I watched a few Rian Johnson interviews over the week and must say I'm even more excited to see VIII. His style of storytelling is something that makes VIII even more mysterious, because with Johnson, it could honestly go anywhere. Thinking about what Benicio del Toro will play sometimes keeps me up at night as well, as embarrassing as that is. He's one of my favorite actors. I love movies too much.
I got to watch The Force Awakens yesterday after being forced to pass on multiple opportunities to see the movie in theaters because of work. Let me preface this by saying I'm not a huge fan of the Star Wars movies – not because I don't think they're good (even the prequel trilogy has its moments), but because I don't care about the Skywalker story. I'm more of an Old Republic-era guy, and I love those stories... but I digress... I loved the movie. I spoiled very little of it for myself prior to seeing it (since I didn't care much) so I got to experience a good portion of the movie as if it were brand-new to me. I loved it. I saw what people meant when they said it seemed like a retread of Episode IV (I believe), but I thought the movie was different enough and had its own charm, and that allowed me to thoroughly enjoy it. I think Daisy Ridley was fantastic as Rey and I'm glad she's the "main" leading character. Finn and Poe were also spectacular, and, of course, Leia and Han were amazing. I didn't much care for Kylo Ren, but to be fair, his character's still developing. The biggest qualm I've got with Ren's character was that his voice modulator (or whatever it's called) made his voice much too loud for the scenes he was in. The movie as a whole was great, and I got goosebumps in what I felt were all the right places. It was well crafted and, without a doubt, a nice homage to all the previous movies. The only thing I'm nervous about is J.J. Abrams not directing the next couple "main series" movies, but I'm hoping that helps, rather than hurts, the story.
Daisy debunked the theory that Rogue One's lead character is Rey's mother. It was in an interview on the red carpet at the MTV Movie Awards. I don't know where to find the video, but if anyone looks, it's there. I'm just simply looking forward to seeing what Rian Johnson does with VIII. Really excellent choice of a director for the trilogy.
You know, I didn't really notice until now, but when Rey first sees Luke at the end of TFA, the Vader theme is a part of the music playing. I wonder if that means anything. Or, maybe I'm just thinking too hard about it.
Can we please not do this speculation on the music...like it's been beaten to bloody death with Snoke already.
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-86604388/ Oscar Isaac talking about VIII. Nothing new really, so this post might redundant. But he does say some interesting things about Rian Johnson and his approach to Star Wars.
Feels like an Indie film eh? That's incredible exciting! I don't want to wait until December 2017 to see it
So I did start Rebels. It's pretty decent thus far. Your judgment has been pretty good on this one Gibs.
Slight and minor spoilers for VIII, highlight for hype: A-WING CONFIRMED! ALL ABOARD THE STARFIGHTER HYPE TRAIN CHOO CHOOOOOO Spoiler Link
Alden Ehrenreich has been offically announced to be playing Han Solo in the Han Solo Anthology film. http://variety.com/2016/film/news/alden-ehrenreich-han-solo-spinoff-star-wars-1201754043/
It really is unnecessary, but, it's got some great talent behind it. So I'm just going to be cautiously optimistic for now.
It's Disney, so they're going to keep pumping out the Star Wars regardless. At least, I maintain an interest in the main films. We could always be surprised by the spin-offs so (at least they're being called that for now). Kathleen Kennedy is being careful about the talent she's choosing.