Star Wars: The Force Awakens (12/18/15)

[Darkseed]

I loved the quiet moments of Rey scavenging and hanging out with her vintage X-Wing helmet. Beautiful establishing sequences that took me back to The Black Stallion.

I enjoyed that scene as well along with the opening attack on the village and the ending sabre duels. For me what it did right was great...

 

[cmiller99]

I thought the final shot was a little odd with Rey holding out the lightsaber to Luke for an extended time and him just looking at her - wouldn't be surprised if that bit features in the HISHE vid for its awkwardness.

I did find that last helicopter shot a bit awkward. Mainly from the motion of the camera, which was kind of unnatural. And then they just stood there, completely frozen... kind of weird.

 

[Darkseed]

I did find that last helicopter shot a bit awkward. Mainly from the motion of the camera, which was kind of unnatural. And then they just stood there, completely frozen... kind of weird.

Luke was looking a bit strung out like a junkie / hippie.....perhaps he was having a bad reaction to some fun medicine

 

[GasparZizou]

Her eating that bread puff thing, playing with the helmet, sliding down the sand hill and getting a look at that old, withered scavenging lady (I got the idea like, "this could be my future some day") were some of the best shots and sequences in the movie. Good character moments without uttering a single word of dialogue.

I loved those scenes too, the movie could've used more moments to breathe like those, once the action started it didn't slow down again.

 

[jye4ever]

Helicopter shot or not seeing Luke made me tear up both times.

 

[Khev]

An interesting impression I got during the second viewing (maybe you all picked up on it the first time) was that we were actually witnessing the first military clashes between the Resistance and the First Order. Finn was in Captain Phasma's personal battalion which operated in the presence of Kylo Ren. When Finn mentioned that it was his first battle I took it to mean *his* first and nothing more. But maybe her team had done the usual bullying here and there but had never encountered full fledged Resistance soldiers before?

If you take the notion that Finn hadn't ever seen combat and pair it with Poe's commands when the X-Wings flew over the water "don't let these guys intimidate you!" it made me wonder if the two sides really hadn't clashed before and Poe was giving his rookie pilots the inside scoop that the First Order isn't all that (in his opinion at least.)

Is that the general thought? That the Resistance and First Order were *about* to fight and that's why Leia rushed to get Luke so that they'd have him if things got ugly but that they hadn't actually engaged prior to Poe attacking the landing team at the beginning?

 

[DiFabio]

No idea. I have no idea how the Resistance, First Order and Republic work, which faction is bigger/stronger or larger/weaker or why the good guys that started up the New Republic are "resistance fighters" when they'd really be an Army or something.

Before I saw the movie, I thought the First Order was a smaller faction and took the role of the rebels from the OT and the Leia's Republic forces were the dominant forces in the galaxy like the Empire had been originally. Then I saw it and gave up on what was what. I just figured they were somehow the Empire 2.0 and had been battling for a while.

 

[Darkseed]

One of my issues with the film was the lack of explanation between the alliance and the resistance. Unclear the difference and why they were different but alas doesn't matter as the alliance is no more. To your point, I took it the FO was working behind the scenes so yes it was the first meeting of the two sides.

 

[jye4ever]

The emotional punch they were seeking to end the movie on a high note with showing Luke after killing off Han ultimately worked on me.

I do admire Khev's ability to give everything a positive spin, i'm trying here..

But the conflict between both sides didn't feel earned.

True that in SW the conflict was already active when the movie started with little explanation, but Obi-Wan's Vader speech to Luke went along way in getting us invested.

 

[Khev]

I do admire Khev's ability to give everything a positive spin, i'm trying here..

Fair enough. I've done my fair share of buzzing on silly movies (AoU, JW, even freaking Genisys) so I could see my praise being white noise but I assure you my love for TFA is here to stay. As bad as the PT is I've tried to see them as "glass half full" ever since they were released. Now imagine with how forgiving I've been to the PT how much I must love TFA.

 

[jye4ever]

Tell me it's not very hard right now to watch the PT.

Or does TFA being good make the PT an easier pill to swallow?

Now this is pod racing!

 

[Matt S]

Tell me it's not very hard right now to watch the PT.

Or does TFA being good make the PT an easier pill to swallow?

Now this is pod racing!

While Episode 1 is a tough pill to swallow, I've always found EP II and III fairly entertaining to watch. Not good movies, mind you. But fun nonetheless

 

[dwing]

Watched it on Sunday. Kids 13,15,17 me and my wife. We all liked it. I really enjoyed the characters they developed. Rey is a great character. Who's her parents? Some fun stuff, some "ah man" stuff. On thing that had me wondering at the end was when they found this uncharted system-would Disney send them to Earth? I sat in my seat saying to myself, "no, not possible." I was afraid for about two minutes .

 

[Rambler]

hmmmm, while I liked the movie and it had some nice light comic relief throughout the film. At the end it sure seemed like it was a remake of the original star wars, big ball of fire blows up planet, they in turn blowup big ball.....rinse recycle repeat with a few new twists, still a great remake but there's no way this has the staying power of Avatar (which I wasn't a great fan of) but it was totally original, this is not.

Avatar was original? I guess you never saw Dances with Wolves or Ferngully then.

Her eating that bread puff thing, playing with the helmet, sliding down the sand hill and getting a look at that old, withered scavenging lady (I got the idea like, "this could be my future some day") were some of the best shots and sequences in the movie. Good character moments without uttering a single word of dialogue.

Love those shots. Especially with her putting on the helmet. Just something about it.

 

[jye4ever]

While Episode 1 is a tough pill to swallow, I've always found EP II and III fairly entertaining to watch. Not good movies, mind you. But fun nonetheless

If I had to choose which one to sit thru again it would have to be TPM.

I simply can not sit thru the other 2.

Watched it on Sunday. Kids 13,15,17 me and my wife. We all liked it. I really enjoyed the characters they developed. Rey is a great character. Some fun stuff, some "ah man" stuff. On thing that had me wondering at the end was when they found this uncharted system-would Disney send them to Earth? I sat in my seat saying to myself, "no, not possible." I was afraid for about two minutes .

You mean like Apollo and Starbucks riding their cool bikes on Earth.

 

[xipotec]

hmmmm, while I liked the movie and it had some nice light comic relief throughout the film. At the end it sure seemed like it was a remake of the original star wars, big ball of fire blows up planet, they in turn blowup big ball.....rinse recycle repeat with a few new twists, still a great remake but there's no way this has the staying power of Avatar (which I wasn't a great fan of) but it was totally original, this is not.

Avatar = Dances with Wolves= Fern Gully= etc etc etc.....

 

[DiFabio]

Speaking of the prequels, this is circulating around.








I didn't really pay attention to all the Plagueis rumors that were going around about Force Awakens before it opened, but that music is pretty convincing. Could just be John Williams aping himself though or something.

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

If Plagueis is the main villain, then I hope Luke is the one who takes him out.

 

[xipotec]

Tell me it's not very hard right now to watch the PT.

Or does TFA being good make the PT an easier pill to swallow?

Now this is pod racing!

Damn I couldn't make it through it......

I tuned out at "Are you and Angel????" And almost puked at...."he's a protocol droid I made for Mom"....THEY ARE G*&DAMN SLAVES HOW DOES HE AFFORD PARTS FOR A DROID AND A POD?????

 

[Sachiel]

What did people think about the ending shot of Force Awakens?

It's ****ing horrible.