Logan007

True- but the way series are formatted these days is a lot more palatable...  having  three series with 24,hour long episodes is a bit much and easily leads to fatigue... but these 1hr, 10 episode seasons are really good and always leaves you wanting more it iseems... 
 
I think this new serial format will go over very well...

Reading this makes me cautiously optimistic.  Saying all the right things anyway.   From Latino review :
 
 
Since the last Star Trek movie didn’t perform that well at the box office, the future of the franchise on film has been sketchy at best. Setting the Quentin Tarantino aside, we have not had an idea of when we might see the next Trek movie appear, however, we learned back in November that Noah Hawley would be on writing/directing duties for the fourth modern Star Trek movie.
Nothing was known about whether this movie would be a sort of reboot, or whether the cast of the Bad Robot Star Trek movies would be making a return. Hawley recently spoke with Deadline about his upcoming projects and it’s still not clear how he will shape this new movie.
I have my own take on Star Trek,” said Hawley when asked if the sequel will feature the most recent film’s cast, “and going back to what I loved about the series Next Generation, when a lot of franchises focus on ‘might makes right’, Star Trek is about exploration and humanity at its best, and diversity and creative problem solving. There’s nothing better than that moment when William Shatner puts on his reading glasses and lowers Khan’s shields. It doesn’t cost anything. But it’s that triumphant feeling about smarting your enemy. For me it’s about to getting to those elements of the show. I don’t necessarily find action in and of itself interesting unless it’s story. So, it’s early days, I’m still talking with Paramount and I have a take and I gotta write a script.”
 
As to whether it will connect with the TV work of Alex Kurtzman,

Bridgwater
Yes...yes that's the correct spelling.  Some dude's last name.  I mean really...who doesn't put an E in there?

Yeah I cant stand most of this stuff.  I kinda feel like his ideas have merit but its like if the average person submitted a spec script and a studio then hired a real writer to make it work, its like Smith's stuff is BEFORE the real writer was hired.  Although it does make me feel like if he can write movies, we can all write movies! 😉
But I dont begrudge anyone who enjoys it.  Art is in the eye of the beholder.

I like a few Kevin Smith movies, but his stuff is definitely overrated.  Whenever I see him speak, whether on youtube or whatever, he comes off as fake and over hyped.

Kevin Smith sucks.  His movies are mostly high school level crap.  I did enjoy Chasing Amy though, his best film by far.

I will never understand the love for this movie. As someone who has never and will never read comic books, I did not get it at all. Was completely lost and it was WAY too nerdy. The live action ones I can handle, but a cartoon? No thanks. 

Obi-Wan was able to site on a tree stump.  So why wouldn't Luke be able to catch a lightsaber?
Finn just wanted to tell Rey he had the force.
I didn't mind the kiss.  I was kind of expecting it.  Didn't find it creepy at all considering the connection the two had.
I didn't find the movie dragged at all.  Felt it went by fairly quickly.  Enjoyed it all except for the force teleportation of objects, but that's just a minor grudge.
JJ had a lot of damage to fix and he did it well.  I really enjoyed it.  I want to see what happens with Rey now though...maybe they'll continue her adventures in the future?  I hope so.

Looks like fan reviews are much more positive than critic reviews.  Which is sort of what I expected.  The critics like TLJ because they didn’t understand what fans want from Star Wars.  When I saw critics panning Skywalker I actually felt more positive about it going in. 

New teaser 
 

I was thinking the exact same thing.  Like there must be so much edited out to keep it from being five hours long.  Theee were those rumours early on that this film would be a two parter and I can see why. 

I haven't seen it yet so I can't comment on it.  But it's too bad JJ can't give us a directors cut.  But Star Wars never seems to do that.

Damn....I hope they let him make a directors cut.  That would be so AWESOME.

I’m going to see the movie tonight.  What’s our process for spoiler discussion?  Did we start separate threads for the previous films?  
 
im sort of emboldened by the fact the critics seem to hate the movie. After they loved TLJ, I think them not liking Skywalker bodes well.  

No need to punish yourself that badly.

Went at lunch today... was super packed - they didn't leave a lot of room to line up at the vendors. My brisket hash from Miss Browns was delicious, but you're going to spend at least $15-$20 to get lunch. That might be fine for the suits at TDS, but I'll stick to my brown bag most of the time.
They also have security guards posted to keep the riffraff from CityPlace and Portage Place from wandering over...

And ofcourse, A New Hope was allegedly an absolute disaster until George's wife got a hold of it in the editing bay.  There is a youtube video that goes through some of the edits that were made (showing scenes that were cut, shortened etc).  When you watch some of the behind the scenes stuff on the prequels, it sure looks like Lucas was surrounded by yesmen.  Whatever he said, everyone nodded enthusiastically.
My issues with TLJ are more creative.  I agree, the Canto scene seemed included simply to give the B characters something to but it really does nothing for the story.  To me it seems like Rian looked at TFA, looked at JJ's story ideas for Episodes 8 & 9 and said "nah, Im gonna throw it on its head and lets see what happens".  Luke was all wrong.  Rian was hamstrung a bit because TFA ended with the Luke/Rey scene so TLJ had to start there rather then be able to advance the story.  But still....a million things he could have done with Luke.
I have come to appreciate what he as trying with the force hologram scene with Luke.  When you think about it, it really is an incredible show of power by Luke to be able to do that.  But I think that point was missed.  There was a scene earlier between Kyle & Rey where they do their Force connection thing and Kylo thinks Rey is doing it but then says "No, it isnt you, the effort would kill you" (meant to foreshadow that yes, it DID kill Luke but he was able to do it, showing how power he is).  We never get any more to explain who was connecting Kylo & Rey.  Presumably Snoke (as he was able to appear across long distances too) and now, presumably Palps.  But it was glazed over.
I think people wanted to see Luke in person, crushing walkers, pulling star destroyers out of the sky etc.  We feel cheated cause he never actually does anything.
I think Rian also killed Snoke to advance Kylo.  Problem is, as the big bad, Kylo is so weak.  Rian set the table for Kylo but served a sour meal.  Same with the Rey parents thing...seemed more designed to do the opposite of what we expected.  Felt like a let down.  Sidelined Leia and replaced her with a character that was essentially a copy of her...didnt make sense.  And a totally laughable demonstration of the force by Leia.  Totally crazy.
I know Leia was meant to be a big part of 9 but they should have called an audible and maybe killed her off.  And have her appear to Luke maybe and use that as the thing that pulls him back into the fight for 9.  You can still do a mother/son convo in 9 with archival footage etc.  But 8 needed to end with more....threat and feeling of loss.  Luke's death didnt feel like that cause it was so "wrong".

I agree, I felt cheated...- I wanted Luke to be all:
 

 

 

 

 
 
But, yeah- in the same manner that Ben used stealth and guile- Luke need to follow suit...
But man- I still wish we could have seen Luke take apart the ATAT bolt by bolt and use them to destroy the other ones... that would have been so awesome.

I guess it comes down to the fact all the star wars movies are pretty good. Some of them needed a bit more editing for a more cohesive story and flow (some Need LOTS, i'm looking at you CAnto Bight segemnt!). But in general, they are pretty fantastic movies...
TPM, Limit the Pod racing segment, take out the crazy racist stereo types, tighten up the storyline, rework the dialogue to make it less wooden and for heaven's sake- erase Jar Jar.
AotC- Find a better way to make the audience believe in the Anakin/Padme romance- cuz noone is buying that ****. Tighten up the storyline, rework the dialogue to make it less wooden and for heaven's sake- erase Jar Jar.
RotS- It was pretty good. Have two different coloured Lightsabres... how did this not get addressed? Infinitely cooler With a blue and yellow/green lightsabre. Tighten up the storyline, rework the dialogue to make it less wooden and for heaven's sake- erase Jar Jar. 
They were pretty good movies- just needed someone to say "No, George- that isn't a good idea. Try <insert better option here>".

Yup. They were. Mades TLJ much harder to watch- expecting certified fresh- yet getting steaming pile of dog ****.

The Phantom Menace is very similar to ANH as well.  Kid on Tatooine.  Barely has any pilot training and yet still manages to blow up a Federation blockage ship.  Gets found by a Jedi Knight who's going to teach him.  Told he's too old to complete the training.  There's a lot more but I don't feel like listing everything off.

He had to do that because they were trying to help people get over the prequels. 
Was it a copy? Yes. Was it enjoyable? Yup.
Was the last jedi a steaming pile of crap that ruined anything they tried to do with the new trilogy? Hell yes. 
In summary, **** Rian Johnson.

Solo was good.  And I thought he played Solo well.  You are all wrong I am right, fingers in my ears...lalalalalalalalalaIcan'thearyoulalalalalalala

Anyone who watched Lost to the end knows that JJ is a total hack.  The Force Awakens was the laziest possible photocopy of Star Wars, dusted with lots of dumb JJ ohhh-soo-mysterious plotting.  Like when the casino lady asks Han who Rey is and the scene cuts .... that's lazy ass filmmaking. 
If TLJ dumps a lot of TFA in the garbage, that's fine.  Nothing of value was lost.