Welcome to Thunderdome

GORDON wrote: I liked 90% of R1. The "rebellions are built on hope!" stuff is a little saccharine, considering the tone of the rest of the movie.

I liked it. Agreed, 4 Star Wars movies.

I liked Solo too.

Personally I liked this one, and I'm glad I saw it fast before all the spoilers come out.

Leisher will probably hate it.

GORDON wrote: Leisher will probably hate it.

Depends if they hired mentally challenged people to write it like they did with TLJ.

The hard criticisms I see... I didn't mind. So.

Watching a special on the Star Wars movies that they aired before this last movie came out. I think I know why I was able to forgive things from Lucas that I haven't been able to forgive this time around. The Ewoks were countered by a taste of a fully trained Jedi. Jar Jar was countered with the fully formed and alive planet of Naboo. Also, we got the Jedi vs Sith Lord battle that had only existed in Lucas' mind to that point. Nothing that had ever happened in the Star Wars universe to that point held a candle to the fight scene with Darth Maul.
It forever changed how we view lightsaber duels. The Clone Wars gave us Coruscant and the Clone Wars that were referenced but never fully fleshed out. And we got to see what the training of the Jedi looked like before the fall of Anikan. Other than some poorly acted scenes, there was nothing really wrong with the third prequel.

I haven't seen the third of this new batch. Might rent it when it comes to Redbox (but won't be too sad if I miss it). But the first two added nothing to the Star Wars universe that was needed. Lucas always delivered on the front, even when I didn't realize I needed it. The bad decisions that Lucas made never irrevocably damaged the Star Wars universe. Almost every decision they made in the new movies did.

Vince wrote: The bad decisions that Lucas made never irrevocably damaged the Star Wars universe. Almost every decision they made in the new movies did.

I think TFA was fine, although it was definitely a rehash. TLJ is what killed Star Wars.

Leisher wrote:I think TFA was fine, although it was definitely a rehash. TLJ is what killed Star Wars.

I ranked it as just okay. Not only was it a rehash, it added nothing to the Star Wars universe the way every predecessor did.

It also confirmed my suspicions that Abrams can tell a good story, but is beyond bad at writing a good story. I think a winning combination would have been to have had Lucas come up with the story and have Abrams direct kind of like what happened with Empire.

I think JJ and Rian are brilliant directors, but their writing is dogshit. Not everyone is Tarrantino.

Leisher wrote: I think JJ and Rian are brilliant directors, but their writing is dogshit. Not everyone is Tarrantino.

Agreed.

I think the bowing to China could be the chink in Disney's armor. The Black Widow trailer hardly made a ripple from what I was seeing on social media. Not because people didn't think it looked interesting, but because by the time people in the US saw it, it was old news (by Twitter standards). Someone asked why they'd drop the trailer at 4 AM EST. Someone else pointed out it was 3 PM in Beijing.

Edit to say: While Tarrantino's flavor of story isn't always something I'm drawn to, I acknowledge his skill. I didn't always feel that way, but given the landscape, I'm evolving.

I enjoyed it, glad I saw it, etc. It was weird to have to the battle between episodes VII and VIII playing out in pulling out a story and ending.

Kids loved it. Weird to see a story concluding that started when I was 3.

Also, I was surprised that I got spoiled on basically nothing in this film, which was nice.

That's pretty interesting.

GORDON wrote: Leisher will probably hate it.

Yep, but to be fair, I don't blame JJ completely. I think Rian handed him an absolute disaster.

Although, I probably hated it because I like well written stories, and not childish garbage where the writers just change the rules whenever they want. I've seen episodes of Power Rangers with deeper plots. (I'm lying. I've never seen that show, but you get my point.)

This was better than 8, but worse than 7.

Leisher wrote: This was better than 8, but worse than 7.

I'm going to agree, but my kids loved it, so yay

The kid I took also enjoyed it. I did not let her know that I thought it sucked.

https://youtu.be/O7dq_wo5eto