Star Wars The Last Jedi | West Coast Midnight Run

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Star Wars The Last Jedi | From Disney Motion Pictures Studios and Lucasfilm Ltd.; Matk Hamill returns in the role that defined an industry of science fiction copycats, Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi, starring Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega and Isaac Jacobs along with a cameo from Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia and with androids C3PO, BB8 and R2D2 in tow. Luke Skywalker is joined by mysterious Rey (Ridley) who has an immeasurable connection with The Force whom she seeks for guidance and training while The First Order (Driver) is on the move to end The Republic (Fischer), The Rebel Alliance (Boyega, Jacobs), and The Last Jedi. A music editorial treatment and film review presented by West Coast Midnight Run with the music influence of M83, Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren, Gwen Stefani, and leading music notables.




Our Star Wars The Last Jedi film and music editorial review is in production, in the meantime please enjoy our exclusive all original music editorial treatment of The Force Awakens and Rogue One plus the first salvo of a three-part The Last Jedi music editorial presentation subtitled "The Science Fiction Controversy?"


STAR WARS THE LAST JEDI FILM REVIEW




Star Wars The Last Jedi was almost pre-ordained from the day George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd. announced he was stepping down and that Disney will be adding the fabled North California magic factory to its Magic Kingdom portfolio.  The Angels, cried for Star Wars and Indiana Jones were the only two long term franchise movies series created by Lucas and both had exhausted their product lifecycle with global audiences years earlier.  Making things worse, critics who now sing the well-practiced chorus “… the prequels were NOT so bad” saw fit back then to endlessly criticize Lucas’s creative efforts and in the process cornered the studio into a dead end – possibly scaring off investment dollars and financiers – in spite of the fact the second series of Star Wars sequels were doing exceedingly well at the box office, with practically two of the three flirting with the One Billion mark in sales ($848 Million and $1.03 B).

Not all business agendas in Hollywood benefit from a tell-all expose on 60 minutes.  Some business deals are scrutinized by analysts and their conclusions remain business confidential while a more suitable version of events is merchandised for public goodwill.  Unfortunately for the business world, Hollywood trolls and their groupies have hijacked and co-opted the term “whitewashing” for ethnic casting purposes when it typically means cleaning up dirty laundry and only making public the pretty and rosy clean sheets.  



Whitewashing is a term used by public accountancy firms when a faction decides to cook a financial report or arbitrarily wipe out off balance sheet liabilities.  It is also used when an engineering firm decides to overlook certain environmental or life safety issues when performing a feasibility study for review by a government agency or by a due diligence team.  Whitewashing can be used by a manufacturing firm, for instance when the Ford Pinto design is hazardous to the consumer or the Morton-Thiokol seals are questionably brittle for the Space Program.

So it was completely understood that the new Disney Lucasfilm Star Wars would undergo an overhaul to revitalize an extremely popular brand and infuse it with new ideas and content that would make it rival Coke Cola in consumer popularity and durability.

As of the premiere weekend for The Last Jedi, the internet chatter of large blocks of fans has backfired into the face of the almost unanimous and glowing reviews secured by the studio from the biggest names in print and online media.  Still the initial box office receipts results of the premiere event have seemingly validated the risk the movie studio has taken on the new sequel and its provocative continuation of the storylines it had started with The Force Awakens and successfully parlayed in Rogue One, a product extension series that explores territory cultivated by a series of novelizations and video games that have expanded the Star Wars universe for close-knit fandom communities.


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The Last Jedi stars our new heroes with Daisy Ridley leading as Jedi heir apparent Rey flanked by Finn, former First Order stormtrooper (John Boyega) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), a dashing no holds barred X-Wing fighter, a Bruce Lee in the cockpit and a super hot head that recollects some of Han Solo’s and Luke Skywalker worst and brashest impulsive qualities.  Our new heroes are also propped up by the original series General Leia (Carrie Fisher in her final role) and her brother Jedi Master Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).  The friends and allies of peace, harmony and civilized galactic democracy are pitched against the new and vile First Order with the one who sits on the throne of The Emperor (Snoke of The Sith played by Andy Sirkis) and his underlings Kylo Ren (Adam Driver as son of Han Solo and Leia and nephew of Luke) along with General Hux (Domnhall from Harry Potter) and Captain Phasma (Christine Gwendoline of Game of Thrones).

With Rian Johnson in the director’s chair it’s easy to see how Disney relied on an entirely new tone and spirit that would usher in new audiences and push off with a sharp almost vertical take off from The Force Awakens’ pace and tempo.

The Force Awakens was a commercial mega success crossing the $2 Billion mark and Disney was hoping to reproduce that magic bullet with both Rogue One and The Last Jedi, essentially recovering its investment in Lucasfilm within a span of four years with change to spare.  In fact as of this editorial, Disney has already made financial headlines for its holidays shopping spree - with 21st Century Fox and the entire Fox network being eyed for an acquisition by the House of Mighty Mouse.  

However the biggest pushback has been from fans criticizing it as nothing more than a rehash of the very first Star Wars (1977) with Rey as a female stand-in for Luke.


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And behold, the viewer is certain to be surprised by new currents sweeping the First Order and the galaxy.  We get to enjoy moments of sexting and “online” flirting, dating and perhaps romance between the unlikeliest of parties who use their connection with The Force to challenge each other in the privacy of their personal quarters – bringing to mind modern online adult matchmaking and dating sites with Skype and video cams allowing parties across town and across continents to chat in undies and throw dares at each other.  Last Jedi plays up this parallel with online romance and dating that is both lampooned and quite effectively made part of the storyline only we’re not using AOL and You’ve Got Mail, it’s more you have ESP powers wi-fi linked to The Force.  And lo and behold the plot thickens because we also have backdoor hacking and malware from The Sith.

We call it The Force Wi-Fi Semper Fi network.  And Adam Driver as half naked Kylo bristles with sex appeal as his correspondent on the “Skype Force” asks him with uncharacteristic modesty to please put his shirt on as he is obviously stirring undesirable feelings.  Kylo, like an absolute gentleman eager to please, obliges without even as much as a witty comeback.



We also have a lovable whimsical subplot where Chewie is about to chew on new critters (cuter than Ewoks if you can believe it), the new Porgs are straight from Star Trek lore yet heavily dipped into Chinese Fuwa and Japanese Kawaii styles.  We were fortunate to intercept a Mark Hamill tweet to Bill Shatner slyly humoring him about Porgs.  Yes you read me right and it's NOT from any new Star Trek movies or Star Trek the Next Generation series.  The Porgs storyline and their presence all over the Jedi Temple island and the Falcon is straight out from the famed Tribbles episode of the 1960s Trek created by none other than .... drum roll please ... David Gerrold.  Yay David!!!!! Being so famous on the sci-fi convention circuit has its rewards.  And now David needs to ask Mickey nicely for a little royalty for Lucasfilm cleverly plagiarizing his idea about population explosion and the need to control those pesky "carbon units" that learn real fast - per Doctor Bones' (no cemetery or Halloween pun intended) comment from the 1979 big screen launch of Trek.

The Last Jedi offers many more surprises in story progression that are both exciting while lacking smoothness of presentation or narrative development.  There are five main events in this chapter with one being so massive in implications to the entire series and the new trilogy it is rumored as the chief source of discontent currently raging amongst those initial wave of movie viewers that have returned a Rotten Tomatoes poll rating of 56%, well below the critics’ ratings of 93%.  Put otherwise, unlike any other movie in the Star Wars series, the viewers are in sharp disagreement with the assessment of the film critics.



To delve into these elements would require we unveil some filmmaking insights to the reader.  You will need to read our review at length in the Members’ area (request your free for lifetime account to access the restricted content) or you can access the mainstream media reviews published from outlets such as Forbes, IGN, Vanity Fair to friendly amateur video reviews on YouTube and risk being bored from the “surprising developments” in store for you when you see this film.

All content © 2017 for West Coast Midnight Run™  and Citadel Consulting Group LLC

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Comments

FantasticSue571 - Fri, 12/08/2017 - 00:50
Comment: 

I find it both odd and funny that in The Last Jedi, Lucasfilm is showing us what really looks like a fake flimsy "Terminator" style hand, the one Vader cut off in Empire Strikes Back and at end of movie we see him equipped at the hospital with a new real looking sophisticated android hand with synthetic human skin cover.  What happened?  Did science go primitive decades later or that just looks Ultron cool?

SexyPussyKate24 - Sat, 12/09/2017 - 21:24
Comment: 

Writing off the Han Solo character in The Force Awakens was a mistake, it really looks stupid now with only Luke Skywalker remaining from the original main characters.  You can be sure Leia is also written off because of Fisher's passing in 2016.  Mark Hamill looks very bored as older Skywalker, not in shape and not up to the task of leading the rebellion, rebuilding the Jedi Order or taking on Snoke - He's no Yoda - just an erstwhile bored adventure seeking youth who once got sidetracked into taking on the Death Star and its improved copy.

JJ Rambo - Sun, 12/10/2017 - 20:39
Comment: 

You can fill in the blanks yourself, but the makeup artist and casting director have wasted a great opportunity with a young actress that could have looked stunning and strong.  Just not in the cards for the increasingly irrelevant male audience and the supremely catered to prima dona female audience swept up in the J Lo stylin' tough biatch from Compton.  The box office numbers have not shown this trend yet.  Disney does not need a reboot they need to clean house at the division setting up the new Lucasfilm unit after the takeover.

Darrin Fleming - Sun, 12/10/2017 - 22:54
Comment: 

I found Daisy Ridley to be a very sexy Rey and able Jedi-to-be character - the new super Jedi who needs no training to assimilate what seasoned Jedis take a lifetime to learn - probably Abrams' idea of making fun of immature teens and new generation of youth who can handle anything and know everything from the day they stopped sucking a pacifier in the crib - You're a little hard on her and extreme in your comment.

Shazzam_31 - Sat, 12/16/2017 - 05:15
Comment: 

For a brief while we were treated to cinematic prowess when Star Wars and Superman were released back to back in 1977 and 1978 and then further bolstered with The Empire Strikes Back - films that catered in content and style to old and young alike.  Since then the series has been on a downward spiral of immaturity (for older audiences) plagued by lack of creativity, poor stories and even worse dialogues, propelled only by big budget action and special effects extravaganzas.  The Last Jedi is no exception.

Darth Vader - Sat, 12/16/2017 - 21:53
Comment: 

For all the glowing reviews, I was super disappointed by The Last Jedi and its use of very cheap "tear jerker" moments for no reason other than to make the audience weep or tack on an emotional moment - without much success I might add because they felt "manufactured" or oddly fitted into the storyline for no other purpose than to be manipulative.  Sorry this movie didnt rise to the hype created by the media and for all of its busy storylines it felt "piled" on and not so smooth as would be expected from a well developed sequel.  No sooner they are there and they are broomed off from the stage (final scene with a broom is crappy sentimental).  This is definitely now a bad firm step in the WRONG direction.  Boos at Kathleen Kennedy and the shithole she is taking the franchise in; and she knows exactly what it is.

Sarah Connor 2015 - Sun, 12/17/2017 - 19:43
Comment: 

I am part of the "minority" of moviegoers who really enjoyed Star Wars The Last Jedi, warts and all. Dont forget the intense media hype had already lowered my expectations before going to see it, from previous instances where intense press coverage masked a lesser than perfect big budget studio film - The new Blade Runner rings a bell? Huge press and bad reception by public. Really I enjoyed all the special moments Rian worked into the storyline and the symbolic handing of the torch to the next set of heroes in the Star Wars mythology.

Some people are getting upset and calling the movie out on storyline or artistic issues. Keep in mind some people enjoy the new spins and twists, otherwise opening night would not have been so huge.

Looking forward to the third installment. Sighhh that's two years from now ;-(

jhoward_1999 - Sun, 12/17/2017 - 16:51
Comment: 

I'd say any moviegoer, especially guys that are into the Star Wars series as the ultimate action and daring exploits movie will notice the demise of Star Wars with this chapter that can be easily titled The Transgender Chapters - it is no longer about daring exploits of human civilizations and their reach to the outer stars complete with aspirations to conquer the furthest reaches of space, the populaity of the series has become a showcase of female executive egos eager to reseed almost all of the films' visible characters on camera as female (except for those they cannot due to the historical precedents of the series) and the playground of those wishing to play gender politics games with movie audiences.  The series will not last long at this point and the big numbers are from all of those eager to see Mark Hamill return as Luke as well as highly orchestrated "positive reviews" by film critics.  The next few weeks will tell the tale as word of mouth spreads.  The return of Luke is botched and so are so many elements you would need to deconstruct and destroy the movie in an honest review.  This one is a do over and the entire series deserves a new creative team for an urgent reboot.

UltronVoltron-V25 - Mon, 12/18/2017 - 16:54
Comment: 

the movie sucked. i didn't like force awaken, i felt it was lazy writing and remake of an earlier episode. i knew it was going to be garbage but rogue one was such a better movie, that i gave in and went to see this one and it was horrid. star wars rogue one is better.  have you checked out the horrible back draft from the fans online?  massive shredding of this film by those who saw it friday and saturday.

SKF Industrial - Thu, 12/21/2017 - 01:49
Comment: 

Some of us just dig plot spoilers, hehehehe, it's got dangerous all over it, you get big gasps and teeth grinding as you stand in line and chat away most of the movie's big bad booms while your girlfriend is sassing you and shushing you, lots of viewers go for this, kinda trendy and why many prominent reviewers and big name online magazines leak the movie all over the map weeks before the premiere.

Jennifer Edmond - Thu, 12/21/2017 - 04:40
Comment: 

Simple as that, thumbs way up, I only have a disagreement with the ending but it wasnt a deal killer

TheEnderTaz25 - Sun, 12/24/2017 - 00:31
Comment: 

I loved the Last Jedi and Luke so much so I am up and about crying foul about the filmmakers right to make a movie in which this character is given this many lines to say in front of the camera and the other character has that many lines to perform in front of the camera.  I mean the studio did not purchase the rights to the property and does not have the right to produce whatever movie they sit fit?  The fans in uproar?  What is the uproar about when they can just boycott the film and sell cheap T-shirts with slogans that are almost always in bad taste.  The fans uproar over social media seems to be a circus stunt from the 1990s Deep Space Nine Rick Berman reruns.

Captain Thor - Sun, 12/24/2017 - 00:42
Comment: 

I know Mickey and Kathleen Kennedy are unveiling new characters for Star Wars but bringing an old hand onboard such as Laura Dern (admiral Holdo to play Commander Adama of Galactica with fine PMS qualities).  Laura is primarily trading on Bruce Dern's brief trip to fame and the Hollywood spotlight.  She is an unknown quantity to sci-fi fans and the millennials who might be interested in Star Wars and definitely an unknown with audiences overseas.  Dern is an old maid, she is past her prime as a rising star, not a young pretty face to root for and she was given a very big role and pivotal scene that leaves viewers with WTF and OMFG what kind of BS is that.  I thought the director and writers were talking down to the audience in that and a few other scenes that made for insulting science fiction with a big Star Wars label stuck on its ass - imagine cheap blue jeans with expensive labels.

Dr Who 7413 - Sun, 12/24/2017 - 02:15
Comment: 

Crickey crickets Captain Thor I would have selected Katie Sachoff (sexy Apollonia - j/k) as Admiral Holdo Katie is hotttttt, vibrant and has a huge personality with an edge, she would have looked amazing on the big screen and imagine all of the Battlestar Galactica fans who also associate her with Commander Adama.  She would have been perfect as someone to chide Poe on his flying skills and brash disposition.  Fuck all the opportunities this movie threw out the window!!!

Logan Weapon X - Tue, 01/02/2018 - 05:03
Comment: 

There is a scene in Justice League which only but a small instance of why the movie sucked big time, there are many more awful examples but I dont want to spoil the yuk factor for viewers they should go see it and find out how reviewers dope their reviews en masse when they feel like it.  

In JL there is a scene where our heroes just take a break from their battles and we see them standing together as if posing for a class picture, Flash and Cyborg doing that bro hi five (made famous in Fantastic Four), but the really stinky part is the scenery around them which suddenly is a page from the Land of Oz complete with animated, fake, highly colored, flowers that bloom all of a sudden in a time lapse clip, yeah you read this right, all of a sudden we're with Dorothy in Oz from a Disney movie complete with spring butterflies and a little girl that stoops to take a whiff from that beautiful esoteric alien looking flower that just bloomed in front her at 70x time lapse photography and it is such a berserk moment of incompatible realities the viewers at that moment starts coughing on their bile and retching from the incredible work of the filmmakers who never for a moment doubted how inappropriate that scene is for the entire Justice League DC Comics universe.

Well friends, The Last Jedi has many such moments but like I said I want you to go see it because seeing is believing.  Bring along your Star Trek geek translator so they can "finesse" these moments with hours of explanations of "would be", "should have been" scenes that were meant to be in the film (by the director) but were edited from the final cut.

Leesa39 - Tue, 01/02/2018 - 19:40
Comment: 

I went to see the movie with my teen daughter and she absolutely loved the movie, for me it was OK but definitely not a revelation.  She asked what I thought of many of the guys dissing the movie as we left the theater and I smiled "The Last Jedi is a chick movie".  Most of the older viewers do not like the movie because it is ho-hum on originality and respun with Amazonian flavor.  Disney is not aiming at the older moviegoers, Hollywood is stuck in rerun modes with all the big sequels and the older fans are not longer a viable money-making constituency for filmmakers.  Of course if you have never seen the Star Wars saga and are not carrying any baggage from the trilogies of the past then it is a totally fun two hours of spectacular action and amazing characters.  The global population is bigger than ever thanks to digital frontiers and Star Wars is aiming to win its marketshare.  Disney is doing it exceedingly well.  The older viewers have had five decades of thrills and chills, it's okay, time to move on and let the younger, newer kids have their fun.

Hans Edward Castro - Thu, 01/04/2018 - 12:48
Comment: 

Luke Skywalker shows viewers he is the most powerful Jedi ever, he single handedly defeated Darth Vader, the undefeatable Sith Lord who wiped out all of the Jedi throughout the galaxy by himself, and now in the Last Jedi, Luke Skywalker by himself stands up to the entire First Order and holds them at bay while the Rebels get their team ready for battle - and he does it in a manner no Jedi ever could.  It's the reason Luke tells Rey the Jedi must end, I suppose the character feels the Jedi have too much power concentrated in an individual and their potential for doing evil and harm is too great to allow the Jedi Order to be rebuilt.

heidi_erso - Thu, 01/04/2018 - 15:58
Comment: 

it was a tossup which one i download, you had some justice league wallpaper and two from the last jedi, i ended up downloading all of them hehehehe - at full size they are incredible to look at.