Hey Hal!
Just watched down the work print, and I love your style! You’re careful and subtle with the changes, so that none of the edits were distracting.
I was most impressed, of course, with the Canto Bight cutdown. Oh man, I can enjoy the movie so much more with that reduction, I think you nailed it!
One thing, though, that I just won’t be able to ever get over watching is the Leia Poppins scene. It’s just too distracting. Ultimately, I think I will want a hybrid of your edit with this scene cut.
So, inspired by the Ivan Ortega videos and my wife’s suggestion for how to eliminate that scene, I tried my hand at a proof of concept edit to see if it can be removed without being too fan-edity. This is the result: https://vimeo.com/268210930
(pw: fanedit)
Does this work at all? One thing I would like to do, with permission, is use the music change Ortega outlined here: https://youtu.be/wq57WLWAqU8?t=10m15s
I love his music transition from Hux to Leia, and that would be my ideal way to finish off the scene. What do you think?