STAR WARS VII - "The Force Awakens" - Movie Discussion

[exciter1]

8 minutes ago, jbacunn said:

I don't disagree with you but it was done really well which, for me, makes up for the similarities in the plots.

I'm just glad the Sandcrawler is safe from plagiarism.

[Alpinemaps]

I remember California and I talking I hushed tones and even stopping our discussion as we walked by people. Do unto others...

[2x4]

So why do you keep going back to see it?

It's as if Disney went back to square one on this one, and used Ep IV as the formula.  I wonder how bad the original plot they rejected was (if they did).

I'll take square one with some modifications over prequel twenty times out if ten thanks! JMO.

Whoops, that wasn't the quote I was looking for... Sorry.

[Ed Mack]

If JJ Abrams didn't incorporate the older movies to a large degree, people would complain. The pressure on these creators of this movie was tremendous, unlike anything ever encountered in movie history and I believe they did a stellar job mixing old and new and making a tremendously entertaining movie. Are there holes in the story, sure, but name me a movie that doesn't have holes in the plot. It wasn't meant to be super deep. It was meant to be fun and exciting and it succeeded at that more than any movie of recent memory IMO.

[KShine]

58 minutes ago, Ed Mack said:

If JJ Abrams didn't incorporate the older movies to a large degree, people would complain. The pressure on these creators of this movie was tremendous, unlike anything ever encountered in movie history and I believe they did a stellar job mixing old and new and making a tremendously entertaining movie. Are there holes in the story, sure, but name me a movie that doesn't have holes in the plot. It wasn't meant to be super deep. It was meant to be fun and exciting and it succeeded at that more than any movie of recent memory IMO.

Like I have mentioned, we all absolutely loved it - but to be honest, nothing in it even tried to be original.

If Lucas had made this exact movie - everyone would have stated how he had no new ideas whatsoever (and would have called it a cash grab, for trying to cash in on old material, while calling it new).

I could see the headlines "George, we really loved your new movie - 40 years ago"

Edited December 20, 2015 by KShine

[Migration]

If Lucas had made it, it would have sucked.

[thoroakenfelder]

When I think about it, you can definitely tell that Lucas didn't have input on this film. His style and influence were missing. The frenetic pace could have been slowed down a bit in places to allow the music (which was as much a character as the ones on screen were previously) to play a role instead of just be background noise. I really did enjoy the film immensely, but it didn't exactly feel like the Star Wars of my youth. Daisy Ridley was great, and who cares about her accent?

[Ed Mack]

When I think about it, you can definitely tell that Lucas didn't have input on this film. His style and influence were missing. The frenetic pace could have been slowed down a bit in places to allow the music (which was as much a character as the ones on screen were previously) to play a role instead of just be background noise. I really did enjoy the film immensely, but it didn't exactly feel like the Star Wars of my youth. Daisy Ridley was great, and who cares about her accent?

Right... Who cares about the accent? If people are so bent on realism, why are the main characters of any STAR WARS movie speaking English at all? Is English the Universal language? LOL

[trekgate502]

17 minutes ago, Ed Mack said:

 

Right... Who cares about the accent? If people are so bent on realism, why are the main characters of any STAR WARS movie speaking English at all? Is English the Universal language? LOL

Why yes, yes it is and specifically American English lol

Daisy was awesome all aspects 

[Alpinemaps]

Couple of things - the music, if you listen to the soundtrack, is good. Not ESB good but good.

When Rey is reaching for the lightsabre, there is NO music. It's very noticeable that there is a lack of music (which is a very good choice, imo).

I had a friend, who is my age - 43 - say this as his opinion - imagine the original Wraith of Khan and comparing that to the latest Star Trek movie. That was how he felt about this film (obviously drawing the parallels to ANH).

[brickolodon]

I like E7 my daughter (13) dont prob cause HSolo gone...

[thoroakenfelder]

36 minutes ago, Ed Mack said:

 

Right... Who cares about the accent? If people are so bent on realism, why are the main characters of any STAR WARS movie speaking English at all? Is English the Universal language? LOL

If you watch the PT it's English and Huttese.

[chipbee]

It is gone, the tired and overused yoda language, i am thankful.

[jaisonline]

I have a rant.  Now some folks here know I was displeased with the prequels but they did get something right.  

TFA'S First Order Leadership / Mgt should be fired starting with Snoke who's name reminds me of Snorks (show I watched as a kid). Anyway...

After 55 years since Palpatine became chancellor (replaced the original General Zod) the bad guys have learned nothing.

Death Stars and similar do not work against Rebel and Resistance "scum".  

These First Order folks are like The 3 Stooges.  Seriously.  It's simple.  The only thing that seems to destroy the good guys are 1) trade blockades and 2) senate politics.  Maybe sprinkle in some clones.    

If Ep 8 has another battle station, I will throw popcorn at the screen each of the 10 times I watch it in the theater.

Ok, I'm done. It's still a great movie and Star Wars is back. I even want to rename our dog from Indiana to Rey.

[Average Guy]

On ‎12‎/‎19‎/‎2015 at 8:58 PM, JimboJet said:

Because I bought 3 sets of tickets back when they first went on sale.  And I wanted to give it a fair shake.  It almost seems like Episode IV reimagined.  I saw Episode IV 10 times in the theater in 1977-78, and countless times on VHS/DVD/Bluray since, so that could be why this does not feel new.  If I had never seen the previous films, I would say this was a good film, but I just can't get past the zillion similarities to a movie I saw almost 40 years ago.

It's as if Disney went back to square one on this one, and used Ep IV as the formula.  I wonder how bad the original plot they rejected was (if they did).

The Force Awakens felt rehashed to me as well:  Death Star, unrealized hero on a desert planet (Luke wanted to leave, Anakin left, Rey doesn't want to leave), a droid with secret plans - they even went back to a desert planet for the droid escape, evil Sith seduces youth for his bidding. First Order Officer, paired with or against Sith Lord, to serve a powerful supreme puppet master.... Even the speech given on the Icy Death Star felt like the Palpatine's speech to the Senate for a "Galactic Empire". I felt like I was watching a rehashed rerun of the first 6 movies.

All the story lines have been done in the previous 6 movies except for Kylo Ren's answer for his "issues". However even that issue runs deep in the previous films, but Kylo chose a different route to handle his "issues", and I did not enjoy the actor or the character of Kylo Ren.  I thought the Kylo Ren character was weak, possibly intentionally by the story/director for further development - why is he wearing a helmet? Is it to remind the audience that evil Sith Lords have helmets and we should hate them for wearing them?

The other new characters, Finn and Rey were ok, I guess. Their relationship together will be a new story, but a timeless story nonetheless. I thought their skills in fighting Kylo Ren were unrealistic, and a movie flaw.

The sight of Carrie Fisher's plastic surgeries made me recoil in my seat a little bit. Her character's appearance (not her role but her appearance) wasn't really necessary except for the fans who appreciated it. Han Solo's appearance was good as well as Ford's revision of it. Luke's appearance, eh...we shall see...

I hope the next film does a better job with a NEW story. This just felt like an introduction of Kylo Ren, Rey and Finn. 

[Val-E]

56 minutes ago, jaisonline said:

Ok, I'm done. It's still a great movie and Star Wars is back. I even want to rename our dog from Indiana to Rey.

Simpler for the dog to understand, in any case.

58 minutes ago, jaisonline said:

Death Stars and similar do not work against Rebel and Resistance "scum".  

They work just fine for reseller scum, though!

[KShine]

Spoilers for episode IX

After mortally injuring Kylo Ren, Rey (who refuses to turn to the dark side, regardless of her destiny), is in the process of being killed by his master (who has just given up trying).

Kylo Ren will then lift the master (up, over his head) and throw him down a shaft, killing him.

There will then be lots of dancing, singing, ewoks, and gungan type celebrations (maybe even some smiling Han, Luke, & Leia ghosts).

Edited December 20, 2015 by KShine

[Darth_Raichu]

1 hour ago, jaisonline said:

These First Order folks are like The 3 Stooges.  Seriously.  It's simple.  The only thing that seems to destroy the good guys are 1) trade blockades and 2) senate politics.  Maybe sprinkle in some clones.    

The TFA people look too pretty..  The people in FO control room looked like they were pulled from JCrew catalog  I could have sworn Hux and Kylo had eyeliners on

 

 

[Val-E]

There has definitely been a spike in Ebay sales of Lego SW over the last few days. My new sold items filter above 50 euros is about 80% SW stuff where a couple of weeks ago JW was moving more. Let the good times roll.

[chipbee]

12 minutes ago, Average Guy said:

The Force Awakens felt rehashed to me as well:  Death Star, unrealized hero on a desert planet (Luke wanted to leave, Anakin left, Rey doesn't want to leave), a droid with secret plans - they even went back to a desert planet for the droid escape, evil Sith seduces youth for his bidding. First Order Officer, paired with or against Sith Lord, to serve a powerful supreme puppet master.... Even the speech given on the Icy Death Star felt like the Palpatine's speech to the Senate for a "Galactic Empire". I felt like I was watching a rehashed rerun of the first 6 movies.

All the story lines have been done in the previous 6 movies except for Kylo Ren's answer for his "issues". However even that issue runs deep in the previous films, but Kylo chose a different route to handle his "issues", and I did not enjoy the actor or the character of Kylo Ren.  I thought the Kylo Ren character was weak, possibly intentionally by the story/director for further development - why is he wearing a helmet? Is it to remind the audience that evil Sith Lords have helmets and we should hate them for wearing them?

The other new characters, Finn and Rey were ok, I guess. Their relationship together will be a new story, but a timeless story nonetheless. I thought their skills in fighting Kylo Ren were unrealistic, and a movie flaw.

The sight of Carrie Fisher's plastic surgeries made me recoil in my seat a little bit. Her character's appearance (not her role but her appearance) wasn't really necessary except for the fans who appreciated it. Han Solo's appearance was good as well as Ford's revision of it. Luke's appearance, eh...we shall see...

I hope the next film does a better job with a NEW story. This just felt like an introduction of Kylo Ren, Rey and Finn. 

deathstar is integral of Star Wars DNA. It represents a massive imperial force, like today's aircraft carrier. You don't see the major powers swearing off aircraft carriers even though quite a few a destroyed in WW2, do you? Everyone went on to build carriers with more firepower and protective fleet. In fact one can argue that Episode VI deathstar is not logical as the empire did not build a more powerful deathstar, but more or less the same.

Another thing about star wars is the struggle against a tyrant with massive military might. So if the empire is destroyed completely and the rebel wins, then there is no much Star wars movie to write about. So it has to be that the empire regrouped and managed to push the rebel/resistance into a tight spot again. One of reasons the prequel does not have fans' love is that there was no tyrant to fight against, as the story was largely just setting the stage for OT.

Episode 7 has to introduce new characters. And part of story arc is that Rey is kept safe by marooning her on a planet that nobody cares about, but still barely liveable. For such a place, logically it has to be more extreme, like a desert or arctic like all year round. So the story writers chose a desert, which makes filming a little easier and we get to see more skin (try imagine watching Rey running around in thick winter gears).

Try imagine another story arc entirely different from that of Episode 7, without deathstar and Skywalker family in the middle of epic struggle against the dark side. And try to sell this idea to the masses.

[Average Guy]

10 minutes ago, chipbee said:

Try imagine another story arc entirely different from that of Episode 7, without deathstar and Skywalker family in the middle of epic struggle against the dark side. And try to sell this idea to the masses.

how about a story of Boba Fett? A story of Obi-Wan? Adventures of young Han Solo and Chewbacca? I just feel like the story Episode 7, has been played. So plaaaaaaayed...

[Darth_Raichu]

5 minutes ago, chipbee said:

Try imagine another story arc entirely different from that of Episode 7, without deathstar and Skywalker family in the middle of epic struggle against the dark side. And try to sell this idea to the masses.

I thought the Empire Strikes Back was a great movie even without a DS

[Average Guy]

5 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

I thought the Empire Strikes Back was a great movie even without a DS

agreed

[chipbee]

7 minutes ago, Average Guy said:

how about a story of Boba Fett? A story of Obi-Wan? Adventures of young Han Solo and Chewbacca? I just feel like the story Episode 7, has been played. So plaaaaaaayed...

Those are side stories, and there will be cartoons, games, TV series or even movies made. But a numbered star wars movie is the main story arc of this universe.

[Ciglione]

Maybe not about the movie exactly.

But... I am really happy with Ep VII. Why? Cause now I have the chance to acquire all the Lego TFA sets and make a complete collection. As to have all the Star Wars sets is nearly impossible.