A Review: The Mandalorian
I’m still unsure about The Mandalorian (2019 – ). The best thing people are saying about it is, ‘It’s not offensive!’ This is important to understand. People are judging it against the curve of Disney’s Star Wars movies, the way they judged The Force Awakens (2015) against the sour taste that the Prequels had left. But what if that curve wasn’t there? How would it stand up? I just don’t know. Well, it’s not offensive. The Galaxy I like the feeling of the setting. Set five years after the events of Return of the Jedi (1983) – you know, that movie where we thought the Empire was overthrown and the…
A Pop Culture Rant
As if it isn’t obvious, I’m a pop culture nerd. Or was. I think I’m just about done. I don’t have a lot of confidence in today’s industry to make good adaptations of those characters I love. In fact, most of the time I feel insulted. What’s happened? Why has it changed so drastically? Why are these blockbusters so often style without substance? It wasn’t always this way. Superman’s a good example. The original two Richard Donner movies – Superman (1978) and Superman II (2006: this is the year the official Richard Donner version was released) – are classics. Donner knew Superman. He loved Superman. He created a vision of…