Star Wars VIII

[mimekiller]

Holdo should of just been gone from the film and all her moments given to Leia including the final sacrifice and saved Luke "giving up the ghost" for episode 9.

So apparently BEN SOLO did say that he could totally force project himself to Rey if he wanted to but the stress would kill him so it was established in a line that I had to read about and have no memory of whatsoever.

[Phoebe]

I thought it was helpful to have someone else leading the fleet instead of Leia, in part because there's no way you could imagine a mutiny against Leia - only a mutiny mistakenly undertaken on her behalf. And once you're committed to the idea of mutiny, and the story of realizing that your wise female leader maybe had a good plan all along, that leader can't be Leia.

Also glad they did not kill off Leia, not just because she needs to be alive for further parts of Kylo's story (I'm assuming), but because it seems more respectful of Carrie Fisher. Let her play out all the scenes she played out, all the pieces she acted, so we can experience her work without having it artificially re-done with a new ending to "fix" things without fixing them.

I always liked the Jedi - obviously, starting with Obiwan and all the hints of a lost past Jedi order that Vader had once been part of - but even in the prequels they were a highlight. I liked how each one was different and they used different methods and didn't agree with one another all the time, and even their own organization was prone to the problems of others. So maybe one reason I don't like this movie as much is that I don't like what happened to the Jedi and how it all ended up - but the one REALLY good thing they did was that scene with the little boy and his broom, and the idea that the force seeks to accomplish its ends through unknown, innocent, downtrodden people who do great things. It didn't make up for the Hole or the Milk, but it came close. And the whole "liberate yourself from the book" thing doesn't mean much when the books are still around and preserved, and Yoda must have known so.

"I'm unclear what Abrams has to do with the Last Jedi." - nothing, I'm just kidding because I'm always fulminating against his varied works here.

Anyway, another big gripe I have about all this: we were set up for Rey and Finn to be important to one another, and you know, she went off and did some shit out of sight out of mind and next thing you know, new girl falls in love with him and he's done with Rey. Ohhhhkay, my vision was different y'all. Nor is Finn as important in this movie as I think he should have been.

[mimekiller]

yea some fair points, also the PRANK PHONE CALL SCENE almost made me cringe into another theatre

[Phoebe]

My mind blocked it out, mostly, so I have a dim idea what you're talking about and I remember Poe's face and words coming out, but I refuse to acknowledge that any of it was real.

[Phoebe]

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For those in need of a last minute gift for your Star Wars nerd.

[Eliahad]

Tomorrow! Giddy!

[Zen]

[El Jefe]

Since I forget to mention earlier, I'd like to take the segment of the fanbase that seems to believe there is still room for Rey's parents to be SOMEBODIES and beat them profusely about the head.

That's pretty much the worst thing they could do with this series, outside of introducing the godawful Kerrigan from Starcraft.

[Zen]

[Phoebe]

[Phoebe]

[El Jefe]

[Zen]

[mimekiller]

Ok yea logically it was prob a teat on a space cow that Luke was guzzling from but it's also like ya know, a made up ALIEN and I think those teats could of easily been six evenly placed cocks.

Also that autistic fat faced asians speech on LOVE BEATING EVIL really makes zero sense when you're saying that in the shadow of the giant lazer that's going to kill everyone you ever loved or cared about.

[Phoebe]

What the hell even? Why? It's like an illness, maybe some form of illness.

[Zombie]

[Eliahad]

What do you mean by "the holds," Zombie?

[El Jefe]

I'm guessing he means the fanatically deification the fanbase has of the "original three."

Side note: I'm also a big "fan" of this idea that somehow the prequels don't exist. Even particular moments from the original trilogy get ignored for the sake of convenience. I get not liking them. I even understand hating them. I'm not a big fan myself. But it doesn't change that the prequels showed, over and over again, how flawed the Jedi were. It doesn't change their war-mongering past. We love to look at them as some kind of order of space Dalai Lamas, while forgetting that the two core facets focus on the suppression of emotions (a big and horrific aspect of training child soldiers the world over) and that these "peaceful" folks use FUCKING LASER SWORDS. Ben Kenobi's whole scene in the cantina changes drastically if this were an actual non-violent order. We're totally cool with the Jedi generally killing and horribly maiming more people than Dawn of Justice Batman (because apparently, blunt force trauma isn't murder! Only force lightning!).

It's honestly amazing that Luke's "mistake" was as tame as it turned out to be. The prior stories could have easily pointed to a whole hell of lot darker material.

[Mike]

I assume we're just spoilering out loud in here. My commentary before I read everyone else's:

Good
Love the performances.

Action scenes were as solid and exciting as I've come to expect.

I think the Rey/Kylo storyline was extremely well-executed and I thought it was the best part of the movie. The whole build-up of them connecting and learning about each other, them both seeing the other turning, Snoke's revelation that he set them up, them fighting back-to-back, and finally Kylo turning out to still be Kylo... I loved it all.

Luke's force-projection at the end. Awesome. The scenes were so badass and so amazing, but the whole time I had soooo many questions and soooo many problems... and then most of it just resolved itself when it turned out he wasn't ever there. So cool.

The diversity. Women and people of color in all sorts of roles--good guys and bad. Nice. And no sexualization of any characters.

They introduced a dreadnaught and then ripped it in half. Come on. And the choice to show it in utter silence... I was blown away.

The message of hope.

Bad
How many times do they have to use the word "hope"? I get it. I like the message. You don't have to spell it out.

About 30 minutes too long. The beats were off. The whole great escape/Kylo-Rey fight/bisected dreadnaught business drew us to a grand finale... it felt like an ending. Wait, now I gotta watch Finn vs Plasma? OK... NOW it's done. Oh Jesus! What do you mean there's another 25 minutes on ANOTHER big escape? What is this--Return of the King? Didn't help that I had to pee so bad. I mean, I enjoyed all those parts, but I never looked at the time. It just kept feeling done.

I could have done with about 60% less comedy. I don't mind a little humor worked in naturally--some of the one-liners, Luke dusting off his shoulder. But the big-eyed penguin things and the comedy in the casino felt really forced and took me out of the story.

Why the hell couldn't Laura Dern just tell Poe what the escape plan was? Lotta heartache would have been saved (And lives) if everyone knew the plan. If she had just TOLD THEM THE PLAN... then it would have worked and like 300 extra rebels would have lived. I still don't get that one.

--------------
Liked it a lot. We had a great time. I could have helped them make it a better movie if they would have just asked me.

[Mike]

Luke never planned to kill his nephew. He was shocked and horrified and in a moment of weakness he reacted without thinking. But he wasnt going to do it. He knew better and he stopped himself.

Zen explained it correctly.