Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Review

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the latest and greatest in movies with MWire.

Welcome to MWIRE Movie Week in Review. We are

back and brand new with a brand new format and

a whole new outlook on films. Well, maybe not.

I am one of your hosts, TF2, and Mike. Joining

me is Steve Megatron. Hello. Hello, hello. And

Movie Revolt Dan. Hello. Hey, how's it going?

This episode would have been out on May 25th,

but we were stuck in an Imperial death camp and

somehow... Somebody let us escape. I don't know

some stupid droid So yeah, we are here to talk

about Star Wars Episode 7 The Force Awakens and

Star Wars Rogue One a Star Wars story Some people

might say doing a Star Wars film in the summertime

is a little crazy But you know hey like I said

it's it's only been 30 days since the 50th anniversary

of the franchise So yay Steve what's been going

on with you Just recording various shows on an

ultra geek and then the interesting news that

dropped today about The the directors and Kathleen

Kennedy parting ways on the Han Solo. Oh boy.

Yeah because of creative differences Which is

very timely yes now does that mean the directors

are gone and they're gonna find new ones okay

yeah they were they were almost done shooting

it sounds like so they're gonna have extensive

reshoots through the summer yeah yeah there's

only three weeks left and that's kind of because

it's strange because in order for someone to

get credit on directing a film they have to shoot

50 % of it or more than 50 % of it So I don't

I don't know if they're gonna have to reshoot

the same things that they Did previously reminds

me of like what happened with like Superman 2

and that another Richard Donner cut I don't know

if that's about the beginning of something like

this, but it's it's odd for a director to leave

that that late into production without it being

some sort of emergency situation or something

like that. It sounds like Lawrence Kasdan and

Kathleen Kennedy didn't approve of how the duo

directors were handling things because they weren't

Miller and Lord. They weren't enthused with their

directing style or their shooting style. And

so they were constantly like... Bearing over

them. It sounds like and they just didn't want

to deal with it anymore So but yeah, it's pretty

odd Yes, crazy crazy stuff going on in the Star

Wars universe and galaxy far far away, but we

do we do have episode 8 coming so that Episode

8 it's about six seven months away Because Star

Wars films always have to come out around Christmas

now well Star Trek films? What are those? I don't

know what those are. Anyways, we're here to talk

about, like I said, Force Awakens and Rogue One.

I got a bad feeling about this. December 25th

was... Christmas Day was... God, I can't talk

tonight. Force awakens release date a couple

of years ago and Yeah, wow, it has been two years

since episode 7. Holy crap Wow Well, it wasn't

it was December 18th So when you guys first saw

the force awakens what Did you both go to the

theater for it or did you wait or how did that

happen Dan? I saw the theater I I didn't see

it opening day. I saw it within that time frame

that I remember I went with. Actually, it was

a family fair with my brother, my nephew, and

who dressed up as Darth Vader because that was

his favorite character. And my dad was actually

the first Star Wars movie my dad ever watched,

if you can believe it oddly enough. So it was,

you know, it was a packed theater was in the

middle of it wasn't Christmas Day, but it was

around that time. So it was. Tons of people there

and you know, it was i've already already heard

a lot of ramblings of what kind of happened I

didn't know specifically but you know, it's the

world of the internet So I think it's hard to

miss spoilers if you don't see it the very first

showing it ever ever happens But uh, it's and

I ended up going again. I think I saw it twice

or three times in theaters Which is odd because

I barely seen one movie in theater. So There

you go What about you steve? What was your experience?

I went and saw it about a week after it came

out because the 18th was my wife's birthday.

So yeah, I didn't go see it on the day of, but

I went with my youngest brother and we went to

Sutton Theater and was blown away. Loved the

film. Although it was later pointed out in one

of my film classes what. essentially the film

was and that was a Reimagining basically of the

first the original Star Wars movie. It's basically

like it's a play -by -play in a sense Structurally

not Yeah And not in every way, but it pulls a

lot from that original first film so yeah remember

like I didn't see this in theaters I waited I

don't go to the theater anymore I just don't

and I remember when this came out everybody's

reaction to it was oh it's just an updated version

of a new hope which I mean I can see a little

bit of that but not after rewatching it now It's

not exactly, you know, plot point for plot point.

It isn't a new hope. And the structure is a little

bit, but not overtly so. I also don't think that's

an accident. Like, I think people point that

out as if, wow, look at they were trying to get

one by us. I think, like, if you look at what

the movie is trying to tell, it makes a lot of

sense. And it flows into the structure of the

entire Star Wars universe, you know, how you.

much of Star Wars is built upon, it's cyclical.

If you read a lot of the extra material, the

Star Wars often repeats itself. You have this

ebb and flow and it very much ties into that.

And I don't necessarily think that by all was

an accident and thematically fits with the movie

a lot that it would rehash or reimagine a lot

of the major points of the previous film because

I think within the movie itself, outside of just

its structure. It is very much a movie that in

a way is about movies without just being just

references to past films. It's talking about,

I think. the way we view Star Wars as a piece

of entertainment and beyond that kind of the

culture that's built upon that. And I think that

and within that and how it's kind of changed

throughout the years. And I think that's a big

reason why it is such a reflection of it. I mean,

you can have a character like Kylo Ren, who is

worshipping his father, Darth Vader. And I think

to me, that's not a weakness of the movie. I

think it ties in with what it's trying to accomplish.

And I think it's very much. trying to kind of

get back to that original status quo, but then

put it in a new kind of a new light and then

go off from there. But I think I totally I was

going to say I totally agree with that that statement.

And I think, too, that from when I gathered the

original writer wrote it to be completely different

than how it turned out. with Luke having more

of a centralized role. And when Abrams and Kasdan

took over, they kept elements of the original

script, but they rewrote it on purpose to do

what it became. Because one, it works. Two, you're

jumping such a big time span that. because you're

jumping 30 years in the franchise's history as

well as in the time that that originally was

made, that it still resonates and it still has

meaning because you're giving a new purpose to

the old characters without necessarily degrading

them. Well, it's not even about character degradation,

it's about the fact that... Like you just said

you would they advanced the franchise in in the

continuity of the story 30 years So you have

a bunch of stuff. We've never seen before as

far as you know Han and Leia not necessarily

being together anymore. They have a son now Potentially

raised Luke's daughter who the hell knows about

that. I don't even know that's a bunch of conspiracy

theory crap for me Nobody will know until the

movie come I know I know But it's one of those

things where they advance the original storyline

while at the same time introducing us to new

and interesting characters. So as we've said,

J .J. Abrams wrote it, directed it, along with

Lawrence Kasdan. Cast is, you know, Harrison

Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver,

Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac. Andy

Serkis was Supreme Leader Snoke. We'll talk about

him in a little while. Obviously, Anthony Daniels

and Peter Mayhew reprise C -3PO and Chewbacca.

Music by John Williams, as always. The budget

was around... Well according to my numbers it

says the gross was 306 million for the budget

and the net was 245 and of course it made over

2 billion dollars at the box office. I mean of

course Star Wars movies are gonna make money

folks. Quickly before we get into the plot and

our actual thoughts, Dan what did you think of

the new cast members in Daisy Ridley and John

Boyega and all the new characters? For me, they're

they're the reason the movie works as well as

it does. I think they're they're kind of a lot

of them. You know, I all them what all except

for Daisy Ridley, I think who obviously like

kind of broke out with this film. I was aware

of previously Oscar Isaac most most mostly John

Boyega, mostly for Attack of Attack the Block

was really the only thing I saw him in prior

to this. But I thought they all worked really.

strong together. As a group, they had really

chemistry, which I think is going to be, which

is why I think the original Star Wars worked.

And I feel like they really kind of recaptured

that and made it their own. So like Bo Boiga

and Arthur Isaac had a really great romance.

And and I think Daisy Ridley, it was she was

the star of the film from the moment she came

on screen. So I thought without a doubt, like

without them, this may not be for me, may not

be as successful as it was. What about you, Steve,

on the new characters and actors? I definitely

enjoyed the new cast. The only one of the new

cast members I was aware of prior to seeing the

film was Oscar Isaac, and I'd seen him in other

things, but not to the extent that I knew of

my name, but I'd seen him before. Yeah, I thought

that they kind of gave it that new twist that

it needed to kind of progress without resting

too much on the original characters from the

original trilogy. So it was... They were very

much the primary part of the story which was

the important part and in having the original

cast kind of play a secondary Though important

role they were not the main focal point To the

story. Yeah, I remember when the cast was announced.

I remember everybody All the trolls on the internet

were like how can you have a woman and a black

guy lead a movie? That's not yeah, yeah, I'm

like who cares who really cares. They're interesting

characters. They're interesting people Yes, we

want the the legacy characters, but like you

just said Steve this story is built with having

the legacy characters Give us little brief moments

of what we've already known and as I said, you

know furthering the story I think Poe's my favorite

because I just love that. I've always loved the

x -wing pilots Out of the three I like Rey I

think she's interesting Honestly, I think Finn

has The more interesting story in this movie

because he goes, you know, he Basically goes

from being bad to good which is it it's that's

always a theme in in the Star Wars universe It

has been since you know a new hope And we finally

get an answer to you know, our stormtroopers

real people are robots and all stormtroopers

lives matter So the plot How do we want to tackle

the plot guys because this is a long move I didn't

I forgot this was two hours and 18 minutes long

I Mean I guess like the central plot is similar

to again to the Star Wars you have this evil

dark side force now this is the Sith the You

know, and then not necessarily the Empire, but

basically the stand -in for the Empire, attempting

to take over the world, and all of it really

centers on this plan to try to find out where

Luke Skywalker is. So, although he's not really

in the movie and doesn't really say anything

at all, he's very much the kind of the central

piece of all and all this. And, of course, then

much of... much of the conflict is trying to

find out where exactly he's located and stop

this evil organization from destroying the world

with the biggest death star ever, because they

always have to get bigger. Star killer base,

yeah. Yeah, so within that you have, plot -wise,

it's pretty lean, and I think that's important.

I think it lets the pacing go pretty quickly

from moment to moment. There really is not a

lot of fat. within this plot. I mean, it's very

similar to the first Star Wars in that end. So

the complexity isn't necessarily there, but I

think that's where it lets a lot of the characters

breathe. There's a lot of, you know, obviously

exposition we get in certain conversations, especially

with Leia and Han regarding Kylo and things of

that nature, but... Yeah, most of it is again

is on that idea of you know, the Well, I guess

I'm not the rebel force in this end but those

two different sides of the forest trying to trying

to Regain control of the galaxy. Yeah For me

with the plot it's one of those things where

It's moments that make me smile like One of my

telling Finn stop taking my hand. I thought I

thought that was a nice little character moment

for the two of though for the two of them and

Then he asks her what about that ship that ship?

That's garbage. My my note was you shut your

whore mouth. That ship is not garbage And like

Steve said all the all of a callback type stuff

like Is there a trash chute or a or is there

a garbage chute or a trash compactor? You know,

I like that Steve what did you feel about the

plot for this movie? Do you feel like it's a

natural progression from where we left off in

Jedi? Oh, yeah, definitely. I like that it left

that bit of mystery of the three decades plus

it fits that the character the actors were so

much older in giving them their kind of resurgence

back into this universe and some to lesser more

degree, just depending on the character. But

it was kind of nice to see that there's this

land of mystery now that nobody really knows

what happened. You know, I mean, you get a little

bit of a glimpse of it in this film. And if you

read some of the books, you get a glimpse. But

there's really a lot of time missing, kind of

like in between. Revenge of the Sith and A New

Hope You have this, you know time span which

of course that's being filled in with an animated

series now, but there's this time span where

not a lot is known of what's going on and You're

kind of left to wonder, you know, there's this

new wonder to the universe and with these new

characters You're following their journey through

This latest rendition of the the Empire and their

their tyrannical Attempts at at taking over the

the galaxy again, and you have you know very

much some old players in the game like c3po and

r2d2 We've been in all of the films other than

rogue one yeah And I could be mistaken they may

have had a brief no they're not but I didn't

think that they were but But yeah, I mean it's

It was very interesting to see. They have a brief

cameo. I thought that they were in it. Yeah.

Because like they're kind of like that that hidden

gem staple of the whole series. Yeah, they're

there for like two seconds. It's not. It's yeah.

So it's more of a because they're involved. Oh,

yeah, that's right. They were on the end part

of the film. Oh, yeah. OK. Yeah. They're at the

end. Yeah, that's that's so. Yeah, I forgot about

that part. But so yeah, it was really interesting

to see how everything played out. And there's

a lot of mystery around Ray and Finn to some

degree, because he really wasn't bad. He just

kind of was, that's how he was raised. And then

he just kind of questioned it. Like, why am I

here? And it was kind of an interesting take

to see. So, I mean, between between his, you

know, lack of history and and raise, you kind

of have this new mystery of what are they going

to do about them in the future? Yeah. And I think

and I'm sorry, Dan, go ahead. I was going to

say on the on the Finn and Ray, what I like about

it is that the movie opens, the way the movie

opens, it makes you think this is going to be

Finn's story. Right. Because it's like he It

seems like he has some sort of force connection

and you think he is going to be, you know, the

Jedi of this new franchise. And I think it almost

even some of the marketing hinted at that if

you go back to the original poster. But I think

we soon kind of realized that eventually that

that's not the case. And Ray, I think it's especially

finalized in the final, you know, closing battle

sequence when that lightsaber doesn't go to.

Finn but it goes to right that was one of the

best like that was a moment I think it was building

towards it was effective at and I think that's

where we Going back to where we opened on regarding

it Feeling familiar and kind of taking some of

the keynotes from the previous New hope I think

that was purposeful because it then was able

to subvert expectations by not making it Finn

story, but making it race story And I think that

was pretty effective. Yeah, the story switch

is nice. And like I said, I mean, OK, yes, Finn

isn't inherently evil. He's not, you know, your

standard stormtrooper. But at first, you're made

to think that because they're like, well, you

know, take your. You know have your blaster sent

in for for inspection and just do what we say

and whatever else and of course He's he's not

gonna do that and he does eventually become a

hero of the piece But as you said Dan it it turns

into Ray's story You know as the film goes along

and I honestly don't mind that because it's a

damn good way to tell a story it's I Don't want

to say that Fin is a red herring for a story

for a character bit, but it's one of those things

where they Show you one direction and then they

change, you know They basically reverse the direction

in the middle of the film, which is honestly

is nice Like we've already said everything every

time Han opens his mouth, it's just absolutely

amazing Whether it's a happy moment, whether

it's a sad moment, whether he's making a joke,

you know, the whole 14, 12 parsec. Well, in that

first moment when they showed back up, where

Han and Chewie showed up, it was just this, even

though you knew it was going to happen from,

you know, the trailers or just whatever, it was

still that it brought that kind of sense of excitement

when you went to go see the movie. Yeah, absolutely

and Let's be honest the trailers used that in

every single piece that they did for the promotion

of the film Because that was half of the mystery

before the movie came out was okay. Here's here's

hon and Chewie We kind of saw I don't remember

if I think lays in the trailers like I could

be wrong It's been forever since I've seen the

Star Wars force awakens trailers but we really

had no idea about Luke. We knew from looking

at online that yes, Mark Hamill's gonna be somewhere

in the movie, but I didn't really know what was,

I didn't really look into it. As long as I knew

Mark was gonna be there in some capacity, I was

more than fine. But that whole, you know, Chewy

were home line was in almost every single promotional

piece for this movie. Chewy. Steve what was your

if you had to pick one favorite scene out of

the movie, what would it be? There's a lot of

good moments in this movie I Don't know I pretty

much like I like the the opening stuff where

we're solo pretty much gets back into Millennium

Falcon and And he starts having to drive it to

get away and It was just it was really nice that

that set up right there. I I think that was one

of my favorite moments the film And where they

went to the planet so like basically when Han

Solo was on the screen I was having a lot of

fun during that because of just the It was like

that. They never lost it What about you Dan do

you have a favorite scene out of this? I think

I mentioned it previously regarding, you know,

the final showdown with Rey and Kylo Ren. I thought

like that lightsaber sequence was really effective.

And I loved how it kind of was reminiscent of

the early lightsaber sequences and fights where

you didn't have a lot of the flips and jumping

and craziness. It, you know, it was that of a

samurai fight. It was more emotional. It was

more character driven. And there was a lot of

weight to those moments. And, you know, some

people could. You know, there's some logistic

issues, like how is this race standing toe to

toe with, you know, a trained Sith? And I think

some of those answers may may come in future

films. But as a character moment and as a story

moment, I thought it was probably the best the

film had to offer. I for me, part of that battle

at the end, because it takes place in a forest.

And I was pretty sure they were going to end

up doing this, but they did. It's funny to me

now. I didn't really notice it the first time

I watched the movie when it first hit media release

a couple years ago. But watching the lightsaber

battle at the end now, I'm like, hey, they're

lightsaber lumberjacks, because half of the trees

in the forest come down when they're doing the

fight. Which is actually a lot of fun to watch.

you get to kind of see how rough they actually

are instead of like, because you basically have

two, for the most part, relatively untrained

people with lightsabers running around slashing

at each other. Speaking of lightsabers, what

do we think of Kylo Ren's cross -like lightsaber?

I remember when that image first got released,

And I'm like, what is that? What did you think

of his lightsaber, Dan? I think it's fine. I

think I think it works. You know, if you want

to, you know, you can't go double bladed if you

want to try to figure out a way to to make it

work. What I like about the saber necessarily

isn't the fact that it's three long. I like how

it. The the the blade or whatever you want to

call it. The laser is so shaky and so You know

kind of fizzles and things like that it very

much ties into the character of Kylo Ren Yeah,

so I liked how it's different it has its own

unique feel to it yeah, it may not be as cool

as Darth Maul's but It's you know, at least it's

not purple, I guess. Hey, you leave Mace Windu

out of this. We'll talk about him in a second.

Yeah, I mean, it's all right. It's a cool lightsaber.

I think the reason why the laser on it is shaky,

I think. And this is just my own personal opinion.

Could that be indicative of him not being fully

trained and not really controlling it fully?

It's not a purified. A kyber crystal is actually

what it is. It's a synthetic crystal. It's not

actually a real. Because he cobbles together,

which is also, I think, it's based off a relic

crossguard lightsaber that they even showed in

Star Wars Rebels, where they found a Jedi one

in a Jedi temple that had a green. Blade that

lit up, but it was pure Whereas this is a synthetic

kyber crystal, so it's very rough Okay Yeah,

that's one thing I noticed when you look at whichever

version of the Star Wars Original trilogy you

want to look at you look at Luke invaders sabers

in an empire and their Pretty much bold blue

and red whereas You know what you know like you

said that this one's kind of synthetic and not

exactly pure Let's see what else the Were we

at all surprised that Han died I Knew you like

I said going in like some secrets were revealed

and I knew a key character was going to die and

it seemed most likely to be Han, just the way

the story was going. And you figured that someone's

gonna have to die here, like that's gonna be

a moment. And once he walks onto that scaffolding,

it's like, oh, well, that's the end of him. So

not necessarily a surprise, I would say. I thought...

Maybe they telegraphed it a little bit too much.

I'm not them and may have made a little bit less

effective, but mmm Yeah It almost reminds me

of Yeah, it almost reminds me of the Emperor's

Emperor's death honestly, I mean if you if you

look at that scene with the two of them standing

on the thing and How Han falls granted he's not

you know Up in the clouds somewhere, but it's

one of those things where because the base was

getting ready to explode anyway Just the way

he fell We knew that going forward with the Star

Wars franchise past Jedi they were not going

to always focus on the original cast and characters

because of the fact that No offense to them,

but they're either all older no longer with us

Which I'm really I'm not skeptical, but I'm really

interested to see how Leia fits in to last Jedi

and we'll talk about that at the end of the show

today, but Yeah All right, we are going to any

other thoughts on force awakens guys Steve? Not

really. I mean, I kind of knew that Han was going

to die anyway in the film. But that was more

so because Harrison Ford, more or less, said

that he wanted it to happen if he did another

Star Wars film. Yeah. So I kind of knew it was

going to happen. One thing I'll add in like you

think see page and how there's a lot of story

that is unsaid with this like I think that's

kind of the Kind of the norm for Star Wars when

you get one movie to the next like there's a

pretty big break in between and the kind of lot

a lot of peace but it there's a lot of Things

that fell in and I wanted to kill mints in which

is kind of odd is how? Ct Brio has it like a

red arm. It's not really touched touched upon

But I will say there's actually like a really

that was actually explained in a comic And it's

surprisingly really good. Like I thought it'd

be kind of dull and uninteresting But it actually

like it's somewhat of a touching story and I

won't go into detail but it involves basically

c3po being stuck on a planet with a droid from

From the Emperor and not the Emperor but it was

it was basically an evil droid and how they had

to kind of work together it's It's a really well

-told. It's like I said, it's a one -shot. So

if you're interested in reading that story, I

actually think it's kind of cool. But it did

seem kind of like almost a force element of corporate

city synergy. It's like, well, Margo and Disney

owns both of these. So let's see how we can try

to leave some of these questions open so we can

try to cash in. What else I can think of is since

C3P was all gold, maybe we should throw a little

hot rod red in there. Hey, it's an iron man joke

alright, so Dan mentioned the the The droids

which we did not talk about at all BB8 is the

new star of The film when it comes to the droids

at least for the majority of force awakens r2

is there, but he's in low power Love how they

worked in r2 into the story. I thought that was

great Yeah, I mean it was a little good Cut see

I was gonna say it's a it's a little Little confusing

why they they did what they did but I could see

that they were trying to give the light to some

other player rather than necessarily defaulting

on it, but it was still kind of a MacGuffin the

way they did it because R2 had this mysterious

piece of the map. So it was kind of a, you kind

of knew he was going to be important, kind of

like Luke, but like he's another one of those

unsung like, oh no, we can't get into his data

banks. Cause you know, he's turned himself off.

Yeah. Well, and then that was part of Steve.

That was part of, I'm sorry. That's part of 3PO's

explanation to it was. Ever since Master Luke

went away R2 hasn't been the same because Let's

face it after you know during Jedi It was all

you know Luke and R2 and even before that with

training with with Yoda and all that I Think

what I love now what they're doing. They actually

only have two videos of this out now But the

Star Wars YouTube channel is doing something

called Star Wars blips Where it's animated BB8

and R2 and they're doing various things. The

first video is just BB8 by himself and he's using

a lightsaber and he ends up cutting through the

floor and dropping down. That's hilarious. And

then the second one is BB8 and R2 having a dance

-off. They're just fun little, you know, less

than a minute type of videos. So very, very fun

and cool. Alright folks, we're gonna take a quick

break. We're gonna come back with Rogue One a

Star Wars story after this. Thank you for calling

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Cinema Geeks podcast. Where are the escape pods?

Your Highness, the transmission we received.

What is it they've sent us? Hope. It is time

for Rogue One, a Star Wars story here inside

Movie Week in Review episode 135. So, are they

gonna start calling all those subsequent films

to this? Rogue 2, Rogue 3, Rogue 4, Rogue 5?

I don't believe so. I don't think the Han Solo

film's gonna be called Rogue 2 or Rogue 0. We

might get a Rogue 0. That's a possibility. So,

Rogue 1 fits in between Revenge of the Sith and

A New Hope. and it's pretty much a how do we

want to describe this it's um it's a different

side of the star wars universe because it almost

has nothing to do with the main main franchise

i mean it does obviously but we have all new

all different characters you're not going to

see han in this you're not going to see luke

in this at all Steve, when you went to the theater

for this one, what was your experience with it?

I actually didn't see it in the theater. It wasn't

one of those had to see moments for me. So I

saw it after it had hit. I had to watch it more

than once to get really anything out of it. Had

my blinders on when I watched the first time

like I just don't care Okay, because like I was

kind of against the idea of having The film to

begin with okay, and so upon the second watching

of the film I enjoyed it much more the second

time, but I still like Elements of it. I mean

it tied itself up. There really wasn't any way

for it to to continue beyond Yeah, Rogue One

is not going to be... I mean, you know, I joked

earlier about Rogue Two, Rogue Three, Rogue Four,

but let's face it, this butts up right to A New

Hope, the beginning of A New Hope, so... Which

was my favorite part of the film, so... Yeah.

I'm pretty sure that was everybody's favorite

part of the film. I mean, I like it. I think

it's interesting to go back and see various...

I mean, we get something we've never really gotten

before with Galen or so. We get, you know, someone

who was a imperial scientist who then didn't

want to be one anymore. And, you know, he's got

a wife and a daughter and all of that. I like

that. I think that's interesting. What I loved

about this film is that it took us to places

that we either hadn't seen before. in other Star

Wars movies or it brought us back to places that

we have seen and as soon as they went to Yavin

4 I was like oh yes cool Mon Mothma is also obviously

back the actress for her is back in this I was

waiting for many many bovins died to bring us

this information Know that's not gonna happen

because that was after this but Dan what were

your thoughts on it? Huh? I was gonna say so

what are your thoughts on it Dan? Well, I did

see this in theaters and I actually saw I think

just wasn't opening weekend It was somewhere

was I think I waited or had a week a week or

so to actually see it and I actually enjoy Well

one run quite a bit. I don't think I like it

as much as Force Awakens, I think Force Awakens

to me is a stronger film mostly because I think

I enjoy those characters as a whole a lot more

I get to get me a little bit more excited But

what I really like about Rogue One is that it

gives you more of a ground -level view of this

Star Wars universe and it kind of shows a different

side and It's nice not giving a movie that doesn't

really involve Jedi, one that's not even talking

about the Skywalkers per se, but focus on these

general heroes. It's basically a side quest made

into a movie, but I thought it was effective

in that end. Some of the characters were stronger

than others like I love Donnie Yen and this and

yeah his I can't think of his partner's name

or his friend's name those two were To me the

highlight of the film, you know it they had a

lot of character not to mention Alan Tudyk as

you know K2S1 Okay, so yeah, so I combined a

rapper and a Robot and that one Wow a rapping

robot yikes Give it time. Give it time. Yeah

But so I thought I like Felicity Jones a lot

as an actress her character was fine. It just

it didn't She I think she wasn't nearly as compelling

as I would hoped and like the relationship with

like diego and luna cassian It it was it was

Not as well built up and I felt like with with

Jane here so she just She felt like a character

that was incomplete and I know like people talk

about the reshoots and stuff like that with this

movie and that might be the problem Maybe it

is maybe it's not but I think ultimately like

I felt like she could have used further development

But overall, I thought you know, I think the

final not just the final moments that lead up

to new hope. But I think that once they get into

the final planet, I think it legitimately has

some of the best, that final sequence is one

of the best in all of Star Wars. Some of the

stuff up to that moment may be a little messy,

but that final battle is amazingly done. I think

that's where director Gareth Edwards really shined.

He's the director I've had problems with in the

past with some of his movies, but I think when

it comes to Directing strong action when with

a huge amount of special effects. He's good at

that character Characters he tends to struggle

with but that type of filmmaking he is really

strong with so So again, we're one I had my issues

with it, but I overall I feel it will still a

solid us installment into the franchise Looking

at Gareth Edwards is filmography. He's got End

Day from 2005, Godzilla from 2014, and Rogue

One as film direction. Yeah, mostly like what

I knew from his Godzilla Monsters, which are

two movies that visually are great. Uh, but their

characters are all like dull and uninteresting

and I think that's where That's what was my concern

of this movie going in was that he wasn't a great

acting director And I think he had a lot of strong

actors that helped make up for that But it also

could have been it's also some of the screenplay

I think didn't help him either. So it's not I

wouldn't put it all on him Yeah Writing on this

and screenplay was done by story was done by

John Noel and Gary Witta The screenplay was Chris

White's and Tony Gilroy The story is good It's

not bad. It's just that I think most of us who

have been around the franchise for a long time

at this point you know for me, I thought Revenge

of the Sith was the linchpin to A New Hope because

because it's New Hope Obi -Wan kept keeps referencing

the Clone War blah blah and you know say what

you will about the Prequel trilogy we actually

got to see the Clone War finally after X number

of years But with this I think it's interesting

I think it's cool, I think it's It's something

that brings new life to the Star Wars film franchise

Because like Steve said we already know what

happens I mean, but the fact that we get to see

how it happened is why I think this film is good

Is this the best Star Wars film ever? No, definitely

not but It's something different and new and

like Steve also said earlier. It's not focusing

on the Skywalker's or the Solos or any of that

stuff Steve did you have a favorite scene out

of this one? It was probably the last the final

battle because some of the film I just I kind

of was like man, I just I want to move on further

in the film which I did and When it came to the

droid, you know the Alan Tudyk droid I I had

no problem with that. I liked the sarcastic quips,

because it kind of drew me out of my not really

wanting to see it, but wanting to see it. Right.

And then how everything transpired in the end

with the big battle on the planet. And slowly,

one by one, the Rogue One rebels getting picked

off while they're taking out the Empire. Was

kind of cool and then how they had to all Infiltrate

this this planet and then you have Tarkin up

there and the Death Star like oh I'm taking command

of the Death Star and the weapon and all the

credit and I'm gonna take part of the planet

out too and and then you get Vader at the end

and that was like How it butted up into? A new

hope and how it made Vader that much more of

a compelling just It showed his his anger Kind

of like in giving reference to the the Kylo Ren

in a sense Of where Kylo Ren gets his his crazed

anger, but you also get like a little bit of

you know crazed Anakin when he's just like Going

through battle. Yeah, it's it's in the family.

I mean because we all you know, but it's really

cool to see how It gives Vader more of a resonance

in a new hope than just you know showing up and

then kind of just He's he's just there. I mean,

he's not he's menacing in looks but not you don't

really have any like true display of power Yeah,

I mean so the final scene before we get to the

Leia part of it, but the final battle They all

have to pass off the plans to each other because

everybody heat like you said He's getting picked

off from one side of the corridor, and then they

assume that they can escape from the backside

But then Vader shows up because it's nothing

but dark turn you know he Activates his lightsaber,

and it's now nothing but red and yeah, it does

show his anger and and everything and I what

I like about this film is that they make reference

to the Emperor and Vader but they don't really

give us anything too much about what they're

currently doing because as we all know at the

end of Sith they you know that's when Vader was

first put in the armor so you know Um, I liked

Rogue One. I thought it was an interesting, fun

story. Um, the ending with Leia, it kind of hurt

honestly, since Carrie's death recently. Um,

but I loved how they did the effects on it. The

effects in the movie for, for the people that

are no longer with us were really done well.

Yeah. Good like I thought Tarkin looked okay.

Like I was I was watching this with my wife at

home and you know and the Tarkin and I wanted

to ask someone who'd like she she knew nuts like

she's no star wars, but she Doesn't like read

anything about like anything like so she wasn't

aware that who that actor was or that he was

passed away so after that scene I was asking,

you know, did it seem weird at all strange and

like No, she was like, no, it's fine. And and

then when I told her that actually wasn't a person,

you know, she was kind of certainly surprised.

But I thought Leah, though, like I think like

when that occurs and maybe because it's more

of a famous actress, but I also think it just

doesn't not look nearly as strong. I think they

would have been better if they just. Didn't have

to show her face directly because it looked off

I just didn't look at it looked like it was just

not there yet like the technology's not not quite

there in some distances, but Do you think they

should have do you think they should have just

had her stand there with her back turned and

say you know the hope line I Think that would

have been fine. I think that would have been

sufficient. I don't think necessarily showing

your face added anything in particular It was

just it was more jarring and kind of took me

out of the movie more so than anything So the

target stuff like I didn't like I didn't know

it for like even going into the movie that they

were actually doing that So it took me a while

to realize wait that how that how's that happening?

and then like the more you look at it the more

you can see kind of the You know, it does look

a little video gamey, but um, I don't you know

I I enjoyed that there are there are some cheesy

lines here and there like the darth vader Don't

choke on your words or whatever line was kind

of seemed out of character but Thought the special

effects overall were as good as you'd want. I

loved some of the ship designs especially like

the different looks of the at -ats and how like

they were kind of some of them were incomplete

and And I loved that planet. The final planet

was great. I'd like it sure Maybe it's from spaceballs,

but having like a force field around the planet

looked really great and and I still love how

it like handle how they handled like Light speed

or whatever you want to call it and they have

it just I thought that was really effective in

that final battle sequence so Yeah, I mean that

that the final battle sequence with the light

speed and all that that looked great What I love

the most was when it came to the visual effects

of the film was two things the various shots

of the Death Star being like the final construction

pieces of it and the final radar, you know, thing

that would project the laser thing and all that.

I like that. But I think, like you said, the

best part about it was for me was when the Death

Star was on the horizon of the planet and, you

know, you just see it in the clouds kind of thing.

I thought that was really, really great. So one

thing we didn't talk about earlier with force

awakens John Williams returns to score the film

John Williams I assume I pretty much can guarantee

he's gonna be doing last Jedi and whatever episode

9 is gonna be called But they've gotten other

composers for these standalone films and they

used Michael G Aquino for Rogue One With the

force awakens, it's classic John Williams stuff

it's new music but it's you know it's his star

wars um what did you think of the score for force

awakens dan i think it was it wasn't really Noodles

pull maybe that in a good way where it it felt

reminiscent of Star Wars like if going and you

told me it was John Williams And I would probably

just assumed it was But I don't think it necessarily

stood out nearly as well as you would expect

for a Star Wars film if that makes any sense

So it kind of got the job done, but for me wasn't

like it's not one I would be racing home to like

download and listen to by any means I Think for

me on it, and I'll get your thoughts in a minute

Steve. I think for me it it's mostly the the

legacy themes like one thing i for didn't mention

earlier about force awakens was actually seeing

them on a millennium falcon in action on planets

you know actually on you know we've seen the

millennium falcon out in space but the falcon

theme was probably my favorite off the williams

score steve thoughts on the force awakens music

oh it just it felt like i was watching something

that fit directly into the original trilogy.

I enjoyed the music. I think if it would have

been anybody else doing it, it would have probably

thrown me. It's funny you say that because with

Michael Giacchino doing Rogue One, it surprisingly

felt like... Star war it like it like I mean

G Aquino has done a bunch of stuff. He's done

mission impossible movies He's done inside out.

He's done all kinds of stuff But this I don't

really I didn't really notice in the rogue one

score too much of him Veering off of what Williams

had already set forth Yeah So no, it's I mean,

it's hard. So you don't want to like it's not

like you can It's not like gonna get like fret

resonator to kind of have a score that you would

do for something like, you know So you're gonna

you're gonna want to kind of keep it in the family

per se and I thought it did that but yeah, I

Can I can just see it now the Star Wars Network?

I Mean we've never seen how they use social media.

So there's always That's true. Alright, so we

rate films on a 0 to 5 scale. Dan, what are you

going to give Force Awakens and Rogue One? For

me force awakens of four and a half out of five

I've enjoyed that more and more since I've watched

it it it's creeping out there like I think it

might be sacrilegious to put it ahead of some

of the you know, the the best of the best Star

Wars movies like no new Hope and Empire, but

it's it's right in the mix for me rogue one It's

more like middle the middle the road Star Wars.

So it's the three and a half out of five like

I rank it around where I have like revenge of

the Sith and return of the Jedi, so What about

you, Steve? I'd give The Force Awakens probably

about four and a half. I really enjoyed the film.

I feel like it went really well with the original

trilogy. It resonated on its own. I enjoyed the

new characters. it got the emotions going during

the during the film, like in various parts for

new and old characters alike. And then as for

Rogue One, I'm probably going to give it like

a two just because I mean, honestly, I didn't

really need to see it. It was interesting to

see it, but it wasn't necessarily something I

had had to just see. to get the gist of what's

going on in the storyline of Star Wars because

you kind of already knew that they stole the

Death Star plans. The only thing that made it

even remotely great was the very end where the

last battle and then the Vader jumping right

into a new hope. Yeah. For me, I'm gonna give

The Force Awakens a four. I did very much enjoy

it, but I do enjoy... other Star Wars films a

little bit more. Rogue One, I'll give it a three.

Like Dan said, it's kind of middle ground. It

does break a few things with giving a new angle

of storytelling a different side to the Rebellion

and the Empire, which is interesting and nice

and neat. But yeah, overall a three for me. We

are going to take another quick break and come

back to close the show after this. More! We're

back here on MWIRE episode 135 and we're going

to get the heck out of here, folks. We're going

to jump the Millennium Falcon and go get some

power converters at Tashi Station or something.

Who knows? But Dan, let me ask you, you've been

doing your movies to show my son blog recently.

Any of the Star Wars movies, which ones would

you show him first? I would go in order of release.

I think that's you can't like I know some people

go by episode one and my brother has kids actually

started episode one and went that way. I don't

want to because I know that may make more sense

story wise. But I think you can't ruin the biggest

surprise. One of all of movie movie them with

the reveal of who spoiler alert that Darth Vader

is Luke Skywalker's father. So that would be

starting starting. So I would go four, five,

six. you know, and then probably one, two, three,

and then I didn't know how you fit in where you

get rogue one. I don't know. So it's gonna get

more and more complicated, but I know at least

the first three, no matter what. So it's gonna

be four, five, six. At what age do you think

you'd show it to him? There's a question. How

old is he now? He's two so it doesn't have cars

and trains. It's not that much interested in

that So Probably five ish I would say five ish

six ish six ish. I think that's one when my went

with my nephew That's about his age when we saw

uh, we went actually we went to see rogo and

in fourth weight reagan's all together um and

Completely grasped it and understood it and enjoyed

it. So it probably around I think that age I

think it's it's very much. I think people forget

it's still I think at the heart of it Kids film

so I think that's that's perfectly appropriate

Any final thoughts from you Steve before we close

it out no, I just I Can't wait to see what they

do with episode 8 When that comes out and seeing

what Luke's first words actually are Yeah, that

that was the one I think that's the only reason

why I gave force awakens a four I took a full

point off of it because they made such a big

deal in the media Of course, it's the media.

They're supposed to make a big deal out of it,

but they made such a big deal Oh my god, Mark

Hamill Luke Skywalker. He's gonna have a line

and I guess it goes back to what you said about

the rewrites or the re -scripting or changing

the writers or whatever else and we get to the

end of that movie and I felt about as jaded as

I felt is when A New Hope ended with just them

getting medals and no other explanation or it's

like oh my god Luke Skywalker is he gonna open

his mouth and say something and he doesn't say

a damn thing and piss me off so yeah hopefully

we get to see you know hopefully that they don't

go a whole other movie and not have him say a

damn thing. Oh, he's going to be speaking, so.

Yeah. Coming up next here on MWIRE episode 136,

JT and I are going to be back and we're going

to be talking about 1991's classic film, Don't

Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead. That's coming

up next Sunday here on MWIRE. Dan, what do you

guys got going on over at Talking in Circles?

That I'm not sure but cinema geeks were continuing

their video game retrospective will be talking

about the cinema classic Dead Over Live that

was that amazing film Finishing up the Miyazaki

retrospective. We only have one more movie to

go actually by the time and then we'll be kind

of deciding where we're gonna go next and I think

that's where we're gonna let the audience kind

of give us an idea of what they want us to see.

So a lot of things still in store regarding that.

Awesome. What about you, Steve? What do you got

going on over at AlterGeek? Some geeky news and

of course a lot in the tech department coming

up because there's just been a lot of stuff.

And then of course talking Star Trek discovery.

Finally got a date! Out time! Alright, I do all

kinds of stuff on GCR and folks. Just go to the

website, geekcastradio .com, check us out over

there. Check out MWIRE on Blog Talk Radio as

well as iTunes. If you go to iTunes, please leave

us a review. As I said, coming up next is Don't

Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead with JT from Saskatoon

and I. and then after that episode one thirty

seven were actually going to go to another classic

uh... conair so that'll be at the same one thirty

seven that's going to be fun uh... for now i

am do you feel like with steve michael's in the

world and so keep those film reels role and we

will catch you next time here on movie weekend

review When's your mom leaving for Australia?

Oh, in about an hour and a half. She's leaving

you guys all alone? I'm getting rid of her for

two whole months. I can go to the beach. I can

stay out as late as I want. I can do anything.

I'm a free woman. Hi. Hello, dear. I'm Mrs. Stewart.

I'm a babysitter. Heart, you little maggots,

now line up! Are you serious? I'll make your

summer a living. Hell! Ow! Hey! TV rots your

brain. It's time we let her know the rules. Yeah,

we outnumber her. Let's kick some butt. This

is Sturrock. Mr. Rack? Oh, my God. She died in

her sleep. They'll probably blame us. Hey, be

careful. I got her. No, I mean my skateboard.

Don't tell Mom the babysitter's dead. Rock and

roll! Now, Christina Applegate and her brother

What? bounce back for a summer with How's my

baby? No rules. In your dreams, babe. No curfews,

no nagging, no pulse. Oh. How you doing, Mom?

No, Mrs. Drag's not here. She, um... She went

to the yarn store. So, what do you guys want

for breakfast? Cheese omelet. Spaghetti -os.

Breakfast is served. Row the lawn today, and

don't forget to do the dishes, okay? Dishes are

done, man. Don't tell Mom the babysitter's dead.

You've just listened to Movie Week in Review

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