A couple of recent entries in recently restarted blockbuster franchises became accessible on the small screen, so I checked them out. From the Star Wars universe we have...
Solo -- Overall, not bad, which puts it near the top for this franchise. A good origin story, if unoriginal. Ron Howard is nothing if not solid and reliable moviemaker. There were some minor struggles in tone with Han himself, wavering seemingly randomly between emotional seriousness and scruffy-looking swagger. Lando was a bit of a let down; Donald Glover is too chill for his own good sometimes. But other than that, a solid entry. It's interesting that the only good quality entries in this series since the original trilogy have been one-offs -- this and the very good Rogue One. The constraints of the core narrative seem to destroy any possibility of creative value in the main story.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom -- Overall, is pretty bad. All the infantile tropes are on display: the greedy and violent rich are despoiling the world for their own greedy and violent purposes; Jeff Goldblum lectures like a 14-year-old who thinks he's deep. It is just inane. The action is pretty good, if horrific. But that raises the question, Who is this movie for? For children? They might not notice the dumb storyline, but the scenes of dinosaurs eating people and menacing children in their beds is the kind of thing that would cause kids to demand to sleep with mommy and daddy. For adults? In that case, the plot and dialogue is just insulting. I don't know what to make of this other than to say it's just not a good movie. I think this franchise could be saved, but clearly not by the folks running it now.
Part of me is also ho hum about all this because Marvel has cast such a shadow of this genre that everything else seems like background music by comparison. These old school franchises have no idea how to catch up.
