Star Wars: The Force Awakens

[GeneChing]

It opened right when I left for my vacation in Spain. We saw it after seeing El Museo de arte Thyssen-Bornemisza and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. It was a full day.

We saw it in English with Spanish subtitles. I really wanted to get a El Despertar de la Fuerza T-shirt but couldn't find one.

I enjoyed it. Although it felt a little formulaic for J.J. Abrams - A New Hope: Force Awakens; Wrath of Khan: Into Darkness.

[sanjuro_ronin]

I didn't mind it that much.
It was ok.
The plot was simply a re-hash of New Hope.
I found that fact that someone that was 100% untrained and an adult could somehow, mysteriously, know how to use the force and survive against someone that was trained, really, really silly.
But this is Disney and the whole "girl empowerment" thing is really big over there.
The premise of the new death star was, well, pulled out of someone's ass with two sticks.
Still, it was good fun.

[GeneChing]

Oscar Nominations 2016

FILM EDITING

The Big Short

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant

Spotlight

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

=============================

ORIGINAL SCORE

Bridge of SpiesCarol

The Hateful Eight

Sicario

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

=============================

SOUND EDITING

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Sicario

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

=============================

SOUND MIXING

Bridge of Spies

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

=============================

VISUAL EFFECTS

Ex Machina

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Original Score? srsly?

[GeneChing]

I much prefer TR-8R to FN-2199, but we all know he was a wushu guy. Who else could wield a space tonfa so well?

CHARACTERS + HISTORIES // JANUARY 7, 2016

MEET FN-2199, A.K.A. TR-8R: THE STORMTROOPER BEHIND THE MEME
GET TO KNOW THE INTERNET'S FAVORITE NEW FIRST ORDER SOLDIER.
“Traitor!” So bellowed a baton-wielding First Order stormtrooper, and the rest is Internet meme history.



First glimpsed in a teaser for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, this mystery trooper — who confronts a lightsaber-brandishing Finn — has inspired countless memes, fan art, and Twitter jokes. (The above GIF, by the way, is available in the Star Wars app, should you need to send to a traitorous friend.) He’s been lovingly dubbed TR-8R (because, well, why not?), but there’s more to this bucket head than fleeting viral popularity. So unlearn what you have learned about TR-8R, because StarWars.com has exclusive intel on Star Wars‘ biggest Web star since Darth Jar Jar.

His name is FN-2199. But his friends call him “Nines.” As detailed in Greg Rucka’s excellent book Before the Awakening, Nines trained and served on a squad with Finn (then FN-2187) in the First Order. That explains why he seems just a little extra angry upon seeing Finn during the attack on Maz’s Castle. You can see FN-2199 in the image below by Phil Noto from Before the Awakening — he’s the trooper seated in the background with red hair. Who’d have thought?



There’s a reason that Nines gets to use an awesome weapon (which is called a Z6 baton). He’s riot control, and part of an elite squad that enforces order or squashes uprisings. While their weapons are non-lethal in theory, the Z6 can definitely cause harm or kill an opponent when used with brute force. Look, if a lightsaber can’t cut it, you know it ain’t good news.

You’ve heard his work before. Kind of! FN-2199’s voice (including, of course, “Traitor!”) was provided by David Acord, a Skywalker Sound sound editor. Acord’s production credits include Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Pretty good training for a stormtrooper. (Inside the armor is Liang Yang, a veteran stunt performer. Without his baton spinning, you wouldn’t be reading this.)

So there you have it — the stormtrooper behind the meme. Let’s hope we haven’t seen the last of Nines. Or TR-8R. Who wouldn’t want to see round two…and all the memes it could inspire?

[Faux Newbie]

SPOILER:






I was actually okay with the villain losing the last fight. He was already shot, the protagonist was not completely untrained in armed combat(and Finn, who was less trained in melee, was quickly messed up) and there is some inference with the story that something has happened with the Force(SPOILER: it apparently awakened), so being skilled with a lightsaber does not trump merely doing what the force requires. Further, it leaves a space for progression in the choreography, so that the next two movies can build higher and higher stories. Plus, the villain is not fully trained. considering that the next movie, ostensibly both the protagonist jedi and the villain will be being trained, it could be good.

I think the main problem with the new death star Starkiller thing is that they did a bad job explaining exactly what they blew up, the New Republic's capitol and fleet, leaving the First Order with the largest fleet, and the Resistance as its main concern. I also like that they basically unretconned Lucas' abysmal "let's make the OT Stormtroopers clones by changing the voices".

I like the backstory Disney has put out on the First Order, that it was formed from remnants of elite officers seeking to complete the Empire's goals, but forced, due to the reduction in numbers and resources, to focus on more elite forces and technology, and needing to stop any attempt at starting a new Jedi Temple, as a group who can predict their actions would be too dangerous for them. Also, the fact that, unlike Kylo Ren, Ren's master would be just as happy leaving Skywalker missing forever. And that Kylo Ren's master, when things go bad, does not immediately strangle officers, but advises them. Makes for some good possibilities.

Why, though, did they even have to mention this tripe about bringing balance to the force? Why?

[GeneChing]

[sanjuro_ronin]

Awesome !!!
Lol

[mickey]

Greetings,

I just can not stand it when an Associate Publisher uses these forums to tell us his birthday is coming, he plans to go all out, and we are not invited. We only get petty imagery, not even a whiff of excitement given.

HB, Gene!


mickey

[GeneChing]

I just can not stand it when an Associate Publisher uses these forums to tell us his birthday is coming, he plans to go all out, and we are not invited. We only get petty imagery, not even a whiff of excitement given.

Wait, what? I always share my whiffs with y'all.

[mickey]

You are giving us previews. Keep 'em coming. I am going to have to get a special antibacterial drool cup.


mickey

[GeneChing]

SPOILER ALERT!

Don't watch the vid if you haven't seen EP VII

FEBRUARY 15, 2016 6:14am PT by Rebecca Ford
'Star Wars: Episode VIII' Adds Benicio Del Toro, Laura Dern
Newcomer Kelly Marie Tran also has joined the cast of the film, which started shooting Monday.


Laura Dern Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Newcomer Kelly Marie Tran also has joined the cast of the film, which started shooting Monday.
Benicio Del Toro, Laura Dern and newcomer Kelly Marie Tran have joined the cast of Star Wars: Episode VIII, which started filming in London on Monday.

Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, and Andy Serkis are all returning for the follow up to The Force Awakens.

Rian Johnson wrote and will direct the film, which continues from the events of The Force Awakens. Star Wars: Episode VIII is produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman and executive produced by J.J. Abrams, Jason McGatlin, and Tom Karnowski.

READ MORE 'Star Wars' Star Power: Will 'Force Awakens' Actors Become Harrison Fords or Hayden Christensens?
Disney and Lucasfilm also released a first teaser for the film (watch below). Star Wars: Episode VIII is slated for release Dec. 15, 2017.

Disney and Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, released into theaters in December, has earned $2.02 billion worldwide to date.

Del Toro was most recently seen in Sicario, Inherent Vice and Guardians of the Galaxy. He’s repped by CAA, LBI Entertainment and Hansen, Jacobson.

Dern’s credits include 99 Homes and Wild, and she’s recently worked on Sundance film Certain Women and The Founder with Michael Keaton. She’s repped by CAA, Untitled Entertainment and Gang, Tyre.

Tran is a relative newcomer (as was Ridley when she was first hired to star in the franchise). Her credits include the Netflix's indie XOXO with Sarah Hyland and the College Humor series. She has recurring credits on TV shows like NBC’s About A Boy, Amazon’s Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street and TruTV’s Adam Ruins Everything. She's repped by Talent House LA and Arc Artist Management.

New Star Wars VIII thread here (I just copied this post to get it started).

[GeneChing]

I wonder what kind of tea they serve at Imperial Afternoon Tea. It's China, after all, where the bar for tea is set high.

CHINA’S HIGH-END HOTELS PAY TRIBUTE TO ‘STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS’
BY JESSICA RAPP


EAST Hotel’s Domain cafe is offering “Yoda Scones” among other Star Wars themed treats as part of their Imperial Afternoon Tea. (Courtesy Photo)

Star Wars hype may have died down (if only slightly) around the globe, but it’s only been less than two weeks since the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens debuted in China, making more than $100 million in ticket sales in the Chinese box office. In order to cash in on the hype, luxury hotels across China are channeling The Force with a host of Star Wars-themed promotions.
Fans of the film in Beijing are gearing up to honor it on January 23 at EAST Hotel’s Xian Bar for the Imperial Star Cruiser party. The celebration is part of the hotel’s month-long series of events dedicated to the film, and the hotel is one of several lifestyle brands joining in on the film’s marketing frenzy.
EAST partnered with Star Wars fan club 501st Legion and thus were allowed to use the names of the characters in their campaign—and they didn’t hold back. Along with the Xian party, which promises people in costume, EAST is offering “Imperial Afternoon Tea” at the hotel’s Domain cafe until the end of this month, featuring “R2D2 Macaroons,” “Chocolate Cherry Wookie Hair Mousse Cakes,” “Light Saber Cookies,” “Yoda Scones,” and “Ham Solo Paninis.” On a more serious note, the hotel, located in the capital’s bustling 798 Art District, is also playing host to a pop-up shop that features Star Wars-inspired art by Beijing-based artist Vincent Rondia.


Star Wars-inspired artwork by Beijing-based artist Vincent Rondia. (Courtesy Photo)

Darth Vader also popped up at Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, which encouraged clients to “clear and calm their mind like a Jedi” with a massage promoted via a photoshopped Twitter ad. The hotel also channeled Star Wars in a ****tail at its M Bar called “Dark Resolution.”
“Many of our colleagues (including myself) are fans of Star Wars and we want to also celebrate it in some small way,” said Director of Communications at Mandarin Oriental HK, Edwina Kluender. “The bar was a positive way to enjoy it with our regular guests. Plus, it was also fun for us to share this small initiative with our fans around the world on social media.”
While the hotels’ efforts weren’t part of official partnerships with Disney, they could reasonably be considered to be part of what Forbes is calling the Disney’s biggest success in the country, following disappointing box office results for China’s leg of the film franchise: “In China, consumers appear to love the licensed products, moderately enjoy the movie, and are ho-hum about the digital games,” it says.
Star Wars licensed products have been prevalent in China’s high-end fashion scene, with independent designers collaborating with Disney as it sought to educate its customers who have little relationship with the movie or sci-fi in general. On the educational end, Disney’s efforts seem to be working in China if EAST Hotel Communications Manager Mina Yan’s take is any representation. “The movies are so popular in both the Chinese and expat community that we don’t need to explain any of the jokes to anyone,” she said.
China’s Star Wars culture extends even further within Beijing’s boutique hotel scene. Hotel Éclat in Beijing’s design-centric Parkview Green shopping center already boasts a deluxe, Darth Vader-themed suite, while The Opposite House in Beijing is gearing up for its annual May the Fourth party. Even after the film has left the box office, The Force is likely to continue to live on in China’s lifestyle industries.

[GeneChing]

SPOILER - I had the privilege of interviewing Iko recently for an article coming up in our FALL 2019 issue. Subscribe by August 1 2019 and get a FREE DVD.

Iko Uwais Is Hollywood’s Next Big Martial Arts Star. Just Ask Keanu Reeves and Mark Wahlberg.
Hollywood has an action aversion: turning well-choreographed fight scenes into quick-cutting, hand-held cacophonies. Iko Uwais hopes his films will change that.
BY JOSH ST. CLAIR JUL 12, 2019


RENDHA RAIS

When J.J. Abrams resurrected Star Wars, he wanted excitement—and actors who would make the new films fun. For a particular scene in The Force Awakens, when raider assassins board and attempt to hijack the Millennium Falcon from their galactic target, Han Solo, Abrams wanted action—and actors who could make it feel real. Abrams called on Iko Uwais.

It was a fan’s desire as much as it was a director’s request. Abrams, like many in Hollywood, discovered Uwais through his work on The Raid: Redemption, Welsh director Gareth Evans’ Indonesian martial arts film equally inspired by Die Hard, an M.I.A. music video, and the Malay self-defense art form Silat. The Raid became one of the most celebrated action movies of the century and featured hand-to-hand combat to render Jason Bourne a haymaker-throwing street brawler and John Wick a novice MMA fighter. (John Wick star Keanu Reeves was so enthralled by Uwais, he cast him in a small role for his directorial debut, Man of Tai Chi.)

Abrams wanted that action. So he called and cast Uwais and Raid co-star Cecep Arif Rahman to hunt down Han. He also asked Uwais to choreograph a lightsaber fight for later in the film. Uwais, a champion in Pencak Silat, had by then written and performed hundreds of murderous fight choreographies involving knives and machetes. The concept he showed Abrams called for a duel and featured a finishing move where a fighter strategically retracts his lightsaber before gaining his opponent’s rear-side, and then, as Uwais explains, “with a swift move, puts the dead lightsaber into the back of his opponent, and turns it on.”

Abrams loved the choreography, but thought the fight too violent for the movie’s PG-13 rating. Ultimately, it was cut from the film. In their own roles, Uwais and Rahman hold less than five minutes of total screen time: they engage in a brief exchange with Solo; they are set upon by a tentacled monster; they run, turn, shoot, and die—mostly off screen. By the time the “action” clears, theatergoers probably had no idea that two of the world’s premier martial artists, brought on to help rejuvenate the most iconic film franchise of all time, did little more than stand around; their role was essentially a cameo.


RENDHA RAIS

Of course, Uwais doesn’t see it that way, and he was happy and honored that Abrams gave him the call, cameo or no. “Getting calls from Hollywood has been quite surreal to be honest,” says Uwais. “Making a living out of my real passion, which is Silat; that’s certainly a privilege for me.”

Uwais’ humility can be disarming; for a flashy, elbow-and-knee-throwing performer, his offstage presence is surprisingly placid. He stands at roughly 5’7,” muscled but not dominating, and he smiles shyly and with the sort of spotlight aversion native only to those who truly never dreamt of a spotlight.

Mark Wahlberg on Uwais: “badass.”

Though already an action superstar in the eastern hemisphere, Uwais and his non-cameo talents are only now coming to American screens. Last year, Uwais shot and fought beside Mark Wahlberg as a triple-crossing police informer in Mile 22, his first major American movie role. Even surrounded by a cast that included Wahlberg, Ronda Rousey, and John Malkovich, Uwais became the most electrifying part of the production, and he outpaced action star Wahlberg in every action-starred sequence. During an interview for the film, Wahlberg simply called Uwais a “badass.”

It’s a moniker more of Hollywood’s elite have come to recognize.

Uwais will appear onscreen this weekend as the bleach blond super-villain fist fighting Dave Bautista and Kumal Nanjiani in Stuber. In August, he will take lead in his own Netflix-produced martial arts series Wu Assassins.

Despite all the modesty, his surprise that the likes of Abrams, Reeves, and Wahlberg even know who he is, Uwais may soon be the most sought-after martial arts star in the world.


RENDHA RAIS

The legend of Silat tells of a woman, Rama Sukana, who witnesses two animals battling in the wild. Rama then incorporates these movements into a unique fighting style: Silat. In some regions, the fighting animals include a monkey and a tiger. Others tell the story of tiger and a hawk. (Uwais’ character in The Raid films is also named “Rama.”) In the human world, Silat employs strikes using every part of the body, grappling, and throws; traditional weapons include knives and daggers.

Uwais began practicing Pencak Silat, a variation native to Indonesia, when he was ten. He learned under his grandfather, H. Achmad Bunawar, a master of the form and founder of a Silat school in Jakarta, where Iko was born. Central Jakarta was a dangerous place for a teenager in the 1990s, as Indonesia transitioned from economic hardship and largely authoritarian rule. For Uwais, Silat wasn’t just a family tradition; it also proved to be a necessary survival skill.

One day at school, an older classmate, thinking he had a beef with Uwais, jumped him—with five other friends. Uwais reflexively began blocking punches, ignoring the five cronies while focussing on the one classmate. It felt like spontaneous movement—fending off the six older kids. He sustained a few bruises, but escaped unharmed. When Uwais told his grandfather, he just smiled, gave Uwais advice to stay out of fights, and then trained him even harder. Uwais was 17.


Uwais says he always avoided fights when in school. “That is absolutely not Silat is about,” he says. “It’s a self defense, and a spiritual based martial art. It focuses on respect for others, to make your mind and body healthy. Martial art skills without values and responsibility can be dangerous.”
RENDHA RAIS

In 2007, director Gareth Evans moved to Indonesia and began work on a documentary showcasing Silat. He sought out Bunawar. By then, Uwais, 24, was driving a truck for a telecommunications company. He had briefly lived out his dream of playing professional soccer for a local club and two years earlier captured the National Pencak Silat Championship.

While filming Bunawar, Evans and his wife, Rangga Maya Barack, noticed Uwais in a practice session. They sensed a screen presence in his performance and offered him a leading role in their upcoming project, Merantau, a feature film promoting Silat. The film became a cult hit, a martial arts movie stripped of flashy acrobatics in favor of fast, real, brutal choreography. It made Uwais a local star.



Soon after, Uwais and Evans set out to film what would become their breakout project, The Raid: Redemption, a one location action film: one high rise building, one raiding group of SWAT officers, including Uwias, and floor after floor of bad guys. (Evans made The Raid with just $1.1 million.) Evans and Uwais then shot the sequel, The Raid 2: Berandal, which premiered at Sundance, featured even larger fight scenes and one car chase, murdered 327 people on screen, causing one audience member to faint and Malaysia to initially ban the film, and solidified Evans’ and Uwais’ status in the world of martial arts cinema: they were on top.

That's when Hollywood started calling.


Uwais and director Gareth Evans
LARRY BUSACCA GETTY IMAGES

In August 2018, as Mile 22 and his first major American performance hit theaters, Uwais was already filming his next project, Stuber. He had also returned east to shoot The Night Comes for Us (Indonesia) and Triple Threat (China)—both low-earning, but critically-well-received martial arts films. Uwais was as busy as ever.

By the end of August, however, Mile 22 had been thoroughly thrashed by critics and at the U.S. box office, stomping the breaks on what was supposed to be a film franchise. That failure also meant that Uwais' most successful U.S. role to date remains his Star Wars cameo. All 3 minutes of it.

But success for Uwais can't be measured by numbers, and it's almost frustrating how content Uwais appears despite his lukewarm American reception. "I'm just grateful that I have a chance to introduce traditional Indonesian martial arts to a worldwide audience," he says, underscoring his role as a choreographer and cultural ambassador; he sees his role as creating shock and awareness.

But why, even while Abrams, Reeves, and Wahlberg see Uwais as the next big thing, is Uwais not yet the next big thing?

continued next post

[GeneChing]

Part of Uwais' lackluster American reception is baked into the history of Hollywood martial arts.

Jackie Chan, Uwais' own inspiration, was 26 when he appeared in his first American film, The Big Brawl, a movie which saw marginal success in the American box office, but was poorly reviewed by critics. Chan’s breakout in the States came only later and with Rush Hour (1998), when Chan was 34.

Uwais, now 36, faces the same challenges as Chan—as well as Chan's fellow Hong Kong film star Donnie Yen—namely American directors who aren’t quite sure how to employ his talent for cinematic success. (Yen was also cast in the new Star Wars franchise and, despite his martial arts talents, was also given little to do.)

Most Hollywood directors lack the eye (and ear) for action. When Uwais explains the aesthetic of Silat, he does so using percussive language: “Silat is not just block and punch; it has a specific rhythm to it, a dynamic to it.” Each fight scene, each block and punch, must edit to a beat. (Raid director Gareth Evans would even match this beat to onscreen gunshots.)

One of the reasons why Chan, Yen, and Uwais had (and have) such a difficult time adapting to Western cinema is the tone-deafness among Hollywood directors; they fail to edit around these actors' particular fight and comedy rhythms.

continued next post

[GeneChing]

The result, notes Uwais, is that American films begin “over editing” and obscuring fight movements. They turn symphony into cacophony. Directors, Uwais explains, must compensate for actors who lack fighting skills; they use aggressive camera work to make movements look aggressive. Hence all the hand-held, shaky cam and quick-cutting fight sequences you see. (Yen's Star Wars fight lasts less than 30 seconds and cuts 19 times. Uwais' premier hospital fight scene in Mile 22 cuts 19 times in the first 13 seconds.)

Quick-cutting mainly allows directors to inexpensively simulate aggression without showing aggression, the cause and effect of fight movements that take months to prepare and shoot—and potentially slap the film with a "restricted" rating.

And until recently, well-choreographed, R-rated cinema didn’t win at the box office. The success of Chad Stahelski’s John Wick franchise, which goes to great choreography lengths in the name of realism, may help to upend that economical thinking. But until Hollywood is able to lean behind a fighter like Uwais or Yen for a leading role, their action skills are likely to remain hidden, over edited, or simply under appreciated. (And while this slight may not visibly aggravate Uwais, it should aggravate movie fans; why wouldn't you want well-choreographed action movie?)


Uwais in The Raid: Redemption
IMDB

But perhaps Uwais' films are not the ones western critics or viewers are ready to see.

In his one-star review of The Raid, critic Roger Ebert wrote that the film had “no dialogue, no plot, no characters, no humanity. Have you noticed how cats and dogs will look at a TV screen on which there are things jumping around? It is to that level of the brain's reptilian complex that the film appeals.”

When asked whether he thinks his films are excessively violent, Uwais simply highlights martial arts’ balletic qualities. “I always try my best to bring the beauty of the martial arts into the screen,” he says. The fight is an aesthetic, after all. An art form. A beat. Yet it's one American cinema continues to *******ize. Or let stand in the background, while the amateur A-listers slug it out. Or cross lightsabers. No humanity indeed.

JOSH ST. CLAIR

THREADS
Stuber
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Mile 22
The Raid