"The Force Awakens" (with SPOILERS)

I think it'll get in the 80 to 90 percent range, like The Force Awakens. The people seeing it on opening night are the diehards, not the casuals that'll bump the score up.

 

That's a good point. It will be interesting to track over the next few days. We're going to see it tomorrow morning.

 

You'll enjoy it, most likely. It's a highly enjoyable movie. Not to keep defending it, but I think it's also one of those movies that isn't exactly well-served by the audience reaction score because there is so much past history with it that factors in. Like, if it was some standalone movie being compared to Ferdinand and the other offerings this month, I think it would have a higher rating. But instead, it's graded in that way, and also against every other Star Wars movie. Expectations probably effect the audience meter a good deal.

 

The Rotten Tomatoes audience score is at 56 percent.

 

Saw it last night (my first-ever “preview” movie) and enjoyed it, although enjoying DaughterQuant’s reaction was the better part of the evening. The part where we realized Luke’s light saber was named “Rosebud” was a stunner,

 

I don’t know what movie the 44 percent are watching. I thought it was terrific.

 

I think a lot of people had probably fantasized back stories and payoffs for characters that didn’t pay off like they wanted them to. But that’s not Rian Johnson’s fault.

 

Loved it. Maybe could have benefited with a 10-minute trim. But minor criticism.

Good story. Good performances and action.

Don’t know who’s reading this thread and won’t throw out spoilers yet.

But big thumbs up from me.

 

Rotten Tomatoes fan ratings being low is interesting.

Made the mistake of reading some of the posts. Definitely a lot of bitchy Star Wars fans. The usual plot hole complaints, etc.

But a big batch were just “garbage,” “It stinks,” stuff like that. And misspelling Carrie Fisher’s name. Seems like a bunch of people there to be contrary.

Also — and this will not turn political — Hamill is a big lefty and has diced with republicans on Twitter. Wouldn’t be shocking for people to dump on it for that reason.

That, and it’s a few hundred people out of how many who’ve seen it?

Anyway, back to the movie. It’s a fun Star Wars flick!

 

I'm sure Hamill has pissed off plenty of Republicans. There are a couple of videos out there with him reading Tweets by Donald Trump in the voice of the Joker.

It is so damn hard to avoid spoilers. Yahoo actually has one on its main page right now. Not the headline, but you can read the first couple of sentences of the article without clicking on it.

 

It's still at 57 percent, which is really surprising to me. Between this message board and another I'm on, I've seen a dozen people weigh in, and all of them either loved it or liked it. The sentiment was similar on FB. Maybe it's the GamerGate / Trump trolls, as you guys are mentioning.

 

The movie was fucking fantastic. I'd have to sit down and really give thought to all the movies, but at first blush, I'd say it's in the conversation of the top three Star Wars films.

First off, it's certainly the funniest of any of them. They really had fun with it and they made a point to let the audience know, "Guys, these movies are supposed to be fun, try not to be get so bogged down in the mythology." They were clever about that, without being condescending, which is a trick when it comes to the fanatics.

Secondly, the action and the visuals were simply insanely well done. With the exception of the scene with Rose and Finn's escape, the CGI was pretty flawless. Meanwhile, shots such as the AT-AT Walkers on Crait in the gloaming, the fighters on the planet with the red trails, any number of shots on Luke's planet, the battle in Snoke's throne room ... they were all just gorgeous. Filmmaking at its finest.

Driver and Ridley were really good in their roles.

One thing I really liked is that while the previous movies really focused on Light vs. Dark/Good vs. Bad, this one blurred the lines a little bit more and gave a sense of shades of gray. Lucas notoriously wrote strong archetypes and followed some established conventions, so it was nice to see them muddy the waters a little bit.

It should have been shorter.

The audience in my theater broke out in applause at least seven times during the movie.

Perhaps the most impressive part of it to me was when Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern) did what she did, the entire theater audibly gasped. Like, really loudly. I haven't heard such an expression of admiration/shock since seeing Independence Day in 1996 (when the alien attack ends and the screen cuts to "July 3", I remember a deep exhale from the audience in my theater).