TV/Movies Megathread

[Valmy]

Yo, how about a new Star Wars teaser?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9-aHfKcelI

So much hype. It is as if we never learn.

[celedhring]

Yo, how about a new Star Wars teaser?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9-aHfKcelI

So much hype. It is as if we never learn.

I'm forcing myself to find negative things in the trailers in order to preemptively deflate me. But it's not working too well.

[Savonarola]

The Yankee Clipper  (1927)

The British are in control of the worldwide tea trade, and even Queen Victoria herself demands that they do not lose it to the Yankees.  The Yankees, though, have a new clipper and a courageous captain (played by none other than the future Hopalong Cassidy, William Boyd.)  They arrive in China at the same time as Britain's new clipper; and the master of the Chinese tea sellers agrees to sell tea to the first ship to reach Boston, and the race is on. 

if they travel by sail boat, how will the Chinese merchant know which ship arrives first in Boston in order to sell them his tea?  That will require another boat to leave from Boston with a letter telling him who the victor is, but since the British clipper is faster than the mail ship, all the captain has to do is fake departing for England, than turn slightly south to navigate toward China and claim victory.

These were the days before soccer hooliganism, when the British only engaged in fair play.   

(Actually, if you really care, they wagered their ships against one another, so the winner would have both ships.)

[celedhring]

I guess the yank clipper wins? 

[Valmy]

I'm forcing myself to find negative things in the trailers in order to preemptively deflate me. But it's not working too well.

I just to make sure that my expectations are such that so long it is not obviously and intensely wretched like the prequels I can enjoy it.

[Liep]

I'm forcing myself to find negative things in the trailers in order to preemptively deflate me. But it's not working too well.

I just to make sure that my expectations are such that so long it is not obviously and intensely wretched like the prequels I can enjoy it.

Were the prequels that bad? I mean, besides adult Anakin casting and Jar Jar?

[Savonarola]

I guess the yank clipper wins? 

[spoiler]Yes, at the very last second and with reckless disregard for safety[/spoiler]  The film manages to hit every maritime cliche.  There's even a mutiny due to lack of water.

[Valmy]

Were the prequels that bad? I mean, besides adult Anakin casting and Jar Jar?

Yeah. The plot and characters and themes were all terribly managed in virtually every area. I am not the biggest star wars fan or anything so I am not mad about it but damn I just do not get the decisions made in that series.

I mean a war between robots and clones? Who the fuck thought that would be compelling? A war where all the combatants are completely expendable. OH THE TRAGEDY.

[Malthus]

Were the prequels that bad? I mean, besides adult Anakin casting and Jar Jar?

Yeah. The plot and characters and themes were all terribly managed in virtually every area. I am not the biggest star wars fan or anything so I am not mad about it but damn I just do not get the decisions made in that series.

I mean a war between robots and clones? Who the fuck thought that would be compelling? A war where all the combatants are completely expendable. OH THE TRAGEDY.

Well, in reality, clones would be no more expendable than one's identical twin ... 

[Yes, I get that these are 'Sci-Fi Clones']

[viper37]

After watching that Star Wars spot, youtube autoplayed a trailer for the Huntsman sequel, which pretty much looks like Frozen updated for the Twilight crowd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwtklzynPKA

Having seen Snow White and the Huntsman (and loved it), I had to look up the plot synopsis of this on Wikipedia to make any sense of that trailer. Not a good sign.

I found Snow White and the Huntsman to be 'meh', mostly because of the Twilight girl.  Charlize Theron was great.
The plot of this new movie isn't hard to understand from the new trailer, but yeah, it does remind me of Frozen.  I have good hopes for this one.

[viper37]

The Yankee Clipper  (1927)

The British are in control of the worldwide tea trade, and even Queen Victoria herself demands that they do not lose it to the Yankees.  The Yankees, though, have a new clipper and a courageous captain (played by none other than the future Hopalong Cassidy, William Boyd.)  They arrive in China at the same time as Britain's new clipper; and the master of the Chinese tea sellers agrees to sell tea to the first ship to reach Boston, and the race is on. 

if they travel by sail boat, how will the Chinese merchant know which ship arrives first in Boston in order to sell them his tea?  That will require another boat to leave from Boston with a letter telling him who the victor is, but since the British clipper is faster than the mail ship, all the captain has to do is fake departing for England, than turn slightly south to navigate toward China and claim victory.

These were the days before soccer hooliganism, when the British only engaged in fair play.   

(Actually, if you really care, they wagered their ships against one another, so the winner would have both ships.)

Ah!  I knew there was a catch!
Too bad it's a black&white silent movie, I might have enjoyed it

[Syt]

Were the prequels that bad? I mean, besides adult Anakin casting and Jar Jar?

Yeah. The plot and characters and themes were all terribly managed in virtually every area. I am not the biggest star wars fan or anything so I am not mad about it but damn I just do not get the decisions made in that series.

I mean a war between robots and clones? Who the fuck thought that would be compelling? A war where all the combatants are completely expendable. OH THE TRAGEDY.

Well, in Clone Wars they strive to give many clones distinct personalities, and different looks (hairstyles, tattoos, decals on armor etc.). Though it's up for debate how realistic that is. Though I guess it makes sense that if everyone else looks like you you try to differentiate yourself from them.

[Valmy]

Well, in Clone Wars they strive to give many clones distinct personalities, and different looks (hairstyles, tattoos, decals on armor etc.). Though it's up for debate how realistic that is. Though I guess it makes sense that if everyone else looks like you you try to differentiate yourself from them.

Well you can see why they felt the need to do this, the movie handed them something boring and poorly thought out and they had to turn it into an interesting series. Pretty bad when your filler series needs to spice up your blockbuster space opera.

[viper37]

Yeah. The plot and characters and themes were all terribly managed in virtually every area. I am not the biggest star wars fan or anything so I am not mad about it but damn I just do not get the decisions made in that series.

I mean a war between robots and clones? Who the fuck thought that would be compelling? A war where all the combatants are completely expendable. OH THE TRAGEDY.

Military officers and Jedis aren't clones or robots and they aren't expendables

In any case, the war is often fought on populated worlds, causing a drag on resources and civilian casualties.  Given the diverse nature of alien races in the Star Wars universe, if you want a credible army, there's not much choice of having an artificial standard imposed, here the droids for the less populated secessionist South and the Clones for the richer industrial North.

The idea was good.  How it was done though, is an entirely other matter.

The progression from Anakin Skywalker, sweet young boy to Darth Vader is a good idea, but how it's done in the movies, despite some hints in the 2nd episode, you'd swear it happened in the space of 5 minutes, going from saviour of the Republic to killer of children.  The moral ambiguity was all lost.  The kid wasn't a really good actor to begin with, it was just made worst by the silly writing of Lucas.

I would have skipped half of the first movie and merged it with part of the second to make the first movie.  Than show us the real progression of Anakin Skywalker toward Darth Vader, his intense desire to see things done right.

Clone Wars had better stories, but due to it being a kid's show, they can't really portrait Anakin as the evil he will become, they can't really show us his progression toward that.

[Valmy]

Oh yeah I was really worried for the jedi and the military officers. I think the whole idea sucked ass.

But even if it didn't to some people the point still stands: everything was terribly managed. Nothing worked for me. Not one character was handled well, not one theme done right.

Anakin needed to go from sweet boy to super badass hero to bombastic villain. Instead he went from whiny unlikeable boy to borderline psycho asshole to lame villain. He was never written to be a compelling protagonist. I know people blame the actor but holy crap nobody could have made that work. There are a nearly infinite number of ways this could have been done better so sure suggest away. And yeah I am not surprised at all the kid's show told better stories. How damning is that?