Fierce_LiNk Posted October 31, 2019 Posted October 31, 2019 1 hour ago, Ronnie said: See I think 3 is the worst of any film. It's just a total mess. They've managed to make the script between Padme and Anakin even worse (remember that awkward as fuck balcony scene where they're taking about how much they love each other?). I'll just about be ok to watch 1 again, but 2 and 3 terrible. The CGI, characters, acting, script, pacing, story-telling, concept, everything. 3 is horrific, but it's redeemed by all of the memes and some of its quotable lines. That balcony scene is brilliant, because it's so terrible and so damn quotable. I often throw in the "So love has blinded you?!" line with a serious face around the house, haha. "I am the Senate!" Oh god...my sides. Although, saying that, the "I HATE THEM!" and "I don't like sand" lines by Anakin in episode 2 are also pretty amazing. It's too easy to take the piss out of these films when they're on ITV2 or something. They're no longer films. 3 often gets overrated by fans, because it's still a bad film, just not quite as bad as 1 and 2 for me. The romance scenes in 2 and 3 are awful, but I think the final scene between Obi-Wan and Anakin is better than anything that 2 has to offer. I still think we're tricked into "liking" three because we get to see Anakin fall to the Dark Side and become Darth Vader, but it's still an awful film. The set pieces in both films are just so long. Even that final fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan goes on for too long that it just becomes boring. Episode 1's threeway with Darth Maul was fantastic and easily the best action scene in any of the prequel films. I felt nothing watching that entire last third of Episode 2. Just battles for the sake of flashiness. The flaws that you have listed run throughout all of the prequel trilogy. Above all, the scriptwork is abysmal, and it's just terrible storytelling. The problems begin in Episode 1 and never really get fixed in any of the films. It's a clear case of where the writers focused too much on plot, rather than driving the characters. They completely miss that the reason we love films like The Empire Strikes Back is because of the way that characters like Leia, Han, Yoda and Luke are written. I'm always in favour of the stories serving the characters and reflecting their journey, rather than stories being strictly all about plot. Anakin, especially, is so poorly written that he becomes flat. There's just no depth to his character. Also...Yoda. I miss the fun Yoda that we had in Episodes 5 and 6. Easily my favourite part of Episode 8 when he turns up. 1
Ronnie Posted October 31, 2019 Posted October 31, 2019 36 minutes ago, Fierce_LiNk said: 3 is horrific, but it's redeemed by all of the memes and some of its quotable lines. That balcony scene is brilliant, because it's so terrible and so damn quotable. I often throw in the "So love has blinded you?!" line with a serious face around the house, haha. "I am the Senate!" Oh god...my sides. Although, saying that, the "I HATE THEM!" and "I don't like sand" lines by Anakin in episode 2 are also pretty amazing. It's too easy to take the piss out of these films when they're on ITV2 or something. They're no longer films. 3 often gets overrated by fans, because it's still a bad film, just not quite as bad as 1 and 2 for me. The romance scenes in 2 and 3 are awful, but I think the final scene between Obi-Wan and Anakin is better than anything that 2 has to offer. I still think we're tricked into "liking" three because we get to see Anakin fall to the Dark Side and become Darth Vader, but it's still an awful film. The set pieces in both films are just so long. Even that final fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan goes on for too long that it just becomes boring. Episode 1's threeway with Darth Maul was fantastic and easily the best action scene in any of the prequel films. I felt nothing watching that entire last third of Episode 2. Just battles for the sake of flashiness. Also...Yoda. I miss the fun Yoda that we had in Episodes 5 and 6. Easily my favourite part of Episode 8 when he turns up. Sounds like you and I are on the exact same page when it comes to Star Wars, I agree with everything you said. I might have to try that "So love has blinded you? " quote sometime . Also I never want to hear Darth Vader say the word "Padme" ever again, shudder. Totally agree on Anakin v Obi Wan going on way, way too long. And we really don't need them duelling on floating droid platforms over fiery lava to make it epic ffs. The "high ground" line is yet another example of the terrible script, which is a problem when it's literally at the climax of the encounter. I'm hoping the Kylo Ren/Rey battle is a bit more grounded, seems to be from what we've seen. My main problem with the prequels (apart from the characters and Christiensen, Portman and Samuel L Jackson's portrayals, especially the latter "badass" purple lightsaber ) was I didn't think the actual story-telling was up to much. It was obviously a big focus, but I just think Lucas completely missed the mark. He focused so much on Anakin, everything had to be about him, so when you finish watching 3 it's like, ok? So Anakin turned to the dark side because of love (a bit of a lame reason, Obi Wan made it sound cooler in 4) and all three films ended on this massive downer. I wish they a totally different grander storyline as the foundation, with a cast of likeable characters accomplishing something over three films, but with the sting in the tail being Anakin's turn to the dark side. At least they would have stood on their own a bit more and been a bit more than just a way of showing one character failing. Quote The flaws that you have listed run throughout all of the prequel trilogy. Above all, the scriptwork is abysmal, and it's just terrible storytelling. The problems begin in Episode 1 and never really get fixed in any of the films. It's a clear case of where the writers focused too much on plot, rather than driving the characters. They completely miss that the reason we love films like The Empire Strikes Back is because of the way that characters like Leia, Han, Yoda and Luke are written. I'm always in favour of the stories serving the characters and reflecting their journey, rather than stories being strictly all about plot. Anakin, especially, is so poorly written that he becomes flat. There's just no depth to his character. It's one of the big reasons I'm happy to forgive the rehashed story-telling of the sequels, I find the characters really compelling and fun to watch. Get the characters right in a Star Wars film and you're half way there. 1
Julius Posted November 4, 2019 Author Posted November 4, 2019 New trailer for The Mandalorian from Vanity Fair: On 31/10/2019 at 8:41 PM, bob said: Best part of Attack of the Clones: Yep. Ben Burtt is a god.
Ronnie Posted November 7, 2019 Posted November 7, 2019 The next month and a half are going to be huge for Star Wars. A fantastic looking tv show, Episode 9, Fallen Order looking great. Then you have smaller things like Resistance wrapping up, a new Vader Immortal chapter and the apparently excellent IX prequel novel Resistance Reborn. What a time to be a Star Wars fan! Though I do sort of wish Fallen Order was a Jan/Feb game just to space things out a bit!
Julius Posted November 7, 2019 Author Posted November 7, 2019 So, apparently the BBC reported earlier today that we in the UK would be getting Disney+ in March.
Ronnie Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 Started re-watching every main Star Wars film in the build up to 9. I considered skipping the prequels but thought I may as well do this properly. Some random thoughts... The Phantom Menace: The best prequel film, at least in my opinion. Certainly the prequel that feels most like a Star Wars film. 2 and 3 aren't adventure films like Star Wars is supposed to be, Phantom Menace is. That said, it suffers from the same major flaws as the other prequels, a terrible script, poor characters (Qui-Gon and Maul apart), and a pretty lame foundation storyline, which is a shame because pacing-wise it's pretty good, if way too expository. Seriously, they cut to holograms (usually Palpatine) explaining the situation every ten minutes about a dozen times. But yeah, overall I don't mind it too much. Flawed from the beginning but enjoyable enough. 5/10 Small things I noticed: - Scenes are way, way shorter than the sequel trilogy. Some will last no more than twenty seconds. Weird. - Prosthetics were surprisingly poor in places. Maybe I'm spoiled by the sequels but the Trade Federation especially looked TERRIBLE. - A refreshing lack of CG. Don't get me wrong, there was tons, but not so much it makes your eyes bleed like in 2 and 3. - I'd always remembered the kid that plays Anakin here as being pretty good and not too annoying... I was wrong. - The pod-race setpiece is the best thing about the prequels (apart from the announcer) - Samuel L Jackson in Star Wars. Just, no. - I like how Amidala's servant (in disguise) sent the Queen to clean up Artoo. lol. - Liam Neeson carries most of the film tbh, he was pretty good.
Julius Posted November 13, 2019 Author Posted November 13, 2019 (edited) Just finished Chapter 1 of The Mandalorian. Non-spoiler thoughts: Great introduction to the titular character, a very strong and diverse Star Wars-sounding spaghetti western soundtrack by Ludwig Göransson (which is up pretty much everywhere, in case you're wondering!) with heavy influence evident from Ennio Morricone and (obviously) John Williams, and a lot of mystery to hook you in. Excellent cinematography, sets, and costumes, too – and, as ever with Star Wars, a wink or two which I'm sure will bring a smirk to any fan's face. In terms of gripes? CGI was mostly brilliant, but there was definitely a vehicle or two looking pretty undercooked in terms of post-production processing, but it's very easily the best looking CGI I've seen outside of Hollywood's highest budget blockbusters. And that's about it. In terms of spoilers... Spoiler Man, that ending. Was very much expecting a huttling to be the target, and for that to bring the Hutt family into the fold in a massive way. The yodaling (I have imagine that we're finally going to get a species name during this series) was definitely a curve ball I wasn't expecting. The turn from cold blooded hunter to (somewhat) warm hearted guardian was a swift but welcome subversion – feel like we're in for some Lone Wolf and Cub vibes. And I love what I feel was a little E.T. nod at the very end. Also, the beskar and mandalorian blacksmith is easily the coolest part of this episode. Having The Mandalorian return for upgrades moving forwards is going to be awesome. Roll on Chapter 2 on Friday, along with Fallen Order! Edited November 13, 2019 by Julius 1
Ronnie Posted November 13, 2019 Posted November 13, 2019 (edited) You and I must have watched it at the exact same time because I finished it half an hour ago as well. I thought it was absolutely fantastic. If their job was to lure you in with this brand new world and then leave you wanting more it certainly accomplished that. I was gutted when the end credits rolled. The music was top notch (and very different to what we're used to in the saga films, but obviously much more fitting to the style of show and the setting). As has become the norm with Disney Star Wars, cinematography was brilliant, and visually the show is just beautiful. There managed to be even less CGI than I was expecting tbh, everything felt so real and grounded, though I will agree some CG looked rough, the early speeder shots looked a little off somehow. Great opening act though. I'm glad they gave a bit of personality to the Mando, I was worried they might try and make him a bit too cool and not say much but I'm glad they're giving Pedro Pascal plenty to work with. Obviously lots of fan service and nods only hardcore fans will notice but I'm pleased it wasn't OTT. I was expecting there to be some kind of callback every 10 seconds but it was pretty restrained overall. Spoiler Never in a million years did I expect a baby Yoda species to be the target, what a crazy finish. Have to admit I'm pretty gutted about what happened to IG-11 though, I was growing to LOVE him. Would be a shame to kill him off after one episode, wonder if he can be repaired, though I suspect that's probably it for him. Weird to put him on posters and make toys out of him if that's all there was. The beast things the Mando rides were great too. Loved the design, a funny mix of ugly and cute. A small thing, but I liked the end credits visuals, very colourful. Interesting Star Wars opening title too, that had me scratching my head a bit. Can't wait for Chapter 2, what a brilliant start... Edited November 13, 2019 by Ronnie
Ronnie Posted November 16, 2019 Posted November 16, 2019 Another great episode yesterday. I can't believe how much they nailed the look of this show, familiar but also giving it its own flavour. The touch of levity is perfect too every so often. Only disappointment is how short these episodes are, 28 minutes! In a funny way though I think the short and concise nature fits the show but at the same time, just give me MORE!!
Julius Posted November 17, 2019 Author Posted November 17, 2019 Watched Chapter 2 back on Friday...WHY WAS THIS EPISODE SO MUCH SHORTER THAN THE LAST ONE?! Ahem. More great costume and character designs, more great tracks. Actually, I must have listened to Chapter 1's OST a good ten or fifteen times before getting a chance to see this episode, and so the fact that the show's themes were still standing out to me says a whole lot. Don't think we've had too many callbacks, if any, to Williams' scores yet, which is both awesome and a bit mystifying. Speaking of which, my favourite cue of the show so far is very easily the one which can be found at 02:34: Anyways, not much else I can add before digging into spoilers. So... Spoiler No surprise the adorable little guy is a Force user at all, but love that it exhausted him. Also, pretty sure he was trying to Force heal Mando when they were around the fire, but Mando kept getting him to stop, which was great can't help but wonder what the Doctor and the Imperial remnant want with the little guy – cloning? Training? But then, even if either of those were the case: what for, exactly? Can't wait for us to start getting some answers. Loved how frustrating I found the jawas in this episode – it's like the way the show is paced, it wants you to be as frustrated as The Mandalorian when he loses the parts to his ship. Also love that he tried to incinerate one of them during their negotiations found it a little odd that he rebuilt his ship by hand and then was confident it would be suited for space travel so soon. Would have hoped he would have got that checked out first... To be honest, this felt more like a part two of Chapter 1 than it's own thing, so I'm glad we got it so soon after. That being said, the week long waits for new episodes are going to be the end of me! Very much looking forward to seeing which direction Chapter 3 takes us in next week. And then we've got IX next month. And then The Clone Wars season 7 in February. What a time to be a Star Wars fan! In other Star Wars-related stuff, I've just seen credits roll on Fallen Order. Need to sleep on it, but overall, I thought it was very good - especially the last five hours or so!
Will Posted November 17, 2019 Posted November 17, 2019 Just got caught up on the first two episodes after a week off the grid. Really enjoying it so far and I'd pretty much agree with what's been said by everyone. For me, the feeling is very different from the films but it's absolutely Star Wars. Based on what we've seen so far I imagine we'll see a few things we're familiar with but from angles we're absolutely not, that's totally fine by me - looking forward to more. 1
Ronnie Posted November 19, 2019 Posted November 19, 2019 (edited) I don't envy people trying to avoid spoilers for The Mandalorian. There's a huge one that's pretty much being talked about constantly now. Anyway, some awesome covers here. some lovely screenshots from IX And an alternate poster I have to say, even just two Mando chapters in, IX not being released and having not even started Fallen Order quite yet, this is the most fun I've had as a Star Wars fan. It's an amazing time for the franchise. Edited November 19, 2019 by Ronnie
Julius Posted November 22, 2019 Author Posted November 22, 2019 (edited) Just finished Chapter 3 of The Mandalorian. Oh my goodness – easily the best episode yet in my opinion. Screamed everything Star Wars. Spoiler Yodaling/Yiddle/Yittle (we need a name already, damn it!) crawling out at the beginning was adorable. The way The Mandalorian handled the stormtroopers had me on the edge of my seat, as did the handling of the guild shootout, and the mandalorians turning up at the end was the cherry on top of the cherry on top of some awesome icing. The mandosmith scene was once again awesome, and I loved the flashback – that Super Battle Droid is perfectly set up for a lightsaber to slice through, but the question is, if we are going to get that: who? Yoda to set up a connection to Yodaling? Obi-Wan? Heck, Ahsoka might even make the most sense in this scenario? Should be interesting to see how that scene pans out. Also, pretty sure that heavily-outfitted mando is voiced by Favreau, who voiced another mando of major significance, Pre Vizsla, in TCW. Wonder if they'll make them related... Edited November 22, 2019 by Julius
Mandalore Posted November 22, 2019 Posted November 22, 2019 How do I go about watching The Mandalorian legally, without waiting for Disney+ to come out next year?
Ronnie Posted November 23, 2019 Posted November 23, 2019 It's funny Chapter 3 has been getting rave reviews, it's at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes etc. I actually enjoyed it the least of all three. It just felt quite one-note and predictable to me. It didn't help that three of the scenes may as well have been filmed on the same day as their identical scenes in the first chapter (and by all reports, they were). It was good though, I still liked it but I'm looking forward to the Mando getting out into the wider galaxy now and showing us something new.
bob Posted November 23, 2019 Posted November 23, 2019 How do I go about watching The Mandalorian legally, without waiting for Disney+ to come out next year?Move to America?
Sméagol Posted November 23, 2019 Posted November 23, 2019 1 hour ago, bob said: 18 hours ago, Mandalore said: How do I go about watching The Mandalorian legally, without waiting for Disney+ to come out next year? Move to America? Come to The Netherlands. We have cookies. And Disney +. 1
Will Posted November 24, 2019 Posted November 24, 2019 On 23/11/2019 at 3:44 AM, Mandalore said: How do I go about watching The Mandalorian legally, without waiting for Disney+ to come out next year? It really depends on how much weight you feel the "legally" part of that question holds... Simply put you have three real options with varying levels of legality and ability to watch. If you want to be completely legal then you'll just have to wait for Disney+ to launch. If you're OK with a slight grey area you can use a VPN to subscribe to a US account and watch the real thing when you're not really meant to. If you don't care at all then just download it via a torrent. 1
Ronnie Posted November 24, 2019 Posted November 24, 2019 (edited) Next film in the saga on the way to IX, I just watched Attack of the Clones... Frankly, it was even worse than I remember it. The same issues from Phantom Menace carried over: terrible characters, terrible acting and terrible script, now with added terrible story-telling, editing and pacing. It was also way too long, I was bored half way through and I'm a huge SW nerd. The plot was just all over the place, I'm not a fan of how the plot jumps around from place to place every two minutes like in 2 and 3. Christensen I'm sure did the best he could but was an awful casting choice, almost unwatchable and Portman is as bad as ever. Samuel L Jackson with his stupid purple lightsaber (cause he's apparently supposed to be a cool guy) annoys me. So many cringy scenes, glances and moments. Why can Artoo fly all of a sudden? Threepio swapping heads with a battle droid was just dumb. Actually that whole sequence was. Why is Yoda a military strategist all of a sudden? His portrayal in Last Jedi was perfect, I don't know who the fuck Ep 2 Yoda was. Way, way, too much CG. The actors must have spent the entire production surrounded by green screen. There's tons more negatives, but a few positives: the three arena beasts were pretty cool, a look into Coruscant's night life was fun (if not particularly well done), the seismic charges were obviously fantastic (what chance we'll see them show up again in Mandalorian) and the sound effects were on point as usual, especially the speeder chase early on. But yeah, urgh. 3/10 Lucas has some good ideas, but he's no film-maker. Thankfully the original trilogy was rescued by people close to him. Edited November 25, 2019 by Ronnie 1
Julius Posted November 25, 2019 Author Posted November 25, 2019 There's a spoiler on the front page of the BBC website at the moment for The Mandalorian. Despite them knowing full well that Disney+'s release in the UK being over 4 months away. What the hell... Spoiler
Ronnie Posted November 30, 2019 Posted November 30, 2019 (edited) Wrong thread Edited November 30, 2019 by Ronnie
Julius Posted November 30, 2019 Author Posted November 30, 2019 Watched Chapter 4 last night. Loved it. Spoiler Yodaling/Yiddle/Yittle/Yiddling - seriously though, Favreau, I need a name, damn it! - is the most adorable thing to ever happen to Star Wars. Loved seeing a "live-action" CG representation of the lothcat from Rebels! Much more aggressive than all of the other lothcats we've seen in canon though, that's for sure... Loved the Seven Samurai inspiration for this episode, though I do think that TCW already did it better. They seriously made the AT-ST menacing, which is a big deal for me, after the kind of laughing stock ROTJ made them - easily the most menacing depiction of it to date, in my opinion. Cara Dune was great, really hope we see more of her this season - considering that we're practically halfway through and we've got both her and Kuiil in positions where they easily could have joined Mando for a longer run, I wonder if this season ends with him finally assembling a crew of sorts? Oh, and as always, the music was superb. Loved the two or three new variants we got of the main theme this episode. Now the wait for Chapter 5 begins!
Ashley Posted November 30, 2019 Posted November 30, 2019 On 25/11/2019 at 6:51 PM, Julius said: There's a spoiler on the front page of the BBC website at the moment for The Mandalorian. Despite them knowing full well that Disney+'s release in the UK being over 4 months away. What the hell... Seriously? (Reveal hidden contents) It's pretty hard to not know about that at the moment and really the fault seems more on Disney for putting a six month gap between the region releases. Spoiler That being said, I would die for baby Yoda. And all I've seen is on Twitter.
Ronnie Posted December 1, 2019 Posted December 1, 2019 Chapter 4 was great, so different to what I was expecting, gave us a fresh look at the SW universe, at least in live action. Spoiler The AT-ST was fantastic, felt terrifying for something that had gotten to be a bit of a laughing stock. Loved the shot of the Razor Crest landing. Looked incredible. Cara Dune was great, I'm sure she'll pop up again later in the season. What I love about the show is that each chapter is its own self-contained story. There's one season-long arc sure, but unlike a lot of modern tv these days each episode is memorable because there's a specific tale being told in each of them. Watching Star Trek Discovery's first season I could barely tell you anything that happened because it all blended into one (and was a pretty shit one at that) 3 hours ago, Ashley said: Regarding the actual thing being spoiled (Hide contents) That being said, I would die for baby Yoda. And all I've seen is on Twitter. Star Wars has this insane ability to make people fall in love with something before even seeing it appear in the actual thing it appears in! (BB-8, Porgs, the Mandalorian *spoiler*, and at least for me, D-O in Rise of Skywalker, love that thing)
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