The Bulwark
Across the Movie Aisle
Why 'Mickey 17' Just Doesn't Work
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Why 'Mickey 17' Just Doesn't Work

Plus: A look back at Kathleen Kennedy's Star Wars tenure.
‘Mickey 17’ (MovieStillsDB)

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!

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Discussion about this episode

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MProvenza's avatar

Skeleton Crew was good. I think much like Solo was depressed by the Last Jedi, Skeleton Crew was pushed down by the Acolyte.

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Sonny Bunch's avatar

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.

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Forrest's avatar

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.

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Sonny Bunch's avatar

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.)

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Forrest's avatar

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.

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Sonny Bunch's avatar

lol if I'm trolling you you'll know it

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Alondra's avatar

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

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Sonny Bunch's avatar

(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.)

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Forrest's avatar

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.

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