alley" better.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at December 21, 2019 08:20 PM (Z+IKu)

36 The final Star Wars was spitting into the faces of Christians in Western Civilization. Rey SkyWalker (Male sun god replaced by Female sun god dies and is resurrected from the dead). These assholes who make this trash hate us and want us replaced.
*spit*

Posted by: squirrelly dan at December 21, 2019 08:21 PM (ghM7c)

37 TNT has the prequels running today. I used to be able to watch them but no more. TJM hit it on the head when he mentions the governmental scenes, they are boring. The prequels use so much CGI the are mostly cartoons. Anakin Skywalker is a whiny little shit.

Posted by: DR.WTF at December 21, 2019 08:21 PM (aS1PU)

38 I'm terrible to hang around unless I have an 18 year old Scotch in my hand, paid for by someone else.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the Force Schwartz at December 21, 2019 08:12 PM (zZbCU)

Someday, I hope, though I rather suspect we'd be talking past each other. You'd be raving about The Umbrellas of Cherbourg while I tried to convince you of the worth of A Florida Enchantment.

Posted by: Mary Poppins'Practically Perfect Piercing at December 21, 2019 08:21 PM (Ki5SV)

39 21. He may have been on Risperdal. OR he's mad in love with MJ, which gives a man bitch tits.

Posted by: kallisto at December 21, 2019 08:22 PM (Lv3JC)

40 I have absolutely nothing to add so I will just wish all you fans a very Merry Christmas.

Posted by: Ben Had at December 21, 2019 08:23 PM (hEt8h)

41 Joseph Campbell my ass, Star Wars is a genre mashup. It's a cowboy movie in space with WWII fighter and bombers and samurai.

The Jedi are Samurai, the Force is Zen.

The best thing to come out of it is Lucas and Spielberg raised money to buy Kurosawa a new movie, Kagemusha.

It was a silly, fluffy, B-movie unworthy of cult status.

No. 1 Son saw it today. If you backsass me I shall flood this thread with spoilers.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 21, 2019 08:23 PM (gd9RK)

42 There's nothing wrong with Star Wars that a couple more Mary Sue's and some more Trans-Sister Alien droids can't fix.

Posted by: Minuteman at December 21, 2019 08:23 PM (ZY3KJ)

43 I might have liked Jar Jar a smidge if he had once called Anakin Little Orphan Annie.

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 21, 2019 08:24 PM (s9g5q)

44 21 or like a lot of coaches who work night and day eats a lot of fast food on the run and is gaining weight.

Posted by: Skip at December 21, 2019 08:24 PM (ZCEU2)

45

The first Star Wars trilogy was enjoyable and groundbreaking for sci-fi movies. The prequel was excruciatingly boring and pointless. From what I've seen of the new ones they are a total pile of excrement.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 21, 2019 08:25 PM (Af6wc)

46 I'm terrible to hang around unless I have an 18 year old Scotch in my hand, paid for by someone else.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the Force Schwartz at December 21, 2019 08:12 PM (zZbCU)

If I could manage to get you and my brother in the same room, i would happily foot the bill for the fine scotch.

He is crazy fun to talk to about movies.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Not Paying Attention at December 21, 2019 08:25 PM (x8Wzq)

47 Muse

RE: The Front Page

I read Ben Hecht's autobio once. It was interesting, & funny as I recall, but... 50 years ago & I can't remember it very well now.

Posted by: mnw at December 21, 2019 08:25 PM (Cssks)

48 Very much liked the first three SW movies (4, 5, 6). Even wrote a defense of Vader that got published (unpaid, not even a contributor's copy) as a cover article in Famous Monsters of Filmland.

Hated the first prequel, and haven't seen any since.

Posted by: Empire1 at December 21, 2019 08:25 PM (udxwZ)

49 I can't even discuss the Billy Wilder movies because I've never seen 'Buddy Buddy' or 'Kiss Me Stupid'. Me go home now.

Posted by: kallisto at December 21, 2019 08:27 PM (Lv3JC)

50 I think what made I-III inferior to IV-VI was the fact that for whatever reason, the cast of the latter just "clicked". There was a definite fun factor to it. In I-III the acting was just so wooden and cringeworthy that there was no room for the same fun factor that IV-VI had. I don't hate the prequels, but they could have been much better.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at December 21, 2019 08:28 PM (Yfuhb)

51 "Anakin Skywalker is a whiny little shit."

He was an unlikeable character played by unlikeable actors. I liked him better in the first movie.

Posted by: freaked at December 21, 2019 08:28 PM (Tnijr)

52 Aping Christianity?

Episode Three look at how Amudala is dressed on her bier.

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 21, 2019 08:29 PM (s9g5q)

53 Hmph.

Disappointing.

Posted by: Shopgirl #PatrickIsMahomesie at December 21, 2019 08:29 PM (njGSv)

54
The first Star Wars movie was a novelty trifle inspired by old time serials show in movie theaters.
There was no compelling reason to keep going. Whatever worth the series had originally, ruin has long since set in, made complete by Disney's takeover, and trying to use the movies to ram woke politics down everyone's throat.

It didn't help that Frank Lucas announced several years ago that the heroic plucky rebels represented the Viet Cong, and the evil empire the United States. Retroactive ruin from the egotistical dwarf.

Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at December 21, 2019 08:29 PM (t5m5e)

55
There's nothing wrong with Star Wars that a couple more Mary Sue's and some more Trans-Sister Alien droids can't fix.

Posted by: Minuteman at December 21, 2019 08:23 PM (ZY3KJ)

Kathleen Kennedy: I'm on it!!!

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 21, 2019 08:29 PM (Af6wc)

56 Was hoping for some Christmas movie discussion as well

Posted by: Skip at December 21, 2019 08:29 PM (ZCEU2)

57 Unfortunately the only SW movie I saw in its entirety was the JarJar Binks one. Traumatic.
Posted by: kallisto at December 21, 2019 08:14 PM (Lv3JC)

That was the last one I watched, except in longform Youtube videos trashing the problems in them.

I had a similar thing with the first Mission Impossible. Jim Phelps the bad guy? I'm out.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 21, 2019 08:29 PM (eoQWY)

58 Unlike The Last Jedi there's no PC preaching/lecturing in Rise of Skywalker. The lesbian kiss that's been getting news is there, but it's brief and inconsequential. You are given a story, not a lecture on the proper approved thinking. Poe is given his manhood back. There are good guy white men and bad guy women and non-white men. The race and gender of all the heroes and villains are irrelevant as it should be. Animals are involved, but they're put to ingenious strategic use not vegan activism. You get to enjoy Star Wars being Star Wars. This movie shows what could have been.

Posted by: hadsil at December 21, 2019 08:30 PM (Wdt2K)

59 I read a bio of Billy Wilder, pretty comprehensive too. I can't remember either of those last 2 movies even being mentioned, altho they must've been.

Posted by: mnw at December 21, 2019 08:30 PM (Cssks)

60 Skip, I think it's already decided that the top five Christmas movies of all time, per the Horde, are:

1. Die Hard
2. A Christmas Story
3. It's A Wonderful Life
4. Miracle On 34th Street
5. [tie] National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation/Scrooged/1950s version of A Christmas Carol/A Charlie Brown Christmas

;-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 21, 2019 08:31 PM (L2ZTs)

61 The first Star Wars movie was a novelty trifle inspired by old time serials show in movie theaters.
There was no compelling reason to keep going. Whatever worth the series had originally, ruin has long since set in, made complete by Disney's takeover, and trying to use the movies to ram woke politics down everyone's throat.

It didn't help that Frank Lucas announced several years ago that the heroic plucky rebels represented the Viet Cong, and the evil empire the United States. Retroactive ruin from the egotistical dwarf.
Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at December 21, 2019 08:29 PM (t5m5e)

That is a lie. I had to suffer through dozens of oh-so-clever Vietnam War retellings in that era. They all used the same tropes without exception.

You might be able to claim the Ewoks vs Storm Troopers was, but not the Rebels vs Empire. And of course, the Ewoks were cannibals, not moral paragons.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 21, 2019 08:32 PM (eoQWY)

62 Star Wars, fabulous Stars Wars!

Posted by: Bill Murray at December 21, 2019 08:32 PM (a1s18)

63 40. Merry Christmas to you too BH!

Posted by: kallisto at December 21, 2019 08:32 PM (Lv3JC)

64 I determined a few threads ago A Wonderful Life and Die Hard were Christmas movies by getting the last word in they were.

Posted by: Skip at December 21, 2019 08:33 PM (ZCEU2)

65 Gremlins is a Christmas movie right?

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 21, 2019 08:33 PM (s9g5q)

66

Is Star Wars a Christmas movie?

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 08:33 PM (ODriZ)

67 Anna, yes it is actually.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 21, 2019 08:34 PM (L2ZTs)

68 Stalag 17 is a Christmas movie.

Posted by: freaked at December 21, 2019 08:34 PM (Tnijr)

69 I read a bio of Billy Wilder, pretty comprehensive too. I can't remember either of those last 2 movies even being mentioned, altho they must've been.
Posted by: mnw at December 21, 2019 08:30 PM (Cssks)

IMO, the best Wilder bio is On Sunset Boulevard:

https://tinyurl.com/tp6sr6t

Posted by: Mary Poppins'Practically Perfect Piercing at December 21, 2019 08:34 PM (Ki5SV)

70

What's your favorite Hanukah movies?

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 08:34 PM (ODriZ)

71 Now, Kagemusha did make it all worthwhile. And that begat Ran, which is indispensible.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 21, 2019 08:35 PM (gd9RK)

72 56 Was hoping for some Christmas movie discussion as well
Posted by: Skip at December 21, 2019 08:29 PM (ZCEU2)

Eyes Wide Shut.

Go!

Posted by: squirrelly dan at December 21, 2019 08:35 PM (ghM7c)

73 I guess Gremlins is a Christmas movie

Posted by: Skip at December 21, 2019 08:35 PM (ZCEU2)

74 >>Was hoping for some Christmas movie discussion as well
Posted by: Skip at December 21, 2019 08:29 PM (ZCEU2)

Miracle on 34th street. The original one.

Posted by: My life is insanity at December 21, 2019 08:36 PM (Z/jzm)

75 The best part of the first Star Wars movie (which I saw as a grownup) was the cantina band.

Posted by: Eromero at December 21, 2019 08:36 PM (UUkQp)

76 I read somewhere, a long time ago, that Lucas sort-of Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress," as the basis for the original "Star Wars." Anyone else read that?

Right after I read that, I rented "The Hidden Fortress." To me there are some similarities, particularly the two peasants who sort of behave like, and get into trouble like, C3PO and R2D2. I like "The Hidden Fortress," as I do all of Kurosawa's samurai films.

Posted by: Gref at December 21, 2019 08:36 PM (AMIL/)

77 Ford v Ferrari was a fantastic film....even with Matt damon..

Posted by: Builder Berg at December 21, 2019 08:36 PM (2PdcG)

78
Ghoulies is not the same movie as Goonies.

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 08:36 PM (ODriZ)

79 Skip, I think it's already decided that the top five Christmas movies of all time, per the Horde, are:

1. Die Hard
2. A Christmas Story
3. It's A Wonderful Life
4. Miracle On 34th Street
5. [tie] National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation/Scrooged/1950s version of A Christmas Carol/A Charlie Brown Christmas

;-)
Posted by: qdpsteve at December 21, 2019 08:31 PM (L2ZTs)

I hate It's A Wonderful Life. The only reason it gets so much love is that, like The Wizard of Oz, it got yuge cheap airplay to fill out holiday time when TV stations were looking for something to shove out.

Give me White Christmas any day.

Posted by: Mary Poppins'Practically Perfect Piercing at December 21, 2019 08:37 PM (Ki5SV)

80 I'm old enough to remember when Jar Jar Binks was the break out star of Good Times.

Ester Rolle and John Amos had to carry the show after he left for the Underwater world to work with a young James Earl "Basketball" Jones, much like Epstein (who didn't kill himself) and Whore Shack had to make Kotter feel welcome when John Trevolta stopped being a sweathog.

Posted by: Minuteman at December 21, 2019 08:37 PM (ZY3KJ)

81 **TOP FIVE MOST HORRIBLE UPCOMING HALLMARK CHRISTMAS MOVIES**

5. "Whoopi Goldberg's Christmas With The View"

4. "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer 2: Rudolph Questions Xis Gender"

3. "Santa's Got A Pantyhose Fetish" (co-produced by qdpsteve)

2. "A Hillary Clinton Christmas"

1. "The Year Christmas Made Everyone Gay"

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 21, 2019 08:37 PM (L2ZTs)

82
I watch the Star Wars Holiday Special on Christmas Eve. It's a new tradition for me. The rifftrax version.

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 08:37 PM (ODriZ)

83
I also watch the mst3k version of Santa Claus Conquers The Martians.

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 08:38 PM (ODriZ)

84 rumor has it disney secretly arranged for "cats" to be released at the same time as "star wars" to make sw look good.

Posted by: mjc at December 21, 2019 08:38 PM (Pg+x7)

85 I have only seen the first three, in the theater with a hot date. I refuse to watch the last three abominations. Besides everyone knows Han fired first and Epstein didn't kill himself.

Posted by: Larsen E. Whipsnade a fucking ray of sunshine at December 21, 2019 08:38 PM (bML9A)

86 OOPS - left out the word copied at the beginning of 76 - should read:

76 I read somewhere, a long time ago, that Lucas sort-of COPIED Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress," as the basis for the original "Star Wars." Anyone else read that?

Posted by: Gref at December 21, 2019 08:38 PM (AMIL/)

87 And I'm drunk off my fat, ugly ass, so I am going to bed.

See you all later.

Posted by: Mary Poppins'Practically Perfect Piercing at December 21, 2019 08:38 PM (Ki5SV)

88 I read Ben Hecht's autobio once. It was
interesting, funny as I recall, but... 50 years ago I can't
remember it very well now.
Posted by: mnw at December 21, 2019 08:25 PM (Cssks)

H. Allen Smith said in one of his books that when Hecht and MacArthur went to write for Paramount, they were given an office and a secretary. They tried to send the secretary back, but the front office insisted they have a secretary. They said they didn't want typing done and could answer the door on their own, but they were told they had to have a secretary. Finally they said they hated the company secretary and they wanted to hire their own, and the front office agreed.

So they hired a stripper from one of the nearby clubs to do nothing but sit naked at the front office to point visitors to the back office where they were working.

Posted by: Kindltot at December 21, 2019 08:39 PM (1glZx)

89
How 'Star Wars' was secretly George Lucas' Vietnam protest

https://nypost.com/2014/09/21/how-star-wars-was-secretly-george-lucas-protest-of-vietnam/

Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at December 21, 2019 08:39 PM (t5m5e)

90 Front Page. The remake of His Girl Friday - or vice versa?

Posted by: kallisto at December 21, 2019 08:39 PM (Lv3JC)

91 ... (actually, i just started that rumor.)

Posted by: mjc at December 21, 2019 08:39 PM (Pg+x7)

92 Diplomad liked Ford vs Ferrari as it kept politics out of it. That I want to see but don't get out to theaters to often.

Posted by: Skip at December 21, 2019 08:39 PM (ZCEU2)

93

Metropolitan - 1990. A great movie set during
Christmas break. It's very talky but they go into why traditions are
important and knocking on socialism without getting preachy about it. One of my favorite lines, "The cha-cha is no more ridiculous than life itself."

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 21, 2019 08:40 PM (Af6wc)

94 Joseph Campbell my ass, Star Wars is a genre mashup. It's a cowboy movie in space with WWII fighter and bombers and samurai.

The Jedi are Samurai, the Force is Zen.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 21, 2019 08:23 PM (gd9RK)

At least in the original movies, the Jedi are more like an order of Knights Templar. The are called knights, the fighting style and swords are western. Vader's helmet is much like an enclosed helm.

They aren't bound to a lord or mercenaries like Samurai. The fighting style is not slashing and dodging.

The prequels muddied things up, adding in chastity (ok for a monastic order) but also had them meddling in politics and somehow running military strategy. But at that time the world-building was collapsing around Lucas.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 21, 2019 08:40 PM (eoQWY)

95 >>Give me White Christmas any day.
Posted by: Mary Poppins'Practically Perfect Piercing at December 21, 2019 08:37 PM (Ki5SV)

I saw White Christmas for the first time last December. So neat. Mom enjoyed it. Plan is to watch it with her again, tomorrow.

Posted by: My life is insanity at December 21, 2019 08:40 PM (Z/jzm)

96 Best Christmas movie? Lady in the Lake. Lloyd Nolan, Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter.
Get Off My Lawn & Merry Christmas.0

Posted by: Monkfish at December 21, 2019 08:40 PM (a1s18)

97 38 I'm terrible to hang around unless I have an 18 year old Scotch in my hand, paid for by someone else.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the Force Schwartz at December 21, 2019 08:12 PM (zZbCU)

Someday, I hope, though I rather suspect we'd be talking past each other. You'd be raving about The Umbrellas of Cherbourg while I tried to convince you of the worth of A Florida Enchantment.
Posted by: Mary Poppins'Practically Perfect Piercing at December 21, 2019 08:21 PM (Ki5SV)

=========

Don't tell me that your opinion of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is anything less than stellar?!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the ~~Force~~ Schwartz at December 21, 2019 08:40 PM (zZbCU)

98 I read somewhere, a long time ago, that Lucas sort-of Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress," as the basis for the original "Star Wars." Anyone else read that?[/]

People have said that Leia was based on the princess from Hidden Fortress, but I don't see it.

(Do love Hidden Fortress, though).

Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 21, 2019 08:40 PM (gd9RK)

99 It's always weird how otherwise intelligent people can completely lose their bearings on certain things.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a dumpster fire of a movie before you even get to Rian Johnson urinating all over the franchise to make it his, as though anyone cared about Rian Johnson's version. It has two of the worst story lines in not just Star Wars but of all big budget franchises in general.

1. Finn essentially becoming Rose's sidekick for a whacky adventure on a casino planet that looked and felt like deleted scenes from a Men In Black movie.

2. Poe being made to look like an idiot because General Cocktail Dress refuses to tell him about her secret plan, even though there literally isn't one reason to keep it secret.

I mean, I get the Deep Space Nine impulse where you love something because it's "different" and "edgy" and what not but TLJ is just an objectively bad piece of cinema.

Mike

Posted by: MBunge at December 21, 2019 08:40 PM (7Nkan)

100 If you want world building, see The Chronicles of Riddick. The first movie, Pitch Black, was really good but it was kind of a vignette with just one story in one particular setting. Chronicles gives all kinds of details and (I love this) doesn't explain them, making them just part of the background. Those scanner guys, the Underverse, the ability to rip out a guy's soul and show it to him, etc. I haven't seen the third movie, Riddick, yet. I don't know why I haven't got around to it. Maybe I'm afraid it will let me down.

Posted by: Jim S. at December 21, 2019 08:41 PM (ynUnH)

101 85 I have only seen the first three, in the theater with a hot date. I refuse to watch the last three abominations. Besides everyone knows Han fired first and Epstein didn't kill himself.

Posted by: Larsen E. Whipsnade a fucking ray of sunshine at December 21, 2019 08:38 PM (bML9A)

I too have only watched the first three. I have no intention of watching any of the other six.

I have Harmy's Despecialized versions of the first three and plan to binge watch them on Christmas.

Posted by: Gref at December 21, 2019 08:41 PM (AMIL/)

102 34 *starts building altar to Angel Heavengod*

Eh, what could go wrong?

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Not Paying Attention at December 21, 2019 08:20 PM (x8Wzq)

Start a sex cult. I've decided that's my life ambition.

Posted by: Insomniac at December 21, 2019 08:41 PM (Ja0jR)

103 H. Allen Smith said in one of his books that when Hecht and MacArthur went to write for Paramount, they were given an office and a secretary.

Well, shit. I thought I was the only person who knew and read H. Allen Smith.

This place is a fucking national treasure.

Posted by: Mary Poppins'Practically Perfect Piercing at December 21, 2019 08:42 PM (Ki5SV)

104 58 Poe is given his manhood back.
Posted by: hadsil at December 21, 2019 08:30 PM (Wdt2K)

===========

It's not just that, but it's the continuation of Poe's intended journey in The Last Jedi.

In The Last Jedi, it feels like the message of Poe's journey is that he needs to blindly listen to superiors, but it is supposed to be about him growing into a leader, learning when to do something other than rush into action.

The Rise of Skywalker continues that.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the ~~Force~~ Schwartz at December 21, 2019 08:42 PM (zZbCU)

105 People have said that Leia was based on the princess from Hidden Fortress, but I don't see it.

(Do love Hidden Fortress, though).

Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 21, 2019 08:40 PM (gd9RK)

Same here.

Posted by: Gref at December 21, 2019 08:42 PM (AMIL/)

106 I read a blog artical once with the theory the Empire was the good guys and the rebels were not to be trusted.

Posted by: Skip at December 21, 2019 08:42 PM (ZCEU2)

107 Start a sex cult. I've decided that's my life ambition.
Posted by: Insomniac
-------

Pro Tip: Don't involve Bill Clinton

Posted by: Jeffery Epstein, who didn't kill himself at December 21, 2019 08:43 PM (yY5sN)

108 BEN Hecht's co-writer married Helen Hayes. Their son James was book 'em Danno.

Posted by: kallisto at December 21, 2019 08:43 PM (Lv3JC)

109
Here's a weird but good version of God Rest Ye Gentlemen by Annie Lennox.

A youtube commenter put it well: Annie Lennox perfectly combines the pagan and Christian themes of Christmas.

And that makes it weird for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlsJD8RlhbI

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 08:43 PM (ODriZ)

110 ruh roh

Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 21, 2019 08:43 PM (gd9RK)

111 76 I read somewhere, a long time ago, that Lucas sort-of Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress," as the basis for the original "Star Wars." Anyone else read that?

Right after I read that, I rented "The Hidden Fortress." To me there are some similarities, particularly the two peasants who sort of behave like, and get into trouble like, C3PO and R2D2. I like "The Hidden Fortress," as I do all of Kurosawa's samurai films.
Posted by: Gref at December 21, 2019 08:36 PM (AMIL/)

=========

It's the source of R2D2 and C3P0, as you say, but also the rescue the princess story.

It's kind of equal parts Joseph Campbell and Kurosawa, though I would say that Kurosawa is more of the dressing than the actual story, which is Campbell.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the ~~Force~~ Schwartz at December 21, 2019 08:44 PM (zZbCU)

112 Sorry but the rise of skywalker proves to me my view of Abrams. He doesn't have an original idea in his brain. The visuals are nice. And the Wedge Antilles cameo was about the only real big cool surprise to me. I always though the Xwing novels by Stackpole and then Allston could have made a great tv series.

The story is an absolute mess and the final destination of the fetch quest much of the story is based around is absolutely nonsensical.

Posted by: Buzzion at December 21, 2019 08:44 PM (pmBXt)

113 90 Front Page. The remake of His Girl Friday - or vice versa?
Posted by: kallisto at December 21, 2019 08:39 PM (Lv3JC)

=========

Both are really just adaptations of The Front Page the play.

His Girl Friday just makes Hildy a woman.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the ~~Force~~ Schwartz at December 21, 2019 08:45 PM (zZbCU)

114 Well, shit. I thought I was the only person who knew and read H. Allen Smith.

This place is a fucking national treasure.
Posted by: Mary Poppins'Practically Perfect Piercing at December 21, 2019 08:42 PM (Ki5SV)

His Life in a Putty Knife Factory is a brilliant book, all sorts of vignettes of being in New York in the 20's and 30's.

He was watching and covering the Harlem Renaissance and Burlesque without really mentioning that it was anything but exciting.

Posted by: Kindltot at December 21, 2019 08:46 PM (1glZx)

115 How 'Star Wars' was secretly George Lucas' Vietnam protest

https://nypost.com/2014/09/21/how-star-wars-was-secretly-george-lucas-protest-of-vietnam/

Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at December 21, 2019 08:39 PM (t5m5e)

I thought it was just Lucas ripping off and mixing and matching Flash Gordon serials, Marvel Comics, Kurosawa and John Ford movies.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 21, 2019 08:47 PM (Af6wc)

116 His Girl Friday > Front Page.

Posted by: Monkfish at December 21, 2019 08:47 PM (a1s18)

117 60 Skip, I think it's already decided that the top five Christmas movies of all time, per the Horde, are:

1. Die Hard
2. A Christmas Story
3. It's A Wonderful Life
4. Miracle On 34th Street
5. [tie] National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation/Scrooged/1950s version of A Christmas Carol/A Charlie Brown Christmas

;-)
Posted by: qdpsteve at December 21, 2019 08:31 PM (L2ZTs)

Actually, respectfully, I submit:

1. Die Hard
2. Die Hard 2
3. Lethal Weapon

(I have never understood the fascination with A Christmas Story.)

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at December 21, 2019 08:47 PM (Yfuhb)

118 76 I read somewhere, a long time ago, that Lucas sort-of Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress," as the basis for the original "Star Wars." Anyone else read that?

Right after I read that, I rented "The Hidden Fortress." To me there are some similarities, particularly the two peasants who sort of behave like, and get into trouble like, C3PO and R2D2. I like "The Hidden Fortress," as I do all of Kurosawa's samurai films.
Posted by: Gref at December 21, 2019 08:36 PM (AMIL/)

I read all of this a long time ago, I forget where, before the internet. So I guess it's true.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 21, 2019 08:47 PM (/FqKO)

119 Catch 33, no problem, 1-5 are my educated guess :-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 21, 2019 08:48 PM (L2ZTs)

120 In The Last Jedi, it feels like the message of Poe's journey is that he needs to blindly listen to superiors, but it is supposed to be about him growing into a leader, learning when to do something other than rush into action.

The Rise of Skywalker continues that.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the Force Schwartz at December 21, 2019 08:42 PM

Intended by whom? Apparenly not Rian Johnson, the scriptwriter.

There's a YT guy, Mauler, that has posted long critiques of the writing of this movie. Over and over he finds people doing their own personal scriptwriting to cover the holes in the LJ's script. If it isn't in the movie - it didn't happen.

What happens to Poe is that he gets crap even though he is routinely correct and measured in his assessments. He blew up the threat in the last movie and the first part of this one. Idiot superiors claiming he is reckless doesn't make it so.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 21, 2019 08:48 PM (eoQWY)

121
One could make the argument Star Wars an anti-Soviet film.

One could make all kinds of arguments on Star Wars.

But, it's just a kids movie.

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 08:48 PM (ODriZ)

122 A Christmas Story while not a favorite favorite is funny.

Posted by: Skip at December 21, 2019 08:49 PM (ZCEU2)

123 I thought it was just Lucas ripping off and mixing and matching Flash Gordon serials, Marvel Comics, Kurosawa and John Ford movies.
Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 21, 2019 08:47 PM (Af6wc)

---

It's a dessert topping and a protest.

Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at December 21, 2019 08:49 PM (t5m5e)

124 His Life in a Putty Knife Factory is a brilliant book, all sorts of vignettes of being in New York in the 20's and 30's.

He was watching and covering the Harlem Renaissance and Burlesque without really mentioning that it was anything but exciting.
Posted by: Kindltot at December 21, 2019 08:46 PM (1glZx)

I should mention it on the book thread tomorrow.

And now I must really go to bed. There's a new bio out about the muse / tramp Alma Mahler, and I need to dream about slowly unbuttoning her dress:

https://tinyurl.com/tp6sr6t

Posted by: Mary Poppins'Practically Perfect Piercing at December 21, 2019 08:49 PM (Ki5SV)

125 have knowledge of

{X} kangxi porcelain

{X}black forest carvings

{X} brussels tapestries

{X} chinese clobberware

{ } Star Wars

Posted by: REDACTED at December 21, 2019 08:50 PM (rpxSz)

126 The secret in His Girl Friday with the continued overlapping banter (or so I am told by those who supposedly know) is that all the useful dialogue is in the middle of each line, sandwiched in with null intros and fade offs, so the lines can overlap each other without loosing information or being unintelligible.

Absofreakinglutely brilliant, I never noticed it until I had it pointed out to me.

Posted by: Kindltot at December 21, 2019 08:50 PM (1glZx)

127 a) Star Wars sucks.

II) Movie sequels should be a death penalty offense.

3) Star Wars really sucks.

Posted by: mikeyG is going into the chrysallis at December 21, 2019 08:50 PM (K/Gmb)

128 gene roddenberry's son made a documentary on his father and "star trek" ("trek nation") and got an audience with george lucas. lucas didn't really acknowledge any influence of "star wars", but said "star trek" was a western and "star wars" was an opera.

(i think.)

Posted by: mjc at December 21, 2019 08:50 PM (Pg+x7)

129 The Quiet Man, George Lucas starts off his first feature film, THX 1138, with an *actual clip* of a Flash Gordon serial episode.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 21, 2019 08:50 PM (L2ZTs)

130 qdpsteve: number 3 on ur list sounds promising

Posted by: kallisto at December 21, 2019 08:50 PM (Lv3JC)

131 03 H. Allen Smith said in one of his books that when Hecht and MacArthur went to write for Paramount, they were given an office and a secretary.
Well, shit. I thought I was the only person who knew and read H. Allen Smith.

This place is a fucking national treasure.
Posted by: Mary Poppins'Practically Perfect Piercing at December 21, 2019 08:42 PM (Ki5SV)

The Compleat Practical Joker. I still remember the shenanigans he wrote about, like the "drunk room" this guy had set up, everything, even the furniture, was upside down, so when one of his party guests got too drunk and passed out, they took him to that room and he woke up near a light fixture on the ceiling.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 21, 2019 08:50 PM (/FqKO)

132 One could make the argument Star Wars an anti-Soviet film.

One could make all kinds of arguments on Star Wars.

But, it's just a kids movie.
Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 08:48 PM (ODriZ)

Well the framing of the basic history is obviously Ancient Rome. Republic - fall of Republic - Empire.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 21, 2019 08:51 PM (eoQWY)

133 I read somewhere, a long time ago, that Lucas sort-of Kurosawa's "The
Hidden Fortress," as the basis for the original "Star Wars." Anyone
else read that?

I have too but he was really lifting from a lot of sources. Darth Vader was Doctor Doom from Marvel Comics. The scene where Luke finds his aunt and uncle killed was lifted from The Searchers

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 21, 2019 08:51 PM (Af6wc)

134 103 H. Allen Smith said in one of his books that when Hecht and MacArthur went to write for Paramount, they were given an office and a secretary.

Well, shit. I thought I was the only person who knew and read H. Allen Smith.

This place is a fucking national treasure.
Posted by: Mary Poppins'Practically Perfect Piercing at December 21, 2019 08:42 PM (Ki5SV)

How to Write Without Knowing Nothing was highly influential for me.

Posted by: Insomniac at December 21, 2019 08:51 PM (Ja0jR)

135 120
What happens to Poe is that he gets crap even though he is routinely correct and measured in his assessments. He blew up the threat in the last movie and the first part of this one. Idiot superiors claiming he is reckless doesn't make it so.
Posted by: Oldcat at December 21, 2019 08:48 PM (eoQWY)

==========

The problem is that Poe is up against Vice Admiral Holdo, the worst written character in Star Wars, so everything gets muddled.

However, if you compare Leia's dressing down of him at the beginning of the film (you have to learn that leadership is about more than rushing in) and Poe realizing what Luke is doing at the end (giving them an opportunity to escape), you see what the intention is.

But the connective tissue is all reactions to Holdo, who's terrible, so the journey doesn't actually work.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the ~~Force~~ Schwartz at December 21, 2019 08:51 PM (zZbCU)

136 Not far behind you, MPPPP.

Posted by: Infidel at December 21, 2019 08:51 PM (MTxDQ)

137 kallisto, "Santa's Got A Pantyhose Fetish"?

Well but hey, I already have the plot down. Santa's always obsessed on Christmas Eve with stockings, and one year he's so cold he has to "borrow" Mrs Claus' hosiery to keep warm... ;-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 21, 2019 08:52 PM (L2ZTs)

138 Apparently there are 37 similarities between Dune and Star Wars. Frank Herbert himself said so.

Posted by: Northernlurker, still lurking after all these years at December 21, 2019 08:52 PM (Uu+Jp)

139 And now I must really go to bed. There's a new bio
out about the muse / tramp Alma Mahler, and I need to dream about slowly
unbuttoning her dress:

https://tinyurl.com/tp6sr6t
Posted by: Mary Poppins'Practically Perfect Piercing at December 21, 2019 08:49 PM (Ki5SV)

ooh!

Tom Leher's Alma

https://youtu.be/QL6KgbrGSKQ

Posted by: Kindltot at December 21, 2019 08:52 PM (1glZx)

140 Hey, when is the Universal follow up to The Mummy coming out? I really want to see more of that Dr. Jeckell character take on the Tom Cruise Mummy.

Anybody with me on that?

I'll probably camp out at the movie theater to make sute I get a ticket to a good seat.

Posted by: Minuteman at December 21, 2019 08:53 PM (ZY3KJ)

141
Star Wars is a space movie about the American Revolution.
Fight me!

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 08:53 PM (ODriZ)

142

Thesis: Star Wars is about OPEC in the '70's.

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 08:53 PM (ODriZ)

143 Those Necromongers seemed very islamic.

Posted by: davidt at December 21, 2019 08:53 PM (l3+k2)

144 Anyone seen The Irishman?

Posted by: Cannibal Bob 'it's an eating disorder!' at December 21, 2019 08:54 PM (VqhL9)

145
I have too but he was really lifting from a lot of sources. Darth Vader was Doctor Doom from Marvel Comics. The scene where Luke finds his aunt and uncle killed was lifted from The Searchers

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 21, 2019 08:51 PM (Af6wc)

Aha! I hadn't made those connections but I see them now. Thanks.

Posted by: Gref at December 21, 2019 08:54 PM (AMIL/)

146 Top 5 Christmas movies:
5. White Christmas
4. The Shop Around the Corner
3. The Bishop's Wife
2. Meet me in St. Louis
1. A Christmas Story

I don't understand people's fascination with Die Hard as a Christmas movie.

Posted by: Abby at December 21, 2019 08:54 PM (lIg0U)

147
You might be able to claim the Ewoks vs Storm Troopers was, but not the Rebels vs Empire. And of course, the Ewoks were cannibals, not moral paragons.
Posted by: Oldcat at December 21, 2019 08:

The Ewoks weren't cannibals. They were going to eat Han Luke and Chewie. Not other Ewoks. I still imagine Lando arriving at the celebration and the first thing Han tells him is "don't eat the meat, stick to friuits and vegetables." Afterall what do you think they did with all those stormtroopers whose helmets they used for drums.

Posted by: Buzzion at December 21, 2019 08:54 PM (pmBXt)

148 Christmas, with all its glitz and glitter, is prolly the gayest holiday. But a strong case could be made for Hallowe'en, with the wearin' o' the drag.

Posted by: kallisto at December 21, 2019 08:54 PM (Lv3JC)

149 Oh hey Movie Thread!

Yeah, I enjoyed "Rise of Skywalker". It may not bear repeated viewing like the original trilogy but it had real heart. The one thing I liked about this trio of films, even in the excrevescent Last Jedi, was the bond between Kylo and Rey, now so strong that there is actual material transference and bilocation.

On a shallow note, did anyone else notice how many ugly people there were in this flick, like they were being excessively inclusive?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 21, 2019 08:54 PM (Dc2NZ)

150 Term limits for James Bonds.
Posted by: BourbonChicken at December 21, 2019 08:07 PM (LxTcq)

Termination limits for James Bond!

-
Well, he only lived twice.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 21, 2019 08:54 PM (+y/Ru)

151
I'll bet my left nut many-a-papers are written in college positing
Star Wars is about palestians and Israel.

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 08:55 PM (ODriZ)

152 149 On a shallow note, did anyone else notice how many ugly people there were in this flick, like they were being excessively inclusive?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 21, 2019 08:54 PM (Dc2NZ)

=========

And the prettiest one got hidden behind a mask. Keri Russell, who was all made up under that mask she never took off.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the ~~Force~~ Schwartz at December 21, 2019 08:55 PM (zZbCU)

153 Abby, I watched Goodbye Mr. Chips today. have some of yours listed set to record.

Posted by: Infidel at December 21, 2019 08:55 PM (MTxDQ)

154 However, if you compare Leia's dressing down of him at the beginning of the film (you have to learn that leadership is about more than rushing in) and Poe realizing what Luke is doing at the end (giving them an opportunity to escape), you see what the intention is.

But the connective tissue is all reactions to Holdo, who's terrible, so the journey doesn't actually work.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the Force Schwartz at December 21, 2019 08:51 PM (zZbCU)

But he didn't rush in. He disabled the Flak for the bombers, and the bombers that followed blew up the ship that was going to kill them all. Not his fault that the bombers were slow as molasses and made of cardboard so Rian could gets some WWII hardon satisfied.

The bombers being there was part of someone's plan, since they took a long time to reach Poe's position. Leia could have called them back at any time, or not ordered the attack in the first place.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 21, 2019 08:56 PM (eoQWY)

155 144 Anyone seen The Irishman?
Posted by: Cannibal Bob 'it's an eating disorder!' at December 21, 2019 08:54 PM (VqhL9)

Ambien, The Movie.

Posted by: squirrelly dan at December 21, 2019 08:56 PM (ghM7c)

156 Since Vader is Dutch for father I've always wondered how a Dutch audience would react to Luke I am you Vader.

I mean, yeah, you've said that all along.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 21, 2019 08:57 PM (gd9RK)

157 dan, true.

Gangster movies seem to be well past their sell-by date, plus there's already so many great ones I'm not sure we need any more.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 21, 2019 08:57 PM (L2ZTs)

158 iirc, some time after "return of the jedi" lucas said the first three movies were about father and son, but the next trilogy would be about son and mother.

many years passed.

(i think)

Posted by: mjc at December 21, 2019 08:58 PM (Pg+x7)

159 Bander, the story is that George still had a lot of residual anger against his own father at the time he was writing Star Wars.

I guess it was a situation where George's dad wanted him to come work for his office supply company rather than do anything creative, and George couldn't imagine doing anything worse or more boring for a living...

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 21, 2019 08:58 PM (L2ZTs)

160 The anti-GW Bush in the prequels was way too heavy-handed.

Posted by: davidt at December 21, 2019 08:59 PM (l3+k2)

161 gene roddenberry's son made a documentary on his father and "star trek" ("trek nation") and got an audience with george lucas. lucas didn't really acknowledge any influence of "star wars", but said "star trek" was a western and "star wars" was an opera.

(i think.)
Posted by: mjc at December 21, 2019 08:50 PM (Pg+x7)

Roddenberry's pitch talk for the studio brass for Star Trek was "Wagon Train to the Stars". With Westerns dominating TV, you could not stray too far.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 21, 2019 08:59 PM (eoQWY)

162 Ambien, The Movie.

Posted by: squirrelly dan at December 21, 2019 08:56 PM (ghM7c)

Lol. Hot it.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob 'it's an eating disorder!' at December 21, 2019 09:00 PM (VqhL9)

163 113. His Girl Friday - the first Woke movie!

Posted by: kallisto at December 21, 2019 09:00 PM (Lv3JC)

164 Got. Damn.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob 'it's an eating disorder!' at December 21, 2019 09:00 PM (VqhL9)

165 iirc, some time after "return of the jedi" lucas said the first three movies were about father and son, but the next trilogy would be about son and mother.

many years passed.

(i think)
Posted by: mjc at December 21, 2019 08:58 PM (Pg+x7)

Mom gets abandoned to slavery in the first prequel movie, for no particular reason.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 21, 2019 09:00 PM (eoQWY)

166 Oldcat, I love that Lucille Ball, of all people, really fought to get Star Trek on the air. I doubt she personally knew anything about sci-fi beyond Buck Rogers.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 21, 2019 09:00 PM (L2ZTs)

167 Vanity Fair has a great photo of Chewie, Lando, and Poe in the Millennium Falcon.

That is the movie I want to see. No Death Stars, just space pirates and adventure.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 21, 2019 09:01 PM (Dc2NZ)

168 His Girl Friday - the first Woke movie!
Posted by: kallisto at December 21, 2019 09:00 PM (Lv3JC)

Maybe, but I like Rosalind Russell.

Posted by: DR.WTF at December 21, 2019 09:01 PM (aS1PU)

169 TOP FIVE MOST HORRIBLE UPCOMING HALLMARK CHRISTMAS MOVIES**

5. "Whoopi Goldberg's Christmas With The View"

4. "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer 2: Rudolph Questions Xis Gender"

3. "Santa's Got A Pantyhose Fetish" (co-produced by qdpsteve)

2. "A Hillary Clinton Christmas"

1. "The Year Christmas Made Everyone Gay"

-
Reminds me of this.

https://bit.ly/2ZgaW0x

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 21, 2019 09:01 PM (+y/Ru)

170 161: roddenberry wrote some episodes of "have gun, will travel".

Posted by: mjc at December 21, 2019 09:01 PM (Pg+x7)

171 Rogue One is let down by its villain, because Krennic was the village idiot. In the first five minutes of the film we see the elder Erso witness what was essentially the execution of his wife and experience the forced abandonment of his only child.

And to this, over the course of two decades he never thinks, "hey, this guy really has cause to want to fuck up my world, but nah- I'm gonna give him carte blanche with the development of a planet-shattering god gun. What could possibly go wrong?"

Galen Erso is the very definition of "trust but verify". And Krennik got what he deserved not because of his hubris, but because he was an imbecile.

Posted by: Fringe at December 21, 2019 09:02 PM (vx54i)

172 Anon, LOL and true!

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 21, 2019 09:02 PM (L2ZTs)

173 Galen Erso is the very definition of "trust but verify". And Krennik got what he deserved not because of his hubris, but because he was an imbecile.
Posted by: Fringe at December 21, 2019 09:02 PM (vx54i)

Krennik has to mean weasel in some language.

Posted by: DR.WTF at December 21, 2019 09:03 PM (aS1PU)

174 The anti-GW Bush in the prequels was way too heavy-handed.
Posted by: davidt at December 21, 2019 08:59 PM (l3+k2)

The woozy mystic "Force" was very appropriate to the 70s. Swapping in the pseudo-science of "Miticholrians" was a huge break with that part of the world. So presumably you could do blood drives, suck out the Force Juice, and put it all in one guy to get a super soldier.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 21, 2019 09:03 PM (eoQWY)

175 mjc, I read that between the end of Star Trek and the first Trek movie, Roddenberry worked on some really oddball projects.

He even tried writing and directing a romantic comedy flick.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 21, 2019 09:04 PM (L2ZTs)

176 Harrison Ford appears as Han Solo in the new one. They don't resurrect him, he just comes back as a vision through the Force.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 21, 2019 09:04 PM (gd9RK)

177 176 Harrison Ford appears as Han Solo in the new one. They don't resurrect him, he just comes back as a vision through the Force.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 21, 2019 09:04 PM (gd9RK)

==========

I think it's just supposed to be Kylo Ren remembering his father, not Force related. Solo even says that he's just a memory, Ben's memory.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the ~~Force~~ Schwartz at December 21, 2019 09:05 PM (zZbCU)

178 Easy to make Obi wan movie. Western/samurai movie. Obi Wan has become jaded and sworn off the Force. He winds up getting involved with a Tatooine settlement that need help from some bandits. So he's helping them and finds out they did something that pisses him off and just confirms his decision to become a recluse and leave them to their fate. Going back to his home he encounters a little boy being pursued by a krayt dragon. The only way he can save him is to reopen himself to the Force. The boy is Luke. He brings him home and Uncle Owen tells him to stay away and that he can have nothing to do with Luke. But he realizes the Force has still been guiding him this whole time including leaving the village so he could save Luke. So he goes back and saves the village from the bandits/raiders.

This idea is better than anything that Kathleen Kennedy would have ever approved for an Obi Wan movie.

Posted by: Buzzion at December 21, 2019 09:05 PM (pmBXt)

179 And for the record, the best Christmas special is The Mandalorian, episode 3:

Father figure secrets away powerful child to foreign lands to protect him from persecution and death.

Doesn't get more Joseph than that.

Posted by: Fringe at December 21, 2019 09:05 PM (vx54i)

180 There was some rumbling about Finn suddenly being Force-sensitive, but I think this is a nice course-correction back to the Force being woven into the fabric of everything and accessible to anyone, rather than the awful "royal blood" aspect in the prequels.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 21, 2019 09:06 PM (Dc2NZ)

181 Galen Erso is the very definition of "trust but verify". And Krennik got what he deserved not because of his hubris, but because he was an imbecile.
Posted by: Fringe at December 21, 2019 09:02 PM (vx54i)

And then, his "revenge" is a pipeway that might well have been bent just due to construction revisions, rather than some short in the planet busting software that blows the thing up before destroying a world.

Remember it took the force and Luke Skywalker to make it blow up *with* his sabotage.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 21, 2019 09:07 PM (eoQWY)

182 I think it's just supposed to be Kylo Ren remembering his father, not Force related. Solo even says that he's just a memory, Ben's memory.

I haven't seen it. I'm just going to start dropping spoilers based on what No. 1 Son told me.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 21, 2019 09:07 PM (gd9RK)

183 Has anybody seen "Dolemite Is My Name"?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 21, 2019 09:08 PM (Dc2NZ)

184 180 There was some rumbling about Finn suddenly being Force-sensitive, but I think this is a nice course-correction back to the Force being woven into the fabric of everything and accessible to anyone, rather than the awful "royal blood" aspect in the prequels.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 21, 2019 09:06 PM (Dc2NZ)

===========

That was the point of Rey's parents being nobodies in The Last Jedi.

And then they made her Palpatine's granddaughter in The Rise of Skywalker, so they moved that anyone can be Force sensitive bit to Finn, which is kinda weird in how it's handled and so suddenly introduced so late in the whole trilogy. I'm okay with it in general, though.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the ~~Force~~ Schwartz at December 21, 2019 09:08 PM (zZbCU)

185 182 I think it's just supposed to be Kylo Ren remembering his father, not Force related. Solo even says that he's just a memory, Ben's memory.

I haven't seen it. I'm just going to start dropping spoilers based on what No. 1 Son told me.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 21, 2019 09:07 PM (gd9RK)

=========

I spoiled myself thoroughly before I saw it, and I'm glad I did.

The surprises weren't that surprising, and the movie's so chock full of stuff that knowing half of what happens before going in made absorbing everything a bit easier.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the ~~Force~~ Schwartz at December 21, 2019 09:09 PM (zZbCU)

186
Is Trading Places a Christmas movie?

btw, can you believe that movie is almost 35 years old?

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 09:09 PM (ODriZ)

187 One of the weird things to me about the new Star Wars movies is how they go about selling them. They'll spend a bazillian bucks on advertisement and then send out these unlikable dorks like JJ Abrams, that Kennedy woman and this new director to piss everyone off. Who decided to send these people out there? And to keep sending them out there? Orson Welles was a bit of a narcissistic asshole but he knew how to be entertaining when selling something.

Posted by: lowandslow at December 21, 2019 09:10 PM (4thlk)

188 ===========

That was the point of Rey's parents being nobodies in The Last Jedi.

And then they made her Palpatine's granddaughter in The Rise of Skywalker, so they moved that anyone can be Force sensitive bit to Finn, which is kinda weird in how it's handled and so suddenly introduced so late in the whole trilogy. I'm okay with it in general, though.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the Force Schwartz at December 21, 2019 09:08 PM (zZbCU)

The only source for this is Kylo Ren. How the hell would he know anything, or be trusted if he had? He wasn't there, wasn't in the First Order at that time.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 21, 2019 09:10 PM (eoQWY)

189 Poor Palpatine! He creates Annakin/Vader and he turns to the light side, and then his own flesh and blood, Rey, can't be turned to the Dark Side.

Kids!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 21, 2019 09:11 PM (Dc2NZ)

190 Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 21, 2019 09:04 PM (gd9RK)

Here's a thought. Don't be a dick to people about spoiling shit. Even if it was a crap plot you don't have to do garbage like this just to act like you've got a big internet dick and are above silly movies like this.

Prick.

Posted by: Buzzion at December 21, 2019 09:11 PM (pmBXt)

191 Should turn it off before the ONT comes up, besides someone has to be up posting at it's end.
Good night horde.

Posted by: Skip at December 21, 2019 09:12 PM (ZCEU2)

192 188 The only source for this is Kylo Ren. How the hell would he know anything, or be trusted if he had? He wasn't there, wasn't in the First Order at that time.
Posted by: Oldcat at December 21, 2019 09:10 PM (eoQWY)

==========

"Through the Force, things you will see. Other places. The future, the past. Old friends long gone."
-Yoda

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the ~~Force~~ Schwartz at December 21, 2019 09:12 PM (zZbCU)

193 Is Trading Places a Christmas movie?

Trading Places' Jamie Lee Curtis is in a tie with the best Rack to Frame* in movie history. The tie is with Sophia Loren in Era Lui, Si, Si!, of which unfortunately only still photos exist.

*(the best movie tits isn't about the tits, but how they fit the frame they're attached to).

Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 21, 2019 09:13 PM (gd9RK)

194 I feel like I watched different Star Wars movies then TheJamesMadison here - at least after the original trilogy.

The sequels? Boring. The characters are flat out stupid. The plot makes no sense. If Lucas wasn't a worthless hack by this point he would have slowly revealed the "secessionists" were really the good guys, trying to get out of a corrupt "republic" really ruled by religious extremists (the Jedi) - and then have the Jedi done in, ultimately, by their unwillingness to let the "secessionists" go.

The most recent movies? Probably the best is Rogue One....but that is just a less talented copy of the first Star Wars movie. Oh and the villains are idiots.

Out of the rest I'll say the FX are top notch.And that is about the only good thing. Obviously the screenwriters were trying to make sure to check all the right politically correct boxes missing only on two counts - Mary Sue Rey should have been black, and there really need a tranny in their somewhere.

Posted by: 18-1 at December 21, 2019 09:13 PM (WdocV)

195 Really don't think spoilers without a notice that your are going to talk spoilers are appropriate on opening weekend. Even if it is for one of Evil Disney's movies.

Have some decency for your fellow morons.

Posted by: Buzzion at December 21, 2019 09:14 PM (pmBXt)

196 One of the weird things to me about the new Star Wars movies is how they go about selling them. They'll spend a bazillian bucks on advertisement and then send out these unlikable dorks like JJ Abrams, that Kennedy woman and this new director to piss everyone off. Who decided to send these people out there? And to keep sending them out there? Orson Welles was a bit of a narcissistic asshole but he knew how to be entertaining when selling something.
Posted by: lowandslow at December 21, 2019 09:10 PM (4thlk)

This is wokeness spreading into the corporate world. The real story of Star Wars is that they can't actually do the mechanical part of writing a plot and story and character that makes sense, whether they are some woke avatar or not. Plenty of authors have written stories that don't fit your beliefs but you like them anyway. Sometimes they even write one that fit their own beliefs! But when you can't string a plot or character together to save your life, no chrome can save you.

For the woke, though, the failure is in the audience not in themselves.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 21, 2019 09:14 PM (eoQWY)

197 193 Is Trading Places a Christmas movie?

Trading Places' Jamie Lee Curtis is in a tie with the best Rack to Frame* in movie history. The tie is with Sophia Loren in Era Lui, Si, Si!, of which unfortunately only still photos exist.

*(the best movie tits isn't about the tits, but how they fit the frame they're attached to).
Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 21, 2019 09:13 PM (gd9RK)

Tits On A Dude: The Jamie Lee Curtis Story.

Posted by: squirrelly dan at December 21, 2019 09:15 PM (ghM7c)

198 Jebuz, buzzion, that was a pretty mild spoiler. I'm having fun with the notion of spoilers.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 21, 2019 09:15 PM (gd9RK)

199 Easy to make Obi wan movie. Western/samurai movie. Obi Wan has become jaded and sworn off the Force. He winds up getting involved with a Tatooine settlement that need help from some bandits. So he's helping them and finds out they did something that pisses him off and just confirms his decision to become a recluse and leave them to their fate. Going back to his home he encounters a little boy being pursued by a krayt dragon. The only way he can save him is to reopen himself to the Force. The boy is Luke. He brings him home and Uncle Owen tells him to stay away and that he can have nothing to do with Luke. But he realizes the Force has still been guiding him this whole time including leaving the village so he could save Luke. So he goes back and saves the village from the bandits/raiders.

Interesting. Since it's a samurai movie you could have Obi Wan captured by the Japanese and build a bridge for them. (whistles Col. Bogey's March)

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 21, 2019 09:16 PM (Af6wc)

200 198 Jebuz, buzzion, that was a pretty mild spoiler. I'm having fun with the notion of spoilers.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 21, 2019 09:15 PM (gd9RK)

==========

Qui Gon Ginn comes back and stabs Kylo Ren in the back while Rey professes her love for Rose Tico.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the ~~Force~~ Schwartz at December 21, 2019 09:16 PM (zZbCU)

201 I dunno, man.

I think The Mandalorian makes a bitchin' Spaghetti Western

https://youtu.be/SWJrG3Ua5Kk

Posted by: Kindltot at December 21, 2019 09:17 PM (1glZx)

202 okay, so the nytimes reviews of any movie don't determine anything, but i read this excerpt from a.o.scott's times review of this last star wars at another blog and thought it was quite a takedown of abrams:

"abrams is too slick and shallow a filmmaker to endow the dramas... with their full moral and metaphysical weight. at the same time, his pseudo-visionary self-importance won't allow him to surrender to whimsy or mischief. the struggle of good against evil feels less like a cosmic battle than a longstanding sports rivalry between teams whose glory days are receding."

Posted by: mjc at December 21, 2019 09:18 PM (Pg+x7)

203 "Through the Force, things you will see. Other places. The future, the past. Old friends long gone."
-Yoda
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the Force Schwartz at December 21, 2019 09:12 PM (zZbCU)

Maybe then he should have viewed Poe blowing up his deathstars and major ships rather than some dolts dumping their kid.

And then, of course, if he had gotten an insight , then he lied to her about it. And again, you are using other information to explain Rian's bad writing. If he had a vision, the movie should have showed it to us in his head.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 21, 2019 09:18 PM (eoQWY)

204 I like A.O. Scott. The New York Times of my youth has gone absolutely down the shitter, but I still like and trust their movie reviews.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 21, 2019 09:19 PM (gd9RK)

205 197 squirrels dan "tits are about how they fit the frame they're attached to...'

i know someone who met raquel welch in her prime and he said her breasts weren't that big but they seemed big because she's really short.

Posted by: mjc at December 21, 2019 09:21 PM (Pg+x7)

206 White People killing Jaws with their underwater cages.

https://m.worldstarhiphop.com/apple/ video.php?v=wshhl12TUhAHyu4Z4kDX

Posted by: squirrelly dan at December 21, 2019 09:21 PM (ghM7c)

207 I like A.O. Scott. The New York Times of my youth has gone absolutely
down the shitter, but I still like and trust their movie reviews.
***

The old left was at least somewhat rational. The new left, which controls the Times in addition to much of the culture celebrates what a few short years ago almost everyone would have called insanity.

Posted by: 18-1 at December 21, 2019 09:22 PM (WdocV)

208 Maybe then he should have viewed Poe blowing up his deathstars and major ships rather than some dolts dumping their kid.

***

For how much power the Jedi/Sith supposedly have they sure do use it stupidly.

Posted by: 18-1 at December 21, 2019 09:22 PM (WdocV)

209 Interesting. Since it's a samurai movie you could have Obi Wan captured by the Japanese and build a bridge for them. (whistles Col. Bogey's March)
Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 21, 2019 09:16 PM (Af6wc)

The Han Solo movie did have a Space-Train. A bit strange when you can lift Star Destroyers with no fuel (until the last Jedi) but it is Canon.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 21, 2019 09:23 PM (eoQWY)

210 I saw Knives Out and quite liked it. Liked it so much I went looking for other Christie-esque murder in country bouses of the rich movies. I found The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher which I also quite liked (although, unlike Knives, there was no humor). Based on a true story, a Victorian detective becomes obsessed with murder of an aristocrat's three year old son. Apparently there was a series made of the fictional further adventures of Whicher. I watch one of those but it wasn't nearly as good.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 21, 2019 09:25 PM (+y/Ru)

211 I watched "Resolution," made by the same folks who made the highly recommended "The Endless." It mostly seems like a dry run for "The Endless" but it's pretty imaginative and I'd recommend it. The main difference is that the characters in "The Endless" were good and relatable, and here they are (for the most part) terrible people.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at December 21, 2019 09:25 PM (l9m7l)

212 And then, of course, if he had gotten an insight , then he lied to her about it. And again, you are using other information to explain Rian's bad writing. If he had a vision, the movie should have showed it to us in his head.
Posted by: Oldcat at December 21, 2019 09:18 PM

Didn't Abrams and the writers originally layout a plan for all three movies? And then Rian came along and decided he wanted to take a massive dump on that and Kennedy let him. So episode IX is a Abrams trying to get his episode 8 and 9 into a single movie?

Posted by: Buzzion at December 21, 2019 09:25 PM (pmBXt)

213 I was finishing college when
Star Wars ANew Hope came out. I think I went to see it 25 times.

Posted by: Archer at December 21, 2019 09:25 PM (4t+h0)

214 but it is Canon.

I have a Canon. A-1. One of the best 35mm SLRs.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 21, 2019 09:25 PM (gd9RK)

215
Anyone remember this Star Wars album?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ3kV3Icm28

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 09:26 PM (rMEXe)

216 211 I watched "Resolution," made by the same folks who made the highly recommended "The Endless." It mostly seems like a dry run for "The Endless" but it's pretty imaginative and I'd recommend it. The main difference is that the characters in "The Endless" were good and relatable, and here they are (for the most part) terrible people.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at December 21, 2019 09:25 PM (l9m7l)

==========

I've yet to see Resolution, but I have seen Spring. It's pretty good, a weird little romance between a man and an eternal woman who kind of becomes a squid every twenty years.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, Strong with the ~~Force~~ Schwartz at December 21, 2019 09:26 PM (zZbCU)

217 Saw Jumanji, The Next Level with my daughter last weekend. Wow, what a hot pile of steaming crap that was. I'm enjoying going to the theater less and less. We saw it at one of the dinner theatre places and the ridiculous pricing on all of it made it that much more painful.

Posted by: Jarhead87 at December 21, 2019 09:26 PM (6gPPJ)

218

btw, whoever did the Bill Murray 'ment above, bravo!

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 09:27 PM (rMEXe)

219 Was hoping for some Christmas movie discussion as well
Posted by: Skip at December 21, 2019 08:29 PM (ZCEU2)

Empire Strikes Back opens in the snow
snow = winter
winter = Christmas
Empire Strikes Back = Christmas Movie

Posted by: JC. Just JC. at December 21, 2019 09:27 PM (377Zs)

220 211 I watched "Resolution," made by the same folks who made the highly recommended "The Endless." It mostly seems like a dry run for "The Endless" but it's pretty imaginative and I'd recommend it. The main difference is that the characters in "The Endless" were good and relatable, and here they are (for the most part) terrible people.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at December 21, 2019 09:25 PM (l9m7l)
---
I really liked those! Glad I saw "The Endless" first.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 21, 2019 09:28 PM (Dc2NZ)

221 I watched "Resolution," made by the same folks who made the highly
recommended "The Endless." It mostly seems like a dry run for "The
Endless"
***

IIRC it is considered to be in the same universe/location as The Endless. It isn't just a dry run - but another group of people stuck in the same place...

And for anyone that hasn't see The Endless it is a truly great movie.

Posted by: 18-1 at December 21, 2019 09:28 PM (WdocV)

222 The Boeing Starliner capsule is scheduled to land Sunday morning at 7:57 a.m. EST at the NASA White Sands facility in New Mexico. Live coverage on NASA TV begins at 6:45 a.m. EST.

link
https://tinyurl.com/joxgxdr

This Boeing capsule lands on land - the only US manned capsule to do so. It uses parachutes like all the others that land in the water, and adds inflatable airbags to cushion the touchdown.

NOTE - no crew on this first test flight.

Posted by: Gref at December 21, 2019 09:29 PM (AMIL/)

223 215
Anyone remember this Star Wars album?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ3kV3Icm28
Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 09:26 PM (rMEXe)
---

I have this! Got it at a hipster vinyl shop. Just for the album cover.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 21, 2019 09:29 PM (Dc2NZ)

224 Anyone remember this Star Wars album?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ3kV3Icm28

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 09:26 PM (rMEXe)

I've heard it played on MeTV FM

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 21, 2019 09:30 PM (Af6wc)

225

I have this! Got it at a hipster vinyl shop. Just for the album cover.

One of the 'ments says that the Lego movie recreated that scene.

That's why I hate the Lego movies -- they're just big huge ripoffs. So unoriginal.

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 09:31 PM (rMEXe)

226 thank goodness the Mandalorian may save the franchise

the sequels are Mary Sue shit. hopefully Mary Sue Ridley and Kathleen Kennedy can go lesbian kiss in the sunset to be never be seen again

Posted by: Avi at December 21, 2019 09:33 PM (kSq2k)

227 190 Buzzion

Well said.

I don't know if "prick" or "dickwad" is the best description. Both are certainly applicable.

Posted by: mnw at December 21, 2019 09:34 PM (Cssks)

228 Gotta love that Canon A-1. Metering so versatile that I still guess I'm using it right.
Shot some Tri-X to this afternoon. The LED's in the viewfinder are a real time trip.
Now I have to develop the stuff.

Posted by: klaftern at December 21, 2019 09:35 PM (RuIsu)

229 Has anybody seen "Dolemite Is My Name"?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 21, 2019 09:08 PM (Dc2NZ)

Ummmmmmmm....Yes.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at December 21, 2019 09:35 PM (Z+IKu)

230 the sequels are Mary Sue shit. hopefully Mary Sue
Ridley and Kathleen Kennedy can go lesbian kiss in the sunset to be
never be seen again

Posted by: Avi at December 21, 2019 09:33 PM (kSq2k)

Better yet. Thelma and Louise off a cliff

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 21, 2019 09:38 PM (Af6wc)

231 Jeez people. Just let me enjoy muh space wizards!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 21, 2019 09:39 PM (Dc2NZ)

232 I dunno, man.

I think The Mandalorian makes a bitchin' Spaghetti Western

https://youtu.be/SWJrG3Ua5Kk

Posted by: Kindltot at December 21, 2019 09:17 PM (1glZx)

But a bad spaghetti sauce

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 21, 2019 09:39 PM (Af6wc)

233 They ought to make this into a Christmas movie. They could call it I'm Dreaming of a Marxist Christmas.

An Iowa school principal is facing community backlash after he confiscated a teacher's supply of pizzas meant to reward students for good behavior and academic performance.

The reason? "Fairness."

According to the Des Moines Register, in a letter to parents, Brody Middle School Principal Thomas Hoffman explained that this fairness "applies to everything from the chances they have to learn in the classroom to rewards and recognitions by our teachers and staff."

In other words, if some kids get something, all of them have to get it.

"However," Hoffman's letter continued, "I do want to apologize for being overly strict in applying that standard today when it came to one of our classrooms. Most of all, I want to apologize for disappointing any of our students and punishing them."

Parent Neil Erickson, whose son was in the class, wrote on Facebook that Hoffman's actions even brought the teacher to tears:

https://bit.ly/2EUkXaJ

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 21, 2019 09:39 PM (+y/Ru)

234

All this talk of Star Wars and Christmas movies and not one mention of the Star Wars Holiday Special? It's probably better than the prequels and sequels

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 21, 2019 09:40 PM (Af6wc)

235 I read that Alec Guiness wrote that Star Wars is fantasy garbage and dialog rubbish but he needed the money so he did it.

I watched the first 3 but couldn't tolerate the rest. I hated Rogue One specially Donny Chen whom I like in other movies.

Posted by: Oggi at December 21, 2019 09:41 PM (Bk5Q+)

236 That capsule, Stratoliner, what misdirection, is obsolete. Either Musk or Bezos will flying people into space and back on a rocket ship before Boeing makes that capsule feasible.

They can use it as a life raft.

Posted by: Braenyard at December 21, 2019 09:42 PM (9v1sv)

237 232 I dunno, man.

I think The Mandalorian makes a bitchin' Spaghetti Western

https://youtu.be/SWJrG3Ua5Kk

Posted by: Kindltot at December 21, 2019 09:17 PM (1glZx)

But a bad spaghetti sauce
Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 21, 2019 09:39 PM (Af6wc)

and they were based on Samurai movies

Posted by: Avi at December 21, 2019 09:44 PM (kSq2k)

238 All this talk of Star Wars and Christmas movies and not one mention of the Star Wars Holiday Special? It's probably better than the prequels and sequels
Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 21, 2019 09:40 PM (Af6wc)
---
Right?! Here are the Red Letter Media guys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CtUd0yuYN4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW4m0oYK0WQ

I maintain that the animated segment with Boba Fett is rockin'.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 21, 2019 09:44 PM (Dc2NZ)

239 100? -- Those vids of commando Mike got me thinking. What do Barak, Mike, and Reggie do when they get together?

Posted by: Braenyard at December 21, 2019 09:45 PM (9v1sv)

240 235 I read that Alec Guiness wrote that Star Wars is fantasy garbage and dialog rubbish but he needed the money so he did it.

I watched the first 3 but couldn't tolerate the rest. I hated Rogue One specially Donny Chen whom I like in other movies.

Posted by: Oggi at December 21, 2019 09:41 PM (Bk

That's what makes me regard him as an ass. Yeah they're silly kids movies but you know what? Millions of people saw you and probably never would have and likely sought out your other movies so show some appreciation.

Posted by: Buzzion at December 21, 2019 09:45 PM (pmBXt)

241 Alec Guiness: Man in the White Suit.

Posted by: Braenyard at December 21, 2019 09:46 PM (9v1sv)

242 Those vids of commando Mike got me thinking. What do Barak, Mike, and Reggie do when they get together?

-
Throuple.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 21, 2019 09:47 PM (+y/Ru)

243 I read that Alec Guiness wrote that Star Wars is fantasy garbage and dialog rubbish but he needed the money so he did it.

I watched the first 3 but couldn't tolerate the rest. I hated Rogue One specially Donny Chen whom I like in other movies.

Posted by: Oggi at December 21, 2019 09:41 PM (Bk5Q+)

Hated it so much that he suggested they kill off his character in the middle of the movie

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 21, 2019 09:47 PM (Af6wc)

244 Thanks folks, for your mention of the "Endless" and "Resolution" recommends. I've downloaded "Spring" but haven't seen yet. Two more filmmakers to watch out for, IMHO.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at December 21, 2019 09:47 PM (l9m7l)

245 The first throuple.

Posted by: Braenyard at December 21, 2019 09:47 PM (9v1sv)

246
All this talk of Star Wars and Christmas movies and not one mention of the Star Wars Holiday Special?

Yes, exactly one mention.

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 21, 2019 09:49 PM (rMEXe)

247 What do Barak, Mike, and Reggie do when they get together?
Posted by: Braenyard at December 21, 2019 09:45 PM

Oh, barf!

There went my appetite... and that roasts smelled so good, too...

*sigh*

Posted by: JQ at December 21, 2019 09:51 PM (gP/Z3)

248 I saw the Jumanji remake with the Rock to prep for the sequel, which is going to be our NYE movie.

Really fun. Very enjoyable. Jack Black was pretty funny, and I like Karen Gillan.

Posted by: Gem at December 21, 2019 09:51 PM (65i3Q)

249 May the schwartz be with you.

Posted by: jsg at December 21, 2019 09:51 PM (MRNAB)

250 I'm watching Henry IV. I see why Orson Welles likes Falstaff so much.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at December 21, 2019 09:51 PM (LxTcq)

251 I was at McDonalds on Thursday and an ad for the new Star Wars movie intermittently played across the three MENU screens, above the cash registers.

I've never seen such marketing for a movie.

Posted by: squeakywheel at December 21, 2019 09:52 PM (ioFds)

252 You didn't add in the dynamic of merchandise and tie-ins. While it's always been a part of that industry, I feel it went nuclear after the 1st SW movie. After that nothing was done because it was good for the story, it was done because it could push the merch.

"We could have the character....."
"No, it will hurt Happy Meals at Mickey Dees".

Posted by: Groundhog at December 21, 2019 09:52 PM (cKq0/)

253 217 Saw Jumanji, The Next Level with my daughter last weekend. Wow, what a hot pile of steaming crap that was. I'm enjoying going to the theater less and less. We saw it at one of the dinner theatre places and the ridiculous pricing on all of it made it that much more painful.
Posted by: Jarhead87 at December 21, 2019 09:26 PM (6gPPJ)

Ack! Did you like the first one?

Posted by: Gem at December 21, 2019 09:55 PM (65i3Q)

254 I watched "Under the Silver Lake" which is a very strange movie that doesn't quite seem to congeal into something. But, it's kind of fascinating.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at December 21, 2019 09:55 PM (l9m7l)

255 Posit:

A) Spaceballs is a better Star Wars movie than many of the Star Wars movies, and

B) Many of the Star Wars movies are better parodies of Star Wars than Spaceballs.

Posted by: Jabba The Hutt's Shaven Scrotum at December 21, 2019 09:57 PM (WWh8n)

256 I'm watching Henry IV. I see why Orson Welles likes Falstaff so much.

Because Schlitz didn't go so well with the frozen green peas.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at December 21, 2019 09:58 PM (oVJmc)

257 How we are going to the moon

https://youtu.be/_T8cn2J13-4

Posted by: BourbonChicken at December 21, 2019 09:58 PM (LxTcq)

258 Watching Ad Astra right now. Had to get up and leave the room. Something about deep space stories are simply unsettling in a way that I can't shake...Gravity was like that, too. Hard to watch.

Posted by: squeakywheel at December 21, 2019 09:59 PM (ioFds)

259 Do you want to buy SWs tickets?

You don't want to sell me SWs tickets.

I don't want to sell you SWs tickets.

You want to go home and rethink your life.

I want to go home and rethink my life.

Posted by: jsg at December 21, 2019 09:59 PM (MRNAB)

260 it's interesting - there's almost no discussion here of the content of the new star wars, its plot, continuity and resolution of the previous storylines.

the franchise is that threadbare.

Posted by: mjc at December 21, 2019 10:00 PM (Pg+x7)

261 Michelle's nasty armpits,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwoSvbFjDUc

radio host, Jesse Lee Peterson.

Posted by: Braenyard at December 21, 2019 10:01 PM (9v1sv)

262 it's interesting - there's almost no discussion here of the content of the new star wars, its plot, continuity and resolution of the previous storylines.

Would you like some spoilers?

Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 21, 2019 10:01 PM (gd9RK)

263 It's like reading a Wookipedia article about ...

_______

"This is about me, isn't it?" -- The Mooche 2020!

Posted by: ShainS at December 21, 2019 10:02 PM (WqPYg)

264 re: Would you like some spoilers?

No.

Posted by: squeakywheel at December 21, 2019 10:02 PM (ioFds)

265 Iron Sky > Star Wars

Posted by: squirrelly dan at December 21, 2019 10:02 PM (ghM7c)

266 "George, you can write this shit, but you can't speak it!" In the middle of filming ANH, it has been rumored for many years that Harrison Ford threw down his copy of the script and screamed that to George.

George had a good idea, but he can't write and he can't direct worth squat. Lucas nearly stroked out during the shooting of TESBA. He was stuck in Hollywood while Ford and Irv Kerschner were in England, rewriting the script as they were going along.

I despised the Prequels. George should have left well enough alone.

Another rumor that floated through my tiny subset of SW fandom was that Spielberg directed the sword fight between Obi Wan and Annikin. I kind of think that might have happened because that twenty or so minutes was the most alive section in the entirety of the Prequels.

Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin -- current occupation: cat furniture at December 21, 2019 10:03 PM (TwmFV)

267 Nood

Posted by: Moon Moon Blutarski at December 21, 2019 10:03 PM (VNfwt)

268 ... full disclosure: i could give a damn. i saw the first three, part of the fourth and haven't had any interest at all aside from the economics of it.

Posted by: mjc at December 21, 2019 10:04 PM (Pg+x7)

269 Is everyone gone to the nood? Good, good.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at December 21, 2019 10:08 PM (l9m7l)

270 260 it's interesting - there's almost no discussion here of the content of the new star wars, its plot, continuity and resolution of the previous storylines.

the franchise is that threadbare.
Posted by: mjc at December 21, 2019 10:00 PM (

The plot is a mess and nonsensical. There's not a lot to talk about without spoilers beyond that.

Posted by: Buzzion at December 21, 2019 10:09 PM (pmBXt)

271 Guinness wasn't an asshole. To be honest, he was prescient, and everyone else thought Lucas' script was garbage; his vision and what the nascent ILM was producing were the selling points (along with the sums Fox was throwing out to get it made). The only reason Guinness signed on was the contract percentage of the take he was offered in Lucas' desperation to have him.

But he saw exactly what we see today, with the undeniable, and in many ways horrifying, stunted world view fully rooted in fandom. How many people have we told to "read another book" over the last decade? He saw this, saw what the constant accessibility of the IP stemming from the consumerism would do to those who partake too deeply, to a degree he was willing to paint himself the villain in the old story about him getting a little boy to never see Star Wars again.

He loved his fans- he just wanted them to not lose sight of the world as it is.

Posted by: Fringe at December 21, 2019 10:35 PM (vx54i)

272 ron Sky > Star Wars

Posted by: squirrelly dan at December 21, 2019 10:02 PM (ghM7c)

Iron Sky is a trash SJW film that tries to but funny but is simply painful. The only moment where I laughed was when they mocked Finland for being the only country without a space battleship.

Posted by: WOPR at December 21, 2019 10:51 PM (vAbKD)

273 He loved his fans- he just wanted them to not lose sight of the world as it is.

Posted by: Fringe at December 21, 2019 10:35 PM (vx54i)

He was upset he would be remembered for Star Wars and not Bridge over the River Kwai or his other work. Really though, actors don't get to choose what they are remembered for doing. He could have been Bruce Dern, remembered mainly for killing John Wayne.

Posted by: WOPR at December 21, 2019 11:04 PM (vAbKD)

274 Had a couple of friends go see The Rise of Skywalker. One of which was very vocal in his displeasure of The Last Jedi. They both enjoyed this new one quite a bit.

Posted by: John McCain at December 21, 2019 11:11 PM (QD9b6)

275 I'm lost in this thread. Star Wars? Wasn't that Ronnie Rayguns thing. Is PDT trying to fund it again? You guys are way over my head.

Posted by: Sock Monkey...living in the hinterlands at December 22, 2019 12:20 AM (EeLin)

276 richard Jewell.
See it.

Posted by: vivi at December 22, 2019 01:09 AM (11H2y)

277 Note to self: Ignore Future Movie Threads by TJM.

TLJ was the worst movie I have seen in the theater since Super Mario Brothers.

Posted by: Fletch at December 22, 2019 02:56 AM (xhwIo)

278 tablet sign in

Posted by: andycanuck at December 22, 2019 07:29 AM (Dh1wo)

279 You lost me with loving The Last Jedi. I doubt we will agree on anything ever, and if we do, I will be suspicious of it and not trust myself.

Posted by: Tommy V at December 22, 2019 11:40 AM (GCivW)

280 Star Wars has just become stupid. How come NONE of the super-enlightened Jedi Masters seem to be able to train a young powerful Jedi without him turning? If they can't do that, maybe the Dark Side needs a second look and it's these preachy sanctimonious incompetents of the Council that have it all wrong? The Darth kids never seem to turn against THEIR mentor's philosophies (aside from killing their masters, but even that is consonant with the Master's beliefs)

Or maybe they should have sent their kid of to Uncle Darth's Happy-fun Dark Side Camp, so when he rebelled against that he'd end up being a good guy.

The human motivations mostly make so sense at all now, and the aliens are just humans in rubber suits.

Not even good space opera any more.

Posted by: West at December 22, 2019 02:11 PM (QX5Sf)

281 BTW, on Star Wars, without seeing the movie I know how it ends - they are gonna rip off The Dark Crystal for the resolution. It's the only way it can go.

Posted by: West at December 22, 2019 02:16 PM (QX5Sf)

282 Wow. I wish I hadn't read this one. "Adore" The Last Jedi. I will have to skip over everything you write from now on...

Posted by: Nathaniel at December 23, 2019 05:51 PM (AhVOo)

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