Star Wars

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.

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!!!

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"

> (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.

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.

Yeah it's well done!

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Aww yiss. This looks tasty.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

"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'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.

And another trailer!

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