Probably because ‘Deadwood’ was never about triumph, but rather about great struggle? Season 3 had a few problems, but I certainly wouldn’t name Hearst among them.

Hearst’s status as a gale force of monopolist capitalism, a ruthless industrialist who cannot be beat, strikes me as a reflection of the questions at the…

There’s no way to measure it, but I’d be curious to find out exactly what percentage of Star Wars fans truly hate ‘The Last Jedi.’ Those who do are certainly vocal about it, but are they as much of a minority as we might assume? Or is there something unique about Star Wars fandom that leaves its adherents in a…

I realize that the rights Amazon purchased limit the kinds of stories they can tell, but it really does seem unfortunate to me that the reasoning behind an Aragorn-centric Lord of the Rings show basically boils down to the fact that “people know him.” How phenomenally boring. Everything we really needed to learn…

“Origins” should be banned from use as a subtitle for all time. So should “Rise of the [whatever-the-fuck].”

This is my issue with it; I don’t care much for the pedantic discussion of which pronunciation is “correct.” I’m mostly bothered by the fact that it sounds like Jenny Slate’s character is saying the word for the first time. It comes across as... unnatural. It’s just a trailer, of course, but if I were in the theater,…

I’m certainly not, but perhaps that’s because I don’t need every scrap of backstory in order to engage with a character’s motivations. I maintain that, based solely on the story that TFA tells, it doesn’t matter who Rey’s parents are. Their absence IS conspicuous, but only insofar as it’s relevant to our understanding…

This seems like a really weird complaint to me. They’re not “obscured.” There’s no “convenience” in not showing them. It’s a function of what serves the story best. That flashback sequence you’re referencing is part of a larger montage during the vision Rey experiences upon touching Luke’s lightsaber. It’s a very,…

I’m not really sure how questions like “What girl?” and “Who are you?” suggest some kind of mystery. In fact, I don’t think I could muster up a single question that might be less mysterious than those you’ve provided if I tried. She’s a girl. Named Rey. From the back end of nowhere. There ya go. Mystery solved.

I’m certainly not among JJ Abrams’ biggest defenders, but I honestly didn’t even think of Rey’s parentage as a “mystery box” after first watching TFA. On a second viewing, it still didn’t even occur to me to think about who her parents might be, and the story itself doesn’t actually seem to point the audience in the…

I certainly would not disagree, as I am not a GoT fan myself. And I was deeply disappointed by the way The Hobbit was adapted, because it seemed to me a great opportunity to tell a plucky story of great sincerity rather than yet another foreboding grimdark tale of good thrashing against the tides of evil.

The film version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy was so operatic and grandiloquent that it has effectively immortalized its place in film history. Whatever one’s opinion of its quality, it was a true fantasy epic that created a popular film-going audience for the genre almost out of thin air. Without that trilogy, it…

I just turned 31 years old yesterday. I am technically a “millennial.” But most of the time, I don’t know what to make of my inclusion in that generational distinction.

The first film was wonderful, pulpy fun. This sequel just looks... bad. I don’t quite understand who decided it was a good idea to take a movie that was grounded by the likes of manliest-of-men Idris Elba (playing a character with the ridiculously-commanding name Stacker Pentacost) and turn it into…

It’d be nice to see Mark Hammill have a late-career (live action) renaissance. I understand that he’s maintained a healthy voice-over portfolio, but I’d love to see him pop up in non-voice-over, non-Star Wars-related fare, as close to that home as something like Guardians of the Galaxy may be.

I’m a literature professor with a Masters in Creative Writing, but thank you for trying with your snide dismissal of my analysis of the film. Luke Skywalker throwing a lightsaber over his shoulder does not constitute the lengths to which ‘The Last Jedi’ goes to subvert audience expectations. The notion that the Force…

Fair point, and well-stated. That colors my reading of the film a bit differently now, and I appreciate the insight.

Impressive rebuttal. I wish I had your gift for pith. You’ve contributed mightily to this discussion, and you deserve congratulations for the thorough manner in which you’ve skillfully deconstructed my thoughts on ‘The Last Jedi.’

Perhaps. That still doesn’t explain the need for a separate resistance, though. Hux makes it clear in TFA that the Republic is propping up the Resistance with the funding necessary to execute operations against the First Order. It’s... weird. Why isn’t the Republic taking care of its own? Why does Leia feel the need…

Snoke is so powerful... because he is. He looks disfigured... because that’s what the dark side does. I don’t know why any audience member would need further backstory to understand basic tenets of the Star Wars universe. There are powerful individuals gifted in the Force. Some gravitate to the light. Others to the…

Why must the entire galaxy be at stake in order for the chase to have meaning? The chase seems to me to be emblematic of an endless cycle of conflict between “good” and “evil” that the rest of the galaxy is happy to ignore. Han Solo is dismissive of the Force in ‘A New Hope,’ and he has every reason to be in that…