pleasehello

Anakin Starkiller said:

In the end, I’m happier with Abrams at the helm, but it’s worth remembering his strength lies in setting up plots, not resolving them. I remember someone on this forum saying they’d get a “sadistic satisfaction” out of seeing Abrams resolve his own story.

Oh shit. If history is any indicator, J.J. is going to kill the entire cast of characters and have them meet up again in some weird non-denominational purgatory.

DominicCobb said:

Well I guess then the difference in approach is that the output and structure of the two franchises are different and call for different things (lots and lots of movies for the MCU, some movies and many other things for SW).

I don’t really see the need for a “narrative lead.”

I don’t really see the need for Star Wars to have an intertwining cinematic universe, which often comes at the expense of making coherent movies.

snooker said:

Admiral Ackbar is a meme alien, not a character.

Yes. Could you imagine him delivering any sort of extended dialogue or exhibiting any sort of emotion on his fish face? It would be completely ridiculous.

MalàStrana said:

Perhaps but he would have done it his way, à la Ackbar.

Ha! That’s pretty solid.

ziggyonice said:

Finn & Rose escaping the Star Destroyer feels rather rushed. It’s just a little too fast and seems obvious that something was cut here. I’m not sure how to fix that exactly, but it’s just something I felt that needed mentioning.

I felt the same thing when I made my fan edit. I did a version where I cut the Phasma fight and when I watched the whole movie back it felt incomplete. Their escape was too quick, too easy and there was no closure or sense of any accomplishment. So I went back and added a shortened down version of the Phasma fight which cuts out the BB8 walker stuff. There’s a couple awkward edits, but the scene feels more complete.

All this is to say that there’s no perfect solution to this scene, but Poppasketti’s edit showcases some really great work and is probably the best I have yet to see. Except for my own of course 😉

fmalover said:

Yeah but it’s made clear the FO took over the Galaxy in just one week or so. Couldn’t a galaxy spanning government come up with a decent military budget for defence and protection? Did all systems meekly surrender without a fight? Or the NR is completely devoid of any armed forces? IDK, just can’t wrap my head around that.

These are questions without answers. It’s clear that neither J.J. nor Rian cared about expounding on any of this stuff when they wrote VII and VIII.

DominicCobb said:

Tobar said:

You guys put far too much weight into the Story Group. They’re mainly there as advisors. The two that do the most heavy lifting are Pablo and Leland and they just ensure that whatever a project’s director/writer is doing is consistent with the established lore. And there they’re fairly powerless. See: the Starkiller’s carnage being seen from Takodana and Holdo’s last stand. There is no grand road map, they’re just doing things project to project.

They’re development executives.

Fancy word for advisers 😉

Tobar said:

You guys put far too much weight into the Story Group. They’re mainly there as advisors. The two that do the most heavy lifting are Pablo and Leland and they just ensure that whatever a project’s director/writer is doing is consistent with the established lore. And there they’re fairly powerless. See: the Starkiller’s carnage being seen from Takodana and Holdo’s last stand. There is no grand road map, they’re just doing things project to project.

I think this is correct. They’re mostly there just put their stamp of approval on what the writer/director comes up with. I think it’s pretty clear there isn’t a road map for these films and there’s no way that J.J. “Mystery Box” Abrams had a plan for how the loose ends he left in TFA would be tied up.

nl0428 said:

pleasehello said:

I have much less interest in seeing IX than I did in VIII. The main reason for this, and one of my biggest gripes with The Last Jedi is that it didn’t really leave any loose ends. That’s kind of an issue if you want to generate anticipation for your next film.

I am really for excited for Episode IX. In fact, it’s been reported by Collider that we may be seeing footage of Episode IX this December!

Yeah, I’m sure any forthcoming trailers will ramp up my excitement. More than anything else, the one thing I want to see in Ep. IX is ghost Luke haunting Kylo Ren. After that, I’m good.

nl0428 said:

Anakin Starkiller said:

Regardless, the real reason people don’t see as one vision is because TLJ seems to go against everything TFA values.

It’s upsetting to me that Episode IX is already being hated on before it’s released. I loved both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, but there is no disconnect between them. The Last Jedi expanded so much on the Star Wars legacy and mythology, something that will help Star Wars still keep going on for another forty years without being worn out. There are many people out there who were disappointed with Episode VIII simply because the film didn’t play out as the movie they wrote in their head leading up to its release. The extreme reactions are ridiculous, unbearable, and disgusting for their behavior for not liking the movie.

I have much less interest in seeing IX than I did in VIII. The main reason for this, and one of my biggest gripes with The Last Jedi is that it didn’t really leave any loose ends. That’s kind of an issue if you want to generate anticipation for your next film.

I really liked the story and characters in TLJ (except for Finn’s story, which I think was a little half-baked). In that respect I agree that there really isn’t a disconnect between TLJ and the preceding film. But I think there is definitely a tonal dissonance between the two films.

J.J. understands how to write dialogue and especially comedy that is more consistent with the OT, which borrows heavily from old Hollywood and especially the screwball comedies of that era. By comparison, many of The Last Jedi’s dialogue and comedic moments are less quick-fire screwball banter and more rooted in recent popular culture (crank calls, your mama jokes, literally brushing-it-off) and stuck out to me immediately. Now that we’re going back to J.J. for IX, it kind of ensures that VIII will be the kind of strange black sheep of the Sequel Trilogy.

lpd said:

nl0428 said:

lpd said:

Don’t know if this has been said before but I have a sneaky feeling Rey is the child of Q’ira. Darth Maul created life ala Plaeguies. Don’t say much on the site anymore just thought I’d chime in with my theory after reading some of your thoughts.

I believe that the story arc of Rey’s parents are finished. Rey even told Ben that she knew they were nobody the whole time deep inside her, despite that she didn’t want to believe it. Daisy Ridley even confirmed in an interview with Rolling Stone a couple of months after the release of The Last Jedi that the revelation of her parents in VIII is what she was told from the beginning when she signed on to the trilogy. I personally like the direction of her parents being irrelevant, but I’m sorry to you and anyone holding on that she was related to a familiar character from the past.

Just don’t know to be honest, its been shown since star wars 77 and especially over the last two movies that its really being changed and evolving on the move. ie:It really didn’t have an arc. Each movie is being written on the fly. I really think that’s why that scene was thrown on the end of Solo.
But what do I know?

An interesting theory. Though it seems like a bad idea to tie Rey to some character from a movie that nobody saw, who has never been mentioned in and is only tangentially related to the numbered movies. “Solo” bombed pretty hard and I don’t think Disney will want to remind everyone of it.

I personally think it would be inappropriate and would lessen my appreciation for the ST.

For me, Adam Driver has some of the best acting moments in the entirety of Star Wars. Particularly his quieter, more intimate scenes.

I’m thinking the interrogation of Rey in TFA and just after they fight the red guards in TLJ. There’s a strange, guarded vulnerability that he captures so well.

Ryan-SWI said:

pleasehello said:

I find it strangely dissonant that you dismiss TFA and TLJ as “nostalgic cashgrabs” and “corporate fan fiction”, yet you say you “loved” Rogue One.

Contrary to your opinion, I thought that TFA and TLJ while they do play on nostalgia, had a lot more heart than Rogue One, which I felt was a soulless assembly of recognizable imagery built around hollow characters.

TFA and TLJ add nothing of value to the saga of I - VI, Rogue One does.

The characters in Rogue One may be very underdeveloped, but at least they’re actual characters with flaws and personalities, and not Cliche Two Dimensional Character #1, #2 and #3.

If you’re talking about plot-wise, then I agree Rogue One does add more to Star Wars. Though I don’t know how you can say that neither TFA nor TLJ add nothing of value. Yeah, Rey is kind of a blank slate, an avatar for the audience. But Kylo Ren directly informs the characters of Han, Leia and Luke. We get to see how they’ve changed since the OT. What those movies lack in plot (and they do) they make up for with story and conflict between characters.

Rogue One is the opposite. It’s all plot, no character conflict. Between some of the characters, there’s almost no interaction at all, which makes me question their purpose in the movie. They each have their own character traits (mostly just their jobs) I guess. But saying they have well defined personalities is a stretch. Donnie Yen’s character was the only one with any personality at all.

Ryan-SWI said:

Mavimao said:

I understand fans’ frustrations with Rey’s sudden abilities, but did we really need another training montage?

No, but we needed an explanation because these films are claiming to be the 7th and 8th part of a 40 year old episodic saga and they don’t seem to care about anything set up prior.

It’s really no wonder so many people see these films as corporate fan fiction.

If TFA and TLJ were just stand alone spin off movies most people would probably dismiss them like they did Solo, but the problem is they’re saying this is the “sequel trilogy” despite advancing nothing of narrative substance in the broader context and actively going out of its way to undermine everything that came before.

I maintain that in twenty years the only thing this trilogy will be recognised for is the biggest wasted opportunity in cinematic history. They had endless potential and could have done literally anything, but instead went for a quick nostalgic cashgrab that’ll age like an opened can of beer. Unbelievable.

I’m personally in a weird spot because I loved Rogue One and really liked Solo, but have hated every other piece of material we’ve been given. At this point as far as I’m concerned the saga is I - VI and the only thing I’m interested in is the spin off movies and upcoming shows. More power to you if you’re looking forward to IX, but it just ain’t for me.

I find it strangely dissonant that you dismiss TFA and TLJ as “nostalgic cashgrabs” and “corporate fan fiction”, yet you say you “loved” Rogue One.

Contrary to your opinion, I thought that TFA and TLJ while they do play on nostalgia, had a lot more heart than Rogue One, which I felt was a soulless assembly of recognizable imagery built around hollow characters.

Voss Caltrez said:

pleasehello said:

fmalover said:

JokerRulez said:

Here’s the HUGE gamble Disney is making:

fmalover said:

Right now, the only thing I’m really looking forward to regarding Star Wars is Rian Johnson’s SW Trilogy, after all Johnson has earned my full trust with TLJ. I wish I could say I’m looking forward to The Mandalorian, but I don’t have Disney+.

Can anyone create a whole new SW experience that is still , … well, Star Wars?

There is no guarantee of success. Will mediocrity be enough? It’s the only way the film franchise can continue long-term so they’ll invest hugely in this while exploiting all other avenues to milk the franchise (TV, theme parks, comics, etc.).

Oh, in my opinion Rian Johnson is the wrong guy to do this next piece of work given the divisive reaction to his only entry. Need a uniter rather than someone always looking to subvert expectations.

JokerRulez

I don’t get why TLJ is so divisive.

TFA was such a huge letdown I had no expectations in regards to the following episode, and in fact I fully expected TLJ to be a remake of TESB in the same way TFA is a remake of the first SW. Once a friend confirmed it wasn’t like that I was genuinely excited, went to see the movie, and once the credits started rolling, left the cinema with a sense of euphoria.

I don’t think Johnson was trying to subvert expectations, he was trying to come up with the best story he could write and direct, which he did brilliantly.

I don’t get why some people have such strong feelings against TFA. Yes, it hits almost the exact same plot points as Star Wars(blowing up a third Death Star was especially annoying). But since when has Star Wars been about super intricate and interesting plots?

The heart of Star Wars is in its characters and the drama that comes from their interactions. TFA succeeded marvelously at this; creating drama, emotion and fun new characters courtesy of spectacular performances from previously unknown actors. Yes, the plot is derivative, but it’s also almost irrelevant.

Good point, and I completely agree with you that the success of Star Wars is that it’s character driven.
But can a Star Wars film not aim a little higher? There’s a lot more competition in this genre than there was back in '78 and '80. You gotta step it up.

Star Wars movies should definitely start aiming higher. You can only go back to the same formula so many times, but in my opinion TFA was the perfect opportunity to play the safe bet.

What Disney refuses to do though, is branch out into unexplored territory. Relying instead on our knowledge of already existing characters and lore to generate interest. And it’s kind of stopped working. To my mind, that’s their biggest failing. I would love to see smaller budget films of different genres with completely new characters which take place in the Star Wars universe.

fmalover said:

JokerRulez said:

Here’s the HUGE gamble Disney is making:

fmalover said:

Right now, the only thing I’m really looking forward to regarding Star Wars is Rian Johnson’s SW Trilogy, after all Johnson has earned my full trust with TLJ. I wish I could say I’m looking forward to The Mandalorian, but I don’t have Disney+.

Can anyone create a whole new SW experience that is still , … well, Star Wars?

There is no guarantee of success. Will mediocrity be enough? It’s the only way the film franchise can continue long-term so they’ll invest hugely in this while exploiting all other avenues to milk the franchise (TV, theme parks, comics, etc.).

Oh, in my opinion Rian Johnson is the wrong guy to do this next piece of work given the divisive reaction to his only entry. Need a uniter rather than someone always looking to subvert expectations.

JokerRulez

I don’t get why TLJ is so divisive.

TFA was such a huge letdown I had no expectations in regards to the following episode, and in fact I fully expected TLJ to be a remake of TESB in the same way TFA is a remake of the first SW. Once a friend confirmed it wasn’t like that I was genuinely excited, went to see the movie, and once the credits started rolling, left the cinema with a sense of euphoria.

I don’t think Johnson was trying to subvert expectations, he was trying to come up with the best story he could write and direct, which he did brilliantly.

I don’t get why some people have such strong feelings against TFA. Yes, it hits almost the exact same plot points as Star Wars(blowing up a third Death Star was especially annoying). But since when has Star Wars been about super intricate and interesting plots?

The heart of Star Wars is in its characters and the drama that comes from their interactions. TFA succeeded marvelously at this; creating drama, emotion and fun new characters courtesy of spectacular performances from previously unknown actors. Yes, the plot is derivative, but it’s also almost irrelevant.

LordZerome1080 said:

pleasehello said:

LordZerome1080 said:

OutboundFlight said:

Did Disney really have a choice when to came to the EU though? Prefer they make a movie with drama then “well Han couldn’t die here because he’s gotta be around for the Vong war”!

I prefer the EU where Han doesn’t get treated like less than just so a new actor can get a role.

Opinion: Han Solo getting murdered was the best part of Star Wars VII

Just fucking nope!!

Are you trying to tell me (in the least eloquent way possible, mind) that is not my opinion? Because I’m pretty sure it is.

LordZerome1080 said:

OutboundFlight said:

Did Disney really have a choice when to came to the EU though? Prefer they make a movie with drama then “well Han couldn’t die here because he’s gotta be around for the Vong war”!

I prefer the EU where Han doesn’t get treated like less than just so a new actor can get a role.

Opinion: Han Solo getting murdered was the best part of Star Wars VII

Congrats to the OP. This thread reads like a Youtube comments section.

I assume that’s what you were going for.

NeverarGreat said:

A random observation, but when C-3PO falls off of the Sail Barge in this version you can see part of the camera housing or something on the left which doesn’t appear in the Blu-ray. Is this in the VHS versions?

I noticed that too. Stuck out immediately. Though I don’t recall noticing it in Harmy’s 35mm Grindhouse LPP. Does anyone know if it’s there too?

snooker said:

I don’t know what you’re getting at. To be honest this discussion belongs in the Last Jedi spoilers thread.

I hope you feel better about yourself knowing you recked some people who liked a movie you didn’t. I’m pretty certain that that’s the widely accepted interpretation, but go on. Keep feeling special, they’re the wrong ones. You’ve earned it.

If that’s what the movie was going for, the message is muddled at best. Luke shows up as a projection, using a projection of the saber he rejected at the beginning of the film. Furthermore, it doesn’t really emphasize his acceptance of the sword. I think it could have been powerful if he had a quiet moment of finally accepting his destiny and his father’s sword. But everything is just a projection, plus Rey and Ben destroyed the real sword.

I think that’s a fine interpretation, but if it was intended as such it’s kind of half-baked, like many things in this movie. That said, I would rather have the symbolism of his father’s sword than have it be replaced with his green saber for nit-picky fans who are overly-obsessed with Star Wars internal logic and continuity.

snooker said:

I’ve finally seen the trailer, and to be honest it isn’t that great. Ackbar looks and sounds absolutely awful, Luke’s weird whispery voice will never fit alongside Mark Hamill’s. It’s just a mess.

I saw a comment praising the lines used in the trailer: “I know my son is gone” “No one’s ever really gone” and crediting Ivan.

Yeah, the sound mixing on the new dialogue he recorded is really bad. Also with English being Ivan’s second language, he’s probably not the best candidate for writing dialogue as evidenced by Ackbar’s line “we suspect there is a spy between us”.

I am still looking forward to his lightsaber battle for reasons all my own.

Awesome! Excited to see Cinderella.

Do you know if there are any restoration projects for Snow White?

You’re a Conservative Jew and a Secular Humanist? How does that work?

moviefreakedmind said:

pleasehello said:

But judging by the reactions, I don’t think anyone is really even willing to consider the perfectly reasonable possibility that Trident is putting forth: that these two completely different phenomena could both be the result of the physical wiring of someone’s brain.

It’s a bad analogy. It’d be better to compare it to people with a desire to torture or something like that.

It’s an uncomfortable analogy and I understand why. He clearly wanted to address pedophilia specifically because of his friend. But this is all getting pretty off topic.