Star Wars: The Last Jedi

[Staggerwing]

I can't wait for Disney to buy up the companies owning Star Trek rights so we can have a Star Wars - Star Trek crossover! Maybe even add BSG and Dr Who to the mix, too! And the MCU! Woo, I'm getting dizzy.

It won't be complete until they add Quark:

[mirth]

And Buck Rogers

[mirth]

It amazes me how the critics are slobbering all over this movie

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-last-jedi-reviews-critics-rating-episode-viii-1066757

It's a decent movie and worth seeing, but the best since Empire? No way. This is the weakest one since the prequels, imo. I may even put Attack of the Clones ahead of it.

[MetalDog]

I thought there were some deficiencies, but, c'mon...LUKE SKYWALKER!  I hadn't realized how much I missed seeing him in these movies.  And how much he really is my favorite character.

[mirth]

Luke was awesome. By far, the best part of the movie.

[BanzaiCat]

Yeah, finally seeing Luke again was pretty damned cool.

Though the whole him helping raise the First Order is kind of overlooked a tad. And now he's...well, yeah. I guess we'll see.

[JasonPratt]

And Buck Rogers

"What is thy bidding, my masters?"

[mirth]

^lol

[W8taminute]

Please don't take this the wrong way.  Just came back from seeing the movie and I could tell by the third paragraph of the opening text roll that the movie was going to be lame.  Twice while I was watching it I felt compelled to leave the theater.  I hung in until the end and while the movie was filled with a good story about problem solving on the spot for our heroes there was something lacking. 

I just didn't get a sense to why the rebels ended up in the situation they were in after their huge success in the first movie. 

As for the major plot twists and surprises I won't spoil it for anyone but I was left scratching my head wondering what was that train wreck I just witnessed? 

[mirth]

You'd think the galaxy would put an end to the entire Skywalker line. That family's caused more effing problems.

[JasonPratt]

So, got back from seeing it with Bro and nieces (and probable niece-mates someday).

Random non-spoilery thoughts.

Me to Bro early in the film: "I believe a lot of things in this movie. But I don't believe those fuzzy penguin things can fly."

Why would they get in the Falcon with Chewie? Even if he had some kind of change of heart?

A good half of the film is what used to be called in Doctor Who parlance (borrowing a term from classic cinema serials) a "circle chase plot". I would count that as an homage to the serial origins behind the original film, but this isn't a serial needing to stretch out its run time. It accomplished nothing more than making a side character wealthy and freeing some abused animals.

While I kind of see what they might have been going for, sort of, in how Luke serves the plot at the end, it seems like a waste. Not on his part, exactly, but in undermining viewer expectation. Bro and I both agreed, there should have been an insanely mind-blowing action defense sequence (those who have seen it will know) that would have justified what happened next. It was at least clever on the surface, but could have been a disaster that might have been easily avoided had Luke chosen to do something less clever and more practical. Relatedly, Yoda's cameo.

To paraphrase both Dark Helmet AND Admiral F'ing Thrawn: the rebels will always win, because evil is dumb. That becomes painfully obvious. Not just a little plot-conveniently dumb, but massssssssssssssively and repeatedly stupid in different ways over a period of a few whole days. Just when they run out of ways to be dumb, they decide to plumb the depths of dumbpravity.

Also, I declare dumbpravity to be a real word. It is now a real word because of this movie.

I know I have some misfiring neurons, but in my memory I keep seeing this movie title on posters as Star IX Wars. Even though cognitively that isn't true, I must feel in my heart what I know to be true or something like that.

If he had flown away on that broomstick, this movie would have been at least four hundred percent better. Not that I didn't appreciate what they did eventually do (and I saw how he grabbed it as he walked out the door), but still. I wanted him to fly off on that broomstick so bad I could taste it.

I was expecting Lando to help. I'll leave it at that.

Did that sergeant drag his feet? Why? To make his men think he was unspeakably badass by heaving himself up to be shot while bleeding so hard he left tracks? The film itself lampshades this.

The film itself lampshades this film and some prior films a lot.

I thought reviewers were overreacting when they compared this film's humor to Spaceballs. They were literally correct. "I think he is tooling you, sire."

Lara Dern. You are awesome. Of all the Lara Derns in this world, you are the Lara Derniest. Lara Dern, pretty much single-handedly, wins for the rebellion.

Lara Dern wins because evil is dumb. So very very very very dumb. This does not make Lara Dern's win more awesome.

Lara Dern is so awesome that even Lara Dern doesn't think of how Lara Dern is going to win before Lara Dern does. Good is not dumber than evil, but it tries really hard.

Despite Lara Dern pretty much single-handedly winning for the rebellion, somehow the movie still continues with enough First Order to threaten the plot. This emphasizes how dumb evil is, by comparison, i.e. that they could have easily beaten Lara Dern.

All praise to the visual designers of the final battle, and to the visual designers generally.

Somewhat relatedly, the hive of scum and villainy in this film was amusingly pointed.

My nieces loved this movie like cake. The older one was equally excited before and afterward. She shoryukened my face with her head when she arrived at the theater and she didn't even notice. My tongue still has teeth marks.

Finn's.... wait, was that his only real action scene? And simply a callback to only one of his several key action scenes in VII?

Finn's only real action scene (that can't be true, can it? -- no, there was a dog race.)

....sorry, I keep going off track. Finn's only real action scene that means anything really, literally starts and plays like a modern 2D Mortal Kombat match. My jaw dropped.

The movie teased unmasking Captain Phasma, or whatever her rank was supposed to be. (It was captain, right? She seemed more like a commander.) I don't for the life of me understand why they would tease this. Like they were spitting in the eye of her actress. Or at the fans who think Phasma is awesome as a villain.

Our audience clapped and laughed several times. And cheered a few times. A good time was had by all. Even me despite my grumpiness.

[JasonPratt]

^lol

Seemed topically appropriate, via a meme.

[mirth]

I was expecting Lando to help. I'll leave it at that.

I was too. This movie could have used some Lando.

[MetalDog]

I was expecting Lando to help. I'll leave it at that.

I was too. This movie could have used some Lando Colt .45.

Ftfy

[JasonPratt]

My... not 'favorite' moment, for obvious reasons, but the most What In The Actual Hell Did I Just See moment, was when Lara Dern is doing her Dern'dest to be awesome, and also there has been massive and unexpected tragedy... and some extras in the background behind Po and another really important character (whom I won't name for spoilers, but those who have seen the film will know the shot I mean), the main characters are looking out the window at all this, and the extras are just rhubarbing at each other in the background at their own little fan-social party. Just glad to be in a Star Wars film! Isn't this great, yeah I know, woo!

I didn't imagine that. Did I? I couldn't have actually projected that somehow from my subconscious, could I?? This big turnaround win in the face of desperate tragedy, and the extras are having a pleasant chat with one another about how much this place looks like a real Star Wars set, NOT EVEN LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW AT THE GREEN SCREEN!?!