Latest Star Wars movie?

ctviggen · « **on:** 31 Dec 2019, 12:50 pm »

What do people think of the latest Star Wars movie?

I have to say that I really liked the last two. I know some people hated these, but I thought they were great. At least better than 1-3, where I thought 1 and 2 were so bad that I never watched 3. (This means the originals were 4-6.)

What are your thoughts on the latest Star Wars movie and the previous two movies?

Folsom · « **Reply #1 on:** 31 Dec 2019, 05:45 pm »

Don't give these assholes your money. Wait for it to be free.

They literally have stated things like they made it for fans not to like it.

SoCalWJS · « **Reply #2 on:** 31 Dec 2019, 06:21 pm »

Haven’t gone to see the “Last” Episode. Probably won’t.

I went to the Theater and saw Ep VII (The Force Awakens) with my wife. We both thought it was “OK”, but that the story was just a re-do of the Original movie (Ep IV A New Hope).

Bought the next one on 4K & Blu Ray and eagerly anticipated watching it (Ep VIII The Last Jedi). Fell asleep in the middle. Caught the end. Have never bothered to re-watch. Tells you what I thought of what I did watch.

Put me into the “Disappointed” Camp on the final Trilogy. With 20/20 hindsight, I wish they had left this alone after the original Trilogy.

Tyson · « **Reply #3 on:** 31 Dec 2019, 07:48 pm »

I thought it was an excellent movie and a fitting send off to the series. I really like that Disney has kept the original trilogy look and feel while updating it for a modern audience.

Recently I went back and rewatched the original trilogy - it was good but not amazing. New Hope was fun, Empire Strikes back was a good sequel but Return of the Jedi was downright embarrassing.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the final trilogy to the Skywalker saga.

Photon46 · « **Reply #4 on:** 31 Dec 2019, 08:27 pm »

I've not seen the latest movie myself, but this op-ed piece in the NYT was an insightful bit of writing about the franchise:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/20/opinion/star-wars-movie.html

kingdeezie · « **Reply #5 on:** 31 Dec 2019, 08:39 pm »

Actual dumpster fires.

Too many awful cooks in the kitchen creating a mess. There is very little continuity between the three movies, and its painfully obvious.

The amount of plot holes and contrivances is mind-numbing.

What's worse however, is that they completely killed the story arcs of all of the beloved original characters, with the exception of Leia who they turned into a superhero that can fly in space.

Luke got trashed the worst. In the original trilogy he went from a naïve, self centered brat in the first movie, to a skilled jedi and son who saw through his father's anger, loss, and evil, and helped redeem his soul.

**SPOILERS" In the new trilogy, Luke effectively has a bad dream about his nephew turning evil, and despite being able to save his father, decides to kill his nephew but stops himself at the last second. He then secludes himself on an island where he drinks blue milk from alien udders, and whines about the Jedi being obsolete while throwing curmudgeon tantrums.

The entire trilogy is horrendous. The characters are vacuous. With the exception of maybe Finn and Kylo, they have zero character development.

Garbage.

wilsynet · « **Reply #6 on:** 31 Dec 2019, 09:00 pm »

A New Hope is still my favorite Star Wars movie. Followed by Force Awakens, and then Empire Strikes Back.

I liked Last Jedi a bit more than Return of the Jedi, but not a lot more. As for this most recent movie, Rise of Skywalker, I liked it a bit less than ROTJ, but not a lot less.

How could that be you ask. Even as an 11-year old watching ROTJ in the theatre for the first time, I thought two things:

Really? Another Death Star?
Lightning bolts from his fingers? Aww c'mon.

Rise of Skywalker is a flawed movie, but so was ROTJ.

As for the prequel movies, they have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Which deeply hurts a friend of mine who worked on them, but our friendship will survive.

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #7 on:** 31 Dec 2019, 09:01 pm »

Kingdeezie,

I hope you write more movie reviews.

Tyson · « **Reply #8 on:** 31 Dec 2019, 09:13 pm »

Lots of people complain about Luke's character but personally I think his "Kurtz-like" turn is one of the very best things about the final trilogy.

wilsynet · « **Reply #9 on:** 31 Dec 2019, 09:13 pm »

Photon46: Thanks for citing the NYT article. It's insightful and has many good points.

Tyson: I agree with you about the original trilogy.

One thing I would add is that as the original series progresses, Leia is increasingly disempowered and marginalized. In A New Hope, she grabs a blaster and jumps into the garbage chute. In Empire, she commands the forces but by the end of the movie, she is helpless as they take Han Solo away. When we get to ROTJ, she is enslaved to Jabba, a helpless prisoner to the Ewoks, and an offstage prop for the men to fight over.

Force Awakens is a more modern and inclusive Star Wars that brings the wonder and romance of A New Hope to a new audience.

charmerci · « **Reply #10 on:** 31 Dec 2019, 10:40 pm »

Quote from: wilsynet on 31 Dec 2019, 09:13 pm

One thing I would add is that as the original series progresses, Leia is increasingly disempowered and marginalized. In A New Hope, she grabs a blaster and jumps into the garbage chute. In Empire, she commands the forces but by the end of the movie, she is helpless as they take Han Solo away. When we get to ROTJ, she is enslaved to Jabba, a helpless prisoner to the Ewoks, and an offstage prop for the men to fight over.

Carrie Fisher said in rehearsal, they walked away from her chained near Jabba without acknowledging her and as they did so, she said, "Don't worry guys, I'll be fine!"

She wanted it left in the movie but they changed it.

dcbingaman · « **Reply #11 on:** 31 Dec 2019, 11:46 pm »

As compared to the 6 sequels to the original trilogy go, this one wasn't bad. It tied everything back together at the end.

These movies have always been less about the big picture and more about the individual scenes - kind of like an intergalactic Saturday Nite Live. Some scenes are really entertaining and others are "why did they bother ?" If you look at them that way, they can be fun, but you don't want to think too hard about the plot - there really isn't one.

Favorite scenes: The bar scene and the X-Wing raid on the Death Star in the first one, the MF negotiating the asteroid belt and ducking into the mouth of some giant rock snake in the second one, the battle scene on Hoth in the third one, the tethered jet engine chariot races in the fourth one, etc. All visually clever, but not many plot points. Star Wars has always been an excuse for the CGI artists and audiences to have fun, not an intergalactic retelling of "Gone with the Wind" or "Lawrence of Arabia". Real plots require real characters, not cartoon figures.

Folsom · « **Reply #12 on:** 31 Dec 2019, 11:54 pm »

Quote from: kingdeezie on 31 Dec 2019, 08:39 pm

Actual dumpster fires.

Too many awful cooks in the kitchen creating a mess. There is very little continuity between the three movies, and its painfully obvious.

The amount of plot holes and contrivances is mind-numbing.

What's worse however, is that they completely killed the story arcs of all of the beloved original characters, with the exception of Leia who they turned into a superhero that can fly in space.

Luke got trashed the worst. In the original trilogy he went from a naïve, self centered brat in the first movie, to a skilled jedi and son who saw through his father's anger, loss, and evil, and helped redeem his soul.

**SPOILERS" In the new trilogy, Luke effectively has a bad dream about his nephew turning evil, and despite being able to save his father, decides to kill his nephew but stops himself at the last second. He then secludes himself on an island where he drinks blue milk from alien udders, and whines about the Jedi being obsolete while throwing curmudgeon tantrums.

The entire trilogy is horrendous. The characters are vacuous. With the exception of maybe Finn and Kylo, they have zero character development.

Garbage.

^^

I like the original three and Rogue One. The people that hate on Rogue One seem to have a stick up something IMO - they hate to hate, totally unjustified. The prequels were as dumb as George's shitty edits to the originals that he did in the 90's, with very little value in some ok fighting parts.

At least the Mandolorian is attempting to not totally suck. It's a far-cry from being awesome, but it's a start.

MttBsh · « **Reply #13 on:** 1 Jan 2020, 12:05 am »

With age comes cynicism - seems I was only about 20 when I saw the first Star Wars movie in the theater and fell sound asleep - on a first date with a really nice girl. Not sure what all the hype has been all these years, but as long as there is money to be made I can't see them stopping, even if this latest installment was supposed to be the last.
Brings to mind Cher's "final farewell tour" in the late 90s.

Folsom · « **Reply #14 on:** 1 Jan 2020, 01:30 am »

This movie might be enough for them to break even on the purchase. The irony is they could have doubled their investment already... but they bombed the whole thing. It still makes stock look good because it’s growth. They may just not put in the effort for any more gain than that, and concentrate on Marvel while just retaining the asset that gives continual residuals and gives weight to subscriptions for Disney+...

It’s not easy to find all the capabilities for making as many movies as they, as often as they do.

Tyson · « **Reply #15 on:** 1 Jan 2020, 01:35 am »

Quote from: Folsom on 31 Dec 2019, 11:54 pm

^^

I like the original three and Rogue One. The people that hate on Rogue One seem to have a stick up something IMO - they hate to hate, totally unjustified. The prequels were as dumb as George's shitty edits to the originals that he did in the 90's, with very little value in some ok fighting parts.

At least the Mandolorian is attempting to not totally suck. It's a far-cry from being awesome, but it's a start.

You liked Return of the Jedi? Really? Man that's down there at the very bottom along with the Phantom Menace for me.

Joemamma · « **Reply #16 on:** 1 Jan 2020, 04:40 am »

Prequels: “How do you like me now”

Didn’t think it was possible, but Disney, despite having practically unlimited resources, managed to make something worse than Jar-Jar.

wushuliu · « **Reply #17 on:** 1 Jan 2020, 06:07 am »

Empire Strikes Back is considered one of the best films ever made, and rightly so. I don’t buy into the revisionism that the originals weren’t that much better than the new. I mean the originals were so groundbreaking that they created special effects filmmaking as we know it. Hell, making MOVIES as we know it. Non linear editing started with Star Wars and Lucas. THX, etc etc. I am more in awe of Lucas for what he did to put the originals on the screen than anything else in his career.

The new movies are pure product. They assemble the cut from multiple story lines that are audience tested or to meet deadlines for Disney stock reporting. This was revealed during Force Awakens and Rogue One. They literally shoot enough footage for multiple movies and then slap together scenes by committee. Nothing to do with JJ or any of the production. Iger calls the shots. And you can tell.

Tyson · « **Reply #18 on:** 1 Jan 2020, 06:34 am »

Wushulu are you saying the Lucas was the first to use non-linear storytelling? Because Citizen Kane by Welles and The Killing by Kubrick are 2 movies that spring immediately to mind that are non-linear and they clearly precede anything by Lucas.

wushuliu · « **Reply #19 on:** 1 Jan 2020, 06:49 am »

Quote from: Tyson on 1 Jan 2020, 06:34 am

Wushulu are you saying the Lucas was the first to use non-linear storytelling? Because Citizen Kane by Welles and The Killing by Kubrick are 2 movies that spring immediately to mind that are non-linear and they clearly precede anything by Lucas.

I mean the modern process of editing films i.e. digital 'non-linear editing' or NLE for short. Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, DaVinci Resolve, etc. *All* modern movies are made with NLEs - and Lucas created the most influential, called EditDroid, from which all others are derived.