Tyrphanax

Harmy said:

You're right of course, animation is the movement of the characters and stuff, which is actually fine for the most part - the closest to describing what it is that bothers me about the look of the show is probably "rendering" - the whole thing looks like a cheap video game. Plus the design of some of the characters is pretty uninspired.

Yeah. I feel like a lot of the look of things is a bit blurry or smeared or otherwise "low-rez"... a lot of stuff seems to kind of blend together in certain shots.

However, I'm chalking a lot of that up to budget concerns and I assume that, as it was with The Clone Wars, the look of the show will improve over time.

Darth Id said:

"What the fuck is a Quiggly John?"

Gets me every time.

To jump back a couple topics, Boba Fett always seemed so calm and controlled to me. Not the kind of guy to just randomly lose it and disintegrate two innocent and (probably) unarmed moisture farmers for no reason/pay.

Also, I found this shirt in my Facebook newsfeed for Harmy, considering his avatar:

The first posts in this thread are really funny.

Good old AWK.

Droids in Distress was great!

Tobar's first three screenshots show exactly what makes the environments so great, and I think it's that they're all composed like a Ralph McQuarrie painting. The stormtroopers by the transport especially. The ring of symbols around the circumference of the docking bay is right out of old Star Wars concepts, too, and are part of what go into making the show "feel" like Star Wars.

I still get excited to see stormtroopers and star destroyers every time they pop up.

It was awesome to see Rex from Star Tours, and I loved how he dropped his shades in a "deal with it" fashion after telling off the Imperial chick for her droids. Not to mention the concept Threepio and Artoo next to the final Threepio and Artoo being a cool moment.

Also, no Jedi. Not one lightsaber. Kanan and Ezra were basically normal dudes the whole episode (except Ezra's Force jumps and push). It strikes me that Kanan doesn't like to use the Force at all, really. I mean, they had the big reveal in the premiere, but they had to do it there. But there's no frivolous (or even meaningful) Force usage from him. Even when he's on the Ghost with just his friends. He opens doors just like the rest of us.

I'm digging Hera and Kanan's relationship. No drama, no tension. It's just there and it's just normal. Sabine is even cool, though I wish she wouldn't wear the Mandalorian armour around so much. I think it would be cool to make it a quest item for her or something, something of her heritage to discover. As it is now, I feel like she would stick out like a sore thumb. Though I suppose without the helmet (which only goes on in combat situations) her armour looks pretty unremarkable.

I'm glad we're starting to get into some of the character motivations, too. I was rolling my eyes watching the previews when they gave Kallus the same weapon as Zeb because it felt not-Imperial, but having seen the episode it makes sense now, and I don't feel like it'll be a thing he uses often. Speaking of weapons, I'm a little surprised nobody mentioned that the disruptor rifle is straight out of Star Wars Galaxies.

Also neat to see Bail Organa again. Definite callbacks to ANH with him and Artoo. Like Tobar, I was wondering if we would see Mungo Baobab here, but alas. I liked his interaction with Kanan a lot. Secretive, rebellious, cautiously organizing, some old Jedi talk thrown in, wink-wink style. It reminds us that there is hope elsewhere in the galaxy and that people weren't just waiting for Luke to come along and save them.

The weightless animation is still a thing, sure, but I do feel like characters in Rebels have more natural motions, if that makes sense, than characters in The Clone Wars. It feels like there's a more realistic weight and momentum to their movements. The last Force jump Ezra did looked more like a Force jump than anything in The Clone Wars.

Just a bit of a nitpick: Animation describes movement while the look of something would be described by art, or design, or art design. Something along those lines.

Also, I'm super jazzed to rewatch the first episode/movie with the Vader scenes. James Earl Jones as Darth Vader once again? Count me in!

Since its return to topic, this thread has become terribly less funny.

This looks incredible. I'm reminded of the Trilogy arcade cabinet so much, but this is just like that only modern. Very excited! It's nice to see the arcade isn't quite dead yet.

No idea. All I use IRC for is to hang out with my other group of internet pals.

Because Star Wars is all about realistic portrayals of gunplay and tactics.

Which reminds me, I don't want to see the above in the next films, despite being a huge gun nut and fan of all that tactical stuff.

WedgeCyan said:

Fantasia (1940)...

Always been my favourite Disney film. The dinosaur scene blew me away as a kid, and I'm sure the whole experience made me appreciate classical music like I do today.

Anyway, I've been holding onto these for awhile now, partly because there was a movie I saw and completely forgot about and so I waited to remember it before I submitted this, then remembered it, then completely forgot it again and now I have no idea whether or not I've covered it in here, so I just wrote them all up today and here they are.

Fatal Attraction (1987 (I guessed at the date and IMDb vindicated me. Awesome.))

I’m not really sure what to say about this movie. It felt overrated. I didn’t feel any sympathy for Michael Douglas, but then, I’m not sure I was supposed to; he seemed awfully cool with just randomly sleeping with some random woman despite being “happily married” I dunno. I don’t understand the mentality of the cheater. Glenn Close played a good nutjob, but I do wonder what happened to her supposed child at the end (I thought that Douglas had gone to the doctor and confirmed it?). I feel like the message the film was attempting to get across popped up in the last maybe three minutes or so: that when you make dumb decisions, you hurt the ones you love and they have to clean up your mess, but I feel like we could have gotten there in about half the time, or maybe focused on the wife dealing with the revelation.

5.5 out of 10 Rabbit Stews.

This is the End (2013)

Absolutely horrible film. One of the worst things I’ve ever seen. Not even the cameos were good, except the very last one. Never see this, unless you’re taking a class on how not to make a movie or you’re a Christian, in which case I would assume would love this movie.

1 out of 10 Bad Cameos.

Frozen (2013)

Finally saw this after everyone in the world blowing it up as the greatest thing ever. It wasn’t bad. There was a bit of a Star Wars feel to it, definitely between the good dude and his reindeer and the redhead. The chemistry and feel was a bit different from the usual Disney fare and that was nice. Not life-changing, but a nice movie.

4.5 out of 10 Carrots.

Zodiac (2007)

This was a neat movie. Lots of big names, including both Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk. Movies about chasing down serial killers are always pretty nifty in my books, and Gay Cowboy #2 does a great job of playing the obsessed amateur detective that we all have a little bit of in us. Lots of tense moments, but I did feel like they were a bit forced to add suspense to what was otherwise a fairly uneventful story, but that’s how a lot of real life really is, isn’t it? Once the credits rolled, I felt like I was pretty sure I’d seen the film before at some point, because I remember Donovan’s Hurdy-Gurdy Man playing over the credits of a film. Was it this? Was it another movie? I feel like Gay Cowboy #2 here!

6.5 out of 10 Unsolved Mysteries.

P.S. I Love You (2007)

Once you acquire a girlfriend, you start seeing movies like this. And you know what? It was okay. The main story about a dude who croaks (spoilers) and has set up all these letters to be sent to his wife after his death can be quite poignant and moving at times. The problem begins with the stuff that doesn’t have to do with dead Irish Leonidas romancing Million Dollar Baby from beyond the grave, like all of her dipshit friends and family who feel like they show up from an entirely different romantic comedy. It’s like watching two different movies. Though perhaps it was purposeful to make the audience look forward to seeing Irish Leonidas again like Million Dollar Baby does, or maybe I’m overthinking a romcom plot. The love triangle between Irish Leonidas, Million Dollar Baby, and Grace’s Boyfriend from Will and Grace becomes a love square when Irish The Comedian shows up and the twist end of the movie feels shoehorned, lazy, and like it was trying to be different for the sake of being different. I dunno, it was dumb.

3.5 out of 10 Letters from Dead Irish Leonidas.

The End of the Affair (1955)

This is an old black-and-white movie set in London during the bombings of WWII. I don’t think I would have watched this had I not been flipping through the channels down home and seen it billed everybody’s favourite Grand Moff, Peter Cushing, in a supporting role. The film is about an American writer who is writing a book about English civil servants during the war, of which Grand Moff Tarkin is one. Along the way, the writer finds himself embroiled in an affair with Tarkin’s wife who likes to bang around and then the whole thing turns out to be a weird ham-fisted parable for believing in God which they sort of spring on you about three quarters of the way through. If I were a Christian, though, I feel like I would be annoyed by the movie because I felt like it portrayed Christians as simple folks who don’t do much rational thinking and also like to justify having affairs. As an Atheistic Agnostic, I was annoyed because it portrayed non-believers as deformed people who are basically jealous of people who believe in God. It was a weird movie and I’m not sure what the goal was. Though I did like the single father Private Eye.

4 out of 10 Grand Moffs (Cushing is worth two stars).

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008)

I used to think Ben Stein was a pretty cool and intelligent guy, but holy shit did I ever lose any respect for him I ever had after seeing this poor excuse for a documentary. It is a masterclass in how never to make a compelling documentary that people will take seriously. I am all for rational and interesting debate and well-argued stances, but this “documentary” had absolutely none of that to the point that I had to look it up to make sure it wasn’t a parody. There is absolutely no evidence given for anything, nothing is explained at all, scientific explanations are taken out of context and ridiculed with no alternative explanation given. I was completely shocked at how awful this was, and not at all because I disagreed with it: I have seen plenty of religious people make decent arguments for their beliefs in various debates, and this was not one of those debates. The amount of hypocrisy, backtracking, mean-spiritedness, missing-the-point, victim mentality, and taking things out of context among the many other fallacies made by the crew were ludicrous, and the devolution (pun intended) into invoking Godwin’s Law by saying that science is basically the Holocaust completely blew my mind. I was stunned into complete silence. I was sure this whole thing was a joke or parody. I wanted to believe it was a parody for the sake of religious people everywhere because it was just embarrassing for them. It made the scientists interviewed (likely under false pretenses) look the opposite of how they intended to paint them. This is not how you present an argument that will convince non-believers. Never see this unless you want to feel very sorry for Ben Stein’s mental state or to begin believing the opposite of what he’s preaching, or if you’re thinking of making a documentary and you want to learn what not to do. If you are a religious person and/or believe the things Stein and the crew claim, then please don’t hitch your wagon to this documentary because it hurts your case. Read up on science and ID and make your own argument because you can surely do better than this piece of tripe.

0 out of 10 Good Arguments.

Up in the Air (2009)

This was a neat movie. Batman (from Batman & Robin) is a guy who flies all over the United States and fires people for a living and runs a seminar about not having any attachments to tie you down in your life. Then he meets some women, one of which he bangs and wears ties like belts and the other who becomes his protégé and they teach him a lot about life, love, and how he was basically right all along. Then he flies off into the sunset, a more rounded character who was right all along. Sam Elliot appears as pilot Jesus who is sadly entirely underused and does not deliver a deep monologue. Zach Galifinakis also shows up for no reason and yet is credited early in the roll. Weird.

6.5 out of 10… MILLION air miles.

The Town (2010)

Another neat movie. Batman (v. Superman) plays a guy who robs Boston banks with Hawkeye. It was like watching a movie about the Payday series of video games, and if you don’t spend most of the movie saying “GOD DAMN IT HAWKEYE”, then you’re not really paying attention because he’s an idiot. Batman meets a bank employee lady he robbed and falls in love and realizes that stealing huge amounts of cash isn’t such a great life choice just in time for the guy from Mad Men to figure out what’s going on, all of his buddies to die (as you would expect), and to learn that his dad got his nuts cut off by Roland Tembo (rip).

6 out of 10 GOD DAMN IT HAWKEYE’s.

Neighbors (2014)

I think I hate Seth Rogan. I actually knew this a long time ago, but it just feels confirmed more and more every time I see a movie he’s in. To be fair, I did get a couple of genuine laughs from this, but the rest is shit. Rogan plays a guy with a new baby with his Austrialian wife, Moira MacTaggert. Then some frat boys move in next door led by that now-impossibly-chiseled Kid From High School Musical and James Franco’s brother and they do frat things and there are lots of drugs and boobs and very little to no intelligence as Rogan and MacTaggert try to force the frat out by lowering themselves to that level. Filled with awkward dialogue, lowest-common-denominator humour, weird scenes that feel shoehorned in that stop the movie dead, and Seth Rogan’s idiot face. One of the IMDB plot keywords is “sex in a chair” so if you ever need to find a shit movie to watch, you can find it there.

Zero out of Five Jokes for Idiots.

I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)

This true story stars The Mask as a con-man who falls in love with Young Obi-Wan Kenobi (you mean they’re…?) and then he breaks out of prison a lot and tries to break Young Obi-Wan out, creating a huge tangled web of lies and deceit that keeps getting thrown back in jail and makes things progressively worse for himself and the man he loves when he really could have just completed his first sentence and rejoined society years ago peacefully. The film is ruined by trying to be funny and thus overshadowing the incredible fact that the real guy escaped prison in some very ingenious ways; it makes everything feel made-up and you never feel like it is a true story. It also fails at being funny and is actually incredibly boring and drags on and on while skipping the most interesting bits in a montage. My girlfriend and I only finished it because we weren’t really watching it to begin with. Only watch this if you want mental images of Young Obi-Wan Kenobi sucking The Mask’s dick in your head forever.

1 out of 10 Young Obi-Wan Kenobi Blowjobs.

The Living Daylights and License to Kill (1987, 1989)

Finally done with Roger Moore. Thank god. I’ve never felt like that whole Bond era was a slot as much as this time. So done with him by the time we were halfway through his films. Dalton is a great Bond. Said it before, say it again. Girlfriend likes him a lot. He’s like a return to form, and truly does feel like the book Bond; I would have loved to see more of his, or maybe even his take on some of the classic Fleming stories. I’m always sad that he was so underutilized.

8 out of 10 James Bonds.

point5 said:

Tobar said:

The same team that did CW is behind Rebels. Just like CW I'm sure the production values will increase overtime.

 I know people keep saying this, but I always find myself asking "Well why then are they so different?" and "why did the animation deteriorate?" Surely the animation should have improved under Disney. Instead it has taken a step backwards. Hopefully this is just a case of "finding their feet". There is always hope.

If we see an improvement over time (which I totally anticipate), then the likely answer is "budget". A lot of times with TV shows, the risk is so great that they begin with a smaller budget and slowly release more and more if the show is successful. That way, if a show bombs in its first season, loss is minimized.

Dave Filoni talked about the Clone Wars being that way, and despite animated Star Wars being a proven formula, Disney isn't stupid (they've run a successful TV channel for over a decade now) and TV is always risky (just think of all the shows you know have been canned and then remember that there are at least two more for each one of those, and probably more).

Star Wars is still in a volatile place right now and they know that a lot of fans are on edge. Rebels exists partly as a peace offering and partly because Disney wants to test the water; it's like a trial run for VII: If people are receptive, then they know what they're doing is good. But if Rebels doesn't work, they can pull the plug with minimal loss by not making a huge investment right away.

You don't get to the top and stay there by taking risks. Especially not Disney. Mark my words, you'll see an improvement a few seasons in.

Wow. Watched it last night. Waited by the door for my girlfriend to get home so I could force her to watch it with me. Felt like a kid waiting to go to the theater to see Star Wars in '77.

I won't spoil the plot of the show, but I will give my detailed impressions on the feel of the show and some of the characters.

I felt it. I felt the magic. When I saw The Clone Wars movie in theaters, it wasn't like this. There were tingles. Star Wars was back. If this is a taste of how Episode VII will feel, I'm sold already.

Now, to complain a bit, Ezra's face is stupid, yeah, the close up shots of him are just bleh; there are also some detail problems as far as hair and characters go (some look great, like Hera, even Kanan, but others don't look that great in terms of quality, like Ezra and Sabine), but considering The Clone Wars underwent a massive facelift itself at one point, I wouldn't be surprised to see the animation and detail on Rebels improve a lot over the course of the show. And outside of the characters, the show is gorgeous. As a 3D artist myself, you see all kinds of specular things, reflections, bloom, and other little details that are a dead giveaway of quality and it's all there.

It's incredible to see stormtroopers again. Not to mention Star Destroyers and walkers. Everything makes the correct sounds. The blaster bolts are lifted straight from the OT and the lightsaber (THE lightsaber, there's only one so far) looks like a cross between McQuarrie concepts and Jedi Outcast (which is awesome).

To focus on that saber a bit, it wasn't used willy-nilly at all. And, frankly, it was awesome to see it. It felt like a relic, something you weren't supposed to see or know about. Like something that people didn't know or understand, like those that understood knew that it carried a certain gravity, and it was a weapon to be treated with reverence, and the use of which carried a certain price.

The prequel references were slim to none. All the aliens were established OT aliens. I feel like you could drop the PT entirely and watch Rebels and keep that mystery about The Clone Wars alive. So far, at least.

There were so many nods to McQuarrie and Johnston concepts that I lost track of all of them.

Most importantly about all the characters is that I cared about them. They were real. I was invested in their stories and how they reacted to things. They felt like they belonged in Star Wars. Some of the humour was a bit goofy (often not in a bad way), but it is a kid's show and the majority was spot-on.

Kanan is a good character. He's a sarcastic wit, but he's a serious leader as well. It seems like he and Hera have a relationship already, which is nice, because we don't have to go through that annoying "will they won't they" thing they always have to do.

Ezra is like a smaller, less controlled, more rebellious Kanan. And it works. Sure there's a little Aladdin in him, I guess, but I didn't sense a complete copycat.

My reservations about Sabine are gone. She's actually... cool... so far. Like... legitimately cool. I was shocked, because I was ready to not like her at all.

Now, it did felt like the version I saw was a PAL version or something, because the cuts and transitions felt rushed; I felt like I didn't have much time to react to what just happened before we were onto the next thing, but other than that it was pure Star Wars. In fact, this was more Star Wars than Star Wars has been in a long time.

But overall, it followed the OT recipe perfectly: action, adventure, mystery, discovery, destiny. Close escapes, firing at enemies while backing up the ramp to the ship, breaking into Imperial bases, stealing secret intel, and mean bad guys. But also wit and dialogue. I feel like the Ghost is much more of a character in its own right than The Clone Wars' Twilight ever was.

The music was new takes on recognizable themes which put me right into the universe. The lilting Force theme when Ezra felt the Force tug at him seriously gave me tingles every time, like I was feeling the Force right there with him. It brought me right back to watching the OT as a kid, I kid thee not.

No musical numbers, either, for those legitimately worried about that.

We're only one episode in, so there could be changes for the worse as we progress and learn more about the characters, but this start is so much stronger than The Clone Wars (rewatched that recently and have no idea WHY they chose the episodes they did for the premiere movie). I'm very optimistic and cannot wait to see where they take this. Star Wars is alive and well, folks.

Plus the Inquisitor isn't even a Sith.

As a person who's invested a lot of time and money into EU (comics, video games, books, toys) that is now under the "Legends" heading, I'm glad it's gone. It was suffering under its own weight: a great deal of the stories were awful, there were hundreds of horrible retcons, ruined characters, stupid decisions, and inane self-referential tongue-in-cheek -isms. It was a bloated, overgrown and ceased to capture the feel of Star Wars.

I'm incredibly excited to see new stories being written under a clear and controlled timeline with minimal stupid retconning. I can't wait to see fresh new faces and characters who can interact with our old friends in new adventures; and hey, if you don't like the new stories, keep enjoying the old ones.

People have to remember that this is an imaginary world and while something may not be the "official" canon, you have the ultimate say in what is canon in your Star Wars galaxy. It also bears to keep in mind that good ideas in Legends can always pop into this new EU; I can't count the number of EU things Dave Filoni canonized (or at least nodded to) during The Clone Wars, and I wouldn't expect that to change now.

Ronster said:

pablumatic said:

Obi-Wan's cloak probably should have suffered some type of burns in the movie we saw.

 Considering Vader tries to put the imaginary fire out with his foot I would say so too.

I always figured that was him confusedly confirming that Obi-Wan had disappeared; making sure there wasn't a body in the cloak.

Yeah I hated when Disney did that with all the Marvel movies.

=P

RicOlie_2 said:

Nice try, but Obi-Wan didn't fall down the shaft, he fell into it. And he wasn't defeated, Darth Maul just temporarily gained the upper hand.

Jesus, it was just hyperbole.

RicOlie_2 said:

Tyrphanax said:

When Obi-Wan falls down the shaft defeated, take a moment to have Qui-Gon (who we know transcended into the Force) communicate with Obi-Wan, to remember his training, that he believes in him, and that the Force will be with him, always (more poetry).

 Unexpected plot twist!

Obi-Wan goes down the shaft first, remember.

TV's Frink said:

Tyrphanax said:

After Qui-Gon dies I would have included Maul taunting Obi-Wan about how he skewered Qui-Gon like a helpless child, have him portend the fall of the Republic down the shaft.

 Fixed?

Oops, thanks.

TV's Frink said:

Carthage said:

No diner scenes plz.

 But how will the characters get their information?

From a Force Ghost sitting on a log.

Tobar said:

point5 said:

I've been trying to think of any Disney animations and movies that have explored dark themes or had dark moments.

 Gargoyles (1994)

The creator of this series is now an Executive Producer on Rebels.

Primo example.

I haven't been playing all of the hundreds of games I own nearly enough.

There's a little something going on in Calgary in October. Girlfriend and I might go.

Aw man, I wish I had been able to go. Maybe I could "see your kitchen", too.

Thank you, Based Disney.

I don't understand the fascination with anal.

TV's Frink said:

Ronster said:

What do you think about this film?

Haven't seen it.

I liked Ronin.  Can't go wrong with De Niro and Reno.  But I have to admit that even thought the next few movies were pretty good, the last 42 movies were pretty tiring.  Doubt I'll bother with this one.

Sean Bean was in that! I love that guy.

I was interested in 47 Ronin because I love a good samurai movie and I know the original story well, but I lost interest when I learnt it was about a heroic white guy in a foreign land. Meh.

I'm sad to learn that it was chopped up so badly. Maybe we'll get an alternate version in the future if it gains some momentum.