Mr Sneeze

I have always assumed he is not telling the whole truth in that scene. The Last Jedi plays better if you assume Rey has a link to Palpatine - for me at least.

I'm at work now so I will get back to you on this one.

While I agree the movies didn't always flow very well, I'm not so sure about this point. Anyone can be a Jedi no matter what. I mean Jedi can't have kids, they come from all over not just from a powerful family line. Using the force isn't the same as being a Jedi. However it does help explain Rey vast powers. Even in the Last Jedi there are many hints to Rey being from something possibly more. Luke even talks about how Rey went straight to the darkness, there were other clues as well which is why I've thought she had something to do with Palpatine. As well IIRC it's only Kylo who tells her her parents were nothing and maybe that's all he knew.

I know we disagree on the last two movies, but I certainly agree with your sentiment here.

Welp, you just got exactly that--Rian with one idea and then Abrams ret-conning it. Working out great, eh? The auteur theory works for single releases or if the director or screenwriter is going to stay for the long haul. But what's the long haul for Star Wars--another decade or two? A century? It's unrealistic to let every director have complete creative control for an ongoing universe. I've come to really like Rian's movie, so yeah, I'll go with what I said. So you're also fine with Abrams ret-conning him then? One guy saying anyone can be a Jedi, and the next guy reversing it? I'm fine myself with either one of those ideas, but I'm NOT fine with every director choosing back and forth which one they prefer. Your point is well taken. I appreciate what both directors did in their respective movies and I can live with the slight misalignment of plot points. In a perfect world, they would have had a plan but we've known for a long time they were just winging it, so this is what we got. If I want to hate either or both movies, it's easy enough. There are elements in the last two movies that draw me in and I guess that's been enough. Far from prefect? Absolutely but let's hope they get there. Remembering Star Wars as a fairy tale (not sci-fi) forgives a great many sins.

So basically you're against the whole MCU expanded universe thing which is what makes the MCU so great and revolutionary to begin with. Got it. Moving on... i'm glad you find the world so neatly delineated. Enjoy your day.

Welp, you just got exactly that--Rian with one idea and then Abrams ret-conning it. Working out great, eh? The auteur theory works for single releases or if the director or screenwriter is going to stay for the long haul. But what's the long haul for Star Wars--another decade or two? A century? It's unrealistic to let every director have complete creative control for an ongoing universe. I've come to really like Rian's movie, so yeah, I'll go with what I said. I value art over product any day. I realize that's a black and white statement and there is all kinds of grey involved here.

Disagree that Marvel doesn't always let people follow their passions. Perfect examples of this? James Gunn with Guardians of the Galaxy and Taika Waititi with Thor: Ragnarok. The latter, in particular, was a *huge* risk in that it deviated so much from the traditional portrayal of Thor in the comics. And yet it worked - and reinvigorated the character after a weak paint-by-numbers entry with The Dark World. Those are good examples and two fun movies, no doubt, but the weakest parts of those movies are the adherence to advancing the overall marvel plot so to speak. I have little doubt personally that Taika Waititi would have done better without restrictions - and he did a great job with them. That being said, there's nothing wrong with being a professional and doing the job a studio hired you to do. I'm speaking from a point of principal as a movie fan that the best - and worst - come from the heart.

I would rather see creative people have licence to follow their passions rather than the Marvel method which is mainly concerned with profit.

I have to say, I really liked it. All of it, on every level, worked for me. Can't wait to see it again. Having recently come to really appreciate TLJ as - for me - a great film and really enjoying the Mandalorian (wish someone would of had the fore sight to go with that as a sequel idea), I'm pretty happy about the state of things.

Just binge watched it this evening. Wow, I'm really impressed. Honestly, if they just focus on good writing - as they have here IMHO - they could leave the movies behind and do Game of Throne numbers in a short while.

Terribly horrible. But that's right in the middle!

Empire is lightning in a bottle.

To me, The Undiscovered Country is one of the best Star Trek films of the entire franchise. So much of it comes together so solidly. - The friendship between Spock, Kirk and McCoy - The challenges the Federation faces in being perceived as a fair and respectful entity, even to enemies - The vast alien races displayed throughout - The humor of the franchise without it distracting from the story - Great casting choices with Christopher Plummer, David Warner and W. Morgan Sheppard and more in really interesting roles I have watched this film more than The Wrath of Khan, though the latter is also a solid film too. Have to agree with you guys here. After the disappointment that was ST 5, it was nice to come back with a solid movie all around. And if we're picking favorites, I would say they are all excellent - with exception to 5 - but my favorite would have to be ST the Motion Picture - I'm a sucker for a long drawn out Sci-fi story. The more I've watched it over the years, the more I've grown to appreciate how good it really is. To me at least.

Got tickets for Sunday a while back. Hopeful it will be a good time and if not, I'll get over it. Fun to still get excited about this stuff after all these years.

My favorite Marvel movie by far.

Thanks for all the hard work , I'll go with $534.56

Though this was very well done. Enjoyed the slow pace and thought it was well acted by all involved, especially Pesci. I didn't find the CGI overly distracting. Great movie for me!

These journal entries have been a fun read, so thanks for taking the time out to write them. I consumed most of the fifties and sixties Archie material in digest format in the seventies (without of course knowing who drew or wrote the stories). They were a staple in the neighbourhood growing up and popular with kids who weren't into the superhero stuff or any other comics. It's always nice to learn more about writers and artists who contributed - for many, a good part of their lifes work - to the history of the medium.

Well, it certainly reads like a JJ -script, so no surprises there. This is what is to be expected when you set out to conclude a story line that had already been concluded. And yet, who knows - I remember reading spoilers for Empire Strikes Back back in the day and it sounded terrible. Most importantly, thank goodness JJ has nothing to do with the Dune adaptation.

This, coupled with Rey somehow linked to Sidius makes good sense. Good post!

I gave TLJ another shot yesterday, actually watched it twice back to back. As I said in an earlier post, there was little point watching it again if I was only going to hate on it. I felt I was ready to go into it with an open mind. Please don’t feel I’m trying to sway anyone’s opinion here, I’m just trying to convey that I still can get silly and excited about Star Wars. When I first saw this movie in the theatre, it set me on edge when I noticed the beats from ESB, right from the screen crawl to the transports leaving the surface of the planet. That put me in a pretty unreceptive mood given JJ’s star killer base episode IV soft reboot and so I found the movie pretty amateurish and nonsensical for the most part. That ended up being my main criticism of the movie; that the pacing and narrative were all over the map – just plain bad movie making. That was my opinion anyway without getting into specifics. I watched with a mindset of buying into the story and see where if anywhere at all that would lead me and I found the movie surprisingly coherent. It’s a much better crafted movie than I originally gave it credit for being so that’s on me. I’m not saying it’s without its problems but it tells the story it’s trying to tell well enough. I didn’t find any pacing issues this time around, it all flowed pretty well. This was not what I expected to feel about TLJ - ever. Where it really worked for me was with Rey, Kylo and Snoke and the climax of the throne room scene. Definitely the coolest part of the movie and I thought it was pretty cool first time around stylistically – except the first time around I didn’t make much sense of it. Snoke had a stronger presence and his death carried a far greater weight then I first experienced. There is a lot of subtlety that I missed first time around that I look forward to revisiting. Luke’s story is also more satisfying when I finally let go of my expectations and go with what’s there. Neat. The movie definitely has a few problems but General Hux having a mother who calls at inopportune times, milking lazy lactating sea cows, Kylo’s sweaty boobies, Mary Poppins Leia and morally ambiguous arms dealers who gamble are not among them; at least for me this time around and I think I might find a way through a couple of plot holes that are still bugging me. Obviously my opinion of TLJ has fundamentally changed (I'm not saying it's a lovefest but dinner and drinks aren't out of the question) and with that I will say Johnson was the braver filmmaker here, JJ just played it safe, as he always does (I really hope he proves me wrong on that score someday because he’s a very skilled film maker). Now that I’m more comfortable with the movie, I feel that Johnson has left an ending in which anything could happen in the finale so I’m hoping play it safe JJ can step up to plate and have some conviction and take a chance for once.

There is no denying that the overriding intent of Marvel movies is to make money. If they stop making money they will stop making the movies, period. There is no burning desire to get these stories in theaters at a loss. That being said it does not mean they can't be good or arty, but they can only be so in a constrained and limited way. The powers that be aren't going to let a director/writer actor do anything they want that could damage the product.