Topic: The Movie Thread

Solo (the movie ... not as in “solo” as I have a single spoiler, lol) spoiler questions and comments coming up; also a spoiler in here for a major moment in the prequels if by some miracle you haven’t seen them yet and plan to. Also a very small spoiler for The Last Jedi:
**Again, HUGE spoiler forthcoming for the movie Solo**
When Darth Maul shows up at the end as the big boss for the Crimson gang, it was a nice surprise. I somewhat saw it coming moments before as I was trying to guess who might be the ring leader and it is pretty clear that Maul has been one of the most popular villains of the SW universe and fans have been vocal about their disappointment that he died at the end of Episode I. I’m not surprised that they want to try to bring him back. However, how did he survive being sliced in two?!? We see him clearly be killed in The Phantom Menace. And are we to believe that he didn’t age .. as the time between TPM and Solo is probably what... like 30 or 40 years? Han appears to be in his late 20s early 30s and is supposed to be a little older than the twins, who have yet to be born for another .... oh, 15 or so years when TPM takes place. I suppose adding 30 yrs to Maul is conceivable as the Sith supposedly have the ability to use the Force to prolong their lives and defy aging, as we see Palpatine has done. Nevertheless the biggest obstacle is that he was killed. Cut in two and shoved into oblivion. Let the theories begin! One thought is that this is not actually Darth Maul but one of his protégés or something like that.
A couple thoughts on the story -
I was disappointed that there was nothing about his experiences in flight academy. That was glossed over and he trailer made it sound like that would be an important plot point. In fact the whole way he entered into the Imperial military was awkward. But the most awkward plot jump was when he and Beckett decide to just fess up to Dryden after the botched heist. That was a little weirdly done. Also the reunion with the girlfriend Qi’ra was a decent idea but it didn’t play out well. After 3 years where his sole motivation was to make it back to save her and this was their reaction?! The emotional pay-off was severely lacking. I realize she was emotionally cold because she is a crime boss lackey now, but I can’t believe after all that time he wouldn’t fall over himself in joy and relief when they are reunited.
A positive thought -
I thoroughly enjoyed the development of he and Chewie and how they met. That was great.
The next semi spoiler is regarding the dice. Clearly they were created as a MacGuffin to tie in the movie to The Last Jedi. I had read online that the dice were special to Han because they were the dice he used to win the Millennium Falcon from Lando. Well, clearly they are not. He had them back way before that, I guess as some kind of ...good luck charm? For as often as they use them as a plot device passing them back and forth, here was no explanation at all. I’m not sure if there ever will be. I actually liked the idea of them being the dice used the win the Falcon. Kinda disappointed it wasn’t
Thanks for indulging me with the long spoiler text. 😅

@Th3solution on your first point Watch the Clone Wars, Mauls survival is explained there

@Octane I went to Deadpool 2 on opening weekend, and the theater was only half full. I was really surprised, to be honest. When we went to the first one the second weekend after release at the same theater, it was packed.

Anyway, I'm guessing Solo is going to be the black sheep of the Disney SW films. Nobody seems overly thrilled with it.

@Th3solution @Octane Solo has been heavily rumored to be a disaster from a troubled development and it sounds like it’s taking a toll. I haven’t been excited for it because of that and I think opening night is getting affected.
Also, on the thought of crowd reaction, I’m usually neutral, but when the crowd starts cheering because someone gets kissed or hit or whatever I tend to want to murder everyone in the theater. I don’t laughing or gasps usually really, but cheering and clapping in the middle of a movie are distracting and unacceptable theater behavior to me personally. I can remember this in Infinity War and the last Twilight movie in particular.

I'm growing tired of Star Wars, personally. The Force Awakens was more or less a rehash of A New Hope, with one of the biggest Mary Sue protagonists I've seen in a while, and Rogue One was just kinda....okay? The Last Jedi was actually pretty good, but even still, it wasn't a film I'd really care to rewatch at all. It was just good, not great IMO. I haven't seen Solo, and I don't plan to. I just don't really care about it at all.

Clearly something has gone wrong with these new movies, because I've gone from being incredibly hyped to watch The Force Awakens, to hardly caring if I even see the next Star Wars.

@RogerRoger it could be the way it's shown in a cinema that causes it because i noticed that DVD's and blu-rays tend to be a bit brighter

@RogerRoger @FullbringIchigo Thank for the clarification. I haven’t watched much of any of Clone Wars or Rebels, being one of those who dismissed it since it was an animated series. (I mis-spoke on my earlier post when I mentioned Clone Wars being my least favorite and I meant Attack of the Clones, so I corrected that foible in that post) Of course now my curiosity is really piqued to see Clone Wars and see how Maul survives. But you’re right, many people, even fairly large SW fans like myself, haven’t touched the animated stuff and are clueless about the plot there and so Disney would be wise to somehow pull all those people up to speed. Perhaps that Maul movie will revisit the highlights from the animated series.

@Th3solution @RogerRoger @FullbringIchigo I wasn't really too fussed about Solo, figured I'd watch it at some point but wasn't going to rush to see it. Having just clicked on your spoiler tags out of curiosity, I'm quite keen to watch it now.

My kids watch Clone Wars, so I've dipped in and out of it. It's very good

Star Wars and the MCU are real cash cows right now. When you factor in all the merchandising and supplemental income from TV, games, toys, T-shirts, in addition to the movies, Disney has surely made back its $4 billion in just these few years. It’s mind blowing. I too hope they don’t run it into the ground.

@RogerRoger I agree for sure. It's just human nature to get bored of something if it's shoved in your face over and over.

@Th3solution I personally enjoy the MCU movies far more than I do Star Wars, which basically feels soulless at this point with these new movies, but yeah, it's definitely a cash cow. The money they're making from those movies is unreal.

Personally, I loooved SOLO! So far it’s my favorite of the new films. Should note that Attack of the Clones is my favorite favorite LMAO. But I should also add that my wife (who loves Han Solo and was super apprehensive / pessimistic about this movie) and some other Star Wars fans I know that hate the prequels and only tolerated the other new films also really enjoyed it.

Would recommend it, actually. Despite the trailers being horrible, it’s a solid fun film IMHO.

What did you guys think about how Han got his last name Solo? I thought it was dumb and lazy writing by the writers.

@WanderingBullet Yeah, that was a little lame. They just mailed it in there. It was like they were answering a question that wasn’t being asked. I’ve never wondered how he got his last name. Nor the same thing about the Skywalkers or Kenobi or Calrissian or anyone. Actually it cheapens the Solo name to know it was made by a random Imperial Recruit representative. Lol

@Th3solution Han Solo is a cool name but for some reason it also feels weird that Han decided to keep the name after that. Plus don't imperial soldiers get "serial numbers" instead of names? Another weird name was Lady Proxima which I felt didn't fit how that creature looked at all. Wonder if the writers got it from Proxima Midnight.haha

whilst hardly cinematic brilliance, i personally enjoyed solo: a star wars story. it's a bit grittier/grayer than most star wars movies, and not relying on jedi/force stuff benefitted it my opinion. certainly better than deadpool 2 was which on another level of awful...

Somewhere, deep in the recesses of my mind, I was hoping we'd get the "Snoke is Jar Jar" reveal in TLJ. I consciously knew it would NEVER happen, but I can't imagine a funnier plot development, and it'd be a great way to tie the trilogies together.

The Ghost appearing in Ant-man and Wasp looks like the Hunter class from Destiny.

http://www.j1studios.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/antman_...

I watched Solo recently and it wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be and quite enjoyed it in some parts. Overall I thought it was a pretty average movie but still better that The Last Jedi.

Watched Upgrade this weekend and absolutely loved it. It's a violent, funny, and twisty cyberpunk revenge story that reminds me very favorably of some of Paul Verhoeven's best films (particular Robocop). The film both grounds us, quite painfully, in the rubble of the main character's life even as it finds humor in unexpected places. While I won't call the film's story fantastic, I do think it manages to cultivate an interesting little mystery over the course of its running time.

Just out of curiosity, I saw Despicable Me 3... that sure is a movie all right. Stuff just kinda happens, the writing wasn’t funny, and the new characters just didn’t do it for me. I thought the first one was fine enough, but 2 and 3 aren’t good in my opinion.