STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS - Blu-Ray Thoughts

[DavidBanner]

The bizarre information that has been coming out about this movie is making it less and less appetizing. It sounds like even Lucas' input has been minimized, in that he's been overruled by JJ Abrams on the focus of what the story should be. This is sounding more and more like a JJ Abrams movie being constructed with characters that have the same names as the ones we saw in the Star Wars Trilogy in the 70s and 80s. And that frankly doesn't sound like a movie I'd even want to watch on DVD, let alone spend 20 bucks to see in a movie theater. I'm content to sit this one out if the word of mouth confirms my thinking when it finally comes out in late 2015 or perhaps summer 2016. (It's occurred to me that with Avengers 2: Age of Ultron due in summer 2015, Disney might not want to have both of these franchises playing in the same year)

Having sat through both Super 8 and Abrams' latest Star Trek attempt on television, I'm frankly shocked at both movies' basic incoherence. It's odd to think that these movies were made by the same man who did such interesting work with the Lost pilot. On the other hand, it's not hard to think that they were done by the same man who did such pedestrian work with the 2006 Mission Impossible movie. I can only continue to hope that he'll return to his true strengths as a writer and sometime director of episodic television someday.

[AndyDursin]

It sounds like even Lucas' input has been minimized, in that he's been overruled by JJ Abrams on the focus of what the story should be.

My understanding of him selling Lucasfilm was that he was going to have basically nothing to do with these movies going forward -- certainly sounds like that's the case. Did he even write a treatment for these films? I thought he handed it over to another writer and said he was finished.

I agree David, I am surprised Abrams is getting more and more leeway on this film -- and I totally agree it's not a good thing.

I'm also surprised by this continual comment from some fans that they need Luke & Leia to "hand off the series" to a new cast. I'm sorry, but haven't they already done that with the prequels? Last time I checked Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill weren't anywhere to be found in those films...so what's the point?

After INTO DARKNESS I have no faith at all in this film.

[Paul MacLean]

Hugo Weaving as an Imperial commander? Wow, that's fresh and different! lol. In fact, I could care less about seeing Weaving EVER in another genre film. Talk about an insipid casting decision (if it turns out to be true).

Back in the 80s, I read an interview with Nicholas Meyer in which he discussed hiring the unknown and untried James Horner to score Star Trek II. He used the school teacher analogy -- "Lets not always see the same hands raised".

Today all we ever see is the same people called upon. Christpher Lee is a wizard and a sith lord, Ian McKellen is a wizard and mutant. Hugo Weaving is an elf, that guy with the sunglasses (sorry, I only saw The Matrix once), V, and now an Imperial commander. JJ Abrams directs Star Trek and Star Wars. And Hans Zimmer and his minions score everything.

Ok, there there was a little of this in the 80s with David Warner in seemingly every other genre film, and Harrison Ford arguably a bit overused in Star Wars, Raiders and Blade Runner, but generally you saw the work of a lot of different people. You didn't see the same names working on Star Wars, Alien, Star Trek, Time Bandits, Conan, The Dark Crystal, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Cocoon, etc. (with exception of maybe a composer or effects technicians).

[AndyDursin]

Today all we ever see is the same people called upon. Christpher Lee is a wizard and a sith lord, Ian McKellen is a wizard and mutant. Hugo Weaving is an elf, that guy with the sunglasses (sorry, I only saw The Matrix once), V, and now an Imperial commander. JJ Abrams directs Star Trek and Star Wars. And Hans Zimmer and his minions score everything.

Exactly, and how about Chris Pine as Captain Kirk -- AND Jack Ryan. Ben Affleck will now be playing superheroes in both Marvel AND DC films. Henry Cavill plays Superman -- and stars in the Man from UNCLE. It just goes on and on...same guys, different projects.

[mkaroly]

I always thought of Hugo Weaving as a sort-of second rate Sam Neill. I can totally see Sam Neill playing any of the parts Weaving plays. I kind of like Sam Neill...Hugo Weaving is okay. I don't have as much of a problem with the type-casting that is going on out there. If it works, fine; you gotta put food on the table, so get the gigs where you can. The issue is that the stories are lame, the movies do nothing to really differentiate themselves from one another (I hate film scores nowadays), and so therefore it doesn't work. And that keep me out of theaters.

[AndyDursin]

I always thought of Hugo Weaving as a sort-of second rate Sam Neill. I can totally see Sam Neill playing any of the parts Weaving plays. I kind of like Sam Neill...Hugo Weaving is okay. I don't have as much of a problem with the type-casting that is going on out there. If it works, fine; you gotta put food on the table, so get the gigs where you can. The issue is that the stories are lame, the movies do nothing to really differentiate themselves from one another (I hate film scores nowadays), and so therefore it doesn't work. And that keep me out of theaters.

My problem with Weaving is that he's basically turned his on-screen heavy into a running joke. Did you see those GE commercials where's just doing his Matrix shtick again? It's all he does. Putting him in this movie as an Imperial Commander -- could there be anything more predictable?

[jkholm]

More Luke & Leia? Seriously? Their story lines ENDED.

Exactly. There is no need to add on to the existing story. The last thing we need is finding out the emperor isn't dead or there's another Darth Somebody out there. Maybe I can see something like what Tolkien did with The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings (the books, not the movies.) LOTR used some of the same characters as The Hobbit and a few plot elements but was essentially an entirely new story that added to themes in The Hobbit rather than fundamentally change it. I''m afraid the new SW will be less a sequel and more of a reboot that retells the same story.

[John Johnson]

I always thought of Hugo Weaving as a sort-of second rate Sam Neill. I can totally see Sam Neill playing any of the parts Weaving plays. I kind of like Sam Neill...Hugo Weaving is okay. I don't have as much of a problem with the type-casting that is going on out there. If it works, fine; you gotta put food on the table, so get the gigs where you can. The issue is that the stories are lame, the movies do nothing to really differentiate themselves from one another (I hate film scores nowadays), and so therefore it doesn't work. And that keep me out of theaters.

My problem with Weaving is that he's basically turned his on-screen heavy into a running joke. Did you see those GE commercials where's just doing his Matrix shtick again? It's all he does. Putting him in this movie as an Imperial Commander -- could there be anything more predictable?

[DavidBanner]

To be fair, Nicholas Meyer had no choice but to go with a relatively new composer like Horner for Star Trek II as he didn't have the money to hire anyone more experienced. That said, it worked out pretty well for both of them.

My understanding of Lucas' involvement with these new sequels is that he said he had done outlines of stories he wanted to do for another trilogy but had never taken it farther than the earliest writings. He turned that material over to Kathleen Kennedy, Michael Arndt and JJ Abrams. And it sounds like Abrams didn't agree with Arndt over the way to go. So Arndt was tossed and now we're looking at a more obvious JJ Abrams take on the story.

My issue with Abrams isn't to say that he doesn't have talent as a writer and director. He does, as he showed with multiple television series, which is where his real strength has always been. My issue is that he keeps thinking he has the chops to handle a large budget epic movie, and every time he tries it, we get a soap opera inflated to nonsensical size, without any sense of what gives an epic its true scale. He also has settled into this notion of conveying intensity by shaking the camera a lot and throwing lens flares around like confetti. Which is a lazy way to tell a story, in addition to being nauseating for many viewers. And somewhere along the way, he's simply lost a sense of coherence - watching scenes in his movies, it's very easy to get completely confused as to where people are in relation to each other. So the image that's coming to mind of a JJ Abrams-controlled Star Wars trilogy is along the lines of a replay of the original trilogy, albeit in Abrams' style. And if that's what we're getting, I'll be happy to just stay with the movies we already have. In the same way, that I'm happy to have the DVDs and Blus of the original Star Trek TV shows and movies from before the time Abrams got involved. He may have wrecked the continuity with his movies, but the earlier, better films still exist. If he does the same damage to Star Wars, the one consolation will be that we still have the earlier films.

[Paul MacLean]

Exactly, and how about Chris Pine as Captain Kirk -- AND Jack Ryan. Ben Affleck will now be playing superheroes in both Marvel AND DC films. Henry Cavill plays Superman -- and stars in the Man from UNCLE. It just goes on and on...same guys, different projects.

Oh, and I forgot to mention Zoe Saldana!

[AndyDursin]

...and SHE'S in a new Marvel movie also. lol

[John Johnson]

What can I say? it's Friday.

Some swearing.

[Eric W.]

I really am at the point where I'm actively hoping that some way, some how this thing never sees the light of day. I have no interest in it whatsoever.

[AndyDursin]

From Nikki Finke's twitter this afternoon --

Disney movie chief confirms 'Star Wars VII' has started filming with casting not done yet but script set.

[AndyDursin]

Also caught this nugget in a Hollywood Reporter column from last weekend:

Horn acknowledged there had been some problems getting the script right. “It’s all about the screenplay,” he said. “It has to be screenplay, screenplay, screenplay.” Asked if the screenplay was fully where it needed to be, he added: “It actually is now.”

Can't be a vote of confidence there -- at least with the early drafts!

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/d ... +Movies%3F