No no, I'm one of the admins on the biggest Icelandic Star Wars FB page (there are more than one). It's been getting a lot of traction today.

While there were certainly more interesting choices out there, I'm coming to terms with JJ Abrams. With him directing and Arndt writing the script, there's at least a pair of capable people at the helm. It's one thing to have a writer/director pair that you "think" can pull it off versus a pair that you "know" has the capability, at least. I would have preferred Bird or Aronofsky for a single flick, or Jackson for a new trilogy...but I'm comforted some to know what I'm getting -- and with Abrams you know what you're signing up for.

I think my biggest worry will that this will feel too much like Star Trek, because JJ's not really known for his range of "looks". Considering how much New Trek can feels Star Wars-like, it's entirely possible that you could watch the films back to back and not see much of a difference...and that'd be a shame, in my opinion.

Ya, it's tough to get on board because I simply haven't enjoyed any of his films that much up to this point, but that isn't necessarily a reason to write him off. He's consistently made movies that are competent, but flawed and not very memorable, which is not what I want out of a new Star Wars.

That being said, as has been pointed out, he may be the right guy for the job on this one given how much he turned Star Trek into a Star Wars movie and as it's well known that he's a fan.

The biggest worries for me then are how he's going to handle the action and how he's going to handle the score.

Up till this point, I've not been a fan of his approach to action, which tends to be way too shaky, cutty, and close-up. I really disliked how he shot the space battle stuff in Star Trek for this reason, the guy seems terrified of Wide establishing shots and almost every Enterprise shot was a medium shot or a close up.
My fear is we'll get a movie that feels decent, but doesn't have any kick-ass memorable sequences in it (kind of like Superhero origin story movies where they save all the good stuff for a sequel).
The juries still out until Star Trek Into Darkness comes out though, because just off the trailer it looks really impressive visually.

Regarding the score, if we're lucky John Williams will still be with us and willing to finish out the new trilogy. If we're going to have all the original cast back, I feel like we need that continuity of bringing back Williams.
If not, the writing is on the wall that it'll be Giachinno. My dislike for his Star Trek score is well documented, but if it has to be him, my hope is that JJ being a big fan of the originals can convince Giachinno to not fuck with the original feel and write something that feels similar in style. If he pulls another Star Trek though, I'm officially done with the guy.

Well, there's just the simple fact that Williams is 80 years old, and by the time there's a movie to be scored he'll be 82.    Disney's going to be making these for years to come, and there will have to be a handoff of the composing job at some point.   It's just a question of when.

It's tough to say without knowing what they're doing with the Trilogy. If it is a proper trilogy that's meant to flow together like 1 big story, then there's something to be said for continuity of the composer to tie things together. If it's more of a loose thing like the early Star Trek films, then I prefer they change it up and give different people a crack at it each time. I definitely hope they change up directors each time out, I don't want to wait 10-20 years for a Brad Bird Star Wars, and by then who knows if he'll still be the awesome director he is today. I can't imagine Abrams wants to do 3 star wars movies back to back.

They won't do that because Abrams can't do a giant tent-pole movie every year, and Disney won't wait four years for another Star Wars movie.

Enter: Guillermo del Toro.

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!
                     

This is about to get very ragey for a short time so I apologize in advance, and I know most of you arn't going to agree with me, so just bear with me.

I want a director with a vision, because I'm sick and fucking tired of movies with no vision, movies that we are perfectly happy sit back and call "Perfectly workable" and then move on in our lives. I'm sick of not being able to be excited about movies, I'm sick of the most joyous thing I can say about a new project is "Well...they probably won't fuck it up." I want to be screaming in joy at the thought of a movie being made. I want to be able to look at something afterwards and say it was fucking amazing. I'm sick and fucking tired of walking out of theatres going, yep, there was another one of those. I'm saying this about Star Wars because I want to be saying it every goddamn movie these days, but Star Wars is big and exciting, and vast and filled with unending vats of inspiration and potential. And I want to be able to look back at a movie like that and say it was fucking awesome, not, yep, that was a definitely a solidly built piece of movie making. I want to be rejoicing in the streets at the pure unbridled joy of experiencing this story and this universe, not sitting back in my seat with a curt nod and some minute sense of respect for the film making craft displayed. I want to see someone, anyone, stand up and go yep we're doing something bold and amazing here, and if you don't like it, there's the fucking door.

Again...I really want to be saying this about every movie, but Star Wars is the matter at hand, and frankly everything surrounding it screams for something bold and dramatic to be done. To continue this legend of bizarrity and insanity that has led to this point. I'll remind you, 3 months ago, we were NEVER EVER getting another Star Wars movie. And now we're sitting here arguing about the director, that's fucking nuts.