I think Ghostbusters *could* have become a real franchise if they’d cranked out more sequels in the late 80s and early 90s. Like Jurassic Park and Jaws, this one has a structural problem in that it’s only possible to remake the original with minor variations on the formula — there’s a super-ghost from another…

I think the character motivations in this movie will be clearer with repeat viewings, after we know where everything is going. There’s just so much to take in, and I was coming in relatively cold, having only seen the Lynch movie (which ends very differently). I was having a hard time getting a read on Paul’s…

I haven’t read the books and my only frame of reference is the 1984 Lynch version.

Gerwig described Barbieland, as it’s presented in the first act, as a “dystopia.” It’s supposed to be sheer hell. That’s what the movie is about. Herzog understood the movie’s themes and had a visceral reaction — the first act takes place almost entirely within Barbieland, which is an apartheid state where all men are…

The snark seems misplaced here. WBD is focusing on two types of movies — prestige pictures that win awards, and low risk franchise pictures that are very likely to make lots of money.

The streaming business model is a total failure. Instead of a flat monthly subscription fee, the streamers should bill per minute watched and add it all up at the end of the month. They’d be able to tell exactly which content is driving revenue, and make more of it, and make less of the stuff nobody’s watching. The…

I saw the All Starr Band in 1989 with Joe Walsh and Billy Preston! Sadly the only time I got to see a real Beatle perform, because I didn’t shell out for a scalper last time Paul McCartney was in town and now I’ll probably never get the chance. I also saw Pete Best once, which I think counts?

Ringo has the most interesting story because, at the time he joined the band, he was an experienced professional musician who had already seen success playing with other bands who have since been lost to time, and he was kind of slumming it by even playing with these amateur kids from the neighborhood. And of course…

Agreed. Vaughn is fine but not quite as good as Bob Einstein. Although I really liked the choice not to kill off Marty just because the actor died. He just went off to China and never came back.

The unusual thing about these later seasons is that the series has now gone on so long (while producing relatively few episodes) that we’re seeing the passage of time in a way never depicted on a live action sitcom. The Simpsons has been on forever, but those characters don’t age. On Curb, all of these characters have…

I’d assume Bowen Yang has to be getting pretty tired of everyone turning his way and being like “is Bowen Yang okay with this problematic guest?” except he seems to publicly cultivate that kind of speculation.

If Janet didn’t know the boob was coming out, why was she wearing a layer underneath the costume specifically designed to partially obscure the boob? Her own costume designer supposedly ran around telling people to watch for a surprise at the end of the performance in the week leading up to the Super Bowl.

I still don’t get why people think Justin Timberlake should retroactively become the villain for the Super Bowl performance, which was obviously choreographed well ahead of time by two adult performers who knew exactly what they were doing. Janet knew the boob was coming out, she wanted the boob to come out, and…

Obama’s election sure seemed like a final victory for reason at the time.

I agree with much of this assessment, but I also don’t think satire is ever really meant to persuade or challenge the viewer. That’s a noble goal, but satire is basically always just preaching to the converted while annoying and angering the unconverted.

So yes, the 1A/1B thing is the big structural issue, and it’s likely that Martin never figured out how to reconcile the two in a satisfying way.

I think if Filoni had his druthers from the start, the sequel movies would have taken place more like 10-15 years after ROTJ, so that all his characters from Clone Wars and Rebels would still be alive and reasonably young. And then they would be both integrated into the new movies, and available for their own spin-off…

Yeah, I would agree that as bad as the sequels were in execution, from a story standpoint they set the table well for additional stories in the Star Wars universe.

The whole time period is kind of inconsequential because the sequels already established that the New Republic makes it less than 40 years before it’s wiped out — but also, any Imperial remnant threat must have failed during that time period. And also also, the First Order only succeeds for about six months before it…

Yeah I guess that’s a scenario where it’s a huge coincidence that Tanya was staying at one White Lotus location at the same time as Armond’s death, and then she’s staying at another White Lotus location when she dies — but the general public might not connect the dots because her death occurred at sea.