The new Star Wars is the movie that I regret most actually spending the money on the ticket. What a huge disappointment.
Posted : December 20, 2015 3:08 am
Review FULL of spoilers:
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Rey - I like her and I dislike how she seemed to pick up on the force tricks that Luke had to be taught. Are they trying to set her up to be stronger than Luke out of sheer power? Also, all of a sudden, she can handle a lightsaber against someone who has been trained by Luke Skywalker?
Finn - I know they tried to set him up as a Han Solo Jr, but that I didn't really care for. What I did like was the change in stormtrooper recruitment and the implication that those who serve the First Order may very well be brainwashed into it and that they can be redeemable characters. I liked the line Han said when he told him that women always find out.
Kylo Ren - I'm glad they didn't make him Luke's son. Making him Han and Leia's as well as driving a wedge of sorts between them offers some hope of being redeemed at some point as it gives him a human side. The injuries in the lightsaber fight mimicked Anakin's fall on Mustafar far too much.
Han Solo - I can't believe they killed him off! However, I can see why they did. I figured if they ever killed off a major character, it would likely be him or Luke. I liked the fact he and Leia still loved each other despite the fact they were apart. Not too sure I liked what they did sending him back to being a smuggler. However, it set up his back story without blatantly wave it in people's faces.
Leia - I loved the fact they didn't turn her into a Jedi, but they left her force sensitive. They didn't shove it down our throats that she chose not to be a Jedi. They left it at her feeling Han's death and showing that she still has that connection. I also like they left her a spitfire who has been tempered by age.
BB8 - LOVE! He's like a jr version of R2! He was perfect!
3PO - Something was slightly off. Not quite sure what. Maybe it was because he wasn't quite so prissy feeling.
R2 - I'm glad they held off on bringing R2 back until the end. It would have upstaged BB8. Instead it gave BB8 a chance to establish himself as a character in his own right instead of an R2 sidekick.
Poe - Eh. Too cocky. Reminds me of a cross between Wedge, Wes Janson, and Luke. I think they were trying too hard to bring a crack pilot into the story.
I know they did away with the EU for this, but there were a couple of spots that I felt could be a nod to the EU. The Starkiller base for starters. It strikes me as an idea drawn from the Centerpoint station in the Corellia system. It was the major plot point for two different EU book series.
I loved the cracks that referenced the original trilogy. The garbage compactor for one.
A couple of the articles I read said it felt a lot like A New Hope. I agree, but I also think it's a good part 1. However, A New Hope could have been a stand alone. Overall, I would say I liked it. There were a few parts I didn't like. Rey's easy to learn how to use force powers for one.
It'll be interesting to see the next two movies. I think I'll end this here and amend it if/when I see it again.
Topic starter
Posted : December 21, 2015 1:43 am
I have to admit that I both liked, and disliked the new Star Wars. I realize that new characters need time to grow, but I hope that the next film is not taken up with that aspect.
I do plan on seeing it again with the Mrs. so I have to avoid spoilers for the next couple weeks.
Posted : December 21, 2015 2:57 pm
And it was boring. "Attack of the Clones" had Anikin whining SO much (the man who become Darth Vader is a whiny brat?? Really????).
Oh I so agree. I'm not all that happy with what they did in this movie either.
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Kylo Ren is a bad-tempered, tantrum-throwing git
This movie made me ask more questions than I expected.
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Who is Rey, for example? Is she supposedly some sort of relation to the principal characters? I take the point of those who say she seems to have developed powers far too quickly, though life as an abandoned child might have made her a bit more self-sufficient in that area than was the better protected Luke Skywalker. Things like "Jedi mind tricks" or agility with anything that came to hand, plus the ability to resist mind reading might have been an innate way of survival on her own. I half read a book about Han Solo and Princess Leia in which they had twins, whilst Luke Skywalker was also meeting interesting women characters, but it wasn't a fan-fic type book
The film does resonate with a paperback Star Wars sequel I once picked up and half-read, until it became too dark for my taste.
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I liked the converted storm trooper line, but didn't quite understand how Finn came to be converted
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I didn't understand the visions Rey kept having. Just who is she? She seems to have become quite sympatico with Han Solo, for example
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Princess Leia changed her hairstyle which after all these years is a relief. The old ones made her look like she was perpetually wearing 20th century headphones
Posted : December 25, 2015 11:49 pm
Some brief thoughts on The Force Awakens. Overall, I liked it, I couldn't quite bring myself to love it. Overall it fell in between the original trilogy, and Episodes 1-3 which I try to forget even happened.
Likes:
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I really liked the three main characters: Finn, Rey, and Kylo Ren.
I liked that Kylo Ren was not ugly, as movies seem to like to do. I liked that he took his mask off. There was something about that that made him more real to me.
I liked that for once light and dark (Rey and Ren) seemed evenly matched. It drives me crazy that it always seems like dark is stronger until some miracle saves light at the end.
The overall story arc was fine, I just hope they expound on it more.
I liked how they kind of pitted Ren against Gen Hux as vying for being the worse bad guy, but they both kept screwing up. Thought that was kind of funny.
Best use of annoying C3PO ever.
I liked that they actually kept the violence in check and it was not overly gory.... thank you very much.
Mr. Hamill makes a very nice looking old Jedi!
I liked that Kylo Ren was not ugly, as movies seem to like to do. I liked that he took his mask off. There was something about that that made him more real to me.
I liked that for once light and dark (Rey and Ren) seemed evenly matched. It drives me crazy that it always seems like dark is stronger until some miracle saves light at the end.
The overall story arc was fine, I just hope they expound on it more.
I liked how they kind of pitted Ren against Gen Hux as vying for being the worse bad guy, but they both kept screwing up. Thought that was kind of funny.
Best use of annoying C3PO ever.
I liked that they actually kept the violence in check and it was not overly gory.... thank you very much.
Mr. Hamill makes a very nice looking old Jedi!
Dislikes...
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The death star... i mean... c'mon guys. Really? Lets take out the biggest, baddest weapon in the Galaxy with three guys on the ground and 10 guys in the air. *headdesk* This just did not work for me at all. Particularly since real life technology has surpassed what they showed in the movie.
The CGI characters, particularly Snoke, who looked like an idiot, and who's name may surpass Dooku as the dumbest name in the Star Wars universe. Ok, maybe not, but it's close. Bring back the puppets!
Just a few too many convenient happenings for my taste. I can write a few of them off, but everything just neatly fell into place in a way that wasn't realistic, even in a fantasy universe.
The CGI characters, particularly Snoke, who looked like an idiot, and who's name may surpass Dooku as the dumbest name in the Star Wars universe. Ok, maybe not, but it's close. Bring back the puppets!
Just a few too many convenient happenings for my taste. I can write a few of them off, but everything just neatly fell into place in a way that wasn't realistic, even in a fantasy universe.
Posted : January 2, 2016 9:37 am
Now that I've finally seen the movie, I can read and reply here. 
I agree with many of the points starkat and fantasia have made. It was enjoyable enough but
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seemed to be a rehash of many plot elements from the earlier movies. I was annoyed with the idea that we need a bigger, badder Death Star so let's make it a planet...that was still fairly easy to destroy because the bad guys keep leaving some obvious weakness.
Rey can suddenly do these things with the Force that others had to train for? Seems pretty convenient. On the other hand, from a movie perspective I can understand that most fans probably don't need (or want) another Yoda-style training session.
Still, I have hopes that the next movie will have a little more originality.
There is one thing this movie brings that the prequel trilogy could not, just by its nature...all the speculation about who the characters are and their relation to each other. Who is Rey? Ren's cousin? It reminds me of similar questions that were rampant back in the day (especially after The Empire Strikes Back was released).
But all night, Aslan and the Moon gazed upon each other with joyful and unblinking eyes.
Posted : January 3, 2016 6:14 am
SpoilerWho is Rey?
I'm going to be in the minority on this but
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I don't want her to be anybody tied in to a previous movie. I don't want her to be a Kenobi, I don't want her to be a Skywalker, I don't want her to be a Solo, or any other famous character's grandaughter/niece/fifth-cousin once removed. I'd like her to have her own identity not tied in with somebody else.
Of course, I very much doubt that they'll ever do that. It's a Hollywood thing to make sure every character shows up in every single movie, no matter how long the characters can possibly live.
And if you just can't do that, then there has to be a descendant.
I'm amazed they haven't made Finn the son of Lando, but maybe that's still coming.
Of course, I very much doubt that they'll ever do that. It's a Hollywood thing to make sure every character shows up in every single movie, no matter how long the characters can possibly live.
And if you just can't do that, then there has to be a descendant.I'm amazed they haven't made Finn the son of Lando, but maybe that's still coming.
SpoilerI dislike how [Rey] seemed to pick up on the force tricks that Luke had to be taught.
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I didn't mind this, and I'll tell you why. I always found Luke to be a rather weak Jedi, at least in the movies. His strength was his character, not the use of the Force. To put it in a real life perspective, some people are just naturally talented and can do things instantly, whereas it takes most other people years of work to achieve the same thing. So to have Rey kind of pick up on the Force after witnessing Kylo Ren using it, I thought it wasn't outside of realm of possibility.
Coupling this with the fact that Kylo Ren seems to be a standard bully. He'll pick on anybody he knows he can beat, but faced with someone that stands up to him, he falters. "You're afraid you'll never be as strong as Darth Vader!"
Having said that, it's a Hollywood thing that people always seem to know how to use a sword, even if they've never handled one before.
Coupling this with the fact that Kylo Ren seems to be a standard bully. He'll pick on anybody he knows he can beat, but faced with someone that stands up to him, he falters. "You're afraid you'll never be as strong as Darth Vader!"
Having said that, it's a Hollywood thing that people always seem to know how to use a sword, even if they've never handled one before.
Posted : January 6, 2016 7:28 am
Makes sense fantasia.
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I too hope Rey is unrelated to anyone from the past movies. I suspect there will be a Jacen/Jaina family tie though. Or hopefully they will end it at a nod to the fact the next generation of Jedi from the books were one male and one female.
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I really do think Starkiller base is a nod to Centerpoint Station from the books. I think they took the Death Star and Centerpoint and combined the two. A massive space station that pulls energy from a hydrogen based power system that can shoot killer beams across light years to kill things and a giant planet sized death star... Yeah sounds like a nod to that. Also, Centerpoint was a crucial plot piece in a series involving Han Solo and later on involving Jacen and Jaina.
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I do like the fact that Chewie seems to have adopted Rey at least as a friend.
Bought the book off Amazon. Not a fan of the writer the chose for the most part, but I figured, with my schedule, that buying it would be the easiest way to get to read it anytime soon. Should be interesting to see if it's a regurgitation of the movie script or if anything was added into it.
Tried to read Aftermath. Horribly written and there was nothing consistent to latch onto to pull the reader in, so I didn't even bother finishing it.
Topic starter
Posted : January 6, 2016 7:46 am
SpoilerFinn - I know they tried to set him up as a Han Solo Jr, but that I didn't really care for.
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I was thinking more, if we're trying to draw explicit lines of so-and-so-is-like... (which we probably are) that Finn is the Luke of this set-up. He's the one thrown out of his depth and asked to swim, whereas Poe and Rey are doing what they've done before just on slightly different scales.
I can't comment on his technique, but I am amused that the same person who did the original Star Wars tie-in novel(s) wrote the one for Episode Seven.
SpoilerI'm amazed they haven't made Finn the son of Lando, but maybe that's still coming.
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I am going to be more surprised if he isn't. (But in a good way!)
(But in a good way!)We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost - how long ago! -- G. K. Chesterton
Posted : January 7, 2016 4:17 am
Actually he didn't write any of the movie novelizations for the previous six Star Wars movies. Foster has written previous Star Wars books. None of them were very well written.
Topic starter
Posted : January 7, 2016 7:23 am
He was the ghost writer for the first (ANH), which has Lucas' name instead. I was thinking of the novel intended to be between ANH and ESB when I added the (s), and agree, I could have been clearer there.
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost - how long ago! -- G. K. Chesterton
Posted : January 7, 2016 8:27 am
Posted : January 7, 2016 10:05 am
I bought the book from the movie. The writing level was about what I expected from Foster. It could have used some more fleshing out. It wasn't bad, but it felt like there could have been more backstory kind of like how Biggs was a more developed character in A New Hope's book.
Topic starter
Posted : February 9, 2016 3:11 am
So the first trailer for Rouge One: A Star Wars Story was released today and as someone who's been a star wars fan since I was six I honestly couldn't care less.
Don't get me wrong I loved The Force Awakens (Got my Blu-Ray copy yesterday) and can't wait for Episode VIII to come out, but I don't know I really just don't care or need to see a movie about how the Death Star plans were stolen and this trailer did nothing to change that and too be honest it look's kind of cheap in a way maybe it's just me I guess it could be a good movie but right now I'm not excited.
Posted : April 7, 2016 7:25 am
I saw The Force Awakens in theatres, but I was really disappointed by it.
[spoiler=]It didn't feel like the continuation of the Star Wars Saga to me. It just felt like a product. There was no effort to move the story forward or to explore new territory - which is something every previous Star Wars film has done. Instead all of the accomplishments achieved during the Original Trilogy were undone - the Republic was destroyed (I think?? That was unclear...), the fledgling Jedi Order was slaughtered again, Han is back to being a smuggler, the Empire is back (okay, fine, the First Order) - so that TFA could be as close to A New Hope as possible. So as a fan of the original films, I can't be a fan of this. It renders them pointless by moving the plot in circles and it lacks one of the key things that made the original films so special - creativity and innovation.
I also really disliked how they handled Han and Leia's relationship. They broke up! This is a space fairy tale - a universe where a farmboy can rise up and be a hero, where the most evil man in the galaxy can be redeemed, and where the selfish scoundrel can have a change of heart and save the day - so is having the princess and the scoundrel live happily ever after too much to ask for? I thought that was far too cynical for Star Wars. 
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Posted : September 26, 2016 11:45 am