Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

[JOE SOAP]

I can't remember exactly when the (then) urban myth around Savile first did the rounds - guess it really came to the fore prior to his death with the (fake) transcript from Have I Got News For You.

Down at Stoke Mandeville I bumped into Mr IQ
I said €œHey albino, this is not 1972
Stub out your King Edward and get that small boy off your knee
And melt down your rings and things and get yourself off my TV

Jim could you fix it for me
To come down and suck out your kidneys?
I've got this young brother, you see
Who wants to stay alive to watch Bilko

- I Left My Heart in Papworth General - Half Man Half Biscuit (1988)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FASCxdhC_sw

[SIP]

Possibly it's a political decision.....possibly it's just bad timing. The jokes are getting dredged up now potentially due to political reasons, but it's entirely possible that Disney's response is financial and reputational. Maybe not. I think there are a lot of balls in the air and it's difficult to call.

As for having a different image for different areas of the company, I think that's entirely possible. The BBC and CBBC for example offer very different output and have their own distinct identities.  There is a clear divide with what you can say and joke about  on the  BBC and what you can say on CBBC.

I was more offering the argument that Gunn is directly associated with their family and child focused products, Reynolds with their adult focussed films. . ... whether that should allow either to be treated differently or not is up for debate.

[SIP]

I am in no way advocating that Gunn should or should not be sacked. I can just see why, on the face it (all other conspiracy theories aside), a company might want to be SEEN to distance itself and it's "family entertainment" from a person who is currently headlining in the media for having made jokes on potentially offensive issues.

It's therefore possible this is a public relations exercise designed to minimise fallout. 

It is also possible it's a complete stitch up to meet other less transparent objectives.

I don't know either way.

[Professor Bear]

"I'm not sure what my son was up to, but I think he was trying to make a funny movie" - the structural, logical and narrative problems of 2017 comedy film, The Last Jedi.

[Tiplodocus]

I haven't got a spare hour to have someone tell me WHY I shouldn't like things in between murder jokes.  Plus not everything has to adhere to formulas and classic structures. And surely only problems if it didn't entertain you?

[radiator]

I didn't care for their TFA review, but this was completely on point. The parts about the mishmash of conflicting tones, embarrassing humour (man, those deleted scenes are painfully bad), lazy writing and general lack of clarity and abundance of confusing/convoluted motives hit the nail on the head.

My first reaction coming out the cinema was 'a dog's dinner', and I still totally stand by that. I appreciate what Johnson was trying to do, but for me it's a massive swing and a miss.

[SIP]

It's a very good analysis of the film.....though I'm obviously more inclined to like it as I agree with 99% of it.

Entertaining even if you dont agree with the points covered.

[Professor Bear]

Plus not everything has to adhere to formulas and classic structures. And surely only problems if it didn't entertain you?

All of that is addressed in the essay.  Plinkett's dumbass angry nerd schtick is at this point only 10-15 percent genuine nerd rage, the rest is actual film critique and often very insightful.

[Frank]

I'll chime in with the one observation in that video that didn't confirm my pre-existing bias - it's a really great-looking movie. Going completely meta, and commenting on the commentary, that's the least insightful of all Plinkett analyses.

Maybe expecting Stoklasa to find anything original to say about a film that's been discussed on a frame by frame basis for the last eight months is unrealistic, but I think his prequel essays benefitted greatly from being able to look at Lucas's folly as a whole^*, tracing how faults in one episode repeated across the series, and forming a cohesive narrative of what went wrong and why.

My own take is that this was the series' Hallowe'en III moment; this film (and Solo) blew the franchise's only chance of breaking out of the existing parameters. Like any other long-running series, that means more of the same, a steadily diminishing mass audience^**, and playing to the hardcore fanbase. The odds of Star Wars vs Star Trek: Requiem are probably evens.


* Plus a decade of distance, repeat viewing, and thinking time.

** The toxicity from a section of fandom (not you, SIP) is probably a psychological inability to deal with the fact they no longer care about something they imagined they'd be deeply invested in forever. Like one of those guys who bangs on about their ex-wife, they'd rather find a shaky pretext to hate the film than deal with the loss of something they once loved. So Star Wars continues to be something to feel strongly about instead of all the dull, real-world things about which they should have been feeling strongly but didn't want to deal with. My own reaction to the film was indifference, so I'm guilty of psychological projection, here.

[SIP]

I can't argue with that last bit Frank.....that is a big part of it on reflection.

I do think that it's a really poor film in its own right, irrespective of it being Star Wars, but my own falling out of love with something that has been such a big (background....mostly) part of my life did add to my reaction to the film.

Over the last few months I've reconciled myself to the fact that it just doesn't mean that much to me anymore and I am now only feeling indifference towards all of it. I might have been mourning it's death a little I think.

I've spent a month drawing Judge Dredd again and i'm feeling much better now 

[GrudgeJohnDeed]

Just watched the RLM vid, entertaining stuff as always. The Wine Tasting made me laugh quite loudly. I think they went easy on it all in all!

[TordelBack]

Oh awesome.  Now I have to face at least another decade of arseholes throwing Plinkett quotes at me like they were either their own bon mots of that very instant,  or infallible verses of the Bible that brook no dissent.  I really enjoy RLM,  it's their place as the open-source repository for braying-prick routines that depresses me.

Hey, here's a thought: you're all right,  TLJ was a piece of shit,  and I'm a moron for enjoying it (repeatedly). Now please STFU and go back to sucking the joy out of everything as you indulge in self-satisfied bile-drenched wanks.

[Tiplodocus]

Who hurt Tordels? Who was it?

(That did make me laugh.)

[SIP]

Now please STFU and go back to sucking the joy out of everything as you indulge in self-satisfied bile-drenched wanks.

Was that aimed specifically at RLM or people who just didn't enjoy the film in general?

If the latter, you may have just called for the "internet" to be closed down   

Just wanted to clarify as to whether I was still okay to offer an opinion in specific discussion threads on the various things that I happen across in life...... 

[Jim_Campbell]

Just wanted to clarify as to whether I was still okay to offer an opinion in specific discussion threads on the various things that I happen across in life...... 

After your "paedophile Lando" remark, I think you suggesting anyone might be overreacting on this subject is a bit rich. How many times have you said your final word on this thread now?