On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) try to fairly adjudicate Kathleen Kennedy’s run at the Disney-owned Lucasfilm. Then they review Mickey 17, a movie that’s more committed to timely satire than big ideas. Make sure to swing by Bulwark+ on Friday for an episode on the new literalism. And if you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend!

Across the Movie Aisle
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Here's the elevator pitch: It's "Left, Right, and Center" meets "Siskel and Ebert." Three friends from different ideological perspectives discuss the movies and controversies (or nontroversies!) about them.
Featuring bonus Friday episodes exclusively for Bulwark+ members.
Here's the elevator pitch: It's "Left, Right, and Center" meets "Siskel and Ebert." Three friends from different ideological perspectives discuss the movies and controversies (or nontroversies!) about them.
Featuring bonus Friday episodes exclusively for Bulwark+ members.
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Skeleton Crew was good. I think much like Solo was depressed by the Last Jedi, Skeleton Crew was pushed down by the Acolyte.
That’s certainly possible. People *really* disliked The Acolyte, as best as I could tell. I’m still gonna try to get my kids to watch Skeleton Crew.
Neither Sonny nor Peter have seen "The Acolyte", and neither of them know why they keep calling it the "lesbian space witch show".
So why do you keep calling it that if you don't know what you're talking about and can't explain it when explicitly asked?
Please give your own opinions about these things.
My opinion is that the shows have been so bad I’ve stopped watching them. Which is pretty clearly a widespread problem since the viewership numbers have dropped so precipitously. (I think it’s the only one of these shows to be straight up cancelled? The Book of Boba Fett was kind of soft-cancelled, though that was basically The Mandalorian Season 2.5.)
Like, why did you start with the "the force is female" argument if you're not gonna stick with it, Sonny?
Feels like you're trolling the listeners.
lol if I'm trolling you you'll know it
Hey Sonny, I just happened to stop by here today, but I've mostly quit listening/reading here because you're often so snarky. Guess it's just Sonny being Sonny, but it ain't for me, thanks. lol
(My point being: I don't think that was Star Wars's big problem at the executive level. The real issue was simply NOT making stuff. That said, it's also very clear that relentlessly hitting this theme was not an effective strategy for widening the customer base.)
I understand your argument that the problem was not making good stuff. For me, Kennedy's biggest sin was not knowing what would happen in the trilogy before making the trilogy.
But did they really relentlessly hit this theme? Was it in Rogue One? Solo? Obi-Wan? The Mandalorian? Andor? The Bad Batch? Visions?
This is a genuine question, I am not a Star Wars fan and have not watched these.