Nerd Pride Radio

Figure we should have this. What did y'all think.

I felt it was fine. I read the reviews going in so I knew what was going to be disappointing, so I could focus more on the other usual good things about Star Wars: the ride and the stuff on the edges.

Didn't realize how much of a film trope standing-up after falling down is. I guess it's every boxing movie, Princess Bride, Wall-E, this film, probably half of the Harry Potter films....

"My name is Rey Skywalker, you killed my father..."

What do you mean it's not called the Last Skywalker?

The Rise of Skywalker? nah. The Last. Whose the last? Well it was Ben for a few minutes.

I had fun with it, enjoyed it for what it was. This deserves a longer explanation (and I'll get it one sometime after work this week), but it reaffirms my belief that Star Wars makes a great setting, and mostly not-super strong movies. And yes, that includes the original films. So, basically, it's the Joss Whedon's Buffy of space fantasy on the big screen. Better than expected acting makes the movie work quite a bit better than it should have (very much just like the original trilogy), and the action set pieces worked well on the big screen.

I liked it. Some stolen plot ideas, some major holes, then I realized it doesn't matter. Had fun, worth my money.

I liked it more than I thought I would. It often jumped around without much motivation, but it is a JJ Abrams film. I'm glad that they wrapped up the main storyline with Jedi, Sith, and the empire - it had gotten rather silly with each going bigger than the last - planet which eats suns to shoot multiple planets across the galaxy, now every star destroyer a planet killer

I liked it better than TLJ. The parts with Luke in TLJ, which most fanboys cried about, were fine to me. Old Jedi tend to retreat; the definition of a Jedi master was one who got the right to sit around in the circle of comfy chairs. The part I hated was that much of the plot rested on not sharing info that obviously should be shared, with the retreat and the secret base. If reasonable intelligence was displayed, Finn's whole part would never have had to happen.

I liked the Casino scenes for how weird it was and the point it was trying to make, though I didn't love it maybe for pacing I dunno. I'lll need to see it again.

fascinating bit of honesty or excuse-giving, with a "update" that further adds too the shitshow
https://www.vulture.com/2019/12/star-wa ... _source=tw

I think a bunch of this can be true, totally ignoring any kind of JJ-vindictiveness storyline:
1. ILM are the best in the business
2. ILM had limited Leia footage, and would have been scolded if they went full CGI as well as falling into the uncanny valley no matter how good they are.
3. Its an honor for Rose to be with Leia at her deathbed
4. Rose deserved a bigger role. At least an action scene.
5. The screenwriter had limited lines from a dead person to retrofit into something new.
6. The screenwriter didn't succeed. The scenes were awkward.

I'm not going to dive too deep into Ep9. I liked it. I was not a fan of 8, and this brought things back for me. I would have liked a lot more, it could have been stronger, but whatever... I had fun, and I think it wraps up the Skywalker Saga nicely. These are, after all, kids movies.

What I'm most excited about is now getting on with making non-Skywalker related movies. Rogue One and Solo are both too married to the Big 9. They have way too much winking and nodding to the fanbase--too many references that need to be shoehorned in. I'm enjoying The Mandalorian, and I'm hoping to get more original material. Specifically, I'd LOVE to see a movie or three that revolves around Force traditions that are not bound to the dichotomy of Jedi/Sith.

I'm quickly coming around to the idea that the movies that use the Star Wars setting the best are the ones that are basically other movie types that just happen to be set in Star Wars.

Rogue One - WWII SpecOps movie (aka, The Dirty Dozen)
Solo - Heist flick (more in the Ocean's style)
Mandalorian - Spaghetti Western

I haven't even seen the Mandalorian yet (and likely won't for quite a while), and I'm rapidly starting to view Rogue One as the best Wars movie yet.