Can we have the reverse Bechtel test where if a female character is inexplicably kicking the shit out of a dude that is double her size, it fails? Super powers notwithstanding, that is always something that irks me. Intergender fight, fine, whatever, but give me one frame of her taking off brass knuckles or some shit to make it believable that 110 lb. lady can somehow suplex a 250 lb. roided up linebacker. The problem with Leia is the word "original", meaning they can't do that ever again, too risky, heebies AND the jeebies. Star Wars has always been (ahem) entry-level in terms of complexity, world-building and narrative cohesion. The thick lore all came outside the main films in the form of comics, books, games, etc., and I'd venture the best stuff was produced during the lulls between the main films. There so much good shit out there right now, (the Dune films, Scavenger's Reign, Godzilla Minus One, just off the top of my head), the stuff Disney is pushing is too elementary to be worth my time. If my 12-year old niece or someone came raving about it (how else does a 39 year old man wind up with baby yoda swag), maybe, but...fuck Star Wars until they come up with something worthwhile.
Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix. This is an animated show with 8 episodes focusing on 17th century Japan, when the country was closed off to foreigners, and the samurai culture was arguably at it's peak. It follows a well, a blue-eyed samurai (rare in Japan, you'll figure it out) on a quest for revenge. It is gorgeously animated. The story is excellent thus far (I'm on episode 6), and the writing sets it apart. Some of the dialog is literally characters just spouting poetry and aphorisms at one another over glares, and it just...works. It's definitely adult, and it deals with a lot of heavy-handed themes (sex, prostitution, violence, honor, etc.) in a superb way. If you wanna see 17th-century Kill Bill, or any similar "ronin's revenge" tale done well, give this a shot. I am not an anime expert, and I don't think this qualifies, but it definitely demonstrates influence and awareness of how anime portrays similar topics/themes. I love Usagi Yojimbo, as a vehicle to tell old Japanese lore (think our Tall Tales, or the legends of the wild west), and what the travelling swordsman deals with in each new town, etc. So, this as a genre appeals to me, and is definitely coloring how much I enjoy this show. I'd also suggest a quick read on samurai culture to discern what's embellished for the show, and what's real-ish. Some stuff (like what their pony tails are called, and why they mattered) I googled and finally just read a sort of wiki-primer on it (tea ceremony, what stuff was called, cultural norms, etc.), which helped.
This dialog in this show is so stupid, heavy and cliched that it's impossible to settle into. Every time there's an emotionally dramatic moment that results in a plodding, vacant, "no. please. don't. do. this.," it yanks me right out of the show. I can deal with a lot of plot holes, which the Star Wars universe is inevitably full of, if it's a good story. Andor was pretty good. The storyline here should have been a layup.
I think bad dialog is just expected of SW at this point, and there are plot holes in most sci-fi. I think you make up for it with poignant characters, comedy, gorgeous cinematography, etc. There's just nothing here. This could just as easily have been a production of a high school drama class that steals some CGI. The fan-made stuff is wildly better.
Anybody watching Season 3? I didn't realize it dropped a couple weeks ago. Stephen Merchant is hilarious.
First season is terrific. Definitely entertaining. When they started filming the 3rd season, the SAG strike happened, so the US actors couldn't film. So, no Christopher Walken so far. I think he has a limited role this season because of that.
"The Outlaws," TV series on Amazon Prime. This season turned out pretty good, even without Walken as regular. (First two seasons had 6 episodes each, with this one at 5. I don't know if that was because they had to cut out some content from final script versions) Several "laugh-out-loud" bits, especially the Spoiler attempted gay seducing scene . I recommend it highly, especially if you like Stephen Merchant. It's not the same vibe as The Office, Ricky Gervais, and other things he's done, but it's definitely got his fingerprints on it.
Bad Monkey is making me laugh a lot. If you like fast talking, funny Vince Vaughn stuff, give it a look.
Gf and I got obsessed with "Legion" on FX this past weekend. The first season was immaculate, a complete mind-fuck. Based on some X-men characters that never made it to the major canon (Legion and Shadow King) and who work more as plot devices than actual characters, the show is a delightful mind-fuck about mental illness and mutant powers. X-men as a narrative has been about civil rights and was re-tooled as a queer narrative (arguably by Chris Claremont in the 1980's, but continued by several folks. It's mirrored Judaism and Israel in the modern era of comics, something the movies wouldn't fucking dare touch. The Legion show is kind of a neuro-spicy narrative, as it looks at mutants whose powers present more as mental illness than as anything else. Legion (David Haller)'s schizophrenic (in the comics, he was Dissociative Identity Disorder, or multiple personalities). His gf switches bodies with anyone she touches, which shows up as anxiety and to some extent asexuality. A pair of cast members literally share a body, and another has memory powers that show up as OCD and hyper-detailed attention. The villain is textbook sociopathy, as far as being confused as to why his victims don't show him empathy, when they show it to each other. The show is done by Noah Hawley, of Fargo renown. It's gorgeously shot, with the music, design, and acting all superb. It's very trippy, and uses a lot of lighting and sound tricks to ensure some cognitive distortion by the viewer. These tricks are incredibly well-done, and contribute to the sense of mental confusion associated with mental illnesses displayed in the show. Season one works like a sort of an investigative crime drama, as the characters try and unpack events in their own heads. It ran for 3 seasons, and ended when Fox sold their shit to Disney. I'm halfway through season 2, and will blast through the rest. Highly recommend, seriously awesome sci-fi. Not overly Marvel, thus far the X-men touchpoints are mild callouts to things (a reference to Shi'ar tech, for example), I can't think of a character appearance or easter egg yet. So, for the non-nerds, the lore isn't required.
You'll get a huge X-Men reference in the 3rd season. And I agree that it's probably the best superhero show ever put out; even above anything that was put on Disney+. Also, the soundtrack alone with all the various cover songs is so good, I went out and bought all 3 seasons on vinyl.
+1 for bad monkey. I think it's a little lighter than the Vince Vaughn that skyrocketed, and I'm feeling like it's the right level.
I really enjoyed the first season. And each season after that kept getting worse, kept watching it hoping it would get better. Glad it is over.