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The Star Wars Thread


FrostyWinnipeg

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20 hours ago, johnzo said:

 

hero is searching for reclusive Jedi to aid in fight against space fascists

hero is captured by bad guys in lightning bad guy raid.  Bad guys are terrifying and good shots

hero stows critical information in droid

droid wanders the desert looking for help

person with mysterious parentage and boring marginal lifestyle winds up in possession of the droid

person with mysterious parentage is, in fact, strong in the force

person with mysterious parentage is gifted a lightsaber by wise & mysterious elder

captured hero is rescued from bad guy's installation by good guy dressed as stormtrooper

heroes blast out of desert planet aboard Milllenium Falcon

bad guys have a planet killer

bad guys blow up NPC planet with planet killer

bad guys point planet killer at heroes' planet

but planet killer is vulnerable to snub fighters!

heroes run around planet killer base, shooting stormtroopers and trying to sabotage its workings.  bad guys can't shoot for ****.

snub fighters blow up planet killer with seconds left to go!

amid the action, dark wizard confronts his nemesis one-on-one

heroes watch helplessly as beloved older-generation character is slain by dark wizard

I'm sure there are more but I'm out of time.

 

I mean, seriously, even for Hollywood, where everything is a copy or a sequel, that is some really photocopied plotting, way way beyond homage.

It's like JJ got the wrong directions, instead of "Make a Star Wars film" he got "Make Star Wars."

 

I guess it’s a matter of opinion. I see the similarities but I liken it to homage and not rip off because it provides new things too.  And hinted at larger stories.  
 

I think JJ blew Star Trek badly.  But he was right for Star Wars.  He understands that it’s a 9 film saga and TFA had to be familiar in terms of source material especially because it introduces so much new.  
 

I think his TFA mystery box stuff was intriguing.  Who is Rey. Who is Snoke.  Where is Luke. Why.  What happened between Han & Leia.  
 

the problem for the narrative is they couldn’t show us what happened between Jedi and TFA.  And unlike the space between Sith and ANH, way more time had passed.   
 

I think JJ’s ideas probably were that Snoke was Plagius. Rey was a Skywalker (either Luke’s daughter or Han/Leia). Rian screwed it all up. 
 

if TFA is the rip off and TLJ is the original new idea film, give me rip offs all day long.  

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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.

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1 hour ago, Logan007 said:

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.

It was Lucas who said the films should “rhyme”. So it makes sense.  Plus, in terms of the idea that the movies need to be different, make new movies.  The Skywalker Saga is a 9 series epic. They need to relate.  There is a sense of destiny or “will of the force” throughout so having similarities and repeating story beats makes more sense than not.

i also believe that any film (or series for that matter) that takes place during the saga has to relate to the sage.  It’s one of the reasons Solo wasn’t well received.  It was basically unnecessary and added nothing.  Whereas Rogue One, which is arguably the best of the Disney projects, is essentially episode 3.5. 
 

The Obi Wan series should definitely relate to the saga. It should be epic. I’m not well versed in Star Wars to ever write it but I’d like to see a hermit Ben finally compelled to leave his post secretly guarding Luke to help a Jedi who reaches out to him. Show us Vader hunting down the last remnants of the Jedi.    

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58 minutes ago, wanna-b-fanboy said:

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

Did Disney pay everyone off? lol  I think a lot of reviewers just dont understand what they're reviewing.  For example, Kevin Smith loves everything about Star Wars but he's said he just turns off his mind and enjoys the ride without really thinking too hard.  I think general audiences reacted to the backlash that TFA was too derivative and so watching TLJ and seeing something different and "risky" made them think it was good.   

Now you see a lot of non-detailed reviews saying ROS is amazing and people are still being cautious.

No Anakin = No fresh

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6 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Did Disney pay everyone off? lol  I think a lot of reviewers just dont understand what they're reviewing.  For example, Kevin Smith loves everything about Star Wars but he's said he just turns off his mind and enjoys the ride without really thinking too hard.  I think general audiences reacted to the backlash that TFA was too derivative and so watching TLJ and seeing something different and "risky" made them think it was good.   

Now you see a lot of non-detailed reviews saying ROS is amazing and people are still being cautious.

No Anakin = No fresh

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>".

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1 minute ago, wanna-b-fanboy said:

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>".

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".

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11 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

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

 

tumblr_mg2yk3q2cN1rlapeio1_500.gif

 

dcdujyc-7036fbb9-d548-4a96-80ba-7a818d6d

 

4082179-buy8m.gif

 

+please+jedis+dont+need+sabers+_bee3e230

 

 

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.

Edited by wanna-b-fanboy
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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.  

Edited by The Unknown Poster
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3 hours ago, 17to85 said:

I'd be curious for the nonspoiler reviews though. Just a general liked or disliked or even "meh" 

Help me judge how quickly I should go see it. 

I think the non spoiler revenues I read are pretty spot on.  
 

it’s fast paced and doesn’t have much time to let things breath.  There is fan servicing but in my opinion, needed.   I feel like the film is a salvage project and makes TLJ look even worse in comparison.   
 

all the characters shine at points.  Fight scenes are cool.   They do answer a lot of questions though often without much explanation (and seems like lack of time was a factor).  
 

there are many plot contrivances.  Ie when they need a ship there is a ship. When they need help there is someone to do it.  But while that usually drives me nuts I kinda give JJ some slack because this is basically two films in one.  It’s fixing TLJ.  
 

Actors were all good.  Driver and Ridley especially.  And ofcourse Ian Mc.   There was genuinely some big emotional moments and some “yes so cool” moments.   A few things I’d change. But I’d go see it. If you liked TFA and hated TLJ go see it.  If you hated TFA you probably won’t like this one.  

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5 hours ago, The Unknown Poster said:

I think the non spoiler revenues I read are pretty spot on.  
 

it’s fast paced and doesn’t have much time to let things breath.  There is fan servicing but in my opinion, needed.   I feel like the film is a salvage project and makes TLJ look even worse in comparison.   
 

all the characters shine at points.  Fight scenes are cool.   They do answer a lot of questions though often without much explanation (and seems like lack of time was a factor).  
 

there are many plot contrivances.  Ie when they need a ship there is a ship. When they need help there is someone to do it.  But while that usually drives me nuts I kinda give JJ some slack because this is basically two films in one.  It’s fixing TLJ.  
 

Actors were all good.  Driver and Ridley especially.  And ofcourse Ian Mc.   There was genuinely some big emotional moments and some “yes so cool” moments.   A few things I’d change. But I’d go see it. If you liked TFA and hated TLJ go see it.  If you hated TFA you probably won’t like this one.  

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.

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8 hours ago, The Unknown Poster said:

  If you hated TFA you probably won’t like this one.  

I'm def gonna go see it in the next couple of days, I'm a hopeless mark for most things Star Wars.  The only SW movie that was completely devoid of all enjoyment for me was Clones.  As much as I **** on Force Awakens, I was completely with it until the bad guys had yet another goddamn planet killer that needed to be blown up in the nick of time by snubfighters.  That **** was old in 1983 when Jedi repeated it, though jedi gets a big pass from me because the Luke/Vader/Palp scenes are so dope, they justify the lazy plotting and the ewoks.

Praying to baby yoda that yet-another-superweapon isn't the plot of Skywalker.   See you in the spoiler threads.

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4 hours ago, Logan007 said:

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.

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. 

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27 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

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. 

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

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