For all things Episode VIII related info including spoilers.
The release date is now December 15, 2017.
The Official Synopsis from Star Wars.com
“In Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the Skywalker saga continues as the heroes of The Force Awakens join the galactic legends in an epic adventure that unlocks age-old mysteries of the Force and shocking revelations of the past.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens in U.S. theaters on December 15, 2017.”
Originally Posted by bowener:
My biggest annoyance with people claiming others are just "haters" or "nitpicking" is that they fall back on "enjoyment" as a mark of how good a film is, and they haven't quite grasped that people can enjoy shit films (look at The Room or Titanic or Avatar).
TLJ is shit storytelling. With all the lore, nostalgia, personal history, and fandom removed, it is still structurally a shitty story with a shitty plot told in a shitty manner. I can't think of a single scene where RJ did anything creative with his lighting or camera work. I would be more than happy to rewatch a shitty story if the cinematography is legitimately great. Hell, Interstellar is a great example of that for me.
Can't agree with you there. Some of the cinematography in this movie is among the most memorable in the entire series.
The red salt on Crait and how it created almost a visceral reaction. The throne room scene had some spectacular visuals. And I guess you can't really call the kamikazee charge 'cinematography' (I don't know, can you?) but I think that was arguably the most striking visual/audio moment of the entire Star Wars history. The silence before the explosion and the breakup was awesome. The shots on/around/over Ahch-To wasn't quite Peter Jackson or anything but it was pretty damn impressive in a lot of ways.
I mean, it's hard to say where CGI starts and where cinematography begins so there are some tough lines to draw, but one thing I'll give him credit for is that Johnson made a visually beautiful movie.
Didn't care for the storytelling but I guess I'm not sure what you wanted if you didn't find a fair number of creative camera/lighting tricks. Did you need more JJ Abrams lens flairs to be satisfied? [Reply]
Star Wars: Episode 8.5 Mysteries of the Force (Working Subtitles) Graphic Novel --Leaked Written by Rian Johnson and unspecified coauthors.
An unnamed source with deep inside knowledge of Disney and Lucasfilms' plans for the future of the Star Wars franchise and particularly, an upcoming graphic novel co-authored by Rian Johnson, director of their lastest film, "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," has shared some very interesting details about Disney's strategy for the brand and he fore mentioned graphic novel. All off the record of course, so keep some salt handy.
Now our source dishes on various plot points of the upcoming graphic novel, first, many pertaining to the story told in the "The Last Jedi," and also a variety of other junctures.
*Warning: Potential Spoilers Ahead*
● In the meeting to discuss Poe's discipline after he disobeyed orders to stand down, Admiral Holdo initially stands up for Poe but is told by Leia that he has to learn to trust and respect his superiors and their orders, claiming that he required a hard hand approach. She contends there is no place for a 'fly boy' within their ranks. Holdo ultimately adopts Leia's mindset on the situation.
● In the aftermath of the costly bombing run, Admiral Ackbar advises other far off commanders of Resistance forces that the First Order may be placing a trap to rally distant Resistance forces to their location, and that the commanders should consider carefully before coming to the aid of the Raddus.
● The First Order, strategically, do not outright destroy the Raddus in efforts to draw out additional Resistance fleets, desiring to centralize the battle and finally crush the Resistance entirely. They figure a distress call from their General's vessel will rally their forces.
● Aboard the Raddus, whispers of a traitor or spy prompts suspicions and anxiety. Finn is even proposed as a potential mole. Some at least figure he is terrified of being recaptured by the First Order and may flee or bargain to save his own life. Poe is aware of the canard, and partially induces his decision to send Finn away on the reconnaissance mission, with hopes this might move Admiral Holdo to be more forthcoming about her plan.
● There is a method to Luke's apparent madness. With Rey, Luke tries not to live up to the potential legends, fables and expectancy that surrounds his famed identity. He intends to undo the romanticized image of the Jedi, which had become a sort of idolatry, where many imagine them to be infallible and beyond rebuke. This is also the case when Luke recieves the Lightsaber from Rey and tosses it aside. When Luke touches the Lightsaber, he comes to see its eventual destruction.
● While aboard the Supremacy, DJ sabotages the ship's shields. Saving this fact though, DJ has no plans of being aboard the vessel when it comes under attack, and figuring Finn and Rose as expendable soldiers of their own war, he double-crosses them to secure his own escape. (There is a deleted scene from the film that suggests this is the case as well)
Other details about the story of the novel but that do not necessarily pertain to the story told by the film:
● Exploration of the character DJ and background
● Broad revelations about Snoke and his back story
● Exposition of Ben Solo's past, his eventual encounter with Snoke, his turn to the dark side, and his exploits with the Knights of Ren
● Elucidate on Leia's apparent force abilities
● Exposition of Luke's time before and on Ahch-To and major revelations about the Jedi Master
● Within the narrative, the "Force" and its essence is likened to that a woman, and a force - user's relationship to it, as one of two associations with a woman. The Sith behold a lover; and the Jedi, a mother.
● Explication of force-sensitives and their distinction from force-users
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Can't agree with you there. Some of the cinematography in this movie is among the most memorable in the entire series.
The red salt on Crait and how it created almost a visceral reaction. The throne room scene had some spectacular visuals. And I guess you can't really call the kamikazee charge 'cinematography' (I don't know, can you?) but I think that was arguably the most striking visual/audio moment of the entire Star Wars history. The silence before the explosion and the breakup was awesome. The shots on/around/over Ahch-To wasn't quite Peter Jackson or anything but it was pretty damn impressive in a lot of ways.
I mean, it's hard to say where CGI starts and where cinematography begins so there are some tough lines to draw, but one thing I'll give him credit for is that Johnson made a visually beautiful movie.
Didn't care for the storytelling but I guess I'm not sure what you wanted if you didn't find a fair number of creative camera/lighting tricks. Did you need more JJ Abrams lens flairs to be satisfied?
Fuck no to JJ. Those scenes are certainly the best in the film, and maybe I need to watch it again, but I never felt awe from any of that, and I went in wanting to love this movie and avoided any and all opinions and reviews. I suppose when I saw the trailers showing off the red dirt covered in salt I thought there would be more time spent there. Like on Hoth or something.
While the throne room was a lovely red with red people and red-robed shit head the moment never felt as intense as all that red was wanting me to feel. Maybe it is because I felt no connection to the characters at all or because it was a fairly anticlimactic fight sequence. The most powerful person in the room (arguably) was killed first... so clearly, the underlings with no faces are going to topple easily and we will get our "will she moment" that we all knew the answer to before he asked.
The entire casino side story was a visual clusterfuck, and not in a cool way like Fifth Element.
When this comes to Disney streaming I will watch it again. I will admit that my disappointment in the plot(s) possibly has warped all memory of the film now. [Reply]
Okay, but here's the thing - didn't this movie feel a LOT like the end of a saga rather than a middle?
And wasn't it too damn long to begin with?
So why not take a lot of that information; genuinely interesting stuff that could've made for a far better story, and put it in this move. And then make the latter half plus a little more to finish up the 3rd movie?
Johnson knew he didn't have the helm for the 3rd movie so he told a half-story in this one so he could get as much in as possible. In so doing, he took what could've been a genuinely interesting story if told over two parts, gutted it and made it a pretty shallow shell. [Reply]
Originally Posted by bowener:
Fuck no to JJ. Those scenes are certainly the best in the film, and maybe I need to watch it again, but I never felt awe from any of that, and I went in wanting to love this movie and avoided any and all opinions and reviews. I suppose when I saw the trailers showing off the red dirt covered in salt I thought there would be more time spent there. Like on Hoth or something.
While the throne room was a lovely red with red people and red-robed shit head the moment never felt as intense as all that red was wanting me to feel. Maybe it is because I felt no connection to the characters at all or because it was a fairly anticlimactic fight sequence. The most powerful person in the room (arguably) was killed first... so clearly, the underlings with no faces are going to topple easily and we will get our "will she moment" that we all knew the answer to before he asked.
The entire casino side story was a visual clusterfuck, and not in a cool way like Fifth Element.
When this comes to Disney streaming I will watch it again. I will admit that my disappointment in the plot(s) possibly has warped all memory of the film now.
Hey, like I said, I gathered my whole family and set up babysitters and bought reserved seats in IMAX and all that shit. I desperately wanted to like it and for the first 15 minutes thought I actually would. I was geeking it up.
But as the 'bombers' started and other inexplicable events took place, I got that creeping "oh no...this move might actually not be very good" feeling. It didn't keep me from being impressed by the visuals, though.
Ultimately I think you were probably just pissed off enough at the story to blow past some of the scenery. Or maybe I just liked the IMAX more and would've been disappointed on a regular screen. Who knows? [Reply]
Originally Posted by temper11:
Actually know a ton of pretty die hard star wars fans... and a fair number of casual fans. None have said they hated the movie. None. That's just been my experience, but just seems odd given the level of hate in some of these posts.
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Awesome. I wonder if Disney will make a sequel to Tangled where Repunzel dies of cancer and or Frozen where Anna gets trampled by a horse and Elsa retreats into a shell after she loses control again and kills everyone in town.
This is perfect and should be stickied.
Kathleen Kennedy shit all over the beloved characters of Han, Luke & Leia.
They've been reduced to losers and fodder for a "new generation", which consists of uninteresting characters, retreads and a Mary Sue. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud:
They've been reduced to losers
They had 30 years of peace post Jedi.
Han was brilliant in TFA, setting Rey off on her quest, Leia's leadership resulted in the destruction of Starkiller base and the saving of the Resistance, and Luke saved eveyone's ass at the end of the film.
They don't feel like losers to me.
They'd be losers if The First Order ruled the galaxy, but that hasn't happened yet.
The galaxy got complacent, a few planets got blown up and a new menace is threatening freedom, but it appears our classic heroes have set the new ones up to combat it in IX.
They're still heroes. Flawed, but heroes. There'd be zero fucking drama if they were perfect. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Hammock Parties:
They had 30 years of peace post Jedi.
How so?
The Battle of Jakku was a few years after Endor.
The First Order and Snoke had his hands on Kylo Ren as a teenager.
You're not providing any facts.
Originally Posted by Hammock Parties:
They'd be losers if The First Order ruled the galaxy, but that hasn't happened yet.
The New Republic Government was destroyed. The First Order rules the Galaxy. No planet or system came to the aid of the Resistance, led by Leia.
Now, Leia's dead.
Originally Posted by Hammock Parties:
The galaxy got complacent, a few planets got blown up and a new menace is threatening freedom, but it appears our classic heroes have set the new ones up to combat it in IX.
I'm sorry, Poe, Finn, Rose and Rey aren't heroes. They're bit players and in Poe's case, has seen very little screen time.
Originally Posted by Hammock Parties:
They're still heroes. Flawed, but heroes. There'd be zero fucking drama if they were perfect.
They're not heroes, they're not fun and there's nothing special about them.
There's no Han Solo in this bunch. There's no Luke Skywalker in this bunch. Darth Vader and The Emperor were a million times more charismatic and cool than Snoke and emo Kylo Ren. There isn't anyone even the equivalent of a Boba Fett in this trilogy, let alone, someone as cool as Lando Calrissian.
