Megan's Lists 3.0

[totes4totes]

I'm back. I never left. But this thread is back.

 

I will list something SYTYCD soon. Probably my personal Top 60.

 

But in the meantime

 

c7EyOy0-Of0

[totes4totes]

Rise of Skywalker is as bad as Baby Yoda is good.

[totes4totes]

Ranking the Star Wars Live Action Movies

In progress because I'm also at work. LOL.

1. The Last Jedi










I'm a die hard, long time Star Wars fan. I've seen every movie in theater. Probably up until about a year after The Last Jedi came out, The Empire Strikes Back was probably my favorite movie. I (like everybody with a brain and heart) love Carrie Fisher. So when I see "real Star Wars fans" should hate this movie, well it really makes me mad. Sorry that Rian Johnson and The Last Jedi didn't spend 2.5 hours pandering to your sad nerd boy fantasies about what you think makes Star Wars good. To anybody who hates The Last Jedi because it didn't pander to you, here's a big F*CK YOU. Stop reading this list. I'd be more gentle in my criticism for those who hate The Last Jedi, except their loud stupid complaining about sh*t that doesn't matter lead to the deeply stupid and ultimately incredibly disappointing Rise of Skywalker. So they deserve no "sympathies" or "I understand."

The Last Jedi is the first film after the OG trilogy that really captures the creativity that made the original so eternal. It's a movie that challenges fan preconceptions about what Star Wars should be and it's better off for it. I too was originally conflicted about things like Rey being a nobody, but in the end that becomes powerful. The entire trilogy can be about chosen family, it can be about hope (as we see in the final shot). You don't have to be a Skywalker (or a Kenobi or a Yoda) to be a powerful Jedi or powerful with The Force. The Force will find a way to balance out the darkness no matter what. And tearing away the bonds of the past to become its own movie with its own story is powerful and makes a move to look towards the future.

It's also just a stunning movie.

I like The Force Awakens, but The Last Jedi shows everything a new trilogy can be and for that it ranks as my #1.


2. The Empire Strikes Back


Star Wars was always going to be a cultural phenomenon. But I think The Empire Strikes back is what solidifies the original trilogy as one of the biggest pop culture phenomenons in history. On its own, I think A New Hope always endures, but without The Empire Strikes Back I don't think Star Wars spins-off into a saga that includes a prequel and sequel trilogy, television shows both animated and live action, video games, novels, comic books, and countless toys. Because The Empire Strikes Back raises Star Wars from a space western to a sweeping space opera. Like my comments on The Last Jedi, it worked because it defied expectations.

When people think of Star Wars they think of this movie. The music is from this movie. Yoda, is this movie. Darth Vader being Luke's father, this movie. It's imaginative and clever and I love everything about it.

3. A New Hope




The movie that started it all. Before Star Wars, Sci-Fi was mostly relegated to pulp-y B-Movies (with the exception of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is the only comparable sci-fi pre Star Wars in terms of both scope and budget), but Star Wars changed all that. It is what brought Sci-Fi to the mainstream. It's one of those films that immediately changed the course of entertainment. It's a movie that I wish I could have seen when it first came out just to be blown away by it all with everybody else who saw it for the first time. I mean, I visited the theater where my Mom first saw the movie 30+ years later and she pointed out where she sat. That's the kind of impact Star Wars had.

Star Wars doesn't have a deep story nor does it really have deep characters. But almost because of that it's immediately relatable. And I think that's necessary. There's so much going on (a war, an empire, a rebellion, space, the Death Star) that's unfamiliar to an audience that having the familiar character archetypes helps make the movie relatable and gives it that broad appeal that makes a billion dollar franchise. And I think because of that, Star Wars easily stands up over 40 years after it was first released.

4. The Force Awakens
5. Rogue One
6. Return of the Jedi
7. Revenge of the Sith
8. The Phantom Menace

9. Solo

10. Rise of Skywalker


For reasons I'll get to later so as not to spoil anybody, this was a deeply stupid movie. But here's one non-spoiler thing I'll talk about it. Whereas The Last Jedi was about moving on from the original trilogy to try and make their own stakes and plots, Rise of Skywalker leans right into what made The Force Awakens good but in all the worst ways. Disney and JJ Abrams were so scared for Reddit Fanboys that they made a bad movie.

I think that fan service is fine in movies. Like the final battle in Endgame was like entirely fan service. And also a lot of the plot. But it was worked into a good, clever, and ultimately a good satisfying ending. Rise of Skywalker was worked into a lot of increasingly stupid sh*t. I didn't watch Game of Thrones, but I imagine that this is how Game of Thrones felt when Bran won the throne at the end.

Spoiler Alert The thing that made this movie irredeemable for me and why it ends up at just better than Attack of the Clones is that Rey is a Palpatine. That is the single STUPIDEST thing that has ever happened in Star Wars. As soon as that happened then the entire movie tanked. It takes everything that was really good in The Last Jedi, which suggests that anybody can be Force sensitive and that brings such great hope. It also allows Rey for her to build herself as her own character. And The Rise of Skywalker destroyed that. It says that the only reason Rey is important is because she comes from a powerful bloodline. And it felt like that happened because JJ Abrams was like "Oh crap, we have to go back to what made the OG Skywalkers good. Darth Vader being Luke's father was powerful. Let's recreate that." But Rey being a Palpatine doesn't hold the same weight. It's so stupid. IT'S ALL SO STUPID.


11. Attack of the Clones


At least Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver have chemistry. And that's why Attack of the Clones ends up in last place.

Edited December 30, 2019 by totes4totes

[Deeee]

yikes. i feared all the early reviews would prove true. scared-excited to see it.

[totes4totes]

yikes. i feared all the early reviews would prove true. scared-excited to see it.

Once like the weekend or next week passes I’ll write my full list of grievances.

 

Star Wars is like my favorite movie franchise of all time so this was especially disappointing.

[totes4totes]

wow up today still thinking about how stupid rise of skywalker is. about to move it lower on my list.

 

if my list wasn't clear, if you liked the last jedi (like i did) you will hate rise of skywalker. if you hated the last jedi (because you hate good movies?) then you will probably like rise of skywalker more than i did but still find it impossible to not find all the major plot points incredibly stupid.

Edited December 20, 2019 by totes4totes

[totes4totes]

I'm going back to the EU and pretending that this last trilogy didn't even happen. That's how bad Rise of Skywalker is.

 

the entirety of this first page of my thread in the SYTYCD forums will just be about how much I love Star Wars and hated Rise of Skywalker.

[.Rei]

that's a shame cause The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi were pretty awesome

 

still will watch it though

[totes4totes]

that's a shame cause The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi were pretty awesome

 

still will watch it though

As you can see in my still incomplete list, I very much liked both those movies!

 

It was like last week when I watched the trailer again that I felt this deep sense of dread settle into me. The dread that I thought went away when they fired Trevorrow and took a series from the Game of Thrones Dudes away. But it resurfaced because I remembered how Lost ended and how he ended up f*cking up the new Star Trek and it was like preparation. But I'm still reeling from how much I hated it.

 

The two friends I went with both liked it though. One because it is a movie where a lot of flashy exciting stuff happens. The other I won't say because it's spoiler-y and I'm so mad at her because of it.

Edited December 20, 2019 by totes4totes

[.Rei]

As you can see in my still incomplete list, I very much liked both those movies!

 

I think I pretty much share your rankings except I would only change Empire with the Last Jedi and Solo with Clones

 

 

I remember when I watched The Force Awakens I got the same feelings and sentiments as when I watched A new hope. something that I didn't experience at all with any of the movie from the prequels saga.

 

also I don't dislike Solo like most fans do by I agree it's low tier Star Wars movie

 

now let's see if I end up ranking Rise at the bottom too

[Deeee]

Wow we share the same top two. Shocker.

[totes4totes]

I am drunk and watching Phantom Menace at a bar and Rise of Zachary is bad

[Deeee]

[totes4totes]

I am drunk and watching Phantom Menace at a bar and Rise of Zachary is bad

WOW ONE TIME AUTOCORRECT DOESN'T SAVE ME

[totes4totes]

to get rid of the taste of rise of skywalker from my metaphorical mouth, i'm going to rank all the pokemon.

[.Rei]

I will follow :">

 

You can skip your bottom 135 though :bleh:

[totes4totes]

Me about to go to bed waking up with this thought: because The Last Jedi effectively closes Luke’s arc and passes on the hope of the rebellion to Rey I can pretend that the final trilogy is just a duology and that the prequels don’t exist meaning that Star Wars is just a set of five movies.

 

Wow what a goof in my OG post. This is why I don’t wake up to write things.

Edited December 29, 2019 by totes4totes

[totes4totes]

GErIPKjwuDg

 

I swear I am one day going to move on from this. By ranking all Pokemon.

 

ranking all the pokemon part 1 coming on the next page.

[totes4totes]

Actually I realized that half of my dislike for both Solo and Rise of Skywalker is that there's been some incredible drive to give meaningful characters "meaningful" backstories. Han Solo didn't need a backstory more than what we already knew about him. We didn't have to know that he came up with the last name "Solo" because he was all alone. Rey didn't need to be a Palpatine. Knowing that her parents were nobodies who didn't care about her was powerful. And trying to be like "oh your parents sold you because they loved you" was stupid!

[totes4totes]

Just finished The Mandalorian. It’s very good. Would recommend.

[Deeee]

Just finished The Mandalorian. It’s very good. Would recommend.

 

AGREED.

[totes4totes]

wow i know idf probably looks bad for you all, but it looks like the best for me in a long time. so clearly something is going on.

[Erestor]

Rise of Skywalker was such a disappointment.  The Emperator has been so overdone and I really much enjoyed the thesis of Rey being a nobody. But oh well.

At least there's The Mandalorian to make up for this! One of the best series I have watched as of late.

But, unpopular opinion, I loved the Prequels.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Erestor

[Elliott]

On 12/20/2019 at 11:02 PM, Deeee said:

Wow we share the same top two. Shocker.

It’s my top two as well, which is actually shocking.

[totes4totes]

4 hours ago, Erestor said:

Rise of Skywalker was such a disappointment.  The Emperator has been so overdone and I really much enjoyed the thesis of Rey being a nobody. But oh well.

At least there's The Mandalorian to make up for this! One of the best series I have watched as of late.

But, unpopular opinion, I loved the Prequels.

I also liked Rey being a nobody. I

The Mandalorian is so good! I liked it so much. I think those are the types of stories I want from the Star Wars world now. Not sweeping sagas but more character focused.

Well somebody has to like them.

2 hours ago, jstxanothrxstory said:

It’s my top two as well, which is actually shocking.

At least you have good taste in some things!