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Midweek Movie Free Talk
Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
How does Luke Skywalker fall down a vertically sided shaft and end up going into a vent on the side of it? Is it supposed to be pulling a suction? Is he using his powers? He doesn't seem in control when he comes to a stop.
What about the weakspot at the end of the trench on the first death star. Why do the two missiles suddenly right angle turn down the shaft? Are they guided? It can't be pulling a suction against the vacuum of space.
If they are guided, why couldn't they be fired from significantly further away?
Of all the fandoms, there are definitely explanations for both of those things. I'm awake at 3am instead of sleeping so
#1 image from officially licensed book
It does seem to be more of a window.
#2
The Death Star primary exhaust port did have shielding, but it was a magnetic shield designed to repel attacks from conventional laser weaponry and even ballistic weaponry. This was why they specifically needed to use proton torpedoes in their attack as opposed to missiles or bombs - the protons interacted with the magnetic field in such a way that the shots could (in theory) curve to just the right angle to be sent down the shaft and reach the core, causing a chain reaction and destroying the station. No other attack pattern had a chance at causing a similar result.
(From a reddit answer but frankly it seems legit)
Also a draft of the script
because of course
And a possible alternate explanation of manually controlling the missiles guided by the force in the face of tons of missile defense systems. (So further away wouldn't work)
Ah, thank you for this.
I appreciate your trudging through to find explanations.
I guess this fulfils everything, but it feels like it's information that's been filled in after the fact.
Admittedly, it's been a good while since I've seen A New Hope, I just don't recall anyone talking about magnetic shielding.
Never mind, they were just film thoughts that pop into my head every now and then.
Thanks again
Tbf I googled and found an answer in the top couple of results that seemed legit. It wasn't much work lol.
It seems like maybe the details of the missile+death star were lost in a draft of the script and maybe survived in the novelization. Same for the vent shaft. But realistically almost everything about Star wars is made up after the fact. Parsecs, Vader, Luke and Leia. Lucas never had a grand plan, the EU just had decades to explain every single little quirk and possible continuity error as intentional and to name every character who ever appeared in any scene and give them a rich backstory.
Extended Universe! Haha. That took a second. Couldn't understand what Europe had to do with it.
Yep, I think that's what I don't like about fan bases. They really cling to the minutae and make it work.
To be fair, I'm fairly sure not even the ticking clock of the death star destroying the rebel's last base was in the script.
It's the go-to case study when discussing being "saved by the edit".
Fandoms are gonna fandom, the biggest issue is that the extended universe was canon and thus these explanations are often enshrined in novels, comics, games and other media so that now Momaw Nadon has a rich backstory as someone that betrayed the agricultural secrets of his people to the Empire and but now sympathizes with the alliance and hid Rebels in his garden.
You can Google him but he's just an alien in the Cantina.
That's all (old and new) canon, not fandom.
But I was the nerd that collected star trek info card things that went into binders so... I cannot speak to this.
I have been enjoying a handful of Isabelle Huppert movies and she is quickly becoming my favorite actress. Something about her astute and confident demeanor is always pleasant to watch.
To start with the best, La Cérémonie from 1995 directed by Claude Chabrol. A slow burn thriller of sorts about an in-house maid for a wealthy family where differences and tension slowly builds and spirals out of control. Everything seems innocent and pretty mundane at first, with Sophie starting as a maid and generally being treated well enough, though we see small hints of general classist arrogance. Gradually we get the sense of something being hidden and later some horrifying stories about the past is revealed. Initially, as a regular viewer I am inclined to first side with the working class against the privileged upper class people. Most movies of that type also tends to go for redemption for the underdog. Which is exactly what makes this movie great is how that pre-assumption is challenged and turned around. It was weird seeing Huppert playing the almost quirky and rebellious role here, as I would normally put here in Sophie's role or as one of the upper class people, but she masters her role perfectly and so does Sandrine Bonnaire.
Guillaume Nicloux's Valley of Love from 2015 has a strange sort of meta-layer as it stars Huppert alongside Gérard Depardieu, and in the film they both have the same first name as themselves and there are some rather funny references to their acting careers, but they are still playing fictional characters of a divorced couple that meet in Death Valley on the wishes of their son who has committed suicide. His suicide letter asks them to go to various locations in Death Valley. Their trips in the extreme heat brings out some really unappealing character traits in both of them, while also sort of bringing them closer together. Huppert and Depardieu are very convincing in portraying a divorced couple with a long history. Plenty of bickering and resentment, but they both have some tenderness and compassion for each other deep down. But the whole film feels very constructed, and it even sort of acknowledges that. Worth watching for the two actors, but the film itself is a bit strange and flat.
In the more humorous side of things, 8 Women from 2002 directed by François Ozon is an odd Agatha Christie type locked-room-Christmas-mystery with some musical elements on top. It is farcical and colorful with everyone hilariously overacting with exaggerated gestures in playing their roles to the fullest. What each woman may lack in character depth, they make up for it in execution. The twist reveal ending is not something I saw coming and I found it to be reasonably clever, but the way there was an odd mix of scenes going nowhere and mostly uninspiring songs.
Another Claude Chabrol film with Story of Women (Une affaire de femmes) from 1988 is a historical biopic where Huppert plays Marie Latour who during World War II made a number of illegal abortions. While this film is really only a story of one women, it does capture a lot of stories and destinies for many women of the time. Not sure if I want to call this a feminist movie, but it definitely has a feminist focus not limited to the biographical part of the movie. Marie Latour is an interesting and very complex character. She is not a saint that helps women in need, she more or less stumbles into it because she needs the money and subsequently gets used to having more money. Chabrol doesn't provide easy answers for good or bad in terms of morality, where I can only imagine how a commercial Hollywood production would have destroyed this story by making it simplistic. Though given the subject matter of abortions, I don't see any big studious touching that one. As usual, Huppert plays exceptionally well showing both sides of confidence and astuteness, while also letting her fear and vulnerability to surface - especially in the end.
On a general ending note, if anyone wants to give some Isabelle Huppert films a chance I can highly recommend The Piano Teacher, Elle and Things to come.
Ratings and very quick reviews of stuff I've watched recently.
The Secret in their Eyes - 8/10. Excellent thriller! Very suspenseful, even funny, it kind of blows your mind, and had characters I could really root for.
The Instigators - 7/10. Fun and dumb action, perfect for when you're in the mood for that. Matt Damon (my beloved) and Casey Affleck have a hilarious dynamic.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga - 7/10. I was really doubtful that anyone could follow Charlize Theron in the same role but it somehow worked! Definitely not as good as Mad Max: Fury Road, which is a 9 in my book, but still a great watch.
Gomorra - 5/10. Fell flat for the most part. I never felt I could connect to any of the characters but it's clear that the building/projects is the main character, however it just got boring and dragged on for me.
Blast from the Past - 8/10. Pleasant surprise! A lot of charm and tons of laugh out loud moments. Never knew Brendan Fraser was so funny, but what a great watch!
Strange Days - 6/10. An enjoyable watch but it was pretty forgettable to be honest. The world building was cool and most of it was quite great, but something was missing that I can't quite pinpoint. It was also way too long.
The Worst Person in the World - 8/10. Fantastic coming of age movie (or is it still coming of age when the character is like 30?). Hilarious moments and super relatable. Definitely recommend if you've ever felt aimless in life.
Dead Poets Society - 6/10. Feels like I should have been there, in a way, to really get it. I was just kind of along for the ride, and I'm sorry, but the famous standing-on-tables scene just did not do it for me.
Black Swan - DNF. Still mentioning it because managed to get about 75% of the way through before having to stop and I can tell that it's an incredible movie, but it was so fucking scary that I broke down crying and my friend had to hold me so ehm, yeah, not for me..! What I saw was very good, though.
Kajillionaire - 7/10. Quirky, fun movie. I'm in love with ERW so that helps! She was so good in this role as a neurodivergent woman, and it was a rollercoaster to watch.
Airplane! - 8/10. Top tier slapstick comedy, enough said.
The Naked Gun - 8/10. More top tier comedy, no notes!
Salt - 5/10. It had some good bits and it satisfied my itch for spy stuff, but it was forgettable.
Threads - 7/10. There's been a lot of talk about this movie as it was its 40th anniversary recently so I decided to give it a go. It was shocking and terrifying and horribly honest, I will never watch it again but I will remember it forever.
Lee - 8/10. This has really gone under the radar but it was so good! Not exactly subtle so it felt like a spiritual successor to Schindler's List in that way. But it was incredible and Kate Winslet is always amazing.
Deadpool and Wolverine - 7/10. An improvement on the second movie but still more of the same. Didn't really like how much time they spent in the void so that detracted a little bit. Overall a lot of fun though and hope they make more.
Smile 2
I did not watch the first Smile when it released. I was familiar with its box office story since it had an incredible run for a horror movie. It just didn’t interest me at the time.
I saw Smile 2 prior to watching Smile, but the improvement in filmmaking craft from Parker Finn is remarkable. Smile is a mediocre horror film (originally made for streaming which it feels like), but Smile 2 is really special. I felt like Finn was channeling Jonathan Demme shooting this. It’s visceral, it’s tense, and Naomi Scott gives an incredible performance. The music is so good too, both the score and the original songs created for it.
Surprised the fuck outta me how much I liked this. Like I genuinely think Finn could be an Oscar winner in the future.
We Live in Time
I was a big fan of Crowley’s Brooklyn, which was one of my favorites of 2015 and which I think is one of the more underrated films of the 2010s. This makes me think the reason that film is so good is due to Nick Hornby’s screenplay.
This was utterly boring. It’s made like one of those cheap Netflix romcoms. Its writing is on the same level as WattPad fan fiction (think The Kissing Booth films). The non-linear storytelling adds nothing and just blunts any emotion.
I think Crowley thought he made a modern day Terms of Endearment but did not have the talent to actually pull it off.