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Review embargo lifts at midnight, so you'll have them in the morning. I don't give a crap about the 3D but that's the only way they're showing it in IMAX apparently, so like with most of them I'll just forget it's 3D about 30 seconds after putting the glasses on. Aside from Tron: Legacy and Gravity the 3D has done nothing for any other film I've seen. Couple of animated ones might have been goosed a little but that's about it.
"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. . . . I'm not a schemer. I just do things."

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O-dot wrote:The movie premiered last night. Where are the plot spoilers?
Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father.

I won't get to see the film probably until Sunday or so, so I'll have to try to remain as spoiler free as one can.
Just cut them up like regular chickens

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i was wrong - the private event was a 3D IMAX showing. we were pleasantly surprised. but, we got there with only 30 minutes to spare and the theater was pretty much full. had to sit in the 3rd row up front. that part wasn't as bad as i thought it would be, but we also weren't center, we were on the left side, so with the IMAX and 3D everything was kind of diagonal and you really had to have your head just right for certain scenes not to ghost. i didn't mind, as i'm planning on seeing it again anyway, but wasn't going to let this go without taking them up on the offer to see it early as i know it's going to be spoiled for me by someone. this is kind of serious - if you at all care about spoilers for this film, do not click around the internet haphazardly until you see it. so many different things could be spoiled in this one. it would really piss me off, anyway. best to just unplug. in fact, i'm going to spoiler tag pretty much everything. i did manage to avoid seeing very much after that first trailer so i was very happy to go in as cold as could be.

here's all you're going to get un-hidden: JJ has done it again. he was the right person at the right time and, 32 years later, has finally given us another true star wars film. go see it.
finn is awesome. within the first few minutes of the film, the stormtroopers are humanized. we see that there are real people, humans, under there, that they are just soldiers. sure, they were born and bred for this purpose, but still. the fact that we see one have second thoughts about blindly following orders and killing unarmed people puts a completely different spin on how we view them. so immediately, JJ is letting you know this is MY star wars film and i'm going to show you things a bit differently. that being said, this is absolutely, 100% a true star wars film - the tone, the set pieces, etc. frankly, if you put an outline of this film next to the original, it would be identical. he's basically re-made star wars, in a way. i suppose that's more of a comment on the couple families we are focusing on in this saga than anything, but it really is the same film from a thematic standpoint. like turning on a soap opera 20 years after you used to watch it - the same people are on it, lots of the same stuff happening, etc. but, lucas did set out to make a "space opera", so it worked. LOTS and LOTS of fan service in this film. if anything, could have eased off that in parts, but i get the feeling he felt like he really needed to make up for the prequels, even though they weren't his, just as a fan, so i can give him a pass on this point. it's all set up, it's done now, next film should be more on its own in his trilogy.

moving on - as i said, finn is awesome. BB8 is great - i thought i'd be really annoyed at him, but it does make sense from a locomotion standpoint; the only question i have remaining for him is, how does he go UP stairs?

i don't know, i'm torn here - i don't even want to put real spoilers here until others have seen it and are ready to discuss. i will say the MAJOR spoiler (which, if you at all have followed the story behind the scenes of the star wars films, shouldn't be a spoiler) was done very well. JJ tried to make it as heart-wrenching as possible. my one gripe is, at the end, chewie walks right by leia, says nothing. earlier in the film after not seeing her for decades, they were all huggy and friendly, so you'd think he may want to say something. but, minor.

my son said after that it was like a combination of all the good parts of every other star wars movie. he cited the lightsaber battle at the end, when the ground splits and separates them - said it was like episode III in the lava. pretty astute, but i felt that scene was more symbolic. a bit ham-handed if so, but again, that's pretty much what the star wars universe is.

i'm still thinking about it the next morning. it hasn't really set in yet that i've finally seen another star wars film. the prequels do not count, especially after seeing this, when you know how good they could/should have been. it hits all the right notes, it sets up a new family of stars, new stories, while simultaneously doing a great service to existing fans and the existing storyline from IV-VI. fantastic cast, great writing. if anything i'd say some of the editing felt a bit brisk, but i realize it was a long film and they had to get everything in to serve the story. thinking back on IV, lots of "moving right along" moments in there, too. again, pretty much the same film. really, clearly done by a fanboy, someone who cares about this universe and not just swinging his dick around clumsily (lucas), and the result is fantastic.

while i can't wait to see it again, i am kind of sad that it didn't make me immediately obsess like IV did. doesn't make my heart beat faster every time i think about it, etc. but i think this is probably more due to the fact that i'm not 7 years old. we DID see it in the "same theater" (it's called the same thing, but a completely different building a few hundred yards from where the original was) that i walked to to see the first STL showing of ROTJ in '83, i just had to drive an hour or so to get there this time.
one thing i will caution - be prepared for LITERALLY 30 minutes of trailers. movie time: 700p. actual movie starts: shortly after 730p. the theater was groaning every time a new one started. i know it's the film everyone wants their trailer on, but come the fuck on - show some restraint. let's see if i can remember: jungle book, civil war, x-men apocalypse, kung-fu panda 3, batman v. superman (this one pissed me off, as i didn't want to see it - i've avoided it for this long. but, now i've seen it, it looks good.), new star trek (this looks awful)... i can't remember them all. the only one with new footage, i believe, was the apocalypse one. it looks fucking awesome.

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i've seen people bitching about the lack of back story of han & leia. i don't get this. why would i want to see a movie about their domestic BS of the last 20 years? i'm sure we'll get all the relevant parts over the course of the trilogy, considering it's focusing on their son, but holy fuck a movie about that would have been a snoozefest.

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what has transpired between 6 and 7 is perfectly summarized and/or hinted at throughout 7, nothing more is needed except of course Rey's backstory, which will be fleshed out next time around I'm sure.
"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. . . . I'm not a schemer. I just do things."

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Alexhead wrote:
what has transpired between 6 and 7 is perfectly summarized and/or hinted at throughout 7, nothing more is needed except of course Rey's backstory, which will be fleshed out next time around I'm sure.
exactly. i take it you saw it?

one thing has been bothering me - the "star killer" weapon was pretty lazy writing. it sucks up "the sun" to fire. this would kill all life on the weapon as well as any nearby neighboring planets/moons, wouldn't it? and, how many suns are nearby to suck up? apparently at least two, but then what? what will be its method of locomotion when all the gravity is completely fucked by suddenly disappearing suns?

that sort of non-thinking-it-through-i-tive-ness is pretty non-star-wars-universe, JJ.

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O-dot wrote:*sigh*

Oh well, two more days and then I can click to unblacken you fellas' comments. ;)
Get on it, son!

TC, to your point--
I just watched A New Hope again and there are some goofy bad science things going on there too, and some lazy writing to gloss over this and that here and there. I don't hold Star Wars up as a paragon of good science--I mean, you can start with no sound in space and go from there. Starkiller was lazy in that it was another Death Star--BUT BIGGER! But it looked pretty cool, and I liked the death bolts flowing through space. It was in keeping with the 'remix the original' spirit of the whole thing I guess. I really liked it and am seeing it again tomorrow, but it does hew quite close to 4, and while that makes sense as they reboot the thing it certainly makes me hope we have more surprises coming up in 8. I think they really knocked it out of the park with Kylo Ren, can't wait to see more of him. Fantastic misdirects showing Finn with the lightsaber in the marketing when it's really Rey's role to have the badass fight. And it is badass. I like how Han really gets to be the primary guy from the originals, he gets to be the wise mentor figure and do the cool stuff, since of course he's now gone. That was a gut punch of a scene, you could see it coming as soon as he stepped out on that bridge but damn, that hurt. I think this film has the best X-Wing/Tie Fighter fights out of all of them. BB8 is great. I wish they would have had maybe one more scene between Finn and Phasma to firmly ground the hate, but you know it's there and can't wait to see it develop. Finn is a cool character as he doesn't have a straight parallel to the old ones, I wonder how they're going to develop him. Rey is already my daughter's favorite of course, and you have to think she's Luke's daughter or something.
"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. . . . I'm not a schemer. I just do things."

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Alexhead wrote:-
Rey is already my daughter's favorite of course, and you have to think she's Luke's daughter or something.
You'd have to think that, but why the immediate bond with Han? It made it out early on like she was HIS kid.
Are you propositioning me? I taste like candy and you want the recipe?

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I was so hopeful and prepared to have the stench of the prequels washed away and Star Wars returned to what it once was. I'm still waiting. The film is a narrative mess that just lazily rehashes New Hope but without as much effort. Fuck you Abrams for giving me false hope and pissing on yet another franchise I love.
Just cut them up like regular chickens

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Have to admit I liked it quite a bit.

It's massively pandering to the audience no doubt (and in this sense and only this sense one can understand George's sour grapes - the prequels, poor as they are, are more 'original') but I actually rather like being pandered to when the pandering is undertaken with such a microscopic level of detail. As TC says above, it is written, built, performed, shot and cut to feel like a real 1980s Stars Wars movie, albeit with some CG tastefully blended in here and there (only exception: the silly orange creature with the glasses, could have done without that). As such, it's a massive improvement not only on the prequels but also on JJ's hideous Star Trek reboot, as well as pretty much any 1000-cuts-a-second modern blockbuster one can think of: just much more faithful to the original feel and tone than I ever thought it would be. Another key factor I think is that the characters are all strongly defined and very well cast. And Ford is the star, washing away memories of the diabolical Indy 4. The only annoyance really was having to watch it on a digital projection when it clearly would've looked soooo much nicer in a 35mm anamorphic print (Oh and the plot is wafer thin, a parade of contrivance and deus ex machina, but I don't think anyone other than Mike really cares about that stuff, right?).

What does concern me more is the prospect of Episode VIII: this one only really sets up the story and it remains to be seen whether Rian Johnson can do as good and thorough of a job as JJ in carrying it through
(especially with Ford gone from the picture).
If they're not shooting on film that would pretty much kill it straight away (any confirmation on that folks?).

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klimov wrote:If they're not shooting on film that would pretty much kill it straight away (any confirmation on that folks?).
Johnson said on Twitter Ep 8 is being shot on film.
I think everyone has Phantom Menace colored glasses on and reality will hit on more than one viewing.
Just cut them up like regular chickens

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darkness wrote:I was so hopeful and prepared to have the stench of the prequels washed away and Star Wars returned to what it once was. I'm still waiting. The film is a narrative mess that just lazily rehashes New Hope but without as much effort. Fuck you Abrams for giving me false hope and pissing on yet another franchise I love.
wow, this is surprising.
Storm13 wrote:
Alexhead wrote:-
Rey is already my daughter's favorite of course, and you have to think she's Luke's daughter or something.
You'd have to think that, but why the immediate bond with Han? It made it out early on like she was HIS kid.
same reason han bonded with luke?

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Here's a theory on Rey that I suspect is rock solid, from a SW geek group on facebook I'm on:
I'm personally really hoping she's a Solo. Thinking she was born after Ben betrayed Luke and after Han and Leia split. Han never knew he had a daughter, Leia keeps it a secret from as many people as possible because she knows Ben will come for his sister. Drops her off on Jakku and tells Lor San Tekka to keep an eye on her. Sees Rey for the first time in years, doesn't tell her the truth because she knows Ben or Snoke would sense Rey's feelings and she needs more training before she can confront them. So she sends her to her uncle, Luke Skywalker, who by this point is probably one of the most , if not the most, powerful Jedi of all time.
"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. . . . I'm not a schemer. I just do things."

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darkness wrote:
klimov wrote:If they're not shooting on film that would pretty much kill it straight away (any confirmation on that folks?).
Johnson said on Twitter Ep 8 is being shot on film.
I think everyone has Phantom Menace colored glasses on and reality will hit on more than one viewing.
I liked it more the second time around. I think you're being quite a bit overly sour on this one, your loss.
"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. . . . I'm not a schemer. I just do things."

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I'll use the spoiler tags, because KYLO REN IS LUKE SKYWALKER.
Eh ... it was all right.

For all the talk about how this was the old-school Star Wars movie with practical effects everyone's wanted since '83, it frankly was indistinguishable from any other CGI-bloated spectacle we've been subjected to lately. Were it not for the cutesy droids, troopers and lightsabers, no one would be able to tell the difference between The Force Awakens and, say, Abrams' Trek movies. I guess it was better than the average Marvel outing.

I liked the new cast, even if the script gave them little to nothing to flesh out their characters. Boyega is the audience surrogate, Isaac the cool flyboy, Ridley the loner who becomes a hero ... these are types, not tangible people. I've got hopes that Rian Johnson will remedy all this in the next installment — before Trevorrow no doubt mucks it all up on Episode IX.

It just seemed the movie was missing that certain Lucasness to make it really "Star Wars" — that widescreen, artsy snobbishness that gave THX 1138 and the original '77 movie their unmistakable flavor.
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

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Hey O-Dot. Agree and disagree. It's nothing like the Trek movie. No doubt some super-geek will release data on this at some point, but the cutting ratio is tangibly lower + the blocking is old school, eg. hardly any handheld and there are some really nice practically achieved long takes and set pieces, eg. the dolly shot of Boyega running
when Ren abducts Rey.
On the other hand, yes, it does lack the intangible sense of imagination and romance that runs through the original three. There's nothing to match the pang of the two suns sequence or the Fellini-esque perversity of Jabba the hut. But I guess we'll take what we can get these days when it comes to Hollywood cinema.

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Alexhead wrote:
darkness wrote:I think everyone has Phantom Menace colored glasses on and reality will hit on more than one viewing.
I liked it more the second time around. I think you're being quite a bit overly sour on this one, your loss.
wait, what?