Spike is Best

"Rogue One Is Still the Best Star Wars Movie of the Disney Era" --Caitlin Chappell

And that ain't saying much. LOL

It's funny, you know. I watched Rogue One, and right after it I watched Revenge of the Sith, which I had seen a couple times before, way back when. And oh my goodness, it was night and day.

I remember when I saw Revenge of the Sith in the theater, and in the first five minutes I was like, "Alright, here we go! Lucas finally has his shit together!" And that held throughout the entirety of the movie.

On the latest viewing I found myself especially appreciative of this exchange of dialogue:

Anakin Skywalker: "If you're not with me, then you're my enemy."

Obi-wan Kenobi: "Only a Sith deals in absolutes."

I had forgotten Anakin's remark that prompts Obi-wan's: "If you're not with me, then you're my enemy." This is the stance of the sectarian absolutist. He no longer submits to absolutes but has become a dealer in them. Which is the highest form of relativism.

Contrasted with Rogue One, some positive things were apparent to me about Revenge of the Sith that make it good:

-Not using music in every single fricking scene. Unlike Rogue One, which constantly employed swelling music to make up for its utterly grey porridge lack of rhythm in storytelling.

-Not using flashbacks, which nine times out of ten are leaden and labourious and add absolutely nothing to either story or character. Unlike Rogue One which is basically opened up with a flashback. Weighed down from the get go. All of this stuff is better left to be developed in the mind of the viewer as the film progresses and unfolds.

-Characters speaking in their own natural tone (relatively). Unlike Rogue One, with its characters speaking in the now ubiquitous severe gravel undertone while straining and sombering their emotions in every single fricking scene instead of actually acting.

The Mandalorian is enjoyable, but it's kind of basic.

The premise and bulk of the Star Wars universe, both in general and in specifics, owes its existence to Jack Kirby - a short, cigar-smoking, street-scrapping, Brooklyn Boy who produced his prodigious output in the basement of his middle-class house on a kid's drafting table while sitting in an uncomfortable wooden kitchen chair.

You know, that reminds me of something. Oh what is it now...something about how some other major studio owes the bulk of its existence to an unsung artist/writer while attributing it to someone else who was only responsible for a tiny fraction of it...oh come on, it's on the tip of my brain...oh yes, that's it -- Marvel Studios! Which owes its existence to...oh, who was it now? Oh yeah, that's right, Jack Kirby!

LOL

"Do me a favour will ya and stop watching Star Wars!" --Sir Obi-Wan Kenobi