December 15th, 2017 at 11:08 AM ^
Exactly this.
December 15th, 2017 at 6:43 AM ^
December 15th, 2017 at 8:57 AM ^
"If the plot does anything to undermine the original trilogy"
I'm shocked you got through the mitochlorian thing then.
I hate the idea of the Force as a blood borne pathogen, and regularly ignore it.
December 15th, 2017 at 10:05 AM ^
December 16th, 2017 at 12:14 AM ^
December 16th, 2017 at 4:28 AM ^
that should have been the first clue that something was really wrong. I mean, not that Mark Hamill is arbiter of all things Star Wars, but when the guy playing the MAIN CHARACTER of the movie is saying he is basically offended by the script, that is usually a sign that something might not be right.
And the saddest thing is, I think the Luke story linie is one of the BETTER things in the movie.
December 15th, 2017 at 7:07 AM ^
I think probably what happened is that Disney is taking a no-risk, no-fun approach to a franchise that they paid billions of dollars for. For instance, they fired the Han Solo movie's directors and replaced them with Ron Howard. I'll go see it but I'm not expecting much.
December 15th, 2017 at 7:31 AM ^
December 15th, 2017 at 7:13 AM ^
It's such a mind job- so much is answered and explained, so much happened and so many twists. wlaked out in a haze not knowing what to think. very much a must see 2-3 times.
December 15th, 2017 at 9:37 AM ^
December 15th, 2017 at 8:10 AM ^
December 15th, 2017 at 8:37 AM ^
TLJ critics: it’s too different!!!
December 15th, 2017 at 10:45 AM ^
December 15th, 2017 at 11:34 AM ^
December 15th, 2017 at 6:22 PM ^
Different & Original is good.
Stupid is not good.
TFA was derivitave, but not stupid.
TLJ is original, but stupid.
Pick your poison, I guess.
December 15th, 2017 at 8:11 AM ^
Not nearly enough lightsaber duels though.
December 15th, 2017 at 8:21 AM ^
December 15th, 2017 at 5:30 PM ^
"It's, in my opinion, objectively a mediocre film."
That gave me a chuckle.
December 15th, 2017 at 8:23 AM ^
December 15th, 2017 at 8:39 AM ^
So much hipsterism in this thread.
December 15th, 2017 at 10:27 AM ^
....every thread.
December 15th, 2017 at 10:42 AM ^
December 15th, 2017 at 9:03 AM ^
Very good movie. James Franco's portrayal of Tommy Wiseau is hilarious!
December 15th, 2017 at 10:25 AM ^
I thought it was great. The fight scene at the end of the second act definitely gets you pumped up.
December 15th, 2017 at 10:31 AM ^
I plan on watching this immediately, three to four weeks after it is released to DVD.
December 15th, 2017 at 10:30 AM ^
Jar Jar being Snoke was an unexpected highlight.
December 15th, 2017 at 10:32 AM ^
Watched Force Awakens to get a refresher on exactly where it left off. It's uh....OK. There's a good deal of cheesy dialogue and they had to cram a ton of exposition into some of the convos that made it pretty unnatural. There's also a bit of overacting by Boyega and the movie slows down with Maz (there's something so cheesy and lame about that character). They aslo drop the Star Killer Base out of nowhere.
The opening few scenes are dynamite but the back half of the movie is not nearly as good as the first. And of course so much of it mirrors the original Star Wars. Cool ideas at the first but the movie morphed into A New Hope rehash pretty quick.
Nevertheless I'm excited to see where the next one goes.
December 15th, 2017 at 10:39 AM ^
December 15th, 2017 at 11:48 AM ^
Never understand people who rat on Rogue One because it was "things we know" or go full-blown Roger Ebert (masterbatory fan service, embarrassing CGI...WTF?). That was the fucking point, to take an instance that was critical but barely noted in ANH and expand on it. Leaving Tarkin out of it or trying to put someone else in his character would have been embarassing - kudos to them for trying something new to allow that character to live on. Sorry you didn't get any "memorable characters" from a plot line where they are all probably supposed to die in order for ANH to still make sense. How is it a "regression of the universe" when they take us to ump-teen different places in the galaxy we had never seen before? (and how the Empire operates structurally - we see a prison, and labor camp, how they store and transmit information, the destruction they sewed to fuel the Death Star).
Personally, I hope they take every single fucking instance in the new and old trilogy and expand on it. I love the concept of seeing behind the curtain of the first trilogy and the smaller clashes in this struggle, especially when we get to see the more daily struggle some characters like Cassian deal with - even though they might not be as funny and fucking swash-buckling sweet as Han Solo. Chin up and get over it, and be thankful we have new Star Wars coming out almost yearly. What a time to be alive.
P.S. - Krennic is the best and deepest villain since Vader. Was just at Disney after T'giving and I find their lack of Krennic-centric merchandise disturbing.
December 15th, 2017 at 12:28 PM ^
I think I disagree, but I'd love to hear more about why Krennic is the deepest villain since Vader. Hadn't really thought about it that much. Hm.
December 15th, 2017 at 5:10 PM ^
I've loved Krennic (especially the delivery of the character by the actor Ben Mendoelsohn) from the first time i watched hit, but didn't hit me until more recently why.
Krennic is one of the only antagonists I've seen in SW who is also struggling internally with the Empire. While he is clearly a bad dude, I find myself still rooting for him in his power struggle with Tarkin, and gasping at his audacity to tell Vader to his face "I have a great many things to attend to." Would you tell your boss that if he asked you why you were agitated about meeting with him or her? I feel his pain a little bit. I think we all do.
We'll see what becomes of Kylo Ren, but to my knowledge I've not seen a character of the Empire struggle internally inside the system to advance the way Krennic is portrayed. Vader didn't necessarily struggle within the internal structure (until the end), but he had some other, deeper identity issues going on. Krennic's identity was clear, but in his way was internal setbacks and the Imperial power structure.
December 15th, 2017 at 8:25 PM ^
Interesting. Thanks. I can see how that is fairly unique. Some echoes in Hux's power struggles, but yeah, not exactly the same thing.
December 15th, 2017 at 12:37 PM ^
December 15th, 2017 at 4:35 PM ^
Hate to say it, but I can see your points. I still loved having a deeper dive into the questions of the original trilogy. I would love to see this happen after the latest triolgy is completed as well. I also loved, after episodes 1-3, seeing some links to the original trilogy. Maybe it was just nastalgia.
See your point about some of the other characters. We get some history of Jyn - but wouldn't have hurt to do some flashbacks for Krennic, Cassian (he mentions briefly being in it since he was 6 years old and losing everying - would it cost them to use a quick flashback?) Chirrut, etc. That would have been great, and seemingly not very hard to do.
Also love your point from above about not wanting these one offs to be just tying back to the original trilogy. Agree! Would love to see these dive into the new trilogy as well. Keep expanding the universe, I say.
December 15th, 2017 at 6:40 PM ^
Disagree. I thought they developed the characters quickly enough such that I cared when they died. It's basically the plot of The Dirty Dozen. One of my favorite sci-fi films is the feature length "Serenity" based on the Firefly series. I watched the movie first (without knowing the characters) before I saw the series, but once they were in peril, the stakes were higher just knowing any or all of the characters could die. I thought Rogue One had the same level of high dramatic tension that adds to what is a simple heist story.
December 16th, 2017 at 11:57 AM ^
Big fan here re. Firely and Serenity and most things Joss Whedon. I saw the movie before the TV series too. Thought the movie was okay. Loved the series. Appreciated the movie a little more after seeing the series--but it was an awfully rushed way to end a great series. (And what were the movie studio people thinking? Wouldn't you have "Firefly" _somewhere_ in the title of the movie?)
December 15th, 2017 at 12:33 PM ^
I don't dislike Rogue One as much as you, but I agree about the fan service. I think that's what's driving some of this: angry fans who would never admit they want fan service but pretty much live for it anyway. I think that per capita there is more LJ hate among hardcore Star Wars fans than among non-fans.
December 15th, 2017 at 12:47 PM ^
December 15th, 2017 at 10:49 AM ^
1. Empire Strikes Back
2. A New Hope
3. Return of the Jedi
4. Rogue One
> Big Jump <
5. Revenge of the Sith
> Big Jump <
6. Attack of the Clones
7. The Last Jedi
8. The Force Awakens
9. The Phantom Menance
December 15th, 2017 at 11:13 AM ^
Can't argue becuase these 9 movies are the best 9 movies of all time. However, ROTJ is too high and The Last Jedi is at a minumim 4.
December 15th, 2017 at 11:30 AM ^
December 15th, 2017 at 12:38 PM ^
As usual I pretty much agree with GM. I would also say that RO is way too high on that list and TFA way too low. Still working out my own ranking.
1. Empire Strikes Back
2. A New Hope
3. Return of the Jedi
4. Rogue One
> Big Jump <
5. Revenge of the Sith
> Big Jump <
6. Attack of the Clones
7. The Last Jedi
8. The Force Awakens
9. The Phantom Menance
December 15th, 2017 at 12:46 PM ^
Edit: Why would you copy and paste the ranking? It seemed like your own.
December 15th, 2017 at 2:12 PM ^
I think the Force Awakens was a good movie, if not for it being a COMPLETE remake of a New Hope. For that single fact alone (lack of any originality), it gets demoted to near the bottom of my list.
The Last Jedi was an ok movie, but I just can't get into these new era characters. Rey is ok, but Poe, Finn, Phasma, and especially Kylo.... just not feeling it.
December 15th, 2017 at 3:58 PM ^
this is, IMO a pretty accurate take. TFA was a pretty good movie hampered by the fact that it ripped off way too much of the original movies even when it didn't need to.
Last Jedi is a movie burdered by the fact that the new characers, for the most part, are just not all that interesting.
December 15th, 2017 at 4:33 PM ^
December 16th, 2017 at 4:34 AM ^
In fact, they should have named it: "Star Wars 7: Oh crap, we f'ed up and made the bad guy in Star Wars 7 such a loser that we now have to devote an entire movie to fixing that msitake."
Ok, maybe that doesn't roll off the tongue. But everything else in this film was pretty much sacrificed towards making Kylo Ren a marketable bad-guy for Disney. They thought in TFA that if they just gave him a black mask and had him kill you know who that everyone would annoint him the next Vader, and instead he just looked weak and pathetic. So they were desperate to rehab him in this film.
I do think it worked for the most part. It's probably the only thing I actually enjoyed about the movie.
December 15th, 2017 at 11:27 AM ^
hahaha your list auto disqualified with AOTC not being ranked last.
Correct Order:
1. ESB
2. ANH
small jump
3. TLJ
4. TFA
5. ROTJ
6. R1
7. ROTS
HUGE JUMP
8. TPM
9.AOTC
December 15th, 2017 at 11:31 AM ^
I think ROTS gets a special shine because the other movies in the prequel trilogy were a special kind of garbage. Just because it is watchable doesnt make it better than either movie so far in the sequel trilogy.