After seeing The Last Jedi, JJ Abrams stock up or down?

Exactly.

Maybe I'm biased against Chris Terrio. I am a Big dc comic fan. And BvS destroyed the films for me.

 

How I feel about BVS is largely how I'd feel about TLJ if they didn't have Eps 4-7. And Luke just started off as this grumpy ol man who hated everything.
But because I have that established connection to this character, I can empathize with his fall and the deconstruction of the hero.
Where as MOS/BVS just kind of went right at Batman and Superman unearned and never got you to care about THESE renditions.
We spent so long forcing ourselves to separate the different versions of these that you can't go back on the goodwill of what the comics established character wise and try to apply it to the films.

 

I know that and I agree up to a point. There is different than comics, and then there is "dark and edgy for no reason with bad writing" like BvS, then there is "I'm going to actually try something new and put effort into it, still different but it's good on its own merits" approach of Christopher Nolan and Dark Knight trilogy.

 

Agreed but I also think Nolan took the time to establish Bruce Wayne as a character who could then be torn down and find who he is...and he does this largely in one movie which is why the villains take over the films in the next movies.

BVS was...."look he's angry!"

 

It's gone up for me and I'm glad he is directing Episode 9. I didn't think TFA was perfect but it gave me that Star Wars feeling I had when I was a kid. Nothing in TLJ did that, if anything it ruined some of that. Hopefully JJ can recapture that magic and give this Trilogy the finale it deserves.

 

Nolan is fantastic, amazing director. Prestige is one of my all time fave movies. He injected humanity into Bruce.

DC has had lots of good movie adaptations, more challenging ones than marvel. Which is just safe boring fare.

BvS was...LETS FIGHT FOR A STUPID REASON, DESPITE INNOCENTS DYING, BETWEEN BATMAN AND SUPERMAN

 

I could honestly take or leave Nolan depending on the film. Love Prestige, think it's easily his most underappreciated film.
If his other movies came off with the heart that Prestige has, I'd love a Nolan Star Wars stand alone.
But alas I feel like most of his films, while nearly perfect from a technical standpoint, can be cold and distant.

 

This is very interesting. One of my many instinct reactions after seeing TLJ and being confronted with how it twists everything (my elaborated expectations included) was something like: "I want to cover myself with the blanket of what I'm comfortable with - TFA will do!" That was something I felt deep inside, even though I'm positive I love TLJ. I think it's better than TFA. But the challenge I experienced showed me how well TFA has sunk it, which says a lot about J.J's work.

 

Rian Johnson's framing and pacing are not as good as JJ's. On a technical and visual level, i'm glad he's back. J.J. could have made the flying Leia scene non-laughable.

 

Let's wait and see if 9 has a Death Star in it!

Seriously, I am glad JJ is coming back as that will help lend a feeling of continuity to the trilogy. I loved TFA, and I think I really like TLJ (need to see it a few more times).

 

Ok, didn't know all of that and now I'm nervous!

 

UP!

 

you either die a hero..........or you live long enough for someone to Blast with something you made and people beg for you to come back

 

Still disappointing, but I don't blame him. I think it's the producers who are at fault, although I understand that they operate primarily on ensuring profit maximization.

 

Hahahahaha brilliant!!!

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 11, 2018, Original Post Date: Jan 11, 2018 ---

I agree!

 

For me its about the same.
Im still disappointed that the main thought process going into the Force Awakens was, "People liked Star Wars when it was The Empire vs The Rebellion, X Wings vs Tie Fighters, a Hero from a dessert Planet, as masked Villain and a Creepy Emperor, so lets do that"

On the flip side i still the think the force awakens is a fun ride, created some great new characters and sets up some great intrigue for future films, it isn't JJ's fault that Johnson decided not to pick up a lot of the threads left for him.

So the things i think JJ did well are still there, but the issues i have with him still not thinking through the ideas he places in films which lead to inconsistencies later on still annoy me. Plus i'm still worried about him directing 9, nothing he has been involved in has had a satisfactory ending, that makes sense and ties the plot lines togther. Plus he seems to struggle with emotional giving his stories an emotional punch.

For me after the last Jedi the people who have lost most stock in my eyes are Disney and Kathleen Kennedy for seemingly rushing this trilogy and not seeming to have insured their was plan going into this trilogy.

 

Something I have noticed after watching the behind the scenes of TFA is that JJ seems to like working in collaboration. During the description of the filming process you could always hear JJ bouncing ideas with different members of the production team, making sure that what he was presenting made sense, seeking advice, listening carefully to his team. He and Lawrence Kasdan came up with the story of TFA walking around different locations, recording their conversations and discussing plot lines. I think JJ had a great understanding of the great responsibility he had rebooting the franchise and tried to avoid any kind of self-indulgent idea to dictate the agenda. His approach was impeccably restrained and very respectful.

I can't help thinking it is not fair to compare his work with that of RJ's. RJ made a great movie, but in it he was merely expanding on characters already established and stories already set. He could be original and daring only because there had been a person beforehand (JJ) making sure that the world he was manipulating felt as the real thing. I am pretty sure RJ would have been much less creative if he had had to kick start the franchise himself. JJ made very clear he wanted this new trilogy to echo the feel and the themes of the very first film he saw in the cinema as a kid, and he could not have done that by subverting the SW conventions, devising situations and characters that did not feel like the original, like TLJ's Canto Bight and Broom Kid and Kylo and Rey force Skype. I feel that JJ has been very kind and humble accepting the criticism he has been given because he seems a very diplomatic person, but I'm sure that deep down he knows he has done a dammed good job.

 

Up. Way up.