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Okay, I see what you mean. I haven't seen it yet. Yes, I think there should be death and tragedy in Star Wars. Seems maybe Disney have got their family-oriented claws too deeply embedded.

That's not to say that I want them to return to the neo-Campbellian story structure of the first six movies. My vote is for something more like an early John Carpenter vibe ala Escape From New York; I'd like something grittier.

The one thing though that really frustrates me about the recent movies (and I guess the TV so far) is that there is a wealth of great Star Wars storytelling that has happened since the 90s to draw from. Sure, people would have a source to know what is going to happen, but that didn't stop the Harry Potter books from making blockbusters. They could also tweak storylines to create twists, etc.

For me, I think it's especially tragic that Vector Prime hasn't been made into a movie, or at least a game. It's too fucking bad that they waited until all the original actors were too old or too dead to follow through on something like that.

You have so much great stuff to look forward to. They keep turning up the crazy meter.



Love that show. In my Bluray collection alongside Justified and Battlestar Galactica.

Just finished Reprisal. Sadly, there won't be more seasons. Abigail Spencer is very dynamic in it, and the cast overall was great, IMHO.

Been watching Trick. Darn silly show, but I like how well done the stories are and how they figure out the tricks of all the fakes.

The first two episodes of Wandavision came out yesterday, what an embarassment.

After the first episode I figured that's why they had two episodes at once, but then the second one is just more of the same. Look, I have nothing against corny parodies of this style of cheesy 50s TV and americana/suburbia. I liked when Tim Burton did it in his old movies, and I even have an irrational affection for Pleasantville, but this stuff is just incredibly tired.

I guess that still has the potential to be good once it eventually starts to introduce some amount of drama. So I guess I shouldn't write off the series quite yet. But the first two episodes rely 100% on the humor, and the humor is awful. I didn't laugh once. I doubt they are going to veer too far from that, but if the rest of the show is gonna be "lol remember TV cliches?", count me out. It's no different from the bad comedies it's trying to poke fun at.

TLDR; It's basically Flintstones with worse humor.

Sounds dire. As far as drama's concerned, the Vision & Scarlet Witch comics are mediocre at best, but I like how for the Thanksgiving issue Wanda invites her father, the mutant-supremacist terrorist, and the Avengers / Defenders guests stew about all the times he tried to kill them while Magneto calmly drinks his tea.

I don't know much about the comics, but people have been talking for a while now how the show is supposed to allude to the "House of M" storyline where scarlet witch breaks down mentally and creates pretty much her own reality as a result (or alters actual reality?).

I think that sounds really out there and super interesting, and it's pretty clear that's kind of what they are going for. But so far it's just been an inconsequential thing going on in the background merely used as an excuse for doing their weird TV show mockery.

I'm pretty casual about the whole thing, but I've generally been able to enjoy even some of the worse Marvel movies well enough simply due to how well the characters are handled. Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany are both very likable in their roles, which probably the only reason I'm even giving this show the time of day

I just binged The Expanse Season 5 (Amazon Prime) up to the second-to-last show, then discovered to my displeasure that it's also doing the weekly episode release format. Like I'm stuck in the Cretaceous era of the 1990s.

Goddamnit, Bezos, you're already cementing your dystopian monopoly to levels never thought possible on the back of our quarantine misery. Just give us our goddamn bread and circuses!

Good season, very character-centric. This show does not get enough love.

The wife and I just finished the first season of The Expanse. Great stuff, I love the social realism, the attention to physics, the gritty aesthetics and the way characters are portrayed.

I welcome this... on all levels. I'm curious how Lynch's new series on Netflix is going to play out... he doesn't strike me as an "okay, here it is... binge the whole fucking thing" kinda guy.

On that note, I tried to watch The Expanse when it first came out and couldn't get over the hump -- I quite like Thom Jane as well. Maybe I'll give it another shot.

I like the show. It's not perfect, but I like how it incorporates long-time sci-fi novel tropes that were too obscure or gritty to make it into TV in the past. It also clearly (to me) gives a nod to things the plot line of Mass Effect and such.



Been watching the 3rd season of Disenchanted. I am thoroughly enjoying it, but I hesitate to call it a great show because I think I'm biased. I grew up reading the Life in Hell comics in the City Paper even before The Simpsons was on Tracy Ulman Show, so watching anything Matt Groening produces resonates with that part of me.

Keep at it. After the first episode I found the show ok, after the second one I liked it, and after the third I was hooked.

The Boys episodes 1-4/ season one 7/10
Not as good as the comic, but adequate. Good casting (Simon Pegg is Hughie's dad?!), Karl Urban was an amazing Judge Dredd and he's cool here as well, but I'm missing all the Irish stuff from the comic.

Scams

Watching through a lens that is quite tainted by Japanese TV, this was enjoyable. Not super ground breaking, but a decent, semi-mindless watch with a little bit of violence here and there. I could have used some more debauchery / grit, but waddya gonna do. There's some cultural stuff around the scam which is the premise of the show that may not translate well. My guess is most westerns that watch it would assume that it's some weird bullshit, but rest assured, it is a real phenomenon... to the point the that most Japanese banks had to lower their daily xfer/withdrawal limit.

The Sopranos s6e12 "Kaisha." A suitably sepulchral place to stomp a severed head down a storm drain, complete with telephone pole crosses and a water tank headstone to mark the lousy prick's final resting place.



How I love this show's cinematography. Actually sorta looking forward to the movie. Even if it's not conventionally good, maybe it'll at least be weird and beautiful.

Finished up She-Ra and the Princesses of Power this week, having started it back in October.

It was really, really good. I love how such an unapologetically queer cartoon can just be a thing these days, with the majority of the principal cast being gay or bi. And it never feels like it's being forced, or like pandering. A strongly recommended watch, 52 episodes in total.

Entrapta best character.

It's a brave new world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32FB-gY ... andomStuff

Also, just randomly realized that Slackcircus actually released a new song a couple months ago and it's pretty funny. Very Bowie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR4-RK0qKqw