Star Wars

Don't you normally avoid these types of videos before a Star Wars movie? Is this not spoilerish?

> Don't you normally avoid these types of videos before a Star Wars movie? Is this not spoilerish?

I watched each of the trailers and behind the scenes thingy like this before The Force Awakens up to a certain point. A couple months before the movie dropped I felt like the trailers and some discussion was getting a bit too far for me but this video on it's own is fine.

That said, I started reading a tear down of this video going at it clip by clip and I stopped. They were analyzing it well but the way they put it together WAS too spoilery because I don't really watch these videos with an eye to "sewing together all the details." I just watch it as a collection of clips but if I went through it frame by frame I bet it would be too spoilery for me.

TLDR;

No, but at some point in the future I might avoid trailers.

Phantom Menace.

Was a prequel.

This is a great breakdown of both films.

I actually kinda doubt we ever get deleted scenes on this one. Or maybe not full-on doubt, but I wouldn't be surprised if we don't. Since so much of this ended up on the cutting room floor because of reshoots, it might be something they don't want people to see.

Yeah, hopefully that changes because there seems to be slot of footage that would be interesting to see.

Or they can completely surprise us (and make a ton more money in sales) if they re-release the movie at some point with the original footage. With the disclaimer that it's not a finished product, they could piece together (even with storyboards for parts that maybe weren't shot) the original script. I'd definitely pay to see that.

Of course, this won't happen, but the thought is neat :)

Adam, I would buy the hell out of that.

This is a great trailer. It teases plot points without giving anything away.

And plus it's new Star Wars!!!

I agree! I'm excited about Star Wars again! I imagine someday I'll get burnt out (I'm not anticipating being hyped for the Han Solo movie), but right now GIVE ME MORE STAR WARS

Yep, this trailer was really cool and I am excited for The Last Jedi even more now. If Disney keeps going at this pace and with the movies as good as they have been I think I'll be watching them excitedly for quite some time.

Adam, that may be true about the Han Solo movie, I'll hold judgment until a trailer at least.

But for now I AM ONE WITH THE HYPE AND THE HYPE IS WITH ME

I finally have a couple things to say about this trailer so hold on to your butts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W6as8oVcuM

Sorry that wasn't a Star Wars reference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZpIrlcZmXQ

Episode One - More About The Force Awakens

Firstly I want to link to our Force Awakens trailer discussion. Fun to read that two years later knowing what we know now. It's nice to have these discussions easy to find. I know i'll get a kick out of reading them YEARS later. You know, like now only much older...

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/2479/star-wars-vii-the-force-awakens-trailer-2-launches

Firstly I want to step back a bit and say I think the Force Awakens is getting a but too much negativity amongst some fans. The fact that it was made as quickly and was as good and made as many people happy and again, was good is a miracle. I think the Movies With Mikey review sums it up well even though Mikey does tend to get a bit gushy the end of his reviews. Regardless, Force Awakens was a movie I still stand by as "liquid joy" and one of the more magical theater going experiences i've had lately. Until I saw Arrival then that topped it, but Force Awakens was superb and as a fan very satisfying.

I could get into the biggest criticisms of it, but I won't because we've talked about that before. All that to say, my guess is Last Jedi will be incredible and in many ways better than the Force Awakens because the Force Awakens built up so much The Last Jedi can now pay off and kick the world building and incredible parts of Star Wars up 10 notches. I think because of this there will be some new fan share on the Force Awakens because the Internet loves picking apart things and jumping on bandwagons. Or not. But we'll see.

TLDR; Force Awakens is a great movie that builds up an incredible world the Last Jedi can play in so well it will be a really great film.

Episode II - Attack Of the Trailer Speculation

I think you can take Luke wanting the Jedi to end in a couple ways. Both are interesting and i'm not entire sure which it will be.

1. Luke actually wants to rid the galaxy of anyone with force ability. Let's face it, the Jedi are ultra powerful and it seems from the films having them around causes a huge amount of problems. Luke might believe that having such ultra powerful people might be too much for the galaxy and he wants to stop anyone from getting that power and using it for bad. This is a parallel between what Vader did, which was for entirely different reasons but the same kind of action. It would be an interesting juxtaposition and since, my guess, Luke is the most powerful person in the galaxy and seemingly for good but not it could create an interesting story. Further speculation on this line is that Luke might train Rey to help him take out the First Order and the Knights of Ren something she might like but Luke might take it too far for her or be too extreme?

2. Luke is speaking more metaphorically and he wants there to be less "evil extreme" Jedi and "good to the point of being dumb" Jedi. He thinks being Grey is actually better and will try and sway Kylo to the middle. I've only heard about the Grey path recently and it's an interesting concept outlined on Wookipedia below.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Gray_Jedi

3. Something else entirely.

"fan share" => "fan shade"

I'm thinking it'll be something along the second scenario, with Luke going Gray (or maybe going clear? Does he become a Scientologiat?), but I'm hoping for something more out of left field. I'm still hoping Luke turns out to be Smoke lol. The first scene in the trailer, Rey falls and looks upset. Sure, this is probably part of a training montage, but maybe it's Luke throwing Rey out of his house/cace/dwelling. Or maybe Luke isn't Snoke, but Rey ends up turning evil.

Looking at the poster for the movie (http://www.gameinformer.com/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Components-SiteFiles/imagefeed-featured-lucasfilm-StarWars-celebration2017-thelastjedi/lastjediposter1.jpg), Rey's lightsaber turns from blue to red, and it's separating Luke and Kylo. She could turn to the dark side and keep Luke and Kylo apart (Kylo's helmet is broken in the trailer, maybe he's trying to turn to the light side in this one?)

I love speculating :)

Luke: Kylo, your problem is you have too many Thetans. We can take care of that for you, all you need to do is just pay 4 easy installments of $59.95...

I'm throwing my bet behind a more Gray Jedi / balanced approach to the force. I love how the Star Wars trailers (at least for the main series) have been so good about making the movies look great without giving away the plot too much. So many trailers show you too much and then you already know what's going to happen by the time you see the movie.

And man, I've watched this trailer like 12 times and I still get goosebumps when the red Star Wars logo shows up. And that end piece of music! John Williams is the man.

> (Kylo's helmet is broken in the trailer, maybe he's trying to turn to the light side in this one?)

I actually thought that was Darth Vaders burned helmet but it could be Kylo's which does make more sense.

I think this trailer is one of the best trailers i've seen. Also, I like Luke as a Yoga Teacher. "Breeeeaaathe!"

Where is C3PO and Chewbaca? Are they back?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_The_Last_Jedi

Looks like they are in the movie credits.

There's no way they don't put threepio in it. Anthony Daniels has been in nearly every single Star Wars property and he's still kicking.


If Anthony Daniels is alive in 20 years when Star Wars Episode 18 comes out and takes place 500 years in the future from Episode 8, Threepio will probably still be there.

Blu-ray: Amazon because I am lazy.

I haven't seen it, so I might try to rent it via Amazon Video. I already have a few other movies on my list to rent such as "Arrival" and "Doctor Strange."

Also, I saw a trailer today for Star Wars VIII and the movie is coming out in December.

Star Wars VIII trailer was dope.

I hate to tell you guys, you didn't really see an episode 8 trailer

http://ktar.com/story/1483276/fan-made-last-jedi-trailer-fakes-star-wars-fans-online/

I'm definitely getting Rogue One at Target. Gotta get those extra special features!

Oh, I was trolling. I thought GregoPeck was too. Did not know about the fake trailer.

My guess is a full blown episode VIII teaser trailer will be out at Star Wars Celebration and they will announce The original Mew Hope film cut on 4K release details.

Wow, I had no idea.

In my defense, I found the trailer on Facebook, a friend posted it in a private group. Although, I could have checked YouTube or other links to verify it.

Yeah it's well done!

You're right though, it's coming out in December.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2ywJQUnBOM

I skipped out on this because I didn't bother to ask if it was going to be spoiler-free, I just assumed it wouldn't be. So, I'll ask before watching, was it? I'm interested in the Cheerful Ghost opinion of it. Did you all like it? I mean, I am a rare one that enjoyed the prequels, so I'll probably like it. LOL

It's spoiler-free for the first 20ish minutes. We all liked it even though there were some missteps. It does a good job of tying the prequels to the original series and it's really well done.

Don't expect a normal Star Wars movie. It's dark for Star Wars.

Also Katie points out that with Adam on the panel, you really need to up your beard game, Jon.

Hahahaha. I'll take it under advisement.

That was a lot of fun!

Doh! I just saw in the post that this Roundtable is in two parts. I obviously didn't read that when I asked my question.

Thanks for the head's up and opinion, Travis. I'm kind of surprised by the "dark for Star Wars" comment, because I thought Episode III and VII were dark, but I didn't dislike them. But, that's 2 out of 7 movies, so that kind of barely makes the series "gray."

Hahaha if I was on the panel, that would be a +1 to Jon upping his beard game. I have one, too.

Hmm you make a good point with episode III being dark. I mean Anakin straight up murders children (spoiler alert). Rogue One just feels more gritty. I guess it's that it's about military operatives performing a military op.

I really didn't think episode VII was dark, though. There were dark things in it but it was handled in a non-dark way I guess.

The don't think this is a spoiler but just in case spoiler alert: Really the "dark" in Rogue One is that the good guys aren't always good.

Oh yeah, something I brought up but didn't explain fully (and this isn't a spoiler, it's a thought for Episode 8). I said "What if Vader was working with Snoke the whole time?" but didn't really get into why I thought that. In Episode 7, Kylo Ren says something along the lines of "I will finish what you started" to Vader's helmet. Does this simply mean building a Death Star like weapon and making the universe submit to him, or something more? I wonder if Vader could have had some other plan that wasn't shown in the original trilogy. (It's not likely, but fun to speculate about)

Good show, guys! Awesome to see you in there, Adam. Sorry I couldn't make it. I think you guys covered most of the things turning in my head, but there are a few things that came to mind after watching this and another review. I don't want to post spoilers, so I'm working on a supplemental that I'll try to post soon, or maybe something else entirely... O.o

Leaked photos from the Rogue One sequel (Mainly Speculation - Possible Spoilers)
http://m.imgur.com/gallery/sZQUt

That's awesome. I love the Internet.

I enjoyed Rogue One. On my entertained, not entertained movie scale, I was entertained.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsqJFIJ5lLs

I finally watched Rogue One and this Roundtable! I agree with you all that it was a good movie. I didn't have high expectations for it, in fact I was quite baffled with it right away (before seeing it) because we pretty much already know the plot and what happens. But, it was good. Travis said it was "dark" and after watching it, I can see that perspective. It certainly is! I was not expecting so much death. I liked that Death Star guy/commander who returned from the original trilogy. I didn't noticed he was CG. I also didn't noticed Leia at the end was CG, too. I did wonder how they got those people in the movie. They both looked fine at first glance, so I'll see how that holds up when I watch it again.

I liked the two characters that worked together, the blind guy, and that one with a huge gun. They were cool. Oh and I'm not very good with remembering Star Wars character names.

Comparing to The Force Awakens, I think I like Awakens more than Rogue One. I also like the Star Wars pre-sequels, probably more than anyone else I know. If I were to watch the Star Wars movies again, I'd probably start out with the pre-sequels, then Rogue One, and then the original trilogy. As for rating each movie, I don't know. They're all good to me.

I also watched Arrival, which was better than I expected. It was deep and quite different from other ET movies.

80% fresh on the rotten tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rogue_one_a_star_wars_story

Here's a spoiler-free review of the reviews of the movie :)
https://youtu.be/X2HH7mCWHgM

So far, over all, it seems to be about 10 points lower on RT and Metacritic. Still not in a bad spot by any means, and honestly kinda where you'd expect a Star Wars spinoff to show up.

Also whoa! I had no idea Michael Giacchino was the composer for this! He has some big shoes to fill but I love his work in everything else.

Jeff Cannata from The SlashFilm Cast has a video out about Rogue One and it's spoiler free.

Spoiler alert, he loved it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVp34M72xCI

Lucas has apparently given it his blessing, which is something Episode VII was missing. That's good or bad I guess, depending on how you see it.

I think it's good news. Lucas biggest beef with or 7 was that it was a retro film that didn't do much new. I liked it but the criticism was valid. Hopefully Gareth did something different.

I heard Lucas likes Rogue One because it reminds him of Red Tails

I totally made that up, but then I found this article lol
http://www.avclub.com/article/red-tails-star-wars-prequel-fans-deserved-227819

Aww yiss. This looks tasty.

I have a feeling this will surpass Episode VII at the box office, if the trailer is any indication of the tone and atmosphere of this film. I expect to see a distant shot of the Falcon somewhere along the way. Kind of a two-ships-passing-in-the-night thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZf4

I'm sure I briefly saw Jeremy Irons as one of the Empire starting at 1:16 (https://youtu.be/sC9abcLLQpI?t=1m16s). He says, "the power that we are dealing with here is immeasurable." But, I don't see his name in the credits nor do I see this movie on his IMDB page. I did, however, see James Earl Jones voicing Darth Vader.

I'm not really sure what's going to happen in this movie. Ok, so Jin's father helped build the Death Star and the Rebel forces are fighting the Empire, but weren't both Death Stars destroyed within the first three Star Wars movies? So, it seems that the Rebels won't destroy it in this one, so I'm not really sure what the plot or point will be, unless maybe it's to show how it was built and their failure to destroy it the first time they try.

Greg: remember the opening crawl to Episode IV?

"It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.

Pursued by the Empire’s sinister agents, Princess Leia races home aboard her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy…."

This is the story of that opening crawl. In the Rogue One trailers we see the crew at the Yavin base. They strike from there against the empire and steal the plans for the Death Star to turn them over to the resistance. They do the thing they do in Rogue One, and then Leia has the plans to plant into R2 before he and C3PO end up on Tattooine.

It's interesting. We don't know the details but we know exactly what the overall outcome will be already. So we can focus on the people, and that's what I hope the director emphasizes. Based on what he did in Monsters, I think he will.

And that guy at 1:16 is Ben Mendelsohn: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0578853/mediaviewer/rm1132534784

Also with regard to "their failure to destroy it the first time they try." I highly doubt they even try in Rogue One. The dialogue in Episode IV suggests that it's basically untested. People know of it but nobody has made any attempts on it.

I imagine the big battle will be a massive battle with star destroyers. Since the whole point is to get those plans so they know how to fight it, it seems unwise to go after it.

Oh! So I forgot-- I read a book that covers this whole story and people working on the Death Star are aware of the major battle, but yeah, the first attack on the Death Star is the one in Episode IV.

Lost Stars, such a good book.

Ok so that makes sense. Thanks for making that make sense for me. Still, it seems kind of odd that the Empire built the first Death Star, which got destroyed, so they built another one, which also got destroyed, then they built the Star Destroyer (is that what it's called in the latest movie), which also got destroyed. It seems like the Empire is really stupid. It seems a bit repetitive, too. They built all those powerful weapons, which were inevitably destroyed. It seems kind of like a weak plot, to keep repeating it. Don't get me wrong, I like Star Wars. I only recently really put some thought into this criticism.

Don't you think that guy sounded like Jeremy Irons? I thought it looked like him, too. Granted it makes sense that that's not him because he's not in the credits nor is the movie listed on his IMDB page. I did see Ben Mendelsohn a few times during the trailer, but that moment when he spoke, I swore it was Jeremy Irons.

I didn't get a Jeremy Irons feel from him, no, but I see your point!

Starkiller Base was the one in episode VII. That wasn't the empire but a group of fanatics who basically worship the empire, so they tried to emulate them and expand on them. They thought they had fixed the design flaws.

As for the second death star, that was hubris. Basically "Oh you destroyed a death star? No big, we'll just make another. See how little we care?" Trying to show that they were more confident to keep the fear alive, because if people stopped fearing them after the first death star was destroyed, then they would lose it all. That's also why so much more was riding on that second death star, and how they used it as bait to try to destroy the rebellion once and for all.

That's how I interpreted it anyway!

Yet again "that makes sense." :)

> I have a feeling this will surpass Episode VII at the box office, if the trailer is any indication of the tone and atmosphere of this film.

Interesting prediction. I am both seriously excited and curious about this being the first non Skywalker Star Wars film to hit theaters. It's exciting because, well, look at it it's awesome looking. But curious because i'm not sure how well it will do. It's Star Wars so I think it has a huge built in audience but I'm wondering if everyone and more that was VII will see Rogue One?

> Still, it seems kind of odd that the Empire built the first Death Star, which got destroyed, so they built another one, which also got destroyed, then they built the Star Destroyer (is that what it's called in the latest movie), which also got destroyed. It seems like the Empire is really stupid. It seems a bit repetitive, too.

Yep. This.

If you take all the "people/persons fly into big super structure and blow it up from the inside then Phantom Menace, New Hope, Jedi and Force Awakens have VERY similar ending plots. It makes watching them all in order sort of samey and it is repetitive. At least with Rogue One they aren't blowing up the Death Star they are building it. Anyways, I made a joke on Facebook that the only think they have left is to build a "Death Dyson Sphere." Funny but i'm pretty sure they won't do that.

But yeah, I hope Star Wars can kind of drop the Death Star thing. It's fun and such but it's been covered well now. Maybe we can get some super virus that creates Zombie Troopers or something. Might be a terrible idea but at least it hasn't been done in Star Wars before.

My Review of Jon's Review of Plinkett's Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review:

It's good. I agree with the points Jon makes and he states them well.

Actually I said that before even watching the video. :D I'm going to write this comment while watching.

I'm 45 minutes in and so far it's just a critique of Star Wars fans and the media around it. I kinda feel like the pacing would have been better if this was split in two-- a teardown of the lead-up to TFA, and then the review of TFA itself.

But I do like what he's saying about the politics of the prequel trilogy. As a more adult adult, I appreciate that part of the prequels more. I think it's likely that some of the political scenes were cut or trimmed down for length so it doesn't flow as well as it could, but Sidious masterfully building the Empire is great.

His criticism of the Republic/Resistance dichotomy is fair but it's also addressed. The Resistance is a semi-official military because the Republic has mostly disarmed. There were scenes cut that explain that, but again, I guess the politics was trimmed. It's also covered pretty extensively in other media, but those shouldn't be required for understanding.

I disagree with what he's saying about the OT not having much comedy outside of C3PO. The comedy is ramped up in TFA but it never felt out of place to me.

Oh man, that shot of Lucas saying "I was sort of ahead of my time with Red Tails. An all black film?" That felt so cringeworthy.

The lack of a "get the girl" plot didn't even register for me. I don't know. I don't see that as necessary at all. He really wanted Finn and Rey to kiss, but I never felt it was necessary. In fact it may have felt more derivative it if had happened.

Toward the end I felt some of these criticisms felt off the mark. Unfortunately I can't tell how many of them are the person's criticisms and how many are the character's, especially when he's talking about diversity.

I'd love it, though, if this was a guy talking about this stuff, not a guy talking about this stuff through a character with skits about being killed by filmmakers and banging pizza with a phone. It may be that in a near-two-hour video, the character and the humor just wear thin. But I've never really watched a Plinkett because of it until this one. There's great info and great critique, but I don't prefer the presentation.

That's contradictory, because I love boogie and his Francis character. LOVE him. So maybe the humor just isn't for me. But I do now see that the humor of Plinkett is worth sitting through for the content.

Can't watch the video from work, and I've never watched any, but one of my only criticisms about the force awakens, is Finn's humor. He's been brainwashed since a kid, yet suddenly he acts all normal? He should be awkward at best.

That's a very fair point, yeah. They touch on that in a short story that takes place before TFA, caring for others is kinda driven out of them. BUT at the same time, he's always resisted the brainwashing. Still, initial signs of the mental torment that gradually fade a bit as the movie goes on would have been great.

JaBo: Good point. That said, that wouldn't work for the style of The Force Awakens. Finn is often comedic relief, which I enjoy but yeah when you put it that way, he wouldn't really be like that.

Travis: This review has the least amount of Plinkett's character than most. The Revenge of the Sith review had the most that I remember. Anyways, I think part of the fun is the character but the humor can get super dark and VERY sick.

> Toward the end I felt some of these criticisms felt off the mark. Unfortunately I can't tell how many of them are the person's criticisms and how many are the character's, especially when he's talking about diversity.

The diversity stuff was stupid. Essentially he said something like "diversity is fine and the characters are fine but Disney added diversity for market appeal so fuck them." So it's not bad, the movie isn't bad and the characters aren't bad but because a big corporation did it it's wrong or cynical? Or they realize that we live in a diverse world and did something for everyone. This is the weakest part of the argument he makes I think.

Also he admits it's a good film so his arguments aren't from the perspective of "this movie is bad" more like "let's discuss aspects of this movie that could be bad." It's like the Plinkett review of Avatar or Titanic, he admits they aren't bad movies up front and just really talks about how James Cameron makes big tentpole movies that pander to audiences. In the end I think the best kind of Plinkett review is of a bad bad movie like The Phantom Menace or Star Trek Insurrection not a good bad movie like Troll 2 or a good movie like The Force Awakens or Avatar.

This review was almost Episode 1 for me. I was really looking forward to it, and even had a friend over to watch it with me. And was pretty disappointed.

The first hour was an uninspired rehashing of "Prequels vs Originals." Mike/Plinkett brings up the Ring Theory, says it's dumb, then discusses it for-ev-er.

Finally at Point 5, the Force Awakens Review begins. I agree with everyone that it seems difficult to make a good Plinkett review of a movie that is pretty good. RLM was practically required to make this review, but it felt like they had to nitpick to fill time.

I did love the pizza-phone sex. Plinkett reviews need the absurdity. It was uncomfortable to watch, but that's what Plinkett does best :)

Because the first half hour filled with not much new, the review felt really long. I was ready for it to be over with 10-15 mins still to go.

I can't say much that wasn't said already about the actual points. The diversity point felt forced and the lack of "sex" was interesting, but I didn't miss it when I watched the movie.

Overall, I was disappointed in this review and won't be watching it again.

That's too bad Adam. My first viewing had similar moments but a second time was better. I think the hype I felt for it was a bit misplaced. I don't think the phantom menace reviews can be topped. Or Babies Day Out. Or Cop Dog.

Yeah, so, it was entertaining. The beginning majority just felt like it was rehashing a lot of the things from the prequel reviews, and things that they've said a lot on Red Letter Media. Then, it felt like it just sort of dragged on after he'd already made the point. It had entertaining moments though.

Interestingly, I thought the Ring theory made some good points, but didn't redeem the prequels, in that it's a good idea, but wasn't executed in a way which made the prequels enjoyable to watch. An entertaining movie doesn't need for one to find an intellectual premise after having watched it to justify its entertainment value. You know a movie is entertaining, because you're being entertained as you're watching it.

The review of TFA part of the review of TFA, like other people have said, made some good points, but it didn't have the feeling of totally tearing it apart, like with the prequel reviews, simply because, with its flaws, it's still an enjoyable movie. It is sort of a gutless clone of A New Hope, but I felt that was sort of needed in order to reestablish Star Wars to people who felt jaded by the prequels.

Like Travis, I wasn't bothered by Ray and Finn not kissing. The race thing didn't even enter my mind. I thought it was a deliberate attempt to show that just because the main character's female, she doesn't need to fall all over the male hero. Likewise, the male hero doesn't have to be horny over her just because she's female.

I enjoyed Finn's humor. I did find it odd that the defected storm trooper seemed to be so at ease. But I enjoyed it.

I did not, however, enjoy the diarrhea scene at the end of the review. Sometimes Red Letter Media does things like that, and sometimes they don't. I prefer it when they don't. I prefer implied humor over, "let's show a long drawn out gross-out scene". I usually just tune out and imagine the pretty flowers or something.

I might go see it. Is this supposed to take place during the time the first Death Star was constructed? Isn't that the pilot and main lady in the last Star Wars movie?

I think that was dark helmet. This takes place in the space balls universe.

I hope this movie is good. All the bad press about the reshoots have me worried.

Exactly, getting more and more excited about this...

"Isn't that the pilot and main lady in the last Star Wars movie?"

You mean Rey? Nah she wasn't even born when this movie takes place. This one takes place right before Episode IV.

As for reshoots, don't worry. A ton of movies have reshoots.

Yeah, I thought that was Rey. I thought the pilot was BB-8's pilot. I guess I'm too lazy to look up character names. LOL Anyway, thanks for the clarification, Travis.

> I think that was dark helmet. This takes place in the space balls universe.

HA! I've heard Spaceballs IS getting a sequel. Mel Brooks involved even.

> I hope this movie is good. All the bad press about the reshoots have me worried.

It's pretty uncommon to do reshoots for films where budget is an issue. One thing I've heard is that Disney is spending money keeping the films of rather high quality. The reason they are doing this is to keep the films top notch so they can milk the brand for infinite money. It seems to have worked with The Force Awakens and frankly I don't mind if the end result is good. Reshoots mean they are rework stuff that didn't work as well before. Sounds good to me!

All that said let's consider a world where it's maybe not as good as the Force Awakens or not even really on the same level. Not sure that will be the case, but let's assume it might not be.

Let's say the film is no better than Garth Edwards two previous films Monsters and Godzilla. I'd say Monsters was the better of the two and so let's say Rogue One is only going to be as good as Monsters. Well a film that's just as good as Monsters set with the rebels at war and with this sort of more gritty feel would be FUCKING INCREDIBLE. Seriously that shot with Ben Mendelsohn in the trailer makes me believe we might be surpassing Monsters in terms of how good this will be. But even if it's simply just as good as Monsters or maybe even Godzilla, that's still something i'd watch again and again.

A couple more pro Gareth musings:

* Monsters and Godzilla dig BIG and scale really well and from all the shots in the trailer it seems Gareth's style is on full tilt here. I've never seen scarier or bigger shots of Star Destroyers, AT Walkers or get more of an impression of the absolutely crushing power of the Empire. When those Rebels are being led through the streets in cuffs and then we see the absolute monster power of the Empire I was scared for the Rebels. I've never seem the Empire this strong before and I believe that is due to Gareth's visual style.

* Monsters is essentially a movie about two people trying to get to the US from Mexico during an alien invasion. It's not really about the Aliens as much as it's about those people and them being very human on a road trip. The monsters are used sparingly and to very good effect. The world is dangerous and mysterious and Gareth's use of Mexico as a backdrop really highlight his focus on a different culture and their loss due to the aliens. He doesn't really even explain the aliens very much which adds to the films overall mystery and rewatchability.

Monsters is on Netflix so if you haven't seen it, queue it up and remember Gareth did all that on a 4.2 million dollar budget! It's not perfect and at times I think the actors could have been a bit more serious with the material(maybe just Whitney Able, I don't think she is entirely on point here).

I'll have to check out this Monsters movie you mentioned. I assume you're talking about the latest Godzilla movie, which I enjoyed, but I'm not sure I've seen a Godzilla movie I didn't enjoy and I've seen a lot of them (including the one from the '98 or so).

Yeah I'd never heard anything one way or the other about Monsters. I'm intrigued now.

So one minor correction: Gareth did all that on a $500k budget. $4.2 million was the gross at the box office. So the movie wasn't a commercial hit but it's an indie darling.

And for good reason, we watched it tonight and were hooked throughout. Seriously, this is how you do a monster movie that's not about the monster. You get the feeling that the BIG world-defining stories are going on somewhere else in the world, but we're focused on these two very human people with very human motivations.

There are some problems with it. The effects are used sparingly but they aren't incredible (but with $500k they're still very impressive). There were a few very "convenient" plot devices to push the characters into situations.

I thought Scoot McNairy did a fantastic job, but I love him in everything I've seen him in. He wasn't pitched as the star of Halt and Catch Fire but in the first season, but I kinda thought he filled the male lead role with his wife and Cameron on equal footing. Fantastic show, btw. But you're right, Whitney Able wasn't stellar.

We watched the trailer first and weren't really into the idea of watching it, but we wanted to see what Gareth could do. Wow, that trailer did a terrible job of explaining what the movie was about. But then I guess it's hard to sell a monster movie that isn't about the monster.

Seriously, masterfully done, and more to the point it really makes me look forward to Rogue One even more. As I said earlier, it's a story going on while the big story is happening somewhere else, and I think Rogue One really fits that narrative in many ways, based on the trailer. This is the story that took place in Episode IV's opening crawl.

> So one minor correction: Gareth did all that on a $500k budget. $4.2 million was the gross at the box office. So the movie wasn't a commercial hit but it's an indie darling.

Oops, well even better

Also glad you liked it!

I watched it the same night Travis did apparently, just hours later. I also liked it. I'm going to try to explain my thoughts on it without giving away spoilers (or too much). Unfortunately, it triggered my....let's call it "romantic frustration." It didn't end as I expected (or even as my dark side hoped). Still, it was good. I thought it was dramatically relevant right now as we have a Presidential candidate who wants to build a wall to keep Mexicans out of the USA. Even in the movie we see just how well this might actually work.

I think the concept of Aliens is used quite a few ways in that movie too.

And another trailer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5qguZw3RzY

Thanks Travis!

Here's a rad version of the trailer recut with Sabotage by the Beastie Boys
https://youtu.be/oMmiNeVrbDk

I watched the Mark Hamill hour and loved it. He seems like such a down-to-earth and happy guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkAPmPDb_Ss

Then the Rebels panel was illuminating a bit, but mostly just fun to watch the creator and some of the cast speak with Warwick Davis. And Thrawn is coming back to canon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWzTlJ-7PL0

Pretty cool! I recall watching some videos like this on YouTube of Star Wars and other songs.

Well... now that's been done!

Fascinating, don't get me wrong, but at some point these things become a bit ludicrous: https://youtu.be/IvUU8joBb1Q.

Hahaha yeah. It's neat to see people do critics things but at the expense of how many hours? I also wonder if these things have any resale value?

"Selling a hand crank wooden music machine that plays one song. 1,000 or best offer. Will accept PS4 trade."

This looks a lot like what I do for my job. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ChoD31RUgAAyJ1b.jpg

Cough, yeah so yuck. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Chn8qliUgAATAG_.jpg

I was going to listen to the playlist until you called me a nerf herder.