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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Topic: Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 01-02-2018 11:33 PM
I don't give New Vision a long life expectancy. Here in Lawton they took over the little Central Mall 12-plex theater formerly run by Dickinson Theaters, Hollywood Theaters, Starplex Theaters, Showplex Theaters and finally AMC. Then AMC took over Lawton's two Carmike locations on the West side of town. New Vision started selling beer at the Central Mall theater. They gotta do more to get me to visit, starting with getting out of the mall and building a proper theater.
But I don't get the impression New Vision is about building new theaters and bringing something substantial to the movie going experience. If I recall correctly the folks behind New Vision are just yet another hedge fund company. They'll collect enough theaters and hopefully sell them to one of the largest remaining theater chains for a quick profit.
Anyway, regarding Star Wars: The Last Jedi, my girlfriend and I watched it this past weekend at our local AMC/former Carmike Patriot 13 theater on the big IMAX-branded screen. My rating for it: 2.5 stars out of 4.
I got into a bad mood just getting into the theater. AMC recently changed the ticket sales and seating model for the IMAX screen into reserved seating on its web site. But apparently they didn't let much of the local staff in on this change.. I reserved 2 of the most dead-center seats in the auditorium. Lo and behold a whole family group of people were spread across that row, including the seats we reserved. Luckily the next row up had seats in the center of the row. Still, I was pissed off our seats were taken. Normally when you buy reserved seat tickets you get the illusion you don't have to get to the theater way early to claim your seats. You can get there just before showtime. It's a good thing we got there early anyway. Otherwise we would have been off to the edge (or I would have just been getting a damned refund from management for not keeping my fucking seats reserved).
I wanted to like the movie more, but I found it really annoying for how it carbon-copied the story foundation for Empire Strikes Back, copied parts of Return of the Jedi but without executing the homage very well. We have Luke training Rey just like Yoda trained Luke, just not as entertaining and memorable. We have a giant imperial star destroyer following the other cast members, like Vader's ship following the Millenium Falcon, but stretching the "chase" out over way the hell too much of the movie. They should have taken the story more places than this. It just felt too thin.
The movie had some cool visuals and "effects." I'm not sure if CGI can really qualify as "visual effects" anymore. It's just CGI. As long as it's well designed, modeled and rendered realistic enough then that's fine. These days it takes some great visual design and composition for CGI to affect me in any positive way these days. Otherwise I just feel like I'm watching a cartoon.
Speaking of which: those dog/cat animals late in the movie. Someone called them "crystal critters." I immediately laughed. Those penguin "porgs" were goofy and stupid enough for the attempt at being ewoks. But "crystal critters" sounds like an all male dance review designed to compete with the Chippendales. Of course, I'm still laughing at the "Snoke" name of the big villain. I keep thinking of the South Park episode where terrorists had hidden a nuclear bomb in Hillary Clinton's vagina -they called it a "snuke."
Some of the character actions seemed a bit contrived or forced. Spoiler Alert - Click to Toggle
I totally saw through Kylo Ren's temporary siding with Rey to kill Snoke's guards after assassinating him with Rey's light saber. It just didn't feel right. If they had suddenly turned Kylo Ren into a good guy it just wouldn't have worked. Vader murdered Obi Wan in the 1977 movie, but he only turned into a good guy at the very end of Return of the Jedi to save his son from being killed by the Emperor.
I kind of wanted to drive up to OKC to watch this movie on either of the Dolby Atmos equipped theater screens up there. But I'm kind of glad I didn't spend the extra money on fuel, tolls, etc to get up there.
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Carsten Kurz
Film God
Posts: 4340
From: Cologne, NRW, Germany
Registered: Aug 2009
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posted 01-13-2018 09:01 AM
I saw SW8 twice on our own screen. Once on the opening night, and a second time last week to confirm my attitude towards it.
I saw the original triple when I was a young boy, thus the only humor allowed is Han's.
I was a bit disappointed about the Empire Strikes Back because it was too 'episodic', I preferred a more complete plot, without people heading off at the end towards the next one, but for as long as the movie was rolling, I loved it.
'The Return Of The Jedi' - well, it was a necessary experience, finishing up the story then. I liked the grown up seriousness of Luke (of course, overacting by todays standards, but I was still young then and able to take it serious). Ewoks, oh my...
Unlike many, 17 years later, I enjoyed 'The Phantom Menace' (even with, but not because of, Jar Jar Binks in it). The whole Jedi thing in 'Phantom Menace' worked out nicely for me, adding something to the existing universe. The faster laser sword action was awesome at the time, and still is by todays standards, the introduction of the Sith aspect, and the retro-SciFi set design was well done. Plus, there was actually a plot, not just people and things being moved around...
I did not enjoy 'Attack Of The Clones' much, other things aside, it looked like a cheap video production.
'Revenge of the Sith', and that means something, I did not even bother to watch at a cinema. If I remember right, even until today, I have not yet seen it in one go from start till end. I recently bought the triple episode 1-3 bluray for my nephews, and may have a go with them.
'The Force Awakens' - it was okay
I loved 'Rogue One' - that took me back right where the thing started for me as a young boy in 1978 - the visuals were great, picking up from the original Star Wars, the story was straight and not filled with unnecessary gadgets hiding a weak plot. If it was for me, SW7-SW9 should have been done in 'Rogue One' style.
'The last Jedi' - and I needed to see it twice to actually believe my own impression, is a total loss. I think there is not a single scene in it that catches me. Not that I was constantly annoyed, I just didn't feel any fun in it.
If at all, I was attracted by the score, as I still am by the original soundtrack. The original soundtrack double LP was the first vinyl I bought from my own money, and later the double CD edition was the first CD I ever bought. I still own both and will never part from them.
'Campy humor'? Not for me, this is serious business...
- Carsten
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 01-13-2018 10:05 AM
Many people on this forum will have some pretty strong emotions when it comes down to Star Wars, whether it concerns the original trilogy, the prequels or the new Star Wars movies. In the end, it comes down to this: There is simply no way in hell, anybody could come up with THE perfect Star Wars sequel, but I guess that's pretty obvious in itself.
Regarding The Last Jedi, which I've seen twice by now, the opinions seem to be even much sharper than on the previous sequel.
Personally, I found The Force Awakens pretty boring and bland. Hey, another, even bigger Death Star. Hey, another bad guy torn towards the dark side and aptly dressed in black. Hey, another bunch of hopeless renegades serving as the last hope for the galaxy. And... hey, another predictable story line.
Despite the many obvious plot holes and free-form fantasy physics and (almost) redundant sub-plots, I found this installment to be more entertaining than the last one. I think the reason is, because this one almost dared to go, where no other Star Wars movie has gone before (and no, it's not franchise-crossover ![[Wink]](wink.gif) ).
The campy humor... I didn't have a bad feeling about it and neither did the characters in the movie. The stoic, reclusive Skywalker character, which everybody seemed to hate... well, I somehow liked him. He seemed to have gotten a better understanding of the Force than thousands of years of Jedi knowledge did bring forward. And what did you expect from that character? He was living on one of the most remote planets in the universe, not really in the mood to be found either. Did we expect him to receive some random girl from nowhere with open arms?
And what about those fluffy penguin birds? At least they weren't a plot driver like the Ewoks.
And last but not least, there's the most awesome looking destruction scene in the whole of Star Wars ever. No matter it raises like a million new questions, but damn, maybe it was simply worth it.
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 01-14-2018 09:01 AM
quote: Mike Blakesley
These kind of sentiments may be what's driving the idea behind the trilogy that's coming up after this current trilogy ends. They're saying it's going to explore a different corner of the galaxy, so to speak. I wonder if they'll tie any of the current characters into it at all, or go in a completely different direction? Will it start off with "Episode X" or will it be a new beginning?
It's clear that Disney, with their multi-billion investments into Star Wars isn't going to hold of. They're building two massive new themed areas in both of their theme park resorts in the U.S. and are pumping millions into Star Wars related makeovers in their other parks.
Compared to what they're making off all the Star Wars merchandise, the box office results of those movies are almost secondary, they're mostly there to keep the train rolling.
Rogue One was definitely one of the more original, almost refreshing off-shoots from the Star Wars franchise, although it was still strictly within the parameters of the official cannon and the Star Wars universe as we know it. It would be great to have some parallel story lines, which unwind in this vast galaxy. Something that still feels like Star Wars and is connected to this universe, but something that indeed doesn't recycle old characters and concepts. They might put the Force a little on the back-burner.
quote: Bobby Henderson
As long the Mouse House is busy trying to squeeze every last nickel about the Star Wars franchise the least thing they could do for fans (and cash in big time while doing so) is release new Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray versions of the original trilogy without all the silly special edition footage.
Apparently, the only negatives that currently exist are those of the special editions. But the stuff they've spliced out apparently still remains.
So, restoring the original cuts seemingly takes quite some work and efforts. Disney is apparently still convinced that a re-release will not pay for the restoration work needed.
The best hope will probably be one of the bootleg 1080p restoration projects currently being undertaken by fans. Unfortunately, it will be impossible to run them on a big screen...
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