#rian does not love star wars like I love star wars

[gffa]

Have you watched the First Okiro's recent Star Wars video? He made a really interesting case about how TLJ Luke was a form of character assassination. When I saw the ask you answered about how Luke treasured Yoda and read the last paragraph, I thought maybe you'd agree.

https://youtu.be/r0I86ii2N_8?si=-oHY6dQsFBsSAfPv

Hi! Honestly, I pretty much refuse to watch any Star Wars video essays anymore because so many of them are anti-Jedi and I don't think it's fruitful for any of us for me to put myself through that, they don't gain anything, I don't gain anything, etc. So I have no idea what the case being presented in the video is, I'm only going on "character assassination" in TLJ and how I actually disagree. I mean, I think it was poorly executed in some ways, but that the basic concepts of it are ones I actually think are the best parts of the movie. My problems with TLJ's Luke story is that I think the extremity of it was too much, that him being on the island for six years without contact with anyone was too long for how I see Luke, as well as I think the structure of having Han die and not showing that deleted scene of Luke mourning his death, of having Luke interacting with Rey but making it all about Ben, none of that worked for me. But what does work for me is that the idea of overcoming pain and suffering is a one-and-done deal is just not how Star Wars or the Force works. Luke very nearly fell to the dark side in Return of the Jedi, that wasn't just put there for the aesthetics, that was something he was genuinely teetering on the edge of, he was raining hell down on Vader when slicing away at his arm, Sidious genuinely felt the anger and rage roiling inside Luke, he had to struggle to turn away from it and embrace what it meant to be a Jedi.

That's not a one time struggle--that's something characters face their entire lives. And if you include the Disney comics (which are really good imo), Luke struggles with loss and pain and anger after the defeat on Bespin, he has to struggle through not falling to the dark side again. And, hell, even MARK HAMILL says that Luke's fall down the reactor shaft on Bespin was akin to him basically trying to commit suicide because he was so devastated. So I think it's fair that Luke could struggle with that again later in his life, I think it's fair that after pouring everything of himself into building up the Jedi again, to have it torn down by someone he loved, someone that he may have bordered on attachment to (as Star Wars and the Jedi define it--love and attachment are not the same thing, attachment is the desire to hold onto something/someone so tightly because you can't live without it and thus you can't see it clearly, which I think I could believe of Luke, that he was so blinded by his desire for what he wanted for Ben that he couldn't be objective about him, just like he struggled with loving his sister so much that rage boiled inside of him when Palpatine threatened her and Luke's friends on the second Death Star), that he retreated because this felt so massive and he felt like he was the only one who could build this school and that he pulled these kids into this life. Like, it's fair that Obi-Wan struggled with Anakin's betrayal and cut himself off from using the Force on Tatooine, so I think it's fair that Luke struggled with Ben's betrayal and cut himself off from using the Force on Ahch-To--they both had to process that grief and it's not always a perfect path when it's someone you love that dearly and were so incredibly close to. Ultimately, the entire speech Luke gives is one that is DESIGNED to be knocked down, he is literally standing in front of the First Order and facing them down with his laser sword at the end of the movie, Rian Johnson literally says that it was Luke's personal failure, not the failure of the Jedi religion, and Luke finds his feet again. And that's my guy!!! The guy who makes mistakes, but is such a core of goodness and compassion and care for others that he eventually gets over these massive hurdles placed in front of him, and so that part of Luke's story worked for me. I'm just not wild about the finer details of how it was actually executed, even if I think it's fair to point out that Rian Johnson was handed a pre-existing situation that he then had to reverse engineer a backstory for with an extremely limited time to do it, because apparently THEY DIDN'T PLAN OUT THE TRILOGY AHEAD OF TIME for fucks sake.

[mythicalgeek]

The Dark Crystal Age Of Resistance is a tragically underrated work of art.

If your a fan of fantasy like Lord of the rings, Harry Potter and Star Wars please give The Dark Crystal Age of Resistance a watch.

Its a prequel series to the 80s movie and it's one of the best fantasy shows in recent years and goes back to classic fairytales and mythical storytelling.

Everything is mostly done with practical effects and only uses CGI where it's really necessary. The show also brings back puppetry and even though none of the character's are humans there's more humanity in this show than most media we get today.

The world of thra is a magical and strange place that you find yourself immersed in, with all the creatures and beuaty of the natural world at full display you find yourself encanted by it.

The gelfings are really adorable and you can't help but care about them, the main three protagonists have well flushed out personalities and each one has a interesting journey they go on that lead them to start the resistance and the quest to save there world.

The Skekies are really creepy and make for some pretty great villains. There motivation and interactions are giving just as much time as the heros, they rule thra with cruelty and manipulation, stealing the live force of the planet and the then the gelfing. There some of the most terrifying villains we've gottan in the last few years and I gotta say, I was absolutely horrifying by them.

This show does a lot of things right and one of them is how it writes the female characters. Deet and Brea (the two female leads) are very feminine heroines who are kind, empathetic, intuitive, clever and strong without it being showed in our faeces. Even when the female characters are warriors or soldiers there femininity is not devalued or see as a weakness. We also have more complex characters like Seledon and the gelfing leaders (who are all female) and it's just so nice to have a fantasy show that handels the female reputation so beautifully.

At the same time the male character's are also written with the same amount of care and respect, for example Rian (the main male lead) is a soldier who after finding out the truth about the skekies, is faced with the hard challenge of spreading the truth while dealing with loss and trauma, we see plenty of moments where his aloud to be vulnerable and we see him grow into a strong leader for the resistance.

We also have Hup who even though he is a side character, is a lovable podling who steals every sence he's in. He dreams of becoming a hero and has such a heartwarming friendship with Deet it's hard not to love him and want more of him.

All the relationships between the gelfing feel so intimate and pure, wheater there familial, platonic or romantic the show gives us so many beautifully written relationship and dynamics, that add to the emotional core of the story.

There's also some political drama with the gelfling clans and the skekies as they try to hold on to there power, it's done in a way that both kid's and adults can follow.

The action is surprisingly good for show with only puppets, we have sowrd fights, flying gelfings dropping booms, wild carriage rides and it's really exciting and done well.

There is only 1 season unfortunately but it's still worth the watch, I do have to warn everyone that there is a lot of scary and truely horrifying moments so if your sensitive maybe give this a pass, but there's a balance between the dark and whimsical and there's so many funny and sweet moment's that allow you two catch your breath.

This series is a hidden gem in the world of fantasy and that's a dame shame because it is everything you could whant from a epic fantasy story that we just dont see a lot of anymore.

I like shows like The Witcher and Rings of power but none of those shows have captured my imagination or sense of wonder like the dark crystal aor did. I have so much love for this beautiful, weird, creepy, wonderful, magical puppet show and I wish it got more recognition for the work of art it truly is.

The Dark Crystal Age Of Resistance is pure magic and deserve so much more attention. It's on Netflix so check it out if your looking for some good fantasy.

[piglet26]

Sequel Trilogy stumbled upon greatness with Reylo and more

In hindsight, it's obvious to see how chaotically thrown together the sequel trilogy was. While many things were planned - it wasn't as thought out as it should have been. Both Rian and JJ were able to highly execute different things. JJ, in TFA only, was able to establish very fun and interesting characters. Rian was able to add depth and though provoking existential. It's obvious that it would've been better had one director been allowed to a see a vision through especially for character arcs. (Personally, I vote for Rian for all 3) However! As crazy as it sounds the sequel trilogy might have stumbled into greatness. When you slow down and let the work settle you're able to deduct certain things. For several LITERARY reasons the sequels were not as bad as people make them out to be. TROS is made somewhat redeemable trash because of Reylo. Thank them.

Star Wars is a fairytale right out of the romanticism era. So much of the journey is about the love of a woman. While many young boys who became the grown fanboy we know today saw lightsabers and alien creatures...... there is more to the story. Motherhood is such an essential element. The emotional crux of The Phantom Menace, and indeed the prequels, is Anakin leaving his mother. That's the attachment injury that Anakin never quite recovers from. Anakin's relationship with Padme is very much about a transference of that love. As much as he loves Padme, his mother is the purest love of his life and her loss causes him to cling onto everyone with a desperation. Watching Star Wars for the first time in chronic logical order it's obvious Anakin is quite a tragic character.

In TROS, Leia directly “intervenes” at the critical point, as her son grapples with the confusion and pain that his grandfather shared: an abject rejection from someone that he feels he is destined to be with. In this case it transcends the romantic and is in the very fabric of the Force. Unfortunately, due to Carrie Fisher passing we were never able get a scene directly between CF and AD, so there was only so much development we received but it's also clear that Ben has a soft spot for his mama.

Stars is as much a story about Palpatine as it is about the Skywalkers. While in the original story Palpatine was this ominous dictator in the background.... the prequels make it clear that Palpatine is always there in the background. He touches several characters lives and ultimately is the driving force for the world these characters live in. While I hated the last minute switch to Rey is a Palpatine.... it's also fitting. In many ways Ben is given a chance redo Anakin's decisions.

Least we forget (like I'd ever) Ben chooses the light, runs like a hero to Rey's side to fight Palpatine along with her. Versus Anakin choosing Palpatine against the people he loves. Then Ben is presented with the same reality Anakin was. The person he loves the most lies dead before him. As Ben cradles the lifeless form of Rey, it's paralleled to the lifeless form of Shmi cradled in Anakin’s arms in the Tusken tent. He does love Rey more than he loves even his own parents let's keep it real. His whole family couldn't reach him, but Rey held his hand and he switched to Team Hero.

The story of Rey also turned the play-by-play heroes arc on it's head. Whereas Luke started out sheltered, protected, surrounded by family looking into the dual suns with thoughts of adventure and grandeur. She has been forged by a hard life of self-reliance, of solitude and toil. The reverse was that in addition to Finn she joined a ready-made family in The Resistance. Especially Ren's abandoned family. She lived the Jedi ideal before she had even heard of the Force, and has arrived at her own conclusions of morality and justice. Oddly, this is what mainly confused people about Rey's journey. (the same people frustrated about the lack of originality from Disney wanted Rey to be just like Luke) Any attempts to move into new territory was met with groans. It was interesting to see a character change to see a character not a child or naive young man, but a world wary young woman. (Stick the landing they did not, but the potential was there.) That's not to say there isn't consistency Rey's greatest pull to the dark is her attraction/connection/love for her soul mate.

I suspect with time the Disney Sequels, like with the Prequels, will be more appreciated. Somewhat amusingly in retrospect, The Last Jedi, despite having featured our heroes exposed as flawed, human and capable of making mistakes..,.... ends on a note of more universal hope — that another generation might be inspired by defiance without violence. Even more important and this is what Rian Johnson was telling with Luke in The Last Jedi....the hero doesn't matter as much as the myth of the hero. Behind the scenes our heroes are as capable of faltering as we are, even of getting exhausted of the fight. It doesn't matter though. We need them to be inspired to fight, to believe. Meanwhile, Luke begins to sense the darkness inside of Rey which surprisingly leads quite well into the next movie. The movie is gorgeous and the soundtrack cannot be faulted.

The sequels fall mostly in their side characters. Then again.... they are side characters. The only exception is Finn. He started off as a major player and someone I wanted to know more about, but by the end of the trilogy, we learn nothing more and he fades into the background. Was he going to ever outshine Kylo Ren/Ben Solo? Hell, no, but he should have been bigger.

The biggest challenge Disney LucasFilm had was building a Star Wards that could move forward. Whatever the world says about Rian Johnson, he had the guts to do something different with the franchise when he made The Last Jedi, which is what many fans asked for after The Force Awakens. The latter movie rehashed multiple elements from the original trilogy to satisfy fans to the point that people thought the film was unoriginal and playing it too safe. However, it's clear JJ Adams sought to honor the original films.

[unexpectedreylo]

TLJ Revisited

TFA did not blow me away when it came out in 2015.  As a long-suffering prequels fan I didn’t like the anti-prequel dog whistles in the months leading up to the film, I didn’t like a lot of the crazed fanboys gushing how it was the best SW movie ever and thank goodness they wrested it away from that horrible George Lucas.  I didn’t like that Disney took Lucas’s outlines and for the most part trashed them, which publicly made Lucas unhappy.  While watching the flick, I was like a bitter ex noticing every flaw of the new trophy wife.  The story structure was not nearly as good as any of Lucas’s six films.  It was too derivative of ANH.  And worst of all, I had a real yucky feeling about what this trilogy was all about.  There was a nihilistic subtext to the whole thing:  Luke failed as a master, Han and Leia failed as parents, and the only scion of the Skywalker clan was almost certainly doomed for death since he was a bad guy and killed Han Solo.  It seemed like a setup so that new heroine Rey would essentially take over the story.  I couldn’t understand why it seemed I was the only person who seemed to notice this.

Then, five years ago, TLJ came out and for two years I had hope, even certainty, that maybe I’d misread the trajectory the trilogy was taking.

Dammit, I hate being right.

That said, TLJ remains something of a slightly nicked masterpiece.  It is the best film of the sequel trilogy, that’s for sure.  I liked the film when I first saw it.  I was pleasantly surprised and well, we all know how I feel about Reylo.  Yet when I look at what I wrote about the film right after seeing it, it seems like I was still pretty tough on it.  I think in retrospect I was still annoyed by a lot of aspects of TFA and the story elements it introduced.  

So five years on, I thought I would take an honest reassessment of the film.  The good, the great, the bad, and the ugly.

First I want to address the perpetual controversy around TLJ.  The curious thing about TLJ is how much anger it still inspires, to the point of irrationality.  It’s one thing if it’s not your favorite SW film or if you didn’t love it.  It’s one thing if you have problems with it.  But I make no secret of what I think of TROS and I still don’t hate everything about it nor do I spend all of my time complaining about it.  It’s almost as though a lot of the narrative and characterization problems TFA raised were ignored when the film came out and then when they inevitably materialized in TLJ, Rian Johnson got blamed for them.  Luke exiled himself to that island for a reason and Johnson had to find a pretty extreme reason to explain why Luke would take that drastic of an action.  The Luke in exile thing was one of the few aspects of Lucas’s outlines that actually made into the movies; he was set to go Col. Kurtz regardless.  But angry fans don’t care about any of this.  They think Johnson is some iconoclast who’s just tearing down Luke because he can.  Mark Hamill’s public complaints about it didn’t help.  The rest of it was anger over dashed theories over where TFA was going to go next.  Really, it’s nuts.  Who gets this excised over a movie?  How does any honest person sincerely believe Rian Johnson is a mean, hateful person who only wanted to destroy someone’s cherished memories of Star Wars?  

Okay, on to the movie itself.

A lot of what I still find flawed about the film comes from what was flawed about TFA.  The whole galactic set up made no sense to me and while Jason Fry’s TLJ book explains it to some degree, that explanation is missing from the film.  Lucas and Co. were great at worldbuilding while telling a story about a core of characters at the same time.  The sequel guys, not so much.  It’s just Empire vs. Rebels 2.0 without going into the how's or why's.  It still makes little sense to me is Luke saying he didn’t want to be found, he just wanted to live out his days on Ahch-To, yet there’s a map to find him.   

Another problem is how TLJ picks up immediately after TFA.  Johnson didn’t really have much of a choice because of how TFA ended.  So unlike the other SW films, there’s no narrative “breathing” room with this one.  There’s no opportunity for the characters to grow or relationships to build or even for the characters to process what has happened to them.  Compare that with TESB, where you can see Luke being a committed Rebel or a blossoming relationship between Han and Leia.  Or with AOTC, where Obi-Wan has been master to padawan Anakin for 10 years and Padme has become a senator.  I think that serves the Star Wars story better.  This way makes the ST feel like a movie adaptation of a really long book they broke into two or three parts.  And because Johnson had no idea what they were going to do in IX, his hand was forced to put everyone still alive back in their corners at the end of the film.

If I wasn’t going to include more of Rey and Kylo Ren, I would’ve included less of the rest of crew with the exception of Rey’s scenes with Luke.  Simply put, Reylo is by far the most interesting aspect of the sequel trilogy and TLJ’s scenes with them are so compelling it’s easy to lose patience with the other threads.  I don’t mind the Canto Bight stuff or Poe’s catfight with Holdo.  I love Rose.  But there seems to be a requirement that every sequel film must firmly focus on the Rebels because that’s who we’re cheering for.  The problem is that in TLJ, you have two elder Skywalkers with a smaller role and their only scion is “the bad guy” who has less screen time than any of the major heroes.  This continued the problem I had with TFA, that the Skywalkers were kind of side characters in their own saga.  Johnson tries to take Finn and Poe and craft actual story arcs for them but it was always a little unclear as to what their role was in the bigger scheme of things.  I guess we’re supposed to understand Poe is something of Leia’s heir apparent in the Rebel leadership but he’s also the house flyboy.  As I posted in my original review, Poe is Wedge Antilles with a bigger role.  Finn has a kinda clingy relationship with Rey and this bromance with Poe but he has no real connection with Luke, Leia, or Han.  There are good things about his arc in this movie but it doesn’t answer the question, what’s he doing there?  What does he bring to the table?  I wish they’d kept the stormtrooper rebellion in this film or in TROS.  And there’s no indication at all he has any affinity for the Force.  There seems to have been insufficient communication all around as to who these characters are, what they’re supposed to be doing or what they're supposed to become.

I’ll never understand why the sequels avoided any “alien” seen in episodes I-VI like the plague.  I never found the designs in the ST to be anywhere near as good, even factoring in the Rick Baker masks in ANH.

And if I may be so nitpicky, I don’t like the use of “big ass door.”  It seems too much our world, not the GFFA.

Finally, I find it interesting that after noting both sides use war profiteers and Rose delivers an eat the rich (profiteer) speech about Canto Bight, we got a might makes right conclusion where it’s all about kicking the bad guy’s butt.  The war’s on, baby!  Look, if your message is the bad guys are evil and it’s a cancer that needs to be removed from the galaxy, stick with that.  The other stuff is kind of a distraction that ultimately doesn’t mean anything to the narrative.

Okay, on to what I like/love about TLJ.  Namely, it’s a brash, bold, beautiful film that in a lot of ways was just what Star Wars needed.  I really worried this was going to be TESB Karaoke, and thank goodness Johnson had more sense than that.  It’s a movie that parallels TESB and AOTC with occasional nods to each film; Johnson understands the difference between homage and just repeating what some other movie did.  TLJ still feels like its own thing while adhering to the rhythm of the prior trilogies.

Johnson’s wisest decision was to get Adam Driver out of the Kylo Ren mask and take full advantage of Driver’s talent.  Sure, it probably made the marketing department mad but man, what a performance.  Today, I think that the timing of the film’s release and the trophy crowd’s disdain for Star Wars other than for the technical stuff, as well as other factors, hosed Driver out of a deserved supporting actor nomination.  Kylo Ren was popular before TLJ but this film turned him into one of the most memorable and complex characters in the nine film saga.  It also IMO made Adam Driver a bonafide star.

But Johnson is one of those “actor’s directors,” coaxing very good to terrific performances from his other cast members.  Daisy Ridley’s Rey in TLJ is absolutely luminous:  emotional, curious, occasionally funny, vulnerable, impulsive, compassionate, and in the heat of battle, feral.  In her scenes with Kylo/Ben, she meets him toe-to-toe whether as enemies or as allies with the hint of something else brewing between them.  As I’ll get to in my upcoming Reylo Heresies, I think we tend to forget that she commits wholeheartedly to Rey, which for a whole list of reasons isn’t an easy thing to do.  

Well, here’s another heresy for you...I think TLJ remains up there with TESB as Mark Hamill’s best turn as Luke Skywalker.  For all of Hamill’s kvetching and fanboy rage their hero was besmirched by that dastardly Johnson, Hamill did a great job.  Luke’s scenes with Rey are great and his cranky reluctance to embrace his destiny were well performed.  His great sadness at his own downfall and his wise wariness of a quickie conversion for Kylo add new depths to his character.  His final duel with Kylo is an amazing cap to his legend.  A lot of old fans like me were never happy that the ST set up our gang as failures and Luke’s behavior seemed a little harsh to me the first time I saw the movie.  Then through subsequent viewings it didn’t seem so bad.  I guess some fans never got over their initial shock.

Like I said, Johnson admirably sets up character arcs for newbies Poe and Finn while introducing new characters like Rose, DJ, and Admiral Holdo.  I’m happy to see Laura Dern in anything.  What a get.  Same deal for oddball Benedicio Del Toro as DJ.  Kelly Marie Tran got too much stick from idiots on the internet; her Rose is a delightful, charming character who teaches Finn what heroism really means and how to embrace something bigger than himself.  Domhall Gleeson gets some fun moments as General Hux, Gwendoline Christie drops by for a compelling final battle with Finn, and BB-8 is as adorable as ever.

This was Carrie Fisher’s last actual performance in Star Wars and there’s something fragile and vulnerable about her turn in this movie.  Few things can beat Luke’s reunion with Leia on Crait for pure poignancy.

Johnson also excels at visuals.  It’s a beautifully shot movie, whether its the harsh interiors of the Supremacy, Snoke’s red throne room, Ahch-To, or Crait’s salt plains.  The scene where Kylo and Rey touch hands is one of the greatest demonstrations of the need for connection and belonging I’ve seen in any movie.  I also love the part where Holdo goes into hyperspace right through the Supremacy, splitting it apart just as Kylo and Rey “come apart” and the Skywalker lightsaber is split in two.  I could go on and on about the many great shots in this movie.

Thematically, TLJ is very much in line with Johnson’s brand of populism.  While the Skywalkers struggle with the weight of legacy, Johnson elevates “regular” Rebels like Rose and establishes that Rey--everyone’s last hope-- is...nobody.  TLJ makes the case that anyone could come from anywhere and be a hero.  Even the “villain” could be heroic for a minute or two if he lets himself.

It also makes the case that the purpose of legends is to inspire those people in the first place.  This is demonstrated at the end of TLJ, unique among SW films in that it doesn’t feature the main characters in its coda.  A slave kid on Canto Bight is inspired by Luke’s story, telling his friends about it as they play with their action figures, then holding up his broom stick like a lightsaber.  TLJ is unique in that it’s the only SW film to basically comment on SW itself.  

As for Reylo, I think TLJ accomplished two things by emphasizing and building upon their relationship.  One is that it made each character more interesting.  Prior to TLJ I found Kylo the most intriguing of the newbies but I wasn’t terribly invested in him or Rey until this film.  The other is putting them together opened so many possibilities.  It’s tragic in retrospect that TROS didn’t take greater advantage of them.  Reylo isn’t just hot or sexy, it’s also mythic.

So that’s my look back at TLJ.  Stay tuned for the heresies!

[steampunkforever]

Finally got around to it and watched Glass Onion just as it faded out of the required viewing cultural zeitgeist enough to be judged on its own. It was enjoyable, sometimes in spite of itself, but overall not Rian’s best film either.

I’ll preface this with the admission that if literally anyone else tried to make a pandemic film like this I’d do my best to hurt them physically, but Rian Johnson pulls it off with overall charm and grace. I’ll extend that grace to Rian as well and note that the pandemic era had everyone acting like caricatures of themselves, so the cartoonish figures in the movie can be explained if not totally pardoned.

This is really the greatest flaw in the movie. The characters were jarringly 2D compared to some of Rian’s previous character work, if you note the writing in Brick or Looper or even parts of that one Star Wars movie we like to forget about. Every character in Brick is wacky and unnatural, but it works and we get the idea that these people aren’t just hollow puppets for furthering the plot. They’re weird but somehow still real. Glass Onion, on the other hand, did not ring true.

Knives Out had this problem to a lesser degree, but you still could feel that the Conservakiddie twitter/4chan troll cousin was more of a strawman than a real exploration of what drives this new generation Ben Shapiro wannabes. That said, the fantastic cast balances out Knives Out, while only some of the players in Glass Onion are saved by all-star talent. I digress.

As a sequel, Glass Onion was nigh perfect. This Knives Out trilogy (?) is setting up to be distinctly enjoyable in the tradition of Columbo or Matlock, where a quirky detective solves crimes around a cast of weirdos and each installment has very little impact on the next. This of course means that all the development from sequel to sequel takes place outside of plot and deep character development, because those things reset for a functional audience once the credits roll.

Glass Onion does this for us by developing a world where the crazy rich people from the first movie are extrapolated out to crazier rich people who display 1 of 1 Porsche 918 Spyders on the roofs of their mansions because their private islands don’t have roads. It gives clues into our favorite detective’s love life, but establishes it outside any certain continuity so that you can watch them in reverse order and the only thing that changes are the political views of the stawmen that only the most disingenuous Adam-McKay types will actually enjoy dunking on.

It’s a really tricky tightrope to walk, and even as it has its wobbles, Glass Onion makes it across. Sure, it lacked the novelty of the first one, and now that a pattern’s established some of the shine is taken from the first as well when you can see the thematic bones of a series, but it was perfectly serviceable and furthermore made me have fun even when I went to it truly jaded by bad tumblr analysis.

The second act 2 twist, where things heat up significantly from the first, is what saved the movie for me. Sure, I basically had the plot solved in my head by the time we got to the second discussion by the pool, but the extra, semi-red herring (pink herring?) twist took a mystery I’d already solved, let me still keep it solved, and then let me continue to wonder where it was going even as I knew how it ended. Only Rian could do this and also make it an enjoyable pandemic film.

Then they put Ed Norton in the Tom Cruise costume from Magnolia and the movie was sealed. Not Rian’s best, but not bad either.

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

i was going to make a joke here about how the OG anti jedi movement was started by george lucas and is called the prequel trilogy (and they are like garbage as films but not because of that) but i realized that actually as someone whose family luckily is not in star wars a more salient irritation to me is the conversation about The Luke Of It All and like i could go on about this at length but mostly what i want to say is that in high school i decided i wanted to celebrate my eighteenth birthday by having all my friends over and having a marathon of the original star wars trilogy, which we had all grown up with and loved except one girl who had never seen them and when this came to light we were like WHAT????? HOW CAN THIS BE?????? and we were all a little judgmental when she got bored and went to bed halfway through. because we all had been star wars fans since childhood and thought the movies ruled. we were obnoxious and superior teenagers who went to the last two prequels preparing to hatewatch and eager to make fun, and it was consensus (not shared by me, a lifelong lover of critters) that the ewoks were dumb, but our love for star wars was deep and sincere. my dude friends probably had some knowledge of the world beyond the movies even from like video games and maybe some novels idk. anyway. so we sat down on my birthday to watch these movies that we all agreed were awesome and great. and one of my friends was like, “i should count every time luke whines onscreen.” and we were all like LMAO HAHAHA THAT’S SO FUNNY YES DO IT. and he got to like 110 whines by the end of a new hope and then abandoned the bit. but like. one thing that makes me feel insane is if you’d asked me in november 2017 “how do star wars fans feel about luke?” i UNHESITATINGLY would have said, “oh they think he’s a whiny bitch and the most lame character in the movies and also that mark hamill can’t act.” like i can’t emphasize how much this was the reality i knew as a person who liked star wars but in a normal way. i swear i wrote some line to this effect into a piece of fiction at one point. and in fact as a person who tends towards generosity once i’ve decided i like something i also could have told you of the years i spent alone in the luke-loving trenches, coming to his defense because yeah he does whine a lot but that’s part of his charm. it’s part of the magic of the movies, went the argument i swear to you i had made, that if luke is on the screen he’s probably whining. it wouldn’t be the same any other way! this was, i stress again, as per all evidence available to me, a niche opinion. like it was a really hot take to be like “yes luke whines so much… but i like him anyway! and i think mark hamill is pretty good once you get to empire.” so like i feel really truly berenstain/berenstein bears about this universe i portaled into 5 years ago where apparently longtime star wars fans have always thought that luke was awesome and cool and a total hero. like setting aside all debates over artistic merits and narrative consistency and how to read the best star wars movie of all time (the last jedi), it just makes me feel fucking crazy that people would act like “luke sucks” is a concept invented out of thin air by rian johnson in 2017. like it goes against everything about my experience of being a person who has thought the original star wars trilogy is pretty great since i was 8 years old in 1996.

[thatweirdfandom]

Dark Crystal aor behind the scenes

god i love seeing the love for the making of the show. it’s so beautiful

wait they are talking about cg face things but they didn’t do that for the show? or at least i didn’t notice it

labrythin sequels…… by the two main writers of dark crystal aor… mmmmm i would have been down for this instead of a bullshit reboot we r getting :(

cg gelf with puppet skeksis?

it looks very good for sure! maybe if they did that as a game?? that would be super cool

this is why i love creators so so much. there’s just so much love? it makes me cry of a nostalgia missed

henson company i hope one day to work with you i cant make puppets but i can felt…

see here’s the thing for me- dark crystal where history repeats itself is drastically differnt to star wars- star wars rehashed everything for the sake of nostalgia it was a reboot but not.

dark crystal aor pulls a new story a new world they made a new world for us to see. they wanted to expand the story not live in its past.

like again everything is super solid in the writing and series but also it misses a grip on me?

HAHAHA PODLING LANGUAGE I LOVE THIS AHHSJEJAHDA

“i made up the language but i’m not fluent”

WHAY THE WRITER OF A STSR TREK MOVIE IS JUST A VOICE ACTOR HERE HAMFJAKDNS AMAZING

i really wish they added more bright colors like how 80s fantasy does? some of the concept art really shows how insane everything is

rians voice actor sounds like tom holland

OMG BARNY THE GUY THAT DOES FINGER PIPPETS I KNOW YOU

ohhh they did the og big bird thing where they add a monitor inside

god puppeteers are insanely skilled

fruads son was the baby from labrythin??????

[crim-bat]

As good as Rian Johnson is at movies that aren't super connected like Glass Onion and knives out, I think that those movies and his comments about hating to work in a bigger Universe even if it's one that he created sort of point to the long-standing complaint that The last jedi, while a very good Star Wars movie in its own right, was not at all a good sequel.

Him specifying an interview that he wanted a book and story with the Last Jedi kind of cement this, as well as his comments about hating the idea of the Glass Onion having knives out in the title.

This isn't to say he probably can't make it very good Star Wars movie and that there aren't good parts of The Last Jedi but that is to say that it does validate a lot of complaints people have had about that movie in regards to it being a better Standalone film and a terrible sequel

And while the sequel Trilogy is a hot mess in and of itself, and I think that most fans of Star Wars will at least agree that it could have been handled better overall, that mess was not the fault of only Disney Lucas film but also JJ and RJ. It was a team effort.

And while another interviews I can certainly respect to an extent him being proud of the work he did on Star Wars, I think it also Bears statement that there is something to be said for a person simply not taking criticism of their work when roughly half the fan base has decent enough reasons for not liking the movie.

I would love to see him try Star Wars again. I would think that he probably would do a much better job if given an isolated sandbox to play in. But his storytelling didn't play well with others and I think that a lot of the recent interviews on Glass Onion and The Last Jedi definitely show that

Just my 2 cents

[thehobbem]

I finally figured it out what's been bothering me about s03 of The Mandalorian; but it's not a problem specific to s03, or to this show, but to this entire era of Star Wars shows. (Disclaimer: I have not watched Andor yet, so this may not apply to it.)

Filoni and Favreau love Star Wars, you can tell this much. And they know the lore. They're very good at the lore, at the world building, at the action.

They're not very good at themes and emotion. As in, they don't seem to use these as the very fabric of their stories.

Yes, obviously, they can write emotions for certain moments, and make us feel it! We all felt it when IG-11 sacrificed himself, for example. But that was for that moment, and that moment only. It had little to no resonance in the rest of the story. It didn't inform Din's actions other than "he mistrusts droids slightly less now". And that kind of lack of lasting impact is a constant in The Mandalorian.

"What about all the emotion in Obi-Wan?" you ask. I'll argue that 1) dealing with Obi-Wan's profound emotions on finding out Anakin is Vader is unavoidable, if you want to write a story about Obi-Wan during that time period, and 2) that wasn't even the main aspect of the story, when it should've been. No, the story was the Action, it was about Rescuing the Princess, and it was a way to explain why Leia named her son Ben. His emotions were a secondary aspect, a consequence, and it was soon over.

They write better than J. J. Abrams, but that's a low bar to clear at this point, and honestly, they deserve a better compliment. They have brought a semblance of order to this post-IX era, and I'm honestly thankful.

However, it really does seem to me that the only one who thought about themes, and how present and past emotions and experiences inform a character's actions, was Rian Johnson.

Imo, it's clear now that, had Filoni and Favreau been George Lucas in 1977, they would've absolutely come up with a Luke who uses the Force to hit the Death Star's exhaust port. What they would not have come up with is a Luke who, after cutting off Vader's hand, realizes his worst fear is coming true, and he's turning to the Dark Side, like his father before him.

[trashquisitor-shirozora]

the mandalorian, for the fandom asks 🥰

Two birds, one stone! Let's start with Star Wars the entire franchise.

The first character I first fell in love with: Finn

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: Cassian Andor. I liked his character in Rogue One. Love his character even more in his show.

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: This is an endless list but I nominate Rian Johnson, who is not a character but sure ruined a fuckton of characters for me in a movie that so many people think is the Best Of All Time. okay.

The character I love that everyone else hates: Genuinely have no idea. Pretty sure this would also be an endless list.

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: I could be real funny and say JJ Abrams, whose handful of movies I watched used to fall under the "mindless summer fun" category, but I think this would be Rey. She stopped being interesting after the TLJ/TROS fiasco and I just don't care enough to pay attention about her future. How do I know Disney Lusasfilm isn't going to waste it like they wasted so many other characters' futures?

The character I would totally smooch: Din Djarin but only because I just need to tap his helmet. No kissing involved, success!

The character I’d want to be like: Cinta. maybe. Her clarity of purpose is inspiring.

The character I’d slap: Sure does come down to between the mass murderer and his mass murdering grandson. I got two hands.

A pairing that I love: Finn/Poe by a country mile and then some.

A pairing that I despise: Reylo.

And now for The Mandalorian/Mandoverse edition.

The first character I first fell in love with: lol. lmao. rofl. roflmao. roflcopter. it's Din Djarin btw.

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: Luke Skywalker actually. yes, he's Mister Star Wars, but The Mandalorian was the show that actually made me sit and think about his post-ROTJ life. we don't talk about the ST.

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: Post-S2 Bo-Katan and every single character that showed up in the Ahsoka show. I didn't see TCW/Rebels and while it would've been nice to watch them, I shouldn't have to in order to understand who these people are in the live-action sequel to Rebels. And what I saw did not make me interested in going back to watch.

The character I love that everyone else hates: Cara. I loved what she represented as a burned out veteran living in the lawless Outer Rim. Fucking shame her actor turned out to be a trash fire. What a shame Cara was just written out instead of recast. Disney Lucasfilm is full of COWARDS.

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: Peli. She got overused and I got tired.

The character I would totally smooch: *points to the Star Wars version* But I would also smooch Grogu on the forehead, my Force baby gremlin child.

The character I’d want to be like: Fennec 100%

The character I’d slap: Gideon, because his S3 endgame is ridiculous. Sir, what the fuck was that? I expected so much better from you.

A pairing that I love: lol. lmao. rofl. roflmao. roflcopter. it's Din/Luke btw.

A pairing that I despise: Din/Bo

Play ask games, win ask prizes!

[themattress]

The Last Jedi /=/ The Empire Strikes Back

Disclaimer: I like The Last Jedi. This is a good-faith critique, not a histrionic bashing.

The Last Jedi has been around for 5 years now, and it’s no less controversial. Regardless of what anyone thinks of it, I want to call out one thing that I see a lot, which is defense of it on the whole purely through a comparison to The Empire Strikes Back, the middle installment of the Original Trilogy and widely considered one of the greatest movie sequels ever made and perhaps the best Star Wars film. It���s pointed out how The Empire Strikes Back also went darker in tone and upended viewer expectations, and that it was divisive in its time as well. The view is that this is proof that The Last Jedi is just as good a movie, perhaps even better.

And I just can’t agree with this, for three major reasons.

1. The runtime. The Empire Strikes Back is a 2 hour movie, while The Last Jedi is 2 1/2 hours. The former uses all its time wisely and still sticks to the pacing style shared by the rest of the trilogy, where exposition and action scenes rotate quickly, seldom lasting above 10 minutes until the big climax. The Last Jedi, by contrast, often drags, with scenes going on way longer than necessary and characters talking way past the point where we’ve heard all we needed to hear. Most frustratingly, there’s some space action at the start of the movie up to the 30 minute mark, only for it to almost completely stop for a whole hour beyond a badly executed sequence of Finn and Rose riding on space horses and a brief skirmish between Rey and Luke that was added in reshoots, which then leaves the last hour for almost total action which includes a second climax. I’m sorry, but that’s just bad pacing, especially for a Star Wars film.

2. While A New Hope was thought to be a self-contained film when made, it still left a few threads for a sequel to follow. Luke hadn’t yet “become a Jedi like his father” the way he said he wanted to; despite us seeing him doing some basic training for it he never got a chance to actually wield a lightsaber in battle. Leia was still leading the Rebellion and it was suggested she had feelings for Luke and Han, and they for her, setting up a love triangle. Han chose to come back and join the Rebellion instead of paying his debt with Jabba the Hutt, creating both an external conflict and providing more internal development for him as he goes from smuggler to soldier. And of course, Darth Vader, the guy established as having “betrayed and murdered” Luke’s father, was still out there, to say nothing of the unseen Emperor he served.

The Empire Strikes Back ran with all of those threads and progressed them. The Last Jedi, meanwhile, actively throws away or hastily wraps up almost every thread that was left for it by its predecessor The Force Awakens, which was NOT self-contained. Whether due to general disinterest or his desire to subvert expectations, Rian Johnson tossed all that set-up over his shoulder the way Luke tossed his old lightsaber. Luke re-entering the fight? Rey undergoing formal training with Luke? The map that led to Luke receiving an explanation? Finn’s Force sensitivity further explored as he tries to make his way back to Rey? Leia having more development as she continues to lead the Resistance in the fight against the First Order, which should presently be at a stalemate? More showcasing of Supreme Leader Snoke and finding out what his whole deal is? And of course, the matter of Rey’s parents, possible lineage and destiny with the Force that explains her prodigious efficiency with it? DENIED. Instead, the movie does its own thing and/or shuts all of those possibilities down. The only real consistency with the previous movie is with Kylo Ren, his ascension as a villain, and his mysterious connection with Rey. Otherwise, this movie felt like a soft reboot of a soft reboot!

3. Lastly, The Empire Strikes Back left clear threads for a sequel to follow. Luke not having completed his training. The unresolved Luke/Leia/Han love triangle. Han being frozen in carbonite and sent to Jabba the Hutt. Lando joining the Rebellion. Yoda’s cryptic remark of “there is another” (possibly related: how did Leia hear Luke through the Force at the end?) The Emperor and his desire to turn Luke to the Dark Side. And of course, Darth Vader, who not only remains undefeated but has now revealed to be Luke’s father rather than the one who killed his father, which opens a dramatic can of worms to fill a whole movie all by itself.

The only clear thread left by The Last Jedi, beyond the still open Resistance vs. First Order conflict which of course can only be resolved in the last film, is Rey and Kylo Ren’s strange adversarial yet romantic relationship and bond in the Force. Yes, you could also work with Finn’s firm status as a Resistance member and his relationship with Rose, Rey and Poe getting to better know each other, General Hux scheming to betray Kylo Ren, Luke having become one with the Force, Lando having not yet appeared in the Sequel Trilogy, and the implications of that “broom boy” scene at the end of the movie; and Lucasfilm did try working with those when Colin Trevorrow was attached to Episode IX. But it just didn’t come together - things like Rey having no further conflict regarding her heritage, Kylo Ren being set up as the Final Boss, and the expectation to further subvert the old in favor of carving a new path forward which would ultimately result in previously impossible concepts like “Gray Jedi” becoming canonized held the project back, to say nothing of Carrie Fisher’s untimely death.

The Rise of Skywalker was left with no choice but to re-open as many of those closed plot/character threads from The Force Awakens as it possibly could because they never should have been closed to begin with. Return of the Jedi, otoh, had no such problem.

So regardless of what you think of The Last Jedi as a movie, can we not pretend it’s on the same level as The Empire Strikes Back, especially when it comes to being the middle installment of a trilogy? For in that area, The Empire Strikes Back will always be the best.

[gffa]

So, here's my question. How come we can't all just be happy that we are getting new material? Why does everyone have to be so critical about all of it? There are problems with all of it but that doesn't stop me from continuing to love it. Out of everything new that's been released the only thing I have a real problem with is "last Jedi". Rian Johnson did his own thing and completely ignored everything that had come before. Last Jedi is by far the WORST chapter in the STAR WARS saga but it doesn't make me hate the rest. I just don't understand why everyone seems to be an expert on what isn't theirs to be an expert on. Belittling fans and the fandom and the source material makes absolutely no sense to me. If you don't love it then why are you a fan? I do appreciate your views, even though I don't always agree but I don't understand why so called fans have such hate for something they claim to love? Nothing and no one is perfect and until we all figure that out I guess this is something we'll all just have to live with. Thanks for being positive about most things. You are one of the few who takes everything with a grain of salt and I appreciate you for it. May the Force be with You Always

Haha, oh, man, I am so completely of two minds on this! Because I have been there, my friend. So many times I find myself thinking, "Why are you even in this fandom if you seem to hate everything that comes out and don't even seem to like what Star Wars is?" I am baffled by so many people who seem to be so mad about everything they watch/read/play for Star Wars and yet they don't wander off, I don't get how that can be at all satisfying an experience! But on the other hand, the way you feel about TLJ is the way other fans feel about whatever thing they're mad about, they're mad about it but it doesn't erase that they love some other part of Star Wars! I think a lot of the anger in SW fandom comes from how so much of the atmosphere is constantly scraping on people's nerves and so everyone is low-key pissed off all the time because we've all seen so much stupid, annoying shit from fans about other fans, that the slightest thing can set us off. There's also that there are a lot of legitimate reasons to be angry re: Star Wars that aren't just frivolous reasons, but that there's been a shitload of abusive behavior by the fans towards the actors, towards fans of color, towards Jewish fans, towards a lot of people, and being angry about that isn't in the same category as being mad about whether or not Han shot first, but it can sometimes spill over onto those topics because they've been used as weapons against real people. In my experience, there's no one reason why SW fandom is the way it is, other than that all fandoms are like this these days, and I suspect a good chunk of it is how much anger drives engagement drives social media sites making money. Anger gets a lot of instant rewards and there's a lot to be angry about in the world these days and everything gets tangled up in everything else. So, I get it, there's a lot of stupid as shit pissiness in SW fandom, but there's a lot of important anger as well, and a lot of sympathetic anger, because we're not obligated to be happy about stuff just because it has the SW name on it, but also some people have made it their entire personality to be mad about frivolous stuff and, like, if that makes them satisfied, then it's not my business, genuinely and truly. But I spent years building a corner to love the things I love, I'm not going to give that up now. Each of us has to decide what we want out of fandom--including what we want from other fans and what we're willing to engage with. There have been so many times I was genuinely ready to leave SW fandom because people would not stop shoving their pissiness in my face and I really had to do a lot of work to get through that snarl, it's not easy. But it's up to each of us to figure out how to engage with the source material/fandom that exists, what we want from it, what we're willing to tolerate, and what we're willing to build for ourselves.

[boasamishipper]

EMILY YOUR TAGS IN THE LATEST POSTSS I'M DYING!! SPILL THE TEA - Sanji aka allkinds-oftrash

Okay.

So I was in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy fandom for five whole years. From 2015 to 2020. Finn was my favorite character and Finnrey was my preferred ship, and if you know anything about the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy and what an enormous flaming shitshow it became (thanks a lot Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy; I refuse to blame JJ Abrams because he did his best cleaning up their messes), you Know that I - and my fellow Finnreys and Finn stan mutuals - deserve So Much Financial Compensation.

How does this relate to my tags on that tg2 post the other day, you ask? Well......

So being an active Finn stan and Finnrey shipper in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy fandom for so long (hereafter referred to as the SWST fandom) means that I saw the best of fandom (incredible fic and art and meta and graphics) and the worst of fandom (racism, sexism, misogynoir, I cannot emphasize enough how mindbogglingly, infuriatingly racist some of these fans were) all in one place. What I learned from those five years is something that I've seen in every fandom I've been in since (and in retrospect): characters of color (particularly Black characters) are consistently ignored and overlooked in favor of white characters. Whether this is purposeful or accidental bias is another question entirely that I honestly do not have the spoons to look into. All I'm gonna do is lay out the facts as I see them.

Back to the SWST. We have Rey, our female lead (played by Daisy Ridley, a white woman), introduced to us in The Force Awakens (2015). In TFA, TLJ, and TROS, we are shown that she is closest with Finn (played by John Boyega, a Black man), a former Stormtrooper turned Resistance hero who saved her life, and Kylo Ren, once known as Ben Solo, (played by Adam Driver, a white man) has been trying to manipulate her to the Dark Side (and when that fails, tries to kill her - and also mindraped / tortured her / killed her father figure in TFA).

Who does fandom ship Rey with the most?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Which brings me to Top Gun: Maverick (2022), which came out a little under two months ago as I write this. Our characters with the most screentime (and who they are shown ON SCREEN to be closest to) are as follows:

Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise), shown to be closest to Iceman Kazansky (Val Kilmer), his wingman from the first movie; Hondo Coleman (Bashir Salahuddin), a close friend of his who worked with him on the Darkstar project; Warlock Bates (Charles Parnell), NAWDC commander, who Mav is stated to already be acquainted with pre-movie; Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly), his old flame and on-again / off-again love interest; and Rooster Bradshaw (Miles Teller), who he views like a son ("I was trying to be the father he lost."). Mav has an antagonistic relationship with Cyclone (Jon Hamm), who does not hide his dislike of him for the majority of the movie. Mav was also very close with his RIO Goose Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards), who died in an accident when they were at TOPGUN in the first movie.

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller), shown to be closest to Phoenix Trace (Monica Barbaro), who knows him best, and Maverick Mitchell, who was a father figure to him after his father Goose's tragic death. He has a longstanding antagonistic relationship with Hangman Seresin (Glen Powell), who insults the way he flies (and vice versa) and insinuates that Rooster's father figure was responsible for the death of his father; he and Hangman do come to respect each other at the end of the film, after Hangman saves his and Mav's lives.

Jake "Hangman" Seresin (Glen Powell), shown to be actively disliked by many of the pilots, including Rooster, Phoenix, her WSO Bob Floyd (Lewis Pullman), and Payback's WSO Fanboy (Danny Ramirez). He is shown to be most comfortable around Coyote Machado (Greg Tarzan Davis), whom he holds in as high of a regard as he holds himself ("And here I thought we were special, Coyote."). See above for his relationship with Rooster.

Other close relationships shown to us onscreen include Bob and Phoenix's relationship and Payback (Jay Ellis) and Fanboy's relationship. Payback, Fanboy, Coyote, Warlock, and Hondo are the main characters of color. Halo (Kara Wang), Fritz (Manny Jacinto), and Yale (Raymond Lee) are pilots of color, but have few (if any) speaking lines.

There have been 1005 fics posted under Top Gun: Maverick (2020) - the fact that the tags were combined is a rant for another day - since May 24, 2022, which is the date of the early access premiere. Let's see our most popular ships. (This list excludes x reader fics and does not distinguish whether the ship listed is the Main Ship of a fic.)

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw/Jake "Hangman" Seresin (397)

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw & Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (148)

Robert "Bob" Floyd/Jake "Hangman" Seresin (116)

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (105)

Tom "Iceman" Kazansky/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (76)

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw & Natasha "Phoenix" Trace (62)

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw/Natasha "Phoenix" Trace (52)

Pete "Maverick" Mitchell/Jake "Hangman" Seresin (28)

Penny Benjamin/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (27)

Pete "Maverick" Mitchell/Beau "Cyclone" Simpson (26)

Now let's take a look at the relationships laid out above that are missing from this list and see how many fics they have.

Bernie "Hondo" Coleman & Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (2)

Bernie "Hondo" Coleman/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (0)

Solomon "Warlock" Bates & Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (0)

Solomon "Warlock" Bates/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (0)

Pete "Maverick" Mitchell & Beau "Cyclone" Simpson (1)

Reuben "Payback" Fitch/Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia (12)

Reuben "Payback" Fitch & Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia (4)

Javy "Coyote" Machado & Jake "Hangman" Seresin (24)

Javy "Coyote" Machado/Jake "Hangman" Seresin (8)

Robert "Bob" Floyd & Natasha "Phoenix" Trace (21)

Robert "Bob" Floyd/Natasha "Phoenix" Trace (17)

And who is being written about the most?

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (743)

Jake "Hangman" Seresin (666)

Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (533)

Natasha "Phoenix" Trace (402)

Robert "Bob" Floyd (346)

Javy "Coyote" Machado (197)

Reuben "Payback" Fitch (142)

Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia (138)

Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (119)

Beau "Cyclone" Simpson (80)

Penny Benjamin (79)

Solomon "Warlock" Bates (33)

Bernie "Hondo" Coleman (26)

Notice a pattern here?

This post is not meant to make anybody feel guilty for choosing to write about one ship or another, nor is it arguing that anybody who does focus on one ship (ex. Hangster) over another (ex. Macheresin) is inherently racist. You can't choose what you're into. What I am saying is a fact: the characters of color in Top Gun: Maverick (no matter who their relationships are with) are not being written about as often as the white characters. And though I haven't personally delved into all 1005 fics in this tag, I can guarantee you that the vast majority of the fics in which these characters of color are being tagged in do not feature these characters in a leading role.

Just something to think about.

[piglet26]

Rey Solo... Rey from Jakku.... Rey No one... anything but Rey Skywalker.

The Last Jedi simply revealed that Rey was a "nobody" – perhaps the most shocking and least expected outcome for the Rey lineage debate. It was a perfect twist in our heroine story despite people seeming desperate for her to be connected to some man already in the franchise.

Daisy Ridley has even expressed her frustration with the Rey’s lineage debate multiple times, “I love that Rey is such a great character, they’re like: ‘No, no, she has to be… she has to be-’She’s her own person! Let her be her guys, let her live."

Exactly! Why did people care so much? Maybe initially, it was fun to hypothesize. However, once the reveal came out people actually liked that she was fresh, a brand new start instead of just nostalgia, or, a way to continue on a males legacy. We have Ben Solo for that, or, at least we did.

More than a shocking twist created just to subvert expectations, the Rey “no one” reveal encapsulated The Last Jedi’s perfect message – anyone could be the hero of their own story.  Rey’s realization was that her heritage don’t matter ... all that matters is who she chooses to be now. Rey’s legacy didn't need to be defined by Luke or Leia, which would leave her free to start her own story - hell, Star Wars to have a future. On the other end was Ben/Kylo Ren, who did come from the mighty Skywalker family and hailed as the son of heroes and wanted to escape that legacy.

Then here comes JJ "Nostalgia Kind" Abrams and Chris Terrio. Terrio here “We also thought that Rey’s arc cannot be finished after Episode VIII. You can leave Episode VIII and say, “Well, now, Rey is content. She’s discovered her parents aren’t Skywalkers, or whatever, and that’s fine.” But so much of her personal story was about where she came from, what kept her on Jakku all those years and the trauma that shaped her. We see quite strongly in Episode VII that something mysterious and troubling happened to her. Although she did get some answers in Episode VIII, we didn’t feel that that story was over. We felt that there were still more questions in Rey’s head about where she came from and where she was going. So, that was the other big idea that we had to address in this film. Rian’s answer to, “What’s the worst news that Rey could receive?” was that she comes from junk traders, and that’s true. She does come from junk traders; we didn’t contradict that.” No, you just went back to what you wanted in the beginning.

By the end Rey takes on not only the Skywalker name but she looks over two suns which brings me to the point of this essay...... if Ben wasn't going to be there, then she should have taken last name. Rey Solo.

What's irritating about LucasFilm/Disney is their desire to appease everyone. I don't give a damn about the antis, nor should they. Reylos were a big support group for the films and mightily invested. TROS came off as trying to please everyone. If we really think about, with the exception of the end of Exegol, the Rey and Kylo interactions lacked depth and intimacy. Perhaps it's just not the style of JJ Abrams and Chris Terrio, who did support the pairing.

While I'm 100% convinced Reylo was planned, all the creators seemed very open to adjusting if it wasn't working. Hence why Finn and Poe were both open considerations, especially Finn. I don’t think Adam or Daisy intentionally played up any sexual tension in their scenes together to give us an impression about something in TFA.  I think it just happened.  Early bird Reylos picked up on it.  Some critics, including the one who wrote the TFA review for Time magazine, picked up on it. Rian Johnson picked up on it too and the rest is history.

Leia’s behavior's is odd for entire decades. Being a trained Jedi herself, she could have taught her son - instead she sent him to his uncle( Oh wait, that was a retcon). Han was either helping with the Resistance or off doing something shady. From the novels we learn that Ben heard his parents arguing and talking about him like he was a monster ever since he was a child, and that when he was sent away this seemed to confirm to him that something was wrong with him and had to be fixed. (From the novels we also learn that he actually had no ambition to become a Jedi and wanted to be a pilot - true Skywalker and also Solo that he is -, but he had no say in the matter.)

For both Ben and Rey, their journey is about letting go of childhood trauma and discovering their own independence. Ultimately it's about their pairing being both emotionally healing AND a balance in the force. They are a DYAD after all. I saw all this to say, he is her closest personal connection and impact through the 3 films. Leia is her master but we don't see that, it happened off camera.

Terrio says that the decision to have Rey take on the name “Skywalker” was a way to show that “you can choose your ancestry.” Which is not true and also a strange thing to say considering.

Which brings me to the correction of this tricky trail. Pay Adam Driver want he wants and reunite the dyad.

[agentnico]

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) Review

Knives Out holds a special place in my heart. It was the movie I took my lovely fiancée to see on our very first date, and naturally both the film and the relationship turned out to be a great success. Now our 3rd year anniversary together is only weeks away, and ironically a sequel to the movie that started it all off for us has come out. Couldn’t get any more sentimental than this now can it. Was half expecting it to rain on the way to the cinema just to add to the romantic clichés. It didn’t rain though. Instead our Uber driver nearly killed us by driving against traffic on a one way street to the cinema. So that was fun.

Plot: Tech billionaire Miles Bron invites his friends for a getaway on his private Greek island. When someone turns up dead, Detective Benoit Blanc is put on the case.

Knives Out was a great whodunnit that shocked everyone by how good it was when it came out back in 2019. Not least due to it having been directed by Rian Johnson who was fresh off of making the very divisive Star Wars: The Last Jedi. However Knives Out was such a pitch perfect movie which brought the classic murder mystery to modern day, whilst still in-keeping with the old-school Agatha Christie vibe, with Daniel Craig even playing the very clear Hercule Poirot type character. The dialogue was sharply written, the performances were great and overall Knives Out was nothing short of being AWESOME. So much so that it was a box office smash hit. On a $40 million budget it made over $312 million profit. That’s a good fashioned pay-check right there. So then Netflix bought the rights to two sequels for a ridiculous $469 million, where the deal also includes a $100 paycheck to both Johnson and Craig for each sequel. Look I don’t really understand the Netflix algorithm and how it makes money, but now I REALLY don’t understand it. Knives Out was successful, but not successful with these paychecks! Again though, don’t get me started on algorithms - I don’t get them!

So Glass Onion is the first sequel to Knives Out, and one that sets out to show if Knives Out was a one trick pony or if this murder mystery is destined to be a hugely successful murder mystery franchise. The only real connection between Glass Onion and Knives Out is that they both feature the social commentary on the rich and wealthy, as well as Daniel Craig’s detective Benoit Blanc. So let’s start with Blanc himself. He stole the show in the first film with his Southern accent, and he does so again in Glass Onion. Seeing him be the fish-out-of-water by being a lower class member stuck on this Greek island with all the rich folk, it was adorable seeing him in his matching outfit be shocked and in awe at all the expensive tech and aspects of this place. When he tries a special celebrity-made hot sauce and exclaims “Oh Halle Berry! That has a kick” in his Southern drawl... honestly that was peak. Couldn’t get any better than that. Benoit Blanc is an icon at this point. He’s clever, funny, super likeable, and I would love for Craig to keep playing this character for as long as possible.

Rian Johnson is also back on both writing and directing duty, and he swaps out the cold and damp suburban setting of Knives Out to the colourful sunny holiday shots of Greece. It’s as if he’s trying to distance himself visually from the first film as much as possible to signify that this is it’s own murder mystery tale. Well, you know, just like with any Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle book. Same detective but dealing with completely different scenarios. But Ryan really establishes the light vistas of the island, and I must say I am glad I got to see it this film on the big screen rather than on Netflix (where it premieres end of December), as the setting and even the central ‘glass onion’ (yes, there really is an actual glass onion, it’s not just a metaphor) are worth seeing in their true spectacle. Speaking of spectacle, I’m also not going to talk much about the plot, as this is one of those films best seen when not knowing anything, as there are many twists and turns throughout that should be experienced in the moment. Johnson presents the movie in very non linear fashion on purpose, so as to reveal parts of the puzzle only at the exact time he intends to. Like an onion, he peels the layers one by one, only at the end revealing the entire grand plan. Does it at time become style over substance? Partially, however Johnson’s script is so cleverly put, and minus the first 30 minutes where the movie drags a little before getting to the actual murder mystery, the thing as a whole is really well paced an keeps you on your toes.

Glass Onion is also very funny. It dials up on the humour in comparison to Knives Out, and some of these new characters are even more wackier that the previous line up, with the cast all very game here. Edward Norton is evidently relishing playing the Elon Musk-type tech genius billionaire and is on top form. Kate Hudson is on a whole new level of over the top here, dancing and prancing her way from shot to shot wearing massive My Fair Lady hats and taking over the room with her exclamations. Janelle Monae plays the role that Ana de Armas had in the first Knives Out film in that she is the outsider, and the one that Benoit Blanc warms up to the most. Monae is very good in the role, but again, cannot say much about her character without spilling spoilers. The rest of the cast all play the parts well. You’ve got Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr.... they’re all great, however some are a little under-used. There’s also an abundance of great if not a bit random cameos, which were really fun. Look, we get to meet Benoic Blanc’s partner in this one for one moment, and I must say that the casting choice for that was brilliant. 

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is a great successor to the original movie (though the first film I’d say is still superior) that goes bigger and wackier, and though it doesn’t always work (the first half an hour is rocky), it’s well made up by the murder mystery itself, the great cast and a solid script by Rian Johnson. It’s all very entertaining and super enjoyable. And again, Daniel Craig’s detective Benoit Blanc is a character creation that is so damn good, that I cannot wait to see him again.

Overall score: 8/10

[the-force-awakens]

Top five Poe moments? 👀

I've answered this one a couple of times, but I've recently (ish) rewatched majority of the trilogy so I'm going to focus on scenes from those (as opposed to stuff from books + comics)!

that slide around he does in the x-wing at the start of tlj to take out the tie fighters from behind is. needlessly hot. I made a very embarrassing noise watching it the other night.

when he properly meets rey for the first time! I love how damn soft he gets around her, to the point even his theme gets a softer variant in the moment, it's the sweetest thing 🫶

honestly just the whole opening of tlj with the call to hux, full stop. Rian Johnson described it as smth like "pure star wars" in a recent interview and I heartily agree, it's the funniest fucking thing. "Hugs, with an H? Skinny guy, kind of pasty" did you know I'm in love with Poe Dameron, did you....did you know that?

I've also been having feelings about the lightspeed skipping scene lately because I think it perfectly shows the difference in Poe and how much he's grown - he's still that reckless flyboy he's always been, but he's steering that recklessness away from fights he doesn't need to tackle. He doesn't even try to confront the squadron(s) of ties, he's entirely focused on getting away — but he's still Poe, so he's gonna run away from the bad guys in the most exciting fashion possible. (it also adds smth I think to his argument with Rey and his frustration that all they're focusing on is the state of the Falcon, cos he's more focused on the fact that he managed to get everyone back safe).

when he shows back up in tfa on takodana. It doesn't matter how many times I've seen that movie, I feel the same amount of excitement and wonder as I did the first time I watched it (if not slightly increased) when he shows up on screen for the first time since the tie fighter escape 🫶

ask me my top five anything