Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens (2015)

[phredmojo]

They haven't even released it in some markets like China yet. They probably kept China out for a couple weeks to minimize the pirate copies during Dec. As soon as they release it there, then full high quality versions will flood the torrent sites and digital copies will be being sold in all their stores.

China will still had many millions more to the legit revs.

I heard china bans western movies around this time of year, thats why it doesnt start till january over there.

 

[potzer25]

jibber jabber

whatever. take it to another thread.

 

[Duffman]

Just read that in the vision, Obi-Wan says just one word "Rey". How they did it was the audio editors working on the film used a recording of Alec Guiness saying the word "afraid" during some dialogue. They then chopped off the ends to get just the part were Rey is pronounced. That's how they did it. It was his real voice.

They also said it was something they thought up on their own and presented it to Abbrams as a suggestion. He loved it so he put it in the movie.

What's cool is they used both Alec Guiness and Ewan McGergor's voices as Obi-Wan in the scene.

 

[chf]

whatever. take it to another thread.

Gee, that's what I have to do to get more from you than an emoticon? Bring politics into the thread?

 

[RegentDenali]

What's cool is they used both Alec Guiness and Ewan McGergor's voices as Obi-Wan in the scene.

I liked that touch for sure. Some say they went overboard with taking things from the first three movies to please the hard core fans, and maybe they did at times, but I really don't care. I like it that it was a classic Star Wars movie in its presentation and the liners delivered. There was plenty of new ground presented as well. I think the new casting was well done and it created lots of new storylines and questions to figure out. Nice to know we only have to wait 18 months to get the next dose of this story.

 

[juliansteed]

Star Wars The Force Awakens: Is Rey related to Obi-Wan?

View attachment 68246

I was thinking the other day that if she wasn't a Skywalker then who else could she be. For some reason Qui Gon Jinn came immediately to mind and I was thinking she might have been his grand-daughter but then I quickly replaced that theory with her being Obi-Wan's grand-daughter which would make a lot more sense for a few reasons. I still thought a Skywalker seemed more like though.

Then it occurred to me that those 2 theories aren't necessarily mutually exclusive at all! My theory is that after the 2nd Death Star blew Luke needed some sort of purpose. Force ghost Obi-Wan tells him that he has a daughter (whom he may or may have neglected due to his duties as a Jedi) and asks Luke to watch over her, maybe the mother too. So Luke goes to whatever planet she is on, most likely Tatooine or Jakku. Then just as his father fell in love and impregnated Padme while being her bodyguard, Luke does the same with Obi-Wan's daughter and we get Rey. What happened from there, not sure. But how cool would it be if Rey is the grand-daughter of both Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kinobee? It would definitely help explain how she can be so gifted despite her lack of experience and training.

 

[RegentDenali]

Star Wars veteran Harrison Ford pulled in an astronomical paycheck for his reprisal role in The Force Awakens, which opened globally Friday. Fortune reported that Ford stands to make more than $34 million for his return as Han Solo. Disney reportedly wanted him back so badly that they offered him a base salary of nearly $25 million, plus 0.5% of the film's gross profit, according to the Guardian.

"Harrison is the key to making this movie work," an unnamed source from Disney said, according to the Guardian. "He's the link between the old generation and the new. Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were good to get, but the film could have lived without them. You couldn't make it without Harrison Ford."

Maybe a half a percent sounds like small stakes, but consider this: After one weekend in theaters, The Force Awakens has surpassed the previous record holder for ticket sales - Jurassic World - at nearly $240 million in North America alone. The film has netted some $517 million worldwide, which puts Ford's share of the profits above $2.5 million after just three days, a number that the Guardian projects could rise to some $9 million.

Fisher, according to the Daily Mail, was paid some $1.5 million to return as Princess Leia, while Hamill's salary has not yet been made public.

The film's up-and-coming actors, though, received much less lucrative deals. Both Daisy Ridley and John Boyega were paid just under $450,000, plus they'll receive a "small cut" of box office revenue after ticket sales have hit $1 billion, the Daily Mail reported.

Still, Ridley and Boyega have a substantial leg up on the original actors when it comes to salaries for the first Star Wars film, according to Yahoo. Ford reportedly made something like $10,000 (in 1970s dollars) for Episode IV: A New Hope. (He leveraged this to $100,000 for The Empire Strikes Back and around $500,000 for The Return of the Jedi.)

Hamill fared better in salary negotiations for the first movie: He was allegedly paid something like $650,000 to play Luke Skywalker in A New Hope, plus .25% of profits and royalties. Fisher has never named her salary for the first installment, but has said she failed to secure royalties from the use of Princess Leia's likeness. She did receive the same percentage of the film's income as Hamill, though.

 

[potzer25]

Gee, that's what I have to do to get more from you than an emoticon? Bring politics into the thread?

 

[chf]

Okay, I'll do a good faith review. I posted a comment based on an old criticism of the 12 parsec line uttered by Han Solo.

How the Star Wars Kessel Run Turns Han Solo Into a Time-Traveler

That article describes in detail the disconnect between a unit of time (speed) and a unit of distance. There are various theories about how the line was a mistake, and was 'retconned' into later works to explain the phrasing. The wired article even posits Solo as a time traveler to explain away the time necessary to go that many parsecs.

My question wondered if it was an oversight, or if they'd just decided to 'double down' with the language choice.

Your response was a single emoticon of a facepalm.

I then asked you if the facepalm was in response to my post, or to the original line.

Then I got, not an explanation of an in good faith question, but another emoticon.

A shrug this time.

So break out some language please and explain in some words whether your issue is my post being facepalm worthy, and if so, a short explanation of WHY you think so would be nice.

Or, conversely, that the line was facepalm worthy, and in essence we were agreeing.

Please and thanks,

chf

 

[theknight307]

Well politics in movies happens all of the time. I could not edit my post for some reason and there were a few things I wanted to change.

The fact is JJ Abrams is an Uber liberal and he allowed to much of his leanings to be a part of the story.

To me when it becomes so overt in the story line, it takes away from what it could have been.

I mean to have Finn all of a sudden have the dexterity to wield a light Saber which was suppose to have taken jedi knights years to master was just stupid. I mean could he have Abrams make Ren more unworthy and pathetic villain?

To me it ruined it and yes there were political angles in the movie and worthy of criticism.

 

[ckhokie]

I enjoyed the movie. Music was good, effects were good and didn't seem over-used, story was 'Star Wars-y.'

Rey being Luke and Leia's daughter makes too much sense. So much that I almost doubt it could be true. During her lightsaber flashback, it looked like Rey was spared by Ben Solo - potentially because she was his cousin?

Didn't have much of issue with Rey's 'abilities.' She didn't seem infallible to me. Her strengths from the beginning were resourcefulness and piloting, certainly not fighting, so I am not upset the lightsaber battle with KR wasn't overly elaborate. It shouldn't have been.

KR was young and immature, which again is fine with me. His character is young. In A New Hope, Vadar was an instant badass. The movie was already very similar to ANH, so allowing his character to build over time works. Dude is clearly a work in progress.

There are a lot of loose ends which will be interesting to see how they tie forward and backward to the other movies.

I was confused with the way they dealt with Gwendoline Christie's character. I was figuring that she was going to be a major player in the next movies, but after the 'trash compactor' comment, she seemed to just fade away. Is she around or not?

Also, what is Luke doing? First Order beefing up, controlling the universe, etc. Why aren't you helping out your friends (or sister)? I feel (hope) he's actually serving some purpose on the island and didn't just 'retire' because Ben went bad.

 

[OutlawImmortal]

Fuck you to all that's seen it.

*has to wait till after Christmas to see it*

A bootleg version has recently surfaced on the net if anyone's interested and either can't wait, doesn't have much free time in the coming weeks, or simply doesn't care about the theatre-going experience.

 

[calsnowskier]

A bootleg version has recently surfaced on the net if anyone's interested and either can't wait, doesn't have much free time in the coming weeks, or simply doesn't care about the theatre-going experience.

I may watch it a second time online, but for my first viewing, it has to be IMAX. Hopefully next week.

 

[OutlawImmortal]

Rey's character was lazy writing. We know nothing about her except that she can pass every obstacle put in front of her.

Its a good movie but they really could've done more and just decided to make as much money as possible before taking risks with the next movies. The Force Awakens is much better than the prequels but I dont think its as good as your average Marvel movie.

It's not a perfect movie, there were a few things that seemed contrived due to the lack of information. This is the first Star Wars movie that I can think of that ends in a cliffhanger. To be fair though, I honestly thought they'd take less risks than they actually did. Abrams only focused on making a fun, enjoyable movie that felt like Star Wars and he accomplished his goal. It is up to Ryan Johnson now to tie up all the loose ends in the next 2 films and make it all work. Many of the complaints we have now may not be such a big deal in 5 years. The CGI wasn't great but we're talking about less than a handful of scenes with CGI, I think we can give them a pass on that.

Rey's background was way more useful in preparing her than Luke's. Luke was a boy farmer and pretty much a Momma's boy in the eyes of his peers, yet he became so powerful later on. Rey was a scavenger who had to break her back every day in an incredibly dangerous environment for scraps of food, living out of an abandoned AT-AT (or is it an AT-ST? I forget), and trying desperately to hold onto to the hope of her family returning one day. Rey is a much stronger character out of the gate than Luke ever was, and Anakin was a slave but at least he had his Mother, Rey had absolutely no one to help her and Anakin was rescued from his situation very early on. Rey's had to endure this lifestyle for what seems to be a decade or two.

As for Captain Phasma, Abrams had 2 hours to catch the audience up on 30 years of lore. He wasn't going to be able to fit character development in for everyone. It's similar to the issues Avengers has with so many superheroes in one movie, not every character is going to get a fair shake. They are setting her up to have a personal vendetta against the main characters and I believe she'll come back with a vengeance in the next movie.

 

[juliansteed]

Rey being Luke and Leia's daughter makes too much sense.

Really? I mean I know they kissed on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back before finding out they were brother and sister but I'm pretty sure that's as far as it went.

 

[ckhokie]

Really? I mean I know they kissed on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back before finding out they were brother and sister but I'm pretty sure that's as far as it went.

Hahaha my mistake. Luke's daughter. Clearly not both.

 

[ckhokie]

I mean to have Finn all of a sudden have the dexterity to wield a light Saber which was suppose to have taken jedi knights years to master was just stupid. I mean could he have Abrams make Ren more unworthy and pathetic villain?

To me it ruined it and yes there were political angles in the movie and worthy of criticism.

At that point Kylo Ren had be hit with Chewie's crossbow. The same one that blows up Stormtroopers.

The Finn fight wasn't really that long - I thought he got his ass kicked, and Ray was running from KR their whole battle. I didn't see an issue with KR not showing at 100% in that sequence

 

[theknight307]

Wait, I just thought of a possibility in regards to Finn. Maybe he is an off spring of Leia and.......Lando. Remember Lando? Did he die? I don't think so.

Where was he?

Maybe it is going to be revealed that old Billy Dee laid down the pipe on Leia and she had their kid and that is how he displayed such a skill to wield a Saber like a jedi.

Hmmmmm? Hmmmmm?

 

[CarlSr]

Ray was running from KR their whole battle.

Well not the entire battle. She apparently had to close her eyes for 10 seconds while Kylo Ren patiently waited for her to channel the force. After that cheese she pretty much kicked his ass and had she been a Sith, he may not have made it out alive, even before the ground opened up.

 

[redseat]

Vatican Paper Rips 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'

Vatican Paper Rips 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'

While Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been almost universally praised by critics, with a current 95 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, one small Vatican newspaper is not amped about the latest installment in the saga.

L’Osservatore Romano, a Vatican newspaper that normally confines its columns toward reporting about the activities of the pope, has slammed the latest Star Wars film as “confused and vague.”

In an unsigned column, the reviewer took issue with the film’s interpretation of evil, saying that the film’s villains did not hold a candle to the franchise’s predecessors.

“The counterpart of Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, wears a mask merely to emulate his predecessor, while the character who needs to substitute the Emperor Palpatine as the incarnation of supreme evil represents the most serious defect of the film,” read the review.

“Without revealing anything about the character, all we will say is that it is the clumsiest and tackiest result you can obtain from computer graphics.”

Moreover the review suggests that director J.J. Abrams’s action sequences are better suited for the world of video games.

The review slams the film as “more reboot than sequel,” saying “not a classy reboot however, like Nolan’s Batman, but an update twisted to suit today’s tastes and a public more accustomed to sitting in front of a computer than in a cinema.“

L’Osservatore Romano has been owned by the Holy See since 1861. It’s unlikely that the Bishop of Rome has taken notice of the scathing review, however. Pope Francis has notoriously eschewed watching Hollywood films.