Star Wars Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

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Talking about themes... “The Rise Of Skywalker” makes me emotional. It’s really, really beautiful.

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I definitely appreciate TLJ more.

It's the best Star Wars film since Empire, in spite of it's logical flaws.

don't @ me

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I just finished my first viewing of TFA post-TROS (for my piece, was taking notes throughout) and was genuinely surprised what a different experience it is, and in some novel and cool ways that hit me in a new emotional place. I was worried it would have the opposite effect and work against TFA, but it didn't.

One brief example, spoilers for TROS:

When Maz tells Rey her parents are never coming back and she already knows that, knowing that piece of history has that hit in a more emotionally intimate way, and one step further, when Maz tells Rey the belonging she seeks is ahead, and Rey responds "Luke" it also hits in a more emotional place that she eventually does become a surrogate Skywalker. I liked it. Doing TLJ tomorrow too for an article I'm writing for Ebert


-Vader

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Cilogy wrote:
March 20th, 2020, 10:16 am
I definitely appreciate TLJ more.

It's the best Star Wars film since Empire, in spite of it's logical flaws.

don't @ me
True.

Also, I watched TROS first time after cinema yesterday and fam was struggling to get through it. I went to letterboxd to give it two stars and realized I already did after first viewing, so no changes there.

For me, ST ended with TLJ, and it actually works in my mind. Neverending struggle upon the stars.

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This is definitely amongst the worst Star Wars films they made.
I think TLJ had the right approach, Rian injected much needed freshness in it. Basically what should've been done with TFA. I mean, imagine if Rian made TFA. Hell, imagine if Rian made all three of these films lol then that would also have meant he'd have more experience every time he returned. If there's any noteworthy flaw of TLJ it's that Rian isn't an experienced director when it comes to handling huge IP. You could say JJ was but his biggest problem has always been nostalgia.

Of course Rian making the whole ST is pure hypothetically and I must say that he too tried to make a transition from OT to ST in his film, something TFA barely managed to do. So yeah, I also wish Rian was even more radical in TLJ.

I mean on a visual level it's all very cool and pretty, especially TLJ of these three but I don't think the trilogy is very successful as a whole at crafting a coherent trilogy that fits as a ST as well as on it's own. Most of the new characters are a far cry from the OT characters. Kylo Ren is the single best thing that came out of this trilogy.

Like I said before, Disney will obviously make an Episode X some ten or fifteen years from now but what is there to build upon? The characters that are left are anything but interesting enough to continue with.

I really hope that Disney will continue with Rian's new trilogy. What this franchise needs is new things, and a whole lot of them.

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Vader182 wrote:
March 31st, 2020, 4:02 am
I just finished my first viewing of TFA post-TROS (for my piece, was taking notes throughout) and was genuinely surprised what a different experience it is, and in some novel and cool ways that hit me in a new emotional place. I was worried it would have the opposite effect and work against TFA, but it didn't.

One brief example, spoilers for TROS:

When Maz tells Rey her parents are never coming back and she already knows that, knowing that piece of history has that hit in a more emotionally intimate way, and one step further, when Maz tells Rey the belonging she seeks is ahead, and Rey responds "Luke" it also hits in a more emotional place that she eventually does become a surrogate Skywalker. I liked it. Doing TLJ tomorrow too for an article I'm writing for Ebert


-Vader
TROS really does try to be a good sequel and a trilogy wrapper.

It respects and builds on both TFA and TLJ (but of course just by virtue of TFA being his own directed film that he understands better to a personal degree, TROS can't help but be a sequel to TFA more).

It's like The Dark Knight Trilogy (the similarity is quite striking, really) in that they both take the 'full circle' route of making the third film a sequel to the first film instead of the second.

Like, the complaint about how Mr. Abrams made a sequel to TFA and 'ignores' TLJ, that...pretty much applies to The Dark Knight Rises, what with all of TDKR's big callbacks ("putting a coat on a young boy's shoulders") and its central plotline relying on Batman Begins, with the middle film, TDK, just kinda squeezed in relatively disconnected from the films surrounding it.

Which is why I don't get the "they didn't have a plan, the trilogy doesn't feel cohesive, etc." complaints leveled at the ST, when the TDK trilogy has those same "problems" but nobody complains about that. :P

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Oku wrote:
April 2nd, 2020, 11:01 am
Vader182 wrote:
March 31st, 2020, 4:02 am
I just finished my first viewing of TFA post-TROS (for my piece, was taking notes throughout) and was genuinely surprised what a different experience it is, and in some novel and cool ways that hit me in a new emotional place. I was worried it would have the opposite effect and work against TFA, but it didn't.

One brief example, spoilers for TROS:

When Maz tells Rey her parents are never coming back and she already knows that, knowing that piece of history has that hit in a more emotionally intimate way, and one step further, when Maz tells Rey the belonging she seeks is ahead, and Rey responds "Luke" it also hits in a more emotional place that she eventually does become a surrogate Skywalker. I liked it. Doing TLJ tomorrow too for an article I'm writing for Ebert


-Vader
TROS really does try to be a good sequel and a trilogy wrapper.

It respects and builds on both TFA and TLJ (but of course just by virtue of TFA being his own directed film that he understands better to a personal degree, TROS can't help but be a sequel to TFA more).

It's like The Dark Knight Trilogy (the similarity is quite striking, really) in that they both take the 'full circle' route of making the third film a sequel to the first film instead of the second.

Like, the complaint about how Mr. Abrams made a sequel to TFA and 'ignores' TLJ, that...pretty much applies to The Dark Knight Rises, what with all of TDKR's big callbacks ("putting a coat on a young boy's shoulders") and its central plotline relying on Batman Begins, with the middle film, TDK, just kinda squeezed in relatively disconnected from the films surrounding it.

Which is why I don't get the "they didn't have a plan, the trilogy doesn't feel cohesive, etc." complaints leveled at the ST, when the TDK trilogy has those same "problems" but nobody complains about that. :P
Because that trilogy is good.

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Oku
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B-b-but how can it possibly good when there was clearly no plan and no overarching storyline and a whiplash-inducing tone (that skips around from non-linear origin story to linear crime drama to time-skipping siege epic) that exposes the lack of a single directorial vision?!?! :P

Even more similarities that just came to mind:

1. the first film ends with a bold-faced cliffhanger that directly leads into the next film
2. the middle film ends in an open-ended manner that leaves room for a sequel, but is by itself definitive and satisfying
3. the third film ends with a passing of the torch, or more specifically, an identity (Batman, Skywalker)

Or is this just a common template for trilogies? :lol:

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Hey folks! I have an idea!

Let's find rhymes in songs specifically built for a traditional verse inspired by legendary folk lyrics, shall we?

Well alrighty then! Where do we start?

Start wherever you want, just remember, you can't really mess up cause the rhymes are everywhere!

But sir, are the rhymes everything?

Eh... Not really. The Canzoniere as a whole is still a mess of influences.

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Oku wrote:
April 2nd, 2020, 11:01 am
Vader182 wrote:
March 31st, 2020, 4:02 am
I just finished my first viewing of TFA post-TROS (for my piece, was taking notes throughout) and was genuinely surprised what a different experience it is, and in some novel and cool ways that hit me in a new emotional place. I was worried it would have the opposite effect and work against TFA, but it didn't.

One brief example, spoilers for TROS:

When Maz tells Rey her parents are never coming back and she already knows that, knowing that piece of history has that hit in a more emotionally intimate way, and one step further, when Maz tells Rey the belonging she seeks is ahead, and Rey responds "Luke" it also hits in a more emotional place that she eventually does become a surrogate Skywalker. I liked it. Doing TLJ tomorrow too for an article I'm writing for Ebert


-Vader
TROS really does try to be a good sequel and a trilogy wrapper.

It respects and builds on both TFA and TLJ (but of course just by virtue of TFA being his own directed film that he understands better to a personal degree, TROS can't help but be a sequel to TFA more).

It's like The Dark Knight Trilogy (the similarity is quite striking, really) in that they both take the 'full circle' route of making the third film a sequel to the first film instead of the second.

Like, the complaint about how Mr. Abrams made a sequel to TFA and 'ignores' TLJ, that...pretty much applies to The Dark Knight Rises, what with all of TDKR's big callbacks ("putting a coat on a young boy's shoulders") and its central plotline relying on Batman Begins, with the middle film, TDK, just kinda squeezed in relatively disconnected from the films surrounding it.

Which is why I don't get the "they didn't have a plan, the trilogy doesn't feel cohesive, etc." complaints leveled at the ST, when the TDK trilogy has those same "problems" but nobody complains about that. :P
I've seen this line of argument a few times over the last few years, and I just don't get it.

The entire premise of TDKR is that Bruce is a Howard Hughes shut-in and Gordon is depressed and guilty because of what they did in TDK. Bane's entire scheme hinges on revealing the truth about Dent.

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