Movies You've Seen (or would like to see) Recently

[Amentep]

Dirty Harry and Magnum Force are interesting thrillers; very much a product of the seventies. Can't remember much of The Enforcer. Sudden Impact and The Dead Pool are interesting as well.

 

I'm not sure they've aged well (haven't seen them in years).

[Blarghagh]

Rogue One was close to the best movie in the series. Yeah, strange plot manipulation, but it actually has a message other than good guys need to fight bad guys.

Rogue One, to me, was 5 minutes of fanservice at the end of 2 hours of absolute boredom.

[algroth]

My ranking of the Star Wars would look something like this...

 

Empire Strikes Back

Rogue One

The Force Awakens

Star Wars

The Last Jedi

Return of the Jedi

Revenge of the Sith

The Phantom Menace

Attack of the Clones

 

The passing line is The Last Jedi, I reckon, which is a film I enjoyed in spite of its many glaring issues.

[majestic]

I thought Last Jedi was mediocre but I'd still rate it third in the series, after Empire and New Hope.

 

But then, I find Star Wars hugely overrated disposable entertainment and nobody ever seems to agree with me. My ranking would be:

 

Empire > New Hope > Last Jedi > Force Awakens > Revenge > Phantom Menace > Return > Clones > Ewok Battle for Endor > Ewok Adventure > Holiday Special > Rogue One.

 

See, I can understand that. Personally I wouldn't rate any of the new movies, Lucas or Disney above Return of the Jedi. Not because I grew up with it or nostalgia but because Return is still the gold standard for space battles and I love those. Games, books, movies, TV - space battles? Yes plx.

 

But even leaving the Battle of Endor aside Return is still a more entertaining watch for me than Revenge of the Sith ever could be. I mean even as a kid I found the Ewoks more annoying than cute but Vader with his mask on has more screen presence and is more convincing than Hayden Christensen could ever be, and Return didn't have characters like General Evil McBadface Grievous or scenes that pointlessly drag on and on like Obi-Wan's lava lightsaber bonanza or Obi-Wan's car chase. 

 

Revenge was a cringe-ride with a few impressive scenes and Return was a fun romp with a few cringy scenes (oh hi Han stepping on a twig or Ewok twapping himself with a bola or Chewie doing the Tarzan).

 

Right, so where was I? Oh yeah, most people seem to disagree.

[majestic]

 

TLJ:

I don't have a problem with Rey's parents being nobodies, but I find it odd that Rian Johnson went so far as to have them sell her into slavery (we thought for a movie and a half that Luke was a farmer's son; it wouldn't be a horrible twist, imo, if it turned out she was the orphan of farms). Of all the middle fingers to the audience, that was the one that really irritates me.

 

 

 

I actually kind of dig that concept. That people can earn greatness rather than being born into it is actually a good message to be propagating (though in the hall of mirrors part I sort of thought maybe it was hinting at her being conceived by Midichlorians or something). But I find it a little odd that people think that Rey's parents being junkies is something that's set in stone. After all, how would Kylo even know? For all we know that was just something he said just to get under Rey's skin.

 

 

 

In general, I would agree - Rey being nobody wouldn't be such a bad thing if Jar Jar Abrams hadn't set her up for something else in TFA. But that's classic Jar Jar, setting some things up and never bothering with thinking them through, or thinking about them at all (*cough* LOST *cough*). I heard in the RLM review there was a tweet from Rian Johnson where he basically confirmed that none of the Episode VII setup had any planned pay-off.

 

Can't blame him for not working with any of that, of course, but it still feels like a deliberate **** you from the creative team. And he can't possibly blame fams for being disappointed in that.

 

[Blarghagh]

 

I thought Last Jedi was mediocre but I'd still rate it third in the series, after Empire and New Hope.

 

But then, I find Star Wars hugely overrated disposable entertainment and nobody ever seems to agree with me. My ranking would be:

 

Empire > New Hope > Last Jedi > Force Awakens > Revenge > Phantom Menace > Return > Clones > Ewok Battle for Endor > Ewok Adventure > Holiday Special > Rogue One.

See, I can understand that. Personally I wouldn't rate any of the new movies, Lucas or Disney above Return of the Jedi. Not because I grew up with it or nostalgia but because Return is still the gold standard for space battles and I love those. Games, books, movies, TV - space battles? Yes plx.

 

But even leaving the Battle of Endor aside Return is still a more entertaining watch for me than Revenge of the Sith ever could be. I mean even as a kid I found the Ewoks more annoying than cute but Vader with his mask on has more screen presence and is more convincing than Hayden Christensen could ever be, and Return didn't have characters like General Evil McBadface Grievous or scenes that pointlessly drag on and on like Obi-Wan's lava lightsaber bonanza or Obi-Wan's car chase.

 

Revenge was a cringe-ride with a few impressive scenes and Return was a fun romp with a few cringy scenes (oh hi Han stepping on a twig or Ewok twapping himself with a bola or Chewie doing the Tarzan).

 

Right, so where was I? Oh yeah, most people seem to disagree.

I'd enjoy the space battles more if anyone we cared about was in it, but the visuals and filming are quite cool. I also really like the Luke/Vader/Empire parts. But those are the only things. I find the entire Jabba sequences drag on and don't further the plot much - the whole barge sequence could be cut without losing anything - and there's so much Ewok stuff constantly destroying the pacing and dragging it down. They don't even annoy me that much, they just bore me.

 

But I also have a lot of issues with the plot. Force Awakens gets crapped on for pulling another Death Star out of its arse but I find this one more irritating - it makes the victory in New Hope seem pointless if they can so easily make another, and since a single shot can blow one up it's not very intimidating.

 

But I mostly dislike it for ignoring or handwaving things the other films set up. The whole first segment was just undoing Han's fate and restoring status quo. Luke didn't complete his training with Yoda -> Goes back and Yoda says it is. There is another Skywalker -> Oh it's just Leia, conveniently solves the love triangle. Badass bounty hunter? Killed for a joke. It doesn't even follow through on its own buildup when it points out Han's bad feeling about never seeing the Falcon again, both are unscathed. At least in New Hope R2 got hurt. The only heroic moment in Jedi comes from Vader. Many of the things these new flicks get criticised for were done worse in Return IMO.

[Gfted1]

440 automag, baby.

[majestic]

 

 

I thought Last Jedi was mediocre but I'd still rate it third in the series, after Empire and New Hope.

 

But then, I find Star Wars hugely overrated disposable entertainment and nobody ever seems to agree with me. My ranking would be:

 

Empire > New Hope > Last Jedi > Force Awakens > Revenge > Phantom Menace > Return > Clones > Ewok Battle for Endor > Ewok Adventure > Holiday Special > Rogue One.

See, I can understand that. Personally I wouldn't rate any of the new movies, Lucas or Disney above Return of the Jedi. Not because I grew up with it or nostalgia but because Return is still the gold standard for space battles and I love those. Games, books, movies, TV - space battles? Yes plx.

 

But even leaving the Battle of Endor aside Return is still a more entertaining watch for me than Revenge of the Sith ever could be. I mean even as a kid I found the Ewoks more annoying than cute but Vader with his mask on has more screen presence and is more convincing than Hayden Christensen could ever be, and Return didn't have characters like General Evil McBadface Grievous or scenes that pointlessly drag on and on like Obi-Wan's lava lightsaber bonanza or Obi-Wan's car chase.

 

Revenge was a cringe-ride with a few impressive scenes and Return was a fun romp with a few cringy scenes (oh hi Han stepping on a twig or Ewok twapping himself with a bola or Chewie doing the Tarzan).

 

Right, so where was I? Oh yeah, most people seem to disagree.

I'd enjoy the space battles more if anyone we cared about was in it, but the visuals and filming are quite cool. I also really like the Luke/Vader/Empire parts. But those are the only things. I find the entire Jabba sequences drag on and don't further the plot much - the whole barge sequence could be cut without losing anything - and there's so much Ewok stuff constantly destroying the pacing and dragging it down. They don't even annoy me that much, they just bore me.

 

But I also have a lot of issues with the plot. Force Awakens gets crapped on for pulling another Death Star out of its arse but I find this one more irritating - it makes the victory in New Hope seem pointless if they can so easily make another, and since a single shot can blow one up it's not very intimidating.

 

But I mostly dislike it for ignoring or handwaving things the other films set up. The whole first segment was just undoing Han's fate and restoring status quo. Luke didn't complete his training with Yoda -> Goes back and Yoda says it is. There is another Skywalker -> Oh it's just Leia, conveniently solves the love triangle. Badass bounty hunter? Killed for a joke. It doesn't even follow through on its own buildup when it points out Han's bad feeling about never seeing the Falcon again, both are unscathed. At least in New Hope R2 got hurt. The only heroic moment in Jedi comes from Vader. Many of the things these new flicks get criticised for were done worse in Return IMO.

 

That blends things a bit. I disliked Revenge and would never have put it above Return even before VII was a remake of IV, but yes, Return of the Jedi is as guilty of a few terrible decisions as the new movies are. I think it is rightly considered the least interesting film of the original trilogy. I've heard people call it creatively bankrupt and while that is pushing it a bit it's not really too far off -  It just isn't worse than Revenge of the Sith even though that film is easily the best of the prequel trilogy.

 

I also never got the impression that Boba Fett is a bad ass bounty hunter. He says "as you wish" and had a really cool armor on that rivalled Vader's. The only thing he does in Empire is not falling for Han's garbage maneuver. That makes him smarter than the people Vader regularily chokes for being stupid failures. Yay I guess... but again, literally a billion people out there disagreeing with me on that one (of course he's a badass nowadays *shrug*).  

 

And while it might seem that Leia is conveniently Luke's sister the mistake actually started in Empire with Yoda saying "No. There is another." IF one follows that setup of someone else being a hope to defeat the Emperor/the Empire it can't be someone they asspull out of nowhere in the last installment, at least if the goal is to create some dramatic tension from it - which is one of the things that worked - in my opinion - perfectly in Return of the Jedi.

 

I'd argue that the scene where Vader goads Luke into almost killing him by threatening the only family he has left (his surrogate family dead and his father having just delivered him to the empire) is such a perfect payoff that it easily outshines the love triangle. It's probably the beginning of the most dramatic moment in Star Wars as a whole (alhtough that could be Vader and Luke back in Bespin... maybe). At least until Lucas ruined it by needlessly adding a NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! where none was needed.

[Blarghagh]

Hah, you're right, I do love that scene where Luke goes berserk. I'm just not sure it outweighs what could have been, and I feel like they'd still be a surrogate family without being blood related - it could have worked without it.

 

I'd be incredibly interested in the Kasdan draft where Han died, Luke had an other sister and it ended with him walking off cowboy style. Perhaps alternatives would have been worse. I'm also incredibly interested in Lucas' ideas for episodes 7-9 that Disney dropped.

 

I think you might be right in me overrating Revenge, though. I think I may have been influenced by reading the superior novelisation, since all the crap in it you point out is true. Might revise my list, though I'm surprised that Phantom Menace ends up my fav prequel then.

[majestic]

I think you might be right in me overrating Revenge, though. I think I may have been influenced by reading the superior novelisation, since all the crap in it you point out is true. Might revise my list, though I'm surprised that Phantom Menace ends up my fav prequel then.

 

I've read so much Star Wars EU that I have a hard time arguing the films on their merits (or lack thereof) alone, so I understand. Completely.

[Keyrock]

My Star Wars rankings from best to worst:

 

Empire - Obviously

New Hope - Also obviously

Return - Worth it for the scenes of the emperor taunting Luke alone

Last Jedi - Featuring the slowest chase sequence in cinematic history

Force Awakens - It's just like A New Hope, except much worse

Revenge - Almost worth it just for the memes

Phantom Menace - At least it has Darth Maul

Rogue One - Zzzzzzzz...

Watching Paint Dry

Chinese Water Torture

Mumble Rap

Attack of the Clones

[injurai]

I rank Rogue One much higher than most of you all.

 

Empire = A New Hope

Return

Rogue One

Force Awakens

The Last Jedi

Phantom

Revenge

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Things that a trash start below here...

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Eventually we'll get there

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∞

 

Opps guess the list of trash goes on forever so we'll never quite get there.

[LadyCrimson]

I remember seeing Return in the theater with my cousin and when the landspeeder motorcycle thingies showed up and speeding through the forests, we were all "wheeee! awesome!" because on the big screen, that was awesome at the time ... that was about the extent of our enthusiasm. Although admittedly the Emperor confrontation was pretty cool.

 

I should say that I don't hate the current SW. I just don't care. I don't find them enjoyable/fun even in a child-like fantasy or light-action fare way so it's all just "meh" and I'm not going to follow it any more than I'd follow yet more Rocky or Terminator movies. Hollywood/business really can't leave things alone sometimes.

[LadyCrimson]

Swerving away from SW, I saw this trailer last night and it cracked me up something fierce. Which doesn't mean I'd advocate to see it - I wouldn't pay to see it in other words - but the trailer. lol. Jason Bateman's delivery kills me at times.

 

[ShadySands]

My Star Wars rankings from best to worst:

 

1. ESB
2. ANH
3. RO
4. -
5. ROTJ & ROTS - tie
6. TFA
7. -
8. AOTC
9. -
10. -
11. -
12. -
13. -
14. -
15. TLJ - because I'm a sexist racist <insert whatever here>-ist who doesn't know what's good for him

     The largest number ever. Mumble Rap & TPM - tie 

Edited December 29, 2017 by ShadySands

[Volourn]

Jumanji 2017 - Way better than any ****ty SW film. Case closed.

[Sarex]

SWTOR Cinematics > SW Original Trilogy > SW Prequels > Rouge One >>> the rest of the movies.

Edited December 29, 2017 by Sarex

[Malcador]

ESB > ANH > RO = ROTJ > X-Wing Alliance = TIE Fighter Cutscenes > TLJ = ROTS > TFA > TPM > AOTC

[Darkpriest]

How could someone rate The Last Jedi above anything other than maybe one of prequels is beyond my understanding. this film is a mess of plot holes and ridiculous end to multiple arcs, some of which were not even developed yet... oh and i forgot to mention space jesus...

 

The Empire Strikes back

New Hope

Force Awakens (had potential to be a nice start despite M. Sue which Rey is)

Return of The Jedi

Rogue One

All of Prequels competing with The Last Jedi - the only two things good in this film are visuals and sound...

Edited December 30, 2017 by Darkpriest

[Epaminondas]

Just watched The Enforcer. lol The first movie his partner was Hispanic and got shot but lived. The second his partner was black and lived (with some close calls). The third, his partner was a woman who gets shot and dies. I get such a kick out of Dirty Harry. Won't take the place of the Lethal Weapon series, but I love it. It's right up there with Die Hard and waaaay ahead of Death Wish. Mel Gibson brings great comedy to his roles, but there's some humor in Dirty Harry and some of the scenes are clearly replicated in Lethal Weapon, either as an homage or blatant stealing.

[Maedhros]

I wanna do this too (with my imdb ratings)

 

ESB 10/10

New Hope 9/10

Phantom Menace 7/10 (Nostalgia wins here, it was the first SW film I saw and it's easier for me to ignore its many faults)

Return of the Jedi 7/10

Revenge of the Sith 6/10

The Last Jedi 5/10

Attack of the Clones 4/10

 

Rogue One was for me forgettable. Very pretty to look at, but forgettable. Not gonna rate it alongside the saga as it really feels like a spinoff film (which it is of course).

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

The Shape of Water. Best romcom of the decade.

[redneckdevil]

So I've been outta the loop but did see a couple of films on Netflix that I enjoyed alot.

First one was BFG (big friendly giant) which was quite nice and enjoyable. Maybe it was because of nostalgia because of how the ending was handled, which I was expecting a much different outcome (I guess I'm just bloodthirsty) but enjoyed the route they went.

Another was Big 6, man I loved that big marshmallow guy .

[redneckdevil]

Jumanji 2017 - Way better than any ****ty SW film. Case closed.

The original has a special place in my heart because of my eternal love for any work (good or bad) that has Robin Williams in it. Do you think it was as good or better than the original?

[Bartimaeus]

Willow (1988). Some okay parts interrupted too often by the endless stream of awful garbage that was this movie. Really terrible.

Edited December 31, 2017 by Bartimaeus