Sunday, December 31, 2017
A-Town Playlist: 17 songs to end 2017
I noticed this morning that I have posted a blog on New Year's Eve two years in a row, so I figured I better knock another one out before we ring in 2018. In 2015, I wrote about my 15 favorite movies of the year. In 2016, I wrote about 16 good things that happened to me that year. This year, I'll give you a good old A-Town Playlist with 17 of my favorite songs from 2017. Enjoy!
*Bonus points to Mr. Styles for using the name of my blog as the name of his song.
*This song was technically released in 2015, originally, but it made it big in 2017 and is my pick for Song of the Year, so... deal with it.
Well, there you have it. Hopefully that gave you some good stuff to listen to. Did I miss any of your top songs of the year? Let me know in the comments section below.
Happy New Year!
Sunday, December 17, 2017
My thoughts after seeing 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' twice in 24 hours
Unless you're living under a rock somewhere, you're aware that "Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi" came out this weekend. And, chances are, if you've seen it, you've got an opinion about it. I did my best (and actually succeeded) in staying off of social media and avoiding spoilers for the day and a half preceding my initial viewing of the movie - and I'm glad that I did. As soon as I got home from the theater, I hopped online to take a look at the Internet's collective reaction to the film, and what I found was... really surprising. But before I get to that, let me give you my overall thoughts.
CAUTION: I'm about to start with some spoiler-free comments, but we'll eventually dive pretty deep and MAJOR SPOILERS will follow. Be ye warned and forewarned. Proceed at your own risk - and please don't keep reading if you haven't see "The Last Jedi" yet.
What I thought
I liked the movie. I thought it was fun, exciting and had an appropriate amount of humor (unlike "Thor: Ragnarok," which tried way too hard to be funny. I thought it was a heavy plot, with far-reaching consequences and a lot to think about afterward. It had some good character development and explored many of the questions I had after Episode VII, while leaving a few loose ends to wrap up in Episode IX, which is good. I thought that a couple parts were unnecessary and made the movie probably 15 minutes longer than it absolutely needed to be - although the movie didn't ever feel too long. I loved learning more about the relationship between Luke and Ben Solo; this was probably my favorite element of the plot. All in all, I had fun both times I saw it, which is about all I ask for when I head to the movies.What others thought
Generally, the comments I've seen have fallen on extreme, opposite ends of the spectrum. There are a lot of people calling "The Last Jedi" the best Star Wars movie since "The Empire Strikes Back." There are many who are calling it the best Star Wars film yet. On the other hand, some are saying that TLJ was a burning pile of garbage - the worst movie of the entire franchise, by far.Take, for instance, these few comments I found within five minutes of searching the Internet:
THE GOOD:
"With plenty of twists and turns, a cohesive story and a sheer tour-de-force of drama and action."
"EPIC! Star Wars: The Last Jedi is simply amazing, and inspiring."
"I laughed. I cried. My heart raced. I was shocked! I was relieved. And even though this was a 2 and a half hour movie of ridiculous greatness, I was sad to see it end."
"This movie was amazing. I've seen it three times already!"
THE BAD (and keep in mind that these are the ones that didn't include any profanity):
"TLJ is disaster..lazy writing, mess storyline."
"It's an incoherent mess of a story."
"[Director Rian Johnson ruined] the entire franchise with this terrible, terrible movie."
"Anyone who liked this movie is stupid."
Yikes. Like, which is it, people? Make up your dang minds! In my opinion, I don't think it was any of those things - not the best, my favorite nor the worst. What is up with these outrageous reactions?
Why you just can't trust Rotten Tomatoes
Here's a fun fact for you: currently, as of December 16th, "Justice League," which was much-maligned by critics (bias, I say!) has an audience rating of 79% on RottenTomatoes.com. "The Last Jedi," which was rated higher than any other Star Wars movie by Rotten Tomatoes critics, currently has a 56% audience approval rating. Wow.In my mind, this proves two things: 1) DC movies aren't as bad as critics tell us they are, and 2) Star Wars fans are monsters.
That's right. Monsters.
I feel like I am uniquely qualified to talk about how annoying certain "fandoms" are, after years of working with Comic Con (not the San Diego one, FYI). By far - and it's not even close - the most annoying fan base is that of the TV show "Supernatural." I haven't watched it and never will. Those fans are the absolute worst. But after that show, which I don't even really count because I hate it so badly that I don't want it to be considered, are Marvel and Star Wars.
Don't get me wrong - I love both Marvel and Star Wars, but the super-fans get out of control in a hurry.
Marvel super-fans are currently the worst because they are elitists and they are jerks (in the sense that they think that everything Marvel does is the greatest thing ever created and, contrarily, that everything DC Comics does is absolute rubbish; neither of those statements are entirely true).
Star Wars super-fans are currently the second worst because they think they know everything (all that "extended universe" junk that isn't even canon anymore) and they compete against each other to show who knows the most (or who is the "biggest Star Wars fan") more than any other fandom. I don't think that Star Wars fans have any real beef with Star Trek fans (it's more the other way around, if I'm not mistaken), but they can sure be rude to each other online. If you're bored, go hop into the comments section of any recent Star Wars post and you'll see what I mean.
The other major problem with Star Wars fans is that they're incredibly hypocritical. I loved Episode VII, but it came to my attention that many so-called fans did not - for a surprising reason. I see the similarities now, of course, but at the time I first saw "The Force Awakens," I wasn't bothered by the comparisons to "A New Hope." People didn't like VII because it was too similar to IV. Now, it seems, people don't like Episode VIII because it isn't similar enough to the old movies. Uhhh... ok?
It has come to my attention that there are three types of Star Wars fans:
Going to see #TheLastJedi for the second time in 24 hours. Should I go into the movie tonight as my regular self, as the unrealistically optimistic Star Wars fan, or the inexplicably pissed off Star Wars fan? #options— Aaron Christensen (@atownmania) December 16, 2017
Further analysis
Posting their own spoilers
I was really careful to avoid spoilers on social media. I think I only watched the full second trailer once or twice because I didn't want to know anything specific about the movie before seeing it for myself. Did any of you see those little commercials that Disney put out, which said "Don't let anyone spoil this"? (Watch them all here.) Weren't those spoilers, in and of themselves? Kylo reaching out to Rey, Finn fighting Phasma, Kylo debating whether to blow up Leia's ship, Rey using the Force, Rey threatening Luke with a lightsaber, and the two that made me the most upset - Snoke torturing Rey and Rey wielding Kylo Ren's lightsaber. Why not leave all of these moments a surprise? I understand what they were trying to do - tease moments that people will likely be talking about as a way to entice people to see the movie early on - but come on, people. Why spoil these moments by warning viewers not to have those moments spoiled?
"Screw you and your predictions" - the writers, probably
I was honestly shocked to see all the negative comments when I got home last night. All I had heard going into the movie was that everyone loved it. IGN gave it a 9.7 out of 10. Rotten Tomatoes, as previously mentioned, has it sitting at 94%, higher than any other Star Wars movie. I'd heard all the critics loved it - and I generally trust Disney to put out a good product - but all this hate blew my mind... and kept me up, laughing, until 3:15 in the morning. (It was a late showing, I'd taken a nap beforehand and I just wasn't tired, ok?)Even though I think most of the hate for the movie is practically unfounded or completely unnecessary, I do see some of what people were upset about. First and foremost, let's talk about everyone's ridiculous expectations for this movie. This is where we will be getting into MAJOR SPOILERS, so if you're still reading and you don't want to know, STOP NOW.
"The Last Jedi"? They might as well have called it "The Last Fan Theory." Because that's what it basically was: the end of fans thinking they call the shots. After "The Force Awakens," Star Wars fans began postulating absurd theories as to a plethora of different plot points, but a two major topics came to the forefront right away:
- Who is Supreme Leader Snoke?
- Who are Rey's parents?
In "The Last Jedi," both of those theories were laid to rest immediately. Let's break them down:
- Theories about Snoke's true identity swirled largely around two major possibilities: Emperor Palpatine and Darth Plagueis. Fans were convinced that the man who seduced young Ben Solo (now Kylo Ren) to join the Dark Side of the Force must have had some ties to a great Sith Lord from the previous movies. This theory was debunked when Kylo Ren killed Snoke upon his throne in "The Last Jedi." Not a mention was made of his backstory nor any other previous identity. The dude is dead and, from the looks of it, he ain't coming back. So there's that.
- Theories about Rey's parentage began in Episode VII when we learned that her mother and father abandoned her on Jakku as a child. She always believed that they'd return to her, and it was therefore assumed that they were of some great importance in the "big picture." Most fans assumed that Rey was either a Skywalker or a Solo, or perhaps even the granddaughter of Obi-Wan Kenobi. The identities of her parents are teased throughout the first half of TLJ, only for us to find out that her parents were actually "nobody," which Rey admits to Kylo Ren shortly after Snoke's death. Kylo expounds that her parents were Jakku junkers that sold her for drinking money. It has been speculated that this may have just been a lie from Kylo to entice Rey to join him on the Dark Side, but, after seeing the scene for a second time, it is of note that Rey was the first one to admit that her parents were inconsequential. So there's that.
I think that the shooting down of these two popular speculation points is the main reason why some fans got so mad at "The Last Jedi." One Twitter user put it really well:
I wonder if people are really mad at the Last Jedi because they didn’t like it, or because it smashed all our theories we spent the last 2 years carefully creating?🤔 #lastjedi— Brian West (@BrianWest53) December 15, 2017
One Facebook user had this to say:
"I find it funny [that] everyone has an issue with not knowing [any] of the details on Snoke's backstory yet we knew even less about the Emperor in the original trilogy and yet no issue (sic). There also was no push or hype from The Force Awakens on Rey's parents being any big reveal[; it was] just briefly mentioned. I think we are guilty as fans of sometimes building stuff ourselves that was never implied in a film, then criticizing a film for not answering or having a big plot reveal to something they never implied to begin with."
Guilty as charged - on both counts. Over the past two years, we have come up with some pretty compelling theories and we acted like we knew everything that was going to happen. It's like we wanted to write the movies ourselves. Welp, Disney gave us all the middle finger in the most loving way possible with this one, folks.
In the end, I think this is a good thing. Hopefully it will get super-fans to tone down how aggressive they get with this stuff. Clearly, the writers and directors don't give a crap about our theories, so (hopefully) in the future, we'll just go to movies to have fun, not to see whether our theories were correct or not. It's fun to guess and try to predict stuff, but it sure felt like TLJ was not-so-subtly reminding us who's boss.
The Ultimate Troll Job
Along those lines, did anybody else feel like this movie was just a constant troll job? No? Let me remind you of a few things that happened. A few fake-outs. A few swerves. As I said before, this story pretty much gave fans the middle finger - multiple times.- Leia's dead! J/K, she's alive, she's using the Force for the first time on screen and SHE'S MARY POPPINS, Y'ALL! (Arguably the worst part of the movie, if you ask me. More on that in just a sec.)
- Vice Admiral Holdo is bad! J/K, she's Leia's BFF.
- Kylo Ren's a good guy! J/K, he's not.
- Snoke is so mysterious! J/K, he's dead.
- Rey's parents are important! J/K, they're dead, too.
- Finn is about to make the ultimate sacrifice! J/K, nah.
- Luke is taking on the whole First Order by himself! J/K, he's not really even there.
See what I mean? Freaking trolls!
What could have been
Speaking of things that didn't end up happening, I've got a couple more thoughts:- Why didn't they kill off Leia? No offense, but... Carrie Fisher ain't walking through that door for Episode IX. (R.I.P.) It's not like they didn't have the chance! They freaking blew her up! She was out there, floating in space without any kind of space suit. Not that I've ever been in outer space, but... I'm pretty sure you can't do that. Sure, give her the close-up thing where she looks all beautiful and peaceful, but then call it good! She gone! But no! I admit that it was cool to see Leia finally use the Force, but... that floating scene. It was... so... weird! She's just, like, flying? Miraculously unharmed, despite everybody else on the bridge dying? Man, I'm sorry, but they should have just killed her off there. Or even let her have her Force moment, bring her back, put her in the sick bed thingy, then have that lady with the enormous nose (sorry, but it's true) come out and say, "I'm so sorry... she didn't make it." Everybody cries, it's a terrible moment, and Kylo Ren becomes even more despicable for essentially killing both of his parents. #groundedforlife At this point, there are about, what?, 15 people left in the Rebellion? And now, suddenly, their most prominent member is just, like... gone? Like, what? She's off on some galactic adventure, never to be heard from again? Perhaps they'll just start Episode IX with a funeral and say that she died of a broken heart or something. Ugh. Missed opportunity.
- I had an insane thought at one point in the movie - something that I hadn't heard anywhere and I truly believe nobody would have seen coming. Remember that part when Kylo tells Rey that he saw her parents and, because of that, he knows that she will turn to the Dark Side? It hit me like a stroke of pure inspiration. REY IS A PALPATINE! Holy crap! Can you imagine? And then I was wrong about that, so I frowned and kept watching. But seriously. That would have been the shocker of all-time shockers.
The nobody from nowhere - and why she's important
It's important that Rey's parents were nobodies. Anakin Skywalker's parents were nobodies, so it's not like this is unheard of. Sure, it would have been fun if Rey was a Kenobi, but with Rey being outside the Skywalker and Kenobi bloodline, it opens the door for more Jedis, beyond this trilogy. We see that little kid at the very end of the movie summoning his broom with the Force, like Harry Potter learning to fly for the first time, so we know that there are other Force-sensitive people out there in the galaxy. The thought many may have had going into "The Last Jedi" was that it was Luke and Rey and that's it. Learning that Rey was a nobody from nowhere shot that theory down, as well.
Random observations and questions
- I'm not big on acting like I know everything so I therefore have the right to point out plot holes, but I found one the second time through. If Luke is a Hologram for that last scene, how was he able to interact with Leia beforehand? He gave her that keepsake from the Millennium Falcon, held her and and kissed her on the forehead, but then, moments later, Kylo Ren was unable to kill him with his lightsaber. It is of note that Luke never touches Kylo in that fight, so that's all good. So... did Leia know Luke was only a hologram and just acted like everything was totally normal when he was next to her? I don't know. Whatever. Doesn't matter.
- Porgs are just as dumb and insignificant as I knew they would be. That one scene with Chewbacca was funny, but that was a total cash grab by Disney. I hope they were able to sell a lot of stuffed animals.
- The Yoda cameo was fun. When he was laughing after lighting that Rebellion-insignia-shaped tree on fire, I was dying. That ol' kook.
- I'm sure someone will take this as being sexist... because she's a woman... but... is Captain Phasma the most useless, worthless character in all of Star Wars? Good riddance, Chrome Dome.
- I didn't like Vice Admiral Holdo, but hitting Light Speed to take out that huge First Order ship was such a baller move. Bravo. See? I'm not sexist, after all!
- They could have cut out the entire casino scene with the supposed Master Code Breaker and made the movie 15 minutes shorter. He was pointless and they could have just found Benicio Del Toro's character somewhere else, like sleeping in one of the escape pods on the Rebellion's ship or something.
- That Dark Side hole in the island wasn't working for me. Could have cut that scene out, too. Also, Rey snaps weird, but I digress. My heart was pounding as Rey got up to that glass wall and the shadows were walking toward her. When it turned out to just be a mirror or whatever, I was pretty let down. Oh well.
- Luke Skywalker is way more likable than Mark Hamill in real life. I've almost had to unfollow the guy on Twitter, between his unbounding hatred for Donald Trump and his non-stop fake Star Wars spoilers, he has gotten on my nerves lately. I was happy to see him as Luke again for two and a half hours and forget about all that real life nonsense.
- Isn't it crazy to realize that Han, Luke and Leia are all gone now?
- I still like Kylo Ren's character. He's a whiny little baby and I was forced to cross "See Kylo Ren Shirtless" off the list of "Things I Never Want To See In My Life," but I'm hopeful that he will stay true to the Dark Side at this point. Also, I still love his temper tantrums, and the exchange between Luke and Kylo - "I'm sorry!" "I'm sure you are!" - was my favorite bit of dialogue. They've tried to get him to turn and he's not budging, so I'm hoping that, instead of doing the "Disney Thing" and having him redeem himself in Episode IX, he will just stay evil and die a straight-up death, like a baller. Hang in there, Kylo! You can do it, bro!
Conclusion
Overall, I liked the movie. I think it would probably crack my Top 3 or 4, in terms of all-time ranking in the franchise. Certainly better than II (the worst!), I (although I loved Darth Maul and podracing), III (despite my enjoyment of the connecting moments between trilogies) and "Rogue One" (which was fine, but altogether unnecessary). I guess I'm an idiot because I've never really liked "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" was my favorite movie for like five years as a kid. Apparently that's an unpopular opinion. I do think that Episode VII is probably my favorite. This is not to say that "The Last Jedi" was bad - because it wasn't. It was good, it was fun, and the knee-jerk reactions on social media gave me a lot to make fun of.
What did you think of the movie? It's not safe to discuss this out on Facebook yet, but you can definitely leave a comment below or shoot me a message to talk to me about it. I'd love to hear what you have to say.
Until next time, don't be a jerk and post spoilers where unsuspecting victims might come across them... and may the Force be with you. Always.
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