Forum Overview :: Peter Molyneux's The Movies :: I don't know how to square what I like about noir with what I like about Star Wa

[quote name="Brody Wilder"]I almost want to argue Rogue One wasn't film noir just on a visual basis: noir suggests a high-contrast, expressionistic style; Rogue One was more muddy and realistic, going so far as to employ documentary handicam in the battle scenes. Then I remember noir is a big tent that also includes stuff like The Naked City, filmed newsreel-style on the gritty streets of NYC, which blows that whole argument out of the water. All I can do is fall back on the more nebulous idea that noir strives to tell smart stories for adults, whereas Rogue One was a glorified toy commercial for children. (Sidebar: how many promising '90s neo-noirs were derailed by interpreting "for adults" as an excuse for explicit softcore sex? Not that I'm complaining, I love explicit softcore sex, it just seemed to cancel out some of the smartness by trading a sustained atmosphere of unfulfilled desire for a couple scenes of sweaty tits and saxophones. I guess it comes back to the question of expressionism versus realism, with Cinemax after dark representing the apex of realism.) Now I can't stop thinking about a Rogue One starring Barbara Stanwyck. And since Star Wars protagonists need to be barely legal (they're technically kids movies), it would have to be the raw and stampeding Barbara Stanwyck of The Miracle Woman or Baby Face. Babs would fucking kill it, even if they gave her nothing to work with - and they'd definitely give her nothing to work with, because that's their MO at this point. Did anybody else see Solo? The dour British girl in that one was cute but SO DULL.[/quote]