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Star Wars: The Last Jedi discussion

Started by VDB, December 17, 2017, 08:10:49 AM

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VDB

Is this still Wombat?

mistercharlie

I think we may need to append a spoiler warning to the title, just incase of drunken pauging between now and when I go see it.  :mrgreen:
"I used to be 'with it', but then they changed what 'it' was and now what I'm with isn't 'it' and what's 'it' seems weird and scary to me"
Quote from: kellerb on August 02, 2009, 02:29:05 AM
You haven't lived until you've had a robot shart in your ear and followed along in the live setlist thread while it happens. 

VDB

You clicked in here without seeing the film first? Playing with fire, Chuck.
Is this still Wombat?

mistercharlie

"I used to be 'with it', but then they changed what 'it' was and now what I'm with isn't 'it' and what's 'it' seems weird and scary to me"
Quote from: kellerb on August 02, 2009, 02:29:05 AM
You haven't lived until you've had a robot shart in your ear and followed along in the live setlist thread while it happens. 

rowjimmy


emay

Thought it was pretty epic.
Snoke fight was awesome and for maybe the only time saw Rey and Kylo fight together. That was cool
Wonder how much Carrie fisher will be in the next episode. They def had a chance to end her role in this one but must have a good bit of film left with her to keep it going.

birdman

So,  Luke dies by exhaustion? I'm not thrilled with this ending for our hero. Maybe I just didnt understand how low his force gauge was without a heads up display.
Paug FTMFW!

khalpin

Quote from: birdman on December 17, 2017, 08:42:43 PM
So,  Luke dies by exhaustion? I'm not thrilled with this ending for our hero. Maybe I just didnt understand how low his force gauge was without a heads up display.
That was definitely disappointing.  The whole deceptive, remote jedi thing....you thought he was dead but he was really back in Northern Ireland...oh wait, no you're right....he's dead.  Because?  I don't know.  To tell you the truth, I would've enjoyed the movie a lot more if Luke wasn't in it.  Spent half the movie trying not to be a jedi, then after R2 replays the Princess Leia hologram from a New Hope, he does a 180 and decides to train Rey? Pfft.  All of his scenes seemed completely unoriginal and mailed in, writing-wise.

Pretty much everything else, I liked.  Didn't mean to bash on it.  I was just so excited to see what Luke would bring.  And he pretty much showed up like the Buffalo Bills. 

Hicks

Saw it, pretty damn good, definitely better than Force Awakens and brought something new to the table. 

Benicio was a pleasant surprise, had no idea he would be in it and it was a classic role that hearkened back to his early work like Usual Suspects.   

So, Rey and Ren are brother and sister right?  We don't really believe that bs about her parents being random drunk junk traders do we?

They had to limit Luke's role to some degree because well, Mark Hamill can't really act. I thought they did a good job of working him into the story and was fine with his last scene. Kinda thought he would be checking out in this one.

Really hope they have footage for Carrie Fisher in IX and that they don't have to do too much CGI. 

Was a little bummed that they didn't really fill in much of Snoke's backstory and that he didn't show us any light saber skills.  But I guess he's not a Sith anyway?

Definitely will be seeing it in the theater again. 
Quote from: Trey Anastasio
But, I don't think our fans do happily lap it up, I think they go online and talk about how it was a bad show.

rowjimmy

#9
First of all, I loved it. Not perfect but great.

Luke didn't die. He's not more dead than Yoda who didn't seem so much like a ghost in this one did he?
He held to his ideals of not raising a lightsaber while still giving the resistance hope and help. He studied the ancient texts and learned not only how to give his life force and matter into the force the way Obi Wan and Yoda did but to project himself through that across great distances. That, as well as Snoke's power to connect minds are force powers we've not seen before. But why shouldn't there be powers we've never seen? I thought it was beautiful and unpredictable. If Luke had actually shown up and fought Ben and died like Obi Wan, that would have been decried as well. I think that would have been a more justified complaint.

I liked the old fashioned Samauri/Kung Fu trope of the potential student sleeping outside, waiting on the doorstep of their chosen master, hoping to be trained. Strong call back to that sort of story right down to the following him around through is day-to-day mundane tasks.

Agreed completely about Benicio Del Toro. Dude was terrific.

I thought the porgs were only briefly funny and altogether kinda stupid but that is a thing that Star Wars does so I didn't let it get me down (or there wasn't enough of it to get me down. Either way...)

I'm not convinced that Rey and Ren are siblings although that could certainly prove out and have a quality pay off. I'm also not convinced about her parentage as described but that too could be real and I'd be cool with it. Definitely some class warfare tones in this and if she's the daughter of a princess well... let's just say the humble beginnings might make a better story. All that said, the big saber fight was fucking awesome.

I'm not too worried about Snoke's story. I'm curious and would likely read about it in a book but, ultimately, this is not his story. He's just another surrogate parent. I did love how he went out. His own arrogance trumped his power.

Lastly, I liked Finn's story. The heist was cool and introduced a new character and a point of conflict for Finn now that he's met two girls in his life... Also, I wonder if Phasma will be back? Does she count as a third girl? Being handsome is tough in outer space.

The Hux/Ren pairing is pretty good stuff, btw.

As for Carrie Fisher, they had all of her stuff shot before she passed. Ultimately, the film is better for how it played out but now they have a huge problem. How to lose a major character. They've said that they won't use cgi. That sorta leaves them painted in a corner, doesn't it? I guess we'll see in two years.

I'll be seeing this movie again soon.


ETA:

This guy gets it and I 100% agree with him.
https://filmcrithulk.blog/2017/12/15/the-force-belongs-to-us-the-last-jedis-beautiful-refocusing-of-star-wars/

Hicks

Loved the skewering of Vegas and paying a little tribute to the working class too. Mentioning the profitability if tve First Order was a nice touch too.

Pointed social commentary that actually works, unlike monotonous Galactic Senate scenes for instance, is a new thing for Star Wars. 
Quote from: Trey Anastasio
But, I don't think our fans do happily lap it up, I think they go online and talk about how it was a bad show.

antelope19

First- I loved the movie and think it's a fantastic step for the franchise.

That said, this movie is far from perfect.

My issues with the movie-

Leia into space and then coming back
Yoda all of a sudden being like nah, fuck it, Luke. She's good. Those Jedi texts are Boring as fuck anyway.
Luke, in general. Winking at C3PO, dusting his shoulder off, etc.
Complete and total dismissal of Ackbar. "Oh by the way, that guy died".
Plot line of let's just wait until they run out of gas is pretty weak, IMO
Snoke....zero character development and killed way too easily. He clearly has a lot of respect for the history of the dark side(or maybe just Vader?) and is pretty powerful. Cool side note: his ring is made From obsidian cut from below Vader's temple.
Quote
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment

kellerb

I had to watch it again to clarify some stuff.  Lots of foreshadowing bits that seemed like tossed-off dialogue the first time through.

My brief review is STFU Neely, except for a couple points:

Floaty space Leia is weird to the point where I almost think they planned some reshoots that didn't happen. That scene also downplays Ackbar being there on the bridge and dying.

The middle bits of the movie could have been tightened up, in terms of the "disable their lightspeed tracking" subplot.  I expected Lando to show up instead of Benecio but this is the movie of "fuck off, coincidences"

-STFU Neely section------------

Snoke's death -  Who cares about some wrinkly perv that sits around and fucks with force noobs and pretends to be emperor.  I had to rewatch to confirm it was Ren and not Rey that spun that lightsaber and turned it on. I kind of thought the guards Rey&Ren fought in that scene were the "Knights of Ren" but I guess not.

All the Luke and Yoda jokes - Good stuff.  Clear that he picked up his teaching style from his teacher.  the Jay-Z Dirt-off-your-shoulder could have been executed better, but Luke was stalling and also baiting Ren so it was valid.







rowjimmy

Rian Johnson hears your concerns and isn't bothered in the slightest because dude is way more chill than you, man.

http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2017/12/19/yes-rian-johnson-knows-that-people-are-mad-online-about-star-wars

Hicks

It's a movie about burning down the past, giving the finger to tradition and going bravely into a scary and uncertain future. 

I don't see how any true Star Wars fan can't get with that   
Quote from: Trey Anastasio
But, I don't think our fans do happily lap it up, I think they go online and talk about how it was a bad show.