Latest on MJJC

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Chewbacca got arrested in the Ukraine.

[video=youtube;WQ6yF1N4JLY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ6yF1N4JLY[/video]

Here is the back story:

The growling, hairy spaceship mechanic from Star Wars was fined an equivalent of $7.50 on Sunday, after breaking the country's election laws, as he attempted to canvass voters for... Darth Vader.

The detention of the erstwhile companion of smuggler-turned-hero Han Solo, who appears to have turned to the Dark Side, happened in the port city of Odessa. Chewbacca drove Darth Vader to a polling station, but police arrested him for violating a law that forbids campaigning on election day. They were also dismayed when he failed to produce a valid ID, and resisted arrest.


Chewbacca later told the media that he was unable to pay the fine 170 hryvna fine "as his funds are an
intergalactic bank that has no branches on this planet."


Lord Vader complained about the detention of his supporter. He also said he failed to cast his own ballot as he was missing from the voter registry - despite the fact he has a Ukrainian passport, issued for Darth Alekseyevich Vader.


Ukrainians are casting ballots in a poll that is viewed by many as a confidence vote for the ruling coalition, which has lost much of its popularity following 20 months of economic hardships. Despite the somber mood, there were a number of strange incidents that took place around the country.


In Kiev, a station where President Petro Poroshenko voted opened late because the chair of the election commission lost the key to a safe, which contained the ballot papers. The safe was cracked open with a rotating saw, which allowed the president and others to vote.


A somewhat frightening confrontation happened in the city of Berdyansk in south eastern Ukraine. One of the voters came in the company of a bodyguard armed with an assault rifle. Police insisted that the gunman left the premises, after which his client voted. It’s not clear why the authorities did not detain the armed bodyguard, who seemed to be taking his job a little too seriously.


And in the village Libokhora near in the Lvov Region, commission members asked voters to cast ballots in different boxes depending on who they voted for. They said it would make counting the ballots much easier.



The day saw more serious issues as well. In two eastern cities, the election was cancelled altogether, with the authorities and the opposition accusing each other of derailing the vote.
Click to expand...

https://www.rt.com/news/319631-ukra...&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=mandiner_201510
 
A separate project to Harmy's despecialized editions of Star Wars - the original trilogy, but something more exciting is Negative 1's restoration of several 35mm theatrical prints including kodak & fuji sourced just to name a few. The final release will result in a 1080p MKV Blu-Ray file. If i'm honest, when these come.. even though i do have the official Blu-Rays.. i don't think i'll be going back to them. Only probably for the special features. Reel 3, cleaned preview.


I do admit that projects like this, get me more hyped for the seventh installment of the saga.
 
Last edited:
Getting SO excited now about this film! My nerdy-ness is taking over again. I'm really enjoying watching the Collider Jedi Council videos on YouTube. I like their commentary. They know their stuff.

Thanks for posting the Prequel Review vids above. Apparently a large portion of the Star Wars fan base really despises them. I liked some parts of the prequels, but true, the writing was a disappointment (dialogue included) and I remember not liking the editing of scenes in several places...it felt choppy to me.

I'm glad they are going to be using more actual physical settings where they can, so things feel more natural and real as the characters play out their scenes, and only really enhance where needed with 3d imaging. The 3d imaging felt so excessive in the prequels.
 
Lisha said:
Apparently a large portion of the Star Wars fan base really despises them.
Click to expand...

I frequent a number of fan sites (well not many but large amount of fans use them) and there are many that despise them and many that love them. It's quite a mixed bag really.

I can recognize the flaws that are inherent in them (and admittedly I'd change some things if I was directing them) but that doesn't stop me from enjoying them! I quite like them and I can't wait to rewatch all six this December :p
 
HIStoric said:
I frequent a number of fan sites (well not many but large amount of fans use them) and there are many that despise them and many that love them. It's quite a mixed bag really.
Click to expand...
True.

and I can't wait to rewatch all six this December :p
Click to expand...
I'll be re-watching all six again this December, too! In fact, maybe I'll start in November...
 
Lisha said:
I'll be re-watching all six again this December, too! In fact, maybe I'll start in November...
Click to expand...

I'd probably watch it once next month then once again in December if I wasn't so busy! However, it comes out 17th December here so I'll be starting with Episode I on the 11th, Episode II on the 12th and going on so forth :)
 
HIStoric said:
I'd probably watch it once next month then once again in December if I wasn't so busy! However, it comes out 17th December here so I'll be starting with Episode I on the 11th, Episode II on the 12th and going on so forth :)
Click to expand...

Good system. Hey, that's right! You guys are getting it a day earlier...man! lol. Don't tell me anything ahead of time.

What are some of the parts you liked from the Prequels. I really enjoyed this chase scene. I thought it was fun:

[youtube]IdSUKIFnYc8[/youtube]
 
One of the few good things in the prequels:

I'm glad that John Williams is back for The Force Awakens.
 
HIStoric;4113831I said:
can't wait to rewatch all six this December :p
Click to expand...

One of our TV channels has a Star Wars marathon on Nov 1. and they will play all six parts that day. :p
 
Galactus123 said:

I'm glad that John Williams is back for The Force Awakens.
Click to expand...

Me too! John Williams is a legend, it's just crazy to think of how many iconic themes he's made for cinema in his many decades as a composer/conductor. I have to be honest, my excitement for the new soundtrack (which comes out a day after the film here sadly) is so high, I'm more excited for it than any potential MJ release (although I'd obviously still be keen for an MJ release!! :lol:)

respect77 said:
One of our TV channels has a Star Wars marathon on Nov 1. and they will play all six parts that day. :p
Click to expand...

Ooh, cool! I imagine a tv channel here will play all six leading up to #7... I wouldn't really know I barely watch TV :p

Lisha said:
Good system. Hey, that's right! You guys are getting it a day earlier...man! lol. Don't tell me anything ahead of time.

What are some of the parts you liked from the Prequels. I really enjoyed this chase scene. I thought it was fun:

[youtube]IdSUKIFnYc8[/youtube]
Click to expand...

Yeah man! I thought we were getting it the 18th then suddenly one day I noticed we were getting it the 17th! I thought it was odd we were getting it on a Friday since every film comes out on a Thursday, but then I learnt the of the new 17th date which is a Thursday so yeah :p So excited.

Umm it's probably best to start off with what I don't like about the prequels since I do quite enjoy them. I'll keep it very brief as well.

The Phantom Menace:
The dialogue.
The acting didn't bother me as much as Attack of the Clones, and I give Jake Lloyd a bit of a pass since he is only a kid.
Darth Maul was severely underused.
Jar Jar Bink's didn't have much of a use apart from when they were on Naboo. I don't really find Jar Jar annoying in all honesty, I even chuckle at one or two things he does but in general, he doesn't have much use which is my main criticism.
The characterisation isn't the best.
I would do this episode differently if I was George, but I don't know if I consider that much of a negative?

There might be another one or two, but that's it I think. I quite enjoy The Phantom Menace and I'd give it probably 3.25-3.5/5. Some people criticise the CGI (which is starting to show it's age now), but the Prequels did a lot for the development, improvement and growth of CGI in the film industry. You wouldn't have had Avatar or Gollum from LOTR if it weren't for the Prequels (In fact I recall reading somewhere that Peter Jackson and Weta actually rang up Lucas/ILM for hints with Gollum, since he was a completely CGI character just like Jar Jar). The concept of Midichloreans don't bother me either. I always though that they were perhaps the Jedi's best scientific explanation for the origin of the force, ya know like string theory. Maybe they're exceptionally high in people who channel the force because they are simply microorganisms that can feed off the force for survival. Maybe they don't create the force, but are more of an anti-body type element of the force in living things.

Attack of the Clones:
AOTC is the downpoint in the series for me, I still enjoy it though because, hey, Star Wars!
The acting is definitely at it's worst here. Not big on Hayden Christensen's acting, but I like the characterisation of Anakin (in that he's whiny, has a desire to become powerful etc etc).
The dialogue.
The romance between Anakin and Padme. I would've got someone else to write it, the dialogue is hilarious to make fun of although I've seen some people criticise Anakin for being the worst flirter. Kinda makes sense to me though that he is since, ya know, he wouldn't have ever flirted in his life and now he's trying to flirt with literally the girl of his dreams. Still, I would've got someone else to do the writing for this section but Anakin's awkwardness does fit in with his character.
The execution of the story really. This is probably the only Star Wars episode where it finishes and I'm like ehhhh.
Count Dooku feels underused.

Still though, AOTC has some really great parts and the colliseum fight at the end is a highlight of the Prequel trilogy. George might have lost his touch for working with actors since the 70s but jesus was he a really good technical director. The fight scenes in Star Wars are some of my favourite fight scenes ever and still over a decade after having first seen them do I still find them highly entertaining.

I'd give AOTC ~2.5/5. Not big on the execution of the story, the acting or the dialogue, the romance and I think that really lets the film down. It's still enjoyable to watch though.

Revenge of the Sith:

I actually really love Revenge of the Sith. The dialogue and acting is much better in this film (Especially from Hayden, I feel the dialogue is more like the original Star Wars trilogy here), the CGI has improved greatly (and I didn't use that as a negative for the past two given their innovation in the field, but the CGI in this film is legit some of the best I've ever seen) and I just love seeing Anakin finally fall to the dark side. Seeing everything from the past two films slowly built up before this hallowing crescendo that literally changes the galaxy forever.
I'd give ROTS 4/5.

Honestly, I really love the whole story of the Star Wars saga. I could type out super long paragraphs but I'll try to keep it brief. I really love seeing Anakin be taken in as a 9 year old and seeing him grow up, he grows emotional attachments with people (like his mother and secret wife) and struggles to contain them. Anakin was the sort of character who would always rush to help others, you even see it in the beginning of ROTS when some random clone trooper pilots are having trouble with droids, absolute no-ones, and Anakin almost breaks off from his mission to help them (only stopped by Obi-Wan). It ties in great with his struggle with emotional attachment, how he doesn't cope with loss that well.

You always thought the Jedi were these faultless keepers of the peace when watching the Originals but it turns out they were terrible handlers of the Chosen One. Anakin longed to be the Greatest Jedi that ever lived (and in terms of raw force power, he was) but he was always shot down by the other Jedi. They never really give him the credit he deserves and other Jedi (like Mace Windu) never ever really trust him, even though it was Anakin who was highly influential in events that favoured the Jedi (such as the killing of Dooku and Anakin revealing the f**king identity of the Dark Lord of the Sith!). It's sad really, he longs to be the greatest Jedi, a Jedi Master and yet he's allowed on the council, but he's refused the rank of Master. The only time you hear him called 'Master' by another Jedi is by a child during the assault on the Jedi Temple. You know when he enters the room full of cowering children and that little boy address him as Master Skywalker? The Jedi truly failed at handling the Chosen One, they didn't adapt their ways and it ultimately led to their downfall and I find that so fascinating (here's a good post about it that explains it better than I could). If they had been more nurturing of Anakin and helped him when he was having troubles rather than, for example, Yoda telling him to essentially let it go... imagine the great Jedi Anakin would've become.

I love seeing Palpatine start to plant the seeds in his longterm plan to destroy the Jedi and create the first Galactic Empire. The way he, the Dark Lord of the Sith, nurtures Anakin and becomes someone Anakin can trust... rather than the Jedi is really awesome. I just love watching the way everything comes together and when you watch Episodes I-VI in order like I did over two nights earlier this year, it's really cool seeing everything come into place. When Luke is fighting Vader aboard the second Death Star at the end of ROTJ, you get this really overwhelming feeling... that everything has led to this.

I'm not that great at explaining stuff and there's a lot more that I just love about the story of Star Wars (no really, I'm condensing it for this post - I didn't even start on Obi-Wan), but I've really gone on enough as it is. I really just love the entire story and scope of the Star Wars universe, the mythology, the art design, the soundtrack, just everything about it really. My main issues just come down to the execution of the Prequels. There were many great aspects to the films and I really love the overall story of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader; I think it's incredible (even if I would've done a number of things differently especially in I and II), they just weren't executed that well. I think when George Lucas started out back in the 1960s/70s, he was a good director. Maybe not the best with actors, but he was still able to get a great performance out of them (and he also had less 'yes men' to keep him at bay, which is important for many artists in all honesty).

The Phantom Menace was the first film he had directed since the 1970s and I felt in that time he had lost any sort of touch he had as a director, writing dialogue and working with actors. He seemed to have got some of it back for Revenge of the Sith, but that was made almost a decade after he started writing The Phantom Menace. I don't hate George though, far from it. As flawed as the prequels were, he's the reason we have this whole incredible universe in the first place and he's been highly influential in my life. His flaws were especially with the execution of ideas imho (and, from the 90s onwards, dialogue/romantic writing), but he really was an incredibly creative visionary. Really good with ideas (seriously there's tapes of meeting with Spielberg and Lawrence Kasdan where Lucas is giving most of the ideas that'd be used in Raiders of the Lost Ark).

Well. That was quite the ramble. :lol:
 
Last edited:
Galactus123;4115085 said:
Great interview with Harrison Ford:
[video=youtube;6kDhd1JVimc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kDhd1JVimc[/video]

:D
Click to expand...

"Harrison Ford Talks About "Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in a Hotdog Costume" has to be the greatest title for a video ever :lol:
 
Character Posters
12189788_1049677091750558_5899188559967435712_n.jpg
11057981_1049677061750561_3343251042823578883_n.jpg
12189684_1049677081750559_952638123179675217_n.jpg
12111918_1049677088417225_6034719646879288950_n.jpg
12187795_1049677045083896_1973025365124176205_n.jpg
 
Woah...J.J told a little fib. He said there would be no more videos with new scenes after that last "official trailer." He did say there would probably be short teasers for television. I wouldn't call that this. (Maybe he would now clarify by saying, "I meant for this country only...didn't say anything about any other country." lol.)

Love the new footage!

Thank you so much for posting this!!!

@HIStoric: Thanks for sharing so many of your thoughts. I haven't been able to sit down and write a long post in regards to it. Sorry 'bout that. But I appreciated all your thoughts. :)

P.S. Loved when Kylo Ren holds up the "blade" of his nifty looking newly designed red light saber up to Rey's neck. Ooooh. Fun!
 
Lisha said:
Woah...J.J told a little fib. He said there would be no more videos with new scenes after that last "official trailer." He did say there would probably be short teasers for television. I wouldn't call that this. (Maybe he would now clarify by saying, "I meant for this country only...didn't say anything about any other country." lol.)
Click to expand...
Well we technically don't get a new one since this one won't be shown at ANY american theater. It's meant for the japanese to see in theater. So J.J. didn't "fib" nor does he have to clarify anything.
 
Here are more in-depth reviews of the STAR WARS Prequel Movie Trilogy from another one of my favorite YouTube movie reviewers Chris Stuckmann?:
 
ICYMI: Here are once again reviews of the STAR WARS Original Movie Trilogy from one of my favorite YouTube Movie Reviewers Jeremy Jahns comparing the theatrical and special edition cuts
 
I'm actually starting to get excited again over this franchise like I was when I saw the original 3 in theaters back in the day! I haven't seen any adverts for the new movie with Mark Hamill in them yet. I read that all three (Ford, Fisher and Hamill) were in the new movie, but only seen Harrison and Carrie in clips so far. Any idea why they're being low key and secretive about the Luke Skywalker character?
 
SheilaMJFan4Ever said:
I'm actually starting to get excited again over this franchise like I was when I saw the original 3 in theaters back in the day! I haven't seen any adverts for the new movie with Mark Hamill in them yet. I read that all three (Ford, Fisher and Hamill) were in the new movie, but only seen Harrison and Carrie in clips so far. Any idea why they're being low key and secretive about the Luke Skywalker character?
Click to expand...

I think they just don't want to show everything before the release. If we haven't seen him it will be extra special when we finally see him. One picture of him leaked online some time ago but don't look if you don't want to be spoiled:

http://download.gamezone.com/uploads/image/data/1189177/Luke_Skywalker_The_Force_Awakens.jpg

Some new footage here:
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top