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Spoilers:

Luke and Leia finally do "the wild thing" with Han doing it Solo;
Rey cuts her own head off mishandling a light saber;
Kylo Renn falls down what he thinks is an escape hatch but is really a sewer outlet  :buggedout:
Chewbacca has a haircut;
Finn learns to fly and promptly crashes;
C3PO turns into Bender from Futurama;
R2D2 turns everything into a beep noise.*





* Trevor hasn't actually seen the film yet.  :wink:

Goddamn it, Trevor.*

*Really, goddamn it, Trevor.  :teddyr:

 :wink: :wink:

My special sister invited me to go see the film next week here with her and her husband in IMAX: it opens SA wide today.

I'm so itching to talk details, but can't figure out if this is "really" a spoiler talk thread.

So... minor spoilers:

The messages I loved:

* You learn the most from failure. Great message.

* Let the past go.

* It's unreasonable to idolize/romanticize/or put a hero on a pedestal (and meeting your hero isn't always what you think it will be).

* Arrogance and overconfidence can be one's downfall.

* Sometimes macho heroics make things worse (but we are movie-trained to think the opposite).

* Sometimes plans just don't work out.

* Even in distant space, the arms-dealing richest of the rich exploit people from all sides of a conflict (and animals) only to gamble it up.

* Rage is a weakness that is easy to exploit.

* And best of all (and this seems to have made a lot of the audience upset for some reason): you can come from nothing and still be a hero. Screw all of the "chosen one" bulls**t; it's been overly played out and it's nice to see a message that "you don't have to come from royalty or birthright to make something great of yourself"

I went in expecting some cliche, predictable situations and was pleasantly surprised that I was caught off guard.

I'd say this was my most positive Star Wars viewing experience since the OT (best since Empire).

I give it 4 out of 5 blue milks.

Edited a days later: Found an analysis that mirrors some of my thoughts (and expands on others):
https://hype.my/2017/149941/star-wars-last-jedi-analysis/

There was ONE THING This movie absolutely HAD to do in order to get me to see it. According to people who've seen it it did not do that one ting, so I'm not seeing it.

What is this thing you speak of?

General Leia putting on her old slave outfit from "Return of the Jedi".  :bouncegiggle:

Things still unanswered by TLJ:

Who was this Snoke guy? Obviously not the most important character in the story, but it would be nice to know how he ended up in charge of the Empire's forces and created the First Order.

How did Luke's lightsaber end up in a box in Maz's basement?

How did the Millenium Falcon end up in a "junkyard" on Jakku?

Well,  I needed an explanation of ow Rei had such high force power and how she knew so much about the millennium falcon. I tray needed a satisfactory answer to those and I've been told none was delivered.

I believe that Rey's level of power with the force is actually explained by Snoke.

Saw it in IMAX 3D and I loved it.

How did Rey know anything about the Millennium Falcon? Not answered. That's on my list of things I still think they owe us (what was the MF doing on Jakku, dammit?)

How is Rey so strong with the Force? You probably won't like the explanation, but I find it quite satisfying. It at least makes as much sense as Anakin Skywalker being exceptionally strong with the Force.

Yes, we don't get much on Snoke (but more than we got on the Emperor in ESB). Last time I wanted more details on power acquisition we got the prequels, so maybe it's better that we imagine it ourselves heh.

I'm not sure how Maz got Luke's lightsaber either; they could have dropped a line explaining that.

Han explained how the MF got to Jakku in TFA, I believe.

Rei being strong with the Force is explained by Snoke (briefly); a la Anakin. Reminds me of the Mage game where your "Avatar" is your ability to use/see magick and some folks are just born/or develop it strong on their own. Honestly, I'm tired of the genetic tie/explanation anyway; hell Jedi were forbidden to love, marry, and breed, so how the hell did they get members in the Jedi Order back in the day?

I got to thinking. Kylo Ren is like a rich, whiny, raged-out elitist frat boy who won the birth lotto and was given every opportunity to be something great, but he squandered it. Rei, on the other hand literally came from nothing, as many heroes throughout time typically do. But one thing about Kylo that I realized at last night's viewing: he succeeded where Vader failed. He wanted to outdo him and he did.

Anyway, went to see it again last night with the family. I liked it even more. The wife liked the messages overall, but felt kinda meh about the whole thing. The teenager was definitely "meh" on it.

I really liked Poe's arc; glad he had something more to do. I'm glad he had some character growth. I also liked Fin and Rose's as well. Fin has some growth as well and even though the part dragged a bit, I loved the casino/race scene and the messages there. I loved how they totally failed on their scheme.

The wife "really" hates Kylo Ren. And I keep pointing out that we're not supposed to like the villain (damned Vader was so cool that everyone expects villains to be as cool as he was). She doesn't think the villain is supposed to annoy the audience but I refer to pro-wresting as a counter (as the audience typically really wants to see those annoying villains get an ass-whippin!).

In another words, Kylo brings the "heat" and is good at being a villain.

Edited to add more:

 

Watched it for a second time and found the things that had bothered me on the first viewing (the amount of humour, Lara Dern's giraffe neck) were less jarring the second time around and although overall I had enjoyed it the first time around I thought it was better the second time.

game of two halves really for me:

Pros:
*Was nice to have the little drama of conflict between Luke and Rei
*I liked the main plot of the movie with the Rebels on the run from the Empire...even if it wasnt necissarily the best use of the movies time...
*The Direction was nice and solid with some really nice set pieces...
*Equally the Choreography of the fight scenes were great (If not a little over reliant on CGI to help smooth over the cracks
*The Cine was gorgeous...though again maybe just a touch too over reliant on CG to help smooth over reshoots
*Adam Drivers really coming into his own and is arguably the best part of this movie...whereas I found him maybe a touch too emo in the first film...here he's starting to take on the rolea lot more seriously...
*Lukes final scenes were very enjoyable if not a touch predictable

Cons:
*while I like the main plot drive of the movie...my god is it padded...it should have been a final act race to the planet...instead its the whole movie more or less...
*It feels tonally uneven with the casino bits being maybe a little too remeniscent of the prequel movies style...theres also a large number of jokes in this that just fell absolutely flat...I think they were trying to go for Marvel humour and it just didnt work for me.
*Leia did a space float *Thumbs down*  :thumbdown:
* some of the CG animals looked waaaaaay to video gamey for my personal taste
*Some of the lighting used in the green screen elements wernt 100%...it took me out of the movie because I was just sat there going "Oh they arnt on the island any more they're filming in a studio backdrop somewhere...
*The final sequence with finn racing towards the death cannon was in my opinion totally ruined by how they chose to resolve it...
*While the Yoda Cameo was welcome...it was all too short, too meaningless and felt a bit out of character for me...
*It just generally to me didnt feel like a movie...it felt like a load of scenes sort of shoved together with the hope that the 3rd film could untangle it...

Neutral:
*The Porgs...I mean...I dont think there as cute as everyone is telling me they are...but they're better than the Ewoks in my opinon and they had one of the funnier moments of the film (With Chewbacca trying to eat them)


I dunno...I think if I judged this film just on the broad strokes I'd have probably come away liking it more...its the smaller details that have generally made this film a "Wobbler" for me...it's still a lot of fun...but I dont think it was as good as "Force awakens" which in and of itself I had problems with as  it was just a rip of New hope...

I think if i had to order them at this point I'd probably go:

5,4,7,8,3,6,2,1 (With the holiday special fitting in either on the lower end if im sober or the upper end if im not) xD

So, it was mostly positive for most people.

The opening crawl is back.

Some have said this is the 2nd best in the series, so far, next to The Empire Strikes Back (tesb.) If so . . .?

I disliked (tesb,) but even years later, I am not sure why.  I did like this one (tlj.)

What a difference 2 years make.

--Ren looks younger and more like a child. Does anybody know how old he is suppose to be here?
--While Hux looks older.

Some great lines in this film. Luke's reply to Rey saying that she was from Jakku, had me on the floor.

I was extremely disappointed by the action scenes in (tesb.)

I was not disappointed by the action scenes here.
--the battle in space. Not the 1st one, but the 2nd.
--Though, (IMHO) that was not as good as the land battle.
--Though, (IMHO) that was not as good  as the chase scene thru Canto Bight.

(IMHO) a much better looking film than (tesb.)
--the cinematography
--the costumes
--the film locations
--the sets

Yes, Virginia. There are children in Canto Bight. And they have the Force.

This had more of an emotional punch than (tesb) for me.

In the Navy. Those were naval rankings. It's the navy in space.

The twists and turns.

I wonder if Rey's parentage will hold thru Episode IX, or whether there will be another twist.

Religion seems more prominent here than in some of the other films. A bit thin, but it is there.
--Luke. Jesus had 13 disciples. The original 12 + the 1 to replace Judas. The same number that Luke had.
--Ren. Satan. Not only the darkness in both, but just as Satan was cast out for rebelling, so Ren was cast out for rebelling, and just as Satan took some followers with him, so Ren took some followers with him.

Both sides in the war were more diverse, as were the civilians we saw.

Thus, I found it less disappointing than (tesb.) The only disappointment I had in this film was that I thought we'd get to see the Knights of Ren, and I seemed to have missed that.

(tesb) killed off any interest I had in Star Wars for 15 years. Though, I did see the 2 Ewok movies. Liking the 1st, but not the 2nd or the sequel. (tlj) on the other hand has increased my interest in seeing Episode IX.

Who will not be back in Episode IX?
--Leia. Because Carrie Fisher is dead.
--Snoke. Even he cannot come back from what happened to him.
--Till you see that body. Even Phasma might be back.

Leia will be missed. If Episode VII was Harrison Ford's film, and Episode VIII was Mark Hamill's film, then Episode IX was meant to be Carrie Fisher's film. Yet, I believe the actors they have now, for the most part, can carry on.

So, think salt and not book burnings.

What's next?
Certainly, there should be something before A Wrinkle in Time in March. That is not the 1st adaptation of the book. There was an earlier TV version, which I saw, but do not remember. What I ddo remember is the teacher reading the book to the class, and that was over 50 years ago. A book that won the most prestigious prize in children's literature. The Newbery. An award that has been given out for almost an 100 years.

I'd rank it on the very bottom, below TFA/Attack of the Clones (previously tied for the lowest).  Nothing about TLJ worked for me, at all.  I wish I hadn't even seen it, to be quite honest.

I liked it well enough.  I actually saw it twice - the local independent theater where I live had to close on New Year's Day so I decided to go see one more movie at that theater before that happened. 

I was a bit disappointed that they didn't have Benicio Del Toro play the role of Thrawn in the movie.  That would have been so awesome as opposed to the DJ character they had him play, and made the film so much better.  Especially if he supplanted that whiny little bastard Hux, who irritates me about as much as Jar Jar.

One scene in this made me howl with laughter: Luke is shot at and after the smoke blows away and the dust settles, he walks on and brushes a bit of dust off his jacket.  :bouncegiggle:

I have never seen a film where the audiences were more divided in their opinions than this one.

I was asked for my opinion on this by a workmate and told him there was too much comedy, the Leia space walk was stupid and the casino bit should either have been dropped or developed more. Everyone else who had seen it seemed to agree with those sentiments and that other than those parts that it was a good movie.

I thought it was a decent blockbuster, but little else. If anything, they've provided Mark Hamill with a well deserved opportunity to shine as well as moved the plot of the series a bit further.

I just can't believe how soft the fans have been on the new two movies, after all the backlash George Lucas had to face with his second trilogy. Like those movies or not, but at least they tried to give something different -as well as familiar- and had coherent character archs. These two movies -three if you count "Rogue One" - on the other hand look as if 10 year old kids were given all the money in the world to film their Star Wars toys. Every single plot point is rehashed from the first trilogy and characters go in one direction, then backpedal furiously to do the opposite.

What's the point, really?