Hello TV Addicts! This is Mike V. of the Lost Addicts Blog among others. I’ve mostly stopped writing recaps regularly, but please join our discussion posts for all things TV, occasional recaps (Hello There Obi-Wan!) and search the archives for Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Fringe and several other shows over the years!
Hello fellow TV Addicts! This is our regular place for discussion of all non-recapped shows. We'll keep this one up until Walking Dead resumes next year. See you in the comments!
X-Files - Understood...there was a 2nd movie you know. I tried watching it but it was awful. Anyway it was called X-Files: I Want to Believe. So I'm guessing it was a nod to the outcome of that movie. (Strike that...I just saw your comment about it...but I'll just leave it here so you can see I didn't finish reading before writing!)
I know you like to make your own judgment on things. I do that for franchises/shows I am obsessed about. If there was a Game of Thrones or LOST review out there I wouldn't look at it. Star Wars I avoided all reviews that I could. X-Files...I'm more of an outsider to the full mythology so I just wanted to get a general feel of what people were saying. But I'm glad I did...because I ended up enjoying it more because people were so negative of the 1st ep.
AU Star Wars - I think he just forgets about it. any time I email him and say we're talking about something he's interested in...he'll show up. I'll shoot him an email and give him a heads up. Maybe he'll stop by for a visit.
BTW, glad to know I"m in good company with AU on VII. BTW, another criticism I have of VII is the treatment of Anakin and so more canon breakage.
X-Files--From wiki on the absolute 100% confirmation of aliens: "Mulder travels to Antarctica to save Scully, and discovers a secret underground laboratory run by the Cigarette Smoking Man. Mulder uses the vaccine to revive Scully, disrupting the stable environment of the lab and reviving the cocooned aliens. The lab is destroyed just after Mulder and Scully escape to the surface. It turns out to be part of a huge alien vessel lying dormant beneath the snow; the vessel pushes up through tons of ice and snow and travels straight up into the sky. Mulder watches the ship fly directly overhead and disappear into the distance, as Scully regains consciousness."
The flying saucer shaped alien ship left after all the humans had abandoned some time earlier. Scully saw the aliens while being rescued as well.
Loved X-Files because it shows Mulder what we have known all along (and its pointed out here: http://www.entil2001.com/series/x-files/ftf/myth.html) that there are no "aliens" that it is all the conspiracy. So it is good to see the show maturing..I also thought the conspiracy elements in general were spot on around what the government/NWO would be doing to subvert the masses.
Hated TFA (you can see my review at AUStarwarsSWFC.wordpress.com)
SW - I still don't see canon breakage with TFA. Anakin was redeemed at the end of VI but Ben Solo/Kylo Ren chooses not to focus on that. He was tricked into returning to the light. It's probably masterminded by Snoke who is seducing Kylo to the dark side. Who is Snoke? Yet to be revealed, but it could tie into the first 6.
X-Files - I remember the end of the movie well. The opening scene of this mini-series event showed an ALIEN. I don't think they're showing that aliens don't exist, I think it's quite the opposite. But it's man that is covering up the alien technology for personal/corporation benefit. Maybe I'm misreading it based on everyone else's reaction.
Welcome back AUStarWars! Didn't take much to sway you. I've read his wordpress review...it's a good read, even if I disagree with 80% of it. :)
Mike and MJ.....glad you guys survived the blizzard!! The pictures are incredible! It's gonna be 65 today in the Dallas area and all sunshine!
X-Files - We watched it. Neither of us watched the series except for an episode every now and then, so we were looking with fresh eyes. Knowing it's a 6 episode event, we deciding it's worth a watch!
The Revenant - Saw it this weekend! Wow! I can't talk Star Wars, so I thought I would throw this movie in! LOL!
The "aliens" are not actual aliens from other planets that's the point (and likely what the doctor is telling Mulder is the actual truth, side note, there are so many cannon characters this Dr. could have been I didn't think we needed a new one..)..the "Greys" are the second form of Purity Gestation (as shown at the end of "The Beginning", season 6 first eps) and stated in the Entil review as (borrowing to save me retyping):
"The initial stage of development involves the savage form in “Fight the Future”, which then sheds its skin when it’s ready to move into its base form, the Colonist. The Colonist, as later revealed, is the base form for the shape-shifters. This makes complete sense, given that the biological nanotech used to create the shape-shifting clones was specifically designed to lead into the biological changes that would lead to the birth of the drones. "
I cannot stress enough the need to read this if you want to understand X-Files..if you rewatch the series, read these reviews as you watch the episodes, it makes them 1000% more enjoyable
X-Files - I checked out the link AUSW. I remember you sharing that with me before. I didn't read every line but enough to get the gist. Definitely an interesting theory. So do you think this is a case where that essay is so popular with hardcore X-File fans that Chris Carter took notice and might be writing towards it a bit? lol
Leslie - Nice on the 65 degrees! I'm happy we had at least one snow storm, even though I hate driving in the aftermath....but I'm good now. Bring on spring! :)
Revenant - We definitely want to see it. Just need a date night/day where someone will watch our kids! Mother in law in town this week/wknd...maybe we'll get out! lol (I just heard my inner monologue laugh at me on that one)
AUstarwars--GLAD you're commenting. We've not always agreed, but have always enjoyed reading and your thought provocation.
RE TFA--I read your review and found it covered most of my complaints and added at least a major one with hyperspace--faster than light travel. I have a couple more like the treatment of Anakin this many years into the future after he was a major player in the rebellion's success and joined the good side, etc. It trampled the canon of the force into the ground while placating to PC pursuits. Please be encouraged that ALL in my family caught a lot of the canon violations.
Re: XFiles--Have not read the info on your links yet. Can you explain the ending of the movie where the flying saucer flew away with the aliens and no humans on board. This movie was released as a capstone. The desert scene with the smoking man and the corn stalks with bee houses is obviously a continuation. But given the meeting in London where the NWO crowd met, it seems to be driven by aliens. At least that's what the NWO leaders were saying, that they were concerned that the cooperation they have given so far might not work out so good for them.
TFA - No matter how you slice it, Darth Vader helped hunt down and destroy the Jedi with Emperor Palpatine. Sure, in the end he saved Luke and took down the Emperor so that redeemed him. But I would think they'd be a little worried about future powerful Skywalkers/Solos with the tendency to veer to the Dark side of the force.
Like I mentioned...Snoke probably played up Anakin "slipping" in the end and being a Jedi sympathizer in a moment of weakness and compares it to Kylo's moment of weakness in this movie where he doesn't want to kill his father. This is what he uses to push Kylo over the edge. No it's not specifically called out but it can be inferred from what is stated.
Han or Leia mention that their son has too much Vader in him. Implying that there is some good in him too.
So I'm not sure what kills the canon here.
Light speed stuff...I'll admit they did a lot of fast travelling in episode 7...but I compared that to season 5 of LOST where they are all over the map in one episode vs. a whole multi-episode story arc of trekking across the island in seasons 1-3.
I'll have to reread AUSW's post and argue my points one of these days...but today is not that day! :)
Mike, you already have read other places that Snoke (cough:Darth Plagius:cough:I cant even in a straight face call him Snoke:cough) said that the conflict in Anakin led him to kill Palpatine, that he was weak..thats why Kylo kills Han, he purposely puts himself into a "trial by emotion" and "passes it" (even though he made the trial himself, kinda cheating..imho..)
Remember my theme of hatred for TFA is the pandering to the audience by the Disney machine..a pandering imho that began with Return of the Jedi..it pains me that Lawrence Kasden was involved in this movie, more than anything else that is my biggest complaint
I hope you found my review provoking and emotional, it was cathartic for me
Re: Ship in Xfiles I'll save you the time searching for the answer by C/P but the TLDR version is "its not an alien ship, they make these ships look like that to keep the conspiracy going"
TFA, when Han and Leia said that Ren had too much of Vader in him, it was portrayed to everybody I was watching with as them saying Vader was bad, turning Ren dark. Which with them in particular violated Vader's redemption. Leia during that conversation was pushing the idea of Han being his father and that would be the positive influence.
Re Snoke, I thought of that too, that Snoke may be playing Ren. But, again, it was HUGE and absolutely imperative for the rebel alliance to survive for Annakin to save them. It was his destiny to save them, ala Ep I and II. So, that bit of persuasion only works in a vacuum of a FAMILY member not knowing about his grandfather--doesn't make any sense.
BTW, any thoughts on the Ren/Rey naming being so close?
XFiles--It occurs to me to ask AUSW a simple question to help clarify things. Do you believe in the XFiles canon that aliens exist? Not asking if they are the ones pulling the strings via NWO stuff. I get that and can see it.
"At the same time, Strughold mentions handing over “a body infected with the gestating organism” to the Colonists, which makes it sound as though he believes that the “mothership” is, in fact, run by Colonists. This brings up an interesting point. Someone prior to the Syndicate must have been collected and storing the infected within the containment pods, because the victims date back thousands of years. Yet the Colonists are nowhere to be found in the film. So who was conducting this “clean up” operation?
Mining the series for an answer, there is an elegant solution, though it once again requires elements that are only hinted at during the series itself. Throughout the series, especially after the sixth season finale, it is revealed that several Rebel-style spacecraft, identical to the craft recovered at Roswell, are buried underground. These Rebel UFOs date back thousands, if not millions, of years. Similarly, Purity is supposed to have arrived in its most potent form millions of years earlier.
This suggests a common reason for those buried vessels to be in the distant past. Since the development of Purity’s fully adaptive medium (effectively, the final form of the vaccine) doesn’t come into the picture until shortly before Colonization, and the war between the Colonists and the Rebels is a future event being waged across time through limited time travel (initiated with the 1947 Roswell incident), something must have happened to get the final form of Purity on the “mothership” and then into the distant past.
The idea is simple. The “mothership” is, in fact, the conspiracy’s final development facility for Purity, as run by the post-Syndicate “replacements” seem in the final seasons. That facility would most logically be located on Mars, given the hints in the series about activity there, and would have been used as a central storage facility for mass quantities of Purity. On the day of Colonization, those under the control of the conspiracy or created as part of “Phase II” would be infected through exposure at the “lighthouses” (mentioned in “The Red and the Black”). "
"As hinted in the episode “Synchrony”, time travel (and thus, FTL travel) would be possible by using a coolant that could also be used for cryogenics. The design of the “mothership”, as later revealed in the film, seems designed for fluid transfer rather than humanoid utility. The large interior also suggests a massive containment field in the center, which could have been used to keep Purity in stasis during transit. Since the Rebels would be trying to prevent the spread of Purity to achieve their own goals, they would be within range of the “mothership” as it approached Earth.
This leads to an outcome that brings the story full circle. The “mothership” is sabotaged (presumably by William and his allies), which then sends the damaged vessel containing the most potent form of Purity into an uncontrolled transit into the distant past, where the vessel crashes in Antarctica and Purity is dispersed, eventually working its way underground. The Rebels are pulled into the “wake” of the transit and are tossed back into time as well, though not necessarily as far.
At least one Rebel, one of the “pilots”, would likely survive. Since the Rebels want the conspiracy to emerge from 1947 through 2012, to ensure their own existence, the surviving Rebel “bounty hunter” would have every reason to locate the “mothership” and ensure that any infected victims over time would be cryogenically contained to prevent the spread of Purity. With the emergence of modern technology and the rise of the Syndicate, this would become the Rebel “hunter” that eventually works with Cancer Man in episodes like “Herrenvolk”.
Strughold’s desire to eliminate Mulder also suggests that he is unaware of what Cancer Man has been doing over the years. Cancer Man, after all, needs Mulder to survive, and he has manufactured Mulder’s mystique as a possible martyr for the purpose of keeping the others in sway. (Logically, Mulder is no more dangerous in terms of his quest than Kurtzweil or the Lone Gunmen, so the typical excuse doesn’t quite work.)
Whatever the case, Strughold’s own words make it clear that Cancer Man succeeds to large measure. Strughold indicates that someone must be infected with the most potent form of Purity and then sent to the “mothership” (though not in so many words), thus allowing Cancer Man to conduct manipulation of that event outside of Syndicate view. Strughold himself identifies Scully as the perfect candidate, under the impression that Mulder will back off and get in line once Scully is killed, since Scully is currently what Mulder “holds most valuable”. "
AUSW on TFA--I can get the cathartic nature of it for you. I really appreciate you taking the time to do it. I have been posting here about the Disney machine and to the point of it making SW more like a comic book franchise now, ala Marvel. You did an excellent job. I think there are a lot more of us out there who see it for what it is.
I really wasn't going to take the time to write a lot of these points as it seems a waste of time.
One thing I keep in mind with Mike is his love of JJ. Mike, I saw a quick clip of JJ saying he had NOTHING to do with LOST beyond the pilot. He was tired of people blaming him for stuff about the show.
Colony and Expanse yes..like Expanse more..never read the books..like the BSG/Total Recall feel to it though
Colony so far is ok but I feel will be typical Cuse "we will never get a full story of what is going on and will leave you wanting" type story..its no Mr. Robot
I will comment more later but I have to comment to the jj love. It has nothing to do with my defense of the movie. And I know that jj had nothing to do with lost after the pilot and his ideas for after like the hatch. So I thought it was funny when he made that comment. It's people like you and ausw that still lump jj in with the finale like he was involved! lol
I'll comment more when my kids aren't yelling at me to pay attention to them. :)
X files, interesting on the time travel and complex plot lines. That of course opens doors. And that all points to aliens existing. Which when Mulder saw all of the evidence makes his statement of "I want to believe" questionable. It seems oxymoronic to have proof of their existence and yet deny their existence.
I wonder if it will get into the notion of time travel pardox.
on JJ. What do you consider JJ's biggest most successful creative effort? That is from scratch, not building on others nor in collaboration, but actually something he can lay claim to on his own?
Regarding Henry. Wrote the script. Harrison ford starred. Felicity. Never watched, heard good things. Alias - didn't watch when it aired but have since watched and really enjoyed. lost - he still co-created the show. It wouldn't have existed without him. He cast it with Damon and came up with high level story ideas and mysteries.
Loved super 8 too.
He certainly didn't want to be known for rebooting/bringing back franchises. But one success led to another.
Xfiles - only saw first episode - and was kind of sleepy - but thought they were saying there are aliens but it's been the gov't behind alot of the sightings and all the abductions. Cause ya know - the gov't wants to take over and they used aliens to distract us. Recognize the girl Mike ? From Americans. I did not feel the chemistry between them any more. Was saddened to read that Gillian had to fight to get equeal pay as David - really ? In this day and age ?
Want to say thanks to AUSW for the 2 part explanation.
XFiles last night. I wonder if William is going to come into play? They seem to be concerned he could have some alien genetics. Show is certainly on track for a lot of Syndicate/NWO.
XFiles - MJ, I agree...from what we've seen (and not looking into popular theories...) there still seems to be the existence of aliens....even Scully tested her blood and seems to have alien DNA. I definitely saw Nina from the Americans as Sveta and brought it up in one of my posts on the last page of comments. lol I just head about that with the equal pay. Crazy stuff.
Richard, FYI that 2 part explanation was a copy paste from that link he originally sent. lol
William does seem to hold some kind of importance in the story they're telling I will agree with that! (And I know X-Files is Fringe's predecessor and father so to speak....but it reminds me of Olivia and Peter's child being important too....and what do you know...time travel was involved there. lol)
SW - Okay, I have reread AUSW's wordpress. Believe me, I understand all of the gripes about the movie. I'm not saying the movie is flawless. But I will continue to say I enjoyed it. Some of the complaints you both have, I share them but I'm optimistic they'll be resolved once the trilogy is complete. I've mentioned this before but I think some things were left vague intentionally for various reasons:
1.) Like AUSW said - the books will fill it in...but they can't rely on the books alone as the movies need to stand on their own too.
2.) Prequel Fatigue. They definitely toned down the politics in this movie intentionally because it was so overbearing in episodes 1-3. If you mentioned one thing about a senate or taxes or whatever you'd lose the audience. Yes, there was the 5 minute scene on the death star in Ep IV...but overall ANH didn't have TOO much exposition. We were thrown right into the middle of a conflict...a simple setup of good vs. evil. Basically the only exposition scenes are the Death Star scene and the Obi-Wan/Luke scene talking about his father. And of course Han's "i don't believe in the force" scene which was mirrored in TFA.
3.) Episode 8 and 9 will fill in the details. My hope is that when the trilogy is complete we'll go back and watch Episode 7 (similar to how we see Ep 4 in a different light after watching 5, 6, 1-3) and see new shades of meaning in what was "glossed over". It's one part of a 9-tology. Even more so in this Disney universe....there could be an anthology movie just on Kylo Ren and his Knights of Ren. There could be Rey learning all her combat skills on Jakku. (probably not, but you never know) JJ defnitely said they intentionally skipped a lot of exposition because they were mirroring ANH's approach. He said it in better words than I'm putting it....he didn't actually confess to "not having exposition" in his movie. lol
So, I get the gripes...I share them but I'm hopeful for the future based on past experiences. Plus, I have a lot of faith in Riann Johnson to take our known universe and bring it into weird and interesting new directions (even under the Disney microscope).....so you see it's not my love for JJ. JJ did his job...he did what he does best. It's up to different writers/directors to move this story into a new frontier (not to borrow from the other STAR movies).
Okay...I took a few notes in my readings of comments and had to pick these off:
Percy Weasley - General Hux is not Percy Weasley in the Harry Potter movies. He was BILL Weasley in Deathly Hallows 1 and 2 (you know where the Dobby scene is)...he married Fleur. Domnhall Gleason is also the son of Brendan Gleeson (Mad Eye Moody) and he's the star of Ex Machina and an episode of Black Mirror (which I still highly encourage everyone to watch on Netflix...great sci fi show. Each episode a different twilight zone esque story on the near future possibilities of technology). I thought he was fine as Hux but I think his character will be given more weight in future movies. He was a little shouty in his Nazi rally lol
Matt parkman/Greg Grunberg - Why was he in the movie? Because he's JJ's best friend from childhood and is in all of his shows and movies. Alias, LOST (Oceanic 815 pilot), MI-3, Star Trek (pretty sure he was in it)....it was a known fact that he'd be in this movie. Of course Miles from LOST was there too....and Simon Pegg played Unkar Plutt on Jakku.
Bad Acting - I just can't take this comment seriously after what we saw in the prequels. Okay, maybe the campiness was a little over the top (Regardless of serving the story or not...the original trilogy had campiness to it!) The originals weren't oscar caliber acting pics either (even if Star Wars was nominated for Best Picture). Okay, we agree on Empire being one of the best movies of all time so that one doesn't count! :) But in general, the originals hold a special place in our hearts from childhood and we can look past a lot of the okay acting and dialogue. But nothing in TFA came as bad as "I don't like Sand" "Yippee" "Anakin, you're breaking my heart" (and then literally dying of a broken heart later on) .....I think my least favorite scene was one you mentioned...where Poe and Finn have the awkward introduction to each other in the TIE Fighter. That definitely was cheesy. But that was a rare case in my opinion to the rest of the movie.
HypeMachine/Popcorn Fans/Kids - Maybe you're right. Maybe I'll come down from my high. I don't rank this above ANH or ESB. I put it on par with Jedi. I did have SITH over Jedi for awhile but it hasn't aged well. (just finished it yesterday again and the parts that should've been traumatizing and emotional just don't hit me). I always find it insulting when you speak about the popcorn fans. I don't consider my self the lowest denominator of movie watcher...but I know how to enjoy myself at the movies or watching TV also. My kid being totally into star wars right now absolutely has me excited about it more that I might be without him. The fact that Rey will be a symbol for little girls makes me excited for my daughter to get into it too. But, I saw this movie without my kids first and thoroughly enjoyed myself, flaws and all.
Snoke/Plaugues (sp) - Yes I've read the theories that Snoke might be Darth Plaguess...it would be a nice tie-in to the prequels and the whole saga. And the fact that Kasdan tried to play off the comic-con question as a joke (something like Darth Vegas??) adds to the fact that it might be true. I, too, hate the name snoke. It's pretty awful! lol But his story is yet to be told... And Richard, as for Snoke playing Ren....of course he is!! And we don't know how long Snoke has had his clutches on young Ben Solo. That's all for a future story to tell us. It could've been since childhood. Palpatine had his eye on Anakin since he was 9 or 10 years old but didn't make his move until he was in his 20s. As for Kylo just shunning his family....precedent has been set in the films. Anakin was okay 1 minute, then he sliced off Mace's arm and Palpatine killed him. He wonders what he has done...and then he's all like "i will serve you forever my master....take me to your leader!!" Like under some kind of spell. Seduction my the dark side is no joke. Even when poorly acted in episode iii! As for Rey/Ren...are you suggesting that they might be twins? That is certainly a big theory...but we should also say that Kylo Ren is not his given name...it was Ben Solo. Kylo Ren was/is the leader of the Knights of Ren...we have no idea what they are (yet) either.
AUSW on Kasdan - What's your problem with Kasdan? Didn't he co-write Empire? Or do you give more credit to the other writer that died in the middle of making the movie? Or do you fault him for ROTJ's issues? JJ has at least said in interviews that he was happy Kasdan was involved for the simple fact that it legitimized a bit what they were doing. That it wasn't fan fiction...someone from the original trilogy was there to set them straight. You're probably not interested, but there is a good exclusive interview that EW's Anthony Breznican did with JJ, Kasdan and Arndt after a screening of the movie. I linked to it somewhere on these comments. If you want to listen to it let me know. I'll dig it up.
I'm sure there's tons more I can say....and I know there's no changing anyone's minds. But, hopefully you can see where I'm coming from and don't think I'm crazy for thinking it or just a JJ (and Lindelof) apologist or, dare I say the dreaded words, a "popcorn" fan.
SW--MIke, I appreciate your efforts and as I said, on a stand alone basis it's a 7 for me. (BTW, AUSW on a SW EP VII basis as a continuation of the story, I found it a 2). I don't have a problem with the whole, was it a rip off or was it an homage--I get it, it's Disney marketing and so I kind of expected it. It was bridge movie and so some of that is to be expected.
Another example of a problem for me and yet it was a HIT with the average POPCORN fan. And that was Rey using the force to get the light saber, topping Ren's force. While several were cheering a few of us moaned. You see we knew from decades of investment in this story that Luke didn't just simply on the first try pull that light sabre to himself. He wasn't a newbie with ZERO force instruction. You see, this very scene is just one of several which are viewed by some popcorn fan as awesome that as a "knowledgeable" fan I find comical at best. Yes, I did laugh and my family knew why, they didn't have to ask-lol. You see with Luke the audience was invested and knew what it took to do what he did. HEre I agree with those that call Rey a Mary Sue. JJ's approach not only hurts the believability of Rey, but hurts the character since she was never developed before doing all of these wonderful things. And that in and of itself demeans decades of what the force is and what it takes to use it. The very title of the movie includes the word "force" and so you would think JJ would have done a better job of honoring what it means to use the force. For those people first watching SW with this movie they will have ZERO knowledge about the force really. Except that now with Disney and JJ maybe the force is just something like out of a comic book you can put on in an instant and be a superhero. Rey did not know about the force in this movie so for them to in the future say she did would be a major play on the audience, maybe as much as Snoke is playing with Ren-lol.
Power Levels - I'm sure you read this one already but Kylo Ren was INJURED in his battle with Finn and Rey. He still took down Finn but had some trouble with Rey who, yes, is stronger than she even knew in the force. Yes...maybe they took some liberties...i'm not denying that. But they did go out of their way to show how strong Chewie's crossbow was at taking down all of those storm troopers....Han's joking comment (at the time) about "i really like this thing"....actually DID service the story by planting Chewie's/Checkov's Crossbow/gun as a plot device that would come into account later. Kylo kept beating his chest showing that his injury was bothering him during the whole fight. It was also stated at the end that Snoke needed to finish his training...so he wasn't fully trained in the darkside....we don't know how long he trained under Luke either. but your point (and the whole world's point) is noted that Kylo should not have been defeated. I think the whole point of this was to imply that he'll come back even stronger in the next movie. (as will Rey)
As for Finn and Rey's use of the lightsaber....they did do some setup for this as well. Rey may have never used a lightsaber but she has the staff and she easily took down attackers on Jakku. This is all you need to know that she is somewhat trained in combat/self-defense. Why? We don't know. (Talk to Riann Johnson) Finn, he's been in stormtrooper training all his life......and supposedly, now that TR-8R is a hit with the (popcorn?) fans...we learned more about his backstory in that he was a storm trooper cadet and friends with Finn....so they both supposedly had training using that electro-staff or whatever. So no...he's never used a lightsaber....but you know even Luke realized there's a button on it to turn it on the first time he ever saw one.
I thought the fight showed that Rey and Finn were both fighting out of passion more than skill anyway...Kylo had just taken down his father and they were pretty P.O.'d about it. There was nothing graceful about that fight in the snow...it was pure emotion. I thought it worked well on that level. I was pissed at Kylo too and wanted to see him taken out. But of course, for story purposes I didn't want to see him taken out...i want him in the whole trilogy...so they found a way to have Rey win but Kylo survive. injure Kylo off the bat giving Rey a maybe even playing field....and then destroy starkiller base to cause a break in the earth between them. Why not?? lol If we find out these 2 are related in any way (brother/sister...cousins) it will only add more weight to this fight in the future in hindsight.
But, I will admit...i thought the same things that you brought up about power levels as well. As for Finn getting a change of heart so quickly....I think this was probably his first "kill all these people" order under Captain Phasma. We did learn he was stationed in sanitation on Starkiller base (as a storm trooper....let's not get into that "how does a janitor become a storm trooper debate that some are having lol). Maybe he was just recently reassigned....and in his first taste of action he "woke up" and realized he didn't want to be a part of this. Whatever their brainwashing they've been doing to the troopers backfired on Finn.
SW - I get what you're saying Richard (i have since we were talking in code before MJ saw it lol). That's why I'm trying to defend it from a canon perspective. But again...I don't really expect to convert you. Just get my thoughts out there.
Yeah the lightsaber thing is a tough one. But damn if I didn't get a rush when that saber flew by Kylo into Rey's hands. They do establish rules within the movie that her powers are "awakening" and getting stronger the more she tries to use them. When reading the book of Phantom Menace (and some things Qui Gon alludes to in the actual movie) we know that Obi-wan struggled with the "living force"....i think this is being able to control the force and move things with your mind. (AUSW can correct me if i'm wrong).....he finally succeeds in this when he defeats Maul. Meanwhile...we know Skywalkers are a little a head of the game. Well...Luke wasn't (as far as we know)...but he certainly used the force by the end of ANH to bullseye a 2 meter opening in the Death Star without the use of computers. He also learned how to pick up a lightsaber on HOTH without training from obi wan or yoda....it certainly seems like he was seeing force ghost obi wan for the first time on HOTH after his encounter with the wampa. I'm going to guess episode 8 will have some kind of explanation on Rey's powers being so formed so quickly (without using the word midichlorians).....granted, the explanation may never appease all star wars fans. But that's just it....I'm more inclined to ask questions about this stuff than to criticize. This goes back to me being hopeful future movies will add weight to these already powerful scenes.
The Mary Sue comments are difficult to defend. Everything you read about it seems to fit the bill for Rey. We certainly did see Luke struggle more than Rey....but I think Rey will struggle in the future movies. The other word in the title of the movie is "AWAKENS"....meaning the force is back and with authority in Rey.
Maz Kanata does a speech about the force in the basement of her temple that's very similar to Kenobi's in ANH....so people first watching SW certainly will have knowledge of the force. Maybe just not as strong of knowledge as they do after seeing 4, 5 AND 6.
The way I interpret things is...Rey got lucky. She now is with Luke and is going to learn more about who she is and who she can be. But that's me being the eternal optimist with my favorite franchises and you being the eternal cynic! :)
My issue with Kasden is that he is attached to Eps 7 after directing Empire, I feel bad that he is involved in this..
I don't know how I can respond to the rest, I already wrote the giant diatribe and explained my points numerous times lol..this film is 1000% pandering
You don't need to respond. I just feel better getting my thoughts out there. I agree and disagree. You can at least respond to your errors that I called you out on. lol Here's another one:
Empire was directed by Irvin Kirshner (RIP). It was co-written by Lawrence Kasdan. But apparently Leigh Brackett (RIP) wrote the majority of the script/draft and Kasdan came in to revise.
I already stated that I am more emotionally invested than 99.75% of fans, I cannot help if I look at others opinions as "lesser" when it comes to the context I am stating..did you spend 26 hours at the theater watching all 7 movies? Most of the population did not...
I am not saying there is anything wrong and people cannot have their opinions, but I am showing you the opinion of an uber fan..and no other uber fans I know acutally LIKED the movie
side note I never said that "everyone that likes this movie is a Popcorn Fan" I said that this movie is specifically made to appeal to said fans
For people to say not "you aren't the target audience, the popcorn fans are" makes literally ZERO sense
I know I had the wrong Weasley..sue me, Hux is awful
You mean the Bowcaster that in 40 years of friendship Han has NEVER ONCE used? That Bowcaster? yeah..ok...
The easiest example of pandering and trying to make it not seem as such is Jakku..so explain this to me, you go out of your way to put Rey on a desert planet, and then go out of your way for it NOT to be Tatooine, I mean come on..why even use a dessert planet then lol..just save us all the excuses and PUT HER ON TATOOINE
I will say it again KYLO REN STOPPED BLASTER BOLTS IN MID AIR WITH THE FORCE..not absorbed them as Vader did, not deflected them with a Lightsaber as all Jedis did, HE STOPPED IT IN MID AIR..and you're telling me that the Sanitation Worker/Stormtrooper that know how to use a rip off electro-saber thingie can even understand how to block an attack from this master..
I want you to go watch Kill Bill..and compare "random goon in the first movie" to the Bride and show me how long they lasted, she took out about 5 every 30 seconds..yet here Finn somehow lasts way longer..and you want to some how justify this? I cant fathom ANY justification for this whatsoever..
Rey, sure I'll give you the "Force argument"..although now you are saying that Luke should have charged Vader on the Death Star in ANH and fought him to a standstill after his emotion at losing Ben (Dark Side emotion btw in the strict sense)..oh wait, Lucas didn't do that because it cheapens both Obi Wan and Vader..you know, the RIGHT WAY TO TELL A STORY!
all the apologies you are making (because let's be honest, they are apologies for all of this stuff NOT appearing on screen) is EXACTLY how I felt after Episode I
Also for the record, this trend towards Pandering began in Return of the Jedi..so I am not letting Lucas or other off the hook for this same action, in the early 80s SW became a business not a story, but this was film was just over the top
Here is the Salon article written YEARS ago that I never disagreed with when I first read it in college:
SW - Yes, he took the bait!! lol Kidding!! I will say that while you are a HUGE fan of Star Wars, I think I'm just a notch below you. I saw Phantom Menace 10 times in the theater. I saw Attack of the Clones 7 times, Sith 5 times. (I went through the same process you did in that I convinced myself I loved them and then changed my mind over the years) I wore out the VHS tapes of the original trilogy with my brother. I've bought every version of the tapes and discs and digital that have come out since. I'm a big fan. But no I didn't write essays on it (besides on my blog lol). If I was single and in my 20s I sure as hell would've been at that marathon. Star Wars is a family tradition in my house. So you can look down on me all you want. The way I look at your opinion is you're TOO CLOSE to it that nothing would've been good enough for you. I respect your opinion and agree with some of it. But I can still enjoy this film for what it is and be invested in what the future holds.
I think you need to consider the source though....I'm easily pleased. LOST - I loved the franchise, respected the writers and everything they had to do to get that on screen and make some kind of coherent sense. Was the finale what I expected? No, but I still loved it and respected their vision. I pretty much said the same thing about every episode of the show. Meanwhile, you or Richard may have nitpicked and criticized an episode here and there or even the ending. My problem is...I enjoy the subject matter that it's difficult for me to be overly critical. Granted...maybe your point is valid. With distance from the prequels I can easily nitpick the stuff I hated. But, I'm pretty sure I noticed them then too.
Noted on popcorn fans.
lol on Hux/Weasley.
Bowcaster - fair point. Still thought it was a funny bit.
Jakku - JJ did speak to this in that podcast interview....well sorta. They knew overarching story bits from the beginning. They knew this would be a female jedi story and that she'd start on a dessert planet and eventually realize she's in a star wars movie. The whole concept is to be plucked from obscurity into an adventure bigger than them. But yes..why not Tatooine? Maybe because they're trying to make the universe bigger? I mean why did Anakin have to be from Tatooine too? And I don't know if I noticed this before but in watching 1-6 in order...why the hell did Uncle Owen not recognize C-3P0 after he was living on the moisture farm all those years before Anakin picked him up? Because he was silver not gold??? He still said his name! And you know he probably said his name every day for however many years he and Shmi lived there. lol (just venting that one out there...not TFA related!)
I loved the concept of the "graveyard of giants" (taken from Battlefront game)....of the fact that there was a huge battle on Jakku and the remnants of the republic and empire were there...and Jakku residents lived of rations from scavenging old technology. Loved that Rey's home was a fallen over AT-AT. But yeah...i get your point. I'm also pretty sure it was no coincidence that they hit the 3 main climates of the original trilogy in one movie. Sand, Forest, Snow...all 3 different planets.
I watched Kill Bill....fair point (though it's a different set of rules for that film isn't it?) But come on...Finn didn't last long! And he got seriously injured! And that was by an injured Kylo Ren.
Definitely Dark Side to fight out of emotion...something Rey may need to keep in check in future films. But considering she had no one to train her in the ways of the force...she was just winging it. lol (And you didn't bring it up...but Richard did. I agree that her knowing the Jedi Mind Trick and using the force to get the light saber are kinda quick in her awakening....but I just think that's going to lead to future details about her history. I could be totally wrong and it's just JJ wanting to do cool things without earning them) But here Obi-Wan didn't fight Vader. Finn fought Kylo...and reluctant Rey picked up the saber and defended him.
Fair point on Episode 1. Maybe I'll feel completely different when Episode VIII comes out and just goes into new questions and story without addressing some holes in Ep VII. But, I'm optimistic. Remember...it was George who wrote those prequels, who kind of lost his way or was focused on different things other than developing the story the correct way. Disney is bringing in new talent to play in George's sandbox. The results are going to be hit or miss. But, I'm hoping for the hits to keep coming. I do worry about Star Wars fatigue in the long run but that's a story for another day.
I'm typing as I read so I see you brought up George too now. SW definitely is a business I'll give you that. I'm hoping Disney allows Episode VIII to go in Empire like directions rather than just being a crowd pleaser. I think Episode VII HAD to be a crowd pleaser for ROI and to ensure the longevity of that investment.
I'll check out the link you shared.
I might sue you on the Kasdan role...because you know...you ARE an "uber" fan and much greater fan than I am. :-) lol
Lucifer - I planned on watching it but forgot to set the DVR. Maybe I'll check it out on one of my various streaming devices.
B99 - It was pretty funny, agreed! (I think I might have fallen asleep watching but I laughed at what I was awake for)
Shameless - Nice to see you watch that too AUSW....it's one of the favorites in our house. Gus's song was hysterical, MJ. It was played so seriously too...but the lyrics were hilarious.
Billions - Watched first ep...weren't sure if we were going to keep watching.
ROTJ Article - I would agree with a majority of those gripes on Jedi and have silently or loudly spoke to them in the past as well. Not when I was a child of course. I loved the EWOKS as a child. lol A lot of good points there. Definitely agree that Luke and Leia as brother and sister was never planned from the beginning. Han's line to Threepio about "hurry up I don't have all day"....I still loved it. lol But again..i grew up with it. Yeah it's probably a little silly but it's part of Star Wars now.
all that I can really stomach from ROTJ are the Luke/Vader/Emperor scenes. They make up for a lot of the rest of the movie. This is why I seriously have considered ranking TFA above ROTJ in looking at all 7. But the problem is...there is Star Wars and Empire...and then there's everything else. I don't think we'll ever get a film in this franchise THAT great again. But we'll see.
Again, was never hating, just making my points...trust me when it comes to XFiles I am easily satisfied as well, my wife was dissing it all night last night and I just kept glaring at her saying "I waited 14 years for this, silence" lol..
Like I said in my review, I just walked out of TFA (at the 7 pm showing before I had to go back in for the 1030) in such a haze and I haven't missed that feeling
I was talking to another guy at work today that said some novellas came out that explain that Finn had a relationship with the other staff trooper, and one of the guys who got killed on Jakku, etc...all stuff easily that should have been mentioned somehow in the film, but all this stuff that comes out just makes me hate it more because its forcing you to buy stuff to understand basic plot points..i have an issue with that..bring me Tales from Mos Eisley that make me like minor characters more, don't force me to read stuff to understand what system is being blown up or why a character is defecting..thats just weak
oh I also read a theory that Maz Kanada is a Jawa..really? this is the depths we are now going to justify this movie lol..
Side note: since I was away so long, I assume you all loved Mr. Robot right?
AU, great point on Ren stopping the blaster fire, then being a wimp. BTW, there is nothing I liked about Finn. There's nothing to like about the actor that I can see as well to like. To me , Han and Landou were the best to watch. I have said that I think the Rey actor was good, probably a high point, she made all the Mary Sue stuff palatable enough for me to not walk out on the movie.
Great point on ROTJ being a crowd pleaser. I have often said that the idea of Leia being a sister with the force was to placate to those wanting a strong female lead type. YET, she already was as it had been written in the prior two EPs and her insolence, etc. Too convenient for me at that point. AND where was Leia's force which would be stronger than Rey's in EP VII trying to find her brother, etc. Lots of inconsistencies.
Again, I have not spoken to anyone who could defend or even liked Rey's use of the force and Ren being in the same movie an awesome force and weakling. Just too cute/convenient. Given the posters with Ren being some awesome power force, I felt misled.
Agree, LUke/Vader/Emporer scenes were awesome. And again, those 3 were set up with much work and investment by the movie makers and the audience. This was unbelievable spoon feeding for the masses, ie Disney machine. Again, reminds me of how comic books reboot to set up a new storyline the writers want to tell and don't mind tearing up the past investment.
Also, the Eps I-III light sabre fights were the best with quickness, accuracy and choreography--more realistic.
SW--Even Annakin, the mightiest with the force needed training to be competitive. His father was the force making him UNIQUELY strong. Why did we have 6 Eps of Jedi training, Yoda, Windou,Jedi masters, apprentices, etc if training was not needed for a Jedi. This movie walks all over the notion of needing a Yoda. I hadn't even brought that point up yet, but it strikes at the very journey necessary for Annakin and Luke which was really what the series was about--the journeys relative to the force.
Annakin was unique in the force and built/raced pod racers before he was an accomplished pilot. In VII, Rey didn't need to do any of that, it just magically comically happened. She didn't build anything that ran, just salvaged parts then all of a sudden knows how to fix and fly the Falcon--again I laughed.
Oh I know, I can hear apologetics on the notion, that we will find out how she came to be this all knowing and all capable best ever Jedi with zero training and prep. Maybe we'll find out she's the embodiment of the force and with omnipresence was Annakin's father--lol.
There are so many holes in VII that one could spend hours on it.
As I write this I get more dissatisfied with what was done in VII and can understand why AU walked out.
I don't have too much time to comment but I have to say something. lol I think you're getting ahead of yourself with all this Rey talk. Luke pulled a lightsaber out of the snow before he ever met Yoda. He sunk 2 proton torpedoes into the deathstar with Obi-wan saying "use the force luke". Maz told Rey how to commune with the force. Max IS this trilogy's yoda for all we know. What Disney is introducing to canon (whether fans like it or not) is that there are force sensitive creatures that are not necessarily Jedi or Sith. Actually...Clone Wars (under Lucas's guidance) introduced that anyway.
Rey is not a fully trained Jedi...she pulled off 2 tricks...and was proven to have defense training.
Also...she works for Unkar Plutt...who owned the Millennium Falcon....she mentioned stuff to Han about things Unkar did to the falcon with compressors and what not...it all implied that she knew her way around the piece of junk ship. She also is a skilled pilot...she mentions this to Finn.... Did we need a whole movie showing how she learned to fly? We just accepted that Luke could fly an x-wing from a couple comments about flying t-16s and telling Han he could fly the falcon.
There's more I want to say...but don't have time right now. I will say I don't think AUSW meant he walked out of the movie before it finished. He watched it to completion 2 times in the same night. lol
@AUSW - No hate received...just clarification of my fandom on my part. Touche' on X-Files...they are generally being received as OKAY or garbage (but I've heard the 3rd ep is really good...in a meta kinda of way lol). I enjoyed it though. Regarding the Staff Trooper (i.e. TR-8R)...yeah I mentioned that as well (and you might have been referring to that). I think all characters get their backstory in starwars but not necessarily in the movies. I think it works that a storm trooper called him out as a traitor...seemingly indicating that they knew each other. But seeing that a storm trooper had combat skills with that staff also implies that maybe Finn got the same training. Maybe I'm stretching here...but I don't think so...not too much.
I'll give you the whole blowing up of the Rotating Republic...I didn't grasp that from the movie either.
I never read the Maz theory and that's ridiculous and that doesn't justify the movie in any way. lol
With the blaster fire vs. the wimp...i keep going back to the fact that Ren was injured in that final scene. Maybe force users are supposed to rise above injuries?? But I'm thinking that was at least their justification. I agree....it seems a little inconsistent, but it worked for me.
I really didn't mind Finn...but maybe I was just impressed with the british guy's american accent. lol
As for Leia in TFA....based on the writers apparently she made a choice to not become a Jedi. But she still gets FORCE feelings as we saw when Kylo made his dark move. Agree on ROTJ...i mean I'm fine with them being twins in the entire saga story but when you break it down episode by episode...it makes no sense and certainly was forced and convenient.
So when you were in the theater you didn't hear the audience applaud when the lightsaber went past Ren and into Rey's hands? It happened in all 3 of my screenings. I guess this goes back to the popcorn crowd sentiment? Here's a justification I'll make for Rey's powers. They seemed to accelerate after her mind meld (cross franchise promotion) with Ren. Kylo tried to get in her head, but she got in his head instead....maybe she picked up a few tips...and since she's strong in the force she learned them fairly quickly. I believe Yoda would still call her young and reckless in her use of it anyway and that Jedi Training is still necessary to fine tune her skills...just like with Luke. "Great fear I have in his training!!" (well that was for anakin) Anyway, Ren makes a comment to Snoke that "the longer she has the more powerful she'll become" after that interrogation. And that's exactly what we saw happen...jedi mind trick...lightsaber pickup. I still say Luke became quickly aware of his force power in Star Wars and even was picking up lightsabers before further training with Yoda.
I think Disney and the people involved are attempting to be reverent with the subject material. Sure, it is a huge marketing machine at the same time. I don't get the comic book reboot sense out of it. But to each his own.
Eps I-III saber fights - I think you probably think of Episode 1 and forget the rest. I just rewatched them last week...Obi-Wan vs. Maul was amazing but very fast. Everything vs. Dooku was dark and close-ups. (kind of like your complaints about Brienne)...and Yoda was awesome at the time but now ridiculous. Obi vs Vader/Anakin was kinda silly too....but definitely some emotional moments. The thing about the original trilogy (and TFA)...the fights had lots of emotion in them. It's 2 relics reuniting and fighting....it's father and son fighting twice.... In this last one...it's fighting after one of the biggest blows to the gut in star wars history. I'm not worried about choreography....it's raw emotion that makes those scenes work. The snow backdrop was nice too. Plus...the excuse for the choreography in the prequels is the Jedi were a much more well oiled machine in a civilized age....the OT and ST are in a more run down age where the jedi are basically forgotten.
LOL, The mind force work between Ren and Rey again proves my point, and this was before he was shot, ie your excuse for her ability to better him. Yea, 5 minutes with Maz ought to prepare Rey for a force fight in multiple ways with the "baddest" sith in the galaxy. That makes sense--lol. Why even bother having an Obi Won type/master type character? OH wait they did--Maz--so her work is done now--lol.
I call it a comic book star wars because of the very nature of rebooting without regard to canon. If you can't see the lack of respect and tearing down of the PT and OT canon, then you can't see the comic book comparison nor it essentially being a reboot.
Can you at least admit this movie makes Rey look more powerful with the force than how Annakin was treated at this stage of development? Also, more powerful than Luke at this stage?
Also, comic book comparison works because it's a Disney property and they are after all pursuing all of the comic book characters they can. IN my opinion this movie was pushed in that direction to bring in the average movie goer.
Expanse--So, now the cop and HOlden are together and we find out the girl is dead. In a kind of gross way. Where did the spy go, will he help HOlden--I'm thinking he will. He sure saw what happened on that ship. I hate those shots where there's a big reveal to a character and the camera only shows the characters face and NO dialog tells you what's going on, ie when Fred finds out what's going on but we can't see. What a tease.
Luke used the Force to enhance his already existing skills: being a great pilot: "I used to bullseye Womp Rats back home, they aren't much wider than 2 meters" "I heard you've become quite the pilot yourself"
So you're telling me that Rey enhanced her ability to use a weapon at this point only hinted to exist ("It's real, all of it") and use the Force to Jedi Mind Trick someone (again, under what context that clearly doesn't exist since Luke says "How did we get past those troops" in ANH not "wow Obi Wan way to use that Jedi Mind Trick!")
How are you possibly comparing Luke either self teaching, off screen teaching, or communing with Obi Wan for THREE YEARS to 10 minutes..seriously? I do not understand your points with him using the Force Telekinesis in the Wampa Cave at all as justification for ANYTHING in TFA..it was THREE YEARS LATER...
You aren't putting yourself into the SW universe, you are consistently justifying what you know as an AUDIENCE member and why it should make sense in the context of the on-screen characters, even though the writing at worst does not justify it directly and at best is inconsistent..
My 1030 Audience cheered when Finn was chopped down.oh wait that was just me..
Ren being injured is not an issue because the Sith teaching show you to draw strength from pain and suffering, even internal..so again, inconsistent writing across the series..
What you need to understand is that I am not asking for ANH or ESB, my faith in the spirituality of these experiences trumping the marketing went out the window with ROTJ as I've said many times..that being said all I ask for is CONSISTENCY, solid Writing, Justification for actions ON SCREEN NOT IN SOURCE MATERIAL, and NO PANDERING TO THE AUDIENCE
SW - My points have been that there is regard to canon so I don't think comic book reboot applies. Maybe they "yada yada'd" a couple things and that clearly is unforgiveable to a percentage of fans. But, it's probably also a case of "that's been shown before multiple times...do viewers want to see it again?" I still think there is more to Rey that we don't know (but that goes to AUSW already knowing people will respond with that type of response).
Yes...I can admit Rey was able to use abilities that weren't shown until later stages with other characters even Skywalkers.
My HOTH point is a stretch I know it. But, I will say I thought Luke was self-taught at that point and that seeing Obi-Wan 3 years later was the first time he saw him after disappearing in ANH. Yes he heard his voice a couple times...but did he keep talking to him?
Let's go with this theory....Rey's memories have vanished but maybe she was a student of Luke's too. Maybe Ren knows this which is also why he knows she'll get stronger quickly. But even as an amateur force user...she got lucky with a couple tricks, but facing a full strength kylo ren probably would've been too much for even her. (yes even I thought initially...and maybe still..."woa how did she do that already?" but I enjoyed the movie so I decided to be optimistic and think of other possibilities) Fair points on the injury not mattering, AUSW.
Understood on on screen justification. I get all of that. I just think they were cautious on what they spent too much time explaining due to prequel fatigue and other things I mentioned before. I'm sure some of the 30 minutes they cut from the movie covered some of this character development too unfortunately. (JJ already said no special edition lol but the deleted scenes will be on the Blu-ray)
Look...I don't think we're going to convince each other to change minds here. I respect everyone's opinions but I still choose to be optimistic for the rest of the trilogy...and I'll have fond memories for seeing this one with my family....and with my son (yes...also my family lol)
cutting out exposition at the expense of large tentacle monsters and stereotypical gangs of smugglers-the JJ Abrahms methodology in action as usual (see Star Trek flicks)
MIke, That is the ONLY hope this movie has of redeeming itself. With Rey having been trained years earlier to a complete Jedi level only now to have those powers return or something similar. Again, Ren was full strength with the mind reading.
One thing I don't think is accepted by you is that Annakin was uniquely powerful as his father was the force?
If it's not a reboot, then it is fair to compare and Annakin was in the best position of all to just have the force automatically make him a super hero. Which it did not.
No, nobody clapped nor made yea sounds when Rey pulled the light sabre from effectively Ren. My laughing and moaning probably wasn't heard either.
Your satircal question of "do viewers want to see it again". Is easily answered by why I say it is a reboot. JJ answered that question with a NO and so he made a reboot where he wasn't constrained by the prior Eps--he cherry picked past events to build a bridge. YOur question is perhaps your best point on why they skipped the notion of character development--lol. Seriously, in comic book movies character development takes a back seat to explosions, fights, etc. Your statement supplies support for why this movie is not like the others. It took 6 Eps to tell the Annakin story, maybe they'll have Rey's done in less than half of that. One other thing I keep in mind is movies are made more with an international audience in mind so the dialog is reduced. So, I can deal with some of that like in the prequels. But those were not nearly this bad.
And seriously, I think Disney will realize how much they screwed up when almost nobody will want to wear a Ren costume this halloween. Who wants to be seen as a weakling. His character is destroyed as having any threat credibility. Who do your boys want to be as a character from TFA? I can't imagine anybody but maybe Poe and he wasn't seen much. Capt. Phasma was a bust as well. Finn may have some costume pursuers but who wants to wear a joe blow storm trooper costume when you want to dress up as someone special. I'm sure we'll see plenty of Rey costumes with girls and they'll be beating up all the boys--lol. The NWO has won--lol.
Can't comment much now but all good points. But I think you underestimate dianey's marketing prowess. My son still loves kylo ren. Has his mask and his light saber. And he likes to use anakin's saber (Luke's as well) to portray Finn too. But he is only 4 too. Lol
Anyway lots of good points raised and I'll discuss them later.
I did like the smuggler stuff though since we really never saw Han actually doing the thing m that he was known for. And it was also a nod to the garbage chute sequence in anh too.
I'm ok with nods and homages. I'm not the fan who complains it was an outright copy. I know they think of it as a bridge and so needed some material from earlier Eps.
FYI, just asked my son who he would want to be from TFA for halloween. So, have some feedback from him and his friends. Their first response was, hugh and more silence then eventually they came up with one. I can tell you or you can guess who it was, your preference--lol. To help you guess if you desire, he's 17 and probably headed to a great NE school for engineering that we all wish we could have attended for engineering and he's getting published--sorry proud papa moment. I think Superman or Batman will blow SW away on the halloween who you want to be front--lol. Keep in mind that wasn't the way with the OT and there weren't legions of older parent fans of SW like you-lol.
Yes, 4 is too young for understanding all that's going on. But, it is a very fun and enjoyable age, keep pics and vids. I know you know, but will say it anyway--it goes by too fast.
BTW, you know me, I come from a VERY competitive pro sports background and was pretty much that way my whole life. I wanted to win, period. IT has served me well in several businesses. Anyway, I would be concerned if my son went out as Kylo Ren fearing the older boys might make fun of him.
AUSW, do you have kids? BTW, your input helped me enjoy the last X files moreso and had a something to do with why I was able to pick up on William so quickly.
I'm gonna guess he said he'd be bb8. Lol if I'm wrong you can tell me what it is.
We have too many pics and videos. I need time to edit them into actual watchable documentaries of their life. Only have done my son's 1st year. Haven't even done my daughter's. Shame on me! Lol
Ok it's sunk in. Luke is awesome. And your son grew up on prequels and original trilogy and picked a character that originated from the better movies. And the maguffin of the new movie. He played an important role in the new film. I would want to be my faves too. I was chewbacca this past Halloween and my kids were luke and Leia. But my 4 year old will continue to love Finn Poe kylo Rey bb8 and phasma due to marketing alone. Boba fett was a pretty lame character in the movies but everyone still loves him because he's so cool looking! Lol lame is an exaggeration. He didn't have a lot of character development and was never intended to. Lucas only put him in Jedi more and back in anh special edition (and probably clones) because of his popularity.
I'm going off on tangents. Really need to have time behind a keyboard to respond appropriately. I'll get to it tomorrow. But like i said. We are going to continue to disagree.
Don't worry we have plenty of printed and frames pics of our kids. Lol
Well, he and his friends really represent the future of the franchise for the next generation though. I was about his age when ANH came out. I think it's kind of sad that the SW franchise's future fan base just may be looking to Luke from the '70s as their hero--lol
SW - More responses. Let me know if you guys are tired of discussing...I'm guessing this will just be an endless debate where I understand your points but enjoyed the movie anyway lol I really think it boils down to how optimistic you are about the rest of the trilogy to explain the seeming inconsistencies that we spotted in Ep VII.
Anakin - Yes, he was conceived by the M-word (that we never shall mention again) and was the chosen one. He was very powerful...but his children are as well. I don't know if we can say if the kids are less powerful than their ancestor chosen one. But he was chosen to fulfill a prophecy and did fulfill that prophecy. Harry Potter was a chosen one too...do we think he's a greater wizard than Professor Dumbledore?
The more I think about it...Rey was not abandoned as an infant. So if she had jedi powers and was raised by her actual parents for a period of time...there is a chance that she did know about her powers at one time...but then maybe they went to sleep along with certain memories (I really don't know the storytelling device that will explain amnesia as it's not my favorite movie/tv trope...but if it's done well I may accept it). The movie is called The Force "Awakens" afterall. And Kylo actually does make comments to Snoke that her powers are very strong...but in a raw untapped or "not knowing how to use them fully without training" kind of way. But when she turns the tides on him in the interrogation...she started to wake up. And remember...moving lightsabers with the mind is one thing....X-wings is different. (even though Yoda says it's no different. Yoda still needed to train luke to control the force before he could understand how to do bigger things with force powers) I'm on Empire in my 6 movie watch in case you didn't notice. lol As for the Halloween costume thing...I still say you're wrong about this. I do know older kids that are still into Kylo Ren and wanted the mask, lightsaber for christmas (AFTER the movie....one kid did say he was upset that he lost the fight...lol) Phasma was probably never intended to have a big role in this movie. It got more publicity because Brienne was playing her and the suit was cool. Fun Fact: That suit was the original design for Kylo Ren, but they loved it so much they didn't want it to go to waste. But, I say Phasma is a Boba Fett equivalent. A minor player that could resonate with fans. I'm sure she'll be back. And yes...I think her being a pushover and lowering the shields may have been a little too much. lol I think little girls will love these movies because of Rey and how strong a character she was. Finn...not so sure if he'll get a huge halloween following, but we'll see. Poe will probably have a larger role in future films.
I totally disagree with your reboot philosophy. I get what you're saying but I don't agree with the term. A reboot would be if they threw away the old canon completely and called this STAR WARS: Do-Over And recast Han, Luke, Leia and told the same story with new twists and turns. Even STAR TREK is a half-reboot because they did the whole thing using time travel which kept the old canon intact. I will agree episode VII is definitely made for a modern audience so it is different than the others..but it's still a continuation of an older story with familiar tones and story beats. Any of these inconsistencies in certain aspects may get explained to fans' likings or may not at all (e.g. JJ's use of Light Speed). I'm not too worried about it. There's always going to be critics of any movie or television show. Star Wars is on the largest stage so it has MANY critics. Many people who think they know how a story should be told or what the story should be. But, the fandom still loves the experience and will still go to the movies to see more star wars to share in that communal experience. The movie being watchable and good are icing on the cake. For me, I think it met that criteria.
Just refreshed and saw your "future of the next generation"...i totally disagree. I grew up on Star Wars during my childhood. Star Wars was always targeted for children, but it has universal appeal. 17 years old...sorry you're a year away from adulthood. Young adulthood, sure. I was 20 when I saw Phantom Menace...and I wasn't thinking about wearing a Jar Jar costume the next halloween or even a Darth Maul costume. I'm only wearing stuff now because my kids want me to. There are 8-12 year olds that I've talked to that completely are obsessed with this film. I think your age requirements for liking star wars are a little high.
Well, I make the point about high schoolers because they can drive a lot of future ticket sales with dates, etc. I'm sure he and his friends will go to the next one too. Because it's just kind of the thing to do for most(ie popcorn fans--lol). He doesn't do halloween dress up any more, mostly parties. But, sometimes they dress up a little bit for those parties.
I agree with the notion that our positions have been pretty well stated and defended.
Good points. But that's short term thinking. If Disney grabs the kiddos, they've got them for the long haul. Granted these films are PG-13 now (though I would argue original star wars-Jedi would be too if made today).
So I guess we're agreeing to put an end to our SW discussion. I'll admit it...I'm a little sad about it!
When do we start discussing Rogue One: A Star Wars Story potential? I think my first issue is with how they changed the name to THAT lol. I guess you have to keep SW in the title but I liked Star Wars: Rogue One better...I guess they don't want to confuse with the episodes.
One more Sw comment. Listening to one of my tv podcasts I listen to. Mo Ryan sits down with Mike Schur (parks and rec, Brooklyn 99) and talk about a whole bunch of stuff like leftovers but the last 15-20 minutes is about Star Wars. They tackle the Mary Sue subject and Rey's experience. They are definitely on the same wavelength as me with this movie. They talk about too many homages too. Anyway they speak more educated than I can with more inside baseball about it. Thought you guys might want to take a listen. I know you'll still disagree!
EA on Star Wars game. Looks like to me they're concerned about whether a new game based on the new characters will be a hit. I can't imagine it would do well, but we'll eventually find out. Seems like the new game if it is done would be seperated from the OT.
Battlefront - I have the game. The game has the planet JAKKU in it as an add on. But it's about the BATTLE 30 years prior to TFA. All of the settings and characters are from the original trilogy as was intended when the game was released in November prior to The Force Awakens. Disney Infinity has a Force Awakens playset and you can be sure we have all the characters and my son is getting POE for V-Day lol The first one he wanted was Kylo Ren.
I have to say...you're terribly off with your theories on this stuff. it's selling really well!
That said...when Disney took over they established revised rules for canon. From Rebels onward every Star Wars thing released in all media formats (Movies, TV, video games, books) is all tied together as part of the same canon/universe. George lucas always reserved the right to trump the expanded universe with his movies....and the entire expanded universe was moved to LEGENDS and not considered canon when Disney took over. Makes total sense. But now they have a whole team dedicated to keeping canon straight going forward.
Forgot a much needed "LOL" on my comment about you being off on the theories. Not trying to talk down to anyone here! Just defensive about the subject! :)
Disney Infinity - The funny thing about that article is the concept of Disney Infinity is a giant toybox where all your favorite characters can interact....so you can unlock Kylo Ren and play him in the Hoth battle against the AT-ATs....young Luke, Han and Leia can play in The Force Awakens and so on and so forth. But that's the whole intent....because kids with their toys don't usually recreate the movies they have their own adventures with their favorite characters.
Grimm - Well that resolves everything...she's not Juliette she's Eve! lol And they killed off the Wesen Council? Not that we grew too attached to them, but that was pretty sudden. And of course there is the very convenient timing of Nick and Adalind's first kiss with the return of Juliette. Good times.
Grease Live - We had no intentions of watching this but we put it on while the kids were awake...amazed at what they were able to accomplish with a live show. Probably the best of these live broadcast musicals so far. And, I'm sure it's no coincidence that the director they tapped to bring this to television just happens to be the director of the new broadway smash HAMILTON (which I've brought up previously in this post....I'm obsessed and looking for tix! lol)
Shameless - Still on fire just like Kevin's neighbor. LOL I mean we all had to see that happening, but it was still hysterical when it did. I guess we have to assume Ian is going to become a firefighter? And for a minute I actually thought that house would be set on fire and the gay fire squad would be called into action. Carl was great the whole episode...but trying to give out the money and calling the hundreds "honeys" was fantastic. lots more in the ep but pretty crazy that they lost the house...I'm sure something will happen that lives up to the name of the show so that they can keep the house. It does look like there was a happy and relieved couple that got the house. I don't like their chances of happiness in the long run! lol
Grimm--I thought the Adalind/Nick stuff was done well though. He spoke how they had their chance and didn't take it/missed it, etc ie it doesn't make sense to go backwards into something that didn't work when it had a chance to work. Adalind could be his future but he and she want it to be for the right reasons. Yea, the Eve stuff was silly. It's been shaping up for a big time show down for a couple of seasons now. Interesting about the wessen vogueing in public, could open up some real possibilities in Portland.
Colony, I've said it before, but the wife isn't very smart. She reminds me of a teenager hanging out with the wrong crowd making bad decisions. I'm waiting for Sawyer to pull down on her during a police operation.
Grimm - Oh yeah...it's obvious they're pairing up Adalind and Nick and they're doing it as well as they can given the history, but when you step back and think about the writing process of the show you can see familiar tropes and setups...i.e. Adaland and Nick are getting to a comfortable place just in time for Juliette to show up and cause some uneasiness. lol
Colony - We didn't see last week's yet...but those complaints sound very familiar to people complaining about the actress on Walking Dead. lol
Grimm--I agree, the Juliette coming back into the picture JUST at that time is all about the drama. And if it hadn't been slapped back a bit, I wouldn't have been happy. If it gets to be a lot of drama I'll just skip that ep-lol. I've quit watching several shows because of too much convienent drama.
Grimm - Was pretty harsh too that any Wesen that does not join Black Claw is killed. And how about them not caring who sees them Woge ? I'd previously read that she would not really be Juliette when she came back.
Gilmore Girls - yet another revival. Don't even remember how it ended it was so long ago.
Legends - so is Hawkman dead ? Thought he always comes back ? Loved young Stein.
You, Me Apocolypse - quirky. Not what I expected at all.
Colony - apparently the actress likes to play roles that the character is conflicted. LOL My tak on it is that she is not very good at spying a- and why should she be ? Less than a year ago she wasn't a spy at all.
Convenient drama - what show on tv does not have drama start at a convenient story telling time ? LOL
LOL on Colony and Kaite(the wife) being conflicted. SEriously she's more like bipolar, skitzophrenic or something. Her deal with the boy being killed all made sense until she stripped and practically raped her unsuspecting husband, then was like all distant. She provides more whiplash than a bucking bronco--lol. And that's just one instance. To me, it's moving into the comical or just plain silly arena which detracts from the show if it's meant to be taken somewhat seriously?
You may recall that I thought the show would have been better with Juliette from LOST actress. For sure the chemistry would have been better up front even though this may develop just fine.
Gilmore Girls - MJ, I have to admit that I'm looking forward to this. This was a favorite of mine! The last year of the show wasn't done by the original creators/writers due to contract issues of some sort. I like the idea that they are picking up in real time, 8 years after the finale, and they are just doing a 4 part series so the creators can finish their vision. It doesn't look like Melissa McCarthy will be involved which is disappointing.
Convenient Drama - I wasn't saying it's not common...I just thought it was worth bringing up! lol
Gilmore Girls - I never watched but I did hear about the revival. My mom will be excited as she was just binging the show on Netflix. lol
You, Me Apocalypse - Recorded, didn't watch.
Angie Tribecca - Recording them from the start (based on your recommendation MJ)...haven't watched.
Star Wars (Because I can't help bringing it up) - 1-5 rewatched and 6 in progress...7 3D IMAX tomorrow! (4th and final theater viewing unless my son decides he wants to see it again which he did mention the other day lol) :)
Angie Tribeca - haven't watched them all yet either - like I said fun and silly - like the airplame movies.
Gilmore Girls - yes I do recall that Palladino and the other were gone that last season. Didn't know they were back. I also recall that they always said they knew how it would end - something about the last 4 words or something like that. Wonder if we will finaly hear them ! Might have to try to watch the last few on Netflix myself - but i doubt I will have time.
Shadowhunters - sampled i - dumped it. Too much teen angst and ridiculous dialog.
Xfiles - did not watch but heard this 3rd ep ws supposed to be good.
Shameless - OMG Yanis ! Frank trying to pimp out Deb is classic Frank. Fiona selling that ring was just horrible. And now they have no home any way. Caril is just hysterical this year.
Supergirl - show continues to charm. Couldn't she just say to Adam give me a few days and then we will go out ? Was glad that they didn't go with the whole Cat is pissed because I'm dating her son.
XFiles-kind of a comic relief ep. Upside down on the monster idea was great and Mulder getting drunk in a grave yard.
I want to believe and poster stuff is getting old though. He just keeps getting confirmation and so this line of wanting to believe being carried throughout is not logically consistent.
X Files - Basically it was commentary on the Monster of the Week episode of any show (which kind of originated with X-Files lol)....the writer of the ep has only done a handful of X-Files but fans swear by his eps. This was a pretty entertaining ep down to the X-Files theme song being Mulder's ringtone.
I thought this episode was a commentary on Mulder's change of stance on things. he's going through a mid-life crisis and questioning his life's work. By the end, he seems to be back on board though since the dude actually was a monster. I thought it was perfect.
Shameless - Deb getting pimped out is definitely hysterical. Check out my comments yesterday on Shameless....I'd be more worried about that couple who won the house than the gallaghers actually losing the house. lol The show is called Shameless afterall!
Supergirl - Fell really far behind on this one.
SW IMAX - Going tonight!
Hamitlon - Got my tix for December this morning! Beyond excited!
X Files--It was definitely a mid life crisis as you say, getting back on track ep. But I thought we already had one of those and a movie prior dealing with similar issues. Hence why I feel it's getting old.
X Files - Well I didn't see the full "I want to believe movie"....anyway this interview with the episode's writer gives good insight to how X-Files was written then and now...and it may lend credence to "repetition" of themes as they do not have a writer's room....standalone eps were written in solos by writers and they kept that strategy for these even though all mythology based shows have extreme focus on continuity. So this is what it is...a stand-alone story of the X-Files. It's a nice throwback.
Shameless - I'd forgot that you comented yesterday. On fire like the neughbor - nice ! LOL
Hamilton - hate to hear what you paid for them ! Know they are really high.
Gimore - Leslie read today that they ARE going to give us those final 4 words! And that it is 4 90 minute episodes titled Winter Spring Summer and Fall. With Mike and Molly done Melissa might be able to squeeze in a visit.
Hamilton - Tix went on sale today for November-January dates....they were still expensive but I would say typical for what you'd expect to pay for a broadway show these days. (i.e. not TKTS prices but actual ticket prices) The problem was that all the cheaper seats were sold out, but somehow I worked my way into an Amex Preferred seating area by googling the passcode. :)
Most people are probably paying double to 3 times the ticket price because people are buying and then reselling them for crazy prices. I refused to do that!
X-Files - Agreed Leslie...the monster guy was funny! His story of what happened when Scully came in and Mulder's reaction was a good time. lol
Xfiles - OMG - great episode. Loved it all. The guy/monster was dressed like Kolchak from Night stalker. The tombstone - have to confirm but I think Kim Manners was a director on Supernatural who died a few years back - wondering if he directed some of the Xfiles in the past. Mulder will believe almost anything - but not what the monster said Scully did when she came into the store ! LOL. Scully rearely got to have the fun back in the day - but she did in this one. Loved the ring tone too.
iZombie - was one of their funniest eps yet. If you guys liked this xfiles you'd love iZombie.
XFiles - Fun fact, the writer of the episode also wrote for Night Stalker so that was intentional. lol (I never watched so had no idea) Definitely an homage to Kim...it was in the interview with the writer I linked to the other day. I agree, good ep!
American Crime Story - OJ (Should we just call it OJ? lol) - Really good first episode. I've heard nothing but good things about the series in general. I remember the craziness around this trial back in the day, but there are things I forgot or didn't know at all so it's interesting to relive it. Marcia Clark was interviewed by EW and she does NOT want to relive it...she made that very clear. But is a fan of Sarah Paulson. lol
SW IMAX - Amazing in IMAX and picked up even more stuff this time that make me appreciate and enjoy it even more. It's amazing how much the pace seems to slow down the more you watch it.... I remember the first time I saw it I thought it felt very rushed. But this time I thought they spent more than enough time explaining things. Caught extra lines of dialogue that justify the attack strategy/failure and then help from Han and crew on Starkiller base. More of Rey talking about her family and her mysterious past. More of Kylo Ren pretty much knowing who Rey is but not revealing it in this movie...but understanding how potentially powerful she is/was/whatever. But I won't get into it because everyone has made up their mind! We'll just wait for episode 8! lol
SW Imax - was disappointed that the Imax version was 3D. hate 3D but would have loved to watch it on Imax screen
Gilmore Girls - uh oh Leslie. Melissa mcCarthy is saying no on asked her to come back. http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2016/02/02/melissa-mccarthy-gilmore-girls-revival-netflix/79713678/
SW IMAX - You barely notice the 3D in SW after awhile. I'm not sure if that's because maybe certain parts weren't in 3D or if you just get used to it. It's nowhere near as annoying as the Hobbit High Frame Rate was. Peter Jackson got struck with the George Lucas technology bug and it ruined the film experience! lol
But yeah there was no way Star Wars wasn't going to be 3D..it may have broken the domestic record without the help of 3D, but since AVATAR I think it's pretty much required if you're going to be hunting for box office dominance. lol
Reboot - Heard about that one. Not even keeping it on my radar. lol
SW - The thing is 3D IMAX is the most you can charge for a ticket and because Avatar was "meant to be seen in 3D" it added A LOT to the box office gross. And most big budget movies since then adopted 3D into their format. So if a movie was filmed in 3D, the IMAX will be 3D 100% of the time. It's just business. FWIW, JJ went on record before he signed up for Star Wars that he's not a fan of 3D. Not sure if that changed or not with his work on Star Trek Into Darkness and SW....but it's just an unavoidable part of doing that business now. He said he didn't like how you're not getting the full lighting/color effect when you put those glasses on or something like that.
I would've been perfectly happy seeing it without 3D in the IMAX, but I still enjoyed it with it!
Gilmore Girls - That's wrong if they didn't invite her! AS-P said Melissa's so busy, but did she assume without asking? Not good!
OJ - Yep, I lived it the first time, but still watched last night. There is some pretty good star power in this. I noticed Travolta is a producer. Funny to see David Schwimmer as the first Kardashian! LOL!
Obviously both my wife and I are not in tune with what's supposed to be a great ad in the superbowl anymore. Our estimation vs the "offical" analysts are worlds aparts. We liked the JEEP commercials the best, by far. Were disappointed with the Budweiser clydesdales. I thought overall a pretty bad collection of ads. BTW, one of my cousins help make the Taco Bell ads. They filmed them in Spain.
OJ - well people were racving so i was able to tape the first one and will record them. Don't know when I will watch.
Sunday TWD is back and then Vikings starts 18th I think. Scandal is back this week. have to be honest - haven't missed Scandal. Not a good sign. LOL
Super commercials: For some strange reason Puppy Monkey Baby cracked me up ! It was just so weird. And then when the guys did the dance - I lost it. Could be the adult beverages I had too.
Super bowl - was surprised Broncos won. I wanted them too but did not think they would. Read today about what a big baby newton was in the press conference. Which is why I did not route forthem - they are very arrogant and full of themselves. Singing sheep and Doritos's dogs were cute.
Sleepy - Abby does not look to be in a good place - didn't think she would be though. I found it odd that all of a sudden the FBI chick has joined in. They had a toss away line about her archeologist parents disappearing in a mysterious way so I guess she's open to supernatural stuff ?
Grimm - Loved the silliness of the Lake Monster. Those brothers sure were quick to screw eachother over though. Liked how the monster hunters killed the one brother.
Grimm--yea and more of the curtain being pulled back. Also, the council is gone.
Part of me finds it amusing that they want Nick so badly. The last 2 seasons he's not been much good in a fight and it looks like Juliette could take him out with a flick of her wrist. I've never been a fan of ever changing fighting abilities for no reason.
I guess we know his Mom is dead for real now? Where's Adalind's other baby?
Scandal - People I work with are still up in arms about that winter finale lol I know every one of them will still watch it when it comes back! But no I haven't missed it either.
TWD - Yay!
Vikings - Cool! Not sure when I'll watch all this stuff but I find a way for the stuff I like. :)
SB Ads - Yeah nothing that stood out too much. My wife liked the Super Bowl Babies ad lol
SB - Yeah I figured it would either be a strong Defensive Broncos outing or a Cam Newton routing...we got the first one. lol My wife was annoyed at Cam for not taking his helmet off to congratulate Peyton....I gave him the benefit of the doubt, but maybe he was being a baby. I didn't hear about the conference (meetings all day)
Sleepy - I figured they needed someone to fill the Abby void so that was FBI chick...by the end of the episode I wondered if they were going to work on pairing her up with Crane instead of the history buff chick. lol Yeah seems like her supernatural line was to give her an IN to this group and that she'll be part of the team now.
GRIMM - Decent episode.....yeah seems like Nick's Mom is dead for sure. But you never know...they still didn't show us anything only nick. lol Not much more comments to add right now. It's been a busy day!!
Vikings - MJ mentioned she thinks it's back the 18th.
Cam - Yep, the kid needs to grow up!
Shameless - Awesome episode last night. Almost every line of dialogue and action was just wrong which is what Shameless does best! lol
Homeland - We're trudging through season 5 finally. 3 episode in and it's painful. I've heard you have to give it until episode 5 and then it gets really good. I'll keep hoping! :)
Homeland - I don't remember it being awful but it does get better.
Superbowl - Oh yeah - liked Super Bowl babies too.
Star Trek - so - a new Star trek show ! And it idgits are going to premier it on CBS and then move it to CBS's new pay channel. Guess won't be watching that one.
Homeland - It's just so slow. we just watched the episode where carrie went off the meds intentionally. There were just long scenes with her man where they talked and talked and talked about nothing interesting. lol We did find out Saul is sleeping with the LOTR Chick. lol And I think Quinn just captured Carrie so maybe things will get interesting from there.
Star Trek - Just read the article on that. That was announced awhile ago, but I think the news is that Bryan Fuller is on as showrunner. I loved Pushing Daisies back in the day...never watched Hannibal. But Fuller has been involved in a lot of stuff including some older Trek shows. I'd have to be sold on the premise to pay to watch it though, agreed!
NEW BLOG POST - I know no one has asked for awhile, but once Walking Dead starts back this weekend we'll get back into weekly posts. sifting through 300 comments is not ideal, I'm aware of this! :)
If it's not in my Uverse, then CBS pay is going to be a non event here. I noticed they pushed it during superbowl. I guess they think since they have the best line up they can beat Netflix. Of course I don't watch Netflix either--and won't.
Xfiles - 2 more eps not 1. And I'm guessing that is not officially mulder and scully's replacements. Lol due to its success I wouldn't be surprised if they do another 6 episodes in a couple years or something like that.
Xfiles - what an odd episode. Guess they wanted to give Gillian some deep acting oppurtunities ? Liked the monster of the week though.
Grimm - yeah richard - I think you have mentioned once or twice that they made Nick not that good a fighter. LOL I have had no issues with him. I miss the trailer and looking thru the book to find the wesen of the week.
Flash - Knew we were getting an alterna-Caitlin but no an alterna-Cisco. Liked his doppleganger but not hers so much. Though liked that ronny/Firestorm was back too. Poor Barry - sure he got over Iris lightning quick (pun intended) and got over patty also very quick, but how is it going to feel when he goes back to Iris that does not love him again ? Loved the 'mayor Snart' too. And Wells was right - they were there to help him not get all involved with their dopplegangers - he was right to be mad. Finally they give Jay a purpose - they have not used him well at all.
Scandal - Think I heard that she will bounce back to Jake and if that is the case I might just be dumping that show. I miss the fixer cases - am sooo over her and the crappy way she treats the men in her life.
Grimm--seriously just look at the last fight where Nick was going to get slaughtered and Juliette dropped in and essentially tore everyone apart in seconds. Juliette now Eve is the bad A**. I'm not saying the nonsense of him being a needed grimm in a fight has to bother you though. It's just worth pointing out the huge inconsistency in his fighting track record vs their pursuit of his talents. Last season(or season before,when she was introduced) Trubl was portrayed as being better. It's like recruiting a middle school player for college, kind of laughable. He hasn't single handedly beaten a major player since the fist season.
Xfiles - Philly - Don't know about that tent city they had for the homeless though. I've never seen that! But yeah they certainly brought up a bunch of local references like Bucks County and Franklin Avenue so that was kinda cool. I like the episode enough....definitely a Gillian showcase, but it seems like they wanted to hit home the importance of William at the same time.
Grimm - I'm not making excuses but maybe not every Wessen is created equal? Maybe Nick has gotten to a Level (if we're going to go with Video Games comparisons and Power levels lol) with more difficult bad guys and he needs to advance his skills to get on level playing field. lol
Gotham - I see now that MJ said she might be dumping it...not me! lol
Scandal - I just assumed this cleared the path for her to rebound to Jake. lol But, I would say that long term this doesn't end hopes for Fitz/Pope union. Ross and Rachel broke up in season 3 and kept things interesting for 7 seasons after that before they finally got back together! lol
Grimm--I could buy into Nick needing a skills advancement and I'm not being snarky--lol. I could sit through a few eps of him getting better and maybe Eve's "boss" is the one to do it?
Grimm - Yeah that's kinda where I was going. It seems like the next evolution of this show will be him teaming up with this advanced Wesen hunter squad. i.e. it's the NEW Trailer. He'll have access to new weapons and maybe new skills to take his fight to a new level.
Game of Thrones - Just posting that I'm getting back into blogging form by doing my annual rewatch. It gets tougher every year with the additional episodes to get in before the new season. I'm on episode 5 or 6 of season 1 I think. I know...I should be watching new shows I say I have no time for. lol But, I just can't help but rewatch the ones I'm obsessed with!
ACS: OJ - Bronco chase was pretty thrilling as it was when it originally happened. The one nugget of info I learned was that the white bronco wasn't even OJ's car. It was the driver's (in this case, theo from the cosby show) who was such a big fan of OJ's that he bought the same car as him. Crazy! They did well to capture how big of an event it was when they cut to it from the NBA Finals.
Vinyl - Anyone going to watch this one? I'll record it or HBO Go it one day. But my sunday is going to be full with TWD and Shameless...not to mention ONCE coming back eventually.
OJ - not sure what you are saying about Bronco. It was never his - it belonged to a friend of his who was driving who also played with OJ in the football years. He wasn't a fan but a team mate.
Vinyl - I currently don't have HBO so no. Not sure I would have tho. Heard its all about how much cocaine they do. No thanks
OJ - A teammate who is a big fan/admirer of OJ. OJ also had a white ford bronco and it's why his friend/team mate had the same car. So I guess I meant...I didn't know there were 2 white broncos....OJ's bronco left the scene of the crime and there were traces of blood in it. It was in the 1st episode of this series. So in the 2nd episode, it was a 2nd bronco. That's all I was saying.
Vinyl - I really don't know much about it...but I know Scorcese is attached...but that might explain the cocaine lol
GoT - Also an interesting approach. Still going to attempt to watch them all! And I'll still pick up the Blu-ray of season 5 even though I could just watch them on HBO GO lol I like those special features!
Definitely uncharted territory....but I still think there will be a little revisiting of the book 4/5 stuff. Still looking forward to it!
Ha - came here to share link of GofT photos too. Warning that the last 2 are a little spoilery http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2016/02/11/look-if-you-dare-game-thrones-season-6-photos-show-whos-dead-and-alive/80249116/#
G of T - 4/24 - that's right. Ugh I gotta watch all of season 5 plus by then will have added Saul and Vinkings back into rotation. And possibly new show Containment.
Colony--Again, Katie's a deceitful wife. Such a dislikable character and yet they want us to somehow identify with her. The show wants more nuance then I'm willing to give. I still say Katie is going to be in a position where she's pointing a gun to her husband. I think she'll ultimately side with her husband vs the resistance. But this resistance does not seem like it's motivated exclusively for fighting the invasion. Something else is up and she's being fooled.
BTW, I really liked Phyllis, the red head boss lady.
Blacklist--Interesting that Red seems to have obtained the file on Liz's father now. And Liz's Mom just walked into the ocean to die. I bet a lot don't believe that story.
332 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 332 of 332X-Files - Understood...there was a 2nd movie you know. I tried watching it but it was awful. Anyway it was called X-Files: I Want to Believe. So I'm guessing it was a nod to the outcome of that movie. (Strike that...I just saw your comment about it...but I'll just leave it here so you can see I didn't finish reading before writing!)
I know you like to make your own judgment on things. I do that for franchises/shows I am obsessed about. If there was a Game of Thrones or LOST review out there I wouldn't look at it. Star Wars I avoided all reviews that I could. X-Files...I'm more of an outsider to the full mythology so I just wanted to get a general feel of what people were saying. But I'm glad I did...because I ended up enjoying it more because people were so negative of the 1st ep.
AU Star Wars - I think he just forgets about it. any time I email him and say we're talking about something he's interested in...he'll show up. I'll shoot him an email and give him a heads up. Maybe he'll stop by for a visit.
BTW, glad to know I"m in good company with AU on VII. BTW, another criticism I have of VII is the treatment of Anakin and so more canon breakage.
X-Files--From wiki on the absolute 100% confirmation of aliens:
"Mulder travels to Antarctica to save Scully, and discovers a secret underground laboratory run by the Cigarette Smoking Man. Mulder uses the vaccine to revive Scully, disrupting the stable environment of the lab and reviving the cocooned aliens. The lab is destroyed just after Mulder and Scully escape to the surface. It turns out to be part of a huge alien vessel lying dormant beneath the snow; the vessel pushes up through tons of ice and snow and travels straight up into the sky. Mulder watches the ship fly directly overhead and disappear into the distance, as Scully regains consciousness."
The flying saucer shaped alien ship left after all the humans had abandoned some time earlier. Scully saw the aliens while being rescued as well.
Richard
Heard my name was being spoken lol
Loved X-Files because it shows Mulder what we have known all along (and its pointed out here: http://www.entil2001.com/series/x-files/ftf/myth.html) that there are no "aliens" that it is all the conspiracy. So it is good to see the show maturing..I also thought the conspiracy elements in general were spot on around what the government/NWO would be doing to subvert the masses.
Hated TFA (you can see my review at AUStarwarsSWFC.wordpress.com)
SW - I still don't see canon breakage with TFA. Anakin was redeemed at the end of VI but Ben Solo/Kylo Ren chooses not to focus on that. He was tricked into returning to the light. It's probably masterminded by Snoke who is seducing Kylo to the dark side. Who is Snoke? Yet to be revealed, but it could tie into the first 6.
X-Files - I remember the end of the movie well. The opening scene of this mini-series event showed an ALIEN. I don't think they're showing that aliens don't exist, I think it's quite the opposite. But it's man that is covering up the alien technology for personal/corporation benefit. Maybe I'm misreading it based on everyone else's reaction.
Welcome back AUStarWars! Didn't take much to sway you. I've read his wordpress review...it's a good read, even if I disagree with 80% of it. :)
Mike and MJ.....glad you guys survived the blizzard!! The pictures are incredible! It's gonna be 65 today in the Dallas area and all sunshine!
X-Files - We watched it. Neither of us watched the series except for an episode every now and then, so we were looking with fresh eyes. Knowing it's a 6 episode event, we deciding it's worth a watch!
The Revenant - Saw it this weekend! Wow! I can't talk Star Wars, so I thought I would throw this movie in! LOL!
The "aliens" are not actual aliens from other planets that's the point (and likely what the doctor is telling Mulder is the actual truth, side note, there are so many cannon characters this Dr. could have been I didn't think we needed a new one..)..the "Greys" are the second form of Purity Gestation (as shown at the end of "The Beginning", season 6 first eps) and stated in the Entil review as (borrowing to save me retyping):
"The initial stage of development involves the savage form in “Fight the Future”, which then sheds its skin when it’s ready to move into its base form, the Colonist. The Colonist, as later revealed, is the base form for the shape-shifters. This makes complete sense, given that the biological nanotech used to create the shape-shifting clones was specifically designed to lead into the biological changes that would lead to the birth of the drones. "
-AUStarwars
I cannot stress enough the need to read this if you want to understand X-Files..if you rewatch the series, read these reviews as you watch the episodes, it makes them 1000% more enjoyable
http://www.entil2001.com/series/x-files/ftf/myth.html
-AUStarwars
X-Files - I checked out the link AUSW. I remember you sharing that with me before. I didn't read every line but enough to get the gist. Definitely an interesting theory. So do you think this is a case where that essay is so popular with hardcore X-File fans that Chris Carter took notice and might be writing towards it a bit? lol
Leslie - Nice on the 65 degrees! I'm happy we had at least one snow storm, even though I hate driving in the aftermath....but I'm good now. Bring on spring! :)
Revenant - We definitely want to see it. Just need a date night/day where someone will watch our kids! Mother in law in town this week/wknd...maybe we'll get out! lol (I just heard my inner monologue laugh at me on that one)
AUstarwars--GLAD you're commenting. We've not always agreed, but have always enjoyed reading and your thought provocation.
RE TFA--I read your review and found it covered most of my complaints and added at least a major one with hyperspace--faster than light travel. I have a couple more like the treatment of Anakin this many years into the future after he was a major player in the rebellion's success and joined the good side, etc. It trampled the canon of the force into the ground while placating to PC pursuits. Please be encouraged that ALL in my family caught a lot of the canon violations.
Re: XFiles--Have not read the info on your links yet. Can you explain the ending of the movie where the flying saucer flew away with the aliens and no humans on board. This movie was released as a capstone. The desert scene with the smoking man and the corn stalks with bee houses is obviously a continuation. But given the meeting in London where the NWO crowd met, it seems to be driven by aliens. At least that's what the NWO leaders were saying, that they were concerned that the cooperation they have given so far might not work out so good for them.
Richard
Richard
TFA - No matter how you slice it, Darth Vader helped hunt down and destroy the Jedi with Emperor Palpatine. Sure, in the end he saved Luke and took down the Emperor so that redeemed him. But I would think they'd be a little worried about future powerful Skywalkers/Solos with the tendency to veer to the Dark side of the force.
Like I mentioned...Snoke probably played up Anakin "slipping" in the end and being a Jedi sympathizer in a moment of weakness and compares it to Kylo's moment of weakness in this movie where he doesn't want to kill his father. This is what he uses to push Kylo over the edge. No it's not specifically called out but it can be inferred from what is stated.
Han or Leia mention that their son has too much Vader in him. Implying that there is some good in him too.
So I'm not sure what kills the canon here.
Light speed stuff...I'll admit they did a lot of fast travelling in episode 7...but I compared that to season 5 of LOST where they are all over the map in one episode vs. a whole multi-episode story arc of trekking across the island in seasons 1-3.
I'll have to reread AUSW's post and argue my points one of these days...but today is not that day! :)
Mike, you already have read other places that Snoke (cough:Darth Plagius:cough:I cant even in a straight face call him Snoke:cough) said that the conflict in Anakin led him to kill Palpatine, that he was weak..thats why Kylo kills Han, he purposely puts himself into a "trial by emotion" and "passes it" (even though he made the trial himself, kinda cheating..imho..)
Remember my theme of hatred for TFA is the pandering to the audience by the Disney machine..a pandering imho that began with Return of the Jedi..it pains me that Lawrence Kasden was involved in this movie, more than anything else that is my biggest complaint
I hope you found my review provoking and emotional, it was cathartic for me
Re: Ship in Xfiles I'll save you the time searching for the answer by C/P but the TLDR version is "its not an alien ship, they make these ships look like that to keep the conspiracy going"
I'll post below
-AU
TFA, when Han and Leia said that Ren had too much of Vader in him, it was portrayed to everybody I was watching with as them saying Vader was bad, turning Ren dark. Which with them in particular violated Vader's redemption. Leia during that conversation was pushing the idea of Han being his father and that would be the positive influence.
Re Snoke, I thought of that too, that Snoke may be playing Ren. But, again, it was HUGE and absolutely imperative for the rebel alliance to survive for Annakin to save them. It was his destiny to save them, ala Ep I and II. So, that bit of persuasion only works in a vacuum of a FAMILY member not knowing about his grandfather--doesn't make any sense.
BTW, any thoughts on the Ren/Rey naming being so close?
XFiles--It occurs to me to ask AUSW a simple question to help clarify things.
Do you believe in the XFiles canon that aliens exist? Not asking if they are the ones pulling the strings via NWO stuff. I get that and can see it.
Richard
"At the same time, Strughold mentions handing over “a body infected with the gestating organism” to the Colonists, which makes it sound as though he believes that the “mothership” is, in fact, run by Colonists. This brings up an interesting point. Someone prior to the Syndicate must have been collected and storing the infected within the containment pods, because the victims date back thousands of years. Yet the Colonists are nowhere to be found in the film. So who was conducting this “clean up” operation?
Mining the series for an answer, there is an elegant solution, though it once again requires elements that are only hinted at during the series itself. Throughout the series, especially after the sixth season finale, it is revealed that several Rebel-style spacecraft, identical to the craft recovered at Roswell, are buried underground. These Rebel UFOs date back thousands, if not millions, of years. Similarly, Purity is supposed to have arrived in its most potent form millions of years earlier.
This suggests a common reason for those buried vessels to be in the distant past. Since the development of Purity’s fully adaptive medium (effectively, the final form of the vaccine) doesn’t come into the picture until shortly before Colonization, and the war between the Colonists and the Rebels is a future event being waged across time through limited time travel (initiated with the 1947 Roswell incident), something must have happened to get the final form of Purity on the “mothership” and then into the distant past.
The idea is simple. The “mothership” is, in fact, the conspiracy’s final development facility for Purity, as run by the post-Syndicate “replacements” seem in the final seasons. That facility would most logically be located on Mars, given the hints in the series about activity there, and would have been used as a central storage facility for mass quantities of Purity. On the day of Colonization, those under the control of the conspiracy or created as part of “Phase II” would be infected through exposure at the “lighthouses” (mentioned in “The Red and the Black”). "
-AU Part 1
"As hinted in the episode “Synchrony”, time travel (and thus, FTL travel) would be possible by using a coolant that could also be used for cryogenics. The design of the “mothership”, as later revealed in the film, seems designed for fluid transfer rather than humanoid utility. The large interior also suggests a massive containment field in the center, which could have been used to keep Purity in stasis during transit. Since the Rebels would be trying to prevent the spread of Purity to achieve their own goals, they would be within range of the “mothership” as it approached Earth.
This leads to an outcome that brings the story full circle. The “mothership” is sabotaged (presumably by William and his allies), which then sends the damaged vessel containing the most potent form of Purity into an uncontrolled transit into the distant past, where the vessel crashes in Antarctica and Purity is dispersed, eventually working its way underground. The Rebels are pulled into the “wake” of the transit and are tossed back into time as well, though not necessarily as far.
At least one Rebel, one of the “pilots”, would likely survive. Since the Rebels want the conspiracy to emerge from 1947 through 2012, to ensure their own existence, the surviving Rebel “bounty hunter” would have every reason to locate the “mothership” and ensure that any infected victims over time would be cryogenically contained to prevent the spread of Purity. With the emergence of modern technology and the rise of the Syndicate, this would become the Rebel “hunter” that eventually works with Cancer Man in episodes like “Herrenvolk”.
Strughold’s desire to eliminate Mulder also suggests that he is unaware of what Cancer Man has been doing over the years. Cancer Man, after all, needs Mulder to survive, and he has manufactured Mulder’s mystique as a possible martyr for the purpose of keeping the others in sway. (Logically, Mulder is no more dangerous in terms of his quest than Kurtzweil or the Lone Gunmen, so the typical excuse doesn’t quite work.)
Whatever the case, Strughold’s own words make it clear that Cancer Man succeeds to large measure. Strughold indicates that someone must be infected with the most potent form of Purity and then sent to the “mothership” (though not in so many words), thus allowing Cancer Man to conduct manipulation of that event outside of Syndicate view. Strughold himself identifies Scully as the perfect candidate, under the impression that Mulder will back off and get in line once Scully is killed, since Scully is currently what Mulder “holds most valuable”. "
-AU Part 2
AUSW on TFA--I can get the cathartic nature of it for you. I really appreciate you taking the time to do it. I have been posting here about the Disney machine and to the point of it making SW more like a comic book franchise now, ala Marvel. You did an excellent job. I think there are a lot more of us out there who see it for what it is.
I really wasn't going to take the time to write a lot of these points as it seems a waste of time.
One thing I keep in mind with Mike is his love of JJ.
Mike, I saw a quick clip of JJ saying he had NOTHING to do with LOST beyond the pilot. He was tired of people blaming him for stuff about the show.
AUSW, are you watching Colony or Expanse?
Richard
Colony and Expanse yes..like Expanse more..never read the books..like the BSG/Total Recall feel to it though
Colony so far is ok but I feel will be typical Cuse "we will never get a full story of what is going on and will leave you wanting" type story..its no Mr. Robot
-AU
I will comment more later but I have to comment to the jj love. It has nothing to do with my defense of the movie. And I know that jj had nothing to do with lost after the pilot and his ideas for after like the hatch. So I thought it was funny when he made that comment. It's people like you and ausw that still lump jj in with the finale like he was involved! lol
I'll comment more when my kids aren't yelling at me to pay attention to them. :)
X files, interesting on the time travel and complex plot lines. That of course opens doors. And that all points to aliens existing. Which when Mulder saw all of the evidence makes his statement of "I want to believe" questionable. It seems oxymoronic to have proof of their existence and yet deny their existence.
I wonder if it will get into the notion of time travel pardox.
Richard
on JJ. What do you consider JJ's biggest most successful creative effort? That is from scratch, not building on others nor in collaboration, but actually something he can lay claim to on his own?
Richard
Regarding Henry. Wrote the script. Harrison ford starred. Felicity. Never watched, heard good things. Alias - didn't watch when it aired but have since watched and really enjoyed. lost - he still co-created the show. It wouldn't have existed without him. He cast it with Damon and came up with high level story ideas and mysteries.
Loved super 8 too.
He certainly didn't want to be known for rebooting/bringing back franchises. But one success led to another.
Xfiles - only saw first episode - and was kind of sleepy - but thought they were saying there are aliens but it's been the gov't behind alot of the sightings and all the abductions. Cause ya know - the gov't wants to take over and they used aliens to distract us. Recognize the girl Mike ? From Americans. I did not feel the chemistry between them any more. Was saddened to read that Gillian had to fight to get equeal pay as David - really ? In this day and age ?
Want to say thanks to AUSW for the 2 part explanation.
XFiles last night. I wonder if William is going to come into play? They seem to be concerned he could have some alien genetics. Show is certainly on track for a lot of Syndicate/NWO.
Richard
Last night pretty much confirmed the theory as laid out that William is the key...
-AU
XFiles - MJ, I agree...from what we've seen (and not looking into popular theories...) there still seems to be the existence of aliens....even Scully tested her blood and seems to have alien DNA. I definitely saw Nina from the Americans as Sveta and brought it up in one of my posts on the last page of comments. lol I just head about that with the equal pay. Crazy stuff.
Richard, FYI that 2 part explanation was a copy paste from that link he originally sent. lol
William does seem to hold some kind of importance in the story they're telling I will agree with that! (And I know X-Files is Fringe's predecessor and father so to speak....but it reminds me of Olivia and Peter's child being important too....and what do you know...time travel was involved there. lol)
Now to my star wars comments!
SW - Okay, I have reread AUSW's wordpress. Believe me, I understand all of the gripes about the movie. I'm not saying the movie is flawless. But I will continue to say I enjoyed it. Some of the complaints you both have, I share them but I'm optimistic they'll be resolved once the trilogy is complete. I've mentioned this before but I think some things were left vague intentionally for various reasons:
1.) Like AUSW said - the books will fill it in...but they can't rely on the books alone as the movies need to stand on their own too.
2.) Prequel Fatigue. They definitely toned down the politics in this movie intentionally because it was so overbearing in episodes 1-3. If you mentioned one thing about a senate or taxes or whatever you'd lose the audience. Yes, there was the 5 minute scene on the death star in Ep IV...but overall ANH didn't have TOO much exposition. We were thrown right into the middle of a conflict...a simple setup of good vs. evil. Basically the only exposition scenes are the Death Star scene and the Obi-Wan/Luke scene talking about his father. And of course Han's "i don't believe in the force" scene which was mirrored in TFA.
3.) Episode 8 and 9 will fill in the details. My hope is that when the trilogy is complete we'll go back and watch Episode 7 (similar to how we see Ep 4 in a different light after watching 5, 6, 1-3) and see new shades of meaning in what was "glossed over". It's one part of a 9-tology. Even more so in this Disney universe....there could be an anthology movie just on Kylo Ren and his Knights of Ren. There could be Rey learning all her combat skills on Jakku. (probably not, but you never know) JJ defnitely said they intentionally skipped a lot of exposition because they were mirroring ANH's approach. He said it in better words than I'm putting it....he didn't actually confess to "not having exposition" in his movie. lol
So, I get the gripes...I share them but I'm hopeful for the future based on past experiences. Plus, I have a lot of faith in Riann Johnson to take our known universe and bring it into weird and interesting new directions (even under the Disney microscope).....so you see it's not my love for JJ. JJ did his job...he did what he does best. It's up to different writers/directors to move this story into a new frontier (not to borrow from the other STAR movies).
(more to come in next post)
SW - Continued
Okay...I took a few notes in my readings of comments and had to pick these off:
Percy Weasley - General Hux is not Percy Weasley in the Harry Potter movies. He was BILL Weasley in Deathly Hallows 1 and 2 (you know where the Dobby scene is)...he married Fleur. Domnhall Gleason is also the son of Brendan Gleeson (Mad Eye Moody) and he's the star of Ex Machina and an episode of Black Mirror (which I still highly encourage everyone to watch on Netflix...great sci fi show. Each episode a different twilight zone esque story on the near future possibilities of technology). I thought he was fine as Hux but I think his character will be given more weight in future movies. He was a little shouty in his Nazi rally lol
Matt parkman/Greg Grunberg - Why was he in the movie? Because he's JJ's best friend from childhood and is in all of his shows and movies. Alias, LOST (Oceanic 815 pilot), MI-3, Star Trek (pretty sure he was in it)....it was a known fact that he'd be in this movie. Of course Miles from LOST was there too....and Simon Pegg played Unkar Plutt on Jakku.
Bad Acting - I just can't take this comment seriously after what we saw in the prequels. Okay, maybe the campiness was a little over the top (Regardless of serving the story or not...the original trilogy had campiness to it!) The originals weren't oscar caliber acting pics either (even if Star Wars was nominated for Best Picture). Okay, we agree on Empire being one of the best movies of all time so that one doesn't count! :) But in general, the originals hold a special place in our hearts from childhood and we can look past a lot of the okay acting and dialogue. But nothing in TFA came as bad as "I don't like Sand" "Yippee" "Anakin, you're breaking my heart" (and then literally dying of a broken heart later on) .....I think my least favorite scene was one you mentioned...where Poe and Finn have the awkward introduction to each other in the TIE Fighter. That definitely was cheesy. But that was a rare case in my opinion to the rest of the movie.
HypeMachine/Popcorn Fans/Kids - Maybe you're right. Maybe I'll come down from my high. I don't rank this above ANH or ESB. I put it on par with Jedi. I did have SITH over Jedi for awhile but it hasn't aged well. (just finished it yesterday again and the parts that should've been traumatizing and emotional just don't hit me). I always find it insulting when you speak about the popcorn fans. I don't consider my self the lowest denominator of movie watcher...but I know how to enjoy myself at the movies or watching TV also. My kid being totally into star wars right now absolutely has me excited about it more that I might be without him. The fact that Rey will be a symbol for little girls makes me excited for my daughter to get into it too. But, I saw this movie without my kids first and thoroughly enjoyed myself, flaws and all.
Snoke/Plaugues (sp) - Yes I've read the theories that Snoke might be Darth Plaguess...it would be a nice tie-in to the prequels and the whole saga. And the fact that Kasdan tried to play off the comic-con question as a joke (something like Darth Vegas??) adds to the fact that it might be true. I, too, hate the name snoke. It's pretty awful! lol But his story is yet to be told... And Richard, as for Snoke playing Ren....of course he is!! And we don't know how long Snoke has had his clutches on young Ben Solo. That's all for a future story to tell us. It could've been since childhood. Palpatine had his eye on Anakin since he was 9 or 10 years old but didn't make his move until he was in his 20s. As for Kylo just shunning his family....precedent has been set in the films. Anakin was okay 1 minute, then he sliced off Mace's arm and Palpatine killed him. He wonders what he has done...and then he's all like "i will serve you forever my master....take me to your leader!!" Like under some kind of spell. Seduction my the dark side is no joke. Even when poorly acted in episode iii! As for Rey/Ren...are you suggesting that they might be twins? That is certainly a big theory...but we should also say that Kylo Ren is not his given name...it was Ben Solo. Kylo Ren was/is the leader of the Knights of Ren...we have no idea what they are (yet) either.
AUSW on Kasdan - What's your problem with Kasdan? Didn't he co-write Empire? Or do you give more credit to the other writer that died in the middle of making the movie? Or do you fault him for ROTJ's issues? JJ has at least said in interviews that he was happy Kasdan was involved for the simple fact that it legitimized a bit what they were doing. That it wasn't fan fiction...someone from the original trilogy was there to set them straight. You're probably not interested, but there is a good exclusive interview that EW's Anthony Breznican did with JJ, Kasdan and Arndt after a screening of the movie. I linked to it somewhere on these comments. If you want to listen to it let me know. I'll dig it up.
I'm sure there's tons more I can say....and I know there's no changing anyone's minds. But, hopefully you can see where I'm coming from and don't think I'm crazy for thinking it or just a JJ (and Lindelof) apologist or, dare I say the dreaded words, a "popcorn" fan.
SW--MIke, I appreciate your efforts and as I said, on a stand alone basis it's a 7 for me. (BTW, AUSW on a SW EP VII basis as a continuation of the story, I found it a 2). I don't have a problem with the whole, was it a rip off or was it an homage--I get it, it's Disney marketing and so I kind of expected it. It was bridge movie and so some of that is to be expected.
Another example of a problem for me and yet it was a HIT with the average POPCORN fan. And that was Rey using the force to get the light saber, topping Ren's force. While several were cheering a few of us moaned. You see we knew from decades of investment in this story that Luke didn't just simply on the first try pull that light sabre to himself. He wasn't a newbie with ZERO force instruction. You see, this very scene is just one of several which are viewed by some popcorn fan as awesome that as a "knowledgeable" fan I find comical at best. Yes, I did laugh and my family knew why, they didn't have to ask-lol. You see with Luke the audience was invested and knew what it took to do what he did. HEre I agree with those that call Rey a Mary Sue. JJ's approach not only hurts the believability of Rey, but hurts the character since she was never developed before doing all of these wonderful things. And that in and of itself demeans decades of what the force is and what it takes to use it. The very title of the movie includes the word "force" and so you would think JJ would have done a better job of honoring what it means to use the force. For those people first watching SW with this movie they will have ZERO knowledge about the force really. Except that now with Disney and JJ maybe the force is just something like out of a comic book you can put on in an instant and be a superhero. Rey did not know about the force in this movie so for them to in the future say she did would be a major play on the audience, maybe as much as Snoke is playing with Ren-lol.
Richard
Forgot one:
Power Levels - I'm sure you read this one already but Kylo Ren was INJURED in his battle with Finn and Rey. He still took down Finn but had some trouble with Rey who, yes, is stronger than she even knew in the force. Yes...maybe they took some liberties...i'm not denying that. But they did go out of their way to show how strong Chewie's crossbow was at taking down all of those storm troopers....Han's joking comment (at the time) about "i really like this thing"....actually DID service the story by planting Chewie's/Checkov's Crossbow/gun as a plot device that would come into account later. Kylo kept beating his chest showing that his injury was bothering him during the whole fight. It was also stated at the end that Snoke needed to finish his training...so he wasn't fully trained in the darkside....we don't know how long he trained under Luke either. but your point (and the whole world's point) is noted that Kylo should not have been defeated. I think the whole point of this was to imply that he'll come back even stronger in the next movie. (as will Rey)
As for Finn and Rey's use of the lightsaber....they did do some setup for this as well. Rey may have never used a lightsaber but she has the staff and she easily took down attackers on Jakku. This is all you need to know that she is somewhat trained in combat/self-defense. Why? We don't know. (Talk to Riann Johnson) Finn, he's been in stormtrooper training all his life......and supposedly, now that TR-8R is a hit with the (popcorn?) fans...we learned more about his backstory in that he was a storm trooper cadet and friends with Finn....so they both supposedly had training using that electro-staff or whatever. So no...he's never used a lightsaber....but you know even Luke realized there's a button on it to turn it on the first time he ever saw one.
I thought the fight showed that Rey and Finn were both fighting out of passion more than skill anyway...Kylo had just taken down his father and they were pretty P.O.'d about it. There was nothing graceful about that fight in the snow...it was pure emotion. I thought it worked well on that level. I was pissed at Kylo too and wanted to see him taken out. But of course, for story purposes I didn't want to see him taken out...i want him in the whole trilogy...so they found a way to have Rey win but Kylo survive. injure Kylo off the bat giving Rey a maybe even playing field....and then destroy starkiller base to cause a break in the earth between them. Why not?? lol If we find out these 2 are related in any way (brother/sister...cousins) it will only add more weight to this fight in the future in hindsight.
But, I will admit...i thought the same things that you brought up about power levels as well. As for Finn getting a change of heart so quickly....I think this was probably his first "kill all these people" order under Captain Phasma. We did learn he was stationed in sanitation on Starkiller base (as a storm trooper....let's not get into that "how does a janitor become a storm trooper debate that some are having lol). Maybe he was just recently reassigned....and in his first taste of action he "woke up" and realized he didn't want to be a part of this. Whatever their brainwashing they've been doing to the troopers backfired on Finn.
SW - I get what you're saying Richard (i have since we were talking in code before MJ saw it lol). That's why I'm trying to defend it from a canon perspective. But again...I don't really expect to convert you. Just get my thoughts out there.
Yeah the lightsaber thing is a tough one. But damn if I didn't get a rush when that saber flew by Kylo into Rey's hands. They do establish rules within the movie that her powers are "awakening" and getting stronger the more she tries to use them. When reading the book of Phantom Menace (and some things Qui Gon alludes to in the actual movie) we know that Obi-wan struggled with the "living force"....i think this is being able to control the force and move things with your mind. (AUSW can correct me if i'm wrong).....he finally succeeds in this when he defeats Maul. Meanwhile...we know Skywalkers are a little a head of the game. Well...Luke wasn't (as far as we know)...but he certainly used the force by the end of ANH to bullseye a 2 meter opening in the Death Star without the use of computers. He also learned how to pick up a lightsaber on HOTH without training from obi wan or yoda....it certainly seems like he was seeing force ghost obi wan for the first time on HOTH after his encounter with the wampa. I'm going to guess episode 8 will have some kind of explanation on Rey's powers being so formed so quickly (without using the word midichlorians).....granted, the explanation may never appease all star wars fans. But that's just it....I'm more inclined to ask questions about this stuff than to criticize. This goes back to me being hopeful future movies will add weight to these already powerful scenes.
The Mary Sue comments are difficult to defend. Everything you read about it seems to fit the bill for Rey. We certainly did see Luke struggle more than Rey....but I think Rey will struggle in the future movies. The other word in the title of the movie is "AWAKENS"....meaning the force is back and with authority in Rey.
Maz Kanata does a speech about the force in the basement of her temple that's very similar to Kenobi's in ANH....so people first watching SW certainly will have knowledge of the force. Maybe just not as strong of knowledge as they do after seeing 4, 5 AND 6.
The way I interpret things is...Rey got lucky. She now is with Luke and is going to learn more about who she is and who she can be.
But that's me being the eternal optimist with my favorite franchises and you being the eternal cynic! :)
My issue with Kasden is that he is attached to Eps 7 after directing Empire, I feel bad that he is involved in this..
I don't know how I can respond to the rest, I already wrote the giant diatribe and explained my points numerous times lol..this film is 1000% pandering
-AU
You don't need to respond. I just feel better getting my thoughts out there. I agree and disagree. You can at least respond to your errors that I called you out on. lol Here's another one:
Empire was directed by Irvin Kirshner (RIP). It was co-written by Lawrence Kasdan. But apparently Leigh Brackett (RIP) wrote the majority of the script/draft and Kasdan came in to revise.
Ok I guess i have to respond..
I already stated that I am more emotionally invested than 99.75% of fans, I cannot help if I look at others opinions as "lesser" when it comes to the context I am stating..did you spend 26 hours at the theater watching all 7 movies? Most of the population did not...
I am not saying there is anything wrong and people cannot have their opinions, but I am showing you the opinion of an uber fan..and no other uber fans I know acutally LIKED the movie
side note I never said that "everyone that likes this movie is a Popcorn Fan" I said that this movie is specifically made to appeal to said fans
For people to say not "you aren't the target audience, the popcorn fans are" makes literally ZERO sense
I know I had the wrong Weasley..sue me, Hux is awful
You mean the Bowcaster that in 40 years of friendship Han has NEVER ONCE used? That Bowcaster? yeah..ok...
The easiest example of pandering and trying to make it not seem as such is Jakku..so explain this to me, you go out of your way to put Rey on a desert planet, and then go out of your way for it NOT to be Tatooine, I mean come on..why even use a dessert planet then lol..just save us all the excuses and PUT HER ON TATOOINE
I will say it again KYLO REN STOPPED BLASTER BOLTS IN MID AIR WITH THE FORCE..not absorbed them as Vader did, not deflected them with a Lightsaber as all Jedis did, HE STOPPED IT IN MID AIR..and you're telling me that the Sanitation Worker/Stormtrooper that know how to use a rip off electro-saber thingie can even understand how to block an attack from this master..
I want you to go watch Kill Bill..and compare "random goon in the first movie" to the Bride and show me how long they lasted, she took out about 5 every 30 seconds..yet here Finn somehow lasts way longer..and you want to some how justify this? I cant fathom ANY justification for this whatsoever..
Rey, sure I'll give you the "Force argument"..although now you are saying that Luke should have charged Vader on the Death Star in ANH and fought him to a standstill after his emotion at losing Ben (Dark Side emotion btw in the strict sense)..oh wait, Lucas didn't do that because it cheapens both Obi Wan and Vader..you know, the RIGHT WAY TO TELL A STORY!
all the apologies you are making (because let's be honest, they are apologies for all of this stuff NOT appearing on screen) is EXACTLY how I felt after Episode I
Fool me once, shame on me, Fool me twice..
-AU
Also for the record, this trend towards Pandering began in Return of the Jedi..so I am not letting Lucas or other off the hook for this same action, in the early 80s SW became a business not a story, but this was film was just over the top
Here is the Salon article written YEARS ago that I never disagreed with when I first read it in college:
http://www.baboards.com/forums/printthread.php?t=7513
Yes had Kasden's role in the films wrong, sue me lol
I am soooo not reading all that Star Wars stuff. LOL
Lucifer - any one look at it ? Entertaining fluff.
Leslie - surprisingly we are up to 48 today - so weird.
Brooklyn - mumps episode a good one.
Shameless - def a great ep. Loved Gus's Fiona song.
Liked Lucifer enough, though I'd love to see the battles hinted at in Constantine type stuff..i don't see the show going in that direction lol
Watching Billions and Shameless tonight (Xfiles threw my schedule off lol)
SW - Yes, he took the bait!! lol Kidding!! I will say that while you are a HUGE fan of Star Wars, I think I'm just a notch below you. I saw Phantom Menace 10 times in the theater. I saw Attack of the Clones 7 times, Sith 5 times. (I went through the same process you did in that I convinced myself I loved them and then changed my mind over the years) I wore out the VHS tapes of the original trilogy with my brother. I've bought every version of the tapes and discs and digital that have come out since. I'm a big fan. But no I didn't write essays on it (besides on my blog lol). If I was single and in my 20s I sure as hell would've been at that marathon. Star Wars is a family tradition in my house. So you can look down on me all you want. The way I look at your opinion is you're TOO CLOSE to it that nothing would've been good enough for you. I respect your opinion and agree with some of it. But I can still enjoy this film for what it is and be invested in what the future holds.
I think you need to consider the source though....I'm easily pleased. LOST - I loved the franchise, respected the writers and everything they had to do to get that on screen and make some kind of coherent sense. Was the finale what I expected? No, but I still loved it and respected their vision. I pretty much said the same thing about every episode of the show. Meanwhile, you or Richard may have nitpicked and criticized an episode here and there or even the ending. My problem is...I enjoy the subject matter that it's difficult for me to be overly critical. Granted...maybe your point is valid. With distance from the prequels I can easily nitpick the stuff I hated. But, I'm pretty sure I noticed them then too.
Noted on popcorn fans.
lol on Hux/Weasley.
Bowcaster - fair point. Still thought it was a funny bit.
Jakku - JJ did speak to this in that podcast interview....well sorta. They knew overarching story bits from the beginning. They knew this would be a female jedi story and that she'd start on a dessert planet and eventually realize she's in a star wars movie. The whole concept is to be plucked from obscurity into an adventure bigger than them. But yes..why not Tatooine? Maybe because they're trying to make the universe bigger? I mean why did Anakin have to be from Tatooine too? And I don't know if I noticed this before but in watching 1-6 in order...why the hell did Uncle Owen not recognize C-3P0 after he was living on the moisture farm all those years before Anakin picked him up? Because he was silver not gold??? He still said his name! And you know he probably said his name every day for however many years he and Shmi lived there. lol (just venting that one out there...not TFA related!)
I loved the concept of the "graveyard of giants" (taken from Battlefront game)....of the fact that there was a huge battle on Jakku and the remnants of the republic and empire were there...and Jakku residents lived of rations from scavenging old technology. Loved that Rey's home was a fallen over AT-AT. But yeah...i get your point. I'm also pretty sure it was no coincidence that they hit the 3 main climates of the original trilogy in one movie. Sand, Forest, Snow...all 3 different planets.
I watched Kill Bill....fair point (though it's a different set of rules for that film isn't it?) But come on...Finn didn't last long! And he got seriously injured! And that was by an injured Kylo Ren.
Definitely Dark Side to fight out of emotion...something Rey may need to keep in check in future films. But considering she had no one to train her in the ways of the force...she was just winging it. lol (And you didn't bring it up...but Richard did. I agree that her knowing the Jedi Mind Trick and using the force to get the light saber are kinda quick in her awakening....but I just think that's going to lead to future details about her history. I could be totally wrong and it's just JJ wanting to do cool things without earning them) But here Obi-Wan didn't fight Vader. Finn fought Kylo...and reluctant Rey picked up the saber and defended him.
Fair point on Episode 1. Maybe I'll feel completely different when Episode VIII comes out and just goes into new questions and story without addressing some holes in Ep VII. But, I'm optimistic. Remember...it was George who wrote those prequels, who kind of lost his way or was focused on different things other than developing the story the correct way. Disney is bringing in new talent to play in George's sandbox. The results are going to be hit or miss. But, I'm hoping for the hits to keep coming. I do worry about Star Wars fatigue in the long run but that's a story for another day.
I'm typing as I read so I see you brought up George too now. SW definitely is a business I'll give you that. I'm hoping Disney allows Episode VIII to go in Empire like directions rather than just being a crowd pleaser. I think Episode VII HAD to be a crowd pleaser for ROI and to ensure the longevity of that investment.
I'll check out the link you shared.
I might sue you on the Kasdan role...because you know...you ARE an "uber" fan and much greater fan than I am. :-) lol
I'll post about other shows now!!
Lucifer - I planned on watching it but forgot to set the DVR. Maybe I'll check it out on one of my various streaming devices.
B99 - It was pretty funny, agreed! (I think I might have fallen asleep watching but I laughed at what I was awake for)
Shameless - Nice to see you watch that too AUSW....it's one of the favorites in our house. Gus's song was hysterical, MJ. It was played so seriously too...but the lyrics were hilarious.
Billions - Watched first ep...weren't sure if we were going to keep watching.
ROTJ Article - I would agree with a majority of those gripes on Jedi and have silently or loudly spoke to them in the past as well. Not when I was a child of course. I loved the EWOKS as a child. lol A lot of good points there. Definitely agree that Luke and Leia as brother and sister was never planned from the beginning. Han's line to Threepio about "hurry up I don't have all day"....I still loved it. lol But again..i grew up with it. Yeah it's probably a little silly but it's part of Star Wars now.
all that I can really stomach from ROTJ are the Luke/Vader/Emperor scenes. They make up for a lot of the rest of the movie. This is why I seriously have considered ranking TFA above ROTJ in looking at all 7. But the problem is...there is Star Wars and Empire...and then there's everything else. I don't think we'll ever get a film in this franchise THAT great again. But we'll see.
Again, was never hating, just making my points...trust me when it comes to XFiles I am easily satisfied as well, my wife was dissing it all night last night and I just kept glaring at her saying "I waited 14 years for this, silence" lol..
Like I said in my review, I just walked out of TFA (at the 7 pm showing before I had to go back in for the 1030) in such a haze and I haven't missed that feeling
I was talking to another guy at work today that said some novellas came out that explain that Finn had a relationship with the other staff trooper, and one of the guys who got killed on Jakku, etc...all stuff easily that should have been mentioned somehow in the film, but all this stuff that comes out just makes me hate it more because its forcing you to buy stuff to understand basic plot points..i have an issue with that..bring me Tales from Mos Eisley that make me like minor characters more, don't force me to read stuff to understand what system is being blown up or why a character is defecting..thats just weak
oh I also read a theory that Maz Kanada is a Jawa..really? this is the depths we are now going to justify this movie lol..
Side note: since I was away so long, I assume you all loved Mr. Robot right?
-AU
AU, great point on Ren stopping the blaster fire, then being a wimp. BTW, there is nothing I liked about Finn. There's nothing to like about the actor that I can see as well to like. To me , Han and Landou were the best to watch. I have said that I think the Rey actor was good, probably a high point, she made all the Mary Sue stuff palatable enough for me to not walk out on the movie.
Great point on ROTJ being a crowd pleaser. I have often said that the idea of Leia being a sister with the force was to placate to those wanting a strong female lead type. YET, she already was as it had been written in the prior two EPs and her insolence, etc. Too convenient for me at that point. AND where was Leia's force which would be stronger than Rey's in EP VII trying to find her brother, etc. Lots of inconsistencies.
Again, I have not spoken to anyone who could defend or even liked Rey's use of the force and Ren being in the same movie an awesome force and weakling. Just too cute/convenient. Given the posters with Ren being some awesome power force, I felt misled.
Agree, LUke/Vader/Emporer scenes were awesome. And again, those 3 were set up with much work and investment by the movie makers and the audience. This was unbelievable spoon feeding for the masses, ie Disney machine. Again, reminds me of how comic books reboot to set up a new storyline the writers want to tell and don't mind tearing up the past investment.
Also, the Eps I-III light sabre fights were the best with quickness, accuracy and choreography--more realistic.
Yes, been watching Mr. Robot.
Richard
SW--Even Annakin, the mightiest with the force needed training to be competitive. His father was the force making him UNIQUELY strong. Why did we have 6 Eps of Jedi training, Yoda, Windou,Jedi masters, apprentices, etc if training was not needed for a Jedi. This movie walks all over the notion of needing a Yoda. I hadn't even brought that point up yet, but it strikes at the very journey necessary for Annakin and Luke which was really what the series was about--the journeys relative to the force.
Annakin was unique in the force and built/raced pod racers before he was an accomplished pilot. In VII, Rey didn't need to do any of that, it just magically comically happened. She didn't build anything that ran, just salvaged parts then all of a sudden knows how to fix and fly the Falcon--again I laughed.
Oh I know, I can hear apologetics on the notion, that we will find out how she came to be this all knowing and all capable best ever Jedi with zero training and prep. Maybe we'll find out she's the embodiment of the force and with omnipresence was Annakin's father--lol.
There are so many holes in VII that one could spend hours on it.
As I write this I get more dissatisfied with what was done in VII and can understand why AU walked out.
Richard
I don't have too much time to comment but I have to say something. lol I think you're getting ahead of yourself with all this Rey talk. Luke pulled a lightsaber out of the snow before he ever met Yoda. He sunk 2 proton torpedoes into the deathstar with Obi-wan saying "use the force luke". Maz told Rey how to commune with the force. Max IS this trilogy's yoda for all we know. What Disney is introducing to canon (whether fans like it or not) is that there are force sensitive creatures that are not necessarily Jedi or Sith. Actually...Clone Wars (under Lucas's guidance) introduced that anyway.
Rey is not a fully trained Jedi...she pulled off 2 tricks...and was proven to have defense training.
Also...she works for Unkar Plutt...who owned the Millennium Falcon....she mentioned stuff to Han about things Unkar did to the falcon with compressors and what not...it all implied that she knew her way around the piece of junk ship. She also is a skilled pilot...she mentions this to Finn.... Did we need a whole movie showing how she learned to fly? We just accepted that Luke could fly an x-wing from a couple comments about flying t-16s and telling Han he could fly the falcon.
There's more I want to say...but don't have time right now. I will say I don't think AUSW meant he walked out of the movie before it finished. He watched it to completion 2 times in the same night. lol
To Be Continued....
@AUSW - No hate received...just clarification of my fandom on my part. Touche' on X-Files...they are generally being received as OKAY or garbage (but I've heard the 3rd ep is really good...in a meta kinda of way lol). I enjoyed it though.
Regarding the Staff Trooper (i.e. TR-8R)...yeah I mentioned that as well (and you might have been referring to that). I think all characters get their backstory in starwars but not necessarily in the movies. I think it works that a storm trooper called him out as a traitor...seemingly indicating that they knew each other. But seeing that a storm trooper had combat skills with that staff also implies that maybe Finn got the same training. Maybe I'm stretching here...but I don't think so...not too much.
I'll give you the whole blowing up of the Rotating Republic...I didn't grasp that from the movie either.
I never read the Maz theory and that's ridiculous and that doesn't justify the movie in any way. lol
Yes...we loved Mr. Robot!
@Richard
With the blaster fire vs. the wimp...i keep going back to the fact that Ren was injured in that final scene. Maybe force users are supposed to rise above injuries?? But I'm thinking that was at least their justification. I agree....it seems a little inconsistent, but it worked for me.
I really didn't mind Finn...but maybe I was just impressed with the british guy's american accent. lol
As for Leia in TFA....based on the writers apparently she made a choice to not become a Jedi. But she still gets FORCE feelings as we saw when Kylo made his dark move. Agree on ROTJ...i mean I'm fine with them being twins in the entire saga story but when you break it down episode by episode...it makes no sense and certainly was forced and convenient.
So when you were in the theater you didn't hear the audience applaud when the lightsaber went past Ren and into Rey's hands? It happened in all 3 of my screenings. I guess this goes back to the popcorn crowd sentiment? Here's a justification I'll make for Rey's powers. They seemed to accelerate after her mind meld (cross franchise promotion) with Ren. Kylo tried to get in her head, but she got in his head instead....maybe she picked up a few tips...and since she's strong in the force she learned them fairly quickly. I believe Yoda would still call her young and reckless in her use of it anyway and that Jedi Training is still necessary to fine tune her skills...just like with Luke. "Great fear I have in his training!!" (well that was for anakin) Anyway, Ren makes a comment to Snoke that "the longer she has the more powerful she'll become" after that interrogation. And that's exactly what we saw happen...jedi mind trick...lightsaber pickup. I still say Luke became quickly aware of his force power in Star Wars and even was picking up lightsabers before further training with Yoda.
I think Disney and the people involved are attempting to be reverent with the subject material. Sure, it is a huge marketing machine at the same time. I don't get the comic book reboot sense out of it. But to each his own.
Eps I-III saber fights - I think you probably think of Episode 1 and forget the rest. I just rewatched them last week...Obi-Wan vs. Maul was amazing but very fast. Everything vs. Dooku was dark and close-ups. (kind of like your complaints about Brienne)...and Yoda was awesome at the time but now ridiculous. Obi vs Vader/Anakin was kinda silly too....but definitely some emotional moments. The thing about the original trilogy (and TFA)...the fights had lots of emotion in them. It's 2 relics reuniting and fighting....it's father and son fighting twice.... In this last one...it's fighting after one of the biggest blows to the gut in star wars history. I'm not worried about choreography....it's raw emotion that makes those scenes work. The snow backdrop was nice too. Plus...the excuse for the choreography in the prequels is the Jedi were a much more well oiled machine in a civilized age....the OT and ST are in a more run down age where the jedi are basically forgotten.
Gotta get back to work. lol
LOL,
The mind force work between Ren and Rey again proves my point, and this was before he was shot, ie your excuse for her ability to better him. Yea, 5 minutes with Maz ought to prepare Rey for a force fight in multiple ways with the "baddest" sith in the galaxy. That makes sense--lol. Why even bother having an Obi Won type/master type character? OH wait they did--Maz--so her work is done now--lol.
I call it a comic book star wars because of the very nature of rebooting without regard to canon. If you can't see the lack of respect and tearing down of the PT and OT canon, then you can't see the comic book comparison nor it essentially being a reboot.
Can you at least admit this movie makes Rey look more powerful with the force than how Annakin was treated at this stage of development? Also, more powerful than Luke at this stage?
Also, comic book comparison works because it's a Disney property and they are after all pursuing all of the comic book characters they can. IN my opinion this movie was pushed in that direction to bring in the average movie goer.
Expanse--So, now the cop and HOlden are together and we find out the girl is dead. In a kind of gross way. Where did the spy go, will he help HOlden--I'm thinking he will. He sure saw what happened on that ship. I hate those shots where there's a big reveal to a character and the camera only shows the characters face and NO dialog tells you what's going on, ie when Fred finds out what's going on but we can't see. What a tease.
Richard
Luke used the Force to enhance his already existing skills: being a great pilot: "I used to bullseye Womp Rats back home, they aren't much wider than 2 meters" "I heard you've become quite the pilot yourself"
So you're telling me that Rey enhanced her ability to use a weapon at this point only hinted to exist ("It's real, all of it") and use the Force to Jedi Mind Trick someone (again, under what context that clearly doesn't exist since Luke says "How did we get past those troops" in ANH not "wow Obi Wan way to use that Jedi Mind Trick!")
How are you possibly comparing Luke either self teaching, off screen teaching, or communing with Obi Wan for THREE YEARS to 10 minutes..seriously? I do not understand your points with him using the Force Telekinesis in the Wampa Cave at all as justification for ANYTHING in TFA..it was THREE YEARS LATER...
You aren't putting yourself into the SW universe, you are consistently justifying what you know as an AUDIENCE member and why it should make sense in the context of the on-screen characters, even though the writing at worst does not justify it directly and at best is inconsistent..
My 1030 Audience cheered when Finn was chopped down.oh wait that was just me..
Ren being injured is not an issue because the Sith teaching show you to draw strength from pain and suffering, even internal..so again, inconsistent writing across the series..
What you need to understand is that I am not asking for ANH or ESB, my faith in the spirituality of these experiences trumping the marketing went out the window with ROTJ as I've said many times..that being said all I ask for is CONSISTENCY, solid Writing, Justification for actions ON SCREEN NOT IN SOURCE MATERIAL, and NO PANDERING TO THE AUDIENCE
Is that asking for a lot? Cause it is 0 for 4..
-AU
SW - My points have been that there is regard to canon so I don't think comic book reboot applies. Maybe they "yada yada'd" a couple things and that clearly is unforgiveable to a percentage of fans. But, it's probably also a case of "that's been shown before multiple times...do viewers want to see it again?" I still think there is more to Rey that we don't know (but that goes to AUSW already knowing people will respond with that type of response).
Yes...I can admit Rey was able to use abilities that weren't shown until later stages with other characters even Skywalkers.
My HOTH point is a stretch I know it. But, I will say I thought Luke was self-taught at that point and that seeing Obi-Wan 3 years later was the first time he saw him after disappearing in ANH. Yes he heard his voice a couple times...but did he keep talking to him?
Let's go with this theory....Rey's memories have vanished but maybe she was a student of Luke's too. Maybe Ren knows this which is also why he knows she'll get stronger quickly. But even as an amateur force user...she got lucky with a couple tricks, but facing a full strength kylo ren probably would've been too much for even her. (yes even I thought initially...and maybe still..."woa how did she do that already?" but I enjoyed the movie so I decided to be optimistic and think of other possibilities) Fair points on the injury not mattering, AUSW.
Understood on on screen justification. I get all of that. I just think they were cautious on what they spent too much time explaining due to prequel fatigue and other things I mentioned before. I'm sure some of the 30 minutes they cut from the movie covered some of this character development too unfortunately. (JJ already said no special edition lol but the deleted scenes will be on the Blu-ray)
Look...I don't think we're going to convince each other to change minds here. I respect everyone's opinions but I still choose to be optimistic for the rest of the trilogy...and I'll have fond memories for seeing this one with my family....and with my son (yes...also my family lol)
cutting out exposition at the expense of large tentacle monsters and stereotypical gangs of smugglers-the JJ Abrahms methodology in action as usual (see Star Trek flicks)
MIke,
That is the ONLY hope this movie has of redeeming itself. With Rey having been trained years earlier to a complete Jedi level only now to have those powers return or something similar. Again, Ren was full strength with the mind reading.
One thing I don't think is accepted by you is that Annakin was uniquely powerful as his father was the force?
If it's not a reboot, then it is fair to compare and Annakin was in the best position of all to just have the force automatically make him a super hero. Which it did not.
No, nobody clapped nor made yea sounds when Rey pulled the light sabre from effectively Ren. My laughing and moaning probably wasn't heard either.
Your satircal question of "do viewers want to see it again". Is easily answered by why I say it is a reboot. JJ answered that question with a NO and so he made a reboot where he wasn't constrained by the prior Eps--he cherry picked past events to build a bridge. YOur question is perhaps your best point on why they skipped the notion of character development--lol. Seriously, in comic book movies character development takes a back seat to explosions, fights, etc. Your statement supplies support for why this movie is not like the others. It took 6 Eps to tell the Annakin story, maybe they'll have Rey's done in less than half of that. One other thing I keep in mind is movies are made more with an international audience in mind so the dialog is reduced. So, I can deal with some of that like in the prequels. But those were not nearly this bad.
And seriously, I think Disney will realize how much they screwed up when almost nobody will want to wear a Ren costume this halloween. Who wants to be seen as a weakling. His character is destroyed as having any threat credibility. Who do your boys want to be as a character from TFA? I can't imagine anybody but maybe Poe and he wasn't seen much. Capt. Phasma was a bust as well. Finn may have some costume pursuers but who wants to wear a joe blow storm trooper costume when you want to dress up as someone special. I'm sure we'll see plenty of Rey costumes with girls and they'll be beating up all the boys--lol. The NWO has won--lol.
Richard
Can't comment much now but all good points. But I think you underestimate dianey's marketing prowess. My son still loves kylo ren. Has his mask and his light saber. And he likes to use anakin's saber (Luke's as well) to portray Finn too. But he is only 4 too. Lol
Anyway lots of good points raised and I'll discuss them later.
I did like the smuggler stuff though since we really never saw Han actually doing the thing m that he was known for. And it was also a nod to the garbage chute sequence in anh too.
I'm ok with nods and homages. I'm not the fan who complains it was an outright copy. I know they think of it as a bridge and so needed some material from earlier Eps.
FYI, just asked my son who he would want to be from TFA for halloween. So, have some feedback from him and his friends. Their first response was, hugh and more silence then eventually they came up with one. I can tell you or you can guess who it was, your preference--lol. To help you guess if you desire, he's 17 and probably headed to a great NE school for engineering that we all wish we could have attended for engineering and he's getting published--sorry proud papa moment. I think Superman or Batman will blow SW away on the halloween who you want to be front--lol. Keep in mind that wasn't the way with the OT and there weren't legions of older parent fans of SW like you-lol.
Yes, 4 is too young for understanding all that's going on. But, it is a very fun and enjoyable age, keep pics and vids. I know you know, but will say it anyway--it goes by too fast.
BTW, you know me, I come from a VERY competitive pro sports background and was pretty much that way my whole life. I wanted to win, period. IT has served me well in several businesses. Anyway, I would be concerned if my son went out as Kylo Ren fearing the older boys might make fun of him.
AUSW, do you have kids? BTW, your input helped me enjoy the last X files moreso and had a something to do with why I was able to pick up on William so quickly.
Richard
I'm gonna guess he said he'd be bb8. Lol if I'm wrong you can tell me what it is.
We have too many pics and videos. I need time to edit them into actual watchable documentaries of their life. Only have done my son's 1st year. Haven't even done my daughter's. Shame on me! Lol
I'll comment more on everything else when I can!
Be sure and print some pics for frames too.
He and they chose Luke. Let that sink in for a bit.
Richard
Ok it's sunk in. Luke is awesome. And your son grew up on prequels and original trilogy and picked a character that originated from the better movies. And the maguffin of the new movie. He played an important role in the new film. I would want to be my faves too. I was chewbacca this past Halloween and my kids were luke and Leia. But my 4 year old will continue to love Finn Poe kylo Rey bb8 and phasma due to marketing alone. Boba fett was a pretty lame character in the movies but everyone still loves him because he's so cool looking! Lol lame is an exaggeration. He didn't have a lot of character development and was never intended to. Lucas only put him in Jedi more and back in anh special edition (and probably clones) because of his popularity.
I'm going off on tangents. Really need to have time behind a keyboard to respond appropriately. I'll get to it tomorrow. But like i said. We are going to continue to disagree.
Don't worry we have plenty of printed and frames pics of our kids. Lol
Well, he and his friends really represent the future of the franchise for the next generation though. I was about his age when ANH came out. I think it's kind of sad that the SW franchise's future fan base just may be looking to Luke from the '70s as their hero--lol
Richard
No kids here, two Pomeranian Sheltie/Mixes lol
SW - More responses. Let me know if you guys are tired of discussing...I'm guessing this will just be an endless debate where I understand your points but enjoyed the movie anyway lol I really think it boils down to how optimistic you are about the rest of the trilogy to explain the seeming inconsistencies that we spotted in Ep VII.
Anakin - Yes, he was conceived by the M-word (that we never shall mention again) and was the chosen one. He was very powerful...but his children are as well. I don't know if we can say if the kids are less powerful than their ancestor chosen one. But he was chosen to fulfill a prophecy and did fulfill that prophecy. Harry Potter was a chosen one too...do we think he's a greater wizard than Professor Dumbledore?
The more I think about it...Rey was not abandoned as an infant. So if she had jedi powers and was raised by her actual parents for a period of time...there is a chance that she did know about her powers at one time...but then maybe they went to sleep along with certain memories (I really don't know the storytelling device that will explain amnesia as it's not my favorite movie/tv trope...but if it's done well I may accept it). The movie is called The Force "Awakens" afterall. And Kylo actually does make comments to Snoke that her powers are very strong...but in a raw untapped or "not knowing how to use them fully without training" kind of way. But when she turns the tides on him in the interrogation...she started to wake up. And remember...moving lightsabers with the mind is one thing....X-wings is different. (even though Yoda says it's no different. Yoda still needed to train luke to control the force before he could understand how to do bigger things with force powers) I'm on Empire in my 6 movie watch in case you didn't notice. lol
As for the Halloween costume thing...I still say you're wrong about this. I do know older kids that are still into Kylo Ren and wanted the mask, lightsaber for christmas (AFTER the movie....one kid did say he was upset that he lost the fight...lol) Phasma was probably never intended to have a big role in this movie. It got more publicity because Brienne was playing her and the suit was cool. Fun Fact: That suit was the original design for Kylo Ren, but they loved it so much they didn't want it to go to waste. But, I say Phasma is a Boba Fett equivalent. A minor player that could resonate with fans. I'm sure she'll be back. And yes...I think her being a pushover and lowering the shields may have been a little too much. lol I think little girls will love these movies because of Rey and how strong a character she was. Finn...not so sure if he'll get a huge halloween following, but we'll see. Poe will probably have a larger role in future films.
I totally disagree with your reboot philosophy. I get what you're saying but I don't agree with the term. A reboot would be if they threw away the old canon completely and called this STAR WARS: Do-Over And recast Han, Luke, Leia and told the same story with new twists and turns. Even STAR TREK is a half-reboot because they did the whole thing using time travel which kept the old canon intact.
I will agree episode VII is definitely made for a modern audience so it is different than the others..but it's still a continuation of an older story with familiar tones and story beats. Any of these inconsistencies in certain aspects may get explained to fans' likings or may not at all (e.g. JJ's use of Light Speed). I'm not too worried about it. There's always going to be critics of any movie or television show. Star Wars is on the largest stage so it has MANY critics. Many people who think they know how a story should be told or what the story should be. But, the fandom still loves the experience and will still go to the movies to see more star wars to share in that communal experience. The movie being watchable and good are icing on the cake. For me, I think it met that criteria.
Just refreshed and saw your "future of the next generation"...i totally disagree. I grew up on Star Wars during my childhood. Star Wars was always targeted for children, but it has universal appeal. 17 years old...sorry you're a year away from adulthood. Young adulthood, sure. I was 20 when I saw Phantom Menace...and I wasn't thinking about wearing a Jar Jar costume the next halloween or even a Darth Maul costume. I'm only wearing stuff now because my kids want me to. There are 8-12 year olds that I've talked to that completely are obsessed with this film. I think your age requirements for liking star wars are a little high.
Well, I make the point about high schoolers because they can drive a lot of future ticket sales with dates, etc. I'm sure he and his friends will go to the next one too. Because it's just kind of the thing to do for most(ie popcorn fans--lol). He doesn't do halloween dress up any more, mostly parties. But, sometimes they dress up a little bit for those parties.
I agree with the notion that our positions have been pretty well stated and defended.
Richard
Good points. But that's short term thinking. If Disney grabs the kiddos, they've got them for the long haul. Granted these films are PG-13 now (though I would argue original star wars-Jedi would be too if made today).
So I guess we're agreeing to put an end to our SW discussion. I'll admit it...I'm a little sad about it!
When do we start discussing Rogue One: A Star Wars Story potential? I think my first issue is with how they changed the name to THAT lol. I guess you have to keep SW in the title but I liked Star Wars: Rogue One better...I guess they don't want to confuse with the episodes.
One more Sw comment. Listening to one of my tv podcasts I listen to. Mo Ryan sits down with Mike Schur (parks and rec, Brooklyn 99) and talk about a whole bunch of stuff like leftovers but the last 15-20 minutes is about Star Wars. They tackle the Mary Sue subject and Rey's experience. They are definitely on the same wavelength as me with this movie. They talk about too many homages too. Anyway they speak more educated than I can with more inside baseball about it. Thought you guys might want to take a listen. I know you'll still disagree!
Forgot link!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tv-with-ryan-and-ryan/id528997639?mt=2&i=361464269
EA on Star Wars game. Looks like to me they're concerned about whether a new game based on the new characters will be a hit. I can't imagine it would do well, but we'll eventually find out. Seems like the new game if it is done would be seperated from the OT.
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2016/01/28/eas-battlefront-burden-we-cant-violate-the-star-wars-canon/?mod=trending_now_1
I thought you might also find it interesting about their take on what is canon.
Richard
Battlefront - I have the game. The game has the planet JAKKU in it as an add on. But it's about the BATTLE 30 years prior to TFA. All of the settings and characters are from the original trilogy as was intended when the game was released in November prior to The Force Awakens. Disney Infinity has a Force Awakens playset and you can be sure we have all the characters and my son is getting POE for V-Day lol The first one he wanted was Kylo Ren.
I have to say...you're terribly off with your theories on this stuff. it's selling really well!
That said...when Disney took over they established revised rules for canon. From Rebels onward every Star Wars thing released in all media formats (Movies, TV, video games, books) is all tied together as part of the same canon/universe. George lucas always reserved the right to trump the expanded universe with his movies....and the entire expanded universe was moved to LEGENDS and not considered canon when Disney took over. Makes total sense. But now they have a whole team dedicated to keeping canon straight going forward.
That article you sent makes absolute sense.
Forgot a much needed "LOL" on my comment about you being off on the theories. Not trying to talk down to anyone here! Just defensive about the subject! :)
Disney Infinity - The funny thing about that article is the concept of Disney Infinity is a giant toybox where all your favorite characters can interact....so you can unlock Kylo Ren and play him in the Hoth battle against the AT-ATs....young Luke, Han and Leia can play in The Force Awakens and so on and so forth. But that's the whole intent....because kids with their toys don't usually recreate the movies they have their own adventures with their favorite characters.
My son and I love the game!
Grimm - Well that resolves everything...she's not Juliette she's Eve! lol And they killed off the Wesen Council? Not that we grew too attached to them, but that was pretty sudden. And of course there is the very convenient timing of Nick and Adalind's first kiss with the return of Juliette. Good times.
Grease Live - We had no intentions of watching this but we put it on while the kids were awake...amazed at what they were able to accomplish with a live show. Probably the best of these live broadcast musicals so far. And, I'm sure it's no coincidence that the director they tapped to bring this to television just happens to be the director of the new broadway smash HAMILTON (which I've brought up previously in this post....I'm obsessed and looking for tix! lol)
Shameless - Still on fire just like Kevin's neighbor. LOL I mean we all had to see that happening, but it was still hysterical when it did. I guess we have to assume Ian is going to become a firefighter? And for a minute I actually thought that house would be set on fire and the gay fire squad would be called into action. Carl was great the whole episode...but trying to give out the money and calling the hundreds "honeys" was fantastic. lots more in the ep but pretty crazy that they lost the house...I'm sure something will happen that lives up to the name of the show so that they can keep the house. It does look like there was a happy and relieved couple that got the house. I don't like their chances of happiness in the long run! lol
Grimm - I was so shocked they killed off that council. Her wigs remind me of the early Alias days. LOL
Grimm--I thought the Adalind/Nick stuff was done well though. He spoke how they had their chance and didn't take it/missed it, etc ie it doesn't make sense to go backwards into something that didn't work when it had a chance to work. Adalind could be his future but he and she want it to be for the right reasons. Yea, the Eve stuff was silly. It's been shaping up for a big time show down for a couple of seasons now. Interesting about the wessen vogueing in public, could open up some real possibilities in Portland.
Colony, I've said it before, but the wife isn't very smart. She reminds me of a teenager hanging out with the wrong crowd making bad decisions. I'm waiting for Sawyer to pull down on her during a police operation.
Richard
Grimm - Oh yeah...it's obvious they're pairing up Adalind and Nick and they're doing it as well as they can given the history, but when you step back and think about the writing process of the show you can see familiar tropes and setups...i.e. Adaland and Nick are getting to a comfortable place just in time for Juliette to show up and cause some uneasiness. lol
Colony - We didn't see last week's yet...but those complaints sound very familiar to people complaining about the actress on Walking Dead. lol
Grimm--I agree, the Juliette coming back into the picture JUST at that time is all about the drama. And if it hadn't been slapped back a bit, I wouldn't have been happy. If it gets to be a lot of drama I'll just skip that ep-lol. I've quit watching several shows because of too much convienent drama.
Richard
Grimm - Was pretty harsh too that any Wesen that does not join Black Claw is killed. And how about them not caring who sees them Woge ? I'd previously read that she would not really be Juliette when she came back.
Gilmore Girls - yet another revival. Don't even remember how it ended it was so long ago.
Legends - so is Hawkman dead ? Thought he always comes back ? Loved young Stein.
You, Me Apocolypse - quirky. Not what I expected at all.
Colony - apparently the actress likes to play roles that the character is conflicted. LOL My tak on it is that she is not very good at spying a- and why should she be ? Less than a year ago she wasn't a spy at all.
Convenient drama - what show on tv does not have drama start at a convenient story telling time ? LOL
LOL on Colony and Kaite(the wife) being conflicted. SEriously she's more like bipolar, skitzophrenic or something. Her deal with the boy being killed all made sense until she stripped and practically raped her unsuspecting husband, then was like all distant. She provides more whiplash than a bucking bronco--lol. And that's just one instance. To me, it's moving into the comical or just plain silly arena which detracts from the show if it's meant to be taken somewhat seriously?
You may recall that I thought the show would have been better with Juliette from LOST actress. For sure the chemistry would have been better up front even though this may develop just fine.
Richard
Gilmore Girls - MJ, I have to admit that I'm looking forward to this. This was a favorite of mine! The last year of the show wasn't done by the original creators/writers due to contract issues of some sort. I like the idea that they are picking up in real time, 8 years after the finale, and they are just doing a 4 part series so the creators can finish their vision. It doesn't look like Melissa McCarthy will be involved which is disappointing.
Convenient Drama - I wasn't saying it's not common...I just thought it was worth bringing up! lol
Gilmore Girls - I never watched but I did hear about the revival. My mom will be excited as she was just binging the show on Netflix. lol
You, Me Apocalypse - Recorded, didn't watch.
Angie Tribecca - Recording them from the start (based on your recommendation MJ)...haven't watched.
Star Wars (Because I can't help bringing it up) - 1-5 rewatched and 6 in progress...7 3D IMAX tomorrow! (4th and final theater viewing unless my son decides he wants to see it again which he did mention the other day lol) :)
SW - you are training your son well Mike. LOL
Angie Tribeca - haven't watched them all yet either - like I said fun and silly - like the airplame movies.
Gilmore Girls - yes I do recall that Palladino and the other were gone that last season. Didn't know they were back. I also recall that they always said they knew how it would end - something about the last 4 words or something like that. Wonder if we will finaly hear them ! Might have to try to watch the last few on Netflix myself - but i doubt I will have time.
Shadowhunters - sampled i - dumped it. Too much teen angst and ridiculous dialog.
Xfiles - did not watch but heard this 3rd ep ws supposed to be good.
Shameless - OMG Yanis ! Frank trying to pimp out Deb is classic Frank. Fiona selling that ring was just horrible. And now they have no home any way. Caril is just hysterical this year.
Supergirl - show continues to charm. Couldn't she just say to Adam give me a few days and then we will go out ? Was glad that they didn't go with the whole Cat is pissed because I'm dating her son.
XFiles-kind of a comic relief ep. Upside down on the monster idea was great and Mulder getting drunk in a grave yard.
I want to believe and poster stuff is getting old though. He just keeps getting confirmation and so this line of wanting to believe being carried throughout is not logically consistent.
Richard
X Files - Basically it was commentary on the Monster of the Week episode of any show (which kind of originated with X-Files lol)....the writer of the ep has only done a handful of X-Files but fans swear by his eps. This was a pretty entertaining ep down to the X-Files theme song being Mulder's ringtone.
I thought this episode was a commentary on Mulder's change of stance on things. he's going through a mid-life crisis and questioning his life's work. By the end, he seems to be back on board though since the dude actually was a monster. I thought it was perfect.
Shameless - Deb getting pimped out is definitely hysterical. Check out my comments yesterday on Shameless....I'd be more worried about that couple who won the house than the gallaghers actually losing the house. lol The show is called Shameless afterall!
Supergirl - Fell really far behind on this one.
SW IMAX - Going tonight!
Hamitlon - Got my tix for December this morning! Beyond excited!
X Files--It was definitely a mid life crisis as you say, getting back on track ep. But I thought we already had one of those and a movie prior dealing with similar issues. Hence why I feel it's getting old.
It was entertaining.
Richard
X Files - Well I didn't see the full "I want to believe movie"....anyway this interview with the episode's writer gives good insight to how X-Files was written then and now...and it may lend credence to "repetition" of themes as they do not have a writer's room....standalone eps were written in solos by writers and they kept that strategy for these even though all mythology based shows have extreme focus on continuity. So this is what it is...a stand-alone story of the X-Files. It's a nice throwback.
http://www.ew.com/article/2016/02/01/x-files-darin-morgan-mulder-scully-were-monster
Doc Jensen's Review/Recap as well: http://www.ew.com/recap/the-x-files-season-10-episode-3
Shameless - I'd forgot that you comented yesterday. On fire like the neughbor - nice ! LOL
Hamilton - hate to hear what you paid for them ! Know they are really high.
Gimore - Leslie read today that they ARE going to give us those final 4 words! And that it is 4 90 minute episodes titled Winter Spring Summer and Fall. With Mike and Molly done Melissa might be able to squeeze in a visit.
X Files - Enjoyed that episode and the guy who played the monster! Pretty funny!
Gilmore Girls - MJ, I read the same thing today! I'm looking forward to it!
Shameless - lol forgot I said that. :)
Hamilton - Tix went on sale today for November-January dates....they were still expensive but I would say typical for what you'd expect to pay for a broadway show these days. (i.e. not TKTS prices but actual ticket prices) The problem was that all the cheaper seats were sold out, but somehow I worked my way into an Amex Preferred seating area by googling the passcode. :)
Most people are probably paying double to 3 times the ticket price because people are buying and then reselling them for crazy prices. I refused to do that!
X-Files - Agreed Leslie...the monster guy was funny! His story of what happened when Scully came in and Mulder's reaction was a good time. lol
Xfiles - OMG - great episode. Loved it all. The guy/monster was dressed like Kolchak from Night stalker. The tombstone - have to confirm but I think Kim Manners was a director on Supernatural who died a few years back - wondering if he directed some of the Xfiles in the past. Mulder will believe almost anything - but not what the monster said Scully did when she came into the store ! LOL. Scully rearely got to have the fun back in the day - but she did in this one. Loved the ring tone too.
iZombie - was one of their funniest eps yet. If you guys liked this xfiles you'd love iZombie.
Hamilton - yeah I think I saw those TKTS prices - insane.
XFiles - Fun fact, the writer of the episode also wrote for Night Stalker so that was intentional. lol (I never watched so had no idea) Definitely an homage to Kim...it was in the interview with the writer I linked to the other day. I agree, good ep!
American Crime Story - OJ (Should we just call it OJ? lol) - Really good first episode. I've heard nothing but good things about the series in general. I remember the craziness around this trial back in the day, but there are things I forgot or didn't know at all so it's interesting to relive it. Marcia Clark was interviewed by EW and she does NOT want to relive it...she made that very clear. But is a fan of Sarah Paulson. lol
http://www.ew.com/article/2016/02/02/people-v-oj-simpson-marcia-clark
SW IMAX - Amazing in IMAX and picked up even more stuff this time that make me appreciate and enjoy it even more. It's amazing how much the pace seems to slow down the more you watch it.... I remember the first time I saw it I thought it felt very rushed. But this time I thought they spent more than enough time explaining things. Caught extra lines of dialogue that justify the attack strategy/failure and then help from Han and crew on Starkiller base. More of Rey talking about her family and her mysterious past. More of Kylo Ren pretty much knowing who Rey is but not revealing it in this movie...but understanding how potentially powerful she is/was/whatever. But I won't get into it because everyone has made up their mind! We'll just wait for episode 8! lol
SW Imax - was disappointed that the Imax version was 3D. hate 3D but would have loved to watch it on Imax screen
Gilmore Girls - uh oh Leslie. Melissa mcCarthy is saying no on asked her to come back. http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2016/02/02/melissa-mccarthy-gilmore-girls-revival-netflix/79713678/
SW IMAX - You barely notice the 3D in SW after awhile. I'm not sure if that's because maybe certain parts weren't in 3D or if you just get used to it. It's nowhere near as annoying as the Hobbit High Frame Rate was. Peter Jackson got struck with the George Lucas technology bug and it ruined the film experience! lol
But yeah there was no way Star Wars wasn't going to be 3D..it may have broken the domestic record without the help of 3D, but since AVATAR I think it's pretty much required if you're going to be hunting for box office dominance. lol
OJ - meant to say have heard good thing - but have zero interest. i lived it the first time - don't need to see it re-hashed.
Reboot - now they are rebooting MacGuyver too ? Ugh ! All we are going to be left with on tv soon is super heros and re-dones. LOL
SW - yeah I think it would have had the same box office if it was just plain Imax without 3D.
OJ - Fair enough!
Reboot - Heard about that one. Not even keeping it on my radar. lol
SW - The thing is 3D IMAX is the most you can charge for a ticket and because Avatar was "meant to be seen in 3D" it added A LOT to the box office gross. And most big budget movies since then adopted 3D into their format. So if a movie was filmed in 3D, the IMAX will be 3D 100% of the time. It's just business. FWIW, JJ went on record before he signed up for Star Wars that he's not a fan of 3D. Not sure if that changed or not with his work on Star Trek Into Darkness and SW....but it's just an unavoidable part of doing that business now. He said he didn't like how you're not getting the full lighting/color effect when you put those glasses on or something like that.
I would've been perfectly happy seeing it without 3D in the IMAX, but I still enjoyed it with it!
Also...I wear glasses anyway, so it's always annoying to put glasses over glasses! lol
Gilmore Girls - That's wrong if they didn't invite her! AS-P said Melissa's so busy, but did she assume without asking? Not good!
OJ - Yep, I lived it the first time, but still watched last night. There is some pretty good star power in this. I noticed Travolta is a producer. Funny to see David Schwimmer as the first Kardashian! LOL!
Expanse---did anyone watch the finale. Not bad but some stuff just too forced.
Richard
Wayward Pines - Saw Jason Patrick got cast as the lead. Interesting!
Orange as been extended for 3 more seasons already!
http://tvline.com/2016/02/05/orange-is-the-new-black-renewed-season-5-6-7-netflix/
American Crime - Is anyone watching this season?
OITNB - oh my...lol That's a lot of Orange!! Last season was OKAY in my opinion. Thinking about binging 3 more seasons gives me a headache! lol
American Crime - not me!
Obviously both my wife and I are not in tune with what's supposed to be a great ad in the superbowl anymore. Our estimation vs the "offical" analysts are worlds aparts. We liked the JEEP commercials the best, by far. Were disappointed with the Budweiser clydesdales. I thought overall a pretty bad collection of ads. BTW, one of my cousins help make the Taco Bell ads. They filmed them in Spain.
Richard
OJ - well people were racving so i was able to tape the first one and will record them. Don't know when I will watch.
Sunday TWD is back and then Vikings starts 18th I think. Scandal is back this week. have to be honest - haven't missed Scandal. Not a good sign. LOL
Super commercials: For some strange reason Puppy Monkey Baby cracked me up ! It was just so weird. And then when the guys did the dance - I lost it. Could be the adult beverages I had too.
Super bowl - was surprised Broncos won. I wanted them too but did not think they would. Read today about what a big baby newton was in the press conference. Which is why I did not route forthem - they are very arrogant and full of themselves. Singing sheep and Doritos's dogs were cute.
Sleepy - Abby does not look to be in a good place - didn't think she would be though. I found it odd that all of a sudden the FBI chick has joined in. They had a toss away line about her archeologist parents disappearing in a mysterious way so I guess she's open to supernatural stuff ?
Grimm - Loved the silliness of the Lake Monster. Those brothers sure were quick to screw eachother over though. Liked how the monster hunters killed the one brother.
Grimm--yea and more of the curtain being pulled back. Also, the council is gone.
Part of me finds it amusing that they want Nick so badly. The last 2 seasons he's not been much good in a fight and it looks like Juliette could take him out with a flick of her wrist. I've never been a fan of ever changing fighting abilities for no reason.
I guess we know his Mom is dead for real now? Where's Adalind's other baby?
Richard
Scandal - People I work with are still up in arms about that winter finale lol I know every one of them will still watch it when it comes back! But no I haven't missed it either.
TWD - Yay!
Vikings - Cool! Not sure when I'll watch all this stuff but I find a way for the stuff I like. :)
SB Ads - Yeah nothing that stood out too much. My wife liked the Super Bowl Babies ad lol
SB - Yeah I figured it would either be a strong Defensive Broncos outing or a Cam Newton routing...we got the first one. lol My wife was annoyed at Cam for not taking his helmet off to congratulate Peyton....I gave him the benefit of the doubt, but maybe he was being a baby. I didn't hear about the conference (meetings all day)
Sleepy - I figured they needed someone to fill the Abby void so that was FBI chick...by the end of the episode I wondered if they were going to work on pairing her up with Crane instead of the history buff chick. lol Yeah seems like her supernatural line was to give her an IN to this group and that she'll be part of the team now.
GRIMM - Decent episode.....yeah seems like Nick's Mom is dead for sure. But you never know...they still didn't show us anything only nick. lol Not much more comments to add right now. It's been a busy day!!
What about Vikings?
Cam is a baby. He wouldn't go after his OWN fumble and left a post game interview half way through.
Richard
Vikings - MJ mentioned she thinks it's back the 18th.
Cam - Yep, the kid needs to grow up!
Shameless - Awesome episode last night. Almost every line of dialogue and action was just wrong which is what Shameless does best! lol
Homeland - We're trudging through season 5 finally. 3 episode in and it's painful. I've heard you have to give it until episode 5 and then it gets really good. I'll keep hoping! :)
Homeland - I don't remember it being awful but it does get better.
Superbowl - Oh yeah - liked Super Bowl babies too.
Star Trek - so - a new Star trek show ! And it idgits are going to premier it on CBS and then move it to CBS's new pay channel. Guess won't be watching that one.
https://www.yahoo.com/tv/star-trek-bryan-fuller-named-showrunner-cbs-series-180002135.html
No Xfiles or Shameless yet.
Homeland - It's just so slow. we just watched the episode where carrie went off the meds intentionally. There were just long scenes with her man where they talked and talked and talked about nothing interesting. lol We did find out Saul is sleeping with the LOTR Chick. lol And I think Quinn just captured Carrie so maybe things will get interesting from there.
Star Trek - Just read the article on that. That was announced awhile ago, but I think the news is that Bryan Fuller is on as showrunner. I loved Pushing Daisies back in the day...never watched Hannibal. But Fuller has been involved in a lot of stuff including some older Trek shows. I'd have to be sold on the premise to pay to watch it though, agreed!
NEW BLOG POST - I know no one has asked for awhile, but once Walking Dead starts back this weekend we'll get back into weekly posts. sifting through 300 comments is not ideal, I'm aware of this! :)
Xfiles--So William continues to be the thread. Sad about her Mom.
I think the finale is next.
Are they done with Scully/Mulder after that? Looks like they're introducing a new couple?
Richard
If it's not in my Uverse, then CBS pay is going to be a non event here. I noticed they pushed it during superbowl. I guess they think since they have the best line up they can beat Netflix. Of course I don't watch Netflix either--and won't.
Richard
Xfiles - 2 more eps not 1. And I'm guessing that is not officially mulder and scully's replacements. Lol due to its success I wouldn't be surprised if they do another 6 episodes in a couple years or something like that.
William definitely seems important agreed.
Will comment on other stuff later
Xfiles - what an odd episode. Guess they wanted to give Gillian some deep acting oppurtunities ? Liked the monster of the week though.
Grimm - yeah richard - I think you have mentioned once or twice that they made Nick not that good a fighter. LOL I have had no issues with him. I miss the trailer and looking thru the book to find the wesen of the week.
Flash - Knew we were getting an alterna-Caitlin but no an alterna-Cisco. Liked his doppleganger but not hers so much. Though liked that ronny/Firestorm was back too. Poor Barry - sure he got over Iris lightning quick (pun intended) and got over patty also very quick, but how is it going to feel when he goes back to Iris that does not love him again ? Loved the 'mayor Snart' too. And Wells was right - they were there to help him not get all involved with their dopplegangers - he was right to be mad. Finally they give Jay a purpose - they have not used him well at all.
Scandal - Think I heard that she will bounce back to Jake and if that is the case I might just be dumping that show. I miss the fixer cases - am sooo over her and the crappy way she treats the men in her life.
Gotham - might be dumping this one too.
MIke, why are you thinking of dumping Gotham?
Grimm--seriously just look at the last fight where Nick was going to get slaughtered and Juliette dropped in and essentially tore everyone apart in seconds. Juliette now Eve is the bad A**. I'm not saying the nonsense of him being a needed grimm in a fight has to bother you though. It's just worth pointing out the huge inconsistency in his fighting track record vs their pursuit of his talents. Last season(or season before,when she was introduced) Trubl was portrayed as being better. It's like recruiting a middle school player for college, kind of laughable. He hasn't single handedly beaten a major player since the fist season.
Richard
Gotham - I don't think I said I was dumping it? I say a lot of things but maybe I mentioned something confusing lol I'm still planning to watch.
Flash - forgot to say it was very touching when Barry spoke with his mom.
Xfiles - don't know how I forgot to mention the wonderful picture of philly they painted. LOL Loved it. Even got a dig in on Sixers.
Xfiles - Philly - Don't know about that tent city they had for the homeless though. I've never seen that! But yeah they certainly brought up a bunch of local references like Bucks County and Franklin Avenue so that was kinda cool. I like the episode enough....definitely a Gillian showcase, but it seems like they wanted to hit home the importance of William at the same time.
Grimm - I'm not making excuses but maybe not every Wessen is created equal? Maybe Nick has gotten to a Level (if we're going to go with Video Games comparisons and Power levels lol) with more difficult bad guys and he needs to advance his skills to get on level playing field. lol
Gotham - I see now that MJ said she might be dumping it...not me! lol
Scandal - I just assumed this cleared the path for her to rebound to Jake. lol But, I would say that long term this doesn't end hopes for Fitz/Pope union. Ross and Rachel broke up in season 3 and kept things interesting for 7 seasons after that before they finally got back together! lol
Grimm--I could buy into Nick needing a skills advancement and I'm not being snarky--lol. I could sit through a few eps of him getting better and maybe Eve's "boss" is the one to do it?
Richard
Grimm - Yeah that's kinda where I was going. It seems like the next evolution of this show will be him teaming up with this advanced Wesen hunter squad. i.e. it's the NEW Trailer. He'll have access to new weapons and maybe new skills to take his fight to a new level.
Game of Thrones - Just posting that I'm getting back into blogging form by doing my annual rewatch. It gets tougher every year with the additional episodes to get in before the new season. I'm on episode 5 or 6 of season 1 I think. I know...I should be watching new shows I say I have no time for. lol But, I just can't help but rewatch the ones I'm obsessed with!
ACS: OJ - Bronco chase was pretty thrilling as it was when it originally happened. The one nugget of info I learned was that the white bronco wasn't even OJ's car. It was the driver's (in this case, theo from the cosby show) who was such a big fan of OJ's that he bought the same car as him. Crazy! They did well to capture how big of an event it was when they cut to it from the NBA Finals.
Vinyl - Anyone going to watch this one? I'll record it or HBO Go it one day. But my sunday is going to be full with TWD and Shameless...not to mention ONCE coming back eventually.
GofT - I only rewatch the prior season
OJ - not sure what you are saying about Bronco. It was never his - it belonged to a friend of his who was driving who also played with OJ in the football years. He wasn't a fan but a team mate.
Vinyl - I currently don't have HBO so no. Not sure I would have tho. Heard its all about how much cocaine they do. No thanks
GofT - a sane person would only do that! :)
OJ - A teammate who is a big fan/admirer of OJ. OJ also had a white ford bronco and it's why his friend/team mate had the same car. So I guess I meant...I didn't know there were 2 white broncos....OJ's bronco left the scene of the crime and there were traces of blood in it. It was in the 1st episode of this series. So in the 2nd episode, it was a 2nd bronco. That's all I was saying.
Vinyl - I really don't know much about it...but I know Scorcese is attached...but that might explain the cocaine lol
GoT--I rewatch all season's fist and last eps, then all the eps for the prior season. But, maybe FFwd through some of those.
Uncharted territoy ahead, S6.
Richard
GoT - Also an interesting approach. Still going to attempt to watch them all! And I'll still pick up the Blu-ray of season 5 even though I could just watch them on HBO GO lol I like those special features!
Definitely uncharted territory....but I still think there will be a little revisiting of the book 4/5 stuff. Still looking forward to it!
GoT - crazy timing. New photos from season 6!
http://www.ew.com/article/2016/02/11/game-thrones-season-6-photos?xid=entertainment-weekly_socialflow_twitter
That was a link from twitter...when I refreshed it I wasn't seeing the new photos they're uploading:
http://www.ew.com/article/2016/02/11/game-thrones-season-6-photos
Ha - came here to share link of GofT photos too. Warning that the last 2 are a little spoilery
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2016/02/11/look-if-you-dare-game-thrones-season-6-photos-show-whos-dead-and-alive/80249116/#
LOL on sane person.
When is G of T back again ?
G of T - 4/24 - that's right. Ugh I gotta watch all of season 5 plus by then will have added Saul and Vinkings back into rotation. And possibly new show Containment.
GoT - Yep, 424. at least we have TWD for 8 weeks!
Yeah...I have no idea how I'm going to watch BCS...but I'll figure it out. Don't think I heard of Containment??
Colony--Again, Katie's a deceitful wife. Such a dislikable character and yet they want us to somehow identify with her. The show wants more nuance then I'm willing to give. I still say Katie is going to be in a position where she's pointing a gun to her husband. I think she'll ultimately side with her husband vs the resistance. But this resistance does not seem like it's motivated exclusively for fighting the invasion. Something else is up and she's being fooled.
BTW, I really liked Phyllis, the red head boss lady.
Richard
Blacklist--Interesting that Red seems to have obtained the file on Liz's father now.
And Liz's Mom just walked into the ocean to die. I bet a lot don't believe that story.
Richard
Vikings--check out the year 820 and you'll see someone you know!
http://28oa9i1t08037ue3m1l0i861.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Horizontal-History-Generations-4.jpg
Above chart from this article. BTW, this website is killer.
http://waitbutwhy.com/2016/01/horizontal-history.html
Richard
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