Return of the Jedi is far and away the best adventure of them all. Rancor beast! Sarlac pit! Half-blind Han! Speeder bikes! AT-STs! 3PO the great golden floating god!
I’m of two minds on Badass Vader. I mean, on the one hand, he’s not typically a guy to get that showy because he doesn’t have to. (Note how he just quietly lets the Storm Troopers do all the dirty work at the beginning of Star Wars.)
On the other hand, it really was delectable fanservice, and he appropriately never got more gymnastic than the occasional lightsaber parry or wrist flick.
Rogue One had a great ending overall, except for Zombie Carrie Fisher.
Argh, I want to argue with you but I am bound by my own constraints! Thus am
I hoist by my own petard! Top o’ the mornin’, ma! What a world, what a world!
See, you got it. He never gets more athletic than a wrist flip. Perfect choreography because it shows that these people are nothing more than gnats to him. He gets to be a force of nature, and the framing shows that this is maybe 5% of his power.
Star Wars: I just love the sequence where they rescue Princess Leia. Everything from Han’s reaction to her, to the garbage shoot, to the shootout with stormtroopers, to the fast-closing doors. The music is stellar.
The Empire Strikes Back - The Leia-Han scenes again throughout this movie are stellar. Plus the giant walkers that get pulled down by the cord around the legs? Come on, that’s just cool. Music is amazing again.
Return of the Jedi - Once again Han’s part are my favorite. Bringing down the shield? That’s the exciting part. Speeder bikes, oh my god, that’s stolen right out of my fantasies as a young kid. How did Lucas know that I was obsessed with the concept of hover bikes?
The Phantom Menace - Love the Qui-gon opening bits, watching Jedi be Jedi. Love the pod race, love the lightsaber duel, and most of all, love the music in this new movie.
Attack of the Clones - This might be skirting dive’s rules a bit, but there’s so many great comedic scenes in this movie, I’d love for this movie to get the MST3K treatment, I think it will make such a perfect marriage of earnest romance, adventure and (through the commentary) comedy.
Revenge of the Sith - i’ll have to get back to this. I don’t remember enough of this movie to remember the positive sides. I only saw it the one time in the theater. I remember liking the music though.
The Force Awakens - I really enjoyed the interaction between Rey and Finn, and between them and Han and Chewie.
Rogue One - The space battle is really good. I also enjoyed the opening of the movie a lot, with the girl who hides away from the evil stormtroopers.
The Last Jedi - This is the movie that finally made me a true blue Star Wars fan, because it was riveting from beginning to end. From the moment Luke threw what Rey gave him over his shoulder, I was hooked. It might not hold up as well on repeat viewings, but on first viewing this is by far my favorite Star Wars movie.
I haven’t seen Solo yet.
I saw the Force Awakens the day of release at a promotional thing put on by Lenovo. It was at one of those theatres with big sound and big comfy chairs. They served lunch and beer. I loved every minute of it. Enjoyed the movie too.
I posted a 1999 email to my blog, describing my thoughts on seeing the Phantom Menace opening night. I am very cagey about whether or not I actually liked the movie, but the overall tone is … sorta positive.
You were still a bit drowsy, Gordon? Hear hear! The underwater scene was very languid. I was well rested after that film! Positives!
Star Wars : It’s Star Wars. Great Film!
The Empire Strikes Back - Best in class. An adventure for the ages, in classic WW2 film/Serial style!
Return of the Ew…Jedi - Great fight scenes in the forest!
Meesa Step in Poooopa - Really restful underwater scene. Great for napping. I was really revitalized afterwards!
Attack of the Send in the Clowns - Christopher Lee!
Revenge of the Whiny Goth Teen - The final lightsaber battle was mesmerizing. Like a mandala aiding meditation. You can really tune out and discover your deepest thoughts to that lightsaber fight! Also no more Hayden Christensen! Ever!
The Mary…Force. The Force Awakens - Great action sequences! And Lens Flare!
Rogue Navarone Guns - The title says it all! I like a WW2 commando raid flick (obviously).
The Last Ma-Rey Sue Floating Mary Poppinses Princesseseses Preciousss - No more Laura Dern! Or Rose! Ever!
Howard: A Studio Savior Story - It was really dark! Visually! That was moody!
LIES!
he said “All-Positive”
We all had to crawl before we could walk. I appreciate your baby steps into a more positive outlook. The internet would twist you into a blind, carelessly lashing out monster, but I care about you. I know you were meant for better things.
Star Wars - Saw it opening night in 77 at age 11, and around 11 or 12 times thereafter during it’s original theater run. Still remember the audience cheering when Han appeared during the Death Star battle. Remember all of the clapping at the end, and being a bit dumbfounded at what I had seen. Up to that point, movies in the 70’s were either cheerless affairs or crappy kids movies. This changed everything. Certainly changed me.
This poster held prime wall real-estate in my room:
The Empire Strikes Back - I actually remember having some misgivings about this originally. Not sure why. Perhaps it was the tone, which of course I appreciate now. Liked it a ton, but it took me a bit to love it.
The soundtrack, though! Holy crap. John Williams took the genius of his Star Wars score and turned it up to 11. Just tremendous. I played the crap out of this thing:
Return of the Jedi - I remember watching the speeder bike sequence and being blown away. How they heck did they do that? Of course, you watch it now and that sequence hasn’t even aged as well as some of the other effects. I liked the movie more than TESB at the time, and still enjoy the heck out of it, but I’ve lost appreciation for some bits (while I consider Star Wars and TESB to be just about perfect).
Prequels - Not my jam, sadly. To leave something positive, I will say that Ewen McGregor was an inspired choice for Obi-Wan, and he did a great job, and I’d love to see him bringing this action figure to life in a new movie.
The Force Awakens - Loved this, mostly because I loved the new characters and actors. A ton of fun, and very rewatchable.
The Last Jedi - Loved it as well. Everything Luke/Rey/Kylo was solid gold. I’m counting the days till the next one, 'cause I have no idea what they are going to do.
Rogue One - Need to watch again. Characters always leave me a bit cold, but it’s got some great sequences. Certainly the best space battle stuff since the originals.
Solo - Really enjoyed this. Very Firefly-esque. Only seen it once, so we’ll see how future viewings hold up.
Animated - I’m slowly trying to make my way through Rebels. I mostly enjoy it, but the action stuff always feels really stiff (especially when I compare to my favorite animated shows: The Last Avatar and Korra). There’s a lot of shooting at each other from behind crates. I hear it gets really good, though, so I’m sure I’ll end up watching it all.
Star Wars and I have had a few bumps in our relationship over the years, but I’d hate to be in a universe where it didn’t exist. I’m excited to see what’s next.
Really? :)
I found the “Kirk never kissed his sister” sign and grabbed it. I took it home – a souvenir.
Ha, I had that sign for a while. Must have tossed it some time before I moved in with my fiancee…
I loved the original Trilogy. Saw Star Wars on a hot Summer day, in Times Square in 1977!
I was excited to go see The Phantom Menace, and brought a burrito into the theater in Brooklyn with me!
When they re-released Star Wars to theaters in 1997, that was awesome too! Saw it at the Ziegfeld in Manhattan, full of costumed moviegoers. I think that’s even when Triumph the insult dog came to make fun of the nerds there!
Despite my wariness, I truly enjoyed Force Awakens, and was thrilled w/ Rey and the new cast of characters.
Bye!
/mutes thread
The Force Awakens and Last Jedi are so good.
I totally forgot about the re-releases! Those were … quite interesting!
11-year-old me lost his fucking mind for the re-release of ANH. I’d basically been raised on a steady diet of the original trilogy, Indiana Jones movies, and Clue recorded on fuzzy VHS, so finally getting to see one of those on the big-screen was mind-blowing.
I didn’t really understand why there was so much more stuff happening, but didn’t read about the drama till years later. On that day, I was just living in pure bliss.