I have zero hope that this movie will be any good. I mean, I’ll watch it once anyway, because Star Wars, but other than Rogue One there hasn’t been a good SW movie since 1983(although I still haven’t seen Solo yet).
I would argue none of the Star Wars movies are really that good. The cult aspect of them is a yuuuge part of their popularity. They’re entertaining, sure. But are they amazing movies? No way. I liked Force Awakens for the reason above, TLJ was awful and this movie looks like it’s somewhere in the middle.
The original Star Wars movies were amazing, in a large part, because they were such a huge improvement in special effects and really the first time we were able to get some sort of immersive space opera kind of movie. The stories were pretty simplistic, overall. To get that amount of a special effects improvement or impact-full change in a modern day film is almost impossible, so that aspect is pretty well eliminated from the "loved it because" formula. That means that we're relying more and more on the actual story, which hasn't really been all that strong, for the most part. I think they've been leaning too heavily on historical canon and tugging at the nostalgia heart-strings rather than try and do some actual good, ground-breaking, storytelling.
No doubt that the visual effects were groundbreaking. Even after watching some behind-the-scenes docs on how they setup the models, etc., it’s definitely amazing in that sense. But just as the films themselves, I just don’t think they deserve the praise heaped upon them. Mark Hamill can’t act worth shit (VO another story), Han Solo is generally a pointless character, and only 1 movie in the last 5 doesn’t have a variation of a Death Star to blow up. Avatar is visually stunning and employed probably the best use of 3D technology ever. As a movie, it’s a boring retread of Dances with Wolves or Pocahontas. I think the new trilogy has heavily polluted the series overall, in some ways more than the prequels ever did and I’m not sure why. Disney made the new movies happen when other studios wouldn’t, but they feel like corporate productions rather than something interesting. Mass appeal, no risks. Maximum profit. /KIMaster rant.
The first three are amazingly well done summer blockbuster movies. The amount of mythology in them makes them stand out above above anything that is released today. The pacing and action outclass any of the comic cgi porn of today. The new movies I agree felt way different. Too much comedic adlibbing that feels shoehorned into a series that always had a much different tone that off the adlibbed and meta jokes allow. That style of comedy only really works if you have an insanely talented comedic actor doing it, will Farrell, Danny McBride, Vince Vaugh, etc. Not entirely green, like stepped off their first Old Navy commercial set, green actors.
I guess it’s a terrifying movie from what reviews are saying. It looks amazing, I want to see any film made by that director.
Pixar isn’t the “can’t miss” studio it was 20 years ago, but it’s original stories are usually great. This one seems to homage music and death again like Coco:
I dunno, Crown. It's got Nicholas Cage AND Cheech's best friend; I don't know if I trust them to not ham it up. Personally, I'm still waiting for "At the Mountains of Madness."
Cage is just fine when used right. His last film was “Mandy” and I thought it was the best film of 2018. “The Colour Out Of Space” was Lovecraft’s personal favourite story, the one he considered his masterpiece. He was paid $25 for writing it. Less than half a week’s pay to most of us by inflation. He died young, penniless and unknown; his entire fame achieved posthumously. Sad. He invented EVERYTHING: man-eating undead, sharp-toothed monsters, inter-dimensional creatures and leather-winged demons. Body horror and slimy things jumping out of the dark, every successful modern horror writer treats him as their touchstone But if you read his stories— my GOD are his descriptions excruciatingly detailed and cumbersome. He puts Tom Wolfe to shame at times.
Yeah, I think my favorite Cage performance was Sailor Ripley in "Wild at Heart." From what I've read, the director wanted him to channel his character from his performance in "Vampire's Kiss," so I think we have a 0% chance that he won't ham this up.
Nicolas Cage will be playing Nicolas Cage in the Nicolas Cage story “The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent.” It’s about Cage trying —and failing— to get a part in a Tarantino film so he writes a screenplay with a Hispanic drug lord. This was practically inevitable. And brilliant.