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[George Oscar Bluth II]

I swear, it's like some of you want a low budget film directed by Lars von Trier with the Star Wars brand slapped on it because risk.

Why would you say such a vile thing?!

It will happen

I know it

The prophecy will be fulfilled

 

[Cheebo]

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.

This is absurd, there is no way you can believe this. You need to get out of your GAF "every popular movie sucks" bubble if you think most people think of the movie like this.

TFA is WITHOUT QUESTION one of the most popular and most well liked films of the franchise. If you go around and ask random people if they liked TFA by and large they will all tell you yes. It had fantastic word of mouth and did great on home video. People for the most part really really liked that movie.

I suppose I need to tell the young girl I saw at Target yesterday in a Rey t-shirt that nearly everyone now agrees that TFA sucks and has no emotional substance so she better go change.

 

[Ristifer]

.

Uhhh, TPM doesn't get better with rewatching. It gets worse.

What is this fantasyland where the prequels get better? I want to travel there.

 

[Cheebo]

Uhhh, TPM doesn't get better with rewatching. It gets worse.

What is this fantasyland where the prequels get better? I want to travel there.

The same fantasy land where he claims everyone by and large agrees with him that TFA is a bad movie.

Which makes it clear, he isn't living in the real world.

 

[Blader]

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.

I would love to see these scientific polls showing the public's increasingly dislike of The Force Awakens.

 

[Cheebo]

I would love to see these scientific polls showing the public's increasingly dislike of The Force Awakens.

It's a gaf thing to do. You see people make the same claim about Nolan Batman films.

"This really popular film that most people like and got great reviews SUCKS and guess what? Everyone agrees with me despite the fact it's still a popular well liked movie!"

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

Uhhh, TPM doesn't get better with rewatching. It gets worse.

What is this fantasyland where the prequels get better? I want to travel there.

Have you seen this? < I thought it was actually really nice. I hadn't seen it before, but I wonder if peoples distance to the films equalizes some of the negative aspects of the prequels.

I'd be really interested in hearing from people growing up with all six movies, if they think the prequels are more wack than the originals.

 

[Chuckie]

Have you seen this? < I thought it was actually really nice. I hadn't seen it before, but I wonder if peoples distance to the films equalizes some of the negative aspects of the prequels.

I'd be really interested in hearing from people growing up with all six movies, if they think the prequels are more wack than the originals.

That clip just really emphasizes the inconsistensies.

I never recall owning a droid
I haven't gone under that name since before you were born
Anakin was a great pilot when we met (a pod-racer is not a pilot! )

 

[bill0527]

Have you seen this? < I thought it was actually really nice. I hadn't seen it before, but I wonder if peoples distance to the films equalizes some of the negative aspects of the prequels.

I'd be really interested in hearing from people growing up with all six movies, if they think the prequels are more wack than the originals.

I grew up with all 6 and I haven't watched any of the prequels in about 10 years. Don't care if I ever see them again. I can sit through Revenge of the Sith if I have to. It's the one prequel movie that has a cohesive story with events that mean something, even if said events were poorly executed.

The OT though still gets a yearly rotation.

 

[Ristifer]

Have you seen this? < I thought it was actually really nice. I hadn't seen it before, but I wonder if peoples distance to the films equalizes some of the negative aspects of the prequels.

I'd be really interested in hearing from people growing up with all six movies, if they think the prequels are more wack than the originals.

Eh. The only thing that does for me is show that A New Hope had competent acting.

 

[PeskyToaster]

This is absurd, there is no way you can believe this. You need to get out of your GAF "every popular movie sucks" bubble if you think most people think of the movie like this.

TFA is WITHOUT QUESTION one of the most popular and most well liked films of the franchise. If you go around and ask random people if they liked TFA by and large they will all tell you yes. It had fantastic word of mouth and did great on home video. People for the most part really really liked that movie.

I suppose I need to tell the young girl I saw at Target yesterday in a Rey t-shirt that nearly everyone now agrees that TFA sucks and has no emotional substance so she better go change.

Reminds me of when I went to see Rogue One and this little girl was dressed as Rey with arm wraps and little goggles. Soooo adorable and i'm usually such a heartless bastard. I thought about asking her to sign the poster we got from the theater as Rey but didn't get the chance to.

 

[Tomasoares]

I found TFA definetly more enjoyable than RotJ and even ANH, lol. TFA is far from perfect, but it's far from being shitty as you guys want to point it out. The whole Mary Sue thing actually relies on Rey mind tricking the stormtrooper, which wasn't indeed the best part of the movie, but it doesn't play a major role in the movie and without this nobody would be giving this shitty argument. The whole ANH-remix thing is more aesthetics than anything actually substantial, since the character arcs are different from the original one.

At last, Rogue One is also a pretty good Star Wars movie, although I like TFA more.

 

[Lizzy]

I swear, it's like some of you want a low budget film directed by Lars von Trier with the Star Wars brand slapped on it because risk.

It will happen

I know it

The prophecy will be fulfilled

yo where's that groundhog day gif

 

[Inferno313]

Just the safest of films ever made

Because the Star Wars franchise is known for it's complex, strange, risk-taking, storytelling.

 

[shira]

Just the safest of films ever made

Episode 9 ending.

And Snoke saved the universe with Love.

[cut to Wookiewoks dancing from fireworks of the destruction of Starkiller Base 2]
[baby Wookiewok beatboxes with Captain Phasma's helmet]

 

[Lifejumper]

Episode 9 ending.

And Snoke saved the universe with Love.

[cut to Wookiewoks dancing from fireworks of the destruction of Starkiller Base 2]
[baby Wookiewok beatboxes with Captain Phasma's helmet]

Sounds risky.

 

[caliph95]

that's gonna be rey by episode 9

Kylo Ren: This power it's unreal

Luke: Has she finally achieved has she become The Legendary Super Jedi God

 

[Bobby Roberts]

You and film crit hulk are on the same page

I have never shit on Film Hulk this hard, and I can't stand that guy.

 

[Einchy]

Because the Star Wars franchise is known for it's complex, strange, risk-taking, storytelling.

I do wonder what an unsafe Star Wars film is, I mean, the closest is Rogue One and many would call that "safe". Is it a movie that's essentitelly has everything removed that makes Star Wars Star Wars?

 

[GhaleonEB]

Just the safest of films ever made

Nah. It took a lot of risks. It inverted the happy ending from Jedi, establishing that the heroes did not live happily ever after. They brought back Han and had his son kill him. They had the nerve to make the Force-wielding hero a girl. Everything about Kylo Ren's identity and character was unexpected and anything but safe.

I'm guessing you're alluding to the structural parallels to ANH, when TFA swerves wide of it on everything having to do with the characters.

We've had multiple giant angry threads about all of these on GAF. People don't get worked into a froth over safe things. (Which is not the same as saying they were rational.)

 

[Lizzy]

I have never shit on Film Hulk this hard, and I can't stand that guy.

No emotional substance? What. What.

 

[George Oscar Bluth II]

yo where's that groundhog day gif

 

[Bobby Roberts]

A while lotta people don't really know what the fuck they're going on about, they just know they're vaguely dissatisfied somehow and they're maybe not clear on whether there's any justification for it but they have some thoughts and feelings about that regardless and they're pretty sure it's all the right ones.

Yunno, despite the whole not really knowing shit.

They saw a video once.

Read somethin on Reddit maybe.

It sounded like it meant something at the time

 

[Chuckie]

I never thought TFA was perfect; I have criticized Starkiller Planet, the 'size' of the First Order and the somewhat unclear 'Resistance' since the beginning. But to say it doesn't have emotional substenance sounds ridiciculous. Almost as ridiculous as people claiming the prequels were better movies than TFA

 

[Lizzy]

Thank you, Sir George Oscar Bluth the Second.

I never thought TFA was perfect; I have criticized Starkiller Planet, the 'size' of the First Order and the somewhat unclear 'Resistance' since the beginning. But to say it doesn't have emotional substenance sounds ridiciculous. Almost as ridiculous as people claiming the prequels were better movies than TFA

We can't have nice things.

 

[Chuckie]

We can't have nice things.

Not here....

Fortunately we can IRL... where almost everybody I know actually liked TFA (and liked it enough to rewatch it a couple of times)

 

[Cheebo]

Reminds me of when I went to see Rogue One and this little girl was dressed as Rey with arm wraps and little goggles. Soooo adorable and i'm usually such a heartless bastard. I thought about asking her to sign the poster we got from the theater as Rey but didn't get the chance to.

The way you see countless young girls latch onto Rey like lots of young boys did with Luke pretty much single handily destroys the argument of "the movie has no emotional substance and most people agree".

This movie clearly impacted kids, in particular a lot of young girls, the way the originals did for us.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

The score to TFA gets a lot better by the third or fourth run through.

It's a pretty dense but of composition, really.

 

[Cheebo]

Nah. It took a lot of risks. It inverted the happy ending from Jedi, establishing that the heroes did not live happily ever after. They brought back Han and had his son kill him. They had the nerve to make the Force-wielding hero a girl. Everything about Kylo Ren's identity and character was unexpected and anything but safe.

You know what would be safe? Having Luke come in and save the day. Reuniting the "big 3".

Almost everyone was expecting this going into the film, it seemed like a forgone conclusion they would do this. Instead Abrams killed Han with no Big 3 reunion and Luke was effectively not in the film at all.

Played it safe indeed.

 

[Boem]

I've only skimmed this thread, but if the people who say that JJ can only copy the old movies are right, wouldn't that mean we're going to get another Ewok party?

How can anyone be mad about that? Gimme that shit.

 

[Sephzilla]

Just the safest of films ever made

One of the safest films ever made wouldn't kill quite possibly the most liked hero in the franchise

 

[Lizzy]

One of the safest films ever made wouldn't kill quite possibly the most liked hero in the franchise

Can that be considered risky if it's universally acclaimed?

 

[What did he mean by this?]

One of the safest films ever made wouldn't kill quite possibly the most liked hero in the franchise

The hero who's actor has been asking to die for 30 years lol

 

[Boem]

Can that be considered risky if it's universally acclaimed?

I mean

How

What

Spoiler

The acclaim can only come after you release the thing, and after you took the risk

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

Can that be considered risky if it's universally acclaimed?

Yes. Sometimes risks pay off, big time.

 

[diaspora]

One of the safest films ever made wouldn't kill quite possibly the most liked hero in the franchise

That wasn't risky no. Not when the actor's wanted it to happen for decades.

 

[caliph95]

Can that be considered risky if it's universally acclaimed?

Yes

The general reception of a film has little to do with the risk factors at least critically

That usually up to execution

 

[Chained Prometheus]

The hero who's actor has been asking to die for 30 years lol

Just because fans figured going into this that he was going to bite the dust doesn't mean it's safe.

"Safe" would have been giving him some sort of death involving going out in a badass blaze to help save the heroes. Not tragically murdered by his own son in a last ditch effort to redeem him.

 

[Lizzy]

I mean

How

What

Spoiler

The acclaim can only come after you release the thing, and after you took the risk

I should make my sarcasm more apparent, apparently.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

Just because fans figured going into this that he was going to bite the dust doesn't mean it's safe.

"Safe" would have been giving him some sort of death involving going out in a badass blaze to help save the heroes. Not tragically murdered by his own son in a last ditch effort to redeem him.

Yup.
Han's final moment isn't some cocky smirk or one-liner. It's a sad, depressing look of absolute heartbreak from a father before his body ragdolls into the abyss. It's certainly one of the strongest pieces of imagery I took away from the film.

 

[FriendlyGoat]

The score to TFA gets a lot better by the third or fourth run through.

It's a pretty dense but of composition, really.

I was underwhelmed the first couple of times I listened to it, outside of Rey's Theme, Jedi Steps, and March of the Resistance.

But, that's because I've been conditioned to go straight to those sweet, sweet, John Williams themes. The pacing and structure of this movie necessitated a greater focus on the accompaniment to the spectacle. While that's true for all soundtracks, it seemed especially true for Force Awakens compared to all previous Star Wars films, which is probably why it seemed so underwhelming at first. It wasn't as immediately rewarding to put on the greatest hits.

It wasn't until I really dug in that I started to realize that not only does it accompany the action, the soundtrack actually tells the story in a rich and layered way. The way it weaving in motifs and echoes previous films (prequels included) is some good shit.

Giacchino is pretty good at that too, but Williams is really something vital. Hope he can do IX.

 

[Sephzilla]

Just because fans figured going into this that he was going to bite the dust doesn't mean it's safe.

"Safe" would have been giving him some sort of death involving going out in a badass blaze to help save the heroes. Not tragically murdered by his own son in a last ditch effort to redeem him.

Yup.

Han dying in a heartbreaking moment where he can't save his son isn't safe.

 

[Einchy]

Yup.
Han's final moment isn't some cocky smirk or one-liner. It's a sad, depressing look of absolute heartbreak from a father before his body ragdolls into the abyss. It's certainly one of the strongest pieces of imagery I took away from the film.

When he softly touches his cheek as life slowly drifts out of Han. &#128557;

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

That wasn't risky no. Not when the actor's wanted it to happen for decades.

Literally how does that even work as a rule

 

[Inferno313]

Literally how does that even work as a rule

That's what I'm thinking.

Some of the logic y'all jump through to justify your opinions is something else.

 

[Cheebo]

That wasn't risky no. Not when the actor's wanted it to happen for decades.

It was risky in that they did it before giving a big 3 reunion, a scene nearly everyone had been expecting. It was risky in that they had him go out not in a heroic moment but a failed act of desperation.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

That's what I'm thinking.

Some of the logic y'all jump through to justify your opinions is something else.

Seriously

Actors want the stupidest, unsafe shit all the fucking time anyway, lol

 

[Herr Schwarz]

I think by safe in terms of what TFA has actually brought to the franchise or what can be pointed to would be:

Female hero and a black hero, a more diverse cast and that's a good thing.

However it's thoroughly lacking in that it doesn't have as strong a visual identity in terms of spectacle.

It's not as goofy as the Lucas stuff. It takes itself far too seriously in an effort to create more "human drama".

Similar in the way hollywood takes marvel and dc films more serious. You hear those "gritty, grounded, humanistic" buzz words surrounding a lot of those films too.

Batman ain't dancing around no more, he's kicking you in the face. James Bond ain't got no funny quips and gadgets he too wants to kick you in the face.

It's not a trend that's exclusive to just star wars. But I think that's what people means by safe. Same boring methodology applied to all these legacy popcorn flicks.

It doesn't suit the context to what these movies are about, its a lot heavier now. Less of a goofy romp, a lot more tears and yes, overly acted scenes. For what it is.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

The hero who's actor has been asking to die for 30 years lol

That wasn't risky no. Not when the actor's wanted it to happen for decades.

Spock himself couldn't construct Kobayashi Marus as well as this thread does.

"It's not risky enough"
Well they're actually making it up as they go
"Why don't they have a plan!"

"It's not risky enough"
Well they hid Luke for an entire movie and gave the hero role to an unknown girl
"What a Mary Sue. She just gets EVERYTHING given to her."

"It's not risky enough"
They turned Han Solo's only kid evil and had that kid kill him
"Yeah but everyone knew Harrison Ford wanted to die that's so safe."

The only real constant once you set aside legitimate, valid, well-explained and thought out concerns and opinions (which seem to have lost out in the discourse here by something like 20 electoral votes) is a generally vague sense of dissatsfication with something, depending on who is setting that something down in front of them and what it looks like the second they glance at it.

Kobayashi Maru EVERYWHARR

 

[Sephzilla]

bobby busting out those trek references