joefavs

Thrawn was really the only EU character I’d hoped would make the leap to the new canon. Someone like Mara Jade is so inextricably tied up in a version of the film characters’ story that’s become completely incompatible with where the films are going that in order to get her into the new canon her role would need to be altered to the point where it might as well be a new character. Thrawn, in contrast, is pretty easy to port over. I think his characterization was more important than his narrative arc, so I think dropping him into some new situation in the current canon is going to work out fine (whereas, for example, Kyle Katarn doesn’t have much reason to be there with the Rogue One crew around to steal the Death Star plans). Thrawn did get to be over-the-top by the end of his trilogy, but I think that was more symptomatic of the style of the Bantam-era EU than anything inherent to the character himself. I’m very excited to see what they do with him in the context of a new EU that’s actually being managed by the LFL story group to some degree.

Watching the stream of the Celebration closing ceremonies now, last chance for an announcement.

EDIT: they just revealed a very retro looking logo for next year’s convention and alluded to the 40th anniversary.

EDIT2: nothin’.

EDIT3: here’s that logo:

pittrek said:

Just a quick question - who is supposed to be that Thrawn guy? At least is he a hero or a villain?

He’s basically a blue-skinned love child of Erwin Rommel and Sherlock Holmes.

This has been rumored for a while, but I found myself thinking the other day “yeah, it’ll be cool to have Thrawn back, but it’s a shame they don’t bring Zahn in to do a canon novel about him”. That book has shot to the top of the list of upcoming Star Wars stuff I’m excited about. The only Celebration reveal that could possibly top it for me would be an OUT blu-ray announcement.

Tobar said:

Rebels Season Three Trailer

That. Was. INCREDIBLE.

Thirty seconds in when they revealed Wedge I thought he was going to be the character I was most excited to see. Holy shit I’ve never been happier to be wrong.

It’s specific enough that I think there’s probably something to it. Yes, he has to promote the movie, but the fact that the script is the thing he singled out makes me think he’s legitimately very happy with that aspect. The “May the Force be with you” thing is definitely hyperbole, but I’ll believe Rian Johnson’s got some great lines in there. After all, this is the guy who wrote “I’m from the future. Go to China.”

It just seems off given how Bail has been portrayed in the nuEU. Every time he’s been mentioned in any books or comics he’s seemed to be 100% a civilian. I know that he was a key player in organizing the Rebellion, but I’ve never seen anything to suggest he was actually a ranking member of that organization. Again, they could very easily find a way to make it work, but right now it doesn’t jibe with what I know about the character.

Not convinced that’s Bail Organa (but I’d love to be proven wrong). The fact that he’s in a military uniform doesn’t seem to fit.

This God guy sounds like a real asshole.

moviefreakedmind said:

I think after relistening to this that it’s a rather underrated album. It’s still probably my least favorite of their’s though.

I love how neurotic and pessimistic all of John’s songs are on that record. Too many covers for it to be a top-tier Beatles album, but the originals are some of the most interesting stuff in the entire catalog.

Is no one going to bring up how insane it is that religion allows people to feel entitled to any opinion at all about other people’s sexuality? Because that’s the kicker for me.

I’m halfway out the door right now so I can’t help you, but in the future you’re going to want to avoid asking the same question six times in a row. For what it’s worth, I got it from the spleen, but it was well before the big negative1 dust up so I have no idea whether it’s still there.

flametitan said:

Aftermath: Life Debt revealed Hux’s first name. I wonder if we’ll see it used or not. I doubt it, personally, but it’d be neat to see.

I just came here to mention this but it seems I’ve been beaten to the punch. Spoiler thread, so it’s OK to say what it is, right? Armitage. His name is Armitage. Armitage Hux.

Kind of a bummer, but I guess it might be time to let go of the idea that the fleet admiral will turn out to be Thrawn if there are advance copies of Life Debt kicking around and no one’s brought it up.

Anyway, in case anyone wants to know where I stand:

THE GOOD:
From Russia With Love
Goldfinger
You Only Live Twice
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Live and Let Die
The Spy Who Loved Me
The Living Daylights
Casino Royale
Skyfall

THE BAD:
The Man With The Golden Gun
Die Another Day
Quantum of Solace

THE MEH:
Thunderball
Diamonds Are Forever
Spectre

These are the ones I’ve seen recently enough to feel comfortable evaluating. Most of them were on Amazon and/or Xfinity a while back and I was trying to get through them all, but I only got halfway through the Moore era. Hoping to finish sometime soonish.

Just scanned through this for the first time in a while and I’m astonished to see that people are ranking the Daniel Craig films at the bottom. Even if you’re not a fan of Craig, I can’t get my head around anyone placing all of Brosnan’s movies ahead of Casino Royale with a straight face.

Tyrphanax said:

Joefavs, I know you’ve edited your post and I don’t know why exactly…

I read the first post and some other folks’ issues and decided my thing wasn’t heavy enough for this venue and probably was better suited for the “come here to bitch about stuff” thread, but I’d cooled off a lot by that point and didn’t particularly feel the need to repost it there either. It was a fleeting moment of intense distress that ultimately dissipated without any sort of consequences. No one ever mentioned it again, and I’ve been doing fine at work ever since. So yeah. Sound and fury signifying nothing.

Finally ponied up for Hulu on Friday and hit the Criterion collection hard. So far I’ve been through:

The Hidden Fortress - I can’t believe it took me so long to get around to this one, given the fact that I’ve been hearing about it as it relates to the origins of Star Wars for years and years. Lovely, exciting, charming movie. My only issue was what the hell they were trying to do with Princess Yuki’s voice, but on the whole I loved it.

The American Astronaut - not a Criterion movie, but it was something I watched almost weekly when I was in film school so it scratches a similar itch. I hadn’t seen it in five or six years and it was like coming home. Such a strange little homoerotic musical space western, but I adore the hell out of it.

The Naked Kiss - another thing from college I decided to revisit. Pure pulp goodness. I can’t believe they got away with it in 1964.

Knife in the Water - very interesting as a look at Roman Polanski’s earliest work, but a little bit of a slog to get through. It felt a good bit longer than it actually was. Happy to have seen it, but I don’t imagine this is going to be one that I come back to regularly.

I might fire up another Kurosawa flick after the Euro Cup final. I promised my buddy I’d hold off on Seven Samurai and Yojimbo until he’s around, so I’ll probably go with Rashomon.

I must have listened twenty times since it went up on Apple Music last week. I adore it. Can’t wait for my vinyl copy to arrive tomorrow.

The Aluminum Falcon said:

Went on a bit of a le Carre marathon:

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965)- Tense and gloomy with a constant air of foreboding. Richard Burton is a wonder in this film, let loose playing a total wreck of a man. It’s probably the most nihilistic of any le Carre adaptation with a gut punch of an ending that’ll stick with you for days. 4 out of 4 stars.

The Deadly Affair (1966)- A bit of a boring(!) misfire even with a star-studded cast led by the inimitable James Mason. I’ve always appreciated Lumet’s films for their great acting and realism but never felt they were much more than the sum of their parts. 3 out of 4 stars.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011)- Admittedly, I have yet to see the original adaptation starring Alec Guiness, but my god is this a fantastic film, which I would go so far as to call one of the greatest of the decade. Gary Oldman nails Smiley, blending into the role effortlessly. But, the ensemble for this is equally amazing, without a single weak part in the whole film. I doubt we’ll ever get another production to unite all these wonderful talents! 4 out of 4 stars. My favorite of the bunch.

The Night Manager (2016)- A solid effort that’s not afraid to take liberties with the source material. Again, we have a perfect ensemble (with Tom Hollander being especially memorable). The direction is taut and suspenseful. Even the cinematography seems remarkable. Overall, I grow continually impressed with what they do with TV nowadays, often with a more careful eye and care than major motion pictures- both blockbuster and Oscar bait. It’s easy to see why John le Carre himself approved of this. 3.95 out of 4 stars with caveat below.

mild spoilers But, the protagonist’s motivation almost entirely rests on the “woman in a refrigerator trope” (a love interest is killed off in order to persuade the hero to act). I have no problem using tropes because often they are narratively effective/believable to an audience! I do take issue when a trope is thrown in, with little payoff in the story. In this case, the death of the female character was all but completely forgotten from episodes 2 to 5, with no sense of that being the protagonist’s main motivator.

I’m checking out Our Kind of Traitor, possibly as early as tomorrow, and look forward to seeing it.

I’m in the middle of reading the Smiley novels right now and I’m planning to fire up The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy when I finish. Probably The Deadly Affair as well. I’m four episodes into The Night Manager and I agree about Tom Hollander being the standout. Anyway, I’m about halfway through TSWCIFTC and without even having seen the movie, I’m sure Burton is absolutely brilliant in the role. It seems tailor made for him.

Hey everybody, remember when I went into Boston alone to see the 4K restoration of Lawrence of Arabia a few weeks back? Another theater in the area just announced they’ll be showing it in September and they’re hinting that they have an actual 70mm print. Is that even possible? Do any still exist? Did they strike new ones at some point? Am I going to have to go again?

Watching Dune again right now. I remember railing against this disc in the bad blu-rays thread a while back, but this time around it looks good enough that I think I was probably just full of shit last time. The things that I thought were problems with the transfer now look more like they’re probably native to the negative, and the sound, which I didn’t like in December, is totally great with my new(ish) reciever. So yeah. Sorry, disc.

The trick to liking Kanye is to think of him as a character. He’s a fascinating dude if you take a few steps back.

God damn it, are we really doing this again?

Picked up a few of the Best Buy James Bond steelbooks today and watched On Her Majesty’s Secret Service with the commentary (I also got From Russia With Love and You Only Live Twice). Very enjoyable experience. Peter Hunt sounds like a lovely man.

moviefreakedmind said:

Billy Squier had an entire album? What percentage of it is about handjobs?

DuracellEnergizer said:

The Last Unicorn (1982) – 8/10

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) – 9/10

Duck Amuck (1953) – 9/10

Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (1953) – 10/10

The Skeleton Dance (1929) – 10/10

Water, Water Every Hare (1952) – 9/10

Run Lola Run (1998) – 9/10

Black Sabbath (1963) – 8/10

Obsession (1976) – 8/10

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Ridge (1962) – 10/10

I’m a little dismayed that Lawrence of Arabia doesn’t get the ten and Duck Dodgers does.