JadedSkywalker

I hated the Last Jedi the first time i watched it. It was like going to the funeral of a loved family member. I had no idea how much Luke Skywalker meant to me i’m in my 40s and i’m not a child but it was a punch in the gut. Now i have a sort of respect for it for its boldness and choices even if i don’t like them all. On the other hand i used to love Force Awakens and Rise of Skywalker and now i despise them. I came to realize they are empty nostalgia vehicles and are trash Star Wars.

Used to hate and revile the prequels except for having a soft spot for Phantom Menace, i still kind of hate Attack of the Clones, and i only like the end of Revenge of the Sith but i’ve found peace with them for the most part. But i won’t watch anything but the theatrical Phantom Menace. The video extended cuts with cgi Yoda are awful.

I also had a bit of nostalgia for the 97 edit of Star wars, but just because it came out when i was in High School. I find the special editions on the whole to be awful and misguided in general. But i wouldn’t hate them quite as much if the originals weren’t suppressed. The Hayden Skywalker version though from 2004 on i cannot even force myself to watch that. And the Revenge of the Sith Emperor in Empire and bad redone dialog, and awful Temuerra Fett.Which is hilarious because he was great in Mando.

Loved the Luke in Mando thing until i thought about it more and its just blatant fanservice. But i’m glad Mark Hamill got to do the Luke he wanted finally. Still isn’t as cool as Luke leaving the Hanger in Last Jedi, even if that was faked with a force projection. But the film was story rich and deep in character where the other stuff was dross. Even Solo and Rogue One are fun but not really all that deep. Honestly you could erase everything since 83 but Last Jedi and i wouldn’t miss any of it.

Boston didn’t get it that is for sure, the only place that could have played it the Omnimax at the Museum of Science had gotten rid of its 70mm projection system in favor of digital. Closest place to me Connecticut i didn’t get to see it.

Last Jedi i find to be the most interesting, challenging and while not what i wanted it is still a work of art.

Johnson tried to follow the legacy and weave his own myth, Last Jedi feels like a real movie he gave his best and failed in places and succeeded in others.

I have respect for Rian as an artist i have none for JJ. Mystery boxes, loosely strung together cool scenes and slipshod pacing and poor exposition, quick cutting editing, cookie cutter junk. He did it with the Star Trek movies and he did it with Star Wars. I hope someday he matures as a filmmaker and does something that is original. My experience with a JJ movie is you enjoy yourself for 2 hours if you shut your brain off. He brings thrills but nothing that lasts beyond the credits. Its like Junk food movies i guess.

Luke is very Vader like when he heads into Jabba’s but that is deliberate. You see him wearing all black. He force chokes a Gamorrean guard. He is there to get revenge on Jabba for his treatment of Han Solo and to free his friend. He at first tried to bargain with Jabba but Luke was prepared to carry out murder if necessary.

He smuggled in his lightsaber for that very purpose. I don’t get this idea that Luke was all good and lightness and pure. Vader wouldn’t have sensed the dark side within Luke and tempted him to cross over in Empire if Luke was incorruptible. If Luke wasn’t so like Anakin.

As for Rogue One it is very uneven and the fan service moments seem a bit forced. But it isn’t all that bad for a movie you might catch on cable television. I remember though when Star Wars was a big event and it meant something and it wasn’t straight to tv or the bargain bin.

I watched the first half of the Lost in Space remake. I like it so far. Only the first season was available for us non Netflix people.

I found the Criterion DVD releases of Yojimbo and Sanjuro in my collection and i had forgotten that i had bought them. Another set of movies i will rewatch.

I bought the IDW reprints of the Al Williamson Star Wars strips. Was disappointed they are reprinted smaller than in the Russ Cochran collection, not by a lot. But Al was a stickler for the size of his strips being reprinted at original page size except in the case of it being reedited to fit the comic page. The black and white dailies are very nice for a reprint but the black inks aren’t as deep as in the Cochran volumes. And the color Sundays are hugely disappointing the colors are muted. At 50 dollars a volume you’d think they would have been the definitive editions. I cannot speak for the Russ Manning printing as volume one, i don’t have that one. The Cochran volumes were shot from the original art. I cannot speak for the source IDW used.

I was watching Remo Williams and i couldn’t finish it. The ending was so boring.

The movie was just too ridiculous.

Can’t believe it is from Guy Hamilton. I almost feel bad he directed this.

I want to read the treatments Dale Pollock read and had to sign a NDA to do so.

SW
ESB
ROTJ

Sounds like a tie in film prequel novel years too late for Rise of Skywalker. I’ll probably still read it though.

Added Space Battleship Yamato 2202. Blu Ray. US release. Also known as Star Blazers for some unknown reason and it has an English Dub from Funimation.

How is either video edit of Phantom Menace not a special edition. Added scenes that slowed down the pace of the film and in the second video edit adding CGI Yoda.

Added Gainax Otaku No Video Laserdisc volume 1 and 2 Graffiti of Otaku Generation, only volume 2 has an OBI.

Added Rhea Gall Force movie letterbox with OBI.

And Gall Force Earth Chapter with OBI and insert sheet.

Also added One Million Years BC Japanese Letterbox Laserdisc.

Watched BloodSport only the final ten minutes were good where Jean Claude fights Bolo.

Also watched Timecop cannot believe i liked this when i saw it in the 1990’s, it isn’t a good movie.

I prefer the Fairbanks version of Thief actually. And there are a number of good years for cinema. I like 1933 for King Kong. 1938 for Adventures of Robin Hood. And 1939 for Wizard of Oz.

I like Rose. A spirited character who has a lot of courage, sometimes foolhardy and idealist.

Ultimately she doesn’t do anything though because JJ sidelined her.

I think the story works within the context of the film. The one thing i had a problem with was Luke trying to kill Ben in his sleep, he would never do that. It was out of character. I also agree with Mark Hamill that Luke would’ve never given up.

Throwing away the lightsaber makes perfect sense though it is rejecting the call to adventure. It could have been handled differently sure, he could have just handed it back to Rey. This is a weapon for a Jedi, i’m no Jedi. Or even he had forsaken violence and would never take up the sword again.

I think Rian had a story to tell and he could tell it the only way he knew. And he is correct in saying it is about the story. Not the fans. Lucas would have done the same thing. The story has to thrive organically and have its own beats. Rian fits right into the auteur theory of directors, while JJ has a checklist of cool visuals and throw away fan service junk storytelling. The film by copy paste boardroom of executives. Assembly line filmaking and total lack of vision and creativity. He put Luke on an island because he had the total inability to figure out how to include him with Rey and the new cast. At least Rian gave Luke a story purpose even if you disagree with some of its arc or if it even made sense.

Personal ranking in terms of enjoyment.

1 Star Wars
2. Return of the Jedi
3. The Empire Strikes Back

Critical ranking

1. Empire
2. Star Wars
3. Jedi

And these are just the original versions.

I’m a little disappointed Disney turned down Kotor Reforged. I’d rather have gotten something similar to Mass Effect Legendary edition, minus all the glitches.

I once was fooled into thinking Luke screaming hey, was Carrie.

Of course he wrote it and Luke is George. Like Terry the Toad in Graffiti and Milner, and Curt were all aspects of him. It was his imagination that was up there on screen in Star Wars.

But it is true the editors and Lucas himself was one of them, saved that film. And John Williams score and ILM finally bringing it all together.

There is a lot of trying to discredit him these days due to the prequels. Like he never was on top of the world and never was a great director, writer or producer. Like those original Star Wars films were accidental. And not everything he had learned about making movies since film school.

It didn’t hurt that he surrounded himself with the best people and creatives and had a lot of friends who also made movies or who he went to film school with.

But maybe there is a bit of truth to the yes men stuff and not being challenged on the prequels, but when you’ve been a genius and done everything right for so long, its hard to argue even when what you are doing isn’t working or is ill advised. He was Mr Star Wars and that meant he had the final say on every single detail. Nobody else was going to figure it out it was in George’s head. The story and characters sprang from his mind.

A lot of people saw Luke’s final purpose and death in that film the same way Marcia did. But i don’t think that was Rian’s intention. You see Luke force project himself across the galaxy to save the rebellion and save his sister and his death isn’t without purpose anymore than Obi Wan’s in Star Wars.

I also don’t think Han Solo’s death is pointless he wants to see his son and touch his face, he doesn’t even raise a hand to defend himself he just lets Ben kill him. He loved his son and just wanted to bring him home.

Its true they aren’t the heroes of the sequels and they were diminished to make room for the Disney characters, but so were Artoo and Threepio. And Chewie. Not just Han, Leia, Lando and Luke.

The new trilogy is Poe, Rey and Finn’s adventures. The OT characters were the heroes of the EU forever, or at least until its cancellation. And Lucas never allowed them to kill Luke, ever.

Watched Rogue One. I liked it very much. The last act is pretty good except for the Vader scene it is mindlessly stupid and you could easily edit that part out. You could just show the plans were beamed to the Tantive IV and The Devastator was in pursuit.

I’d still like to see the version with the Imperial Walkers and Jyn and Cassian running like in the trailer, and all the deleted Saw Gerrera scenes.

Vader was playing with Luke in The Empire Strikes Back. Like a cat playing with a mouse. He could have easily have killed him, he was the far superior swordsman. Luke was impelled by his hate and reckless and got in one lucky strike of his lightsaber. Vader was corrupting him tempting him to cross over to the dark side and Luke nearly did. In the next film Return of the Jedi Luke wears all black like his father and has a machine hand just like his father. And his first act in that film is to get Revenge on Jabba and to rescue Han Solo.

Ultimately in the Throne room he makes the choice to not kill his father and throws away his lightsaber when he realizes he is turning into Vader.

The war is only won when Anakin throws Palpatine down the reactor core in a final act of defiance. Its too bad it was undone by the Rise of Skywalker.

It is an act of faith when Luke is willing to stake his life on the good in his father, he wills the spark of light within Anakin into existence with his belief, when he proudly proclaims to Palpatine i am a Jedi like my father before me. If he had been wrong wow he just would have been cooked by Palpatine’s force lightning.

As for Rogue One i liked the design esthetic and how it looked the most Star Wars of anything since Empire. The writing and directing and the shaky cam weren’t really very Star Warsy. But the soundtrack was pretty close even if it wasn’t John Williams. And it doesn’t suffer from being poorly lit like Solo. Also like Last Jedi the digital models are really good they are as good as you are going to get with cgi, the only way to get better detail would be physical models. Leia and Tarkin look like they are out of a videogame though. There is something about them that isn’t quite believable while Leia in Episode 9 was. Vader’s design was correct even down to his lenses being red like in Star Wars.

What i missed was it seemed to get to the edge of being really gritty and bold and it held back. I wanted to see more of the more rogue and dirty aspect of the rebellion, wanted to see more of Saw.