******** Spoiler , but i doubt it******
Re 2nd Pic .. So kylos Lightsaber changes shape now? :lol He can turn the "volume up" to make it grow sideways?? :facepalm
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Pre-release)
- Thread starter rodneyfaile
- Start date
******** Spoiler , but i doubt it******
Re 2nd Pic .. So kylos Lightsaber changes shape now? :lol He can turn the "volume up" to make it grow sideways?? :facepalm
I think that's more a stylistic, artistic choice as opposed to an actual in film depiction.
I think that is supposed to be Luke.
I had me so scared lol
robstyle
Master Member
In regards to JJ and TFA people dont acknowledge the fact of time and the lack of it starting completely from scratch to end product in record time while keeping as much practicality as possible. Ive said it before, one day I hope all that pre production drama is told. The initial goal was a prequel trilogy quality $80mil film shot on green stages. Disney initially set out to do the same with the POTC sequel (that turned into two films) when that first sequel was set to be what the fourth film mainly ended up being. Without TFA setting the bare for all SW films to come, we would be treading Sci Fi movie of the week quality all too soon.
I knew Disney wanted to crank out these Star Wars movies with dispatch--which they're doing. But I never read that they wanted to do them on the cheap. In fact, I always heard the opposite--that a return to practical fx and creature fabrication would be one of their top goals.
Regardless, there is so much which plagues TFA, that goes way beyond the excuse of not having enough time.
The Wook
BLADE and BRUSH
Active Member
Big budgets and practical effects mean nothing without a good story as a foundation. Disney was probably right to toss George's treatments, but JJ, KK, Kasdan and whoever else is responsible for the TFA script didn't even try. There is barely a shred of artistic vision in the TFA story and it's visuals don't fare any better.
It continues to baffle me why JJ, a supposed OT fan, would be content to serve audiences such a thinly veiled regurgitation of ANH. I get that marketing toys to kids is the driving force behind these films and that playing it safe is par for the course in Hollywood, but JJ really does come across as a sell-out.
I won't argue that it's impossible for Rian Johnson to course correct the sequel trilogy, but I'm not holding my breath either. Case in point; they desperately want fans to believe that TLJ won't be a remake of ESB, yet we are already seeing footage that looks eerily similar to the Battle of Hoth.:facepalm There are enough red flags beside that to make me suspicious of Lucasfilm's definition of "different".
B & B, you're spot on with your high-SWIQ commentary.
And regarding your bafflement over JJ being content to regurgitate ANH, it surprised the hell out of me, too. But it was a condition of him getting the job, as you can see in the actual transcript I posted above of the first meeting he and Michael Arndt had with KK.
I woulda told her, "That's a disgracefully cynical path to take. Thanks, but no thanks.", and walked out the door.
The Wook
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PantheraGem
Sr Member
The hype around Johnson continues to baffle me, as if he can do no wrong. The few I talk to who use the "it's in good hands with Rian Johnson" line admit they haven't seen any of his films when I've asked. I've only seen "Brick", "Looper", and his "Breaking Bad" work, myself.
clancampbell
Sr Member
I've only seen Looper and i thought it was crap.....so you can imagine my dismay at hearing this guy is directing SW8.......i also thought the recent Godzilla film was garbage, but Rogue One was actually really good....mind you, they had to rejig and reshoot a lot of Gareth Edward's stuff, didn't they?
And then that bizarre decision on the Solo movie directors? Trying to make Solo more of a Jim Carey character??? What the hell is going on????
Rich
crabra comander
Master Member
Who the hell created SWIQ, and what does it have to do with director selection? :lol Granted, just because Brick was a good "weird" noir, doesn't mean that Star Wars is in good hands. Hell, Ridley Scott would be considered good hands for a lot of films, but he had to do a throwback Alien film just to set the course straight. So who would've been a good choice? Not Lucas :lol
Who created gravity? Who created light? Who created electromagnatism?
BLADE and BRUSH
Active Member
I've seen Looper, but it didn't leave much of an impression on me. Supposedly Rian has avoided studio intervention with TLJ, but I've lost confidence in Lucasfilm's ability to determine what and who is right for the future of the franchise. KK's former writing/current directorial pick for episode 9 is even more troubling.
I somewhat doubt the veracity of this transcript. Pretty low SWIQ.
Firstly Arndt was hired as the writer almost as soon as the franchise was bought from George Lucas in October 2012. He said he had problems with it then, particularly bringing Luke earlier into the film, because he then dominated everything storywise, including the impact of Hans death scene and his relationship to Kylo, and the newer characters just got pushed into the background.He then wanted far more time to complete the script than KK could find for him, because they had already planned for a 2014 release and needed to move quickly. Movies of this size take massive planning and coordination in advance.
And ,truth be told, there were already bigger problems. Nobody really wanted to direct this movie because of the incredible pressure that would be focused on them. JJ was finally brought on board simply because he had done such a reasonably admired update of the rebooted Star Trek and ,as a Star Wars fan ,it was thought he could probably do the same with TFA. But there was no way he could get the script finished and production teams rolling for it in time for a 2014 release so it was knocked back to Dec 2015.
He and Kasdan REPLACED Arndt and had to make so quick decisions about what to do with the script, the biggest problem being Lukes presence and backstory. So they cut him out to focus on the new characters and Han, as Harrison had made it abundantly clear he would only do it one more time (and for a sack of cash!!!) .
So the reason TFA is so much a "mystery box" and copy of ANH is that they really didn't have the time ,the knowledge or chance to do much else with it. Production dates were already locked in and so they banged out the basics of the story in less than six weeks.The entire production was then focused around those choices, both the good and the bad .Which is why, on repeated viewings its got so many weaknesses and daft things wrong with it. Remember even Harrisons accident was actually welcomed and embraced as an opportunity to review and rewrite the script!
The truth is this is going to be a continual problem for the entire franchise going forward now, and both Disney and Lucasfilm have got this huge, very expensive franchise tiger by the tail, just swinging it around for now to stop it biting them.The capital investiment in SW is huge,just look at what they are planning for the Disney worlds alone.And they are horribly aware all this can come back to ruin them if they get more than a single film wrong badly wrong.
And ,unlike Marvel, which already has this massive character and narrative universe basically premapped for them with decades of comic scripts, storylines and concepts to cherry pick from, the Star Wars universe has virtually none.
At the end of Jedi all we got was the text book happy ending.And after ,well yes, we had a few decades of often fairly mediocre and none cannon stuff written but nothing REALLY OUTSTANDINGLY GREAT. Lucasfilm chucked Georges original outline treatments going forward (but I guess we may see elements creep back in later after this trilogy is done) and needed to start from scratch again. And thats a fairly terrifying place to be given the huge expectations of the audience.
And this is the critical difficult for Lucasfilm and Disney. They are desperately trying to drive the series forward without having an overall concept and overview of where they are going with it. Hence we have had the "Rogue One" and the "Han Solo" movies rolled out because they are isolated ,relatively safe bets to take with the Star Wars PAST that really don't influence its future and were still probably good enough ideas to ensure a reasonable BO return. BUT remember they really nearly did drop the ball with R1, the Han Solo movie seems to be a dancing around the edge of Sarlacc pit and they have already said they don't know where they are going after IX is done.
Personally I am hoping that Rian had had enough time to do something "interesting" with the script. His strength seems to be taking ambiguous decisions with particular moments and ideas in a script and then making ambivalent character motivations and decisions, so that its highly difficult to guess where the overall story is going. And he had a pretty open field to play with after TFA.
But the curious thing is that despite all the hints and winks we've had about TLJ there really doesn't seem to have been any of the problems that seem to have affected the others. No rumours of massive rewrites, of huge costly reshoots, no great disasters on the sets or of people suddenly sacked and replaced. There is not even ANY real solid evidence of what and where the story is going at all , unlike TFA at this stage.
And that alone gives me alot of hope.
(except for some rather disappointing vehicle designs).
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Everything.
Their SWIQ is at an all-time low. Aside from a few good scenes in R1 (Tarkin, Vader going berserk), their first two films have been atrocious. The TLJ cast can't come up with anything to say about their film besides, "Well....it's different.", and a lilliputian who needs an emergency on-set acting coach has been cast to play Han Solo.
Your loss of confidence is well-founded.
The Wook
You've busted me. I confess, it is *not* an actual transcript of their first meeting.
Pretty clever of you to figure that out, CutThumb.
The Wook
ps~But I would bet dollars to doughnuts that's how it went down any time a writer or director was interviewed for the job.
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