STAR WARS VIII - "The Last Jedi" - Movie Discussion

[legopocalypse]

13 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

Was there any in-movie explanation on how C-3PO got his golden arm back?  Or was it another epVII thing that was retconed by Rian Jonhson? 

nope. no movie explanation. Just the comic book explanation (April, 2016).

 

[fuzzy_bricks]

8 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

I looked at ep7 ending on Youtube and C-3PO's arm was red when R2 "woke up" towards the end

This is right after Rey and Chewie take off in the Falcon to go find Luke.  I have no idea when they found time to change it from when R2 wakes up to when they leave, but they did.

 

[JDLego324]

I am an original Star Wars fan from 1977, had many toys, trading cards, books, records, etc as a 6-12 year old kid from 1977-1983.  I have an extensive vintage Star Wars collection that I have built since 1991.  I think about Star Wars every day, the same way some men think about cars, sports, gambling, drinking, carousing, etc. 

We are Disney Vacation Club (time share) members and actually purchased vacation points at the Disney Boardwalk resort so we can stay once a year and walk over to the new Star Wars Land that is due to open next year.  I am that invested in Star Wars.  I have children who are 7, 10, and 12.  The 12 year old is a huge Star Wars fan.  The others like it but are not super passionate.

I hate what Disney has done to the franchise so much, that I regret buying the Boardwalk points.  I don't care about Disney Star Wars any more.  The movie was terrible.  What they did to Luke Skywalker was unbelievable and unforgivable.  Many of us have waited 34.5 years to see Luke Skywalker on the big screen again, and this character assassination is what they gave us.

I think I could forgive everything else.  I could get over the bad science, the inconsistencies, the ridiculous plot, and the rest of this ridiculous movie if they would have done justice to Luke's character.

I am done.  What little TLJ merchandise that made its way into our house before we saw the movie is gone.  There will be no more.  No Legos, no other toys, no DVDs, no Halloween costumes, etc etc.  We only went to the theater once instead of multiple times like we had with the other movies.  That's 5 tickets x 2 or x 3 that Disney did not sell for TLJ, and will not sell for Episode IX or Solo.  I don't give a crap about what comes next. 

What's more, my 7 and 10 year old are now completely disengaged from Star Wars.  The movie was so bad that it lost them.  My 12 year old did not like it.   I had a car full of 12 year olds recently, and they all thought TLJ sucked.

There are many, many people out there who simply did not like this movie.  Do not believe the media BS that it's right wing racists review bombing the movie.  I am a long time fan who is disenchanted with what they did to Luke and otherwise thought the movie was just, well, bad.  BTW, my family is multicultural and multiracial.  This is not a white male thing.

If you liked the movie, good for you.  If you did not like it, then do not support Disney Star Wars.  Do not buy the DVD, do not buy the toys, do not go see Solo or Episode IX.  That is the only way a change at Lucasfilm will be forced.

[Darth_Raichu]

46 minutes ago, fuzzy_bricks said:

This is right after Rey and Chewie take off in the Falcon to go find Luke.  I have no idea when they found time to change it from when R2 wakes up to when they leave, but they did.

It is called priority.  You want your protocol droid to look good when being chased by the people who were responsible for destroying multiple planets + your main fleet 

[Ed Mack]

12 minutes ago, JDLego324 said:

I am an original Star Wars fan from 1977, had many toys, trading cards, books, records, etc as a 6-12 year old kid from 1977-1983.  I have an extensive vintage Star Wars collection that I have built since 1991.  I think about Star Wars every day, the same way some men think about cars, sports, gambling, drinking, carousing, etc. 

We are Disney Vacation Club (time share) members and actually purchased vacation points at the Disney Boardwalk resort so we can stay once a year and walk over to the new Star Wars Land that is due to open next year.  I am that invested in Star Wars.  I have children who are 7, 10, and 12.  The 12 year old is a huge Star Wars fan.  The others like it but are not super passionate.

I hate what Disney has done to the franchise so much, that I regret buying the Boardwalk points.  I don't care about Disney Star Wars any more.  The movie was terrible.  What they did to Luke Skywalker was unbelievable and unforgivable.  Many of us have waited 34.5 years to see Luke Skywalker on the big screen again, and this character assassination is what they gave us.

I think I could forgive everything else.  I could get over the bad science, the inconsistencies, the ridiculous plot, and the rest of this ridiculous movie if they would have done justice to Luke's character.

I am done.  What little TLJ merchandise that made its way into our house before we saw the movie is gone.  There will be no more.  No Legos, no other toys, no DVDs, no Halloween costumes, etc etc.  We only went to the theater once instead of multiple times like we had with the other movies.  That's 5 tickets x 2 or x 3 that Disney did not sell for TLJ, and will not sell for Episode IX or Solo.  I don't give a crap about what comes next. 

What's more, my 7 and 10 year old are now completely disengaged from Star Wars.  The movie was so bad that it lost them.  My 12 year old did not like it.   I had a car full of 12 year olds recently, and they all thought TLJ sucked.

There are many, many people out there who simply did not like this movie.  Do not believe the media BS that it's right wing racists review bombing the movie.  I am a long time fan who is disenchanted with what they did to Luke and otherwise thought the movie was just, well, bad.  BTW, my family is multicultural and multiracial.  This is not a white male thing.

If you liked the movie, good for you.  If you did not like it, then do not support Disney Star Wars.  Do not buy the DVD, do not buy the toys, do not go see Solo or Episode IX.  That is the only way a change at Lucasfilm will be forced.

 I think Disney killed the LEGO STAR WARS theme and specifically, the Ultimate Collector Series.  

[Guest TabbyBoy]

I finally watched (well, tried to) TLJ this evening as my neighbour is a stunt coordinator who worked on TFA and was given a pre-release BluRay for TLJ last week. To say I was disappointed was an understatement and I soon lost track so we turned it off after an hour. I'll just say that it was utter crap and an insult to a once great franchise. Disney should be ashamed of producing total garbage like this. Just as well I had a free viewing as I'd have walked out of the cinema and asked for a refund. I started to dislike LEGO Star Wars sets last year and I hate them with a passion now!

I'll not bother with the Solo movie now either.

I'm a huge fan of the OT and, as far as I'm concerned, Star Wars was over decades ago.

Grrrr! Disney, how dare you!

[Darth_Raichu]

1 hour ago, Ed Mack said:

 I think Disney killed the LEGO STAR WARS theme and specifically, the Ultimate Collector Series.  

Not dead yet, just rapidly being suffocated to death by the amount of merchandise.

 

[Ed Mack]

1 hour ago, Darth_Raichu said:

Not dead yet, just rapidly being suffocated to death by the amount of merchandise.

 

As a collectible LEGO theme, it's over...

[Darth_Raichu]

54 minutes ago, Ed Mack said:

As a collectible LEGO theme, it's over...

Disney did not help, but I put the blame more on LEGO's business decisions

[exciter1]

1 hour ago, Ed Mack said:

As a collectible LEGO theme, it's over...

As soon as Ed is out, I'm doubling-down.  Full-speed ahead!

[KShine]

Star Wars will still generally outperform the other LEGO themes - It's like that magical floating turd that refuses to be flushed away.

[exciter1]

Not sure where to put this.
An awesome fan-made Death Star timelapse build.

[KvHulk]

14 hours ago, JDLego324 said:

I am an original Star Wars fan from 1977, had many toys, trading cards, books, records, etc as a 6-12 year old kid from 1977-1983.  I have an extensive vintage Star Wars collection that I have built since 1991.  I think about Star Wars every day, the same way some men think about cars, sports, gambling, drinking, carousing, etc. 

We are Disney Vacation Club (time share) members and actually purchased vacation points at the Disney Boardwalk resort so we can stay once a year and walk over to the new Star Wars Land that is due to open next year.  I am that invested in Star Wars.  I have children who are 7, 10, and 12.  The 12 year old is a huge Star Wars fan.  The others like it but are not super passionate.

I hate what Disney has done to the franchise so much, that I regret buying the Boardwalk points.  I don't care about Disney Star Wars any more.  The movie was terrible.  What they did to Luke Skywalker was unbelievable and unforgivable.  Many of us have waited 34.5 years to see Luke Skywalker on the big screen again, and this character assassination is what they gave us.

I think I could forgive everything else.  I could get over the bad science, the inconsistencies, the ridiculous plot, and the rest of this ridiculous movie if they would have done justice to Luke's character.

I am done.  What little TLJ merchandise that made its way into our house before we saw the movie is gone.  There will be no more.  No Legos, no other toys, no DVDs, no Halloween costumes, etc etc.  We only went to the theater once instead of multiple times like we had with the other movies.  That's 5 tickets x 2 or x 3 that Disney did not sell for TLJ, and will not sell for Episode IX or Solo.  I don't give a crap about what comes next. 

What's more, my 7 and 10 year old are now completely disengaged from Star Wars.  The movie was so bad that it lost them.  My 12 year old did not like it.   I had a car full of 12 year olds recently, and they all thought TLJ sucked.

There are many, many people out there who simply did not like this movie.  Do not believe the media BS that it's right wing racists review bombing the movie.  I am a long time fan who is disenchanted with what they did to Luke and otherwise thought the movie was just, well, bad.  BTW, my family is multicultural and multiracial.  This is not a white male thing.

If you liked the movie, good for you.  If you did not like it, then do not support Disney Star Wars.  Do not buy the DVD, do not buy the toys, do not go see Solo or Episode IX.  That is the only way a change at Lucasfilm will be forced.

This, this, everything this. 

[fossilrock]

16 hours ago, legopocalypse said:

nope. no movie explanation. Just the comic book explanation (April, 2016).

 

Well that's an easy one.  The quality control check guy was asleep at the wheel during that scene, so Disney was forced to write a comic book to explain why he got his red arm back.

[thegraverobber]

Chiming in here among the negativity to say that I loved TLJ.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I'm not going to try to convince anyone to like the movie....but I thought it was great. 

[jeff_14]

17 hours ago, JDLego324 said:

I am an original Star Wars fan from 1977, had many toys, trading cards, books, records, etc as a 6-12 year old kid from 1977-1983.  I have an extensive vintage Star Wars collection that I have built since 1991.  I think about Star Wars every day, the same way some men think about cars, sports, gambling, drinking, carousing, etc. 

We are Disney Vacation Club (time share) members and actually purchased vacation points at the Disney Boardwalk resort so we can stay once a year and walk over to the new Star Wars Land that is due to open next year.  I am that invested in Star Wars.  I have children who are 7, 10, and 12.  The 12 year old is a huge Star Wars fan.  The others like it but are not super passionate.

I hate what Disney has done to the franchise so much, that I regret buying the Boardwalk points.  I don't care about Disney Star Wars any more.  The movie was terrible.  What they did to Luke Skywalker was unbelievable and unforgivable.  Many of us have waited 34.5 years to see Luke Skywalker on the big screen again, and this character assassination is what they gave us.

I think I could forgive everything else.  I could get over the bad science, the inconsistencies, the ridiculous plot, and the rest of this ridiculous movie if they would have done justice to Luke's character.

I am done.  What little TLJ merchandise that made its way into our house before we saw the movie is gone.  There will be no more.  No Legos, no other toys, no DVDs, no Halloween costumes, etc etc.  We only went to the theater once instead of multiple times like we had with the other movies.  That's 5 tickets x 2 or x 3 that Disney did not sell for TLJ, and will not sell for Episode IX or Solo.  I don't give a crap about what comes next. 

What's more, my 7 and 10 year old are now completely disengaged from Star Wars.  The movie was so bad that it lost them.  My 12 year old did not like it.   I had a car full of 12 year olds recently, and they all thought TLJ sucked.

There are many, many people out there who simply did not like this movie.  Do not believe the media BS that it's right wing racists review bombing the movie.  I am a long time fan who is disenchanted with what they did to Luke and otherwise thought the movie was just, well, bad.  BTW, my family is multicultural and multiracial.  This is not a white male thing.

If you liked the movie, good for you.  If you did not like it, then do not support Disney Star Wars.  Do not buy the DVD, do not buy the toys, do not go see Solo or Episode IX.  That is the only way a change at Lucasfilm will be forced.

I agree with every word, except I just can’t bring myself to cut the cord. SW is my religion and you might as well ask me to cut off an arm. Even my least favourite of the 2 is too much. I will treat the latest episodes as lesser gospels, interesting historical aberrations. While they got those 2 very wrong, Rogue One recaptured the magic. There’s still hope.

[Darth_Raichu]

TLJ was ok on 1st viewing but once you sit down and think about it a little bit you see several big plot holes. 

For instance, they meant to tell me Luke could not feel the agony of people in 5-6 planets that got blown up by Starkiller Base??  Sure he cut himself from the Force, but you would think the sudden disappearance of millions of lives should at least tickled a Master Jedi. 
Heck, even if you buy in that Luke did not feel the lost of lives, couldn't Rey just tell him that Kylo was out of control and already killed so many?? Luke felt responsible for creating Kylo, so shouldn't he be the one who took up the responsibility of cleaning up the mess Kylo created?   
Seriously? This version of Luke was so dense he did not go with Rey immediately after R2 showed him the young Leia recording...

[MrToes16]

I came out of the film hating it. Didn't see it a second time, but I will when I get a chance (for free hopefully).

I found myself trying to think about it with an open mind about why the film happened the way it did. A lot of the stuff I hated most I attribute to director missteps. Perhaps I can justify why the choice was made to do it...but perhaps directorial execution was flawed (really worse but trying to be nice).

- Usage of Luke...more sad than hate. A character of that caliber deserved better. Fine, make him a tragic hero but don't drag his character through the shame pit.

- Leia Poppins...ok, give her an ability with the Force that exceeds everyone's expectations. But, seriously, flying through space like bad puppet animation was terrible execution. Maybe better to have her hold her breath and force hold the ship so she doesn't fly out to begin with?

- Finn/Rose subplot...ugh, what a waste and seemed like total time filler. The idea that it could represent a chance that the Rebellion could still be a presence in an otherwise hopeless galaxy is intriguing. And perhaps the overall underlying theme of profiteering at the expense of a decades long war could be the precursor to a bigger revelation. Still though, bad execution of the plot.

- Creating plot holes by ignoring The Force Awakens story setup...I get it, Rian has a Napoleon complex and used his ego to go in a direction the basically flipped the bird to Abrams' film. On a whole, there is actually nothing wrong with that, as long as you can execute a path that makes logical sense and at least try to preserve the spirit that is the Star Wars universe. Completely ignoring the setup from TFA and just saying "F^@K YOU!...I'm going over here now!" just seems more of hateful vendetta than actual film making. Not sure why execs at Disney went along with this.

 

So yeah, I hated the film coming out of the theater...but I think the underlying tone and direction was worth exploring. 

17 hours ago, JDLego324 said:

If you liked the movie, good for you.  If you did not like it, then do not support Disney Star Wars.  Do not buy the DVD, do not buy the toys, do not go see Solo or Episode IX.  That is the only way a change at Lucasfilm will be forced.

A whole life of love dedicated towards to story line completely demolished over one really bad movie? I wouldn't go that far. But yes, it was bad. I'll still go to Disney park and watch other Star Wars movies. 

[legopocalypse]

2 hours ago, thegraverobber said:

Chiming in here among the negativity to say that I loved TLJ.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I'm not going to try to convince anyone to like the movie....but I thought it was great. 

 

[JDLego324]

1 hour ago, MrToes16 said:

I came out of the film hating it. Didn't see it a second time, but I will when I get a chance (for free hopefully).

I found myself trying to think about it with an open mind about why the film happened the way it did. A lot of the stuff I hated most I attribute to director missteps. Perhaps I can justify why the choice was made to do it...but perhaps directorial execution was flawed (really worse but trying to be nice).

- Usage of Luke...more sad than hate. A character of that caliber deserved better. Fine, make him a tragic hero but don't drag his character through the shame pit.

- Leia Poppins...ok, give her an ability with the Force that exceeds everyone's expectations. But, seriously, flying through space like bad puppet animation was terrible execution. Maybe better to have her hold her breath and force hold the ship so she doesn't fly out to begin with?

- Finn/Rose subplot...ugh, what a waste and seemed like total time filler. The idea that it could represent a chance that the Rebellion could still be a presence in an otherwise hopeless galaxy is intriguing. And perhaps the overall underlying theme of profiteering at the expense of a decades long war could be the precursor to a bigger revelation. Still though, bad execution of the plot.

- Creating plot holes by ignoring The Force Awakens story setup...I get it, Rian has a Napoleon complex and used his ego to go in a direction the basically flipped the bird to Abrams' film. On a whole, there is actually nothing wrong with that, as long as you can execute a path that makes logical sense and at least try to preserve the spirit that is the Star Wars universe. Completely ignoring the setup from TFA and just saying "F^@K YOU!...I'm going over here now!" just seems more of hateful vendetta than actual film making. Not sure why execs at Disney went along with this.

 

So yeah, I hated the film coming out of the theater...but I think the underlying tone and direction was worth exploring. 

A whole life of love dedicated towards to story line completely demolished over one really bad movie? I wouldn't go that far. But yes, it was bad. I'll still go to Disney park and watch other Star Wars movies. 

Oh, I still enjoy Star Wars, but I am done with Disney Star Wars.  I still enjoy my OT fixes, whether it be discussion boards, collecting, etc.  And if my kids want to be an OT character for Halloween or want an OT Lego, they have my full support.  Heck, my 12 year old loves the prequels, and I support him in that, too.

[Will 4]

19 minutes ago, JDLego324 said:

 Heck, my 12 year old loves the prequels, and I support him in that, too.

A wise 12 year old

[Ed Mack]

14 hours ago, KShine said:

Star Wars will still generally outperform the other LEGO themes - It's like that magical floating turd that refuses to be flushed away.

The numbers don't indicate this.  Fake news.  They are now below average.

[KShine]

23 minutes ago, Ed Mack said:

The numbers don't indicate this.  Fake news.  They are now below average.

The numbers have also said that things were great when they really weren't - The Star Wars theme will be fine (comparatively).

Edited February 27, 2018 by KShine

[Ed Mack]

13 minutes ago, KShine said:

The numbers have also said that things were great when they really weren't - The Star Wars theme will be fine.

The numbers for the STAR WARS theme as a whole have been eroding for years (as with most themes).  They are now below the average LEGO set.  Is it perfect method or data?  No...but the trend is bad one.  There are always exceptions, as you of all people know, but the theme as a whole has deteriorated as a collectible.  

[mudcatsfan]

Context of my POV:

• First SW film in Theater Experience: 6 years old, ROTJ in 83. (Therefore, I don't hate Ewoks "Young enough to date Barney Stinson Rule")
• Had nearly every Vintage toy from 81-on, and then went back in the 90's and completed everything. Collecting Gene kicked in hard.
• Kinda read some of the early Dark Horse stuff, and the Zahn trilogy, but none of the other 1000's of books & comics over the now 'legends' years. Expanded Universe was not my thing.
• Only played the NES/SNES games plus Xwing and Tie Fighter on PC. None of the KOTOR, etc stuff.

 

So with that frame of mind, I really disliked the Prequels.

Shocker Right?!?!

My complaint about them wasn't so much the popular complaints, JarJar annoying / racist, Poor Jake Lloyd's not being the kid from 6th Sense, Anakin not liking sand, etc.

It was that they were neither clever nor fun.

Follow me on this. SW Ep4 was insanely Fun,  Ep 5 was clever with the plot twist, Ep6 was fun again.

Knowing that, I hoped the prequels would bring back that fun and cleverness and I felt it whiffed on both accounts. (But Darth Maul was baddass right?)(also I get that they WERE fun if you were the right age, but SW Ep 4 is fun no matter your age)

They had a chance to deliver any number of amazing plot twists across 7 hours of prequel film, (hell Ep2 was a detective story) YET I feel like they gave you EXACTLY what you expected. That's missing an opportunity. That's playing prevent defense.

Anakin DID turn into Vader, Luke & Leia ARE his twin children, Obi DID take luke to Tat, Yoda did get thrown into excile, etc.

Before you say, BUT THEY CAN"T JUST CHANGE THE CANNON!!!!   It was Lucas at the time so of course he could of.

OR, There are any number of ways they could have done a "from a certain point of view" and made the Prequel Trilogy an amazing M Night Shamalan situation.

Ex: Old Ben Kenobi from Ep4 lived on Tatooine watching over Luke because HE was Anakin that we meet from Tattoine in Ep1. The young Obi Wan Kenobi we meet in Ep1 started his turn to the dark side when he rage kills Darth Maul for killing his master Qui Gon. Ewan McGregor would have NAILED THE HELL out of that transition.  They could have even had Anakin be Luke's Dad, and Obiwan be Leia's dad or something crazy. 

But they didn't. They did exactly what we expected. And my criticizing those directing / story choices is exactly what folks are doing with Rian Johnson, but from the exact opposite perspective.

As we know, Rian TOTALLY went away from what people expected. I loved that. He surprised me. I like surprise. I don't like sitting in a theater nodding my head saying YEP that's how I would have done it.

And he warned us. ALL. Every trailer. This ISN"T going to go the way you THINK.

And he did it in a REAL way, with REAL emotions. If you had a chance to kill baby Hitler would you ? Should you ? What would you do if you did? What would you do if you faltered? That's an interesting question. It's worthy of a grand space opera.

Sure Luke doing what he did in Dark Empire comics (staring down an AT-AT and lightsaber deflecting it's shots back at it), would have looked AMAZINGLY cool on the big screen, but it involved fighting a cloned Palpatine (same characters), and wasn't particularly dramatically interesting. It wasn't surprising, it wasn't clever.

To me, JJ's Ep 7 was SO much fun. Rian's Ep 8 was very clever. And I thank them for that.

All that said, I do understand people not liking 7 & 8, and I don't disparage anyone for their opin. Just sharing mine.

Edited February 27, 2018 by mudcatsfan