Han Solo - A Star Wars Story

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Glad to see the positive reviews so far. I know there has been a lot of skepticism over this movie with the re-shoots and fired directors. Rogue One had a lot of the same bad vibes before it was released and that worked out fine.

For me it's seeing someone else in the role that Harrison Ford made iconic that gives me apprehension. I grew up with Star Wars and still remember sitting through the movie twice as a six year old when it first came out in theaters. With that being said I'll of course go and see it.

As a fellow OG Fan...I have to now completely disagree with missing ford.

They did a silly exit piece for him so he could get a paycheck. So I’m kinda “Ok” with somebody else who might give two bits and may breathe some life into the character.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I checked a few days ago and there are a ton of good seats left in the 4 theaters that I checked.. for a Friday night, IMAX and Real 3D.

I haven’t purchased yet because I’m still not sure what times will work for us.. I’m not worried after seeing the availability.

As I understand it...sales have been “good”...but not really up to snuff for a Star Wars...

I do...so very wonder...what may have changed??

Certainly and enigma

 

[Tick Tock]

Reviews so far seem to be a mixed bag. This is one of the more concerning ones:

https://thewest.com.au/entertainment/movies/muddled-solo-saga-dark-and-depressing-ng-b88838838z

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Reviews so far seem to be a mixed bag. This is one of the more concerning ones:

https://thewest.com.au/entertainment/movies/muddled-solo-saga-dark-and-depressing-ng-b88838838z
View attachment 284753

I go back and look at force awakens and last jedi...and critics that lied about those, are rejected outright.

R1 was most definitely the most Star Wars feeling anything since Ewoks: battle for Endor...and it was slammed a good bit before it came out.

 

[sedati]

Here's my no spoiler review:

A good enjoyable film from start to finish. Also, a very consistent one- I would not have picked up on any production issues or directorial changes had I not known about them ahead of time. The film is often humorous, but is in no ways a flat out comedy as I think some may have come to expect. This feels very much like a Star Wars film (though one with little myth/fantasy.)

This is probably the smallest of all Star Wars films. That's not a knock- what it lacks in epic-ness it makes up for in gritty, tactile, realness.

Some characters have limited screen time, but there wasn't anyone I didn't like. Han is actually a tricky mix of traits and I think Alden balanced it well. He's not Harrison, and he's not Harrison's Han Solo, but he is young Han Solo if that makes sense. He also pairs well- Han and Qui-ra, Han and Lando, Han and Becket, and Han and Chewie. All interesting and different dynamics, and not easy to pull off. (Qui-ra, Lando, Becket, and Chewie are all quite good on thier own as well.) Alden and Glover both make the characters their own while reminding you enough of who came before (keep an ear out for Lando's very first line however, because Glover really nailed Billy Dee there.)

I also found Bettany's Vos a good villian. He's not in it much, but he has a genuinely unnerving prescence that works in a way no other Star Wars character has. I'm not saying he's better or really even on par with the more classic villians, but he has his own energy and it's important for a franchise ten films in to keep things fresh.

The film is good at giving you what you want or expect, but doing it a bit differently and in a satisfying way. There's one big reveal at the end that I'm truly surprised they did. Some nods to bigger future things, but this is pretty much a self-contained story. There's a bit of an info dump 3/4 of the way through where I think I may have missed something important.

Overall it's solidly good. I honestly can't see anyone objecting to it, but I don't think this is going to blow minds either.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Here's my no spoiler review:

A good enjoyable film from start to finish. Also, a very consistent one- I would not have picked up on any production issues or directorial changes had I not known about them ahead of time. The film is often humorous, but is in no ways a flat out comedy as I think some may have come to expect. This feels very much like a Star Wars film (though one with little myth/fantasy.)

This is probably the smallest of all Star Wars films. That's not a knock- what it lacks in epic-ness it makes up for in gritty, tactile, realness.

Some characters have limited screen time, but there wasn't anyone I didn't like. Han is actually a tricky mix of traits and I think Alden balanced it well. He's not Harrison, and he's not Harrison's Han Solo, but he is young Han Solo if that makes sense. He also pairs well- Han and Qui-ra, Han and Lando, Han and Becket, and Han and Chewie. All interesting and different dynamics, and not easy to pull off. (Qui-ra, Lando, Becket, and Chewie are all quite good on thier own as well.) Alden and Glover both make the characters their own while reminding you enough of who came before (keep an ear out for Lando's very first line however, because Glover really nailed Billy Dee there.)

I also found Bettany's Vos a good villian. He's not in it much, but he has a genuinely unnerving prescence that works in a way no other Star Wars character has. I'm not saying he's better or really even on par with the more classic villians, but he has his own energy and it's important for a franchise ten films in to keep things fresh.

The film is good at giving you what you want or expect, but doing it a bit differently and in a satisfying way. There's one big reveal at the end that I'm truly surprised they did. Some nods to bigger future things, but this is pretty much a self-contained story. There's a bit of an info dump 3/4 of the way through where I think I may have missed something important.

Overall it's solidly good. I honestly can't see anyone objecting to it, but I don't think this is going to blow minds either.

You’ve got me really intrigued...

Wanna spoiler tag the “reveal”???

...I’m over “no spoilers” after the abrams/Johnson debacles...the feel is all off and frankly my standards are so low that it’s all I’m looking for.

“Where have you gone, joe DiMaggio?”

 

[21stamps]

As I understand it...sales have been “good”...but not really up to snuff for a Star Wars...

I do...so very wonder...what may have changed??

Certainly and enigma

I think it’s the time of year honestly. It’s warm out, Spring sports season is in full swing.. people have a lot more going on than in the winter months. The grade school demographic anyway.. which is a large part of SW movie attendees.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I think it’s the time of year honestly. It’s warm out, Spring sports season is in full swing.. people have a lot more going on than in the winter months. The grade school demographic anyway.. which is a large part of SW movie attendees.

You mean the traditional biggest movie week/time of the year since 1975?

When nobody goes?

“Nobody ever goes there anymore...it’s too crowded”

 

[Master Yoda]

As I understand it...sales have been “good”...but not really up to snuff for a Star Wars...

I do...so very wonder...what may have changed??

Certainly and enigma

This movie simply does not have the buzz and the others did. Seems like everyone just expects this movie to fail. This could be from any number of things such as the reported directorial and actor issues, negative reception of TLJ, fan burn out, etc.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

This movie simply does not have the buzz and the others did. Seems like everyone just expects this movie to fail. This could be from any number of things such as the reported directorial and actor issues, negative reception of TLJ, fan burn out, etc.

I think one of the factors you listed is much bigger than people are giving it credit for...though those are all important factors

 

[21stamps]

You mean the traditional biggest movie week/time of the year since 1975?

When nobody goes?

“Nobody ever goes there anymore...it’s too crowded”

Ah, I didn’t know that. I’m definitely not up on things like ‘biggest movie weeks’.. We typically only go to the movies in the winter.
I’ve spoken to a few of kiddo’s friends parents, and I know they’re also trying to figure out when to fit it in. End of the school year, early morning sports on weekends, and practices ending at 8pm during the week.. just bad timing for a lot of us.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Ah, I didn’t know that. I’m definitely not up on things like ‘biggest movie weeks’.. We typically only go to the movies in the winter.
I’ve spoken to a few of kiddo’s friends parents, and I know they’re also trying to figure out when to fit it in. End of the school year, early morning sports.. just bad timing for a lot of us.

The Memorial Day blockbuster was created by jaws...blown up by Star Wars...and solidified by ET...

And for 35+ years it has held mostly true.

The outliers are the couple Cameron/Star Wars winter releases since 1997...but people still have way more time for the movies in the summer.

 

[21stamps]

The Memorial Day blockbuster was created by jaws...blown up by Star Wars...and solidified by ET...

And for 35+ years it has held mostly true.

The outliers are the couple Cameron/Star Wars winter releases since 1997...but people still have way more time for the movies in the summer.

That’s surprising to me, never would have guessed it.
Will all of the SW movies have a Memorial Day release going forward? I’d much rather they stay in December.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

That’s surprising to me, never would have guessed it.
Will all of the SW movies have a Memorial Day release going forward? I’d much rather they stay in December.

Well it used to be about air conditioning...that’s why Hollywood made all
It’s money in the summers...

But I think it’s simply about free time now...more typically still in the warmer months

 

[21stamps]

Well it used to be about air conditioning...that’s why Hollywood made all
It’s money in the summers...

But I think it’s simply about free time now...more typically still in the warmer months

We had 6 sports games last weekend between baseball and soccer.. closest soccer game was an hour away... went straight from there to another soccer game one hour north from the first field... then finished off the weekend at an amusement park on Sunday after a baseball game and two soccer games, having left the house at 5am that morning. (correction-the baseball game was on Saturday with two other soccer games..only had 2 soccer games on Sunday, no baseball..I can’t even keep our days straight at this point ) We were both exhausted by 6pm at the amusement park.
I have almost ZERO hours of free time in the Spring.

That’s just with one kid.., I can’t even imagine the schedule of parents with multiple kids in Spring sports.

 

[TeddyinMO]

Ah, I didn’t know that. I’m definitely not up on things like ‘biggest movie weeks’.. We typically only go to the movies in the winter.
I’ve spoken to a few of kiddo’s friends parents, and I know they’re also trying to figure out when to fit it in. End of the school year, early morning sports on weekends, and practices ending at 8pm during the week.. just bad timing for a lot of us.

Actually Walter is just making stuff up again. His statement that Memorial Day weekend is the biggest movie weekend is really not true anymore - if it ever was. Although it traditionally is considered the start of the summer movie season (and summer), it frankly hasn't been the "biggest" weekend in quite a while.

The biggest opening ever on Memorial Day weekend is Pirates 3 at $139.8 million with Indy and the Crap Skull second at $126.9. Those are very good numbers, especially for two bad movies, but Solo is tracking to beat both of them and become the biggest Memorial Day weekend of all time. Even with that, it likely won't break into the Top 20 opening weekends (Guardians 2 is in 20th at $146.5). Some of that may be the lack of hype, but some of it is likely because Memorial Day is just not that great of an opening weekend anymore.

That all being said, I can't wait to see it tonight and if it's good, I'll be back again this weekend.

 

[Master Yoda]

I think one of the factors you listed is much bigger than people are giving it credit for...though those are all important factors

I stopped trying to figure out fandom years ago. I always kept coming back to the same conclusion that some people are just not happy unless they are miserable and they tell everyone why they are miserable. Right now I feel like that segment of Star Wars fandom is becoming toxic and seems hell bent on destroying the franchise.

The volume of new material being produced now is like a dream come true. I love the fact that we now have multiple great comic book series released every month, and either a saga film or a story film on deck for every year as well as a new animated series and live action series on deck. I will not even go into how happy I was to finally see a Star Wars land in a theme park being constructed.

I remember the 70's where we were actually thrilled to see the holiday special because that is all we had.

 

[21stamps]

Actually Walter is just making stuff up again. His statement that Memorial Day weekend is the biggest movie weekend is really not true anymore - if it ever was. Although it traditionally is considered the start of the summer movie season (and summer), it frankly hasn't been the "biggest" weekend in quite a while.

The biggest opening ever on Memorial Day weekend is Pirates 3 at $139.8 million with Indy and the Crap Skull second at $126.9. Those are very good numbers, especially for two bad movies, but Solo is tracking to beat both of them and become the biggest Memorial Day weekend of all time. Even with that, it likely won't break into the Top 20 opening weekends (Guardians 2 is in 20th at $146.5). Some of that may be the lack of hype, but some of it is likely because Memorial Day is just not that great of an opening weekend anymore.

That all being said, I can't wait to see it tonight and if it's good, I'll be back again this weekend.

That makes a lot more sense to me. Thanks.

Have fun tonight! Please report back with your opinion, but without any spoilers!

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Actually Walter is just making stuff up again. His statement that Memorial Day weekend is the biggest movie weekend is really not true anymore - if it ever was. Although it traditionally is considered the start of the summer movie season (and summer), it frankly hasn't been the "biggest" weekend in quite a while.

The biggest opening ever on Memorial Day weekend is Pirates 3 at $139.8 million with Indy and the Crap Skull second at $126.9. Those are very good numbers, especially for two bad movies, but Solo is tracking to beat both of them and become the biggest Memorial Day weekend of all time. Even with that, it likely won't break into the Top 20 opening weekends (Guardians 2 is in 20th at $146.5). Some of that may be the lack of hype, but some of it is likely because Memorial Day is just not that great of an opening weekend anymore.

That all being said, I can't wait to see it tonight and if it's good, I'll be back again this weekend.

So the world started in 2005, huh?

Thanks for the deep historical perspective. Memorial Day has been the launch point for the summer tent poles for decades...it’s only recently been shifting... anything else?

You’re comparing everything to recently, hyperinflated box office gross...when ticket sales/adjusted should be the measuring stick for franchises

 

[Master Yoda]

So the world started in 2005, huh?

Thanks for the deep historical perspective. Memorial Day has been the launch point for the summer tent poles for decades...it’s only recently been shifting... anything else?

You’re comparing everything to recently, hyperinflated box office gross...when ticket sales/adjusted should be the measuring stick for franchises

I have always maintained that number of tickets sold should be metric used.

Dollars, no matter how you attempt to adjust for inflation, different formats, etc is nebulous at best for gauging how many eyeballs are in front of the screen.

Dollars are however what the studios care about so we are pretty much stuck with this near meaningless metric.