STAR WARS, INDY , HOWARD THE DUCK DEUCE; AND MORE

[gravedigger]

OK, it's badass. Legit great, and I have just a few nitpicks. I also have questions.

  Spoiler: HI I WILL BE SPOILING SHIT 

Max von Sydow. Who was he? The crawl I thought mentioned "a trusted ally" of Leia's, which Max must be...but who is he to have this missing piece of the map?

If Rey is Luke's kid I will be pretty bummed out. Her flashback with being sold into slavery was great. But if Luke sold her into slavery/dumped her with nobody to watch her then she better have some LEGIT fucking daddy issues.

John Boyega for president.

Snoak is creepy as fuck and I was disappointed when it was a hologram and not a fucking 30 foot sith monster.

Daisey Ridley is amazing and I hope she gets ALL THE MONEY after this.

But...I thought it was super weird that she could hang toe to toe with a sith that had been training since childhood during their lightsaber fight. Like, yes, she looked bad an untrained but this must mean she's WAY more powerful than him, right?

  Spoiler:  

i wanted Snoak to be a giant Sith monster, too. That would've been awesome.

I took everything with Rey's powers to mean she's SUPER powerful. She got the mind control thing down really quickly. Plus the saber grab over Ren and being able to fight his mind control powers. She's was a really good pilot, too. And wasn't that a Force-related thing they talked about with Luke and Anakin?

[Abraham Smashington]

man, I hope you listen to the new BDR episode. It's like almost 2 hours of OMG I LOVED THIS AND THAT AND MAN

  Spoiler: spoilers 

GIANT SITH PEOPLE

WOULD BE GREAT

[Fil]

Somehow, Rian Johnson's film feels even further away now.

[Timothy225]

About 3 hours to go and we'll be on our way to see this. SO stoked! Will listen to the new episode later today to see if Rob and Ceej's opinions match mine (giant Siths? I am intrigued, sir!).

[Abraham Smashington]

Use your phone as a lightsaber in this fucking RAD google chrome thing.

[Timothy225]

WOW.

Enjoyed the hell out of this - definitely worth the wait! Still processing everything, but, yeah, this puppy's easily among the best in the series. Absolutely Empire level, fo' sho.

  Spoiler: Herein there lie spoilers... 

Onto the stuff I dug/hated...

1) Finn. I'm 100% onboard with this guy, and would follow him to the gates of Hell if need be. After we run away from the gates first, of course. John Boyega nailed this, and I'm hoping all the lightsaber stuff means Finn's on his way to eventually becoming a Jedi at some point. His relationships with Rey (ah, let this turn into a romance, please!) and Poe's easily the Samwise to Rey's Frodo - that best buddy who's got your back, even when he's scared shitless.

He has a great character arc - former Stormtrooper on the road to redemption. Can't beat that with a stick.

2) Rey. Definitely Luke's kid, no question. Her ease with clicking with the Force when she needs it, her beatdown of Kylo Ren (both the lightsaber duel and her stare down when she was being interrogated), her abandonment issues (LOTS of abandonment issues in this film) = next-gen Jedi. She's the lead for this trilogy, and like Troy said, Daisy Ridley's career is gonna skyrocket after this.

3) Poe. He's not Han and Leia's kid, but he damn well should have been. A nice guy who's a hell of a pilot, but he's not a dick about it. A lovable wise guy. Kind of reminded me of Duncan Idaho from the Dune books. His instant bonding with Finn, his friendship with BB-8 (yeah, he's a droid, but damn it, I got the feels when those two split up and reunited).

4) Luke's reveal - Mark Hamill said nothing, but pulled off one hell of a great acting moment with just his face. Haven't seen anything like that since DeNiro in Sleepers - that look on Luke's face and the sorrow that washed over it when he looked at Rey; was it because he recognized his daughter? Because he felt Han die, or found out about it from Rey's mind? Great fucking moment there.

I'm 100% positive Luke's gonna become a Force ghost before this new trilogy is done, but with Hamill back on screen, the ride to getting there is gonna be awesome.

5) Capt. Phasma - definitely under-used, and like Grave said, she's in the Boba Fett/Darth Maul club at the moment. Gwendoline Christie deserves better, much much better.

Hope she got out of the Trash Compactor Finn (allegedly) threw her into before Starkiller Base went blooey. She damn well better have a stronger arc in the next film, or fists will be shaken at the screen.

6) Yep, definitely a retread of A New Hope, right down to the trench run, but I don't mind so much. Like Rob and Ceej said in the latest episode "bigger and bigger", but still fucking great. I do wish, however, the First Order had a better plan than Big Space Station Blowing Planets Up. The Empire tried that twice and got clobbered each time.

7) Han and Chewie. Princess Leia. Luke. R2 and C-3P0. Welcome back, folks. Been WAY too long, and my inner 10 year old was doing cartwheels when each of 'em showed up. Needed some Lando, though, just because. I knew Han was going to snuff it, but his death was still a gut punch. Great scene between Ford and Driver, just great.

8) Kylo Ren/Ben Solo - Oh, the many, many "fuck yous" I want to shout at everyone who thought this guy was Dark Side Luke. I liked Ren, his darkside bad guy outfit is slick, and he does have the Skywalker whining down pat. Really, really, really hope this guy just doesn't have bad parenting issues as a motivation, but is a shitheel to begin with. The fact that I enjoyed watching Rey kick his ass (Finn, too!), means Driver did his job and did it damn well.

Agreed with Rob, Driver is a fugly mofo, but he sold the shit outta his character. I can easily see him doing a Vader-esque turn on Snoke before this trilogy wraps up, though.

9) Snoke. Big ass hologram for a big ass Sith? God, I hope so. Like Rob and Ceej hope, watching Jedi fight a giant-ass Sith would be pretty sweet. Not sure if this is Darth Plagueis, but who cares? Snoke is this evil, big ass corrupted mofo, and if he turns out to be the true power behind Palpatine, even during the Empire years, then well done to all involved with his character. Consider his action figure BOUGHT, son!

10) Hux. Oh, you fascist pseudo-Nazi, Godwin's Law in human form, you! Love the speech, love the rally, love that it was a prelude to wiping out an entire fucking star system. Domhnall Gleeson knocked this outta the park, and I'm glad he got the fuck out before Starkiller Base went 'splodey-'splode. Hope he continues to bring the evil in the next episode.

More to follow! Still processing!

Listening to the latest Episode, nodding my head to rob and Ceej's points. Well done, gentlemen!

[Matt]

Underwhelmed, mainly because it didn't feel like a STAR WARS film...it totally felt like a JJ Abrams Nu-TREK and that's NOT what I was wanting.

Still processing. It's good but not great, in my opinion at this time, though.

[Matt]

Oh, but loved loved loved Chewbacca in this. For me, he's the MVP of the entire film.

  Spoiler: spoilers 

Loved that it was he (with Rey) in the Falcon at the end.

[JLynnCarr]

I also loved BB-8 and when R2-D2 woke up! I missed that trash can shaped droid.

[gravedigger]

Underwhelmed, mainly because it didn't feel like a STAR WARS film...it totally felt like a JJ Abrams Nu-TREK and that's NOT what I was wanting.

Still processing. It's good but not great, in my opinion at this time, though.

This brings up an interesting (to me) question- why does Abrams put all his space battles in atmosphere? Does he not like the black of outer space?

[Timothy225]

Interesting observation, Grave. Just realized you were right - a lot of the ship battles were in atmosphere except for...

  Spoiler: SPOILERS and stuff 

Finn and Poe's big escape from the First Order Star Destroyer. Though that was near Jakku, so...

Maybe Rian Johnson will change it up in the next episode?

[JLynnCarr]

A lot of the scenes were planetary-based and either involved fighting on a planet or escaping into space.

[Abraham Smashington]

Underwhelmed, mainly because it didn't feel like a STAR WARS film...it totally felt like a JJ Abrams Nu-TREK and that's NOT what I was wanting.

Crazy. This felt so hard like a SW film I honestly don't understand this.

[BillyG]

Crazy. This felt so hard like a SW film I honestly don't understand this.

Totally. The Abrams Star Trek reboot was Star Wars-ing Trek.

[Abraham Smashington]

yeah. This was the SW that I grew up wishing I could see because I was that kid that DEVOURED the EU stuff.