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Solo < 2 Months Away. Let’s All [Star Wars] Together.
davidsdurions
Your Trusty MeatshieldPanhandle NebraskaRegistered User regular
Your Trusty MeatshieldPanhandle NebraskaRegistered User regular
Welcome to your home for all things star war.
Here we will discuss old films, new films, upcoming films, books, comics, toys, and related materials. There's another thread for the Rebels TV cartoon, so probably keep things light in here about that.
All discussion about current movies needs to heed spoiler laws. The most current movie is Episode VIII The Last Jedi. Don't ruin it for people that haven't seen it, please.
Here's the trailer, if you'd like to check it out again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0CbN8sfihY
The next movie is merely months away, Solo: A Star Wars Story. If spoilery things start popping up about that, please use the [ spoiler] tags there as well.
Now, my young apprentices, discuss Star Wars, but remember every fan theory is wrong, every fan opinion is so subjective it's probably wrong, and every fan is allowed to be whatever kind of fan they want and have all those theories and opinions.
And now introducing Solo Trailer:
https://youtu.be/9Szts88zY4o
https://youtu.be/dNW0B0HsvVs
Here we will discuss old films, new films, upcoming films, books, comics, toys, and related materials. There's another thread for the Rebels TV cartoon, so probably keep things light in here about that.
All discussion about current movies needs to heed spoiler laws. The most current movie is Episode VIII The Last Jedi. Don't ruin it for people that haven't seen it, please.
Here's the trailer, if you'd like to check it out again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0CbN8sfihYThe next movie is merely months away, Solo: A Star Wars Story. If spoilery things start popping up about that, please use the [ spoiler] tags there as well.
Now, my young apprentices, discuss Star Wars, but remember every fan theory is wrong, every fan opinion is so subjective it's probably wrong, and every fan is allowed to be whatever kind of fan they want and have all those theories and opinions.
And now introducing Solo Trailer:
https://youtu.be/9Szts88zY4ohttps://youtu.be/dNW0B0HsvVs davidsdurions on
+2
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
Counterpoint:
I'll be honest -- based on that thumbnail, I was really hoping
Yep, it was straight up breathtaking.
I mean, the first 12 minutes or so is nothing but body hair and weird grunts and moaning.
Loved it loved the whole movie tennouttaten
That shot, as well as
So what is it about TLJ that pisses people off when the same issues are in the generally agreed upon best in the series?
Because in the internet age of think pieces and reaction videos and fan theories, people have had two years to imagine what kind of movie it would be. And then TLJ came in and just:
Now with a proper viewing completed I felt safe returning to the internet.
That might have been a mistake.
One correlation I seem to notice is that people that liked Rogue One seem more likely to like TNJ.
I seem to be an outlier in the Star Wars rating debacle for not really liking R1 and really liking TNJ.
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
Same here.
edit: I'm rewatching Rogue One, and it holds up. Wonderful film.
I was really happy with Luke's plan. I do hope he becomes a force ghost angel on Kylo's shoulder, reminding him of flaws and mistakes and lack of empathy constantly, until he makes a fatal mistake.
It would a nice reversal of Obi Wan steering Luke. Steer Kylo into a ditch
The same thing, these are not
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I literally let out a stunned "Holy shit" in the silent theater
You can't give someone a pirate ship in one game, and then take it back in the next game. It's rude.
The bolded at least has been answered many times, including by me in the last thread a few days ago.
I think Rogue One is improving with age. And right off the bat it was already one of my favourites.
Steam | XBL
she clips through a hologram of the Supremacy in the exact same location it will later get hit by Holdo.
Obligatory Auralnauts video:
It’s nowhere in the movie soundtrack arranged like that. What the trailer music is here and almost always is for any trailer, is a digitally composed piece made by the marketing department and not by the physical orchestra recorded for the movie.
This is like a Super Bowl Halftime show medley, which is fun, but not quite like a full concert set from an artist.
Honestly, in regards to ESB....
The TIE bombers dropping the bombs, someone GIF'd to use in the argument. They don't appear that they're dropped at the velocity that comes out, it looks like they're fired straight down.
The Emperor is not killed in ESB, so that argument isn't valid. The explanation for him is enough for the movie (Empire, Emperor, etc).
Luke gets his ass kicked and the whole point of ESB is that he wasn't ready to face Vader.
Despite me responding, none of those are my gripes with TLJ (and yes I thought the movie was bad). A lot of my problems stems from the fact that TLJ apparently
PSN: Bizazedo
CFN: Bizazedo (I don't think I suck, add me).
See, I’m the exact opposite. I thought Rogue One was a great movie, and I think TLJ is meh at best. Opinions!
I figured as much...mostly all I want is the low horns and strings that kick in at around 0:25 in. If a proper track is wrapped around that, I would be happy.
My son, age 6 at his first star wars theater experience, sat their quiet, then loudly exclaimed "O...M....GGGG".
The entire Casino planet. It was cheesy, and felt out of tone with the rest of the movie. I had the exact problem I had with much of the prequels and with movies like The Hobbit.
Then on the imperial ship we get more of the same. BB8 goes god mode again, Phasma gets punked, and it was just meh'
Give me the cut where we see Fin magically waking up on Crait and I probably like the movie better
I feel like there was a good version of the Fin side quest to be had, but how they told it here didn't resonate with me.
biggest complaint: mark hamill's acting. it got a little better in the climax of the film, when he was being more stoic. convincing wise-and-powerful-whatever. but almost the whole center of the film on the jedi island felt cringe-bad to me. i don't know whether daisy ridley is especially strong, but i did enjoy her half of the conversations. i also really enjoyed kylo ren's performance (and i did not at all in TFA- i think his tortured conflict really came into its own this film. especially once the helmet disappeared, and in most of his scenes with rey, i was really enjoying it. convincing). but all of luke's scenes here felt awful. the lighthearted stuff wasn't funny. the dramatic, forsworn thing with him losing faith wasn't moving. his raw emotion over losing the students didn't feel raw at all. to me it was thoroughly bad. i haven't run into anyone else yet with this complaint which makes me think maybe i should rewatch it but gosh. weakest performance in the film by several orders of magnitude.
leia guiding herself back to the ship felt real weird and dumb. easily smacking down the bridge of the ship felt dumb. completely abandoning the whole side plot of going to the gambling planet, they 'luck' into a cell with a guy who can do what they need (but also is a traitor).
good things: some gorgeous scenes (spaceship collision, rey's little fantasy mirror thing, the super well framed death of the supreme leader, etc. visually great, overall. and i was somewhat distracted from how contrived and editing-room-floor the gambling side plot felt by the mostly pleasant exploration of goodness in the rebels, with rose's disgust at the arms dealers.
for the most part tho, goddamn a third of this movie was luke on that island and it was almost all bad imo. i want to blame his acting but maybe the writing was just unsalvageable.
So I saw it again on Monday night. I actually enjoyed it the second time. Compared to the first time I saw it, where I concluded it was an alright movie but a bad Star Wars experience, I now feel like it is a really good movie and a serviceable Star Wars experience. It was my daughter's first time seeing the movie and watching her laugh during various scenes made me so happy. She also seemed really engaged, which is impressive for a 2.5 hour movie, but also not surprising because I have successfully (inadvertently) transferred my love of Star Wars to her. Updated thoughts:
TLJ feels like it gets to Turning Point #4 (Major Setback) and then like a broken record keeps resetting back to Turning Point #2. Every time we hit TP#4 it skips back to TP#2. We keep thinking that Act III is right around the corner only to have the rug pulled out and realize we are back the beginning of Act II. This doesn't feel right to the viewer, especially on first watch. By the time the movie is over, we are mentally exhausted. This mirrors perfectly the exhaustion we should feel as empathy for the Resistance.
On second viewing? The movie absolutely flies by. Its almost too fast. Canto Bight was barely a blip and didn't feel like it interrupted anything. Rey wasn't on Ahchto nearly long enough. The Resistance wasn't being chased all that long really. Expecting those failures and understanding where the real Act II ends and the real Act III begins makes the movie flow so much better.
Luke: My daughter's first question about the movie was the following: "Why was Luke so ... angry? I didn't like that."
I still don't like his "failure" and overall characterization. On second viewing I realized my main issue. I think I was ready to see Luke not fail. We already saw him go through that in his trilogy. He supposedly learned and grew and had his happy ending. It was his time to be the master, teach, and hand the reigns to his apprentice. Like Obi-Wan did. Like Yoda did. I think it would have made more sense to focus on Rey's growth and Luke's part in it. Instead we had to retread Luke's character and show him fail in a huge way and then learn from it again, also from Yoda again. It hurt Luke's overall storyline (which is why I think it hurts the OT) and actually took away from Rey. She literally didn't fail in this movie, which feels wrong when everyone else around her (specifically the new generation of leaders/heroes) did. It would have been weird if Leia had to learn the lesson that Poe did in this movie. It is weird that Luke had to learn lessons from failure when it should be Rey's time to do so.
I get that his reaction was both believable and understandable. Its a perfectly normal reaction to screwing up on that level. Its also a perfectly normal reaction (maybe even moreso for a Jedi Master) to step up and handle your problems like a strong capable person. BUT, like Yoda said, "A powerful teacher, failure is." If that was true, then wouldn't that mean that Luke should have already learned this? He failed a bunch and learned in ESB (there was a brilliant post in the previous thread about that). So having learned from failure, being able to respond to Ben falling by doing something other than running away and hiding is what Luke should be capable of doing at this point. Something I think he's earned. So I guess the more important questions to me are:
Was it entertaining to watch a character regress like that to re-learn a lesson? Nope. Did it undercut his happy ending / growth in the OT? Yup. Would it have made more sense for Rey to be the one to stumble and learn (especially considering thats exactly what Finn/Poe/Kylo experienced and was the theme of the movie)? Yes.
Rey/Kylo: Literal chills when the throne scene went down. It was as powerful or more the second time. That they each saw the same vision (them fighting side by side with Snoke dead) and they each came to their own separate conclusions is a genius ending to that plotline. The entire throne room scene is one of the most powerful and beautiful moments in all of Star Wars. Adam Driver is the gem of this trilogy. He is making Kylo an iconic character in a way that no one else could, imo.
Philosophy on "The Past": On first viewing on thought the movie was telling me that I had to destroy the past to move forward. On second viewing, its clear that the movie is telling us that its absolutely the wrong way to move forward. Kylo is the one that wants to destroy the past as a method for progress. He is the villain of the story. Yoda tells us that is incorrect by explaining to Luke that the Jedi are not dead. The tree being destroyed means nothing, since Rey has the texts and is a true Jedi. Rose tells us this is incorrect, when she refocuses Finn's desire from destruction to preservation. Luke tells Kylo this is incorrect when he states "If you strike me down in hate, I will always be with you" which I initially thought meant that Luke would force ghost haunt him, but Luke very specifically added "just like your father" to the end of that. Han isn't force ghost haunting Kylo. What Luke meant by that was that by destroying things, you ensure they stay with you forever. Destroying things makes it impossible to move past them. By destroying something, you make a decision that forever burns it as part of who you are. An un-correctable choice that will forever define you. I love everything about that philosophical lesson taught in this movie. If you celebrate "destroying expectations" that fans had, then I think you are on the wrong side of the fence here.
Finn/Rose: I don't mind this plotline anymore and think I really like it. Everything about Canto Bight went much faster on second viewing. I think the humor and aliens there were a bit too much Fifth Element, but it wasn't enough to detract like the first viewing, not because I thought it fit but because I was ready for it. Learning how the universe is out of balance in terms of have and have nots is incredibly relevant for our time and I hope that all the talk of the force creating balance extends to that in IX. I would love if the end result of this trilogy is that the Force creates balance by bringing down the rich. I especially loved the foreshadowing of the end of Canto Bight, when Finn talks about it being worth it to destroy the town (mirroring what Rose had said earlier about punching a hole in the town) to which Rose stops, takes the saddle off of the horse/dog and then replies "Now its worth it." I think that's where she learned that its more important to save what you love than destroy what you hate. Gorgeous piece of story telling there.
On top of that I think Finn had more character growth than I saw on first viewing. But the second time, his growth really stood out. His time on Canto Bight taught him a lot. I mean we have to remember that he's been with the First order since he was a child, he doesn't know anything about the universe at large. So Rose and the Codebreaker taught him some pretty big life lessons. Failing at a hail mary plan taught him yet another. So when we see him facing Phasma its clear he's doing it to face his own demons. He's not doing it to save Rey this time. He's doing it because he believes and understands what's important to him. This is solidified on Crait when he is clearly willing to sacrifice himself for the Resistance ideals. He's not doing it for Rey anymore. Where he was more of a hero symbol (not an actual hero) from his actions in TFA, he is totally bought in by the end of TLJ and is an actual Hero of the Resistance. I think he's in a great position for IX.
Nitpicks:
- When Luke and Kylo are initially facing off, they are standing on a reflective field of glassed ground from all the laser fire. They talk for a second, then it cuts to the Resistance trying to figure out their escape. When it cuts back to Luke and Kylo, the ground is completely covered in salt. Its jarring and a pretty large continuity mistake.
- We see Holden sacrifice herself to save the resistance and its a heroic, meaningful act. We see Luke sacrifice himself to save the resistance and its a heroic, meaningful act. We see Finn about to sacrifice himself to save the resistance, yet its not allowed, because we are supposed to save what we love. Did Leia not love Holden? Are we not supposed to love Luke? I adore the phrase "We shouldn't focus on destroying what we hate, but instead saving what we love," but it does feel inconsistently applied here.
- The ships were being tracked in hyperspace by a single lead Star Destroyer. Which means they could track a single ship. Why didn't the other support ships jump to different places through hyperspace? The First Order would have been forced to stay with the Cruiser and Frigate/Corvette could have gone to try and get help. Might have even been able to bring back some fuel...
Overall, I feel like my major complaints with the movie