Jan 19 2016 10:08 PM
Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS]
| Vic Sage wrote: i'm confused about why this is ok with so many folks. |
Master Index of Archived Threads
Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS]
| * Attack of the Clones | 0 votes |
| ** The Phantom Menace | 0 votes |
| *** Revenge of the Sith | 0 votes |
| **** | 0 votes |
| ***** | 2 votes |
| ****** | 1 votes |
| ******* | 2 votes |
| ******** Return of the Jedi | 3 votes |
| ********* Star Wars | 7 votes |
| ********** The Empire Strikes Back | 0 votes |
| Elster88 Nov 03 2012 11:52 AM Edited 2 time(s), most recently on Dec 22 2015 05:33 AM |
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[url]http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-disney-to-buy-lucasfilm-for-405-billion-20121030,0,4262864.story
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| Ceetar Nov 03 2012 02:09 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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looking forward to it.
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| Edgy MD Nov 03 2012 02:26 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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Didney.
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| Mets Willets Point Nov 21 2012 08:06 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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Writers announced for trilogy threeinclude Lawrence Kasdin who contributed the best script to the franchise with Empire Strikes Back.
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| Edgy MD Mar 07 2013 05:06 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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Ka-POW!
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| seawolf17 Apr 18 2013 02:07 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/1 ... 08073.html
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| Edgy MD Apr 29 2014 05:27 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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[fimg=700]http://news.images.itv.com/image/file/386358/article_img.jpg[/fimg]
On one hand, how cool that they can't do a read-through without R2D2 sitting in the corner. On the other hand... NO LANDO?!?!
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| Mets Willets Point Apr 29 2014 06:53 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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Maybe that one African-American guy in the room will be Lando's sassy nephew.
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| Edgy MD Apr 29 2014 07:12 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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I like that they had to have R2D2 in the corner of the room for the read-through.
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| Mets Willets Point Apr 30 2014 07:47 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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Kenny Baker: Method Actor.
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| TransMonk Apr 30 2014 07:48 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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The best part about that picture is that George Lucas does not appear to be in the room.
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| Edgy MD Apr 30 2014 07:51 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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The low-res black-and-white photo and the modular furniture sure gives this a 70s feel, though don't it?
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| Edgy MD Apr 30 2014 07:57 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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[fimg=700]http://news.images.itv.com/image/file/386358/article_img.jpg[/fimg] Clockwise from robot: Harrison Ford, Daisy Ridley, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew, Producer Bryan Burk, Kathleen Kennedy, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Andy Serkis, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Adam Driver and Writer Lawrence Kasdan, J.J. "Dyn-O-Mite" Abrams.
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| metsmarathon May 02 2014 06:23 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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that galaxy far, far away sure is a sausage fest, isn't it?
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| Edgy MD May 02 2014 06:26 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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A lot of folks talking about that.
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| Mets Willets Point May 04 2014 05:55 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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Commentary on Star Wars sausage fest. The comparison to the new BSG is apt.
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| metsmarathon May 05 2014 05:28 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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yeah, i'd read that pretty much just before making my comment. also, the other day, minimm had stated that only boys are allowed to play star wars. after i told him that girls could play, too, if they wanted, offering up princess leia as a person they could be (and also stating that a girl could play as luke skywalker, or yoda, or darth vader, if she wanted), minimm countered that a girl could also be luke's mom.
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| Edgy MD May 06 2014 02:49 AM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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What a sausage fest your family is.
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| Mets Willets Point Jun 02 2014 04:46 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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Surprise additions to the sausage fest: women actors!
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| TransMonk Nov 28 2014 04:43 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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The 7-year-old boy inside me awakens.
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| Vic Sage Nov 28 2014 05:28 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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oh my, i am sporting quite a chubby.
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| Mets Willets Point Nov 28 2014 06:14 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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Did I miss it, or did none of the characters from the original trilogy appear in that teaser? They're the ones I want to see most.
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| TransMonk Nov 28 2014 07:49 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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Then the tease worked!
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| Elster88 Nov 30 2014 04:25 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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What Vic said
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| metsmarathon Dec 04 2014 07:54 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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the contrails coming off the millenium falcon were pretty cool. probably unrealistic from an aerodynamics standpoint, but cool.
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| Edgy MD Dec 04 2014 08:34 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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No doubt it stores absorbed solar/stellar energy.
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| metsmarathon Dec 05 2014 03:09 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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well, sure, all of our fuel is a byproduct of fusion, one way or another. but how does the millenium falcon expend it's fuel to cause itself to turn in an atmosphere, is my question.
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| MFS62 Dec 05 2014 03:14 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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Thrust vectoring, Like in the newer Russian Sukhoi and MiG fighters and the US Harrier and F-35 VTOL version.
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| Vic Sage Dec 05 2014 04:31 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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in a universe with a magical "force", these sorts of questions become moot, don't they?
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| Edgy MD Dec 05 2014 04:32 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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Until they tell me the Millennium Falcon runs on a Force engine, I would think not.
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| metsmarathon Dec 05 2014 04:35 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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i thought of that, but all the thrust is at the aft end of the ship. it needs something forward of the center of gravity to keep it from just doing massive somersaults everytime it tries to lift off. and the thrusters never move to provide the vectoring, but it could be internal mechanisms instead of external. but there's have to be something noticeable pushing hte thrust around, and i just don't see it, or recall ever seeing it.
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| metsmarathon Dec 05 2014 04:37 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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even magic has to have consistent rules or the universe falls apart. don't you even read comics?
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| Edgy MD Dec 05 2014 04:39 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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You know, you may have asked the same thing about the En'erprise, but JJ was on the case.
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| Centerfield Jan 08 2015 05:43 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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[youtube:2gf7ijvs][/youtube:2gf7ijvs]
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| Centerfield Jan 08 2015 05:44 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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I seem to be having issues with the embed code for this video.
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| Edgy MD Jan 08 2015 05:54 PM star wars split |
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WRT The Millennium Falcon: I'm thinking whatever heretofore-unknown technological harnessing of gravimetric forces there is that makes up up and down down on an interstellar ship, and keeps human beings from being smashed to atoms against the bulkheads, also allows ships to maneuver in a planet's atmosphere, providing hovering capability, pitch control, and vertical and side-to-side thrust.
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| Ceetar Jan 08 2015 08:37 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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can we embed vimeo here?
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| TransMonk Apr 16 2015 08:02 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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I'm trying really hard not to get excited about this...but come on!
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| Edgy MD Apr 16 2015 08:51 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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Yay, a post in the Film Review Forum.
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| Mets Willets Point Apr 16 2015 08:54 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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I saw this on Twitter and it sums things up perfectly.
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| dgwphotography Apr 16 2015 08:57 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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That also perfectly sums up my Mets fandom at the moment.
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| Mets Willets Point Apr 17 2015 02:22 AM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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The Mets have never done anything as bad as Jar Jar Binks.
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| sharpie Apr 17 2015 03:54 AM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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Juan Samuel.
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| Elster88 Apr 18 2015 02:04 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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You're not the only one I have a hard-on too. The posts starting with the Twitter and ending with Juan Samuel form a thread of comic genius.
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| TransMonk Jul 11 2015 04:01 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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[youtube:26qexc52]CTNJ51ghzdY[/youtube:26qexc52]
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| dgwphotography Oct 20 2015 02:16 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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[youtube:16cxuyf3]sGbxmsDFVnE[/youtube:16cxuyf3]
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| Mets Willets Point Oct 20 2015 10:03 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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Daisy Ridley is cute.
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| El Segundo Escupidor Oct 21 2015 04:39 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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I broke my self imposed embargo. I am weak.
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| Centerfield Dec 04 2015 04:44 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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I've managed to stay strong. Only a few more weeks to go. I am hoping I can be completely in the dark about plot etc. when I watch the movie.
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| LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Dec 06 2015 12:23 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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Have been doing the movies with YoungerPooper over the last six weeks or so (machete order, which worked nicely). The girl liked it at first, then REALLY liked it by the end of Jedi, and now she kinda wants a green lightsaber for Christmas.
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| metsmarathon Dec 07 2015 08:18 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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minimm still hasn't seen revenge of the sith (and I can't remember if he's seen attack of the clones). unfortunately, I don't think he's really ready to see the force awakens, even though it opens just two short days after his 6th birthday.
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| LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Dec 21 2015 05:15 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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Yeah, it was a-ight.
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| Edgy MD Dec 21 2015 05:59 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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This is a three-year-old thread. Wow.
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| Elster88 Dec 22 2015 05:25 AM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 (2015) |
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Added a poll. It's getting pretty much universal acclaim. I really liked it. I'm pretty sure it was better than Jedi but still too early to tell for sure. Might be up there with the first movie, but probably not going to beat Empire for me.
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| LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Dec 22 2015 03:55 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) |
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I mean, if it's up there with the first movie, that would be because it's pretty much, beat for beat, the first movie.
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| Edgy MD Dec 25 2015 12:56 AM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) |
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marathon's questions were answered. There were definitely small thrusters and stabilizers on the belly of the Falcon.
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| LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Dec 26 2015 06:00 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) |
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Is that "meh" grade you, Edge?
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| TransMonk Dec 26 2015 06:48 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) |
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I also liked it A LOT. It was the first movie in a long time (maybe since the overwhelming disappointment of Episode I) that I had really been looking forward to where the film then exceeded my expectations. If I hadn't seen it Xmas eve morning, I would have immediately viewed it again. Better than ROTJ...as good as the original, IMO (but, obviously, the original breaks any ties because it was the original).
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| Edgy MD Dec 27 2015 03:03 AM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) |
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Yeah, me. Sorry. I mostly found it too bloated with the old cast and new cast elbowing for screen time and space. It allowed too little time for you to develop a connection with the newer characters including protagonist Rey, and associate protagonist Finn. You knew a lot about Luke's internal life before he started having adventures. Even Han has a developed back story before you get off of Tatooine (which is part of why people care so much about whether Greedo shot first). With the Han analog from this film, Poe Dameron, all you know about him is that he's a hotshot pilot. And that we have to learn through a quick force-feeding, when he's called the resistance's "best pilot" in the crawl, and him boasting "I can fly anything" as he kicks into action. Bam, I’m supposed to care about this guy? (MINOR SPOILER)=#FFBFFF]And then he disappears for more than half the film. (/MINOR SPOILER) That's far more crudely drawn and rolled out than the characters in the original film (which I appreciate more each day), where we're, like 2/3 into the picture before it becomes a battle film. I think I’d have rather had a slowly unfolding story. To slip into this long-awaited gift deliberately. Abrams was able to escape this trap of being encumbered by too many characters when he took over the Star Trek franchise, the new timeline concept allowing him to have the old characters and most of their established backstories and audience's relationship to them, without having to haul out most of the old actors. And then he doesn’t have to waste too much screen time, making you care. You already do. That said, he indeed did give us significantly more Kirk and Spock backstory and exposition than he gives Rey and Finn here. There’s also things that don’t quite make sense (not as many as in Star Trek, perhaps), at least to my fool head. (MINOR SPOILER)=#FFBFFF]Who’s the hermit-like guy at the beginning? Why haven't Chewbacca or Akbar aged at all? Chewie was already 200 in the first film. (/MINOR SPOILER) (LARGER SPOILER)=#FFBFFF]How do we have a weapon that’s basically a cannon carved out of a planet that can destroy other planets? How does it move into position throughout the universe? Does it somehow fire energy blasts from far off and they all go into warp fields, and then somehow come out of warp and hit their far-off targets? That’s weird.(/LARGER SPOILER) And how does a non-jedi (seemingly in touch with the Force, but a non-jedi nonetheless), as well as a random non-Force-oriented-at-all guy get to (SPOILER)=#FFBFFF]pick up a light saber and go blow for blow, parry for parry, with a sith or sith-paduan or whatever he is?(/SPOILER) It was funny when J.J. Abrams re-used plot lines and devices in Star Trek from earlier films, because it was in a new timeline, and it was amusing to think that history unfolds similarly but different in two parallel timelines if they spring from a recent common temporal point. Here, what with the (SPOILER)=#FFBFFF]secret plans hidden in a lost droid (smaller, cuter, more cherubic) that the agents of the dark side are looking for(/SPOILER) and (SPOILER)=#FFBFFF]giant planet-destroying enemy weapon/impenetrable base with one fatal flaw(/SPOILER), a creature cantina, a desert planet to begin on, it didn’t seem amusing, but rather seemed uninspired/lazy. When freakin’ Han says (SPOILER)=#FFBFFF]”So, it’s a Death Star,”(/SPOILER) he seems to be commenting on how been-there/done-that unimpressed he is with the script. “This is all you got, guys?” And what is with J.J. Abrams and geo-genocide? You think he’d have gotten his rocks off enough by imploding Vulcan. But here in an instant, (BIG SPOILER)=#FFBFFF]he wipes out a half dozen generally peace-loving planets, just to move the plot ahead for our protagonists, who scarcely seem to acknowledge this unthinkable horror. When Alderan is destroyed in the original thing, it’s an abstraction to us. We’ve never seen it and don’t have a relationship to it, so we can move on with the story. But we know that it’s a horror when Ben is thrown by it — shattered — though light years away. It's why he comes to realize that his mission must be intentionally suicidal. The weight of this loss is a specter throughout the rest of the film. Ben/Obi-Wan's universe has been upended. Here, we have planets we know, worlds we've walked on. I saw what seemed to Coruscant (sp?) which presumably is as populated as any place in the galaxy, go up. Later, Republic. My wife said she thought Endor went up too. So no more Ewoks in the universe, you psychotic freak. Just how much desolation do you really need to set your plot in motion, J.J.? I'm with Ol' Ben. I felt as motivated to die here as moved to fight. Moreso.(/BIG SPOILER) Things I liked included the new protagonista (posh accent aside) and the production design — including, as noted, thrusters on the underside of the Millennium Falcon. I like the general outline of the story, except those turns noted above. The bad guy, I’m torn about. I mean, that’s a recognizable villain. A child of heroic idealists who are in the busy business of reclaiming the world from bad guys to make it better for kids just like him. But they are struck by the reality that, whatever your good intentions may be, raising children is damn hard. So they ship him off to boarding school, bypassing the meritocracy they worked so hard to build, taking advantage instead of their special connections. The kid’s growing pains are exacerbated by further alienation and bitterness at his seemingly hypocritical parents, failing plainly in their attempts to hide their contentious marriage, and he falls for a philosophy that gives him the certainty his parents could not. I mean, we all KNOW this kid. Many of us are terrified of him. That said, his Hogwarts-esque hair/pallor looked ridiculous, and the idea that he’s a whiny rageaholic seems so lame-o for a sith or a sith-in-training or whatever. If Force users, good and bad, have had anything in common through the six prior films, they all seem to advance in their abilities through self-discipline, not by breaking all their toys whenever they don't get what they wanted. So, good job in setting the universe back in motion. But not so good at getting me engaged and in sympathy and solidarity with the principals.
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| TransMonk Dec 27 2015 01:44 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) |
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I'm guessing it will be later revealed that Rey (PURE CONJECTURE)=#FFBFFF]is the daughter of Leia. Maybe shortly after her and Han split, she discovered she was preggers but didn't tell him and "hid" Rey on Jakku to keep her from Snoke/Kylo Ren. Or, heck, maybe she's descended from Luke directly. It seems like she has some familial relationship to the group.(/PURE CONJECTURE) More on Finn's backstory and force ability may be explained in later films, too.
(NERD RESEARCH)=#FFBFFF]The Hosnian system was the system targeted by the Starkiller Base. Hosnian Prime, which was the new home of the Republic capital, was destroyed and the current chancellor was killed in the attack. I've been able to piece this together through various websites where bigger nerds than I look into this stuff (by Googling Hosnian System), but I had to check, since I did not get the same feeling you did that Coruscant and Endor were destroyed. According to this map from The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary companion book, Coruscant and Endor are not part of the Hosnian system.(/NERD RESEARCH)
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| Centerfield Dec 29 2015 10:08 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) |
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Maybe we create another thread, with spoilers, for folks who have seen the movie and want to discuss?
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| TransMonk Dec 30 2015 02:45 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) |
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This one could be the spoilers thread.
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| RealityChuck Dec 31 2015 12:01 AM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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It was pretty good. The difference between this and the original film is that Lucas ripped off a long list of films, where n this just ripped off Star Wars sometimes slavishly so.
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| Edgy MD Dec 31 2015 01:30 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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LA Times is far less generous than I was.
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| MFS62 Dec 31 2015 01:53 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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Michael Hiltzik (The person who wrote that, for those of you who didn't click on the link) writes like someone who can see the negative side of anything. He must have had a miserable childhood, never letting his imagination run free or allowing any fun into his life.
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| Edgy MD Dec 31 2015 02:30 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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I didn't particularly appreciate it either and I'm full of joy. Isn't it possible that what he wrote is just his honest assessment?
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| MFS62 Jan 01 2016 11:33 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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It was like being reunited with an old friend. Things pick up just about where they left off the last time we saw each other. We try to fill in what happened when we were apart and go on from there.
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| dgwphotography Jan 03 2016 01:22 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) |
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Either this, or (Conjecture) =#E4EEF3]Rey is the daughter of Luke and Mara Jade. Mara Jade is the most popular of the Extended Universe characters, and it would be great to have her back story added to Canon. (/conjecture) The movie was a lot of fun, but left me wanting more. Reportly, Disney had Abrams trim 20 minutes or so from his original cut. Hopefully there will be a director's cut version that will answer some of our questions
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| Elster88 Jan 04 2016 05:11 AM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) |
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He's the fifth most important character in the story, so no, you're not supposed to overly care about him. The story was busy developing the other characters. And it developed them well. And calling him a Han analog is a silly, gross oversimplification.
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| Elster88 Jan 04 2016 05:14 AM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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I don't know anything about him, but that seems like the description of someone who wouldn't like this movie. Not that it was the greatest thing ever, but I don't get this review. The movie was a really good time, as the other 99% of reviews indicate.
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| Vic Sage Jan 04 2016 02:47 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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with all the time and money at their disposal, remaking the original was the best idea Disney and JJ could come up with? Say what you want about Lucas, but he had the vision to see the story unfold... this didn't unfold, it folded back on itself, regurgitating every single trope of the original. Sure, it was well executed, but that's a pretty low bar.
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| sharpie Jan 04 2016 03:59 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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Pretty much what Vic said. It was nice to look at but it felt like I was watching the same movie the seventh time.
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| TransMonk Jan 04 2016 06:14 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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That movie the seventh time is still exponentially better than Episodes I, II and III. People can applaud Lucas for his vision, but his vision for the prequels made two and a half horrible movies.
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| Vic Sage Jan 04 2016 06:47 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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A "return to form" is one thing; the regurgitation of the same story mechanics and plot points is another. I think it was a reasonable expectation for the movie to continue the adventure, not repeat it.
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| LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Jan 05 2016 05:00 AM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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Best, most enjoyable acting in any Star Wars film.
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| TransMonk Jan 07 2016 10:38 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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Saw this again today...even better the second time.
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| metsmarathon Jan 19 2016 07:19 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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ok, I finally saw it, and I fuckin' loved it.
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| Vic Sage Jan 19 2016 09:36 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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borrows a bit much? Ya think? Quick, tell me which movie this is: 1. There’s a droid carrying valuable information who finds himself on a desolate desert planet. 2. There’s a Force-sensitive, masked, and darkly clothed antagonist who arrives on the scene shortly after the information is handed off, looking for the droid. 3. There’s a desert settlement that is wiped out by storm troopers. 4. There’s a hero who’s tortured by the bad guys to retrieve the information. 5. There’s a lonely, orphaned, Force-strong desert dweller who dreams of more and ends up adopting the droid and getting sucked up into an epic adventure. 6. There’s a worldly old warrior who has to explain the Force to the next generation. 7. There’s a cruel military officer (Nazi-like, with a British accent) who holds a comparable level of authority to his Force-sensitive, masked, and darkly clothed colleague. 8. There’s a mostly unseen supreme evil (depicted via hologram) that’s pulling the strings from the shadows. 9. There’s a criminal element that’s owed a debt by Han Solo and attempts to kill him after he screws up their arrangement (Hopefully, a long time from now, we won't have to wonder who shot first) 10. There’s a cantina filled with various alien creatures. 11. There’s a moment when one of the heroes abandons the fight as a self-preservation measure, but he eventually returns to help save the day. 12. There’s a massive spherical weapon that’s used to destroy a planet, 13. There’s a base belonging to the rebel forces on a forest-covered world. 14. There’s a surrogate father figure who is cut down by someone previously close to him, who has turned to the dark side. 15. The hero watches helplessly from afar as the surrogate father figure is slayed. 16. There’s a coordinated aerial attack on the massive spherical planet-killing weapon that’s monitored from a control room by Leia. 17. There’s a trench that X-wings flew through in order to fire on a vulnerability in the weapon and destroy it. 18. There’s a massive explosion that gives the rebels a major victory but likely allows the Force-sensitive, masked, and darkly clothed antagonist to survive to fight another day. 19. All presented with a bombastic John Williams score... ...and i'm not even warmed up yet. [note: this isn't my list... i cribbed it off the internet. There are lots of even more specific lists of mirrored plot points, if anyone cares enough to look.] It's not like the similarities are accidental, occasional or superficial. they are massive, significant and obviously intentional. Why? I guess because they think that's what we wanted. And the fact that the movie is already the biggest film ever supports that notion. But why? Why did we want to see the same movie again? You can recapture the magic and wonder of the original trilogy without regurgitating every-fucking-plot-point, like we're brain-damaged. They could have picked it up 35 years later, and gone from there, while still giving us some moments that echoed the original without just rebooting them. I want to see the adventure CONTINUE, not just REPEAT. i'm confused about why this is ok with so many folks.
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| seawolf17 Jan 19 2016 10:08 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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| TransMonk Jan 19 2016 10:58 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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It's what I wanted.
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| Vic Sage Jan 20 2016 02:19 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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Clearly. I just don't understand why. You've got the originals available to you in every format conceivable. Doesn't the notion of a new story in that universe, that carries the adventure forward, excite you more than seeing it all again? If not, why not? Seriously, i don't understand. I'm not trying to pick a fight or be obnoxious, i'm just looking for insight.
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| Edgy MD Jan 20 2016 02:31 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) |
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He (spoiler)=#FFBFFF]fired the shot that destroyed the enemy's super-weapon, saving the free peoples of the universe(/spoiler). He presumably was supposed to matter. This script was distressingly unimaginative. We were up to 22 plot elements cribbed from earlier films before we just got bored with counting. The rough part is that this isn't a failure. This is a success, from Disney's point of view. This is the way they make films.
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| TransMonk Jan 20 2016 02:56 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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For me, personally, it's about nostalgia more than anything. Sure, the story is familiar, but it's like visiting a childhood friend after 30 years. The story had enough new elements to keep me interested (especially since there are two movies yet to come in order to complete the whole picture).
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| metsmarathon Jan 20 2016 04:35 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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some of the copying of plot points is due to the nature of the galaxy they're in. the empire likes to make big round powerful weapons, with trenches. it's what they do. it's their thing. they also like impossibly large space ships shaped like triangles. do they need to start branching out stylistically? do they maybe need to find a different defense contractor? yes, clearly.
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| Centerfield Jan 26 2016 08:43 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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I loved it. Saw it twice and loved it even more the second time.
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| smg58 Jan 27 2016 04:13 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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This, this, this, and this again. Yeah, I would have come up with something more interesting than "the Death Star, only bigger." Hell, you could argue that swallowing up a star by itself would have been a better weapon. But I thought everything else about the movie was superb.
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| dgwphotography Jan 27 2016 06:54 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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This made me think of a possibly apocryphal story regarding Harrison Ford: A director once said to him, "The minute you saw Tony Curtis on screen, playing a grocery delivery boy, you knew he was going to be a star," to which Ford replied, "I thought he was supposed to be a grocery delivery boy."
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| El Segundo Escupidor Feb 07 2016 09:02 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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I don't get why the Resistance were in the position of vulnerability 10 years after winning the Galactic Civil War. It don't make any sense. Every other coincidence I could swallow, but not that.
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| Edgy MD Feb 08 2016 12:44 AM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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Yeah, the remnants of the Empire went and rebuilt (seemingly) their entire infrastructure, without even having the treasury of a duped Republic to exploit. Goofy.
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| metsmarathon Feb 08 2016 04:52 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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the remnants of a soundly defeated german empire took a mere two decades to rebound into one hell of a formidable military machine following the great war.
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| Edgy MD Feb 08 2016 04:53 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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They had a state. Yeah, I'd've liked a little more history. I had a stake in the victory of the the rebel fleet in the original series. I'd've liked to have known how they let the vanquished enemy come on back into being the galaxy's dominant power.
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| Vic Sage Feb 08 2016 04:59 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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Picking away at the story's logic (or lack thereof) misses the point, i think, insofar as it begs the underlying question: why tell the same story again at all (logical or not)? Many here are fine with the fact that they did so, some of us are not. And that's fine.
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| El Segundo Escupidor Feb 08 2016 05:32 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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Braveheart, Lawrence of Arabia, and Dr Strangelove (to name but a few) contain such elements but nobody complained.
It's pretty obvious (at least to me) that Abrams thought that all the shit about politics, taxation of trade routes and what not, was the biggest problem with the prequel trilogy and he went out of his way to avoid that sorta stuff in TFA. The truth is cartoonish, unrelatable characters were the biggest problem with the prequel trilogy. Moreover, Abrams doesn't exactly excel in establishing his own lore. In fact, he took a massive dump on the pre-established Star Trek lore because it just happened to get in the way of making a good action flick.
The problem you state is intertwined with my point. The entire SW universe was reset to the beginning of Episode IV in order to facilitate Disney's :soft reboot:-- they didn't even try to hide it in some instances -- Han went back to exactly the same person he was at the beginning of ANH because he didn't like the life he had after ROTJ (that we never saw anyway). Like he was precluded from choosing a third completely, independent course or a mixture between the two.
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| Edgy MD Feb 08 2016 05:49 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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How much of a downer is that? Han, after all the character growth he supposedly went through, is hanging on as a septuagenarian smuggler? And Chewie is happy to be along for the same going-nowhere ride decades in, still looking for that one big score that can really save their necks? Without even their cool ship to brag about.
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| Centerfield Feb 08 2016 07:08 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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Well, when you swear a life-debt and all, sometimes your guy makes bad decisions. I'm sure Chewie made his feelings clear. He did as much when Han initially abandoned the attack on the first Death Star. I don't think Han went back to being who he was in ANH (answering ESS, not Edgy). He originally smuggled to find fortune. He's now smuggling to escape pain. Like I said before, taking our proud hero who was a general at the end of Episode 6, and bringing him back not as a dignified leader, but as a septuagenarian smuggler was a risk. In my opinion. But Vic is right. A lot of this comes down to how much you minded them telling the same story again. And yes, it is almost exactly the same story. If you hated it, it brought down the movie a lot. If you didn't mind it, then you could appreciate the other parts which were, in my opinion, done well. So let's see where they take the story from here. If the main plot of the second movie is repeated attempts to escape the FO with the Falcon's malfunctions being a plot tool, and then capped off by a big reveal of family ties, then I think more will start falling in line with Vic.
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| LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Feb 09 2016 02:32 AM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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If Rian Johnson--who did some interesting stuff with noir tropes and language in Brick and wrought something thought-provoking and tightly-worked with Looper-- isn't the guy who can take this thing in a smart new direction, I'm not sure who is. (Bowie's kid, maybe?)
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| Mets Willets Point Feb 16 2016 10:04 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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Or he's traveling around the galaxy and smuggling to earn money to fund it (and not paying back loans) and keeping tabs with all sorts of lowlife people who know things, because his best friend has disappeared and he's trying to find him. Seems to me that was what he was trying to do in his very Han Solo-ish way, revealed in a few lines of dialogue.
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| metirish Apr 05 2016 03:12 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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Skellig Michael looked great , overall I liked the movie , I'm not a Star Wars nut but I def enjoyed the whole thing
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| Mets Willets Point Apr 10 2016 05:51 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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Watched it with the kids last night. They loved it.
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| Ceetar Jun 07 2016 06:34 PM Re: Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS] |
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I agree with much of this. (Yes yes, it's like 7 months later and I _just_ saw it) the 'reboot' was kind of a given. They want to make Star Wars eternal, and so they tied into the first movie and want to build from there. Sure, if they'd just called it Star Wars without Leia/Han (and Luke?) we all would've seen it, but by directly tying into our emotional investment in those characters allows them to tie us to the new characters that are going to take the story forward. Rey taking over the Falcon (and Chewie!) was perfect. Like you said, there was no way to do that and they did. Now Chewie and the Falcon can exist in the other movies without feeling like they're just shoving them at us for nostalgia's sake. They're free to evolve. Han didn't regress, he basically became Obi Wan. Him reverting to smuggling wasn't a reboot, it was him retreating after his son/Protégé turned and his friend fled. (all the Jedi went into hiding) It's not surprising that there were a lot of similarities and overlaps for a movie in the same universe picking up after 30 years or so. (And how much time has passed in-universe? was that clear?) And yeah, they over did it. Let's make another Death Star, only BIGGER. They did abandon the 'find Luke' plot halfway through, and I could've done with some Luke scenes, some preview of episode 8 about what he's up to. I'd like to see less looking back in episode 8, but they still have a lot of explaining to do on what happened between then and now and what the world is like. There was A Lot of predictability to this movie, I felt like I knew the next lines multiple times, and I'm not even a big Star Wars geek. And there are going to be a lot of similarities in the next movie too, almost inevitably. I hope they break from the mold, but I'd be surprised if we don't get a Rey training with Luke while the rest of the heroes are threatened by the new enemy of the film. If I had to guess, this ends with them realizing they're needed and Luke and Rey both departing to return to the main story, instead of Yoda trying to persuade Luke to stay and ignore it.
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