We’ve got a lot to talk about this week, including some cool new movies to see, the approaching holidays, and our carefully curated list of all the best stuff you can stream this weekend to get you in ye olde Christmas spirit. But first, we’ve unfortunately got to address this odd and seemingly illogical online backlash against The Last Jedi, which, full disclosure, we adored. The vast majority of critics loved the film too, and as the $500 million the film has already made at the box office (before even opening in China) would suggest, audiences are flocking to see it.
So what’s the problem? For one thing, the loudest voices are naturally getting the most attention, and there’s plenty of Star Wars nerds kicking up all sorts of dust about their issues with the film online. Now, this is to be expected for any Star Wars venture, but what’s even stranger for some is that “audience scores” for the film on sites like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB are ridiculously low and completely out of sync with the critics scores. We’ll talk about how those scores are total BS and also take a spoiler-free look at the supposed issues with the film, and, as this author’s spoiler-filled Last Jedi op-ed spells out, why we are completely confident that it is a fun and thrilling addition to the Star Wars canon.
But it’s not all Star Wars today, of course. There are actually other things happening in the galaxy not so far away, including the new Jumanji movie starring The Rock and a star-studded crew of cohorts, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. According to our reviewer Rick Marshall, the film is not terrible — in fact, he liked it. We actually had to chuckle in spite of ourselves when we saw the trailer, so it’s nice to know that there’s no bait and switch going on here. While this film isn’t going to change any lives or win any major awards, it’s apparently a fun romp filled with plenty of laughs and some decent action. Honestly, we couldn’t have asked for more, and neither should anyone else.
Also this week, we’ll talk about the highly anticipated release of the Matt Damon sci-fi film Downsizing, Dark season 2 on Netflix, The Office revival, Ocean’s 8, and much more.
So tune in and hit us up live at 2 p.m. PT today, or take us along for the ride with our podcast version by following the links at the top of this story.
