Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

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Vader182 wrote:
May 24th, 2018, 5:46 pm
put that on the poster

do you like it more than tfa?


-Vader
I do, although it's much less interesting than TFA. I've tried and tried with TFA and I just can't get there yet, even with TLJ's subversive context. We'll see how I feel once we have IX.

I suppose it depends entirely from what you want from "A Star Wars Story", and this feels like a more genuine template for what these could be than R1 was (which eventually expands into a scale on par with the saga). I relished the lower stakes of it, the calmer elements, spending time with Han and Qi'Ra and Beckett and Chewie, etc. A clear objective and a fairly simply, straightforward plot. This is basically an extraction of the "Western" element of Star Wars, doing away with the mythic, epic elements.

If this is the script that Lord and Miller were hired to direct it just raises more questions, as it is fairly light on the out-and-out comedy and more rests on the wry commentary of Kasdan's previous work rather than JOKES JOKES JOKES. Which I thought was refreshing, there's an old-school element to this for better or worse. YMMV. People have said this is anonymous but I don't think it would take a whole lot of effort to put this next to the likes of Silverado or even some of Kasdan's non-genre work. Maybe he should have directed it in the first place, TBH.

Liked the cast, although the Waller-Bridge character feels like a shoe-horn. That being said, the themes dealt with via that character is the first real extraction of themes from ANH (and a brief mention in AOTC).

I don't agree at all that Glover steals the film; Ehrenreich is best in show for me, he absolutely nails the attitude.

Feels like a 7.something from me, but then again the sheer volume of EU and TPM references probably makes me an easy lay. Though Powell did a tremendous job with the score, too.

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So if Armand likes this, will Vader not? Will they be 4/4?

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ArmandFancypants wrote:
May 24th, 2018, 9:53 pm
Vader182 wrote:
May 24th, 2018, 5:46 pm
put that on the poster

do you like it more than tfa?


-Vader
I do, although it's much less interesting than TFA. I've tried and tried with TFA and I just can't get there yet, even with TLJ's subversive context. We'll see how I feel once we have IX.

I suppose it depends entirely from what you want from "A Star Wars Story", and this feels like a more genuine template for what these could be than R1 was (which eventually expands into a scale on par with the saga). I relished the lower stakes of it, the calmer elements, spending time with Han and Qi'Ra and Beckett and Chewie, etc. A clear objective and a fairly simply, straightforward plot. This is basically an extraction of the "Western" element of Star Wars, doing away with the mythic, epic elements.

If this is the script that Lord and Miller were hired to direct it just raises more questions, as it is fairly light on the out-and-out comedy and more rests on the wry commentary of Kasdan's previous work rather than JOKES JOKES JOKES. Which I thought was refreshing, there's an old-school element to this for better or worse. YMMV. People have said this is anonymous but I don't think it would take a whole lot of effort to put this next to the likes of Silverado or even some of Kasdan's non-genre work. Maybe he should have directed it in the first place, TBH.

Liked the cast, although the Waller-Bridge character feels like a shoe-horn. That being said, the themes dealt with via that character is the first real extraction of themes from ANH (and a brief mention in AOTC).

I don't agree at all that Glover steals the film; Ehrenreich is best in show for me, he absolutely nails the attitude.

Feels like a 7.something from me, but then again the sheer volume of EU and TPM references probably makes me an easy lay. Though Powell did a tremendous job with the score, too.
Nice, sounds about what I am hoping for at this point.

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What did you think of Clarke Armand?

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Of course Armand likes this, it turns into Temple of Doom for 20 minutes.

I broadly agree with him. A better movie than Rogue One, perhaps, but none of the whirlwind of the third act. Instead, journeyman-like and composed of unsustained highs, IE the Kessel Run. Alden's terrific but never approximates Han Solo. Overall, tepid fun.

What jumps out are are weird issues of authorship and tonality. One gets the feeling Howard really wanted to be George Roy Hill but Lord and Miller's weirdly macabre and self-serious visual design holds him back. Grey on grey on grey is not a terrific stage for Bullitt-esque action scenes or train heists. Reddit is loaded with complaints about how foggy and dark the cinematography was. They are not wrong. Another tonal misstep further, L&M's aesthetic decisions clash with the script just as Howard's direction clashes with L&M. It's a bit of an efficient mess.

I'll have more to say later but overall, a fun missed opportunity. While the content per se has a "what's the point?" quality to it, that's more the fault of the filmmakers than the fault of the screenplay I'd say.


-Vader

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Vader182 wrote:
May 25th, 2018, 3:40 am
Of course Armand likes this, it turns into Temple of Doom for 20 minutes.

I broadly agree with him. A better movie than Rogue One, perhaps, but none of the whirlwind of the third act. Instead, journeyman-like and composed of unsustained highs, IE the Kessel Run. Alden's terrific but never approximates Han Solo. Overall, tepid fun.

What jumps out are are weird issues of authorship and tonality. One gets the feeling Howard really wanted to be George Roy Hill but Lord and Miller's weirdly macabre and self-serious visual design holds him back. Grey on grey on grey is not a terrific stage for Bullitt-esque action scenes or train heists. Reddit is loaded with complaints about how foggy and dark the cinematography was. They are not wrong. Another tonal misstep further, L&M's aesthetic decisions clash with the script just as Howard's direction clashes with L&M. It's a bit of an efficient mess.

I'll have more to say later but overall, a fun missed opportunity. While the content per se has a "what's the point?" quality to it, that's more the fault of the filmmakers than the fault of the screenplay I'd say.


-Vader
Yeah, this is all sound.

I'd make a case that the two MVPs are actually John Powell and Pietro Scalia. Interesting to note that, like R1 where someone of Stuart Baird's calibre is credited as an additional editor, Christopher Rouse is credited here.

I agree that Bradford Young was wrong for the material. It might have been fine for the likes of Robert Yeoman to have handled this. Or throw piles of money at John Seale.

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The projected box office numbers aren't looking good.

Not even China can save it.

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Solo: A Star Wars Story grossed an estimated $14.1M from Thursday night shows that began at 6PM.
https://twitter.com/BORReport/status/10 ... 6298187776
The two-day international start for Solo: A Star Wars Story stands at $11.4M.
https://twitter.com/BORReport/status/10 ... 5354748928

Numbers rounded to the nearest million for simplicity.

Format
Movie: $Thursday Preview ($First Weekend [3-day]) multiplier

Star Wars
S:ASWS $14M
RO:ASWS: $29M ($155M weekend) 5.34x
SW:TLJ: $45M ($220M weekend) 4.89x
SW:TFA: $57M ($248M weekend) 4.35x

Marvel Studios
A-M: $6M ($57M weekend) 9.50x
DS: $9M ($85M weekend) 9.44x
T:R: $15M ($123M weekend) 8.20x
S:H: $15M ($117M weekend) 7.80x
GOTG:V2: $17M ($147M weekend) 8.65x
M:TA: $19M ($207M weekend) 10.89x
CA:CW: $25M ($179M weekend) 7.16x
BP: $25M ($202M weekend) 8.08x
A:AOU: $28M ($191M weekend) 6.82x
A:IW: $39M ($258M weekend) 6.62x

DC
WW: $11M ($103M weekend) 9.26x
JL: $13M ($94M weekend) 7.23x
SS: $21M ($134M weekend) 6.38x
BVS: DOJ: $28M ($166M weekend) 5.93x

Hunger Games
Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2: $16M ($103M weekend) 6.44x
Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1: $17M ($122M weekend) 7.18x
Hunger Games: $20M ($153M weekend) 7.65x
Hunger Games Catching Fire: $25M ($158M weekend) 6.32x

Others
Deadpool: $13M ($132M weekend) 10.15x
Deadpool 2: $19M ($126M weekend) 6.63x
Jurassic World: $19M ($209M weekend) 11x

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MyCocaine wrote:
May 25th, 2018, 10:59 am
The projected box office numbers aren't looking good.

Not even China can save it.
If that’s the case I think it is a sign that people really aren’t liking what they are doing with these films. I’m really interested to see how episode 9 will do with the huge backlash it received. I think episode 8 turned off a ton of fans from seeing any new ones unfortunately.

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