Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (J.J. Abrams, December 20, 2019) Movie • Page 278

I'm just happy there is money to be thrown around with the extended universe. The success and overall tone of The Mandalorian have me excited for creative minds coming together with original ideas. My only hope is that future shows are more inclusive in showrunners and directors. Seeing Howard directing an episode was incredibly refreshing.

 

So i’ve been downsizing a bit at my apartment and in the spirit of the holidays thought it’d be fun to play a little game here. I have all three soundtracks for A New Hope, Empire, and Return of the Jedi on vinyl. If you can guess what the first Star Wars action figure was that I owned as a kid i’ll send you all 3 vinyls for free. As a hint, it was 1997.

 

Sebulba

give me my vinylz

Sebulba always wins.

 

getting a darth maul action figure back in those days was like getting a holographic pokemon card

 

Wait.. the directors for The Mandalorian were a white male (2), a black male (2), an Asian female (2), a white female (1), and a Maori male (1)?

 

I guess I meant more as show runners and film directors. I don't know how likely it will be that we get a woman in the directors chair for a film at all. I have a feeling they are going to cut back on film output for the time being. The fatigue feels real.

 

Oh, then I totally agree with you. Always seems to be white men in the drivers seat.

 

Jumping off the casting thing earlier, I think the journey towards a more diverse film business can be expedited if folks reconsider the emphasis placed on the director. The director is just another person working on the set. There are exceptions, but they are not auteurs. Actors, writers and directors are absurdly overpaid compared to the rest of the crew, who are equally integral.

And maybe it's not a coincidence that directors tend to be white men and the culture tells us the director is the genius.

 

Also, maybe the guy who wrote Batman v Superman shouldn’t have been allowed anywhere near SW...

 

It's a co-written script with JJ, so if we're gonna blame Chris, JJ needs to take it too. (And I still think he's a good screenwriter.)

 

The director is not “just another person working on the set”. That is a ridiculous thing to say.

 

there are plenty of genius directors who are not white and not men. Sure there's critique to be had of auteur theory but in general the structure/studios need to give more opportunities to directors who are not white and not men.

 

and yes the pay scale of mainstream Hollywood productions is absurd but that doesn't take away from the truth that directors are artists. Artists in a collaborative medium, but good ones are visionaries.

 

Let Bong Joon-ho do a Star Wars you cowards.

 

the Jedi robes would be a good fit for him

 

Deborah Chow is directing & executive producing the Obi-Wan series, so that’s cool.

Definitely rolled my eyes at them making a big deal out of this film’s second unit director being the first woman to direct a Star Wars film, lol.

Oh my gosh yes.

 

This review made me more optimistic. Definitely still expecting to like this, and I agree with you that there’s no way it’s worse than the prequels.

 

I'm so fucking excited for the Doctor Aphra series. 100% the best thing to come out of the Star Wars comics.

 

I don't mean to minimize the hard work directors do, but out in the wild it seems directors enjoy a lot of credit for the contributions of others.

Main takeaway, I think it's culturally beneficial to focus less on directors and amplify an appreciation for the incredible creative talents in casting, set dec, costumes, art dept, editing, post, fuckin crafty etc. If folks spread the love, pay inequity will even out, the unlogic preventing more diversity will dissipate and everyone goes home happy.

Allison Jones should be a household name!

 

If this movie is bad as the critics are saying I think the only people who should really be held accountable are JJ and Kathleen Kennedy.

 

Totally agree.

With Star Wars, I honestly do think Georgey boy is a visionary whose ideas engage me endlessly, but other things have also kept me glued for 25 years like the music, the costumes, the sets, the matte paintings, the photography, the editing, the models etc

 

Respectfully disagree.

Kathleen, while impatient and maybe a bit strict on company vision, has kept that vision in line with the look and feel of Star Wars. With everyone losing their mind over how good The Mandalorian is, people need to remember that she is the boss of the people writing and creating it. I think she's been great to Star Wars fans and the franchise as a whole.

J.J has done nothing but be a loving fan of this franchise, and it shows in TFA and this. As I said above, he was never gonna win, and he knows that. Hard to knock it out of the park when half the park has already left saying his movie sucks without seeing it themselves.

 

nah cuz then we don’t get Knives Out lol

 

Another thing that really worries me about this movie (and I've seen it), is that J.J. is a wonderful director, who I'm sure will go on and do great things.

The problem is, he may receive tons of hatred for this in the same way Johnson did, and people will always associate him with the "failure" of Star Wars and how it ruined their childhood, again. Ugh.

Btw this movie isn't a failure. Far from it.