I’ll also point out that The Lego Movie 2 has a pretty good take down of the “action hero" view of what becoming a man means, and of the idea that stuff aimed at young girls (like sparkling vampire) are inherently sinister. The theme isn’t executed as well as it could have,but it’s still very interesting. 

To be fair, I will be very surprised if the ultimate message of the movie is not an affirmation that Barbie is not so bad after all, that there is a lot of good in her as a symbol. Mattel had to sign off on this, after all, and I doubt they would have done so of the movie was 100% “Barbie sucks!”.

While I get yout larger point, and you are right, I don’t think there is any way they could have made a Barbie movie that is not a deconstruction or satirical in some ways. The Barbie brand is just way too politically loaded for that. When people hear “Barbie,” they don’t just picture a toy like they do with, say, Lego…

So, I’m usually 100% behind any kind of bending casting that increase diversity... but I think James Bond is one of the only characters who needs to be a man. Mostly because the Bond franchise has become an extended cultural showcase for the evolving definition of masculinity, to the point that “James Bond” and “what…

American PG-13 means “perfectly suitable for everyone but very young kids, we just don’t want to scare the teens away or anger the puritans much.” Every MCU movie is PG-13, amd these movies are clearly made to appeal to kids. 

I meant audience reception, not reaction, sorry. As in, audience reception theory, an actual field of study and a big part of how stotytelling works.

Ah man, now I really want another Tintin movie.

Yeah, that’s what I heard too. And ehile I was never a big fan of Hellboy II (spectral German excepted), I still think that style would have worked for the Hobbit.

“Then, he tried it again with prequel The Hobbit, and while those films didn’t reach the heights of the first three, there’s no one else you would’ve wanted to see at the helm.”

“You cant put a label on after the fact, it has to originate from a source material.”

“We only have to look at other works, namely hundreds if not thousands of interpretations of Shakespeare to see examples of this.”

We’ve discussed this multiple times before, but I did sone thinking since last time, I think you’re missing a part of the puzzle. While I do agree that fictional characters are extremely flexible, I think you err in assuming there is no limit to their flexibility. Because clearly there is a limit, otherwise being a “Su…

“Hardcore fans” are a tiny minority of people who love and watch Star Wars.

Two of them actually are surgeons! One is a pedocardiologist and the other an ENT.

Anecdotal evidence, but I absolutely was a lot less interested in Solo because I was still exhausted by the TLJ discourse. If it had released in November that year, it wouldn't have been a problem. But in June, I was still absolutely fed up discussing The Last Jedi. Especially since I'm in the camp that loved half of…

Lol. She did nothing of the sort. Even if you don’t like any of the new stuff, the old stuff is still there for you to enjoy. So go read/watch that.

Nope, they care about people’s opinion on the movies, as expressed in dollars spent. The vast majority of audience members have never heard of Kathleen Kennedy, and couldn’t care less who she is. Heck, the vast majority of hardcore Star Wars fan had never heard of Kathleen Kennedy, despite her being #2 at Lucasfilm…

This girl is from California though. At least that's where she studies, according to how she introduces herself. 

Yet I know a bunch of female doctors who have kids. More than one in most cases. And they make it work pretty well.

Your daily reminder that Kathleen Kennedy has been in tjis business for decades and neither knows who you are nor care about your uninformed opinion.