Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

I really hope they do a decent job on this one. In a somewhat related vein; I saw Rogue One last night, finally (it's on Netflix). I enjoyed less than 10% of the movie. It was seriously a poorly done film. Characters we have no connection to. Scene jump after scene jump to set up a story that went too quickly. Bad lines. Bad acting. Really questionable action scenes. etc. Just a disappointing 2+ hours.

I grew up on all things Star Wars and right now, I just feel like they would be B or C level movies if the name wasn't attached.

Royal said:

Does the mouse sympathize with the struggling theater industry?

No ... no it doesn't.

Theater Stocks Tumble After Report That Disney Will Take Big Slice of 'Last Jedi' Sales

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This seems bizarre to me - I work in independent cinema exhibition in the UK and the Disney stipulations here are no where near this terrible. It starts at something like 60% and drops off week by week normally. By week 5 it's full flexibility, meaning any shitty one day theatre could book one showing a week.

The big multiplexes here all have deals with distributors that mean they have better terms than the independents as well, and why the fuck wouldn't you want to keep star wars in your best screen for 4 weeks over Christmas and New Year? The Greatest Showman and Jumanji are second tier screen films anyway when up against Disney's beasts.

Burren said:

I really hope they do a decent job on this one. In a somewhat related vein; I saw Rogue One last night, finally (it's on Netflix). I enjoyed less than 10% of the movie. It was seriously a poorly done film. Characters we have no connection to. Scene jump after scene jump to set up a story that went too quickly. Bad lines. Bad acting. Really questionable action scenes. etc. Just a disappointing 2+ hours.

I grew up on all things Star Wars and right now, I just feel like they would be B or C level movies if the name wasn't attached.

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Not sure what there is to like about opening the franchise up to junior filmmakers. It has been a bumpy ride.

An entire Han movie had to be thrown in the trash. Rogue One was sliced to ribbons in post, action sequences specifically, to save an abortion. I just don't see the benefits of opening up to filmmakers. A little premature to call it something to like or a success unless Rian's movie hits hard, because he's the only junior left standing on the field.

Qhue Bringing JJ back for the next one is opening up to filmmakers? More like shutting the door and ending the pet experiment.

Ron Howard says hi.

jayrebb said:

Not sure what there is to like about opening the franchise up to junior filmmakers. It has been a bumpy ride.

An entire Han movie had to be thrown in the trash. Rogue One was sliced to ribbons in post, action sequences specifically, to save an abortion. I just don't see the benefits of opening up to filmmakers. A little premature to call it something to like or a success unless Rian's movie hits hard, because he's the only junior left standing on the field.

Qhue Bringing JJ back for the next one is opening up to filmmakers? More like shutting the door and ending the pet experiment.

Ron Howard says hi.

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i feel statements like this are always a little over-simplified. especially when we're talking about a giant like disney. sure, we can look at how "a whole han movie had to get thrown in the trash" but that's very much not a sign of anything other than director and producer vision differences. Ant-man is a perfect example of this. Edgar Wright is/was PERFECTLY capable of making a widely successful ant-man movie. we've all seen his work and he was an inspired choice for the film. BUT in the end, the movie HE wanted to make wasn't the movie that the studio wanted him to make and so they got a new director.

studios get way too controlling the more tentpole the film is and disney is NOTORIOUS for that. let's stop blaming the directors

j00t said:

i feel statements like this are always a little over-simplified. especially when we're talking about a giant like disney. sure, we can look at how "a whole han movie had to get thrown in the trash" but that's very much not a sign of anything other than director and producer vision differences. Ant-man is a perfect example of this. Edgar Wright is/was PERFECTLY capable of making a widely successful ant-man movie. we've all seen his work and he was an inspired choice for the film. BUT in the end, the movie HE wanted to make wasn't the movie that the studio wanted him to make and so they got a new director.

studios get way too controlling the more tentpole the film is and disney is NOTORIOUS for that. let's stop blaming the directors

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This is exactly how I see it (though I would say that in Colin Trevorrow's case they did jump the gun and pick bad director for the wrong reasons). But I would expand it to include what are a particular director's strengths in addition to their creative impulses. I've said several times that Kevin Feige's greatest skill as a producer is being able to find individual directors and writers who strengths and vision dovetail with his overall vision for the MCU. Of course it helps that his vision also lines up pretty well with fans'/audience's desires and expectations to begin with.

If those running Lucasfilm had that same skill in equal measure the road would have been far less bumpy up to this point. Alas the Feige's of the world are in short supply.

And I would add that in Wright's case, Ant-Man was a passion project he was involved with trying to get made for a long time, predating the modern incarnation of the MCU. What he wanted to make ended up not fitting in all that well with what the franchise had become by the time production had started.

jayrebb said:

Not sure what there is to like about opening the franchise up to junior filmmakers. It has been a bumpy ride.

An entire Han movie had to be thrown in the trash. Rogue One was sliced to ribbons in post, action sequences specifically, to save an abortion. I just don't see the benefits of opening up to filmmakers. A little premature to call it something to like or a success unless Rian's movie hits hard, because he's the only junior left standing on the field.

Qhue Bringing JJ back for the next one is opening up to filmmakers? More like shutting the door and ending the pet experiment.

Ron Howard says hi.

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They should get the Coen brothers to do a Fett movie.

Guillermo Del Toro for a Yoda one.

Shwing

Del Toro did pitch them a movie. It was more in line with what the Fett movie is rumored to be shaping into.

Del Toro is probably the only name I could get behind doing a Yoda movie, but I still feel he's a "less we know the better" kind of character, one who would lose out from being seen outside the "wise ancient mentor" role.

Qui-Gonn movie could also be quite awesome. A chance to revisit the Old Republic setting outside of the prequels. I'd be really interested to see them go into the whole force ghost thing, I always thought it was stupid that they condensed the fact that he basically rediscovered the secret to the Jedi version of immortality/enlightenment into a single throwaway line in ROTS. Room for some young Obi-Wann character development too, could throw in some Yoda to round it out. Not sure how it would play out story wise without contradicting the events of the prequels (ie. need a villain while keeping the Sith underground), but it's the only one of these side movie ideas that really elicits any interest in me

Generally speaking, I think one of the biggest weaknesses of Rogue One was the lack of Jedi characters, which is why I've never been stoked about a Fett or Han movie. I know it fit the timeline and all, but it just doesn't feel like Star Wars without a light saber duel or two and someone giving a long monologue on the nature of the force. I know they tried to fill the gap with Donnie Yen, and he did really well with what they wrote, but it just wasn't the same.

I'm more interested in a Dash Rendar film done by a AAA director.

However there are some BIG BIG problems over at Lucas Film creatively:

Star Wars Rebels season 4 was recently confirmed and Rogue One co-writer Gary Whitta told me he’s indeed doing some writing for it, and knowing Dash Rendar’s ship, the Outrider – at least, another YT-2400 light freighter – made an appearance this season, we had to ask.

Okay, can you do us a favor? Can you bring in Dash Rendar from Shadow of the Empire to Rebels?

Gary Whitta: You know, there are certain people at Lucasfilm that would hang you from a tree for saying something like that.

[Laughs]

Gary Whitta: He’s a very polarizing character! People either love Dash or they hate him.

Aw.

Gary Whitta: But obviously, one of the great things about Rebels is you get to introduce characters from the wider pantheon of Star Wars. One of the coolest things with season 3 is that we got to bring in Thrawn intro the canon and make him an essential character on the show. So I think they’re always looking for those opportunities but the people who work at Lucasfilm are very aware of not doing stuff necessarily just for fan service, you do it because it’s something the show needs or can benefit from rather than just ‘throw this in there because it’s an Easter Egg and someone will notice.’

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Don't Expect to See Dash Rendar Become Star Wars Canon

That is just cringey as fuck and painful to read....absolutely explains the misuse of Thrawn in Rebels.

What we need to know is, who the fuck hates Dash Rendar?

Who the fuck is Dash Rendar?

yeah, i'd think it was more "you either love dash rendar, or have no idea who he is."

and if you love him, it's because you played shadows of the empire. not because he's a great character. he's just a stand-in. i'm wondering as well who hates dash rendar because there's nothing to hate. he's just the vehicle to get through the game. and i know they made a book about shadows of the empire but he's literally just a dlc costume for han solo

If fans of Zahn's Thrawn were wanting him to be treated on par with Vader, Maul, or Tarkin then they should have hoped he wouldn't be a long term recurring character when he showed up on Rebels. He was never going to be allowed to wtfpwn the way they would want him to and the longer he hangs around getting bested, or constantly allowing the heroes to escape, the weaker he would seem to be. And you can't just let him wreck shop in that sort of show. He doesn't engage his enemies directly and his machinations can't get overly complex on a show aimed at such a young demographic. I know they're glad he was finally allowed to cross over into the new canon but if he put in a brief stint then moved on the way Vader did he could have been allowed to shine more as a villain.

As for Dash, he seems to be saying that the love/hate for the character is within Lucasfilm not the fan base.

Jedi Master C'Baoth and Ysalamiri are two reasons why the Heir to the Empire wouldn't work.

Seananigans said:

You can't do Thrawn justice without giving him his own trilogy as the villain. I still to this day think they should have just fucking re-cast the old guard and done Zahn's trilogy as 7-9. Fuck this new nonsense.

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I'm glad they didn't try that. I get the allure of the character but I'm really not a fan of those books and I don't think they're the sort of thing that would adapt well for broad appeal. A villain that is a long game strategist really needs a series to shine but then you get into the whole issue of trying to do live action Star Wars on a more limited budget.

Royal said:

I'm glad they didn't try that. I get the allure of the character but I'm really not a fan of those books and I don't think they're the sort of thing that would adapt well for broad appeal. A villain that is a long game strategist really needs a series to shine but then you get into the whole issue of trying to do live action Star Wars on a more limited budget.

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You could do it, but it'd be Bladerunner 2049. Arthouse indy appeal to the diehards.

j00t said:

yeah, i'd think it was more "you either love dash rendar, or have no idea who he is."

and if you love him, it's because you played shadows of the empire. not because he's a great character. he's just a stand-in. i'm wondering as well who hates dash rendar because there's nothing to hate. he's just the vehicle to get through the game. and i know they made a book about shadows of the empire but he's literally just a dlc costume for han solo

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Dash Rendar is a character that is outside of the Jedi bullshit sphere and separated from most of the characters, enough freedom in story and existence to where you could write him in anywhere. Even more freedom than Fett and the crimelords. Its open ended creatively, which is why I don't understand the hate.

In fact, I'd write Dash into the Fett movie. Dash already has interactions with Boba Fett in the source material. You don't pass on that kind of opportunity to potentially build another character franchise movie.

Saying "its han solo 2.0 we dont need him" is way off the mark.

Its not Han Solo, its broody Han Solo ala Wolverine from X-Men. A muscled Ruffian who wants revenge for being born. No pretty boy "I get by on charm and my blaster will shoot you if you don't like my jokes". Think more Marv from Sin City.

Dave Bautista as Dash Rendar? No potential there?

Hugh Jackman sells-- you can sell Dash Rendar on a AAA platform. It literally writes itself. Lucas Film has their head up their ass. Who cares if most people haven't heard of him? The hardcore fans would spread the word, the trailer would sell itself. That is why that screenrant article made heads explode. Not creating Dash Rendar and writers hating on him is why I am lowering my expectations on the anthology movies. Narrow, narrow, narrow.

Having not watched Rebels, can't speak to how they have used Thrawn there. I will say the new Thrawn novel by Zahn even though it seems to retcon a lot of the old Thrawn lore was extremely good, and exactly how you'd want Thrawn to be portrayed. I think doing Zahn's trilogy as 7-9 could have worked, but no way you can recast the iconic original characters. Shit would stink so bad people just wouldn't be able to get over it. I could see why people would think C'baoth and Ysalamiri wouldn't work, but I think it could be done properly.

Problem with Thrawn in general is he really can't just be an underling, even in commander of the Fleet role. He needs to be THE main villain/semi not villain just badass.