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FilmBuff's Replies
There's been great, and awful, music made in all eras, but it definitely seems there are periods of 3 to 5 years where you have clusters of great music happening at once, and subsequent lulls of mediocrity. I'd say the following were timespans during which a lot of great music was being made:
1977-80
1984-86
1994-98
2004-07
Not at all. Luke dying was a fitting end. It was the rest of the film that was a mess.
Almost as if he were... a nerd???
I'd give The Last Jedi a 6 out of 10.
My 3 favorite films: Seven Samurai, Pulp Fiction, The Lady Eve, Trainspotting, The Sting
Okay that was 5. I couldn't narrow it down further. :/
Not because it's a Star Wars film, but you can normally count on a Star Wars film to be a quality film worth multiple viewings, partly to pay closer attention to the film-making once you've watched once for plot, and partly for the breathtaking moments. The garbage prequels didn't warrant re-watching, but the original three did, as did The Force Awakens.
It's a Star Wars movie. Of course one sees it more than once. Unless it's the prequels. Once was enough for those things.
I watched The Force Awakens 3 times in the first week or so it was out.
As for The Last Jedi-- I left the film with mixed feelings, but I think it deserves a second viewing. The first time seeing a film is spent following the plot, and seeing where things lead. The second time through you see things you couldn't the first time around because you need to know where the film goes in order to understand them.
I'm sure it was intentional. Juxtaposing the serious and the absurd is a very Sturges thing to do.
I think we agree quite a bit. The Force Awakens is my 2nd favorite of the 9 films (I'm including Rogue One), and I also enjoyed The Last Jedi but wish it had been better scripted. I don't mind the films harkening back to their predecessors.
If I have any other complaints about The Last Jedi, they'd be
1) A lack of even one "great moment." I think the truly great films, besides being well-scripted, having memorable characters, clever twists, etc. always have 2 or 3 single moments that stand out. Moments you watch the entire film just to see again. A film can be good, to me anyway, but to stand out as great it needs to have a few.
2) For better or worse, The Force Awakens built its plot around the mystery of Rey's lineage. It was a key element of her character, and her journey. Discarding that was poor story-telling, assuming a revelation isn't forthcoming in part 9. It would be 100% fine to have her be a random outsider new to The Force, but once the stage has been set for something else, it's Tommy Wiseau level scripting to simply drop it as if it never happened.
Do you understand what it means to be an uncle? If you have a sister, you are an uncle to her children. Luke has a sister, Leia, and is an uncle to her son, Ben aka Kylo Ren.
Here's a sort of family tree for you:
Darth Vader has 2 children, Luke and Leia
Luke is his son
Leia is his daughter
Leia marries Han Solo
Ben aka Kylo Ren is their son
That makes Darth Vader Kylo Ren's grandfather
Because Luke is Leia's brother, he is the uncle to her child, Kylo Ren.
Luke Skywalker has a few things going for him, probably the most important of which is primacy. Since he came first, he's who we associate with Star Wars. However, if you watch the original three films again through fresh eyes, doing your best to let go of 40 years of mythology and baggage, he isn't as interesting or well-developed as Rey.
Luke is a pretty whiny, one-dimensional guy. He is never shown to have much depth, and his personality is never developed beyond a basic, surface level. He blunders through things, ignores the advice of Yoda, and more or less relies on luck and The Force to carry him through whatever situation he's in.
As to the "Mary Sue" complaint-- it's nonsense. Just like Rey, Luke achieves mastery of The Force with minimal training, and is guided by powers beyond him in much of what he does. If you think about it, he knew Ben Kenobi for perhaps an hour or two, had no training from him other than a quick "follow the ball" game. Yoda didn't do much more than crack jokes at his expense and tell a couple riddles. That's just how The Force works in the Star Wars universe: either you got it or you don't.
You can chalk up some of this to modern filmmaking. Movies are longer now, and more attention is given to creating a well-rounded character, hence our knowing a lot more about Rey, and seeing more sides to her, than we ever did Luke. Some is also due to what the filmmakers hoped to accomplish. Lucas was not concerned with creating deep characters. He was making an homage to the serials he'd loved as a kid, and part of the beauty of them was that the characters were one-dimensional stereotypes.
Whatever the reason(s) you decide are responsible, it's hard to dispute your statement without being blinded by an irrational love for the original films.
I came here to say more or less the same thing. 2019 is such a long way away, but I've been anticipating this film since the moment I left the theater after seeing the first installment.
It isn't as tightly plotted, or as fun, as the first, but it's worth watching. The new character Billy is pretty great. There's a wasted episode that shows Eleven's vacation to the land of How Hollywood Thinks Punks Look and Act. Probably not enough Wynona Ryder. But still fun.
You've made up your mind, and you'll be rude and insult anyone who holds a different opinion, but there is no evidence in the films for anything you're opining.
From the moment he learned of the force, Luke was doing amazing things. Obi Wan didn't train him at all beyond a quick "follow the ball" exercise, and Yoda barely trained him either. After Yoda's death Luke may have had a few years on his own doing who knows what, but as all the Jedi were dead, no one was training him.
Both Rey and Luke display an immediate affinity with the force, and both do remarkable things from the get-go. Rey is more impressive, but the evidence given in the films suggests that is to be expected of someone powerful with the force. It fits perfectly within the mythology to assume that she's someone more naturally attuned to it than even Luke.
Also note that Luke was a somewhat whiny, impulsive, and insecure character. He often disbelieved in his own abilities. Rey is shown to be a more forceful and assertive person even before she discovers the force. She's also been living on her own in a hostile environment, and clearly mastered the art of fighting with her quarterstaff, which would prepare her for using a light saber.
Luke trained with Obi Wan for about 10 minutes on the Millennium Falcon. If you recall, in Star Wars Luke meets Obi Wan, and they spend a few minutes talking before he's given a light saber, at which point the immediately go to the Cantina, meet Han Solo, and end up on the Death Star where they part ways. That time represents probably an hour in Luke's life, yet he masters the force to the point where he can make the one in a zillion shot to blow up the Death Star.
He then spends a few days with Yoda, basically being the butt of Yoda's jokes, at which point he is master enough to defeat Darth Vader and save the universe.
Face it-- that's the way it has always worked. If the force is strong with you, it doesn't take much to be a bad ass, and the force is clearly stronger with Rey than with anyone we've known since Yoda. And who's to say that little muppet trained at all? He probably came out the womb (hatched from an egg?) in full Jedi mode.
I'd be happy to see one Marvel FF film based in the '60s, with some of the tech almost being part of the humor in how behind our times it is, while cutting edge for the era. Then we can bring them into the 21st century, and have some fun watching Reed catch up, and/or be dismayed that his then-cutting-edge inventions are now retro and obsolete.
Well, I think you're pretty safe, as I doubt Kevin Feige will be calling on me to write and direct a Fantastic Four movie anytime soon. But if he DOES call, I have faith that the Marvel movie audience will understand. They can think of it like The Upside Down meets Mad Men.
I don't think so? It's just a film set in an alternate reality that ends with that reality meshing with the one we know. You could easily rewrite your list as
- Adaptation of Fantastic Four #4
- Set in 1961/62/early '60s to match source material
- Post-credits teaser of universes merging
How would I do it? Well, lemme tellya... I'd start with a Fantastic 4 film set in 1961. I'd avoid the comedy and quirkiness of Guardians of the Galaxy or Thor:Ragnarok, but keep it light and funny, in the spirit, and keeping the tone, of the original comics. Think Howard Hawks, Preston Sturges, Billy Wilder...
I'd briefly show the team's origin, probably while the opening credits roll, and then pit them against Dr. Doom and the Sub-Mariner in an exciting and unpredictable adventure. End by revealing that this is not the 1961 of the MCU.
Post-credits, something Thanos did in Infinity War would be shown to have had the effect of merging the two universes, similar to what happened recently in the comics. And just like the that, the FF, Doom, and Namor are in the MCU, and very much fish out of water, being that they are from a screwball version of 1961.