Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Royal · Dec 22, 2015

Kiroy_sl said:
I didn't think of gollum until reading this thread after seeing the movie, but ya, now that it's mentioned he did.

He had a familiarity to me as well but it's not Gollum. I haven't been able to put my finger on it yet but I've seen something very similar before. Maybe I'll remember it after a rewatch.

Malakriss · Dec 22, 2015

Royal_sl said:
Deadline|Hollywood -Monday 12:42PM Final: Disney has finalized the official opening all-time record for Star Wars: The Force Awakens at $247.97M. Disney chief Bob Iger was floating a $247M figure in his Bloomberg interview, so this afternoon's actual is just slightly ahead of it. Earlier this morning, industry projections showed Force Awakens at $248.5M-$250.3M.

I still doubt it passes Avatar for the full run record.

Jurassic World would be the most recent comparison where China was a huge boost but well below Avatar numbers everywhere else. Avatar had nine 100m+ countries, five of them 150m+ with China breaking 200m. Needs to be a movie with global appeal if you want to even think about 2b.

Royal · Dec 22, 2015

Malakriss_sl said:
Jurassic World would be the most recent comparison where China was a huge boost but well below Avatar numbers everywhere else. Avatar had nine 100m+ countries, five of them 150m+ with China breaking 200m. Needs to be a movie with global appeal if you want to even think about 2b.

Avatar had a pretty long run as well, at least around here. Not quite Titanic long but it was lengthy.

Merrith · Dec 22, 2015

Column_sl said:
Are you stupid? it would be his grand daughter....

We only said it like 50 million times in this thread.

I skipped a lot of the last couple pages. Pretty much generic complaints v. generic praises.

Also I pointed out why I think it would be weird for her to be that far removed from powerful force user as the main heroine.

Faith · Dec 22, 2015

ChewieTobbacca_sl said:
Saw this on Sunday and as a lifelong Star Wars fan... the movie was meh.

Better than the prequels? Yeah, for the most part, but that's not a high bar.

Let's see, the good parts that stood out: Good CGI and cinematography. Loved that the effects didn't detract from the experience or storyline, unlike the prequels. The acting from the newcomers was also much better than expected, and the new characters were likable. And it brought back a lot of details and references to the original trilogy

Now, maybe it's because I was a Star Wars nut, but there were a lot of things "missing" from the movie. First of... did we really need to basically copy A New Hope? Droid with secret info in the desert, meets Force-sensitive local, wise/legendary old man sacrifices self, Death Star/world destroyer weapon, underdog rebels...

Second, the pacing was a bit too fast. It was just action scene after action scene

If the prequels had one good thing going for them, it was that the *world* was built up. The politics annoyed a lot of people, but you quite clearly understood by Episode 3 what was going on - the manipulation and machinations of Palpatine, the zealously blind Jedi Order, the creation of the Empire, etc.

This movie... I was constantly wondering. What the fuck happened in the past 30 years - why is the New Republic so weak, why is the First Order suddenly able to build Starkiller Base, why is the Resistance basically back to ANH levels of power, etc. I felt very little attachment to the overall story because there was nothing really tying me to any of the stories except for the fact that they were original characters from the original trilogy.

It's like they fixed all the problems with the prequels (cheesy CGI, too much politics, etc.) but then went too far and cut out what redeeming factors the prequels did have (the world building for one) and simply rehashed ANH

I think you missinterpeted the end of ROTJ as "wohooo the rebels win!". In my mind ROTJ was a body-blow to the Empire, but hardly a reason for it to crumble in 10 min. Plenty of powerhungry senators to jockey for a shot at being emperor, no real reason for anyone with any form of power to go back to a republic that showed itself to be too much redtape and petty squabbles to function and have a purpose.

I liked the new movie, I liked basicaly everything but the stupid new name for the empire and the 1930?s inspired hate speech which I thought was slightly over the top. Good use of the old actors, not too much CGI and good choises for the new faces. A lot like ANH with a slow opening to set the stage then massive action in the end. Looking forward to see where they go with the next movie.

(Also, fucking hell, how did we end up with this director kicking Lucas ass in making StarWars movies?)

khorum · Dec 22, 2015

Royal_sl said:
Avatar had a pretty long run as well, at least around here. Not quite Titanic long but it was lengthy.

TFA won't do well in China because of the black hero. They're not racists, it's just that they culturally associate blackness with dirtiness and dishonesty.

When the Chinese found out Zoe Saldana was black, Avatar's box office immediately got schlonged.

Faltigoth · Dec 22, 2015

khorum_sl said:
TFA won't do well in China because of the black hero. They're not racists, it's just that they culturally associate blackness with dirtiness and dishonesty.

When the Chinese found out Zoe Saldana was black, Avatar's box office immediately got schlonged.

Perhaps they will run a special version in China with like someone else's face over Finn in a JibJab manner.

I am really curious as to how it will do in China, Disney poured some coin into marketing and raising awareness of Star Wars there. Convincing the Chinese to chug Star Wars kool-aid would reap massive dividends for them going forward.

khorum · Dec 22, 2015

Faltigoth_sl said:
Perhaps they will run a special version in China with like someone else's face over Finn in a JibJab manner.

I am really curious as to how it will do in China, Disney poured some coin into marketing and raising awareness of Star Wars there. Convincing the Chinese to chug Star Wars kool-aid would reap massive dividends for them going forward.

Well posters and trailers are heavily influenced by screenings and focus groups so it's pretty representative of their respective markets. Shrinking Mace Dindu is a no-brainer, but why did they turn Kylo Ren to face forward and triple BB-8 in size:

Royal · Dec 22, 2015

Faith_sl said:
(Also, fucking hell, how did we end up with this director kicking Lucas ass in making StarWars movies?)

Also consider that Lucas only directed Ep 4 of the OT and then the prequels.

Qhue · Dec 22, 2015

I did see the controversy earlier this month when the Force Awakens poster in China has shrunk Finn down to miniscule size and stuck him in an area where he kinda blends into the background as well as completely deleting Poe. I was wondering why the hubbub at the time.

khorum · Dec 22, 2015

Plus Daisy Ridley is kinda funny-looking now... let's say the trilogy finishes in 8 years, it's unlikely she'd improve in that time.

Shonuff · Dec 22, 2015

Cybsled_sl said:
Yet people still like the Cowboys. The Empire/First Order are the Cowboys of the Star Wars films: They start strong and fool you into thinking they can win, then they shit themselves in the final 2 minutes.

Thank you for that.

Drakain · Dec 22, 2015

Merrith_sl said:
I skipped a lot of the last couple pages. Pretty much generic complaints v. generic praises.

Also I pointed out why I think it would be weird for her to be that far removed from powerful force user as the main heroine.

How would it be any different if she was Luke's daughter?

Anakin>Luke>Rey
-or-
Obi-Wan>child>Rey

If they followed ANH this closely, then it's not outside the realm of possibilities that they draw closely from Empire. I can see them making Luke's wife/Rey's mom/Obi-Wan's daughter the Sith Apprentice to Snoke as your Vader "I am your father" moment. Ben is not a Sith, he is a Knight of Ren.

On a different topic, I read the Resistance as being fed up with the New Republic not taking the first Order seriously. I can see Leia in the Senate telling them the Empire isn't dead and that they're rebuilding. Only to have the Senate laugh at her.

Shonuff · Dec 22, 2015

Phazael_sl said:
Did all you hipsters picking this one apart even enjoy the originals back in the day? Its fucking Star Wars, not some hard science Hamlet.

I like how you started with this statement, and then proceeded to do the same thing you criticized us for doing.

Royal · Dec 22, 2015

khorum_sl said:
Plus Daisy Ridley is kinda funny-looking now... let's say the trilogy finishes in 8 years, it's unlikely she'd improve in that time.

I wouldn't say funny looking but she does have the sort of face that isn't going to age well. Between her and Carrie Fisher the "Star Wars Curse" will be the talk in Hollywood 30 years from now amongst actresses. But she's 10 times the actress Fisher is so maybe her career will fare well.

Merrith · Dec 22, 2015

Drakain_sl said:
How would it be any different if she was Luke's daughter?

Anakin>Luke>Rey
-or-
Obi-Wan>child>Rey

If they followed ANH this closely, then it's not outside the realm of possibilities that they draw closely from Empire. I can see them making Luke's wife/Rey's mom/Obi-Wan's daughter the Sith Apprentice to Snoke as your Vader "I am your father" moment. Ben is not a Sith, he is a Knight of Ren.

On a different topic, I read the Resistance as being fed up with the New Republic not taking the first Order seriously. I can see Leia in the Senate telling them the Empire isn't dead and that they're rebuilding. Only to have the Senate laugh at her.

Not sure if you're listing 2 different scenarios there or saying Obi-Wan's child would be a daughter and Luke's wife (or just Luke father and Obi-Wan's daughter the mother). In the 2 different scenario case, I think it's a lot different if her immediate parent is Luke Skywalker, versus if she is just descended from Obi-Wan and her parent is his child who had Rey with another random.

If you're just saying Luke and Obi-Wan's presumed daughter had a child and it was Rey, then yeah that would make sense with her being the heroine.

khorum · Dec 22, 2015

About finished with the novelization now.

What's interesting is that for the most part it's shot-per-shot and line-per-line identical with the movie. So those scenes that were in the book that weren't in the movie must've been in the uncut version of the movie that Alan Dean Foster saw while he was writing the book for a few months----and they cut waaay more than 20-30 mins. Prolly closer to 40 mins at least.

The pacing is definitely better in the novel and Poe is way better established. If episode 8 ends up being a Poe/Finn buddy movie like Benicio Del Toro implied, then they did themselves a disservice by cutting out Poe's scenes from the movie.

Qhue · Dec 22, 2015

Leia is pretty much Adama from BSG who refuses to disarm because she believes there is still a very real threat, and she was right. From the opening crawl it sounds like the Republic started to take her seriously, but it was too little too late.

Drakain · Dec 22, 2015

Merrith_sl said:
Not sure if you're listing 2 different scenarios there or saying Obi-Wan's child would be a daughter and Luke's wife (or just Luke father and Obi-Wan's daughter the mother). In the 2 different scenario case, I think it's a lot different if her immediate parent is Luke Skywalker, versus if she is just descended from Obi-Wan and her parent is his child who had Rey with another random.

If you're just saying Luke and Obi-Wan's presumed daughter had a child and it was Rey, then yeah that would make sense with her being the heroine.

Either/or really, but I'm leaning on her being Skywalker/Kenobi.

khorum · Dec 22, 2015

Qhue_sl said:
Leia is pretty much Adama from BSG who refuses to disarm because she believes there is still a very real threat, and she was right. From the opening crawl it sounds like the Republic started to take her seriously, but it was too little too late.

Yeah actually. Leia refused to go to the New Republic with her fears about the rise of the First Order because she felt she would be "disappeared" or have an accident if she showed up in the Senate. That's one of the scenes they cut. It was definitely political-talk of the sort ppl raged at ep1 for tho.

The New Republic had a treaty with the remnants of the Empire. But the Empire just kinda slowly faded while more and more extremist factions took turns controlling the remnants of it. Eventually the most extremist faction under Supreme Leader Snoke took control: the First Order.

Basically the New Republic was a bureaucratically-choked European Union and the First Order is ISIS.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

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