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Culture Dump: What Actually Makes A Film Good?

1/8/2018

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Cinema-wise, 2017 ended with a rift more divisive than a light-sabre swipe. Rian Johnson’s eagerly anticipated trilogy sandwich filler The Last Jedi hit screens and immediately split the opinions of seasoned Jedis and fledgling Padawans alike. Some (including Disney) thought it was exactly the breath of fresh air that the series needed, a gasp-inducing continuation that refused to let you get comfortable from the get-go, either via character twists or Porg humour. Others meanwhile felt that Johnson’s episode played a little too fast and loose with the universe, characters and Star Wars story tone that they hold so dear. For the first time ever, there was a clear love-it-or-hate-it vibe about the Skywalker saga. Talk about a disturbance in the force.

It raised an interesting point though: What is it exactly that makes a film any good? Can a film be purely good or purely bad or is the worth of each cinematic outing based purely on personal taste alone? December was an interesting time to talk about good and bad movies too, notably due to the release of James Franco’s The Disaster Artist.  Debuting just a week or so before The Last Jedi, Franco’s film revealed the story behind The Room, Tommy Wiseau’s infamously terrible movie that’s since gone on to become a sleeper cult-hit with movie fans. With Franco likely to win big during award season (scratch that - already winning big) thanks to a pitch-perfect performance of a character once deemed too terrible to succeed, it blurs the lines even further on what constitutes good art in the eyes of viewers.

With movies like Star Wars, the task of earning the accolade of ‘good movie’ is an even trickier task. Fans have had years to paint their own personal futures for their favourite characters and dream up bespoke swan songs and additional adventures that no Disney-released canon storyline can ever hope to compete with. For every person who admired The Last Jedi’s unexpected new direction, there was someone disappointed that their latest trip to a galaxy far, far away left them a little short of satisfied. Try as you might, you just can’t please everyone - not even if you’re a money spewing powerhouse like Disney.

And yet it gets more nuanced still. Perhaps a film’s worth depends less on the quality of its story and performances and more on the the personal impact it has on viewers when it lands on their radars. As time has told, box office returns - despite often feeling like the be-all-end-all signifier of a film’s overall worth - mean little-to-nothing in the bigger picture of a movie’s lifespan. There’s a reason why Best Picture winners are often hard to recall but no one has any trouble fondly remembering the movies they grew up with, no matter how shoddy or bizarrely constructed they are. Rarely are the latter included amongst the former yet its these movies that shape our tastes, fill our DVD shelves and adorn our walls. What makes a movie any good? Whatever you bring to it.

What do you think separates a good film from a bad film? Let me know in the comment section below!
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Culture Dump: WE'll Never See The End of The Star Wars Franchise

11/12/2017

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It’s official. No one alive today will ever live to see the Star Wars franchise ride off into the golden Bespin sunset. Seriously. All this drama with the Skywalker family may very well wrap up once JJ Abrams releases Episode IX onto audiences but today’s die-hard Star Wars fans will likely never get to see their beloved franchise come to a natural and official conclusion. News came this week that Disney and Lucasfilm are so happy with Director Rian Johnson’s middle-trilogy-movie The Last Jedi that they’ve offered him his very own galaxy to play by spearheading his own separate bespoke trilogy. Impressive - but does that also mean we’re destined to see the chronic watering down of a series we all seem to hold so dear? 

The transition has already begun. Beyond the realms of the canon Skywalker arc we’ve also seen ‘Star Wars Stories’ within the same universe with Rogue One and next year we’ll have a young Han Solo to deal with while we wait for the conclusion of the trilogy kicked off by The Force Awakens. Then there’s 2020’s as-yet-untitled anthology film (cough cough… Boba Fett) that slipped through the grasp of Director Josh Trank, a rumoured Obi Wan Kenobi stand-alone feature and even a Jabba The Hutt spin-off being considered by the powers that be. Throw Johnson’s brand new trilogy into the mix and our visits to a galaxy far, far away are going to rapidly increase over the next couple of decades.

That’s a long time time to hope to hold onto people’s attention, especially when the original heroes that got us hooked in the first place are thin on the ground. At this rate, the only hope for the future of the franchise could be to adopt a revolving-door cast approach, similar to the one used in AMC’s sometimes-good-sometimes-bad zombie show The Walking Dead. You know the score - it’s where you suddenly find yourself caring about background players who then conveniently step up to the plate whenever a main star takes a bow, carrying the show forward in the process, with you along for the ride. This focus-shift technique has helped keep audience attention even on a show where heroes become food quicker than you can swing a bat.

Odds are, we’ll start to see new faces slowly becoming main features as the likes of Luke, Vader and Obi Wan drift off into the distance. If we truly are going to be spending the better part of our collective future in a brand new galaxy populated with any number of brand new faces, we better get use to this type of narrative tool taking place. Or not - it probably doesn't matter much. While all the intergalactic credits continue to roll in the series will power on regardless and with so many ideas in the pipeline, you’ll likely never see the final end credits roll anyway. Like the force itself, Star Wars has officially become omnipresent.
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Are you looking forward to living with Star Wars for the rest of your life? Let me know in the comments below!

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Culture Dump: Is Disney trying to Direct its Star Wars Directors?

9/9/2017

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Feel that? There’s been a disturbance in the force… Earlier this week Director Colin Trevorrow parted ways with 2019’s Star Wars: Episode XI just months before the debut of Rian Johnson’s eagerly anticipated The Force Awakens follow up, The Last Jedi. According to Disney’s official statement, ‘differing visions’ were to blame for the apparent ‘mutual’ parting, however exactly what the nitty-gritty details were that caused the Director and studio to butt-heads remain a mystery… for now at least.

One thing we do know? Trevorrow’s departure marks the third time Disney and Lucasfilm have ditched a director whilst they’ve been deep in production. Fantastic Four’s Josh Trank was the first to go. The studio giant announced his departure from a (still) mysteriously unnamed Star Wars spin-off shortly after he dropped out of a Star Wars Celebration panel at the eleventh hour, despite clocking up a year of prep work. Then earlier this year, Jump Street duo Chris Lord and Phil Miller were shown the blast doors while more than half-way through shooting their young Han Solo movie, with Ron Howard quickly installed to take their place. Clearly, these weren’t the directors the studio were looking for.

It makes you think: Do Disney and Lucasfilm really want these young filmmaking rebels to shape their coveted Star Wars universe or would they rather call the shots themselves? Recruiting talent with distinct styles has been the secret weapon of that other Disney powerhouse, the Marvel Universe. How else could they have escaped the repetitive strain of countless origin stories and stepping-stone sequels? Whether it’s Kenneth Branagh bringing a little thespian class to Thor or James Gunn setting a killer pulse to a relatively unknown property in Guardians of the Galaxy, a varying tone has been crucial in keeping audiences glued to their seats.  

Star Wars is a different kettle of Nerfherders though. It’s a franchise so successful that most of us are unlikely to ever see the end of it. It’s also one that holds so much power and importance with fans, that those in control of its future are clearly quite cagey about steering it into new and uncharted territory. Getting a bad feeling about this situation? That’s because this trend of firing directors who get a little too familiar with the stories Disney have in mind and the universe Lucasfilm has spent decades fleshing out could very well lead to a decline in quality for the many Star Wars sequels and spin-offs currently in development. Especially considering the bad-blood stories that have surfaced months after each creative has been let go. Why would any emerging talent want to gamble their future career on such a high-risk investment?

It’s understandable though, to a degree. Nostalgia is undoubtedly a big part of Star Wars lore and while stepping too far off the beaten track would certainly be a misstep, Disney and Lucasfilm may have to loosen their force choke-hold on the directors they hire if they want to succeed with their ambitious multi-film plans. It could be their only hope.

This blog is now on Nerdly.co.uk. Take a look here!

Who do you think should take over Star Wars Episode IX? Let me know in the comments below!
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    Author: Simon Bland
    t: @SiTweetsToo

    Simon is a freelance entertainment journalist and this is his blog.

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