Fair enough Tony Gilroy really was the director of Rogue One. I still find it interesting that both TFA and Rogue One are so extremely polarizing. I have good friends who love one and hate, I mean completely loathe, the other.
color-by-numbers creative plagiarism
TFA was at least a formulaic and watchable Star Wars movie, R1 we a dumpster fire with Star Wars lipstick.
As for the Vader scene, that's right out of the Twilight Company novel (only it took place in Echo Base on Hoth instead of on a ship). That book would have been good source material to have adapted further for a movie ... if their canon policy actually allowed for it. Another self-inflicted limitation.
Did you not like R1? I feel weird about it. I thought NONE of the characters were remotely likable. The robot *sucked* and it's humor fell flat. But at the same time I liked it because it was essentially this horrible suicide mission, and it was brutal that EVERYONE fucking died, and then the Darth Vader scene was the best 90 seconds in any movie, ever (up until Wonder Woman came out, then No Mans Land is best scene ever.)
It would be OK with me if they had a scene like that with vader in every single one of these anthology movies (assuming the time period is right for all of them, which it might not be for han solo). Wouldn't even have to make sense or fit into the story being told. Just at some point cut to vader exiting a shuttle and mowing down an indigenous population.
ALL SW anthology movies are prequels and that's one of the reasons none of them will work critically (financially is another story).
Which is why I've been either unexcited or outright down on every idea they've announced or thrown out to see how fans react since Rogue One. That at least had the war angle to give it potential. Early life or origin stories around Yoda, Han, etc ... no thanks. The ideas for the Fett movie have at least evolved since Trank was cut loose as it's director into a broader bounty hunter themed movie which could actually get folded into a Star Wars crime lords concept that supposedly Guillermo del Toro has pitched to LFL.
perfect
TFA gave us nothing, you could see Disney saying "If you fuck this up, we will spend another $1B fucking your family".
I'm not sure which I dislike more. If VIII is decent, will bring TFA up.
Especially during the closed seession Q+A with Kasdan, who appeared to criticize him. While JJ wasn't rude there while being on the defensive, Kasdan was being obviously rude to JJ and there was apparent tension on the stage.