Unhappily Ever After …
I try not to watch shit. I’ll switch off. There are plenty of alternatives. But if it’s something I have an emotional connection to, then I persevere. I know I shouldn’t. But it’s become analogous to self-mutilation. I know it’s wrong, I know it’s bad for me, but I want to – need to – feel some new pain to validate the experience. Watching Star Trek: Picard (2020 – ), I can only think, What unholy shit is this? How can you get everything so wrong? How can you be so oblivious? But why am I surprised? The Disney Star Wars Trilogy is bad. The DC incarnations of Batman and…
Respecting Property
Two of my favourite recent movies placed in long-running franchises are Logan (2017) and Joker (2019). Logan tells the story of an older Wolverine, now struggling with health, and trying to take care of Professor Xavier, who’s suffering from dementia. Joker is a possible origin story for arguably the most recognisable comic-book villain there is. Both stories sit in well-defined, well-populated franchises. Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine has appeared in six X-Men movies, cameoed in one other, and appeared in three Wolverine-only movies. Although X-Men has been (softly) rebooted, the universe largely remains the same: same characters (just with younger actors), same feel, and the same type of adventures. Writer/director James Mangold…