Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

2018.03.30
Waited until Blu-ray on Redbox, avoided all spoilers (other than knowing Mark Hamill was in it, and that he was in a bad mood throughout).

It was OK overall, good in some parts.

There's a few too many characters. Having this be mostly about the two Jedi lead characters is fine, but there's so many other guys I have trouble keeping them straight. Who's supposed to be the Han Solo in this retelling of the original trilogy?

I like that we finally get to meet the Supreme Leader, and just as we start getting to know him, he gets whisked off stage. Nice move.

I don't like this escalation of everything with each go around. The Star Destroyers keep getting bigger. The Jedi become masters way too quickly and with seemingly little effort. Plucky mechanics turn into heroes of the revolution in mere seconds of screen time.

This was supposed to be the middle episode of the trilogy, so where's my classic downer ending?

Worth watching, but like the previous movie, Rogue One, I am left with nothing after its over.

2018.04.03
Reading the tvtropes. As usual it helps me find what I missed, and the downer ending I was expecting was actually mostly there. I want some closure as to the question of how you can use an FTL ship as a missile during a pivotal scene, and yet this massively powerful weapon is never used or mentioned again. Why didn't every Rebel ship that was about to be destroyed just not turn around and hurl itself at an enemy ship? They should have never introduced this, the sacrifice added nothing to the story, it only detracts.

Catch up with skipped podcasts. On Ken And Robin Talk About Stuff, I'm glad to hear Ken bring up right away how Laura Dern has the power to use an FTL missile, but no one else ever has. They both seem to think it would be too sad to kill off Leia in this movie because Carrie Fisher died, but I still think its an opportunity lost for closure on the character. And I agree that Star Wars is now in the awful predicament of having to solve the problem with CGI only. It would have also obviated the need for Leia telekinetically floating in space back to an airlock. Interesting as that might have been, I think its yet another power escalation that wasn't needed (when did Leia ever go through Jedi training, and has that ever been a Jedi power).

Listened to Still Untitled, as usual, mostly positive, not a lot of criticism. They briefly mention the FTL missile but quickly move on from it. Lots of inside the industry insights, increasing my appreciation for what a massive human undertaking movies like this are.

Random thoughts: I really like the caretakers (as I've learned they're called) who were taking care of the Jedi island. I also really liked the glance down to the water that reveals an X-Wing under the water, which is such a nice callback to Empire Strikes Back, and gives its presence under the water that much more meaning (it wouldn't be underwater if Luke didn't want it to be there).

2018.04.06
Still reading TV Tropes. It seems to conclude that the X-Wing under the water was foreshadowing that Luke will retrieve it and use it to go to where he's needed, as he did in Empire. And that this should help convince you he's really there when he shows up in the Rebel base. I didn't see it that way at all - didn't it take R2D2 some time to fix it up even after it was pulled from the water? I saw the X-Wing underwater as a sort of finality, that even though he could bring it up from the water, he didn't have the means to repair it anyway. Which doesn't undercut his trick at the end, because he may have just hitched a ride on the Falcon off-screen.

2018.04.18
I lost interest in the tvtropes page, and only got through 6 minutes of the Red Letter review. Going through old podcasts that I skipped I get to Hello Internet Star Wars The Last Jedi Christmas Special. This is the final word on reviewing this movie. They thought of everything I did, and a few more things to be mad about I just glazed over.
They've got it all nailed down:
* it fades from memory very quickly; no post-movie excitment
* its like fan-fic, they're just making up stuff now
* embarrassing humor, our universe leaking into Star Wars universe
* overly referring to the old movies (blue/green milk)
* timeline issues (how long is Rey on Skywalker island)
* seeing Yoda was cool but unnecessary
* Yoda calling lightning breaks our force ghost understanding
* corporate cliche: freedom to fail
* Rey's pointless training
* sudden introduction of fuel as a plot point
* slow chase makes no sense (speed, gun range)
* sudden introduction of hyperspace tracking, Leia's tracking ring
* you can come and go from the slow speed chase
* Monaco
* etc. (got tired of writing these - and I've only listed points from the first half of the show!)
There's no need to watch the movie again, or read or see anything about it; just listen to this podcast episode.

Good Place seasons 1-2 (2016-2018)

2018.03.09
Such a cute show, I can't help but like it.

They explained away the lack of cursing so well I didn't even realize it was network television for a while.

Looking forward to next season.

The Crown season 2 (2017)

2018.03.05
Watching season two; it's at least as good as the first.

Love the flashbacks, its great to see old characters again. Wouldn't flash forwards have been cool...

2018.03.2x
Finish Season 2. Overall OK, but at the end it goes back to cover old ground and seems to fizzle out in a confusing down note.

Listening to The Recappery Podcast, they talk about that a lot, and how the whole big problem at the end there wasn't even really so large in real life, so it makes you wonder what the show is even going for.

I am sad to hear that the show is not only doing a time skip, but changing out the entire cast. You can understand why, but it seems sad.