imsh_pl

My pet peeve is 'could of' instead of 'could have'.

Come on.

At the time, TIE fighters in Episode V were simply 'the combat spacecraft of the empire'. The producers had to have a design for the ships, and they put together something that they thought looked cool. Their presence in the film had a narrative reason of 'we want battles in space'.

They weren't there for nostalgia reasons, because at that point, people didn't have nostalgia for Star Wars. The preceding movie was 3 years old.

The inclusion of something that was introduced earlier isn't enough to constitute fanservice/relying on nostalgia. What's important is the 30 years inbetween during which that something has already been established as iconic within popculture.

Since I've developed what I'm proud to say is my superpower - the ability to eat a meal consisting of nothing but oatmeal and warm milk - I don't eat cereal. The oatmeal just absorbs everything.

When I did eat cereal I would cover a bowlful (that a word?) with milk so there usually wasn't that much left. If there was I would just add a couple of spoonfuls of cereal until only a couple of sips remained.

I switched from eating cereal to oatmeal because cereal is to oatmeal what a BigMac is to a burger.

@paulmako: It isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, it's extremely prone to being overused. In the worst case scenario, it can overshadow the supposedly original story that you're trying to tell, and only serve as a distraction from the actual quality of the story.

For example, I absolutely loved the sequence at the end of Vader hacking the rebels to bits. It was probably my second favorite scene in the movie. Only after the movie ended did I ask myself what purpose did that scene serve in the film, and I couldn't tell you.

You would think that during the last three minutes of the movie, every scene is used to tie the loose ends of the preceding 2 hours, to hush down the tone in an attempt to end on a very specific note, maybe to leave an audience with a question/cliffhanger. The cynic in me sees this scene being stalled till the very end as an attempt to trick the audience into thinking that the film's entirety was as exciting as the 60 second window when their inner child was taken on a ride.

If you want what I would consider a very good example of nailing the place of a spinoff story in a larger universe then you need not look further than Fantastic Beasts. Set on a different continent, almost a century before the original story. The setting and the mood of the world at the time is explained at the beginning of the movie via a series of newspaper headlines. Starring adults facing adult problems in the magic world instead of children encountering it for the first time. The only things you needed to know before seeing it were that in that universe people were doing magic with wands, non-magical people didn't know about them, and a major source of conflict in the world was the disagreement on whether they should. The occasional references to the original story were single sentences in the characters' dialogue, and knowing them wasn't essential to the plot.

I wouldn't be so harsh on Rogue One if it were set up as a prequel instead of as a spinoff.

My point was that they were unnecessary for the movie. I judged Rogue One as a standalone story, a spinoff, placed in a larger universe. As a standalone story, the elements I described were more than cameos or nods; they inhibited the importance of the only original villain of the movie, without adding anything in terms of plot or character development. They were there so people's faces could light up with a smile that says 'I too have knowledge of this piece of popculture'.

If the story of the rebellion stealing Death Star plans couldn't have been told without those characters, then maybe it was a story that didn't need to be told at all.

It wasn't very good. Certainly not as good as Episode VII. Still better than prequels (though that's not a high bar).

The main reason I think I didn't like it that much was that it tried and failed to be a standalone movie.

The characters were totally bland. I felt no emotional attachment to any of them; no reason to care for them at all.

Jay's relationship with her father wasn't successfully conveyed (although he was probably the most human character in the film). The film tries to set him up as a man torn between serving evil or securing death for both himself and his family. That idea, however, fails to hold any traction since we never actually have doubts that Galen ever did the right thing, which made his whole conflict meaningless. Did he choose to work for the empire? Well no, military showed up at his house, killed his wife and captured him. Did he work on the Death Star a little too eagerly, as though he enjoyed it? Not really; he designed the station to have a fatal flaw. All of his moral shortcomings are meaningless for his character, because he's never actually consciously chosen them. Still, I enjoyed what little screen time he had (the flashback of him laughing with imperials was one of the most memorable scenes from the movie).

I don't get Jay's character at all. Are we supposed to relate to her feeling abandoned? Because we never actually see the effect that's had on her (we're only told). Is she supposed to be a mysterious outlaw? Because we never see her doing outlaw things (and we aren't even told that). Are we to empathise with her relationship with Forest Whitaker? Because... that's also not shown.

I won't even talk about the rebel guy whose name I can't remember because he was as generic as can be. He did mention how being part of the rebellion cost him a lot. Sure would've been great to be shown that instead! I was incredibly confused when he suddenly started caring about Jay for some reason at some point.

The pilot guy was okay, and showed a little character during the movie. Also: why was it pointlessly implied that his mind would be wiped out or something while he came out of the interrogation totally unscathed?

Anyway, the point is: too many characters.

Another failure: fanservice.

Vader and Tarkin were completely unnecessary for the movie. Completely. Their presence only inhibited the importance of the movie's only new villain (pretty bad for a standalone movie to have 2 out of 3 villains be recurring). Add Leia and the other recurring guy to the list.

AT-ATs were completely unfit for a planet whose main purpose is to serve as the imperial archive. They're siege machines, for god's sake.

Space battle was cool, it felt really spatially cohesive. Vader choking scene was cool, although totally out of place.

Without any prior attachement, I don't think I would like this movie at all (my girlfriend had this stance, this was her first Star Wars movie).

I think not feeling too close to extended family is a perfectly reasonable feeling.

It turns out that someone being related to you doesn't mean that they are a good human being. It doesn't mean they're assholes, either; it's just irrelevant.

As you extend the family circle more and more, just because of the greater number of people you're including you're going to have a bigger number of assholes in the circle. It also means that your interaction with distant family members will be limited to family gatherings, and large family gatherings at that (because you rarely invite extended family to a gathering that you wouldn't invite immediate family to). These are quite unfrequent.

I believe that caring for someone is developed through intimacy (as in interacting in a limited circle) and frequency of contact. Large family gatherings are pretty much the opposite of both of those things. Instead of intimacy, they are dictated by social interactions. They also occur only once a couple of months or even years.

That's not to say you can't be close to your extended family. But if you are it's probably an effect of you interacting in an intimate environment.

So don't feel bad if you don't like your extended family. It probably means you have good standards.

Overwatch had been fun for the first couple dozen hours or so. Once you hit the point where solo carrying becomes less and less possible and having a party becomes more and more important, playing the game on your own is just not fun.

Cheat codes.

In Poland we open presents after a celebratory Christmas Eve dinner.

In our family we have a pretty useful system where each of us gives a list in an email of what they would like to get and the rest of the family sorts out who buys what (and usually buys a couple extra gifts). I think it's a pretty good system.

I got a pair of awesome Vader plush slippers from my girlfriend, and from my family the board game Pandemic Legacy, a book on lunar rovers, a palo santo matero (which is a special kind of cup for a south american drink I've grown fond of called yerba mate), a bunch of japanese cooking ingredients, some cash, and some money for doctors in Syria transferred in my name.

Pretty awesome Christmas for me, got everything I wanted and more.