I saw The Last Jedi for the second time yesterday.

First time when I walked out, I had some qualms. I think those are still there, but after several days of chewing on it prior to yesterday, I was able to just accept what Johnson gave us and go in yesterday and just enjoy a Star Wars movie.

What I liked most:
1: Kylo Ren - he grew as a character.
2: Rey - gorgeous actress, yes, but she also had some growth.
3: Luke Skywalker - I don't give a crap what Mark Hamill thinks of the direction they took his character. I really loved that they gave him a cynical outlook toward his role in the galaxy. His end was great, but come on, does anyone really believe he won't show up in Episode 9 as a force ghost?
4: Throne room duel - the whole thing was fantastic, from Snoke tossing Rey around like a rag doll to Kylo's betrayal of Snoke and the resulting battle between Kylo/Rey and the guards.
5: Silent hyperspace destruction of Snoke's vessel.
6: Was genuinely surprised by the Porgs, given this saga's history of bringing out certain characters that are not well liked, like Jar Jar Binks, or like the Ewoks. They didn't take away from the movie in any way, and were well done.
7: John Williams' score. There are some good cues here, as well as a few call-backs to earlier scores.

What I didn't care for:
1. Mary Poppins Leia. Leia has previously been an example of a force-sensitive person, not a force user per se. All of a sudden she can survive the vacuum of outer space and get herself back aboard her ship?
2. Milking sea critter. Yeah, I get that Luke needs sustenance while in his exile, but ewwwww.
3. Snoke - this character is supposedly all-powerful, is able to force link his apprentice with Rey, can do anything apparently, but is unable to sense the lightsaber being turned toward him? And who the heck is he, where did he come from, and how did he rise to the level of supreme leader?

Another thing - I don't for one second believe that Rey's parents were what Kylo said they were.

TCTTS said:

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Droid boner?

SpreadsheetAg said:

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I think if you go me, TCTTS, Brian Spilner, and a few others from here together, we could knock out a story board for a 3rd Movie that could probably save this movie and put an epic STAR WARS feel to the trilogy that wouldn't suck and would probably be downright badass.

We could probably story board this in about 10 days together, then script it out in 30...

Who's in?

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Hate the movies all you want, but here is an example of true feminist character in the SWU.

Bruce Almighty said:

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DannyDuberstein said:

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Luke/Leia was set up in ESB. Never seemed last second to me at all. Foreshadowed a movie ahead and then fully revealed. And the hate/fear it illicited from Luke in the duel with Vader added a ton to that scene.

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I'm not sure I buy that.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-cronin/luke-and-leia-kiss_b_8817166.html

Here's a quote from a producer of Empire:

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She's not his sister. That dropped in to wrap up everything neatly. His sister was someone else way over on the other side of the galaxy and she wasn't going to show up until the next episode.

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Anyway, Lucas has changed his story so many times, who knows what his real intentions were.

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Huffington = fake news

BlueSmoke said:

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I have this sickening feeling Star Wars is turning into what the Transformers movies morphed into - A god-awful explosion of CGI special effects in an attempt to cover lazy writing, amazingly huge plot holes, and one-liners....

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Is this post from 1999?

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have we had an alien with dramatic acting

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Does Alien Nation count? Mandy Patinkin, I think, portrayed an alien cop working with James Caan, who if I recall was sporting a Dallas Cowboys shirt in that flick.

Cinco Ranch Aggie said:

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have we had an alien with dramatic acting

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Does Alien Nation count? Mandy Patinkin, I think, portrayed an alien cop working with James Caan, who if I recall was sporting a Dallas Cowboys shirt in that flick.

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Also, Louis Gossett in Enemy Mine. It's not unprecedented.

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3: Luke Skywalker - I don't give a crap what Mark Hamill thinks of the direction they took his character. I really loved that they gave him a cynical outlook toward his role in the galaxy. His end was great, but come on, does anyone really believe he won't show up in Episode 9 as a force ghost?

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I meant to bring this up earlier (and someone else probably has), but I wondered to what extent Luke on the island was supposed to copy Yoda on Dagobah. Remember how disappointed he was when he went looking for the great Jedi master and found a grumpy little man? It didn't work, but I wonder if that was another way the filmmakers thought they were recapturing the magic of ESB.

The mutiny itself should have been a huge conflict, but not in Rian's universe. Just keep moving.

G Martin 87 said:

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Cinco Ranch Aggie said:

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have we had an alien with dramatic acting

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Does Alien Nation count? Mandy Patinkin, I think, portrayed an alien cop working with James Caan, who if I recall was sporting a Dallas Cowboys shirt in that flick.

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Also, Louis Gossett in Enemy Mine. It's not unprecedented.

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Yes, good call. Forgot about that one.

ChiliBeans said:

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3: Luke Skywalker - I don't give a crap what Mark Hamill thinks of the direction they took his character. I really loved that they gave him a cynical outlook toward his role in the galaxy. His end was great, but come on, does anyone really believe he won't show up in Episode 9 as a force ghost?

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I meant to bring this up earlier (and someone else probably has), but I wondered to what extent Luke on the island was supposed to copy Yoda on Dagobah. Remember how disappointed he was when he went looking for the great Jedi master and found a grumpy little man? It didn't work, but I wonder if that was another way the filmmakers thought they were recapturing the magic of ESB.

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I actually hadn't made that connection, for whatever reason. I think you're right about that, they are very similar portrayals.

QUIZ: WHICH STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI CHARACTER ARE YOU?

I got Kylo Ren

Kylo Ren

Ah man, talking to a coworker, we just realized that Darth Maul gives evidence that Snoke could still be alive

Rey

Brave, determined, and always up for adventure.

Poe

Ag Since 83 said:

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Ah man, talking to a coworker, we just realized that Darth Maul gives evidence that Snoke could still be alive

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Snoke was obviously mind controlling Kylo the whole time and transfered his consciousness into him before he died. No way Rey would care about him otherwise.

I didnt think the smoking jacket worked for Snoke. It would look even worse on Darth Maul's torso.

lol, i guess i'd better take the quiz.

I got DJ

I got Kylo

Holdo

BCG Disciple said:

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While we're talking physics, do you die immediately when you get cut in half? A force user to snokes extent could have inflicted some major damage even if he had a 5 second window.

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Darth Maul survived it according to current canon.

Poe. Not surprised one bit.

Poe

Watched a YouTube theory that claimed that Snoke was never actually on the bridge but that he was projecting himself like Luke did. He didn't trust Kylo to not turn on him. Said the fact that Kylo and Rey were able to force link after Snoke died was proof that he's still alive.

But I guess the showdown with projection Luke shows that the lightsaber wouldn't have severed the projection Snoke.. which it did.

Another theory was that he is an old being that can transfer his consciousness to a new body.

The third theory was that Snoke is dead. I think that's the correct one.