Will it beat Avatar globally is the big question. Come on China, please help!
I sure hope so. Maybe I’m a snob but I can’t stand the fact that Avatar is #1 internationally (all-time). I’ve never seen it (Avatar) and really don’t feel like I missed anything.
Glad I didn’t start a new thread. RIP Real Boba voice.
Jason Wingreen, Voice of Boba Fett in TESB has passed away at age 95.
https://www.yahoo.com/movies/jason-wingreen-voice-of-boba-fett-in-the-empire-214107881.html
What’s wrong with the Rathars scene? It was probably the only fully original scene in the film.
I may be repeating myself but… it just took me out of the movie. CGI monsters swallowing characters whole.
Those monsters reminded me too much of Men In Black aliens shoehorned into a Star Wars film tbh.
That’s one way to to put it, yea.
Fun write up of said deleted scenes here:
http://www.slashfilm.com/star-wars-the-force-awkens-deleted-scenes/
I’m sure what this guys source is, but it’s interesting to read that the lightsaber in space thing was actually filmed.
If it was actually filmed part of me has always felt that particular opening was to throw off potential plot leakers. Or, even more specifically, to identify those that might leak plot details by giving them false (read: fantastic) info.
The novelization also seems to confirm that Kylo is aware of Vader’s redemption, but that Snoke has portrayed it as a moment of weakness that resulted in the fall of the Empire, hance Kylo struggle with the light side of the Force.
Without that novelization explanation I would have also gone along with the theory that perhaps only Luke knew of Vader’s redemption since technically he was the only one in the room at the time and maybe that tidbit of information was never repeated.
That scene with the dialogue between Leia and Rey I wish was in the film to completely put to rest the notion that Rey still might be Han & Leia’s daughter. Also the scene with the Snowtroopers and Kylo on the Falcon would have been awesome. I would trade that for the Rathtars scene any day.
Fun write up of said deleted scenes here:
http://www.slashfilm.com/star-wars-the-force-awkens-deleted-scenes/
Every film must be judged on its own merit. Even if CITIZEN KANE is a 5 star film (whatever grading scale), it’s 5 stars on its own merit. The scale must be applied within the confines of what the film is trying to do and does it succeed and was it bad, good or great. Just my opinion.
SW77 - ***** stars
TESB - ***** stars
ROTJ - **** stars
TPM - ** stars
AOTC - * star
ROTS - *** stars
TFA - ****½ stars
Full interview here.
I have seen it speculated that having Rey & Kylo Ren being cousins isn’t nearly as dramatic as if they were siblings. I understand this thinking but let me add a little heft to the cousins plot line. If they are cousins then that means their parents are siblings (of course, Leia & Luke) and that potentially becomes much more powerful as Leia desires to save her son (Ben/Kylo) from Snoke while perhaps Luke desires to help his daughter (Rey) destroy Kylo & Snoke.
Potential dynamite ahead.
Yea, that guy from Lucasfilm (Pablo Hidalgo) is tasked with making sure none of the ‘new canon’ contradicts now that they have shaved away the E.U.
I like what Lawrence Kasdan said a few weeks ago though about this topic, basically he didn’t understand canon from non-canon. I do and don’t care. I just want the story to evolve however is most interesting for the characters.
http://mashable.com/2015/12/22/force-awakens-rey-theories/#Q6QzwNjmaGq1
Chris Taylor (author of “How Star Wars Conquered the Universe”) breaks down the question of Rey’s parentage.
Very cool full length Q&A with J.J. Abrams & Lawrence Kasdan at the DGA.
Next: On Jakku Maury
“You’re Not the Father!”
Then who would be the father?
The more I think about it, if you take out “The Rathtars” scene from the film, I almost think it’s as perfect as it could be.
What was wrong with the Rathars? They’re essentially just over-sized Mynocks with tentacles. They’re sure as hell not that much weirder than what we’ve seen before. Heck, just look at the creatures in the Falcon’s holochess;
https://photos-5.dropbox.com/t/2/AAD90GATU03on9mIqHZkbXWQsy8QAcOUT5OIonwPN9Zkyw/12/20535561/png/32x32/1/_/1/2/SW VII BTS holochess Tested (1).png/EOTRsQ8Y-wYgASgB/zi6gj2z84SZEORXVQxC7oPqBfmWN0sm_ArGpMhYeMjQ?size=1024x768&size_mode=3EDIT: Or are you talking more about the pacing?
Pacing. That scene just took me out of the movie completely for a moment.
The more I think about it, if you take out “The Rathtars” scene from the film, I almost think it’s as perfect as it could be.
Finn is a Solo (read the new comics-Han was married before the '77 movie to a woman of color), thus making Finn and Ren half-brothers.
I’ve heard the now canon comic-book piece about Solo’s other lady. It’s an interesting angle but I don’t think they would do that. It would shrink the universe further than it already has been. I think Finn is a Han Solo type character but in no way related. There was always kind of a rumor (maybe it’s canon, I dunno…I don’t know what is and is not) that Han Solo had been a Stormtrooper at some point and defected himself.
Rey is a Kenobi, not a Skywalker (maybe Obiwan’s granddaughter). I only say this because of the voices she hears during her flashback (but she also heard Yoda’s as well).
Another interesting thought that did occur to me as well. But I go back to what Kathleen Kennedy has said about the Sequel Trilogy. This is the continuing story of the Skywalker’s. Rey is either a closely secreted Solo/Skywalker or her father is the “myth” that she didn’t even know was real, until now…Luke.
Snoke is Darth Plageus.
Perhaps a Darth Plagueis-like character. But, given the fact that the story teams, including the screenwriters, seem to be only picking bits and pieces of the E.U. to use, I’m guessing he won’t be exclusively revealed to be DP. But out of all of your hypotheses, this one might be the most plausible. Someone at Comic Con even asked the panel (Kasdan/Abrams) about this and Kasdan acted like he misheard them ‘Darth Vegas?’.
More detail about TFA from Abrams/Kasdan:
J.J. Abrams reveals that three actors lend their voices for that scene, that are quite familiar to us.
Ewan McGregor, Frank Oz… and a clever editing movie also brought the late Alec Guinness, who died in 2000 at the age of 86, back to the Star Wars universe. […]“You do hear a little bit of Yoda. You hear Luke yelling out, ‘Nooo!’ from that moment in Empire. And you hear Obi-Wan at the end say, ‘Rey … these are your first steps,’” Abrams says. “Here’s the cool part. We asked Ewan McGregor to come in and do the line. And he was awesome and we were very grateful. He was incredibly sweet and handsome, and all that stuff. Then he rode off on his motorcycle. Literally the coolest voice over actor ever.”
But who said “Rey”?
As they worked on editing the dream sequence, Bryan Burk, a longtime Bad Robot collaborator and one of the producers of the film, surprised Abrams one day with the gift of a single word: Obi-Wan Kenobi’s voice saying the name “Rey …”
“I said, ‘That’s cool, is that the thing from Ewan McGregor?’” Abrams recalled. “He said ‘No, we took a line from Alec Guinness saying ‘Afraid.’”
Frank Oz the famous puppeteer who also gave his iconic Yoda voice for The Force Awakens may appear in Episode 8, as well.
“He was incredibly generous and came in to Bad Robot, where we had a recording area, and he was doing Yoda, saying a number of lines we gave to him,”[…]That means, maybe, we could get even more of the character’s spirit in the films to come. Writer-director Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper) begins shooting Episode VIII next month.
Artoo “waking up” when she’s nearby is also a subtle hint.
After my second viewing I have to say, that was a very clever thing to have noticed. Props.
It’s absolutely spot on.
Just got back from seeing it a second time. I felt like I enjoyed it as much as the first.
“The Jedi Steps” is really the best thing on the soundtrack, IMO. Seeing Luke this 2nd time around gave me goosebumps – again! And I knew it was coming (of course). Overall John Williams score is a little mediocre but it serves the film well when it needs to.
Something I noticed this second time, it probably means nothing. The camera lingers on Rey for a few more moments than one would expect when Han is first acknowledging the force and that is real. There is a lone close-up of just her and it’s like she’s processing it. FWIW, I’m now thoroughly convinced Rey is Luke’s daughter. And that perhaps she was exposed to all of this before she was dropped on Jakku. But, like most children, they only remember things after a certain age.
Also, something to remember…just because Rey was with Luke before being dropped off doesn’t mean she ever knew he was LUKE SKYWALKER, the Jedi Knight.
Still captured at the time.
Interesting. I’ll pay more attention to that now on my 2nd time around.
Does anyone know the crawl text, I missed the first few lines.
Can someone explain to me what happened to the crashed tie fighter?
Finn pulled Poe’s jacket from the tie wreck and then it just sinks into the sand and a big dust cloud goes up into the air. It was really wired scene and didn’t really make sense to me.Kylo ren’s hissy fits were hilarious.
Hilarious for sure, but I think in a good way (for the character).
http://www.vulture.com/2015/12/star-wars-the-force-awakens-opening-crawl.html
Luke Skywalker has vanished.
In his absence, the sinister
FIRST ORDER has risen
from the ashes of the Empire
and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi,
has been destroyed.
With the support of the REPUBLIC,
General Leia Organa leads a brave RESISTANCE.
She is desperate to find her
brother Luke and gain his
help in restoring peace and
justice to the galaxy.
Leia has sent her most daring
pilot on a secret mission
to Jakku, where an old ally
has discovered a clue to
Luke’s whereabouts . . . .
So here’s my question since we aren’t 100% sure if Rey is Luke’s daughter.
a) Rey is the daughter of Luke Skywalker.
b) Rey is the daughter of Leia & Han and we weren’t told yet.
c) Rey is the offspring of someone else.
Wait a minute I just realized. Where’s Constable Zuvio? I didn’t see him at all.
“Damn you Hasbro!”
I liked TFA, a good bit actually. It’s far from a perfect film. But, as the first line of the film says "This will begin to make things right."
Five things I liked:
The first 20 minutes or so are flawless.
Han & Chewy’s reintroduction.
Maz Kanata.
Kylo Ren and Han Solo interaction. While hard to watch, it affected me deeply. So I suppose it did its job.
Rey discovering she is force sensitive and ultimately fighting Kylo Ren.
Five things I disliked:
The Rathars.
Starkiller Base Attack.
Snoke.
One too many callbacks.
Still too much CGI.
That last one is a slight nitpick. There are just a few scenes where I felt like it was relied on too heavily. Other than that though, it is really only a slight gripe. I knew going in that I couldn’t expect models and matte paintings throughout, it’s not 1985, after all.
The biggest dislike I probably had was Starkiller Base and how that was handled but I accept it. It’s Death Star 3. With Snoke, perhaps when we learn more about his character I’ll be more invested. As of right now, I felt like the baddies were visiting the Dark Side of the Force’s version of the Lincoln Memorial.
Looking forward, I’m excited to see Rey’s character develop and what will come from the final moments in TFA. This can go in a zillion different directions and I’m excited to think that it might not play it safe and give us some unexpected twists and turns. Many unanswered questions, good luck Rian Johnson.
I would give TFA a 3 out 4 or a 3.5 out of 5. Whichever. It’s a perfect continuation of the Star Wars Saga, mostly.
Ranking my favorites, I would go:
ESB
ANH
ROTJ
TFA
Close to 3a, 3b on the last two. I don’t really consider the prequels.
It’s hard to say goodbye to Solo, but I’m certain that was the only way they got Harrison Ford to agree to reprise his role.
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