Star Wars: The Last Jedi

For all the intense hatred aimed at this film, I looked up how audiences are receiving it.

It has a 7.3 on IMDB, out of nearly 400,000 votes.
It has a rating of 91% on RottenTomatoes.
It has a Metacritic rating of 85.

Which is just to say - not everyone hated it. Apparently at least a few people liked it, some apparently liked it a lot.
 
Barry_Green said:
For all the intense hatred aimed at this film, I looked up how audiences are receiving it.

It has a 7.3 on IMDB, out of nearly 400,000 votes.
It has a rating of 91% on RottenTomatoes.
It has a Metacritic rating of 85.

Which is just to say - not everyone hated it. Apparently at least a few people liked it, some apparently liked it a lot.
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Symptomatic of the internet at large, and specifically social media. The loudest voices tend to be the angriest.
 
Barry_Green said:
For all the intense hatred aimed at this film, I looked up how audiences are receiving it.

It has a 7.3 on IMDB, out of nearly 400,000 votes.
It has a rating of 91% on RottenTomatoes.
It has a Metacritic rating of 85.

Which is just to say - not everyone hated it. Apparently at least a few people liked it, some apparently liked it a lot.
Click to expand...
Obviously, this is all just our opinions after the fact. So, while I can't get into the narrative post fact, I still enjoy the overall aspects of the films and characters. Hope I am not being lumped into the angry crowd with your post Barry. I most definitely did not "hate" this film. I find I judge films I like and the ones I want to like the most harshly.

I actually really enjoy these films when they first come out. I like the whole feeling surrounding the season and the films.

And I hope they keep coming out.

My main point was to highlight that Solo was different than the others. In TLJ, I liked the actors and the characters, but didn't't care for the narrative. In Solo, I felt the narrative was good frame work, but the actors I didn't;t care for. But once we put all my preferences aside, these are really really big productions and so difficult to pull off with all the expectations and timelines. They do really well at making fun content for the holidays.
 
Barry_Green said:
For all the intense hatred aimed at this film, I looked up how audiences are receiving it.

It has a 7.3 on IMDB, out of nearly 400,000 votes.
It has a rating of 91% on RottenTomatoes.
It has a Metacritic rating of 85.

Which is just to say - not everyone hated it. Apparently at least a few people liked it, some apparently liked it a lot.
Click to expand...

I don't think those ratings reflect how poor the movie was, not even close. I'm sure Disney would have spent a few $$$s getting votes on the board and mobilising the Star Wars fanbase to vote. I don't know one sensible person who thought it was good or even passable.
 
I don't know, from non-internet experience people who really liked the Last Jedi are few and far between. I've talked to dozens of people casually and the majority seem to say "meh", thought it was not very good... then a few vocal minority have intense hatred, or, very detailed opinions... and finally, a handful of people who just have had a happy go lucky attitude and indicating they thought it was fine, it was fun, whatever.

Re: rotten tomatoes, 91% critics, sure, but look at the Indy: Kingdom of Crystal Skull reviews from critics... 77%... I mean, really?

The audience reviews are below 50% *AND* this uber nerd analyzed the RT scores:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWPAbKEmd5M

And claims the actual audience score would be 24% audience, but RT mutes out all 0-.5 star reviews.

TBH I have no idea why the critic score is so high, but I will confidently say the critics are just wrong. I don't even consider myself that big of a star wars fan boy. I'm not that angry about the mishandling of Luke or any other star wars related things, I just strongly believe that CRAFT wise it is simply lacking in structure, pacing, and storytelling. It's just not that good of a movie. I have a hard time reconciling how critics could think so highly of it (or Crystal Skull).
 
filmguy123 said:
I have a hard time reconciling how critics could think so highly of it (or Crystal Skull).
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I never give credence to what critics say.

And I agree, Last Jedi was not a great movie. Crystal Skull... Worst movie of the franchise. Almost as bad as Highlander II. You just wanna forget you saw it and pretend it doesn't exist in that world.
 
Think about a movie you first watched, and thought it was amazing. Then you watched it again some time later, perhaps years, and you thought it wasn't very good. Similarly, think about a movie you watched and first hated, then watched again later and liked. What's going on? Your current state of mind affects your perception, which is related to your personal life situation, the people you watched the movie with, the environment the movie was watched, current relationships (significant other, friends, family, work), work satisfaction, financial security, world events, spiritual growth, and so on. That's how other people will perceive a movie completely differently than you, and if you spoke with someone who had the opposite view, years later you might talk to them and find you've both flipped sides!
 
jcs said:
Think about a movie you first watched, and thought it was amazing. Then you watched it again some time later, perhaps years, and you thought it wasn't very good. Similarly, think about a movie you watched and first hated, then watched again later and liked. What's going on? Your current state of mind affects your perception, which is related to your personal life situation, the people you watched the movie with, the environment the movie was watched, current relationships (significant other, friends, family, work), work satisfaction, financial security, world events, spiritual growth, and so on. That's how other people will perceive a movie completely differently than you, and if you spoke with someone who had the opposite view, years later you might talk to them and find you've both flipped sides!
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Or you loved it the first time you watched and loved it the subsequent 729 times you saw it, because it was a great movie. And vice-versa. I loved Tombstone when I watched it in high school and I still love it well over 20 years later. Ishtar sucked when it came out, Ishtar still sucks now.
 
Run&Gun said:
Or you loved it the first time you watched and loved it the subsequent 729 times you saw it, because it was a great movie. And vice-versa. I loved Tombstone when I watched it in high school and I still love it well over 20 years later. Ishtar sucked when it came out, Ishtar still sucks now.
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Tombstone was cool- great story & cast; also enjoyed visiting there a kid. You watched Ishtar again? lol (I didn't think it was that bad; I found Monty Python & The Holy Grail funny (dry British humor)). I watched a comedy with top talent (that shall remain nameless haha) at UCSD for a free screening- everyone was a student and laughed through the entire thing. I thought it was great so I recommended it to my parents. My dad's response, "Good one son. I'm going to get you back haha". They thought it was terrible, and years later I watched it again at home and realized they were right! (didn't finish it).

Before I was a fan of Luc Besson, I watched The Big Blue, and though I didn't like the movie, I liked the music and bought the CD. I've been meaning to watch it again, as I think I'd see it differently now, however it doesn't appear available for rent online.

Wasn't able to make it through The Room, however the Disaster Artist was very well done. Lesson for filmmakers: make it really good or really bad, just don't make it anything in between if you want to make a profit!

Been a fan of the Star Wars movies and agree with most assessments about the various episodes, though the first is still my favorite since it was unlike anything before it, and truly started a whole new genre, forever changing the entertainment industry.
 
jcs said:
Tombstone was cool- great story & cast; also enjoyed visiting there a kid. You watched Ishtar again? lol ...
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Actually I haven't seen Ishtar again. Once was enough. Lol.

I remember going to see it in the theater with my Dad and I'm pretty sure he didn't like it, either. I think someone had a joke during one of the Thanksgiving Day parades that year referring to one of the balloons, that Ishtar was still a bigger turkey.
 
Run&Gun said:
I never give credence to what critics say.

And I agree, Last Jedi was not a great movie. Crystal Skull... Worst movie of the franchise. Almost as bad as Highlander II. You just wanna forget you saw it and pretend it doesn't exist in that world.
Click to expand...

Crystal Skull was bad....but not close to Highlander II bad!!! I mean, there was craftsmanship involved in Crystal Skull. The first half of the movie is even decent. Highlander II had not a single redeeming thing about it. One is the flu. The other is ebola.
 
There is a lot of good in TLJ. A lot of great craft. And when it came out, it was right for the times. That fathiers (those horse like animals) scene was Jurrasic park level awesome. fantastic cinema experience.
 
Finally had 2.5 hrs free time to watch it. The Alexa’s looked gorgeous, though it appears film was used for 70%. One shot of Luke in the Jedi tree was blown out on his face- wondered if that was a mistake they couldn’t reshoot. Some of the editing was odd as well. CGI, sound, sfx, music, even acting was great.

The story had some good moments and DJ/Benicio Del Toro had the best character- more screen time would have been good. Overall there were too many contrived conflicts and really dumb moments (just about everything involving Snoke). Yoda scene was cringeworthy, though some concepts were valid in the spiritual sense. Figured out Luke’s trick first time they showed his feet. Most powerful scenes were Luke meeting Leia and the end Sun shot (replaying memory from first film of Luke on Tatooine). The link to Eastern spiritual philosophy could be been deeper*; enjoyed the small bits present. Another major issue was the lack of a clear lead character which ties everything together. Compare to another “Last” movie: The Last Samurai (my favorite movie of all time): so much more powerful with a single lead character. Similar good vs. evil movies with powerful lead characters: Gladiator, 300, Braveheart, The Matrix. The Last Jedi is more like Guardians of the Galaxy and all the comic book movies: fun, entertaining, but not very powerful (a few scenes in The Last Jedi were powerful, playing on connections to the prior films).

Movie was way too long and too many senseless battles/fx shots. Looks like there is a 3D version- perhaps a shortened 2D version would play better. Perhaps a grown up version (shorter, more serious/intelligent) and kid’s version (longer and dumber/funner). Parts reminded me of the end of Con Air- where the plane just kept sliding and crashing for way too long. This style would better fit an absurd comedy like the original Ghostbusters.

Despite the major flaws I thought it was a good movie- would be fun to watch again in 3D. 3/5


* for those interested, watch any number of Alan Watts videos on YouTube (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2z8CQR3LFU ). Perhaps best to start here, The Book of the Way (really a book of "Deep Common Sense"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O9X-kxcFEs
 
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