Star Wars Anthology shit talk (Rogue One, Young Solo, TBD)

This was fun but MAN was there some bigtime video game plotting and filler bits on the beachhead. So many switches!

That shot in the trailer where Jyn in running on the beach with a blaster in her hand? She has to be carrying the Maltese Falcon in her other.

Wow was I completely wrong about this, thanks to early trailers and re-shot scenes.

Also, did anyone else think the "manually grab a data tape then click around" was some straight-up filler to give the leads something to do while the battle raged all round?

Anybody else get "Xwing"/"Tie fighter" flashbacks in this? They mention Admiral Thrawn by name, and several Y-Wings use ion torpodes to deactivate a star destroyer

Wasn't until the ships scene at the end(with re-used Gold Leader/Red Leader footage) that I realized what they were going for. Like, holy shit, they really _were_ going to do the Death Star attack using modern tech. Cute that the pilot with the callsign Red-5 got taken out, leaving his spot in the squadron open.

Much like Star Wars originally was pastiche, this totally felt like pastiche but of war films. You had everything from WWII/Vietnam/Battle of Algiers stuff.

There's a shot looking out on the beach showing the containers arrays just perfectly so to allow for some 3rd-person cover shooter game action to happen.

Totally expected Donnie Yen to ignite a partial light saber from the end of his staff for his last scene.

The amount of unused stuff from old Star Wars drafts was amusing; kyber crystals, Temple of the Whills, Black Saber(or Dark Saber?). Completely forgot about the idea of Vader's castle. Thought it was odd that every new planet got a little title card when first shown except for his.

Much like with Force Awakens, anybody notice the mirroring of shots from Star Wars? Stuff like the rebel dude in his crows nest at Yavin 4, who was shown twice, once to match the earlier movie, the second for a much different moment where they jack the impounded imperial ship.

One of the many, many callbacks: when Jyn is hiding in her bunker, she fiddled around trying to light what looks like the same type of lamp Luke uses on Dagobah.

A cute bit from the IMDB trivia:

Shipped to theaters under the name "Los Alamos".

Seriously. We have a SW film that ends with the leads embracing as they are enveloped in a mushroom cloud.

Anybody else get "Xwing"/"Tie fighter" flashbacks in this? They mention Admiral Thrawn by name, and several Y-Wings use ion torpodes to deactivate a star destroyer

ended up being a bit of a damp squid though

Disappointed there wasn't more of a reaction to this

Other bit of rhyming poetry connection: an Xwing with a black male pilot blows up the shield generator on a star destroyer(the big geodesic spheres on its bridge), which I remember because the same exact thing happens in Jedi and featured the only black Rebel pilot I remember.

Also, is this the first SW with progress bars on a screen?

There's a shot looking out on the beach showing the containers arrays just perfectly so to allow for some 3rd-person cover shooter game action to happen.

The Star Wars: Battlefront game just added Scarif as DLC at the beginning of the month, and the load screens look pretty much exactly like this shot in the movie. And everything functions exactly as you describe.

Also, is this the first SW with progress bars on a screen?

There's this little one when Obi-Wan shuts off the tractor beam in the OG Star Wars:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bY2cFf70O-E/Ts6n4SzFq7I/AAAAAAAABEo/lmivGCZ3vPo/s1600/tractorbeam1997.jpg

This was very disjointed and overly gloomy, and I was zoning out occasionally during the heavy-going mid-section, but the final third was exhilarating enough that I came away feeling more positive about the film than I would have done. Comfortably below Force Awakens, for me, but I look forward to seeing it again.

lol i made a casual Grand Moff Tarkin joke on FB before i even knew about the bullshit in this movie

Looks like the story overhaul was pretty big: http://www.slashfilm.com/rogue-one-missing-trailer-footage/#disqus_thread

overly gloomy

I feel you may have different expectations of this film than many of us.

the Cushing puppetry ensures I never see this, what a ghoulish, horrible idea

he's in a whopping ten minutes of the film

p whopping for a dead guy.

i assume his children signed off on that, so i'd like to pitch a movie where he haunts them to death.

if it was really so minor they should have just recast like they apparently did with a buncha other characters

xp Joyce Broughton, his former secretary who oversees his estate - he died without issue.

I didn't find anything ghoulish about it at all, tbh - he was a fairly recognizable guy, and it wasn't a hologram projection using actual footage of him or anything, it was CGI created in his likeness, obv his voice wasn't used Forrest Gump-style or anything. are we going to get equally upset the next time a dead person turns up as a playable character on a video game too?

they could have avoided it, sure, but as stated upthread, it was equal parts "hey we can do this! wow" and also preserving a villain whose likeness was unique. They could have gone the Bela Lugosi in Plan 9 route, or cast a diff actor with a bit of awkward exposition ("I did that think you asked, Grand Moff Tarkin"), they didn't.

I do get the uncanny valley critiques though - for me, it didn't take me out of the movie.

Funny you should mention him...

As for the deceased, California has led the way in protecting the right to control how an actor’s image is used after his or her death. The legislature passed a law in 1984 establishing the postmortem right of publicity and timing them out 50 years after the individual’s death. The law was a response to a court ruling finding that Bela Lugosi’s heirs had no power to prevent the use of his image in Dracula merchandise. At the urging of the Screen Actors Guild, the legislature has since extended the right to 70 years.

Some actor in Cushing makeup played Tarkin for a few seconds in Revenge of the Sith.

xxxpost they didn't recast several characters! they even brought back the original players for the Gold and Red Leaders, who they used CGI de-aging on, and even the guy who played Wedge Antilles for a vocal cameo.

I mean I guess if you want to argue Mon Mothma isn't the same actress from Jedi, but it's the same one from ROTS.

I mean ok David Prowse wasn't Vader (physically) but it isn't like you can see the guy underneath the outfit.

unless you were a big General Dodonna fan

Some actor in Cushing makeup played Tarkin for a few seconds in Revenge of the Sith.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, December 18, 2016 10:20 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Forgot about that!

in this case there was a physical actor who looked similar to Tarkin that did the physical movement and they used CGI and digitally altered archive footage of Cushing to create the likeness, when another actor (Steven Stanton, who portrayed him in Clone Wars) did the voice. and apparently the Cushing family was very involved in the process, according to Kathleen Kennedy.

Lol

(Xpost)

i didn't find vader's "ambitions" comment to be a groaner.

the actual line was "choke on your aspirations", which perhaps made people groan due to the double-pun.

they put Laurence Olivier into that Sky Captain movie, right?

Morbs...who cares? We get it.

Did anyone answer my question about how or if Fisher and Cushing were credited in their roles? We were busy looking for a lost hat.

Was hoping for a "Zatoichi, the Blind Jedi" spin-off. Oh well.

many. Cushings. died. to bring us this role

and all I got was this shitty t-shirt

More Cushing for the Pushing.

GOVERNOR TARKIN -- Guy Henry
...with Special Thanks to Peter Cushing

PRINCESS LEIA -- Ingvild Deila
... with Special Thanks to Carrie Fisher

Ah! Thanks.

I feel you may have different expectations of this film than many of us.

If I do then it's my fault for watching the trailers.

I was completely bowled over by this. My wife and son (12) didn't appreciate it as much, based on the idea that "we already knew they were going to succeed in getting them the plans so it took away from the suspense." I think they are both garbage at watching movies.

For me the only part where it kinda plodded for me was the final act. It was a glorious battle and everything, but it seemed to go on and on.

the final act was the only good bit

even the guy who played Wedge Antilles for a vocal cameo.

I don't think Wedge was in this at all. We do see Capt Antilles, tho

i heard there were some inserted audio/video clips from ANH during the dogfights but didn't notice them myself

how's life lol

Xpost supposedly it was only his voice on the speakers during the fight sequence. I didn't hear it myself but am going by what i read afterwards.

Saw this today. I liked it but prefer TFA because it had stronger characters and better drama. Compared to Rey and friends, Jyn was a bit of a non-entity.

The final battle sequence more than made up for a slow first half. I was impressed at how well they juggled all the different moving pieces. Felt more consequential than the TFA space battle scenes, which seemed like an afterthought.

Definitely. The thing that kept me in during that long battle is that there was a lot that was actually going on.

Ahhh I loved this so much also holy fuck they killed everyone :D

Jimmy Smits as Leia's Dad was fucking BOSS casting.

Mr Veg said final battle & ragtag rebel crew reminded him of Where Eagles Dare, which was kinda otm. Def had that all or nothing feel.

Imperial architects/builders need a fucking talking to. that fucking communications tower setup jfc
"So the archive is a remote controlled setup like dave & busters claw game inside the tower. you transmit at the very top of the tower *outside* . and you control the angle of the satellite dish by walking out onto a gangplank to another control panel. Cool? Cool."

Jimmy Smits as Leia's Dad was fucking BOSS casting.

you know he was in the prequels right

forgive me if my memory of those boring garbagefires is faulty

Ben Mendelsohn was excellent btw ... I've been crazy in love with him since he was in The Henderson Kids way back in '85

I think that gang plank antenna switch was a bullshit filler thing the screenwriters stuck in there because they wanted a scene where Jyn is away from the transmit switch for Kennick to confront her, and couldn't figure out how to do it.

Similarly, the multiple repeated switches and mini-objectives bugged me as some incremental video game-plotting. "First hit this beach switch to tell them we're going to transmit THEN drag this cable back THEN plug it in and hit a comm switch THEN plug in the tapes THEN hit another transmit switch oops your shit is misaligned? Somehow? so THEN make your way out to another switch THEN return to the transmit switch"

I mean, if you wanna do a heavy step-by-step focused heist like you're in a process film, go right ahead, but I don't think it works in the midst of a protracted massive land/sea/air battle sequence.

On a related note, one of the credited screenwriters is an ex-games journo.

idk i wasn't mad at it, just laughing more as an in-universe thing like how pissed off you would be if you actualky worked there