I am genuinely so done with Star Wars films that include the fucking Death Star. We've gone from the original Death Stars with the Emperor and Darth Vader to the new Death Stars with Snoke and now we're literally having a movie about the daughter of the architect of the Death Star.

I was fine when it was sort of just a heist film we were getting teased, but honestly? Fuck this laziness.

 

Since the movie was announced, the plot was described as explaining how the rebels obtained the plans to the Death Star. You're just getting mad now? Though I agree, reusing the Death Star over and over again is pretty lazy story-telling and after this it better not show up ever again in the new movies.

 

I just hope that by the time Star Wars ends we get a "Death Galaxy" to go with the "Death Star" and "Death Planet".

 

I was certainly hoping for more nuance than "Daddy went away and did a bad thing while I was a poor little orphan". That's basically Luke's backstory, down to the not-appearing mom.

Why can't we have a super-spy? A badass chick infamous on-planet for getting into places nobody could dream of? Did we really need more daddy issues in Star Wars of all things?

 

Dysfunctional families are what make the SW galaxy go round.

 

Say... a Ventress movie?

 

She's dead. About 4 months before the Republic fell.

 

I need a Vader fight scene. I need it. The Ahsoka x Vader duel on rebels, while perhaps the most awesome thing to come out of the new canon to date, was not enough.

 

Wow, I didn't know this. I'm slowly getting a hold of all the canon books that have come out, haven't picked that one up yet though. That sucks.

 

I just hope the new Star Wars is not as full of inconsistencies as the last one was (really, the more time passes the more I get pissed at how poorly the for example they handled the scale issue with everything feeling like it happened inside a single system instead of a galaxy). I don't expect much but a bit more believability in the world building would really be great.


I also watched War Dogs this week and was surprised by how I liked it. I admit that I went into this with really low expectations, expecting little more than a terrible parody of Lord of War with a lot of slapstick humour thrown in. But it was actually quite an entertaining movie.

 

Dark Disciple

In terms of canon, it was one of the first ones out. Takes place during the Clone Wars (obviously). Half-made. It was supposed to be one of the season six shows, but Disney closed down it down before it was finished, along with whatever happened with Bo-Katan on Mandalore. At least Rebels is bringing her back this season.

It was generally a decent story, but a lot of the subject matter flies in the face of Jedi belief, and turns a lot of Legends material into utter mush. So there's like .01% chance of any other Dathomir story in the future, and erases dozens/hundreds of Legends characters from being used as well... at least in their past incarnations.

 

Has there been anything in the new canon that suggests A'Sharad Hett/Krayt will show up?

 

Nothing. Which is a good thing. He was connected to very little in the SW-verse that didn't include the Vong, and we know canon isn't using the Vong. So it's possible he'd show up in some form.

In canon they've steered away from virtually everything that remotely sounds like post RotJ Legends canon, with the sole exception of the name Ben. They've kept with the notion that the Sith are dead for good and steered the new baddies as users of the dark side, with no organized religion behind it. So, there probably won't be any One Sith... at least not in the movie-verse.

Books, comics, games, etc. will run out of new material soon enough if they don't introduce something other than the Empire's newest superweapon to destroy.

That's why I was disappointed in them bringing a bigger Death Star back in IVV. It's like they went full-bore Hollywood with the idea.

"What did the fans love most, so we can reintroduce that and make the most money!"

"Death Star... and the other Death Star. Bitches love Death Stars."

"But if we destroy the Other Other Death Star then what will VIII and IX be about?"

"Skywalkers going bad. Bitches love Skywalkers going bad. Everyone loves Vader. Make another Vader."

"Yeah, we can have him stalk the lead actress... maybe watch her sleep, introduce her to his weird dark side family, and try to turn her. Can we use werewolves too?"

 

I watched Inferno today because there was nothing else in the cinema. The weakest film in the series, but it was expected.

Surprising enough for once I was happy with changing the book's ending to a standard Hollywood ending.

 

Oh? Might just watch it after reading this. Reading Inferno gave me conflicted feelings at the end, mostly negative.

 

Assassin's Creed Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pC2IjvLSKs

 

Just got back from this. We wanted to see Swiss Army Man, but the timetables changed from when I checked over the weekend. Spoilers below

Spoiler

I don't like how in horror films the monster just keeps going. Sure, being an implacable behemoth does work for some antagonists, but it doesn't always. And when the antagonist is a blind war veteran, it doesn't work in the slightest. Getting smashed with a club hammer several times should cause more than a slight flinch.

Also, going by how he reacts to noise later in the film, I would've thought (although I could be wrong) that guns going off near his head would have had a bit longer impact on him.

The girl in the basement wasn't something I saw coming, but once she was revealed, that whole part was completely expected - it wasn't a bunch of dicks raiding an old man, now it was dicks vs a giant dick. At which point you know someone's going to make it out alive.

Although the turkey baster got a laugh before it left.

That said, this was a great film. Really tense, and a few decent twists. Definitely worth watching, and I think it does gain from the big screen.

 

I went to see 'Jack Reacher: Never Go Back' last night. Pretty fun, not a must see. I'm still not convinced Cruise was the best choice to play Reacher, but that aside he's fine. Decent performances from Cobie Smulders and Danika Yarosh, who's an only rarely irritating screen teenager. A few snappy lines, a few cool action scenes, solid but not terribly inspired plot...it's been a while since I read any of the books, but other than, as I say, Cruise's physical differences, they seem to have adapted pretty well to screen. Solid entertainment.

 

I just rate Cruise really highly as an action star, and if I didn't know about the hilarious physical disparity between him and the character, it wouldn't even cross my mind.

That said, I agree. Good enough. Fun movie.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2lDMvxeFQ4

Looks interesting, probably just a popcorn muncher.