Star Wars VIII : The Last Jedi

Looks… :lou_lol:

I have been fapping all morning after watching that…

Glad to have been of service

Big news out of the Disney Earnings Broadcast last night part 1

Big news part 2

New Trilogy planned in a different Galaxy

Dodged a bullet last night.

The UAE Premiere was the last event at the Dubai Internation Film Festival.

It kicked off at 7:30 last night, tickets were only 20 quid and I could have bought some.

But of course because they made public the whole red carpet thing, the ENTIRE area around Burj al Arab and Mall of the Emirates was totally gridlocked for 3 hours either side.

One non spolier thing I have seen is that the film is 2 hours 32 minutes.

Need to plan the need for bathroom trips rather well then.

Going to see the new one this weekend with ms pap.

In the meantime, this is fascinating. I expect @saintbristol in particular to love it.

Spoiler warning; George Lucas would have fucked up Star Wars too if he’d had his way.

2 Likes

I hope you’re going to walk out at half time if it’s crap @pap

5 Likes

One of the few things I’ve heard about the film is that it flags a bit in the middle. However, it seems the filmmakers knew how to finish the last five minutes, by all non-spoilery accounts.

I saw it yesterday. It is very slightly slow in the middle, but not seriously. Overall, two and a half hours flew by, entertainingly.

1 Like

Took my boys to see it yesterday evening. The lads (9 and 11) were ridiculously excited about going, more so than any film they’ve seen before. and they were entirely code-compliant* (although the same can’t be said for everyone in the cinema - checking your phone? Seriously?).

As for the film, it was a lot of fun. It had enough tension to keep it exciting and didn’t feel too CGI-ish (although the salt planet was a bit Hoth-like). The kids absolutely loved it - I’ve warned them not to spoil it when they went to school this morning. I reckon they’ll be asking to see it again pretty soon.

* and hello to Jason Issacs

3 Likes

It’s in the memory banks. Just back from seeing it with ms pap.

We both enjoyed it a lot. It’s far too early to discuss spoilers, but I enjoyed the tension of the narrative and the directions all the characters took. Kermode’s review points out that in too many of the Lucas-helmed flicks, there’s just action for action’s sake, not in service to the drama. I’d agree with him that it’s definitely not the case here.

With respect to the scene that people felt dragged, I quite enjoyed it and consoled myself with the fact that the first movie has our characters spending ten minutes in a literal shit bin. A destructive romp on an affluent planet was far more engaging than that.

There are a few nitpicks. I think they pay a little too much lip service to the original visuals. The Millennium Falcon backflips into a hole, which then becomes a tight space. There are quite a few parts which feel like Return of the Jedi, almost word for word in a couple of scenes. The setup is also very similar to a BSG episode, e.g, the relentless pursuit trope.

That said, most of it is just lovely. There are a lot of good sight gags, plenty that the kids of today would find hilarious in the same way we thought Chewie scaring the little robot off was top notch, back in the day. Most importantly, and this is a feat the prequels never managed, it provides characters you care about, either love, hate or fear.

It’s two thumbs up and a big inane grin from me.

1 Like

One of the best looking sequences in my humble opinion. It is similar, but they twisted it up just lovely.

The conceit of having the sand turn crimson on contact was a very smart move. Not only did it look good, but ms pap got clued in early on one of the films twists due to the film makers working that conceit.

1 Like

Loved it.

2 Likes

On first viewing I enjoyed it for the most part, didn’t love it, some of the humour felt a bit out of place and forced (no pun intended). I’ll probably see it again before I try and fully decide on what to make of it.

1 Like

Well what I saw of it last night I absolutely hated, the story is forced, the humour is for what purpose? Too many coincidences (yeah yeah I know, the force blah de blah).

And the bit with Princess Leia Organa where she did her angel impression was just WTAF!!!

The cinema kindly gave me guest tickets so I can go and see it again if I want to, I might just wait for it to come out on DVD!!

Maybe if I watch to the end I might enjoy it more but I doubt it very much!

1 Like

I know it’s a kids movie and you have to make allowances, but I did think all them 5 star reviews it was getting on release to be Highly Suspicious, and that set me against it. Even when I was drive home last Friday, Mark Kemode and Simon Mayo who are normally quite sensible didn’t have a bad word to say about it, albeit they are often that way when they have the Director in the Studio.

I’m in no rush to see it tbh. I thought the last one was meh too.

I thought it was a good film housed in an absolute crock of shit.

That whole Monte Carlo planet story was a waste of arse-aching time, and jarringly full of stuff that just shouldn’t be in a galaxy far, far away.

In fact my biggest issue was with all the times the film took you out of its own universe, with a knowing wink of a reference, or a cheap sitcom routine about call-centre pranks.

Every situation was solved by magic (even though the Force “doesn’t work like that”).

People did stupid and inexplicable things just to further the plot.

All the main cliffhanger threads from the last film (Why is there a map to Luke? How did Maz come to have his lightsaber? etc.) were just thrown out.

But some things it did brilliantly. The whole arc with Luke, Rey & Kylo was excellent. The ambiguity of the Force as it relates to good and evil; the three different takes on how Luke and Kylo had their bust up. All that story was acted brilliantly and would’ve been even more gripping without the cobblers side plots.

And the battle on the salty planet looked amazing.

But those furry little cunts can fucking do one.

I’d probably give it 2.5/5, but only because I want to give half of it 5 and half of it 0.

To me it felt like the director wanted to completely ignore The Force Awakens and do his own thing, but he was stuck with a load of extra characters (most notably Finn and Poe) who he had to cobble something together for.

3 Likes

I’m glad I got that off my chest.

3 Likes