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

[California92563]

31 minutes ago, zskid00 said:

I really dislike the idea of going through children's books, the novelization, and Aftermath prequel to get answers to some of the questions.  They could have taken more time in the movie to explain the setting better and the state of the universe without getting bogged down in my opinion.  I think cutting scenes has more to do with the financial incentive to keep the film shorter so they can run through more screenings per day.

I agree we should'nt have to search through numerous books to get answers to the various plot holes that were in the film. I loved the movie but it really is disheartening to read about some of the amazing and crucial scenes that were cut from the film, it makes you wonder what it could have been. 

[kfishe2]

Looking back though, we had thirty some years to digest every bit of information about the original movies. Every shot dissected and analyzed. Books and technical manuals published that explained a lot of things that were not covered in the screen plays. We've all read them so many times that it has become ingrained knowledge that you don't know where you learned it, but you know it to be true. With the new movie yes there are questions, but do your own research and reading to find the answers you are looking for. And if there is no answer out there, maybe it is for a reason. If the movie explained everything then there would be no reason to have all of the extra material that goes along with the star wars universe. And becoming a part of that universe from reading and researching what I can is the part that makes it enjoyable to me and to many others. If it was just a stand-alone movie, it would be nice, but not generation defining.

[zskid00]

I would not call The Force Awakens "generation defining" but that's just me.  It is great entertainment and a return to a universe many of us love, but I would say it's probably the king in an era of cinema that is dominated by rehashed properties with slight twists that feel unoriginal and formulaic in their approach to the medium.

[exciter1]

 

 

 

[thoroakenfelder]

I thought that was pretty funny.

[Darth_Raichu]

I could not see the FB correctly.  Here is the same video from youtube:

 

 

 

[California92563]

50 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

 

 

 

 

did anyone else notice that this guy was playin a little bit of corporate espionage  

 

[exciter1]

 

Kiss my grits Stan!

http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/stan-lee-talks-possibility-of-star-warsavengers-crossover-film

 

[fuzzy_bricks]

11 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

 

Kiss my grits Stan!

http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/stan-lee-talks-possibility-of-star-warsavengers-crossover-film

 

He is straight up off his meds.

[California92563]

32 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

 

Kiss my grits Stan!

http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/stan-lee-talks-possibility-of-star-warsavengers-crossover-film

 

Someone's becoming senile 

[legodelorean]

 I love both themes, but not together. No way, Jose Ole!!

[Deanfjr]

Ridiculous shenanigans!

[Brenner]

I saw TFA in the cinema this week, a big smile when the anthem started! Despite a high Disney level I really enjoyed this movie. Kylo Ren's shuttle looks good in this movie and MF is great to watch. And Han Solo....just epic and Rey the eye-catcher. Will watch it again soon!

 

[colossus]

I wasn't going to see the movie until it came out on video because I wanted to watch it and explain parts to my kids at the same time in the first viewing but after reading all the posts about multiple X-wings coming out I was forced me to take the kids yesterday.

Sadly my 4 and 6 year old both thought it was "meh" and even worse I felt the same way.  Which makes me sad.

I can see why it has made 2 billion though.  It is great eye candy and has all the elements from the OT.  I can even handle the fact that it borrowed way too much from the previous 3 just to make it familiar.

To me it just felt very forced. Han and Leia were devoid of any emotion - love or anger.  Where's the yelling and screaming at each other from ANH - "Either I'm gonna kill her or I'm beginning to like her!"

Some of the feel was there - like when Han said to Chewy "Oh now you're cold" or something like that - cracked me up.

I'm obviously in the minority and while I thought Ep 1-3 had bad acting I thought the story telling in those arcs was much better (Lucas writing).  I don't know if it's Disney or JJ but this movie just felt like it was rushed to print.  I grew up on Disney and live 7 miles from Disneyland and can watch the nightly fireworks from my house.  My kids are into everything Disney but somehow this movie was less entertaining to me than something like "Inside Out".

Maybe I need to take my meds.

[HandyHand]

10 hours ago, colossus said:

I wasn't going to see the movie until it came out on video because I wanted to watch it and explain parts to my kids at the same time in the first viewing but after reading all the posts about multiple X-wings coming out I was forced me to take the kids yesterday.

Sadly my 4 and 6 year old both thought it was "meh" and even worse I felt the same way.  Which makes me sad.

Seriously? You brought a 4 and a 6 year old to the cinema to watch The Force Awakens? This movie is really not meant for children at such age. It has themes and sequences that are way above their age level! Some action scenes may look 'cool' to them, but the story, the interactions between adults, the tensions and feelings between people, all of that is beyond their experience and understanding. Of course they felt 'meh' about it and that doesn't surprise me one bit. Let (young) children be children and let them watch movies meant for their age. They will grow up fast enough and reach the age when they can fully enjoy movies meant for their age.

As a father myself, with a son of 9 and a daughter of 6, I first watched the existing 6 Star Wars movies with my son (but not my daughter, because it would be way too intense for her) and talked with him about the movies to check whether he could handle it. When he was okay about episodes 1-6 and excited about TFA after having seen the trailers, my wife and I took him with us to the cinema to watch TFA. He loved it, though he admitted afterwards that the movie was pretty intense for him.

Regarding the movie itself: I greatly enjoyed it from start to end. It was smart to set up analogies to A New Hope to make it feel like a continuation of a familiar story, and as a set-up for the new characters to be properly introduced before they could take over the torch and (mostly) carry the following Episode VIII and IX movies on their own. I expect to see Luke formally handing over the role of 'Saviour of the Good Side' to Rey in Episode VIII, with also more back story to explain what made Luke hide away. TFA was really set up as a transition movie, where we move from the OT protagonists (Luke, Han, Leia and Darth Vader) to the new protagonists, giving us the familiarity of the old characters to make us ease into the glove of the new characters smoothly. And I'm excited to see where the next episodes will take us!

[colossus]

2 hours ago, Haay said:

Seriously? You brought a 4 and a 6 year old to the cinema to watch The Force Awakens? This movie is really not meant for children at such age. It has themes and sequences that are way above their age level! Some action scenes may look 'cool' to them, but the story, the interactions between adults, the tensions and feelings between people, all of that is beyond their experience and understanding. Of course they felt 'meh' about it and that doesn't surprise me one bit. Let (young) children be children and let them watch movies meant for their age. They will grow up fast enough and reach the age when they can fully enjoy movies meant for their age.

As a father myself, with a son of 9 and a daughter of 6, I first watched the existing 6 Star Wars movies with my son (but not my daughter, because it would be way too intense for her) and talked with him about the movies to check whether he could handle it. When he was okay about episodes 1-6 and excited about TFA after having seen the trailers, my wife and I took him with us to the cinema to watch TFA. He loved it, though he admitted afterwards that the movie was pretty intense for him.

Regarding the movie itself: I greatly enjoyed it from start to end. It was smart to set up analogies to A New Hope to make it feel like a continuation of a familiar story, and as a set-up for the new characters to be properly introduced before they could take over the torch and (mostly) carry the following Episode VIII and IX movies on their own. I expect to see Luke formally handing over the role of 'Saviour of the Good Side' to Rey in Episode VIII, with also more back story to explain what made Luke hide away. TFA was really set up as a transition movie, where we move from the OT protagonists (Luke, Han, Leia and Darth Vader) to the new protagonists, giving us the familiarity of the old characters to make us ease into the glove of the new characters smoothly. And I'm excited to see where the next episodes will take us!

My kids are probably different than most kids - as both their parents are weirdos (not like keeping 45 jars of xyz in your car's trunk weird but we're different enough).  I'm a physician and my daughter learned by age 3 that if you run down the stairs you're going to break some bones or have a spinal injury - now at age 6 she knows about a Hangman's fractures.  My son was playing PvZ on his tablet at age 2 - so he's not afraid of zombies - just burglars breaking into our house.  They've seen Episodes 1-6 and can recite lines from the movies (I guess there's a lot of youtube videos for kids with SW mimicry/mockery). While my son at age 4 may not grasp the subtle emotions my daughter sure does.  It's scary the how fast kids pick up things and now my daughter has mastered sarcasm...at age 6 - scary.

Perhaps that's why my kids were not excited by the movie.  Maybe they saw it as a rehash of something they saw - and despite willing to watch Shrek for the 100th time in the van perhaps they wanted something new from movie.

I can understand the logic in which the way the movie was set up - the whole changing of the guard thing.  Star Trek had the same dilemma handing off Enterprise from Kirk to Picard. I know most don't like Generations but I personally loved it. Come to think of it the villain there seemed more evil than the First Order.

I heard many people complain about lack of character development for Rey and Finn - I guess people with criticize anything.  The movie is pretty long as it stands.  The subtleties might be lost on people who don't hear dialogue. I thought they set up Rey well enough - they couldn't give away too much without killing the "cliff-hanger" ending. I don't feel Han and Leia were the same ones I grew up watching when I was a kid. They kept referring to Kylo as our son. I think after the second telling the audience should have picked that up. I think most moms would have said "my/our boy" or even the name of their child instead. I guess that's nitpicking on my part - I'm just used to that from more "epic" movies like Titanic or Dark Knight. I would have expected some sharp tongue comments from Leia but she mellowed out so much. Han seemed to stay closest to his previous roles in my opinion.

But I did feel they did use quite a bit of "check reality at the door" - much more in my opinion than the previous movies.  Older Anakin was still careening his ship into Obi-wan at the opening of Episode III (despite years of Jedi training) while Rey went from scraping the MF to flying it better than Han within the span of 5 minutes (that chase was nice though). And Kylo should have been able to stop Chewie's blast since he was looking in his direction as opposed to when Poe tried to get him.  That lead to the Rey/Kylo battle which I didn't care much for - I felt it was too forced.  I would have preferred the planet just split earlier and they both left with Rey getting in a few more glancing blows than the wounded Kylo.

Now if they included some new plot element like Finn did some sort of sabotage to the FO base before escaping with Poe and then later exploited that setup then I would have been satisfied.  But that would have broke down his story of him trying to just get as far away from the FO as he could.  I think they could have developed the plot a little more intricately - but then that might have confused the kids.

But movies are designed to convey experiences, emotions and ideas.  This movie clearly appeals to many in a very positive light.  Maybe it will grow on me if I watch it again.  As somebody said earlier in this thread - I just didn't get that Star Wars feel from it. I felt the same way about Man Of Steel when I first watched it.  By the third viewing I liked it a lot more and after seeing Cavill in Uncle I have higher expectations for BvS.

Well - I'm still anxious to see VIII and IX - I want to see this evil that the FO is setting up for Kylo and what Luke has to do with Rey.

Edited January 27, 2016 by jaisonline

[HandyHand]

Different people of course have different feelings about the same subject. Like you, I too enjoyed Star Trek Generations as a set-up to hand over the movies-baton from the Kirk generation to the Picard generation. While ST:Generations didn't feel as cinematic as ST: First Contact it was well executed and in line with the Next Generation TV-series we'd come to love.

On the other hand, I wasn't impressed at all with the rebooted Star Trek (The Future Begins, 2009), also by J. J. Abrahams. While that movie gets a higher rating on IMDB than ST: First Contact.

Regarding what you said about Leia and Han: their relationship had failed, apparently. Even though they still cared for each other in a way, the love that was so young and fresh in the Original Trilogy was not there any more. That will reflect in the way they acted towards each other. Not unfriendly, but keeping distance. The spring and exuberance of youth is gone, replaced by inner reflection, jadedness and sarcasm now and then. I certainly could understand that when I saw the movie.

[trekgate502]

Trek loves all Star Trek and all Star Wars

I am just a sappy fan boy

 

[Alpinemaps]

Let's keep the questions of someone's parenting skills out of the conversation please.

[California92563]

2 hours ago, colossus said:

My kids are probably different than most kids - as both their parents are weirdos (not like keeping 45 jars of xyz in your car's trunk weird but we're different enough).  I'm a physician and my daughter learned by age 3 that if you run down the stairs you're going to break some bones or have a spinal injury - now at age 6 she knows about a Hangman's fractures.  My son was playing PvZ on his tablet at age 2 - so he's not afraid of zombies - just burglars breaking into our house.  They've seen Episodes 1-6 and can recite lines from the movies (I guess there's a lot of youtube videos for kids with SW mimicry/mockery). While my son at age 4 may not grasp the subtle emotions my daughter sure does.  It's scary the how fast kids pick up things and now my daughter has mastered sarcasm...at age 6 - scary.

Perhaps that's why my kids were not excited by the movie.  Maybe they saw it as a rehash of something they saw - and despite willing to watch Shrek for the 100th time in the van perhaps they wanted something new from movie.

I can understand the logic in which the way the movie was set up - the whole changing of the guard thing.  Star Trek had the same dilemma handing off Enterprise from Kirk to Picard. I know most don't like Generations but I personally loved it. Come to think of it the villain there seemed more evil than the First Order.

I heard many people complain about lack of character development for Rey and Finn - I guess people with criticize anything.  The movie is pretty long as it stands.  The subtleties might be lost on people who don't hear dialogue. I thought they set up Rey well enough - they couldn't give away too much without killing the "cliff-hanger" ending. I don't feel Han and Leia were the same ones I grew up watching when I was a kid. They kept referring to Kylo as our son. I think after the second telling the audience should have picked that up. I think most moms would have said "my/our boy" or even the name of their child instead. I guess that's nitpicking on my part - I'm just used to that from more "epic" movies like Titanic or Dark Knight. I would have expected some sharp tongue comments from Leia but she mellowed out so much. Han seemed to stay closest to his previous roles in my opinion.

But I did feel they did use quite a bit of "check reality at the door" - much more in my opinion than the previous movies.  Older Anakin was still careening his ship into Obi-wan at the opening of Episode III (despite years of Jedi training) while Rey went from scraping the MF to flying it better than Han within the span of 5 minutes (that chase was nice though). And Kylo should have been able to stop Chewie's blast since he was looking in his direction as opposed to when Poe tried to get him.  That lead to the Rey/Kylo battle which I didn't care much for - I felt it was too forced.  I would have preferred the planet just split earlier and they both left with Rey getting in a few more glancing blows than the wounded Kylo.

Now if they included some new plot element like Finn did some sort of sabotage to the FO base before escaping with Poe and then later exploited that setup then I would have been satisfied.  But that would have broke down his story of him trying to just get as far away from the FO as he could.  I think they could have developed the plot a little more intricately - but then that might have confused the kids.

But movies are designed to convey experiences, emotions and ideas.  This movie clearly appeals to many in a very positive light.  Maybe it will grow on me if I watch it again.  As somebody said earlier in this thread - I just didn't get that Star Wars feel from it. I felt the same way about Man Of Steel when I first watched it.  By the third viewing I liked it a lot more and after seeing Cavill in Uncle I have higher expectations for BvS.

Well - I'm still anxious to see VIII and IX - I want to see this evil that the FO is setting up for Kylo and what Luke has to do with Rey.

I think your looking too far into this.... 

[Sauromosis]

I pushed it a little on my youngest but it was very important to me that this be his first movie in the theater.

He hasn't turned full Sith yet so I think it was ok.

[Bold-Arrow]

https://thescene.com/watch/wired/star-wars-lego-destruction-a-millennium-falcon-lego-replica-plummets-into-jakku?mbid=marketing_paid_cne_social_facebook_scene_wired_dp_13

fun stuff 

[exciter1]

11 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

https://thescene.com/watch/wired/star-wars-lego-destruction-a-millennium-falcon-lego-replica-plummets-into-jakku?mbid=marketing_paid_cne_social_facebook_scene_wired_dp_13

fun stuff 

I posted that in the 75105 thread too.

[California92563]

29 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

https://thescene.com/watch/wired/star-wars-lego-destruction-a-millennium-falcon-lego-replica-plummets-into-jakku?mbid=marketing_paid_cne_social_facebook_scene_wired_dp_13

fun stuff 

at least that wasn't as painful as watching the ssd hit the Death Star  

[cardkid]

not sure if people watch Gold Rush on Discovery TV. But doesn't Parker Schnabel look like Kylo Ren?