14 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

I'm not expecting Shakespeare, but I rapidly reached the one-blatant-plothole-too-many limit with episode VIII. Rise of Skywalker was good, in a turn-your-brain off kind of way

Just... how? TLJ was such a solid movie, whereas ROS is a complete trainwreck. And I managed to enjoy every star wars movie so far. Even AotC has cool parts that you can fast forward to. But this time I can't, for the first time.

I try to see the sunny side of it, but I have failed so far. The fan service is just too blatant. Like the medal, that's just in there because it was 'missing', not because the movie requires it in any way. Other things are the same but more spoilery

22 minutes ago, GreenDragoon said:

The fan service is just too blatant.

That part I won't argue with; the medal is not a subtle thing. Thing is, there's a fair amount of fan-service in, for example, The Mandalorian (all the Holiday Special references, for example) but it feels better done, because it's not so in your face.

One thing I do like is Pryde (Richard E Grant's character); who in his appearances seems to be largely to-the-point and actually competent, which is a refreshing change/counterpoint to how Hux was shown in The Last Jedi .

On ‎12‎/‎2‎/‎2019 at 2:38 PM, Imperial Advisor Arem Heshvaun said:

How come, despite my best efforts, well thought of plans, loaded dice, and heavily spiking their drinks even, no matter what I seem to do, in......well over 50% X - Wing games, some random nice, considerate and cheerful guy across the game table from me still wins a game now and then?

Oh, so it's not just me who has this issue.

Well, aside from the 'well thought out plans' bit.

Which might be my problem, come to think of it. Maybe I should try using 'tactics' instead of 'more disposable minions'.

Is this the thread for this mild spoilers review? https://ew.com/movie-reviews/2019/12/18/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-review/?utm_campaign=entertainmentweekly_ew&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link&utm_term=DA4E8532-216C-11EA-B24D-9FEA4744363C

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... Ridley has to spend another adventure staring with pensive urgency, dutifully waiting to find out what character she’s playing.

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The best thing I can say about Rise of Skywalker is that it is sometimes incoherent on purpose.

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There’s always been a secret cynicism underpinning Abrams’ Star blockbusters, which adrenalize the pop-est culture of his youth and avoid anything requiring originality or imagination. Now he’s left grasping for source material he hasn’t already replicated... We need a new franchise designation for this stumbling, bloodless conglomeration of What Once Was. Rise of the Skywalker isn’t an ending, a sequel, a reboot, or a remix. It’s a zombie.