http://ew.com/movies/2017/10/17/the-han-solo-movie-has-a-title-solo/
The Star Wars anthology film about Han Solo, which has been in development has an official title.
Other news that has circulated about the film that has been filming throughout the year(and just wrapped last week) has been rather eventful. The first two co-directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, brought on board to direct, notable for 21 Jump Street, 22 Jump Street, The Lego Movie and sequel, as well as other animated films, claim they were hired to make a comedy heavy movie. To that end, the producers of the movie were particularly happy with what was being made so Lord and Miller were replaced by Ron Howard who has committed to sticking to Lawrence Kasden's script(instead of improvising) and to make a more traditional Star Wars "space western" with comedic elements.
The film stars: Alden Ehrenreich(Han Solo), Donald Glover(Lando Calrissian), Woody Harrelson(Beckett, Solo's mentor), Emilia Clarke(Kira), Thandie Newton, Michael K. Williams(who was cut :thumbdown:), Joonas Suotamo(Chewbacca).
Movie is due to be releases May 25, 2018.
At long last...
The teaser debut during the Super Bowl last night and the full trailer earlier today.
Teaser:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7m-7EEI5vo
Full Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D09NUDELkoQ
Spoiler
There are a few difference between the two. The teaser doesn't reveal much about Han. Or the plot. There are some shots there that are not in the full trailer. The trailer gives more detail about the plot, other characters(Thandie Newton, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Woody Harrelson among others). We also see some of Han's personality come across, a penchant to reassure despite things not being okay.
But come off the tumultuous production, if you've been following, the dismissal of Lord and Miller as directors, replaced by Ron Howard. Alden Ehrenreich needing an acting coach. Reshoots that took about the same amount of time principal photography.
But seeing the trailer is a little more reassuring. It looks like Ehrenreich can carry the role. The plot seems a bit of a departure from typical Star Wars, more about crime and not about war, opening up the Star Wars universe more.
So, the trailer looks cool, I'll give it that. I would be a whole lot more excited about this movie if it were just a Rogue One style ancillary story. I can't handle replacing major characters. Still, if it's good, more power to them.
Bumping an update.
Solo: A Star Wars Story has had it's premiere and early reactions are generally promising. Even the negative reactions don't really hate the movie, just seemingly down on some parts. I can't really call these reviews because it's mostly non-professional, yet industry folks. Like Harrison Ford is obviously in the industry but he's not a professional film critic. The review embargo is lifted later today.
Other notes... pre-sale of tickets has actually surpassed Black Panther(which is saying something). There is early praise for Ehrenreich and definitely for Donald Glover. Some of the clips I've seen were contrary to what I've been told about Ehrenreich's performance. He really comes across "Han Solo-y" IMO. So we'll see.
Also, there's some clamor about the contract he signed, which was for three films. Some say it's the way they do these blockbuster these days. Some say there's something about the movie that gives the idea that there's more to say about Han's early adventures.
And a bit of a spoiler on a cameo:
Spoiler
Anthony Daniels maintains his streak for being in ALL Star Wars Films Episodes I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, Rogue One and yes, Solo. Note: I said Anthony Daniels and not C-3PO. Yep.
I'm pretty surprised the early buzz is so positive. I was expecting it to be more negative considering the film's troubled history. I was fully expecting Donald Glover as Lando to steal the show, and I know I wasn't the only one. While Ehrenreich as Solo is a harder sell (I still don't see it myself) Lando seems spot on and Glover looks like he's having a blast in the role (he's said that's the movie role he wanted to play more than any other).
Lol, I forgot to say pretty much exactly what you just did. I'm almost positive about that with Glover. At least definitely in my book. SN: I'm STILL not sure how much I'm feeling the baby-fro and just don't see why they didn't go with an early Billy Dee look. I digress.
But yeah, it's seems as if most of the reviews are positive to lukewarm to "eh it's aight". Don't see too many negative reviews just completely trashing the film(as I'm sure they expected to do). They're nitpicking parts, but still think it was "fun", which is the word I keep hearing about it. Which goes completely into what George Lucas initially intended with the original Star Wars. He wasn't trying to make Oscar-bait. He wanted to make a "popcorn movie" and I think that's what we got from what I'm hearing.
I'll take it.
So I went in with zero expectations, avoided all trailers/spoilers/casting news etc. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. My theater was empty, only about 10 people.
I gotta say that it was better than The Last Jedi, it was really more like an arc of Clone Wars or Rebels, in that it was faithful to canon, included a few surprises, and had a few great new characters.
Interesting, a pretty positive response.
Give it a bit more time,people tend to buy into the hype at first.
Oh there was definitely some forced humor bits that fell flat, and one plot point that i really didnt like.
Spoiler
having L3 call for equal rights for droids, they gave her nearly human AI, and I think that kind of ruins how droids work in Star Wars
But as a whole Id say this movie is much better than TLJ, and is more in line with Rogue One.
YES!
DM, the one thing you said that struck me with this was how ARDENTLY they stuck to Canon!! Not only did I not expect SO many easter eggs, I freaking appreciated it like CRAZY! That said, I just came from seeing the movie and I was PLEASANTLY pleased with the product. THAT was a Star Wars movie! I know the take-away from many of the early reviews was that it was fun but not heavy and not that I disagree, but I don't see how anyone could describe this as anything but! I enjoyed about every minute of it! Some said the first act was slow, which I don't get. It started off with a fun start, really exciting sequences and was filled with humor and charm.
Ehrenreich I think got it right with Han. I didn't much mind the recast at all. His brash over-the-top yet face-plant arrogance played well and was very "Han Solo-y" IMO. And if I thought he did a good job with Han, Glover NAILED Lando! The others also came off very well. I connected with Thandie Newton and (I don't know if this is a spoiler since even I didn't know he was involved until five minutes ago) Jon Favereau's characters. Emilia Clarke and Woody Harrelson were good, but I didn't think anything too remarkable about them. Not that they were bad, I expected them to be good and they were. Do got to say I saw more characterization out of Chewbacca in this film than I have in six other movies combined. He wasn't just a "background" character for Han's exposition, which sometimes he seems like.
And for the spoiler stuff:
Spoiler
Again, I was pleasantly surprised with the number of Easter Eggs and canon references that were just just here, but re-established back into canon. Beckett killed Aura Sing. The Maw outside of Kessel. Lando's adventures with the Sharu. Qi'Ra is a MASTER OF TERAS KASI!!!! Name-dropping (I think it was) the Tonnika sisters and Bossk. The Pyke Syndicate showed up! And I know this is small, but they even stuck the rules of Sabacc and didn't change that much. Of course the big "reveal" with Ray Park AND Sam Witwer returning for Darth Maul who Dryden Vos and the Crimson Dawn were beholden to, which leads me to believe Darth Maul was still rather influential in the Underworld after the Shadow Collective fell. Of course, his appearance would be a complete shock to the vast majority of casual fans who all probably assumed Darth Maul died back in Episode I. They don't know his history in the Clone Wars and Rebels and the comics in between. But to have included ALL of that AND even giving him his new lightsaber tells me they were REALLY paying attention to canon, which I completely appreciated!
I still have to say, overall, Rogue One, outpaces this, but Rogue One set a pretty high-arse bar, but still this definitely made it's imprint, while also making hallmarks to the Original Trilogy. After seeing the Millennium Falcon before and after the Kessel Run, yeah I feel EXACTLY how Luke and Leia felt when they first laid eyes on it("What a piece of junk!"/"You're flying in that thing? You're braver than I thought!"). Also, even if this is where Lando got his "You got a lot of guts coming here... after what you pulled..." when Han stole his trick card up his sleeve winning the Falcon, I appreciated even that. It's these kind of small details that made this movie stick with me.
I'm going to have to go back and re-watch to catch the other cameos and Easter Eggs I might have missed or can't remember right now. But they really took their time and effort and made it RIGHT! Right so that superfanboys like me LOVE, but still made it completely "Star Wars"esque for casual fans to go watch and enjoy!
Oh and we FINALLY learn why the Millennium Falcon look so different!
Spoiler
It actually is NOT a continuity error! The YT-1300 we've been seeing, playing with and watching is the same YT-1300 here, but it was LANDO who was the one that made the changes, particularly adding the escape pod in between the mandibles. Still not exactly sure of it's function. Whether it's just a escape pod or a full shuttle like the Ghost/Phantom from SW: Rebels. But thankfully they made sense of a lot of what we saw.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it so much. Sounds like they put some effort into it to please the hardcore fans. I'll give it a digital rental when the time comes.
I think that's probably where I am too.
This is the first Star Wars movie to actually lose money.Incredible.
And that's incredibly misleading and probably due to such efforts of word-of-mouth campaigns.
The reviews do NOT match the ticket sales and that's unfortunate. I know a few guys that work in that industry and they've noted such reports about it's gross and I'd see comments like "that bad huh" and of course it isn't. Not even close. It seems people were expecting this movie to do bad, thinking it would be bad and not interested in investing the time or desire to be proven otherwise. As we can see.
Problem is that it wasn't really given much of a chance. And to be honest, it's less divisive than The Last Jedi and took more chances than The Force Awakens, but no one would know it because the marketing of it left something to be desired and lower expectations, combined with two mega franchises taking audiences money that same month made it hard to compete against such an environment. Particularly when the movie by most accounts IS actually BETTER than anyone expected. And for a Star Wars movie, that's saying something.
After TLJ,I doubt expectations were high.
In general,movie critics are way out of touch with the common man,so ticket sales and review not agreeing isnt a new thing.
I'm not just talking critical reviews, I'm talking reactions. They have been mostly positive. And not by a little bit. But given the type of movie it is, the time it's released, the fact that it IS actually a good movie, there's no reason why this should not have made more than what it did. This is not some artsy Oscar bait film with a limited theatrical release. It is better than what people are thinking. I don't know if it's performance can be attributed to TLJ (because even that made a truck load of money) but I'm saying is people get the perception that because this isn't making more money then it must not be good and that's not at all true.
Solo primarily suffers from "the origin of a character that nobody asked for" because there HAS been lots of Han Solo backstory in books and comics but all of that material was dumped into the non-Canon "Star Wars Legends" bin. This movie was pushed forward from fans wanting more of Han after his death in Force Awakens but Harrison was done with the character and felt IF they were going to tell his history with another actor he wanted to be around when it happened. However the highlights of the movie completely has been Donald Glover as Lando and Chewbacca finally getting to bodyslam a few Imperials (which wasn't so easy because Peter wasn't an athlete and the new actor under the suit can lift quite a bit).
Personally. Solo really was a great Summer film.. everything I expected it to be. This film has SO much against it because of ALL of the bad press of it needing to be refilmed completely under a new director and so many casual fans already had written it off as "horrible and unwatchable" from the initial leaked screening reviews of the trashed first version. You could have just had some stunt guys put on a Boba Fett costume with another in a Chewbacca costume throw each other around on stage in front of the movie screen for two hours and gotten a better first audience reaction after the press massacred any chance it would be taken seriously. Harrison really owned the role of Solo but there have been so many others playing him in audiobooks and video games it really shouldn't have made much difference but the audience really tuned out once it was visually obvious that Harrison wasn't going to be around now.
- CQ
Im sensing this is going down an all familiar path...
There was no smear campaign or anything,most people just didnt care.And most of that can be attributed to TLJ.Which I think killed any interest in the franchise for a lot of people.
Maybe Solo was better (again,not that hard) but the stink of past faliures hanged heavily on it.
Quote from: Shogunn2517 on June 07, 2018, 12:44:40 PM
There's no reason why this should not have made more than what it did. This is not some artsy Oscar bait film with a limited theatrical release. It is better than what people are thinking. I don't know if it's performance can be attributed to TLJ (because even that made a truck load of money) but I'm saying is people get the perception that because this isn't making more money then it must not be good and that's not at all true.
There are a few factors. I've seen some armchair analysts claim that it went up against the big boys (Infinity Wars and Deadpool 2) and got curb stomped. I think that's fair. But they also said "only the longtime fanboys would go see this because 1) It's "minute Star Wars trivia the movie" and 2) To casual fans if it's not Harrison Ford they don't care" and I don't like that sale. Nobody knew it was filled to the brim with callbacks until the film came out and they saw it (I didn't find out until I read Shogunn's review). I've seen, probably, every single solitary commercial for the film and not one indicated the level of callbacks on display. The deepest cut seen in the promos was a play on "I've got a bad feeling about this" and from Shogunn's posts the references go much deeper than that. Some snobs will claim the only people who turned on SW after the Last Jedi are pathetic basement dwellers that don't represent the majority of fans and I personally find that take insulting. I didn't like TLJ that much. I'd rank it near the bottom. I enjoyed it when I watched it but it's a step down from TFA in my book and I have no idea where you take the story from this point forward unless JJ really does pull a "Lol nope" on Rian Johnston's plots.
As for TLJ making money. It was going to make a massive amount of money no matter what, and most people saw it opening weekend meaning they had no way to know they'd hate it until Disney had their money firmly in their pocket (and I have friends who hated TLJ, including one who refuses to support Disney's Star Wars going forward as a result, they went and saw the flick, at least one of them went opening weekend).
As for Solo, it's an unnecessarily movie if ever there is one, and I watched the trailers and tv spots for it regularly in the hopes that it get me interested and it never did. It's the first Star Wars movie I've ever skipped on in the theater since I was born (I was born after Jedi came out, and yes, that includes the prequels and the Special Edition theatrical rereleases of the original trilogy.) I'm like you, Shogunn. I effing love Star Wars. I'm a Star Wars fan, so if they want to throw me some fanservice I'm all for it and when Feloni's next animated show comes out I'll watch the hell out of that, but I'm getting burned out on the movies after TLJ. I just don't know where the franchise can go now that'll keep me invested.
Spoilers in the house....
Spoiler
When the movie (Solo) was coming out, I had a relative who would gone if I wanted to go and I didn't want to so neither of us did. But I made sure to look up the film in case it had some surprises to make me change my mind. Normally I hate spoilers with a passion but in this case I wanted to get spoiled in case it made me want to see the flick. And Darth Maul, voiced by Witwer, wielding an Inquisitor lightsabre and back to running a crime organization...yeah, that's just about the most interesting thing they could possibly have put in the movie, but I wasn't going to go see the flick for a one scene cameo setting up a future movie. Now, when that movie comes out (be it Kenobi or whatever else), then perhaps, not right now. It's a bizarre cross media move, but as a fan I certainly find it appealing, even if I'm not sure I would have pulled the trigger on it myself.
Beyond that, I'm not that interested in the prospect of giving young Han Solo his own Catwoman/Irene Adler/Ada Wong/Karai. Not every character needs one and I was never a big Emilia Clarke fan anyway.
Anyway:
QuoteHarrison really owned the role of Solo but there have been so many others playing him in audiobooks and video games it really shouldn't have made much difference but the audience really tuned out once it was visually obvious that Harrison wasn't going to be around now.
Funny story, I was talking to my father and he was asking me if the big cameo was Harrison Ford because he really did figure he'd show up (us hardcore fans know, of course, that Ford had been gunning to kill the character off since Empire, and I doubt he'd return to the role again now that his story's complete, especially now that the possibility of teaming up with Mark and Carrie again is gone). As for your other comment, I can't comment on the audiobooks but personally I've never been altogether satisfied by the stand-ins for Ford (or Hamill for that matter) in the various video games, they always sounded a little hokey. Perfect example (though not for Ford) Matthew Mercer as Luke in Star Wars Battlefront II (the new one), I really like Matt Mercer as a voice actor but he's not Mark Hamill and I never bought him as Luke, not even a post-Jedi Luke.
For me it wasn't just that Alden never felt like Han Solo to me, or that nothing in the trailers made me want to see the film. It's also the realization that if Disney is really going to put out a Star Wars film every single year, no matter what it's actually about, I don't want to go see every one. I don't even do that for the MCU flicks, so I'm not going to do it here. And whereas with MCU you get that all-roads-converging-high, here, not so much. You in no way need to see Rogue One and Solo to follow the story of Rey, Kylo and the rest. There's no Supreme Leader Smokey appearance tying everything together (does that count as an "anti-spoiler"?)
So yeah, that's where I'm at with Solo now.
But that's just it with these "ancillary" movies(not really much "ancillary" about them, but that's what they're calling them). Rogue One and Solo and even Obi-Wan or Boba Fett or Faveau's movies won't have any strong bearing on the "saga" films. Their story is told... or was told.
Here's my thing with the franchise. I've been a fan since way back in the day. As soon as I got my hands on Heir to the Empire, it was a wrap for me. I had to know EVERYTHING. And that everything was the entire Expanded Universe. And of course when Disney bought Star Wars, that was a wrap for the EU. That was worse than Thanos getting the Infinity Gauntlet because there were no promises or no mandate for writers to stick to what I've grown to know as Star Wars. Except one. They were going to make extra episodes. And to be honest, that burned the hell out of me just as much as erasing the EU because that was EXACTLY what they were going to do with a new trilogy. More than that it was COMPLETELY unnecessary. George Lucas stated plenty of times before that Episodes I-VI was HIS story. It was his style; to start a story half way through and because there was a demand, he went back and finished the backstory. But that was it. Creating more story was going to complicate a complete ending that ROTJ had.
Then came Rogue One. When I first heard what it is, guess what, I was ticked off. Kyle Kattarn, Dark Forces, Jerec, *snap* gone. Now we had a movie with a bunch of reshoots and bunch of questions. And as it turned out, IMO, it was probably the best thing that happened to Star Wars in over 30 years.
As far as the new trilogy goes, unfortunately as you(and others) pointed out, it's hit and miss. I think that's due to the fact that there was no coherent vision for it and that showed. Yeah, I thought they were entertaining. They had the Star Wars feel, but it was hard for both to capture that same magic I felt the original movies had. But I enjoyed them for what they were. Building the universe, adding to the story. And this is where Solo came in. As much as I felt connected to the EU and as much as I felt connected to the original films, Solo was able to hit both of those hallmarks. That I appreciated.
Honestly, I've heard the criticisms like the ones you gave about Solo when it was announced. People finding it not only unnecessary, but being bothered by the fact that Alden Ehrenreich isn't Harrison Ford. Those are on top of the production problems that marred its development for months. All of this was known coming in and yes, essentially going up against two mega franchises put the movie in a bad position from jumpstreet. To be honest, I didn't see these same problems. I mean I suppose they were problems, but Rogue One had heavy reshoots and that turned out better than anyone expected, critically and commercially. It isn't unheard of for a movie, even in this franchise to recast a famous character. Alec Guinness was nominated for an Oscar and that didn't stop Ewan McGregor from taking over the role. So even that wasn't a big deal to me. And as far as the moving being "unnecessary" or "no one really asked for it", yeah I've heard that plenty of times over the last year. But that just never rung true to me. We get backstories all the time for characters. Star Wars gave us an entire trilogy of character backstories. And as interesting as Han Solo as a character was, I knew the EU had an entire history of who he was before he showed up in the cantina on Tatooine. And it's a Star Wars movie. I was probably going to see it anyway and see it more than once and study it each time I do. But I gotta admit, I enjoyed this more than TLJ and TFA. Just as a "movie-going" experience, I enjoyed it. And from a Star Wars fan experience, I also enjoyed it.
Now, that said, I understood coming into this that Disney was going to make as many Star Wars movies as they can think of. It's kind of been their MO. And 5 years ago, I was happy with what I had as a fan. I didn't think I needed more. Certainly didn't want more to change or destroy the wonderful stories that have already been made. But that's what they're going to do. I knew that coming in. So I can't be mad that they're making movies that might be considered "unnecessary" because to be honest the last four movies have been "unnecessary" in my book. Didn't stop me from enjoying them though. Some more than others obviously.
Well, I'm in an interesting position because I can go "Those old stories haven't gone away, I can go back and experience them" I've only really read a small handful of the novels so there's a whole universe of stories I can read, albeit super late, like the Yuzahn Vong/New Jedi Order stuff, ect. I still have a copy of the Force Unleashed II I bought on the cheap a few years ago that I haven't played yet and canon or not, I might as well buckle down and play it because Disney and EA apparently don't want me to buy and play a new story-driven Star Wars game because they keep cancelling them. Then there's the Old Republic MMO, I could always get back into that. i never finished Jedi Knight, let alone its expansion pack starring Mara Jade (I did play the sequels and they were various levels of awesome) speaking of Mara Jade, I never finish the Thrawn trilogy. :unsure: So yeah, I just don't see it as a "Disney's way or the highway" situation. I could do a hard boycott on every last bit of product they put out and still have enough quality Star Wars to enjoy for a lifetime. Of course, as my nephew pointed out to me recently, I'm not like a lot of other people. A lot of other people want "new". To teenage Peter Parker in the MCU, Empire is "that old movie".
My nephew had a different experience, just before Disney happened, he got hardcore into the novels, choosing to read them in chronological order and reading about Darth Bane and such, and he was telling us about how awesome those stories were. And as soon as Disney happened, he gave up because it's not canon anymore and therefore "doesn't matter". i like to think of the old EU/"Legends" as an alternate universe like what we have in Marvel and DC. I've been reading a lot of pre-Flashpoint DC in recent years, and it being "non-canon" (which isn't really even true) is in no way a deterrent.
Suppose that's a way of looking at it. Even though it wasn't the way they chose to do it, but like with the MCU, the comics are still the comics. Yeah they've adopted a lot from the MCU, but the kept their own universe separate. Even with Star Trek, technically the movies are an "Alternate Universe"(if my understanding is correct). But Disney wanted to go the route to make a new canon and they pretty much stopped producing Legends material, with the exception of TOR, which from what I know still going.
But I'll tell you this though, I do appreciate the New Canon bringing back things that were canon and making it canon again. In a way, it seems like some sort of Back to the Future Paradox or reminds me of the scene from Pleasantville where he starts telling them about the story and magically the words appear in the book. Whereas Disney erased Thrawn, Rebels brought him back(and even explained his disappearance from the GCW). Where Disney erased much of Han Solo's EU history, the movie restored it. Where the stories of the Old Republic didn't exist, now we have successive movies referencing two of the most popular Dark Lords of the Sith in EU/Knights of the Old Republic history. I gotta admit it's been a little fun to see things I've only read about appear on the big and small screen finally. So I'm thankful for that at least.
As someone who has yet to see this film (and may just not at this point) here's the reality:
Solo is a Star Wars film that came out within a year of another Star Wars film. It came out within a month of Infinity War, and the week after Deadpool 2. I am, at best, a casual fan of the franchise... and I am always always ALWAYS going to prioritise Marvel/Deadpool films over Star Wars. Additionally... I know everyone always predicts superhero fatigue, but if I were Disney, I'd be FAR more worried about Star Wars fatigue. The Marvel movies have done a decent job of varying up the formula and doing all kinds of different genres within the Superhero blanket... but I just don't get that with Star Wars.
Indeed. Your comment reminds me of the Red Letter Media guys (particularly Rich Evans) saying that Star Wars is a "limited universe" which I always found kinda funny considering you had stuff like Tales of the Bounty Hunters and Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina and Tales From Jabba's Palace and Droids and Ewoks ect. but in the specific context of the movies it certainly applies.
I don't think it's a limited universe per se... but I think the strength of those extended tales is that they are not films, and they have more creative freedom to tell interesting stories, particularly in the cases of background characters that aren't relevant to the franchise. They can do the varying types of stories that have helped keep the MCU from feeling stale 10 years later. But the films... there's a style of filmmaking that people expect from a Star Wars film, as well as a genre of storytelling (it's THE quintessential space opera after all). People go insane if there's no text crawl, for goodness sake.
And that'd be fine, if these films were rolling out once every couple years. If Disney were smarter about this, they'd have spaced everything out one film every few years, saved episode IX for 2027, and strung out the toy sales as long as humanly possible. Then they could have a HUGE marketing push for Fifty years of Star Wars. You give enough space for people not to be sick of you, but close enough together that you're still a household name and still selling ALL THE TOYS... and it also gives you more time to develop a long term strategy and planning for where to take these films instead of abandoning plotlines midway through a trilogy.
See, that's the thing, Tomato. By the time Disney got the license, they practically promised to churn out as many movies as possible. That told me I could get use to them continuing the story and making more movies fast or just not be a fan of Star Wars. So it's something I had to accept. Granted the time between Solo and a divisive The Last Jedi is six months and not the year that The Force Awakes to Rogue One to The Last Jedi had, but I knew it was coming. Now we have another 18 months until the next movie comes out. And another 5 or 6 in development plus another two series. That's a lot of Star Wars coming in a relatively short span.
But to be honest, as much of the grand scale and socio-political/philosophic connections they get from Star Wars, at it's heart George Lucas was intent on making a fun popcorn movie. That's what the original Star Wars scored at and that's exactly what I got from Solo. No heavy themes. No deep thoughts. Just a lot of fun.
BTW...
Quote from: Silver Shocker on June 09, 2018, 07:52:40 PM
Indeed. Your comment reminds me of the Red Letter Media guys (particularly Rich Evans) saying that Star Wars is a "limited universe" which I always found kinda funny considering you had stuff like Tales of the Bounty Hunters and Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina and Tales From Jabba's Palace and Droids and Ewoks ect. but in the specific context of the movies it certainly applies.
:thumbup:
And when I said a lot of movies in a short span, I didn't mean like this:
http://www.spoilerfreemoviesleuth.com/2018/06/news-rian-johnsons-star-wars-trilogy.html?m=1
Quote from: Tomato on June 09, 2018, 12:56:32 PMAdditionally... I know everyone always predicts superhero fatigue, but if I were Disney, I'd be FAR more worried about Star Wars fatigue. The Marvel movies have done a decent job of varying up the formula and doing all kinds of different genres within the Superhero blanket... but I just don't get that with Star Wars.
That's a really good comparison between Marvel and Star Wars that I never really thought about. There's enough in the Star Wars 'verse that they could certainly mix and match all sorts of genres, and that could help a lot with keeping it fresh.
Quote from: Ouflah on June 11, 2018, 04:16:48 PM
Quote from: Tomato on June 09, 2018, 12:56:32 PMAdditionally... I know everyone always predicts superhero fatigue, but if I were Disney, I'd be FAR more worried about Star Wars fatigue. The Marvel movies have done a decent job of varying up the formula and doing all kinds of different genres within the Superhero blanket... but I just don't get that with Star Wars.
That's a really good comparison between Marvel and Star Wars that I never really thought about. There's enough in the Star Wars 'verse that they could certainly mix and match all sorts of genres, and that could help a lot with keeping it fresh.
SOLO was meant to have a Heist/Space Western (train robbery, smugglers, gun slingers, outrun the law in a dangerous environment) vibe to it and everything I've seen in the design/planning stages kept that mood to it. I wonder just how much refilming almost the entire film under Ron Howard lost much of the intended style because most the shots had to be filmed on blue screen since most of the giant sets were taken down by that point. It's amazing what Ron had to accomplish in such a short period of time and yet the majority of the blame seems to come on everyone involved because it was the "origin story that nobody wanted". Folks forget that the original footage under the old directors had much more comedy (way more improv) and ignored most of the scripting that Lawrence and Johnathan Kasdan put together and needed to find that old school feeling with a cast that felt very confused over the whiplash in direction once they returned for reshoots. For those of you confused.. reference issues of the "Star Wars: Tag & Bink Were Here "comics and that was the style that the original directors (Lord & Miller) were going for. For those with a very keen eye Tag & Bink even have a minor cameo in the final theatrical version because they used footage from the Lord & Miller version which have the duo bickering (yes, the Storm Troopers which are talking about "the monster in the pit") which crossed paths with Solo and Chewie as prisoners.
- CQ
So I watched it this week. Pretty fun. The references were very well researched and appreciated (the card games were especially amusing) but it kinda left me a little flat. Maybe it's because like Man of Steel and Prometheus I'd already heard people say all there was to say about the film by the time I saw it, but I think it's also because it still feels like an unnecessary story that in no way restores my faith in Disney's "mission plan" for Star Wars going forward. It was a perfectly good "rental movie".
So you must really be hating Kathleen Kennedy's extension.
Nah, "hating" is far too strong a word. My reaction is more "whatever". Solo didn't restore my faith in Star Wars, but maybe trailers for episode 9 will when those come out.
What Star Wars needs is someone with the "master plan" of Star Wars under LucasFilm/Disney's arm much like Feige has built with Marvel Studios. They sort of have a plan with Star Wars Episode 7 to 9 but you can tell that each director just received a plot synopsis and basic script then run with that in their own direction and Kathleen doesn't check in on them regularly on set or walk in during the planning stages like Lucas used to do. She seems to start checking in with things starting with the dailies and that's where Solo really became a shock because she slammed on the breaks and fired the directors because they ignored the script they were handed. It become extremely costly because this happened at the 80-90% completed point which forced them to start from scratch and dump everything already in the can. She really should have been on their case from the moment that their out of control ad libbing started to show their respect to the script she gave them.
Episode 8 only became a problem because the director listened to the fans who wanted things to feel less like each new film would echo the classic trilogy (so many folks kept commenting that Force Awakens borrowed too much from A New Hope). Then he got the opposite feedback with his film from those superfans because it was radically different from the classic films. Nobody was around that could act as THE story guide they could call on if they needed advice. I still have an impression they are avoiding having someone follow in that role because nobody wants to become a giant target when things go wrong. If the superfans forced Lucas to sell it then how would they treat the people that stepped in his footsteps?
- CQ
In all honesty, I agree and disagree.
I think the part that made/are making the sequel trilogy so divisive is its lack of connection to the original trilogy... I take that back. I can't qualify that statement. I just know that it feels different. Even to me. Maybe that's why some characters has received such a backlash.
I do know this though, I very much agree with the sentiment that the lack of cohesion between Episodes VII to VIII and now to IX is showing. You make a big deal out of Rey's parents then they're no big deal. You make Snoke such a dominant force then kill him. And now there's word that all of that may be important again. The difference is Abrams, who did VII, didn't do VIII and is now doing IX and it shows. It's like the sequel trilogy has a split personality. And now with Johnson being given his own trilogy, Weiss and Benioff having their own series, I do get a bit of a DCU feel with this. Just a bit. Ultimately, they're separate stories on the same canvass. That is where Solo lies. It doesn't have to be about the saga story. So that's probably where people are finding issue with it.