DominicCobb

moviefreakedmind said:

Can anyone tell me if the Before Trilogy by Richard Linklater is worth watching sooner rather than later? It’s been on my list for a while but I haven’t bothered with it yet. I know it’s supposed to be great, but my question is: should I prioritize watching it?

It’s a great watch for sure, but that’s a tough question to answer. Depends on what other stuff is on your watchlist I suppose.

TV’s Frink said:

He’s making fun of either Dek or the people making fun of Dek.

Oh okay. I kinda skimmed over that conversation.

CatBus said:

DominicCobb said:

CatBus said:

DominicCobb said:

moviefreakedmind said:

TV’s Frink said:

moviefreakedmind said:

MalàStrana said:

NeverarGreat said:

Trump is very smart at branding and controlling the media narrative.

Media is politics, then do the math 😃

Also, if he’s so great with the media, then why is he so historically unpopular? And why was he barely capable of even coming within 3,000,000 votes of winning the popular election? I don’t even know why I’m asking these questions.

Because 8 billion illegal criminals voted for Clinton in California, duh.

I love how right-wingers claim to love the electoral college now purely because it gives Republicans an advantage. They say, “Well, if it weren’t for the electoral college then people in California and New York’s votes would count for something.” Yeah, that’s how the democratic election of a representative works.

Well we’re a democratic republic, which I guess means that if you live in a more populous area, your voice matters less.

I know I’m being pedantic, but over-representation of rural areas is not in any way a by-product of a democratic republic. I know people say that all the time but they are all completely wrong. The fact that votes cast by people who live in less populated areas have more weight than votes cast by people in more populated areas is mostly just a function of how we chose to implement federalism in the US. There are other ways to implement federalism, and you can also have a democratic republic with no federalism at all, so that this is a non-issue. Democratic republics and our electoral college mess are apples and unicycles. There’s no link.

Technically you still have a little over-representation of areas with lower (or negative) population growth in a democratic republic (which tends to skew rural, but not always), due to the fact that the census is not continuous and is instead based on snapshots in time. But if that were the only issue we were struggling with, our democracy would be in good shape today.

Good write up, though I hope you know I was joking.

Yeah, but it’s such a common statement I’m not sure you can deadpan it like that. I’m sure if elections were cancelled or votes were openly discarded, someone would say, “Well sure, if we were a Democracy this wouldn’t happen, but we’re a Democratic Republic so of course ballot boxes get dumped in the river.”

Just to be clear though, the joke I was making was on the part of people using “democratic republic” as an excuse/explanation for why our current electoral college is such a good thing, but I can see how you interpreted it.

How does a 5.9 translate to C-?

darthrush said:

DominicCobb said:

darthrush said:

DominicCobb said:

While I agree that it’s a shame we didn’t get more new motivic material in TLJ, if you really do listen to the score (and I mean all of it, not just what’s on the soundtrack), I think there’s a strong argument to be made that in pretty much every other way it is better than TFA.

Yeah. I actually forgot to mention tracks like “The Spark” which is just fantastic. And the music that plays when Luke closes his saber and surrenders to Kylo is great too.

I must say though that one area that is lacking is the music during the throne room fight. It is so forgettable. Which is why I will replace it with Duel of the Fates.

I think the throne room battle is an absolutely fantastic action cue. In my mind, you don’t want something epic on the scale of “Duel of the Fates” for that because A) it’s not the climax of the film, and B) it’s not an epic duel, it’s just Rey and Ben teaming up to defend themselves. The most epic part of that scene is when Snoke dies and we see them decide to team up (not when they actually fight), and I think the music fits that well enough.

Eh, I guess we’ll agree to disagree haha. I think the main reason I find it so epic is cause we are meant to see the potential of what they can accomplish if they rule the galaxy together and the light saber fight with the guards is kind of meant to signify that. But yeah, the action cue used is not bad by any means.

I will say my one very specific complaint in regards to the score is that we didn’t get a Rey/Kylo theme. This ideally would’ve been played throughout their connection scenes as mysterious at first, ultimately culminating in a sweeping action rendition during this scene. Since that theme doesn’t exist, I’ll live with what we got.

And the music for when Snoke dies and when they team up is perfect as it is. I’m more talking about when we cut back to them fighting.

Yeah I just meant that that’s the only moment that I think needed that ‘epic’ sort of treatment.

CatBus said:

DominicCobb said:

moviefreakedmind said:

TV’s Frink said:

moviefreakedmind said:

MalàStrana said:

NeverarGreat said:

Trump is very smart at branding and controlling the media narrative.

Media is politics, then do the math 😃

Also, if he’s so great with the media, then why is he so historically unpopular? And why was he barely capable of even coming within 3,000,000 votes of winning the popular election? I don’t even know why I’m asking these questions.

Because 8 billion illegal criminals voted for Clinton in California, duh.

I love how right-wingers claim to love the electoral college now purely because it gives Republicans an advantage. They say, “Well, if it weren’t for the electoral college then people in California and New York’s votes would count for something.” Yeah, that’s how the democratic election of a representative works.

Well we’re a democratic republic, which I guess means that if you live in a more populous area, your voice matters less.

I know I’m being pedantic, but over-representation of rural areas is not in any way a by-product of a democratic republic. I know people say that all the time but they are all completely wrong. The fact that votes cast by people who live in less populated areas have more weight than votes cast by people in more populated areas is mostly just a function of how we chose to implement federalism in the US. There are other ways to implement federalism, and you can also have a democratic republic with no federalism at all, so that this is a non-issue. Democratic republics and our electoral college mess are apples and unicycles. There’s no link.

Technically you still have a little over-representation of areas with lower (or negative) population growth in a democratic republic (which tends to skew rural, but not always), due to the fact that the census is not continuous and is instead based on snapshots in time. But if that were the only issue we were struggling with, our democracy would be in good shape today.

Good write up, though I hope you know I was joking.

darthrush said:

DominicCobb said:

While I agree that it’s a shame we didn’t get more new motivic material in TLJ, if you really do listen to the score (and I mean all of it, not just what’s on the soundtrack), I think there’s a strong argument to be made that in pretty much every other way it is better than TFA.

Yeah. I actually forgot to mention tracks like “The Spark” which is just fantastic. And the music that plays when Luke closes his saber and surrenders to Kylo is great too.

I must say though that one area that is lacking is the music during the throne room fight. It is so forgettable. Which is why I will replace it with Duel of the Fates.

I think the throne room battle is an absolutely fantastic action cue. In my mind, you don’t want something epic on the scale of “Duel of the Fates” for that because A) it’s not the climax of the film, and B) it’s not an epic duel, it’s just Rey and Ben teaming up to defend themselves. The most epic part of that scene is when Snoke dies and we see them decide to team up (not when they actually fight), and I think the music fits that well enough.

Handman said:

All Australians look awful.

Wow Handman, pretty rude.

While I agree that it’s a shame we didn’t get more new motivic material in TLJ, if you really do listen to the score (and I mean all of it, not just what’s on the soundtrack), I think there’s a strong argument to be made that in pretty much every other way it is better than TFA.

Star Wars movies aren’t building up to anything. It’s not an interconnected universe in the same way Marvel is (I mean it is, but not in the same way Marvel is chronological and has constant crossovers). And even with Marvel, there is a lot of leeway given to filmmakers in what stories are told, even if they affect later installments.

And there is a guiding hand, Kathleen Kennedy. She’s just decided she doesn’t want to hamper filmmakers with plans laid out by other filmmakers. Each film should stand on its own and tell its own story. It shouldn’t exist for the sole purpose of being a sequel or setting up a sequel. The level of success they’ve managed is up for debate but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the methodology.

I’m definitely sympathetic to Lando there, but yeah I’d still call that a betrayal.

World building is cool, but none of it matters if there aren’t characters you care about. The OT understood that any world building was always in service of the characters and story.

moviefreakedmind said:

TV’s Frink said:

moviefreakedmind said:

MalàStrana said:

NeverarGreat said:

Trump is very smart at branding and controlling the media narrative.

Media is politics, then do the math 😃

Also, if he’s so great with the media, then why is he so historically unpopular? And why was he barely capable of even coming within 3,000,000 votes of winning the popular election? I don’t even know why I’m asking these questions.

Because 8 billion illegal criminals voted for Clinton in California, duh.

I love how right-wingers claim to love the electoral college now purely because it gives Republicans an advantage. They say, “Well, if it weren’t for the electoral college then people in California and New York’s votes would count for something.” Yeah, that’s how the democratic election of a representative works.

Well we’re a democratic republic, which I guess means that if you live in a more populous area, your voice matters less.

suspiciouscoffee said:

I read the occasional EU work, but mostly I find it pretty easy to fill in gaps in political information of the galaxy in my head.

I’d argue that you can live without it, but I think it’d’ve helped to know even just a little bit more. I think JJ wanted to make it easy for general audiences to get good guys vs bad guys, but it’s a bit more complicated than that so those who are curious are left somewhat confused, at least on first watch.

MalàStrana said:

dahmage said:

MalàStrana said:

I would say the opposite, even if he takes questionable decisions sometimes, especially the syrian affairs.

Are you actually saying that Donald Trump is the most intelligent leader of any first world country in the last 70 years?

Not “the”, but obviously “one of the most intelligent leaders”. Those who don’t see that are either stupid or trolls.

I would say I’m not surprised you feel this way… but I guess I’m not allowed to do that anymore.

So, uh, interesting Mala! Unique perspective. Surprised you’d think so. Care to elaborate on why you think that’s the case? Not being sarcastic, genuinely curious.

I will say also, it’s not just about technical aspects of the filmmaking, it’s about effectiveness. In my opinion, the story told in the prequels is not effective, and Lucas’s retroactive six film saga just doesn’t work for me in the way he intended.

moviefreakedmind said:

I personally don’t care about or value the lore of Star Wars at all, but I find it interesting that you, as someone who does, would think that ROTS contributes more to the lore than Empire. Empire basically establishes the entire nature of the force and the dark side.

I had similar thoughts.

joefavs said:

The tone and pacing of the ST are absolutely spot-on for me, and those are far and away the most important aspects of a Star Wars viewing experience for me, so on the whole i’m a happy camper. My one major complaint is that the political situation is sketched too lightly. I’m an EU guy, so I’m personally well aware of what’s going on, but if I was just going off the movies I wouldn’t have any sense of that wider context.

NeverarGreat said:

The most satisfying aspect to the trilogy for me is the energy of this new cast. Finn and Poe escaping the Star Destroyer was more triumphant than anything in the prequels.

This too. I adore the new cast.

This is pretty much how I feel.

oojason said:

Here Comes… Bod!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bod_(TV_series) & http://www.herecomesbod.co.uk/

& his cool themetune - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4IiktFp3p4

Is that Snoke?

Ryan-SWI said:

moviefreakedmind said:

I haven’t actually seen TLJ

Out of curiosity, why?

Not everyone likes watching things they know they’ll hate.

Should make people’s lives easier.

Tyrphanax said:

DominicCobb said:

Collipso said:

DominicCobb said:

Collipso said:

darthrush said:

Collipso said:

I really liked Kylo Ren in both movies too, but TFA Kylo and TLJ Kylo feel like they’re not even the same incarnation of the character. I do love him in both TFA and TLJ though.

Really? I’m interested to hear why. I feel like his overall arc between two movies is compelling and really well bridged. Everything that motivates him and drives him seems consistent throughout and he plays it as such. I’ll admit that him in the Last Jedi is so much better than him in TFA, but mainly cause of the richer material that the character had to work with in the middle installment of the trilogy.

I was being a bit hyperbolic. Rian apparently decided to ignore the Vader wannabe aspect of the character, which was a major part of Kylo, so that kind of passes the message that he wanted to just not care as much about consistency to me.

I should rewatch TLJ and TFA maybe back to back once I get my TLJ Blu-ray and think more about the matter, but yeah, that’s mainly what I’m talkig about. I believe there’s more but I can’t think of anything right now.

He didn’t ignore that aspect at all, it’s a big part of his character in TLJ.

I do recall two scenes where they address it - the first Snoke x Kylo scene, and the one where he destroys his helmet

Which informs his later actions.

Those scenes are where Kylo stops being what everyone is afraid of/hopes he is (Vader’s Legacy, which he wasn’t very good at pretending to be) and becomes himself, which is actually a little bit closer to Vader than he was before. And, honestly, much scarier than his previous Vader-wannabe persona.

Everyone comparing him to Vader his whole life has made him into what he is now.

Exactly exactly. First it was Luke trying to make him not Vader, then Snoke trying to make him nuVader. What he does here is “kill the past,” and forges his own path.

ChainsawAsh said:

DominicCobb said:

ChainsawAsh said:

I also disagree that TFA Kylo and TLJ Kylo feel any different, but I can’t say the same for Hux. Felt like they pulled a “Last Crusade” Marcus Brody on him for TLJ.

I guess I always preferred Brody in TLC too.

Really? Brody’s character assassination was always one of the big reasons why TLC was my least favorite (until Crystal Skull came along, that is).

I’ve always found it funny people felt that way. Just like Hux, he’s not much of a character in his first appearance, so I don’t mind the shift, and I don’t find it irreconcilable. All it does it to make the character more interesting and enjoyable (in my opinion).

Of course, Crusade is one of my all time favorites. I also think Crystal Skull is underrated, but that a whole other thing.

Collipso said:

DominicCobb said:

Collipso said:

darthrush said:

Collipso said:

I really liked Kylo Ren in both movies too, but TFA Kylo and TLJ Kylo feel like they’re not even the same incarnation of the character. I do love him in both TFA and TLJ though.

Really? I’m interested to hear why. I feel like his overall arc between two movies is compelling and really well bridged. Everything that motivates him and drives him seems consistent throughout and he plays it as such. I’ll admit that him in the Last Jedi is so much better than him in TFA, but mainly cause of the richer material that the character had to work with in the middle installment of the trilogy.

I was being a bit hyperbolic. Rian apparently decided to ignore the Vader wannabe aspect of the character, which was a major part of Kylo, so that kind of passes the message that he wanted to just not care as much about consistency to me.

I should rewatch TLJ and TFA maybe back to back once I get my TLJ Blu-ray and think more about the matter, but yeah, that’s mainly what I’m talkig about. I believe there’s more but I can’t think of anything right now.

He didn’t ignore that aspect at all, it’s a big part of his character in TLJ.

I do recall two scenes where they address it - the first Snoke x Kylo scene, and the one where he destroys his helmet

Which informs his later actions.

Collipso said:

darthrush said:

Collipso said:

I really liked Kylo Ren in both movies too, but TFA Kylo and TLJ Kylo feel like they’re not even the same incarnation of the character. I do love him in both TFA and TLJ though.

Really? I’m interested to hear why. I feel like his overall arc between two movies is compelling and really well bridged. Everything that motivates him and drives him seems consistent throughout and he plays it as such. I’ll admit that him in the Last Jedi is so much better than him in TFA, but mainly cause of the richer material that the character had to work with in the middle installment of the trilogy.

I was being a bit hyperbolic. Rian apparently decided to ignore the Vader wannabe aspect of the character, which was a major part of Kylo, so that kind of passes the message that he wanted to just not care as much about consistency to me.

I should rewatch TLJ and TFA maybe back to back once I get my TLJ Blu-ray and think more about the matter, but yeah, that’s mainly what I’m talkig about. I believe there’s more but I can’t think of anything right now.

He didn’t ignore that aspect at all, it’s a big part of his character in TLJ.