Plus: Thor’s new ‘do and a Robert Osborne tribute weekend.
There are still likely several months to go before we of the general public will get see any footage from Rian Johnson’s Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, but if you’re a Disney shareholder you had the opportunity to sneak a peek at a few first clips today. Though none of this footage will be released online until trailer-time, thanks to Los Angeles Times reporter Daniel Miller, we at least have a cursory idea about what it looks like, and furthermore we know for sure now that the film starts right where The Force Awakens left off: with Rey extending a lightsaber to Luke. This isn’t really new news, Johnson confirmed it long ago, but what it new is what Luke says to Rey in this first exchange…
This is technically a spoiler of sorts, so if you want to go into The Last Jedi fresh and unaware, maybe scroll down to the Thor stuff.
Okay, everyone still here ready? Those first words are…
“Who are you?”
While this might seem like a “huh” sort of opening upon first glance, keep in mind it would seem to refute one of the major fan theories about this new generation of films, namely the idea that Luke could be Rey’s father. Knowing what we know now, if he is, he’s been so absent he doesn’t recognize the girl, nor does the Force alert him to their connection, which I might just be assuming it would.
According to Miller, Chewie (Joonas Suotamo), Finn (John Boyega) and Leia (the late Carrie Fisher) all make brief if silent appearances in the footage, and there’s plenty of epic scenery – “mountains, oceans, forests, deserts” – as well as a wrecked X-wing.
Again, this isn’t a plethora of information, but any Star Wars news is good news. The Last Jedi opens December 15, 2017. Expect a trailer, or at least a teaser, sometime around the start of summer.
In other news and points of interest…
… If you like video criticism and women – who doesn’t? – then you’re going to love this list of Female Visual Critics (video essayists) put together by Catherine Grant in celebration of International Women’s Day 2017. So much great work here, some of which we’ve featured and some of which we will be in the weeks to come…
…And if you like your disaster movies utterly insane – again, who doesn’t? – then you need to get your eyes on the first teaser trailer for Geostorm starring Gerard Butler…
…Entertainment Weekly provided a first look at Chris Hemsworth, Cate Blanchett, and Tessa Thompson in Thor: Ragnarok. The film releases in November…
…Starting at 6am the Saturday, TCM is dedicating 48 hours of programming to Robert Osborne, the network’s long-time host who passed away earlier this link. Jump here to see what they have planned…
Over in our corner of the internet we’ve had a lot of really interesting posts go up in the last 24 hours, including Matthew Monagle’s look at the cinematic bloodbaths of author and Texan Joe Lansdale, Christopher Campbell’s most-excellent countdown of the most badass movie characters from Texas, Rob Hunter’s review of Kong: Skull Island, a video exploring the cinematography of Sean Bobbitt (12 Years a Slave, Shame), and Scott Begs ranking the best movies about Texas.
And lastly, take a look at five of the most popular shots we tweeted yesterday. Want more? You know where to find us.
Related Topics: Comics, One Perfect Shot, Texas
