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View Full Version : The Force Awakens. Spoilers.



WickerBill
12-18-15, 10:38 PM
I'm not going to mention spoilers but I'm sure they'll get mentioned as we discuss.

I think it's the best of the seven. Very well done. Great balance between new and nostalgia.

What's your biggest gripe? Favorite part?

dando
12-18-15, 11:41 PM
I'll tell you after noon on Monday. My showing is at 10:15 AM. May the 4th be with you. :) All vibes are good and Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 95% on the rotten scale. Note, I cut my 11 yo teeth on #4, was up at 3 AM for #1, sat in the very front row for the retreads, skipped school to see Jedi, favorite is Empire. I have 1-6 on DVD before Lucas 'fixed' them. :saywhat: Otherwise, I am staying off the grid to avoid any other initial 411/spoilers. Until then....


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

;)

dando
12-18-15, 11:43 PM
FYI.

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2015/12/live-stream-watch-symphony-in-the-stars-a-galactic-spectacular-fireworks-at-1050-p-m-est/

dando
12-19-15, 01:26 AM
OK. Hate to spoil things, but it was Darth kitty...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stc5TBza4WM

:gomer:

dando
12-20-15, 11:43 AM
OK. I have to come clean with spoilers...Ken Burns style. :gomer:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGQ1tJP_26A

;)

datachicane
12-20-15, 03:00 PM
I'm an old guy, stood in line when the first one opened in 1977, was there again in 1980, etc., you get the idea.

After the horror that was the prequels, all this one had to do to be a huge success was to not totally suck. That's not exactly setting the bar, and it's pretty much all it achieved. Look, this stuff was never intended to be high art, and I get that, and the originals certainly had enough hoke to tax anyone's suspension of disbelief, but they're not even trying here. Trying to avoid spoilers, but, well, things that are very difficult to do in the previous films are comically simple here. OTOH, maybe if they didn't recycle so many plot points they wouldn't have to worry about that sort of thing. This thing borrows more from the original than Blues Brothers 2000 did in a way that suggests creative bankruptcy more than homage.

Visually pretty, well-cast, etc., but the framework of the story is more about safe, low-risk big-studio merchandising than making the audience FEEL anything beyond vague nostalgia.

It's emotionally stunted. My 16-year old daughter, who was hugely excited to see this film, was the one who pointed that out as we were leaving the theater. She's right. Remember the uneasiness you felt in the last scene in Empire? There's nothing like that here, or anything even approaching it, and that wasn't exactly Bergman to start with. Each major plot point feels like it was ordained by accountants and marketing execs, rather than flowing from, y'know, a story. This clearly isn't about storytelling in the way it was back in 1977, it's all about business now, and it shows.

SteveH
12-20-15, 04:01 PM
The Disney effect?

WickerBill
12-20-15, 04:18 PM
I thought it was tremendous. Great great popcorn blockbuster (perhaps that's why it appealed to me - I wasn't expecting to need to engage deep thought, just enjoy it). Homages to 4-5-6, erasure of some of the misery of 1-2-3, very visually appealing.

Definitely a lot of glue and duct tape in this one to help set up the next two - but IMO that's both smart for the series and good for the die-hards.

My perspective is different than most. I had never seen a Star Wars movie until this year. When I saw the trailer for The Force Awakens, I decided it was time to watch them.

This is my favorite of the 7. Yes there are some "say what?" moments, but it wouldn't exactly be Star Wars without a canteen musical number or a bizarre weapon, for instance.

dando
12-20-15, 06:49 PM
803

rabbit
12-21-15, 11:38 AM
Side note: If they ever make a movie about Dario Franchitti, Oscar Isaac needs to play the lead. #doppleganger

Napoleon
12-21-15, 01:44 PM
^^^

The guy has been in so many movies the last few years, why not cast him as Dario as well. I really liked him in Inside Llewyn Davis.

dando
12-21-15, 02:18 PM
Oh. My. God. That was good. No. Great. :thumbup: :thumbup: Very good mix of old and new. Lucas can now go back into my Anxiety Closet. </Bloom County> ;)

dando
12-21-15, 03:13 PM
804

rabbit
12-21-15, 05:21 PM
I loved it. My favorite moment: "You're ... you're afraid you won't be as strong as Darth Vader." :eek:

dando
12-21-15, 05:50 PM
I'll be getting a second helping post-Xmas. :)

WickerBill
12-21-15, 06:17 PM
My fave was Chewie blowing Rey off when she asked if Han was the resistance hero. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

dando
12-21-15, 06:23 PM
My fave was Chewie blowing Rey off when she asked if Han was the resistance hero. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Not going to give away any spoilers, but that was :cool:. I was waiting for Han and Chewie to appear. :thumbup: Of course my fave is my youngest DD speaking Wookie. :) :D

stroker
12-24-15, 08:45 PM
I hate to be the turd in the punchbowl but I was disappointed. I'm all for "homage" but that storyline was basically a retread. Carrie Fisher had NOTHING to do! I couldn't tell if they limited her because she's just not there anymore or if the plot just left her superfluous... I'm REALLY glad I didn't see a single trailer--not even one time. Everything was new, which was a refreshing change from normal.

Now I'm off to see Spectre...

JohnHKart
12-25-15, 09:18 PM
I'm an old guy, stood in line when the first one opened in 1977, was there again in 1980, etc., you get the idea.

After the horror that was the prequels, all this one had to do to be a huge success was to not totally suck. That's not exactly setting the bar, and it's pretty much all it achieved. Look, this stuff was never intended to be high art, and I get that, and the originals certainly had enough hoke to tax anyone's suspension of disbelief, but they're not even trying here. Trying to avoid spoilers, but, well, things that are very difficult to do in the previous films are comically simple here. OTOH, maybe if they didn't recycle so many plot points they wouldn't have to worry about that sort of thing. This thing borrows more from the original than Blues Brothers 2000 did in a way that suggests creative bankruptcy more than homage.

Visually pretty, well-cast, etc., but the framework of the story is more about safe, low-risk big-studio merchandising than making the audience FEEL anything beyond vague nostalgia.

It's emotionally stunted. My 16-year old daughter, who was hugely excited to see this film, was the one who pointed that out as we were leaving the theater. She's right. Remember the uneasiness you felt in the last scene in Empire? There's nothing like that here, or anything even approaching it, and that wasn't exactly Bergman to start with. Each major plot point feels like it was ordained by accountants and marketing execs, rather than flowing from, y'know, a story. This clearly isn't about storytelling in the way it was back in 1977, it's all about business now, and it shows.

Just saw it last night. This sums it up for me exactly . It just seems like they threw every plot line they could at the wall . Confusing movie . Great effects and filming and loved seeing Han and Chewy again.

chop456
12-26-15, 11:25 PM
Underwhelmed. The plot was essentially a duplicate of IV. Meh.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

chop456
12-28-15, 08:00 AM
With the largest second weekend of all-time, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has now grossed more than $544 million domestically and another $546 million internationally, totaling over $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales in just twelve days.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4137&p=.htm

nrc
12-30-15, 04:40 AM
I finally get to read this thread.

I really enjoyed it. To me, this is very similar in execution to Abram's first Star Trek movie. It's a big group hug for the fans where we all agree to forget the recent unpleasantness with Episodes 1-3 and be pulled back into a universe that we can love again. Yes, it was very derivative of the Episode 4-6 stories but I think that was a wise choice when you're trying to connect so many new characters with beloved old (literally in this case) characters.

Abrams did a great job of bringing the weird inhabitants of the Star Wars universe back into believability. I didn't find it to be as much of an obvious merchandising vehicle as 1-3.

I'm hopeful that the next two episodes will be a bit meatier and I'll be interested to see if the new characters can carry it. I think Rey and Fin can work. Kylo Ren is great with his Dark Helmet on but a little too Emo and almost whiney Anakin Skywalkerish in a couple of scenes. I'm not sure why Gollum was appearing live via satellite at the Starkiller Base. I think the character is a fine iteration of the "dark side master" theme but the visuals didn't really work for me on it.

"How do we blow it up? There's always a way to do that."

"Is there a garbage chute... or trash compactor?"

"And you will drop your weapon."

chop456
12-30-15, 04:45 AM
"And you will drop your weapon."

Apparently that's Daniel Craig.

Gollum. :laugh:

Wasn't crazy about the pumpkinhead/Edna from The Incredibles, either. I found some parts corny, but I guess that's how they can get parents to justify taking their 5 year olds to a PG-13 movie.


Kylo Ren is great with his Dark Helmet on but a little too Emo and almost whiney Anakin Skywalkerish in a couple of scenes.

Emo Kylo Ren on Twitter (https://twitter.com/kylor3n?lang=en) is pretty great.


Emo Kylo Ren ‏@KyloR3n Dec 24
current status: in a sarlacc pit
but emotionally


Emo Kylo Ren ‏@KyloR3n Dec 22
mom please don't even pretend you know what I'm going through right now
also we are out of conditioner


Emo Kylo Ren
‏@KyloR3n
mom
please check your texts
i had a fit of extreme power and rage where i mistakenly force-crushed my retainer

Don Quixote
12-30-15, 11:19 AM
Apparently that's Daniel Craig.

Gollum. :laugh:

Wasn't crazy about the pumpkinhead/Edna from The Incredibles, either. I found some parts corny, but I guess that's how they can get parents to justify taking their 5 year olds to a PG-13 movie.



Emo Kylo Ren on Twitter (https://twitter.com/kylor3n?lang=en) is pretty great.
:laugh:

RaceGrrl
12-31-15, 01:09 AM
For me, it was worth sitting through two hours just for the final reveal of Luke.

dando
12-31-15, 07:39 AM
For me, it was worth sitting through two hours just for the final reveal of Luke.

And that was just the trailers leading up to the actual movie, eh? ;) :saywhat:

opinionated ow
12-31-15, 07:59 AM
The chick who plays Rey is hot! :flaming:

dando
12-31-15, 08:05 AM
The chick who plays Rey is hot! :flaming:

I didn't think Oz was supposed to get it until China finished duping it. :gomer: ;)

And yeah, the scene with Han and the blaster was classic. (But I still likey the Leia bikini scene in Jedi) :)

dando
12-31-15, 09:14 AM
Said the man that created Howard The Duck and Willow. George, get back into the Anxiety Closet... :saywhat: :shakehead:

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/star-wars-george-lucas-disney-white-slavers-1201669959/

I don't agree with all of Di$ney's practices, but they saved a franchise that was all but dead.

rabbit
12-31-15, 10:00 AM
I don't agree with all of Di$ney's practices, but they saved a franchise that was all but dead.
True story.

chop456
12-31-15, 10:09 AM
http://variety.com/2015/film/news/star-wars-george-lucas-disney-white-slavers-1201669959/




“And so I said, ‘OK, I will go my way, and I’ll let them go their way.’”

Then you didn't.

As was said - just be happy that someone saved it from the 3.5 awful movies you made and shut your yap.

dando
12-31-15, 10:32 AM
Then you didn't.

As was said - just be happy that someone saved it from the 3.5 awful movies you made and shut your yap.

Dude cut his teeth on American Graffiti, SW 4-6, and Indy (I didn't mind the trilogy, and Ford + Connery was a good match), but factor in SW 1-3, Howard and Willow...dude just lost it. :irked: Best to walk to the bank and STFU. :saywhat:

nrc
12-31-15, 09:56 PM
Said the man that created Howard The Duck and Willow. George, get back into the Anxiety Closet... :saywhat: :shakehead:

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/star-wars-george-lucas-disney-white-slavers-1201669959/

I don't agree with all of Di$ney's practices, but they saved a franchise that was all but dead.

Lucas didn't create Howard the Duck, he just produced a poor adaptation of the Marvel character.

To follow his analogy, I think it would be fair to say that Lucas kept his children in sweat shops churning out crappy knock-offs of popular brands for decades before he finally sold them into slavery.

Insomniac
01-02-16, 10:59 AM
My turn. Saw it in IMAX 3D. I thought the movie was well done, but I came away thinking I saw this movie before. I expected a new movie with all the secretness around the story and I feel like this was closer to a remake. JJ really didn't go out on the limb. I agree with Lucas, but JJ played it right because he was in a tough situation. It seems like if you hated I-III you loved this. I liked I-III and didn't really get all the hate until now.

Anyone speculating on who Rey is?

opinionated ow
01-03-16, 12:45 AM
My turn. Saw it in IMAX 3D. I thought the movie was well done, but I came away thinking I saw this movie before. I expected a new movie with all the secretness around the story and I feel like this was closer to a remake. JJ really didn't go out on the limb. I agree with Lucas, but JJ played it right because he was in a tough situation. It seems like if you hated I-III you loved this. I liked I-III and didn't really get all the hate until now.

Anyone speculating on who Rey is?

Happy to have a remake of the Empire Strikes Back so long as Rey is in a bikini and chained to a giant slug :p:D

G.
01-04-16, 02:43 PM
Finally saw it.

I'm not a total SW geek, only saw bits and pieces of Ep II and III.

Best of the series.

Some things were a little too cute ("What? Why are you doing that with your face?"), but it worked.
Why was there so much emphasis on Chewy's weapon? Did I miss a reference, or is it merchandising?
Don't care how Carrie looked so much, but her acting was wooden and pointless - needs more cast-drugs, or something. :saywhat:

I enjoyed it immensely, but I'm not all that invested in it, as others are.

That said,

(VERY spoilery! Don't click this if you haven't seen it, even if you don't mind spoilers.)
http://imgur.com/gallery/mp10z

Elmo T
01-04-16, 04:38 PM
Chive - Meet TR-8R, the internets new favorite stormtrooper (31 Photos) (http://thechive.com/2015/12/31/meet-tr-8r-the-internets-new-favorite-stormtrooper-31-photos/)

http://i64.tinypic.com/2dvu44x.jpg

dando
01-04-16, 07:06 PM
Finally saw it.

I'm not a total SW geek, only saw bits and pieces of Ep II and III.

Best of the series.

Some things were a little too cute ("What? Why are you doing that with your face?"), but it worked.
Why was there so much emphasis on Chewy's weapon? Did I miss a reference, or is it merchandising?
Don't care how Carrie looked so much, but her acting was wooden and pointless - needs more cast-drugs, or something. :saywhat:

I enjoyed it immensely, but I'm not all that invested in it, as others are.

That said,

(VERY spoilery! Don't click this if you haven't seen it, even if you don't mind spoilers.)
http://imgur.com/gallery/mp10z

1-3 are total crap. Some cool effects, and Liam Neeson in I, but just horrible story lines. IV and V are the best by far. Get your SW fanboi up. ;)

TKGAngel
01-05-16, 01:47 PM
Anyone speculating on who Rey is?

My entire Twitter feed last week. Leading theory is that she's somehow connected to Obi-Wan.


I don't agree with all of Di$ney's practices, but they saved a franchise that was all but dead.

Disney even added the Star Wars group to its float in this year's Rose Parade. Very strange to see a Wookiee in the mix with the Mouses, Ducks and Anna/Elsa/Olaf.

dando
01-07-16, 05:14 AM
Box Office Awakens...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-star-wars-force-852274


J.J. Abrams' record-shattering blockbuster achieved the historic milestone Wednesday after only 20 days in release. Globally, 'Force Awakens' is a long way from matching the $2.78 billion earned by 'Avatar.'

:eek:

Don Quixote
01-14-16, 12:50 PM
Extreme nerd "humor".

816