Master Index of Archived Threads


Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

TransMonk Apr 07 2016 07:37 AM

Fresh off the digital home release of Episode VII, Lucasflim released the first trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story which will be released in December. [youtube]Wji-BZ0oCwg[/youtube] This flick is a stand alone story and does not follow the Skywalker character plot. The events take place between Episodes III and IV.

metsmarathon Apr 07 2016 12:11 PM Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

yes yes yes yes yes yes yes. oh yes.

themetfairy Apr 07 2016 01:35 PM Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

metsmarathon wrote: yes yes yes yes yes yes yes. oh yes. Are we still discussing When Harry Met Sally? Oops - wrong thread....

Mets Willets Point Apr 07 2016 08:48 PM Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Looks good. The lead has a Katniss Everdeen vibe.

TransMonk Dec 05 2016 04:05 PM Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

I rarely read bestselling fiction, but I'm studying up for the new flick. A prequel to the prequel...

MFS62 Dec 05 2016 05:12 PM Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

George Lucas liked it. http://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/he ... cid=HPCDHP Later

Lefty Specialist Dec 17 2016 06:11 PM Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Just saw it and it was pretty good. Battle scenes maybe a little too long, but a good 'prequel'. Some people show up that you might not expect, too.

Frayed Knot Dec 17 2016 09:03 PM Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Lefty Specialist wrote: Some people show up that you might not expect, too. Bartolo? Bernie Sanders? Flo the insurance lady?

Vic Sage Dec 19 2016 07:49 AM Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

thumbs up. unlike last SW movie, this one has a halfway original story that adds something to the canon, and it evoked the earlier films rather than regurgitating their past story elements. It actually fixes some story problems from the earlier films (like why the deathstar had a weakness in the first place) and reintroduces the religious aspects of the Force (fie on midochlorians!). Could it have used some more character development and a few less laser blasts? Yeah, probably. And the CGI portrayals of two characters from the original trilogy were both creepy and distracting. But the introduction of Vader was awesome, in the actual definition of that word. And the cast was pretty good overall. The battles had the feeling of actual warfare rather than the clean, CGI robot slaughters of the prequel trilogy. on the whole, worth the wait.

Centerfield Dec 19 2016 01:23 PM Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

I had heard that the story line was a bit muddled and that the battle scenes lack an obvious purpose/goal. There was a lot of planet hopping in the early parts, and if you start thinking too much about the plot some holes start to open up. But, overall, a great movie, at least for me. It has a crew of heroes that you rally around, a fearsome and intimidating enemy, and stands alone on it's own as a compelling story. And like Vic says, it portrayed war. People die, even good guys, and in the end, there is pain even amidst victory. I think it's grittier than the original trilogy, and even more so than the Force Awakens. The prequel trilogy is a joke. A cartoon. And not even worth comparing to this.

Lefty Specialist Dec 19 2016 01:35 PM Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

I did like the way that they tied down the 'flaw in the Death Star' loose end. (Spoiler alert! There's a flaw in the Death Star, in case you've been asleep for the last 39 years!) But likeable characters and an enjoyable movie. The CGI characters were a little distracting but not so much that it ruined anything.

RealityChuck Dec 19 2016 08:28 PM Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Pretty routine and by-the-numbers. Interminable battle scenes that grew pretty tedious, and which started to look like the deathtrap on Galaxy Quest. The mechanics of the story were pretty clunky; things were done not because the story demanded it, but to keep the fanboys happy. The characters weren't particularly interesting (except for the robot) and were as clichéd as they could be, and they never transcended the stereotypes like in the original film. Not actively bad, but at the level of 1930s programmers. I'd rate it as the fifth best SW film. It's better than 1, 2, and 3, but not as good as the others.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Dec 19 2016 08:35 PM Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

There was quite a bit of planet hopping, although the planets were all lovingly rendered (from Old City/Petra-manque Jedda City to stormy outcropping Eado to tropical Scarif), with-- as per SW Universe usual-- intriguing, engaging human and scenic filigree in the margins. Jones kicked rear, and Luna was appealing (if a little bit bland); outside of charming Donnie Yen (IP MAN!) and Alan Tudyk's appealingly bitchy droid, nobody else was really given an opportunity to create much of a character for his/her character. Mendelssohn was great as the Director, though. The CGI was a little... um... Polar Express-y. One unfortunate surprise for me-- the rebel ambush/bombing in Jedda City almost immediately triggered images and thoughts of Aleppo, yanking me out of the film for a good 5-10 minutes, in a weird little grief fugue. It happened a couple of times later on, too, if not as intensely. YMMV, of course... but then, it may not. Maybe it's just not a great time for me to jump into a war movie. Maybe I should've just seen La La Land, instead. (I tossed a coin, and the space-horse-opera won.) To answer the question I posed myself to Centerfield and others... yeah, it's not for young kids. It's a war movie. (And the ending third more or less cinches that evaluation.) Centerfield wrote: There was a lot of planet hopping in the early parts, and if you start thinking too much about the plot some holes start to open up... Lefty Specialist wrote: I did like the way that they tied down the 'flaw in the Death Star' loose end. They kinda maybe created a new one, though (if not quite as nettlesome) and I think it might have been pretty much in the interest of conveniently-staged fan service cameo. (Think metal dudes, and where they need to be by the end of this/beginning of the original.)

TransMonk Dec 21 2016 08:07 AM Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

On the whole, I enjoyed ROUGE ONE. As others have mentioned, it was definitely darker and grittier than any that SW films have come before, but I thought it was tastefully done and , IMO, now makes the Episode IV story that much more compelling. The first 45 - 60 minutes were a little cumbersome mostly due to the amount of new characters and worlds being introduced. As I mentioned above, I read the pre-R1 novel, so I had at least had some background on the Erso Family, Orson Krennic and Saw Gerrera...and it was still a bit confusing. I can imagine that confusion would be higher for those without any prior knowledge on these characters. I agree with Chuck above that the cameos from characters from other films were not necessary to the story and were really just bones thrown to die-hard fans, so some felt a bit cheap. Highlight for SPOILERS below: I agree with LWFS that the Jedda City war scenes were jarring and real. I feel like they worked, but, man, it did mirror life for some here on earth. Without a doubt, this film put the WAR in STAR WARS. I understand that in a prequel with several new characters that don't appear further down the timeline there is going to be a lot of death, but I wish we could have seen more of Forrest Whitaker's character. I thought all of the actors did a great job with what they were working with. My biggest gripe with the film was the CGI portrayals of previous characters. First, Tarkin: I'm not a CGI fan, but all-in-all, I thought the artists did a good job of re-creating his likeness, but still, I thought these scenes would have been more believable if done one of two ways: 1) Tarkin could have appeared in holograms which would have provided enough distortion to account for the CGI. 2) Bite the bullet and find a really good actor and some make-up. If Bryan Cranston can make me believe he is LBJ, then Disney could have found someone to make me believe I was seeing Peter Cushing. Mon Mothma was believably played by a younger actress without outcry (reprising her role from Episode III, I believe). No matter how good the CGI looks now, it will look worse in 10, 15, 20 years. I do not believe this portrayal will stand the test of time. Lastly, Leia: It is not often that the final two seconds of a movie tarnishes what was a very good film that came before it, but the CGI Leia was too much for me. Again, this scene could have easily been done differently. There was no need to see Leia's face there. Her back is turned when the door opens...the officer could have handed her the file to her with her back still turned. As she takes the disc, she could have said her line, "Hope." and then a quick cut to the credits. EVERYBODY knew it was her. There was no reason to clumsily re-create Carrie Fisher's 19-year-old face digitally. Again, this will not stand the test of time. So, I walked away with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, but again, still enjoyed the movie altogether.

metsmarathon Dec 21 2016 12:20 PM Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

holy heck, i cannot wait until i can have the opportunity to see this one. definitely will not be seeing it with minimm, though.

Ashie62 Dec 26 2016 11:23 AM Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Have never seen a Star Wars movie to this day.

MFS62 Dec 26 2016 03:13 PM Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Ashie62 wrote: Have never seen a Star Wars movie to this day. Shocker. Later

Mets Guy in Michigan Jan 02 2017 05:46 PM Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

My daughter and I went to see it on Christmas night and both liked it. I was a little unnerved by the Grand Moff Tarkin appearance and didn't know about the controversies until after seeing it. I saw some criticism that Vader was a bad ass walking on the ship here, and was a little less energized by comparison in New Hope. But I didn't really notice that. I thought the bacta scene was pretty cool. All in all, yeah, a little dark. But a real Star Wars movie. I liked it.

metsmarathon Jan 20 2017 08:59 PM Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

today felt like a good day to finally see this movie. i must say, i rather liked it. i'm sure i've got some quibbles on plot and character development in there somewhere, but i'm not exactly prepared to elaborate on them. my biggest complaint is that i didn't catch all the rebels tie-ins - i only caught the ghost on yavin 4, not in space; and i missed out on chopper. boo. the attention to physical detail was terrific. it looked like everything in that movie was from the same exact timeframe as ANH. the same is not at all true of the prequels, where technology appears to have really regressed a few centuries' worth in thoe last 20 years BBY i know there was some quibbling with the fan service bits, but i really had no issue at all with either the two cantina guys in jeddha, nor our two favorite droids on yavin. i'm not entirely sure how they get to scarif just yet, but there were a whole hell of a lot of starships moving about there. probably could've had them ambling towards a ship or something, instead of just hanging out in a hangar. as far as the two bits of cgi actors... my wife had no idea tarkin wasn't real. i had no issue with his appearance and was looking for something. was the sheen off? was that it? maybe it looked worse in 3d, or imax, or whatever, but from where i sat in the theater i saw it in, it looked perfectly normal and natural. again, i wasn't poring over the pixels, but still - i was looking at it. i think cushing just kinda looked like that in the first place. he had that uncanny valley look in ANH already. and leia, too, i had no problem with the execution there. lets hope, though, that they don't pull the same trick with leia in 9. i know they agreed not to, but still. so yeah, good movie. very star warsy, in all the best ways. very dark, too. i'm mostly bummed about k2 and chirrut. those guys were awesome. i hope they find their way retroactively in other material. there's no way minimm can watch this movie. not until he's like 20 or something. i am looking forward to the little golden book release, though. one parting thought though... i really do hope the empire has a backup library somewhere, or its going to be rather difficult to build new things in that galaxy.

Edgy MD May 15 2017 12:13 PM Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

I found this to be a slog. For all the criticisms about George Lucas' storyboard-quality scripts, his stories had coherence and arc and motive and stuff. The rebels come off as a real bunch of moral cynics and worse here, which really rewrites a lot of the foundation. But there wasn't one verbal exchange that I felt had meaning for me outside of the movie. Not a lot had meaning within the movie. Sometimes they tried, and really awkward things fell out of people's mouths. The orchestral cues seemed to be a satire of John Williams Star Wars canon.