Star Wars Episode VII -- SPOILERS INSIDE

[weederr33]

Originally Posted by babydriver

Maybe it was the second lightsaber; he had one in Episode VI too. Kind of a reissue.

The one in return of the jedi was green that he made himself. The blue was his father's.

[ajaxthebetter]

I would assume there would be no way to resurrect Han. I mean, I could be wrong, but the chasm into which he fell imploded shortly thereafter.

I'm just not certain paying homage to an old movie stands up today. It all feels too operatic. The themes too cut and dry and thr characters too static. In fact, Id argur Kylo to be the most complicated/interesting character but his portrayal is again operatic. The tone/atmosphere never matched the stakes. We watched from afar as four planets turned to galactic dust and still the director inspired no sense of dread or overwhelming odds for our heroes. The trick of the great storyteller is though we, the reader/viewer, know how the story will likely end, we suspend our belief for just a moment. Star Wars failed to do that, in my opinion.

The characters bore little emotional weight and in turn neither did we. None of the cataclysms happened near enough to them. The New Order, barbaric as the writers kept reminding us, invited no trepidation. We only saw a flash cut away of them shooting up a village. At least in the Anakin saga we saw Anakin striking down people in anger. We were closer. Everything here was too distant to attach to.

Here's to hoping Alien:Covenant puts the fear and brutality back into the great unknown. Rian Johnson has a tall order ahead of him.

My brief thoughts.

[babydriver]

Originally Posted by ajaxthebetter

I'm just not certain paying homage to an old movie stands up today. It all feels too operatic.

Thanks, Ajax, for providing the perfect segue!

Speaking of operatic, John Williams' score to this film was one of his weakest ever. I barely recognized his work. That is very unusual, since I often have been able to identify his stuff in other films without knowing who the composer was. (Having spent nearly 40 years in the classical music field, I am pretty good at that sort of thing, recognizing a composer just by his style of writing.)

So here is my conspiracy theory; he has a ghost writer/composer. John Williams is just as much a part of the franchise as are Luke and Leia. Can you imagine a SW film without a JW score? What if JW, who is after all 83 years old, just can't produce 2 1/2 hours of movie score any more? Why, Disney says, we'll just hire him an "assistant"! The assistant writes 95%+ of the music and Williams comes up with a new tune or two and then receives all the credit.

It would not be the first time that this has happened. A not very interesting WWII film called "Victory at Sea" featured a score "composed" by the very famous Broadway composer Richard Rodgers. In truth, 99% of the music was written by Robert Russell Bennett, Rodgers' orchestrator. Bennett got no credit at the time, and only over many years did the truth become known.

The alternative could be that Williams, along with a lot of other people, just "phoned it in" and made no real effort to write a great score this time. Then he cashed his paycheck and went home happy. Still, unless he has a major gambling problem or is a serious drug addict, he surely doesn't need the money any more.


There you are; iron-clad rumor.

[babydriver]

Originally Posted by weederr33

The one in return of the jedi was green that he made himself. The blue was his father's.

Oops. Continuity error!

[EAGLE5]

Originally Posted by babydriver

I am literally old enough to be Your Father, Luke.

This is the point where I make a snappy comeback about your stellar maturity.

[EAGLE5]

Anakin succumbing to the Dark Side makes total sense. He has lived a horrible life as a slave. His mother dies. He is mentored by a snake in the grass. The Jedi Council is a flawed body. He is directly manipulated by an intelligent being, not randomly pushed around by Teh Forceh.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by jsimon7777

This is the point where I make a snappy comeback about your stellar maturity.

...and?


I don't have all nigh.... wait, NVM.

[GeorgeJFrick]

Just got back from the movie.

Weak score.
Loved Fin, but I guarantee it was an accident.
After Star Wreck my bar for J.J Abrams was set at "please don't blow up the Millenium Falcon".
A lot of good conspiracy theories going on, my favorite being the Kilo Ren as Snape.

Overall it was fun and entertaining, but I've never been a huge Star Wars fan.

But can I rant?

For my fellow surround sound junkies; I weep. If you like movies with real actual surround sound and effects; not just audio folded over X channels; there isn't much available. If you are out buying blu-rays you can get Blackhawk Down, Armitage III, and ... Star Wars. I've always appreciated that the Star Wars movies were epic ear sex. Get that receiver setup and watch 4-6 loud as shit and it's awesome. You want to buy a toy light saber and bounce around the house.

This movie did not have that. I was very sad.

Finally, it was great to see Harrison Ford roll up in there and give acting classes. Han Solo will always be a bad ass and an iconic sci-fi character. On a funny note, the theater near us is an old restored theater (2.5 million in renovations or whatever); and they do this cool thing where they show all TV/ADS relevant to the movie or season.

So they were playing old Star Wars toy ads for an hour before the show. In the commercial with Greedo, Han pops him.

[strat61caster]

@jsimon7777 lmao take off the nostalgia glasses, TFA lives up to the Star Wars saga as much as any film possibly could, the Star Wars films are B-movie turds with a spit shine from day 1 with ripped off unoriginal plots and 2D characters from the get go and not understanding that shows your lack of comprehension of them as films.

Watch Hidden Fortress and then snooze your way through the knockoff with special effects called Star Wars, Lucas couldn't even invent unique scene transitions. Tell me one goddamn interesting thing about Darth Vader from the OT other than he's Luke's dad, there is NOTHING there, he's a menacing cardboard cutout with a good voicebox, that shit is across the board, Guinness had it right fairy tale rubbish, all of it, from 1976 onwards.

And my **** is so hard for the next one.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by GeorgeJFrick

Loved Fin, but I guarantee it was an accident.

No, that's John Boyega charming the pants off of everything within sight, that dude is like if Harrison Ford had the social skills to match the looks.

Watch Attack the Block, he is going to be making movies for a long time.

[EAGLE5]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

@jsimon7777 lmao take off the nostalgia glasses, TFA lives up to the Star Wars saga as much as any film possibly could, the Star Wars films are B-movie turds with a spit shine from day 1 with ripped off unoriginal plots and 2D characters from the get go and not understanding that shows your lack of comprehension of them as films.

Watch Hidden Fortress and then snooze your way through the knockoff with special effects called Star Wars, Lucas couldn't even invent unique scene transitions. Tell me one goddamn interesting thing about Darth Vader from the OT other than he's Luke's dad, there is NOTHING there, he's a menacing cardboard cutout with a good voicebox, that shit is across the board, Guinness had it right fairy tale rubbish, all of it, from 1976 onwards.

And my **** is so hard for the next one.

Vader has style, voice, and most importantly, a kick-ass theme. He is a powerful emotional presence. It's all an opera. It's all been done before. Even Shakespeare had little new in his plots. The question is not about how original the story is. It's about how well the story is told. So much was done so right in Star Wars, especially New Hope.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by jsimon7777

Vader has style, voice, and most importantly, a kick-ass theme. He is a powerful emotional presence. It's all an opera. It's all been done before. Even Shakespeare had little new in his plots. The question is not about how original the story is. It's about how well the story is told. So much was done so right in Star Wars, especially New Hope.

Hah so your only defense is "because I didn't like it"? "Because it impressed me when I was a kid"?

All stories are grandiose and operatic and mind blowing even when they're about trade routes and embargoes when you don't have the experience to evaluate it.

Take off the nostalgia goggles J, TFA is just as good as any other Star Wars movie.

[Ultramaroon]

At least there weren't any ewoks.

[Guff]

Jesus people it's a thread about star wars. Stop getting worked up about random crap. If people have beef with each other, then street brawling is the only way we solve things here. Also banning

Now back to star wars! I only saw Indiana Jones Goes to The Snowy Mountain, which I think was 5? So, I'm not particularly crazy about the series. I might watch the latest one soon, but I just bring myself to get excited about it.