The Last Jedi

[Invisible Man]

Unless it’s green cheese made from the milk of those stoned, drunken alien beach giraffes.

That’s the movie we got. Luke fishing, milking, and grumping.

[vallaton]

luke drinking that stoned, drunken alien beach giraffe milk is going to be huge in the gif-scene though.

[MechaGodzilla]

Many middle fingers to the audience/fandom in this movie.

That's the best thing that the new stuff can do, as long as it's good and the creators care. Constant, fawning fanservice attached to a soulless, edgy, poorly written cash grab is how we've ended up with Star Trek Discovery.

I'm seeing so much disdain for TLJ where there seemed like everybody was pretty satisfied with TFA. I thought TLJ was much more careful with its use of reference and homage and admirable for how much it dared to mess with people's expectations, as well as being an engaging story with a good cast (which, plus special effects, is all Star Wars ever needs to be).

[MechaGodzilla]

Rian Johnson is producing a separate trilogy. I assume that it’ll center on the kid who is in the closing shot. Jedi Harry Potter.

I think it was more a message of "of course there are tonnes more potential Jedi in the universe, ya bunch of Skywalker-worshipping nerdlingers!" Saying that it's gonna be all about that specific kid (or the pre-TLJ assumption that Rey was related to the Skywalkers) is some Lucas-esque line of thinking. The whole reason to make Rey just another person with magic is to open up the potential to create new characters with separate lives, instead of everyone involved having been begat by Darth Vader like some kind of Old Testament soap opera in space.

[gnomethrone]

I loved that prank call. It felt super right to me. Also the ancient order of frog nuns tending the jedi temple was Lovecraftian AF.

[Bassist_Diver]

Haven't seen it yet, gonna wait until it hits Redbox/Netflix/other streaming services. I like Star Wars well enough, but not enough to deal with the rabid fans that populate the theaters. When I saw TFA all the hooting and hollering and such distracted too much from it, and being called a dipshit, phaggot, etc. for saying I thought it was "just okay" definitely made me put up about 10,000 miles of barriers between me and the rest of the fandom.

[Invisible Man]

Many middle fingers to the audience/fandom in this movie.

That's the best thing that the new stuff can do, as long as it's good and the creators care. Constant, fawning fanservice attached to a soulless, edgy, poorly written cash grab is how we've ended up with Star Trek Discovery.

I'm seeing so much disdain for TLJ where there seemed like everybody was pretty satisfied with TFA. I thought TLJ was much more careful with its use of reference and homage and admirable for how much it dared to mess with people's expectations, as well as being an engaging story with a good cast (which, plus special effects, is all Star Wars ever needs to be).

That’s my beef. It’s not clever or subversive to zig when there are seven movies of zag preceding this one. That’s easy. The harder way to accomplish this would be to hand the series off to new characters not related to the Skywalker line without diminishing the Skywalker story. To have this movie say ‘it doesn’t matter, legends are dead or ineffectual’ is 1) the opposite of what this story has set up, and 2) a lot less effort than integrating new elements into an existing framework.

So based on your comment—which I halfway agree with—I’m not sure who these movies would be ‘for.’ Artful, intelligent, provocative movies are not Star Wars, and Star Wars movies are not those things. I’d argue that Star Wars is about successful execution within a limited set of parameters. This is why the prequels annoyed everyone—they were stuck in the uncanny valley of almost-but-not-quite recognizable. Also the CGI was literally uncanny valley-type stuff.

[reckon luck]

I'm seeing this tomorrow. I've read a lot of spoilers and some of it sounds pretty dumb (e.g. hyperspace kamikaze) but we'll see how it plays out.

For the record, I thought TFA was weak and I liked Rogue One.

[codetocontra]

Just got home from watching. I enjoyed it. I make no apologies for being a lifelong Star Wars fan. Nor do I apologize for some of the terrible decisions they made in the past. If you don't like any or all of it, that is fine, I won't call you names.

[Invisible Man]

But what are your thoughts, Contra? I need more than your three word review, you stoic midwestern bastard.

Did you get into the EU stuff before it was decommissioned?

[neonblack]

I still think the Heir to the Empire trilogy is the best star wars saga never filmed.

Also hyperspace kamikaze is:
A) my new nerdcore band name
And B) fucking awesome and beautifully shot

[dugwolf]

NSFW: show

So Luke spent the entirety of RotJ believing he could redeem Vader and when has the opportunity to kill him he throws his lightsaber away instead. But his nephew MIGHT be turning dark so he sneaks into his hut to murder him in his sleep? Ok.

[neonblack]

NSFW: show

He didn't sneak in to kill him. He just went in to probe his mind (not much better). When he saw how much darkness was in Ben, he pulled his saber impulsively in a moment of fear.,

[weebles]

I've always found the original Star Wars trilogy far more interesting as a cultural phenomenon than as a good movie with good acting. That being said, I've still been pretty involved with the EU and have really enjoyed the recent animated series.

I watched TLJ today, and, aside from the casino planet stuff and 10 seconds of space Mary Poppins, I liked it. Solid B, anyway.

I also appreciated Domhall Gleeson's nod to the original trilogy by acting with the nuance and skill of a 15-year-old pulled straight off the set of his high school's musical. (This is a dig at the original trilogy being a decent story told by terrible actors). Also hyperspace kamikaze was pretty amazing, especially since it was silent. Made it a beautiful "shot", even if it was CGI.

[Invisible Man]

I still think the Heir to the Empire trilogy is the best star wars saga never filmed.

Also hyperspace kamikaze is:
A) my new nerdcore band name
And B) fucking awesome and beautifully shot

Fucking A it is. Khabarakh, clan Khim’bar. That shit felt like Star Wars.

I read probably a hundred EU novels. Those were the best of them: