Quoted from benheck:

Tron 3 got put on ice after Tomorrowland tanked (a studio would consider those the same genre)
Had nothing to do with Star Wars.

Quoted from TigerLaw:

The Outer Limits reboot was really good. The Frazier spin off from Cheers was great. Doctor Who was great when it came back (though it was technically just a continuation but felt like a reboot).

Quoted from Doctor6:

Uh, no. Bladerunner 2049 was a freaking masterpiece of cinema. I liked that one far better than the first.

Quoted from gdonovan:

The saber fights were cool but Yoda's with Count Dooku was borderline ridiculous.

Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

Episode 3 is without question the most watchable of the prequels. While it certainly has it's many flaws, it also has some pretty memorable moments.
That long opening intro shot that follows the Jedi Starfighters into the Battle of Coruscant is one of the best cinematography moments of the series. Ewan McGregor's performance as young Obiwan was the highlight of the prequels. There's well choreographed lightsaber fights. It introduced famous locations like Mustafar & Kashyyyk. It explained the transformation of the Emperor & the betrayal of the Jedi via Order 66. The dramatic last moments between Anakin & ObiWan. John Williams last good Star Wars score. There's some good stuff in there.
Of course there's the usual bad dialog, wooden acting & lousy romantic scenes. The General Grievous character being a huge letdown. Flying R2D2 which he hasn't done before or since. There's really poor use of green screen, when Grievous is madly swinging 4 lightsabers an inch in front of Obiwan's face & he doesn't even flinch. Jedi fighting on a river of lava. Then the over-the-top-stupid Yoda/Emperor fight, and of course the NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO scream.
That said, its the best of the prequels. But behind the originals & Rogue One. I'd basically put it on par with Solo, and neither deserve their own pin for the record. haha That's my take. Just saying "it sucks" is not a great argument for this thread.

Quoted from gdonovan:

Ankin vs Kenobi was over the top too, that close to lava both would have fried in seconds. It takes away the suspension of disbelief that lets you immerse yourself in a good movie.
Give Lucas his due, the fights were well choreographed.
Opinion: The saber fight with Darth Maul was the only one I can recall in the prequels with any weight to it.

Quoted from PinSinner:

I must disagree. The final battle between Anakin and Obi Wan did have substance. Particularly the dialogue from Obi Wan.
Example:
Obi-Wan Kenobi: You were the Chosen One! It was said you would destroy the Sith, not join them! Bring balance to the force, not leave it in darkness!
Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader: I hate you!
Obi-Wan Kenobi: You were my brother, Anakin; I loved you.
That line in itself is one of my favourites in the entire series of movies. Those lines were delivered with real anguish and sorrow. Pretty powerful scene in my opinion.

Quoted from Deaconblooze:

I watched all of the movies through R1 recently with my Daughter (age 4.5). She loves all of them. I was talking with a friend who did the same with their child, but skipped 1-3, and refuses to acknowledge their existence. I've never felt like a worse parent than when I realized I subjected my child to 1-3 needlessly...
It had been a while since I saw them, so I guess it was good to go back and take a new look at them. Ep1 is easily the best of the bunch. Is it bad? Yep. But, it does at least have some redeeming qualities. Darth Maul was an awesome character, and the lightsaber duel is the best in any of the prequels without contest (the later duels were ridiculous).
I tried to pay attention to the slower storyline this time through. It's true there's some decent content there in the way the emperor rises to power, but it's delivered in such a way that it feels like a subplot to the teen romance novel playing out in front of you.
Unpopular opinion, but I feel like all of the acting in the prequels is poor, including Obi Wan and Qui Gonn, and ESPECIALLY Padme. .

Quoted from tl54hill:

Despite our many differences, our divergent walks through life, and coming from a breadth of life experiences, we may all find unity this holiday season in the fact that The Last Jedi was fucking terrible.

Quoted from gdonovan:

They got exactly what Kennedy wanted, why on earth would they delay 6 months?
The movie wasn't made for you, making it better for you or I wasn't an option.

Quoted from PanzerFreak:

On a side note the whole First Order concept destroyed any sense of mystery and wonder as to what happened after Return of the Jedi. 30 years later and there's a new even more evil version of the Empire? LAME! The entire First Order concept should have been scrapped, it was only been used to soft reboot the movies. If the new trilogy would have focused on Luke training a new generation of Jedi and Ben being turned by the Sith (no First Order involved) it would have been much more compelling. Guess it's true what Mark Hamill said afterall "In Hollywood it doesn't matter if the story is good, only if it makes money".

Quoted from Ricochet:

Yup its a mess. Too many cooks... they screwed it up. Lucas drew from Kurosawa's concept of "Immaculate reality" (initially)... this is why everything seemed to 'fit' and we were able to forgive or look over gaps/holes that exist in the story-lines. It literally pulled you in... you cannot have anything take you out of the experience, you have to be lost in it. Once you are taken out of the experience... it shuts you down, the movie becomes ... meh.

Quoted from Ricochet:

... and the First Order is inept and comes across as a bunch of screaming idiots. They are effectively a toothless idiot with a brat running around them. It's so bad its laughable.

Quoted from Ricochet:

I got no beef with KK, she just wasn't the right person for overseeing the job of continuing the Skywalker saga... running the business, serving the story tellers... fine.

Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

In other related BIG news that quietly slipped under the radar.....
Look what happen to Kiri Hart, the female head of the entire Star Wars Story Group & Senior Vice President of Development (aka Kathleen Kennedy's right hand). She was a producer & expected by some to succeed Kennedy at some point. She was highly promoted by Lucasfilm (see article link below). She's been there since day one when Disney took control of Lucasfilm in 2012. The whole "The Force is Female" campaign was her idea. It was her idea to make the story group entirely female. It's widely accepted that she was one of the main driving forces in destroying the franchise. And now she's gonzo. No press release. No explanation. They wiped all mentions of her on their websites, which fans finally noticed last week. Lucasfilm were then forced to admit she is no longer working at Lucasfilm. The "consultant" tag is just a cover to avoid admitting she was fired.
This is wonderful news for fans, and clearly shows that major changes are coming to Lucasfilm after the Episode 9 release. She has no credits for the Mandalorian or Rogue One TV series, which leads many to believe she had to be fired last year.
Good riddance!
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/22/movies/star-wars-last-jedi-women-run-universe.html
http://www.jedinews.co.uk/film-music-tv/articles/kiri-hart-leaves-lucasfilm-story-group-now-a-consultant-for-lucasfilm/

Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

Cut the head off the snake & the body will die. Her firing is going help change the current culture at Lucasfilm for sure. It can't be forgotten that KK enabled & supported Kiri Hart's to push all that BS agenda, so she takes the blame as well & needs to go too.

Quoted from kvan99:

The last Marvel movie I paid to see was Dr. Strange and that was barely ok.

Quoted from rai:

I actually liked IM3. I always hear this was a bad movie, but perhaps I like all the Marvel movies think any of the Hulk movies would count as the worst. Speaking of which IM3 drew in $1.2B at box office not far below Black Panther. I’m not surprised if CM gets to a Billion.

Quoted from gdonovan:

https://cosmicbook.news/star-war-episode-9-title-will-force
According to the leaked art and info, the Episode 9 title is "Star Wars: Will of the Force."
[quoted image]

Quoted from PanzerFreak:

Wow, the new Picard trailer actually looks amazing! Here I was thinking the shows creators would pull a Last Jedi and make Picard an old grumpy man that doesn't want to help anyone. "I started this winery to die", "It's time for Starfleet to end" lol. Nope! Take notes Disney...actually it looks like CBS took notes after fans reactions to The Last Jedi.

Quoted from TigerLaw:

I think it’s these two things (a trip to Disney is not feasible cost wise for most families, it’s simply too expensive) combined with apathy for the product based on poor story telling and world shrinking (as panzer said, everything feels so tiny in the Star Wars world)

Quoted from wesman:

I really enjoyed 1-3. 7-8....doesn't even feel like the same movie series almost. More like, someone who once saw the OT years ago, and thought it was kinda neat.

Quoted from Jason43:

Yep. Sarcastic post. I always looked at it as his final punishment for failing. Exiled and alone. But now he can have fun adventures, right? I hope he gets a girlfriend.
Fuck. It's been 40 years since people who understand star wars have made a star wars story. How the fuck is this franchise still going?

Quoted from kvan99:

Holy crap, you can see by the actors he hired this thing is going to be fantastic.....Carl Weathers, G. Esposito, the martial art chick ( I forget her name) and the crazy German filmmaker Herzog.....Lol, this is the antithesis to Disney's last trilogy and it's directors. A rebuke really. IIRC the main character is Pedro Pascal from Narcos (another inspired choice).....right?

Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

Cloverfield: Produced the most nausea inducing shaky camera film ever made. Sequel was even dumber.

Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

The premise of the sequel was interesting. Stuck in bomb shelter with a suspicious lunatic. There is lots of tension buildup, like all his suspense movies. Then like every other JJ original story, the ending is pretty weak & anticlimactic. I wasn't a big fan. Didn't bother to watch the third one that when straight to Netflix

Quoted from Friengineer:

Darth Maul should have been the bad guy throughout the first three movies. He should have come back with a vengeance in Episode 2. Obi Wan would have been distracted by his personal rivalry with Maul & that is why he didn't notice Anakin slipping towards the dark side. In my mind, I like the think about Ep1, Ep2, & Ep3 with Maul as the big baddie & Ep7, Ep8, Ep9 with Thrawn as the big baddie.

Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

Yeah this was pretty disappointing when I first heard it. The fact that the park attractions & theme is focused on the new trilogy. I can see why they are pushing the new trilogy, but it's not what the fans want. (meaning the 40+ year olds who are throwing down big bucks to bring their families there). Hopefully when the attraction expands they will focus more on the original movies. They are well aware that attendance is low for a new attraction like Star Wars. Disney really can't seem to get out of their own way it seems. I'd like to go someday when it's finished though.

Quoted from rai:

Nothing wrong with R1
.

Quoted from Darscot:

It didn't fit the opening of Star Wars but I loved that scene. It was like a Tarantino alternate reality. So awesome to see Vader actually in battle going full savage. Rogue One I did enjoy but it was plagued with rewrites and changes as well.

Quoted from girloveswaffles:

CG Leia and Tarkin: Very Cringe worthy.

Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

I loved seeing Grand Moff Tarkin on screen again. One of the highlights of the film for me.

Quoted from BC_Gambit:

FWIW its not the speed they moved, its the complete lack of a plan, and what little plan there was sucked ass so far.
I mean come on, the bare minimum they should be able to do in this modern "franchise" era is plan out the plot of the three movies before betting the farm. Making stuff up as you go along is more fun though I guess.

Quoted from Flowst:

(Sarcasm ahead)

Hopefully we get some spin off stories Im dying to see. Anything less than 3 star wars movies per year would be an absolute tragedy.
How Chewie got his crossbow and bandolier!
The origins of R2D2’s voice programming featuring a culturally diverse cast.
CGI Leia and Rey emasculating various male rebels while flawlessly using force powers to conquer the universe.

Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

Some new photos released today......
After being dumped from The Last Jedi, I see Abrams has made it a priority to give his childhood friend another featured appearance in The Rise of Skywalker. Snap Wexley, an overweight bearded plot who was SO important to the Resistance that they didn't use him in The Last Jedi. Utterly forgettable character, but you know, them bros gotta stick together and get their speaking role screen time.
I find the celebrity casting like this annoying. Star cameos & personal favors are the priority over a talented established supporting cast. Like that article link mentioned above, at least Lucas was smart enough to cast strong veteran actors in supporting roles (like Christopher Lee, Jimmy Smits, etc) who didn't distract from the storytelling. They enhanced it. What did Laura Dern, Benicio Del Toro, Gwendoline Christie add to their roles? Not much. In fact I would argue the Baton Trooper from TFA who yells "Traitor!" and fights Fynn was more memorable than any of these star cameos. And the only time they got a supporting role right with Max Von Sydow, they killed him after 3 minutes of screen time. Sounds about right.
I won't even comment on that giant slug. Too easy a target.
[quoted image]

Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

This new trilogy made me appreciate & love the prequels even more!

Quoted from Vino:

good summary from the man himself!

Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

I forget this is pinball forum at times. I'm a Star Wars superfan. First movie I ever saw in theaters was Empire Strikes back at 5 years old. I dress up as a stormtrooper, so I suppose I am biased. However I will call bullshit when I see it. I don't embrace everything just because it is Star Wars.
I see nothing like that with the Mandalorian.
From everything I've seen & read, it's going to be a homerun. Fans have been clamoring for a bounty hunter based movie for years. It's written & produced by Dave Filoni & Faureu. Long proven track record & Star Wars superfans. They came up with their own idea for a series & were given the freedom to give the fans what they've always wanted. The casting is fricking outstanding. It covers an era (5 years post Jedi) that is ripe for exploration, as are the type of scum & villainy characters that inhabit these underworlds. It's geared towards adults, not children. Every fan that has gotten a sneak preview has been thrilled with what they saw. I saw the 10 minutes of footage that were leaked at Celebration, and that blew me away. This series is a love letter to the original trilogy, and it's jam packed with small details that only superfans can notice.
People like to hate on Star Wars these days. Some of that is completely justified. But I think this series is going to surprise alot of people. Latest TV spot:

Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

Won't worry. You'll be wrong.
It's not blind faith either. I've seen the trailers. I've read interviews with actors & directors. I'm able to judge with my own eyes. It exactly what I've been asking them to make for years. I've watched the Clone Wars. I've read the books. More scum & villiany and less Jedi is just fine with me. However you apparently watched the same trailers & made a completely opposite interpretation. To each their own.
So you were disappointed with a "trendy/hip" scene that showed a Mandalorian with an attitude, deplaying his aura of arrogance & confidence? How about when the Stormtrooper tells him we have you 4 to 1, to which he responds "I like those odds". You must not be very familiar with the lore of their race then. Don't worry though. You will soon enough. That last trailer, that Ugnaught says "I've never met a Mandalorian, but I've heard the stories". They are almost as legendary as the Jedi.
In that scene you're questioning, Herzog was telling him it's good to have Beskar back in the hands of a Mandalorian. Beskar is an incredibly valuable ore & only found on Mandalore. The war loving Mandalorians are master smiths & it what they use to create their unique armor & weapons. Even the Stormtroopers in the room (who are on high alert having a Mandalorian so close) lean in to take a peek at the rare metal. See? It's the little things they are paying attention to. I understand his armor & weapons will change throughout the series as he acquires & crafts more beskar.
Herzog goes on to state it's good to see things return to the natural order of things. The way things were under strict rule & not the current instability effecting systems after the fall of the Empire. He asks the Mandalorian if he agrees, to which he gets a cold icey stare in return. The Mandalorian only cares about himself. Or is there more to him than meets the eye? Ooooo look! A character development plot point!
Can't wait for Tuesday

Quoted from wesman:

Herzog unfortunately is a bit of a cartoon character, onscreen, as much as I adore his older films, and appreciate most of his documentaries, even the more recent ones, which aren't as solid as his older work.
Every line he utters, seems so incredibly poised, lingering on every syllable, and draws me out of the environment he's in....which for a fantasy world doesn't feel good. He needed to be in Bad Lieutenant: New Orleans for that shit, not just behind the camera.

Quoted from rai:

It does sound like some people just wont like anything done by Disney. It’s all Avengers sucks and Mandolorian is gonna blow.
I’m sure some don’t like the direction with TLJ, all the force is a woman and Mary Sue and Mary Poppins and just say everything past the original trilogy is crap.

Quoted from kvan99:

“I’ve probably seen each episode of The Mandalorian three times,” Iger says. “First, to give some notes. Second, to see the rough cut and the impact of the notes. And now, just recently, I watched all the final cuts so that I could be blown away by how it looks.” Disney is spending more than $100 million on the show, so it had better be visually stunning and then some.

Quoted from Hobbypinball:

Firefly was fantastic.
What really stood out for me on Mandalorian was how "sparse" things were. Due to the budgets of the films my brain has been trained that the SW universe is bursting at the seams. It will take my brain some re-training.
And that was the beauty of Firefly. There was no background reference. It was ok for the firefly universe to be sparse and for the CG effects to be secondary. It was a true western in space.
Of course in addition the writing and chemistry between characters and the humor was fantastic as well.

Quoted from zaki:

Much better sw movie than originals or prequel.

Quoted from wesman:

https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/was-palpatine-wanted-in-the-rise-of-skywalker-before-j-j-abrams-came-along.html/
Empire also interviewed Abrams in October and addressed his reasoning for bringing the Emperor back. “Some people feel like we shouldn’t revisit the idea of Palpatine, and I completely understand that,” he said. “But if you’re looking at the nine films as one story, I don’t know many books where the last few chapters have nothing to do with those that have come before. If you look at the first eight films, all the set-ups of what we’re in IX are there in plain view.”
Yanno, except for films 7 and 8.

Quoted from wesman:

Side note, finally watched Spider-Man: Far from Home last night, and wow....Favreau seems like cancer to projects for me at this point. That movie was such a confused, jumble, and further made every point to undercut Peter as a helpless moron, and every gal in that film making every dude a fool, whether it was Ned, Peter or even Happy with that weird dating scene. Just an awful C Side level mess that could have just as well been a shitty animated tv episode.

Quoted from TigerLaw:

The media is protecting the current trilogy because (a) it fits the narrative they want to push on everyone, and (b) they want to make sure Disney doesn’t cut them off or reduce their access for giving a bad review.

Yea, and the actress they had playing MJ was probably the worst actress I have seen in a major production in 2019. Basically just a dead character with no redeeming qualities or interest. I simply can’t imagine her reading for the part and someone saying, “wow! You nailed everything we wanted! You’re hired!” I don’t even think it’s fair saying she was a Woke hire, I’m sure there were other people they could have hired, how on earth did they end up with that actress for MJ?

Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

They got everything wrong in Far From Home, specifically Mysterio. Should have been focused on using his gas agents to mentally destroy his enemies, drive Peter insane, hurt those close to him, etc. Like that scene when they were fighting at the construction site. Also introduce J Jonah Jameson pubically attacking Spiderman in this movie. Peter just cant take it & mentally cracks. But a cerebral superhero film does not cut it for today's dumbed down audiences.

Quoted from TigerLaw:

I read it. It’s says what you can guess it says, in summary: if you don’t like the new trilogy you’re either old and out of touch or you don’t like women or minorities. It wasn’t critical of the plot or arc in any meaningful way.
It also had some quotes from Iger saying something along the lines of Disney gets unfair criticism for every attempt to update the lore, even if it’s an update of “small things”.
It basically blamed the fans for having high expectations or holding Disney to any quality standards...

Quoted from TigerLaw:

My fellow Pinside moderators have incorrectly accused me of trolling this position for years, but the Phantom Menace is my favorite Star Wars movie. I have my reasons: Darth Maul, amazing sound track, Liam Neesom, world building with the functional Jedi order and senate, the incredibly well done final act of the movie, etc. Many things that bothered others (Jar Jar, Anikin) didn’t bother me at all for whatever reason. I did not like AotC.
People like different things.

Quoted from wesman:

It's okay that people like it.
I was a crazy fuck in my early twenties then. I think I saw that damn thing 14 times in the theater. Half were at a local dollar theater.
It was far better than American Pie, which was playing at the local theater around that time, that's for sure!
It's been popular for so long to shit on the prequels, that I think it's just ingrained in culture to hate them. It's sad, as it's the most complete, refreshing, and sincere Star Wars Trilogy that will ever exist.

Quoted from TRAMD:

The greatest 30 seconds in movie history is when Luke confronts Vader after he suggests Leia might come to the dark side. The music, the fighting, the drama; it is perfection.

Quoted from wesman:

The issue I always had with that scene, is that a lot of the dynamics seemed cartoonish. As in Palpatine was less nuanced than he became in the Prequels. He obviously turned Crazy Hooded Frog Monster, and that was over the top, but in Jedi, he's just so vaudevillian in ways, so absurd. And the flip for Vader to go from staunch Imperial Advocate to luvin' Daddy, felt so sudden, too extreme.
I appreciate the thought of that scene, but the execution is a bit exaggerated.

Quoted from Ricochet:

I'm perfectly satisfied with 4,5 and 6. Like the Alien and Predator franchises... Alien ends with Aliens, Predator ends with Predator (although I can tolerate Predator 2). So Star Wars ends with Return of the Jedi for me. I went into TFA with a great deal of optimism. I watched it once... walked away feeling ok about it but it didn't really create that desire to see more. After I saw TLJ I found myself totally disinterested in every single one of the new cast. Each one of these movies has felt like each character was acting in their own movie... nothing feels connected its a total mess. I've no reason to feel that TROS will "fix" it. I've read all the spoilers ... it truly sounds awful.
The OT was an anomaly... it hit us at the right time... it fit our imagination... it felt authentic, intimate. The PT was doomed from the start, there was no mystery ... nothing to keep you wondering. And although Lucas is great and a visionary... he produces a better product when he is working with other talented movie makers. So the PT was just about expose... and that's boring. Disney's trilogy well that's just a cash grab that everyone wants in on... its about making a series of movies that are all inclusive, non offensive... everyone is good everyone is bad ... lots of yelling... scrunchy faces and nostalgic regurgitation. Unfortunately like the OT... it fits our current state of affairs.
Of course I'm 49 - "get the hell of my lawn" - and that informs my critique. LOL

Quoted from Ricochet:

Not gonna lie... I’m a bit optimistic. I’ve sworn off franchise milking exercises... but this looks interesting

Quoted from Ricochet:

It looks more like a spin off. I can tolerate that more than just re-skinning with nostalgia. Feels a bit like a Stranger Things inspired thing
... but ... who knows

Quoted from Jason43:

Vader's scene at the end of rogue one is thinly veiled fan service. It serves absolutely no purpose other than an excuse to have Darth Vader swing a lightsaber. That scene was made for the lowest common denominator of star wars fan. The people who like phantom menace because it has pod racing, or the people who think Sith is the best movie because it has the bestest lightsaber fight.

Quoted from Ricochet:

Gonna be a shit show... bringing back Palps in itself is horrible (another invalidation of the OT story arc). They wrote themselves into this mess ... getting out of it and trying to make Rey a bonafide hero is going to require a bunch of convenient plot points that will probably make you wanna vomit.

Quoted from wesman:

Entertainment Weekly News: George Lucas cut the best Star Wars lightsaber fight out of the prequels.
https://ew.com/movies/2019/12/11/star-wars-best-lightsaber-fight-cut-prequels/
Man, so this never even filmed...

Quoted from TigerLaw:

I hope that one day the media believes their job is to report things rather than advocate for positions to try to convince people of various things.

Quoted from TigerLaw:

Alas, I fear you are correct.
Tom Brokaw once said (something along the lines of) good reporting was where you could not tell the position of the reporter giving you the story. My does that statement seem antiquated now because with the media of today if you can't tell the opinion of the author you've got issues of some kind.
Part of the problem is there are so many ways people can access news that if a media company doesn't take an over the top position for one side or the other of the story then people just won't read the story, the consumer will simply go get the news from another source that conforms with the position they already have. Opinion pieces are what sell and the stronger/harsher the opinion the more sales (or clicks) the respective media company receives. This is clearly not changing any time soon, rather it is accelerating.
.

Quoted from gdonovan:

Edit: Also read Lucas notes on light sabres for the original series. The fighting style in the original movies was very deliberate because George envisioned the sabres being very heavy and unwieldy hence the 2 handed style. This gave way to the very fancy and choreographed fighting in the prequels because they were fan favorites and George decided to indulge them.
The Vader scene in RO is also out of place for this reason, it was clearly added in to "punch things up"

Quoted from Hobbypinball:

It is after all art. "hey Van Gogh........finish up this Rembrandt for us"

Quoted from TigerLaw:

I find it so funny that all the sudden the shill media agrees the fan outrage at TLJ is real and is a problem...after two years of calling the complaining fans nothing more than Russian Bots, elderly, fringe sexists, or whatever else they could think of to act like we didn’t exist or our opinions didn’t matter.
This movie if not going to reach the “low end” of the projection of $1.4 - $1.7 billion. Obviously it’s way too early to tell but those projections are going to be way high. Disney will be pondering how they blew this incredible opportunity they had with SW. KK will be gone by the end of Q2 next year, they will transition somewhere else and not fire her.

Quoted from seenev:

I listened to this podcast and unsubscribed after. They give like four legitimate reasons why TLJ was awful, and then they just blame racism and sexism for the hate anyways. WSJ has some great political commentary from their editorial board, but some of their non editorial staff writers are basically just propaganda shovelers.

Quoted from Trekkie1978:

IMO, the failure of Star Wars falls directly on Kathleen Kennedy. How do you start a trilogy and not know where your story will finish?

Quoted from gdonovan:

1) Embarrassment? They meant to do what the meant to do, any emotion "they" feel will be anger the sheep didn't get in line.
Edit: Be aware that part of what happened was Disney trying to get out from under clauses in the contract with Lucas. Lucas retained some merchandising rights to the original characters if utilized... So Disney in their shortsightedness decided to murder all the original characters as quickly as possible rather than give Lucas more cash.
.

Quoted from gdonovan:

There is that too, but it is only one factor. How the male characters were portrayed was noted in TLJ.
Luke; bitter loser
Han; deadbeat dad
Flynn; comic relief
Poe; hothead who doesn't follow orders

Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

That is clear proof of RT locking the audience approval rating. It is just not statistically possible for the rating not to change with that many additional reviews. No fricking way. That site is god awful. Too bad the general public has no clue what a sham it is.

Quoted from tl54hill:

RT is owned by Fandango. The current president of Fandango is Paul Yanover, a former executive Vice President and (I believe) board member of Disney.
It’s getting difficult what to believe in the media anymore.

Quoted from gdonovan:

Also some industry inside info: Disney twisted all sorts of arm in regards to a cut theaters make on ticket sales in regards to TFA and TLJ. It was pretty much agree to our terms or get locked out.
.

Quoted from fosaisu:

To each their own! But while it may be the hip thing to trash the prequels now (sometimes the mob has a point, right?), I got in on the ground-floor, first in line for opening day of Episode I with my little cousin. I still remember walking out of the theater just shaking my head, what a nut-punch after all those years of waiting! I know some of you guys had that same reaction to TLJ, but George got me good back in 1999 and I’ve never forgiven him.

Quoted from gdonovan:

Again, this is leaks and who knows at what level the info is.
Roundhead Johnson damaged the brand pretty bad, I think he is out regardless.
Word is KK is out for sure but Iger wants to replace her with another woman to control the fallout.

Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

.....and the jig is up! Rotten Tomatoes definitely using cut & paste reviews by bots & spam accounts to inflate TROS audience ratings. When you look at other valid review sites, the audience reviews are same as the critics, around 50-60% approval rating. Wish this would become a bigger story. Now that the holidays are over, I'd expect those TROS numbers to take a big hit in the next 2 weeks.
https://boundingintocomics.com/2020/01/02/new-analysis-claims-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-inflated-rotten-tomatoes-verified-audience-score-with-fake-reviews/

Quoted from oktobernv:

Taken from a LINK is WESMAN's post above
GREAT read here that I think a lof of folks might have missed.....
Here's what I've been told from a source that worked on TROS.
Long
Since shortly after release weekend, I’ve been corresponding with someone who worked closely on the production of TROS and works for one of the major companies I cannot disclose here. I have verified the source to my satisfaction. To protect the source, I am rewording what we spoke about over the last two weeks and am submitting it to you in bullet point format I have written based on what they told me. The TLDR is that they were upset with the final product of TROS and wanted to share their perspective on how it went down and where it went wrong.
The leakers for TROS had an agenda and are tied to Disney directly. My source confessed that they have an agenda as well in that they struggle with ignoring what’s been happening to someone who they think doesn’t deserve it.
JJ always treated everyone on and offset with respect so my source’s agenda is that what Disney has done to JJ and how much they screwed him over should be something people are at least aware of, whether you like him as a filmmaker or not.
Disney was one of the studios who were in that Bad Robot bidding war last year. Disney never had much interest in BR as a company but they did in JJ because they saw WB (who JJ went with in the end) as a major threat.
JJ is very successful at bringing franchises back like Mission Impossible, Star Trek and Star Wars. WB is struggling with DC and aside from Wonder Woman, DC is still seen as a bit of a joke in its current state by the GA.
WB wants Abrams for some DC projects. My source said that this generation’s Star Wars is the MCU, and Marvel’s biggest threat is a well operational DC. They want to keep DC in the limbo that they’re in right now. Abrams jumpstarting that franchise with something like a successful, audience-pleasing Superman movie makes them nervous. Their goal is to make JJ look bad to potential investors/shareholders.
My source mentioned this shortly after the premiere: “The TROS we saw last night was not the TROS we thought we worked on”.
JJ was devastated and blindsided by this. He’s been feeling down over the last 6 months because of some of the ridiculous demands Disney had that changed his movie’s story. While the scenes were shot, a lot of the changes were made in post-production and the audio was rerecorded and altered. My source said they’ve never seen anything like this happen before. He’s the director and he wasn’t in the know about what they were doing behind his back.
Apparently, JJ felt threatened over the month leading up to the premiere.
Rian was never meant to do IX despite some rumors that he was.
JJ was brought back by Iger, not KK. Disney insisted on more fan service, less controversy.
JJs original agreement when he signed on was indicating he would have way more creative control than he did on TFA. It became evident this wasn’t the case only a couple of weeks into shooting when the trouble with meddling started.
JJ wanted to do some scenes he thought were important but Disney shut it down citing budgetary reasons.
May 2019: JJ argued that those scenes were crucial. He had to let go of one of the scenes. The other scene he insisted on was approved at first. He did reshoots and additional photography in July. The new scene was shot at BR in October.
The “ending that will blow your mind” was a part of this. Older actors were included like Hayden, Ewan and Samuel and anyone who wasn’t animated. The force ghosts weren’t meant to be voices because they shot that footage on camera. The actors were in costumes. Rey was supposed to be surrounded by the force ghosts to serve as sort of a barrier between her and the Sith surrounding them.
My source thinks but can’t 100% confirm that this is because of China. It’s an office talk of sorts. Some VFX people claimed they got a list of approved shades of blue they could use on the Luke force ghosts. Cutting this out was when the bad blood turned into a nightmare for JJ because the movie he was making was suddenly unrecognizable to him in almost every way.
My source knows JJ well enough to know that he’s just not the yelling type but apparently in a meeting he yelled something along the lines of “Why don’t you just put ‘directed and written by Lucasfilm’ then?” My source wasn’t present for that exchange but knows some who were.
Disney demanded they shoot some scenes that would have things in it for merchandise. “They fly now” is one of them. It’s also JJ’s least favorite scene. At a November screening of a 2:37 cut, he cringed, groaned and laughed when the scene was on.
My source says that JJ was most likely not joking when he said “you’re right” in the interview where they asked him about TROS criticism.
JJ’s original early November cut was 3 hours 2 minutes long.
In January, JJ suggested that they turn this into two films. My source told me this well before Terrio mentioned it in an interview a couple of days ago. When Disney said no, JJ was content with making this 3 hours long.
Over a period of 9 months JJ started realizing that one by one his ideas and whole scenes were being thrown out the window or entirely altered by people who have “no business meddling with the creatives”.
They were not on the same page when it came to creative decisions and it became obvious that Disney had an agenda in addition to wanting to please shareholders. Disney could “afford messing up IX for the sake of the bigger picture” when it came to protecting things unrelated to IX.
The cut JJ eventually and hesitantly agreed to in early December was 2:37 minutes long. It wasn’t the cut we saw which he wouldn’t have approved of (and which is 2:22 long). Apart from the force ghosts, there were other crucial and emotional scenes missing. The cut they released looked “chopped and taped back together with weak scotch tape” (JJ's words).
The movie opened with Rey’s training. Her first scene with Rose was shortly after Rey damaged BB-8 during the training. Rose made a silly joke about how Poe is going to kill her for damaging BB-8. There was a moment where Rey took a minute to process what just happened when she saw that vision during training. She looked distressed and worried. The next scene was noise as the Falcon was landing and Rey runs over there. Those two women who kissed at the end were visible in this shot and they were holding hands. One of them ran towards the Falcon as it landed.
Kylo on Mustafar scene was 2 mins longer. There was a moment where Kylo seemed a bit dizzy and his vision was shown as blurry for a second. Almost as if time half-stopped while everyone in the background was slow-mo fighting. Kylo hears Vader's breathing, then shakes his head and time goes back to moving at a normal pace and he jumps right back into the battle (the scene from the trailer where he knocks that guy down which did end up in the movie later).
They cut some of the scenes from the lightspeed skipping segment. Some of the planets that were cut were Kashyyyk, Naboo, and Kamino.
The scene where the tie fighters are chasing them through the iceberg - those corridors were inspired by a video game JJ used to play in the 90s called Rebel Assault 2 (the third level in the game with the tunnels on Endor specifically).
Jannah was confirmed to be Lando’s daughter.
Rey not only healed Kylo's face scar but she killed Kylo when she healed Ben. Kylo ceased to exist when Rey healed him. My source mentioned that some people assume it was Han Solo who healed him but that isn’t true and that wasn't Han Solo. That was Leia using her own memories as well as Ben's to create a physical manifestation of his own thoughts to nudge him towards what he needed to do. That was her own way of communicating that with him. And it wasn't possible without her dying in the process. She made the ultimate sacrifice for her son and this flew over people's heads with the Disney cut.
The late November cut (the last cut JJ approved of) had scenes with Rose and Rey still. JJ wanted to give her a more meaningful arc. Disney felt that that was too risky too. My source mentioned that Chris Terrio said that it was because of the Leia scenes but this is only partially true because she had four other scenes including two with Rey/Daisy that Leia was not in.
Finn wanting to tell Rey something was always meant to be force sensitivity. In the 3 hour cut, it’s explicitly stated. There was a moment when Jannah and he were running on top of that star destroyer and Finn needed to unlock or move something and he force-moved it and acted surprised when it happened. This was replaced with a CGI’d BB-8 fixing whatever he needed to fix on there.
Babu Frik was nearly cut because some execs at Disney thought he would be the new Jar Jar. They are really surprised that people love him this much. He was JJ's idea and was created in collaboration with some artists and puppeteers. The personality was all JJ.
There were a bunch of scenes where Rey and Kylo (separately) went through quiet moments of reflection to deal with what they were going through. On her part, her going through the realization that there's something sinister about her past. Him going through regret and remorse but trying to shut it out. My source said that the Kylo scenes were especially amazing because of Adam's performance and how he managed to portray that inner turmoil. It provided much more context and added deeper meaning to both his battle with Rey and the final redemption arc at the end. It didn't happen so suddenly and it was more structured than what we got.
The Kylo/Rey scene where he dies was at least 4 minutes longer with more dialogue. Ben was always supposed to die. Source also added that if he wasn’t, then that might’ve been in an earlier draft which they haven’t read. The first draft they read included Lando (the first few didn’t). The Reylo kiss and Ben’s death was not part of the reshoots. It was a part of the re-editing. Even the cut that JJ thought was coming out earlier this month had a longer version of that scene than what was shown in the theatrical cut.
JJ was against the Reylo kiss (or Reylo in general). This was Disney's attempt to please both sides of the fandom.
JJ was not happy with where TLJ took the story. The final result is a mix of that story and the story told by Disney and whoever they tried to impress (“certainly not the fans”). JJ is gutted over the final result. Star Wars means a lot to him. He had to sacrifice large chunks of the story in TFA but he was promised more creative control on TROS and instead the leash they had him on was only tightened as time went by. A source said that this is the one franchise and the one piece of his work that he didn't want to mess up and instead it turned into his worst nightmare. When he found out that he was blindsided with the cut they presented, he said "what the fuck??" when Kylo was fighting the Knights of Ren at the end and the Williams music that was used for it was not what he wanted at all. He seemed to think it was out of place.
JJ's cut still exists and “will always exist”. We most likely will never see it unless “someone accidentally leaks it.”
Ok, so there you have it. If there are questions, I will try to follow up with my source but it’s up to them if they want to share more so I cannot guarantee an answer.
Edit: I forgot one thing that the source wanted included, concerning FinnPoe in TROS:
The source asked about FinnPoe after seeing Oscar Isaac's comment about how Disney didn't want it to be a thing. This is true. JJ fought to make this happen. This is why Oscar is blaming Disney. It's not just a random throwaway comment. He knows for a fact that it was Disney because these discussions happened. The main cast is insanely close with JJ and are just as pissed, though seemingly more outspoken about it than JJ. During TFA, Disney was hesitant to hire John Boyega because a woman was front and center so they deemed that risky enough so bringing in a male lead who's black made them nervous. JJ fought to make that happen for about nine months before getting approval. The same issue came up when JJ fought to have Finn&Poe in TROS but he lost that battle as he lost many creative battles for this film. Many people, JJ included, came to the realization during this production that the story really is told by shareholders/investors instead of the creatives or anyone at Disney specifically. He tried to make a lot of things happen and was shut down because of this. They had him on a leash and many blame TLJ for the stricter creative approach.

Quoted from Jason43:

Where do you even find a copy of the despecialized edition without going through downloading torrents and all that horseshit?

Quoted from gdonovan:

I'd wager.. not going to happen.
Iger and KK have a ideology they are pushing and they are not going to change course by putting out another version. They have already angered a lot of fans of TLJ who praised the movie for "its wokeness" and are pissed that it was walked back even a little in TROS.
If they were interested in making heaps of cash it would be a different story. How hard would it have been to give fans what they wanted? At a minimum show Luke Skywalker doing badass Jedi stuff after Return of the Jedi.
Nope, you get grumpy, loser Luke and Mary-Sue Rey and you will like it. So don't hold your breath for a directors cut.