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Ace_Spade's Replies
Yeah, I finished it off. I'm now assuming he got most of his data from his "further reading" list, which looks interesting, too.
It's a great series with a lot of good biographical and background information. The central thing I get out of it is that Lucas was trying hard and facing unheard-of challenges from different fronts, but ultimately it boils down to this: he couldn't pull it off. Every time Sonnenburg talks about a deadline coming up and he's not started the script, I'm thinking, "Well...don't be lazy: do your job." A few times, Sonnenburg states that such-and-such "had" to happen because of the timeline, and I can think of a dozen ways out of it. And, ultimately, Lucas' inability to write a character-driven story really fried him on this one. This is from Red Letter Media, but it fits: Anakin's fall to the Dark Side is a character study. Either it needed to be sidelined for the story of the fall of the Republic, or it needed to be written as a character piece. Lucas isn't the best writer for a political film (Aaron Sorkin, maybe...?) or a character piece.
My take on the whole thing, personally, looking at the prequels and now the sequels, is that the writer who could have pulled it off was... nobody. Nobody could or can live up to fan hype and expectations. "Star Wars" sat for too long as a completed trilogy and is revered too highly for this to ever really work to people's satisfaction. Filmmakers can try, but they'll never do the character "right". They won't ever get it right in fans' eyes because they can't.
There's about a 1% chance that they'll use the material generated by Force Awakens and Last Jedi to wrap everything up and bring a magnificent close to their section of the space opera, but I'm doubtful.
My opinion is that The Last Jedi had a lot of interesting ideas without following through properly on them (plus, it's riddled with plotholes, odd character problems, and serious scripting issues). It's not a great film. If the third movie takes the ideas and themes started with Last Jedi and manages to annihilate the script problems, they can pull it off. But JJ Abrams has never been great at wrapping things up, so...it's a long-shot.
I haven't quite finished watching it all yet (there was a lot more of it than I thought there would be), but I'm part-way through Part V.
It's a really interesting series. I find myself wondering how he knows some of the things he knows (he frequently says things like, "What Lucas wanted to do," or, "Lucas wasn't thinking about X - he was concerned with Y") but it's a fascinating look at Lucas' process and journey through the creation of the prequels.
In conjunction with RLM's videos it's very interesting. "This is what Lucas was trying to do," says Sonnenburg. "Sure, but this is what he actually did," replies RLM. I like both series very much.
Sonnenburg hasn't changed my mind about the prequels, though he did change my mind about McCallum, who, assuming Sonnenburg is correct, wasn't just nodding when Lucas talked.
You can't really blame Jackman for the lack of grumpiness. He's shown in Logan: he can do it. In other words, on previous X-films, he just wasn't asked - either by the script or the director or both - to get really nasty.
The height never really bothered me. I'll take a great performance (which Jackman delivered) over the right "look" any day. Does Michael Keaton look like Bruce Wayne? Nope. Was he a brilliant Batman? Absolutely.
I think an athlete would be a mistake. Have we learned nothing from the '90s? Palhares might look like Wolverine, but that's not a smart way to cast films.
Just move the question mark.
What is your favourite?
Steak.
I don't know. If it was exploding, I would think the oxygen would be vaporised by the heat, right? It would light on fire and dissipate, wouldn't it? If it didn't, I would imagine that it would disperse throughout the vacuum way too fast to make atmosphere and allow for sound.
I think the finest two films are the first two. I love Return of the Jedi dearly, but I think the fractures are sorta creeping in at that point. I think Gary Kurtz, as a producer, was equal to Lucas as a writer-director-creator. In other words: Lucas would come up with "Adventures of Luke Starkiller, as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars", and Gary Kurtz would say, "Too much," and get Lucas to revise.
Lucas is, I think quite obviously, a gifted and talented storyteller. He has a lot of innate ability and a tonne of experience. But film isn't the work of one, singular artist, it's the work of many, many, many people. Over the years, I think George Lucas had fewer and fewer people around who would (or could?) tell him, "No," and as a result, his vivid, brilliant imagination carries him too far away from the keen-edged storytelling of the first couple of films.
No, he saves his friends from immediate danger, then transcends the physical world to become more powerful than they could possibly imagine. He's not *dying*, he's *ascending*.
Though, I think I'm coming around to landofree's green milk idea.
I was expecting it, so it didn't surprise me. I was sad that Luke was dead, partially for the lost opportunities for future stories.
Mostly, though, I felt like if they were going to kill Luke off, they did it right: a heroic act that won a battle and then peace. I should also note that my interpretation on watching it in the theatre is different than how most people saw it. Most people assume his astral projection caused enough exertion that he died. I thought (while watching it) that he recovered from the ordeal of the projection, meditated, and willed himself to transcend the physical. I prefer my version to the official story.
I was on IMDB a lot, and often debating or discussing Tolkien. Moviechat's a pretty cozy place, though.
It took me awhile to get into the Plinkett persona. I understand completely why somebody would not like him.
I will give SF Debris' thing a listen tomorrow, probably; I'll let you know what I think after I watch.
I will check it out.
But one thing I really love about the Red Letter Media reviews (especially the Phantom Menace review) is that it's kinda like a screenwriting primer. The way he goes through character, plot, story, and so on, basically uses negative examples from The Phantom Menace (and positive ones from the original films) to do a one hour crash-course in script writing. The techniques and advice he doles out are good writing tips and filmmaking tips underneath it all.
But, I am interested to check out SF Debris' breakdown.
You're right: the thread is about how Rose could have used her knowledge better and saved lives, which is true regardless of the chain of command.
I just disagree that Rose was doing her job properly. It doesn't seem like Poe should be giving her orders. He was "air force", or whatever it is in space, and she was maintenance. Different sections of the whole military, so she shouldn't be taking orders from Poe and should have known the mission was wonky (didn't they have lines to that effect...?) Of course, I can't really comment with expertise on the hierarchy and structure of a fictional military, but it seems like she shouldn't be taking orders from Poe...
They then decide to use military vehicles to go AWOL on a secret mission that only they know about without any orders from superior officers.
None of them did their jobs.
Green milk?
No, it doesn't.
From The Empire Strikes Back:
YODA: "You must feel the Force around you. Everywhere. Here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere. Yes, even between the land and the ship."
If it flows through the ship, I'd say "robot hand" is covered.
Even so, if she knows how to stop the entire enemy strategy, she should tell her commanding officer who should bump it up the chain. You're right: the military have systems to make sure that privates aren't complaining to generals. But they also have ways to get information to generals from privates if that information is important.
And would have been a much better plan and plot than we got.
More importantly: if Finn and Rose can get into an escape pod and fly it into hyperspace without being followed, why not just do that with, y'know, *everybody* on the ships?
Oh, and I almost forgot! I thought the scene at Auschwitz was handled badly and came off as disrespectful.