Tag: Star Wars: The Last Jedi

‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ announces Australian digital and home release
Keen to freeze-frame your way through Luke Skywalker milking something green out of unidentified CG creature? The wait is over! Bring home the movie digitally on March 14, two weeks before the 4K Ultra HD™, Blu-ray, and DVD on March 28 from Disney. So fire up your Apple TVs, cast your Chromes, or stream your heart out in mid-March for what’s got to be one of the most anticipated releases of the year.

In Lucasfilm’s STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI, the Skywalker saga continues as the heroes of The Force Awakens join the galactic legends in an epic adventure that unlocks age-old mysteries of the Force and shocking revelations of the past. This release also marks Disney’s first title available on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc in both Dolby Vision™ HDR and Dolby Atmos® immersive audio, delivering consumers a transformative viewing experience.

Now, we weren’t the biggest fans of the divisive film. In our review, Richard said it was a “remixed and resampled take on the saga explores the grey areas of the Force, sacrificing the chance to move forward for a self-referential narrative that is caught between two worlds.” Of course, the audience has well and truly spoken on this one: it’s raked in over $1.3 billion at the global box office to date.

Director Rian Johnson takes fans on an intimate journey into the creation of Star Wars: The Last Jedi in a feature-length documentary, explaining his unique interpretation of the Force, detailing the painstaking process of creating Snoke, and deconstructing action-packed scenes from the film such as the epic space battle and the final confrontation. Johnson also reveals two exclusive scenes, featuring Andy Serkis as Snoke prior to his digital makeover, as well as 14 never-before-seen deleted scenes, in addition to his audio commentary.

Bonus features include*:
- The Director and the Jedi – Go behind the scenes with Rian Johnson to see what it’s like to helm a global phenomenon in this full-length documentary
- Balance of the Force – Explore the mythology of the Force and why Rian Johnson chose to interpret its role in such a unique way.
- Scene Breakdowns
  - Lighting the Spark: Creating the Space Battle – Get a close-up look at the epic space battle, from the practical and visual effects to the characters who bring it all to life.
  - Snoke and Mirrors – Motion capture and Star Wars collide as the team takes us through the creation of the film’s master villain, Supreme Leader Snoke.
  - Showdown on Crait – See what went into creating the final battle, including real-world locations, visual effects, reimagining the walkers, and more.
- Andy Serkis Live! (One Night Only) – Rian Johnson presents two sequences featuring Andy Serkis’ riveting on-set performance before his digital makeover into Snoke.
- Deleted Scenes – View the Deleted Scenes with a general Introduction by Writer-Director Rian Johnson.
- Audio Commentary – View the movie with in-depth feature audio commentary by writer-director Rian Johnson.
Check out a clip below in which Luke mansplains the Force to Rey. (Actually, it’s one of the fun throwback scenes in the film, and a great use of the saga’s history).
February 26, 2018
Review: Star Wars: The Last Jedi

If there is a blockbuster franchise that has managed to weather the slings and arrows of time, then its Star Wars. It is the high watermark by which all sagas are measured. Yet Star Wars means something different to everyone, and STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI is perhaps the first film to actively remind us of that.

Picking up almost precisely where Star Wars: The Force Awakens left off, the Resistance are on the run under the command of General Leia Organa (the late, great Carrie Fisher) and Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo (Laura Dern). Meanwhile, Rey (Daisy Ridley) struggles to convince Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) that training her is necessary, especially given her strong connection to Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) remains. Is it all the manipulative machinations of Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis)?

On the one hand, STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI has some fairly radical politics for a Star Wars film. Writer/director Rian Johnson’s script stubbornly refuses to tell us what the ‘right’ side is. Our historical assumptions of who is on the side of ‘good’ is tested more than once. A connection between Rey and Kylo Ren asks whether balance can only be obtained by making friends with your personal dark side, and also serves as the strongest dramatic thread of the film.

Yet it’s also the first Star Wars film that lacks a clear identity of its own, more so than the extended fan fiction of Rogue One. From the opening scenes, there’s an anachronistic sense of humour that permeates the film’s sight-gags and dialogue. At its worst, such as a chase sequence bursting out of a CGI infested space casino, its dangerously closer in tone to George Lucas’ more recent offerings than is comfortable. When it works, we are reminded of the easy humour of the original trilogy. A tense scene is punctuated, for example, by Rey being comically whacked in the back of the head with her own lightsaber.

Nevertheless, STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI is dripping with sets and scenarios that look and feel like the Star Wars we’ve been in love with since 1977. Indeed, sequences are lifted wholesale out of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, just as The Force Awakens was indebted to the original film in all the right ways. This gels nicely with the slick aesthetic of Snoke’s bright red throne room, and the giddy joy of watching lightsabers spark, X-Wings dogfight, and some delightfully unexpected cameos.

It’s the old guard that provides any emotional anchors as well. There’s heavy emotions whenever Carrie Fisher is on-screen, given her death at the end of 2016, and Hamill is allowed to push his 40-year-old character into a deeply grey area. It’s a shame that the rest of the cast is left adrift in a sea of unsatisfying plot threads, the strangest of which involves Finn (John Boyega) and newcomer Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) in a pseudo love story.

Where The Force Awakens used familiarity and shorthand motifs to restore our faith in the franchise, STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI simply samples and remixes. Which is ironic given that much of the film’s narrative is spent searching for a newer new hope to respark the rebellion. As the film overstays its welcome by a scene or two, including a coda that steps out of another movie entirely, here’s hoping the franchise can learn from its own stories and see clear to moving forward rather than perpetually looking back at its greatest hits.

2017 | US | DIRECTORS: Rian Johnson | WRITERS: Rian Johnson | CAST: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson | DISTRIBUTOR: Disney | RUNNING TIME: 152 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 14 December 2017 (AUS)

December 15, 2017
‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ trailer is designed to break the Internet

And lo, the Interwebs cracked asunder. That sound you heard was millions of voices crying out in joyful delight, never to be silenced. The most recent trailer for STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI is upon us, giving us our first decent look at the story arc of the penultimate chapter in the new trilogy. It hits Australian cinemas on 14 December 2017, and thanks to wibbly wobbly datelines, on 15 December 2017 in the US.

The follow-up to The Force Awakens, Rey (Daisy Ridley) appears to be searching for her place in the universe while she trains under the self-exiled Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) continues to be moody and such, which Chewie has a new friend. Oh how quickly Han is forgotten.

The other sound you heard was our hearts breaking as we saw the late Carrie Fisher’s face illuminate our screens, possibly for the last time.

[INSERT 2000 word thinkpiece about the trailer here]

Tickets are now on sale for the extravaganza. You can also check out the new poster below. It’s very red!

October 10, 2017
‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ first behind the scenes footage, character posters

Lucasfilm and Walt Disney Studios have released the first behind-the-scenes reel from STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI. The footage comes directly from the D23 Expo.

Featuring almost all of the principal cast and crew, Rian Johnson and the stars of Star Wars guide us through the thematic changes for the upcoming sequel. While we don’t get much in the way of actual footage from the film, we get a metric tonne of new creatures, ship models, and interviews.

Perhaps the most touching of these is the footage of the late Carrie Fisher, reminding us that the film is still about family after all these years.

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI is in Australian cinemas on 14 December 2017 from Disney.

July 16, 2017
Marvel releases first Look at ‘Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Captain Phasma’

Marvel Comics has announced a new tie-in title on the Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi, focusing on Captain Phasma. Portrayed in the film by Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones), the comic explores. Check out the press release and preview images below.

It’s the galaxy’s big mystery: How did Captain Phasma survive the destruction of the Starkiller Base in the final moments of Star Wars: The Force Awakens? All will be revealed this September, when superstar writer Kelly Thompson (Hawkeye, Star Wars Annual) teams with blockbuster artist Marco Checchetto (Star Wars: Shattered Empire, Star Wars: Screaming Citadel) to bring you JOURNEY TO STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI – CAPTAIN PHASMA #1, a four-part miniseries bridging the events between Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi!

Captain Phasma’s fate seemed like it was sealed when she was cornered by the Resistance and thrown into a garbage compactor before the Starkiller Base was destroyed. But it’s going to take much more than that to keep this chrome-armored warrior down!

“The Star Wars films, with so many fantastic characters, obviously can’t be a ‘Phasma story,’ and it’s especially cool that Phasma is getting explored in depth in both her forthcoming novel and comic book,” said series writer Kelly Thompson. “The most exciting thing to me about our mini-series is that we were given the awesome responsibility of bridging a gap between Force Awakens and Last Jedi – of answering the question of what happened to Phasma after she went into that trash chute. Anytime you get to write official Star Wars is pretty incredible, but getting to decide what that link is, for a super intriguing character in some of the most epic movies of all time, is next level!”

JOURNEY TO STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI – CAPTAIN PHASMA #1, on sale this September!

JOURNEY TO STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI – CAPTAIN PHASMA #1 (OF 4)

Written by KELLY THOMPSON
Art by MARCO CHECCHETTO
Cover by PAUL RENAUD
Variant Cover by MARK BROOKS
Black and White Variant Cover by MARK BROOKS
Funko Variant Cover by DIEGO OLORTEGUI
Where’s Phasma Variant Cover by TODD NAUCK
Homage Variant Cover by PAULINA GANUCHEAU
Young Variant Cover by SKOTTIE YOUNG
Blank Variant Cover and Movie Variant Cover also available

June 15, 2017
Trailer Review: Star Wars – The Last Jedi

When the first trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens debuted in 2014, it was a cause for an international holiday. Fans and casual viewers alike stopped what they were doing to rediscover old friends in new locations. It could be that Star Wars is now everywhere, with the franchise now expanding into films like Rogue One and the forthcoming Han Solo film. Yet there’s a sense of ‘been there’ to this new teaser, even if it still makes us tingle in the deep-seated fan places.

The trailer picks up almost immediately after the point the previous film finished, with Rey (Daisy Ridley) still wearing the same clothes as the final scene of The Force Awakens. Not a lot of Old Navy outlets on that island, apparently. It appears that Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) is somewhat reluctant to train her, preferring for the Jedi to quietly die out. Meanwhile, a flurry of ships and explosions indicates that the conflict between the Resistance and the First Order wages on.

“Breathe,” is the first word we hear, as Hamill’s unmistakable voice begins a training regime that we might recall from Empire Strikes Back. Yet the trailer itself is pleasingly filled with almost entirely newer characters, with the exception of the back of the late, great Carrie Fisher’s head. It marks Disney’s commitment to focusing on the non-legacy characters in the films going forward, although we can fully expect more self-referential moments from Rian Johnson’s sequel.

On the one hand, the teaser trailer for STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI does exactly what you would expect. With very little story and a frenetic series of cuts between lightsabers, Resistance ships, fallen Jedi, Millennium Falcons and R2 units, it strikes the right balance (pardon the pun) between new information and staying on the south side of spoilers. Yet the abstract images with the words “Light” and “Darkness” drifting over the top all feels a bit expected from the promotional side of things, leaving us to keep our expectations tempered for the next chapter in the 40-year-old saga.

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI is scheduled for Australian release on 14 December 2017, and 15 December in the US, from Disney. The posters, below, also recall familiar elements from the past, with Daisy’s pose reminiscent of Luke’s in the original Star Wars poster from 1977.

April 15, 2017
‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ is the official title of Episode XIII, teaser poster revealed

Disney and Lucasfilm has officially announced that the next chapter in the Skywalker saga will be called STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI.

Written and directed by Rian Johnson, ‘Episode XIII’ will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman and executive produced by J.J. Abrams, Jason McGatlin, and Tom Karnowski.

The official title treatments are below in poster form! What do you think of the new title? Personally, we like the sexy red font and the sinister middle chapter antics that it implies, coupled with its similarities to the Revenge of the Jedi teaser stylings, referenced below. (For those of you not in the know, Revenge of the Jedi was the original title for what became Return of the Jedi).

There’s also a reference to Yoda’s line from Return of the Jedi, in which he instructs “When gone am I, the last of the Jedi will you be. Pass on what you have learned…” The Force Awakens literally left us on the precipice of this potentially happening, with the backstory indicating that previous attempts had led to a fellow called Kylo Ren. So who is the titular “last Jedi?” Is it Luke? Rey? A redeemed Kylo? Someone we haven’t heard from yet? Guess we’ll find out in December.

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI is scheduled for release in Australia on 14 December 2017 from Disney.

January 24, 2017
Rian Johnson teases “home stretch” in new ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’ set photo

It’s still 18 months away, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to be teased to death on the next STAR WARS film. Director Rian Johnson, who has already shown off several vehicles from the set, but now he has posted a new photo with the simple caption “In the home stretch.”

The robe is presumably a Jedi robe, possibly Luke’s, Rey’s or a third party we are yet to meet. Of course, this is the kind of speculation that leads us nowhere and may ruin the magic, but that’s never stopped us before.

STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII will open on 15 December 2017 from Disney. Before then, we have Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on 15 December 2016.

June 9, 2016
Rian Johnson offers first set photos from ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’

Rian Johnson has marked the midway point of the as-yet-untitled STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII shoot with two black and white set photos from the production.

The first photo below appears to be on a First Order vessel of some kind, while the second shows an X-Wing pilot in his cockpit. Let the guesswork and speculation begin!

“Good. Bad. I’m the guy with the microfiber sham,” he declares on his blog. “I can’t believe we’re halfway through the shoot. (We’re halfway through the shoot!)”

STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII will open on 15 December 2017 from Disney.

April 29, 2016