John Harrison

Representation and messaging has taken the forefront in this once great franchise. That is not to say that representation is bad, but it doesn't make for compelling media when story takes a backseat to representation and messaging. That's what this is. It's just more (and probably the most blatant) social engineering propaganda from Disney and little else. Having been fortunate enough to have grown up when I did, I remember when studios greenlit projects, hired writers and directors with a focus on producing fantastical stories intended for the widest audience as possible. The key to the success of so many of those projects were creating an "everyman" (or woman, or person, or kid) that the majority of the audience could relate to and get behind. Today, the studios hire creators and activists with personal hang-ups that insist on inserting themselves and their own personal story into everything they create. And that is how we get The Acolyte. It may be great for the director and/or star, and perhaps a portion of the potential audience. But that focus, which takes precedence over great storytelling is just not that interesting to the masses and the potential audience at large. It makes a multi-billion dollar franchise niche. These same activist creators often feel a need to redefine established intellectual properties and elements of the original story to better reflect themselves personally as well as their own worldview, alienating a large portion of the established fanbase in the process. That is The Acolyte. It's Disney Star Wars. It's okay. But for a billion dollar franchise that fascinated millions over generations, "okay" should never cut it.

There is a new gold standard in filmmaking, and it is Madame Web. The makers of Madame Web put on an absolute clinic with the creation of this masterpiece that the likes of Tarantino, Scorsese, Spielberg and Wiseau and Breen should study and attempt to emulate. USC film school should have an entire class - nay, SEMESTER dedicated to the study and analysis of this next evolutionary step in the art of filmmaking. If Kubrick and Hitchcock were alive, they would weep at their wasted years and failures upon viewing this masterclass and peak of cinematic culture. As a viewer, Madame Web was not a movie, but an experience. Just watching this grand treasure on the silver screen was the closest that most of us will ever be to being in the presence of true greatness and genius. Madame Web should be shown in the Louvre at all times. Temples should be erected where those of us so touched, so moved by this experience can go to pay our respects, or perhaps dedicate our lives to a humble existence of servitude and deep reflection on the message, lessons, and teachings shared by director S.J. Clarkson in this new form of enlightenment. I am weeping at the beauty of what Sony Pictures has created and shared with all of us, wealthy and poor, young and old alike. My life will never be the same.

Dysfunctional wealthy family members tell each other to "f--k off" and/or "f--k you" continuously for 39 episodes over four seasons.