Rogue One?

I fucking loving it.

It may be my favourite movie of all-time. Yup. Ask me again in thirty years but I may like it better than Empire Strikes Back.

It started slow...but not really. That last forty-five minutes was just so insane that the rest seemed slow by comparison.

I loved the entire cast. Even riot grrl Jyn Erso. I think I liked her because she wasn't really a lead in the traditional sense of the word. It was an ensemble cast. She just happened to be their leader...ish...person. It didn't hurt that a lot of the shit from the trailers was cut and one big/good omission was the "I rebel" line. I didn't really care for the male lead guy. I can't remember his name. But I loved the robot. He reminded me so much of HK-47 from Knights of the Old Republic, just less volatile. I liked the Imperial defector guy. But I LOVED Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus. The feeling of brotherly comradery between the two was beautiful. I was kinda hoping one would turn out to be a Jedi in disguise but I'm actually really glad neither were. I won't lie that I burst into tears when Chirrut Îmwe died. That was a beautiful scene. But the whole last forty-five minutes was insanity and beauty.

I liked all the call-backs. I didn't mind the CGI Tarkin and Leia at all. In fact I didn't even notice it. I LOVED that they threw so archive footage of Garven Dreis and Jon Vander into the final battle. Even if it stuck out like a sore thumb it didn't matter.

And Vader. I didn't like the first scene because the "don't choke on yours aspperations" line was too cheesy. But that final scene on the Rebel ship. Jesus. Fucking. Christ. Hayden who? They really seem to be doing away with the prequel trilogy with these movies and that scene did away with all the fucking Hayden Christiensen pussy SHIT. THAT WAS DARTH FUCKING VADER.

Above all one little addition made me love the movie. It was the addition of the Hammerhead cruiser in the final battle. That's a ship dating back to the Old Republic games and I figured it was forgotten and erased. But that one simple inclusion proved to me that the people who made Rogue One actually cared about Picky Elitist Fucks like me.

Overall I cried twice that I remember. When Chirrut Îmwe died and the final shot. I left the theatre in tears the first time I saw it and really had to hold them back when I saw it the second time the following day.

After all I've said about the Diznee purchase of Star Wars my foot is firmly placed in my mouth. I'm still skeptical. We still don't know who Rey's father is. I still dread that. Who knows about this Han Solo stand-alone movie because Han Solo should never have been recast.

But Rogue One ultimately gave me one big thing I've been lacking for four years now...

...hope.

This article about cut scenes from Rogue One is insane www.inverse.com/article/25246-rogue-one-trailer-scenes-missing-from-final-film-star-wars

I swear most of the first trailer we saw was cut. There are some shots in there I miss but they'll probably be in the deleted scenes of the bluray or some extended cut. But I'm really glad Jyn's "I Rebel" line was cut. That was the line that made me really not like the character going in. Taking that one line out made a world of difference.

I loved it, it was an untypical Hollywood ending, which I LOVED. It was also needed to make sense to the rest of the saga. Everything about it was awesome.

I know that these days a lot of footage in trailers don't make it to the final cut and I get that is the marketing machine working to capture as much attention as possible. While the cut scenes did not hurt Rogue One (I agree "I rebel" was fucking cringe), for me these 3 that didn't make it would have been great to have in the final movie

1. K2SO telling Jyn he won't kill her because the captain said so. K2SO is my new favorite character and that line let me know that he would be before I even saw the film. He had plenty of great lines and jabs but that would have been icing on the cake to have kept that line

2. Krennic telling Vader "The Power we are dealing with...is un-measurable" This would have been a great keep because it plays well with Vader in A New Hope downplaying the destructive power of the Death Star because it is nothing to the power of the Force. I'm sure Krennic's boast would have fallen on deaf ears from Vader

3. The Tie Fighter confronting Jyn on the tower. That was such an epic moment in the trailer and would have lead to maybe a great scene in the final cut; how does Jyn defeat it? It could have been a good demonstration of her fighting skills she developed over the years, being able to improvise in the moment

I'd have liked they left that shot in of the rebel pilots in shackles.  



One thing this movie didn't establish for me is sympathy for the rebellion.  None of the movies really did.  In Rogue One the heroes all die but the rebels pretty much win that movie.  The rebels clearly won in A New Hope.  They did lose in the Empire Strikes Back.  But they win big in Return of the Jedi.  As far as I see the Rebels are 3-1.  I mean obviously I know the Empire is bad and terrible because I've looked far further into than most other people ever will.  But in all the books and other media I've read there's always a ruling overlord that oppresses its population.  The Empire seems no different to me.  If anything it's less (read up on the True Sith and how they treated their people, or the Infinite Empire from 25,000BBY to see some real, brutal leaders).  The time of the Empire (19BBY-3ABY) is one timeline that has gotten surprisingly little media.  So that shot should've been left in to establish the Empire as being as bad as they were.  Because really all a lot of the movies leaves you with is: the Empire is bad, mkay.  We need to see the fully tyranny of Palpetine.  

My son was legit pissed at me tonight when the Empire Strikes Back ended and I told him he had to go to bed and would have to wait until tomorrow to find out what happens next.



the seeds were planted years ago and now they are starting to blossom.

We watched Empire Strikes Back again today and the Return of the Jedi (the 2004 DVD version).

Fuck me did they ever butcher Return of the Jedi with the special editions. The sarlacc, the song and dance in Jabbas palace, the ending montage of cities celebrating the Alliance's victory. But the shot of Fuckface Christenson as Anakin Skywalker at the end made me vomit on my mouth.

I've never understood the saying "vomit/throw up in my mouth". Um, where else are you gonna throw up into? Your ass?

I don't really get why people are upset about the edited Christenson because it does make sense. Anakin never grew to be an old man with the way the story ended up being told. He looked like he did in the prequels when he turned into Vader and ended up in the suit. So, having old man Anakin at the end of Jedi doesn't make a bit of sense at all. That's the one edit I will defend.

On the issue of vomit: Maybe the toilet?

On the issue of Hayden Christienson:
I've been trying to rationalize and accept Hayden at the end of Return of the Jedi.  Because it's not changing now.  

Maybe you can see it as Anakin Skywalker died on Mustafar as Obi-Wan told Luke in Return of the Jedi when he spoke to him on Dagobah about his father ceasing to be Anakin Skywalker and becoming Darth Vader?  So Hayden is how Anakin Skywalker looked when he died. 

But, he was redeemed when he threw the Emperor into the reactor core in Return of the Jedi.  Did he not become Anakin Skywalker again for those last few minutes of his life?  So should he not looked however he was those last few minutes of his life when he became a force ghost (which he did in the original cut)?

Or, should George just not have fucked with something that was fine in the first place?



I like that last choice and I'll always see this image as canon.



Since (I can't believe I'm saying this) Diznee's batting one thousand right now I wouldn't be surprised if they rerelease the original cuts of the first three movies and burn the masters to the special editions sooner than later.  Then I will be Mickey Mouses stormtrooper.

My son asked to see Rogue One again today and like I was going to say "no"

so third viewing; still no cracks

So Woody Harrelson has joined the cast of the Han Solo movie.

www.starwars.com/news/woody-harrelson-signs-on-for-young-han-solo-film

He can act. That's fo' sho'. I hope it's a serious-er role. But methinks this will be one of those more-comedic leaning movies like Guardians of the Galaxy or Deadpool. So Harrelson is clearly playing the role of young Chewbacca, before his hair grew in.

He should play a younger version of Woody Boyd in the movie. We can finally see what his life was like before he got hired at Cheers.

I was born at the perfect time to get into Star Wars,summer of 74. Was a huge fan for years and years. Then the prequels happened and my fandom died. While I did really enjoy episode 7,I am gonna wait on Blu ray to see Rogue One.

My son was watching Force Awakens yesterday and it has a lot of holes in it now.  I'd give it an 8.  Rogue One makes it look even worse.  It may be in the top two.  I just need thirty years to decide.

So this novel reveals the official fate of Jar Jar Binks:


collider.com/jar-jar-binks-new-star-wars-novel/

Anything short of an extremely violent and torturous death at the hands of either Vader or the Emperor is a disappointment.

Motherfucker needs to pay for what we had to see in episode one.

Yeah. It's sort of romantically beautiful too. I think it's the perfect ending to his story.

The fact that he gets a few sentences is funny too.

And it's representative of the entire prequel trilogy.