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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

Quote from: Hicks on December 19, 2017, 02:00:51 PM
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

Hmm. But people seem to be giving Rian Johnson an *awful* lot of credit merely for, as you say, giving a giant finger to things that have been set into motion or expectations raised by the films that came before his. I just don't see the inherent virtue in doing that. Continuity and not blowing off storylines is kinda important in a series.

I'll have more to say when I get a long, spare moment.
Is this still Wombat?

kellerb

Also I kind of like the Hux guy now.  Last movie he was just like a random hitler guy, now he's a foil for Kylo whenever there's a tantrum, like a babysitter that gets shitty.  "Did you get him, Kylo? Is he dead yet?  Why are you mad, did your uncle force-finger you?"


Hicks

Quote from: VDB on December 19, 2017, 03:04:21 PM
Quote from: Hicks on December 19, 2017, 02:00:51 PM
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

Hmm. But people seem to be giving Rian Johnson an *awful* lot of credit merely for, as you say, giving a giant finger to things that have been set into motion or expectations raised by the films that came before his. I just don't see the inherent virtue in doing that. Continuity and not blowing off storylines is kinda important in a series.

I'll have more to say when I get a long, spare moment.

Disagree, I applaud Johnson having the courage to push the saga in new directions instead of just offering up another rehash sequel. 
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

Was anyone able to make out what the mosaic was at the bottom of the pool on Ahch-to?
Quote
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment

rowjimmy

Quote from: antelope19 on December 19, 2017, 07:50:18 PM
Was anyone able to make out what the mosaic was at the bottom of the pool on Ahch-to?

Light side/Dark side mumbo jumbo

rowjimmy

#20
Moved some stuff to keep this on track.

I think I'm gonna go for viewing #2 on 12/27.

I don't really have any questions or things that I missed and are concerning me this go-round so, at the moment it's strictly for a more relaxed viewing...

Except there is one thing:
Was Yoda a practical effect? Did they go back to puppet Yoda?

ETA:
Here's the answer!
http://www.radiotimes.com/news/film/2017-12-18/how-star-wars-the-last-jedi-brought-back-that-surprise-character/

antelope19

Well, I definitely missed this. Confirmed- rogue one set up plot line in last Jedi.

Quote
A laser-focused Star Wars fan pointed out the revelation: when Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) is looking for the Death Star blueprints on the planet Scarif, she finds a file for hyperspace tracking. And just like that, we have an explanation for what became the bane of the Resistance in The Last Jedi.

Essentially, it was impossible for anyone to track a ship that jumped into hyperspace, but the Empire had been working on the technology years prior to The Last Jedi. It seems it lived on with the First Order and became a reality. Here's Pablo Hidalgo, a Lucasfilm creative executive, responding to the Easter egg: "Ah-yup."

Hidalgo also explained that hyperspace tracking came from the Tarkin Initiative, a secret Imperial think tank. "Unsolicited pro tip," he tweeted. "If something doesn't seem, on the surface, to move the plot forward, try looking at what it might be doing to character."
Quote
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment

susep

Saw it today w/ my Wife and son.  Pretty good overall, way better than Rogue One.  Laura Dern was an interesting surprise.  I still think of her as a paleo-botanist;). I liked the Luke scenes with Rey, the parallels with Buddhism are omnipresent, nothing new there however as a fan of Buddhist philosophy I love seeing it anywhere including formalistic films.  BB8 was entertaining as R2 and C3 have definitely taken a back seat.  The scene with Rey and Kylo was cool especially when "Ben" took out Snoke.  I also really liked the meditating Luke faux scene w/ Kylo.  It was entertaining to see him levitating during that sequence. 
I also liked how the script talked about the "masters of wars" when they were on Fantasy Island if you will.  Its also funny how they put in subliminal Christmas references with the lighting and Chewbacca's golden roasted bird snacks.  Loved the Millenium scene when Rey shows up and distracts the tie fighters as well. 

antelope19

Quote from: kellerb on December 19, 2017, 10:29:56 AM
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.

That's all fine and good, but I really don't think this is the last we're going to hear about Snoke.
Quote
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment

rowjimmy


Hicks

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.

cactusfan

Just in case you want to be outraged by a contrary opinion, here's mine:

www.standbyformindcontrol.com/2017/12/star-wars-the-last-jedi-is-a-frog-named-mongo/

The TL;DR version: Worst Star Wars yet.

VA $l!m

#27
Late to the party, but I finally got to the theatre yesterday after managing to 100% avoid spoilers for over a month, lol.
My thoughts before i read anyone else's:

I'll start off by saying this was the first Star Wars movie i left the theatre without any feeling of "That was awesome -Star Wars rules".
Something just felt off for me and despite some really great potential from both characters and plot, overall the movie fell extremly flat for me.

Just as a movie, not only a star wars movie, i felt there was a distinct failure in editing and vision.
I can't say whether it was just the director, or maybe there were conflicts from Disney, but this felt at times like two movies spliced together and slathered with a coat of Lucasart paint.

On one had i really loved certain pieces within the film.
The entire Rey, Luke, Kylo Ren, Snoke plot and scenes were perfect for me up until the very anitclimactic resolving scene.
They really had me drawn in with this part of the story.
Then right when they bring in the twist with SNoke and introduce us to his devious character he is snuffed out along with the plot leaving us with a EMpire copy cat of Luke/Vader- Kylo asking Rey to join him to rule the universe.
NOT TO MENTION this is followed up by one of the worst fight scenes in a Star Wars movie ever.
"Hey, i got an idea! LEt's follow destroying the climax of the movie with a B grade marital arts fight scene that looks like it was edited in Microsoft paint!"...ugh.

and that leads me to my next point.
Of course the Space battles were fantastic looking as expected from Lucasarts, but the action and non-space battle scenes in this movie were atrocious.
Somehow topping the fight with Snoke's red guards, the prize for worst fight scene in a Star Wars movie ever goes to Finn's confrontation with Phasma. Just a horrible Hollywood cliche cheesy non Star Wars feel disaster of a scene that is another one of the film's peaks completely falling flat on it's face.
...and this takes us to my 'favorite' part of the movie-

**review to be continued/browser fucking up, lol**
-I'm still walkin', so i'm sure that I can dance-

mistercharlie

#28
Yeah, the wife and I saw it last Saturday. I thought so little of it I didn't even think to come here to talk about it. In my opinion it was the worst of the 5 that count (episodes V - VII).

That being said there were good points. Yoda being a puppet and not CGI was probably my favorite part, so I guess that's kinda sad. It really just felt like a comedy with a little bit of story and action added in, rather than an action/story-driven movie with a little bit of comedy sprinkled in like the other Star Wars movies.
"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. 

VA $l!m

k, different device, let's see if this works.
where was I... ah yes, my favorite part--

the planet Finn goes to...omg.
I honestly felt bad for Jon Boyega in this movie. His acting was superb, but god if they didn't screw him on a storyline which was obviously tacked on after the positive reaction to his character in the first film.
Most importantly this setting had zero Star Wars feel for me. Moreso a James Bond set mashed up with a Jarassic Park action escape sequence on giant antelope donkey things.
that scene BTW also falls under my previous complaint about all the action sequences in the movie. Just plain scripted and awful.
But hey, Let's top it all off with the least subtle and nonsensical social commentary ever put on film 'cause we all know that's what makes Star Wars Great Again! ammiiriiight?  :roll:

So yeah, those were some of the things that really killed this one for me.
heck, I was even cool with "Space Leia" and "Projecto Luke"- which BTW was horribly scripted and they didn't even clearly convey whether or not the most important character in Star Wars history just died, but...OK.

Overall it really came down to the editing, not to mention the pacing which was completely off.
Peeks were missed, and parts of the story  could have been either expanded or completely removed.

OH, and I completely forgot-- STARTING a Star Wars movie off with a mom joke was sacrilege.
Can you imagine in the first movie as Vader Boards Leia's ship if some rebel trooper stops to tell a mom joke to Vader? seriously...
The first Order was already bordering on parody, but after that snip and then more slapstick banter amongst 'villians' later in the film I felt it really lowered any sense I had of "Hey, these guys are evil"
really... a mom joke? 5 minutes into the film? :|
-I'm still walkin', so i'm sure that I can dance-