#is like the best sidestep of a mary sue

[blazonix]

🧩🍬

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately? A wall of text with little to no paragraph breaks! My brain immediately tells me, no, we're not reading that. I can't hit the back button fast enough.

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

Listen, Batman/Bruce Wayne....he's a mary-sue.

People say they like him above other superheroes for being human, but that man is not human at all. He has mary-sue powers which goes hand-in-hand with him being a wish fulfillment, self-insert of the person writing him. Don't ever feel bad about writing mary-sues because Batman is the ultimate, most loved one of all time.

Also, Batman needs to stay in his own comics.

[justmybookthots]

The Cruel Prince

4.5/5 stars

This book ruined me for fae books and I'm not even sorry. It also doesn't help that this was my first literary introduction to fae (Midsummer Night's Dream doesn't count). The prose is so lyrical and beautiful and had me feeling as if I were utterly lost in Elfhame / an otherworldly, fae-filled realm. (Also funnily enough, I read this series while I was down with COVID, so maybe the delirium added to the otherworldliness of it.)

What I Ioved about fae was that they couldn't lie. And Cruel Prince really does work that in parts - seeing Cardan use wit and cleverness and lies by omission to sidestep that "weakness" in him. Even until now I haven't quite seen a book execute that to the degree Cardan displayed. Books like ACoTaR just eliminate the inability to lie in their fae, which is a huge step down, in my opinion.

I also adored Jude, which is very rare for me because most heroines in fiction annoy me or they're either too bland for me to care. But Jude - JUDE - she was hardworking, ambitious and determined without being a special, overly snarky Mary Sue about it. She actually showed her smarts, imo best demonstrated when she outwitted Balekin (that exchange with the poison made me SCREAM).

Speaking of poison - she poisoned herself everyday, trying to build an immunity to poison. It was painful, and I cringed for her, but she did it. And throughout it all, she never had any special ability until the third book, which barely showcased said ability. Jude got through the trials and tribulations by being clever and cunning and human. She wasn't half-fae; she wasn't given special gifts in combat like Feyre - she was just herself in a world of immortals, and she worked her ass off to compensate for it.

But what makes the book for me isn't really Jude, though she's a big part of it. It's Cardan - whom I fell so deeply for; cruel, pathetic drunkard Cardan.

Was he a little too weak for my tastes? Yes. Was he a little too drunk, to the point that I found it repulsive at times? Yes. Was he kind of sucky in bed? Yes, though that's more because it's YA and they weren't going into detail about the spice.

And yet the way he spoke - how he could wax poetic and make it sound like a dagger or a kiss - OH MY GOSH. I also just love a boy who was able to be socially adept when he needed to, and manipulate people to his advantage. I loved how he had to teach Jude at the end of the first book to win allies over, and how he once (very exasperatedly, might I add) told her that murder (brute force / violence) wasn't the answer to everything.

I loved how cruel he was at the start and how he slowly became kinder, more trusting, more willing to love himself and accept that he loved Jude. And if there is one trope I hate in books, it's trauma-bonding, but there wasn't that. Jude's past was nowhere as wretched as his, and they never once felt like (... for lack of a better term) edge-lords pretending they were more special than the world because of their childhood histories. Cardan slowly came into his own without needing Jude to "fix" him.

I don't often feel my heart beat for male leads in books anymore, not for a long while. I've become very jaded, or something. I don't know. But I did for Cardan.

Shut up 😭😭😭😭

That's not to say this series is perfect. I have my gripes with it. The last book was meh and too short and could have done with more Cardan instead of him as a snake. I think there was a lot of potential wasted with that book. The first and the second are much, much better, though I still reread the third the most because they were far more certain in their love then. Also I do wish Jude was a little weaker just to seem more human, and Cardan a bit stronger.

I'm still mad at this series because it put me in book slump for a good bit. I couldn't get over it. It wasn't until some time later that I finally managed to start reading and enjoying books again. Even until today, I haven't read any books that portray fae as wonderfully as Holly Black did, and that is a problem because fae are everywhere, which makes my Cruel Prince hangover even worse.

Also, Holly Black can write her fucking ass off. She's one of the prettiest writers I've read. If there is one thing I hate, it's modern slang in a fantasy setting (to be honest, I just... despise modern slang in any setting... lol), but she nailed the prose for this book. It was so pretty and enchanting without it being too purple.

I need to get to Stolen Heir and I don't know why I haven't. I thought Oak was really cute in the Cruel Prince series, though I heard he becomes a real piece of work in the new book and I am very, very scared.

- Read in April 2023

[serinemolecule]

I couldn’t sleep last night, so instead I watched a lot of video reviews of Mulan (2020), mostly this one from Zhao Xiran.

It looks like everyone widely agrees that it sucks, but for different reasons. I’ve seen some people hint that the problems could be due to the Chinese government meddling, and no, the problems all come from a complete lack of understanding of Chinese culture, so it’s more likely because entire production team was white and their research consisted of “hanging out in China to soak in the atmosphere” rather than asking an actual Chinese person.

The main problems, as I gather, are:

 • In Chinese culture, effort and perseverance are emphasized. The Chinese word for “good luck!” is “加油” which means “work harder!” The older Disney cartoon is faithful to the source here, telling the story of a regular girl who, through hard work, earns the acceptance of her fellow soldiers and helps save China. In the live action remake, she’s instead born talented with special magical gifts. I’m going to sidestep the question of whether or not this makes her a Mary Sue, but it makes the story an extremely generic American superhero film which is not remotely Chinese.

 • Chi is not actually the Force from Star Wars. The dialog in the film just completely misunderstands what chi is. Chi is life force. I think my best analogy is that if you were a newcomer to a Buddhist meditation session, they’re not going to stop and turn around and tell you how much better you must be than everyone else at meditation because you have big lungs. Superstition about chi magic has to do with learning how to manipulate the chi in your body, not just... being born with it (again, it’s about effort, not natural-born gifts).

 • Witches are not actually a thing in China. A lot of the plot of the new films revolve around Mulan and an antagonist being accused of being witches because they’re women with magical powers, and, like, this is an extremely European concept. In Asian superstition in general, magical powers are not considered evil, and there aren’t really specific beliefs about women. A more culturally accurate accusation here would be “yaoguai” (“demon”), which is gender neutral.

 • Listing virtues is a very European way to construct a motto. The characters engraved on Mulan’s sword in the new film, “fidelity, bravery, integrity” simply aren’t a very Chinese thing to do, if you wanted to engrave something on a sword, it would be either a name or a poem. (Amusingly “fidelity, bravery, integrity” is the US FBI’s motto, which makes it even more out of place written on Mulan’s sword.)

I have a lot of criticisms of Disney’s old Mulan cartoon, too – an incompetent dragon as comic relief, and an incongruous scene where the Emperor bows to Mulan. But at least it retained the core story of “ordinary girl creatively overcomes institutional biases and shows that through hard work, she can achieve as much as any man”, rather than replacing it with an American “girl has superpowers but everyone hates her because she’s better than them”.

[aion-rsa]

The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone Proves a Little Less is Infinitely More

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This Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone analysis contains spoilers.

The ending will be discussed at length. If you haven’t seen it, I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse. Find the film, watch it with fresh eyes, then come back and celebrate The Death of Michael Corleone.

“The power to absolve debt is greater than the power of forgiveness,” Michael Corleone observes in the revelatory new opening of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. He may well be speaking for Francis Ford Coppola. The Godfather Part III concluded the family saga, made a profit for Paramount Pictures, and garnered seven Oscar nominations in its time, but Coppola has never been forgiven for it. The 1990 film has such an undeserved reputation, it almost feels like there was a vendetta against it. Having seen the new cut several times, the director can finally be absolved of sins he never committed.

Coppola’s finale has been bashed for its structure. Critics said he was just going through the motions and the arc of the first two films, and doing it much too slowly. However, the filmmaker was making one long film, and this is the conclusion. It references the other two films because the reality which forms this family history is well known. It is canon, the arcs are similar because each film dissembles William Shakespeare’s King Lear. The Godfather, Part III also has the balls to wear its opera cape up front, and it’s a Sicilian one. But does it move as slow as critics accused? We get an ear bite in the first quarter, a helicopter mass execution, and enough intrigue for three Hitchcock films.

The Godfather, Coda is not much different than The Godfather Part III. Coppola only cut five minutes from the 162 minutes of the original. But like a good haircut, it makes a difference, even though I think he took too much off the top. The streamlining speeds it up and makes it feel more tragic. Michael’s regrets are palpable, the dangers he and his family face are recognizable. It’s the same movie but tighter. The Godfather and The Godfather Part II are perfect films, like Casablanca or Citizen Kane, not a single scene is less than flawlessly framed, acted, and situated. The third one is a little sloppy. It happens. Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets is sloppy and works perfectly because of it. To this writer, Mean Streets packs more of an emotional punch than Goodfellas, which is also cinematic perfection from setup to cut. The Godfather III is rough around the edges.

Coppola loves the editing room as much as any wine vineyard. He recut Apocalypse Now Redux, and added scenes which may not have been imperative, but are wholly welcome. Coppola filled in the storyline to The Cotton Club for his reworking. When The Godfather trilogy was recut and re-released as a seven-hour chronological saga, it was like hearing the Beatles’ White Album with discarded tracks included. Scenes which landed on the cutting room floor were put back in. The Godfather, Coda takes scenes out. We get less of Eli Wallach’s Machiavellian cannoli-lover Don Altobello, which is a shame because his performance has grown on me since my initial viewing. Coppola also cuts Talia Shire’s Connie Corleone when she goes full-on Lucretia Borgia, ordering an execution in a chapel.

The Godfather Part III is the purest of the saga’s films in terms of cinematic input. The first film was a masterful adaptation of Mario Puzo’s book. The second one also drew heavily from the book. By the third, the motion picture saga was on its own. Part III was also the first of the films which didn’t have the Godfather himself, Vito Corleone, in it. Marlon Brando’s performance is more than iconic; it is Americana itself. Robert De Niro bridges generations as the young Vito in The Godfather Part II. Al Pacino’s Michael is the only godfather here.

“The Pope, the Holy Father, on this very day has blessed Michael Corleone. You think you know better than the Pope?”

The original cut of The Godfather Part III opens on the flooded Corleone compound in Lake Tahoe and dissolves to Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Lower Manhattan’s Little Italy. The Godfather, Coda opens with a low-angle establishing shot of the exterior of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It looks like a relic of another time. It is surrounded by the cold steel and glass of modern architecture. The midtown cathedral represents old money.

The first scene is a meeting between Michael Corleone and head of the Vatican Bank, Archbishop Gilday (Donal Donnelly). The Vatican is selling controlling shares in real estate conglomerate Internazionale Immobiliare to the Corleone family. These details don’t come out until 30 minutes into The Godfather Part III. By now putting the Vatican meeting at the beginning, followed by the Vito Corleone Foundation celebration, it fits better into the structure of The Godfather, and gives the proper weight to the deals with the Holy Roman Church.

The scene also reestablishes the Corleones as a family of great wealth. They have so much money they can bail out the Vatican. We don’t know how they made that money; we get very little detail about the years between The Godfather Part II and the late 1970s, when The Godfather, Coda is set.

We assume the Corleones had nothing to do with heroin, probably sidestepped any involvement in the Kennedy assassination, and stuck with the traditional vices, which could be best maneuvered into real power. We can imagine a Hoffa scenario because of their union involvement, but we get little indications of business beyond the chase for legitimacy. With this deal, Michael will be one of the wealthiest men in the world.

Moving the meeting also casts the archbishop in the same role that the funeral director played in the opening scene of The Godfather. The priest’s favor becomes his regret, but in a way that inverts the structure of the original film. The funeral director came to Don Corleone seeking justice after chasing the American dream, believing in it with all his soul as much as he believed in holy Mary, mother of God.

Archbishop Gilday’s impossible dream is to turn that around, to siphon the American success of the Corleone family back to Italy, after skimming his part, of course. Michael is awarded the Order of St. Sebastian from the Catholic Church after the charity run by his daughter Mary (Sofia Coppola) donates $100 million to the institution. Immobiliare is the other side of the coin, and it is a beautiful flip.

The move also fits the film closer to the original 1972 classic, positioning the Vito Corleone Foundation ceremony as the wedding scene, and introducing us to the players, and the ones who don’t play well with others. Joe Mantegna plays Joey Zasa, who is a stand-in for the John Gotti ascendancy, running Don Corleone’s old territory now that the family has moved up. Eli Wallach ties us into the family behind the family. Vincent Mancini is the bastard son of Sonny Corleone and his mistress Lucy. Actor Andy Garcia clearly enjoys this part. He turns into James Caan a few times.

Sofia Coppola’s performance has been called flat, amateurish, and not in the same universe as the rest of the film. Mary is an important part. For most of the audience, she is the most recognizable character as far as an entry into the world of the underworld. Sofia did it because her father needed her, and quickly. Winona Ryder’s unexpected bout of physical exhaustion didn’t fit with Paramount’s time schedule, and the studio’s replacement options didn’t fit the age of the character.

Coppola’s 18-year-old daughter, Sofia, still had baby fat on her face. She’d made appearances in Rumble Fish and Peggy Sue Got Married, and was used to working with her father, even though she was not an actor. European filmmakers cast non-actors all the time; they bring a real quality to roles. Lenny Montana, who played Luca Brasi in The Godfather, was a former wrestler who came to the set as the bodyguard of a ranking Colombo family member. Martin Scorsese’s mother Catherine makes an appearance in The Godfather Part III. Sofia is playing herself, a college freshman who wants to help her father.

This makes the gnocchi scene feel almost uncomfortably incestuous. Mary is Vincent’s first cousin, and we can see in the way they look at each other; it’s wrong even though it feels so right. Sofia is natural in her scenes, not emotive. She is the tourist the audience needs to circumnavigate the treacherous waters. Mary is the civilian who becomes the collateral damage of the Corleone family life. She takes the bullet intended for her father, Don Michael Corleone. Sofia did the same for her father, becoming the scapegoat for a job she took to get his movie in on time.

Read more

Movies

Redeeming The Legacy Of The Godfather Part III

By Don Kaye

Culture

The Real Goodfellas: Gangsters That Inspired the Martin Scorsese Film

By Tony Sokol

Mary’s death scene has been called the worst in the history of motion pictures. It never was, and as presented in the recut, it’s entirely, emotionally effective. It’s not Bette Davis in Dark Victory, and even though it happens on the stone steps of a church, it isn’t James Cagney’s death scene in The Roaring Twenties. It isn’t meant to be. It is sad. The death itself is one of the most underplayed in film, but the music gives it the tragedy to match Michael’s reaction.

It is hard to resist the pull of the music when considering how much of a worthy ending this cut is to The Godfather saga. The themes are the trilogy’s blood and wine. Composer Nino Rota tells us when to celebrate and how to mourn. We relive Michael’s lost love Appollonia more through our ear’s memory than we do from the faded black and white photograph in the old Sicilian villa. And his reunion with Kay evokes the post-war era they met in. The music ties the film together so beautifully that this time around it feels like the skin of the original, rather than its clothes.

By the end of the film, the emperor has no clothes. Michael thinks he can break a glass ceiling through legitimate business but admits “The higher I go, the crookeder it becomes.” Senators and presidents have men killed. The church is no different. Legitimacy is an illusion. Coppola saw The Godfather Part III as an epilogue. Paramount wanted to grow a franchise. Coppola had to be persuaded to make a sequel to the first film. Paramount wanted Coca-Cola instead of wine. And they treated The Godfather Part III like the Fredo of Godfather movies.

Fredo is all over this film. How he died is the first question Mary asks Vincent. It’s the last rite in Michael’s confession to the Vatican priest who will become Pope, a scene which contains one of the funniest exchanges in the film. Michael tells Cardinal Lamberto (Raf Vallone) a list of his sins would take up too much time. The first cut may have been the deepest, but the final cut in The Godfather, Coda is the most ironic. Coppola adds the subtitle, in quotations, apart from the puppeteer logo of the films and book, and then takes exactly that promise away.

The final scene cut from The Death of Michael Corleone is the death of Michael Corleone.

The Godfather Part III ends as Michael is sitting alone outside a villa in Sicily. All family debts have been settled, but he has no family left. He is wearing dark glasses, slumps in his chair, loses his grip on the orange in his lap, and falls dead to the ground. Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone ends, not only with him still alive, but wishing him Cent’anni, telling the audience it means “for long life” and reminding viewers “a Sicilian never forgets.”

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The phrase actually translates to 100 years. Imagine how many Godfather sequels could be made in that time. Michael is left alive, alone. Atonement is beyond him. He loses his family just as he is on the precipice of finally being able to give them what they need. But the coda to Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone is an allegory to what Paramount wanted, more life. Yes, Al Pacino’s Don Michael Corleone spent all this time waiting for them to pull him back in.

The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone is available now on Blu-ray and digital.

The post The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone Proves a Little Less is Infinitely More appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[kyogre-blue]

C novel list, v2

I’m almost done reading through everything in my queue, so here is a (somewhat cleaned up) look at my reading list at NU. 

Good, wholesome: 

Ascending, Do Not Disturb - The sweetest, most chill cultivation novel I’ve read so far. I recommend it to basically everyone. 

Picking Up a General to Plow the Fields - When you transmigrate but end up in a rural village, so you gotta use your agricultural degree instead of backstabbing family intrigue. 

The Lady’s Sickly Husband - When you transmigrate, have no idea who you ended up as, and yet still get married off to some dude. Fortunately, he just hides in his room, so you’re free to start your own business instead. 

Cultivation Chat Group - Only male MC here. It’s somewhat less wholesome because people do get killed, but it’s quite lighthearted and there are no ridiculous abuse backstories (for the first 150 chapters). 

Mary Sue fem MC wish fulfillment: 

Let me just say that I feel no shame and greatly enjoy these OP ladies fake lolis doing as they please. 

Genius Doctor: Black Belly Miss - The first poison genius assassin MC I read, and it still has a warm place in my heart. I enjoyed the MC having a loving family and then later supportive comrades. That made the difference for me. 

Bewitching Prince Spoils His Wife: Genius Doctor Unscrupulous Consort

Major General Spoils his Soul-guiding Wife - It’s Sentinel AU sci-fi but also with cultivation. I’m just amused by the entire mishmash premise. 

Pampered Consort of the Fragrant Orchard - Actually, I would say this one almost qualifies for “chill and wholesome” except that the MC is indeed a genius assassin in her past life. This is a less important skill set than being able to farm and cook tho. 

Queen of the Scalpel - This one actually doesn’t quite fit here, but I liked the set up, with her being reborn into her past after living in the modern world. 

Rebirth of the Strongest Female Emperor  

Unprecedented Pill Refiner: Entitled Ninth Young Lady - I like that the MC was a cultivator in her original modern life, but there’s no cultivation in the fantasy setting she ends up in. Also, the manhua is fun because you see what “playboy rogue” she acts like. 

Male MC power trips: 

Sage Monarch

The Human Emperor

Danmei novels (mostly cultivation setting): 

Encountering a Snake  

Every Day the Protagonist Wants to Capture Me - This is “brain off” reading, but the side characters are quite endearing, and I like the running jokes. It’s very enjoyable to skim on rereads, very light. 

Exile - Very low-key. The way they sidestep the mpreg aspect is hilarious. 

Fox Demon Cultivation Manual

Number One Lazy Merchant of the Beast World - Scifi but with animal transformations. 

Palace Full of Delicacies - Also low-key, and the ML is a cat at the moment. 

Pulling Together a Villain Reformation Strategy

Rebirth of the Supreme Celestial Being - This is exceptionally fanfic, but I really enjoyed it because of that. 

So What If You’ve Been Reborn?

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun

The Rebirth Waste Strikes Back

The Villain Has Something to Say

The Villain’s White Lotus Halo - Please give this a tryyyyy

The Wife is First - I can’t explain why, but I really like both the MC and ML. I also like that they both get pov sections. 

Who Dares Slander My Senior Brother

“This woman is out to commit murder. A lot of murder. But without magic powers.”

Pampered Poisonous Royal Wife - “but slowly, first we gotta earn money” 

Return of the Female Knight - “with a sword” 

The Cry of the Phoenix Which Reached the Ninth Heaven - “with sex”

The Rebirth of an Ill-Fated Consort - “version 0.5 of below” 

The Rebirth of the Malicious Empress of Military Lineage - Jokes aside, I found this one to be the best of these kinds of “betrayed and murdered fem MC ends up in the past and gets scheming revenge on all who made her suffer” type novels (a lot of the transmigrator instead of time travel versions too). If you don’t like this one, you probably won’t like any of them by nature. 

[smokeybrand]

The Force Staggers

I’ve been seeing a ton of hate for The Last Jedi around. Apparently, it’s considered one of the worst entries into the franchise. Most people consider it a celebration of everything that held The Force Awakens back. I hear the Kathleen Kennedy is a detriment to the series, that all of this forced diversity is killing the franchise, that the narrative and brand is being harmed by all of these broad ass changes. There is a very vocal minority railing against what the Star Wars franchise is becoming and they kind of have a point. Since Disney has began making their own mythos, that feel for what makes Star Wars special is slowly fading away in favor of a more palatable appeal to the masses instead of the fans. The thing is, though, that’s how movies work. That’s what they’re suppose to do. That’s how studios make money. However, i think the way Disney is going about this is the wrong way. With it’s inevitable release in a few weeks on the blu-rays, i wanted to circle around address why i think the franchise is hurting the way it is right now.

Diversity doesn’t hurt a film. We can looks at Black Panther and see that myth go right out of the window. It’s the first Billion dollar movie of the year and it’s basically all black everything. The difference between that and the Star Wars diversity is the fact that the Star Wars attempt is forced. Sure, you want o hit all of those notes, introduce Rose whateverhernameis to covet the Chinese audience and make Finn a main character in an attempt to woo the notoriously difficult black moviegoer into seats. I get that. But just having them there doesn’t make them compelling characters. It doesn’t make them fun to watch. Rose was a throwaway with no depth or development. Her big scene was abrupt and forced, making her even more of an eyesore. As far as Finn’s character, dude took an entire step backward from his Awakens development. Finn was a hero at the end of that movie. SO why start this one i the same place he was when they arrive in Mauz’s cantina; a coward running away from an issue? What’s the point of all this diversity, if the the characters are sh*tty? And it’s just those two. All of the characters returning from Force are written like idiots. And don’t get me started on the legacy characters. Whoa, sh*t, man! This actually leads me into my next point.

Rey is getting out of hand. Seriously. Look, i get it. She has an innate strength with the Force. That much is certain. Okay, she can defeat a severely wounded Ben Solo in a fight, on a dying planet, one time. Thee is no way, none whatsoever, that she can best Luke Skywalker in a Lightsaber duel, even if he is cut off from the force. No way. All things even, Rey wielded that hing ONE time and was able to best someone who trained people in the art. Really? Luke defeated Darth Vader, the most powerful Sith at that time. He is the son of Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi who was stronger than most masters as a Padawan. You’re telling me that this salvage rat from the middle of nowhere, has strength enough to rival that of Luke Skywalker? F*cking really? Look, i get it. Pass the torch and sh*t. But let’s be realistic, there’s no way Rey would ever defeat Luke in a duel like that unless he wanted to be defeated. Rey has been aware of her abilities for, like, a week. Luke has been a Jedi for three f*cking decades. Force or not, you’re crazy to think he didn’t practice his lightsaber skill as a means of meditation or exercise in all that time.The plot armor around this chick is f*cking ridiculous. Her Mary Sue ass is killing the franchise because there’s nowhere for her to go. There’s no challenge for our main character in this new trilogy to overcome. She started where Luke left off at the end of Jedi. She sidestepped the entirety of the Hero cycle and was gifted a ridiculous amount of power. Even Anakin had to learn. Rey just knows and that’s utter bullsh*t. How do you endear yourself to an overpowered protagonist? You don’t. It’s often the villain that’s overpowered and the Protagonist has to learn how to overcome that obstacle. Rey doesn't have those obstacles so whats the point of her journey? Which leads me to my next point...

What is the goddamn point of this narrative? Seriously, there was a direction going forward after Awakens that i imagine Rian Johnson just threw out the window. He’s said as much in interviews. So, if the plan you set forth was just abandoned, why even continue? Just make this a duology and try something new. I mean, there were just so many things thrown together in this film that made no sense. Why kill of Luke so early with no real clash between he and Kylo? Wouldn’t there be far more emotional resonance if Luke was Physically defeated by Kylo? or, at least, if Luke died in person, in front of Kylo, denying him his final retribution? Doesn’t that carry far more emotional weight? Doesn’t that make for a better narrative? What even was the point of Phasma and Snoke if they were so unceremoniously dismissed? Why were they built up to be throw away so easily? The original trilogy and even the prequels, had a story to tell. They were told to varying quality but, ultimately, there was an overarching narrative that drove the universe and lore forward. Awakens was a decent step forward but Jedi just kind of f*cked all of that up. Where do we go from here? How do we resolved all of the cock up given to us by Johnson and Kennedy? Hell, even Revenge of the Sith did it’s best to right the sinking ship it’s previous two outing left.

Another glaring issue is all of these spin-offs. These cash-grabs, man. While i didn’t hate Rogue One, it was about as good as one could expect when you base an entire 2 hour enterprise on a literally a single sentence of a text crawl from a 40 year old movie. I enjoyed that cast. I thought they were pretty awesome, minus Diego Luna’s character. That guy was a piss-poor Han Solo knock off and every time he was onscreen, it took me out of the narrative a little bit. Overall, i liked Rogue One. I thought it was a pretty okay extension to the new universe created by Disney. What i’m not looking forward to is this Han Solo anthology flick. That sh*t looks like trash, seriously. As much as i adore Childish Gambino and feel he was perfectly cast as Lando, I don’t particularly give a sh*t about Solo before he met Luke and Ben. Hell, a Lando anthology movie would probably have been a better bet, one that outlines his first dealings with Solo and how he lost the Falcon to him. Donald Glover is a better actor than Alden Ehrenreich. He has more charisma and more popularity right now. Disney missed the mark by making Glover a supporting character rather than the main dude in this origin story. Lando could have been a backdoor pilot, so to speak, to a much better Solo story but nah. Gotta cash grab in the worst way. But, nah, f*ck the narrative. F*ck the lore. We gotta cash grab in the worse way.

The illest thing about all of these terrible decisions on the motion picture front, is that Star Wars TV is killing it! Since the Clone wars, the lore and characters have been lovingly cultivated and tended to by some of the best creators in the franchise. Ahsoka Tano is one of my all-time favorite characters in the series, after Vader, Anakin, and Nihilus (who was almost canon thanks to Rebels) and she was given legitimate life in the aforementioned Rebels series. That show is one of the east Star Wars films i have ever seen. Hell, Clone Wars was far superior than it’s namesake and i would go even further to say it’s been head and shoulders above what Disney is producing on the big screen. Why not put Dave Filoni in charge of the creative direction that the films go toward in the future? He’s created classics during his tenure in Lucasfilm TV. It’s obvious he understands the world and the canon. His creative direction is championed by both fans and casuals alike. Dude has his fingers on the pulse of what Star War is so why not give him the reins? Move Kennedy over to the business side, which she is very good at, and let the creatives create. Stop enslaving a fantasy world of space wizards and cyborg tyrants and starship battles to SJW demands and fiscal bottom lines. If your story is good enough ad you’re characters developed enough, then your movie is going to hit, regardless of who is in the lead, particular when they’re st in a galaxy, far, far away.

I liked the Last Jedi on a technical aspect. I wrote a raving review for it. You can check that review out here:

https://tmblr.co/ZmDNGw2T1CEpT

I stand by everything i said back then. I thought Jedi was brilliant. I enjoyed it very much, as a film. As a standalone film, a Star Wars Story so to speak, i thinks it’s one of the best anthology pieces to date. Do i think it should be a mainline entry? probably not. There’s too much that doesn’t mesh. There’s too much plot armor for certain characters. There’s a ton of obvious pandering and out of character leaps that you’re forced to take. I believe The Last Jedi is a good movie. I don’t think it’s a very good Star Wars movie. I think it could have been good if there was more reverence for the source material. I think it could have been good if you had someone steering the ship who carried a respect for what was set before it. I don’t think Rian Johnson believed in what Abrams left him. I think he wanted to tell his own story and used The Last Jedi as a case to get his own trilogy. I think if Kathleen Kennedy wasn’t trying to crunch bottom line numbers and just approached this production as a continuation of the most lucrative franchise in history, it would have been much better. The Star Wars brand is always going to make money. You don’t have to evolve the narrative based on SJW propaganda. You don’t need to inject all of this Ghurrl power into it to keep the story compelling. Just regale me with awesome tales of space conflict, filled with colorful characters and exotic locales. A guy way back in ‘77 was able to do that with a few models and a samurai aesthetic. how hard is it to build on such an open ended fantasy world?