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matt_zimmerAlso a review for the (unsurprisingly shitty) season finale of Creature Commandos.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew "We're Gonna Be In So Much Trouble"
I'm going to be talking out of turn here with other fans, but I LOVED Return Of The Jedi. It was and remains my favorite Star Wars movie. Why? Because it's the most crowd-pleasing one. That's probably the very reason purists turn their noses up at it, but the fact that despite how dumb the shit with Ewoks actually is from a storytelling perspective, there is value in a dumb story that legit makes the audience cheer. Just because the thrills are happening for unrealistic, silly reasons doesn't make them less thrilling.
And my major problem with modern Star Wars, and to be truthful, this goes back to the prequel trilogy, is that not enough of it was crowd-pleasing. It was always too serious. The most notable "comical" character since the first three movies was Jar-Jar Binks, and he didn't fail because he was lighthearted and fun. He failed because he actually wasn't. I hope this specific show helps other fans understand WHY I loved Jedi as a kid, and why it feels good to cheer for Star Wars like a hyperactive kid again.
Jod frustrates me. Not just because he's a shitty person and I hate him to death (although both those things are factual). But because he could have had ALL of this anyways if he had protected the kids and gotten them home safely as their savior rather than their captor. Him getting away with ANY treasure is unlikely now simply because he now has no advocates, and At Attin is a planet of bureaucrats who will make things hard because things are never easy on this world when it comes to actually getting shit done. Worse, he's developed a crew of tiny mutineers who have absorbed every betrayal and unkind word and threat against their parents. It would have been TOUGH to be permitted to leave the planet with treasure after returning the kids home as their legit protector. But the parents might have misguidedly helped him get away with it in gratitude. This is dumb instead. They say crime doesn't pay. It's because most criminals are stupid. And he's supposed to be charming! Why isn't he using that specific gift when it would actually do him the most good?
I predict this is a One Season And Done series. Both Jude Law and the producers know that each season this specific show continues, is a little less special than the previous one every year the kids get older and older, and they won't want to violate the sanctity of that. But I just want to say for the record, I loved the brief shining moment when Star Wars was actually fun again. And none of it involves dumbness like Ewoks blowing up the Death Star. Good times. ****.
Creature Commandos "A Very Funny Monster"
This was billed as a tragedy, and you know what? That description suggests a more artful series than we got. Tragedies are tragic because they are unexpected. Every bad thing in this episode (and this series) is something I saw coming. That's not an actual tragedy, as least not narratively speaking. It's misery porn, specifically designed to punish the viewer, and get an unearned negative reaction. It's manipulative. And I don't think there are a ton of critics out there who would agree with my assessment of something being TOO sad and tragic being manipulative, but none of this shit feels organic. The worst outcome ever is forced.
I don't tend to penalize predictable storytelling when I grade things in my reviews. There is something satisfying about watching a predictable story go down the way it should. However a predictable story going down the way it SHOULDN'T? I have far less patience for that. It leaves me unsatisfied and unfulfilled even if I saw everything coming.
I mean, I KNEW the Princess was gonna be evil and Circe was gonna be right. Just because Flag's reactions were so fucking irrational. This being the season's big "surprise twist" simply doesn't fly. And the Bride just shooting her in the head is anticlimatic as fuck after what they teased earlier on. What a sick joke.
And what astounds me is that James Gunn is SO incompetent at handling a major franchise, he made THIS the first thing in it instead of the Superman movie (which admittedly looks great). And he had the chance to start entirely fresh with the continuity, but professional vanity had him saddle this new iteration with baggage from both his Suicide Squad movie and Peacemaker. You want to start fresh, start fresh. Don't say "Get rid of everything but the shit I did," and pretend you have the franchise's best interests at heart. Because doing that confuses the issue, when a fresh, brand-new continuity is something that ANY new viewer ought to be allowed to come to fresh WITHOUT being confused. And the fact that Gunn refused this common-sense courtesy for DC Studios right out of the gate says he's the wrong person to put in charge of it. *1/2.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew "We're Gonna Be In So Much Trouble"
I'm going to be talking out of turn here with other fans, but I LOVED Return Of The Jedi. It was and remains my favorite Star Wars movie. Why? Because it's the most crowd-pleasing one. That's probably the very reason purists turn their noses up at it, but the fact that despite how dumb the shit with Ewoks actually is from a storytelling perspective, there is value in a dumb story that legit makes the audience cheer. Just because the thrills are happening for unrealistic, silly reasons doesn't make them less thrilling.
And my major problem with modern Star Wars, and to be truthful, this goes back to the prequel trilogy, is that not enough of it was crowd-pleasing. It was always too serious. The most notable "comical" character since the first three movies was Jar-Jar Binks, and he didn't fail because he was lighthearted and fun. He failed because he actually wasn't. I hope this specific show helps other fans understand WHY I loved Jedi as a kid, and why it feels good to cheer for Star Wars like a hyperactive kid again.
Jod frustrates me. Not just because he's a shitty person and I hate him to death (although both those things are factual). But because he could have had ALL of this anyways if he had protected the kids and gotten them home safely as their savior rather than their captor. Him getting away with ANY treasure is unlikely now simply because he now has no advocates, and At Attin is a planet of bureaucrats who will make things hard because things are never easy on this world when it comes to actually getting shit done. Worse, he's developed a crew of tiny mutineers who have absorbed every betrayal and unkind word and threat against their parents. It would have been TOUGH to be permitted to leave the planet with treasure after returning the kids home as their legit protector. But the parents might have misguidedly helped him get away with it in gratitude. This is dumb instead. They say crime doesn't pay. It's because most criminals are stupid. And he's supposed to be charming! Why isn't he using that specific gift when it would actually do him the most good?
I predict this is a One Season And Done series. Both Jude Law and the producers know that each season this specific show continues, is a little less special than the previous one every year the kids get older and older, and they won't want to violate the sanctity of that. But I just want to say for the record, I loved the brief shining moment when Star Wars was actually fun again. And none of it involves dumbness like Ewoks blowing up the Death Star. Good times. ****.
Creature Commandos "A Very Funny Monster"
This was billed as a tragedy, and you know what? That description suggests a more artful series than we got. Tragedies are tragic because they are unexpected. Every bad thing in this episode (and this series) is something I saw coming. That's not an actual tragedy, as least not narratively speaking. It's misery porn, specifically designed to punish the viewer, and get an unearned negative reaction. It's manipulative. And I don't think there are a ton of critics out there who would agree with my assessment of something being TOO sad and tragic being manipulative, but none of this shit feels organic. The worst outcome ever is forced.
I don't tend to penalize predictable storytelling when I grade things in my reviews. There is something satisfying about watching a predictable story go down the way it should. However a predictable story going down the way it SHOULDN'T? I have far less patience for that. It leaves me unsatisfied and unfulfilled even if I saw everything coming.
I mean, I KNEW the Princess was gonna be evil and Circe was gonna be right. Just because Flag's reactions were so fucking irrational. This being the season's big "surprise twist" simply doesn't fly. And the Bride just shooting her in the head is anticlimatic as fuck after what they teased earlier on. What a sick joke.
And what astounds me is that James Gunn is SO incompetent at handling a major franchise, he made THIS the first thing in it instead of the Superman movie (which admittedly looks great). And he had the chance to start entirely fresh with the continuity, but professional vanity had him saddle this new iteration with baggage from both his Suicide Squad movie and Peacemaker. You want to start fresh, start fresh. Don't say "Get rid of everything but the shit I did," and pretend you have the franchise's best interests at heart. Because doing that confuses the issue, when a fresh, brand-new continuity is something that ANY new viewer ought to be allowed to come to fresh WITHOUT being confused. And the fact that Gunn refused this common-sense courtesy for DC Studios right out of the gate says he's the wrong person to put in charge of it. *1/2.
