Star Wars

I liked the trailer. I think at this point I have stopped comparing Alden Ehrenreich to Harrison Ford. I am ready to see this.

(I previously posted this, but I deleted it so I could re-word some stuff and add some more)

I don’t even think about the new stuff in the sense of prequel or sequel, really. And I don’t exactly think of this or Rogue One as prequels. Yes, they take place prior to the original trilogy, so they are absolutely prequels in that sense, but they tell the unnecessary parts of the core story. The episodic films are the story of the galaxy and, specifically, the Skywalkers and those around them. But just like all the books and games have done for years, these films just fill in info that is (hopefully) interesting and entertaining but isn’t essential or may not even inform the core series.

I look at it like the Tarkin novel, or Leia, Princess of Alderaan basically. Small one-offs that can take place anywhere and give you some more character building. For me, I'm not watching the anthology films for the story as much as I am the world-building and new lore to add to the complex tapestry that is Star Wars canon.

Now, I gotta say... if you'd asked me which anthology films I would have made, Solo would not have been on my list. It at least seems more interesting than a Boba Fett film. But I'm still very interested to watch this just to add some more depth, however small, to the universe.

But speaking of prequels I would honestly adore a few movies that take place IN the prequel era. Those films are not my favorites of the saga but from what I’ve seen and read, it’s probably my favorite time period and ripe with potential for great stories. A live action siege of Mandalore movie? Oh man. Don’t even get me started.

Travis wants a Jar Jar movie. :)

Hahahaha, no. No JarJar movies please.

> Now, I gotta say... if you'd asked me which anthology films I would have made, Solo would not have been on my list.

Adding some more: I think one of the chief reasons people seem more apathetic about this one is that Han already had his character arc. All the character growth has already happened. The Han in this film will grow from a young hotshot rogue into ... an older hotshot rogue?

That's why I'm less into this than I was Rogue One, and why I'm hoping for some great worldbuilding to replace the character building.

Or hell, just Baby Driver in A Galaxy Far Far Away. :)

> The Han in this film will grow from a young hotshot rogue into ... an older hotshot rogue?

What if he isn't a young hotshot rogue?

I think he is going to start out as an Imperial.

Well I dunno about prequels in general, but this film was made because of Kasdan. Solo wasn't a LucasFilm "lets shovel this out" kind of thing. One condition Kasdan had for writing The Force Awakens with JJ was that he'd get to pen a script for a Han Solo origin story.

I watched these last night and I loved how he presented the reactions to each of the films. I wish Rogue One has been included but I also get why it wasn’t. It’s Star Wars but not the core of it.

I have warmed up to the prequels over the years. I, like the people he talked about in the video, was obsessed with episode 1 when it came out. I think I watched it three times in a week, and on that last one the illusion was broken. But time and age has made me appreciate things more and while it’s nowhere near as good as I thought it was opening week, it’s nowhere near as bad as I thought it was the week after.

Episode 2 though. That movie does a lot of great things but... a lot of not great things too.

I couldn't finish this. The video was too overproduced imho.

Wow, we had very different reactions. My wife and I liked it so much that we are going through this entire series and adding any movies we haven't seen to a watch list, so that we can watch the Movies with Mikey reviews of them.

I want him to do one for Baby Driver. Mikey's editing with cuts on the first beat of a musical phrase in his background music... he'd have a field day with Baby Driver.

And I STILL need to see The World's End.

The digital release is through Movies Anywhere (formerly Disney Movies Anywhere, but they have more partners now).

It ties into your iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, and a couple others. So when you activate it on Movies Anywhere, it unlocks on all the platforms you've connected to it.

Basically, if you have an internet connected device connected to your TV, it's a couple clicks away. A while back they had a promo that gave you some free movies, and I've activated a few on it, and the process is seamless and painless.

I feel like a Movies Anywhere commercial but it's really that good. Still DRM, but about as "open" as a DRM-encumbered file can be.

It's iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, and Amazon. That's the one I was forgetting.

“Han’s old friend from Ep. 7”
Who? Or are you talking about Lando from episodes 5 and 6?

And Jon I think your last paragraph is on to something. I’ve been checking fan reaction to the trailer and it’s been surprisingly good but I keep seeing “I hope Boba Fett is in this” and “I hope this person cameos” and then I saw another post saying, basically, stop expecting things. Because you’re building up your expectations and you’re going to be disappointed.

Just because there was a guitar riff in the trailer, though, doesn’t mean it’ll be in the final cut. That’s possibly just placeholder music that sets the mood they want. I think I’m ok with it even if it is though. It’s something new but each new Star Wars movie brings something new that we haven’t seen yet. The Canto Bight theme is one of my favorites on the TLJ soundtrack and it’s very different from any other Star Wars music thus far.

But yeah I liked the trailer. Donald Glover as Lando, even though we didn’t get to hear him speak, is an exciting choice. I’m looking forward to meeting his droid.

The two things about this movie that worry me: Ron Howard and Alden Ehrenreich. The trailer didn't convince me that Ehrenreich has any of the charisma that Harrison Ford brought to the original Star Wars. I think that is a must have. As far as Ron Howard goes, he is a pretty safe director. He makes solid films but nothing that really blows you away. That being said, I liked the visuals in the trailer. I don't know how much of that is from the Lord/Miller shoot and how much of it is from the Howard shoot.

I will most likely see this in the theaters, unless the reviews are horrible.

Maz? Where was she in the trailer?

Ahhhh I didn’t even spot that person but it looks more apeish than Maz

I second Jon's opinion. It is really good.

I’m a victim. It seems like Twitter has been ok and you’d hope people on Facebook wouldn’t troll their own friends but stay clear of Reddit. There have been people sending private messages to massive amounts of people with spoilers.

I play HQ Trivia and just kinda tune out the chat on it, but tonight I glanced down at just the wrong time and saw a big juicy spoiler.

It wasn’t a bad one. I don’t think it’ll take away from my enjoyment of it. But still come on people, have some decency.

I’m going Saturday night. Reserved seats so we can roll in right at 7:30 and be fine. My wife and I are going with a friend who hasn’t seen any trailers or any advertisement at all except for a still of Rey with a lightsaber so it should be an interesting perspective.

(But pleas don’t take my experience with Twitter to be an endorsement. There are still trolls about.)

One of Katie’s friends got a spoiler on LinkedIn. Nothing is safe.

Still no Jar Jar?

Calling it now: That part at the end of the trailer is clever editing. Rey is actually asking Jar Jar for help.

Phantom Menace.