A Hype To Remember: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

All of us here at After The Hype love Star Wars, because… well… it’s STAR WARS!

In honor of Star Wars Day (May 4th) we will be releasing one “Hype to Remember” a day to cover all 8 of the released Star Wars films! Chewie here with a look at Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

 

First thing’s first: I don’t watch Star Wars trailers before I see the films. I will run out of a theater, stick my fingers in my ears and yell incoherently to stop any information from reaching my brain. As far as I’m concerned every image is a spoiler, a lead to an expectation which will influence my first viewing experience. Everything Rogue One related other than casting I avoided.

 

I did see the one shot with Jyn in Black Trooper armor, backlit on a ship with the narration “This is a rebellion isn’t it? I rebel.” It’s hard to avoid TV spots. The shot though, did give me a little tickle in my chest. I had not seen Felicity Jones in many movies but in that one sec I got excited to see her in a Star Wars film. The line was…kinda lame, like when Han said “Chewie, we’re home” in the teaser for The Force Awakens. Just lame and reeked of Wink Wink from the marketing dept. Boy was I happy that “I rebel” line wasn’t in the finished film.

Continue reading A Hype To Remember: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

A Hype To Remember: Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015)

All of us here at After The Hype love Star Wars, because… well… it’s STAR WARS!

In honor of Star Wars Day (May 4th) we will be releasing one “Hype to Remember” a day to cover all 8 of the released Star Wars films! Ryan here, back again to bring us up to speed with the next generation of Star Wars.

 

After living through the prequels as a huge fan, I kept my excitement in check as Disney bought Lucasfilm and announced a slew of new movies, including episodes 7-9. Of course, I assumed it would be a film about passing torches, and we’d get new versions of Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, Artoo, and Threepio.

 

The first teaser for Force Awakens cemented this, and we got introductions to Finn, BB-8, Rey, and Poe. Everything looked and felt like Star Wars – rolling droids, X-Wing cockpits, and the Millennium Falcon!

Continue reading A Hype To Remember: Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015)

A Hype To Remember: Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)

All of us here at After The Hype love Star Wars, because… well… it’s STAR WARS!

In honor of Star Wars Day (May 4th) we will be releasing one “Hype to Remember” a day to cover all 8 of the released Star Wars films!  I’m back to talk about the dark chapter of the prequel trilogy, the one we all knew was coming. It’s…interesting.

 

I’ll admit, episodes one and two were huge bummers for me. Something was missing from both of them and at the time I couldn’t really articulate what that “thing” was. To confuse things even more, there were things I really liked in these films. It was (and to some extent still is) hard to reconcile the little bit of good that I latched onto versus the myriad of bad. This trailer kind of touches on that.

 

Watching this thing now, I’m fascinated by the speed at which everything unravels for the Republic and goes to complete shit. In that regard, the film makes good on the promise in the trailer. You can also see where Lucas is trying to weave the prequels to the original trilogy, and even in the advertisements it feels messy. Still, within the mess I can see the really good version of this. I can see what Lucas was trying to do and I actually kind of dig it.

 

I just wish more of these story beats had been earned. Anyway, this is an interesting mess of a trailer and I’d like to share that mess with you all today!

Continue reading A Hype To Remember: Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)

A Hype to Remember: Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)

ALL OF US HERE AT AFTER THE HYPE LOVE STAR WARS, BECAUSE… WELL… IT’S STAR WARS!

In honor of Star Wars Day (May 4th) we will be releasing one “Hype to Remember” a day to cover all 8 of the released Star Wars films! It’s your boy Ryan and we’re going to talk about clones.

I’m here to give Bryan a writing break by talking about a new hope…A new hope that the Star Wars prequels could be good!

Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)

 

By the time we saw the trailer for Episode II: Attack of the Clones, the truth about The Phantom Menace had sunk in. It wasn’t good. It was flashy without any of the heart that made the first three films special.

 

But wait!

 

The music from my favorite scene in Return of the Jedi! Obi-Wan with a beard already? Anakin with a lightsaber! Stormtroopers? No Jar Jar! Another Boba Fett, except this one is named Jango? More lightsabers!

 

Ok, I don’t want to get fooled again but this one looks way better than Phantom Menace, I can’t wait…

 

Aw, crap.

 

A Hype to Remember: Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)

ALL OF US HERE AT AFTER THE HYPE LOVE STAR WARS, BECAUSE… WELL… IT’S STAR WARS!

In honor of Star Wars Day (May 4th) we will be releasing one “Hype to Remember” a day to cover all 8 of the released Star Wars films!  I’m back again to talk about the beginning of the dark days…

Let me take you back… a long, long time ago… When Phantom Menace could still be good…

The year, 1998, the movie, Meet Joe Black. The first trailer for a Star Wars film in about 15 years has just hit theaters! (remember when the internet sucked?) People across the country bought tickets for a movie they didn’t want to see, sorry Joe, just to see 2 min of Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace! This 2 min!

Continue reading A Hype to Remember: Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)

A Hype to Remember: Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)

ALL OF US HERE AT AFTER THE HYPE LOVE STAR WARS, BECAUSE… WELL… IT’S STAR WARS!

In honor of Star Wars Day (May 4th) we will be releasing one “Hype to Remember” a day to cover all 8 of the released Star Wars films!  I’m RETURNing today because OF THE JEDI!

 

Three years isn’t the longest you’ve ever had to wait for a sequel.  But when the last movie you saw was Empire Strikes Back, that 3 years might as well be 300.  People were losing thier minds!  Who is the other?  Is Vader really Luke’s dad? WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO HAN??? Then boom!  Revenge of the Jedi trailer is released and, well… at least one of the questions is answered:

Continue reading A Hype to Remember: Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)

A Hype To Remember: Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

All of us here at After The Hype love Star Wars, because… well… it’s STAR WARS!

In honor of Star Wars Day (May 4th) we will be releasing one “Hype to Remember” a day to cover all 8 of the released Star Wars films!  I get the honor of talking about the BEST film in the series thus far – THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK!

 

I jumped on board the Star Wars train roughly around ’97 when they re-released the original trilogy back in theaters, so I had the benefit of knowing that this was part of a larger saga that would (hopefully) be ongoing. It’s weird to go back and watch the original marketing materials for these movies, especially after living through the updates, re-releases, and the marketing for the new movies still to come.

 

This trailer feels very much like a sales pitch, stating matter-of-fact what we’re getting in the movie, which is more of what made the first one so great, plus this new guy LANDO CALRISSIAN. It also spoils a lot of the movie (minus the big reveal), which I wasn’t really expecting.

 

And yet I don’t really mind all that much. There’s a rough-around-the-edges charm here that the franchise has lacked for a long-ass time, and I hope we can get back to that somehow.

 

Anyway! The trailer!

Continue reading A Hype To Remember: Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

A Hype to Remember : Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)

All of us here at After The Hype love Star Wars, because… well… it’s STAR WARS!

In honor of Star Wars Day (May 4th) we will be releasing one “Hype to Remember” a day to cover all 8 of the released Star Wars films!  I’ll kick things off with STAR WARS: EPISODE IV – A NEW HOPE!

Star Wars is so much more than a movie.  It’s a way of life.  I have no idea when the first time I saw Star Wars was, it’s always just been a part of me.  I wish I was around to see this trailer in theaters for the first time.  It’s such a joy to watch.

Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)

 

 

They have no idea how to market this movie!  Is it a fantasy? An action movie? They just keep telling us how great it is, then throwing in a random clip.  Clearly they didn’t have James Earl Jones voice track in yet.  They didn’t have colors on the light sabers.  The whole thing looks like a cheap 70’s sci-fi flop.  But still, somehow, looks totally amazing!  This trailer had a tough job to do, and it does it perfectly!  I can only imagine seeing this once, maybe, then seeing the finished product in theaters!  My mind would have been blown!

I love this trailer, it’s the perfect set up to the perfect movie!

 

A Hype to Remember: Mass Effect 3

If I could only play one game series for the rest of my life, that series would be Mass Effect.

 

I’ve been playing a ton of Mass Effect Andromeda, and I can’t shake the feeling that this isn’t Mass Effect. Yes the characters designs are there, they say the right words, and it all looks very Mass Effecty. But it just doesn’t capture that feeling that the original trilogy did. This has to be partly on me right? Maybe I’m not giving this game the a fair shake. But I just don’t feel that excitement I had when ME3 was coming out. Son of Krogan I was excited for that game!

 

I have to watch that trailer again!

MASS EFFECT 3 (2012)

 

 

Continue reading A Hype to Remember: Mass Effect 3

A Hype to Remember: Fast & Furious (2009)

There is a solid argument to be made that the Fast and Furious trailer from the 2009 film is one of the greatest teaser trailers of all time.

We here at After the Hype are unashamed FF fans. Well, 3 out of 4 of us are — looking at you Ryan! But I’d argue that without this teaser, there would be no franchise for us to be fans of.

 

I was living in Chicago in a lovely little apartment when this came out.

 

Not anymore
My actual apartment!

 
I had just gotten into this new band, Does It Offend You Yeah?  Then I saw online that they had their music featured in the new Fast and Furious trailer so I decided to give it a shot.  Up to that point, I had enjoyed the first, laughed at the second, and like the rest of the world, skipped the third… But the band is cool, so let’s give it a whirl…

 
W. T. FUCK?

 
I’m so ready to watch that movie!! I ran to my room mates room (Friend and guest of the show Graham) and made him watch it with me. We both agreed, whatever they were smoking when they made Tokyo Drifting to Sleep, they were done with.  I couldn’t have been more pumped.

Now I’m going to watch it again, and beat-by-beat tell you what I’m feeling, as if it were the first time.

Continue reading A Hype to Remember: Fast & Furious (2009)