Star Wars: Episode VII to be directed by J.J. Abrams **NON SPOILER THREAD** — Page 160

LexX said:

TK428 said:

Question: Did someone besides Lawrence Kasdan or JJ Abrams write the opening crawl?

It’s fairly well known that Brian De Palma wrote and re-shaped what George had originally written for the SW77.

That’s an interesting question and in all honesty, I have no idea who actually wrote the OT crawls.

If I recall, George’s original crawl appeared in either the novelization or the comic adaptation. So, I know that the film wasn’t exactly what George wrote, but I also have no idea who re-wrote it.

First non-spoiler review:

Here’s my non-spoiler review/impressions on the movie. NOSTALGIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Oh boy, how to review a film without talking anything about the story.

My whole plan to see the film was try to avoid any footage of it besides the teasers. This is very difficult especially in my field. I did see the first two teasers as planned, but haven’t seen any of the latest marketing besides a brief bit of a TV Spot, and of course that meme all over my feed, thanks facebook friends. Anyways, based on this, I had no idea what to expect.

Yes, the film is excellent. Hell, its fucking awesome. Its nice to see a decent Star Wars film after the prequels (I know it gets tiring, but there’ll be comparisons here).

Effects: JJ has been heavily emphasizing practical models and effects and there’s actually a lot of it, or the CGI is just so good on certain things. Either way it worked. Obviously there’s CGI, and having seen Revenge of the Sith recently obviously TFA’s CGI beats it. It doesn’t feel like its all over the place, like Lucas prequel films, sorry if it sounds a bit off topic here. The sound design itself is awesome. I mean people will focus on the obviously amazing soundtrack by John Williams, but I very much enjoyed the sounds of the various things in the movie (Spaceships, characters, world, etc). No complaints for the effects honestly.

Cinematography did the job when needed in my opinion. It doesn’t really stand out but there are a few stunning landscape shots. I would be more specific on what scenes, but no spoilers.

Did it feel like a Star Wars movie? There were a few people mentioning to me they were worried about it just being a sci fi movie with Star Wars elements. Its definitely a Star Wars movie, and a great one at that. If the Williams theme doesn’t convince you, then the characters will and the feel of the world. Lots of fan service, but done very well. I’m not exactly a hardcore fan here, but even a casual person might get a few of the references heh. If you feel worried the marketing has spoiled a bit, you’re in for a show. I think their restrained marketing strategy will really please fans. I’d be honestly okay if JJ did the rest of the series, but it’ll be interesting to see how the other directors handle it.

Characters characters characters. How were the new leads like Ridley and Boyega? They were both good, though I think Boyega was better. Had some great scenes. I’m going to avoid talking about the old cast besides saying Ford may have aged, but he’s still Han Solo. I would talk more in this section, but I might be walking into spoiler territory. No complaints about the characters here in general.

Its also nice to have a decent script where the characters aren’t worried about stupid sand or cringe worthy romance bits.

Crowd was perfect btw, they cheered at the right moments. I think they enjoyed it, but I didn’t exactly survey everyone. Though Disney types did hand out some surveys. What does this mean for box office? Seeing the film doesn’t automatically make me the best box office predictor but I can say with confidence that it’ll explode. Anyways.

Its definitely a Star Wars movie.

STAR WARS IS BACK.

If I had to rate it, this is tough because I really love a New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. I think in some ways its stronger then ANH, but that movie was so damn revolutionary that its hard to top for me.

ESB
ANH
TFA
ROTJ
ROTS
TPM
AOTC

Final rating: A

Take this as you wish as this is just one person’s opinion.

Source: http://forums.boxofficetheory.com/topic/6655-star-wars-the-force-awakens-dec-18-2015-no-spoilers-even-fake-ones-boxofficez-non-spoiler-review-pg-2254-review-actually-on-pg-2251-yw/?page=2251#comment-2292038

As far as the ranking goes, that’s exactly what I’ve got my fingers crossed for.

emanswfan said:

First non-spoiler review:

Here’s my non-spoiler review/impressions on the movie. NOSTALGIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Oh boy, how to review a film without talking anything about the story.

My whole plan to see the film was try to avoid any footage of it besides the teasers. This is very difficult especially in my field. I did see the first two teasers as planned, but haven’t seen any of the latest marketing besides a brief bit of a TV Spot, and of course that meme all over my feed, thanks facebook friends. Anyways, based on this, I had no idea what to expect.

Yes, the film is excellent. Hell, its fucking awesome. Its nice to see a decent Star Wars film after the prequels (I know it gets tiring, but there’ll be comparisons here).

Effects: JJ has been heavily emphasizing practical models and effects and there’s actually a lot of it, or the CGI is just so good on certain things. Either way it worked. Obviously there’s CGI, and having seen Revenge of the Sith recently obviously TFA’s CGI beats it. It doesn’t feel like its all over the place, like Lucas prequel films, sorry if it sounds a bit off topic here. The sound design itself is awesome. I mean people will focus on the obviously amazing soundtrack by John Williams, but I very much enjoyed the sounds of the various things in the movie (Spaceships, characters, world, etc). No complaints for the effects honestly.

Cinematography did the job when needed in my opinion. It doesn’t really stand out but there are a few stunning landscape shots. I would be more specific on what scenes, but no spoilers.

Did it feel like a Star Wars movie? There were a few people mentioning to me they were worried about it just being a sci fi movie with Star Wars elements. Its definitely a Star Wars movie, and a great one at that. If the Williams theme doesn’t convince you, then the characters will and the feel of the world. Lots of fan service, but done very well. I’m not exactly a hardcore fan here, but even a casual person might get a few of the references heh. If you feel worried the marketing has spoiled a bit, you’re in for a show. I think their restrained marketing strategy will really please fans. I’d be honestly okay if JJ did the rest of the series, but it’ll be interesting to see how the other directors handle it.

Characters characters characters. How were the new leads like Ridley and Boyega? They were both good, though I think Boyega was better. Had some great scenes. I’m going to avoid talking about the old cast besides saying Ford may have aged, but he’s still Han Solo. I would talk more in this section, but I might be walking into spoiler territory. No complaints about the characters here in general.

Its also nice to have a decent script where the characters aren’t worried about stupid sand or cringe worthy romance bits.

Crowd was perfect btw, they cheered at the right moments. I think they enjoyed it, but I didn’t exactly survey everyone. Though Disney types did hand out some surveys. What does this mean for box office? Seeing the film doesn’t automatically make me the best box office predictor but I can say with confidence that it’ll explode. Anyways.

Its definitely a Star Wars movie.

STAR WARS IS BACK.

If I had to rate it, this is tough because I really love a New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. I think in some ways its stronger then ANH, but that movie was so damn revolutionary that its hard to top for me.

ESB
ANH
TFA
ROTJ
ROTS
TPM
AOTC

Final rating: A

Take this as you wish as this is just one person’s opinion.

Source: http://forums.boxofficetheory.com/topic/6655-star-wars-the-force-awakens-dec-18-2015-no-spoilers-even-fake-ones-boxofficez-non-spoiler-review-pg-2254-review-actually-on-pg-2251-yw/?page=2251#comment-2292038

This sounds nice, but it’s hard to take this seriously when the reviewer didn’t mention anything they thought could have been done better. When there’s really no counterpoint, the review just comes off looking like propaganda or that it was written by a fanboy.

Hey Star Wars fans! Here’s a TFA sneak-peek you guys might be interested in:

For their 300th episode, the popular movie review podcast “Comedy Film Nerds” is going to be recording and releasing a review episode of The Force Awakens before the film is even released in North America.

The two hosts (@GrahamElwood and @ChrisMancini) live in California, but are literally flying across the world to Melbourne, Australia JUST to see the movie first and give the fans some info about what you’re about to see. They’ll be seeing the film on what will actually be Tuesday 12/15 in the US.

Then, right after, they’re going to record a live episode in front of the audience that just saw the film, reviewing and discussing all things TFA. It’ll be a mash-up event with Steele Wars, an aussie Star Wars podcast.

These guys are all huge huge Star Wars fans (their podcast’s slogan is legit ‘Han shot first.’), so I definitely think they’ll have some awesome stuff to say.

Anyway, I suggest you subscribe to the ‘Comedy Film Nerds’ podcast on iTunes.

The episode will drop at 11am on Wednesday 12/16 (US Pacific Time [UTC -8:00]).

I’m super excited to hear what they have to say about it. I just feel like I need to know asap whether it’s gonna be awesome or not, haha.

—Lindsay (@MarsOddity)

Edit;
In the spoiler free discussion?

Poorly placed spam. No one avoiding spoilers will have any interest in that.

It’s getting close. I still can’t feel it, but I know it’s coming, and so are the spoilers. I’ll probably say good bye to the internet tomorrow and return Thursday night.

remove

Star Wars Force Awakens Soundtrack Target Special Edition
Sale: 12.99

Exclusive Cover Art + 2 Collectible Cards

http://www.target.com/p/star-wars-the-force-awakens-soundtrack-target-exclusive/-/A-50076321#prodSlot=medium_1_8&term=star+wars+soundtrack

Weekly ad Shows $14.99 but its listed online for $9.99

I highly doubt this will go lower in price, if anything it will go up.

The Target Exclusive Man of Steel OST is now $22 and has never gone down sadly, will nab that one day.

Shipping only right now, but I would lock in price in case they bump it up Friday as advertised in ad

I have a bad feeling about this movie. The dark side I sense in it.

Warbler said:

I have a bad feeling about this movie. The dark side I sense in it.

FTFY

*awaits inevitable *sigh**

A few thoughts before I check out of this thread entirely for the next few days…

I heard on the radio today that there are some who are now starting to see very early showings of ‘The Force Awakens’. With only 2 days to go before I get to finally see it for myself, I reckon it’s going to be a tough couple of days to avoid some sort of random ‘early review’ etc. on the Net, on TV, on radio, or in the papers…

But I’m gonna try my best…as the last thing I want is to hear someone else’s point-of-view at this stage (whether positive or negative), after managing to avoid a lot of info. up till now - it hasn’t been easy! However, I’ll certainly be interested to catch up with all the reveals/speculation/and opinions I’ve missed in the spoiler threads these past weeks, once I’ve made up my own mind on it all.

After only seeing the initial 2 trailers, and knowing very few details about the storyline, I’m feeling optimistic while keeping my expectations reasonably moderate. I know it’s only another ‘Star Wars’ movie at the end of the day…but dammit, I want it to be one that a lot of audiences like.

Anyway, here’s what I’m personally hoping the movie will bring, and I’ll know in a couple of days -

I’m hoping that the lead-in logos to the ‘A long time ago…’ wording, main titles, and ‘scroll’ aren’t too jarring, seeing as the familiar 20th Century Fox image and fanfare are going to be absent this time around…

…and I’m hoping the ‘scroll’ wording will end up being a lot more enticing than the talk of ‘Trade embargos’ that we got for ‘The Phantom Menace’…and that it sets things up for this latest trilogy in a more appealing way…

…and I’m hoping that J.J. will give us a more memorable ‘opening shot’ than what we got for the start of the prequels - I’m not expecting anything as impactful as what we got for ‘A New Hope’, but I’m hoping for something a bit more eventful than the simple ‘panning’ shot we got of the ship at the start of George’s prequel trilogy…

…and I’m hoping that I like a lot of the design-work for the movie, where the vehicles…props…creatures…costumes…and sets are concerned. I’m sure I’ll dislike some aspects, but I hope that I’ll end up liking most of them - and I can’t wait to see some of the inevitable ‘Art of…’ books that will follow…

…and I’m hoping that John Williams has managed to come up with another excellent score, as that’s one of the aspects I’m most looking forward to once again - and the soundtrack will be another must-have to get eventually…

…and I’m hoping that the storyline does the older Luke, Han, and Leia characters justice, and that we don’t have too many instances of George’s ‘mirrored’ dialogue throughout the movie (rehashing if you ask me) - I don’t particularly need to hear someone repeating the “I have a bad feeling about this” line again, for instance…unless it’s by 'ol Han himself…just once. One of the things I’m confident about though, is that none of the dialogue in this will be as dire as some of the worst which was written for the prequels…so that will be an immediate improvement…

…and I’m hoping that Darth Vader’s ‘Chosen One’/Force-induced ‘immaculate conception’ origin isn’t mentioned…as I don’t want to include that aspect in my prequel re-edits whatsoever…

…and I’m hoping that the Jedi ‘rule’ of ‘no close relationships allowed’ isn’t maintained either…as I don’t want to include that aspect in my prequel re-edits either…

…and I’m hoping for some humourous little moments that are actually warm and funny once again. Something along a more ‘childlike’ vein, such as when Artoo slowly keeled over after being zapped by the Jawas in ‘A New Hope’, or when Chewie startled the ‘mouse droid’…rather than done in a ‘childish’ manner, like when Jar Jar stepped in poodoo, or got farted on in ‘The Phantom Menace’…

…and I’m hoping the little BB-8 droid is going to be as appealing as I think he’s going to be…

…and I’m hoping that the majority of the special effects will indeed look cutting edge and special, as these movies always pushed the envelope where those were concerned…

…and I’m hoping that I’ll be very satisfied by the time 'J.J.'s end credits appear, and that I’ll leave the cinema looking forward to the next instalment…knowing that the ‘Star Wars’ brand is back with a successful bang, despite the missteps of the prequels…and knowing that lots of fans of the overall saga will be able to feel the same…

…it’s a big ask, but not long now till I find out… 😃

DuracellEnergizer said:

Warbler said:

I have a bad feeling about this movie. The dark side I sense in it.

FTFY

*awaits inevitable *sigh**

*sigh*

ImperialFighter said:

I’m hoping that the lead-in logos to the ‘A long time ago…’ wording, main titles, and ‘scroll’ aren’t too jarring, seeing as the familiar 20th Century Fox image and fanfare are going to be absent this time around…

yeah, it will be strange to see the Disney logo and perhaps a little bit of wish upon of a star instead of the 20th Century Fox logo and fanfare.

…and I’m hoping that J.J. will give us a more memorable ‘opening shot’ than what we got for the start of the prequels - I’m not expecting anything as impactful as what we got for ‘A New Hope’, but I’m hoping for something a bit more eventful than the simple ‘panning’ shot we got of the ship at the start of George’s prequel trilogy…

I tell you how I’d start the movie. I’d start it with the death of Jar Jar Binks, and I’d have him die a horrible, painful death. I bet the applause in the audience would be quite loud after that.

…and I’m hoping that John Williams has managed to come up with another excellent score, as that’s one of the aspects I’m most looking forward to once again - and the soundtrack will be another must-have to get eventually…

John Williams is the only one I have faith in, to not disappoint.

…and I’m hoping that the storyline does the older Luke, Han, and Leia characters justice,

I hope so too, but this is where I have a really bad feeling. I have feeling from watching the trailers that it will turn out that after and despite the events ROTJ, the Rebellion failed and Han. Luke, and Leia went into hiding.

…and I’m hoping that the Jedi ‘rule’ of ‘no close relationships allowed’ isn’t maintained either…as I don’t want to include that aspect in my prequel re-edits either…

I doubt that will be issue. I suspect there isn’t to be Jedi Council with formal rules already set up.

…and I’m hoping for some humourous little moments that are actually warm and funny once again. Something along a more ‘childlike’ vein, such as when Artoo slowly keeled over after being zapped by the Jawas in ‘A New Hope’, or when Chewie startled the ‘mouse droid’…rather than done in a ‘childish’ manner, like when Jar Jar stepped in poodoo, or got farted on in ‘The Phantom Menace’…

…and I’m hoping the little BB-8 droid is going to be as appealing as I think he’s going to be…

BB-8 concerns me. All I have seen is him in the trailer, where the heck in good old Artoo? BB-8 might be nice, but I want Artoo!

…and I’m hoping that the majority of the special effects will indeed look cutting edge and special, as these movies always pushed the envelope where those were concerned…

indeed.

…and I’m hoping that I’ll be very satisfied by the time 'J.J.'s end credits appear, and that I’ll leave the cinema looking forward to the next instalment…knowing that the ‘Star Wars’ brand is back with a successful bang, despite the missteps of the prequels…and knowing that lots of fans of the overall saga will be able to feel the same…

…it’s a big ask, but not long now till I find out… 😃

It would be nice if that were the case.

Warbler said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

Warbler said:

I have a bad feeling about this movie. The dark side I sense in it.

FTFY

*awaits inevitable *sigh**

*sigh*

And the crowd goes wild!

Found this filming location infographic on Business Insider on my commute to work this morning, doesn’t look half bad!

http://uk.businessinsider.com/map-of-star-wars-filming-locations-2015-12

I know a lot of people are doing Star Wars things at the moment, but I think this one by cyplon.co.uk isn’t bad - and looks like they put thought into it!

Anchorhead said:

TK428 said:
John Boyega on ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, Deleted Scenes, and Whether Han Shot First

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9H3yVGCUcQ

He’s fun to listen to in interviews. He has a healthy sense of all this craziness and doesn’t take it too seriously. I particularly like his reply to the who shot first question. He doesn’t even let the guy finish the question before matter-of-factly answering Han, then asks the interviewer “what kind of question is that?”

That seems similar to JJ’s response from the same interviewer. Something about being insulted that he would even ask.

Price of OST at Target now $9.99 I’d nab it if you care to.