Wednesday, August 26, 2020

I Discuss The Empire Strikes Back, & More

 I've already reviewed the movie before, but yesterday I got to see it in a big way: 

AKA my opportunity to discuss-among other things-my return to cinemas and The Mandalorian.

For the first time since March 1, I was able to see a motion picture at the cinema. There is risk-especially in the United States-of doing this now and no shame on anyone who does not feel comfortable doing this no matter what precautions each chain takes. Personally, as there is some risk even stepping outside, I'll take my chances knowing the dangers. Of course I have seen The Empire Strikes Back many times in my life and reviewed it five years ago At the time I had no idea how badly The Rey Trilogy would turn out... even if this was the version of Empire where George Lucas added some needless crap, at least this had less needless crap than A New Hope or Return of the Jedi.

Not to sound like a broken record but if I reviewed all the Disney Star Wars films again it's almost a certainty they would each receive lower scores. Seeing how well they told their story here only make those movies all the worse... there was no “subverting expectations” that broke the story or made the journey of several characters utterly pointless. No one looked bad because their pals needlessly refused to tell them their big plans to get out of danger... and it was nice seeing Luke Skywalker as a heroic babyface who did make mistakes but learned from them rather than some grumpy old dick or a lead that was infallible... I'll forever be unable to comprehend why so many love The Last Jedi or think they did the Rey character right. The fact that this did not have nonstop stupid “humor” (a huge problem I have with the Disney Star Wars movies and few others seem to care about) and instead only a few amusing one-liners was great. In addition, the practical effects and the legendary John Williams score were a treat to experience theatrically.

Just earlier in the week I finished watching The Mandalorian. I know that Baby Yoda is cute and all but meh. I am not even impossible to please; it was simplistic stories-which was at least preferable to the nonsense The Rey Trilogy devolved into-which unfortunately had weak dialogue, zero surprises and was mostly boring to me as I didn't care about any of the characters. A shame, as it had a quality cast and a pretty cool score. The fact that even this had too much stupid “humor” (the endless meta conversation w/ two Stormtroopers discussing how terrible their aim is... barf) and rambling nonsense are two of the many issues I have with modern filmmaking in general... BTW, my late mom did see the first season before I did (it was when she was staying at the house of one of my sisters) and before she passed she expressed a desire to see season 2. That does make me feel melancholy.

As an aside, modern filmmaking has resulted in a director beloved by most but I feel is an Emperor With No Clothes can keep on releasing pictures where-among such problems as them feeling too hollow and cold-they keep on having major audio issues where dialogue is drowned out! Anyhow, it's fine if most loved this Disney + property; me, it's probably time to just ignore Star Wars like I will ignore Tenet and subsequent films put out by someone who must think that “not being able to properly hear dialogue” is a GOOD artistic choice, as why does it keep on happening? Again, why does everyone else love this guy?

As I don't want the last bite of this review to be a sour one, instead will be the reiteration that it is a good feeling to attend the cinema again, even if there is a little bit of danger and it would be horrible if a screening caused a big outbreak. Various classic movies playing now is neat... most of them I have been lucky in seeing on the big screen years ago and none I need to watch again, but it's still appreciated by me as an opportunity for nostalgia or for “the youth” to see a classic theatrically.

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