Ike

It's true. I listened to Scott Adam's almost every day. He would have an interesting take that tended to be different and he could give you a better filter or reframe to look at an issue. But, since he passed I don't listen to any anymore. I'll listen to the occasional Rogan, when he has someone I'm interested in.

The circle jerk of podcasts have made them unlistenable. I can’t remember anything of note other than Tucker and some Matt Walsh segments. People sitting around bitching about Tucker or Glenn Greenwald or saying the Israel lobby is too mean… Who under 30 listens to this shit?

We know from studies that people who think they know what others are thinking are almost always wrong. We're poor mind readers. Case in point here, to think that TLJ handling of Luke critics would have one idea of what would be acceptable use of Luke, and that it's boring. I know no SW fan who thinks of Luke as Superman, Goku or Jean Claude Van Damme. In the OT he fails more than he ever succeeds, and he's hardly Superman, he just becomes a Jedi Knight at the end of the trilogy. We never got to see Luke on screen as a Jedi Master. Only in the EU, but even Jedi Masters get dropped pretty easily in the PT, so it doesn't seem to me that it would be too hard to come up with interesting problems/enemies to overcome, unless you have no creativity. It doesn't bother me that TLJ Luke is grizzled or even that he went into hermit mode, and sure, people change some as they age and have different experiences. But even with that, you don't guzzle green milk in isolation while your family and friends are out there dying. Luke has been a soldier since he was a kid Fighting the Empire. The relationships forged through life and death struggle. You can learn to hate war and conflict and be cynical about the nature of the Jedi and the universe, but you aren't just going to leave those people to their fates when you can help. He would've known when Han was killed. He would've felt something when the first order genocided the New Republic. To then still want to sit on his ass when Rey and Chewie show up doesn't seem realistic, no matter the experiences. I can believe him falling off the Jedi path, didnt think we needed to tell that story in the ST, but okay, I can believe it. But to say he fell off the path, betrayed his past principles, AND abandoned his family and friends even after knowing their situation? No. His force projection redemption was letting him off easy. Which, btw is using a new force ability, but in this case it's not boring, cause...reasons. Plus the whole concept of using the force so much or so intensely it kills you thing. Nah, not a fan, and nothing to do with Luke not being Bruce Lee, Jedi Master.

The Luke Skywalker desired for by The Last Jedi haters is a flat, boring, and forgettable character. These fans want a Luke Skywalker who has never lost. Never failed. Never faltered. Never doubted. He’s a video game character from the 90’s before video games started telling truly interesting stories. His biggest setbacks would have only come from some bigger, more powerful enemy who nearly defeats him in combat until Luke finds some new Force ability that helps defeat the enemy before it’s too late. But the Luke Skywalker gifted to us in The Last Jedi is truly interesting because the enemy he is forced to defeat is the enemy within. His doubt. His failure. His insecurity.

The OT had them fighting more like a two hand great sword against unarmored opponents. The PT switched it to Movie-Fu, and I'll grant you it was fast and exciting spectacle. In the ST it kind of fits, bc neither (Rey or Kylo) were extensively trained or practiced in LS fighting, but it creates its own issues visually sometimes. That opening move shown here is so telegraphed and so open a novice could've ducked it and killed him or severely injured him just staying in line and holding your weapon out. Seeing it makes me wonder how Luke wasn't able to handle Kylo much earlier (I mean back before TFA, when he first turns). Seems like he could've easily put him down w/o killing him.

I actually really dislike these awkward ass swings. A simple spin here would’ve looked better

Nah. I realized that the sequels would be about passing the buck to the new heroes. I liked Rey fine in TFA. Thought it a bit convenient that she out force grab's Kylo for the light saber and then outduels him, but I didn't harp on it too much. Then TLJ happens. If Luke had trained her, then died helping her against the FO, you would've had no complaints from me, but that isn't what happens. We get the Luke we get, Snoke gets killed by Kylo in a really weak way for a master, then untrained Rey mows through the guard and resists Kylo and leaves. So then I go back and look at all the feats and successes against the force adept with no training, and yeah, Rey's a Mary Sue. If she was a guy she'd be a Gary Stu. I know we latch on to the names and get incensed, so I try not to delve into word think, bc the reality is, she didn't have to be. Had nothing to do with Daisy Ridley or her acting, or the character, or Rey's skill set outside of the force. Just the writing and directing on her force use, that's it. A few minutes of screen time could've fixed it all. And if you like her as is, good for you. There's plenty of people out there who like those kinds of characters and don't care if they work for it or get training or whatever. We watched the same movie and saw the same things, but don't give me the sexist bit bc I didn't like it. I've got no problems with Ripley or Vasquez. No problems with Black Widow, Gamora, the Wasp, Nebula, Jyn Erso, Mon Mothma, or J.C. Wiatt. I could list all day. BC they have writing, backstory, and/or character development. No thought to what equipment they're packing.

the vast majority of the hate for the sequels would not exist if Rey was a man and you can’t convince me otherwise

Yes! In AotC we see Anakin giving in to the dark side at times. Not fully, but just like Master Yoda says: Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. The one I don't get is Padme. And seeing some people's positive reaction to it makes me a bit worried for some families out there. I get she's already in love with him, but idc! If I fall in love with someone and they confess mass murderr, I'm still turning them in and getting away. I might be able to get past it if he had just killed the males who killed and tortured his mother, but no way am I making it past the killing the women and children and the kill them all part. It was fitting with his character development, but I could've done without the confession to her, bc now she looks like an idiot, who should've gotten out right then. If you understand anything about domestic violence then you'll know someone with enough anger to slaughter innocents will likely kill you eventually too. I know the script and story require her to stay with him, that's why I say they shouldn't have had her hear the whole confession. He would've lied here, or at least left it ambiguous as to who "all" meant.

Whenever one criticizes Anakin for being a murdering psychopath his fans really bend over backwards to make excuses for him The point of this scene is that what he does is bad, actually

@AgitpropMaster Nah, Raiders. Marion's a baller, Willie is a screaming annoyance. Short Round's a bit cringe, I'll take Sallah. I'll give it scariest villain, and love the bridge scene.

Now that I'm older, I agree with Tarantino-- ToD is the best Indy movie

I dunno, love 'em both. With Trek you've got 10 movies, 4 of them are good. TOS, 79 episodes, 25 give or take good. Percentage-wise it's about the same. Then ofc, Trekkies try the claim that there's is real scifi, but it's really more space opera like Star Wars, just with more fake technobabble. Obi-Wan: "Luuuke, use the deflector dish!" Yoda: "Yes, yes, to Obi-Wan you listen! Reflect Anti-Protons into ionized-gas pockets you must!" Kirk: "Luke....I..am...your........father. In...another...universe...not to different than....this one....I could've called you......friend! But, why? Luke....tell, me...why? Must we...use...the force...WHY! KAAAAHHHN!"

Let me remind you that Star Trek is better than Star Wars.

I have to ask, and this is genuine, no mocking here. I know there are women who marry murderers and are attracted to criminals. I hesitate to call it love, seems more like fetish to me, but I lack perspective. However, wouldn't your love admitting mass murder to you give you pause? I mean, sure, you fell for him before you knew he was capable of that, but now that you know he is in fact, a mass murderer of women and kids ...wouldn't that at least give you pause that maybe this isn't the person you should be with? To say nothing of running for the hills. Or is a woman's love so superficial that even that doesn't way in against looks and obsession? Kind of curious...

@Iken75 @isabellaamidala like girl i fell in love with him too 😭

Anakin’s dialogue isn’t poorly written or poorly delivered. He’s an emotionally stunted, traumatized child soldier raised in an order that taught him to suppress his emotions instead of process them. Of course he’s awkward, intense, and bad at talking to girls. His cadence and tone foreshadow Darth Vader with the same stiffness, intensity, and unnerving quality. He’s just not actually intimidating yet so people hated him. Also not sure why people expected one of the most horrific villains in cinematic history to be a cool likable guy growing up lmfao

Beauty is purely subjective is it not? Helen was famously the "face that launched a thousand ships." I wonder if a beauty by the standards of bronze age Greece would rate by modern standards? I bet she would have more meat on her bones, lol. But also disingenuous to act like this is the only issue in the casting. It's a fictional story, but many of the locations are quite real. Despite the title, Helen is not Trojan, but Laconian, but in either case, neither is black. But, for that matter, Odysseus is Ithacan and Matt Damon doesn't look like they would've either. Helen isn't a big enough part in the Odyssey to warrant all the argument imo, but then again, it's fun to argue *shrugs*.

Ok. Since I've annoyed enough strangers on the internet today, I might as well carry on: Why are people pretending she isn't beautiful enough for this role?

@RetroMoviesDB Lol, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. I was six or seven at a child care center for some event my parents had gone to, when they put it on the TV right around bed time. I saw Large Marge and it's one of the few times I ever had nightmares from something I saw on a screen.

What movie traumatised you as a kid... I'll Start: Superman IIII

@AquelefetodeEva @isabellaamidala Ah, sorry, I mistook you for a human with your initial reply and responded with a little humor. I see my mistake now, my apologies.

@Iken75 @isabellaamidala You mean the scene where padmé is already in love with anakin and he is confessing his sin in and crying dispair? You think that was a romantic scene?

Different kind of cringe. Like watching The Notebook. But Nicholas Sparks is Shakespeare compared to this, which is my point. Psychopaths can have people fall in love with them, but typically it's bc they've learned to imitate normal human speech. Most likely Anakin would be an incel. I mean, honestly, if you really feel like it would work, try it yourself on someone you're interested in, see what happens. "When I was a teen, a dog killed my Mom. So I hunted it down and killed it...then I killed its mate and puppies. I just thought about that when you asked about my parents...anyway, want to Netflix and chill?"

@Iken75 @isabellaamidala Have you ever been in love or at least had seen people in love? It's cringe as hell from a third party's perspective

Fair enough, though this is true of pretty much any reply posted on forums and social media anywhere, or opinions given irl for that matter. My answer is the same: bc it's fun, and I enjoy debate. No, I don't think it's persuading anyone who already disagrees, and it's a fictional universe, open to interpretation, so no opinion is really invalid. Notice I tend to steer clear of personal attacks, despite many people that take offense when a refuting opinion is given. *Shrugs* the fact that you read it and felt the need to post a reply is kind of the same thing.

@Iken75 @isabellaamidala I genuinely don’t know what folks think refuting on a “What’s your unpopular opinion?” post is going to accomplish other than justifying why they made their answer in the first place. Trust me, they wouldn’t post this if they hadn’t heard an opposing input countless times.

@josh_raid31778 @blightersort Right, but again, not about Homelander specifically, it's about Kripke's comment that he represents all "strong men" and the original commenter asking for the real life examples if so.

@Iken75 @blightersort Well Homelander didn’t. He was born with it and never had to work to get it or survive without it.

“And he’s so cowardly and blubbering and pathetic, as are most strong men when you remove their power and they’re and they’re faced with their imminent death, they rarely handle it bravely.” can anyone think of an example of this? it sounds like nice, good lefty catechism but if one is going to say "they rarely handle it bravely" then presumably he is thinking of a significant number of formerly powerful men who faced death and nearly all of them did not handle it well. so what are the examples?

Yes, which is the point of the post. The original post was asking for examples of what Kripke called "strong men" who are blubbering cowards when they die in real life. My response is this is a trope, bullies are not typically cowards, bc of the experiences that turned them into bullies. Nor are the so called "strong men." What Homelander is doesn't exist in real life, so no real comparison. No one is born with God-like powers and no consequences for their actions. The people who do exhibit those qualities of preying on the weak but can't handle their own suffering are true narcissists and psychopaths. HL is probably both those as well, but again, the post isn't about what HL is, it's about what Kripke said of him symbolizing strong men.

@Iken75 @blightersort Isn't HL both a bully and coward tho

I wouldn't put too much in it, esp from the critics. The nose in the air crowd doesn't understand good scifi or space opera. The more telling numbers are the streaming ratings. None of the ST are in the top 10, with any age group. To me it's a much better indicator that most fans, old and young, prefer the OT and the PT.

This is insanity inducing. Like an eldritch tome in Call of Cthulhu. The only reason The Last Jedi is that high is because of politics. I don’t have much respect for the Prequels, but I’d put all of them, and everything committed to film everywhere and every when, above TLJ.

@TheStingisBack As a huge Elmore Leonard fan, I was skeptical of JLo in this part, but she pulled it off, and I agree, it is her best acting role. The movie was cast well. The colorful characters and sharp dialogue are traits of Leonard's work.

Jennifer Lopez’s best role is still Karen Sisco in Out of Sight (1998). She completely flips the “damsel in distress” trope on its head, with Kenneth here practically hyping himself up for the absolute ass-kicking he’s about to get. Sisco is one of the coolest female performances of the 90s. Still unmatched.

Very different films, so it kind of depends on what you want to see. I would agree I and II are better art. III and IV are more campy, more fun with the concept. Rocky is at different places in all his movies. In I he's the never-has-been who gets a shot and makes the most of it. II he realizes he has a chance to win and be the top of the hill, and fights for it. In 3 he's a defending champ who has sat at the top and lost his edge, and IV is just patriotic fun. I love them all but V. 3 has a special place for me for Carl Weathers stepping up, Mic's death, Mr. T and Eye of the Tiger. So when I want to get entertained and jazzed up I watch III and IV, I and II are great, but there are several good art house boxing films. Nothing out there like III and IV, really.

Random Take: Rocky I and Rocky II are so much better than Rocky III and Rocky IV. And it boggles my mind how many people disagree with this take.