Rian Johnson Archives - Vanyaland https://vanyaland.com/tag/rian-johnson/ The proven voice in music since 2013 Wed, 26 Nov 2025 10:09:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 https://redefined.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/31135224/cropped-V-SOCIAL-2023-32x32.png Rian Johnson Archives - Vanyaland https://vanyaland.com/tag/rian-johnson/ 32 32 ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ Review: Knives out, crucifixes in https://vanyaland.com/2025/11/26/wake-up-dead-man-review-knives-out-crucifixes-in/ Wed, 26 Nov 2025 10:09:07 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10042712 Props to Rian Johnson for turning lemons into lemonade: the man hears that Glass Onion was too preachy, then sets the next feature in the Knives Out series in a parish. It shouldn’t be surprising that he’s wound up here — his movies are puzzle boxes that JJ Abrams wishes he was talented enough to pen — but, as fun as these movies can be, it is somewhat frustrating to find us contractually back here again, when there once seemed […]

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]]> Fantastic Fest Review: ‘Knives Out’ is a smart and fun mystery https://vanyaland.com/2019/10/02/fantastic-fest-review-knives-out-is-a-smart-and-fun-mystery/ Wed, 02 Oct 2019 19:34:50 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10014111 Editor’s Note: Vanyaland’s Nick Johnston is down in Austin all week long for Fantastic Fest 2019; click here for our continued coverage from the fest and also check out our full Fantastic Fest archives of past coverage. Much like James Mangold’s Ford v Ferrari, Rian Johnson’s Knives Out is a studio-wrapped Thanksgiving present to America’s parents, looking for holiday viewing with their assembled brood that won’t totally patronize or alienate them. You’re sure to hear a whole lot of the Downton Abbey crowd exclaim […]

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]]> The ‘Knives Out’ trailer is here to save your week https://vanyaland.com/2019/07/02/the-knives-out-trailer-is-here-to-save-your-week/ Tue, 02 Jul 2019 16:48:58 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10010184 It’s no secret that we’re big fans of director Rian Johnson around these parts, as even before the dude courted nerd hatred with the groundbreaking Star Wars: The Last Jedi, he’d made several astonishing pictures. Remember how good Brick was? Or how about Looper? That movie rules! Anyways, Johnson’s departed the Mouse House — perhaps to escape the constant death threats from people who just can’t get over a two year-old movie’s release — and crafted an Agatha Christie tribute, […]

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]]> Looking at ‘Last Jedi’: Luke’s grief and Holdo’s patience https://vanyaland.com/2017/12/19/looking-at-last-jedi-luke-holdo/ Tue, 19 Dec 2017 13:18:48 +0000 http://vanya.wpengine.com/?p=170879 All this week, in lieu of a longer review, we’ll be publishing a series of spoiler-filled micro-essays about different aspects of ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’, which, to our surprise, has become the most controversial film in the series. Today, we dig into Luke Skywalker and Vice Admiral Holdo, and why they’re essential to the story. Of course, SPOILERS follow. A Brief Explanation of Luke I think my favorite thing about The Last Jedi aside from the whole sequence of […]

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]]> ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Spoiler-Free Review: ‘Empire Strikes Back’ struck down https://vanyaland.com/2017/12/15/star-wars-last-jedi-spoiler-free-review-empire-strikes-back-struck/ Fri, 15 Dec 2017 22:20:23 +0000 http://vanya.wpengine.com/?p=170750 I’m not going to say anything about the plot of Star Wars: The Last Jedi in this review, but I will have a lengthy spoiler-filled piece coming out at the start of next week after I have another chance to see the film. It isn’t every day that I see a blockbuster and am intrigued enough to rush out and see it three times in a week, but here we are. Rian Johnson may have beat George Lucas at his […]

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]]> Your ‘Last Jedi’ fan theories were always garbage https://vanyaland.com/2017/12/15/your-last-jedi-fan-theories-always-garbage/ Fri, 15 Dec 2017 21:17:37 +0000 http://vanya.wpengine.com/?p=170739 ** Warning: This post contains spoilers ** Click on the Twitter hashtag #TheLastJedi (with the adorable BB-8 emoji at the end of it as well) and you’ll probably be surprised by what you see. You see, certain Star Wars fans hate hate hate The Last Jedi. Even though most people (and critics) enjoyed it, certain sects of toxic nerds are in open revolt against the new film, and they’re both terrible for different reasons. There are two main factions inside […]

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]]> The Chosen One: ‘Last Jedi’ director Rian Johnson to create new ‘Star Wars’ trilogy https://vanyaland.com/2017/11/09/rian-johnson-new-starwars-trilogy/ Thu, 09 Nov 2017 22:25:32 +0000 http://vanya.wpengine.com/?p=168827 UPDATE 6:03 a.m.: In addition to the news below, Disney has also revealed that a new live-action Star Wars series is on the way, most likely in 2019. It’ll be available through its forthcoming streaming video service. What a day to be a Star Wars junkie. On Thursday afternoon, Disney and Lucasfilm announced that Star Wars: The Last Jedi filmmaker Rian Johnson (pictured directing the late Carrie Fisher above) will be creating an all-new Star Wars trilogy for the company […]

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]]> ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’: Breaking down each scene from the thrilling new trailer https://vanyaland.com/2017/10/10/star-wars-the-last-jedi-breaking-down-each-scene-from-the-thrilling-new-trailer/ Tue, 10 Oct 2017 12:17:47 +0000 http://vanya.wpengine.com/?p=166731 We open on a shot of a pensive Kylo Ren staring at what looks to be a Star Destroyer’s hanger. Based on the size, I’m willing to bet cash money that he’s inside of Supreme Leader Snoke’s command vessel, the Supremacy, which is the only Mega Star Destroyer in existance and frankly gives the Executor from the OT a run for its money. Just look how vast that space is!

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]]> ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’: A scene-by-scene breakdown of Disney’s new featurette https://vanyaland.com/2017/07/17/star-wars-the-last-jedi-a-scene-by-scene-breakdown-of-disneys-new-featurette/ Mon, 17 Jul 2017 18:20:38 +0000 http://vanya.wpengine.com/?p=162054 We’ll start our analysis with glimpse of the crew at work. They’re filming an establishing shot of a city in Croatia called Dubrovnik, and it’s where the long-discussed casino planet had its exteriors filmed. Certain sites say that this planet will be called Canto Blight, but take that with a grain of salt.

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