Because what else is it going to be about, today? Continue reading “All #RogueOne, all the time: Best #StarWars tweets for December 9-15”
Today in Rogue One: Behind the red carpet, weapons, and fashion
The Star Wars Show goes behind the scenes at the Rogue One red carpet and takes a look at the film’s weapons.
→ Entertainment Weekly has a roundup of the major publication reviews. They’re a little more mixed than seems the standard, but there are honestly so many reviews out there that I lost track. (Lots of “best Star Wars since Empire!” Again. A new yearly tradition?)
→ Speaking of traditions, Lining Up is still at it (and sold out,) though only for 48 hours this time.
→ Ben Mendelsohn is all about the cape. The real world fashion is all over the blogs: Although they think she started strong, Tom and Lorenzo are increasing disappointed in Felicity Jone’s dresses. (And the men get dinged for showing up in jeans while she’s in full formalwear, which is pretty par for the course.) The Fug Girls cast a wider, but less critical, net. No one likes the lavender.
→ FYI, I know the film was shown in some international markets today, and I’ll have a discussion post up on the site tomorrow, just ahead of the first U.S. showings at 7 p.m. EDT.
Video: Rogue One cast answers the internet’s most most pressing questions
Well, this is charming. Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendelsohn, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen, Felicity Jones and Diego Luna answer questions posed by Google searches.
Review: Rogue One gives us a new (but familiar) blueprint for big-screen Star Wars
If Rogue One makes anything clear, it’s this: The standalone movies are the new Expanded Universe. Now, I mean this from a wider perspective than just “how the Death Star plans got stolen.” (Yes, there were a number of stories about that in the old EU. I am, full disclosure, happy to not be particularly familiar with any of them.) But this is a movie that has as its basic concept a handful of lines from the opening crawl of A New Hope. And that alone feels to me like a very EU concept.
In short: Ten years ago, Rogue One would have a been a novel or a comic series. There was a big move to this exact sort of thing in the late days of the Legends EU – Heart of Darkness starring Mace Windu (Shatterpoint,) a small-town western starring Obi-Wan (Kenobi,) zombie stormtroopers (Deathtroopers, a term reused here – with a space – for black-clad but presumably not-undead troopers.) These books took big concepts and genres and rendered them as Star Wars. And that’s precisely what Rogue One does – Star Wars through the lens of a gritty war movie.
Rogue One is the evolved version of this, envisioned as a real movie for a franchise that’s only recently revived itself back onto the big screen with a $2B bang. For those that felt that The Force Awakens may have played it safe, well, here’s something entirely different. It’s recognizably the same galaxy – you don’t need Mon Mothma or Darth Vader to remind you of that – but it’s a different spin on it. (The daddy issues, though – those remain.)
Star Wars out this week: Rogue One and assorted accessories
Well, there’s a movie out this week. Whether you see it first thing Thursday night or wait for the weekend, know one thing: The Rogue One books are out on Friday. Namely, the novelization by Alexander Freed (eBook only,) the Rogue One Ultimate Visual Guide by Pablo Hidalgo and The Art of Rogue One. I haven’t seen any of them yet, but based on prior experience I say get the Visual Guide first.
For those looking for a different sort of prequel, there’s Poe Dameron #9 on Wednesday.
Today(ish) in Rogue One: Embargos, aliens and clips
Yes, I’m a bit behind on this one, but sometimes 10 inches of snow happens and you have to shovel it. Twice. And then, uh, go to a thing in-between. Which brings us to the real reason for this item: To remind you that reviews for Rogue One come off embargo at noon EST (9 a.m. PST) tomorrow. Consider yourself warned!
→ Entertainment Weekly has a gallery of the new aliens and droids we’ll see in Rogue One. That’s Beezer Fortuna on the right, and as Pablo points out, he seems to be inspired by an old Bib Fortuna maquette.
→ Bob Iger does the CEO thing and plays it safe re: that one boycott. “Frankly, this is a film that the world should enjoy. It is not a film that is, in any way, a political film. There are no political statements in it, at all.” This film? Maybe. The franchise? Well…
→ The cast was on Jimmy Kimmel on Friday. Watch all the videos at Jedi News or just skip straight to the clip.
→ Another new clip, plus featurettes on Scarif and the Maldives and Alan Tudyk and K-2SO from the red carpet livestream. (You can watch the red carpet interviews and other features individually thanks to Disney’and Experience.)
→ Of course there’s an Uber tie-in.
Live: The Rogue One premiere livestream
Straight from Hollywood!
Today in Rogue One: Hear a preview of Michael Giacchino’s score
Entertainment Weekly brought us our first listen of Michael Giacchino’s Rogue One score. I’m not really much of a score junkie, but it sounds good! If you want to dig a little deeper, the full track listing has been spotted. There are few intriguing things there, so take it as you will.
→ Chatting about Columbia’s Rogue One jackets with the brand’s director of apparel design, Debra Criss. These are really some of the most impressive clothing tie-ins we’ve seen with this film, so it’s nice to learn more.
→ There’s been some pretty ridiculous stuff running around Twitter regarding an “anti-Trump” message being inserted into Rogue One at the last minute. While Star Wars has never shied away from some pointed commentary, the timeline alone here makes that deeply unrealistic. And in any case, certain themes have been baked in since the start. I expect this boycott will bear about as much fruit as the last one did.
→ The interviews: Gareth Edwards on diversity, reshoots and the “team sport” method of Star Wars (and/or filmmaking in general.) Riz Ahmed raps. The Wrap calls Donnie Yen “the perfect breakout star for 2017” and he tells Mashable “Give me a lightsaber, you wouldn’t have two hours of storytelling.”
→ A quick guide to the Star Wars books, films and TV you may want to catch up on before Rogue One.
Talk Diego to me: Best #StarWars and #RogueOne tweets for December 1-8
This week we heard a lot – A LOT – about Rogue One. Some people saw some of it, there was some press stuff… You know the drill. Also, a thread about fan theories, books, and what does Rogue One know?
(Yes! One WEEK!) Continue reading “Talk Diego to me: Best #StarWars and #RogueOne tweets for December 1-8”
Rumor: The what’s what of Snoke in Episode VIII
Making Star Wars today claims they have the technical scoop on Supreme Leader Snoke in Episode VIII. There’s a tiny bit of timeline detail, but nothing we can’t already assume already.