Star Wars: Episode VIII (The Last Jedi) - SPOILERS POSSIBLE*

The remnants of the Empire are now The first order, A group called the Resistance wants to stop them and the Republic is pretty much neutral.

The First Order wants to kill Luke Skywalker but no one knows where he is, The resistance thinks that Luke can help them defeat the first order but no one knows where he is.

The opening crawl gives you just as much information as the one on Star Wars.

The Empire is in control but a group of Rebels is trying to stop them.
There is a weapon being built and the Rebels have recently gotten the plans they think will help them destroy the weapon.

There are good guys and there are bad guys, this is what they want. It's the same amount of information.

 

How dare they. Don't they know at least three to six of those movies ruined the childhoods of grown men? You should tell your kid that they aren't a true fan if they don't shake with rage every time they see Jar Jar pull a funny or die inside when they see Luke drink green milk or toss a lightsaber over his shoulder. He or she needs to stop enjoying things others don't!!!

Seriously though. All of us here are grown men and women arguing over the merits of these movies and truth is the true audience are your kid who probably would think we are all crazy and just accepts them for what they are and wonder why people are so angry over them. I would say most of the general audience and even most Star Wars fans just accept all nine films and the spin offs, warts and all as what they are and would probably would look at this thread and think we are all nuts for being nitpicky.

 

I'm inclined to mostly agree, but I still think JJ Abrams should have kept the deleted scenes that sort of fleshed out the dynamic between the New Republic, the first order and the Resistance. I wasn't advocating for an info dump where everything stops for a character to spout exposition, but there were people who thought the First Order was literally just the Empire and that the Resistance is just the rebel alliance from the original trilogy and that they've still been going at it for the last 30 years. In fact both the Resistance and the First Order in essence are both separate from the New Republic.
That's not made clear in the body of Episode VII.

One of the biggest complaints about the beginning of TLJ is that the First Order is able to conquer the galaxy so quickly without any push back after the Starkiller Base strike on the Hosnian system. Only if you read the outside material that you know that the New Republic agreed to not have a standing army, and they ignored Leia's pleas to build a defense against the various imperial remnants. This led to her leaving that government and going off with a few like minded allies and veterans of the galactic civil war to have a gurrella style resistance to combat these growing threats. In that light, its more understandable that the New Republic folds like a cheap tent so quickly and that the Resistance is barely a thing. But you would never know how all that works with what limited info we are given. The Force Awakens gives the impression that the Resistance IS the New Republic army and people get the impression that Rian Johnson threw logic out the window in the opening crawl.

 

This.

I saw the original trilogy back in the '90s at the Coronet here in San Francisco - prior to the prequels - when they returned to theaters for I guess the 20th anniversary (were those the special editions?), and realized the first film was pretty corny with not exactly great acting from the three leads. Guinness, Cushing and James Earl Jones pretty much carry the film from an acting standpoint, although Harrison Ford ploughs thru the bad dialog with charm and when Carrie Fisher cuts loose with the sarcasm her performance briefly transcends the material and Leia is suddenly flesh and blood. Hamill is OK as a whiny b___h, I suppose - he's believable, at least.

And let's not get started on the plot holes, or the improbable behavior.

All of which made me realize you had to be 8 to fully appreciate Star Wars, which I was when it came out.

I didn't have much in the way of expectations going into The Empire Strikes Back. I remember enjoying it but it being something of a downer when I saw it as a kid. Seeing it as an adult, I realized that was because it's a movie made by adults for adults, and it features the darkest themes and best performances of the entire series. Unlike any other Star Wars film, Empire is actually a great work of cinema.

Jedi is a toy commercial. It's fun, and the actors are comfortable in their roles, but that's because they aren't given a whole lot to do. "Look worried." It's a well-oiled machine with teddy bears who aren't nearly as menacing as their original design, unfortunately.

The prequels are just horrid. They have no reason to exist. This is a story that didn't need to be told. And it's a bizarre, nonsensical story at that.

The sequels start out as a straight up retread. Rian Johnson wisely trashed that. JJ had no idea what to do from that point forward.

 

I did think they could have updated us better as to what is going on with the Republic in The Last Jedi. I can understand that The First Order was far bigger than Starkiller base though the Resistance did seem a bit small all things considered and in The Force Awakens they didn't even make it clear as to which planets blew up and if Coruscant was one of them. They could have even put this in Rise of Skywalker which I expected to have more about rebuilding the resistance from scratch though I guess J.J. just wanted to get the ball rolling and decided to just not do that.
They could have even hinted that the big army that shows up at the end made up of civilians is basically the Republic in sort of an improvised militia, Oh well.

 

I've been told several times that she was a decent, outgoing, very smart person and a terrific editor. I think she tried very hard to "humanize" George over the years, but finally gave up realizing how distant, aloof, and stubborn he was. By all accounts, he was devastated by the divorce and never saw it coming.

 

From what I've read over the years it was clear that Marcia wanted George to just let go and enjoy the fruits of his labor with the success of the original movie more, but for George it almost became a burden and painful , but he was determined to finish that first trilogy by hook or by crook the way he wanted and it pretty much took over his life to the detriment of his marriage. I think he loved her very much and probably assumed that she would just be there waiting for him when he finished his "quest". It was probably a very lonely existence for Marcia.

I think getting married a second time circa 2012 was the deciding factor in selling Lucasfilm and ultimately "divorcing " himself from Star Wars. He was intent on not making the same mistakes he made before in regards of work/life balance. It was either spend the better part of a decade in his 70s making more Star Wars...or be a husband and Dad. He chose the later.

 

George had told her for 3 years that the moment Return of the Jedi was done, he was going to commit to 3 months of rest and a vacation in Europe in the fall of 1983. I think she ultimately realized it wasn't going to happen because of the success of the Indiana Jones movies, because they were already prepping for Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom. BTW, both Spielberg and Lucas were going through relationship break-ups and turmoil, and it's been said that the dark tone of that movie was because of their personal stress.

 

I don't think it's an accident the main villain of Temple of Doom were ripping people's beating hearts out of their chests. None too subtle I think.

I recently watched Temple of Doom for the first time in a long while. I almost forgot how dark it is compared to the other three films.

 

I did a lockdown revisit of the films, and watched Temple Of Doom first, then Raiders. I think the films are better that way, his character is more mature in Raiders in small ways.

 

That makes sense, Temple of Doom is a prequel after all.

 

I've never watched them in "chronological " order, but I will have to one day. Probably when the new one comes out I'll end up doing just that.

I think I still love Last Crusade the most of the four.

 

That scene gave me the creeps as a kid. The eyeball soup too.....