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I just hope future conversation will be more constructive than the last round.

Yes, TLJ was divisive. I just hope I’m not doomed to read the same comments time and time again.

If it sucks, it sucks. I’m open to that.

This won't be like that. J.J. makes mostly safe entertaining movies. Though the meme writes itself when you hire the Lost guy to conclude anything

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I just hope future conversation will be more constructive than the last round.

Yes, TLJ was divisive. I just hope I’m not doomed to read the same comments time and time again.

If it sucks, it sucks. I’m open to that.

I'm still reserving my opinion on TLJ. There were some....bold... decisions that I did not like, but I could see some of them having decent pay-offs in RoS. If they do, they my opinion of TLJ will be overall positive.
However, if most of issues are ignored, well I guess TLJ is my new Attack of the Clones; just one you have to get through to "properly" marathon SW.

-

I think we have passed the time when it was desirable or even appropriate to marathon Star Wars.

RoS does have the chance to retroactively improve TLJ in the same way TLJ made Force Awakens worse.

I think even just going by the trailers it looks better than the trailers did for TLJ. My only gripe is that the Star Destroyer fleet is yet another "awesomeness escalation" that has been a part of each of the sequel movies - although at least this one harkens back to the Katana Fleet as some of the cooler parts of the EU, and were it in isolation it is much more palatable than Death Planets and Super Super Star Destroyers and apocalyptic Hyperspace maneuvers that have been previously undiscovered in 4,000(ish) years of space travel.

Just from the trailers I was lukewarm about even watching TLJ in theatres (and actually never did), but I am much more exited about Rise of Skywalker and what the plot hopefully materializes as (i.e. something cool and Star Wars-y).

So many of the first reactions from the premiere are "If you loved The Last Jedi, you're not going to like this!".

Makes me excited to see it.

(NB: No spoilers at that link - they're just the twitter reactions)

But what if you didn't like either sequel movie?

 AegisGrimm wrote:
Just from the trailers I was lukewarm about even watching TLJ in theatres.

You know what else is 'Luke'warm? The internal temperature of a Taun-taun.

-

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
So many of the first reactions from the premiere are "If you loved The Last Jedi, you're not going to like this!".

Makes me excited to see it.

(NB: No spoilers at that link - they're just the twitter reactions)

I'd argue that the people who liked TLJ did so because they walked into the theater without a long list of expectations or burning need for validation. So I expect them to roll with whatever RoS brings. *shrug*

 Galef wrote:

 AegisGrimm wrote:
Just from the trailers I was lukewarm about even watching TLJ in theatres.

You know what else is 'Luke'warm? The internal temperature of a Taun-taun.

-

Next you'll be the one to tell Qui-Gon that he was right in that the negotiations were short...

So, do I watch TFA and TLJ tonight, or tomorrow?

Currently off work due to head weasels, so either is an option.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
But what if you didn't like either sequel movie?

(raises hand) that would be me.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
So, do I watch TFA and TLJ tonight, or tomorrow?

Currently off work due to head weasels, so either is an option.

I ending up getting tickets for Friday night, so my boys and I will watch RotJ tonight (watched Empire last night), TFA tomorrow, TLJ on Thursday & RoS Friday premium
We watched 1-3 a few weeks ago and I've seen ANH at least 50 times at this point in my life, so I'm skipping it for now.

So if you are just planning on watching TFA & TLJ, I'd watch TFA tonight & TLJ tomorrow.

-

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
So, do I watch TFA and TLJ tonight, or tomorrow?

Currently off work due to head weasels, so either is an option.

just watch Moana, its a better Star Wars movie than either...

trying to muster some enthusiasm for Rise, but it's just not happening

 Turnip Jedi wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
So, do I watch TFA and TLJ tonight, or tomorrow?

Currently off work due to head weasels, so either is an option.

just watch Moana, its a better Star Wars movie than either...

trying to muster some enthusiasm for Rise, but it's just not happening

I'm shocked at how apathetic I feel about it. I'm more curious about the reactions to it than the actual movie.

As much as I know people will hate this opinion, I think RoS needs to have a great deal of "fan service" for lack of a better term. If it's the conclusion of all 9 saga films, there's gonna be tons of call backs to both the Orig Trig and *gasp* the Prequels.

To be a satisfying conclusion, this HAS to happen. And I know there's going to be some heavy eye-rolling because of it, so if you are one of those that wants SW to go in new directions and to stop relying on nostalgia, I think there's a good chance of disappointment.

If done right, however, this could be really well done and tie all the movies together. At least that is my hope.

-

I have no confidence that I will love it. I've been unhappy with the sequel trilogy because it built its foundation on the destruction of the happy endings at the end of RotJ.

The flipside is that I love The Mandalorian because it lovingly harkens back to the originals while going its own direction.

Commonality to early commentary?

There is a lot going on here.

Mayhap I’ll go see it twice on release day, as I did with Infinity War and End Game. Once for the sheer spectacle, twice to better unpack.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Mayhap I’ll go see it twice on release day, as I did with Infinity War and End Game. Once for the sheer spectacle, twice to better unpack.

I know I'm likely to see it twice. If for no other reason that it releases at the start of a 5-day weekend for me.
But I tend to see these big spectacle movies twice in theaters regardless, just never on the same day.
The second viewing is always after at least a day or more reflection from the first.

-

 gorgon wrote:
I'd argue that the people who liked TLJ did so because they walked into the theater without a long list of expectations or burning need for validation.

So people who disliked TLJ did so because they were expecting validation?

Nice try...

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 gorgon wrote:
I'd argue that the people who liked TLJ did so because they walked into the theater without a long list of expectations or burning need for validation.

So people who disliked TLJ did so because they were expecting validation?

Nice try...

I disliked it because it was the awesome nexus of boring and stupid.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 gorgon wrote:
I'd argue that the people who liked TLJ did so because they walked into the theater without a long list of expectations or burning need for validation.

So people who disliked TLJ did so because they were expecting validation?

Nice try...

For a lot of people....

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
So, do I watch TFA and TLJ tonight, or tomorrow?

Currently off work due to head weasels, so either is an option.

Watch the Honest Trailers or the Cram It video and stop torturing yourself?

I quite like TLJ, though I'd prefer it be about half an hour shorter so I could watch it more often.

 Galef wrote:
As much as I know people will hate this opinion, I think RoS needs to have a great deal of "fan service" for lack of a better term. If it's the conclusion of all 9 saga films, there's gonna be tons of call backs to both the Orig Trig and *gasp* the Prequels.

To be a satisfying conclusion, this HAS to happen. And I know there's going to be some heavy eye-rolling because of it, so if you are one of those that wants SW to go in new directions and to stop relying on nostalgia, I think there's a good chance of disappointment.

-

I just want it to tell a decent and entertaining story. It doesn't need 'new directions,' 'nostalgia breaks' or fan service to do that.

It needs to be somewhat inline with the rest of the films (ultimate power = bad, faith in yours friends=good, and lets buckle some swashes and have a nice space battle along the way, alright?), but that isn't the same thing as fan service. What it needs to do is provide some reason to even vaguely care about the characters introduced two movies ago, and move a plot along at a decent pace while they make decisions that test them and get resolved by the end of the film.

I have doubts they'll manage to pull that off, simply because the writer/directors have been doodling in the margins of a sketchbook rather than learning how to tell stories, but at least it'll be done.

 LunarSol wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 gorgon wrote:
I'd argue that the people who liked TLJ did so because they walked into the theater without a long list of expectations or burning need for validation.

So people who disliked TLJ did so because they were expecting validation?

Nice try...

For a lot of people....

Spoiler:

If Luke had multiple action scenes doing kewl Jedi stuff with his lightsaber (for real-real, not for play-play), there probably would have been 50% fewer gripes about the film. I mean, complaints about the dialogue? LOL. Go watch a prequel trilogy film if you want to see a movie with a genuinely bad script. Some of those lines are undeliverable, and it's no wonder that otherwise excellent actors somehow looked bad in those movies.

Other people may not have liked TLJ for other reasons. People are 100% allowed not to like things. But there's absolutely a block of superfans that walked in expecting and demanding what Luke's storyline and story beats should be, and reacted when Johnson trolled them over it.

Anyway -- and back to my original point -- I don't think there's really a faction of TLJ fans pounding their fists on the table for MOAR EXPECTATION SUBVERSION in RoS. Most of them aren't making many demands on SW films, which is why they rolled with TLJ in the first place.

Voss wrote:

I just want it to tell a decent and entertaining story. It doesn't need 'new directions,' 'nostalgia breaks' or fan service to do that.

It needs to be somewhat inline with the rest of the films (ultimate power = bad, faith in yours friends=good, and lets buckle some swashes and have a nice space battle along the way, alright?), but that isn't the same thing as fan service. What it needs to do is provide some reason to even vaguely care about the characters introduced two movies ago, and move a plot along at a decent pace while they make decisions that test them and get resolved by the end of the film.

I have doubts they'll manage to pull that off, simply because the writer/directors have been doodling in the margins of a sketchbook rather than learning how to tell stories, but at least it'll be done.

This.

Force Awakens gave us nothing to go on save for Disney wanting to exploit the nostalgia for A New Hope and wanting nothing to do with the prequel era. Last Jedi did a bit better by at least explaining why Ben is a psycho and Luke had gone missing, while Rose is a new character who actually has a character to speak of. But two films in and we still don't know much about the three main heros; Poe, Finn and Rey. Snoke was nobody and nor do we have any idea why the First Order exists at all. If there was any story to the sequels then Rise of Skywalker needs to haul ass.

Rogue One and Solo are better movies because LucasFilm has had those stories roughed out for years before the Disney aquisition. In fact, both films have their roots in A.C.Crispin's Han Solo Trilogy which covers both the Death Star plan heist, and Han Solo's youth, and that was written in the late 90s. Even with the retcon of the EU, those were the real LucasFilm movies.

Disney just need to leave LucasFilm to do its thing and they will come through for them, and have done so with Rebels and The Mandalorian.

 LunarSol wrote:
I quite like TLJ, though I'd prefer it be about half an hour shorter so I could watch it more often.

That's pretty easy to do. Fast forward through all the Canto Bright stuff. It's about 1/2hr worth of footage, and removing it makes zero difference to the outcome of the film.

I'm interested in RoS, but I'm dreading the reactionary fandom fights from all sides I'll have to endure for months as I get back into playing X-Wing after the new year. I don't mind anyone's opinion, I just have a low bar to people crapping on others for not sharing their view.

I knew players so mad about 2nd Ed and TLJ they sold off their Fantasy Flight collections and/or quit the game. To each their own, but they had to keep pointing out that they were making a statement and why. I also picked up a TLJ shirt for like $1 to wear at the gym, and had to deal with a lecture on why TLJ sucked from a random store clerk half my age. Then, another friend thought it was brilliant because he likes Rian Johnson and went on a rampage versus critics of TLJ. I'm not a big 'fandom' or sacred cow person, so I found all of it tiresome. I just pick and choose what parts I like in media and discard the rest, like the chocolates in a Whitman's Sampler. TLJ had a lot of interesting ideas, but executed most of them poorly (Fleet Cat & Mouse, Poe making a bad call, Force connections for Rey & Kylo, Luke being terrified of something and not being as successful as we hoped), but I wanted to find some gold in there. The only part I actively disliked completely was the Canto scenes. Absolute waste.

TFA was pretty good. I questioned some of the choices but on the whole I liked it..

Kylo was probably my favorite character of TFA and TLJ, but it felt like they undid any character growth he had by the end of TLJ. Compared to Vader, I loved the idea of an impulsive, reckless, emotional disaster of a sith that was committing evil acts because he wanted to get closer to an ideal he could never live up to.

I'm HOPING there is some advancement there. I don't want redemption. But I also don't want the rumors I heard to be true.

I'll probably catch a matinee over the weekend. I expect I'll view it as alright unless it makes some terrible choices.