Sure, he pulls his hammer and the woman looks slight bemused. I pull the hammer and I get put on the sex offender list.

I feel like Iron Man 3 was the last time MCU tried anything ballsy and after that reaction to it, they pretty much just defaulted to giving the masses exactly what they wanted.

In a way, Winter Solider, GotG, Civil War, Infinity War, and Black Panther are all far less subversive films than Iron Man 3 was.

Love Iron Man 3. Arguably the first instance of proper directorial flair coming through the MCU and I thought the Mandarin stuff was quite clever. I can see why it’s divisive, but personally it’s one of my favourite entries.

This movie got a lot a crap from the Mandarin twist, but people forget Mandarin always kinda sucked as a character.  He had about one good story (Extremis).

My son was six when this came out and had seen some of the other movies at home, but got a little freaked out by some of the scarier scenes, so I didn’t take him to this one either. I saw it, drove home, told him and my wife to get dressed, and drove right back to the theater with them. I watched him instead of the…

Honestly, my favorite has been the Lego Star Wars video games. Something about the minifigs mumbling their way through classic scenes (the “these are not the droids” scene is Obi-wan “uh uh UHHH” like a parent scolding a toddler) as well as the ongoing carnage....

For me, it’s playing the first Lego Star Wars video game. Before the games got mundane, it was a great way to feel like you’re re-enacting the movies with Lego.

I know what I am about to say is a little controversial, but I’ve always thought Toriyama’s style was overrated and in the case of Dragon Ball and older Dragon Quest games was the reason I was put off of them. I loved DQXI but if it wasn’t for the excellent execution of the 3D artists converting his style to current…

Even longer... ;)

On the other hand, Snoke pretty much had as much development as the Emperor had in RotJ. (I mean, at least we knew Snoke’s name! Outside sources told us the Emperor’s name was Palpatine, but that name wasn’t used in any movie released before Phantom Menace.)

but I would not have injected a dose of controversy into one of the world’s biggest pop culture

It also makes sense “the Force” doesn’t belong to the Jedi or Sith. It’s just a thing. Some people are more naturally gifted in it than others and beyond that some can surpass that natural deficit with training.

I would pay all the monies to see Knights of the old republic as a trilogy.

Luke’s failure was almost required and that’s one reason I put the root cause at JJ’s feet.  It’s what you get when you have to basically revisit a story that was “done”.  You almost had to entirely unravel RotJ to get to TFA.

Radical departure from the canon,

I think it’s very funny that Disney’s other other other major property, Marvel, has consistently gotten it right.  Because they had a vision from the start.  Lucasfilm, are you listening? Talk to Kevin Feige!

I totally agree with your point that JJ is to blame for everything people dislike about TLJ.  The fact other people don’t see it is one of my biggest pet peeves. Take Luke for example. JJ Abrams is the one that decided to put Luke in exile. Johnson was tasked with making a movie that explains why. What people haven’t…

empty mystery boxes is kinda JJs thing

Yeah, Rey not being the descendant of anyone important was my single favorite part of the movie.

If JJ undoes “the Force belongs to everyone” by bait-and-switching Rey’s parentage, I’m gonna be pissed. For all of TLJ’s flaws, having Rey be born of nobodies to rise up against the Skywalker was a brilliant move. Having some stupid “Kylo was lying! You’re Super Special!” would suck hard.