Morning Joe seemed to have liked it
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The problem with serialized storytelling is over arching plot lines that need to interact with the individual stories, and getting everything to flow together.
For sure not all of the animated story lines are winners. But I’d say many of them were good, there are many examples that took risks and explored some more “out there” story lines. But they still managed to keep it all cut from the same cloth, IMO.
So I agree with your criticism for the most part, but I think it is those failures that help make one a good choice for new movies.
Though I thus far disagree with your assessment of the Mandalorian. But then again I am perfectly fine with storyline tropes that are done well. (e.g. a heist story). We may know what beats to expect overall, but its fun to watch.
I sincerely hope this is another case of critical panning, but the fans actually love.
Hey, at least we get to see Lando being cool 
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I think what they’ve ended is the “Skywalker Saga” (the three trilogies, with RoS being the 3rd film in the SW Skywalker sequels.) I doubt this has killed off the franchise. Disney will milk the SW puppy with SW ‘universe’ films and TV for all it’s worth for as long as they can. Example: More anthology films such as Rogue One (which I thought was much, much better than any one of the three prequels.)
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Rogue One was great. Far better than anything else that’s come out in the past couple decades.
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Yep, last I checked the franchise has still been moving approximately eleventy-billion tons worth of branded merchandise each year. Even in the 16 years between Jedi and Phantom Menace the franchise was a pretty reliable cash cow.
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It was appropriately dark, and still very engaging even though you know what’ll happen to our heroes. I think they nailed it. RO gives me some hope for SW universe spin-offs and such. Here’s to hoping that Disney considers the adults (and viewers’ intelligence) in all this.
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Yeah the worst part of that movie is knowing there could never be a much deserved original sequel and instead we’d have more of the crap they keep serving up.
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It was tough losing some really great RO characters.
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initiates standing ovation
Tbis is precisely why one should not read reviews from sources you have not personally followed in the past and trust the conclusions they draw before seeing a movie.
Such things are subjective. Find a reviewer who’s reviews you mostly agree with and use them as your barometer. Otherwise you are doing yourself a disservice by biasing yourself in advance IMHO.
Because, as you mention, reviews of something like this will be all over the place.
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My local paper gave it 4/5 stars FWIW.
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Man, I really wished this had been good.
After the last few movies (Rogue being the exception, I think), maybe they could accept that making movies isn’t really their forte at this point and they should stick to serialized shows and theme parks? I’d definitely trade Solo, TLJ and ROS for three more series as good as the Mandalorian, wouldn’t most folks?
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You kidding? That was what made it good. That sense of urgency, of “this is it,” gave it the importance and gravitas. Compare that to the TLJ, where we have a bunch of characters who we don’t care about, trudging along on meandering journeys, with toothless villains we already know won’t win.
Anyway, be careful what you wish for, I can definitely imagine Disney making Rogue One prequels directed by JJ Abrams in the near future…
To be fair we won’t know if they thought through a decent story arc for the Mandalorian either until we see how the rest of the season plays out. It’s not like J.J. Abrams’ storytelling problems were abundantly clear by the sixth episode of Lost.
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So true.
(BTW: I’ve pledged to never again watch any film based on the opinion of anyone in the film industry… especially directors who – I believe – want to appear cool and enlightened by ofttimes giving obligatory lip service to certain films.)
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Fair point, maybe Mandalorian will shit the bed eventually, BUT in the meantime it’s doing so many things that seem so obvious for telling a good story set in this universe. I get it’s tough to tread a line between note for note fan service of the kind in TFA and deliberate contrarian destruction of a narrative in TLJ, but stuff like the Mandalorian makes me think it’s not quite as impossible as the movies make it seem.
ETA: it should go without saying, but to anyone who loves the recent movies: good! I’m glad you like them! Everyone should enjoy what they enjoy, and not require other people to share liking or disliking any particular form of entertainment!
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More like tell Kathleen Kennedy that.
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