Star Wars: The Last Jedi

[Eoraptor1]

I saw it. I enjoyed it. Kept me guessing till the end. That's all I'm going to say until more members have their chance to go.

JAMES

[Josh Patterson]

Man, and I promised my Mom I would wait until the 29th when my sister is in town. I wanna go tonight! A theatre just north of me is doing a double feature of The Force Awakens and then The Last Jedi.

[Panther_99FS]

James,
I thoroughly enjoyed it too!

[Josh Patterson]

I was just trying to catch the curve balls for two and a half hours! Every time I thought an event was going to go a certain way I was proven wrong! Pretty much on the edge of my seat the 80% of the time. Still don't want to mention particulars in case anyone hasn't seen it yet, but I intend to go back for a second viewing!
(Oh and being an ornithologist, my sister knew what real life island Luke is living on and that the Porgs were the Star Wars equivalent of Puffins. Now I understand why they're in the movie. At times Puffins plaster the island and it may have been too time consuming to digitally erase them all!)

[n4gix]

Puffins are cute little buggers, aren't they!
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=56760&stc=1

I watched "The Last Jedi" last week as my very own Christmas Present. I too was caught rather flat-footed since although I own "The Force Awakens" on Blu-Ray, I have yet to watch it.

I too thoroughly enjoyed the movie and will most definitely have to watch it again! :encouragement:

[Corrado5834]

Watched it twice, 2D and 3D.
Can't help thinking they're Brother and Sister ...

[hairyspin]

Number One Son and I watched it last Thursday - Boys' Night Out! Really enjoyed it and the end left plenty possibilities for plotlines for Episode IX - very cleverly done. Take plenty munchies, it's about 2½ hrs long.

Bill, you really have to watch Force Awakens,​ do it now!! lol

[jmig]

I saw it Christmas afternoon with my son and wife. Loved it. A well done movie. Now we have to wait two years for the final one.

[Eoraptor1]

Watched it twice, 2D and 3D.
Can't help thinking they're Brother and Sister ...

Oh, man. I never thought of that!!! What's interesting to me is this movie got a 93% Certified Fresh Rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and became the highest grossing movie of 2017 in under two weeks, but if you only looked on YouTube you'd think it was a complete failure.

JAMES


PS If you want to read my ultra-nerdy comments on The Last Jedi, GO HERE: http://www.strat-talk.com/threads/star-wars-the-last-jedi-revisited.459510/

[n4gix]

Watched it twice, 2D and 3D.
Can't help thinking they're Brother and Sister ...

I don't think so. Mention was made that her parents were scavengers and abandoned her at an early age.

We now know that Kylo Ren is really Han and Leia’s son Ben, with Rey maybe being Luke’s daughter. Ben was once a pupil of Luke’s before being seduced by the dark side and joining the Knights of Ren, which is what causes Luke to go into isolation, which is why Luke doesn't show up until closer to the end of The Force Awakens. Maybe Luke doesn’t know about Rey, maybe her mother was stranded on Jakku after the battle there, but before her birth and Luke didn’t know about it. Whatever the case though, Rey is most assuredly related to Luke in some fashion, as it is she who will be the sole remnant of the Skywalker family.

What I am not particularly happy about is the way that Disney casually tossed away the entire corpus of stories written over the previous decades so they could take off in an entirely new direction.

With the 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucasfilm) by The Walt Disney Company (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walt_Disney_Company), most of the licensed Star Wars novels and comics produced since the originating 1977 film Star Wars (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_(film)) were rebranded as Star Wars Legends and declared non-canon to the franchise in April 2014.[3] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solo_family#cite_note-THR_Legends-3)[4] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solo_family#cite_note-SW_Legends-4)[5] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solo_family#cite_note-SW_Adult-5) The characters below are no longer considered to be officially canon after the acquisition of Star Wars by Disney.
In what is now called "Legacy," the Solo family consisted of three siblings, the twins Jacen and Jaina, and their younger brother Anakin. It was Jacen to turned too the Dark Side and became Darth Caedus.

[n4gix]

PS If you want to read my ultra-nerdy comments on The Last Jedi, GO HERE: http://www.strat-talk.com/threads/star-wars-the-last-jedi-revisited.459510/
While I agree with what you wrote (seeing as how I'm one of the upset nerds):

I’m willing to bet real money Disney’s decision to pronounce the Star Wars “Expanded Universe” novels as not part of the official continuity while including Star Wars Rebels was enough to drive thousands of fanboys into apoplexy.
I strongly suspect that the primary reason for declaring the HUGE corpus of books and comics over the intervening decades as "non-canonical" was mostly driven by financial and legal concerns. I can only imagine the expense and legal difficulty of making licensing agreements with all of the various authors!

[Josh Patterson]

I saw it Christmas afternoon with my son and wife. Loved it. A well done movie. Now we have to wait two years for the final one.

Well, we can see the stand alone Solo film in May! Not sure how I feel about someone else playing Han (it will probably be like River Phoenix playing young Indy , who did a great job, but I'm waiting to decide) but I'm totally ampped that Ron Howard is directing it! I "Imagine" he'll do a stellar job!:devilish:

[Snuffy]

I'm waiting for it to show up on HBO. :D

[Roger]

I saw it with my son on the first night of release in the UK. He, like Bill is a total Starwars nerd and he hated it for the same reasons Bill gave. What do Disney really want to do with the franchise: kill every name from the past off and introduce Bambi Skywalker and make the future of Starwars...cute?

[Eoraptor1]

While I agree with what you wrote (seeing as how I'm one of the upset nerds):

I strongly suspect that the primary reason for declaring the HUGE corpus of books and comics over the intervening decades as "non-canonical" was mostly driven by financial and legal concerns. I can only imagine the expense and legal difficulty of making licensing agreements with all of the various authors!

That would depend upon what was in the contract the writer signed vis a vis his/her use of previously registered intellectual properties owed by Lucasfilm, and now Disney. I really couldn't say more with any certainty. As I pointed out in my essay, I read Splinter of the Mind's Eye when it came out. Chronologically, it took place between Episodes IV and V, but in as far as the story shown in The Empire Strikes Back, the filmmakers treated it as if it hadn't existed. I don't know whether or not you've read the book, but it features its own Luke vs. Vader lightsaber fight. Luke hasn't met Yoda yet, but does better in this fight than he does in Empire. I don't recall any swell of outrage over the lost continuity, but back then there was no internet, and IMO Empire was the dramatic peak of the entire series. The original Star Wars did what it did, but Empire showed real quality control that (again IMO) has never been repeated. I say this having liked, or more accurately found things to like, in all the Star Wars movies, even the reviled prequel trilogy. I thought the last three were on the whole a marked improvement. At any rate, people like what they like regardless of what I think. I've put that conflict to bed long ago.


JAMES

PS Excuse me if this seems choppy. My cat has decided he needs to sit right in front of my monitor and no matter how many times I throw him on the bed, he keeps coming back. It's become a battle of wills.

[n4gix]

James, lest any mistaken impression has been conveyed by my previous replies, I have thoroughly enjoyed every Star Wars release as long as I completely ignore any continuity issues at least. :very_drunk:

A few have been somewhat less than stellar, but nonetheless I've enjoyed watching them. :applause:

[Eoraptor1]

James, lest any mistaken impression has been conveyed by my previous replies, I have thoroughly enjoyed every Star Wars release as long as I completely ignore any continuity issues at least. :very_drunk:

A few have been somewhat less than stellar, but nonetheless I've enjoyed watching them. :applause:

No problem. The Force will be with you, always.

JAMES

[warchild]

I watched it the only way i could.. Bootlegged from russia with solarized imagery. I THINK i actually prefer it that way.. I hope Disney burns in hell...

[Ferry_vO]

Saw it on a biiig screen with Dolby Atmos and laser 3D, and I loved it. so far the 'Disney' movies have been much better than Lucas' own second trilogy.

[hairyspin]

I thought the second trilogy was there to sell video games: although my sons know them well, I have bother remembering much about zzzzz...

[Panther_99FS]

Saw it on a biiig screen with Dolby Atmos and laser 3D, and I loved it. so far the 'Disney' movies have been much better than Lucas' own second trilogy.

LoL Ferry!
Better put on your Kevlar 'forum armor' - The original trilogy Lucas fanatics won't like your statement!:biggrin-new:

[Odie]

I thought the second trilogy was there to sell video games: although my sons know them well, I have bother remembering much about zzzzz...

I was the same way with the second trilogy, too. They just didn't stick with me like the first set. My son and his wife are the STAR WARS wing of filmdom for our family. My wife and I enjoyed the first trilogy immensely, but are behind in viewing the current trilogy.

[Ferry_vO]

LoL Ferry!
Better put on your Kevlar 'forum armor' - The original trilogy Lucas fanatics won't like your statement!:biggrin-new:


The original (Luke vs. Vader) trilogy was great, I'm talking about movies I-III. Terrible acting and dialogue, too much politics and waaay too much jar jar.

[hairyspin]

Churchill maintained jaw jaw was better than war war, but jar jar was pushing it too far for me.

[CybrSlydr]

Did not like it at all.

I just saw it last night and the more I think about the movie, the less and less I like it. I think it was absolute garbage.

Let's start with the bombers. LITERAL bombers whose only method of attack is DROPPING BOMBS ON A SHIP IN ZERO GRAVITY. Then we have the control of the bombs with some remote switch that could literally end up anywhere on the ship??? Apparently projectiles are no longer a thing...

Then we get the arcing energy blasts shot at the Cruiser - and don't get me started on that whole ridiculous concept. Just fast enough to stay out of range - but they can't jump the Star Destroyers ahead of them and pincer them??? Unreal... I'm also getting tired of all these "noble sacrifices" - but utilizing the Cruiser to light-speed jump through Snoke's ship was ****ing awesome. Oh - killing off Ackbar off-screen like that is unacceptable.

Oh yeah - Snoke. WTF?

Then we also have an Asian female and black male trying to pose as First Order personnel. What do we know about the Empire? They were famously xenophobic, ethnophobic and didn't utilize women except in rare exceptions. What happened to the Empire? It became the First Order. So WHY IN THE WORLD are TWO of the three people you're sending to infiltrate SOMEONE THEY WOULD EASILY PICK OUT??? It's like there's nobody at the wheel here!

The casino scene was absurd in the extreme as the director's dig at Capitalism and served no other purpose.

Let's also talk about the entirely superfluous character of Rose. Pointless character - only serves to offer on-the-nose, ridiculously long exposition. Now that we've talked about Rose, how about the physics-defying save of Finn in the speeders? They show every single speeder turn back except his - yet her equally crappy ship could then turn around, swing out and away, get ahead of him and then T-bone him out of the blast??? No way. At this point, I'd also say Finn is a pointless character - he's literally done nothing.

But the biggest sin of this movie and it's predecessor by a COUNTRY MILE is a COMPLETE LACK OF EXPLANATION OF WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN ROTJ AND TFA. What happened to the Empire? What happened to the Rebellion? Why is the Rebellion now the Resistance? Why is the Empire now The First Order? GIVE ME SOME DAMNED CONTEXT IN WHICH THIS SERIES OF MOVIES FUNCTION!!!

This is why I will never accept these movies as Canon over the expanded universe stories. The stories are vastly better, the characters are awesome, the timeline is fully fleshed out and sensible... The more and more I look at it, these movies are just a cash grab.

[HyFlyer]

Whatever else, the lightsaber battle in Snokes palace was awesome.....

[Josh Patterson]

Did not like it at all.

I just saw it last night and the more I think about the movie, the less and less I like it. I think it was absolute garbage.

Let's start with the bombers. LITERAL bombers whose only method of attack is DROPPING BOMBS ON A SHIP IN ZERO GRAVITY. Then we have the control of the bombs with some remote switch that could literally end up anywhere on the ship??? Apparently projectiles are no longer a thing...

Then we get the arcing energy blasts shot at the Cruiser - and don't get me started on that whole ridiculous concept. Just fast enough to stay out of range - but they can't jump the Star Destroyers ahead of them and pincer them??? Unreal... I'm also getting tired of all these "noble sacrifices" - but utilizing the Cruiser to light-speed jump through Snoke's ship was ****ing awesome. Oh - killing off Ackbar off-screen like that is unacceptable.

Oh yeah - Snoke. WTF?

Then we also have an Asian female and black male trying to pose as First Order personnel. What do we know about the Empire? They were famously xenophobic, ethnophobic and didn't utilize women except in rare exceptions. What happened to the Empire? It became the First Order. So WHY IN THE WORLD are TWO of the three people you're sending to infiltrate SOMEONE THEY WOULD EASILY PICK OUT??? It's like there's nobody at the wheel here!

The casino scene was absurd in the extreme as the director's dig at Capitalism and served no other purpose.

Let's also talk about the entirely superfluous character of Rose. Pointless character - only serves to offer on-the-nose, ridiculously long exposition. Now that we've talked about Rose, how about the physics-defying save of Finn in the speeders? They show every single speeder turn back except his - yet her equally crappy ship could then turn around, swing out and away, get ahead of him and then T-bone him out of the blast??? No way. At this point, I'd also say Finn is a pointless character - he's literally done nothing.

But the biggest sin of this movie and it's predecessor by a COUNTRY MILE is a COMPLETE LACK OF EXPLANATION OF WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN ROTJ AND TFA. What happened to the Empire? What happened to the Rebellion? Why is the Rebellion now the Resistance? Why is the Empire now The First Order? GIVE ME SOME DAMNED CONTEXT IN WHICH THIS SERIES OF MOVIES FUNCTION!!!

This is why I will never accept these movies as Canon over the expanded universe stories. The stories are vastly better, the characters are awesome, the timeline is fully fleshed out and sensible... The more and more I look at it, these movies are just a cash grab.

Too bad Disney threw out all the old EU as canon. I would love see Heir to the Empire made into a movie. (Would like to say the entire Thrawn trilogy, but I haven't gotten around to reading Dark Force Rising or The Last Command yet. Pretty sad actually since I read HTTE all the way back in 1993!)

[jmig]

Did not like it at all.

I just saw it last night and the more I think about the movie, the less and less I like it. I think it was absolute garbage.

... The more and more I look at it, these movies are just a cash grab.

I saw it and liked it. You just have to suspend your sense of disbelief. It is a S. F. fantasy movie. The whole concept of 'humans' in another galaxy is in itself a non-starter. I find them to be an enjoyable 1 1/2- 2 hour escape from reality. I do agree with your last statement.

[CybrSlydr]

Too bad Disney threw out all the old EU as canon. I would love see Heir to the Empire made into a movie. (Would like to say the entire Thrawn trilogy, but I haven't gotten around to reading Dark Force Rising or The Last Command yet. Pretty sad actually since I read HTTE all the way back in 1993!)

Seriously - the EU stories would make for an amazing TV series. Starting with The Truce at Bakura and running all the way through The Corellian Trilogy. That's 30ish years of stories that includes some of the best in the series - Thrawn, X-Wing/Wraiths, The New Rebellion... The stories go on and on and on!

[CybrSlydr]

I saw it and liked it. You just have to suspend your sense of disbelief. It is a S. F. fantasy movie. The whole concept of 'humans' in another galaxy is in itself a non-starter. I find them to be an enjoyable 1 1/2- 2 hour escape from reality. I do agree with your last statement.

I'm a die-hard StarWars fan. There is no need to suspend disbelief for me - because it's StarWars.

What this movie requires you to do is remove your brain and blindly accept the BS it's feeding you.

[HyFlyer]

I'm a die-hard StarWars fan. There is no need to suspend disbelief for me - because it's StarWars.

What this movie requires you to do is remove your brain and blindly accept the BS it's feeding you.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQC29joihwU

[Snuffy]

Alrighty then. :wiggle:

[HyFlyer]

Alrighty then. :wiggle:

See? As with anything, there's a limit to how much BS a viewer is willing to accept....... :applause:

More seriously... I liked the movie, but thinking about the films that proceeded it, specifically the original trilogy, what I missed was the joy, hope and innocence of the original films.

More fitting to our current times and mood, (I guess) everything in the new films is a bit dark/grim, and none of the wide-eyed derring do adventure as seen from the eyes of a farmboy (and new audience) embodied by Luke and his initial adoration of Princess (A Princess!) Leia.

Nothing matches the triumphant make-the-audience-cheer destruction of the original Death Star, and the even more triumphant march and medal scene that closed the first movie with a flourish.

If I missed anything in the latter films, its the sense of good-guys-against-truly-bad. Even Ben is all shades of grey.

Accordingly, these new order troops seem like just any ordinary military following orders with the banal evil that blurs and dulls modern day films. When Star Wars is probably at its best is as a full-on black-vs-white fable.

[paulopp]

I know Star Wars! It's about family...

[huub vink]

I have mixed feelings about this movie. Like all Star Wars movies it is packed with non-possible or non-necessary things, but that never really annoyed me. But all previous Star War movies had a main story, and the battle between good and bad was a secondary story line. However this movie didn't really have a main story,but was more a sequence of fragments which didn't really connect or which didn't go anywhere. This could just have been bad editing, but I found it a bit confusing. As a real basic story did not exist the struggle between good and bad suddenly became the main story. And there just wasn't enough story to fill 3 hours.
You could wonder why a group capable of destroying complete planets in a second, needs half a movie to destroy a few left over ships from the rebellion fleet.

Perhaps the next movie will answer some questions I'm still chewing on, but to summarise my feelings about this film: "quite boring for 2 hours and than Luke Skywalker died."

BTW But I did like Rogue One ;-))

Cheers,
Huub

[Eoraptor1]

Here's a post I made previously on Strat-Talk, where I posted my long essay about The Last Jedi. I think a lot of the membership here will find my recommendations interesting, especially aspiring writers....


NOTE: Here are two links I think SF/Fantasy fans would find interesting, especially if they want to take a stab at writing this sort of thing. If you think you can do better than The Last Jedi, maybe you're right.



This first link I've posted before. It discusses the way spaceships move in Science Fiction, especially how they sidestep the problems of travelling vast distances between planets in a universe where maximum velocity cannot exceed the Speed of Light. As a practical matter, I think a statement I've heard now from several science fiction writers sums things up: "Spaceships tend to move at the speed of plot." This link is for people who are interested in the technical aspects. If your mother bought you the
Starfleet Technical Manual
for Christmas like mine did, this page is for you. Go HERE:
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/index.php


This second link presents a list of science fiction and fantasy tropes. Be warned, if you're a nerd you might want to set a cooking timer beforehand to remind yourself how much time is passing while you're reading through this. You can lose hours without realizing it. I feel I can pretty much guarantee you'll recognize almost 100% of this themes and plot points. Go HERE:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpeculativeFictionTropes


Enjoy.

JAMES

[Ivan]

My Family saw this a few weeks back but not all at the same time.
I have already seen this mentioned a few times, so my opinions won't be new in this thread.

The Last Jedi was a fun example of a Space Fantasy, after all, that IS what SF stands for right?
As others have mentioned, don't presume you know what's going on or who or what people are just because you have seen every movie and read everything that was ever published about Star Wars. We are now playing by a new set of rules.
Leave your brain at home or turn it off as you would a cell phone at least for the duration of the movie.
If you think and analyze a bit, you are not going to be happy.

Watch this movie as you would a fireworks display.
There are lot of cool things sparking and exploding and they look pretty.
Just like a fireworks display, don't try to read a deeper meaning.
You will probably be disappointed if you do. Remember: Fireworks don't have to make sense.
Just enjoy the show while it lasts.

- Ivan.

P.S. I recently watched the JJ Abrams Star Trek movies. It seems like he has replaced the Warp Engines on starships with HyperDrives and everything ANYWHERE can be reached in a matter of a few hours. ...But at least there are a lot of cool colours and eye candy there too!

[scotth6]

My sister is a huge Star Wars fan, and she hated it. She is on crutches ATM, but said if she wasn't she would have walked out of the cinema half way through.

I have been a Star Wars fan for much longer, as I am older, and although I agree with the problems she had with it, I actually enjoyed the new movie. There were many shortcomings, but overall it was an enjoyable movie. I don't think you can get too caught up with the entire Star Wars universe, and just have to take each movie as it comes.

In saying that, I really hope they take some influence from some of the excellent novels that have been written over the years, and keep expanding and re-visiting the story lines.

I think Gary Oldman would play an excellent Grand Admiral Thrawn and Charlize Theron would make an excellent Mara Jade. :saturn:

[Snuffy]

I'll wait for it to come out on HBO ...

That way I won't feel like I got robbed if I change the channel mid program. :)

[scotth6]

I'll wait for it to come out on HBO ...

That way I won't feel like I got robbed if I change the channel mid program. :)


Yeah, but you also won't "feel" the hum of the light sabres :biggrin-new:. The action sequences are fantastic on the big screen.

Says me who has been to the cinema a total of twice in the last four years, to watch Star Wars both times :untroubled:. I didn't even see Rogue One at the Cinema.

[wombat666]

I find it highly amusing that so many people can get sucked into a debate regarding a highly unimportant subject!
Really people......it's just another 'Fantasy' franchise to generate money with little or no redeeming qualities.

:173go1::173go1::173go1:

[jmig]

I think Disney did a good job of transiting from the original (read old) characters to the newer (read young). It was a generational change. They kept the continuity of the story as they moved on to new ground. I think the new movies are faithful to the old, unlike the newer Star Trek movies. My wife and I watched the last three Star Trek movies on DVD. It was like watching Saturday morning comics. No character depth or exploring story line. Nothing but super amped tecno action.

[Snuffy]

Yeah, but you also won't "feel" the hum of the light sabres :biggrin-new:. The action sequences are fantastic on the big screen. ...

And who sez I don't already have a "big Screen"? :D with surround sound no less!

[scotth6]

And who sez I don't already have a "big Screen"? :D with surround sound no less!

Haha. Well I did think that after I wrote. Well, I hope you enjoy it on YOUR big screen :encouragement:.

As many problems as some have with the newer movies, I just think it's better than having no more Star Wars movies.

Cheers,

[Eoraptor1]

Haha. Well I did think that after I wrote. Well, I hope you enjoy it on YOUR big screen :encouragement:.

As many problems as some have with the newer movies, I just think it's better than having no more Star Wars movies.

Cheers,

That's not going to be a problem, methinks...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNW0B0HsvVs

JAMES

[n4gix]

It appears it is going to "rain" a bunch of new solo movies featuring most of the characters, including Han Solo, Anakin Skywalker, Yoda, and Obi Wan Kenobi.

Thankfully LucasFilms seems to have enough good sense to not infect the series with a full-length film of Jar-Jar Binks... :bump:

[Ivan]

But Jar Jar Bink my Heeeeeeee-Ro!!!!

Meesa feel insulted if he not there!

[n4gix]

But Jar Jar Bink my Heeeeeeee-Ro!!!!

Meesa feel insulted if he not there!
Oddly enough, I enjoyed the comic relief Jar Jar provided. There has always been humor in the films, but most of it has been very subtle verbal or body language based.