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So...I was at vacationing Smith Mountain Lake with the family when the Star Wars: Force Awakens teaser trailer premiered last month, just after Thanksgiving, and I never posted it here.
One good reason: I couldn't access my blog from our cabin (no wi-fi).
Another good reason, I was helping my eight-year old son, Joel, film a found-footage horror movie with his cousins. It's about a rural maniac who tps (toilet-papers) his victims in the woods. I play the Crazy Old Man/Ralph character warning the kids not to go into the woods.
But back on topic. Since the end of November, this brief first peek at the new Star Wars has been, probably, the most dissected teaser in cinematic history. And a few folks have e-mailed me and asked me my thoughts on it.
I've watched the teaser a number of times, read many shot-by-shot analyses of it, and also observed. fan response (which, not surprisingly, is divided.)
And I still arrive at the conclusion...that we simply don't have enough good information to formulate any guess as to the quality of the film, or its story.
The images in the very brief trailer are selected primarily for purposes of introduction (to our new young cast, droids included), and nostalgia for the OT: TIE fighters, X-Wings and the Millennium Falcon.
These selections say a lot about the movie's demographic appeal. Young and old alike will find something to like here! This one is going to try, hopefully successfully, to bridge generations.
Personally, I am not bothered by the design of the new light saber or the ball droid, or the rectangular dish on the Millennium Falcon, and I imagine it took some degree of restraint not to include imagery of Han, Luke, or Princess Leia in the teaser.
Contrarily, it might have been nice to see R2 and C-3PO -- even for a second -- since they are the only on-screen link between three eras of Star Wars storytelling.
Otherwise, I was neither bowled over nor debauched by the teaser. The full trailer, when it drops, should give us a bit more to chew on.
In the scheme of other movies trailers I've featured here lately (which are not teasers, importantly), Star Wars falls somewhere in the middle of the pack.
At this juncture The Force Awakens looks more palatable than Terminator 5, and about a million times less colorful and inspired than Mad Max: Fury Road.
So, the countdown begins. One year from today, the saga continues...
The images in the very brief trailer are selected primarily for purposes of introduction (to our new young cast, droids included), and nostalgia for the OT: TIE fighters, X-Wings and the Millennium Falcon.
These selections say a lot about the movie's demographic appeal. Young and old alike will find something to like here! This one is going to try, hopefully successfully, to bridge generations.
Personally, I am not bothered by the design of the new light saber or the ball droid, or the rectangular dish on the Millennium Falcon, and I imagine it took some degree of restraint not to include imagery of Han, Luke, or Princess Leia in the teaser.
Contrarily, it might have been nice to see R2 and C-3PO -- even for a second -- since they are the only on-screen link between three eras of Star Wars storytelling.
Otherwise, I was neither bowled over nor debauched by the teaser. The full trailer, when it drops, should give us a bit more to chew on.
In the scheme of other movies trailers I've featured here lately (which are not teasers, importantly), Star Wars falls somewhere in the middle of the pack.
At this juncture The Force Awakens looks more palatable than Terminator 5, and about a million times less colorful and inspired than Mad Max: Fury Road.
So, the countdown begins. One year from today, the saga continues...
