• Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    144
    ·
    10 months ago

    Bad writing for film and television really irks me because of how avoidable it is. I’m not talking about mediocre or lackluster writing, but the actual bad writing.

    TV shows and movies are tremendously expensive to make. Every part of it costs a fortune except for one: the writing. Even if a studio or production company was paying for a whole team of writers to work full time it’s still only a fraction of the cost of paying film crews, actors, editors, and VFX artists.

    Given the relatively lower expense, relative lack of time constraints, and enormous importance of the script to the overall quality of the product it absolutely boggles my mind that production companies consistently fuck up the writing process.

    • The Picard Maneuver@startrek.websiteOPM
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      55
      ·
      10 months ago

      It’s like reading a news article and seeing horribly constructed sentences and typos. Like, this is your main job! I know there are a lot of English majors out there who would love to find work.

      • Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        10 months ago

        At least for some of those there’s an excuse of needing to get the news out ASAP, but there’s no reason an in depth piece or an online article that’s been up for a few days should be butchered.

      • Meowoem@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        10 months ago

        Really though writing should be the least important part of a journalists job, digging through stories and finding the truth or understanding the complex strands of the story should be and that often involves going back and editing, restructuring, reediting, reworking and adding to it over and over again.

        It gets really hard to see your writing with fresh eyes once you’ve got it so perfectly constructed in your head, it’s super easy to miss awkward mistakes that have crept in - this is why editors were a thing but newspapers rarely bother anymore or the editor is too focused on political and social acceptable to notice grammar or word choice errors

    • MeatsOfRage@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      50
      ·
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      I’ve been building a list called “The Micro or Low Budget Sci-fi” https://letterboxd.com/mattcoady/list/the-micro-or-low-budget-sci-fi/

      Basically movies that cost almost nothing to make and use great writing to build up the world. Our minds are really good and fleshing out the rest as long as their given good writing as a foundation. Productions could save a lot of money with good writing. It blows my mind you could sink $200 million dollars into a project and not have an absolutely flawless script.

      • Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        17
        ·
        10 months ago

        Hey, thanks for sharing!

        It’s completely beyond me why scripts get rushed out the door before they’re at the very least solid. Sure, a production company might make their money just a little bit sooner but they run a massive risk of losing all of their money making a movie that completely bombs.

        It’s impossible for every script to be a masterwork, but holy crap it seems like an audience wanting a competent script is too much to ask. It’s not like there’s a shortage of aspiring writers that can take a crack at a script until it’s at least passable.

      • Odo@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        10 months ago

        Ever heard of Time Lapse from 2014? It involves a camera that takes pictures 24 hours into the future.

      • DreamButt@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        10 months ago

        Well maybe right. What draws a general audience? A flashy trailer of the sun exploding or someone talking about their family issues?

        • MeatsOfRage@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          10 months ago

          I never said they’re mutually exclusive. There’s tons of big budget explosion movies that have great scripts. Dark Knight, Casino Royale, Matrix, The Bourne movies, Heat. The best movies have legs and continue to sell for years after release, exploding sun only gets you a good opening weekend.

    • Donkter@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      19
      ·
      10 months ago

      It’s crazy cause if you hear writers in tv talk about it, they’ll get contracted like a month or two before they have to finish the first batch of scripts. Writing in Hollywood is as much about learning quick writing shortcuts/tropes to move the plot along to get the product out on time as it is being able to develop a plot.

      • Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        21
        ·
        10 months ago

        That’s what sticks in my craw. If I’m a studio exec who’s going to invest potentially hundreds of millions of dollars it’s beyond stupid to jeopardize that to get a payout a little faster.

        It just seems stupid to put a time crunch on the most important phase of your investment. I don’t see how taking a greater risk of a project being a flop is worth getting the script a few weeks sooner.

        • Meowoem@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          10 months ago

          I think a lot is because Hollywood became a Henry Ford production process, one part feeds into the next so they’d have empty studios and workers idle if the next idea isn’t ready to go.

          Also it literally doesn’t matter, this marvel film has literally the same plot and jokes as the last one? That’s ok we cooked up a drama where we pretend villainous gamers are against it to get people talking about it, we seeded stories into the media we own about it and forced our celebrities to pretend to love it…

          They can make the absolute worst shit and as long as they link it to something vaguely related to some culturally significant thing it’ll be huge, even more so if they can link it to a social divide or political division they have no intention of ever actually caring about.

          Childhood toy + social flag = money, it works for comic books ‘i had a the flash t-shirt when I was six I have to like these new films’, it worked with Barbie ‘this proconsumerism corporate tat which was heavily criticised by notable feminists has made a film attempting to shoehorn social progress back into a corporate friendly sales generating mush, they say the baddies don’t like it so I have to go see it!’, and it works with endless sequels ‘this franchise now makes zero sense, has the most painfully predictable plots, has gone so far off the rails jumping sharks that literally nothing makes sense and there are zero stakes to any of it which totally ruins everything that made the first one good…’ and you can’t even tell what I’m talking about with that because it’s everything (i was thinking john wick btw)

          Make something actually good and no one will care unless the media circus tells them to, that’s how you get s flop. Make something even slightly changing intellectually or from a certain point of view and instantly most your audience is gone or angry, but be like Barbie and put sparkle on social concepts 90% of the world has agreed on for decades while actively avoiding anything more contentious then you don’t need to worry about alienating the audience or going over their heads.

          And for some reason people just won’t stop watching it, they won’t watch indy stuff made with passion or small budget things no matter how good they are because they HAVE to see the big releases, like you’ll lose touch with society and be unable to make friends if you don’t force yourself to endure at least a dozen painfully dull industry movies a year.

    • SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      10 months ago

      My pet theory is that this is because of the assembly line way of thinking of studios. Script -> Casting -> Shooting -> VFX -> Editing -> Profit.

      It takes time to develop a good idea and script. If you force a writer to adhere to a strict schedule you’ll get a rush job and bad writing. As long as money keeps flowing in, their assembly line theory is validated.

    • affiliate@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      10 months ago

      i wouldn’t be surprised if a big part of it is that the higher ups don’t know much about what good writing actually is, or they’re too focused on ratings and they don’t dare deviate from “what works”. it also wouldn’t surprise me if writers weren’t allowed to make “major” changes to scripts after seeing how the writing looks after scenes have been recorded, because it might be “too expensive to change”.

    • Meowoem@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      10 months ago

      Because writing doesn’t really work like that, the reason we get bland writing is because they keep adding extra chefs.

      Thay get these professional writers that learned formula in school and apply it to sections of someone else’s work and wonder why the result is an ugly tapestry of formulaic rubbish.

      All the things people love are written by people with passion for the project, then they get a budget increase and professional industry writers get brought in and it’s all shitty generic snappy dialog and dramatic posing that feels uncomfortable and awkward in the scene.

    • SuddenDownpour@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      10 months ago

      Yeah but taking advantage of that would require executive ghouls to be capable of appreciating art or even be willing to read drafts.

    • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      10 months ago

      Maybe it’s studio meddling or director indecision? Lots of changes at the last minute make the writers fly by the seat of their pants?

      • Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        10 months ago

        I’m sure there’s plenty of those making a mess of things, but taking time in the writing process, getting input from relevant parties, and doing as much preparation as possible cuts out a myriad of problems.

        Studio got a product placement deal? Great, let’s integrate that into the story long before filming even begins so it feels natural.

        Director doesn’t know if he wants plot point A to happen or not? Good thing he heard about that while the movie was just a script instead of having him decide with dozens of people on set.

        I’m sure there are uncontrollable, unforeseeable problems that will come up in any production. There is no reason to exacerbate those by being willfully unprepared. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure but it seems like film studios reliably hamper the “prevention” part to shave a few weeks off on prep time and end up losing more time or huge piles of money because of it.

        • WanderingVentra@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          10 months ago

          That’s why the Lord of the Rings movies are so good. They had almost as much time in pre-production as they did during filming.

      • EdibleFriend@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        41
        ·
        10 months ago

        and that fucker got his lightening reversed on him AGAIN!

        Stop using that spell you stupid fuck it always gets turned on you.

        • ouRKaoS@lemmy.today
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          19
          ·
          10 months ago

          If I had a nickel for every time Palps got his lightning reversed…

          I could afford to hire better writers than what we got.

          • RGB3x3@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            9
            ·
            edit-2
            10 months ago

            3 10-cent commemorative coins would have gotten 3 fanboys who know Star Wars front to back to write a lore-loyal exciting adventure involving potentially new force powers, cool new characters, and a coherent plot.

            And yet, we got the drool dribbling out of the mouths of Disney executives at the thought of all the money they made.

            • ouRKaoS@lemmy.today
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              5
              ·
              10 months ago

              Star Wars is god-tier IP.

              You could shit in a bag, label it “Rancor poop” and make a million dollars with zero effort. Guess what happens when you actually put in effort to make things Good?

            • Meowoem@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              10 months ago

              It’s like how the fan star trek movies are better than most the recent trek stuff but everyone throws their money at the corporations and doesn’t even watch the fans ones when they’re free.

              People are to blame for media being as low grade as it is, every idiot that signs up to Disney channel and watches the most soulless drivel ever made is shaping our society to have more of the same

      • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        9
        ·
        10 months ago

        Palpatine = Fascism.

        Palpatine returned = Fascism returned.

        The word Fascism was coined be Mussolini because it was a reference to the Roman Empire. Fascism is often about restoring past Empires.

        Luke tried (and succeeded) to bring his father back from the dark side.

        Rey does not attempt to ring her grandfather back from the dark side. Why not? because he’s dead. You can redeem your family but you can’t redeem your ancestors because they’re dead. You also can’t confront your ancestors, but science fiction allows characters to do things that aren’t possible to do in the real world.

        Rey confronts her evil ancestor and rejects him. Takes on a different name, She understands her ancestor doesn’t define who she is.

        Children in school right now learning about what their evil ancestors did, what should they do? Take their side? Or realize like Rey did that they don’t have to identify with what their ancestors did. You can identify with the good people from the past even if you aren’t related to them.

        Fascism relies on wanting the things that your ancestors had. Reject that idea and you reject fascism.

        Also if you’ve ever seen a statue of some evil dude being removed, you will see a reproduction of an evil person that died a long time ago being moved around on a crane.

        The problem with RoS isn’t that it didn’t do anything interesting, it’s just it didn’t tell you that it was doing interesting things. So people would know what to post on twitter immediately after watching the movie.

        TLJ has the appearance of an interesting movie but actually did nothing. RoS tried to appear like a dumb action movie while actually doing interesting things.

        And I didn’t even go into the layer about the grieving process, but that’s obvious isn’t it? Movie starts with a guy literally denying death and ends on Chewie inheriting Hans’s medal and Rey burying the lightsabers. The Sequel Trilogy was about death after all, so it’s obvious the last movie had a layer about the grieving process… right? RIGHT?

    • Blackmist@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      39
      ·
      10 months ago

      The look on Oscar Isaac’s face as he delivers that line is something else.

      It’s the face of a man who has been back and forth with the scriptwriter and director all day, and is resigned to the fact that this is the best they can come up with.

      • BigBananaDealer@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        14
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        10 months ago

        it makes sense for poe to say, how would he know how palpy came back?

        the problem was the movie didnt really expand on that in any capacity

        • Blackmist@feddit.uk
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          12
          ·
          edit-2
          10 months ago

          Even the writers didn’t seem to know. It was like they’d been handed some weird madlibs type shit and had to work Palpatine back in, even though the previous two movies hadn’t alluded to that in the slightest.

          Even the groans from the rebels sound like “Jesus, three movies for this shit?”

          If you look at Alan Rickman saying “By Grabthar’s Hammer, what a savings” and Oscar saying this, it’s the same pained expression, but only Rickman was acting.

    • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      10
      ·
      10 months ago

      Poe doesn’t know or care why fascism returned, he just knows he’s going to fight against it.

      The hot take internet culture rejected the movie simply because people don’t have the capability of understanding the layers and interpreting anything. It’s a shame really it’s the most interesting of all the Star Wars movies (though not the best, the editing was janky as hell). But people are more interested in consuming nitpicky memes about Star Wars than watching an actual Star Wars movie.

      But it’s a movie that provided petty nitpicky assholes on the internet many hours of entertainment repeating the same false memes that only indicate that they didn’t actually watch the movie. You got what you wanted, so you should appreciate JJ Abrams for satisfying your cynical and petty nature with all the negative memes you’re still repeating over four years later.

      I’ll just be over here enjoying a Star Wars movie that has layers about the relationship between our connection to our ancestors and fascist movements, the grieving process, and still isn’t so overly serious to not have a layer with the Emperor blasting lightning bolts at X-Wings.

      Enjoy your memes!

  • EdibleFriend@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    69
    ·
    10 months ago

    I’m still salty about League of Extraordinary Gentleman. Literary Avengers is such an awesome concept, but what we got was so fucking bad Connery walked away from acting forever.

    But it did give us one of the most beautiful movie cars ever which, you know, is nice.

    • Rose Thorne(She/Her)@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      21
      ·
      10 months ago

      Read the comic. It does so much better with the concept. Goddammit, can we get at least one good Alan Moore adaptation?! Look at the mans run of Swamp Thing! It’d do well as an animated movie, at the very least!

      • PopMyCop@iusearchlinux.fyi
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        10 months ago

        I thought the little bit we got with that marvel mini-movie thing was nice. The main character and plot were a little cliche, but the acting was good and the execution hit well.

        • Hegar@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          11
          arrow-down
          5
          ·
          10 months ago

          Not OP, but I wanted to like it only I couldn’t bring myself to keep watching. I can’t remember if I stopped before the end of the first episode or part way through the 2nd. I completely failed to connect with any of the characters, the setting, the premise or the politics.

          I don’t mind fiction that’s a vehicle for political statements - I like Alan Moore - but it felt like a transparent vehicle for needlessly edgy politics, rather than a beautiful vehicle for needfully radical politics like Alan Moore’s stuff is.

          But I barely watched it so I know this is a pretty hot take.

          • wolfshadowheart@slrpnk.net
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            5
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            10 months ago

            It’s one of the best single season shows ever done.

            It’s also mostly Damien Lindelofs work, not Moore’s (for the show).

          • qdJzXuisAndVQb2@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            10 months ago

            Fair enough. I enjoyed it but there’s so much good television out there these days that there’s not much point forcing your way through something you’re not enjoying.

      • yamanii@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        10 months ago

        Just like Sandman, it could only be good if the man himself was at the helm, but he hates comics now.

      • Meowoem@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        10 months ago

        I really don’t think we can and I’m fed up of them trying, why don’t they let old things be old and comics be comics?

        You want to make a good film in the twenty twenties then write a film to be a film in the twenty twenties.

          • Vespair@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            edit-2
            10 months ago

            Are you me? As a kidteen I fucking loved LXG and Connery was my favorite actor so not seeing him again after that did devastate me a bit

            edit: time is weird

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    55
    ·
    10 months ago

    TV show with really interesting premise that is well written, well acted, with great sets:

    Streaming service cancels it after the first season and doesn’t renew it.

      • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        10 months ago

        I was just thinking about that show last night and wondering if/when season 2 was coming out, as it had good reviews, great cast, a good plot, and the dialogue was pretty good too.

        Went to the Wikipedia page and found out Amazon cancelled it two months after it’s debut. Two months! They didn’t even give it a chance.

        • Fleamo@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          10 months ago

          I watched with my SO and googled it right after we finished it to see when Season 2 was coming, thinking it would be a joke “haha only 2 years to wait for the next season” and it had already been cancelled. Rough.

    • Zahille7@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      9 months ago

      RIP Carnival Row. I thought it was a pretty damn good show, with excellent actors and good character building.

      It hasn’t been “officially” cancelled, but it may as well be at this point.

  • PhreakyByNature@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    49
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    10 months ago

    I like shows like Andor which have a mildly interesting premise but rely on phenomenal writing and execution to really shine.

      • neo@feddit.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        33
        ·
        edit-2
        10 months ago

        You get my upvote, but it’s an angry Andor unwillingly one.

      • PhreakyByNature@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        8 months ago

        Funnily enough, I have a playlist with the Andor score and some nice medley / covers which I have called “And/or”

    • Sigh_Bafanada@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      10 months ago

      Yeah I hesitantly tried out Andor as somebody who isnt the biggest Star Wars junkie, and it quickly flew to being my favourite Star Wars content by a mile. Really excellent writing imo

    • TheKingBee@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      10 months ago

      Maybe its because i’m not a fan of the books, but I really like Foundation, it has weak points, but overall I’m enjoying it.

      • I went into it expecting it to have nothing to do with the books. I found all the characters’ behaviors irrational and frustrating, with the exception of the emperor.

        And I’m getting really sick of incompetent protagonists and impossibly flawless antagonists. I think that’s just a reflection of the zeitgeist of the world’s masses, but that’s another discussion. Suffice to say I’m tired of it being the only trope used in SciFi TV anymore.

        • Jagermo@feddit.de
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          10 months ago

          I like both. The novels are good, but would not work today - they have been writen in the 50s and it Shows.

          The series might have slow points, but I really like the emperors and the genetic dynasty, great storytelling device.

          • r_se_random@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            9
            ·
            10 months ago

            I don’t think the novels would’ve worked regardless of time. The whole point of Foundation as a series was that there’s no real protagonist in the series; the society as an aggregate works in a certain way as dictated by the rules of psychohistory. The concept wouldn’t have translated into a good TV show.

            The show that we got is more of a generic space action, which has some interesting parts, but meh for most of it.

            • TheFonz@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              10 months ago

              I think it’s just easier to write the hero’s journey instead of systems. GoT was good at the latter.

          • TSG_Asmodeus (he, him)@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            10 months ago

            I like both. The novels are good, but would not work today - they have been writen in the 50s and it Shows.

            “Her breasts were a smaller version of the woman herself – massive, firm, and overpoweringly impressive.” -Isaac Asimov

      • Telodzrum@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        10 months ago

        I love the show. The best part of the show, far and away, is the part that isn’t in the books — the Genetic Dynasty.

    • Gerudo@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      10 months ago

      I knew I wasn’t crazy. I just can’t get into that series.

    • Malle_Yeno@pawb.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      10 months ago

      My conspiracy theory is that the writers had an idea for their own show, but execs made them slap on the Foundation label for notoriety. Because the parts that aren’t in the books, like the Genetic Dynasty, are great – probably the best parts. It feels like that was the actual story here, then everything else had to be put in after the fact to justify the universe they put it in.

      I stopped watching after season 1 because the “special powers held by individuals” angle felt like a slap in the face to the theme of the books. Apparently season 2 is better but I’m still a lil bitter so I don’t think I can do it lol

      • This is brilliant, and it would explain so much! And I agree that the most interesting story arch is the one that has nothing to do with the novels (and the entire show shared very little with the novels, outside of some names).

        I said that I liked few of the characters; I don’t know if that improves after the first season, but like you, I’m traumatized enough by S1 to be uninterested in watcing S2. I realized I’d spent the last 3 episodes literally shouting at the TV because of characters being so unreasonably stupid, and if there’s a literary sin I can’t forgive it’s characters doing stupid things as a plot device. “We need tension in this scene, so we’ll have this character refuse to get in the escape pod until the last minute, for some trivial reason.” It is infuriating, sloppy, weak writing, and I refuse to watch it.

      • RobertoOberto@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        14
        ·
        10 months ago

        Alternate ending:

        A small, innocuous looking bat takes the form of DRACULA behind CHARACTER 1 and CHARACTER 2

        DRACULA: Why the fuck would I need a jetpack? How did you morons forget about the bat thing? It’s been part of my image for like, a hundred years.

        • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          8
          ·
          10 months ago

          Alternate alternate:

          Character 1 sees Dracula turn into a bat and fly into another tower in the distance. Chooses to keep that information to themself for no particular reason.

      • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        10 months ago

        I feel like this is personally attacking Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter and that movie deserves nothing but accolades.

    • Fleamo@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      10 months ago

      You know I’ve seen every other mainline Star Wars and several of the one-offs and TV shows but I never got around to this one and I haven’t really felt like I missed out.

    • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      12
      ·
      10 months ago

      This thing again. Palpatine is in a room full of cloning tanks talking about having unnatural powers. Next scene characters mention cloning and dark powers. It’s just Poe doesn’t know how it happened (he’s not omniscient) and doesn’t much care. Fascism returned and he’s going to fight against it, that’s all he needs to know.

      It’s explained but the hot take internet reactions missed it. And then memes were created to brag about being to stupid to understand something that happened in a Star Wars movie that a child could understand.

      Somehow you don’t understand what things mean in a Star Wars movie. Congratulations!

      • rimjob_rainer@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        10 months ago

        Somehow all efforts from episode 4-6 were in vain and Anakin wasn’t the chosen one again because throwing Palpatine into the death star core didn’t have any impact on anything. Somehow they made everything Luke, Leia und Han achived pointless. Somehow cloning was easily achievable with some dark powers and somehow Palpatine cloned himself and chilled for a few dozen years. Somehow Palpatine was a father and somehow Rei was his granddaughter.

        • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          9
          ·
          10 months ago

          Yes just like my Grandfather fought in WWII in vain because fascism has returned to our world.

          Except the fact that evil can return doesn’t actually mean opposing evil is in vain.

          Also, you may be slightly not getting the point of Star Wars if you think that we’re supposed to believe Anakin is the chosen one and everyone is supposed to respect his greatness. Yes this is what Anakin believed of himself, but how did that go for him?

          Luke was meant to kill his evil father (or rule at his side), it was his destiny. Luke refused that destiny, how did that work out for him? Pretty good until the real evil Empire (the Disney Corporation) came along.

          Star Wars isn’t really about making prophecies come true. It’s about rejecting them and finding a better way.

          You’re a Star Wars fan, you’re meant to reject the fascist ideals of past greatness, not conform to them! Have a balanced take on Star Wars, not leave it in darkness!

          I know from your point of view JJ Abrams is evil, But only a Sith deals in absolutes.

          • Nalivai@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            10 months ago

            Counterpoint: several flashy videos on the Internet told me that space samurai wisard films are bad now because there is a mean woman there and no kinky costumes.

  • theedqueen@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    37
    ·
    10 months ago

    This was Once Upon A Time on ABC. Could’ve been a really good show, but it was basically fanfiction written by a middle schooler.

    • GraniteM@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      25
      ·
      10 months ago

      How many times can you use amnesia in a show with seven seasons? How many times can you reveal that Character A is secretly related to Character B? How many times can someone get killed but then miraculously get better? How many times can you introduce absolutely world-breaking plot devices, only to forget about them immediately?

      The answer for all of the above, for Once Upon a Time, is THERE’S NO FUCKING UPPER LIMIT.

      It did have this absolutely fantastic exchange though…

      Grumpy: We’re all going to go hang out with Happy.

      Snow White: Didn’t he get turned into a tree?

      Grumpy: Yeah, but we fixed that months ago! We do things when you’re not around!

      …for which I’ll almost forgive all the rest.

    • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      15
      ·
      10 months ago

      ‘Fables’ was a comic book that was the first to use the idea of characters from fairy tales living in the modern era. When people realized that everything was already public domaine we got two shows, neither as good as the comic.

    • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      10 months ago

      After seeing all the weird ads in malls and on random food, I decided to read the wiki about this show. Sounds like a really really good premise!

      But the moment I watched a random trailer… Yikes. Bad execution.

    • esc27@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      10 months ago

      It was created by some of the same people who made Lost. Both shows relied heavily on flashbacks to make the shows seem more planned out. Both relied on inconsistent mythologies to fake worldbuilding.

  • Crashumbc@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    34
    ·
    10 months ago

    Witcher :(

    And I’m not talking about the casting or other stuff. Just the general writing and conversion from books to screen sucked ass

    • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      17
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      10 months ago

      Yeah I never read the books or played the games. So when I watched it I thought it was kinda janky because they were trying a little to hard trying to stay true to the books.

      Then I later found out it wasn’t true to the books. Sure sometimes you need to change things to make a story work better for a new medium. But why is it so jank then?

      If they made changes but it worked really well as a TV show because of those changes I can understand. And if the show is janky because they tried to stay too close to the books, I can understand. But they made a janky show that’s not true to the books. I don’t understand!

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        10 months ago

        Some of the jank is because of the first book for sure. Doing three different converging timelines isn’t easy.

      • Blackmist@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        13
        ·
        10 months ago

        I’ve heard even that books aren’t that good, basically being medieval James Bond, but somehow even more misogynistic.

  • YaksDC@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    22
    ·
    10 months ago

    The Dark Tower movie adaptation, I am a huge fan of the books and I was so looking forward to a 3 movie arc. Turned out 🤮

  • Ibaudia@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    22
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    10 months ago

    Recently this was Hazbin Hotel for me. Thought I would give it a shot but it’s written like a kid’s show instead of an edgy adult comedy about demons.

      • Ibaudia@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        10 months ago

        Much less clever and subtle. I would call that a pretty low bar, honestly. Helluva Boss also has a lot of poorly-written content IMO, but in Hazbin it’s nonstop bad writing until there’s a small glimpse of something competent. I would recommend Helluva Boss to anyone who likes shitposts and sitcoms, but I wouldn’t recommend Hazbin to anyone right now.

    • EndlessApollo@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      I liked the hazbin hotel pilot, but very much felt how you do about the helluva boss pilot. I thought hazbin was fun and quirky and I liked it a fair bit, helluva boss cranked up the edginess and immaturity but didn’t bring anything else that made up for it. Maybe the actual series is better Idk

    • ltxrtquq@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      10 months ago

      If you like the concept of Upside Down, you might be interested in the anime movie Patema Inverted. It has the same premise and came out around the same time.

        • ltxrtquq@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          10 months ago

          It’s a little different. The Upside Down in Stranger Things is a kind of alternate dimension, whereas in the movies Upside Down and Patema Inverted it’s that gravity is reversed for some people.

    • Nadru@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      Yeah in time showed great promise but the execution was crap Maybe they’ll do it as a series