Your Lounge, Should You Choose To Accept It

[Snow Queen]

I love some of the individual visuals of Last Jedi, with the skimmers on Crait, the throne room, the Hyperspeed ram, they're all gorgeous. Which makes it stick out more when the backdrops get really bad, especially during Kylo vs Luke and the First Order hanger. It's got some of the best visuals, but it's just not consistent for me. I wouldn't say it looks bad, as, like I said, there's a lot to love in it, but the regular bad effects work puts it firmly as the worst looking of the recent four, in my eyes. Especially as I find Force Awakens and Rogue One especially strong in this regard.

 

[Schlosser85]

I didn't think TLJ was anything special, visually. I don't really remember anything remarkable, visual/production-wise, apart from Snoke's throne room and the crystal caverns.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

There is literally nothing in this post I agree with.

TLJ is the first and only SW film I've ever seen shots from and thought, "that is stunning." The rest just look...fine to me.

So you disagree that daylight Crait looks good? Interesting.

You don't think this looks like a set? Look how its lit. I wish I could find the full scene, with the opening shot. Its so bad.

[YT]8-ev27dfDMA[/YT]

Its the same with the second lesson. The lighting looks super artificial.

The Walkers don't even look real.

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And if that isn't a set on Crait at that point, it is legitimately an awful attempt at filming on set. Because none of the lighting matches.

 

[Marvolo]

I thought the cinematography and design of Craite was gorgeous. Especially that extremely wide shot of Luke and Kylo. The only part of the climax that looks really dodgy to me is the scene in the Supremacy's hanger when everything is burning and BB8 is running across the hanger in the walker. It doesnt look bad but it doesnt look real either.

As for Ahch-to I think they did a really good job blending sets with the actual location stuff. I believed all the outdoor scenes were on location.

 

[Kane52630]

I bet it's an unpopular opinion, but Rogue One is my favorite one out of all them.

 

[Schlosser85]

I bet it's an unpopular opinion, but Rogue One is my favorite one out of all them.

I feel this way more as time goes by.

 

[Fading]

Ok, here's my main complaints with TLJ. I'll spoiler it due to length, we've probably all seen the movie by now.

Spoiler

Luke always represented hope. He doesn't have to be a superhero, but he is supposed to be optimistic. In the face of Vader, and the Emperor, watching the rebels getting demolished, he still fought back. To the point he won Vader back over. In TLJ he grows frightened of Kylo, and for a second thinks about killing him in his sleep. He shuts himself off from the force, and hides. Then during his redemption moment, it's only to have one last badass fight scene, rather than to try to talk Kylo back to the light side of the force like he did with Vader. Luke, who represents hope, never regained hope, and just gave up on Kylo.

Everything Snoke. I know, it's different, it wasn't a repeat of the Emperor. However, that there was another Sith running around in episodes 4-6 is intriguing. The mystery of Snoke was set up, then no payoff. Just a brief, almost cameo like appearance. I walked into that scene feeling interested, and left it feeling empty.

The entire casino planet. Just that, I hated this segment. It was boring filler. It ties with the pod racing scene in episode one as my least favorite segment in SW. It completely broke the flow of the film. The rebels are getting actively massacred. So let's stop that, and travel a really long distance to have a goofy adventure freeing rabbit-horse things. I appreciated the attempted anti-slavery, and Social commentaries, but even they felt forced.

Every new character returning from TFA. Ren is just advancing down the Jedi path too quick. Im no longer feeling tension when she's in a fight scene be as she's becoming a walking Deus ex. Finn had more character moments, but he still didn't really feel as if he had grown as a character much. Poe just took steps back. Kylo was just more Kylo. I don't feel he's any deeper a character than he was in TFA.

On top of all of that, the movie just felt disjointed to me.

 

[Spider-Fan]

There is literally nothing in this post I agree with.

TLJ is the first and only SW film I've ever seen shots from and thought, "that is stunning." The rest just look...fine to me.

100% agreed

Except I do think TESB is also visually stunning. Especially considering the era. But I think TLJ was far more beautifully shot and looked better. I liked I think everything about TLJ more than TFA. Pretty much across the board. ANH and ROTJ I don't think are as visually stunning as TESB. There is a gap.

 

[Fading]

I bet it's an unpopular opinion, but Rogue One is my favorite one out of all them.

I'm with you. I like TFA a bit more, but Rogue One served a purpose. It had it's flaws, but I like that it was a movie dedicated to unsung heroes. I did find the use of CGI for two characters off putting, it was obviously CGI, but I got why they did it. I still wouldn't say it was a great movie by any stretch, but I didn't walk out disappointed. I walked in knowing what I was getting.

 

[Snow Queen]

I thought the cinematography and design of Craite was gorgeous. Especially that extremely wide shot of Luke and Kylo. The only part of the climax that looks really dodgy to me is the scene in the Supremacy's hanger when everything is burning and BB8 is running across the hanger in the walker. It doesnt look bad but it doesnt look real either.

As for Ahch-to I think they did a really good job blending sets with the actual location stuff. I believed all the outdoor scenes were on location.

While it very much has it's moments, I think the compositing looks a lot worse than you do. Particularly with moments like these. Some of the other stuff looks great, but moments like these just takes me right out every time.

 

[Marvolo]

I bet it's an unpopular opinion, but Rogue One is my favorite one out of all them.

It's my favorite of the new films and I'd rank it third behind ANH and ESB.

 

[Marvolo]

While it very much has it's moments, I think the compositing looks a lot worse than you do. Particularly with moments like these. Some of the other stuff looks great, but moments like these just takes me right out every time.

Two and three look fine to me. The other ones tho are obvious compositing no doubt. Tho I stopped letting stuff like this ruin scenes for me a long time ago. Sure, I notice it and I dont like it, but it's the sort of thing I notice and shrug at.

Youre not wrong that TFA seems to have more polished vfx. I'd really like to know why. Was TLJ time crunched in post-production, was it done by a different vfx crew at ILM, does Rian just have a less demanding attitude towards cgi realism etc?

 

[Schlosser85]

JJ Abrams also has more experience with special effects-heavy filmmaking than Rian Johnson does, via his Star Trek films.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Two and three look fine to me. The other ones tho are obvious compositing no doubt. Tho I stopped letting stuff like this ruin scenes for me a long time ago. Sure, I notice it and I dont like it, but it's the sort of thing I notice and shrug at.

Youre not wrong that TFA seems to have more polished vfx. I'd really like to know why. Was TLJ time crunched in post-production, was it done by a different vfx crew at ILM, does Rian just have a less demanding attitude towards cgi realism etc?

Actually, TFA was the one with the time crunch. Schlosser is right, that JJ has more experience. The thing is, a lot of Rian's issues are lighting as well. Which is just a him thing. Though JJ just seems better in that regard in general. His Star Trek was a pretty high standard in terms of effects.

 

[flickchick85]

You don't think this looks like a set? Look how its lit. I wish I could find the full scene, with the opening shot. Its so bad.

Nope, I don't think it looks bad, sorry.

Its the same with the second lesson. The lighting looks super artificial.

The Walkers don't even look real.

They look real enough to me! t:

And if that isn't a set on Crait at that point, it is legitimately an awful attempt at filming on set. Because none of the lighting matches.

A few bad shots won't suddenly make TFA the better-looking movie me, lol. The shots that grabbed me in TLJ actually managed to WOW me, which, as I said, was a first for the franchise for me. No amount of your whining can change that.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Nope, I don't think it looks bad, sorry.

They look real enough to me! t:

A few bad shots won't suddenly make TFA the better-looking movie me, lol. The shots that grabbed me in TLJ actually managed to WOW me, which, as I said, was a first for the franchise for me. No amount of your whining can change that.

A handful of good shots in TLJ, doesn't suddenly make it a better looking movie then TFA. Or Empire. Or Star Wars. Which all have better cinematography, color grading, and editing. TFA has better effects work by a lot. But hey, you and Spider-Fan do think the Avengers look good, so yeah.

 

[flickchick85]

A handful of good shots in TLJ, doesn't suddenly make it a better looking movie then TFA. Or Empire. Or Star Wars. Which all have better cinematography, color grading, and editing. TFA has better effects work by a lot. But hey, you and Spider-Fan do think the Avengers look good, so yeah.

It's almost like these things are opinions or something!

 

[DarthSkywalker]

It's almost like these things are opinions or something!

 

[Spider-Fan]

It's almost like these things are opinions or something!

Right!!!

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Right!!!

Though to be fair to you, it was a very short sentence.

It's definitely all opinion. Well except for the fact that Kylo clearly looked cooler in TFA. Because, everyone knows baby capes are way better.

 

[Marvolo]

Though to be fair to you, it was a very short sentence.

It's definitely all opinion. Well except for the fact that Kylo clearly looked cooler in TFA. Because, everyone knows baby capes are way better.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

That's rather perfect Marv.

 

[Schlosser85]

Kylo Ren looked way more intimidating in TFA.

 

[flickchick85]

...Because he was supposed to? He was supposed to be another thing entirely in TLJ. No longer the faceless menace, but, ya know, a person. At any rate, he lost "intimidation" points gradually throughout TFA, starting with his toddler tantrum.

 

[Schlosser85]

I just think he was a stronger character in TFA. It was like Johnson didn’t know what to do with Kylo or Rey.