Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)

[BurtReynolds]

You think a few well placed handheld explosives could blow up the Earth? Oh god I hope so. Please tell me where this spot would be.

[@SkitchP]

You think a few well placed handheld explosives could blow up the Earth? Oh god I hope so. Please tell me where this spot would be.

If it was charged with the power of the sun I imagine that if you destroyed that containment, you could probably pull it off.

[E.H. Ruddock]

You think a few well placed handheld explosives could blow up the Earth? Oh god I hope so. Please tell me where this spot would be.

If it was charged with the power of the sun I imagine that if you destroyed that containment, you could probably pull it off.

Take that, burt

[BurtReynolds]

You think a few well placed handheld explosives could blow up the Earth? Oh god I hope so. Please tell me where this spot would be.

If it was charged with the power of the sun I imagine that if you destroyed that containment, you could probably pull it off.

Take that, burt

[BurtReynolds]

was this posted yet? http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2015/12/24/ ... rom-now-on

[stip]

Not yet. I really like that guy but disagreed with the article

[McParadigm]

If it wasn't, then I saw it posted somewhere else. Maybe redlettermedia...their fans were really taking them to task for going easy on this movie.

[stip]

For starters, since one of the primary screenwriters was the guy who wrote Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi I'm not sure we can call this fan fiction. Other than George Lucas and that guy who drew all the concept art he's got as much as claim to authorship over the series as anyone.

And I'm not sure that having someone who grew up a fan of a property and is devoted to its feel and style make a movie in that image is a problem. JJ Abrams is an extremely talented director (not a perfect one, mind you). He is not some guy with a stormtrooper costume posting vidoes to youtube. The fact that he is making a choice to emulate the feel of a property rather than transform it strikes me as a legit choice, especially for something as large and culturally relevant as Star Wars that had undergone its post-prequel trajectory. The world of art (all art) is full of homages to influences. That's what Star Wars is in the first place.

Devin's article also misses a lot of the context surrounding the new film--it is less a piece of fan fiction as it is a relaunch of a tainted property with incredible potential. If you're aiming to restore something (and this movie was a restoration) then emulating the spirit and feel of the original art is both smart and necessary. And since it's been 30 years, it was also something people clearly had a hunger for. You could not have started this expansion of the Star Wars universe with Rian Johnson or Rogue One.

The fan ownership of star wars, and satisfying way this movie delivered on those expectations by talented craftsmen, is precisely what will make new directions possible. Now there is an audience enthusiastic enough to take risks. Now future directors are given the chance to spin the story off in interesting directions, try new things, and leave their own mark on the franchise. I don't think that exists without the good will this movie created--not nearly to the same degree.

And as a final aside, while Faraci disingenuously claims there is no value judgement here, there clearly is. The idea that giving people more of something that is meaningful to them is somehow beneath a real artist. I cannot disagree more strongly, with the caveat that if this is ALL that you give someone it starts to wear thin. But it's been over a generation since we got a movie like this. It was time. And in general rather than focus on whether or not something is fan fiction or original the real test should be the execution. Someone can do a better job retelling a familiar story than someone can telling a more original one (and vice verse). I don't think it makes sense to make a fetish of something being new for the sake of being new.

Especially when we're dealing with blockbuster filmmaking existing in a franchised universe where what holds the whole enterprise together is our attachment to the familiar symbols and established lore.

[stip]

If it wasn't, then I saw it posted somewhere else. Maybe redlettermedia...their fans were really taking them to task for going easy on this movie.

It's not surprising the RLM guy liked it. It feels precisely like a classic star wars movie with classic characters.

[stip]

Then again, I also continue to believe that this New Hope clone stuff is overblown in the way that only the internet knows how to overblow, animated in part by a healthy mixture of the usual 'everyone likes this so I'll demonstrate my edginess by picking it apart' and insurance against the possibility that these age like the prequels.

The new characters are great, it captures the aesthetics of the universe so that the new story that is unfolding feels like it is an organic continuation of that world, it leaves us with lots of new directions, and had lots of exciting sequences. So lets all freak out that this movie has a desert, a bar, and a planet destroying weapon (that narratively gets used to destroy the government of the galaxy and destabalize the world going into the future stories). That's clearly where our focus should be.

[BurtReynolds]

If it wasn't, then I saw it posted somewhere else. Maybe redlettermedia...their fans were really taking them to task for going easy on this movie.

It's not surprising the RLM guy liked it. It feels precisely like a classic star wars movie with classic characters.

More than "feels". Its a copy through and through, but only a copy.

[BurtReynolds]

Then again, I also continue to believe that this New Hope clone stuff is overblown in the way that only the internet knows how to overblow, animated in part by a healthy mixture of the usual 'everyone likes this so I'll demonstrate my edginess by picking it apart' and insurance against the possibility that these age like the prequels.

yeah the reason people disagree with you is because of some sort of personality flaw.

[BurtReynolds]

If it wasn't, then I saw it posted somewhere else. Maybe redlettermedia...their fans were really taking them to task for going easy on this movie.

RLM are fanboys, but entertaining ones. I don't take their film criticism too seriously. They thought Dark Knight Rises was better than The Dark Knight, for Chrissakes. Only Stip would agree with that insanity.

[stip]

If it wasn't, then I saw it posted somewhere else. Maybe redlettermedia...their fans were really taking them to task for going easy on this movie.

It's not surprising the RLM guy liked it. It feels precisely like a classic star wars movie with classic characters.

More than "feels". Its a copy through and through, but only a copy.

Not much more than Jedi is a copy of a new hope. This movie takes elements from all three movies (which makes sense for reestablishing the world), often inverts or alters them in clever or satisfying ways, and wraps the whole thing up in a standard hero's journey origin story.

[stip]

If it wasn't, then I saw it posted somewhere else. Maybe redlettermedia...their fans were really taking them to task for going easy on this movie.

RLM are fanboys, but entertaining ones. I don't take their film criticism too seriously. They thought Dark Knight Rises was better than The Dark Knight, for Chrissakes. Only Stip would agree with that insanity.

They are all great movies.

[nyquillyn]

Have we already talked about how terrible the Han and Leia scenes were? Because those were painful as fuck.

[stip]

These movies are going to have jedi, lightsabers, mentors, big space stations, ships fighting each other, planets with one environment. I think we'll always be able to find similarities. The key is whether or not the similarities are in the service of something interesting.

Rey is marvelously drawn, and the desert planet totally feeds into her arc and helps make her character more poignant. The take out the shield generator/blow up the planet is pulled from Jedi (not really new hope--there's no trench run here. It mirrors the death star assault in Jedi), but it's entertaining and it is a backdrop for Han's death, kylo's full embrace of the dark side, Finn's heroism, and Rey's awakening--as well as the personal eminity the heroes and villain now have for each other. That was all extremely well done. Why get hung up on superficial surface details, especially when those details help draw the vast majority of people into the story? I really just cannot fathom why this is such a huge hangup.

[LoathedVermin72]

someone please lock this thread already

[stip]

Have we already talked about how terrible the Han and Leia scenes were? Because those were painful as fuck.

Leia's range seems limited, but Han was good. And the scenes struck the right mix of awkward tension and old warmth.

[stip]

oooh!!! goodie goodie..

the collider jedi Council FA breakdown is here..was waiting for this..its almost 2 hours long and goes into everything best of all theories and the questions we all have! seriously recommend these guys, they know what theyre talking about

This was enjoyable. It's superfan stuff, but lays out a lot of the interesting directions and world building they laid out the groundwork for.