I really don't know how to feel about her. Her time at Lucasfilm gave us both some of the best Star Wars media ever, but also some of the absolute worst. Plus a lot of mediocre stuff. But...
I really don't know how to feel about her. Her time at Lucasfilm gave us both some of the best Star Wars media ever, but also some of the absolute worst. Plus a lot of mediocre stuff.
But ultimately I'm exhausted and bored with Star Wars and I don't think her leadership is blameless in that.
I don't think I can ever truly forgive her for greenlighting the sequel trilogy with zero plan and zero coordination between the different writers/directors. The least they could have done is have...
I don't think I can ever truly forgive her for greenlighting the sequel trilogy with zero plan and zero coordination between the different writers/directors. The least they could have done is have the three of them work together to build a coherent arc across the three movies before giving the full green light.
"Winging it" with such an iconic franchise is still just so mind-boggling insane to me. I just don't know how anyone thought they'd get a coherent trilogy doing a relay race with the story.
I think JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson was like the worst combo they could have inadvertently chosen. Abrams has that mystery box thing where he loves to set up vague uncertainties to maybe pay off...
I think JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson was like the worst combo they could have inadvertently chosen.
Abrams has that mystery box thing where he loves to set up vague uncertainties to maybe pay off later, and Johnson likes subverting expectations. It feels almost inevitable that he would end up undermining all the half baked ideas that were introduced in the first movie.
Which could have been fine if they had stuck with Johnson and had him do something with that deconstructed premise. But to then give up again and switch back to Abrams and have him finish the story after having already swept the legs out from under him is nuts.
Out of the loop; did they really just wing it? I had assumed that they had a plan going in, but didn't follow through on everything due to focus groups and toy sales and whatnot.
Out of the loop; did they really just wing it? I had assumed that they had a plan going in, but didn't follow through on everything due to focus groups and toy sales and whatnot.
Nope no plan. Michael Ardnt (Academy Award winning screenwriter for Little Miss Sunshine) was hired to make a plan but he couldn’t crack it (and/or Disney didn’t like it). After he departed JJ...
Nope no plan. Michael Ardnt (Academy Award winning screenwriter for Little Miss Sunshine) was hired to make a plan but he couldn’t crack it (and/or Disney didn’t like it). After he departed JJ came in and reworked some of his ideas and handed the baton to Johnson. Johnson was then meant to hand it to Trevorrow but Trevorrow was fired two years before Episode IX was meant to release. So they brought JJ back to rewrite it.
It is true that Episode IX was a response to Episode VIII, but there wasn’t anything to follow through post The Last Jedi
Trevorrow's script leaked (iirc Jenny Nicholson made a video reading through it and mocking it), and it's somehow even worse than the Episode IX that made it to theaters, so I can't fault them for...
Johnson was then meant to hand it to Trevorrow but Trevorrow was fired two years before Episode IX was meant to release.
Trevorrow's script leaked (iirc Jenny Nicholson made a video reading through it and mocking it), and it's somehow even worse than the Episode IX that made it to theaters, so I can't fault them for this particular decision. And I say this as someone who very much thinks Episode IX was hot garbage.
I don't remember if the script leaked before or after Book of Henry, but that movie existing can't have helped either. It's just an absolute mess. I'm not a fan of Trevorrow's Jurassic World...
I don't remember if the script leaked before or after Book of Henry, but that movie existing can't have helped either. It's just an absolute mess.
I'm not a fan of Trevorrow's Jurassic World movies but can at least understand how they might think he would be an up-and-coming director and try to follow the Marvel example. I'm sure he's a nice guy and charming in person or whatever but what he wants out of a story seems fundamentally broken somehow personally.
Ah yes, "The Book of Henry." A heartwarming tale about a dead kid using his poorly established "genius" to persuade his mother to cold-bloodedly murder his crush's father. So universally...
Ah yes, "The Book of Henry." A heartwarming tale about a dead kid using his poorly established "genius" to persuade his mother to cold-bloodedly murder his crush's father. So universally relatable. Truly, a story for the ages!
It's been a while (5 years?!) since I thought about it, so I don't remember the details beyond my general emotional impression of it, but here's Jenny Nicholson's video about it. At under 2 hours,...
It's been a while (5 years?!) since I thought about it, so I don't remember the details beyond my general emotional impression of it, but here's Jenny Nicholson's video about it. At under 2 hours, it's practically a short for her!
EDIT: I also just realized upon going to this old video that there was another treatment (by Alan Dean Foster) that was famously quite bad, so I may be combining the two in my memory. Jenny Nicholson did a video on that one too.
In both cases, your mileage may vary on whether they're worse than what we got.
Star Wars aside, she produced a large chunk of the most iconic films of the 80s and 90s. Including Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Hook and E.T. I don't think the...
Star Wars aside, she produced a large chunk of the most iconic films of the 80s and 90s. Including Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Hook and E.T.
I don't think the weaknesses of the recent Star Wars spam are any different than the ills of Marvel: it's just a natural consequence of creating a factory for what should be a creative process, which is a problem that goes up to even higher executive levels and to modern corporate/Hollywood culture. There are boxes to check, focus groups to appease, and a goal to perpetuate a franchise (that should be a dirty word, not a casual descriptor) rather than to let an auteur do a thing.
I think Terry Gilliam took a shot at Warner Brothers for that twenty years ago, when asked in an interview if he'd consider directing a Harry Potter film if it was offered to him. (And Rowling wanted him to, so it was a possibility.) He basically said that after the first couple were made, it would just be a factory job and he wouldn't have any creative control. It would just be making a product to continue the existing pattern.
I really wish Hollywood did a better job at writing out what producers do in movies. She was even a producer on Schindler’s List. It’s really hard to tell what her hand in all these things were....
I really wish Hollywood did a better job at writing out what producers do in movies. She was even a producer on Schindler’s List. It’s really hard to tell what her hand in all these things were. As someone who’s worked in commercials and documentaries before, there are 100% cases where producers get credit and never show up. (I’m not even talking about the Executive Producers).
I'm not entirely sure that that that's true in retrospect, given how different directors in the series have very different visual styles. While Philosopher's Stone portrays Hogwarts as very warm...
He basically said that after the first couple were made, it would just be a factory job and he wouldn't have any creative control. It would just be making a product to continue the existing pattern
I'm not entirely sure that that that's true in retrospect, given how different directors in the series have very different visual styles. While Philosopher's Stone portrays Hogwarts as very warm and comfy, as Voldemort returns the school gradually becomes almost monochrome as the life is drained out of it, the students more concerned by fear than enjoying their time.
You are right, but it is important to note that the first three had different directors and the last four were all one director. David Yates. Arguably those four are when the series starts to feel...
You are right, but it is important to note that the first three had different directors and the last four were all one director. David Yates. Arguably those four are when the series starts to feel a little samey production wise. Also in my opinion i would say the last four just dont hold up the same. They just feel less inspired to me, maybe its the loss of color and whimsy, maybe its that trying to follow up Alfonso Cuarón, director of the third, and best imo, HP film is just a really tough hand to stand out, or maybe its what this potential director feared. Making more of a product to keep with a brand than an artistic film.
Edit that popped in my head literally seconds after i posted. Thematically the stark shift in tone and color id say is most present after the fourth book, which ends with Cedric getting murdered right in front of Harry. This used as an explanation for why the rest of the films lose the color could be a visual reflection of Harry truly losing his innocence in that extreme way.
I was thinking like Rogue One, The Mandalorian, Rebels, The Bad Batch, and the final season of The Clone Wars. I get the feeling I'd probably also love Andor, but haven't made the time to watch it...
I was thinking like Rogue One, The Mandalorian, Rebels, The Bad Batch, and the final season of The Clone Wars. I get the feeling I'd probably also love Andor, but haven't made the time to watch it yet.
edit - I should add that this isn't to say there aren't individual moments or episodes that I enjoyed within movies/shows I otherwise didn't like. Book of Boba's Tusken Raider scenes were chefs kiss and will die on the hill defending the Holdo Maneuver for being one of the most visually stunning and literally breath-taking things I've ever seen in theaters.
It's just the inconsistent quality overall is exhausting
I loved that episode of Boba. I think it was one of the strongest parts of the new stuff. But yeah, like you said, the inconsistency killed a lot of potential. I want that stupid 'child' gone asap...
I loved that episode of Boba. I think it was one of the strongest parts of the new stuff.
But yeah, like you said, the inconsistency killed a lot of potential. I want that stupid 'child' gone asap and for Mando to go strictly to a monster of the week format. Just let the guy take bounties, meet some familiar faces, and move on.
Good call out for Rogue One, also. The rest of the movies have been trash, but that was a good one. I can't believe they forked the entire universe so Ben would be a Solo instead of simply called him Jacen. I'm always going on and on about it, but the Legacy of the Force novels would have made for some excellent series or films.
I really don't know how to feel about her. Her time at Lucasfilm gave us both some of the best Star Wars media ever, but also some of the absolute worst. Plus a lot of mediocre stuff.
But ultimately I'm exhausted and bored with Star Wars and I don't think her leadership is blameless in that.
I don't think I can ever truly forgive her for greenlighting the sequel trilogy with zero plan and zero coordination between the different writers/directors. The least they could have done is have the three of them work together to build a coherent arc across the three movies before giving the full green light.
"Winging it" with such an iconic franchise is still just so mind-boggling insane to me. I just don't know how anyone thought they'd get a coherent trilogy doing a relay race with the story.
I think JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson was like the worst combo they could have inadvertently chosen.
Abrams has that mystery box thing where he loves to set up vague uncertainties to maybe pay off later, and Johnson likes subverting expectations. It feels almost inevitable that he would end up undermining all the half baked ideas that were introduced in the first movie.
Which could have been fine if they had stuck with Johnson and had him do something with that deconstructed premise. But to then give up again and switch back to Abrams and have him finish the story after having already swept the legs out from under him is nuts.
Out of the loop; did they really just wing it? I had assumed that they had a plan going in, but didn't follow through on everything due to focus groups and toy sales and whatnot.
Nope no plan. Michael Ardnt (Academy Award winning screenwriter for Little Miss Sunshine) was hired to make a plan but he couldn’t crack it (and/or Disney didn’t like it). After he departed JJ came in and reworked some of his ideas and handed the baton to Johnson. Johnson was then meant to hand it to Trevorrow but Trevorrow was fired two years before Episode IX was meant to release. So they brought JJ back to rewrite it.
It is true that Episode IX was a response to Episode VIII, but there wasn’t anything to follow through post The Last Jedi
Trevorrow's script leaked (iirc Jenny Nicholson made a video reading through it and mocking it), and it's somehow even worse than the Episode IX that made it to theaters, so I can't fault them for this particular decision. And I say this as someone who very much thinks Episode IX was hot garbage.
I don't remember if the script leaked before or after Book of Henry, but that movie existing can't have helped either. It's just an absolute mess.
I'm not a fan of Trevorrow's Jurassic World movies but can at least understand how they might think he would be an up-and-coming director and try to follow the Marvel example. I'm sure he's a nice guy and charming in person or whatever but what he wants out of a story seems fundamentally broken somehow personally.
Ah yes, "The Book of Henry." A heartwarming tale about a dead kid using his poorly established "genius" to persuade his mother to cold-bloodedly murder his crush's father. So universally relatable. Truly, a story for the ages!
Okay I'll bite: how bad was it to be worse?
It's been a while (5 years?!) since I thought about it, so I don't remember the details beyond my general emotional impression of it, but here's Jenny Nicholson's video about it. At under 2 hours, it's practically a short for her!
EDIT: I also just realized upon going to this old video that there was another treatment (by Alan Dean Foster) that was famously quite bad, so I may be combining the two in my memory. Jenny Nicholson did a video on that one too.
In both cases, your mileage may vary on whether they're worse than what we got.
Star Wars aside, she produced a large chunk of the most iconic films of the 80s and 90s. Including Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Hook and E.T.
I don't think the weaknesses of the recent Star Wars spam are any different than the ills of Marvel: it's just a natural consequence of creating a factory for what should be a creative process, which is a problem that goes up to even higher executive levels and to modern corporate/Hollywood culture. There are boxes to check, focus groups to appease, and a goal to perpetuate a franchise (that should be a dirty word, not a casual descriptor) rather than to let an auteur do a thing.
I think Terry Gilliam took a shot at Warner Brothers for that twenty years ago, when asked in an interview if he'd consider directing a Harry Potter film if it was offered to him. (And Rowling wanted him to, so it was a possibility.) He basically said that after the first couple were made, it would just be a factory job and he wouldn't have any creative control. It would just be making a product to continue the existing pattern.
I really wish Hollywood did a better job at writing out what producers do in movies. She was even a producer on Schindler’s List. It’s really hard to tell what her hand in all these things were. As someone who’s worked in commercials and documentaries before, there are 100% cases where producers get credit and never show up. (I’m not even talking about the Executive Producers).
I'm not entirely sure that that that's true in retrospect, given how different directors in the series have very different visual styles. While Philosopher's Stone portrays Hogwarts as very warm and comfy, as Voldemort returns the school gradually becomes almost monochrome as the life is drained out of it, the students more concerned by fear than enjoying their time.
You are right, but it is important to note that the first three had different directors and the last four were all one director. David Yates. Arguably those four are when the series starts to feel a little samey production wise. Also in my opinion i would say the last four just dont hold up the same. They just feel less inspired to me, maybe its the loss of color and whimsy, maybe its that trying to follow up Alfonso Cuarón, director of the third, and best imo, HP film is just a really tough hand to stand out, or maybe its what this potential director feared. Making more of a product to keep with a brand than an artistic film.
Edit that popped in my head literally seconds after i posted. Thematically the stark shift in tone and color id say is most present after the fourth book, which ends with Cedric getting murdered right in front of Harry. This used as an explanation for why the rest of the films lose the color could be a visual reflection of Harry truly losing his innocence in that extreme way.
Trying to throw Hook in the midst of those movies is funny lmao
what do you consider the best?
I was thinking like Rogue One, The Mandalorian, Rebels, The Bad Batch, and the final season of The Clone Wars. I get the feeling I'd probably also love Andor, but haven't made the time to watch it yet.
edit - I should add that this isn't to say there aren't individual moments or episodes that I enjoyed within movies/shows I otherwise didn't like. Book of Boba's Tusken Raider scenes were chefs kiss and will die on the hill defending the Holdo Maneuver for being one of the most visually stunning and literally breath-taking things I've ever seen in theaters.
It's just the inconsistent quality overall is exhausting
I loved that episode of Boba. I think it was one of the strongest parts of the new stuff.
But yeah, like you said, the inconsistency killed a lot of potential. I want that stupid 'child' gone asap and for Mando to go strictly to a monster of the week format. Just let the guy take bounties, meet some familiar faces, and move on.
Good call out for Rogue One, also. The rest of the movies have been trash, but that was a good one. I can't believe they forked the entire universe so Ben would be a Solo instead of simply called him Jacen. I'm always going on and on about it, but the Legacy of the Force novels would have made for some excellent series or films.