Seen the new Star Wars movie? Full of Spoilers

My girls found out that I went to see it again without them, so they demanded we go again yesterday. Third time for me, and this time a few of the new music themes came out a bit. Still very understated, but I think most filmmakers and film scorers would say that some of the best film scoring doesn't draw attention to itself and just reflects or propels what's happening on screen. Certainly, this score does that very well. But there are some nice new parts in there, for sure, especially a bit later when the Resistance is gearing up. And inasmuch as this is a bit of a call back to the original film, it makes sense that those iconic themes are the strongest music cues here. I suspect (hope) we'll get something a little more memorable and new in the next installments (assuming John Williams is doing the music again).

It's starting to piss me off a bit to read (not so much here, but on some other sites) so many people slagging off Carrie Fisher. Yes, she's older and a bit haggard, but heck, she's a what, 60+ year-old lady at this point. She, and Leia, have been through a lot. On repeated viewings, I am really appreciating the interactions between her and Ford/Han. "You changed your hair." "Same jacket." Good stuff, and considering Fisher hasn't been acting for decades, she does great and very well holds her own.

I'll probably see it once more in the theater in the coming weeks, but next time in 3D.

I've seen it twice now. Second time was better. I did think that how much was recycled was disappointing the first time, but the second time makes it abundantly clear that that's not the point. While the core of what's being recycled it taking place, all you attention is on the new characters and their experiences, which are new. Jeff is wrong yet again, no angry fingers here, just the fingers of TRUTH.

Josh Look wrote: I've seen it twice now. Second time was better. I did think that how much was recycled was disappointing the first time, but the second time makes it abundantly clear that that's not the point. While the core of what's being recycled it taking place, all you attention is on the new characters and their experiences, which are new. Jeff is wrong yet again, no angry fingers here, just the fingers of TRUTH.

Preach it, Brother Josh. PREACH THAT SHIT

Finally got around to seeing this. It was very entertaining. No nostalgia for me. I mostly thought it was interesting seeing how the original characters looked as old people because its so easy for me to recall their younger faces. Not sure what anyone's problem with Fisher was. I thought they all did great at evolving their old characters with their performances.

The Kanjiklub dudes that wanted the money Solo owed them were the guys from the Raid movies. Too bad they didn't get any good fight scenes just lots of CGI tentacles.

I liked that Kylo looked right at Finn after the battle, but then just walked away. Then later when he hears a Stormtrooper helped Poe escape he knew exactly which one. Which implies to me that he knew after the battle that Finn had changed. It was the only time Ren showed any good by allowing Finn to get away with it and that came back to bite him.

As soon as Han stepped onto the bridge I knew he was going to die. I'm glad he reached out to Ren one last time.

I liked Finn and Rey. This is Star Wars so Finn is probably the son of Lando. Rey is most likely Ren's kid sister. Getting pilot skills from dad and the force from mom. I don't think she's Luke's kid as I believe Jedi abstain like monks would.

What I really liked about the end is that a young Jedi on the hero's journey is the only thing in the galaxy that could bring Luke back. And you can see it in his eyes that he knows that too. If Leia or Han showed up he'd have gently pushed them away. He won't be able to do that with Rey. There will be the "too old to begin the training" hesitation to try and get out of it, but ultimately he will be her Yoda.

Here's a ring tone you can use if you want people to strangle you in the street:

www.dropbox.com/s/5u835tqwgf2zba3/the_face_of_my_son.mp3?dl=0

I will probably remove it before the lawyers arrive.

repoman wrote: Ok, as I stated up thread, I liked the movie. I thought it was entertaining. But I just can't seem to put myself into the "Love It So Much I Wept Tears of Joy From My Penis" camp. And I'm going to give you a few reasons.

1) The most important I think is that the plot was much to much a rehash of the original movie. People may try to refute this by saying "it had to be to win over those fans disillusioned by the prequels". The people who say that are full of shit. Let me bring one significant fact to light. Revenge of the Sith, the third installment in the horrid prequel trilogy grossed world wide $848,754,768. Yes, that is 4/5ths of a BILLION dollars. This, after the first two movies in the trilogy showed what god awful dreck that could be expected out of this last travesty. The point is that The Force Awakens could have been a bunch of puppies playing on a set of Star Wars bed sheets and every nerd STILL would have gone to see it. There was no need to win over the fan base. None....notta....nope. You fool yourself if you think otherwise.

Just saw it.

This is dead right. No one had to be 'won back'. Otherwise, how could you explain the success of the Clone Wars or Rebels cartoons? Fans are already all in on SW. Why did FFG (years ago) re-theme some of their moderately successful games (Wings of War and WFRP 3rd for starters) with Star Wars dressing which became great successes? Duh, because it says Star Wars on the tin.

Saying fans have to be won back smells of justification on defending Disney for selling you a film you've already seen. Maybe I'm cynical though, but after sitting in a theater that ran plenty of SW commercials (to include rides at Disneyland) I have a hard time viewing this run as anything more than a money grab. Granted all films are to make cold hard cash, but the love I see heaped on these seems a bit unwarranted...as is the Lucas hate. Personally, I may have taken the prequels in a different direction, but the franchise is Lucas' baby, and he at least pushed it into a new direction. The fact that a studio remade a movie we already liked doesn't inspire me in any way.

This is the order of the day in America though. Much like our news, where we only respect outlets that skew towards our personal biases and what we want to hear. Lucas was right (paraphrasing) "A movie was made that the audiences wanted to see". Granted, I prefer the way this film was made (more similar in style to the OT than the prequels), but that doesn't excuse Disney from selling us something we've already seen.

Besides one or two nostalgic specific moments, this film won't be remembered long term.

In case any Samuel R Delany or SF fans are interested, I found a scan of his 1977 review of A New Hope. Very interesting read:

beautone.tumblr.com/post/84823197984/sam...t-star-wars-movie-in

A nerd question...

I thought Luke's lightsaber was green. Blue was Anakin's given to Luke by Kenobi, but lost, with the hand, on cloud city. They also look very, very different with the one in this film clearly being Anakin's.

Edit: In the aftermath of the battle and Han's death, shouldn't they have shown Leia hugging Chewie rather than Leia hugging Rey? Huge missed opportunity there.

Mr. White wrote: Besides one or two nostalgic specific moments, this film won't be remembered long term.

When you decide to be dead wrong, you really go for the gusto, huh?

Mad Dog wrote: I liked that Kylo looked right at Finn after the battle, but then just walked away. Then later when he hears a Stormtrooper helped Poe escape he knew exactly which one. Which implies to me that he knew after the battle that Finn had changed. It was the only time Ren showed any good by allowing Finn to get away with it and that came back to bite him.

I like this bit as well. I think Kylo realizes FN-123456 struggles with the Light as well, hence his moral compunction in the face of those horrors. So he lets him slide; big mistake I guess.

I liked the movie--thank God it didn't suck. Carrie Fisher is stiff as hell guys, yikes. She can't move her face anymore, it's so botoxed. Some of the line reading there was bad, especially with how strong things with Rey. I liked that it was funny. I like that they went back to subtitles and weird languages instead of horrible accents. There was tons to like here.

My favorite moment was Rey running over to the knocked out Finn, shaking him alert, him saying "..Are you OK?!" and she just squints, and says, "...Yeah."

It was fun to go back and read some theories we had a few months ago.

I was pretty damn close!

fortressat.com/forum/19-trash-culture-ca...iler?start=45#212951

jeb wrote: My favorite moment was Rey running over to the knocked out Finn, shaking him alert, him saying "..Are you OK?!" and she just squints, and says, "...Yeah."

I liked the subtlety of that moment and of her quizzical glance. Like "lol, why are you asking that question" combined with "are you really that selfless?"

The Force Awakens "makes $1 billion in a record 12 days" . I was thinking that TFA might become the biggest grossing entertainment product since 2013's Grand Theft Auto V . If you add the licensing deals to the movie's gross that must surely be right?

I saw it for the second time tonight.

Way better this time. The first time I saw the film I couldn't see the thread that tied it together. This time it was so obvious! Jeeze, my film literacy is horrible. There is a nice unity to the whole film that intensified the action and made a clear and distinct chapter in what I hope will be a long story.

Moments that stood out this time:

-When Kylo Ren fails to break Rey's mind, I found it interesting that just before that moment he notice her feelings for Han Solo ("the father you never had"). That suggests to me that part of the reason he lost the mind battle was that his own feelings got in the way when what he saw in Rey's mind touched on Han.

-KR was unable to kill his father 'in cold blood' so to speak. He could not have done it if Han didn't, in a way, offer himself up for sacrifice. Han told his son that he would do anything for him, and that was like Han giving his blessing to what was about to happen. I think this says something powerful about unconditional love. It makes me think about the moral ambiguity (sacrifice) that someone must endure when they love their child but the child has grown up to be horrible yet was not born horrible. That KR could not kill Han in cold blood makes me look forward to the struggle that will happen in the next phase of his "training".

-I welled up whenever Rey "awakened": when she tapped into the force and the "learn about the force" theme started playing.

Ken Jennings has has the SW zinger of the year so far with,

"Bored like Mark Hamill at a Force Awakens table read."

I crack up just typing it. It's a good movie guys. Let's not all lose our collective shit.