The Last Jedi

[marmar]

Looks goo, I like the movie

[LaceSensor]

Bladerunner 2049 was sublime in all ways
A worthy sequel to one of my favourites, and more than did justice to the visuals, cinematography and soundtrack of the original.

Higher praise I cannot provide. Everyone should see it if only for the absolutely astonishing aesthetics.

[raulduke]

Yep I agree about Blade Runner 2049.

I thought it was absolutely fantastic. It was made to be seen on a big screen with a good sound system.

The sound, the visuals, the existential plot and themes, the bowel moving synths ( )... everything.

If I had to change one thing I would have just asked for a few more Vangelis nods in the score. There were a few, but I could always do with more (the original soundtrack is a classic).

I still can't get the film out of my head (couple of weeks now since I watched it).

p.s. People walked out of the screening I went too. It was hardly jam packed either. No accounting for taste I guess!

[Leevibe]

I was listening to the score yesterday. Awesome.

[thesmokingman]

my theory is that there are a lot more "people who have seen blade runner" and are "fans" than there are people who have actually seen blade runner and are fans of it. this one was worth the extra coin for the 3-D showing

[matmosphere]

Reviews are online.

Now I just have to keep myself from reading them.

Gotta say the trailers make it look promising.

[juansolo]

... I recall sitting in the theater thinking, "Again? Really?"  They had a decade to come up with a compelling story and all we got was a rehash of the first three films. I'll take a new, if imperfect, plot over the same-old-shit any day.

^^^This!  Except that I didn't much like The Force Awakens as a result.  Rogue One was better, for sure, but there have GOT to be some Republic/Empire/Jedi/Sith tales that DON'T involve a Death Star, no? 

Right now I've a horrible feeling that The Last Jedi is just going to be Luke Skywalker mentoring Rey like Yoda did him - with the same "only once before" reflections on a powerful apprentice gone wrong - that inevitably results in another light/jedi vs dark/sith confrontation and happy-ish/melancholy reconciliation/ending ... with some painfully obvious marketing plants (e.g. ready for video game scenes and destined for cuddly toy species) thrown in along the way. 

I'd love to be wrong, mind!

The whole problem with Star Wars and Hollywood as a whole is that they will always go with what is safe. Which is why so many films are re-hashes and sequels of things that have been previously successful. Well they liked that, do that again. It's why Marvel stuff is starting to get stale, when you've saved the planet 5 times already there's just no tension there.

This is why I liked Logan and, even though it has serious flaws, Rogue One. Logan is a road movie, the villain isn't actually critical to the plot, they're just a reason for the journey. The film is about the reluctant family and that journey. Rogue One being about a smaller conflict in a bigger war. There are lots of stories that could be told within that narrative universe. Something the games used to do really well (in the past), where you'd take on the role of rebel spies, or indeed someone in the Empire. It blurs lines, and makes things interesting.

The inevitable problem is that Star Wars was a big popcorn action movie that appealed to kids and the fans of it, myself included, are not kids any more. So we want something different. However TFA will do EXACTLY what Star Wars did for 5 year old me in 1977 for kids now. They don't know about any of the previous films, they've just got an updated version of the first three so Disney can try and re-capture that magic that the first three films had for a new audience. In that respect Disney are nailed on in their approach.

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? That's where I'd be going with it. I think Rogue One was a messy step in the right direction for that. We shall see what else they do.

[juansolo]

Bladerunner 2049 was sublime in all ways
A worthy sequel to one of my favourites, and more than did justice to the visuals, cinematography and soundtrack of the original.

Higher praise I cannot provide. Everyone should see it if only for the absolutely astonishing aesthetics.

*mild spoiler*

I would make one change to the film. The film was about K, so IMO the film should have ended on the steps. What happened afterwards we didn't need to see as we and he are fully aware by this point. It would have just made a much more poignant ending to that moment... and indeed the narrative of the film. But given all the brilliance that went before it, I'll let it slide.

p.s. People walked out of the screening I went too. It was hardly jam packed either. No accounting for taste I guess!

Same experience here. Probably about 5 groups in the cinema and one left about an hour in. Which goes on to reinforce Hollywood's stance when it comes to blockbusters vs actual films.

[juansolo]

the ewoks defeated a mechanized army and they're little more than angry teddy bears.

In actual military history, the number of times a vastly technologically superior force has taken on a comparatively 3rd world guerilla opposition and it didn't go well for the former is startling...  Just saying The choice of psychotic teddy bears I'll agree makes the whole idea of that a bit more challenging.

[juansolo]

>> TFA had to many throwbacks, hoping the new one doesn't lean on that as much. Though it being the middle movie and seeing those AT-AT's in the trailer makes me think it'll be more throwback plot.

These were my exact thoughts. TFA had enough great things in it to stand on its own, but it didn't let itself stand on its own. Most of the ships in this trailer look like updated versions of things we've seen before. That makes me worry that it'll have the same issue TFA did.

No no, there's red under the snow now, see! Definitely not Hoth, and the land speeders are totally different

[Muadzin]

In actual military history, the number of times a vastly technologically superior force has taken on a comparatively 3rd world guerilla opposition and it didn't go well for the former is startling...  Just saying The choice of psychotic teddy bears I'll agree makes the whole idea of that a bit more challenging.

Thing is though, I'ma bit of a student of military history, while guerillas have defeated a vastly superior force in a war, they hardly ever seem to do so in individual battles. When they take on the superior force in pitched battle guerillas almost always get their asses kicked. The battles are almost always won by the superior force, how they win is by avoiding those battles, picking those that favor them instead and above all by staying alive as a force in the field. Outlasting the enemy, until they sense that the enemy is either weakening, or losing the will to fight. Plus you got to have some firepower on your own. Bow and arrows against rifles and machine guns did not cut it, let alone against modern firepower. By that logic the Ewoks should never have stood a chance, other then act of plot. Which is the most stupid way to win. And why the friggin' teddybears are so hated.

But then again Lucas seems clueless in regards to military tactics in general. Hollywood in general is bad in that regard but Lucas in particular. Just look at the land battles in the prequels. Napoleonic armies marching in formation against each other. Not even World War I trench warfare battles were handled that incompetently. Star Wars makes General Melchett look competent by comparison. But hey, it looks good on screen. At least, that was the intention.

As for the Blade Runner film, didn't the original also bombed at the box office? It may have gotten a lot of cult status, but if you want to have a successful box office hit movie you need more then just cult fans and art movie viewers. You need casual viewers. And lots of them.

[juansolo]

Pretty much yup to all of that.

Bladerunner tanked on release and I don't think that was down to the producers interference when it came to the voice over and ending either. I was very young when I saw it, but I loved sci-fi (used to watch all the old ones also), and I recognised it was something special. Just the world building alone was unlike anything we'd seen before. A far more realistic future from the likes of Star Wars and 2001. No pristine whites, this was grimy, oppressive and utterly amazing. Same could be said for Ridley's other outing with Alien, where the crew of the Nostromo were the best realised space truckers there has ever been. I think 2049 will be remembered as a sequel to a cult classic done right. Much like Aliens.

You are of course right, a guerilla force cannot take on a technologically superior force head on, hence they have to pick their battles where they can get in, do damage and get out before they can respond. Which of course is not what happens in ROTJ, it's head-to-head (or head to crotch as it would be) and of course the whole reason behind the teddy bears was to sell toys. It also being a ridiculous film with no attempts at making the science part of it make sense, it's fair enough. I don't mind ROTJ to be honest. I do think the Ewoks ruin it, but I still like the rest of the film so I can overlook it.

[Leevibe]

Going to see TLJ tonight. I'm pretty excited about it. I fully expect there to be disappointments but I tend to watch Star Wars with more of the child-like eye. And I'm always (maybe a little over) optimistic about each new film. Even the ones I don't like much, I tend to like when I first see them in the theater.

I am a little nervous that Star Wars could be ruined if Disney starts cranking them out at the same rate as all the comic book movies. It's why I was kind of nervous about Rogue One. I'm so glad that movie came out though! I think it was excellent. I find the comic book movies to be a yawn these days. I watched Wonder Woman about a month ago and I couldn't believe how formulaic and predicable it was. Ragnaroc was meh except that I really loved the Hulk in it.

Anyway, I'm pretty excited to see Star Wars tonight with the family. I know we're going to have a good time. And we should all be thankful to still have the treasure that is John Williams. He is such a huge part of the essence of Star Wars. I thought Michael Giacchino did a great job on Rogue One too, but excited to hear the new score!

[mremic01]

I fully expect there to be disappointments

It's getting _very_ good reviews so far. I'm nervous, but it sounds like it's not going to disappoint.

[matmosphere]

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.

Personally I have no problem with the Ewoks, but I agree that they don't fit with the tone of the first half of the film (I mean the Rancor and ewoks!). Ultimately I don't tend to think too hard about this type of movie because I find that the more I start picking them apart the less I enjoy them.

Is a savage race of little bears figthing stormtroopers entertaining to watch, yes.

Does it hold up to military scrutiny, I'm not sure I care.

Would it have been WAY cooler if it were wookies instead of ewoks, Definately! (and I don't think anyone would worry about if the wookies could have won or not.)