flawed, but ultimately solid films rather than ‘disasters’.

I think they might still be at least verging on disasters, though certainly more interesting ones than JJ's movies (see elsewhere in this thread for my thoughts on TLJ). The PT actually reminds me a lot of other passion projects (Megalopolis is probably the most recent, and surprise surprise, Coppola is a friend and mentor) that reveal the limitations of deferring to the auteur's singular vision in a collaborative artform.

The "saved in the edit" narrative for ANH is disingenuous I think, inserting a miracle for a particularly strong example of how the workflow for a weird project should work, but it does hint at the truth that somebody like Lucas has as many bad ideas as good ones, and only the ones he can sell to fellow respected professionals should stay in the final product.

I also think it's fair to say that because he was frustrated by the "compromises" with actors, writers, directors, and studios who all felt they were equal stakeholders, the unfiltered Lucas was a jarring departure from the OT, yet ostensibly targeted the exact same demographics, and that made it even harder to evalute the PT on its own terms. For me personally, I could never truly get over the stilted line readings that felt exactly like the cheesy serials that Lucas loved, but that the New Hollywood "kids" and British stage veterans refused to let infect the OT. "You can write this shit, George, but you can't say it."

It took a huge chunk of the second act, and it basically amounted to nothing.

Love it or hate it, and the fact that some people will decide they hate it is what I had to come to terms with, this was very intentional and played into the theme of Poe's arc while letting Finn get the small amount of character growth they layered on in TLJ. It also made it clear that Rose is not so much a fully fleshed-out character as she is a stand-in for the entire Resistance, so she gets a chance to make its case and show its impact. Fighting the good fight is worth it even if, in the short term, it seems doomed. Narratively, I thought Canto Bight did a lot.

However, Luke's arc hit me exactly right given that they were forced to revisit a Hero's-Journey hero whose journey was done, because JJ Abrams set up the galaxy in possibly the least compelling way possible. Luke's return from backsliding into his own old habits, accepting his failure, and using the energy he had left to secure a future for the next generation... that's good stuff, and a lot of the boomers and older X's who idolized him would do well to heed the lesson.

The initial tone poem with Rose's sister was beautiful. DJ absolutely fit as a tweak on Lando and commentary on what all this is supposed to mean. The Poe arc that he can't simply Maverick his way into leadership, the idea that Rey was no one and yet everything, that Force users and resistance could come from anywhere, and that Ren was on a path apart from Snoke's but equally irredeemable, all these things were HUGE improvements from TFA and were setting things up for a very compelling finale.

Instead, JJ crammed in his own Episode 8 into the first 45 minutes, left no time to have his own movie make any sense, just channelled Harry Potter and the Avengers for its conclusion, and repeatedly reminded people that TLJ was being undone ("come with us, Rose!" "Can't! Leia gave me homework!"... We picked "Yer a Palpatine, Rey!" from the hat full of fan theories!), thereby reminding TLJ's fans that it was being undone, and its haters that it existed. Just a piece of shit movie all around, and to top it off, with my "ACKSHULLY" cap on, it still didn't connect the tracker with the Holdo maneuver!!!!!

Finally, for what it's worth, TLJ is the only ST movie to engage in good faith with the PT, which is something you need to do, even if (like me) they're far from your favorites.

Luke’s story hit home in a weird way

IMHO it it home because that is almost the only way it could have been done, especially after what JJ set up in The Force Awakens. We know that Luke blamed himself. We know he ran away. We know not even Leia can locate him via the Force. At least being a grumpy hermit was a way to take back a little bit of agency. When you have a hero's journey, and the hero's journey ends, you're not really supposed to revisit them thirty years later with a massive new threat, because now they have to face it, but not as the hero. Once you decide you have to have Luke in the damn story, there is nothing you can do except make him a mentor or a villain. Villain was right out, but having him fall back into old habits (doomerism, jumping to conclusions, whining) and having all that make him start as an ineffective mentor was actually really clever.

It also maybe hit a little close to home for the generation that grew up idolizing Luke, re-evaluating what he was after reaching his heights in his mid-20s. That said, it also tells that same group, "Yes, you are fatter and angrier and grabbing breakfast and a latte is the most interesting thing you'll do most days, but you have wisdom to pass down, and you have the power to beat back the darkness and learn from your own mistakes, and there is so much more to you and than you've come to believe about yourself." I actually walked out of the movie thinking that once you have a Luke that let the First Order arise at all, then this Luke was a god-damn hero and saved the galaxy one last time.

Obviously it failed at that. Not once, but twice. Revenge of the Sith barely even got a chance.

And so the backlash was brutal. While the critique wasn't unfair in its points, it also came from a perspective of starkly emotional disappointment. People say the prequels are looked at more fondly now due to 'nostalgia', but mostly I think it's that the emotional pain has faded and we can analyze them more objectively as flawed, but ultimately solid films rather than 'disasters'.

It may be that one day the sequels will be more coldly studied as well, with more focus placed on the issues produced by cycling directorship and management pressures... but I also think even a coldly analytical appraisal of them will still come up as "hollow and emotionless".

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vibes which is another crap movie

Awwww man, I really liked that movie. I wanted to see more on their take of captain nemo

But, when I was encouraged to actually give it a fair shake, I enjoyed it a lot. At its best moments, there's some solid murder mysteries surrounded with entertaining characters and a tense atmosphere. Camp doesn't excuse the worst parts, but it definitely makes them sting a little less.

The third game in particular gets a lot of flack for its ending and I get it, it's not a very satisfying conclusion for the characters or universe but as a reflection on the franchise I do see what they were doing and thought it was interesting - probably more interesting than if we got actual answers for the worldbuilding questions it bypasses.

Definitely skip the anime covering the first game's events, it's way too compressed and just heinously awful in a lot of ways. Can't speak for the other anime series, the movie, or the books, though I'm still interested enough to give em a try sometime.

Not sure why, I think I'm just a sucker for ancient Egyptian themes even when they're butchered to the point of being insulting.

Which just isn't a very good adventure story.

The writer, creative as they are and just happy to get work, then mashes the two together.

I think a film featuring a parallel New York ruled by evolved dinosaurs and deevolution guns is a wild but potentially interesting film. What it has to do with Mario... I have no idea.