Board 8 > SaveEstelle/LeonhartFour in Different Houses: Rise of Skywalker Edition [SELF]

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'd have preferred the Holiday Special myself imhotbqh but go for it

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Actually maybe Ill include the Ewok movies too hehe

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It's amazing how much worse The Clone Wars movie is than the series, and the series has some real bad episodes!

TPM has some great parts, but there's so much bad. I'd rank it the worst of the main 9 pretty easily, though I'd still put Solo below it (since it... doesn't have those great parts).
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SaveEstelle posted...

Okay now I will respond to @xp1337

I had to remind my roommates that Leelee is probably like 17 numerous times because they wanted to ship her with Bobbie by the end and then they were like But isnt Bobbie really young too and I was like No, shes like 29-30 and they were like Oh and I was like Oh and end paragraph

Ilus felt front-and-center to me personally and good lord the budget increase is visible there its so cinematic that even when nothing technically happened for certain scenes I was still engrossed (and a specific threat inside the old structures appropriately grossed out my peers)

I wasnt thrilled with Avasaralas story this season and Im looking forward to the return of her book material now that they dont need to make up new content in order to keep Shohreh around. Theres good stuff in there but eh. Also Arjuns recast is nowhere near as good as Brian Georges performance earlier in the show

All told, its excellent how well the show adapted what is frequently cited as the worst novel. A lot of people I know say its their second favorite season to-date (after 3 of course) and thats a serious testament to the passion in front of and especially behind the camera. The book writers have said in the past that in some ways they look at the show as a chance to strengthen certain things in their novels that they arent as proud of as others, and it really shows in season 4

Agreed 100% that this kind of season would be kinda terrifying if we were still chained to Syfy but seven blessings to Amazon and the more I think about things the more I realize just how perfect the timing was for the cancellation/rescue because adapting Cibola Burn to screen on Syfy where cancellation was ever-looming would have been a nightmare

Presentation-wise, Ilus definitely did feel front-and-center! What I meant was retrospectively it felt like the D-plot because at the end of it all it feels like the more significant developments were in the other storylines! It doesn't seem like it'll be that way as you're watching of course, but then the end of the season happens and you take stock of what has happened and it's like "oh."

I mean outside the loss of Miller/The Investigator I don't really know if Ilus really advanced the Protomolecule/The Builders/Who killed the Builders plot/mystery or told us anything new from Season 3. They're just as mysterious and we know that something killed them despite how advanced they were! The new info seems to be the "feeling" Holden has when he travels through the rings and that Elvi felt when she touched the Eye of Sauron. But as long as Holden left the Sol system we would have touched on that feeling! If anything, losing the Investigator sets us back because it was the best source of answering questions on that front!

Meanwhile, Ashford/Drummer's storyline about Marco turns out to be the most directly relevant to what looks to be the set-up to Season 5. Bobbie is revealed to be tied into the whole thing with the strong implication that her outfit was the one selling to him. And Avasalara largely ends up losing because of her botched attempts to capture him rather than just blowing him up. She comes closest to Ilus given that the election is caused by the conflict in philosophy over the ring worlds but that seems less Ilus specific and more a natural result over how to deal with the ring worlds. It's funny you say her storyline was show-only content to keep her around because she was arguably the nexus that connected all the plotlines, if only loosely!

As for the seasons, I'd have to re-watch the older ones to be sure, but I think I'd say 3 > 2 > 4 > 1. All good but 2 and especially 3 were amazing.

as for the old structure the real terror was the eye parasites. even amos was shook to the max. death slugs had nothing on that. i'm almost amazed they all recovered, the explanation we got made me think the damage wasn't going to really be reversible after a point!

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also you wouldn't believe how much trouble it is for me to remember ilus's spelling correctly.

i blame mass effect for ilos and illium. keep wanting to say ilum dammit.

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Yeah, Ilus is difficult to keep straight for me, too, perhaps for that same reason.

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I also have to contend with:

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Ilum

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also Clannad is on Netflix now and I'm debating introducing the fiancee to it

although she is a subs over dubs woman so it could be difficult

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LeonhartFour posted...

also Clannad is on Netflix now and I'm debating introducing the fiancee to it

although she is a subs over dubs woman so it could be difficult

Why would that make it difficult? Clannad's dub is pretty weak.
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because dubs forever

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Since you're rewatching the series, you could go with Japanese voices for the new experience.
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Ai Nonaka loli though

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>Clannad on Netflix

aw yeah

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#10. Episode II. Attack of the Clones

The Good: I think this is Mace Windu's best role in the prequels. I imagine most people would say Episode III because of the confrontation with Palpatine, but I'm kinda iffy on that one, which we might discuss later. I like his role in the big battle at the end. Windu just straight up decapitating Jango is probably the big "Whoa" moment of the movie to me, at least in terms of "I didn't see that coming," certainly not quite in that way. The one big "Whoa" moment for most people is the Yoda lightsaber duel, which is probably the height of absurd fun in the prequels, more than anything Episode III throws at us. It's silly and you can quibble with it if you want, but I prefer to just enjoy the thing at face value. Speaking of something absurd that I enjoy because it's simply so ridiculous, most of the prequels' humor falls flat for me, but I ironically enjoy the whole, "You don't want to sell me death sticks" exchange at the beginning.

The Bad: Much like Episode I, most of the movie is just boring. So much just sitting around and talking. Dooku is easily the most boring villain the series has produced. I love Christopher Lee, but he really does just get wasted in both this one and the next. Perhaps the worst thing in the entire prequel trilogy (maybe even the series as a whole) is the Anakin/Padme "romance." We very rarely use the word "unbelievable" in its most literal sense, but it's literally unbelievable that Padme falls in love with Anakin, especially in the aftermath of him slaughtering the Tuskan raiders. The dialogue between them is just so bad and so wooden, even my fiancee was cringing watching those scenes.

The Best: I used to think I was alone in this until recently when some other B8ers expressed the same sentiment, but I always loved the part where Obi-wan is investigating the clone army and talking to the Fetts. It's really the only moment in the prequels where it feels like there's legitimate intrigue and tension without it being in your face and over the top about it. The prequels almost never do subtlety, but they somehow manage it here. Honestly, I hadn't watched the prequels from start to finish since they first came out until I decided to watch the entire series with my fiancee, but for whatever the reason, that scene was always the part I looked back fondly on more than any other. For this scene alone, even though the rest of the movie is probably worse than Episode I, I can't rank it dead last.

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Oh right, I meant to address something from xp's post about The Expanse a little earlier, but I guess I forgot! It's just a little thing though. I think the fact that Cara Gee finally got promoted to the opening credits means Drummer isn't going anywhere anytime soon. I don't think they'd have done that if they planned to jettison her after Season 4. They know they've got a good thing in Drummer, so I don't expect they'll waste that.

Oh yeah, I guess I could do my updated Expanse character rankings post-season 4!

Holden > Miller > Amos > Drummer > Ashford > Prax > Alex > Naomi > Cotyar > Avasarala > Fred > Bobbie > Melba > Anna > Murtry > Mao > Marco

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Well, yeah, upon some obvious further thinking about it: Drummer is tied in pretty well to Naomi/Naomi's son/Marco/Ashford that she'll have sufficient reason to come into play even in spite of what she said.

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Also, since everyone else is talking Star Wars I decided to watch it too.

but because i live in the past this means i watched The Last Jedi.

the heck was the controversy about anyway, the movie was fine. in some ways it may have been the best.

My only real criticisms are that the fake-out Leia getting spaced was weird/silly/unnecessary and that I'm not buying that Luke jobs to Kylo at any age. I guess some answers about Snoke would be nice too but there's another movie for that even though I think it's 50/50 we get them considering he's dead. but everything else was pretty great. Rey, Finn, and Poe were all good. Luke having played KotOR2 in the timeskip was fine. I was a bit apprehensive when Kylo went to take over instead of being redeemed because I thought that could have been an interesting development for the next movie provided someone stepped into Snoke's role but I was sold with the Kylo/Luke showdown that this was cool too.

Also ramming at lightspeed is a highly undervalued tactic tbqh. Forget the Death Star, pretty sure if the Empire did that to planets they would have saved money given the absurd amount of energy you get out of E=mc^2 with a ship. If you could set those up remotely you wouldn't even have a purpose for capital class starships! You'd wreck the Empire's biggest advantage!

Though I guess I'm left wondering why the Episode IX trailers have Palpatine/Sidious voicing part of it. Kept expecting him to show in the endgame because of it lol.

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I feel like there's only controversy about TLJ if you're a Star Wars purist because the movie didn't do what a lot of the fanbase wanted it to do, especially when it comes to Rey.

I consider myself a big Star Wars fan, but I wouldn't consider myself super engrossed in it. I never read any of the books, and I think the only game I ever played was Shadows of the Empire for N64. Well, I might have played some of the SNES games back when I was a little kid, but I barely remember them.

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I'm a huge Star Wars fan (played the card game, read over 100 books, saw a bunch of the movies multiple times in theaters, etc.) and I still thought TLJ was great.
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I'll use spoilers for the newer movies because those are obviously less well known than the originals and the prequels.

#9. Solo: A Star Wars Story

The Good: As a popcorn flick, it's entertaining enough, although I wouldn't call it memorable. There are lots of action setpieces throughout the movie, but I honestly can't remember a lot of them. I haven't rewatched it since I saw it in the theater though. It was good to see Chewie get a big role again, although I laughed when they teased the possibility of him dying in a literal origin story. I did kinda mark out at the Darth Maul cameo at the end, but then I realized that they would never do anything with it, so whatever.

The Bad: I'm sorry, but that dude is not Han Solo. He's some random guy cosplaying as Han Solo. I've never been able to get past it. He has zero of the charm of Harrison Ford. I'm not saying he has to look like him or whatever. He just doesn't channel any of his style. I think I'd have been able to enjoy the movie more if it had just been some random guy and not Han Solo. Maybe that's shallow of me, but that's how I feel about it. Also, there is absolutely nothing essential about this movie. It is an optional spinoff in every sense of the word, and you're missing out on nothing by not watching it. There are very few surprises (except for the Darth Maul cameo), but that's also the drawback of an origin story. It's hard to throw surprise twists in there, but they don't really do anything special when it comes to Han's origins, meeting Chewie and Lando, or whatever. It's pretty much exactly as you'd imagine it to be, which I guess is fine, but then it's like, why did we need a movie about it?

The Best: Now Donald Glover as Lando is the exact opposite of Han's actor (whose name I can never remember and I don't feel like looking it up). It's not that he looks anything like Billy Dee Williams (because he doesn't), but he captures the cadences of his voice, his mannerisms, everything. He really nails the role here, and he's the best part of the movie. The end of the movie is a pretty solid climax, with the infamous Kessel run, as well as Han pulling a fast one on everyone (except Emilia Clarke, of course), including Lando at the end to win the Millennium Falcon. Overall, I wouldn't say Solo is a bad movie. It just doesn't feel like it needs to exist, and it's not particularly memorable. I'll probably watch it again with my fiancee one of these days because she's never seen it, but I'm not in a particularly big hurry to do so.

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I watched Solo on a flight this summer and I'm pretty sure I couldn't recall a single detail about it.

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I liked the climax of the movie on the last planet. The Kessel Run was lame though. Also the part where the L3-37 becomes one with the Falcon was very cool.

Solo - 5/10
TPM - 5.5/10
AotC - 6.5/10

These are the three movies I'd give scores less than 8 to.
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Yeah, I honestly considered putting Solo last. There's just nothing special about this movie. Episode I and II might not be very good overall, but they at least have one or two memorable moments that every fan can recall immediately.

also I learned that George Lucas originally wanted to call Episode II "The Adventures of Jar Jar Binks"

that dude is a masterful troll of his own fanbase at times

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I guess I will continue being the only person who enjoys episode 1. Jar Jar is dumb but I pretty much like everything else about the movie. Naboo is just a cool planet in general; I liked the podracing scene as well as the stuff with Palpatine; and the entire ending sequence is great.

My ranking of the movies I've seen (episodes 1-8) is probably something like 5>8>3>6>1>7>>>4>2
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wow that is some ranking

I could almost accept it aside from 4 being way near the bottom

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I like 1 slightly better than 2, but those two are easily at the bottom of the main series. I barely count Solo, so not including that here.

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What it amounts to is that I don't think the story/characters of the Star Wars series are anything noteworthy aside from maybe the top 2-3 in the ranking. But, at least all the other ones in the middle have good directing/special effects/action sequences such that I can find something to enjoy with the combination of all of the above. Episode 4...doesn't and is just bad all around.
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pyresword posted...

My ranking of the movies I've seen (episodes 1-8) is probably something like 5>8>3>6>1>7>>>4>2

wow this is shockingly close to mine

down with a new hope

8 > 6 > 5 > 3 > Rouge One > 7 > 2 > 1 > 4

Top 3 I'm not completely sure of. Especially TLJ since I ltierally watched it a few hours ago and I'm never completely sure on RotJ v ESB even though I usually give it to RotJ. 3 and Rouge One are also very good. Last 3... are not. But 1 and 2 are still okay for some dumb fun at times. The end of 2 keeps it above 1 along with my boy Mace Windu.

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what is happening in here

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I think I've watched TPM like six times. I quite enjoyed it the first five!

In fact, I think Revenge of the Sith might be the only one of the main 9 I've only watched once...?
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Now I want a Sonic Adventure style parody called Rouge One

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The Mana Sword posted...

what is happening in here

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LeonhartFour posted...

Now I want a Sonic Adventure style parody called Rouge One

it's called sonic adventure 2

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I...guess I can see the parallels

except nobody died at the end

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Also, I think we are going to Dublin, London, and Paris for our honeymoon. I've never been to Europe before, so that will be fun. After this, I'll just need to visit Asia and Australia to have visited all the inhabitable continents!

although I guess I might need to visit Canada or something in order to count North America

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Fun! How long?

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We found a vacation package with a Groupon for 9 full days, 3 in each city. I've always wanted to visit Ireland (because of my family heritage) and France (because of all the French I took in high school and college that I've largely forgotten), so it'll be fun.

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#8. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

The Good: Unlike the first two prequels, Episode III is loaded with action. It's certainly enjoyable for that alone. I don't know that it's necessarily all good action (The Grievous stuff is all kinda "eh"), but I can't accuse it of being boring, if nothing else. I will say that this movie does a pretty good job of justifying Anakin's heel turn through the ineptitude and hypocrisy of the Jedi Council. I'm not sure that was the intent, but whatever...!

The Bad: While it avoids the pitfall of nothing happening for long stretches of time like the first two, it does still have a lot of their other shortcomings. The dialogue is still kinda cringe-worthy ("You're breaking my heart, Ani!" being the worst offender). I honestly think the Anakin/Obi-wan duel at the end is a little overrated. I think they play with the setting too much instead of just having them fight. While I said they did a good job of justifying the heel turn, Anakin is still hard to like or sympathize with, especially when he's shouting, "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" after the fight is over. The prequels don't really do a good job of developing the friendship between Anakin and Obi-wan (which I've heard the Clone Wars fixes, so maybe I should watch it), so the emotional impact of the betrayal falls a little flat for me. A lot of Episode III feels a bit forced to me in order to make it fit the original trilogy, but that's part of the inherent issues of doing prequels in general.

The Best: After being largely subdued up to this point, Palpatine goes full ham in this movie. This is the one time I actually really love the cheese of the prequels. UNLIMITED POWER! Honestly, the fight between Yoda and Palpatine might be my favorite one in the movie. I do respect Yoda for recognizing his own fault (and the Jedi council in general) in Anakin's failure, although I don't know why every Jedi's first instinct after a major failure is to go into hiding!

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LeonhartFour posted...

The Best: After being largely subdued up to this point, Palpatine goes full ham in this movie. This is the one time I actually really love the cheese of the prequels. UNLIMITED POWER! Honestly, the fight between Yoda and Palpatine might be my favorite one in the movie. I do respect Yoda for recognizing his own fault (and the Jedi council in general) in Anakin's failure, although I don't know why every Jedi's first instinct after a major failure is to go into hiding!

Palpatine carries this movie.

higher than you have it in fact!

also yoda and windu get screwed by plot fiat. both should have won tbqhhhh

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Yeah, I think that's the main reason I'm not a fan of the Windu/Palpatine moment in Episode III like some people are. It feels like Windu got cheated (and he did! plot hax).

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I do like that ep 9 spoilers Rey defeats Palpatine in TRoS by using the same method Windu did in RotS
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Rise of Skywalker beated.

Unsure on where exactly it fits in the ranking but it's solidly mid tier Star Wars. Action was great as usual. Some of the parts of the movie were overly cheesy (like when the cavalry arrives at the end), but it's kind of supposed to be a feel-good movie so whatever.

I don't know how to feel about Kylo Ren's arc. I feel like the opportunity to give him a redemption arc already passed last movie and this just feels haphazard as a result. Would have liked it more if he just stayed a villain. It's unclear whether my criticisms of that arc should be directed at this movie or the last one, but I liked The Last Jedi more so whatever. Also I don't know why Palpatine was back but he was great in this movie so I won't complain.

Low-key the best thing about the movie was the song that was playing as Rey was exploring the ruins of the Death Star. The haunting and ancient sounding harp notes overlaid with the strings playing a somber version of the Imperial March was just *chef's kiss*
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The Mandalorian Season 1 complete

That was a really cool finale. I'll be sad to see some of these characters go, but the setup for Season 2 seems promising.

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pyresword posted...

Low-key the best thing about the movie was the song that was playing as Rey was exploring the ruins of the Death Star. The haunting and ancient sounding harp notes overlaid with the strings playing a somber version of the Imperial March was just *chef's kiss*

And yes, this moment was fantastic. I totally agree that it was a great rendition of the Imperial March that fit the moment so well.

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Rise of Skywalker beated. I liked it a lot! My favorite of the new trilogy.

I was actually shocked that the movie straight up opens with Palpatine being back. No dancing around it. Just being straightforward. I liked the way they chose to do it. Don't care if it makes sense or not because Palpatine is great. Wish the previous movies had properly lead up to it.

I was shocked again when Rey, Finn and Poe were actually together, and going on a mission, and acting like friends. They were real fun to watch. I really liked the dynamic between them. Wish the previous movies had properly lead up to it.

And then they did a great job with Kylo. I liked the kiss at the end. I liked how he got his redemption and he was pretty badass. The only weakness was his mom in the end. Probably my favorite character and yet again fighting in a throne room with Rey was a highlight. Great arc. Wish the previous movies had properly lead up to it.

Besides that, action was great. Story was good. Adventure was fun. And if I were to rank the movies by how great 3PO is in them: 9>>>>6>4>5>2>3>1>8>7


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Episode II is the worst C-3PO appearance because that whole head-switching thing was dumb

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Rewatched the 1st and 4th-8th Harry Potter movies since USA was marathoning them the past few days, and now I'm rereading the first book for the first time in probably a decade. Still good!

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Oh yeah, you know what really got me hyped in ep 9? I actually said out loud "Wedge!" when I saw him. That was so cool.

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#7. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

The Good: Star Wars hasn't really done the ragtag band of misfits trope before this (although The Mandalorian is trying to have a rotating cast of misfits), and I think they did pretty well here. I really like Jyn Erso, Chirrut, and K-2SO, who is the best droid in Star Wars to date. I wasn't a huge fan of Cassian, but he was decent enough by the end. Also, it was great to see Darth Vader in action again, rampaging and destroying people left and right. That might be the last time we ever hear James Earl Jones as Vader. I know some people didn't like the "Don't choke on your own ambitions" joke, but I thought it was right in line with stuff like, "Apology accepted, Captain Needa." I also enjoyed the Princess Leia cameo at the end, obvious CGI or not. It's so weird to think Carrie Fisher passed away only a week or so after the movie came out.

The Bad: It takes a really long time for Rogue One to get going. Plus, with this being a prequel, you do already know how this is going to end up, so all of the time Jyn insists she's not going to help the rebellion feels empty because, well, you know she ultimately will. The CGI on Leia and Tarkin is a little rough, and while I do love James Earl Jones as Vader, he does sound his age a bit with this performance, which made me feel a little sad because that's one of the most iconic voices in cinema.

The Best: The final battle as they try to steal the Death Star plans is easily the highlight of the movie and makes up for the slow pacing up to this point. Before the movie came out, I had a pretty strong feeling that the entire team was going to die because there had to be a reason you don't hear from these guys in the OT or the ST. I mean, I guess they could have gone into hiding because that's what Star Wars heroes do, but still, I do appreciate that they all did the heroic sacrifice pretty well. It didn't feel cheap or contrived. It's definitely one of the best Star Wars climaxes.

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Another really good thing about Rogue One is the Death Star visual effects are stunning and the test fire on Jakku is a great "from the surface" look at the horror and when it reappears at the end you're like "oh god".

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Joe Burrow is currently on pace to throw for 800 yards and 14 TDs.

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