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;D
Dammit BC! Stop that right NOWWWW!!!! :tickedoff:
Cool it - just go with the flow.
Aileron Hubbard would approve.
This is a thread my Grandfather would love after he got all your noses.
Quote from: Gusington on December 17, 2015, 07:00:19 PM
This is a thread my Grandfather would love after he got all your noses.
Would our noses look suspiciously like the end of his thumb caught between his fore and middle finger?
I remember that guy. He used to scare the hell out of me.
^With reason. And yes your noses would be his thumb. Maybe if he was feeling warm and sensitive he would call them 'nosies' but only if you were younger than 3.
There are worse things he could've grabbed. I think I used to know THAT guy too. And stayed way away from him. And off his grass.
Quote from: Sir Slash on December 17, 2015, 10:41:12 PM
I think I used to know THAT guy too. And stayed way away from him. And off his grass.
Not smoking grass with the neighborhood pedo is good advice for all kids. There should be a PSA about it on Sesame Street.
Quote from: Gusington on December 17, 2015, 07:00:19 PM
This is a thread my Grandfather would love after he got all your noses.
"Don't fall asleep!
Don't... fallll... asleeeepp...."
Meanwhile, I shall spend at least 40 seconds laughing at all the people who thought Luke was going to be the new Vader-Lite guy.
And at the people who thought Luke was going to be in more than 30 seconds of the movie.
Ironically, both ideas are connected to that poster of Luke-as-Obi-Wan towering over everyone else on the poster.
Quote from: JasonPratt on December 21, 2015, 04:20:24 PM
Meanwhile, I shall spend at least 40 seconds laughing at all the people who thought Luke was going to be the new Vader-Lite guy.
And at the people who thought Luke was going to be in more than 30 seconds of the movie.
Ironicall
Dude! Spoiler tags! Spoiler tags!
>:(
SPOILER ALERT------ I hope one of the planets that got zapped by the new Death Star was Jar Jar's. And he was on it. "Meesas thinking, whatsa that bright light comin"? Just saying.
>:( >:(
Now, Gus. It does say 'SPOILER INSIDE' right in the title...
Right! SPOILERS..... Better not tell him about the naked dancing Ewoks then or Chewbacca getting drunk and trying to hump Han's leg. Or..... "This isn't the thread your looking for". "These aren't the Spoilers that are real". "Move along. Move along".
i thought this is the full of TFA-spoilers thread and so i had avoided it until i had seen the movie
...to find out its kust about a joke
so we need a real SW TFA threat ....openly discussion the movie for those who have already seen it
While I definitely enjoyed the movie overall, I thought the ending was hella lame. There, I said it.
Quote from: Martok on December 22, 2015, 07:00:22 AM
While I definitely enjoyed the movie overall, I thought the ending was hella lame. There, I said it.
But doesn't it make you want to spend $15 to see the next one? :P
I will, but I don't particularly *want* to. One good date does not make one fall (back) in love.
However, I am now cautiously hopeful for the future, which is far more than I would've thought I'd admit to a few months ago.
- - -Spoiler rich environment - - - Don't read if you have not seen the movie yet !
It is definitively a Star Wars movie! ...but it feels like a remake/rehast of a best of collection of 4,5,6 scenes
When i watched the movie unfold, i almost heard the echo of voices of the members of the planing council over at Disney whisper in the background ...how political correctness and all the different global marketing opportunities had to be drop-forged! on the cast-selction and the script and also still somehow satisfy the expectations of the StarWars fan base (from 6+ to 60+, grown up with different iterations of the series, and so expectations) and also the general expectations of nowadays-movie-going-teens, so Disney browsing through the catalog of 'What sold good at the box office' the last years, that there will be zero risk it may fail only a tiny bit at the box office ...and For heaven's sake! no liberal around the world and especially in Hollywood is 'offended' and write a annoyed social-politics essay in the New York Times
- so we have a death star planet to be destroyed again in the last minute...again
- a plan hidden stored i a cute droid before owner get captured ...again
- a wannabe-Vader (who wares a mask as a homage to his granddad idol, even so he doesn't has any health problems ...who brakes into more childish then spooky-obsessed-dark rage now and then when he get bad news reported to him and has to trash the surrounding office space immediately with his crusader-style lightsaber... even his Stormtroopers chuckle behind their masks, and turn around on patrol-path when he acts out his disappointment, ...no one in the galaxy can take this chap serious, force or not. Dark Helmet can stare him down anytime)
- a 'spooky emperor' in the form of a giant Golum/Mountain-Troll crossover
- a female granny 'Yoda replacement' in form of a cantina (yes a cantina - including playing band) operating tiny wise old lady, called Maz
- a very cute new droid (to sell as a toy in BB 8 millions) ...but the R2D2-C3PO interactions-part which was so much the real soul of the early StarWars movies is badly missing (think of watching Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy interact ... and then its just a 'new Stan', no Hardy in a 'Sons of the Desert 2' )
- a black stormtrooper main protagonist, which feels as wrong lets say unhistorical as a black SS guy in Adolf's Leibstandarte leading Staufenberg into the Wolfschanze rooms would be in a WW2 movie (of course there has to be a mixed-color 'love-interest' to be 'promoted' somehow )
- the female protagonist feel so stolen from the 'Hunger Games' Katniss character by Disney ....without the bow of course, that would have been to obvious
Well, all those marketing 'n politics filtered pieces revisits molted together and filled up with topnotch CGI and real action in real landscape led to a watchable Star Wars experience, no question! ... but i feal somehow cheated or betrayed of the opportunity to see a better version
I agree with all the above. That's why I liked it. Same story, new characters. Still, I hope Disney saved a bunch of money on writers that they didn't need.
I thought it was interesting that the writers casually clarified (through Finn's passing dialogue two or three times) that they were still using clone troopers, and that he himself is one of them -- only clearly not clones of Jango Fett. That felt like a weird callback to the prequels: why bring it up at all if you aren't going to explain the discrepancy? Ditto the female Trooper captain.
Aside from the plot jankiness, I thought they handled the Finn character well enough. And Rey, although since about half-way through the movie I thought she'd be another daughter of Leia, I couldn't help but project some vibes of "HEY LET'S CALL BACK THE INADVERTENT INCEST DODGE FROM HOW THE LEIA/LUKE PLOT PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED, EXCEPT RAMPED UP TO MIND-RAPEY LEVELS!" :crazy2:
Fortunately, it's only cousins (probably), so crisis averted. (This isn't explicitly confirmed in the movie yet, but the plot seems aimed in that direction.)
By the way, who was Max Von Sydow supposed to be playing? The movie treats us as though we're supposed to know who it is, without explaining even slightly who he is. He died at the beginning, too, right? Bro and I left the theater highly confused on that point. Is he from the new comics canon? -- from the (canonical) animated Clone Wars?
Po (not the panda) was so explicitly pulled out of the plot's ass when he returned, that Bro and I were convinced the movie was trying to tell us he's a clone and thus an Empire First Order plant. But that doesn't seem likely, since he helped whop the Shatterstar.
I feel like the political situation could have been explained better, too. I think the situation is that the Empire, but not calling themselves the Empire anymore (for no clear reason at all), still holds a large part of the galaxy 20 years later, and the Resistance are fighting them in that territory with support from the New Republic. But then the First Order acts like they're a secret group of Nazis about to come back from hiding on the moon to first-strike the New Republic (and how did anyone see a multi-cannon Deathstar-shot through hyperspace?? -- otherwise a good idea) and rise again. So... :-\
I do want to add that Bro and I enjoyed the movie a lot, even though the levels of pandering homage got ridiculous (also my main stylistic complaint about the Hobbit Trilogy). And even though whingy!notVader was seriously uneven in his presentation. When he's being competent, he's great. When he's being whingy, like Mike said, Dark Helmet would schwarz him.
Quote from: JasonPratt on December 22, 2015, 12:06:15 PM
I thought it was interesting that the writers casually clarified (through Finn's passing dialogue two or three times) that they were still using clone troopers, and that he himself is one of them -- only clearly not clones of Jango Fett.
IIRC (from a discussion between wannabe-Vader and his competitor general or a subordinate about Finn's desertion) this brigade/division of Stormtroopers were ransacked little kids or even babies and then raised/trained similar to clones.
(a common practice see: Janissaries, Turks robbed christian kids and grown and brainwashed them into elite soldiers)
Well, its of course cheaper then to order and produce expensive clones from Kamino ...but you see what you get, when you buy cheap;-)
Quote from: MikeGER on December 22, 2015, 12:31:08 PM
Quote from: JasonPratt on December 22, 2015, 12:06:15 PM
I thought it was interesting that the writers casually clarified (through Finn's passing dialogue two or three times) that they were still using clone troopers, and that he himself is one of them -- only clearly not clones of Jango Fett.
IIRC (from a discussion between wannabe-Vader and his competitor general or a subordinate about Finn's desertion) this brigade/division of Stormtroopers were ransacked little kids or even babies and then raised/trained similar to clones.
Well, its of course cheaper then to order and produce expensive clones from Kamino ...but you see what you get, when you buy cheap;-)
That's what I thought to...since I believe in one of the scenes after Finn escapes, Kylo says to the general they should go back to using Clones instead.
Well they need something because they do go through a whole bunch of troops fast. :P
***Spoilers****
So at this point, I think the big mystery is, who is Rey's parents? I think everyone wants us to believe she is Luke's kid and certainly could be, but I wonder if that is a misdirect...things that point that way....
- Basically same story as Luke
- Grew up on desert planet, left there
- Wore the same clothes
- Both had land speeder type vehicles
- She has a high level of the force
- Luke's lightsaber calls to her
- Knows how to fix things and fly
- In the last battle scene, she is able to retrieve the lightsaber from the snow, sort of like Luke did on Hoth
- Basically, Luke as a female:)
But I personally think that is too obvious and wouldn't be shocked if it turns out to be someone else...possible candidates.
- Han and Leia (although a lot of questions to answer there)
- Some relation to Obi-Wan
- Maybe even a relation to someone on the darkside like the Emperor
- Some other Jedi/dark side family that we really have never seen in a movie
- etc.
Although they would have to explain a lot, kind of like her being the daughter of Han and Leia, much better story line when brother vs sister, versus cousins battling it out....some things to support that....
- Kylo saved her during the Jedi massacre in the dream sequence...must have been important to him or someone he worked for
- Although we didn't see it, I believe Kylo is the one who left Rey on the planet..when the person grabs her hand, it looks like the hand of that monster who Rey sells her stuff too....can't imagine Luke or Han leaving a little girl in his care
- Throughout the movie, he seemed really intrigued about the girl
- Much better story of brother vs sister:)
I guess we have two years to figure it out:)
or another theory:
the force sometimes is just strong in someone without any Jedi-parents ...like young Anakin was, wasn't he?
(IIRC, he even was a 'virgin birth'! ...by the force?)
...and all those younglings that were found by Jedis while traveling, and got accepted and schooled at the Jedi temple ...and killed in episode 3
so it would be a fresh start for the Good Side (The Force Awakens), and she can be developed into a kind of a loose Joan of Arc- variation/reffering in the upcomming plot... well, without the bad ending of course
Anything is possible, so certainly an option.....although I think the writers will opt for something more dramatic and having some kind of relationship with a key figure...but who knows
I said Rey and Ren as soon as my daughter and me got out of the movie. So, Han and Leia. WHY they would split the kids and leave Rey, alone, I don't know, but, it would be fairly simple to explain in the next movie.
Just came from it...enjoyed it very much. It was special to watch it with my kids.
I too have many questions, including - who the hell was Max Von Sydow supposed to be??
Quote from: MetalDog on December 22, 2015, 10:17:47 PM
I said Rey and Ren as soon as my daughter and me got out of the movie. So, Han and Leia. WHY they would split the kids and leave Rey, alone, I don't know, but, it would be fairly simple to explain in the next movie.
The only thing I find hard to believe is that during this entire movie talking about their Son, not one time did they mention a daughter...just seems like that would come out. But who knows, I am sure they can explain anything:)
Where the Force, and Disney, is concerned, anything is possible :)
Quote from: Gusington on December 22, 2015, 10:41:16 PM
Just came from it...enjoyed it very much. It was special to watch it with my kids.
time passes fast here in Grogheads halls, but aren't your kids IIRC still very young?
Well. wannabe-Vader (in opposite to the original) gives only nightmares to the mountaintroll emperor for underachieving , and the young female lead charcater Rey is strong and fearless ...and good as identification person in the movie for
little princesses watching
but i found the sudden and harsh death of Han by the hands of his own son might induce fears of loss
(well, i am lightyears far from a child psychologist ...so just a
kitchen game table thought, ...before moving counters on it again)
Quote from: MetalDog on December 22, 2015, 10:17:47 PM
I said Rey and Ren as soon as my daughter and me got out of the movie. So, Han and Leia. WHY they would split the kids and leave Rey, alone, I don't know, but, it would be fairly simple to explain in the next movie.
the easy Disney rinse and repeat approach would be: siblings ...again!
female sibling existence was hidden/or declared dead at birth and so stolen by a 'darkside - spoofed' medical-robot-unit to later get raised to the dark side.
But Luke / or "The Force" (fate) intervented and Rey got in the hands of a common couple, whose civilian-transportship got en-route to somewhere assaulted by pirates/slavehunters, and so toddler-Rey somehow stranded on the dessert planet in the hand of a junkdealer....
.. i hope she didn't also had to lower-division Pod-race on Jakku in her early years ;)
(DarthDisney whispers ..but a new Pod racer collection are good toys to sell, and a CGI sequence fills the movie with additional minutes of high-octane action for the young attenders who where to young to marble at the episode 1 sequences ...)
Sounds good to me, Mike! You ever think about going in to the movie business?
At least we know we have a year and a half to speculate about all this stuff....that is part of the charm of Star Wars:)
They stayed pretty true to the past formula in this first movie and people mostly enjoyed and welcomed it.....they probably will stick to their formula. And then explore all the unique and different things in all those side movies they have planned.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on December 23, 2015, 09:20:31 AM
....that is part of the charm of Star Wars:)
+1
that
and reallife "Howard/Leonard"-ish students (and maybe even in a future BBT episode also) already trying to build all kind of working BB8tes ...but i would like to see how this ball navigate the staircases in the BBT house upstairs?
i bet soon a fleet of BB8s will roll around the 26,7km tunnel circle footpath of the LHC for
inspection purpose when the collider is offline between experiments 8)
My kids are now 7 and 9. Prime Star Wars initiation time :)
Quote from: Gusington on December 23, 2015, 08:24:34 PM
My kids are now 7 and 9. Prime Star Wars initiation time :)
Saw the movie yesterday with my wife. We both enjoyed it a lot. Lots of fun seeing the old folks back in the movie.
But man, you all here can suck the fun outta anything. Why go to all the trouble of picking the movie apart for political or marketing stuff. Just enjoy the film for what it is.
Yes it is a rehash of the first series but remember that Star Wars was released in 1977... almost 40 years ago! I think Disney can be forgiven for re-using really good stuff to draw in a new generation of fans. Why screw with the formula that got us all hooked?
Anyway, I agree that the big questions are who are Rey's parents and why was she left in the desert. I didn't see any of Katniss in here character other than they are both strong females.... but maybe it's because I like that.... ;)
The ending could have been stronger but remember that the franchise is aimed at an audience the is well below our age and experience. It's a great hook to get younger people to want the next movie. Hell, even I want to see the next one and my wife as well and she's only becoming a geek by osmosis.
Well worth the money and seeing on the big screen. The last movie my wife and I went to was Indiana Jones and the Crystal skulls.... of boredom... man was that a bad movie. :buck2:
I think the criticisms are absolutely justified. It was a good film but it was definitely just a rehash, and with all the resources at Disney's disposal I don't think it unreasonable to expect something a bit fresher. We paid our money.
Why is the idea that Luke get any more than 30 seconds of screentime laughable? Am I missing something here?
Quote from: Barthheart on December 25, 2015, 08:34:30 AM
But man, you all here can suck the fun outta anything. Why go to all the trouble of picking the movie apart for political or marketing stuff. Just enjoy the film for what it is.
I have to admit I felt both enraged and entertained all at the same time moments after I walked out of the theater having seen the new star wars movie. I couldn't take in that the new movie is nothing more than three movies stuffed into one. As the hours and days went by and I gave my self a chance to think about what I just saw I realized that JJ Abrams is a master in getting fans (both new and old) hooked on a creation of his. The new star wars movie is like that awesome new girlfriend you just met. You can't stop thinking about her and can't wait for the next date with her. You want so bad to learn more about her and it's killing you.
That's what this new star wars is.
Great comparison and I agree. Can't wait to see it again!
https://twitter.com/KyloR3n
Just came back and saw it. I really liked it and thought it was an excellent movie for a lot of reasons. Mostly though it was a homage to the original (not just a rehash) It was also under a mandate from Disney who spent $4 Billion just to have the rights to make it to not screw it up. Remember the last three movies had damaged the StarWars brand and twisted it into a nightmarish soup of overly complex and boring plot devices in a universe of infinite one dimensional people who apparently run in the same rut with each other. This movie weaved all the disparate elements together in at least a plausible way while reintroducing the yarn ripping action of a space opera. Now the remaining movies are more at liberty to explore more dark scenarios or potentially more risky plot lines without losing the magic that is StarWars.
Con
You Sir are a Dark Poet.
I saw it again with my Son-in-Law and his oldest son last Thursday. We speculated who Jen is related to all the way home afterward. I finally found something we can talk about besides his damned N.E. Patriots.
On a quick note about Annakin's conception: the Palpatine hinted strongly, in the opera scene, that he himself did that as an experiment in artificial conception using the midichlorians.
I know from sufficient tracking evidence that Lucas doesn't plot things out very far in advance, but in hindsight I have to wonder if this one time he did plot out something in advance, thus explaining why he introduced those things at all.
Meanwhile, how great was it for Ep 7 to be Ep 4 re-imainged by the guy who wrote Ep 5 (our eps 1 and 2)? :smitten:
Also, I should have clarified that I'm laughing at myself, too, for thinking Luke would be in the movie more than 30 seconds. Bitterly, bitterly laughing. :buck2:
^Isn't Luke's appearance here in Episode 7 what the kids call 'telegraphing' to the next Episodes (8&9)?
Slash - you can talk about how the Jets [finally] stuck it to the Patriots this past Sunday with your son in law. Tell him I said it was ok.
Quote from: Gusington on December 29, 2015, 04:06:33 PM
^Isn't Luke's appearance here in Episode 7 what the kids call 'telegraphing' to the next Episodes (8&9)?
Slash - you can talk about how the Jets [finally] stuck it to the Patriots this past Sunday with your son in law. Tell him I said it was ok.
Remember Emperor Belichick is always a couple of moves ahead of you nerfherders.
Luke: Your overconfidence is your weakness.
The Emperor: Your faith in your
friendsJets is yours.
Gus, I haven't seen him since he left sunday afternoon to go home and finish watching the game. Not a good sign. Next time I see him, I'm going to ask him if he wants to flip a coin what to watch on TV. ::)
^Better make sure he hasn't done anything rash.
I know how it works with the Jets Con - I'm waiting for the big reveal.
Pats fans are so used to winning that the stunned silence hasn't given-in to the rash reactions yet I think. As a Buccs and Dolphins fan, losing is something we handle real well.
Dolphins fan??? Oy vey.
We use other terminology.
'Where's Marino?'
Glad as hell he got out when he did. :2funny:
Marino stayed one year too long. Wasn't his last game a 66 to makes no difference drubbing by the Jaguars in the playoffs? And I am a Bucs fan, too. So I feel your pain, Slash.
just have read there will be a new Idiana Jones ( #5 ) too ...so Disney can let Indy die also :o
Quote from: MikeGER on December 31, 2015, 08:05:21 AM
just have read there will be a new Idiana Jones ( #5 ) too ...so Disney can let Indy die also :o
I wouldn't object to that, was never a big fan of those movies:)
'Where's Marino?'
It's funny, you just made me think of Bart Starr. He also stayed a year, maybe two, too long. He was interviewed before the first game of his last season. Why stay on? At that point, the Packers were really bad, must have been about 1968.
His answer was that his youngest son, Bret, had never seen him play.
Naturally, he was murdered out on the field. Quite ironic since his son got into drugs and died of an overdose.
Speaking of 'Bret' there's also Brett Favre, who made the cosmic error of almost finishing his career on the Jets at the age of 91 or so. We have now come full circle.
It's not full circle until you call him Boba Brett
Con
I was glad when Marino decided to not go to Minnesota.
Well it's not as if his odds of winning a Super Bowl would've been any better...
http://hellogiggles.com/theory-rey-star-wars/
Quote from: bayonetbrant on December 31, 2015, 02:55:02 PM
http://hellogiggles.com/theory-rey-star-wars/
Eh. It's certainly possible, but I don't find the argument very compelling. I still vote for her being either Luke's or Leia & Han's kid.
If anything I might buy Luke's kid with bens granddaughter.....but not sure. There are arguments for every theory right now:). The part that sticks in my mind is the fact ren saved her so has to be attached to him somehow.
I told my daughter when we were sitting in the theater that I thought Ren and Rey were brother/sister.
Quote from: MetalDog on December 31, 2015, 05:09:54 PM
I told my daughter when we were sitting in the theater that I thought Ren and Rey were brother/sister.
Its possible, just need a whole lot of explanation as to how that happened.....while discussing their son during the entire movie, you would think Leia or Han might have mentioned they had a daughter as well, unless somehow it was hidden from them both.
Unless Luke and Leia continued to get frisky even after finding out they were brother and sister:)
The biggest twist of all is if she turns out to be just a natural gifted nobody without any of the original StarWars characters being her parent. That would blow some nerd minds for sure :crazy2:
That would SO be awesome!
It would be, but never will happen:). Star Wars is the story of the skywalkers, probably has to setup someone for the legacy since I will guess that both Luke and leia both die in one of the upcoming episodes.....
The next movie will also reveal that BB8 is R2D2 and C3PO's kid.
The consensus around the house is that somehow Ben Kenobi is involved.
Those long, lonely nights on Tattoine, sultry desert breezes...
Ben probably did it with a Bantha before too long after being stuck out there
Con
The second time I saw the movie I noticed Rey had a doll in her room dressed in a Rebel pilot's uniform probably from her childhood and later she put on a Rebel pilot's helmet after eating. Could they be a hint of who her parents were that left her there or were they just left over from whatever battle took place there-- the Star Cruisers graveyard? Also Han knew the guy who took the Falcon, calling him by name. And in the dream scene, Rey was left with the Scavenger Boss as her parents flew away. But surely he would know his own daughter if he had left her there. Rey and Finn also have similar backgrounds. Both taken from their families while children and seem drawn to each other throughout the movie. Could they be related somehow? Who's to say old Anakin didn't get around more than we know? Must be the deep voice that gets him lucky.
Quote from: Sir Slash on January 01, 2016, 12:21:49 AM
The second time I saw the movie I noticed Rey had a doll in her room dressed in a Rebel pilot's uniform probably from her childhood and later she put on a Rebel pilot's helmet after eating. Could they be a hint of who her parents were that left her there or were they just left over from whatever battle took place there-- the Star Cruisers graveyard? Also Han knew the guy who took the Falcon, calling him by name. And in the dream scene, Rey was left with the Scavenger Boss as her parents flew away. But surely he would know his own daughter if he had left her there. Rey and Finn also have similar backgrounds. Both taken from their families while children and seem drawn to each other throughout the movie. Could they be related somehow? Who's to say old Anakin didn't get around more than we know? Must be the deep voice that gets him lucky.
I still think Ren is the one who left her on the planet since he appeared to be the last person to see her as he killed the would-be killer (unless additional scenes left out, which is possible)...plus, can't imagine Luke/Han leaving her with the Scavenger Boss, surely they would have picked someone else like the old guy that died at the start. What is also kind of odd...until the dream, you wouldn't have thought the Scavenger Boss and Rey had any kind of relationship...just seemed like business. Unless the Scavenger Boss immediately dumped her onto someone else like the old man:) I was also thinking how Anakin could be involved, but I guess even if possible, it would have to be his granddaughter since these events happened 30 years after his death.
I even saw one theory where they believe Ren is some kind of double-agent, planted with the First Order to kill Snoke and that is why he is so conflicted.....so Han helped him complete his mission:) We never saw the Knights of Ren actually kill any of the Jedi, maybe they arrived after the battle and that is why we saw Ren save Rey.
Then I even saw another theory that said the bodies laying on the ground were actual dead Ewoks saying the Knights returned to Endor to retrieve Vader's helmet to worship:)
Speculation is what makes this movie series fun:)
Quote from: MetalDog on December 31, 2015, 05:09:54 PM
I told my daughter when we were sitting in the theater that I thought Ren and Rey were brother/sister.
I could be wrong, but I do suspect they are. I think the story is sort of following a bit of the books (the Solo/Organa kids, and how Jacen went to the dark side), and I think that would be great. There was a lot of great material in books and comics after the original trilogy films, and I think it gives a lot to pick from.
After these 3 films with JJ Abrams, I'm kind of hoping the explore the Old Republic as well.
It is my understanding that all three films will have different directors.
Don't forget about Rogue One. I'm looking forward to that one a bit more than the next flick in the trilogy, to be honest.
I did like Daniel Craig's cameo.
I'm looking forward to the next film too. I'll be old enough to get the Senior discount.
Quote from: OJsDad on January 04, 2016, 06:09:21 PM
I did like Daniel Craig's cameo.
I did too, once I realized that's who it was. Loved his Stormtrooper designation as well. ;D
Quote from: Martok on January 05, 2016, 06:41:06 AM
Quote from: OJsDad on January 04, 2016, 06:09:21 PM
I did like Daniel Craig's cameo.
I did too, once I realized that's who it was. Loved his Stormtrooper designation as well. ;D
I would have never known unless I read it somewhere they he had been in it:)
Noticed a few familiar faces playing bit parts in the background. ;D
I missed Mr. Craig. Where was he? This better not be a Ninja-Trick.
Quote from: Sir Slash on January 06, 2016, 11:42:12 AM
I missed Mr. Craig. Where was he? This better not be a Ninja-Trick.
He played Stormtrooper JB-007, the one Rey was (eventually) able to use the Jedi Mind-Trick on.
OK. Well he always was weak-minded. Thanks Martok.
Pretty sure Simon Pegg had a go as a stormtrooper, too.
Simon was the Junkyard dealer Unkar Plutt
Well. It looks like today is my day to be wrong. :) In my defense, I could have sworn I saw a candid of him in stormtrooper gear with the helmet off.
I thought I saw Willie Nelson in the rebel HQ. No, wait. That was Carrie Fisher. Sorry, I just couldn't resist. ::)
This guy kind of tears apart Huff Po's "plot holes" article
(part 1 of 2)
QuoteAT LONG LAST...MY "STAR WARS: EPISODE VII" REVIEW. THE FORCE AWAKENS & THE RISE OF IDIOT JOURNALISM.
MATTY GRANGER·WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2016
Well, I've waited a few weeks to write my "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" review and finally, after multiple viewings and numerous vibrant discussions, I feel that I'm ready to give this movie the review it truly deserves.
I gave the film a ton of time to sink in. I analyzed the story structure and plot. I got to know the characters, both new and old, and came to understand the motivations and performances of the actors portraying them. I prepared myself to gush over the rollicking relationship between Poe Dameron and his new Stormtrooper pal, Finn, the brilliant puppeteering of BB-8 and the star-making performance of Daisy Ridley as the burgeoning Jedi known simply as Rey. I was ready to tell you about how much I adored the direction the filmmakers took with the legacy characters of Han, Leia and Luke while making Adam Driver's Kylo Ren one of the most layered and interestingly flawed villains I've ever seen. I was excited to prognosticate over clues that were left in the film to set up the remainder of the series. Sure, the movie has its flaws. It's a little heavy on the nostalgia and there are a few moments that are little too convenient for me, but there are a million other things I loved that quickly outweighed those problems. I've spent the last few weeks searching for precisely the right words to convey just how excited "The Force Awakens" has made me for the future of the franchise and planning how I would use those words to write a fair and balanced review.
But as I sit down to write that review...I simply can't.
And here's why...
The Huffington Post's article, "40 Unforgivable Plot Holes in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens".
Over the last few weeks I saw this article reposted over and over both by folks in the film industry and outside of it. The reposts often carried captions from Facebook users like "Yep!" or "This is exactly my problem". Oh shit. Did I miss something? Maybe the Huffington Post and half of Facebook saw something I didn't. I needed to know more. So I read the article. I read it numerous times. In the end, I came to my own conclusion...
The Huffington Post has no idea what the fuck it's talking about.
I don't know about the rest of you but I've grown exhausted with the horseshit, hater culture that online, millennial 'journalists' use to click-bait their way to some sort of self-perceived intellectual high ground. Hate first. Don't bother asking questions later.
After all the thought and effort I put into prepping my review, the Huffington Post article had somehow stunted my ability to write about the new "Star Wars" movie. But I refused to be deterred. Thus, this article is not intended to review "The Force Awakens". It's intended to rip the head off the Huffington Post's dumb-ass review and shit down its still-gasping esophagus.
Now, keep in mind I'm not a professional reviewer or even a journalist. I'm just a regular guy who has spent the better part of his life dedicated to studying story structure, plot, character, scene study and script development while working on twenty some-odd motion pictures over the last seventeen years. I might not be the guy to question the Huffington Post's lofty review, but I'll give it a shot.
So what are these "40 Unforgivable Plot Holes" and why is the Huffington Post ass-backward in their review? I blame it partly on the click-bait era. I also think that being a contrarian dick makes people feel intelligent. But those aren't the reasons the review is horseshit. It's horseshit because it really seems like the reviewer didn't watch the movie at all.
Let's take a look at these 40 "holes" and see just how hard I can plug them.
1. To blow up the 120-km "Death Star" in Star Wars, the rebels needed detailed plans for the base and a full-scale invasion force -- as well as the supernatural targeting skills of the most powerful Force-user in the galaxy.
Yes they did. And in the Force Awakens, the hastily thrown together plan formulated by the Resistance to possibly, maybe cripple the Starkiller Base...FUCKING FAILS. Poe Dameron and his squadron have pulled out and are actually leaving the planet when they see that the target they couldn't even dent has been damaged from the inside. They then turn around and manage one last, desperate run. I don't want to hit this too hard on the nose, but you would've noticed this had you actually watched the movie.
2. The wily Han Solo loses track of his most prized possession, the Millennium Falcon, for more than a dozen years. And yet, less than a minute after Rey begins piloting the Millennium Falcon, Han looks out the window of his freighter and says, "Oh, there it is."
Try finding your car after it's been stolen. Try finding your kid's bike once some asshole has swiped it. Try finding your virginity even if you know exactly where you lost it. This is an entire galaxy we're talking about here, not the backseat of a '93 Ford Taurus.
Admittedly, I thought it was somewhat convenient that Han happened upon the ship, but he explains later that it wasn't luck that he found the Falcon. It was found by his freighter's scanners which conceivably could've been set to keep watch for it.
Also, I don't want to speculate, but there's a ton about Rey's past and the denizens of Jakku in general that's still going to be revealed in future films. Han may have even left the damn thing in the hands of Unkar Plutt in case he needed to use it to protect Rey. We just don't know yet.
3. Kylo Ren, a powerful Force-user, fights a light saber duel with an ex-janitor who has never held a light saber.
Actually, the "ex-janitor", Finn got his ass handed to him. He lasted about thirty seconds against Kylo Ren. Not only that, but he ended up sliced open and left for dead. What the fuck are you talking about?
But let's entertain this dumb-ass statement a little more. First off, Finn was a Stormtrooper assigned to sanitation, much like other Stormtroopers would've been assigned to various departments around the base. Nowhere in this movie is it said that Finn was a janitor. Not once. And how does he hold his own in combat against Kylo Ren for as long as he does? I'd hazard a guess that Finn was trained in the same fashion as the badass, laser-baton wielding Stormtrooper he fights at Maz Kanata's castle. Setting up the Stormtrooper skill-set is the whole point of showing that fight. Which incidentally, is actually the first time he holds a lightsaber, not when he fights Kylo. Learn why scenes are in movies, dude. It'll help you not make embarrassing statements like this.
4. Rey becomes nearly as effective a Force-user in a few hours as Luke Skywalker did in a few years.
Yeah. Makes you wonder why doesn't it? Kinda feels like we're being set up for something in the future. I wonder if we'll ever find out about her mysterious past and her mystical connection to the Force and Luke Skywalker? If you don't understand that this is set-up for future films, then you should have your Netflix password taken away from you.
5. Just minutes before Starkiller Base explodes, Supreme Leader Snoke tells Hux to go get Kylo Ren and take him off the planet. Unfortunately, Ren had recently (unbeknownst to Hux) run into the woods like a lunatic, leaving no information about his whereabouts. It's no problem, though, because Hux apparently has special Kylo Ren GPS.
Or the powerful Force user Snoke closes his eyes for two seconds and tells Hux exactly where Kylo is. Unless of course that power is reserved for first-time Force users like Leia when trying to find her brother who's hanging from a twig on the under-side of Cloud City. Don't make me use the Original Trilogy against you, dude. That shit's just wrong.
6. The reason Ren was slowly bleeding to death -- instead of being dead by Rey's hand -- is that a massive a chasm had just miraculously opened up in the several feet between the two of them. Such bad timing for Rey! (Damn you, deus-ex-geology!)
I'd call it more of a "Deus-ex-unstable-planet-collapsing- after-the-stored-power-of-a-sun-started-tearing-it-apart-from-the-inside-as-laid-out-by-the-plot", but that's just me. And as far as the awesome symbolism of a chasm forming between two people goes, I'd probably call it 'a little on the nose' before I called it a plot hole, especially considering that it was one of many chasms that opened during their fight that they managed to evade.
7. Rey, who has never left her home planet since she was a child, can speak Wookie.
She also speaks droid. How did she acquire these language skills? Might it have been part of her mysterious past as well? Dude. Come on. You're making this too easy.
8. It's okay that Poe survived a Tie Fighter crash; after all, so did Finn.
Finn was miles away, strapped into an ejector seat with a spent parachute strewn out behind him. Poe stated he woke up that night and didn't know where he was (probably strapped to ANOTHER EJECTOR SEAT). Here's a hint when it comes to watching movies. Use the parts you know to fill in the parts you don't know. That's not a writing lesson. That's a watching lesson.
9. What is all this nonsense about the First Order only wanting to destroy the Republic because the Republic is supporting the Resistance?
Only because of the Resistance? Hux SCREAMS a Hitler-like proclamation to his men that the galaxy's systems will fall in line with the First Order after the corrupt Republic and it's massive fleet are destroyed. Watch the movie, dude.
10. For that matter, why is it made to seem like the entire Republic is centered in just one star system?
Let me simplify this so you can understand a little better. There's this place in The United States called Washington DC...
11. Kylo Ren is the head of the Knights of Ren, but there are no other Knights of Ren in the movie.
Except for the six guys you see in Rey's vision. Idiot.
12. Captain Phasma is supposed to be a big-deal character in The Force Awakens.
Why? Because she looked awesome? Because she was in the trailer? If you can't see that this badass bitch is going to be pursuing the shit out of FN-2187 for the next two movies, then you are in dire need of a lesson on 'set-up'.
Also, I REALLY hate to do this, but I have to. Remember the 'big deal' that was Boba Fett? He was the most boring character in the entire Original Trilogy. Not only did he let Darth Vader do all his work for him, he was also little more than a glorified Fed-Ex guy delivering shit to Jabba the Hutt. He's also the badass that was accidentally killed by a BLIND GUY standing two feet away and yelling his name. Big deal? Not a chance in hell. But none of that negates the fact that we all think he looks cool as fuck on a lunchbox. Next.
13. Really? Was there no previous order Finn had ever refused to execute?
The Jakku raid was his first mission. It's in his dialogue. "In my first battle I made a choice. I wasn't going to kill for them". Prior to that he was standing around the sanitation department wondering when he was going to get his next pee break. What order was he going to refuse on moral grounds in the sanitation department? It's getting tiresome to keep saying it, but watch the movie.
14. Finn is an ex-janitor who goes AWOL from a Stormtrooper force numbering in the tens of thousands. Yet he is absolutely convinced, despite being someone of no importance whatsoever to the First Order, that he will be chased across the galaxy for having defected.
And breaking a high-value prisoner out of the brig. And stealing a Tie Fighter. And blowing up a few dozen guys. And shooting up the landing bay of a Star Destroyer. Not to mention helping return the droid the First Order is scouring the galaxy for to the Resistance. All things considered, I think he has a pretty good reason to believe what he does. Also, he's not a janitor. Just thought I'd remind you. Again.
15. Let's be clear: Han's son joins the First Order, and Luke's attempts to train new Jedis goes horribly wrong, and both men respond to these setbacks by, well, abandoning the Resistance to be utterly slaughtered by the First Order.
Aside from this article, have you ever failed horribly? I don't mean something trivial. I mean something like...I don't know...being responsible for turning your nephew into a mass murderer. How about being the shitty father that completely failed his mass murderering son? I imagine those type of things could leave a psychological scar or two. To make it worse, that's just what we currently know. We have no idea of the full scope of what happened to these men yet.
16. By the end of the movie, the impression is left that every single First Order soldier is dead besides Supreme Leader Snoke, General Hux, and Kylo Ren.
It is? Where is Snoke broadcasting his Hologram from? Could there not be more First Order there? Legions of them even? I mean, A New Hope left no impression that there was anyone left after the Death Star took it in the chute but there was most certainly a hell of a lot more of them out there.
For argument's sake, let's say the First Order HAS been obliterated along with the Republic. How badass is it that the coming films could be centred on these small groups of individuals as other forces of both good and evil, rise up in the Galaxy? Get your head out of your ass and realize how much this could open up from a storytelling point of view.
17. Why does General Hux need to gather all of his troops just to tell them he's about to press a button and destroy the entire Republic?
Aside from the fact that the answer to this is actually in the question itself, did you not listen to Hux' speech? The dude announces to his zealot legion that the weapon THEY BUILT TOGETHER is about to fire for the FIRST TIME and wipe out the ENTIRE REPUBLIC. He basically blows everyone there for taking part in this glorious moment. He's rallying his men around a common cause.
Again, let me simplify this.
You know when you go to your shitty office party and the boss you've never spoken to stands up and toasts all the attendees for the great year, then talks about how next year is going to be even better because of all your hard work and then concludes his speech with a shitty slide-show of the company's accomplishments? It's that, but with a giant planet-smashing super laser.
18. How pissy is it of Luke to (a) abandon the Resistance, and then (b) leave an obnoxiously coy trail of bread-crumbs to sort of (but not really) help people find him (at some unspecified time)?
We don't know why Luke abandoned the Resistance. Perhaps his presence would be a danger to them. Remember when he said he was 'endangering the mission' to Endor? Same thing. Or maybe he's a shattered man. Maybe he's wounded. Maybe he is using the force to allow himself to be found by the right person at the right time. Maybe there's a whole pile of shit we don't know yet. There isn't even a trail of breadcrumbs. There's a missing piece of map that has clearly been hidden away deliberately. This isn't a plot hole. If anything it leaves some very compelling questions.
19. Why wasn't the Resistance able to access R2D2's data archives at any point over the course of the many years Luke was gone?
I'm not an expert in droid memory systems, but when the most powerful Jedi in the Galaxy tells his fiercely loyal droid to code and hide something, I'm pretty sure it gets coded, broken up and hidden in places that programmers can't find. Then again, maybe the Huffington Post dude knows something about droid memory systems that I don't.
Part 2 of 2
Quote20. When the Resistance finally figures out where Luke is, after looking for him for many years, why do they send only Chewbacca and a random girl who Leia just met to collect him?
Let's just get this straight for a second. It's not said aloud in the movie, but it's pretty obvious that Han, Leia and very probably Luke know exactly who Rey is. There's a connection there. A mysterious one. One that we are now DYING to uncover. Sometimes when you write a movie, there are things that happen between scenes that never see the page. Was there a message from Luke in R2? Possibly. Had Leia been left with instructions for what to do if Rey ever showed up? Possibly. Again, this is all for the sequels and the eventual reveal of who Rey is.
21. Kylo Ren has such a Force-enabled sense of where his father is in the Galaxy that when his father lands on Starkiller Base, Ren immediately exclaims to himself, "Solo!" Yet a few minutes later, when Ren is just twenty feet from Solo, he can't detect him -- and actually starts searching for him in the wrong direction.
Hold on a second. If you were watching the movie, you'd have seen that Kylo Ren marches into that giant room with eight Stormtroopers, looks around with the force and says, "Find them". He knows good and goddamn well that Solo is in there and like a good villain, he leads Han onto that bridge to trap him out in the open, alone and defenseless. If you can't see that, I don't know what to tell you.
22. How lame is Han's attempt to convert his son?
What? By talking like a dad? By offering him anything he needed, including his life, in one of the most awesome, double-edged scenes of the entire series? Yeah. Pretty lame.
23. Why do Rey and Finn just stand by watching as Ren murders Han?
You mean like the way Luke watched Ben Kenobi get sliced in half from just a few feet away, let alone several hundred? No idea.
24. Rey says that the Millennium Falcon is "garbage" and hasn't been flown in many, many years. Indeed, it's such junk, in her view, that she won't even board it when she's about to be ripped to pieces by twenty Tie Fighters. Then she gets on board and it basically flies perfectly.
First off, it was two TIE Fighters not twenty. But let's look at this a little more closely. There's clearly evidence that Han knows who Rey is. There's also evidence that he knows who Unkar Plutt is. We also know that Rey is left on Jakku in the care of...Unkar Plutt. We also know that Luke knows who she is. From all this we could surmise that at some point in the past there was conspiracy to hide Rey on Jakku that possibly included Han, Leia, Luke and Unkar Plutt. There is a lot more to that ship being there than we know.
If you really want to say that Falcon starts on the first turn of the key and flies perfectly, you must not have been watching when thing crashed and smashed its way into the air, stalled out, had its belly gun lock up, malfunctioned to a point where it was in danger of spewing poison gas or the fact that Rey had to yank parts out of it with alarms blaring all over the place just to keep the hyperdrive from overloading. Yeah. Ran like a champ.
25. Why does Plutt offer Rey 250 times her usual pay for BB-8 and then, when she says "no," simply tell some of his heavies to just steal it?
We don't know Unkar Plutt's connection yet. I assure you there is one. A big one. He has likely been given the task to keep her on the planet at all costs, yet make sure she's able to survive. When he sees her with the droid, he sees the threat and must act. His first move is to give her more food than she has ever had. When that fails, he resorts to sending in the goons. We are not done with Unkar Plutt.
26. Maz Kanata is a friend to the Resistance. So why is she hiding Luke's light saber from them?
We don't know why she has it. She too may have been instructed to hold onto it. As she puts it, it's a 'good question for another time'. Don't lose your marbles over it quite yet.
27. How did Kylo Ren manage to get Darth Vader's mask into his little fetish den?
It doesn't matter. I can think of a million ways it fell into his possession, as I'm sure anyone could. The answer will probably end up being in a comic book about some Stormtrooper on Endor. Quit being so picky. Make something up in your head if it's bothering you that much because it really doesn't matter.
28. How does Finn find Rey's settlement?
He happened upon it. He didn't know where he was or where he was going. Watch some westerns. People have been happening upon plot points in the desert since "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly".
29. Who trained Rey to fight with a staff as effectively as she does, given that (a) she is an orphan with no friends or family, and (b) she has never been in a battle, but is, rather, merely a scrap-metal scavenger?
Dude. Wander down to the poorest part of whatever town you're in and pick a fight with a mangy little mutt of a guy. The smaller the better. Once you're out of the hospital, you'll realize that people who are forced to survive in the harshest environments don't train to fight. They learn the hard way and they get really, really good at it.
30. If Finn is such a good guy that he would try to save Rey the moment he saw she was in distress?
Actually, he ran right over to her, but by the time he got there, she had handed the thugs their asses. What movie were you watching? Nice phrasing on the question, by the way.
31. Given that all Poe knows about Finn is that he's a First Order defector, why does he seem happy to see Finn just seconds after (and perhaps as) BB-8 tells him Finn is alive?
I don't know. Maybe Finn saved his life and completed his mission for him? I'd be sorta stoked to see the guy too.
32. Kylo Ren takes his mask off pretty readily, and in pretty mixed company, for someone determined to wear super uncomfortable headgear perpetually.
He takes it off twice. Once to show Rey he doesn't need the mask to scare her and once to show his face to his father as he fights against the call to the light. This is the dumbest-fuck comment of all these dumb-fuck comments.
33. Why does Kylo Ren assign just a single Stormtrooper to guard Rey, the most valuable prisoner in the history of the First Order?
I can't imagine that an eighteen-year-old girl bolted to a chair would need much more than one badass Stormtrooper who, under his armour is built like Daniel Craig, to keep a bead on her. Why is this a plot hole?
34. How do the Rathtars on Han's freighter get loose?
Rey in an attempt to throw some fuses to close the doors between Han and the two gangs, hits the wrong fuse and instead opens the Rathar cages. She even has dialogue about it. WATCH THE FUCKING MOVIE!
35. Why do the Rathtars immediately kill every human they encounter -- except Finn, who is randomly dragged off just long enough to be rescued?
A Rathar dragged off another guy just before Finn was dragged away. I guess you were too busy not watching the movie to notice.
36. Why are all Stormtroopers human?
I only saw FN-2187 out of uniform so I can't assume that all of them are. I don't know what version you saw where they all take their helmets off, but I must've missed it. If you really want to get into old school Star Wars lore, the Emperor was actually a cosmic racist and only wanted humans in his ranks.
37. If basically everyone in the Galaxy knows the Force is not a myth -- for instance, every single Stormtrooper in the First Order, who has seen Kylo Ren use it or heard tell of him using it; every single person in the Resistance, who knows the Resistance is looking for Luke Skywalker; every single person in the Republic, which was first established in part by the heroism of the Jedis -- how is the existence of the Force a total shock to Rey?
What the fuck are you talking about? The second she hears the name Luke Skywalker she lights up like a Christmas tree. All Han does is confirm that the stories that have trickled down to this completely uneducated girl, who lives alone on a planet inhabited by thirty people, are absolutely true.
38. Is Supreme Leader Snoke actually a giant?
Seriously? Is this really a question? Is this what you asked the first time you saw the thirty foot tall Emperor in The Empire Strikes Back? Let me fill you in on something. There was this little movie called The Wizard of Oz. The great and powerful, thirty-foot-tall Wizard was actually a little tiny man behind a curtain. Do you think that these bad guys might all be drawing from the same archetype? Don't be so stupid.
39. Why would the First Order spend untold quadrillions of [insert unit of money here] to build the Starkiller Base, when a similar concept and design plan had twice before been destroyed with minimal difficulty by the rebels?
Because they're arrogant little shits trying to do better than their predecessors. They probably sat around going "You know, that Death Star was a great idea, but man it had some flaws. You know what we should do? Put that giant, fucking gun in a planet that you can' t blow up with a couple torpedoes." Expanding upon the ideas of the past. Remember the cold war? When the bombs just kept getting bigger and bigger and we had enough nukes to obliterate the planet a hundred times over? It's the same thing.
40. Is there any other film franchise in the history of cinema that would be permitted, by its fans and by critics, to recycle so many plot points?
There are most certainly many, many structural familiarities between this film and the films of the original trilogy. I'm not going to argue with that. Quite the contrary actually. This mirroring of Episode IV has been done on purpose. I'd like to offer you an education through one of the most brilliant essays ever written on the structure of Star Wars and the circular imagery inherent in the first six films. The Star Wars Ring Theory.
http://www.starwarsringtheory.com/
Last year I spoke to the author of the essay, a helluva gent named Mike Klimo. We discussed ring composition and I asked that if his theory is correct, how should it affect the storyline of Episode 7. His answer, without hesitation, was that Episode 7 would be a direct reflection of Episode 4. And he was absolutely correct. Sadly, it appears that this brilliant, classical writing technique has been dismissed by The Huffington Post's online reviewer as little more than an old, recycled plot.
As some of you may be able to see, the 'plot holes' outlined in the Huffington Post's article are not plot holes at all. They're simply things to which the reviewer willingly turned a blind eye due to the fact that he went in with a prepossessed notion of what he was going to write. His notion was so strong in fact, that he was able to completely overlook clear and obvious parts of the movie in order to back up the 'facts' of his dumb-shit, preconceived article.
That's not journalism. It's internet horseshit.
We are very close to reaching the end of social media's usefulness. Anyone with a keyboard can write anything they want with little to no training or skill. More often than not, the articles don't even need to be true or have any sort of back up research and sadly all it takes is a bold, contrarian statement to convince people who aren't interested in doing research for themselves that something wildly incorrect is truth. This extends from simple movie reviews to horrifying humanitarian crises. Actual news has become a rare commodity and we are little more than targets for advertising and electoral votes. We are being fed stupid disinformation and tricked into thinking we have knowledge that we don't actually have.
We have willingly grown stupid.
In the end, I had to look up who the twenty-something, hate-filled, millennial troll who wrote the Huffington Post article actually was. I imagined some smug, little bearded shit with horn-rimmed glasses and that typical douchebag air of millennial entitlement. At least then I could chalk it up to youth. However, what I found made this all the more disturbing. He isn't a millennial at all.
The forty year old writer, Seth Abramson, is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of New Hampshire and a graduate of Harvard Law School. What a shame. I guess when you're hired to write click-bait articles for horseshit news-sites, your education comes after your pay-check and you do what you're paid to do.
Nice work Seth.
Wake me up when the war against fun is over.
This is a riot
http://entertainment.ie/wtf/This-Twitter-spat-between-Emo-Kylo-Ren-and-Very-Lonely-Luke-is-what-the-Internet-was-made-for/374982.htm
Reading the points of the Huffington Post, it reminds me of watching many Siskel & Ebert reviews. They would sit there and criticize movies and forget that sometimes movies are just meant to be fun.
Yes but that guy cares way too much about Star Wars too. "I can't review the film properly because the Huffington Post made me angry", good grief, get a grip. I can't be arsed with any of it to be honest.
What pains me the most is the assertion that it was good that VII was a direct recycle of IV. And that it was a fun movie and opens the door for new directions for the rest of the series. Any bets on VIII and IX being remakes of V and VI? ;)
Quote from: MetalDog on January 09, 2016, 11:18:52 AM
What pains me the most is the assertion that it was good that VII was a direct recycle of IV.
Yeah. It was a fairly good film
despite that, not because of it.
So should this guy be prosecuted for the stole valor act for Stormtroopers?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3392162/STORMBLOOPER-Aspiring-English-actor-caught-pretending-man-Star-Wars-mask.html
Pretending to be a made up soldier.....where will it end!
Quote from: Huw the Poo on January 09, 2016, 01:13:23 PM
Quote from: MetalDog on January 09, 2016, 11:18:52 AM
What pains me the most is the assertion that it was good that VII was a direct recycle of IV.
Yeah. It was a fairly good film despite that, not because of it.
There are far worse ways to make movies. We've all seen the worse ways.
Finally saw it with the Mrs. this past weekend and it wasn't half bad.
Love the fact that the scale of the superweapons keeps getting larger; would love to see the argument/process there...
"Okay, so the first Death Star was pretty good, right?
"Yup."
"And the second Death Star was bigger which undoubtedly meant it would have been better if it had gotten a chance to take a run at it - damn Rebels"
"Yup, I guess."
"So...I got an idea...let's make a whole freakin' planet like a Death Star! There is no way in hell the Rebels can blow a planet up, right?"
"Brilliant!"
I remember the 'holy crap' moment when in Return of the Jedi we saw a new, bigger Death Star being built - it was so awesome.
But in VII, seeing a freakin' planet-sized Death Star was kind of...(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-fc%2Fyawn.gif&hash=9965b7e6c1dc7df2877067d5bc271868dd15c034) and ::) at the same time.
When I saw it at first I immediately started wondering how much in the way of resources and manpower it would take to excavate and build something of that size, and how it would go unnoticed by the rest of the galaxy, especially when it would take billions of slaves to build.
And then the other part of my brain says "shut up, it's just a movie!"
...and yet the new Nazi First Order superweapon was still taken out by single-seat fighter/bombers - albeit with help from the heroes who snuck into Navarrone Super Huge Energy Storage Place.
Still, it was a fun movie and I am glad to see it seem to get things (the series overall), "back on track," per se, so any complaints on my part are for argument's sake.
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on January 11, 2016, 07:47:16 AM
I remember the 'holy crap' moment when in Return of the Jedi we saw a new, bigger Death Star being built - it was so awesome.
But in VII, seeing a freakin' planet-sized Death Star was kind of...(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-fc%2Fyawn.gif&hash=9965b7e6c1dc7df2877067d5bc271868dd15c034) and ::) at the same time.
When I saw it at first I immediately started wondering how much in the way of resources and manpower it would take to excavate and build something of that size, and how it would go unnoticed by the rest of the galaxy, especially when it would take billions of slaves to build.
And then the other part of my brain says "shut up, it's just a movie!"
A construction job of that magnitude would require a helluva lot more manpower than the Imperial army had to offer. I'll bet there were independent contractors working on that thing: plumbers, aluminum siders, roofers.
At this point, who the hell would want to take a job on a super weapon project in the SW universe?
Building some planet destroying super laser, you say? Good paying construction jobs, you say? I could really use the paycheck, but I'm gonna have to pass :P
Quote from: mirth on January 11, 2016, 01:13:42 PM
At this point, who the hell would want to take a job on a super weapon project in the SW universe?
Building some planet destroying super laser, you say? Good paying construction jobs, you say? I could really use the paycheck, but I'm gonna have to pass :P
Part of this was reasoned in an amusing way in the Kevin Smith movie 'Clerks' (you can youtube the discussion clip). Basically, a contractor shows up and reasons to the clerks that it might be a good paying job, but the equivalent of doing work at a mob boss's place (i.e. you never know if you might be a casualty if there's a hit on the boss) - so you take the risk (instead of cloning storm troopers, they should have cloned plumbers - might have actually fixed that silly exhaust port as well :)).
I've seen the Clerks bit, but after 2 Death Stars get blown up you'd think it would be hard to find help for the latest 'super weapon'. I suppose guys are thinking, "It can't possibly happen 3 times!" :P
Quote from: endfire79 on January 11, 2016, 01:31:02 PM
Part of this was reasoned in an amusing way in the Kevin Smith movie 'Clerks' (you can youtube the discussion clip). Basically, a contractor shows up and reasons to the clerks that it might be a good paying job, but the equivalent of doing work at a mob boss's place (i.e. you never know if you might be a casualty if there's a hit on the boss) - so you take the risk (instead of cloning storm troopers, they should have cloned plumbers - might have actually fixed that silly exhaust port as well :)).
I think that was bbmike's quote above :)
We also referenced it in a season 1 GrogCast and some of the audio is spliced in
Probably had Han Solo Construction, Inc. do all 3 jobs. ;D
Quote from: bayonetbrant on January 11, 2016, 03:11:52 PM
Quote from: endfire79 on January 11, 2016, 01:31:02 PM
Part of this was reasoned in an amusing way in the Kevin Smith movie 'Clerks' (you can youtube the discussion clip). Basically, a contractor shows up and reasons to the clerks that it might be a good paying job, but the equivalent of doing work at a mob boss's place (i.e. you never know if you might be a casualty if there's a hit on the boss) - so you take the risk (instead of cloning storm troopers, they should have cloned plumbers - might have actually fixed that silly exhaust port as well :)).
I think that was bbmike's quote above :)
We also referenced it in a season 1 GrogCast and some of the audio is spliced in
Yep, and why it was still so fresh in my mind. ;)
(https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/enjoying-lowbrow-humor-doesnt-make-you-any-less-of-a-good-person-40-photos-7.jpg?quality=94&strip=info&w=600)
Quote from: Barthheart on January 12, 2016, 10:15:13 AM
(https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/enjoying-lowbrow-humor-doesnt-make-you-any-less-of-a-good-person-40-photos-7.jpg?quality=94&strip=info&w=600)
Hahaha!
I think the defender is defending lazy-writing-coincidences a little too hard. Especially on the defense of Solo finding the Falcon so quickly after losing it for so long (although that could have been explained by quickly mentioning a special tracking chip activating with the ship's activation). Dude, you can't explain in one breath that he just couldn't find it in a galaxy that big, and in another breath that he intentionally left it there with the scavenger boss. ::) :P
That being said, I don't clearly recall dialogue saying they had lost it in the sense of not being able to find it.
On the other hand, I actually think he could have defended the Shatterstar, and Death Stars in general, a little more strongly.
1.) DStar 1 -- canonically the weakness was built-into the station from the outset by Bothians (or whoever they were, can't recall exactly) who worked on it as slave labor; many Bothians died to get that information to the Rebellion. It couldn't be obviously obvious of course, or the Empire would have detected it and fixed it. (This point is admittedly not altogether clear in the finished movie, and might be retcon.)
2.) DStar 2 -- was protected, under construction, by a force field generator on Endor and a giant fleet of ships. Why protect it with such a potential vulnerability instead of making damn sure the force field generators on the fully operational station were fully operational first? Because, "IT'S A TRAP!" -- meant to lure the Rebel fleet into an ambush where they can be beaten in a standup fight by superior Imperial forces. And the Emperor would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for those pesky Ewoks. Even once the field is down, DStar2 is only vulnerable to small ships flying a crazy mission into the unfinished superstructure.
3.) Shatterstar -- they didn't convert a whole planet, only part of one. And it had no external weaknesses, and its internal weakness was only due to needing to drink a sun and store that power temporarily somewhere. And that was only exploitable because a captured 0th-level Jedi turned out to level up quickly, and Solo plotted a crazy-suicide hyperspace jump to end inside their shields. Arguably the Shatterstar accomplished more than DStar1, with less overall support.
That is a great Luke Skywalker quote!
https://twitter.com/dadjokehansolo
Quote from: mirth on January 13, 2016, 07:46:10 PM
https://twitter.com/dadjokehansolo
I laughed out loud much, much more than I should have at most of those.
I think this needs to be posted to MD's pun thread, stat!
It does kind of explain Ben's turn to the Dark Side.
I don't think this was posted yet, kind of funny.....kylo ren spoofing undercover boss:)
http://youtu.be/FaOSCASqLsE
this one's pretty good too
https://twitter.com/ToughLeia
Quote from: bayonetbrant on January 18, 2016, 10:07:46 AM
this one's pretty good too
https://twitter.com/ToughLeia
QuoteDear @VeryLonelyLuke: Sometimes, the Force allows me to feel what you're feeling. It's extremely boring. Please make it stop.
;D
Well, I have now learned the indisputable canonical identity of that mysterious knowledgable guy at the beginning played by Max Von Sydow.
Get ready. I'll add some spoiler room for anyone wanting to scroll quickly past it.
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spoilers coming
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LOOK AWAY NOW I'M NOT KIDDING THIS IS NOT A JOKE (the information comes from official Disney/Lucasfilm material)
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He's nobody really.
:crazy2: :uglystupid2:
Well, in the story of the film he's kind of someone. He's the leader of the Church of the Force, a religious group of non-sensitives who revere the Force and those who can sense and use it.
But as far as the audience is concerned, he's just the guy whose name he says he is. In his position he gets to collect information about the Skywalker family and other Force-related info, but that's all.
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allowing readers to quickly scroll past if they don't want to be spoiled...
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And now you know. Or don't know, if you scrolled past it. O:-)
On a more intriguing note: I should have guessed at a theory that Rey is a granddaughter of Obi-Wan Kenobi, which I recently heard about. That hasn't been confirmed yet obviously, but a curious set of vocal cameos lends credence (if accidentally) to it. During her visions, the voices she hears are from Ewan MacGregor, Frank Oz, and Alec Guinness-- the latter of whom even says her name, Rey.
Also, despite that guy's raging defense of the movie posted several posts above, I can't buy his defense of Poe having simply ejected like Finn: that doesn't and couldn't possibly explain the torn jacket Finn finds. Nor does the canonical explanation (not in the film: that Poe awoke with a concussion and staggered off not long before Finn arrives.)
But then I learned that up until very late drafts Poe was supposed to have died in the Tie Fighter crash. So he really was pulled back out of the plot's butt later and re-introduced. ;)
Poe's return was very jarring and wtf?!?!! Now it makes sense.
Quote from: JasonPratt on January 20, 2016, 05:07:54 PM
But then I learned that up until very late drafts Poe was supposed to have died in the Tie Fighter crash. So he really was pulled back out of the plot's butt later and re-introduced. ;)
That makes sense. I didn't buy Poe's miraculous escape either. The film went out of its way to make you think he died; the jacket, as you mentioned, plus Finn's reaction to the secondary explosion which seemed to serve no other purpose than to convince us Poe died without needing to show a corpse.
My daughter told me last night that she saw they were delaying the release of the second movie to rewrite the script, in lieu of audience reactions to the first movie.
Just watched it. WOW..more or less the first film with tweaks.
Even if his character was nobody, he was still played by Max von Sydow. In the movie version of Grogheads I want him to play me 40 years from now when he's 126!
Ming the Gusington. Could work. With Rickman gone, there's nobody that could play me. So when my part comes, just have a digital John Wayne punch some body and say, "Like Hell you will, Pilgrim".
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on January 21, 2016, 07:35:09 AM
My daughter told me last night that she saw they were delaying the release of the second movie to rewrite the script, in lieu of audience reactions to the first movie.
They're desperate to add Jar Jar into the next one.
^God I hope so.
Maybe he's the Daddy. Everybody's. Me-sa Da Man-sa.
Personally I hope Snoke turns out to be an actual giant, not merely an impressive hologram.
Interestingly, the (current) canon materials for the movie indicate he knew exactly what was going on with Darth Plagueis and Anakin. How much of that will be kept or incorporated into movies going forward, who knows. But it suggests that the First Order (which per other canon materials is NOT the Imperial Remnants) may have been the inspiration for the Empire that Darth Sidious eventually built.