14 Days Until That Galaxy Far Far Away
Friday, December 4, 2015 at 9:53AM I have successfully avoided much information about (Episode VII) Star Wars: The Force Awakens in an effort to preserve a pre-internet style excitement for the new film. No, scratch that. I've done so in an effort to generate excitement since I felt none. Unlike the rest of the internet I remember all too painfully how godawful the last three movies were. *shudder* As for the new film, I've only seen the first trailer and only know character names because no matter how hard you try to say "pure" and go in cold, information will be absorbed from the 24 hour news cycle.
But truth: the nostalgia is finally getting to me and I'm officially excited. It must be all the appearances of Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford in my news feeds even if the articles go unclicked to stay pure.
That caption to the left "The 'Star Wars' Kids" -LOL!
If you've been reading The Film Experience for a long time you'll know that The Empire Strikes Back (1980) was a formative experience as a kid. By the time Return of the Jedi (1983) came out, half of my bedroom was covered with magazine collages of ewoks, Jabba the Hut, Yoda, Darth, Luke and Han. Princess Leia in her gold bikini dominated, duh! The actressexuality came fast and early before I even knew what it was.
On a scale of 1-100 how excited are you to have the Force awakened?
Reader Comments (16)
Can it be 101? After Fury Road of course, I'm excited for this the way most of you were excited for Carol. And unlike many, I have absorbed every clip, article, and leaked spoiler, and its only increased my hype and my faith in this film.
2 weeks!
I'm a 3-4 at best. I think I'm on the same page as you, Nathaniel. I love the original trilogy so much (well, at least "A New Hope" and "Empire Strikes Back" - "Return of the Jedi" was just ok), and I actually enjoyed "The Phantom Menace" overall, apart from the terrible kid actor who played young Anakin...but it just never got better. (Actually, it got worse - the nadir was "Attack of the Clones.")
Of course, my husband insisted on getting tickets for opening weekend and has been watching both trilogies in preparation, but hearing snippets of the terrible, terrible romantic dialogue and leaden line-readings has been making me cringe anew.
Still, I'm cautiously optimistic this new one will be better than the prequels. I have little expectation it will displace the original, though.
I've avoided a lot of the rumors/spoilers and haven't watched much more than the three major trailers. I'm just happy to be this optimistic about where the series is going. Rogue One is much more promising with that cast/director.
If 1 is my Transformers excitement level, 50 my superhero level and 100 my "ABC" (Almodóvar/Bale/Cotillard) level, I guess I'm at 60 for this emanation of the Force.
Its doesn't matter how excited you are, Huge controversy over th omttence of John Boyega from the poster in china. Diminishes his role. This movie is another hunger games. Boo!
Z E R O
I wasn't interested at all, but one of the trailers (maybe there is only one *actual* trailer? idk) made me want to see it. I'd say I'm at 75.
102! Been waiting for this since it was announced in 2012 and like Jeremey, I haven't remained pure at all!
I'd say I'm at 20 which is the number I'd give for a movie that I'll watch at home on TV unless somehow I can stumble into a free screening. I'd bump it up to 30 if it got uniformly good reviews.
I'm at close to zero. I will see the film when it comes out, but I'm ignoring the hype as much as I can. Two reasons:
I am older than most of you, and was already out of college in 1977. As a lifelong SF/fantasy/movie guy, I love the early Star Wars films... but right from May 1977, I had no illusions about them being great, nor were they the formative experiences for me they are for younger folks. (2001: A Space Odyssey was the visionary film with incredible effects I saw at 13 that blew my mind.) I immediately recognized that Lucas had plundered stuff I was entirely familiar with in making the film: the Flash Gordon serials, Kurosawa samurai films, WWII dogfight sequences, Arthurian myth, LOTR, etc. And especially Marvel comics - there's way more Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Star Wars than Joseph Campbell, despite all the interviews Lucas began doing around the time of Empire when he wanted to puff up his perception as a visionary mythologist. Anyway, I always liked Star Wars, but it was never a near-religious experience for me.
Secondly, I hate everything JJ Abrams has ever done (except for Felicity and Super 8 [and that's more because I actually made Super 8 films in the 70s as a then-unrespected geek, and it captured the experience pretty well]). He utterly destroyed my beloved Star Trek, why would I want to see him wreck another old favorite franchise?!? The guy's a hack, a third-rate Spielberg follower... what are the chances that he can do better than Lucas?
Well, I will see it. OF COURSE I want to see the original stars return to their classic roles - how could I not? But I am keeping my expectations mega-low.
one [since zero wasn't an option]
I am much more excited to see 'Sisters' than I am Star Wars. Tina and Amy's 'Farce Awakens' clip is great.
Never was a STAR WARS fan, but I'll still see this I guess. I'm at a 35.
I was 10 when "A New Hope" came out, so I'm with Jeremy and Daniel Armour. I. Can't. WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm about 15 - out of 100.
And can we say the last *four* movies were god-awful? RETURN OF THE JEDI only looks good in comparison to what came after.
Enough already- love the original movie - but I'm already tired of the hype- will I go to see it - of course I'm a major sci-fi movie fan.