STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS - Blu-Ray Thoughts

[AndyDursin]

I also wonder how the billing is going to work on this film...unless Abrams does his STAR TREK thing and lists them in alphabetical order, though I'd imagine this would be more difficult seeing as he has established actors in the cast (I'm sure John Cho was never so happy his name started with a C lol).

[John Johnson]

I guess he forgot how the door opened...


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -film.html

[John Johnson]

[AndyDursin]

Wow, Ford broke his LEG -- didn't just sprain an ankle.

[AndyDursin]

LOOPER was overpraised though stylish...but this certainly seems to be the new deal in Hollywood. Make a mediocre indie movie and you are tabbed for $200 million blockbusters -- see Colin Trevorrow on JURASSIC WORLD, Garth Edwards on GODZILLA and now Rain Johnson on the next TWO Star Wars movies.

http://www.deadline.com/2014/06/star-wa ... wo-movies/

In a bombshell move, I’m told that Lucasfilm is making a deal with Looper writer-director Rian Johnson to write and direct Star Wars Episodes VIII and IX. Essentially, that means that the intention is for Johnson to take the baton from JJ Abrams, who has gotten the space franchise off the ground and is right now helming Episode VII. I don’t know too much more at this point, but it is in keeping with Disney and Lucasfilm’s strategy of entrusting the venerable franchise to the best and brightest writers and directors, including the spinoff films that are being directed by Chronicle‘s Josh Trank and Godzilla‘s Gareth Edwards.

Johnson will take over the core film franchise, and he’ll get started quickly and this will be his preoccupation for quite awhile. Technically, he’ll write that second treatment but the intention on both sides is that he direct the two installments. Joining him as producer will be Ram Bergman. Johnson made his directing debut on the respected indie Brick, and then jumped to mainstream science fiction by writing and directing Looper, an inventive time travel thriller that starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis. Bergman produced both of those films. It would be hard to imagine Johnson taking on a higher profile challenge than two consecutive Star Wars films. I’ll tell you more when I know it. Johnson is repped by CAA and attorney Stephen Clark.

[DavidBanner]

The guy who did LOOPER? Really?

What the heck are these guys thinking?

[Monterey Jack]

Rian Johnson has a very slick, assured visual style (Brick is an excellent film, and Looper got better with a second viewing and was pretty good to begin with)...I have no problems with this news.

[DavidBanner]

Looper was spectacularly laughed off the screen when I watched it with another writer. There was an interesting idea in there somewhere but boy did it backfire as far as we were concerned.


I also need to pass on that I was properly disconcerted by the amount of internet fun going on about Harrison Ford breaking his leg on the set. I'm certain that this is a serious situation and I wouldn't want to go through what he's dealing with right now. At the same time, I have to give points to whoever posted the question about whether he would need an Imperial Walker...

[AndyDursin]

I was disappointed by LOOPER. Completely overblown by hype -- the child actor was awful, and the second half filled with gaping plot holes. Hailed by its fans as this "brilliant sci-fi movie" when it's just a recycled old Twilight Zone episode dressed up in a modern guise. I do think he's got a good sense of visuals, but is that reason alone to hire someone to helm two of the biggest films of the next decade? And he's WRITING these movies also? That worries me more than him directing. "Brothers Bloom" was OK for what it was, but even there, it wasn't great. At least it had a sense of humor as the grim, leaden LOOPER was about as far removed tonally from STAR WARS as you could get.

Either way, I don't see how you go from his past work to what's supposed to be fun sci-fi escapism -- like launching from Point A to Point D -- never mind giving someone like him writing and directorial control as well.

Say what we will about Abrams, but he's at least a known commodity and an established director at this point. I would've figured they would've kept working with someone along those lines when Abrams departed. At the same time, it also surprises me Abrams is jumping ship altogether it seems after this installment, not even hanging around to work out a story line for the sequels. Curious.

The only thing I can reason is what I've written before, that these big event movies are increasingly controlled by the studios, even more than they were before, so perhaps it doesn't make nearly the difference it once did in terms of who's directing it. I'm sure Disney isn't going to let him go off-course making one of their $200 million franchise builders...but they've also allowed bombs like LONE RANGER and JOHN CARTER to slip through the cracks also, and look where those got them.

[Paul MacLean]

This reminds me of how Lucas handed More American Graffiti to BWL Norton (another relatively inexperienced director), and we all know how that turned out.

[AndyDursin]

LOL at all the fanboys who think Johnson is a more gifted filmmaker than George Lucas. Go watch AMERICAN GRAFFITI (forget the first STAR WARS) and show me anything as inspired he's produced.

[DavidBanner]

I'm one of the few people on this planet who actually liked More American Graffiti. There's a sadness to the beginning and the end of that film that works for me. But I digress...


Rian Johnson directed a couple of good looking episodes of "Breaking Bad", but that was in a short schedule AMC television schedule where the real creative decisions were being made by Vince Gilligan. What's of real concern here is the notion that Johnson is not only going to direct these movies but write them as well. What happened to the idea of having Lawrence Kasdan there? More and more this is sounding like a reboot in the guise of a sequel. Given that JJ Abrams apparently intends to leave after his Episode VII, it would seem that he's just opening the door for other people to continue the story on their own - a similar situation to what he did on LOST. I would bet that Episode VII will primarily feature new, young characters created by Abrams, with the original characters essentially giving them a salute and a wave as they head out the door, and those characters will be the ones who drive the coming films. I am feeling less inclined to even rent any of these movies at this point.

[AndyDursin]

Yeah, I think it's obvious that the original cast is there to "hand off the series" just as other belated sequels and TV revivals have done in the past. Did anyone really anticipate a whole trilogy of films based on a seventy-something Han Solo? The guy already broke his leg in the first few weeks of filming!

My plan would've been to completely jettison the original characters to begin with (save C3PO and R2D2). I don't care about seeing Luke, Han or Leia now that they're in their 60s and 70s. More over, their story FINISHED, there is no point in continuing on with them, other than fan-service. Dramatically it feels cheap, and unnecessary. It actually, as a fan, gets me more more irritated that they ARE involved than if they weren't. I don't want the legacy of the original films soiled because Abrams thought it was a good idea to give Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, who haven't meaningfully acted on-screen in anything in years (decades?), "something to do." And if he does what I'm guessing he will -- kill off one or more of them, just for the sake of doing so -- than he's going to draw more ire from the fanboys than if he never put them in there to begin with.

The Star Wars galaxy ought to be massive. I'm all for new characters and a fresh story arc -- that to me was always George Lucas' problem with the prequels, in that he didn't give us any new characters beyond the Skywalker clan to care about. Yet, I understand that was the focus on what he was doing. There's no such issue here -- clearly Abrams just wants them around for good will (or probably more if the rumors he trumped up the old cast's involvement is accurate)...but it makes these movies feel like a "fan film". Not to mention pointless if the scenario is just a "the empire is rising again!" type of situation.

Still, I am surprised Abrams is jumping ship after this film...and like you, David, Johnson WRITING these films is even more troubling to me than him directing them!

BTW Kasdan apparently IS writing one of these "inbetween" standalone films I believe (is it the one Garth Edwards is directing -- maybe the Boba Fett one?).

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Boba-Fet ... 43438.html

The larger point though is that they are scripting these on the go it seems -- which as we saw in how Disney handled the PIRATES sequels, doesn't always work out (to put it mildly!

[John Johnson]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... e-VII.html

[AndyDursin]

Conspiracy theory -- Tom's got an opening in his schedule and Harrison's role is about to be reduced.