Gary's review of Star Wars

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ronniedobbs
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Gary's review of Star Wars

Post by ronniedobbs »

I'd have to agree with him:


STAR BORES - The Farce Awakens

Star Wars at its best relied heavily on the silent power of The Force . The force carried an almost meditational alignment akin to the spiritual resonance and discipline of a martial arts or zen practitioner . Many great movies have tapped similar , greater mystical , unspoken ancient spiritual 'forces' to add power to the plot and Star Wars at its best was no exception.
The force is now , however , bandied around without anything of such depth or significance & it's a massive oversight . Sure ,light sabers crackle frequently into action and the force is referred to frequently as if just mentioning the words is enough but without seeing the discipline needed and any struggle of aligning with it ( as Luke Skywalker did initially with the masterly OBE WAN ?) this deeper mystical connection is non existent & STAR WARS becomes just another( albeit impressive ) giant fly through , virtual fight and flight scene . It's like an arcade game without the interaction ,depth or significance . Maybe it's the logical next step for cinema ? A world increasingly versed and participating in gaming & interactiveness can recognize it , feel comfortable , substitute the interaction with over indulgence of sugary snacks and sit, chill out as you're propelled through all the aesthetics of a game joined with just enough of a plot and dialogue to augment without ruining the immersiveness of the game . It's a video game for non - gamers or a chill out for gamers !
If you need human relations , interaction or development of character however , y'know the language of truly great movies to give you a reason to want to undertake the thrill of the 'fly through' then I suggest you'll struggle with this film since these aspects are scant to say the least . All in all , it's all there in form and aesthetic but the force lacks deeper meaning for me to make the fly through a truly rewarding trip .
Once you're high on sugary snacks and pop it could well be the sensory thrill you're seeking but it's telling that I returned home craving to watch a Norman Wisdom film I hadn't seen ( or thought about ) for about twenty years which we duly found and watched . My 8 year old daughter brightened up considerably ( rather than literally picking her 3d glasses apart so she was reduced to watching through one eye in 3D and the other normal. :))) ) and when asked which she preferred shouted 'Norman Wisdom ' loudly . Incidentally , to give some context to her credo as critic ,she'd neither experienced Star Wars or Norman Wisdom before but is quite able to immerse herself in ( and love ) over 2 hours of recent spacey epic Interstellar.
Herein lies another problem Star Wars makes huge assumptions you're a fan already , it meant nothing to her and made little sense nor did it 'awaken ' any desire to find out . It's gonna take advantage of your nostalgia that's for sure cos give it a few months and you'll see it for what it is . A video game where the architecture has been expertly put in place ready for a film to inhabit when they inject narrative ..Everything is there ready ( they have made sure of that - STAR WARS greatest bits and hits ?) but rather than make a complete movie with satisfying narrative its merely set up the architecture ready for the next stage in their corporate masterplan . The Force might very well have 'awakened ' but it hasn't emotionally stirred that's for sure . This film has been made with an eye very firmly on how the franchise rolls out over the next ten years which has got little to do with the art of filmmaking and further emphasizes the commerce of film brands and sequels rolling out simultaneously across thousands of shopping malls around the world these days . Fuck the inevitability of a sequel I say , make a complete experience that warrants it ! This is like the first strategic single of a pop star's first new album in 10 years , it delivers only enough to awaken the desire of the fanbase to want more . To make new fans however will require watching the first film again . Y'see it's all been strategically planned by the new committee . The days of maverick filmmakers is dead . Long live the franchise .
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Re: Gary's review of Star Wars

Post by Faroutman »

Happy New Year to you good people.
Went to see it today. Such a shame. Agree with the review above.
By the way thanks fsol digital.com
Some lovely goodies last year. More of that please...not in a Disney way!
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Re: Gary's review of Star Wars

Post by seedy »

.......waiting for pande's review =()
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Re: Gary's review of Star Wars

Post by Pandemonium »

Oh no, I'm not opening that box :)
[**thoughts pouring by the tons**]

No, no... I have a LOT to say about Star Wars (the franchise), and most of it is BAD, so I'm trying not to be negative with my reviews...
You're doin' too much, do less.
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Re: Gary's review of Star Wars

Post by seedy »

haha....yeah i know you're a trekkie and there is often conflict between the two
wasn't sure if you were one of those or not though


personally i've got love for both but easily have been way more owned by star wars in my life
i don't need airtight story lines or anything else terribly mature
i just like to see cool shit and the star wars universe is awesome ;)
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Re: Gary's review of Star Wars

Post by Pandemonium »

You see, this is what pisses me off the most :)
- People comparing ST and SW! It's frogs and oranges man - un-comparable in every possible way. Please don't get me started, I don't have enough energy for this :)
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Ross
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Re: Gary's review of Star Wars

Post by Ross »

Yeah but they both start with 'Star'.
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epitome
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Re: Gary's review of Star Wars

Post by epitome »

Red Dwarf is better.

8-)
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Re: Gary's review of Star Wars

Post by RazorJack »

I kinda liked the new Star Wars movie, and been a "long-time" fan (still remember very well going to the theatre with my bro in 1999 to see Episode 1).

Not sure what the point is of that rant above. It's a movie, and that means it's business and the only point of business is to make money, get over it ;-)
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Re: Gary's review of Star Wars

Post by Ross »

Ah but plenty of films are art, too.
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Re: Gary's review of Star Wars

Post by RazorJack »

I understand what you mean, but I think art is a subjective matter. The commercial success of Star Wars however, can be expressed in real numbers.
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Re: Gary's review of Star Wars

Post by Faroutman »

RazorJack wrote:I kinda liked the new Star Wars movie, and been a "long-time" fan (still remember very well going to the theatre with my bro in 1999 to see Episode 1).

Not sure what the point is of that rant above. It's a movie, and that means it's business and the only point of business is to make money, get over it ;-)
I think the purpose of the rant is...The kids are being ripped off...
It started with episode 4 and ended at 3.
1 and 2 where bad. 3 was the beginning of the real story. The
new ones are just a bad idea. Story is tripe!
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Ross
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Re: Gary's review of Star Wars

Post by Ross »

RazorJack wrote:I understand what you mean, but I think art is a subjective matter. The commercial success of Star Wars however, can be expressed in real numbers.
True, but I'm not sure what use commercial success is in context of Gaz's original point, which was about the amount of creativity and 'art' in the new film.
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Re: Gary's review of Star Wars

Post by boogiemanspud »

I won't give any spoilers, but I would like to share my thoughts.

I think either one of two things happened:

Option one: There wasn't enough happening in the movie. It wasn't bad per se, but it seemed very lackluster. There could have been a scene with the main characters doing laundry for 10 minutes and it wouldn't seem out of place. The movie seems like it could have been told in 1/3 of the running time.

Option two: There was too much story and none of it was fleshed out. This resulted in so many shifts that the whole movie seemed like nothing really happened, even though a ton happened. There was tons of references and little things added that they never explained or expanded on. This is very difficult to explain without giving any spoilers though. It's kind of like here is this character, I'll give you 45 seconds to know everything you need to know, but really I need 5 minutes to explain them. This sounds opposite of option one. It is, but I'll be honest, I'm still not sure which it is.

All in all, I think it's an OK movie if you are a fan. I wouldn't recommend it as a starting point in the series. To be honest it seemed like it's whole point was to be a set up for the sequels coming out in the future. If it tells you anything, I watched Episode 1 (although it was an anti cheese edit on youtube) and it seemed like a strong movie in comparison. The new one isn't bad, but it's pretty lackluster. Also, to be perfectly fair, the theatre was insanely hot, the thermometer said it was 81 deg F (27.22 deg C), this may have had some to do with my overall impression because it had me fighting sleep from being so hot.
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Re: Gary's review of Star Wars

Post by s0ren »

Its a star wars flick, it is what it is. No point in digging too deep into something that was never really deep. Only thing i had trouble with with was the cast. Kept seeing Hanna's boyfriend, Miles from Lost, and the guy who got killed and the guy who got locked up by a robot in Ex Machina (great movie btw).
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