EyeofTyr
Hank Scorpio
Strange and Mystical
Posts: 5,744
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Post by EyeofTyr on Jan 6, 2018 18:40:50 GMT -5
My list goes: ESB ANH TFA ROTJ TLJ Rogue One ROTS TPM AOTC (I love how for most people the bottom three remains consistent) Rogue One was okay. As a film. Pacing, directing, soundtrack, story were all okay. But I truly could not invest in any of the characters. And I particularly loathed Diego Luna's performance as Cassian. K-2SO was funny. And of course the two Vader scenes. And we almost didn't even get the one at the end which is funny considering when Rogue One came out, that scene was what most were talking about. The one performance I truly loved in R1 was Riz Ahmed as Bodhi...just a wonderful performance, vulnerable, nuanced. I wished he would have had a bigger part but I loved what we got. Like I mentioned before, to me the Rogue One cast outside of the main three were the best. Bodhi was genuinely the best played of the misfits, but I enjoyed Chirrut and Baze greatly too. The outcome of Chirrut broke my heart, it was a tragically beautiful scene. Like, I'd love to see a prequel film around Chirrut's and Baze's misadventures, and their tie to the old Jedi temple. I feel like that's the biggest problem with Rogue One, there's a list of characters in it I'd have rather seen more of the stories of than Cassian's and Jyn's even. Chirrut, Baze, Bodhi, Krennic and Galen's past in the Empire, even Saw and his radical rebellion.
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adamclark52
El Dandy
I'm one with the Force; the Force is with me
Posts: 8,139
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Post by adamclark52 on Jan 6, 2018 20:41:49 GMT -5
I think that one thing I really loved about Rogue One is that judging by the previews I thought it was going to be terrible and I ended up loving it.
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Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on Jan 7, 2018 18:31:24 GMT -5
I'm sure I will eventually watch Solo on DVD with my family at Christmas.
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Post by YAKMAN is ICHIBAN on Jan 8, 2018 9:50:43 GMT -5
Looking at that poster for Solo I just know this scene is going to happen. Han tells the woman he loves her and she will reply back "I know". And then I'll groan, loudly. Oh you'll love this
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Jiren
Patti Mayonnaise
Hearts Bayformers
Posts: 35,163
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Post by Jiren on Jan 8, 2018 9:53:30 GMT -5
Looking at that poster for Solo I just know this scene is going to happen. Han tells the woman he loves her and she will reply back "I know". And then I'll groan, loudly. Oh you'll love this RLM mocking Star Wars will always be funny. Don't get me wrong, I love Pre-Disney Star Wars but some of it is daft
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Post by Clash, Never a Meter Maid on Jan 8, 2018 10:11:09 GMT -5
I enjoyed Rogue One, but it's easily the most downbeat of the Disney SW movies so far. As much as people comment on how cynical Last Jedi comes off to them, there's a heavy sense of gloom that kicks into the third half when you realize everyone probably isn't going to make it.
I do appreciate how Gareth Edwards wanted to try something different, just like how I admire how Rian Johnson took risks with his installment. All three are great, but I'm more likely to rewatch TFA and TLJ before Rogue.
Cassian was kind of dry, but I was invested in everything happing with Jyn throughout the film pretty hard.
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Post by HMARK Center on Jan 8, 2018 19:48:18 GMT -5
Rogue One wasn't bad in my book, but I'm kind of on board with those saying they just couldn't get very invested in the characters. There were a lot of them, and it didn't feel like they served enough of a purpose. Just felt like if it hadn't had "Star Wars" on the marquee and had been its own movie it wouldn't have been very interesting...and I get that you can't really separate the movie from the franchise it's in, but it just fell a bit too flat to be really memorable.
The problem I keep running into with a lot of Disney produced stuff over the past handful of years is that I can just kind of take it or leave it. I'll go see a good amount of them in theaters, I'll have a little fun and won't feel bad for dropping $10 or whatever to go, but afterward I don't really retain very much about them.
Speaking of Red Letter Media, I guess I always come back to the bit they did in their Plinkett Phantom Menace review where they ask people to describe characters from the original trilogy and get plenty of answers, then ask about the prequel cast and get almost nothing. The Disney films have certainly been better than the prequels on that front, but I find that even among people I know who liked the new ones a whole lot of us can't seem to actually name a lot of the new characters by memory. I'm guessing part of that is being older, not getting attached to the new stuff the way we did to the old stuff, but the OT was so archetypal that it was incredibly easy to fall into its world and retain a lot of it, which is just not something I've gotten enough of from the new stuff.
And in a way it's too bad, too; both the Disney Star Wars and the Marvel stuff do admirable jobs of trying to get some interesting messages into their movies, which I think is a nice touch; e.g., Guardians Vol 2 doing a takedown of toxic masculinity, Thor: Ragnarok and the theme of Asgaard kind of deserving to fall due to how it was built on conquest and bloodshed, Last Jedi with some interesting meta stuff to say about letting go of the past, etc. Problem is, I don't feel like it all sticks enough, and sometimes the films even go against their own themes (e.g. Luke/Yoda with the Jedi library...woops, wait, Rey got the books, anyway! Move on from the past, but here's Empire vs. Rebels v2).
Maybe for my tastes it boils down to the original trilogy being very archetypal and simple in nature, while the new ones seem like they want to keep some of that simplicity but want to work these messages in at the same time without fully committing to either track.
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EyeofTyr
Hank Scorpio
Strange and Mystical
Posts: 5,744
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Post by EyeofTyr on Jan 8, 2018 20:55:08 GMT -5
You know, they make it a point that while the First Order is gaining traction it isn't that big of a group yet, and the Resistance/now Rebels are very small in number too.
It'd be a genuinely interesting take if in the third movie they have their battle, only for a third faction/party to show up and essentially take over the galaxy while they're having their fight. With them seemingly intending on keeping this main series going beyond the next episode too, it'd be a good way to set up the next trilogy. Especially if whoever this third party is is not necessarily clearly white hats or black hats.
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Fade
Patti Mayonnaise
Posts: 38,295
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Post by Fade on Jan 8, 2018 23:36:00 GMT -5
You know, they make it a point that while the First Order is gaining traction it isn't that big of a group yet, and the Resistance/now Rebels are very small in number too. It'd be a genuinely interesting take if in the third movie they have their battle, only for a third faction/party to show up and essentially take over the galaxy while they're having their fight. With them seemingly intending on keeping this main series going beyond the next episode too, it'd be a good way to set up the next trilogy. Especially if whoever this third party is is not necessarily clearly white hats or black hats. Watched it again today and I was thinking the same thing: There should be a third party, if not multiple different opposition forces in the next one.
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Jan 9, 2018 0:00:03 GMT -5
Rogue One wasn't bad in my book, but I'm kind of on board with those saying they just couldn't get very invested in the characters. There were a lot of them, and it didn't feel like they served enough of a purpose. I do agree I wouldn't call it a bad movie... but that was my biggest problem with Rogue one. A lot of the characters felt superfluous or they stuck around after they had served their purpose to the plot and just kinda hung around with nothing to do. I think the script could have used another editor to go through and combine a few characters so they'd be more memorable and never seem like they were just there to die.
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adamclark52
El Dandy
I'm one with the Force; the Force is with me
Posts: 8,139
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Post by adamclark52 on Jan 9, 2018 1:05:47 GMT -5
I got more brotherly love from Chirrut and Baze then I did Luke and Han.
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Post by 'Foretold' Joker on Jan 9, 2018 6:22:07 GMT -5
I blame the Prequels a bit for one issue in Last Jedi.
Before the Prequels we didn't really know what the Empire was in charge of and how much of the Galaxy it actually had. It wasn't important to the story, but after seeing so many places, races and Coruscant in the three prequels it feels a bit hollow in Last Jedi to be mainly only following the two fleets in close proximity to each other.
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adamclark52
El Dandy
I'm one with the Force; the Force is with me
Posts: 8,139
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Post by adamclark52 on Jan 12, 2018 19:00:21 GMT -5
My kids are watching the Force Awakens in the background and while there are many-a cracks it's a f***ing masterpiece compared to the Last Jedi.
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Post by HMARK Center on Jan 12, 2018 21:13:31 GMT -5
Found an article that came out today that said what I tried to say in my last post better than I could: The Last Jedi Lost Its NerveThe writer makes clear that he liked the movie, but he hits on what was bothering me before: that a lot of the Disney-produced movies of late hint at larger themes and even sometimes a challenging concept here or there, but they never fully commit, never go all the way, because doing so might risk the financial gravy train of merchandising and brand identity. These are blockbusters, after all, and with the type of money at stake these days such high risks just aren't acceptable to shareholders. What it boils down to is that Last Jedi took some very real, very interesting chances, which I very much appreciated in the moment, but each time it could have done something interesting with those choices it just backed off from going all in, likely due to some executive input. The article's writer points to the film's themes of tragedy, feminism, and moral ambiguity: each one is an interesting narrative in and of itself, but by the end of the film none of it lands the way it should, because the film doesn't 100% commit to taking the chances to their fullest, most interesting extents. The moral ambiguity one will be instantly recognizable to anyone who saw the movie: the Kylo/Rey throne room scene is where the potential to discard the past of a pure "light vs. dark" battle shines brightest, but by the end Kylo is firmly the dark megalomaniac and Rey is firmly with the light and pursuing becoming a Jedi, despite the film spending so much of its energy telling us that dividing the Force between light and dark and acting as if it can be controlled as the Jedi and Sith wanted to was always wrongheaded, and that it may be best for the series to grow beyond the Jedi framework when dealing with the Force. I mean, Yoda himself shows up to tell us to move on, and then we just...don't. More interesting to me is the tragedy aspect: so much of the film is steeped in tragedy, in protagonists who constantly make the wrong choices or who run out of luck at the worst times, in swarths of the protagonist faction being killed in battle due to those wrong choices, etc. Poe's hard-headedness and tunnel vision nearly kills the rebellion, Finn and Rose just can't get the job done, Rey remains lost with regards to her place in the universe and feels tempted by the pull of darkness, and eventually Luke-friggin'-Skywalker has to come out of exile and sacrifice himself to make up for their mistakes and shortcomings and give them a chance to fight another day and get it right later. And yet...very little of that sinks in. Shouldn't Poe have been punished for his recklessness? Shouldn't Finn and Rose have shown greater guilt or some sort of outward emotion over their failure contributing to the bleak outcome? Shouldn't it be made clearer that Luke's sacrifice was only needed because the heroes just weren't ready, and were fighting a new war as if this was still the 70s/80s and stories were simpler? It just never takes the full plunge; it's all hinted at, it's pointed toward, but it never just takes a deep breath and goes all the way with a risky creative decision that could give Star Wars the new identity it could use going forward. Ending the dark second chapter with Poe in a brig facing court martial, with Finn and Rose realizing that their attempts to play hero were for naught, with Rey not fully able to comprehend the ambiguity facing her, with the rebellion on life support, and with each of them realizing that in a way they're responsible for Luke's death...that's dark, it shifts the paradigms of Star Wars going forward, and sets up a story of redemption in the third movie that would have to be hard-earned. But as things went, the heroes still got moments to shine, still got reassurances that they were good and don't need to feel bad, that things will be fine, and for me that made Luke's death fall pretty flat and feel unnecessary. In the end, that's what disappoints me: if you're going to take these creative chances, go all in. If you're not, then keep things simple and archetypal like the original trilogy. Hinting at deeper themes, giving every single character an "arc" to go through during the film, it just falls flat if you're not ultimately going to go in more interesting and, yes, at times risky directions with them.
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adamclark52
El Dandy
I'm one with the Force; the Force is with me
Posts: 8,139
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Post by adamclark52 on Jan 15, 2018 4:51:43 GMT -5
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adamclark52
El Dandy
I'm one with the Force; the Force is with me
Posts: 8,139
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Post by adamclark52 on Feb 13, 2018 4:13:39 GMT -5
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2018 7:43:07 GMT -5
{Spoiler}.....stopping those lasers and hitting them all back was beautiful. Kinda senseless, but it fits RIGHT IN with what'd already been established in TFA so sure. (But then, the "dusting off his cloak" bit was probably more beautiful so I don't mind. )
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2018 10:03:55 GMT -5
Home release is set. March 13 for digital media, March 27 for Blu-ray and 4K. The release will have 13 deleted scenes and a feature length documentary.
Also, since it’s the spoiler thread I shouldn’t have to say it, but WOW they just throw out everything in this trailer.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2018 10:29:36 GMT -5
The release will have 13 deleted scenes and a feature length documentary. Wow, interesting. I thought I'd heard there was very little in regards to deleted scenes; that Rian pretty much put everything he shot in the movie. But 13? Damn...
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Post by Mr PONYMANIA Mr Jenzie on Feb 20, 2018 11:17:48 GMT -5
you mean ..... FOURTEEN DELETED BITS ..... also i know what you mean about spoilers, two at least, and that first one was a genuine surprise for me calling it right now {Spoiler}jedi ghost army like in return of the king
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