I’ve been ruminating on #TheMandalorianAndGrogu for almost two days now. I watched it with a group of five friends, and I was literally the only one who had seen all three seasons of #TheMandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.
Grogu is a star. All they really knew going in was Baby Yoda, and by the end, every single one of them loved him. Mando himself felt like the badass bounty hunter from the first season again, and the IMAX theater was packed with kids, women rocking budget Leia cosplay, and some people wearing Mandalorian masks.
I liked the film. It was pretty good, and honestly, exactly what I expected: a fun Mandalorian and Grogu romp. What surprised me was how much my friends, people who hadn’t even watched the full series, absolutely LOVED it. I couldn’t shake the feeling that they were having even more fun than I was.
And I think that’s the point.
This isn’t a traditional Star Wars film. I love the deep dive analysis from people like @jowrotethis and @MalloryRubin on House of R, but this movie wasn’t made with them, or even people like me, primarily in mind. I genuinely think @swankmotron’s kid might’ve cracked the code:
This isn’t a Star Wars movie for jaded Star Wars fans. It’s not for people endlessly caught up in debates over what Star Wars is, was, or should be.
It is a Star Wars film. But more than anything, it’s an accessible, all ages father and son adventure. It’s not obsessed with lore discourse, fandom wars, or let alone box office arguments. It simply exists as a fun little romp. And maybe, just maybe…
This is the way.
I see mutuals angry at this film, and while I understand some of the criticism, getting mad at it almost feels like getting mad at a puppy. Whatever the Star Wars fandom, or fandom culture in general, has become, I don’t think that’s the way forward.
So here’s to the next generation.
@RMBee@lilmovieperp The children behind me (around 9-12 years old) were cheering and calling characters by name and even chanting “This is the way” in a few occasions so I guess this argument is a bit hollow or we are both right and wrong at the same time. 🤷🏻♂️
While some act like ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ is one of the worst Star Wars movie ever made, I just sat through an IMAX 3D screening where people of all ages laughed, cheered, and even clapped when the movie ended.
I dunno, I think everything might be fine.
Some thoughts on the discourse about #TheMandalorianandGrogu ….
If the word ‘fun’ is used to describe a movie on social media, this is often code for ‘decent’ or ‘this has some redeeming qualities, but overall isn’t that great.’ But THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU is truly and succinctly best described as fun. It checks virtually every box one could possibly think of for a Star Wars movie. There’s a cantina scene, space battles, tons of creatures and droids, stunning visual effects, and a score you’ll probably end up listening to for the rest of your life. Being ‘fun’ isn’t a bad thing nor is it a criticism. Not every Star Wars project needs to be Andor levels of sophisticated to be excellent.
The weakest part of this article is that it treats every objection to casting as bigotry before it deals with the actual question.
A serious reader can reject racist or cruel attacks on actors and still ask whether a modern adaptation is being faithful to the world it claims to inherit.
That question does not disappear because The Odyssey contains gods, monsters, ghosts, and mythic creatures. Myth is not a free for all. Homer’s world has ancestry, geography, lineage, beauty standards, family honor, sacred memory, and cultural identity built into it.
Calling Achilles and Helen fictional does not settle the question. Fictional characters can still carry centuries of meaning. Achilles is bound to Greek heroic culture and glory. Helen is bound to beauty, desire, war, and the memory of Troy. A serious adaptation can reinterpret them, but it has to show artistic judgment. They were fictional is an escape from the argument.
The whole point of adaptation is judgment. What do you preserve? What do you change? What do your changes reveal about the age making the film?
The article also plays a dishonest game with Troy. Yes, Troy changed Homer for the reasons mentioned in the article. That does not prove every new change is automatically wise.
One bad adaptation does not become a license for another. If anything, Troy proves the opposite. When filmmakers strip ancient stories of their religious, moral, and cultural structure, they make the myth smaller.
The Oscar argument is also too perfect. The Academy rules may not require diverse casting in every film, but Hollywood plainly rewards certain ideological signals. A film can meet those rules through crew, training programs, or studio leadership, but that does not erase the wider pressure on prestige filmmakers to make ancient stories fit modern representation politics.
The most revealing part is the tone. The article spends more energy mocking critics, Elon Musk, Kevin Sorbo, and Twitter trolls than explaining why these casting choices serve Homer’s story. That is usually a sign the argument is weak.
If the casting is artistically strong, defend it on artistic grounds. Show how it deepens the myth. Show how it clarifies Achilles, Helen, Odysseus, Ithaca, longing, glory, grief, and homecoming.
Ancient stories survive because people return to them with reverence and imagination.
That is the real issue. Modern Hollywood often treats inheritance as raw material for its own moral performance. Then, when people notice, it calls them backward for caring about the thing being inherited.
A new ‘ADVENTURES OF TINTIN’ movie is officially happening.
Peter Jackson is currently writing the script with plans to direct the film himself.
(Source: @Variety)
@TheFilmScorer Of course It is a direction but it sounds kind of a silly argument. It is very clear that orchestral/melodic score is far from Nolan’s sensibilities but there are much better ways to explain his approach to The Odyssey score specially coming from him.
I think I finally understand what is wrong with Nolan: his universe is adverse to myth. It is made entirely of causality, and causality alone.
He may be the most gifted filmmaker working in big-budget Hollywood today. But he is going to crash on myth the way sailors crashed on the rocks below the Sirens.
When I criticized the teaser, I was told: wait for the trailer. When I criticized the trailer, I was told: wait for the film. Then I read the two-hour interview Nolan gave to Time Magazine, and something clicked.
The tell is in a detail Nolan offers with obvious pride. He found a solution to what he saw as a narrative problem: why would the Trojans believe the horse was empty and drag it inside their city? His answer is to make the horse half-submerged, sinking into the sea, so the Trojans would rescue it rather than accept it as a gift.
It is a solution to a problem that never was one because it is a myth. The Trojans bring the horse inside because it is a gift and it has wheels. The poet tells you something plainly impossible with the same tone he uses to describe the sunrise, and in doing so he is signaling that the level of reality goes beyond mere causality and exists on other levels.
He is the kind of guy who would explain that Santa can fit through the chimney because he designed it wide enough from the start, using proper construction methods and reliable materials. And then explain how the reindeer are fed to sustain that much effort in a single night, and how Santa elaborated a clever logistics route to deliver all the gifts on time.
Watch him justify the armor despite its fantastical look, or explain the absence of orchestra because there was no orchestra in Ancient Greece. There were no IMAX cameras either, Christopher. A simple authorial act would have sufficed: because I like it better that way. That honesty might have opened a door out of causality.
This narrative prison is precisely why people eventually seek out avant-garde and experimental cinema, why they feel something release when causality finally breaks. Because causality is already the weight of our ordinary lives.
As long as Nolan stayed away from myth, his causal world of mirrors and clever tricks and puzzles worked beautifully, sometimes brilliantly. But this is something else. This is the gut of myth. This is the Dionysian spirit of mud and blood and the salt of the sea. This is the beautiful lie that makes you erupt with sacred joy.
RIP Gerry Conway 1952-2026
Co-creator of many fan favorite characters such as The Punisher, Jason Todd, Killer Croc, Power Girl & more.
Writer of the indisputable Spider-Man classics “The Night Gwen Stacy Died” & “The Green Goblin’s Last Stand”
You will be remembered 🫡
House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal claims the race swaps he made are in reaction to the world being "different" than when Lord of the Rings was made:
"The world is very different now than it was 10 years ago when Game of Thrones all started. It's different than 20 years ago when Peter Jackson made The Lord of the Rings. These types of stories need to be more inclusive than they traditionally have been. It was very important for Miguel [Sapochnik] and I to create a show that was not another bunch of white people on the screen, just to put it very bluntly."
What is different about the world now?
SORTEAZO 🚨🎮
Una PS5.
Una Nintendo Switch 2.
Una Xbox Series X.
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