Star Wars VII-IX, what do you think?

[Valka]

When it comes to Netflix, I'll watch it just for Harrison Ford. I enjoy him in pretty much anything he does. But to me Star Wars will always be that first trilogy that came out in the '70s and '80s, back when it was such a Major Event that people would line up for blocks outside the theatre. And that was also in the days before Lucas "improved" everything and consequently made it unwatchable.

As for the books, the original Star Wars novelization was really done by Alan Dean Foster, who also wrote an original Star Wars novel called Splinter of the Mind's Eye. I've read the novelizations of the first 3 movies, the Han Solo trilogy, and I've got some Lando Calrissian books here somewhere.

The rest of it isn't part of my Star Wars universe and I just ignore it. For me, it didn't happen.

[Unorthodox]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/movies/star-wars-the-force-awakens-fans-are-already-lining-up.html?_r=0

LOS ANGELES – Marilyn Monroe and Freddy Krueger were trying not to look annoyed. But their mood was obvious on Monday afternoon as tourists paid little heed to the celebrity impersonators on Hollywood Boulevard, instead focusing their curiosity on more than 100 people camped out in the courtyard of the historic Chinese Theater.


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No. It couldn’t be. Seriously?

“We’re lining up for the new ‘Star Wars’ movie,” an Australian woman at the front of the queue, Caroline Ritter, told an incredulous-looking couple visiting from Ohio who stopped to inquire and take photos. “Yes, we still have a very long time to wait,” Ms. Ritter added. “No, we’re not crazy.”


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Coming-of-age ritual: Jude Wilson, 6, watching “Star Wars” for the first time with his father, Michael Wilson, at the K2imaging screening room in Brooklyn.

‘Star Wars’: A 6-Year-Old Fan Sees the Big Picture and AwakensDEC. 6, 2015

 
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” will arrive at the TCL Chinese Theater Imax, as the site is now officially called, on the evening of Dec. 17 — meaning that Ms. Ritter and her fellow die-hards will have waited for 12 unwashed days before the first light sabers flicker to life. (They began to assemble here on Saturday afternoon.) The question, especially in the age of reserved movie theater seating, is why.

Photo

 
 
Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, with his light saber, in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." The movie releases in the U.S. on Dec. 18, 2015. Credit Disney/Lucasfilm 

Even with hundreds of opening-weekend show times for “The Force Awakens” already sold out, analysts predict there will be more than enough seating capacity on opening weekend. For instance, AMC Theaters, the second-largest multiplex chain in North America (behind Regal Entertainment), last week said that 1,600 opening-weekend screenings were sold out, but that 3.5 million tickets remained available. At least 36 AMC theaters will run “The Force Awakens” around the clock.

It’s just not like the old days, when movies were shipped on reels and people could buy tickets only at box office windows. Most theaters now sell tickets online — many offering reserved seating — and rely on digital projectors, which means the number of screenings can be more easily adjusted to meet demand.

But that’s missing the point, the “Star Wars” campers said Monday.

“At night you freeze and in the daytime you cook, but you come for the camaraderie and the chance to be a part of cinematic history,” said Erik Murillo, who was sitting in a lawn chair near two large plastic crates packed with supplies (clothes, food, a tent). “Besides, there are traditions to be upheld.”

The Chinese Theater holds a special place in the “Star Wars” pop culture galaxy. The first “Star Wars” movie was only booked into about 30 theaters in May 1977 in part because some executives at 20th Century Fox were skeptical of the film’s box office potential. Instead, swarms of people turned out; the throngs were especially large outside the Chinese, which has long been a symbol of Hollywood, helping to generate global news coverage.

Ever since then, particularly in 1999, with the arrival of “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace,” camping out here became just another part of the pageantry that accompanies each “Star Wars” release. In 2005, in anticipation of “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith,” fans started lining up at the Chinese six weeks in advance. (As it turned out, however, Fox had not booked “Revenge of the Sith” into the Chinese, so they were waiting in line for nothing; whoops.)



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“We made sure not to make that mistake again,” said Stefanie Vance, who was in line here Monday with her daughter, Amanda.

Theaters everywhere have been preparing for similar lines, advising fans in advance that costumes are fine, but masks, face paint and space weapons are not. Extra security will be in place at some theaters to manage crowds.

Here at the Chinese, the line experience is all very civilized, insisted Ms. Vance, who was dozing near a sign that read, “The line awakens!” There are rules — tents must be erected by midnight and dismantled by 6 a.m. — and there is a system that allows people to leave for short periods while keeping their place in line; fans take turns managing a clipboard system for checking in and checking out.

Everyone wears a name badge, and some fans created a line-related website. They even have a charity partner, Starlight Children’s Foundation, which is focused on helping seriously ill children and teenagers. (Those gawking tourists are encouraged to contribute to the foundation by sending text messages; some give cash on the spot.)

There is rarely a dull moment, however, on Hollywood Boulevard, land of roaming costumed characters, colorful panhandlers and the occasional person trapped in an alternate mental dimension. “The other night, somebody dropped off two live rabbits and disappeared,” Mr. Murillo said. “What are we supposed to do with two live rabbits?” (City employees were called to deal with them.)

Despite their intense fandom, the people lined up outside the Chinese do seem to have their limits. When a reporter mentioned that a Texas-centered theater chain was holding an endurance contest involving a marathon screening of the previous six “Star Wars” movies (no sleeping allowed), Ms. Vance made a skeptical face.

“That sounds unpleasant,” she said.

[Nikolai]

So I finished Lost Stars yesterday. First Star Wars book I've read, and I had a blast! Loved the book, and enjoyed it immensely.

In short: You follow two outer rim kids from their days dreaming of serving in the empire, which they think is the greatest thing ever, into their imperial academy days, further into the fight against the rebellion and their slow realization everything is not black and white. It really captured me! The way it neatly weaves in the events in IV to VI and covers the aftermath on both sides are really well done!

[Rusty Edge]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-z7bAfDBNo

A short video ( 1:15 ) about a Jedi cat using a light saber. The most amusing thing I've seen today.

[ColdWizard]

Best Star Wars ever. (I'm not a fan of the franchise, but the movie was enjoyable.)

[vonbach]

[Unorthodox]

Ok...

We saw it today:

Best:  Kylo Ren is night and day better than Hayden's Vader at showing a young man falling to the dark side.

Worst:  Practically no back story, you're just expected to go with it. 

Watched with my entire family, so kids from 3 to 19.  They all enjoyed it. 

Better than the prequels, not quite up to episodes 4 and 5 in my book. 

I can be more spoilerific if people want. 

[Lorizael]

Best:  Kylo Ren is night and day better than Hayden's Vader at showing a young man falling to the dark side.

Absolutely. He's charming and sly, but also angry and unpredictable. So much more the passionate, emotion-fueled kind of character that the Dark Side is supposed to be all about.

Worst:  Practically no back story, you're just expected to go with it. 

I didn't have a problem with this, except insofar as I would have liked a little more detail on the situation between the First Order, the New Republic, and the Resistance. I mean, we were thrown into the thick of things in ANH, and no one was bothered by that.

The worst for me was it trying to hit all the beats of the original. I think some of the comparisons are a little far-fetched (oh no there was desert in both movies!), but I agree with the overall complaint that after a while, you get tired of seeing the same general plot rehashed.

[Unorthodox]

I didn't have a problem with this, except insofar as I would have liked a little more detail on the situation between the First Order, the New Republic, and the Resistance. I mean, we were thrown into the thick of things in ANH, and no one was bothered by that.

The opening crawl set up ANH a hell of a lot better, and Ben was able to spoon feed key elements to Luke (and us) from there.  We got crappy crawl and no one to spoon feed us the rest. 

The worst for me was it trying to hit all the beats of the original. I think some of the comparisons are a little far-fetched (oh no there was desert in both movies!), but I agree with the overall complaint that after a while, you get tired of seeing the same general plot rehashed.

If anything, it felt like they were just trying to be too safe. 

[Elok]

I felt it was overwhelmingly derivative, and where it deviated from the derivative it didn't work too well IMO; I like that they were brave enough to take the risk of making the primary villain so conflicted as to be ineffectual, but that left all the villain-work to a giant hologram, yet another generic white guy in Imperial uniform, and some chrome stormtrooper woman who barely showed up.  The villain trying so hard to be Darth Vader, and failing pathetically, felt like a metaphor for the movie itself.

With that said, it didn't have any of the horrid crap that annoyed me about the prequels, so I left the theater contented.  Low expectations FTW.

How sad is it that I reacted to Vonbach's picture by thinking, "Wait, Tarkin was dead before Veers entered the picture"?

[Elok]

SPOILERS AHEAD, though if you care about SW at all you've already seen this beast.

Also, the plot of 7 required all of the old guard from 4-6 to first be grossly incompetent (effectively allowing the situation to deteriorate back to where it was at the start of 4), then, with the exception of Leia, abandon their moral responsibility completely.  Han and Chewie go back to smuggling--ineptly--while Han's kid is off murdering and torturing, and Luke disappears so completely that the new heroes spend the whole movie risking their lives just to find him.  Don't know where Lando went.  There really has to be a better way for them to transition to a new generation than to make the old one completely inept.  Maybe there's some backstory in the books, video games, and other related media that excuses them.  But I'm not inclined to go digging.

Also: Han's little encounter on the bridge.  Not cool, JJ.  Not cool.

[Unorthodox]

Maybe there's some backstory in the books, video games, and other related media that excuses them.  But I'm not inclined to go digging.

They've already blown most the EU stuff out of the water, so don't think much will help.  The lack of backstory bothered me the most.  Not just the old guard, either.  The rebels were better equipped in ROTJ

Also: Han's little encounter on the bridge.  Not cool, JJ.  Not cool.

Best part of the movie.  Especially my 8 year old quipping "saw that coming" while half the adults were crying. 

[Elok]

Yeah, my wife noted how odd it was that they hadn't upgraded their military technology in thirty years, despite now being an established government and not a bunch of poorly-funded insurgents.

It's kinda sad that (IIRC) Kylo Ren kills exactly two people in the whole movie, and both of them are unarmed old men who aren't fighting back.  He does eventually disable a force-blind guy who's handling a lightsaber for the second time in his life, after much effort.  Then gets beaten by a girl handling a lightsaber for the very first time, and who doesn't even remember to use the force until the fight's almost over.  The rest of the time he's taking out his anger on machinery, which isn't "evil" so much as "a persistent nuisance to the maintenance crew."  Like a cat who won't stop clawing the furniture, only more so.  One hopes they don't allow him near anything too vital, like life support or the hyperdrive.

[Unorthodox]

Yeah, my wife noted how odd it was that they hadn't upgraded their military technology in thirty years, despite now being an established government and not a bunch of poorly-funded insurgents.

They didn't just NOT UPGRADE, they took a step backward.  Y Wings and X Wings were piles of junk in episode 4.  They were mostly replaced by A Wings and B Wings by ROTJ. 

That said, I understand the need to have the X wings as center stage, being the most iconic "Star Wars" visual, and I think there was some effort to make it appear they were upgraded X wings.  But, the complete lack of capital ships and only a couple dozen X wings being all they could muster from the "rebels" who according to the opening crawl, are now "Backed by the republic" was a little too far.  They COULD have easily explained a lot of this by having starkiller take out most of the fleet around one of the planets. 

It's kinda sad that (IIRC) Kylo Ren kills exactly two people in the whole movie, and both of them are unarmed old men who aren't fighting back.

And yet the one was the most cold hearted and evil death in all of Star Wars. 

He does eventually disable a force-blind guy who's handling a lightsaber for the second time in his life, after much effort.

I viewed that as him totally toying with Finn.

Then gets beaten by a girl handling a lightsaber for the very first time, and who doesn't even remember to use the force until the fight's almost over.

Specifically trying NOT to kill her, but rather turn her to his side.  He was again handily defeating her, toying with her, till she "awakens". 

Both the above while wounded of unknown severity. 

The rest of the time he's taking out his anger on machinery, which isn't "evil" so much as "a persistent nuisance to the maintenance crew."  Like a cat who won't stop clawing the furniture, only more so.  One hopes they don't allow him near anything too vital, like life support or the hyperdrive.

Ok, he's not SUPPOSED to be EVIL.  He's supposed to be UNSTABLE.  Falling to the dark side, yet unable to control it fully yet.  They went to several efforts to make the case HE'S NOT TRAINED.  This is an evil version of Luke from Empire Strikes Back here.  Sure, he's got some tricks and can do a few things, but he's not fully in control, and is still tempted by the Good Side. 

As for the temper tantrums, I thought they fit well to show the out of control young man, and were less troublesome than Vader's habit of knocking off every officer that looks at him cross-eyed. 

[ColdWizard]

They didn't just NOT UPGRADE, they took a step backward.  Y Wings and X Wings were piles of junk in episode 4.  They were mostly replaced by A Wings and B Wings by ROTJ. 

That said, I understand the need to have the X wings as center stage, being the most iconic "Star Wars" visual, and I think there was some effort to make it appear they were upgraded X wings.  But, the complete lack of capital ships and only a couple dozen X wings being all they could muster from the "rebels" who according to the opening crawl, are now "Backed by the republic" was a little too far.  They COULD have easily explained a lot of this by having starkiller take out most of the fleet around one of the planets.   

But it says "With the support of the Republic..." which could be as little as mere permission to resist the First Order. Presumably if the Republic felt the First Order was a threat, they would themselves be providing the resistance instead of outsourcing it. So with the war won, I would expect the bulk of the good Rebel equipment folded back into the Republic and the Resistance getting the remnants on an as-needed basis.