Pieter Boelen

Indeed not. I wasn't even on the horizon yet back then. First finally saw Star Wars around the time the prequels were coming out. Unfortunately my parents weren't interested at all, so when all my primary school buddies were watching the 1997 special editions and geeking out about those, I was left out. So I read Star Wars books before finally seeing the movies...

Indeed I like my Dino's exactly how we got them. Reptilian is cool! Last year on cruise, a seagull started eating my ice-cream right in front of me! Annoying, but also admittedly quite funny. I had no clue they liked... Was it mango? Or raspberry? Or something? BIG damn bird though! Imposing indeed.

I always figured he was supposed to bring balance to the Force by ending the line of the Sith. But yes, at least he saved Luke.

I like to believe indeed they didn't deliberately WANT to make a bad movie. But they sure succeeded at that anyway! They could've done better. So much better. And they really, really didn't. I blame JJ and whatever producers forced the anti-TLJ, anti-Finn and anti-Rose decisions. Plus whoever thought it was a good idea to undo Vader's sacrifice by bringing Palps back as well. As writing choices go, it's pretty horrendous how much of the stuff in this old article DID end up happening: https://www.cracked.com/article_167_5-reasons-star-wars-sequels-would-be-worse-than-prequels.html

You... have??? What's good about JW3 then?? (I haven't seen it as JW2 was already the worst.)

Strange. I thought Adam Driver was originally told he wouldn't be redeemed. But I forgot the source for that, so I may be misremembering. I definitely agree with Star Wars as morality play. But I assume the redemption of Vader was to show that it's never too late to do the right thing. I do believe that gets undermined though by easily doing the exact same thing again with Kylo Ren. That story turn is only powerful to me if it's the exception, rather than the rule. Alternatively, I do like the idea that if Ben Solo would see the error of his ways before his death after all, it'd be most interesting for him NOT to die right after. What interesting story could be told where he would actually have to deal with the consequences of his dark actions in the end. Death is merely the easy way out.

I'm not a Trevorrow fan. I've only seen the first Jurassic World and thought that was... okay. But I must acknowledge that the "Duel of the Fates" story really feels much more like a proper sequel and conclusion to TLJ, but oddly more in line with TFA as well. For starters, JJ's Knights of Ren actually got to play a more proper role. For Jurassic World, I like the idea I read across on the internet that suggests the drama and action of the first movie should've occurred in the background, with the park remaining open. I reckon that'd have been BRILLIANT, and would've allowed the park to still play a role in Jurassic World 2. But alas, that didn't happen. I do like what we got instead though, but mainly because it's SO cool to actually see the park operational! Very ill considered "good decisions". Like having former stormtroopers defect offscreen without Finn having anything to do with it, leading to Finn having virtually no impact on the story in the end. Or Rose going from "John Williams theme worthy main character" to getting one mere meaningless line in the final film. Even though the DotF story DID have roles for both of them. So the movie makers deliberately CHOSE to undermine those characters. Supposedly because of xenophobia from China, I hear? But that's just hearsay and I don't know that for sure. Either way, the end result is SHAMEFUL. I read it in the fan comic form and I reckon that gives a much better feel for what the final version might've been than just the plain written word might've been. That I'll agree with, it was indeed very sudden. If I had the say in the final story, I simply would've not allowed Kylo Ren to get a redemption arc at all. It's too much of a copy of Darth Vader. And TLJ set him up to be the Ultimate Big Bad so very well by killing off Snoke one movie early. I think it would've been much more intriguing that way. The fan outcry over TLJ is why. They tried to "course correct" after the last minute and in so doing alienated those fans who DID approve where the story had been heading, in addition to the fans who felt alienated by TLJ as well, ultimately pleasing no-one. That's what happens when you focus on what you think people want, rather than on just telling a good story you believe in yourself. Another thing that I find really really dumb is that the intriguing (not to mention true to life!) war profiteers angle set up by TLJ got completely ignored again. People complain how Canto Bight was a waste of screen time, but I always saw it as being a brilliant set up for stories to come next. If only ep 9 HAD followed up on that, that would've retroactively given more meaning to TLJ as well. Instead, DJ just got off free and turned into a complete non-character. The DotF story doesn't do that much better on this one either though, but at least the comic adaptation does play lip service to those war profiteers. Still a far cry from what I'd have been hoping to see myself, but a step up at the very least.

Any chance you could resend it to me too? Maybe this time it'll actually take...

I'm happy for everyone who can enjoy TRoS. I wished I could. I hate it with a vengeance and for good bloody reason (it really IS conceptually a crime against humanity, just look at the treatment of Finn and Rose). But I don't enjoy hating it. I genuinely wished I didn't. The production values are all there. No complaints about the cast whatsoever. They had everything set up to make a genuinely good Star Wars movie. And then there spoiled it with THE most baffling decisions and writing. They deliberately designed it to be genuinely shockingly bad. Look up the leaked "Duel of the Fates" story from when Colin Trevorrow was still attached as director. You can find it as fan comic online and even as video on YouTube. I won't claim that's perfect either, but it's SO much better that it's not even funny. So they actually CHOSE to make things WAAAY WAY worse. I feel so sorry for John Williams that THIS horror is where he finally got his well deserved cameo. I suspect Williams wasn't exactly inspired by it either. The soundtrack is... nowhere bad, but hardly anything stands out for me. Though at least the Emperor's Theme action statement from the FYC is really pretty cool. But that's really the ONLY positive thing I can think of regarding the idea to drag Palps' back up from the depths. (It was a bad idea in Dark Empire and it was a bad idea now. As Timothy Zahn has Mara Jade say in Spectre of the Past: "I'm still not convinced that was really him.")

Ah! Right. Indeed I understood there'd be some rock in the concert. Can't say that excites me much, but we'll see... Uh... Hear? OUCH, that hurts. Confirms why I point-blank refuse to watch it then. I've heard nothing good about JW3. I thought the story was going "whole WORLD is overrun by dinosaurs now". That was a bit over the top, but could still make for something fun. But then I heard something about... locusts? Wut...? WHY?!?

Definitely that crime against humanity masquerading as "ep 9". NO WAY The Acolyte could be more offensive than that. I was SO curious to see the next movie after TLJ. And I remain curious because TRoS just doesn't... doesn't count.

Indeed most is decent to good. Especially if you're willing to be a bit more forgiving. There's really only one ATROCITY that I know of. Though I'll admit I haven't finished The Acolyte yet. First two episodes seem okay.

I haven't a clue what is The Singularity... The only option I'd care about right there, out of your list. The others I either don't know at all, specifically don't want or have had their chance and failed to deliver on their potential. I loved him on Medal of Honor and The Incredibles and some others. He's been losing my interest though. I never even bothered listening to half of JW2 and the whole of JW3 and I fear I'm not really missing out. I watched the first of the kids shows. It started pretty good! Then went into bizarre sci-fi territory that didn't relate much to dinosaurs anymore. I didn't care for that...

You did? I completely forgot. So sorry! I've been quite out of the loop when it comes to updating my music collection. Haven't even added the Hook 3-CD version to my iPod yet.

Depends whether he's in orchestral, rock or just plain weird mode. When he's good, he really comes up with great themes and such. My brother and me are attending a concert of his in Utrecht in a few months. I'll be curious what he'll play.