Star Wars Episode IX

[Steve Green]

Yeah, they re-purposed it for a Blade Runner 'inspired' short called XXIT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOi3u4tNqTY&feature=emb_logo

Depends what your definition of 'fan-made' is, I imagine a pitch to Lucasfilm to test the tech rather than anything else.

The footage was on the vimeo page in full 9 years ago and was still there a couple of days ago, but it's now a private video. I guess they just forgot about it.

[Steve Green]

Commissioned by Rick McCallum as proof of concept apparently.
https://io9.gizmodo.com/heres-the-real-deal-with-that-leaked-star-wars-footage-1841389155


And an in-depth article about the Mandalorian tech.

http://www.icgmagazine.com/web/a-new-hope/

[Tiplodocus]

Got this on blu-ray and still enjoyed it despite a thousand flaws.

The extras are very interesting. Best of the lot is some utterly heart warming stuff with Warwick Davis and his son (including stuff from Return Of The Jedi).

Second best thing is noticing that JJ Abrams has a penis nose from some angles.

But The RISE OF SKYWALKER making of is utterly breathtaking in the level of commitment to a verisimilitude  throughout the production. I can't help but thinking that another month on the story would have helped it more than building roads and a village in a desert and  training 500 Jordanians how to dance while dressed as aliens.

[sheridan]

Second best thing is noticing that JJ Abrams has a penis nose from some angles.

I've never seen a picture of him before, but a quick image search reveals that the internet is mainly of the opinion that it's a butt nose.

[Apestrife]

Rewatched ep 7-9 yesterday. I was never a fan of 7, and even less so this time around. First time I "really" watched 9 as well, but it's simply not made for me in mind. Too much of characters interupting eachother, screaming exposition.

But I must confess  I liked ep 8 much better than the last time I saw it (saw it once in a cinema). Some things are still not working for me (for example Rose saving Finn --which most likely never will), but I discovered alot of things to like. Especially Rian's direction. He's good at visuals. For me the sunken x wing told me more of a story than everything in ep 7, as did the ending's kid with the broom when compared to ep. 9's.

I'll probably never watch 7 and 9 again, but I could see myself watching 8 if someone would insist on doing so

[shaolin_monkey]

I've watched all six of them again (I just can't bring myself to watch the prequels) to stop me being bored out of my nut working from home. 

7 - pure spectacle with stuff for the fans, and too much of a remake of Star Wars, but seemingly with less menace than the original. Vacuous, but enjoyable.  Musically, Ray's theme is lovely, and the March of the Resistance is a cracking piece of unexpectedly structured pomp, and hugely enjoyable for it.

8 - some classic cinema in here, mixed in with utter gash. The Luke story arc I find immensely satisfying, including the 'Rashomon' retelling of the Luke/Kylo dynamic. The Camino scenes incredibly jarring.  And will someone shoot Poe Dameron right at the start please?  He caused so much death and destruction, but the worst he got for all his mutiny and suchlike was "he's a very naught boy, and that's why we like him."  No.  If that was a military operation, he'd be court-martialled. Shoot him.

9 - Pfft.  What's there to say?  Things happen.  Narrative and storytelling are confused with set-pieces and special effects.  It's a wonderful looking movie, there's no doubt about that.  It's just too ridiculous for words.  Events strung together with little or no reason.  Unbelievable maps of death star wreckaqe on knives.  Popular characters being almost entirely sidelined.  Secrets hinted at for dramatic purpose that never go anywhere.  A narrative shambles. The dead speak!  Do they?  When?  Oh, in some game I'm never going to play.  Look out, tie fighters!  Run away.  Look out, more tie fighters!  Run away.  Oh, Rey's dead.  Oh, no she's not, Kylo saved her.  Oh, Kylo's dead.  Rey will save him.  No she won't - what? Creepy Lando - does he want to adopt her or screw her?  What?  Why?  Where?  Who?

No, 9 definitely does not do it for me.

4 - Epic.
5 - breathtaking cinema even after 35 years, even on a small iPad screen.
6 - simple joyous fun, with a perfectly choreographed last third.

I did also rewatch Rogue One.  The last 35 minutes is some of the best Star Wars to ever grace our cinema screens - land, sea, air, space battle.  the stakes are high.  Glorious, thrilling, and then the last few minutes made me want to SCREAM in the cinema, and still do now.

I'll leave you with this reaction video, which is the best reaction to anything I have ever seen ever, and I am totally with her all of the way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIe2TLPryJw

[broodblik]

My problem still with ep 7 -9 is that it felt like a remake of New Hope. The obsession of bringing back the classic SW characters were more important than actually bringing us a coherent story. The special effects and visuals where stunning but visuals is not the only thing a movie requires.

[Modern Panther]

And will someone shoot Poe Dameron right at the start

My favourite thing about 8 is that it shows the machismo heroism for what it is - getting people killed for personal glory - and replaces it with a gentler heroism, where people fight for love rather than hate, and waiting for an opportunity is a better idea than flying directly at a Stardestroyer .  All the bombast of the Camino scenes is pointless...except that they allow the weird animal things to run free, which in this kinder philosophy is valuable in itself.  The tropes of old are cast aside as swaggering rogues are shown not as romantic heroes but just as self interested bastards, easily forgotten.  The force isn't about a bunch of elitist monks passing judgement from atop a tower, it's a connection anyone can feel, that brings everyone together.

Then 9 happened. A film that required a prologue in Fortnite.

[IndigoPrime]

Mm. That’s still kind of my feeling about it. 8 dared to do and be something different, and it had a great message for kids: anyone can be special, and, hey, all be a bid kinder. Them JJA stomped back in yelling NO NO NO in response to fanboys getting terribly angry about nothing much, and went about his usual approach of creating facsimiles of old properties to warm people’s nostalgia glands.

FWIW, I didn’t dislike 9. I in fact quite enjoyed it. But a recent Twitter thread I read (but can’t find, because Twitter) did an excellent comparison of the two Luke lifting the X-wing scenes. The first, it noted, was about a character’s hero journey — about self belief. It had meaning. The second was nothing more than fan service, because it had no reason to exist.

[TordelBack]

I have many opinions to share on he subject of TROS, (now I've watched it loads of times) but I'm busy today and not overly cheery,  so I'll limit myself to the X-Wing bit.

 I'll preface my remarks by saying that I think the costuming, set and lighting on Ahch-To are awful - after the really remarkable work put into integrating Carrie Fisher into the movie, they slapped a jokeshop wig on Mark Hamill and apparently shot the whole thing in the studio foyer against some paper maché rocks, and then to add insult to injury threw in two (count 'em)  animatronic porgs.

I appreciate that more filming on Skellig Michael was completely out,  but a lot of TLJ was shot on the mainland coast of both Kerry and Donegal (and on a brilliant exterior set at Longcross Studios for the bits around the tree), and something that looked vaguely like the established locations might have been nice.  I think a few more days for the second unit would have been worth it,  especially as they went to the bother of shooting the Passana speeder chase on gimballed rigs against greenscreen,  but did it on location in Jordan just to get the light right.

And breath.

Obviously it's nothing on the Yoda lifting the X-Wing scene, which is the pure heart of the whole franchise,  but the sequence does serve several purposes. 

First, most prosaically,  it shows that Luke wasn't trapped on Ahch-To in TLJ,  he could have left to confront Ren (and Snoke) any time. Instead he chose a uniquely Luke solution in keeping with that film's themes. Most of us may not have needed that made explicit, but much of this whole Luke sequence is about clarifying and correcting fan misconceptions.

Second, by having this chirpy powerful version of Luke lift the X-Wing (rather than Rey herself)  we see that he really has completed his hero's journey, from that doubt and first failure on Dagobah, to certainty and success at Endor, to weakness and exile on Ahch-To, and now peace, purpose and strength in the Force. Again, I imagine most of us got this from the end of TLJ but it's also clear many didn't. (Remember that the biggest thing he ever lifted on-screen before now was Threepio).

Thirdly,  in giving Rey the literal means to continue her journey, Luke finally gives her the support that he largely withheld as her mentor. The whole sequence is a mirror both to Rey's first meeting with Luke, and more importantly to Luke's last meeting with Obi-Wan at this same point in RotJ, where he gets the weight of the world dumped on his shoulders: Luke now embodies hope, as he was always destined to, as well as the trust that always defined him.

[Greg M.]

8 dared to do and be something different

As someone who already loathed VIII, all this stuff from Mr. Prime and Mr. Panther about gentler heroism and so forth helps further crystallise some of why I hated it. Cheers, lads! (I'm not having a go at either of you, honest - your assessment of the film's attitude and themes features some insightful analysis, but whereas you both warmed to the idea of the movie undermining what you refer to as the tropes of old, I did not. For the record, I'll probably not like IX either if I ever get round to seeing it, as I don't think JJ Abrams has contributed anything of worth to popular entertainment.)

[Apestrife]

I'll leave you with this reaction video, which is the best reaction to anything I have ever seen ever, and I am totally with her all of the way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIe2TLPryJw

Nice reaction video

[sheridan]

No she won't - what? Creepy Lando - does he want to adopt her or screw her?  What?  Why?  Where?  Who?

Apparently it's because Jannah is his daughter.  Which obviously doesn't come across well in the actual film itself because you have to read the Visual Dictionary to get clued in* (and a forthcoming novel, unless it's come out now) and just looks creepy, as you say.


Other than having to access other material to get what's in the film (which I don't approve of - not least because the other material may not be available - as with those webpages set up to tie in with TV series or films - and which don't exist now) I also dislike this as it appears you can't have more than one black person in the universe of billions of planets without them being related to each other.  We don't know who Finn's parents are either, so it's only a matter of time...




* or media speculation about the Visual Dictionary.

[TordelBack]

I wouldn't worry about the Visual Dictionary or novels,  these things are tossed out and contradicted just as quickly.  I generally just go by what's on screen, and I read it as a solid callback to both Han's brief adoptive relationship with Rey, and possibly Lando's affection for the equally-rebellious L3: a desire to explore the galaxy with someone at his side again.  His dialogue earlier on also indicates that he still holds a bit of a torch for the more age-appropriate Leia, moving him somewhat out of the predatory sugar daddy arena.

If you accept that she is his daughter, which is a dull idea,  for me it's more a repeat of the small-galaxy problem than an all-black-people-are-related one, since there actually are multiple non-white characters in the series now (not many,  but more) and Finn turned out to be neither Mace Windu's nor Lando's kid, which was a minor miracle.

[JOE SOAP]

As someone who already loathed VIII, all this stuff from Mr. Prime and Mr. Panther about gentler heroism and so forth helps further crystallise some of why I hated it. Cheers, lads! (I'm not having a go at either of you, honest - your assessment of the film's attitude and themes features some insightful analysis, but whereas you both warmed to the idea of the movie undermining what you refer to as the tropes of old, I did not.

Arguably Luke in ROTJ had already opted for the 'gentler heroism' route and TLJ just reiterated it.