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Ryan-SWI

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Join date
4-Aug-2014
Last activity
11-Nov-2023
Posts
498

Post History

Post
#1257462
Topic
your thoughts: Did Disney kill star wars because it sounds like they did with the last jedi solo and resistance.
Time

SilverWook said:

When has Disney ever trashed the prequels? Kind of odd, as prequel characters are quite prevalent in the theme parks. Jar Jar being the exception.

Let’s not pretend there weren’t a number of cast and crew involved in TFA championing it as a “return to form”, Simon Pegg being Simon Pegg, and the huge marketing push endlessly touting all the practical effects in the film. They didn’t come out and say “the prequels were crap and this is better”, but in a lot of instances they may as well have.

Post
#1257324
Topic
Harry Potter Extended Editions (Released)
Time

JJPotter said:

After a bit of a layoff, I have pulled out my old edits and have started making some tweaks (hopefully not ala George Lucas). There were some things that I wanted to do when I first was working on these, but didn’t have the confidence to do them properly. Most of these changes involved scenes with green or blue screen. While I incorporated some, there were others that I avoided completely.

The first tweak I am working on is an addition to the DH1 intro. I always wanted to have the full “Dudley Redemption” scene added. I have rendered out an initial cut of the intro with this inserted. I’m not pleased with the music right now, so it will require more tweaks. The only part I have done green screen work on so far is the initial wide shot. Other portions are zoomed in at the moment, which you will be able to see clearly in the quality differences of the footage. I hope to be able to do more green screen work on these portions to increase the quality.

Here is the first draft of this revised intro.

https://vimeo.com/302735914

Looking great so far man, it always annoyed me that such an important scene was tossed in favour of some of the other stuff that was added in.

Post
#1257323
Topic
With 20th century in Disney’s grasp, what are the odds of an OUT release?
Time

I don’t think we’ll see it until after George is gone. I get the impression that it is largely out of respect that they haven’t done anything with it. Whether you agree with it being released or not I think it’s pretty obvious that releasing it would be a pretty big F U to George from Lucasfilm considering how adamant he was about it not being made available.

Post
#1257322
Topic
your thoughts: Did Disney kill star wars because it sounds like they did with the last jedi solo and resistance.
Time

I suppose I’ll throw my two cents in for what it’s worth.

A lot of people echo the sentiment that this current era of Star Wars is no more divisive than the prequel era. I think that’s a misrepresentation of the situation and the only people I see claiming that are those who vehemently defend any and all ST-era content. That’s not a dig at those who do, just to be clear, but I’m yet to see the opposite.

The reality is that Solo was a box office bomb. That has never happened in the history of Star Wars theatrical releases, and a decade ago would be unprecedented, which is something far too many people don’t recognise. Not to mention every single film is steadily returning less and less money as time goes on. Toy sales are garbage, which to be fair could be indicative of toy sales as a whole, but given the success of other brands in similar categories I’d disagree.
Identity politics are massive in this era of Star Wars, and that subject already has enough division in general which has turned away droves of people (again, not saying they’re right or wrong, but that doesn’t change the situation). A large marketing push for the ST-era content was scrapping the EU and dumping on the PT, both of which do have large fanbases, and that kind of blatant and intentional division is something that we haven’t seen happen with the franchise before on a large scale. You didn’t see George talking about how god awful the OT was while promoting the PT. Then you have the fans, on both sides, who seem incapable of having an actual discussion without screeching buzzwords at each other.

And finally, personal feelings of the ST aside, they really don’t add much of substance to the saga of I - VI, and instead feel like a DLC pack for a video game. Remember that this is meant to be a sequel to an epic saga, and what exactly has it added to the story of I - VI? Has it expanded on it in ways other than superficial (character deaths, etc)? Not really. The whole thing feels rather inconsequential.

Compare that to the prequel era. Yes, plenty of people hated the films. However toy sales, merch sales, expanded universe content, everything was at an all time high. On top of this while plenty disliked the films, they didn’t dislike the era and what came along with it. There were far less personal political attacks to drive people away and there certainly wasn’t a box office bomb; not even the dreadful Clone Wars movie managed that. The prequel era was about embracing everything - eras, EU content, everything was accepted. People may not have liked the PT, but they weren’t insulted for it and there wasn’t a collective effort by fans and Lucasfilm alike to get them away from the franchise.

On top of this, love them or hate them, but the PT unarguably contributes and expands on the saga; you can say a lot about it, but ‘tacked on’ isn’t one of them.

There were points of contention in the fanbase during the prequel era but they were considerably more niche and isolated than they are now.

Finally (and this is maybe the most important part of all), kids don’t care about Star Wars. Kids are all wearing Marvel costumes, buying Marvel toys and clothes, seeing Marvel movies. 15 years ago most kids were obsessed with Star Wars and now it’s rare to see many who have any interest at all unless it’s already massive in their household. Kids have always been one of the major target demographics for Star Wars and without their support the brand won’t do nearly as well as it once did.

I think personal feelings aside, it’s obvious that this is quite different to anything the franchise has seen before.

Speaking personally however, I really really liked Rogue One and Solo. However TFA and TLJ are god awful at best and downright insulting at worst for me and as far as I’m concerned, represent everything George Lucas was trying to fight against. They feel lazy as movies and disrespectful of the saga, and for that reason I’ll never see them as anything other than corporate fan fiction, and seeing as the original creator has no involvement there’s actually an argument to be made there, but that’s not the point of this thread.

If you think my personal feelings invalidate my argument that’s fine, but I thought I may as well be transparent and lay out my biases.

I hope Star Wars can get back on track but on its current trajectory I just don’t see that happening.

Sorry for the long write up, don’t blame you if you didn’t make it to the end.

Post
#1245475
Topic
Taking a stand against toxic fandom (and other )
Time

screams in the void said:

I wonder if some were in this very thread that seemed to come out of the woodwork , think I may have come across a few on Facebook as well …https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-last-jedi-was-targeted-by-russian-trolls-study-says-1148475

That shoddy excuse for journalism is horribly biased and the sources are selectively picked and skewed to paint a narrative.

Why is “It’s The Russian Bots!” boogeyman the new excuse for deflecting criticism about anything and everything? Is it so hard to fathom that maybe there’s these crazy things called different opinions?..

There’s an argument to be made for troll brigading, but claiming it’s an international government conspiracy and using very specific twitter ‘findings’ to prove your case is hilariously moronic.

MalàStrana said:

(I’m highly disappointed that Rian Johnson retweets this kind of paper)

And yet not surprising in the least.

Post
#1215982
Topic
<em>Solo: A Star Wars Story</em> — Official Review and Opinions Thread — <strong>SPOILERS</strong>
Time

Mocata said:

They have a brand to maintain, it can’t be watered down with talk of multiple visions.

Considering they’ve managed to destroy their PR of the brand in 2 and a half years a Director’s Cut would probably be the least damaging thing they’ve done in a while.

That being said we’ll get a Jar Jar Binks spin off before that happens.

Also the film has barely crossed 300 million worldwide, am I still being premature in calling it a box office flop or?..

Post
#1215680
Topic
Ranking the Star Wars films
Time

I don’t think I’ve updated my list in a while, at least since Solo. It changes quite often except for #1 and #2 so why not.

  1. Revenge of the Sith
  2. A New Hope
  3. The Phantom Menace
  4. Attack of the Clones
  5. The Empire Strikes Back
  6. Return of the Jedi
  7. Rogue One
  8. Solo

Huge Gap

  1. Ewoks: Battle For Endor
  2. The Force Awakens
  3. Ewoks: Caravan of Courage
  4. The Clone Wars
  5. The Last Jedi
  6. The Holiday Special

1 - 8 I either love immensely or greatly enjoy, 9 onwards is indifferent or despise.

TV Show rankings:

  1. Clone Wars (2003)
  2. Droids
  3. Ewoks
  4. The Clone Wars (2008 Onwards)
  5. Rebels

Not huge on CGI animated shows. I respect that The Clone Wars especially has very good story telling, but I’ve never liked CGI shows no matter what the branding, and I’ve watched The Clone Wars from start to finish. I dunno, the aesthetics bother me. I realise that’s a personal thing though.

Episodes I - VI will always trump all as far as I’m concerned, their ordering is purely viewing preference. The Disney anthology films I get a huge amount of enjoyment out of. Was very surprised by Solo especially, a lot of fun.

The Ewoks movies I have a weird nostalgic attachment to so I enjoy them for that reason. The Force Awakens I quite hate for its story, but I enjoy it as a standalone movie on its own merits. The Clone Wars movie is crap but I can watch it when I’m drunk.
The Last Jedi is disgusting.
The Holiday Special gets last place purely because I’ve never made it through a full viewing in one sitting.

Post
#1215433
Topic
Ranking the Star Wars films
Time

dgraham414 said:

Since there are two more movies I need to update my list.

From bottom to top

10: Attack of the Clones
9: Rogue One
8: A New Hope
7: Revenge of the Sith
6: The Force Awakens
5: Solo
4: The Last Jedi
3: The Empire Strikes Back
2: Return of the Jedi
1: The Phantom Menace

Now, this list is strange, yet it is just based on how each movie makes me feel, not on quality as a film.

Wow, mind explaining your ranking? Legitimately interested if you’d like to share.
Is TPM #1 due to the nostalgic feeling you get from it? Not saying that’s a bad thing, it just makes me curious as the the literal opposite-ending of AOTC if that’s the case. Hope I’m not being presumptious.

Post
#1215034
Topic
Ranking the Star Wars films
Time

pittrek said:

TV’s Frink said:

From what I’ve seen, the biggest sin that the Holiday Special commits is not that it’s bad, but that it’s boring.

Yes, I don’t think I would be able to watch it sober.

I’ve tried while intoxicated several times and still can’t get more than halfway through without fast forwarding. It’s nowhere near the worst thing I’ve ever seen, it’s just so insufferably dull and boring.

Post
#1213683
Topic
<em>Solo: A Star Wars Story</em> — Official Review and Opinions Thread — <strong>SPOILERS</strong>
Time

SilverWook said:

This might be a factor in why some think the movie is drab looking?
http://www.indiewire.com/2018/05/solo-star-a-wars-story-theatre-projection-problems-bradford-young-1201969989/

I thought it was a projector problem at first but I’ve seen it three times at three different luxury cinemas and parts of it look like crap all round.
I think the cinematography just isn’t great.

Obviously the home video release will give the best indication, but considering just about everyone is commenting on how bad some of the images look I doubt it’s just a universal projector problem; it’s too convenient.

Also I’m sticking to my prediction of a bomb; won’t crack 450 mill, mark my words 😉

Post
#1213672
Topic
Harry Potter Extended Editions (Released)
Time

Got a nasty cold so I had an excuse to binge-plow through these.
Absolutely phenomenal; much better than the older edits I had from various sources (no disrespect to the older stuff, love their work, but obviously as technology progresses so does quality). The scenes blend together much smoother than before, it’s great.

@Doctor M, In terms of the audio there’s really only so much you can do. Until WB releases official extended versions (which I doubt will ever happen), we’re just going to have to make do with a stereo downmix for now.

I’ve got both a quality soundbar for things like this, and a surround sound system for 5.1/7.1 4K/BD/etc when it calls for it. I just alternate between the two depending on what I’m watching. Hope I don’t sound antagonistic, just trying to clarify that there’s only so much that can be done!

Great job JJ, I’m really impressed.

Post
#1213123
Topic
<em>Solo: A Star Wars Story</em> — Official Review and Opinions Thread — <strong>SPOILERS</strong>
Time

The Autistic Asexual said:

Solo is on top of the worldwide box office and it’s a flop?! WOW! Explain that one to me.

Is this sarcasm?

I hope it is, because the movie landed on its face, under-performed like crazy and continues to make less and less money.
It has a shot at maybe having some domestic legs (Incredibles 2 and JW2 aren’t gonna let that happen, but for the sake of argument), but it has flopped hard overseas and if history serves it isn’t likely to magically pick up.

When Disney themselves and crew members are acknowledging it, there’s a real issue.

Given the inflated production costs due to re-shooting almost the entire film you’re probably looking at 600 mill to break even.
Breaking even isn’t good enough.

I like the film but it has flopped. I wish it didn’t, but it has.

We’re basically seeing a Justice League 2.0 at the box office.

Post
#1212841
Topic
Info: Films re-released with alterations
Time

Chewielewis said:

Ryan-SWI said:

The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
-Erased car in field: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120737/goofs?item=gf1407118

Probably not a lot of interest, but I’ve come across a bootleg DVD that has the theatrical screener as its source.

Wow i’ve been after this for a while, did you find it online or as a physical disc.

Physical disc at a garage sale.

Would you like me to rip it for you?

Post
#1212452
Topic
General Star Wars <strong>Random Thoughts</strong> Thread
Time

ZkinandBonez said:

LexX said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

I hate the name “Qi’ra”.

They should’ve spelled it Kira. Wasn’t Kira supposed to be Luke’s original sister or something at some point. Anyways, I think Kira is a pretty name. Qi’ra is just unnecessary.

I think Kira was Lucas’ name for the character that eventually turned into Rey.

Correct.

Popular name in the EU also

Post
#1212416
Topic
The Force Awakens: Official Review Thread - ** SPOILERS **
Time

Mocata said:

I have no idea why Anakin believes what he does beyond the fact the story needs him to be in a robot suit after 130 minutes. Especially when some of the promises Palpatine fed him were so vague and outlandish.

EDIT: On second thoughts I’m worried my post was too off topic so I’m just gonna say “nah” and move on

Post
#1212392
Topic
Info: Films re-released with alterations
Time

The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
-Erased car in field: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120737/goofs?item=gf1407118

Probably not a lot of interest, but I’ve come across a bootleg DVD that has the theatrical screener as its source.

Second pic is of the car in motion. Pretty hard to see from a screencap due to the resolution, but you can see it moving in the actual film.
Here’s the scene in question in motion for those curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOg5x1uMMe4

As a bonus the menu is typical early 2000s bootleg goodness: