AgGrad99 said:

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It seems fairly obvious, after the prequels, that the writers wanted to make sure TFA was a nod to the originals.

It was great. Maybe a bit of a copy-cat story line, but it has set the franchise up for the rest of the story going forward. All in all though, a fun movie that my kids and me really enjoyed.

R1 was completely different. But it was great too, and did a great job telling a stand-alone story, while also filling in some huge holes. But again, all in all...it might have been different than the rest, but a really fun movie that my kids and me really enjoyed.

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This larger rant isnt directed at you because its a common refrain, but....A bit?
Evil doers building death star (and after it didn't work twice already you think they'd learn? Some seriously slow peeps or lazy writers). Plucky crowd pleasing Droid being chased by evil doers with secret plans to help bring down evil doers ends up on a random desert planet, where it happens to fall into the hands of a soon to be force warrior who has lost their parents, full background as of yet unknown. After eluding some Evil doer forces on the planet, youngin escapes and teams up with Han Solo and chewy, spends some time in a cantina, learns they have great powers, joins the rebels, watches elder statesman die at the hands of the dark side apprentice, before blowing up said death star....again, for the third freakin time. Only the order changed, barely.

Again it was a decent movie and did some good things like bringing the original feel back, but assuming Abrams is helming the next one, i am not spending my money until i know he finally has an original idea that actually moves things forward. He took a giant deuce over the star trek franchise and then as a supposed SW fan gave us that, so after TFA has lost the benefit of the doubt for me. Same thing i said about BvS, studios shouldn't be rewarded in the billions for unoriginal retread movies simply because it says star wars on the marquee, all that does is encourage more lazy writing from Hollywood, which is already at epidemic proportions. Only changes when people stop rewarding them with box office money.
Jmo.

Rian Johnson is helming Episode VIII, not Abrams. Only thing that gives me hope.

oragator said:

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AgGrad99 said:

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It seems fairly obvious, after the prequels, that the writers wanted to make sure TFA was a nod to the originals.

It was great. Maybe a bit of a copy-cat story line, but it has set the franchise up for the rest of the story going forward. All in all though, a fun movie that my kids and me really enjoyed.

R1 was completely different. But it was great too, and did a great job telling a stand-alone story, while also filling in some huge holes. But again, all in all...it might have been different than the rest, but a really fun movie that my kids and me really enjoyed.

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This larger rant isnt directed at you because its a common refrain, but....A bit?
Evil doers building death star (and after it didn't work twice already you think they'd learn? Some seriously slow peeps or lazy writers). Plucky crowd pleasing Droid being chased by evil doers with secret plans to help bring down evil doers ends up on a random desert planet, where it happens to fall into the hands of a soon to be force warrior who has lost their parents, full background as of yet unknown. After eluding some Evil doer forces on the planet, youngin escapes and teams up with Han Solo and chewy, spends some time in a cantina, learns they have great powers, joins the rebels, watches elder statesman die at the hands of the dark side apprentice, before blowing up said death star....again, for the third freakin time. Only the order changed, barely.

Again it was a decent movie and did some good things like bringing the original feel back, but assuming Abrams is helming the next one, i am not spending my money until i know he finally has an original idea that actually moves things forward. He took a giant deuce over the star trek franchise and then as a supposed SW fan gave us that, so after TFA has lost the benefit of the doubt for me. Same thing i said about BvS, studios shouldn't be rewarded in the billions for unoriginal retread movies simply because it says star wars on the marquee, all that does is encourage more lazy writing from Hollywood, which is already at epidemic proportions. Only changes when people stop rewarding them with box office money.
Jmo.

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He isn't helming the next one, so you are safe to spend you money on it.

oragator said:

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AgGrad99 said:

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...but assuming Abrams is helming the next one...

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Nope, Rian Johnson (Looper) is directing. I believe Abrams is still a producer though.

oragator said:

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So is it time to start talking box office predictions?
Was doing some quick back of the napkin math and if it tracks similar to TFA it would get north of a billion by a couple hundred million maybe? Pretty big question mark there though.

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Held really well on Monday with $17M. I think the second weekend will be a big tell. If it holds to around a 60% drop ($62M or more), that's a pretty good sign that it will have good legs like TFA did.

The big question right now is if it will get the casual fans in the theater. Do that and it will surely break $1B. I think it'll need to do at least $400M domestic.

For comparison:

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/showdowns/chart/?view=weekend&id=roguevhgdk.htm

Philo B 93 said:

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The more I think about the movie, the less impressed I am with it as a Star Wars movie.

It was a good war movie that takes place in space, I assume a long time ago in a galaxy far away. Yes, Darth Vader had a mostly non-necessary part. C3PO and R2D2 had a total cameo. There were X-wing fighters and the Death Star. But for 7 movies, thousands of toys, a few animated series, hundreds of books, and one Christmas Special, Star Wars is about this:
1. The Skywalkers,
2. Han Solo,
3. Jedi Knights / the Force / Light Sabers

For all intents and purposes (intensive purposes for a few of you), Rogue One had none of those. The script would have been better used on a Star Trek or Guardians of the Galaxy movie. I felt bad for all the kids in the audience. The first 90 minutes is a planet hopping set up with unfamiliar faces, spies, refugees, military plans, space politics, and a bunch of other stuff that 10 year olds don't care about.

I thought TFA was a much better movie, but hey... I'm a Star Wars purist.

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Then you might as well stop watching after episodes 8 and 9.

Dont know why i am posting but i need a distraction and i really liked it. Really put context to iv with the right amount of nostalgia. Its a true sea chamge foe hollywood. Actors are no longer necessary. Dont know if that is good or bad.

Liked tva too, but thought they did a really poor job with han and lea, and finn is a really crappy character. Almost jar jar bad. A little too much iv reboot in the plot too.

R1 and tfa are really promising for the future.

oragator said:

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AgGrad99 said:

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It seems fairly obvious, after the prequels, that the writers wanted to make sure TFA was a nod to the originals.

It was great. Maybe a bit of a copy-cat story line, but it has set the franchise up for the rest of the story going forward. All in all though, a fun movie that my kids and me really enjoyed.

R1 was completely different. But it was great too, and did a great job telling a stand-alone story, while also filling in some huge holes. But again, all in all...it might have been different than the rest, but a really fun movie that my kids and me really enjoyed.

---

This larger rant isnt directed at you because its a common refrain, but....A bit?
Evil doers building death star (and after it didn't work twice already you think they'd learn? Some seriously slow peeps or lazy writers). Plucky crowd pleasing Droid being chased by evil doers with secret plans to help bring down evil doers ends up on a random desert planet, where it happens to fall into the hands of a soon to be force warrior who has lost their parents, full background as of yet unknown. After eluding some Evil doer forces on the planet, youngin escapes and teams up with Han Solo and chewy, spends some time in a cantina, learns they have great powers, joins the rebels, watches elder statesman die at the hands of the dark side apprentice, before blowing up said death star....again, for the third freakin time. Only the order changed, barely.

Again it was a decent movie and did some good things like bringing the original feel back, but assuming Abrams is helming the next one, i am not spending my money until i know he finally has an original idea that actually moves things forward. He took a giant deuce over the star trek franchise and then as a supposed SW fan gave us that, so after TFA has lost the benefit of the doubt for me. Same thing i said about BvS, studios shouldn't be rewarded in the billions for unoriginal retread movies simply because it says star wars on the marquee, all that does is encourage more lazy writing from Hollywood, which is already at epidemic proportions. Only changes when people stop rewarding them with box office money.
Jmo.

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Like I said earlier, it's the most powerful super weapon ever developed. Do you really think they'd abandon such an idea altogether? Hell, I'd say the trade off for the first order in TFA was totally worth it and the weapon was a success, even if used only once. How many ENTIRE PLANETS did it take out?

Only single seats available, and maybe some at the very front, at SMG last night for multiple shows.

TCTTS said:

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Rian Johnson is helming Episode VIII, not Abrams. Only thing that gives me hope.

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Still producing though right?

I bet Abrams is just helping with the transition, so that's why he gets the producer tag for this. I doubt he is going to be that involved.

oragator said:

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TCTTS said:

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Rian Johnson is helming Episode VIII, not Abrams. Only thing that gives me hope.

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Still producing though right?

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Does that matter? "Producer" titles are handed out like candy and mean almost nothing. Spielberg and Christopher Nolan have 'produced' movies that I believe had none of their input. (See: Jurassic World and Man of Steel)

Quote:

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This larger rant isnt directed at you because its a common refrain, but....A bit?

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meh...semantics. My point remains the same, no matter where on the scale of 'alike' you put them.

To me, TFA was an updated version of the originals, which is what it needed to be, and what everyone wanted it to be after the crappy sequels. Maybe they made it too much like the originals, but I'd rather that than the apparent alternative.

I just have a hard time being too critical, when it's just supposed to be a fun scifi movie about battles in space. i think fans of the franchise tend to ignore perspective when critiquing the movie.

oragator said:

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TCTTS said:

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Rian Johnson is helming Episode VIII, not Abrams. Only thing that gives me hope.

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Still producing though right?

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Executive producer, which is basically just a producer in name only. An executive producer usually has something to do with the project, but it was likely either super early in the process or is tangentially involved somehow. Very different from an actual producer, who is much more hands on and usually involved in the project from beginning to end.

TCTTS said:

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oragator said:

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TCTTS said:

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IRian Johnson is helming Episode VIII, not Abrams. Only thing that gives me hope.

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Still producing though right?

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Executive producer, which is basically just a producer in name only. An executive producer usually has something to do with the project, but it was likely either super early in the process or is tangentially involved somehow. Very different from an actual producer, who is much more hands on and usually involved in the project from beginning to end.

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Fair enough, thanks.

So they went with a dark ending on this one to get us ready for the darkness in the next star wars episodes... I am ready

Well given hat ozymandias may be the best hour of tv ever put together, that makes me feel a bit better. But it's still dependent on the script and that was my problem with 7.

Eww, Looper. Didn't realize.

Blatant Disregard said:

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TCTTS said:

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Rian Johnson is helming Episode VIII, not Abrams. Only thing that gives me hope.

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I remembered this the other day, so I went and watched the Ozymandias episode of Breaking Bad again. I have a feeling episode VIII is going to be intense.

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Best episode in the history of TV.

He also directed "the fly " episode of breaking bad.

Late response: I agree that TFA did exactly what it needed to, but I don't think it will stand the test of time as well because of that, in a way. It was an excellent 2015 movie theater experience but I'm hoping that, with all the fan service and setup and whatever out of the way, we'll get a stronger Ep 8 and 9. And if not, well... it all ended happily ever after on Endor and they're still dancing to Yub Nub all this time later. And Jedi aren't monks and Anakin was always badass.

He wrote the script as well. Episode VIII is going to be a much more singular vision, which can only be a good thing, IMO.

Critics loved it.

Junkhead said:

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Bruce Almighty said:

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oragator said:

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He also directed "the fly " episode of breaking bad.

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One of the most overrated episodes in tv history.

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Uh, what? It's universally hated as the worst episode of the series.

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I've been told many times (including on this board) that it was a work of genius and I just didn't get it. It's overrated because there's people out there that actually thought it was great.

Junkhead said:

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Bruce Almighty said:

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oragator said:

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He also directed "the fly " episode of breaking bad.

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One of the most overrated episodes in tv history.

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Uh, what? It's universally hated as the worst episode of the series.

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One would think, but some consider it one of the best of the series.

TCTTS said:

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He wrote the script as well. Episode VIII is going to be a much more singular vision, which can only be a good thing, IMO.

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Hope you are right, you know more about the innner workings out there than me.

I will say he also directed the Brothers Bloom, which i think is a very underrated movie. Really well made.