The Last Jedi General Discussion

Off topic but...it seems Marvel's latest Avengers flick is being slated to outdo TLJ at the box office....sigh.

motherofpearl1 wrote:Off topic but...it seems Marvel's latest Avengers flick is being slated to outdo TLJ at the box office....sigh.

@motherofpearl1

It could outdo TFA as well. Wouldn't be surprised, it's basically Avengers on Steroids.

I'm actually a comic book movie fan, but having read the plot of this one I intend to avoid it - the Captain A trilogy were the best of the bunch in my opinion. I'm sure its huge entertainment but....these days I like a bit more to a film than visuals!

Infinity Wars is an event movie ten years in the making. I'm not surprised it's doing so well. I'm going to watch it soon, so I guess Marvel will get my money

I doubt IW will have long\strong legs so BO won't be bigger than TFA. Maybe bigger than TLJ but it was sequel and wasn't in such unique position as IW and BP. Hmm, I doubt IW2 will be similar cultural event that can repeat big BO and TLJ's BO.

special_cases wrote:I doubt IW will have long\strong legs so BO won't be bigger than TFA. Maybe bigger than TLJ but it was sequel and wasn't in such unique position as IW and BP. Hmm, I doubt IW2 will be similar cultural event that can repeat big BO and TLJ's BO.

@special_cases

IW already beat TFA for best opening weekend. I watched it last week and will most probably watch it one or two more times. It was pretty fantastic.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/worldwideopenings.htm

I'm sorry but whenever I see the initials BO (box office of course) I can't help but giggle....

IW has the biggest opening weekend to date, and I already fully expected it to make more than TLJ to begin with. However, it is not the holiday season, and Deadpool 2 and Solo are due within the next month. Plus Marvel movies don't usually have the legs that SW movies do.

californiagirl wrote:IW has the biggest opening weekend to date, and I already fully expected it to make more than TLJ to begin with. However, it is not the holiday season, and Deadpool 2 and Solo are due within the next month. Plus Marvel movies don't usually have the legs that SW movies do.

@californiagirl

I was actually a bit surprised they didn't release it at Easter, or Whitsun.

@motherofpearl1 It was slated to come out this weekend, because a big Marvel movie comes out the first weekend of May every year. Just a couple months ago they pulled the release forward a week so it would come out the same day everywhere, with no test screenings, and the premiere less than a week before it came out, like a SW movie. The other big action movies are probably grateful they get some breathing room now.

Starliteprism wrote:

special_cases wrote:I doubt IW will have long\strong legs so BO won't be bigger than TFA. Maybe bigger than TLJ but it was sequel and wasn't in such unique position as IW and BP. Hmm, I doubt IW2 will be similar cultural event that can repeat big BO and TLJ's BO.

@special_cases

IW already beat TFA for best opening weekend. I watched it last week and will most probably watch it one or two more times. It was pretty fantastic.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/worldwideopenings.htm

@Starliteprism

Yeah, I know, but I can't see it having long legs like TFA. OW is good, everything is about OW numbers right now lol, but IW is in unique position for big movie. It's pretty much like SEASON FINALE on tv but at the cinema.

special_cases wrote:

Starliteprism wrote:

special_cases wrote:I doubt IW will have long\strong legs so BO won't be bigger than TFA. Maybe bigger than TLJ but it was sequel and wasn't in such unique position as IW and BP. Hmm, I doubt IW2 will be similar cultural event that can repeat big BO and TLJ's BO.

@special_cases

IW already beat TFA for best opening weekend. I watched it last week and will most probably watch it one or two more times. It was pretty fantastic.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/worldwideopenings.htm

@Starliteprism

Yeah, I know, but I can't see it having long legs like TFA. OW is good, everything is about OW numbers right now lol, but IW is in unique position for big movie. It's pretty much like SEASON FINALE on tv but at the cinema.

@special_cases

Welp...I think it will be interesting to watch unfold, regardless on whether or not it has long legs.

@Starliteprism Yeah! Agreed, very interesting because we haven't seen something like this before.

Found this article by chance while reading The Atlantic and it's interesting that it got overlooked after TFA's release because it touches on so much that we've been discussing for 2+ years now. Also surprising that it's in The Atlantic, the same pub that put out the "it's a wacky fan fiction thing that female fans like to do which predicted a plot twist" articles. Because clearly, they aren't connecting the dots. The crux is about cultural differences in Children's Stories, but also about the differences between pagan influences, which the article touches on the cultural geography of the UK versus the rest of Europe and North America, versus Christian influences. Which are at the heart of the US and Canadian children's tales because both countries were driven by the "New Jerusalem" myth of colonialism. In short, a lot of us who aren't screaming our heads off about how Kylo needs to be punished are more open to the Pagan influenced themes of these type of stories and given that Irving Kershner talked about how ESB was meant to be a fairy tale, that's a reading a lot of supposedly well-versed fans miss:

Why the British Tell Better Children’s Stories

Even well into the 19th and even 20th centuries, many believed they could be whisked away to a parallel universe. Shape shifters have long haunted the castles of clans claiming seals and bears as ancestors. “Gaelic culture teaches we needn’t fear the dark side,” Bateman says. Death is neither “a portal to heaven nor hell, but instead a continued life on earth where spirits are released to shadow the living.” A tear in this fabric is all it takes for a story to begin. Think Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Dark Is Rising, Peter Pan, The Golden Compass—all of which feature parallel worlds

Pagan folktales are less about morality and more about characters like the trickster who triumphs through wit and skill: Bilbo Baggins outwits Gollum with a guessing game; the mouse in The Gruffalo avoids being eaten by tricking a hungry owl and fox. Griswold calls tricksters the “Lords of Misrule” who appeal to a child’s natural desire to subvert authority and celebrate naughtiness: “Children embrace a logic more pagan than adult.” And yet Bateman says in pagan myth it’s the young who possess the qualities needed to confront evil. Further, each side has opposing views of naughtiness and children: Pagan babies are born innocent; Christian children are born in sin and need correcting. Like Jody in The Yearling who, forced to kill his pet deer, must understand life’s hard choices before he can forgive his mother and shoulder the responsibility of manhood."

“Kids think through their problems by creating fantasy worlds in ways adults don’t,” Griswold says. “Within these parallel universes, things can be solved, shaped and understood.” Just as children learn best through hands-on activities, they tend to process their feelings through metaphorical reenactments. “Stories,” Griswold noted, “serve a purpose beyond pleasure, a purpose encoded in analogies. Story arcs, like dreams, have an almost biological function.”

It turns out that fantasy—the established domain of British children’s literature—is critical to childhood development. With faeries as voices from the earth, from beyond human history, with a different take on the meaning of life and way of understanding death, Bateman says there’s wisdom in recognizing nature as a greater life force. “Pagan folklore keeps us humble by reminding us we are temporary guests on earth—a true parable for our time."

@snufkin Now that you mention it, no one outside of a few pockets of SW fandom have really acknowledged that there were fans who had predicted much of TLJ. The current narrative was that this was all a total surprise/subversion, which is interpreted in either a positive or negative light. I've seen very few connections being made between TFA and TLJ, even among the better journalism/coverage.

There's not really any discussion of where the story goes from here, really no thought given to the trilogy as a whole, even among the more intelligent discourse. Literally everyone is like "it could go anywhere!" No it can't. It's headed in a rather specific direction at that. This just kind of embodies why we're all here, really.

I read a very nice positive review in a newspaper just after Christmas, not official just a personal comment by a columnist....but one thing made me wince: a description of Rey as a 'shining example of unparalleled goodness'. I guess she didn't see the Rey I did!

DeeBee wrote:hiya - not sure where to put this. This will do!  
anyone going to this?
https://www.starwars.com/news/disneyland-after-dark-sets-second-star-wars-themed-event-for-may-9

"...And starting May 4, all Disneyland visitors will be treated to these new and returning Star Wars experiences:

“March of First Order,” a dramatic showing by Captain Phasma guiding a squad of First Order stormtroopers through Tomorrowland
Finn’s question — “Where’s Rey?” — is asked and answered when the Resistance hero and Jedi in training Rey appears at Star Wars Launch Bay
And Hyperspace Mountain flies again
Check back on StarWars.com for more on Disneyland After Dark events."

@DeeBee

So, last night (03 May) Disneyland held the first of these after hours Star Wars events (in celebration of Star Wars Day, May the 4th).  As stated in @DeeBee's message above you can now meet Rey at the park...and last night was her premiere.  

The video below is an interaction with a park guest and Rey at the event.  The reason I am sharing this is (at 1:00 into the video) the guest asks her what she is looking forward to about confronting Kylo in the future/ending of the First Order and her answer is, "I do believe there is still light in Kylo Ren, so we almost always have hope..."    The character actors at the parks are highly prepped (I have several friends who worked as characters at Disneyland in the past).  They have strict scripts and rules they must follow when interacting with guests. Disney clearly is getting the message out that Kylo isn't beyond redemption and there is hope for him (and Rey doesn't seem to hate him either).  All stuff that is not news to us at all, but I love how they are making sure this message is getting out there.  

Happy Star Wars Day!  May the 4th be with you!

KnightsofReylo_2015 wrote:

DeeBee wrote:hiya - not sure where to put this. This will do!  
anyone going to this?
https://www.starwars.com/news/disneyland-after-dark-sets-second-star-wars-themed-event-for-may-9

"...And starting May 4, all Disneyland visitors will be treated to these new and returning Star Wars experiences:

“March of First Order,” a dramatic showing by Captain Phasma guiding a squad of First Order stormtroopers through Tomorrowland
Finn’s question — “Where’s Rey?” — is asked and answered when the Resistance hero and Jedi in training Rey appears at Star Wars Launch Bay
And Hyperspace Mountain flies again
Check back on StarWars.com for more on Disneyland After Dark events."

@DeeBee

So, last night (03 May) Disneyland held the first of these after hours Star Wars events (in celebration of Star Wars Day, May the 4th).  As stated in @DeeBee's message above you can now meet Rey at the park...and last night was her premiere.  

The video below is an interaction with a park guest and Rey at the event.  The reason I am sharing this is (at 1:00 into the video) the guest asks her what she is looking forward to about confronting Kylo in the future/ending of the First Order and her answer is, "I do believe there is still light in Kylo Ren, so we almost always have hope..."    The character actors at the parks are highly prepped (I have several friends who worked as characters at Disneyland in the past).  They have strict scripts and rules they must follow when interacting with guests. Disney clearly is getting the message out that Kylo isn't beyond redemption and there is hope for him (and Rey doesn't seem to hate him either).  All stuff that is not news to us at all, but I love how they are making sure this message is getting out there.  

Happy Star Wars Day!  May the 4th be with you!

@KnightsofReylo_2015

On a similar note, if you've ever seen the meet-and-greet videos with "Kylo Ren" and age-appropriate female guests, the Kylo usually crowds the female guest's space and is vaguely flirty with her.

KnightsofReylo_2015 wrote:

DeeBee wrote:hiya - not sure where to put this. This will do!  
anyone going to this?
https://www.starwars.com/news/disneyland-after-dark-sets-second-star-wars-themed-event-for-may-9

"...And starting May 4, all Disneyland visitors will be treated to these new and returning Star Wars experiences:

“March of First Order,” a dramatic showing by Captain Phasma guiding a squad of First Order stormtroopers through Tomorrowland
Finn’s question — “Where’s Rey?” — is asked and answered when the Resistance hero and Jedi in training Rey appears at Star Wars Launch Bay
And Hyperspace Mountain flies again
Check back on StarWars.com for more on Disneyland After Dark events."

@DeeBee

So, last night (03 May) Disneyland held the first of these after hours Star Wars events (in celebration of Star Wars Day, May the 4th).  As stated in @DeeBee's message above you can now meet Rey at the park...and last night was her premiere.  

The video below is an interaction with a park guest and Rey at the event.  The reason I am sharing this is (at 1:00 into the video) the guest asks her what she is looking forward to about confronting Kylo in the future/ending of the First Order and her answer is, "I do believe there is still light in Kylo Ren, so we almost always have hope..."    The character actors at the parks are highly prepped (I have several friends who worked as characters at Disneyland in the past).  They have strict scripts and rules they must follow when interacting with guests. Disney clearly is getting the message out that Kylo isn't beyond redemption and there is hope for him (and Rey doesn't seem to hate him either).  All stuff that is not news to us at all, but I love how they are making sure this message is getting out there.  

Happy Star Wars Day!  May the 4th be with you!

@KnightsofReylo_2015

Thanks for sharing this KnightsofReylo_2015! How awesome!
Hey isn't it a real shame that the main jedi hero of this trilogy - Rey - is soooo deluded about Kylo.
It's almost like she really believes he can turn from the darkness back more toward the light and umm be redeemed!
She is totally barking up the wrong tree in thinking there is still light in him. How refreshing to have the main heroic protagonist be just plain wrong for most of the trilogy, only to find out what she's been hoping for is lost. Ahem. The ST will end with the main hero realising that she was totally wrong and that there was no light in him and she should move on and heck, just kill him.

*Yep total sarcasm*

New starwars.com poll: What is your favorite Star Wars Movie?

Currently, TLJ is in 2nd place behind ESB.

KnightsofReylo_2015 wrote:New starwars.com poll: What is your favorite Star Wars Movie?

Currently, TLJ is in 2nd place behind ESB.

@KnightsofReylo_2015

Bbbbut but but everyone hates it and Rian Johnson ruined Star Wars...

It's great to see that - I actually think it's the best of the SW movies, even better than Empire.

So I was just thinking, we still have a few things left over to come from TLJ. Rian said he was gong to release the script eventually, he's also going ahead with the Black and White behind the scenes photo book (he said he took about 3000 photos), and Ram Bergman is producing that BTS mini series. Pretty exciting.

Kylo Rey wrote:So I was just thinking, we still have a few things left over to come from TLJ. Rian said he was gong to release the script eventually, he's also going ahead with the Black and white behind the scenes photo book (he said he took about 3000 photos), and Ram Bergman is producing that BTS mini series. Pretty exciting.

@Kylo Rey

That all sounds great, especially the BTS mini series!

I really wish they’d release the script soon because it will no doubt provide us with more insight into Rey and Kylo’s scenes and confirm a lot of the movie’s more nuanced elements. I’m curious why it hasn’t been released yet. Unless I’m mistaken, we don’t really have an answer as to why it’s taking so long.

Kessel wrote:

Kylo Rey wrote:So I was just thinking, we still have a few things left over to come from TLJ. Rian said he was gong to release the script eventually, he's also going ahead with the Black and white behind the scenes photo book (he said he took about 3000 photos), and Ram Bergman is producing that BTS mini series. Pretty exciting.

@Kylo Rey

That all sounds great, especially the BTS mini series!

I really wish they’d release the script soon because it will no doubt provide us with more insight into Rey and Kylo’s scenes and confirm a lot of the movie’s more nuanced elements. I’m curious why it hasn’t been released yet. Unless I’m mistaken, we don’t really have an answer as to why it’s taking so long.

@Kessel

Nice to know there is something new to look forward to...