Solo: A Star Wars Story (5/25/2018)

[stip]

and are you suggesting that the new films are made specifically for kids? all these movies have always been intended for all ages, with elements intended for everyone.

Not at all what I'm suggesting. I agree that there are elements intended for everyone, 100%.

I was merely paraphrasing George Lucas himself, who claims that he imagined, from the beginning, his ideal audience -- the reason HE claims he made the movies -- was young boys and girls on the cusp of adulthood. He wanted to make moral tales to help those kids identify, think about, and deal with some of the larger issues they would one day face as adults. As a result, yes, there are plenty of themes for adults that are beyond young children. They aren't merely (as LV would say) a bunch of kids movies. I don't think anyone is saying that.

that was directed at viper, which was not at all clear

[blueviper]

The OT set the bar for sci-fi (or sci fantasy, whatever you want to call it) movies. It was a blockbuster trilogy that was a benchmark for future blockbusters.

When I watched the PT and now the ST, they don’t meet this benchmark. That’s fine. In the grand scheme of things it’s inconsequential. It doesn’t matter. I’m just offering my opinion on that matter, just like you guys are stating your opinions.

And trust me, SW is not the most important thing in my life anymore. I just enjoy the back and forth of the forum for this hotly debated movie franchise.

yea but you make statements like "insults my intelligence" or just recently you insinuated this insults the intelligence of current 12 year olds? I read your statement 800 times and i can't completely wrap my head around it.

"Except OT for 12 year olds doesn’t insult their intelligence like the PT and ST"

Explain this to me. Please. Im sorry you didnt like it. The people that enjoy the movies (me, dime, dct) aren't stating equivalent commentary about the movies. That comment above reads to me as if you are saying that the sequel trilogies are insulting the 12 year olds intelligence. That is so ridiculously emotional I can't wrap my head around it. It is the exact opposite of fanboyism which is the same intense emotional reaction that see's no clarity. My nephew fucking loves these movies. So is he dumb? as an 11 year old does he lack a certain intellectual maturity since he doesnt feel it is "insulting his intelligence"

Look, you dont like it. Thats totally fine. None of us fanboys (Except maybe dime when he's had a couple drinks) are insulting your intelligence for not liking these movies. But to have such a reaction to these films that seem to have robbed you have your childhood or insulted you in such a way just doesnt seem very.....healthy?

Hate these movies all you want. Seriously. I get why someone wouldnt like these movies but to read some of the responses about why just makes me laugh.

LV's commentary on Solo and why he hated it were fantastic and illuminated a lot of things I didnt like about it. That is a healthy reaction to a film. But insulting intelligence? Geezes. That is more of an emotional shit storm on the other spectrum than what we accuse dime of.

Maybe “insulting one’s intelligence” is harsh. It wasn’t a big deal with I was typing it out.

Look, when I was a kid, I didn’t need fart jokes in SW movies. I didn’t need “holding for hux” jokes in my SW movies. I didn’t need kid actors in my SW movies to make me feel connected. We used our imaginations to pretend we were the adult heroes from the films.

Stip posts earlier that the OT story was a lot simpler at the time, and the ST is way more complex. I can see that, and I can see what they are trying to do. From my point of view, it doesn’t work well in Star Wars. I think the easy access of the OT is what gives it its charm. They give you a three movie arc; we fill in the gaps.

I think making the SW too detailed is not working. I wanted it to work. As a Star Wars fan, why wouldn’t I?

I read the posts lauding the ST, and I’m mystified how some people can put these films near the OT. It’s baffling. The heaps of detailed posts explaining all of your positions, I read them, and I’m wondering if we’ve watched the same movies.

People discussing hours long podcasts on the new movies. I can barely muster the strength to sit through my library copy of TLJ a few weeks ago. I saw SOLO and have already stopped thinking about it (save for these forums). The new movies are not interesting.

I didn’t realize my posts sounded so hyperbolic. If my posts are so to the hate side of the spectrum, I could say the same for the love posts on the other side. Seems unhealthy to me. Oh well.

So good luck and enjoy the new movies.

[epilogue]

that was directed at viper, which was not at all clear

Op. I gotcha. Sorry. I also read it really fast this morning. Context should have told me what was going on. Sorry.

[dimejinky99]

That might be my favorite dimejinky post of all time. On SO many levels!

Rank the levels

I’m not letting this go, Joseph. Rank the levels.

[epilogue]

That might be my favorite dimejinky post of all time. On SO many levels!

Rank the levels

I’m not letting this go, Joseph. Rank the levels.

They are all number 1.

[Sgt. Crackpot]

I think the running joke now, that Star Wars fans can never be pleased, is painfully true.

It's a bunch of space/action movies about a bunch of people created by some dude in the 70s. I expect nothing more. Each of the last 4 movies has brought something different to the franchise, and they're all enjoyable in their own way.

Maybe I'm just easily pleased and don't have time to nitpick these things. Either way, the whinging makes me embarrassed to admit I'm a Star Wars fan or talk to other "fans" (who only like the first 3 movies and NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THE OTHER 7).

[dimejinky99]

That’s exactly where we all should be

[BurtReynolds]

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

I got to see this yesterday, went in with low expectations because im not really a big Han fan, but wound up loving the movie, cant wait to see it again( though i probably wont in the theater) because it was a just a lot of fun.

I was confused a little at the end though because

Spoiler: show

i didnt realize Maul survived being cut in half i was trying to figure out where it fit into the time line because i thought he died. I realky need to watch the animated stuff.

[dimejinky99]

I got to see this yesterday, went in with low expectations because im not really a big Han fan, but wound up loving the movie, cant wait to see it again( though i probably wont in the theater) because it was a just a lot of fun.

I was confused a little at the end though because

Spoiler: show

i didnt realize Maul survived being cut in half i was trying to figure out where it fit into the time line because i thought he died. I realky need to watch the animated stuff.

Yeah it’s explained in the animated series.

[McParadigm]

One thing that made me laugh a few times that, if it’s been discussed, I missed was the musical cue work. It’s an alright soundtrack, and it does its own thing most of the time, but every time there was half a reference to another Star War it would plop in these classic theme cues that were so out of place. It was best when mixed in with the already hilarious prop close ups for some sequences.

“Here’s your new blaster.”
(Extreme closeup of blaster)
Soundtrack: “Star Warrrrrrr, this is a Star Warrrrr...”
“Now back to what we were doing.”

The one time this was excruciating instead of funny was on the millennium falcon reveal, which is such a shit scene anyway. It’s fine that fans love that ship. It’s fine that it’s become so adored. It doesn’t have to be treated like a religious icon *by the movie.*

[dimejinky99]

The falcon had that same fanfare in TFA. And it worked there too. It’s as important as any other character in the franchise. It’s more important than a lot of them. So it deserves its fanfares.

[blueviper]

If it was so bad why did she buy the SOLO merchandise? I don't understand the idea of buying stuff for a movie before it comes out. What if you don't like it?

shrug

[Strat]

Disney and Lucasfilm are dealing with the first conspicuous setback of their five-year-old corporate marriage, as "Solo: A Star Wars Story" has fallen far short of gargantuan box-office expectations. While the studio ponders whether that requires adjusting course, a small, rebellious and inordinately vocal quadrant of the fan community is delighting in -- and deriving an unfortunate message from -- those woes.

"Solo" delivered less than $30 million in its second weekend -- plummeting by nearly two-thirds from its less-than-stellar opening, bringing its total just shy of $150 million. For a mere mortal movie, that would be just fine, but it's a pallid addition to the "Star Wars" universe, which has shattered box-office records and routinely amassed huge returns.

The subplot to that, and it's an odd one, comes from "Star Wars" fans who see "Solo's" underwhelming results as vindication -- a blow against the Disney empire, and Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy. Reinforced by Internet echo chambers in the way intense political partisans find like-minded brethren online, they harbor what is almost certainly a magnified vision of their numbers and how widely their passions are shared.

As Vulture's Chris Lee noted in a piece back in February titled "Why Do Some Star Wars Fans Want the Han Solo Movie to Flop?," this subset of the fan base responded negatively (an understatement, there) to "The Last Jedi," the most recent "Star Wars" sequel, and called for a "Solo" boycott to vent their displeasure.
Related: Is 'Solo' suffering from 'Star Wars' fatigue?

"Part of us wants this film to fail," Joe Vargas, host of the Angry Joe Show on YouTube, said at the time. "I was thinking maybe if it does bad, Disney will be smarter with how they do these future things."

They have also lamented Disney's rapid expansion and strip-mining of the galaxy George Lucas created. As writer Dani Di Placido put it in a Forbes commentary, "Solo" is "Hollywood at its most cynical, squeezing every last drop of blood from an iconic character." (Disclosure: My wife works for a division of Disney.)

Within this circle, Kennedy and directors like "Last Jedi's" Rian Johnson are accused of spoiling "Star Wars" and, not uncommonly, "ruining my childhood."

Never mind that "Solo" is actually pretty good, or that Lucas -- with the name "Jar Jar Binks" alone -- made his own contributions to marring their young adulthood. When the blood starts to boil, sobriety and perspective tend to be early casualties.

As Vulture noted, there's no real way to quantify how vast this portion of the "Star Wars" fan universe is. Indeed, with so many moving parts and variables to consider, it's difficult to grasp any clear message yet from "Solo's" under-performance, which of course hasn't deterred the deluge of web-traffic-driven hot takes trying to do just that.
Disney/Lucasfilm, meanwhile, have little incentive to do anything but be respectful in addressing their most faithful consumers, since having people feel desperately invested in your product -- to the point of claiming a kind of ownership stake in it -- is the definition of a high-class problem.
That said, there's a slightly delusional quality to the victory lap being taken in comment sections and online forums, an assumption that these fans have made a statement that will only further embolden such demands.

It's certainly possible that disappointment surrounding "The Last Jedi" (a sentiment, incidentally, largely shared by this reviewer) triggered a backlash that played a major role in "Solo's" weak opening. But it's beyond naive to think a subsection of fans can dictate Disney's broader strategy, since the studio didn't plunk down $4 billion for Lucasfilm to let it sit idle, or allow a small mob with Internet pitchforks to call the shots.

As politicians have discovered, there ar tradeoffs involved in allowing the loudest and most belligerent voices -- those prone to speaking in Sith-like absolutes -- to define the terms of debate.
Hearing and being sensitive to what various fans want makes sense, but bowing to the force of a vocal contingent -- one that's perhaps a small minority -- is a road fraught with peril. As Han solo himself once said, it's not always possible to fly by committee.

[Jorge]

If it was so bad why did she buy the SOLO merchandise? I don't understand the idea of buying stuff for a movie before it comes out. What if you don't like it?

shrug

She's an "influencer" so she probably got it for free

[VinylGuy]

If it was so bad why did she buy the SOLO merchandise? I don't understand the idea of buying stuff for a movie before it comes out. What if you don't like it?

shrug

Yeah, i thought of that....also 45 min? no thanks.

[BurtReynolds]

Most of her videos are much shorter. She does have some great points near the end, though (and some kinda dumb ones near the beginning).

[stip]

Man, who do I have to influence to get a giant stuffed porg?

[stip]

I mean how many fucking tournaments does a man have to run to get a porg around here?

[stip]

fucking Solo