The Last Jedi

[mremic01]

I have read in the past that Lucas had originally intended the whole thing with the ewoks to be with wookies instead and changed his mind at the last second because he worried that people wouldn't buy the idea that wookies were an undeveloped tribe of savages because Chewwie could fly the Falcon and use a Bowcaster.

It was really about money. Lucas had just gone through a divorce and lost a lot of what he had made on IV and V. So the wookies became ewoks so he could he could sell cuddly little Wicket plushies to little kids.

People talk about Lucas as if he's some sort of sci-fi geek with a vision. If you read his original drafts for what eventually became Episode IV, they mostly suck. The people around him helped him cut out the stupid and condense it all into one brilliant film. The planned sequel, Splinter of the Min's Eye, is pretty abysmal. His "saga", that extended to Empire and Jedi, wasn't even conceived until after A New Hope made tons of cash and they had the budget to do more. If you watch the making-of footage from the prequels, he seems unenthusiastic about them through the entire production. It's all about money.

[matmosphere]

I feel like a couple baby Wookiees in the movie could've served the same purpose.

Who knows, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle 

[Leevibe]

Watched it tonight and really enjoyed it! I didn't like everything about it, but as a whole I thought it was great. I'm looking forward to seeing it again. My advice is to watch it and try to let yourself have a little fun. Don't overthink it. I won't say anything else since this isn't a spoiler thread.

[Willybomb]

The thing is, they want to turn out tonnes of films to re-coup their gigantic investment, so why not have some more interesting, more mature films also?

It will be very interesting to see what Disney will do with Deadpool.... but there is hope, given that they did Dragonslayer way back in the 80s - and that has a surprising amount of gore in one scene in particular.

[jimilee]

I'm really over Finn and Poe. I feel like we could do without them. As a while, it was good though. The actual story line scenes were way better than the other scenes that get things in to place, and the comedy relief was more than I thought there should have been.


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[Willybomb]

Didn't like Poe in TFA either, or Finn's fanboying over him. Poe just comes across like the popular smarmy school jock.

[matmosphere]

In the original script the first order apparently killed Poe before he could escape.

They don't bug me. The movies need characters that aren't Luke, Han and Leia

[BrianS]

I went and saw it this morning at 10 am.  It was old geezer time for sure and the place was full.  It was pretty good.  My rating system is probably way off from everyone else's, ie, if I stay awake the whole movie it's damn good.  And I did.  I find I get really good sleep (better than in bed) at movie theaters.  And as Leevibe said just go watch it and have some fun. 

[flanagan0718]

I haven't seen the new one yet but I am looking forward to it. On TFA, the characters Poe and Ki LoRen didn't bug me...it was the actors. They IMO were bad. Other than that I really enjoyed TFA (Rouge one was boring and didn't seem like a SW movie to me) and liked the direction everything was headed.


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[matmosphere]

Okay, i saw it, there was some great stuff. Overall though I'm kinda meh about it, have to give it another chance at some point.

[somnif]

I think it was the best looking flick in the series so far. Some shots were downright jaw droppingly gorgeous (the silent shot, for example). And, by a vast margin the best fight choreography.

However the pacing was a bit uneven, and if we get down to it, the whole "kanto bite" sequence probably could've been excised with little more than a 2 line re-write. I know it sets up Poe's arc, but it really felt a bit... unnecessary.

(I enjoyed the sequence, don't get me wrong, but in film-making terms it may have needed another edit or three).

But man, I can't imagine how Rian Johnson feels about Carrie Fisher's passing. There are so many little (and not so little) things they could have done to make her leaving the series cleaner. A bit macabre perhaps, but I do wonder if some sequences were edited differently once she had died.

Overall I enjoyed the hell out of it. Felt maybe 20 minutes longer than it needed to be, but I enjoyed it all. And bloody hell Luke, Bad Ass is too small a statement for ya.

[Muadzin]

It was really about money. Lucas had just gone through a divorce and lost a lot of what he had made on IV and V. So the wookies became ewoks so he could he could sell cuddly little Wicket plushies to little kids.

People talk about Lucas as if he's some sort of sci-fi geek with a vision. If you read his original drafts for what eventually became Episode IV, they mostly suck. The people around him helped him cut out the stupid and condense it all into one brilliant film. The planned sequel, Splinter of the Min's Eye, is pretty abysmal. His "saga", that extended to Empire and Jedi, wasn't even conceived until after A New Hope made tons of cash and they had the budget to do more. If you watch the making-of footage from the prequels, he seems unenthusiastic about them through the entire production. It's all about money.

I saw those making off scenes. He was going all enthusiastic about the new CGI model designs, and then said off handed that he had to finish the writing for the movie (Phantom Menace) that afternoon. That told me everything I needed to know why the prequels sucked. Like you said, for ANH he had feedback from friends and family telling him what sucked, what not, tips on how to improve. For the prequels he had 20 years of being secluded on his ranch, always hearing how great he was, what a visionary he was, then working on the new movies, surrounded by yes men, or worst of all, ascended fanboys. No wonder the prequels couldn't do anything but disappoint. Hype aside, under those conditions how could do anything but do that?

As for TLJ, I'm sure it will turn out like all other movies from JJ Abrams, looking nice and spiffy, but look deeper and it will still be a well polished turd. If I get proven wrong I'll be pleasantly surprised, but I'd rather lower my expectations when it comes to JJ. I'll see it when I get to see it.

[matmosphere]

I think it was the best looking flick in the series so far. Some shots were downright jaw droppingly gorgeous (the silent shot, for example). And, by a vast margin the best fight choreography.

I agree. There were definitely some incredible visuals, although some depart from the tone of the originals a little more than I'd like. The particular shot you mention is incredible but I can't help but feel like it would have been more powerful with a little better writing and narrative. And the greatness of that visual was kinda diminished by another shot in the movie that was so Disney.

I think it's pretty clear where the main narrative is headed now.

[jimilee]

Let me just say that going into light speed and through another ship was what every sci-fi space flick needs, that was so cool.


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[m-Kresol]

Let me just say that going into light speed and through another ship was what every sci-fi space flick needs, that was so cool.

I agree. Was a very cool effect. Even better than the seismic bombs in Epi. 1

Also, I liked that just shorting out everything in a circuit board will make it work. also, resistors look quite similar to ours in the galaxy far far away...