Fuck yeah. I used to like movies so much more when I was a kid/teenager.
EDIT: I should re-phrase that to say “I used to like so many more movies.”
I guess I’m pretty lucky. Very rarely do I think a movie is really terrible.
Tarzan. Tarzan was fucking terrible.
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Have you watched some of the rants on youtube? They keep popping up on my feed after I looked for the reedited version of TLJ. Holdo is being called “Admiral Gender Studies” LMAO!!! Fucking funny shit.
She literally has purple hair. Either Disney is trolling or completely oblivious.
Actually, after TFA, my expectations were very low. And to be fair, I think most of the problems with TLJ were actually problems with TFA that hadn’t been played out yet, but were still too far-gone to be fixed.
As far as expectations for TFA, I mainly wanted (A) a new Star Wars story and (B) good endings for the heroes from the original trilogy. I’m actually shocked that they managed to avoid delivering either.
At the end of TFA, we know that:
Leia:
–Hasn’t learned much of anything further about using her force powers.
–Hasn’t managed to move beyond being a war-time general of a small outmatched force of ‘resistance’ fighters.
–Has a broken family and has separated from Han.
Han:
–Has abandoned the rebellion and is once again working as a selfish smuggler.
–Has separated from Leia.
–Has failed to maintain the Millenium Falcon.
Luke:
–Has failed to build a new Jedi Order.
–Failed to train Leia even a little bit.
–Has run away but created a map to find him (which is never explained).
–Has left everyone else to deal with his unstable, force sensitive nephew without the help of the only known Jedi.
Put another way, at the beginning of TFA, Leia is an outmatched leader of a small resistance movement, Luke is living a subsistence lifestyle on a remote planet, and Han is eeking out a living smuggling stuff without caring much about others. The only difference between this and the beginning of ANH is that Luke no longer cares about the larger world (and everyone is 30 years older). TFA suggests that the events of the original trilogy didn’t matter and that all the original heroes have accomplished in the interceding 30 years is the undoing of everything they thought they had accomplished.
Luke pulling his lightsaber on Ben is the focal point of his failure as a character, but there is a whole related storm of problems swirling about it. Why is he hiding? Why did he refuse to come back? Why did he leave a cryptic map of where to find him? Why isn’t he trying to reach out and learn about new things? Why does he see the Force as an impersonal beyond rather than something that directs and participates in the important events of the galaxy?
Ben and Rey had decent interaction. Ben is actually the only new character that seems to be developing in an interesting way. If this is really a story about his redemption, it could be interesting. However, that would leave a big question around what the point of Rey is as a character.
As far as Poe, maybe. But he felt like a leader before. What was the point of knocking him down to prove that he wasn’t a leader so that he could become one?
In a way, but once again I think this was a problem that TFA introduced and TLJ couldn’t be bothered to fix. Snoke looks older than Luke and is a powerful force user, which suggests he was alive and kicking during the original trilogy. There are various ways to address this, but they would become a huge part of the plot. The larger problem is that they needed to know how the trilogy would end before they started TFA. Either that detailed plan includes a detailed backstory for Snoke, or Snoke shouldn’t be the big baddy for 1.5 movies. That’s a structural flaw in the management of the trilogy.
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I’m the exact same… although, probably important to note, I don’t watch many movies.
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I’m not sure why she would and her not learning to be a Jedi is in-line with the non-canon books.
I agree there are a lot of missing details. I’m assuming they jumped so far into the future because the original actors were so much older when TFA was shot. I would like to see the years between Return and TFA.
I understood Han’s leaving as caused by Ben’s turning to the Dark Side. At least that’s what I thought was implied in TFA.
Ya, that was a weird way to get Rey and Fin to meet Han.
The maps a loose end, but I thought they explained why he went into hiding well enough. His shame for failing Ben and the resulting destruction of the new Jedi Order by his nephew. He was attempting to build a new order (at least that’s what they implied).
I think so. Leia basically says to his face his actions cost them their entire bombing corp. In the end, he realizes what Luke is doing and instead of running out guns blazing to support him (which would have lead to all their deaths) he uses the opportunity to lead the escape.
Agreed and it makes you wonder who he was, but at this point it’s irrelevant (unless he lives somehow).
You’re right that most of the decisions of Han, Luke, and Leia are explained. Han and Luke experienced failure and gave up. Leia didn’t have a better plan and decided to keep doing the same thing while expecting better results. Both of those are actually fairly reasonable. They just aren’t heroic.
I’m not saying that everything on the list needs to be rectified. Setbacks in the intervening years make sense. Leia doesn’t have to be a Jedi (depends on which book you read anyways). It just can’t be that they have effectively accomplished nothing meaningful and lost everything they fought for in the originals.
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I do think they failed to really explain who the First Order is and how the hell they came to power. I think we will eventually get the middle years with re-cast actors or at least a canon book.
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I was a Star Wars fan until Hayden Christensen casting-couched his role in the films; either it was George Lucas, or some female casting agent, just curious if anyone knows??? LOL. (like, sorta like how Sofia Coppola got the role in GF3 next to Andy Garcia (besides actually being a good actor, he was way better looking Hah) because her daddy was Francis Ford)
Anyway, being Asian, but not PC, I feel like I should be “offended” by the fat Asian chick’s role in that movie, but am unable to express it accurately or adequately. Anyone? EyeDentist? LOL.
Being PC, but not Asian, I’m afraid I can be of little help here.
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You are supposed to feel good about the fact that there is an Asian in the movie. It doesn’t matter that she’s a nonsensical character, fat and ugly, a poor actor(ress), and clearly shoehorned in to check a box (the interracial persons of color love story box). What’s wrong with you?
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I is so not up to the task. #Hanging head in shame emoji
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I didn’t see any reason to be offended. What is your race?
Maybe that works for Asians in the West(or the producers think it does). For those in the East, we have our own movie industries and stars. Unless it’s a megastar like Donnie Yen in a major Hollywoid blockbuster, nobody really cares. Hell, even the grumpy Chinaman in Rogue One was a matinee idol in China in the 80s lol.
I am Chinese.
I was only kidding around. But I am serious in that I kept thinking to myself when I saw that movie: Why/How 'da fucking fuck did this unattractive chick who is not a particularly good actress get so much fricking screen time, in such a stupid, useless mini-plot line???
And I think Sillyak actually is spot on, don’t know if he was being sarcastic or not LOL.
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I’ve always wondered why Russell Wong or John Lone did not become bigger “stars”. Thoughts?
I don’t know what happened to John Lone.
Russell Wong wasn’t very good looking and didn’t have much screen presence IMO. He sucked in Prophecy 2. And I fucking loved Prophecy 2 lol.
His brother, Michael, was very popular in Hong Kong in the 90s.
This was his first hit:
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Not being sarcastic. Just telling you what the filmmakers expected of you.
Seeing infinity war tomorrow. Pretty hyped
I’ve heard it’s so good. I’ll have to stay off the internet for like 6 months so it doesn’t get spoiled!