Star Wars

Sweet action for kids 'n' cretins. Marjoram and capers.
Flex
User avatar
Mechano-Man of the Future
Posts: 35799
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:50pm
Location: The Information Superhighway!

Re: Star Wars

Post by Flex »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
27 Dec 2019, 9:49am
On a much more positive note, we watched the final episode of the first season of The Mandalorian this morning. The series is a whole lotta fun, along the lines of Solo (people living outside the law, by their own code, but mostly seeking to do the right thing). Since Disney took over, it would seem that the results with non-Skywalker stuff (Rogue One, Solo, Mandalorian) have been much more satisfying than the main movies. Suggestive, perhaps, that now that there's still reason to believe that there's still some fun Star Wars ahead now that they don't have to worry about fitting things into Lucas' narrative.
Triple post time, but just to break up my own negativity and agree with this. I came into the Disney star wars era extremely skeptical but outside Rise I've really enjoyed most of the movies and what I've seen of The Mandalorian. Getting away from narrative restrictions is a good thing for star wars universe movies imho. Even the seemingly maligned Solo was quite fun as a modest outlaw movie. I don't know if Disney will.accept a star wars release schedule that doesn't have Giant Blockbuster tentpoles, but there's a path to success without them, I think.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

Pex Lives!

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115975
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Star Wars

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Flex wrote:
27 Dec 2019, 11:07am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
27 Dec 2019, 7:40am
and one could read predictions and destinies of balancing the Force and all that stuff if they want, but I think that requires a lot more effort on the part of the audience.
It requires effort in that one has to try to pick through the incredibly badly written script, but in the absence of any meaningful discussion of free will or choice, this seemed like the obvious path to me. It just seemed like a deliberately cyclical replay of the last trilogy where the Vader like guy sacrifices himself to kill palpatine. In movies, free will is usually signalled by breaking behavioral patterns, not just cycling through the same actions over and over again.

Addendum: I guess all the re-embracing of the Jedi, and rejection of everything said about the need for the Jedi to die in TLJ, that Rey did and the note-for-note recreation of the Vader arc for Kylo seemed like they were rejecting the "let the past die" stuff. In fact, Rey has the entire past living within her and defining her identity.
The problem is, of course, the poor script, which I suspect is at partly a consequence of trying to build some kind of connection to TLJ that Abrams doesn't cotton to. A full-on rejection would have made for a confusing larger narrative, tho perhaps a better individual movie. And a full adherence to TLJ would require a different director (and maybe greater backbone from Disney in ignoring angry "fans"). So we got this mish mosh that generates our differences over thematic continuity/divergence.

In the end, I think this movie is unlike the prequels and original films in that they were about the Force-oriented characters having to act as they do as part of their destiny, whereas this is about characters choosing to act as they do and breaking the cycle. Kylo, despite seeming like Vader, never operates under some kind of prophecy or fate, and Rey's entire life is a search for purpose and identity, then finally rejecting the one that is supposedly chosen for her by grandpa. And their choices break the cycle by both ending the Sith (Palpatine) and the Jedi (Skywalkers). When Rey takes the Skywalker name at the end, maybe it's saying the Jedi still live on or it's emphasizing the whole choice of it all. I lean in the latter direction—she chooses her adopted family over blood.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

revbob
User avatar
Unknown Immortal
Posts: 25326
Joined: 16 Jun 2008, 12:31pm
Location: The Frozen Tundra

Re: Star Wars

Post by revbob »

Flex wrote:
27 Dec 2019, 11:00am
revbob wrote:
27 Dec 2019, 8:03am
Flex,
...obvious candidate for Film of the Year for the alt-right.
, is this meant to be tongue in cheek ?
No, not really.
Hyperbolic?

Flex
User avatar
Mechano-Man of the Future
Posts: 35799
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:50pm
Location: The Information Superhighway!

Re: Star Wars

Post by Flex »

revbob wrote:
27 Dec 2019, 1:50pm
Hyperbolic?
maybe a little. i think the chosen bloodlines and genetic predermination for greatness really resonates with our neo-fascist moment. obviously it's imperfect (there are minorities in supporting roles and such), but I'd also have to think the Richard Spencers of the world would be pretty happy to seeing the racist backlash against TLJ work so well.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

Pex Lives!

daredevil
User avatar
Unknown Immortal
Posts: 4978
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 6:35pm

Re: Star Wars

Post by daredevil »

Mimi wrote:
26 Dec 2019, 5:47pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
25 Dec 2019, 4:05pm
Back from the movie. I won't initiate any discussion in case people don't want to be spoiled, etc., but will say that it was a paradoxical experience. It was almost non-stop action—with the exception of a couple lulls—yet I was seriously bored by it all.
I enjoyed the movie, but the non-stop action raised my anxiety. It was too much for me. Way too much. The lulls weren't long enough to recover from the previous intense moment and those action moments went on for so long. Agghhh! By the middle of the movie, I was reteaching myself how to breathe. lol Still, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. A few things drove me batty, but SW movies aren't perfect. I loved the ending. *sniff*
I really like the ROS, but agree the non stop action is too much at first. But once you get comfortable with the editing and pacing it's really a fun movie. The confrontation towards the end with (the villian), had some really emotional moments.

revbob
User avatar
Unknown Immortal
Posts: 25326
Joined: 16 Jun 2008, 12:31pm
Location: The Frozen Tundra

Re: Star Wars

Post by revbob »

I like Rey and Finn.

Wolter
User avatar
Half Foghorn Leghorn, Half Albert Brooks
Posts: 55432
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 7:59pm
Location: ¡HOLIDAY RO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-OAD!

Re: Star Wars

Post by Wolter »

It was fun. It was a hot mess. All the criticisms are valid. I loved it. These are not contradictions.
”INDER LOCK THE THE KISS THREAD IVE REALISED IM A PRZE IDOOT” - Thomas Jefferson

"But the gorilla thinks otherwise!"

revbob
User avatar
Unknown Immortal
Posts: 25326
Joined: 16 Jun 2008, 12:31pm
Location: The Frozen Tundra

Re: Star Wars

Post by revbob »

Wolter wrote:
28 Dec 2019, 12:51am
It was fun. It was a hot mess. All the criticisms are valid. I loved it. These are not contradictions.
Yeah Im not going to take it too seriously. My big complaints of the Anakin trilogy was that Christian Hayden was awful and i wanna say much of the dialog in those movies was bad in general. On top of that the racist caracticures were just too much much otherwise those could have been good..

Mimi
User avatar
Goddess of the Underworld
Posts: 8753
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:36pm
Location: Down in the pit

Re: Star Wars

Post by Mimi »

Wolter wrote:
28 Dec 2019, 12:51am
It was fun. It was a hot mess. All the criticisms are valid. I loved it. These are not contradictions.
We were discussing it at work this morning and well, it devolved into, man, this movie really sucked, I loved it.

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115975
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Star Wars

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Image
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115975
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Star Wars

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Leak of the purported original script for Episode IX: https://news.avclub.com/turns-out-colin ... 1841002112

Enh, maybe better, maybe worse.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Flex
User avatar
Mechano-Man of the Future
Posts: 35799
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:50pm
Location: The Information Superhighway!

Re: Star Wars

Post by Flex »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
14 Jan 2020, 6:00pm
Leak of the purported original script for Episode IX: https://news.avclub.com/turns-out-colin ... 1841002112

Enh, maybe better, maybe worse.
The bullet points sound better to me than what was released (I ain't reading the script), but - and I say this as someone who really disliked the last film - it's pretty impossible to compare a draft script to a finished product. I can probably imagine a really cool version of a similar Abrams draft.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

Pex Lives!

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115975
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Star Wars

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Flex wrote:
15 Jan 2020, 1:48pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
14 Jan 2020, 6:00pm
Leak of the purported original script for Episode IX: https://news.avclub.com/turns-out-colin ... 1841002112

Enh, maybe better, maybe worse.
The bullet points sound better to me than what was released (I ain't reading the script), but - and I say this as someone who really disliked the last film - it's pretty impossible to compare a draft script to a finished product. I can probably imagine a really cool version of a similar Abrams draft.
That's just it. I can think of ways to play around with the version we got to be more compelling. Hell, I suspect we could achieve a better movie just thru editing.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Flex
User avatar
Mechano-Man of the Future
Posts: 35799
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:50pm
Location: The Information Superhighway!

Re: Star Wars

Post by Flex »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
15 Jan 2020, 2:32pm
That's just it. I can think of ways to play around with the version we got to be more compelling. Hell, I suspect we could achieve a better movie just thru editing.
Editing was massive problem in the released film. Some re-sequences and judicious scene edits and figuring out... what the fuck to do about the leia stuff... alone would have raised the film at least one grade level alone.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

Pex Lives!

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115975
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Star Wars

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Flex wrote:
15 Jan 2020, 2:40pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
15 Jan 2020, 2:32pm
That's just it. I can think of ways to play around with the version we got to be more compelling. Hell, I suspect we could achieve a better movie just thru editing.
Editing was massive problem in the released film. Some re-sequences and judicious scene edits and figuring out... what the fuck to do about the leia stuff... alone would have raised the film at least one grade level alone.
I think it was Rian Johnson who offered a not-so-subtle critique that "fan service" will just ruin a movie. Whether or not that's true all the time, I think that was a major part of what made Rise so underwhelming. Maybe that was Abrams' inclinations, maybe it was edicts from Disney, but the result was big budget fanfic. I remember thinking that Rogue One was basically fanfic (because it was a story that really wasn't all that important to know) but the actual results were a lot more ambitious and bold in terms of Star Wars convention.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Post Reply