Movies You've Seen Recently Thread

[Drowsy Emperor]

I am just hoping they all die one by one in the end.

 

 

They do. It brings a lot of forced dramatic moments to the film, teary eyed stares, famous last words/stands etc. - But at least it ensures there will be no Rogue Two

 

Edited December 16, 2016 by Drowsy Emperor

[Blarghagh]

Oh yeah question: How and why did the rebellion have a 4000 year old KotOR era Republic Cruiser? I was not expecting to see the Endar Spire show up in the middle of classic era Star Wars. I can't remember anyone's names but I can't get that out of my head.

[Volourn]

Of course, they are already talking about brining Ryn back for a Luke prequel probably so they can have her bang him and take all the glory. R00fles!

[Malcador]

I'm waiting to see how Episode 8 rips off Episode 5. Maybe Kylo Ren cuts off Rey's foot.

Edited December 17, 2016 by Malcador

[Lexx]

Watched Suicide Squad right now. I think it wasn't as bad as people made it. The Joker-scenes are ok too. I guess people just expected way more Joker from all the trailers and stuff that came before. Basically the whole marketing of the movie was wrong and crap.
Also the movie has huge problems with its pacing and it had some real weird music choices in the first half of it.
 
IMO, most of these superhero / comic movies can't get the intro right. They try to cram so much stuff into it, introducing all the characters, etc. it just takes way too much time and then suddenly everyone of the main cast is friends and family 5 minutes into the real story. It's just really bad pacing. I think Batman vs. Superman had exactly the same problem, but I can't really remember, tbh.

/Edit: Also basically what was said a few pages back:

 

Suicide Squad. It was better than I was expecting it to be and I really didn't mind the Joker at all, I actually wanted more of him. What I didn't like is how quickly they killed off one of the crew and how much it focused on Smith and Robbie

Edited December 17, 2016 by Lexx

[Volourn]

Smith and Robbie were the best parts of the movie. There should be more of them. Only racists and sexists think otherwise.

[Chippy]

Mid-way through Ronal the Barbarian.  Seems funny so far.  Don't know if it's worth the flak I'm gonna get from family and friends when they see the barbarian  ass/thong from the title image in the account though.

[Hurlshort]

I enjoyed Suicide Squad because of Robbie and Smith.  They both seemed like they were having fun with their parts.  That was more entertaining than the super serious Superman and Batman.  If you treat Suicide Squad like a campy horror comedy, it is much more entertaining.  

[Amentep]

I quite liked Suicide Squad in the theaters. Looking forward to the extended cut.

[ShadySands]

I enjoyed Suicide Squad because of Robbie and Smith.  They both seemed like they were having fun with their parts.  That was more entertaining than the super serious Superman and Batman.  If you treat Suicide Squad like a campy horror comedy, it is much more entertaining.  

I didn't have a problem with them but I did want more from the rest of their merry band

 

Especially more from Slipknot and Captian Kangaroo Boomerang.. but mostly Slipknot

 

If that makes me a sexist racist SJW nazi then that's my swastika to bear

[ManifestedISO]

Really enjoyed Rogue One. The unforeseen finality of it all, especially.

[majestic]

I'll wait for it on DVD and then watch a midly entertaining decent movie that is overrated by the masses but loathed by the edgelords.

 

SW is just so.... there.

 

Sez the biggest edgelord on the forum, lel.

 

Don't bother denying it by the way, you like the Neverwinter Nights original campaign. That's about as edgelord as one can get.

 

That said I just came back from watching Rogue One. Managed to get free tickets so perhaps that unduefully increased my enjoyment of the film but I kind of liked it more than most of the others.

 

It is, in particular, much better than The Force Awakens. It has the same problems most near-original timeline prequels have insofar as there isn't much breathing room to try new things, but in the end it is a prequel and I can forgive a lack of moving the setting forward much easier due to their nature than I could deal with the remakey build of TFA. Rogue One could not have been a mover and shaker while TFA should have been one and just wasn't.

 

I have to agree with Drowsy Emperor on one thing - it didn't quite capture the allure of the original trilogy. For want of a better term, it doesn't feel like Star Wars in the same way the originals did. None of the new films did, but Lucas' prequel trilogy did it better than the two Disney ones so far.

 

Sometimes I do wonder if that isn't also technical problem rather than only a storytelling one. No matter how much one might try there is a certain look and feel to 70ies and 80ies movies that somehow can't be recreated. Kung Fury came close in its own hilariously ridicoulous way but it still pales in comparison to the real stuff. It can't all be nostalgia and growing up in the 80ies.

 

I'm not sure it was deliberate but there was one thing that I really liked about the space battles in Rogue One: The reduced pace of the fights. The original trilogy' dogfights were modeled after WW2 air battles which - while silly in space, of all things - created a certain intense aesthetic that was completely absent in all the other films (with the battle for Angkor Wat in TFA being the worst offender). Now if only they would get rid of the shakey-cam sillyness for the ground action.

 

Bottom line: I was entertained for the full duration of the film, something that I wasn't with TFA. The third act had a very "war movie" feel to it that sometimes came off as too formulaic, and there are a few nits to pick here and there but overall I found Rogue One to be very entertaining even if the best Star Wars offering of recent times come in a reset-button prequel spinoff riding in the wake of a 40 year old film. *shrug*

 

 

Also, what the hell is it with jumping to hyperspace from within a gravity well. That's not supposed to work at all. Gah. TFA did the same. /SW-Nerd mode.

 

Also, physics, lel. No way in hell that Hammerhead could nudge something as massive as a Star Destroyer that quickly. Well at least the Star Destroyers didn't instantly fall out of orbit like Grievious' ship does in Revenge of the Sith or the Executor does in Episode VI.

 

 

Watched Suicide Squad right now. I think it wasn't as bad as people made it. The Joker-scenes are ok too.

 

Jared Leto's Joker was fine. The scenes he was in just weren't.

[Drowsy Emperor]

 

I have to agree with Drowsy Emperor on one thing - it didn't quite capture the allure of the original trilogy. For want of a better term, it doesn't feel like Star Wars in the same way the originals did. None of the new films did, but Lucas' prequel trilogy did it better than the two Disney ones so far.

 

 

 

 

Lucas SW are very self-conscious of being fairy tales. Their style is deliberate, characters purposefully archetypal in the overall "In a galaxy far, far away" fairy tale logic. 

 

Just look at the mentor character. Ben Kenobi is as archetypal as you get. Wizened, kind, patient, soft-spoken - the kind of guide you'd expect to walk straight out of a children's book, perfectly suited for a boy like Luke. 

 

Instead of him, in Rogue One you get Saw Gerrera. A cheesy abstraction of political extremism - a rerun of Whitaker's Idi Amin. Scenes of bug eyed brutality, incoherent mumbling and a few affectionate stares suggesting a relationship between him and the female lead never actually witnessed in the film.

 

Same with Luke. Luke is naive and young, imperfect but essentially kind hearted - like every boy hero. Jyn on the other hand is the typical feminist poster child. With a permanently tragic expression and me-so-tough attitude, a face that's neither pretty nor ugly but somewhere in between all she suggests is patriarchal discrimination (and at some point probably sexual abuse). No room for growth or change - when she flips to become "the leader/hero" in the latter part of the film the whole thing is completely artificial.

 

Lucas's characters and stories are pulled from universal tropes. The Force Awakens and Rogue One aren't universal. They're just a grab bag of whatever was popular and worked at the box office in the past decade with a bit of Lucas imagery and contemporary politics thrown in. They're trying too hard to "grow up" with the audience and aren't fundamentally aimed at children first like the old films.

Edited December 18, 2016 by Drowsy Emperor

[Blarghagh]

I only somewhat agree. Star Wars always had a balance of fantasy and contemporary elements. WW2 dogfights and Nazi uniforms aren't exactly fairy tale stuff and the first film pretty clearly deals with nuclear deterrent and government security just as much as it does with a Space Princess captured by the Black Knight. Rogue One just made it unbalanced towards politics and war movies and tried to hammer it home with obvious symbolism like mushroom clouds and Galen Erso as Space Oppenheimer. For me the most interesting moments were the more Fantasy elements like the Jedi Temple and Vader's personal dark tower, because they weren't obvious recreations of Iwo Jima with AT-AT's.

 

Not sure why you think Ep7 falls into the same trap, because it's a race to find the wizard using the magic treasure map and the power was inside you all along fantasy cliches. I'm going to guess it's because of identity politics, because the anti-SJWs on this board inject more of that nonsense than any feminist I've ever seen.

[Hurlshort]

Saw Rogue One.  It was great, but also emotionally draining.  It was like the Saving Private Ryan of the Star Wars universe, except Private Ryan dies at the end in his mom's arms.  I enjoyed it, but I am not rushing back to the theaters to see it again.  It is much less space fantasy than anything else that has been done.  Which if we are getting a new SW movie every year, it is good to have them break the mold a bit.

 

Tarkin and Leia were a bit creepy, but close enough.  Darth Vader was a sight to behold.  

[Calax]

Rogue One. I enjoyed it but had one major problem that most haven't really talked about.

 

 

so Jin joined the rebels because of the effort to find her dad, then reports her findings. But in the Alliance she's allowed to debate policy with the leaders as somebody who joined recently (feels like this adventure happened in two days) and is taken more seriously than Spanish guy because... reasons

 

 

I won't say Jyn is the femenist archtype to make girls go "hiya!" While performing high kicks, because that's really Rey. Jyn is built to be Matilda from The Professional all grown up, and while still a femenist figure she's not as "do everything, be awesome" as Rey was

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Rogue One. Better than TFA and the prequels. It was fun, and I think the more grim atmosphere fit a Star Wars without the Jedi struggling against an unbeatable foe. Liked how it ended, mostly so we wouldn't be looking for Jin or the spanish dude in the later movies. Was creepy to see characters from IV, but Jimmy Smits was a nice touch.

 

Only major issue is that Donnie Yen should have been able to blow up the Death Star with his fists, so much for Star Wars being realistic.

Edited December 18, 2016 by KaineParker

[CoM_Solaufein]

I like how Rogue One casts the heroes as not being these sparkling white knights, they have their flaws, they have their demons, they do what ever it takes for the cause. Plus not all heroes get to go home, some times the whole lot of them have to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

[Tale]

Oh yeah question: How and why did the rebellion have a 4000 year old KotOR era Republic Cruiser? I was not expecting to see the Endar Spire show up in the middle of classic era Star Wars. I can't remember anyone's names but I can't get that out of my head.

KOTOR isn't canon. Hammerhead ships are actually much newer in canon.

 

The rebellion acquired a bunch in Star Wars: Rebels, actually.

[ManifestedISO]

Did what any card-carrying nerd would do after Rogue One and watched Episode IV. The 'stolen plans' macguffin is weighted and emotional and fun to follow. Don't know much about movie history, but this forty-year thematic callback has to be a first for film.  

[Blarghagh]

Man I wish I saw the same things you guys did in Rogue One. I wanted to like it, but I was just so bored.

 

 

Oh yeah question: How and why did the rebellion have a 4000 year old KotOR era Republic Cruiser? I was not expecting to see the Endar Spire show up in the middle of classic era Star Wars. I can't remember anyone's names but I can't get that out of my head.

KOTOR isn't canon. Hammerhead ships are actually much newer in canon.

 

The rebellion acquired a bunch in Star Wars: Rebels, actually.

Yeah I figured they were retconned, I was being more sarcastic than anything about just reusing stuff we've seen before.

[Drowsy Emperor]

I only somewhat agree. Star Wars always had a balance of fantasy and contemporary elements. WW2 dogfights and Nazi uniforms aren't exactly fairy tale stuff and the first film pretty clearly deals with nuclear deterrent and government security just as much as it does with a Space Princess captured by the Black Knight. Rogue One just made it unbalanced towards politics and war movies and tried to hammer it home with obvious symbolism like mushroom clouds and Galen Erso as Space Oppenheimer. For me the most interesting moments were the more Fantasy elements like the Jedi Temple and Vader's personal dark tower, because they weren't obvious recreations of Iwo Jima with AT-AT's.

 

Not sure why you think Ep7 falls into the same trap, because it's a race to find the wizard using the magic treasure map and the power was inside you all along fantasy cliches. I'm going to guess it's because of identity politics, because the anti-SJWs on this board inject more of that nonsense than any feminist I've ever seen.

 

The first SW films were pretty firmly Space Princess, Black Knight and lighthearted adventure first and everything else a distant second. None of the characters take themselves too seriously and the whole thing has a decidedly campy feel. 

 

Rogue One and Ep7 have the same in your face, slavish devotion to series tropes, treating the universe as though its this grand, sacred fully fledged world. Everything that the more obnoxious series fans obsess over needlessly like the horde of cretins they are takes front and center instead of making a carefree adventure that both children and adults can enjoy. 

 

That's why I said its fan fiction.

[Hurlshort]

Alan Tudyk as the Imperial Droid is awesome.  He was the best part for me.  HK-47 on the big screen.

[Blarghagh]

 

 

I only somewhat agree. Star Wars always had a balance of fantasy and contemporary elements. WW2 dogfights and Nazi uniforms aren't exactly fairy tale stuff and the first film pretty clearly deals with nuclear deterrent and government security just as much as it does with a Space Princess captured by the Black Knight. Rogue One just made it unbalanced towards politics and war movies and tried to hammer it home with obvious symbolism like mushroom clouds and Galen Erso as Space Oppenheimer. For me the most interesting moments were the more Fantasy elements like the Jedi Temple and Vader's personal dark tower, because they weren't obvious recreations of Iwo Jima with AT-AT's.

 

Not sure why you think Ep7 falls into the same trap, because it's a race to find the wizard using the magic treasure map and the power was inside you all along fantasy cliches. I'm going to guess it's because of identity politics, because the anti-SJWs on this board inject more of that nonsense than any feminist I've ever seen.

The first SW films were pretty firmly Space Princess, Black Knight and lighthearted adventure first and everything else a distant second. None of the characters take themselves too seriously and the whole thing has a decidedly campy feel.

 

Rogue One and Ep7 have the same in your face, slavish devotion to series tropes, treating the universe as though its this grand, sacred fully fledged world. Everything that the more obnoxious series fans obsess over needlessly like the horde of cretins they are takes front and center instead of making a carefree adventure that both children and adults can enjoy.

 

That's why I said its fan fiction.

Eh. Again, I see that in Rogue One very clearly but I felt like Ep7 was carefree as they come, slavishly devoted to the style of Star Wars while not stressing over the actual suvstance. It does have a huge fan fiction quality to it as a loose remake, but for very different reasons. Because it takes itself too seriously sounds like projection to me. It doesn't explain its setting and the politics of the New Republic or even why Luke's saber is there because it's to busy getting to the next ridiculous fight. "Take this cool laser sword, that you have it is more important than why 'cuz dem baddies are here."

 

That's opposite to Rogue One, which goes out of its way to equate Rebels with terrorists and gives Emperor Ming's Doomsday Space Laser the dramatic weight of a nuke in a war movie. It tries to add shades of grey to that farmboy saving the princess that it doesn't deserve and that IMO don't fit. Seeing a gritty war movie in Star Wars is a fanboy wish I've never shared, I guess.

 

Force Awakens doesn't even give its death laser respect: "So, it's big. There's always a way to blow it up." It makes an off-hand remark about Stormtroopers being brainwashed innocents and then gleefully blows some more up whereas Rogue One broods about collateral damage like it's Nolan's Batman movies. There's a difference to trying too hard to feel like Star Wars, like Ep7, and taking Star Wars far too seriously like Rogue One. Ep7 fits fine into a world where Teddy Bears defeat the Empire, Rogue One doesn't.

[Raithe]

Saw Rogue One.

 

This actually reminds me of some years back when Lucas wanted to do that tv series in parallel with the movies. Have the movies be the grand space opera fantasy adventure side of the good vs evil, but do episodic tv that showed the "underbelly" of the SW universe in self-contained stories to expand background and potentially appeal more to the adults then the kids.

 

The SW 7, 8, 9 etc being Disney's grand fantasies and the one-off films being the grimy elements that go on in the background.

 

On another note, I liked the way they tried to use cgi characters to have that connection...  But I think they overused Tarkin, and while that end note of the film made it a nice "this is 5 minutes before SW IV: A New Hope" announcement I think it would have worked better as a side shot rather than a full blown full facial close-up.