Recent Viewing Part IV

RV: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

I liked a lot of it, disliked some of it.

To me this is very much a movie for people who have ever played any kind of Star Wars video or role playing game.
As a veteran of the late lamented West End Games Star Wars role playing game, I really enjoyed the 'bottom-up' perspective of the "everyday heroes" on ground level. It puts things into perspective, which incidentally was maybe THE thing I enjoyed most about the film: we finally really get a view of the the sheer sense of scale on a technical level.

These machines are BIG.
I mean HUGE!
The Star Destroyer over Jedha is jawdropping! The AT-ATs during the Scarif assault are horrifying! The Death Star eclipses the sun!
We never really got to see that so clearly before, and that's proper: in an epic story, it is awesome. In a war story it is terrifying.

So if there's just one thing to like, it is certainly that!

But it's not all good.

To be honest the first hour or so, for all the beautiful imagery, is a bit plodding.

The main reason for that I find is that almost none of the characters are relatable. They're utterly one-dimensional, uttering vague platitudes, with little to zero emotional connection.
The only two characters that spoke to me were the quixotic Chirrut Imwe and his heavy weapons buddy Baze: not only did both actors a well above-average job in making the characters believable, but theimplicit relationship and communication between the two gave them an implied background and bond that exceeded that of anyone else in the film, including the non-descript and -to be honest- fairly dull main characters.

It's gotta mean something if the most interesting new character is the Imperial director Krennic (An excellent part! And I'm SURE he survived the cataclysmic end to make a re-appearance in future).

I also wasn't impressed by any of the new ship designs. They seemed easy, blocky, clunky designs that had all the rag-tag quality of the Falcon without any of its charm, creativity and charisma. (BUT all the OLD ships are magnificently photographed! Star Destroyers, Corellian Corvettes, X-Wings, Y-Wings, the Death Star...they never looked better!)

The music...yeah, well, I mentioned it before. It's functional. It's Star Wars stylistics are undeniable.
It's immemorable.

As to some of the appearances from known characters: I understand some of the cameos that were needed to tie in to the main line.
I did enjoy the throw-away appearance of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba (a couple of characters from the Mos Eisley Cantina). I also really liked seeing a (very passable!) Jan Dodonna in the Yavin 4 command center. Of course a young Mon Mothma and Bail Organa had to make an appearance as leaders of the Alliance council.

But Artoo and Threepio were pointless, as was Vader's first appearance in his (otherwise stunningly designed) castle. It didn't further anything, there was no point to it. They seemed just to be in as a fan service.
(That said, I think Vader's clean up of the Rebel terrorists at the end was just perfect, and totally in line with the character from both Revenge Of The Sith and Star Wars!)

What I DID like (a LOT) was youg Leia. And the amazing effect of having the ACTUAL Red and Gold leader leading the attack run on Scarif (using old, unused footage from Star Wars' Death Star run ).
But I have to be honest: absolute highlight was seeing Peter Cushing again!
Which was...well...quite moving . (Yeah. I actually felt a little sting at the back of my eyes. )
What a magnificent tribute. And what a stunning technical achievement.

>> Weird, nerdy side note: one thing that irked me more than it had a right to was the apparent inconsistency of the characters' heights! Here Tarkin is almost a head taller than Krennic. So was Vader. Yet in Star Wars, Vader is almost two heads taller than Tarkin!
I know! It's stupid! But it really bothered me.
I'm a pathetic geek. <<

The film really did pick up a lot of steam when the assault started.
The action scenes were immaculately executed, and are easily a match for many a "serious" war movie. It showed the mess, the death, the grit, and the fear.

Also there were plenty of proper "big" Star Wars moments in the space battle above Scarif to bring it to that epic level again.

So all in all, I enjoyed it. A lot.
I don't think it's a very good Star Wars movie.
It lacks the epic storytelling, the archetypes, the fairy-tale aspect and the old "Republic Serials"-like adventure attitude.
But I DO think it is a very good movie IN the Star Wars UNIVERSE.
It's interesting and fun to see different people with another view play around in that big, big galaxy.

Well, as most of my thoughts on the film seem to run contrary to yours, I don't blame you.


Side note: I wonder why the spoiler tags do not work on a tablet (at least I'm unable to see the text again). Isn't there another, better eay to hide spoilers? Such as collapsable text boxes?

If you need to read a book to fully appreciate a film, then it's failed as a film. (That's not to say I think it's failed, I actually really enjoyed it. I just can't stand justifying a movie with a book hardly anyone will have read.)

I enjoy tie-in novels insofar as they enhance already existing characters and locations. But I agree with Stew and Erik in the sense that it should work in the primary source in the first place. A tie-in novel should build on the (already good) experience, not be a necessity to properly appreciate it.

[spoiler]Or indeed his execution had ended more elegantly.[/spoiler]

It Follows

Really liked it. Scary and yet very accessible. When I read the short premise I wondered how they would translate it on screen, and somehow (whilst bringing it totally different) they succeeded my expectations. Shows that with little budget and means they can deliver a lot.

The music .... well worked in a way, but on CD I disliked it a lot.

7 out of 10

I agree. [spoiler]"Peter Cushing's" reveal was magical, but as soon as he started to speak, he was so clearly computer animated that I was pretty put off by it. My wife, on the other hand didn't notice the animation. She thought they'd just found someone who looked a LOT like Peter Cushing [/spoiler] I liked the film quite a bit - about as much as Force Awakens. [spoiler]I loved seeing Red Leader and Gold Leader in action. It was cool to hear James Earl Jones voice Vader again, even if his voice is notably older-sounding. I also thought that this film demonstrated the cost of war better than any Star Wars before it. And I really liked K2SO (was that his name?). The characters were less memorable than in other SW films, though. [/spoiler] I would be really interested to hear the producer, director, writer, and actors talk candidly about what was changed in the reshoots. I'm curious to know how the vision of the film changed. There are several prominent lines in the first teaser trailer that are not in the film, which happens sometimes, but some of the those lines are so different than what we got in the film that it makes me wonder how much those scenes were changed.

Exactly. Thank you. All the facts were in the movie, and the relationship between the characters, as well as Krennick's persona was captured quite nicely in the movie, too. Most people got a good enough picture of Krennick to see him as the best character, so there you go.

I think the DV vs. Krennick scene falls a bit flat since it doesn't play much different than any other Vader scene of the same kind, but it should if you pay enough attention to realise that Krennick has been the boss more or less up to that point. Then he gets challenged by both Tarkin and Vader, and it breaks him. You can see it and know it based on the info the movie alone provides.

As Thor said, the book enhances the experience. Most of the time, people don't like tie-ins, because they know they rarely offer new insights. But if they do, people say "that should have been in the movie". You can't have both.

I don't see why anyone would do that... unless they hate themselves.

-ERik-

No, no. All I wanted to say is, that someone who has seen the prequel trilogy but has not yet seen the original trilogy, will perceive ROGUE ONE in another way than we do. A trivial remark probably.

It's pretty much possible, actually.

Said people either had terrible parents or must have an extremely low opinion of Star Wars.

Oh, yeah, now I get it. And it's the very first scene with Vader "in action" after his transformation, meaning, up to that point it's unclear how the whole thing has changed him, for better or worse. And this will point to his attack on Padme, and you'll know what you're in for. Very good point, indeed.

Of course, if you put Rebels in between, you already know it at that point.

Deadpool

Thought this was ok but the joke is stretched very thin. Was expecting more. Won't watch it again.

RV: Calvary (2014)
Beautiful little Irish movie (that apparently received all kinds of accolades a couple of years back, but went completely under my radar at the time), about a really quite down-to-earth priest receiving an unexpected death threat and how he spends his time leading up the confrontation with his assassin.

Very moody, filled with strange characters, beautifully photographed and smartly scripted, this is one of those little gems that really comes as a surprise. Brendan Gleeson is absolutely excellent and really likeable as father James, a man who is honestly trying to be the best he can without taking shit from anyone. And Kelly Reilly as his troubled daughter is...well...you know...Irish readheads. *sigh*

The soundtrack by Patrick Cassidy is appropriately wistful.