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JJ Abrams to direct Star Wars Episode IX, Chris Terrio co-writing, now due Dec 2019

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Isn't it great? After 15 years of being the butt of jokes in the movie industry we can actually look forward to competently made Star Wars movies with confidence.


What the hell are you talking about?

"The butt of jokes?" Seriously? You know the IP owners and producers of Star Wars are everyday billionaire tyrants? Who exactly are you feeling bad for?

Star Wars fans are the kinds of consumers producers dream about when they snort a line and touch themselves.
 

Servbot24

Banned
What the hell are you talking about?

"The butt of jokes?" Seriously? You know the IP owners and producers of Star Wars are everyday billionaire tyrants? Who exactly are you feeling bad for?

Star Wars fans are the kinds of consumers producers dream about when they snort a line and touch themselves.
Star Wars fans enjoy the output of said billionaires and would like some more good movies. Don't see what you're tripping on
 
You know the IP owners and producers of Star Wars are everyday billionaire tyrants? Who exactly are you feeling bad for?

Star Wars fans are the kinds of consumers producers dream about when they snort a line and touch themselves.

huh.

I mean, it's not like getting story tips from WET BLOODFART but being educated on the capitalist nature of the film industry and its emotional impact on consumers by a guy named ZOLOFT SONIC is pretty close.
 

Piecake

Member
I thought the movie was well directed and certainly felt like a Star Wars movie, so I am fine with it.

Hopefully the script doesn't copy the plot from the originals because that was the major reason why I thought the movie was merely decent instead of good to great. I did quite like the characters. I just got kinda bored watching the same plot I saw 50 billion times as a little kid.
 
TFA warps at light speed through all the intended plot points with no regard for the world or characters involved in those plot points.

.

Yea I will say that when I first watched it on my tv, that as soon as I took my attention away from it for a second. It felt like a "wtf is happening now"

Whazza going on. Everything seems so busy. Like the cinematic equivalent of a pinball machine.

Oh we're runnin round jakku, ok, now we're in the Falcon! Righty ho! Hey look Hans here now! Eh? Hey look squid things! Wha? It's a chase baby!
 

kurahador

Member
Finn: I love you.
Rey/Poe: I know.

First Order attacks the base while Rey trying to help someone deliver a baby.
"Uhhh...what do we do???" asked Rey to Finn.
Finn perform c-section with lightsaber.
tumblr_n538n5Byyv1qg4blro2_500.gif


There we go, early JJ Abrams draft.
 
Is it generally agreed upon that there's a good chance Rey will eventually end up with a double-bladed lightsaber, due to her bo staff skills?
 

Pepboy

Member
He didn't work on Lost's ending. The last episode he wrote for that was in season 3.

Ah my bad, I stand corrected. Though it also seems pretty clear they didn't have a real ending in mind / the "series bible" they talk about was debunked, right?


The first is some crazy nitpicking (How'd his jacket come off!?!) but the second is just wrong. You can't really "see the pain" in Leia. She has one reaction shot to what happened and for the rest of the movie she doesn't react to it at all. In fact the one time she's asked to react to it she tells that person to shut the fuck up because there's no time for that bullshit.

In fact, you saw MORE impact regarding the destruction of Hosnian Prime (as empty/confusing as that scene ultimately was) than you did of Alderaan. At least a crowd of people came out to wring hands and freak out quietly, as opposed to Ben taking a seat and brushing it off like "Okay, back to glowstick training" and Leia grimacing for 1.5 seconds.

Okay you are correct, I thought I remembered Leia collapsing to the ground, but after the actual destruction, it cuts right to Luke with lightsaber.

But prior to the destruction, it's pure emotion. She pleads at first, then you clearly see her struggle with whether or not to tell a base, what to say, how to save her people. Then she's outright shocked with disgust when he decides to destroy it anyways, and a whisper of a No.... You can almost see her going the five stages of grief step by step.

https://youtu.be/p0qLzsIhUMk?t=58

I cared more for Alderaan (a place we never, ever saw except from orbit) than I ever have cared for Hosnian Prime. A name that I learn only through message boards and that I forget everytime, because who really cares about it? We care about Alderaan because we care about Leia (at least a bit by this point in the movie), and because she so clearly cares about it. None of the characters cared about Hosnian prime.

As far as the jacket stuff goes, you might call it nitpicking, but it also turns out I was mistaken again. They do have a split second where it shows him taking off the jacket, so it's not like it magically came off him during his escape. Still, it was originally planned that he died in the TIE if I remember reading correctly from interviews.

But that wouldn't even have been in the top 5 flaws in the movie. Things like the missing puzzle piece of the galaxy was just ludicrous. First, we already have maps of our own galaxy with just basic , so why would that puzzle piece be dark? Second how would they have maps on all four sides of the puzzle piece (like they can still see "through" it to chart the stars on the other side?) but somehow that region is not possible to be charted? Seeing explosions lightyears away from the planets is also silly on multiple levels.

So my point wasn't that the movie is flawed (a huge post can be written about that and I think I've already written posts like that) but more that the flaws are another byproduct of JJ's style. Sure people were confused by the phantom menance, and that is one type of 'bad' storytelling. But TPM gets better as you rewatch it and understand what's going on. TFA doesn't get any better on rewatches, if you can even force yourself to rewatch it in the first place. The scenes that you didn't care about the first time around are even less impactful because now they aren't new.

That's why I think people have come around, by and large, on TFA. Because it was flashy at first it seemed like a good movie, but it turns out there's no emotional substance. I worry with JJ at the helm we will get both ends of the trilogy with this format.
 
Edit: I see Colin wanted to go full 65mm?
Speaking of things Colin wanted, he also wanted to film in space.

Like actual space.

In a space ship.

Spaaaaaaaaace

huh.

I mean, it's not like getting story tips from WET BLOODFART but being educated on the capitalist nature of the film industry and its emotional impact on consumers by a guy named ZOLOFT SONIC is pretty close.
Well your name is Boberts.
 
Didn't he just want background plates of actual space to use? Still pretty out there, but not as bad as most made it out to be.
Yup. The actual source quote:

“I asked the question, ‘Is it possible for us to shoot IMAX film plates in actual space for Star Wars?’ And I haven’t gotten an answer yet, but they’ve shot IMAX in space.”

still tho
 

Vagabundo

Member
That's why I think people have come around, by and large, on TFA. Because it was flashy at first it seemed like a good movie, but it turns out there's no emotional substance. I worry with JJ at the helm we will get both ends of the trilogy with this format.

You and film crit hulk are on the same page:

http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/06/28/star-wars-the-force-alluded-to

Pretty much my own feelings on TFA. Very little substance behind any of it, it's all just wizz bang, but for me this hit hard in the cinema, how much a disappointment it was. I felt zero emotional connections with any of the main characters. They were all just paper thin. Nice to look at, well acted but nothing much there.

JJ will probably produce some more of the same for the end installment and it will be more flash bang wizz pop with very little else.
 

yepyepyep

Member
I've never been a massive Star Wars fan but I enjoyed The Force Awakens. Entertaining blockbuster with a bit of charm. Decent choice of director

Also, its funny how the fan reception has changed over the years, I remember when it first came out people were glowing about the film. I haven't kept up with all the threads about Star Wars in the intervening years but now the fan base looks down on the Force Awakens for being too similar the originals? lol Star Wars fans are never pleased; they hated the prequels for deviating too much and now they hate the new trilogy for being too nostalgic. Are they even capable of enjoying a new film in their beloved franchise?

But at the same time I've never felt the originals were that crash hot anyways so ehh.
 

Magwik

Banned
I've never been a massive Star Wars fan but I enjoyed The Force Awakens. Entertaining blockbuster with a bit of charm. Decent choice of director

Also, its funny how the fan reception has changed over the years, I remember when it first came out people were glowing about the film. I haven't kept up with all the threads about Star Wars in the intervening years but now the fan base looks down on the Force Awakens for being too similar the originals? lol Star Wars fans are never pleased; they hated the prequels for deviating too much and now they hate the new trilogy for being too nostalgic. Are they even capable of enjoying a new film in their beloved franchise?

But at the same time I've never felt the originals were that crash hot anyways so ehh.
The people who hate TFA has a huge overlap with Rogue One apologists, which ironically is a film built on fan service.
 

Famassu

Member
You and film crit hulk are on the same page:

http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/06/28/star-wars-the-force-alluded-to

Pretty much my own feelings on TFA. Very little substance behind any of it, it's all just wizz bang, but for me this hit hard in the cinema, how much a disappointment it was. I felt zero emotional connections with any of the main characters. They were all just paper thin. Nice to look at, well acted but nothing much there.

JJ will probably produce some more of the same for the end installment and it will be more flash bang wizz pop with very little else.
There's as much substance as there is to the OT. THat is to say, it's a blockbuster movie so it's not some deep psychological thriller, but there's enough depth & character to warrant telling the story.

It's more on you than the movie if you feel nothing.To me there was more emotion to seeing Starkiller Base in action, the death of Han Solo was far more impactful than Obi-Wan's in ANH and Kylo Ren vs. Rey at the end of TFA >>>>>>>>>>> Vader vs. Obi-Wan in ANH. TFA struck the perfect balance with something pretty visceral and showy vs. believable & grounded. Not anywhere near as ludicrous as the acrobatics in the prequel trilogy, not as boring hitting sticks together as ANH.
 

Roders5

Iwata een bom zal droppen
What the hell are you talking about?

The prequels

"The butt of jokes?" Seriously?

Yes, seriously. 90% of the time they get referenced in media and on the internet they are the butt of a joke.

Who exactly are you feeling bad for?

I didn't say I was feeling bad for anyone. I said it's great we can look forward to decades of this shit i.e. movies that aren't laughing stocks made by people who know what they're doing for a change.


I am now starting to feel a little bad for you though.
 

Vagabundo

Member
There's as much substance as there is to the OT. THat is to say, it's a blockbuster movie so it's not some deep psychological thriller, but there's enough depth & character to warrant telling the story.

It's more on you than the movie if you feel nothing.To me there was more emotion to seeing Starkiller Base in action, the death of Han Solo was far more impactful than Obi-Wan's in ANH and Kylo Ren vs. Rey at the end of TFA >>>>>>>>>>> Vader vs. Obi-Wan in ANH. TFA struck the perfect balance with something pretty visceral and showy vs. believable & grounded. Not anywhere near as ludicrous as the acrobatics in the prequel trilogy, not as boring hitting sticks together as ANH.

Nope. Strongly disagree. ANH blows TFA out of the water, If you like it more that's cool. I like bad films too. I love the world building and fights in the prequels. They are just bad in different ways. Read the Hulk analysis for why the film doesn't work.

The people who hate TFA has a huge overlap with Rogue One apologists, which ironically is a film built on fan service.

TFA is fan service in its purest form. I doubt they could have packed any more fan service into the film.
 
Nope. Strongly disagree. ANH blows TFA out of the water, If you like it more that's cool. I like bad films too. I love the world building and fights in the prequels. They are just bad in different ways. Read the Hulk analysis for why the film doesn't work.



TFA is fan service in its purest form. I doubt they could have packed any more fan service into the film.

You need to watch more movies if you think TFA is a bad movie.
 
I've never been a massive Star Wars fan but I enjoyed The Force Awakens. Entertaining blockbuster with a bit of charm. Decent choice of director

Also, its funny how the fan reception has changed over the years, I remember when it first came out people were glowing about the film. I haven't kept up with all the threads about Star Wars in the intervening years but now the fan base looks down on the Force Awakens for being too similar the originals? lol Star Wars fans are never pleased; they hated the prequels for deviating too much and now they hate the new trilogy for being too nostalgic. Are they even capable of enjoying a new film in their beloved franchise?

But at the same time I've never felt the originals were that crash hot anyways so ehh.

The Star Wars fanbase is huge. Lucasfilm are never going to please everybody. It's pretty clear that the majority of the fans and critics enjoyed the film. It's just that when the fanbase is so big, the number of people that didn't like it is pretty big too.
 

Vagabundo

Member
You need to watch more movies if you think TFA is a bad movie.

Its a mess really. After the first third of the film the plotting, pace, characterisation are all over the place. Its keeps moving, doesn't get bogged down, the acting was above par, they just didn't have enough to work with. Maybe I'm being harsh labelling it bad - I had high hopes for the film going in - maybe competent but forgettable would be better. Plenty of pizazz but not much else.

The Star Wars fanbase is huge. Lucasfilm are never going to please everybody. It's pretty clear that the majority of the fans and critics enjoyed the film. It's just that when the fanbase is so big, the number of people that didn't like it is pretty big too.

I think a lot of people soared on the film soon after, even if they initially liked it. I also think the hype machine for this film was off the charts and that influenced people's reaction.
 

Roders5

Iwata een bom zal droppen
TFA is fan service in its purest form. I doubt they could have packed any more fan service into the film.

Nonsense. A lot of TFA was the opposite of fan service. Leia & Han were apart and their child turned into an asshole. Luke got screwed over so much that he went and hid from the galaxy, he wasn't a bad ass who saved the day. None of the big three from the OT had happy endings like the fans would have expected, nor did they have a big reunion. Instead of giving us a new Vader they give us Kylo who is a weak imitation and knows it. If you're referring to familiar ships etc. of course they are going to exist in this follow up to the OT, they were well designed new iterations though. R2 & C3P0 were in only a few scenes as well.

This is what actual attempted fan service is (despite failing miserably):
Anakin building C3P0
R2 hanging out with Anakin & Obi-Wan
Yoda hanging out with Chewbacca
Clones of Jango Fett and kid Boba
Yoda physically fighting with the Emperor using lightsabers
 

Vagabundo

Member
Nonsense. A lot of TFA was the opposite of fan service. Leia & Han were apart and their child turned into an asshole. Luke got screwed over so much that he went and hid from the galaxy, he wasn't a bad ass who saved the day. None of the big three from the OT had happy endings like the fans would have expected, nor did they have a big reunion. Instead of giving us a new Vader they give us Kylo who is a weak imitation and knows it. If you're referring to familiar ships etc. of course they are going to exist in this follow up to the OT, they were well designed new iterations though. R2 & C3P0 were in only a few scenes as well.

This is what actual attempted fan service is (despite failing miserably):
Anakin building C3P0
R2 hanging out with Anakin & Obi-Wan
Yoda hanging out with Chewbacca
Clones of Jango Fett and kid Boba
Yoda physically fighting with the Emperor using lightsabers

TFA goes well beyond a few scenes. This is what I mean by fan service from the hulk review:

ON PAPER, THE FORCE AWAKENS IS A MOVIE THAT KNOWS IT HAS TO BE THE FIRST ENTRY OF A NEW TRILOGY. AND YOU HAVE THE NEW CHARACTERS ALL READY TO DO THAT. BUT THIS GOAL WAS NOT TIED INTO THE MOVIE'S IDENTITY. IT CARED FAR, FAR TOO MUCH ABOUT PRESSING THE NOSTALGIA BUTTON, WHEN THE GOAL SHOULD'VE HAVE BEEN TO GET PEOPLE TO FORGET THEY WERE WATCHING A STAR WARS MOVIE ALL TOGETHER. IT'S NO ACCIDENT THAT THE FILM'S MOST SUCCESSFUL MOMENTS ARE WHEN THEY FIND THE WAYS TO TRULY DO THAT, BUT EVERYTHING ELSE FEELS STEEPED IN AN OLD REVERENCE.

YES, IT LOVES STAR WARS. BUT IN 1977 THERE WAS NO STAR WARS THAT PEOPLE WERE DRAWING ON. THEY WERE NOT FORCED TO LOOK BACKWARD, NOR TO START PLAYING CONNECT THE DOTS, NOR TO SIMPLY WAIT FOR CHARACTERS TO SHOW UP. AND THUS THIS FILM MISSES EVERY CHANCE TO TELL A REAL STORY BECAUSE IT IS INDEBTED TO PRESSING THE NOSTALGIA BUTTON AS DIRECTLY, QUICKLY, AND "EFFECTIVELY" AS POSSIBLE... AND IT MAY MAKE PEOPLE SMILE...

WHICH IS A SADNESS HULK CAN BARELY CONTEMPLATE. BECAUSE THE ORIGINAL STAR WARS WAS SO GOOD AT "THE MEANINGFUL STUFF" THAT IT BECAME THE MOST UNIVERSAL MOVIE OF THE MODERN AGE. TO THE POINT THAT IT BECAME "OUR CORE."

BUT THE FORCE AWAKENS IS JUST ABOUT STAR WARS.

WHICH MEANS IT ISN'T REALLY ABOUT ANYTHING.

The above really sums up how I felt when I left the cinema.
 
Yoda should have never wielded a lightsaber. Might be a bit controversial...but I don't think Luke should wield one as well.
I don't think that's controversial opinion at all. In fact it's a fairly popular one here, that I happen to hold as well. I want to see Luke do shit with the Force that we've never even imagined, not twirl a lightsaber in his 60s.

Also: Palpatine should have never wielded a lightsaber either. Dooku and Vader were ex-Jedi, so it made sense for them, and Maul was trained to kill Jedi and was absolutely itching to do it, so it works there. Palpatine specifically calls it a "Jedi weapon" and expresses disdain for it in RotJ. Dude shoulda been way beyond that.
 
People ITT pretending that the characters in fucking A New Hope are deeply written and emotionally resonant and not just lovable faces that you grew up with. Of all the things to accuse The Force Awakens of being or not being, trying to argue for emotional impact of the characters is probably the dumbest. All of the characters, including the ones returning from A New Hope, have significantly more substance.

If you remember ANH as having deeper characters, your brain is combining it together with ESB and RotJ.
 
I don't think that's controversial opinion at all. In fact it's a fairly popular one here, that I happen to hold as well. I want to see Luke do shit with the Force that we've never even imagined, not twirl a lightsaber in his 60s.

Also: Palpatine should have never wielded a lightsaber either. Dooku and Vader were ex-Jedi, so it made sense for them, and Maul was trained to kill Jedi and was absolutely itching to do it, so it works there. Palpatine specifically calls it a "Jedi weapon" and expresses disdain for it in RotJ. Dude shoulda been way beyond that.

Word.
 

Vagabundo

Member
People ITT pretending that the characters in fucking A New Hope are deeply written and emotionally resonant and not just lovable faces that you grew up with. Of all the things to accuse The Force Awakens of being or not being, trying to argue for emotional impact of the characters is probably the dumbest. All of the characters, including the ones returning from A New Hope, have significantly more substance.

If you remember ANH as having deeper characters, your brain is combining it together with ESB and RotJ.

TFA literally has a far deeper portrayal of one of A New Hope's own main characters.

hahah... no. Luke has a character arc and actual flaws. Rey has neither, not even a good motivation. Rey has a personality and is likeable, but nothing much beyond that. Finn has a some flaws, but its all over the map.

Poe. lol.

Kylo probably had the most actual character rather than just surface personality traits - but I couldn't stand the angst - but he was probably the only real character with flaws and good motivations in the film. It doesn't mean I didn't like Ray, but I didn't feel all that interested in her.
 
hahah... no. Luke has a character arc and actual flaws. Rey has neither, not even a good motivation. Rey has a personality and is likeable, but nothing much beyond that. Finn has a some flaws, but its all over the map.

Poe. lol.

Kylo probably had the most actual character rather than just surface personality traits - but I couldn't stand the angst - but he was probably the only real character with flaws and good motivations in the film. It doesn't mean I didn't like Ray, but I didn't feel all that interested in her.

Luke's motivation in ANH is that he thinks farming is boring.

100%.

Tell me about his arc though.
 

Stiler

Member
Luke's motivation in ANH is that he thinks farming is boring.

100%.

Tell me about his arc though.

His motivation isn't that he thinks farming is boring....

He wants to join the academy like some of his friends are and wants to get off Tattooine, that's his original hope and plan, but of course his Uncle wants him to stay and help on the farm.

However after he finds the message in R2-D2 he wants to help Leia and find out more about her and the man the message was meant for.

This sets him up on an adventure of self discovery and finding out about who he is and his past and sets him up to becoming a Jedi.
 
Rey literally rejects her destiny until she's forced to take it up. She abandons her allies when she finally realizes just what exactly she's facing. Saying she has no flaws, or that Luke's are far deeper is nonsense. And rating a character exclusively by flaws is equally so.

Her motivation is far stronger and more relatable than Luke's is in ANH. Luke just wants to be a hero. To join the Rebellion and fight the bad guys. There's literally nothing wrong with that, and it's plenty engaging, so I'm not shitting on that. But Rey is singularly focused on feeling belonged, finding a family. She immediately wants to return to Jakku the moment she can until Maz makes her finally realize whoever she's waiting for will never come back. She's motivated by the fatherly relationship she found in Han and never had before, and the friendship she finds with Finn and even BB-8. When she leaves to find Luke, she's literally searching for a sense of belonging, to fill the voids that her abandoners and Han had left in her. That's an extremely relatable drive for almost anyone.

Finn spends the whole movie trying to do nothing but run away from the First Order, and outright abandons Rey to do so, until the First Order abducts her, forcing him to finally face his problems head on. He's driven by the need to distance himself physically and personally from the entity that raised him after he was made to see how evil it truly was.

Han's story is literally the deepest and most meaningful it ever has been, far more than the simple smuggler with a heart of gold story from the OT that ceases to have any development at all by the time of RotJ.
 

Pepboy

Member
You and film crit hulk are on the same page:

http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/06/28/star-wars-the-force-alluded-to

Pretty much my own feelings on TFA. Very little substance behind any of it, it's all just wizz bang, but for me this hit hard in the cinema, how much a disappointment it was. I felt zero emotional connections with any of the main characters. They were all just paper thin. Nice to look at, well acted but nothing much there.

JJ will probably produce some more of the same for the end installment and it will be more flash bang wizz pop with very little else.

I had read that once before, but now, months later with one or two rewatches under my belt (international flights with nothing else on), I can't believe how much it resonates. I think it may have become my favorite movie review. Film crit hulk really tapped into something powerful here, drawing on inspirations from the greats of filmmaking, and highlighting why TFA feels so empty, so confused, even to a fellow fan of star wars.

I don't think I could ever say any better than what film crit hulk has discussed. I just wish that JJ was forced to read the review everyday he works on Star Wars.
 
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