"The Force Awakens" (with SPOILERS)

She seems to have missed the entire point of Rose/Finn's foray to Canto Bight. If you look at it as a self-contained film, I agree that Finn and Rose's storyline ultimately doesn't move the plot forward, but as part of a three-film story arc, it's pretty obvious that it wasn't time wasted.

Rosenberg mentions the effect Rose and Finn have on the stable kids (they are the seed of the rebellion, as noted in the film), but she glosses over perhaps the most important part of that scene ... Johnson introduced a city full of the leaders of the mining and arms companies that are supplying the First Order. How does an overwhelmingly outnumbered rebel force stop the powerful First Order? Cut off its supplies. That city will be important in the next film.

 

Oh, so close, but didn't quite get there ....

 

This is a pretty good write-up of why The Last Jedi is somewhat divisive among the fanbase, and it focuses, in part, on the time spent following Finn and Rose on their foolhardy quest.

In 'The Last Jedi,' the Heroes Are Finally More Than Just 'the Good Guys'

 

A Facebook page called Down With Disney’s Treatment of Franchises and its Fanboys is claiming responsibility for tanking the Rotten Tomatoes audience score for the latest “Star Wars” film, alleging that it used bots in a concerted attack against the Rian Johnson-directed movie. ...

When pressed for specific complaints against “The Last Jedi,” the Down With Disney moderator expounded on his disdain for its “feminist agenda.”

“Regarding female heroes: Did you not see everything that came out of Ghostbusters? That is why,” he said. “I’m sick and tired of men being portrayed as idiots. There was a time we ruled society and I want to see that again. That is why I voted for Donald Trump.”

Surprise, Surprise: The 'Alt-Right' Claims Credit For ‘Last Jedi’ Backlash | HuffPost

 

We should probably bring this one to the politics thread, too. Now these bastards are fucking with Star Wars, dammit!

I guess they want to go back to a galaxy far, far away in which the only women are a princess, Mon Monthma and a couple of slave girls in Jabba's palace.

 

Really not a shock. Same type of crap people were spewing before Force Awakens because a black guy played a lead (which was odd, considering Lando).

This time they were more organized.

I certainly get anyone who doesn’t like it. It’s a pretty big departure and risky. Changes the course of the franchise.

But to get this worked up? Oy. It’s a movie. I’m a fan. But it’s still just a movie!

Gonna try to see again in a few weeks. My theater was LOUD and I missed a few things.

 

Ocean's IX?

 

Mine was loud, too. The movie was absolutely engineered for crowd enjoyment. The beats were set up precisely that way. These are movies meant to be seen opening night at a packed house.

 

Josh Larsen of NPR's "Filmspotting" said recently that he ranks "The Force Awakens" behind the prequels. He's a pretty fierce defender of the prequels. It wasn't a long aside, but he said he gives the prequels credit for at least trying to expand and deepen the universe.

 

I think one thing TFA and TLJ have shown is just how much the prequels took themselves too seriously. There was so little humor. The filmmakers really got too caught up in the mythology to give the audience a chance to laugh a little bit. Both VII and VIII are better than all of the prequels. And I'm one of the people who defended the prequels (I still think they'd have been fine if they took the good parts and combined them into two movies instead of three).

 

It's not that the prequels didn't try to include humor. It's that their attempts at humor were childish and ineffective. The battle droids were supposed to be funny, but they really weren't. Don't even get me started on Jar-Jar and the Gungans. The banter among human characters also often fell flat. There were moments between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan or even Obi-Wan and Anakin, but not enough of them. Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman made things work here and there simply because they are outstanding actors, but the dialogue overall just wasn't good enough.

The Last Jedi does a better job of using dialogue to create humor. It's the main reason I enjoyed Mark Hamill's performance so much. Luke is in a very dark place for much of the movie, but he still manages to be funny. I had this conversation with a friend of mine this morning. Smart ass Luke is so much better than whiny Luke.

Then there are the Porgs. Sure, they are there for little kids, but they are only there in relatively small doses. They really aren't a huge part of the plot, which keeps them from being the equivalent to the Ewoks. They are just a small, but fun part of the action.

Of course, not all the humor hits. The bit with Luke and the green milk was just kind of nasty, but enough of it works to lighten a very dark story.

 

Another problem I've seen pointed out with the prequels is how they took this wide, wonderful Star Wars universe and shrunk it down too much. Everybody important was suddenly connected to Palpatine, or to a Skywalker, or the Jedi. The magic of the Force in the original trilogy was that anyone could harness it. And then they started to set up the same dynamic in TFA before blowing it apart in the TLJ. All of a sudden, anybody -- whether the child of drunken white space trash or an enslaved stable boy -- can be a powerful Force user again. There are no boundaries on that side of the story anymore. I really hope they don't do a retcon in Episode IX, because it wouldn't be difficult to do.