Is Star Wars stuff good anymore?

The Acolyte, desert rock, Russian prison tattoos. Just another Wedensday

The Star Wars universe is a messy, nonsensical place, filled with weirdness, redundancy and contradictions.

And I haven’t even started talking about the actual fictional universe.

It feels like Disney is treading water with Star Wars, chasing profit at a cost of a creative vision. We have countless examples of this, but the biggest one may be the rapid succession glut of creative collateral we got; some which worked, most which did not. And I get what Disney is trying to do. They want to appease fans who grew up with the movies over the years and create new fans along the way. The issue is with that is there is no formula for that. For every baby Yoda, we get an aging Boba Fett. The call backs are clunky at best, insulting at worst.

Can I make an argument that the Disney “family-friendly” sheen they applied once they acquired the material made it too much of a challenge to make a story about galactic war to really resonate with fans? You bet I can. Can I also theorize that for a long time there seemed to be no one at the rudder, guiding the overall story in order to make things cohesive and consistent? Sure. Is Andor the best thing they’ve done in the last 10 years? You betcha. Is it also the least watched of everything they’ve done in the last 10 years? I would also bet yes, and so that’s kinda why these arguments are both true… and irrelevant. Business owners gonna business, and Disney is a big business.

And it’s also kinda why I’m nervous about The Acolyte:

First look reaction? Uh, yes please. Light sabers glowing in the dart… Jedi fights…mystery villains who look badass… Carrie Anne Moss. How do you go wrong with Carrie Anne Moss?

But then… watch this:

Kenobi looked awesome in trailer form too and then we got Adventures in Babysitting, the dull version. (Look, I don’t hate kids… but I maybe sorta kinda hate kids mucking up my Star Wars…)

I want The Acolyte to be good. I hope it’s good. But I’ve been fooled too many times to not temper my expectations just a little.

All the other stuff

Look, no one sets off thinking they’re ever going to be thrown into a Russian prison, but it’s that kind of attitude that leaves you completely unprepared for when it happens. Well, as always, we’re here to help.

Here are seven questions I believe if we all pondered, even if only a few minutes here and there, would give us all a better baseline for how to live. Too often we don’t step back when we should and look around us.

Liam Neeson is a Naked Gun reboot? I’m going in with an open mind, if only because I doubt people thought Leslie Nielsen could pull it off.

Apparently Desert Rock is a thing. (Honestly, you can pretty much put any word in front of “rock” and have a genre, but I digress). And while not for everyone (it can skew a little heavy at times - it certainly isn’t “pop”), it definitely scratch the itch of complacent music listening if you’re looking for something to dig your teeth into, let Fu Manchu be your guide.