Sunday 17 December 2017

#345 Spoiler alert

Sunday. 4pm. Starbucks. I had a niggling feeling that I hadn't been productive enough during the week. Which meant I was trying to catch-up. Which meant I felt like I wasn't having a restful Sunday. Which meant I probably wouldn't feel like doing as much on Monday. Which meant I'd probably have a niggling feeling next weekend that I hadn't been productive enough...

Yesterday had been spent in a fairly leisurely manner though. I'd been determined to see Star Wars at the Surrey Quays Odeon. Then I'd been determined to go for a run. Then I'd been determined to cook. The only time I'd spent suboptimally had been the hour walking to Bermondsey and back, having realised that trying to catch a train home from there on a match day probably wasn't the brightest idea.

If you haven't seen it yet and don't want to find out what happens, you might not want to read this.

The eighth film in the "second highest-grossing media franchise of all time" (Wikipedia) was a peculiar two and a half hours. It probably could have ended after two, which gave it a disjointed feel. I'm still trying to work out how I feel about the film as a whole but will provide three thoughts.

1) Vegetarianism. Ok, so I can kind of understand that sometimes the politics and culture of the world we live in seeps into the movies. However, in the case of a story line set a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I consider the need for animal rights activists to be non-existent. In case viewers hadn't noticed, this is an environment where several of the main characters seem content to walk around cutting people's limbs off with lightsabers. Why does it matter what they eat while doing so?

2) No lightsaber battle for Luke. How can this be anything but a disappointment? Lightsabers are one of the coolest objects in the galaxy and without showcasing his mad skills all over the place, Luke's role had a distinct feeling of impotence to it. Yes, this is was partly because he had shut himself off from the Force for a long time but he obviously knew his away around it, hence the ending.

3) BB8. No. Just... no. I have always hated that annoying football. BB8 was given far too much of a glorious role in the film. He is nothing more than a novelty and should have been relegated to the reject bin along with Jar Jar. There was even the perfect opportunity for this to happen, in the form of his encounter with his would-be nemesis, BB9 but no. The annoying football lives on to ruin another film.

In conclusion, there was plenty for me to complain about although that's not necessarily the whole picture. I sometimes find that rants come to mind far easier than praise and there were some very cool parts in the film too (the visuals when the bomber ships were exploding, for example... and there was another cool bit... I can't remember what it was...). I'd have to spend some more time thinking about the plot and how it contributed to the overall story to reach a final verdict. For now, I'd say it was entertaining enough to sit through, which is quite a compliment from me, as I hardly ever go to the cinema these days.

4 comments

Fizzfan said...

Blimey, you’ve been busy in my absense. All in a good way. Thumbs up.
I’m happy you’ve moved and your next task of job hunting is on. Let’s hope the new year will reep some well deserved rewards for you Dan.
You’re right I have been busy too.
Christmas time’s always a bit full on hectic socialising, shopping, wrapping and all sorts of whatever’s, and I haven’t even put the decorations up yet! Phhhreerrggghhh.
Cats also been very poorly and I’m gonna be bawling on Wednesday as have had to book a home visit for the vet to have her comply to an eternal long term snooze.
I know it’s the right thing as she’s been poorly for several months, but sad she couldn’t make it to Christmas. HoHum.

What are you doing this Christmas?

Fizzfan said...

PS I went to see the first Star Wars In 1970something I thin, and didn’t get the bug. Haven’t seen any since.

Still think your review was top notch though and probably much more accurate than the vast majority that have hit the headlines.

Profound Familiarity said...

It's good to hear from you and thanks for the support.

I'm really sorry to hear about that cat. I'm a cat person myself and it must be very sad indeed to say goodbye like that.

I wonder if it's unfair that cats get put out of their misery and people don't. It's like animal rights gone backward. Anyway, a discussion for another day.

I'll be at my sister's in Milton Keynes this year, which is cool as it's the first time she's hosting. She was going to last year but became ill and I stayed in London and had a McDonald's, which I actually quite enjoyed.

I can't remember if you said what you were up to for Christmas?

Glad you liked the Star Wars review, it was rather quickly written and I feel bad for basically ranting about one of my all-time favourite film franchises but that's what came out when I wrote it.

I've erm, I've lost Cath again. She did come back for about a week but I'm a sensitive little snowflake slash tyrant and I found some of her comments a bit unpalatable, so I deleted them, which I don't think she was particularly happy about.

Fizzfan said...

I don’t know anyone that doesn’t find the whole putting creatures out of their misery versus keeping us humans alive at any cost utterly ridiculous, but I’m sure we’ll change the laws one day in this country to catch up with Switzerland. I hope so, travelling is probably the last thing you want to do when you’re at deaths door, not to mention be in strange and clinical surroundings. Makes me mad!

Milton Keynes at your sisters sounds nice. Reminded me of my one and only visit there to see the late and great David Bowie at the Bowl.
If I’m honest he wasn’t as good as the supporting act Icehouse, but it was a bit of an adventure in my 20s.

I’ll be hosting Christmas Day as usual for my husbands parents. I’d love to just get up and go down the pub, but it’s become my duty and as I’ve said before I do cook a mean roast:)

Sorry that you and Cath have fallen out. I have great respect for you both and I’d hazard a guess she was only trying to be helpful.
Sometimes advice given with the best of intentions is the worst received.
I’m a great fan of Oscar Wilde and one of his sayings goes something like “The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself”.