Michael*

Thread cleaned. I'm making it known now so that there can be no excuses later, take it easy throwing around words like 'ugly' in the model topics.

That's fine, I went ahead and merged the accounts. If you run into issues with your log-in details in the future, please try to let us know what's going on before creating a second profile.

I'm no authority on the law but I can confirm that it's not allowed on the forum. I'm afraid, to be safe and avoid any issues we might encounter, it'll have to be removed.

Thanks Shep. Random semi-related aside, and this may have been brought up before, but a neat (and possibly coincidental) thing I noticed while re-watching one of the Thor Ragnarok trailers just now. Thor not aiming for Thanos's head in IW may have stemmed from Mjolnir being destroyed when he tried decapitating Hela with it. Or maybe he just didn't want to lose another sweet weapon.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given the recent reviews, it's not been an auspicious opening weekend, with the movie taking twelve million dollars against a budget of fifty. For comparison's sake, Hellboy '04 took $23m on its opening weekend, while Golden Army made $34.5m.

I'm certain he'll be great as the lead, although it's a little weird, what with the whole project basically coming about because Phoenix said he wanted to do a low-budget character study of a comic book villain, that he apparently wasn't the studio's first choice to star in it. If the reports are to be believed, we almost ended up with Leonardo DiCaprio instead. I had that down as another fascinating role for Phoenix (particularly starring opposite Rooney Mara), but although I couldn't fault the acting, the end product felt weirdly low key, maybe even a bit anti-climactic. Shame really.

Good luck finding a George Orwell quote to help you defend those actions, Joey!

There are a lot of unanswered questions about the Finn arc, but honestly, I think how good it is will only really be known in retrospect. After Force Awakens, I was hoping to see Phasma become his biggest rival over the course of the next two movies as I like the idea of the rebel Stormtrooper pitted against his old boss, a wildcard looking for revenge. There's no reason why that can't still happen, and if they throw in a few more interactions between Finn and Poe, I'll put the whole thing down as a win. In general too, I think the way Episode 9 wraps things up can potentially help TLJ settle into a place in the mythos. As the middle part of a trilogy, it really needs the context of a conclusion.

Ah, I heard about that. The story about her symptoms apparently not being taken seriously by doctors was very sad, not least because I'm given to understanding that early interventions can alter the progression of the disease quite significantly. Incidentally, I had no idea that she was 46, I would have guessed late thirties at the most.

Honestly, aside from people justifiably pointing to the space casino stuff (which was a bit laborious) or the Super Leia scene (which was just a bit naff), the vast majority of complaints against Last Jedi basically amount to either 'it's not the Star Wars of old' or 'it's not how I would have done it'. I actually think if you compare the arc of Force Awakens and Last Jedi with that of New Hope and Empire, they're very similar. The sequel moves away from what's gone before and ends with the heroes in dire straits, and is also perhaps the least fun to watch in isolation. Indeed, when Empire first came out, a lot of fans weren't sure what to make of it and many hated it. It was too dark, didn't wrap things up, Luke is mutilated and Han is written off. We're literally seeing the same reactions now as the current generation's ROTJ is about to come out.

Indeed, from what I've heard, the movie is essentially a selection of Hellboy's 'greatest hits' interspersed with a lot of gore and schlocky action sequences. It was curious to hear, what with the vast majority of the comics featuring an older, more world weary version of Hellboy, that they went for another 'emotionally immature' take on the character here. That was an idea that seemingly came directly from Del Toro, and I would have thought, since this was supposed to be a new vision, that they would have tried something a little different with it.

I'll happily go on any ride that Taika Waititi wants to take me on.

There's enough ambiguity in the title, when coupled with the persistent rumours of Rey’s heritage being retconned by Abrams, to get me a little worried about how this might go down. The other popular theory of 'Skywalker' becoming a title is certainly something I could get on board with, though. I like the concept of Luke having such an impact that the word comes to mean something to the effect of 'Jedi leader'.

Oof. Some of the bite-sized reviews I've seen up to now read like Del Toro diehards upset that he didn't get to do a third film. Either way, I'll probably still go and see it, but if I said this wasn't a little deflating to the enthusiasm, I'd be lying.

Before I go, I should add that I'm okay with Gabriel Luna getting a shot in a big franchise film, presumably as a reward for banishing all memory of Nicolas Cage's Ghost Rider in Agents of Shield.