Star Wars: The Force Awakens (12/18/15)

[jye4ever]

JJ:


“Imagine reading Star Wars, imagine being Mark Hamill and you get the script for the new Star Wars. 'Oh the opening is good, page two, oh, three and so on - what the *****k is the going on, I’m three pages before the end, the last page, what?' He was so kind to do it, and at first he was like, 'Will it seem silly, will it be a joke that he is standing there?' I said to him, ‘I don’t think it will.’ I said because the whole movie is about that, it could be a great fun drum roll, up to seeing this guy.”

 

[Khev]

Abrams did such a great job at maintaining a breakneck pace throughout the movie. He kept giving us bits and pieces of the plot but almost always interrupted any scene that started to give more elaborate exposition with a new emergency. This allowed him to keep a bit of mystery from beginning to end while keeping the most relentless pace of any SW film yet.

Poe and Lor San Tekka are interrupted by the FO dropships.

Poe and Finn's discussion about the map to Luke Skywalker is interrupted by a missile blast to their TIE Fighter.

When Rey says, "Luke Skywalker? I thought he was a myth," they are immediately interrupted by the two FO Stormtroopers.

After they escape Jakku they exchange names on the Falcon and it looks like Finn is about to tell her more about himself but they are interrupted by the leaking gas.

When the gas is fixed Finn asks Rey what is so important about Jakku but before she can answer they are interrupted by Han's freighter.

Han enters and when confronted about his knowledge of Luke they are interrupted by the arrival of the Guavian Death Gang.

Only after they jump to lightspeed do we finally get that full moment where Han explains everything about Luke's disappearance and where he assumedly went. This is good on two levels, for one it's simply one of the best scenes in the movie, at least if you're a fan of Han Solo, and for two at that point we simply NEED a break after so much action.

But after that we're back to:

Maz gives insight on the Force to Rey and her possible destiny but Rey ends the moment by running outside.

Maz gives Luke's saber to Finn but before Han can press her about more details of how she got it the FO attacks.

And from that point on Rey gets captured and the rest of the movie is all about rescuing her and destroying Starkiller Base.

Not since the original Terminator (where Reese explains half the situation in the midst of a live car chase, the other half while they're hiding in said car) has an action movie interwoven exposition with action so expertly. The pacing (and lack of Hawkeye family Farmhouse/Uncle Bob in the desert scenes) is a huge reason why this film is so infinitely rewatchable.

 

[rushmore223]

Oh my god! How awesome is this!?

This Death Star of a Speaker Actually Floats in Midair

 

[Khev]

They should sculpt it in the style of Luke's training remote.

 

[jye4ever]

Seeing so little of Luke after already being beat up by Han's death irritated me at first.

But the path taken ultimately worked for me so kudos to JJ and company.

I'll admit that I teared up seeing Luke.

 

[Khev]

I don't know that I've ever been so caught off guard with the events of such a big "event" movie, especially one that is supposedly so formulaic and derivative. Totally surprised that Han wasn't flying the Falcon on Jakku. Totally surprised that Kylo was his son (since Kylo had a last name and Rey didn't prior to the release of the movie I assumed they were keeping her last name of "Solo" a secret), blown away by Han's death (though I must admit I halfway expected it knowing Ford's wishes about his character in ROTJ and some telltale foreshadowing earlier in the film,) totally shocked that Rey had the big duel with Kylo when the trailers made it look like it'd be Finn, totally surprised that Luke was saved for the end.

 

[jye4ever]

I don't know that I've ever been so caught off guard with the events of such a big "event" movie, especially one that is supposedly so formulaic and derivative. Totally surprised that Han wasn't flying the Falcon on Jakku. Totally surprised that Kylo was his son (since Kylo had a last name and Rey didn't prior to the release of the movie I assumed they were keeping her last name of "Solo" a secret), blown away by Han's death (though I must admit I halfway expected it knowing Ford's wishes about his character in ROTJ and some telltale foreshadowing earlier in the film,) totally shocked that Rey had the big duel with Kylo when the trailers made it look like it'd be Finn, totally surprised that Luke was saved for the end.

ie; Take that kara!

But yeah, great points!

 

[Khev]

 

[TonTon]

Oh my god! How awesome is this!?

This Death Star of a Speaker Actually Floats in Midair

I have a small thing like this. Just a magnet that you can put things on, but my thinking is to put a fake rock around it and then have Yoda making it levitate. Only problem is that it would have to be a largish rock to fit the magnet and when the thing goes off center it can slam down hard into the magnet base.

But since it only levitates about an inch I figured Yoda would be the perfect candidate for it.

 

[guyver1]

According to JJ, Rey's parents are not in TFA.

https://twitter.com/theemilychi/status/721117055945150468

Now that I saw that footage, maybe he was joking. When I found out about this I thought he was saying this in a private interview with a reporter but the fact that he was just responding to a fan in the audience makes me think he could've been joking

 

[JAWS]

Not since the original Terminator (where Reese explains half the situation in the midst of a live car chase, the other half while they're hiding in said car) has an action movie interwoven exposition with action so expertly. The pacing (and lack of Hawkeye family Farmhouse/Uncle Bob in the desert scenes) is a huge reason why this film is so infinitely rewatchable.

I don't know that I've ever been so caught off guard with the events of such a big "event" movie, especially one that is supposedly so formulaic and derivative. Totally surprised that Han wasn't flying the Falcon on Jakku. Totally surprised that Kylo was his son (since Kylo had a last name and Rey didn't prior to the release of the movie I assumed they were keeping her last name of "Solo" a secret), blown away by Han's death (though I must admit I halfway expected it knowing Ford's wishes about his character in ROTJ and some telltale foreshadowing earlier in the film,) totally shocked that Rey had the big duel with Kylo when the trailers made it look like it'd be Finn, totally surprised that Luke was saved for the end.

Man I wish I saw the same film as you

 

[kryptonianmutie]

Man I wish I saw the same film as you

I just want those Khev goggles.

 

[YoNoSe]

Now that I saw that footage, maybe he was joking. When I found out about this I thought he was saying this in a private interview with a reporter but the fact that he was just responding to a fan in the audience makes me think he could've been joking

Yeah, as someone posted, he cleared it up - he was just speaking to the fact that Rey's parentage is not addressed in TFA. He wasn't confirming that the characters didn't appear in the movie.

 

[YoNoSe]

I just want those Khev goggles.

Khev goggles + Disney checks = the good life.

 

[guyver1]

Khev goggles + Disney checks = the good life.

what the hell is this from

 

[kryptonianmutie]

what the hell is this from

Has to be a music video. He looks so miserable, it's like he's been reading the BvS thread.

 

[Khev]

Yeah I'll take Rey's X-Wing helmet. (Especially since I assumed someone was going to give me Maz' goggles instead.)

And to me for finally getting on Disney's payroll.

 

[Khev]

Man I wish I saw the same film as you

JAWS I feel like you and I are so on the same page about films from the 70's/80's (SW, ESB, ALIENS, Terminator) but then things just go sideways the farther we move from those. As an expirement I'm going to list some of my absolute Top Shelf films from 2000 until now (filtering out all the flash in the pans/guilty pleasures/etc.) and I want to see if you look at that list and go "Sweet!" or "I hate them all!"

In no particular order:

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Memento
LOTR trilogy
Black Hawk Down
Insomnia
Spirited Away
Lost in Translation
Whale Rider
Captain America: The First Avenger
Les Miserables
Extended Hobbit Trilogy
Before Sunset
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Boyhood
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ex Machina
The Force Awakens
Brooklyn
The VVitch

Now where do I lose you? With just a few of those or almost the whole damn thing?

 

[jye4ever]

Poe and Lor San Tekka are interrupted by the FO dropships..

Who?

I just want those Khev goggles.

Her chewing was annoying and felt like a forced character moment.

 

[karamazov80]

I also hate characters that chew. Batman V Superman didn't give us any of that ********.