Wife and I are still watching all the movies in chronological order. Since my last post we've watched Rogue One, Solo, A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Still having a lot of fun. Here's a few quick thoughts on each.
Rogue One - Never understood all the hate on this one. I guess I'm just easy to please. The return of practical effects was probably my favorite part. Also the Vader scene at the end, including that one liner. To me, that little joke shows he never 100% went to the dark side.
Solo - The only film here that I watched for the first time. I see why people criticized it, but again I'm easy to please and had a lot of fun with it. Some of the character interactions could have been better, but I liked seeing a lot of the things referenced in the original trilogy, especially the Kessel Run. I really liked how they showed parsec was being used correctly as a measure of distance, not time.
A New Hope - Not much to say here that hasn't been said. I do feel like everyone gives Anakin in the Prequels a hard time for being really whiny, when Luke is exactly the same, if not more whiny at times. On that note, one thing I've come across re-watching the series is my appreciation for the connection between the OT and the Prequels. I notice little things in both that I overlooked in previous viewings.
Empire Strikes Back - Same as A New Hope, Luke's still whiny as hell, but I love it anyways. The biggest takeaway this time was the Yoda scenes. In previous viewings of this one after the prequels came out, Yoda always came off as very crude and jarring due to the CGI versions. Watching this time, my dumb brain finally put 2 and 2 together, and realized this works perfectly. Yoda was much more reserved and calm in the prequels, and rightfully so. Yeah things were troubling, but you never fully see the ramifications of Anakins actions in Episode 3. When he goes into hiding, it feels like he's still trying to process what's happened. Cut to Episode 5, and you see someone who has had to sit on that information for 20 ish years processing it. You see no other creatures he would have been able to talk to, so this is someone who has gone completely bonkers, suddenly getting filled with, *ahem, a new hope, and his reaction seems appropriate. While he wants to help, he has even more reservation than he did with Anakin.
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