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Star Wars: The Last Jedi Has Critics In Raptures (bbc.com)
gollum123 shares a report from BBC: "Rousing." "Thrilling." "Addictively bold." Just a few of the superlatives the critics are using to describe the latest film in the Star Wars saga. The Last Jedi, writes the Telegraph, is "enormous fun" and "will leave fans beaming with surprise." The Guardian calls it "an explosive sugar rush of spectacle" possessing "a tidal wave of energy and emotion." Variety, though, swims against the tide, describing it as "the longest and least essential chapter in the series." Rian Johnson's film, says Peter Debruge, is "ultimately a disappointment" that "gives in to the same winking self-parody that is poisoning other franchises of late." Writing in The Verge, Tasha Robinson tends to agree: "Audiences will likely come away from The Last Jedi with a lot of complaints and questions." Driver's Kylo Ren is singled out for praise by USA Today, who describe the character as "blockbuster cinema's most magnetic and unpredictable antagonist since Heath Ledger's Dark Knight Joker." Have you seen Star Wars: The Last Jedi? If so, how do you think it stacks up against the others in the saga?
Yeah. That was the solitary thing that made me say "mostly mediocre". But Empire Strikes Back only works as a follow-on.
I'm not sure you'll find a lot of people agreeing that the third was the best. I will say though after having rewatched it a few times on DVD in the past few years, my initial reactions to seeing it during it's theatrical release might have been a little harsh. It has some redeeming points, but I still have a problem with just discarding two central characters developed in Aliens.
There is an old joke about how the Matrix sequels are so bad, true fans refuse to recognize that they exist. If we all believe hard enough, maybe they'll go away. You can safely assume that people talking about the Matrix having no sequels are a part of the effort to forget. If they aren't why would you be so cruel as to inflict the sequels on the blissfully ignorant? https://xkcd.com/566/
Space Shuttle was a program that strapped humans to an explosion and tried to stab through the sky with fire and math
Force Awakens is a feminist movie because Rey was the main character? I think you doth protest too much. I've seen it 3 or 4 times and saw nothing of the sort. My only disappointment was that it was basically a reboot of A New Hope but I thought they did it well.
I never saw Rogue One - so I won't comment.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
Soo what about Kylo Ren, described in TFS as "the most magnetic and unpredictable antagonist since Heath Ledger's Dark Knight Joke". Because I thought Ren was a terrible (as in lame) villain in The Force Awakens. Almost as bad as young Anakin in eps 1-3
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Rey is no more a Mary Sue than Luke was. I don't think you know what a Mary Sue is.
Also, you can turn in your geek card given your quote: "The crew behind Rogue One was making a lot of SJW noise on social media, including calling the Empire a white supremacist regime (FFS, how can you be so lacking in imagination and still hold a creative writing job?!!!)" The Empire always were Nazis, that's what Lucas based them on. That's literally why all the officers wear jackboots.
You have no idea what Star Wars is. You are completely unfamiliar with the original movies, you have no idea what the themes are.
In the mean time you consider it an outrage, an "SJW" outrage nonetheless, that something that's supposed to be evil might get compared to White Supremacism. Seriously? You're so out of touch you think it's wrong to consider White Supremacism evil? Because even here on Slashdot you're going to have a hard sell with that.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
The thing that bothers me about the movie is the distribution deal Disney worked out with theaters. To show the film, they had to agree to keep it on screens for at least 4 weeks.
I remember going to see The Force Awakens on a Friday night a few weeks after it was released. The theater was empty...That memory stands out more than the film.
I don't know about you, but watching a movie in an empty theater feels creepy.
FWIW, I prefer watching movies in an empty theater. The more people in the theater the more likely there will be rude/annoying people around and it only takes one or two of those to ruin the experience for a lot of other viewers.
That said I don't agree or understand why Disney is forcing the 4 week minimum on theaters either. Most people aren't going to see any movie twice just because it's still in the theater, clearly, since you remember seeing The Force Awakens in an empty theater. That policy really hurts small town theaters, many of which are not showing the movie for that reason, so that can't help Disney's sales. Disney also risks cannibalising viewers from other movies in their empire (animated Disney movies, Marvel, etc.). I feel like whatever incremental sales bump they get by forcing that 4 week minimum would be off-set by those factors... but what do I know... I'm sure Disney ran all their profit maximising algorithms to support the policy...
Since we're veering off-topic anyway.... If Disney/Hollywood want to make more money in the theaters, what they should really do is throw out Hollywood's antiquated flat ticket price structure and allow prices to fluctuate up and down with real market demands (e.g. opening week vs later, action vs drama movies, more or less popular franchises or actors/actresses, discount/rewards programs, etc.).