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Topic: Star Wars The Force Awakens

Matt Russell
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 142
From: Aurora, USA
Registered: Aug 2015

posted 12-19-2015 03:04 AM

quote: Tom Hayes
Something was wrong with the presentation - faces and bodies were too wide. I think they may have used the wrong lens or had some settings incorrectly entered.

Arclight hasn't really had the best experience with Star Wars so far. [Roll Eyes]

I went to see it again earlier at an Arclight in Chicago and the masking was off throughout the entire film. Do Arclight employees know how to set up a scope movie?! [Mad]

I'd give that presentation 2 out of 4 stars

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 12-19-2015 11:38 PM

I saw this movie. I really liked it for the most part. I agree about the music not having as much presence as other movies. Hell, the prequels had a better score.

I do take issue with some of the editing, though. When Princess Leia is talking in one scene, there's a jarring jump cut to a closer shot of her. I imagine this is because she had a hard time completing even a single sentence at a time but a good editor would have hid that jarring cut. Also there were no soft wipes that I recall at all, giving the movie a much different feeling. A good editor would have kept those. They're synonymous with Star Wars. JJ's editor can't edit for shit. They could fix these editing oddities with a downloadable patch upgrading the movie to version 7.1.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-20-2015 12:40 AM

I have only watched the first 57 minutes so far but I remember seeing several soft wipes, including a pattern or two that I don't recall from any of the earlier movies.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 12-20-2015 12:54 AM

Really? I don't recall seeing any. Oh well, a reason to give it another watch!

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Matt Russell
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 142
From: Aurora, USA
Registered: Aug 2015

posted 12-20-2015 02:32 AM

Mike's right, I noticed them especially when there was a scene cutting to Kylo Ren/First Order.

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Lyle Romer
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1400
From: Davie, FL, USA
Registered: May 2002

posted 12-20-2015 10:49 AM

quote: Joe Redifer
I agree about the music not having as much presence as other movies. Hell, the prequels had a better score.

Maybe John Williams at 83 is losing some of his skill?

Anyway, I thought the movie was easily the best Star Wars movie since Empire Strikes Back. It was a perfect mix of nostalgia with new characters. They managed to come up with a viable way to keep the Dark Side/Light Side battle going.

It felt shorter than it was which is a rare feat in movies since tent poles became over 2 hours as standard. Harrison Ford was great.

Joe, there were definitely several soft wipes.

I saw it in Atmos. I don't know that the Atmos mix really added all that much to the experience. There were some cool surround effects in the "hallway/vision scene" but I'd have to see it again in non-Atmos to know how different it was. Maybe the sound mix didn't stand out on its own because I was actually engaged in the movie.

5 out of 5 stars from me.

My ranking of Star Wars movies would be:

1. Empire Strikes Back
2a. A New Hope
2b. The Force Awakens
4. Return of the Jedi
5. Whatever the final prequel was called
6. Whatever the second prequel was called
7. The first prequel

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Richard P. May
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 243
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Jan 2006

posted 12-20-2015 03:55 PM

Generally pictures of this type aren't my thing, but I was thoroughly entertained thru all of its 2 1/4 hours. It didn't matter much to me if I could keep all the characters straight or not.
As to the music, I have always, and still do, think this is one of the best scores ever written, ranking close to such as Korngold's "Adventures of Robin Hood". No matter how many times seen and heard, the opening of the main title is thrilling.
I saw this at the Academy's Goldwyn Theater, with exemplary presentation. About 700 people at the Sunday 10:30am family screening. I could say that everybody was completely quiet, but even if they weren't one couldn't hear anything over the movie's sound. Not overbearingly loud, but just a lot of sound. After the show, I thought maybe the sound system deserved a lunch break.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-20-2015 09:04 PM

I enjoyed the movie immensely, and would agree with most people that deserves a place somewhere within the original 3 movies. I tend to like "Return of the Jedi" more than a lot of people, and I would say this one is just as good as that but not quite as good as "A New Hope" or "Empire Strikes Back."

I felt like a few of the older characters were shoehorned in and didn't have too much to do --- especially C3PO and R2-D2. Figured R2 and BB-8 would somehow become buddies in this movie, but that didn't happen. Maybe it will in the next one.

The new cast is uniformly good and Harrison Ford was great.

I liked the music (as I do with all the Star Wars movies) but I did notice that the bad guy didn't seem to have a memorable "theme" the way Darth Vader did. Or at least I didn't notice one.

The SFX were great and not a lot of overly-obvious CGI (outside of the creatures, of course). I thought the sound mix was really good. I was surprised they didn't figure out a way to shove Yoda in there somewhere.

Better not say any more or I'll be in spoiler territory. Really good movie though, not a letdown at all. 4.5 stars from me.

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James Wyrembelski
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 114
From: Beaverton, MI, USA
Registered: Sep 2015

posted 12-20-2015 09:38 PM

Im in the "meh" category. Im one of the few that liked all 6 episodes more than this one. Call me crazy but I liked the back story of 1-3 even with some flaws and poor acting. And 4-6 had some pretty good thrills, music and some of the most memorable moments. 1-3 could have been great if they had just toned down some of the over-the-top characters (yes, you Jar Jar) and strengthened some of the acting (a different cast for sure) and didn't do some of the crazy, absurd scenes. Ben and Anakin fighting over lava on top of floating droids?? mmmmk...whatever..

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Tom Hayes
Film Handler

Posts: 21
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Registered: Aug 2006

posted 12-25-2015 12:46 AM

quote:
Arclight hasn't really had the best experience with Star Wars so far. [Roll Eyes]
I went to see it again earlier at an Arclight in Chicago and the masking was off throughout the entire film. Do Arclight employees know how to set up a scope movie?! [Mad]
I'd give that presentation 2 out of 4 stars

I saw it at "The Lot" in La Jolla, CA and the masking was off too.

I've only seen 3 films at the theatre this year and it's this kind of screw up that makes *me* not to want to go to the theatre.

So I've seen it twice, yet I've never seen the people in a normal aspect ratio AND the top and bottom of the film yet.

Arclight denies of knowing about any problems - The Lot *chose* to play it with the wrong masking - I can only assume so people didn't ask why the sides of the screen had some blank space.

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Steve Wilson
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 109
From: Paoli, IN, USA
Registered: May 2004

posted 12-25-2015 07:28 PM

The Best Star bar none on this set was Harrison Ford! His character made the movie as far as I am concerned. But it also appears that he will not be back? Rae was great too. As has been said, the old characters were given but very little to do with the exception of Ford. Hopefully they will get used more in the future. The final moment of Luke was not much as I was expecting far more.

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Matt Russell
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 142
From: Aurora, USA
Registered: Aug 2015

posted 12-25-2015 08:53 PM

quote: Steve Wilson
the old characters were given but very little to do with the exception of Ford.

Chewie was in basically every scene that Han (Ford) was in.

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Sam Graham
AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues.

Posts: 1431
From: Waukee, IA
Registered: Dec 2004

posted 12-25-2015 08:56 PM

CINEMA: AMC Council Bluffs, Council Bluffs, IA
AUDITORIUM: 11
PRESENTATION: AMC Recline-O-Vision Digital
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: Dim bulb...sitting next to me. Also dark picture.
RATING: Two and one half stars (out of four)

THE PLOT: The last Jedi hasn't updated his Facebook status in weeks. Wackiness ensues.

In order to get this right in my book, it had to look like Star Wars and it had to be a crap ton of fun. And this looks like Star Wars...perhaps a little too much so. They set this thirty years in the future and both sides are still flying the same fighters? Are we all still driving Chevettes? Sure, they've improved on the Death Star, but even that has basically the same vulnerability.

As for the fun level, success here too...for awhile. Once the whole poorly written family mellow drama kicks in (a tribute to the prequels?), there's very little about this that's fun anymore.

The development of the new characters was great save for the lead villain, Darth Drive-In Speaker. He didn't really work for me at all.

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Sam Graham
AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues.

Posts: 1431
From: Waukee, IA
Registered: Dec 2004

posted 12-25-2015 10:33 PM

("Mellow Drama" should read Melodrama, but I can't edit that anymore.)

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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 12-26-2015 02:29 PM

Pretty much ditto to what Sam says. To me, it was a rehash of Star Wars and Empire's story but with new names and some tributes to the old cast. Heck there seems to be a tribute to Space Balls in there!

It isn't a bad movie and there is plenty of action. I'm curious where they take us with the new lead characters as the introduction to them was hit/miss. I'm more than a little bothered at the near "instant" knowledge they have at using the Jedi weapon...something it took Luke and two masters a bit of time to teach.

The best new character was BB-8 (droid) and had the right mix of screen time/comedy.

It is worth watching but if this was the first ever Star Wars, I'm not convinced it would have turned into the franchise it has become. Mind you, the original was not perfect (Luke was more than a bit annoying at times) but it was fun with the right mix of effects, campy, comedy and serious...just a real jem...especially when one considers what came before it in the SCI-FI world. My personal favorite remains The Empire Strikes Back.

One last thing...was it me or did the opening crawl seem sped up (both in tempo of music and how fast the crawl was)...as if they knew the movie was running long and had to shave some seconds here and there.

I saw/heard the 7.1 mix and it was a decent job though nothing truly inspired but all of the channels were used effectively.

2 out of 4 stars for me.

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