ST Rian Johnson (Director Of TLJ) Discussion Thread

Was this in response to something else?

What always cracks me up about the JUST CAME HERE FOR REY line is that Han immediately tells Finn that they need to help the Resistance and Finn immediately agrees and goes on to help the Resistance. THAT SCENE is the scene where Finn does finally decide to start thinking about the big picture.

 

Bold move on his part. In the end I think TLJ was detrimental to his career. Understandable why some directors would say no to directing a franchise with such a rich history and dedicated fan base. Looper was ok at best.

 

Here's the thing. No one is more vocal about the Star Wars movies that they hate than Star Wars fans. We're all going to be hearing negativity about TLJ until we're put in the ground. I highly doubt RJ is ever going to make a movie so fantastic that it outweighs that negativity.

I heard nothing but good things about KNIVES OUT when it was released. Now, though, no one even talks about it. People are still talking about TLJ though. I can't help but wonder what that's going to do for his career.

 

His career will always be fine, because he makes the kind of movies that don't have to adhere to any of the normal standards. They don't have to be smart. They don't have to be funny. They don't have to follow any logic. As long as they "deconstruct" and "subvert expectations", his fans will always enjoy his movies, because that's what they like. His movies are quirky, which is another way of saying they defy normal conventions. Movies for people who don't like the movies the rest of us like.

 

RJ is kind of like the Harmony Korine of cutesy fluff.

 

Knives Out is an okay movie at best. I knew who did the crime immediately because said character came in after far too much time and it was OBVIOUS.

 

Hmmn, Now I want to check it out...I think its on Netflix now

 

Knives Out is still very much being talked about in tons of film discussion circles (and has made a big splash with a general audience as well), and it was so immediately successful on release that he was given the green light right away to develop a second Benoit Blanc mystery film.

TLJ isn't going to do anything to Johnson's career. If anything, it put him on more peoples' radar. Even if his Star Wars trilogy is dead in the water, the man has plenty more films in him.

I also feel like a lot of the big community folks, like the YouTubers that have dedicated three years of their lives to complaining online about one particular Star Wars film that they didn't like, probably aren't part of the audience that would have gone to see a mid-budget murder mystery, anyways.

 

Did you come here all the way from BUZZFEED?

 

I agree with a lot of the points you made. I like how Rian is willing to try new things and go in different directions.
But as you said, the SW fans hating on him are so vocal and passionate, Hollywood seems to take those types of things into consideration. I can't off the top of my head think of a current director that has been bashed as much as him. Snyder doesnt even come close.

 

But again, Johnson is really only being bashed by obsessive circles within the Star Wars fandom. Outside of the Star Wars community, though? He's either loved, or people don't care one way or the other. And most people, be they big film fans or just members of the general public that casually catch a movie from time to time, genuinely do not care at all about what the Star Wars fanbase is complaining about.

TLJ didn't harm Knives Out in any way, and it won't harm any of his future, non-Star Wars projects either.

 

People whining about TLJ three years later are not going to have any impact on Johnson's career. The man just got nominated for an Oscar and is writing a sequel for KO. Nobody in Hollywood cares if TLJ made you cry.

 

So people either don't like him, like him, or don't care?

How is that constructive? We're supposed to be talking about the director, not the fans.

 

Nothing in this thread is constructive. Claiming that people that like TLJ aren't fans of SW is definitely not constructive.

 

When was that claim stated? I know I've heard a lot of people say that the people who did praise TLJ might not have been traditional Star Wars fans and instead just general movie going audiences, but I don't think I've seen anyone say that if a person liked TLJ then they aren't really a Star Wars fan.

 

It’s literally everywhere. Just open up some older threads or to back in this one.

 

Are those same posters in here now? And even if they are, what sense does it make to go the opposite way? You can't really get mad about something and then start doing it yourself.

And I find a lot of these threads to be constructive. You can't just praise a franchise endlessly; you have to talk about the shortcomings as well. To say that people are still "whining" three years later is ridiculous. That's basically saying that anyone who disagrees with the movie should just stop talking about it. How is that constructive?

 

The ST threads are 95% negativity/constructive. I’m not sure where you think this “praise” is. If you want to see that go to the Mando thread. They worship anything on the screen over there.

 

If you want praise of the ST, the floor is open. Instead you've just come in here to be negative about the posters and people "whining". That's not positive either.

 

Well, too many points to quote, but the discussion is what is interesting. Whether SW fans liked TLJ or not, they should not be underestimated. The influence of SW fans spreads far beyond the SW community.
I think Disney and to an extent Rian, tried to brush off a part of the SW community as irrelevant.

 

I enjoy reading about the different things that people enjoy about these films. Watching the OT was a milestone in my life and obviously was for others as well.

Kathleen Kennedy posts in here??

 

I like TLJ and I like Star Wars

 

It's not a conspiracy. It's because everyone is enjoying the Mandalorian experience. That comes from the heart. And in the same way, all the negative criticism towards TLJ comes from the heart. People seem to worship everything on the screen because they are having such a positive experience watching the show, and IMO, they had probably grown pessimistic after seeing how the ST was suddenly cratered by TLJ. It is at that moment when enthusiasm began to die for the franchise, and the subsequent box office releases paid the price. But then the Mandalorian literally gave fans a new hope, and the worship over every moment has everything to do with that.

You can say we are whining, but the TLJ experience was like having your wife come home with a Mike Tyson face tattoo. It's there forever, and you can't ignore it because her face is too important a part of her to ignore. You can pretend all day long it's not there, but her face looks stupid now. You still love your wife. But that damn face tattoo.