**SPOILERS WITHIN**

Please continue pre-release discussion here.

Movie:
" Rogue One: A Star Wars Story " (Starring: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Donnie Yen, Alan Tudyk, Ben Mendelsohn, Wen Jiang, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen)

Release Date:
12/16/16

Rating:
PG-13 (for extended sequences of sci-fi violence and action throughout.)

Running Time:
133m. (2h. 13m.)

Budget:
$200 million (estimated)

IMDb Synopsis:


IMDb Info and Rating:
7.9 (3,871 votes as of 12/14/16)

Rotten Tomatoes:
Fresh:137 Rotten:27 (84% as of 12/14/16)

Metacritic:
65 metascore ('Generally favorable reviews' as of 12/14/16)

Trailer:


Poster Art:

Jyn Erso is Snoke?! Holy shit!

I am eagerly awaiting the post-release conversation on this -- thank you for setting it up Oldboy!

The pre-release discussion is interesting due to the number of people saying "temper your expectations, this won't be great without Luke, Han, and Leia". Notice nobody mentions Chewie in that breath ... no medal again. Anyway, it will be interesting!

Have my reserved seats already purchased. Yee haw!

Vader > Luke, Han, Leia

Currently at 84% on RT. 41 Fresh, 8 Rotten.

For comparisons sake, what did Episode VII end up with on RT?

Force Awakens: 92% Fresh (333 fresh, 28 rotten)

..... that was quick.

I'm reading it as 79% at the moment (63/17)

Sounds like fan critics are loving it while regular critics are struggling to find anything unique about it.

Roeper's conclusion makes sense too:

I know I'm in the minority, but I've never cared for Giacchino's music in pretty much ever movie he's done. The heavy-handiness worked briefly for the Star Trek reboot, but even then it was, well too heavy-handed. That may be the one aspect of this movie that will dull the level of excitement for me when I see it this weekend.

I dunno some of the fan critic reviews I've listened to aren't bashing it but seem a bit mixed. It sounds like there's a lack of good characterization save for a few characters. None of them seem to really hate it but I don't think its going to knock our socks off with how great it is.

We have a GAME CHANGER on our hands!!!!! Some guy named Michael Doran says Rogue One "is clearly the most accomplished feat of film making of the so-far eight."

I think he is forgetting just what Star Wars did in '77. This could end up having a better story, but no way in hell will this ever be considered a more accomplished film making feat than Star Wars.

Yeah, the lack of compelling characters/characterizations seems to be a consensus of many reviews.

Stuckmann's non spoiler review

A.O. Scott gives it a negative review in The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/13/mo...dayspaper&_r=0

Here's a quote:

Why does that dude always have such an obnoxious fucking look on his face in his terrible YouTube thumbnails. Makes me want to punch him.

Because he's an obnoxious fuck who deserves to be punched.

I never pay attention to people who become famous on YouTube, I was always confused when people kept citing Stuckmann as though he was a well known reviewer.

I like a lot of YouTube reviewers personally. Stuckmann is a good reviewer but I agree about his thumbnails being goofy.

That sounds a lot like The Phantom Menace. A lot of people saw it for what it was right off the bat but there was a large number of fanboys who were in denial for quite some time.

Sounds like A.O. Scott is a real Rebel, fighting against the evil Empire of Disney.

Honestly, I don't imagine Disney is worried enough about how "Rogue One" will perform at the BO to do a bunch of hand-wringing with movie reviewers. They will most likely make crazy money from all of the SW films they produce.

If you're going to go with PT comparisons, his review reads more like Attack of the Clones than TPM or RotS, since it has a good bit of politics and apparently is too self-involved with its own obligations as being a Star Wars movie to just be a regular good movie that happens to be Star Wars.

His little rant on Disney not wanting him to spoil a couple details seems unusual though, that's standard issue.

A lot of "Donnie Yen stealing the show" moments in these reviews. Finally people are noticing him on a larger scale that won't be forgettable.

Stuckman's review isn't exactly glowing. He gives it a B... but he doesn't sound convinced of it. His review felt like a C but he upgraded because it is SW.