"The Force Awakens" (with SPOILERS)

Yeah, except the one scene that lifted Rogue One out of the parade of Disney duds was the final scene, tacked on at the very end because the conclusion seemed anticlimatic.

Sometimes the meddling minions get it right.

 

After stalling around for various reasons, I finally got TROS the other night as a digital gift so I was able to watch it all the way through.

1) I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would. It was OK.

2) As much as anything, I would compare it to Godfather III. Not that awful in itself but disappointing for what it could and should have been.

3) While Kelly Marie Tran didn't have a lot of screen time, her role was significant.

4) Among many plot points of the movie I didn't get: (SPOILER):

Why the hell would Rey go to Tattooine? To say hi to Watto? Did she sell R2-D2 back to the Jawas?



5) Oh, and they are ABSOLUTELY set up for more films. Unlike "Rogue One," all the heroes are still alive. They could wait 10-12 years (similar to the gap between Eps. 3 and 7) and start over again. Ridley, Boyega and Tran would be barely (or not even) 40 and Isaac just over 50.

 

I personally kind of expected that The Force Awakens was going to be the "passing of the torch" to the new generation of Star Wars heroes, but I think what we ended up seeing was that the entire three-film arc really continued to focus on the Skywalker saga to and brought it to a close.

If they do it right, I think Disney/Lucasfilm is really well-positioned now to explore that universe in entirely new ways without being shackled by fans' affinity for films made 40 years ago. In that regard, they may have made a mistake by exploring Rey's parentage in TROS, because that could have been a trilogy unto itself and given Palpatine a better-told return from the dead, but regardless, there are countless ways they can move forward now.

 

Are we still using this as the running Star Wars thread?

I just finished the final season of the animated Star Wars: Clone Wars on Disney+. I watched the first 11 episodes over the last couple of weeks and the series finale dropped today. (Yeah, yeah. May the Fourth be with you, too.)

I had only seen a few episodes of the show. I recently decided to watch the final episodes. The first few were the same mix of uneven storytelling and clunky animation that turned me off the series in the first place, but the story got much better about halfway through. As I mentioned on the TV thread, I really liked how they wove it into the larger narrative, tying directly into Revenge of the Sith and creating connections that set up a character who will be part of season 2 of The Mandalorian.

If you were paying attention, you knew going in that certain characters had to survive, but it is still kind of a dark ending.

 

Started Clone Wars awhile back. Didn’t really click with me. Might go back now. I certainly have the time.

I’ll check out the Mandalorian documentary series on Dis+. Might be overkill, but there’s time to fill.

 

At work they are showing all the Star Wars movies in the break room. Watching various scenes from various movies, one of the things that struck me is how uninspiring the movies have been shot. Perhaps it's due to the special effects needs, but it seems like every scene is very "blocky" with the characters standing together, the camera usually a respectful distance away. I'm not asking for Richard Rodriguez being pushed around in a wheelchair, walk and talks or jittery handhelds, but the camera work is so stage-y and the editing doesn't it give it much flow either.
Granted, it's the storytelling and effects that are the stars, but the cameras really don't move much.

 

With the end of Clone Wars that is actually still canon, I was just reminded of this.

This video claims to be all of the shorts strung together. I haven't had the chance to watch it yet.

I assume there is some sort of rights issue, but this should be on Disney+, dammit.