Spock's Pickled Brain

Alright, buckle up kids, because I am going into full rant mode. So The Clone Wars had a lot of problems, there's no denying it. There were weird timeline breaks where episodes were aired out of order, some truly terrible dialogue, the entire Mortis thing , an unhealthy amount of Jar Jar Binks... But there were good things as well, and more beauty and horror and joy than could reasonably be expected from it. Narrative Complexity First and foremost, the thing I admire most about The Clone Wars was its dedication to telling complex stories. The prequel movies in general tried really, really hard to do a lot of world-building (galaxy-building?) and throw in a lot of background information that wasn't available in the stream-lined story-telling of the original movies. Some of it worked, a lot of it didn't. But The Clone Wars made a valiant attempt to stay in line with that increased narrative complexity, introducing new characters and keeping up with the ol...

Ah, Captain Marvel. If Marvel was going to have to nail a movie, it would have to be the one with their brand in the title. Superpowered Vers is training as a soldier for the advanced Kree civilization, hoping to make a difference and raring to kick some ass. She's still struggling with a half-remembered past when she's sent on her first mission into enemy territory. Inevitably things go not according to plan, sending her hurtling to a backwater world that seems more than a little familiar. Allying herself with a soon-to-be-famous S.H.I.E.L.D agent, Vers must track down the shape-changing Skrulls and unravel the secrets of her own identity in order to set everything right. Fantastic visuals, great characters, and a worthy plot, Marvel delivers in this newest installment. Continuing in its trademark balance of heart and humor, we also see helpings of Nineties nostalgia and a touching tribute to Stan Lee. I know the film's been out for some weeks already, but if you haven...

So last Friday Starbat and I went to see The Crimes of Grindelwald in theatre. In short it's a great movie, and I definitely need to watch it about a dozen more times. Originally I was going to write a review here, but I realized this turned into more of a deconstruction of themes and impressions I got from the film and less about being a thorough and ranked review. And there's certainly a lot to unpack. So warnings abound: Spoilers Ahead! So Many Romantic Subplots Merlin's beard there's a lot of romantically involved people in this movie. At the risk of sounding like a grumbling cynic, maybe too many? We've got Tina and Newt, Jacob and Queenie, Leta and Theseus, Credence and Nagini, Dumbledore and Grindelwald, etc. We get a little lost in the weeds of these relationships, to the point that it gets pretty romcom. Awkward meetings with crushes, misunderstandings, heated arguments, and...kidnapping? It's a bit like they needed to check off all the r...