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Star Wars: AOTC Reviews Pour In
Dork King writes "The New York Time's Review of AOTC (free reg, yada yada)
notes that Attack of the Clones doesn't look good for fans. Thankfully, I'm not a fan." Also, dw5000 writes "The BBC has a favorable review of Attack of the Clones on its news website, as well as an executive summary of what the UK papers are saying about AotC. The populist tabloids love it, while the broadsheets are giving cautious approval. Hmm. Maybe I won't wait for DVD ..." I also noticed Variety has a review up as well. Also, for those who have lost all hope for Star Wars, I submit to you the date of the Spider-Man sequel: May 7th, 2004. You should know that spoilers exist in one or more of these stories. Beware!
Spider-Man spoiler? How is that possible? Anyone who is a fan knows every possible story line they could use in the sequal.
FoundNews.com - get paid to blog.,
There's a new Star Wars?! Geez, why didn't anyone tell me. Last time around, I was drowning in Jar Jar Pepsi cans.
I have a shitty sig!
The reviews have, for the most part, been overwhelmingly positive. Chris Gore's review at Film Threat is a good example. He says AOTC is second only to Empire Strikes Back in quality. (It is important to note that he thought Phantom Menace was total crap, in fact he was one of its harshest critics.)
The Jedi are destroyed and the remaining few are scattered about the galaxy.
Anakin turns to the Dark Side and becomes Darth Vader.
Jar Jar Binks is the worst Star Wars character ever.
Lucas should have gone for real foreign languages instead of giving everyone bad accents.
I have been pwned because my
Will it suck mine as well?
Star Wars Returns for Better or Worse
"All mankind is at the mercy of a handful of neurotics". - Norman Douglas
I read on alt.binaries.vcd that FTF already has a telesync, so you may indeed not have to wait for the DVD.
These people work hard to make a movie and you steal it. So theres less money for number 3 ... fuck you faggot.
The Good:
The visuals are amazing. From start to finish, while Lucas may be in love with the computers a bit too much, what is here is fantastic and you will definitely hear gasps during several points of the movie.
The Yoda battle. If you've seen the TV commercials you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, think green, think three feet tall, think Jedi. He's not called a master for nothing.
Ewan McGregor. The man is a genius and his little ticks and manerisms put him in the character so well it makes the rest of the actors look bad. The Score. Oh man, Williams sealed the Oscar nod about twenty minutes in. You'll see what I mean. It's beautiful, beautiful stuff.
What's Bad:
The dialogue stinks. While witty banter is sparse, and mostly kept to the great Obiwan/Anakin discussions found in different spots, make not mistake that the romance story's wooden, dead-before-it-leaves-their-mouths lines are cringe-inducing.
Hayden Christenson. Not bad, per se, just..eh. Not a lot going on here. He tries too hard and sometimes it's hard to swallow. He does nail it in a few key scenes, most specifically near the climax of the movie, and that's what counts.
Jar-Jar. Even when he's reduced to 10 minutes of screen time, the damn guy still irritates the shit outta me.
Overall, this is a fun romp that as a film stinks, but as far as Star Wars and all that that implies, this is a fanboy's dream and not even Spider-Man comes close to the deep, heroin-junkie-like need to watch the movie again as soon as you see the end credits.
Prepare to geek out.
I refuse to be fucked over again, and the inner child in me concurs. So I won't see it opening weekend, and I won't get my hopes up.
Don't- don't- don't believe the hype.
as the topic says
unzip; strip; touch; finger; mount; fsck; more; yes; unmount; sleep
This comment has nothing to do with anything.
AotC got a C+, while Spider-Man got a B (different reviewer though).
AotC reviews have also been summarized at Studio Briefing (first headline under "Film"), although it mistakenly points out that Episodes IV-VI are the top-selling DVDs (instead of the top-REQUESTED DVDs) on Amazon.com, and listed at Rotten Tomatoes.
First, let me say that I saw TPM @ 12:01 AM CST just on a whim. There were news stories about these dorks in costumes waiting DAYS and DAYS to get their tickets and get in. My friend and I got done with a meeting late and decided what the hell. We got there @ 11:30PM, bought two tickets, got some drinks and pop-corn -- no lines for either activity -- and grabbed two half decent seats and watched the movie.
Well, this time I pre-bought tickets but thats because Dickinson Northrock 14 here in Wichita has anounced it will have TI's DLP starting with Episode Two on opening night. I now have 3 tickets for me and friends for the 12:01 showing -- but in DLP. I am not a star wars fan (Ive never seen EP 6, although I have it in DivX) but I wanna check out this DLP shit -- I hear its gonna kick ass and at least my eyes will be brought to orgasm if the movie is not that pleasing.
The ultimate network admin tool needs HELP!
According to The LA Times, you can find AOTC on irc chat.
From the article:
The pirating of "Attack of the Clones" lends fuel to the film industry's efforts in Washington to crack down on piracy. While the studios' trade association steps up its enforcement activities, their lobbyists are pushing for laws that would require computers and consumer electronics to be modified to deter unauthorized copying.
"It's an extremely serious threat," said Jean Murrell Adams, head of the litigation department at DreamWorks SKG. "I'm not surprised that it's on the Internet. I talk to pirates because I want to find out why they're doing this. And what I've been told is that they were eagerly anticipating who would be first to do this. It's a challenge for them."
Apparently it's a version videotaped in the theater, which they're worried will cut into DVD sales (?)
W
-------------------
This is my SIG. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
3. Profit!
Ironic that on the day of this posting, days before release, a Telesync release is already out. May the force be with them?
NFO
I was watching the phantom menace tonight and had this really cool idea of somthing to post for the next star wars story that was sure to get +5 funny but i forgot what it was.
Kinda sucks huh.
Mess Stuff Up
And a reviewers rip is already circulating IRC!
claim to righteousness:
claim of truth:
parting declaration:
This movie is an obvious ripoff of two highly successful movies from two different eras: Strange Brew and Spiderman
Let's Compare.
Strange Brew : Star Wars EP II
Flying Dog : Flying Green Muppet
Plot to take over world : Plot to take over universe
Evil hockey players : Stormtroopers
Beer is source of power : "Midichlorion" microbrew
Bob and Doug : Obi and Anakin
Based on Hamlet : Based on ancient myths
Max von Sydow : Ian McDiarmid
Clearly, this movie is just a poor-rehash of Strange Brew with one twist - Spiderman special effects and the "spider sense" redone in an effort to trick the viewer into liking this poor-rendition of the greatest movie ever made, Strange Brew.
I don't buy it.
Kooookokokokokokokooooooo!
Linux - Because Mommy taught me to Share.
Anakin Skywalker lives through this movie!
My how you've grown! I have prepared a bowl of grits for you. Should I pour them down your pants or can you do it yourself?
Ah, my petrified darling!
Anyone else notice the blah/blah and yada/yada login/passwords don't seem to work at New York Times anymore. Perhaps they have noticed the huge number using those accounts and cancelled them. Use this link instead.
I.O.U One Sig.
People are going to see the movie no matter what ensuring the MPAA and Valenti and the movie studios have plenty of money to fund the DeCSS case and any other cases that may come up where people with to use technology that the studios don't like.
Hopefully they'll keep the playful and good-hearted nature of the golden-age storytelling in the Spider Man series and not devolve into the infantile anti-heroism and broodiness of the Venom years.
Since I have nothing witty to say, I will state for the record that Chewbacca is a better actor than Worf.
Lucas has earned enough respect that everyone who has complaints about the movie will still see it. I'd rather he create whatever he wants than to rely on the political correctness and Star Wars continuity of all the fans.
The preview it was incredible.
oh look kids, it's a (poorly disguised) goatse.cx link.
Fuk Yu VARY much!
So, the MPAA is good this friday? I forgot.
I haven't seen ATOC, but that is because I expect so little from it...especially compared to LOTR. Let's be honest here, how many people who were "of age" when all of the movies came out would agree that the last decent one was ROTJ? (unless you count the ROTJ game for the amiga, which-while fun- as a serious fan of the farnchise I would never do...even in jest).
Of course, for those who don't want to wait 7 more days, you could download the movie.
.nfo for release
A screener is circulating (bootlegged at a press screening event) of the entire movie.
You can find details here.
vcdquality.com
JPG Sample
--
I'm having a hard time figuring out which theaters in southern california are showing Ep. 2 in digital. Does anyone have a list or a link or something?
It would be cool to see Anakin take out the destroyer droids with no problem. The other Jedis just run away from them.
I wonder what it is that makes us so skeptical of the perceptions of others when it comes to books, but so eager to hear the opinions of others when we're talking about movies.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Check out this review.
I'm reminded of a Bloom County strip I read many years back where a film review was being written down at ye olde Bloom Picayune: "It did for cinema what Jonestown did for Kool-Aid".
Sometimes the reviewers are on to something, sometimes they just sound like elitist pricks. As I recall, Siskel & Ebert gave "The Usual Suspects" two thumbs down, which remains one of my favorite movies to date. I've plans to see this one, but I'm not sure I have the interest to go out of my way to see it opening night. I'm even busy enough with the approaching finals that I'd probably miss any lone-gunmen-are-dead reviews around these parts
-transiit
that was the sound of the LotR gauntlet landing
This movie had to be better. Watching the 'love' version preview in theatres playing Fellowship of the Rings gave you a feeling similar to watching the kid next door show of his supermario brothers LCD two days after you got a C64...
I am glad to hear Lucas and Co have pulled it off. Bring on the talent!
read this from sllort's journal INSTEAD!!!p lay&uid=4425 74&id=4373
.012. Now that we have the "Interest Level" for comments, we can use it to determine the "Interest Level" for Moderating & Metamoderating. Moderation requires less personal risk, so let's assume (to be as conservative as possible) that far more people want to moderate comments than post them. Let's assume that up to five times as many people want to moderate comments. There are probably far fewer, but since we are dealing with an assumption, we should make it a conservative one. This makes the "Interest Level" for Moderation about 6%, or .06. Now, Jamie has stated that 99.73% of readers receive moderator points and are not banned. Their "Interest Level" is .06, which means that (99.73 *.06 = 5.98) 5.98% of these people (at most) actually use their points. Now we have the banned moderators, the .27% that Jamie mentioned, who have been banned for bad moderation. Banned moderators have an interest level of 100%, because they have all used their points to get banned by an Editor. So, now we have a figure for the number of Moderators and Metamoderators who are included and excluded by the manual intervention of the Editors. (.27/(.27+5.98)) = .045, or 4.5%, is the lower bound for the percentage of moderators being manually excluded from the pool. If you run the numbers again assuming that the Interest Level for Moderation is the same as the Interest Level for posting comments, you arrive at a figure of 18.4% of moderators being manually banned. This would be our conservative upper bound. So, depending on how interested people are in moderation, between 5 and 18 percent of moderators have been manually banned from participating by the Editors.
... These moderations represent approximately 8% of all moderation". In short, nearly ten percent of Moderation is accomplished manually by the Editorial staff, and the rest of User Moderation is accomplished by users that have not disagreed with the Editors about how to Moderate. What does this mean?
http://slashdot.org/journal.pl?op=dis
sllort's Journal
Slashdot Moderation : Exercising Agreement
Monday January 28, @09:24PM [ Add Friend | #4373 ]
Slashdot Moderation : Exercising Agreement
A journey into the statistical methods employed to create Comments That Agree .
As I discussed in my previous journal entry, nearly 500 moderators were manually and permanently removed from the pool of potential moderators for giving positive moderation to this comment. While the manual banning of potential moderators by the Editorial staff is not documented, the source code used to accomplish this is readily available and the practice appears to be quite commonplace. The reasonable questions that arise from this practice are: how many moderators are being banned, what is the objective, and what are the actual results? The Slashdot Editorial staff has repeatedly stated that they don't have time to answer these questions (they're certainly not addressed in the FAQ), so it's up to us, the readers, to ponder them.
How many moderators are being permanently banned from the moderation pool? No one knows for certain except perhaps the Editors. Let's look at what we do know. Five hundred moderators were banned for moderating this comment. If we assume that one such comment is posted on a daily basis, that is approximately 185,000 potential moderators banned per year. That post was probably an exception, so we must revise our number. Jamie McCarthy made a post to a User-Created discussion which is deleted every two weeks, so I must reproduce his comment by cut & paste:
"Well, again, we have the logs, so we know what we're talking about. We log both how many times we give mod points, and how many times we would have given mod points but didn't. In the former category: 99.73%; in the latter, 0.27%." - Jamie McCarthy, Slashdot Editor
Additionally, Rob Malda made a related comment in a User-Created discussion:
There are a quarter of a million daily readers, but (and I just checked) only 1.2% of them post. So understand that those of you posting in the forums are already a minority of the community. - Rob Malda, Slashdot Founder & Editor
Now we have some numbers to run with. Of the 250,000 people who read Slashdot, 3,000 of them have an "Interest Level" high enough to post comments here. This "Interest Level" stands at 1.2%, or
What is the objective of the Editorial staff in manually removing User Moderators? That's a really tricky question to answer. Keep in mind that the Editors have gone to extensive lengths not to answer that question, so we must assume that it is an emotionally loaded subject. However, we can interpret some of their actions to arrive at an answer. The post mentioned in the beginning of this article was repeatedly moderated as Offtopic by many Editors. Rob Malda described it this way:
however only a smaller percentage of those moderators actually use their points... hundreds of users moderated it up [and I subsequently banned them all] I modded it [the comment] down a few times too. - Rob Malda, Slashdot Founder & Editor
Note that text in brackets was added by myself to reflect what we've learned. Reading that statement makes it pretty obvious that the purpose of removing Moderators from the pool is to ensure that the results of the Moderation system are consistent with what Rob Malda believes that the results of the moderation system should be. Moderators are chosen from a pool of Slashdot users who have not moderated contrary to the wishes of the Editors in the past. As the Slashdot FAQ states, "The Slashdot Editors have unlimited mod points
When surveying the impact of the Moderation system, there is one overridingly important statistic. That statistic is that over 99% of Slashdot readers do not post comments. Keep in mind that the default view of Slashdot has a threshold of one. This means that if you're moderated to zero or less, 99% of the people who would have read your comment... won't. Books could be written about whether or not blocking communication to 99% of the possible audience constitutes "Censorship", whatever that means today, but for the purposes of this essay, the point is moot. Suffice it to say that Moderation determines 99% of visibility, statistically. Now, consider that the Slashdot system, as a whole, is a constantly evolving system in which Moderators can transition from unbanned to banned, but not vice versa. Moderators who moderate differently than the "guide" Moderations of the Editors (which constitute 10% of the Moderation) are removed from the pool of influence. Therefore, Slashdot as a system moves in only one direction: towards promoting comments that are Moderated in agreement with the Editors. What is the role of Metamoderation? Let's look at the FAQ:
according to Meta Moderation, the fairness of these [editor Moderations] is statistically indistinguishable from the moderation of non admin users (92-93% of moderations are ruled 'Fair').
Keep in mind that the 5 to 18 percent of Slashdot Moderators who are banned from participating in Moderation are also banned from participating in MetaModeration. The purpose of MetaModeration, therefore, is that of reinforcing agreement. Those who have agreed with the Editors in the past are allowed to vote on whether the Editors moderate fairly. Not surprisingly, this subset of potential MetaModerators often agrees with the Editors. If they didn't, they'd probably have been removed already! MetaModeration, therefore, serves to reinforce agreement with the Editors among the selected Moderator pool, and Moderation serves to enact agreement with the Editors among the comments visible to 99% of Slashdot's readership. We only need one more quote from the FAQ to understand what this means:
Goals [of Moderation]: 1.Promote quality, discourage crap.
Since the Moderation system is a self-reinforcing system that promotes comments that agree with the Editors, we must assume that this comment means two things:
What the editors believe is quality.
What people who disagree with the Editors believe is crap.
That may be a strongly worded value judgement, but it stands as a conclusion easily & objectively reached. But aside from this value judgement, Slashdot stands as an example of a best-of-breed solution for those who wish to create a community that promotes agreement. Slash appears to have been specifically designed for this purpose, and it can be employed to create a community that agrees about.. just about anything! For instance, ask a Slashdot reader if Linux is a great Operating System. The answer will almost certainly be an emphatic yes! Rob Malda has created an excellent system for managing a userbase into agreement, and for the most part, the users agree with the system. Which was probably the whole point.
Slashdot: News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters. Comments that Agree.
That the RIAA leakes a bad quality screener for its own good.
Why must he make movies to sell toys, rather than make great movies?
Is he obsessed with selling more toys than McDonalds (the world's #1 toy-seller)?
If not, what is up?
And Star Wars fans, how can you still support this when every new movie is more disappointing than the last one? Yeah, the visuals get better and better. But the story gets dumber and dumber.
How much Star Wars merchandise can you fit in your closets? Just where the hell are you warehousing this stuff?
WARNING -Huge spoiler below, skip to the next post if you don't want to read this...
Luke Skywalker's father is DARTH VADER!! Who would have thought??
"is many things -- a two-hour-and-12-minute action- figure commercial, a demo reel heralding the latest advances in digital filmmaking, a chance for gifted actors to be handsomely paid for delivering the worst line readings of their careers -- it is not really much of a movie at all"
Is it just my imagination or is queen Amidala dressed almost precisely like Britney Spears in that one scene? Tight vinyl pants and top, belly showing, etc. Except it's a white outfit instead of red.. How lame can you get? Lucas has definitely sold out to corporate America. Sad really..
No need to go, it's 404.
3. Eat crap-with-corn
4. Shit crap-with-corn-in-my-shit
For me, if a UK "Quality Broadsheet" - especially The Guardian says a film is rubbish then it's usually brilliant. No doubt if they reviewed the same film slowed down, grayscaled, dubbed into Swaheli and with French subtitles then it would probably get 10/10. And I'm a Guardian reader!
/RANT >
Bear in mind also that UK tabloids are sometimes in the pockets of international media types such as Murdoch. These guys will endorse anything that has come out of the boss' studios.
It doesn't look good for AotC but I'll probably pay my 7 euros anyway* coz I'm total jailbait when it comes to a bit of cool CGI.
< RANT *gt *Note - even though I'm a brit I have personally declared myself a euro zone so I dont have to futz around with that ridiculous currency exchange every time I set foot outside the country. Ah yes what jaunt across the channel would be complete without waiting in line for 20 minutes only to get ripped off by a bank. Mmm m! <
I had faith that all things work out for the greatest good in the end, Pangloss. A terrible Episode 1 must have been perpetrated to bring forth a grand Episode 2.
Candide
I think I'll wait for it to hit the Drive-Ins. Bring along a case of brewski and have some grins.
Link: "I saw CLONES two weeks ago up at George's. For the record, of all the STAR WARS they've made, this is my second favorite just ehind EMPIRE," Spielberg told us. "It was great. The action scenes looked like George had been inspired by James Cameron because they were as good as any of the action scenes in T2, and I think George did his best directing with this one too."
:)
Well, it should be better than The Phantom Menace (episode 1) then.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
http://www.majcher.com/nytview.html?url=http://www . ytimes.com/2002/05/10/movies/10STAR.html&submit
... until they change the registration format again, that is...
Generates a random login every time and jumps to the page
I've been quite spoiled for this movie, reading the script and spy reports, downloading the pics etc.
It can be quite frustrating to know that a couple of my favourite scenes has been cut from the final, so I'm staying spolier free for EPIII.
Chris Gore is my hero. I've been reading and enjoying Film Threat since the days when it was printed on dead trees and delivered to my mailbox. Gore is, hands-down, the most no-bullshit film critic out there, unlike Harry Knowles who is in the pocket of any studio who'll pay for the room service tab.
You americans think always think starwars is the greatest thing in the universe. I am reaaaally bored with this! Sigh. somehow people fighting with tubelights entertains people.
When in doubt, use brute force. -- Ken Thompson
You can read it here. This movie was SO much better than Ep. 1, it was unbelievable. I even thought it was better than Spider-Man. I plan to go see it again on opening day, if nothing else for the Matrix trailer.
-Grant
|grant.henninger.name|
Midichlorian-itis predicted in record numbers!
Thats right, the dread disease Midichlorian-itis will once again make itself known in a mere 6 days!
Symptoms include but not limited to:
Hyper tension
High blood pressure
Trembling muscles and nervous twitches
Cold Sweat
High anxiety (generally manifest in high piched voice with constant arm waving and muttering "Oh my! We're doomed!"
Loss of appetite followed by craving for popcorn
Red and black markings on the patients head and body along with yellow horns protruding from the head.
Breathing problems, (the most common manifestion is when the patient breathes deeply on a regular basis)
Craving for roasted Ewok
Desire to skip work or school
Hallucinations of an army of Jar Jar Clones! (Warning! this symptom is indicative of an impending psychotic episode! Consult your Doctor right way! Failure to receive treatment on time can result in being carbon frozen!)
On May 16th please report to your local movie theatre, where for (insert ticket price here) you can receive your annual innoculation for the next 3 years.
If after the over 2 hour innoculation procedure is not enough, you can spend more $$ to repeat the dosage or else swing over to another part of the theatre for an arachnid booster shot
This public service message brought to you by Coruscant Medical Institute, the Friendly Family Doctors!
I'm going to see it, you are all going to see it...bitch all you want.
Think Jack Valenti, Fritz Hollings, ...
I watched the TeleSync and it's a wicked movie. I recommend it.
Strangely I seem to remember lots of positive 'reviews' floating around at the time of The Phantom Menace's release.
I hated the film; so I'm not going to rush to see this one. (I am going to be seeing The Queen of The Damned soon though ;)
Is this a story of the evil empire that begin to embrace the universe...?
There have nothing to do with the real world...
The guy at the NYTimes seems to have this strange notion that Star Wars fans don't already know the essentials of the plot, and could actually be surprised by this movie. Really, with an established timeline before and after this movie, how much possibility for surprise can there possibly be, but then again, I for one don't want to be surprised, I want Star Wars.
In the grand scheme of things, Star Wars is not, nor should it be high art. George Lucas is a cinematographic genius, but he is no Bergman, Hitchcock, or Lang. What most people don't seem to catch is that he never pretends to be. He has said in numerous interviews that Star Wars is based on the old movie serials from his youth, and those are inherently melodramatic, bombastic, and completely archetypal battles between good and evil. Is there ever any doubt in are minds that Darth Vader is evil incarnate? No, not until Lucas started listening to his critics with Jedi.
Stars Wars never pretends to be high art, but perhaps something so simple, and yet so appealing is more than high art. Let us not fool ourselves, The Illiad and Beowulf were so popular in their times because they are entertaining; we still read them today because they are inherently good stories. Star Wars is a good story, and no matter what the agenda of the reviewer, or what marketting deals have already been made, Lucas will never let it be otherwise.
Short version: NYTimes reviewer has missed the point by a few parsecs.
Check out this link [mrqe.com]. mrqe.com posts links to almost every review you can find for a movie on the internet. It is a very good site for getting diverse opinions of a movie.
Great ruin it for me!! Now i know there are Jedi's in episode 2!!! thanks guys!!!
Cross-media plugging anyone? Death to murdoch..
"Listen to my brother, he's installed lots of car stereos."
Best Slashdot Co
That despite giving a valid email address to the NYT I've never once received any spam from them. Amazing that.
First, keep in mind Ebert's review of Episode 1, which he gave 3 and a half stars (out of four): http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1999/0 5/051701.html
Now, check out his current review of Episode 2, which he gives 2 stars:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/cst-ftr-eber t10.html
I haven't seen Episode 2 yet, but it makes me think that reviewers just aren't consistent. The things he criticizes episode 2 for are things he seems to have ignored with episode 1.
He also spends a lot of time complaining that seeing the version on film (as opposed to one of the few digital projection theatres or on DVD) did not help.
Normally I like Ebert, but I didn't think this review was very good. He seemed to be going through the motions, and didn't go into the awesome amount of detail he normally does when reviewing these kinds of movies (the other 4 star wars movies, the 3 Indiana Jones movies, etc.).
-Tom
Here's another review, pretty positive, some very minor plot-line spoilers: http://www.dvdeastereggs.com/showReview.php?rid=86
What kind of damn stupid crack-heads elect a 12 year old as queen, anyway?
For that matter, what society elects a Queen??!?
Shouldn't that be "free req, Yoda Yoda" ?
;)
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Checking everyones REAL favorite news site (about isos, you figure out the address), You'll see that FTF allready has the vcd floating around. The quality isn't that great, but what do you expect from an FTF release?
Are the NY Times on CRACK? I saw a Press Sneak Peek of AOTC Tuesday. This movie rocked. The landscape is stunning, they look like they are real places. The fight scenes are awesome. Yoda is super cool. The love scenes between Anakin & Amadala, eh, who cares...they work. We all know how it's going to end up anyway. John Williams just slammed the score....I loved it, I am going to buy it tomorrow.
Spider-man and AOTC are two different types of movies.....they will attract different type of movie viewers.
Also, everyone has their opinion about movies, some are going to love it, some are going to hate it....and other will not care.....I thought it was awesome. I will be seeing it on opening night. I will take my soneand wife to see it the weekend, and then it's on to Downtown Disney to see it on DLP!!!!!
Go see it and nake you own judgement.
Everyone is going to have their own bias and take on this. Which is why I try and get the summary from Rotten Tomatoes (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/StarWarsEpisodeII AttackoftheClones-1112314/).
They have it as a 58% right now which means basically that it sucks but a some will like it for whatever reason.
The link will be good for about 5 days, which is about as much as the review is worth... this rag's reviewers have what I call 'inverse value': when they give it 1 star, assume it's a 5, and vice versa. So AOTC must be a 4 ;)
I'd have a personalized plate on my car, but "toxic bachelor" won't fit into 7 letters.
I was going to comment on this but I can't remember if it's cool to like Star Wars or to hate it. Someone please remind me! I don't want to go against the hive-mind!
Even Leonard Maltin has lost me; I used to buy his movie guides every few years, but now I don't bother. Guess I never forgave him for giving Blade Runner one and a half stars.
Anymore, I just go to rottentomatoes, or the Slashdot-linked Filthy Critic, and check out the movie from there.
I'd have a personalized plate on my car, but "toxic bachelor" won't fit into 7 letters.
It should be noted that:
1) Most critics from popular mags like Entertainment Weekly probably weren't even BORN when the original Star Wars movie showed up.
2) Those same critics (whose reviews I've read a lot of) seem to believe that "Star Wars" should be always upbeat. It's quite the opposite for the Episodes 1-3. All the Jedi are going to DIE and Anakin's going to be the one to kill them (mostly). Nothing upbeat there. For upbeat, see Episodes 4-6.
It's still a story. Lucas just ingratiated us with more explosions. Makes sense--when Yoda has to open up a can of whoopass in a SW movie, you KNOW things are getting bad for the good guys.
Vos teneo officium eram periculosus ut vos recipero is.
The NYT review is a great review. So often, with net-journalism like slashdot, online movie reviews are incredibly bad. It takes quite a lot to write a good review and no one seems to realize this or even notice the difference between good reviews and bad reviews! Think of it this way Good film critics, such as A. O. Scott or Anthony Lane, know as much about movies as you geeks know perl or c++. Anyway, I laughed when I read this part:
This is sure to open a can of worms.
Of course it got pirated so quickly because it is huge, but you know this will feed arguments in other forums.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
"Even the true believers camped out on the sidewalks with their toy light sabers seem more dutiful than enthusiastic." -- A. O. SCOTT, NY Times Review
That pretty much sums up how I feel. I have watched the first trilogy many times, and each time I find new appreciation for those movies. Every time I watch TPM I find it more annoying/frustrating/disgusting.
I think the dynamic between the characters in the first trilogy are well represented by this exchange between Leia and Han:
Leia: I'd rather kiss a wookie.
Han : That can be arranged... you could use a good kiss!
Dialogue like that just doesn't appear anywhere in TPM. I have yet to read a review that talks about how witty the dialogue is in AOTC, just that the fight scenes are cool.
Back to the point, I'm going to go see AOTC, but I'm not "excited" about it. I wouldn't be so silly as to say it's my "duty", but I understand the reference the author makes. It's much closer to describing how I feel.
How does everyone else feel?
*SPOILER
- Padme engages in a threeway with a Gungan and a droid
- One of the three is a "screamer" in the sac - (hint, its not Padme or the Gungan)
my religion lies somewhere between buddhism and super monkey ball - pamphlet?
"Jar Jar Binks, the notorious duck-billed racial caricature from "The Phantom Menace" ....you may now call him Senator Binks."
First Hillary Clinton becomes a Senator, now Jar-Jar Binks... I'm moving to Canada...
100% Insightful
...that no where in any of the StarWars movies does there appear a "marketing droid." You would think that such a character would be central to the plot-line. Perhaps it would be responsible for helping fund the Rebel Alliance...
Why bother.
When Star Wars: Episode I--The Phantom Menace introduced us to Anakin Skywalker, the future Darth Vader was a 9-year-old boy played by Jake Lloyd, a towheaded youth with about as much appeal as an ovarian cyst.
Star Wars: Episode II--Attack of the Clones finds Anakin 10 years on, a considerably taller and better looking Jedi Knight-in-training. Perhaps to establish a sense of continuity,writer-director-master-of-his-universe George Lucas has handed the part to newcomer Hayden Christensen, an actor with less natural ability than Lloyd, if that's possible.
But let's get to it. The question on everyone's lips isn't "Is Episode II any good?" but "Is it better than Episode I?"
The answer: Yes, but only marginally so. And considering Menace stank like a dead water buffalo, that's not saying a whole hell of a lot.
. . . As promised, the romance that was precluded in the previous film by Anakin's prepubescence blossoms. Well, it's supposed to blossom, but the pouty Christensen exudes all the heat of a neutered Chihuahua.
He's an impotent romantic lead and an even worse hero. As the conflicted, angst-ridden Jedi who will eventually evolve into the monolithically sinister Vader, this boy-band reject emits a level of testosterone easily rivaled by Liza Minnelli's new husband. Tossing and turning sweatily in his bed, he blurts out not "Amidala," but "Mom."
. . .
There was a time when it seemed Lucas, after directing American Graffiti and the first Star Wars, had his finger on the pulse of the culture. Now it just seems he has his thumb up his ass.
So what makes Episode II any better than Episode I? The spectacle of the final half-hour. . . Unfortunately, after the dust settles for a marriage ceremony, the ammonia taste of the first two hours returns and we become aware of a third side of the force--the dopey side.
If I were Lucas, I'd pull my turkey neck up over my head and go into hiding, which I suspect he'll do when his movie opens next week and it gets a faceful of Spider web.
Rating: **
--Johnny DiLoretto
The Other Paper (Columbus, Ohio)
I forget who said this, but it's good: "Critics are to the arts what pigeons are to statues." caveat emptor!
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
Not only is the next Spider-Man (which was a great movie IMHO) in May 2004, but the release of the Hulk will be Summer 2003!
-- DuckWing
As for AOTC: It's gotta be better than ROTJ. My personal ranking is this (based on the originals of each flick, not any special editions):
1. ESB
2. ANH
3. TPM
4. ROTJ
I give ROTJ SE and TPM a tie at 3 because the SE ending is so much better than the original...
I predict that AOTC will go to 2 or 3 on my personal list. I'll see at 12:01am next Thursday...
When was the last time you saw a review that changed your mind about going to go see a movie? I heard Star Wars 4 sucked so I didn't pay the AU$15 to see it knowing it would show up on the cable tv some time. It was a good decisions but it was more based on the start wars 1 directors recut that sucked so bad and not so much on reviews. I decied to see FotR becuase of some of the ads and things I had heard about how they put it together. The only review that got me into a movie was CAP's review of the South Park movie.
Ok, so some jackass taped the movie in the theater and distrubuted it on the net? What would the film industry propose legislators do to stop this? Completely ban all video playing/recording software that can play non-DRMed video?
Wouldn't that require that PCs basically become set-top boxes? Wouldn't that damage the computer industry more than the entire film industry is worth?
See, the #1 thing the computer industry has going for it with regards to fighting this type of legislation is that it is worth far, far more than the entire film industry. But when senators and congress-critters are in the pockets of media companies, they throw the economy out the window to line thier own pockets with dirty money from Hollywood.
In my humble opinion, that is such a great betrayal of the public trust as to be worthy of death. Think about it, legislators knowingly damaging the economy to line their own pockets. That, to some degree at least, puts people out on the street, broke, without healthcare, etc.
necessary disclaimer: when I say "worthy of death", I don't mean they should be killed, I'm strongly against the death penalty. I simply mean that thier life is worth nothing to the world, and in fact the world would be a better place without them.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
Technically, even if he did admit to being gay (which you are only saying that he implied, because of his opinions) he still wouldn't be out of the closet because he posted as an AC.
"Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones" is rated PG (Parental guidance suggested). It has many violent scenes, none of them terribly upsetting or, for that matter, interesting.
...but sex appeal was around long before corporate America.
I feel like I'm kinda out of SW now. I liked TPM fine, AotC has a stupid name, but that's never been a huge movie criteria for me either. I dont know if it's because I've read too many reviews/spoilers or what, but I'm not quite as jazzed.
Of course, it could be that I just saw Spider-man and LOVED it and can't wait for the sequels....
The only thing that could have saved this movie was Chewbacca coming out of nowhere and laying 16 inches of tube steak on Queen Amidala.
Is it possible to write a Star Wars review without comparing Jar Jar to Stepin Fetchit? Who is this guy, anyway?
Things are more like they are now than they ever were before.
It just occurred to me that these Star Wars prequels and the Quake series so far have something interesting in common: They're both essentially technology demos lacking significant dramatic depth.
Consider:
Lucasfilm is pioneering new ways to make films digitaly, and new ways to view them digitally. They're also setting trends in computer generated actors. You better believe they're planning to use this technology for making non-Lucas movies.
Quake constantly sets the benchmark in 3D graphics engine technology. They throw together an admittedly fun, if shallow, game release it, then license it like crazy to developers who actually make more dramatic games.
So I expect Episode 2 to be fun, but I'm not going to expect a lot of drama that makes me leave the theater thinking.
I saw TPM in the theater once.
I saw the original release of Star Wars seven times. I saw the first re-release two times. After that, I lost count.
Star Wars has been successful because it has included the kind of movie that people will go back to see several times on the big screen. Getting away from this is a big mistake.
THERE ARE STILL TWO MORE LOTR MOVIES COMING OUT!!!!
so if AOTC sucks....meh whatever I wasn't expecting much anyway.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
It's like you paraphrased FilmThreat's review.
I guess the title says it most succinctly. Yes, many of the MPAA/RIAA members may tank as time goes on, but I seriously doubt that the world will be less rich in art/film/music for their passing. The artists surely won't suffer on the whole, 99% get cheated by the pimps^H^H^H^H^Hstudios as things are. In any case, there's not one thing the XXAA can do to stop the process -- except to adapt to a bits-are-essentially-free world. Some will survive, I'm sure.
Another poster wonders whether the XXAA want PCs to be merely set-top boxes: the answer is clearly and explicitly "Yes, they do." These mugs are very threatened by the general-purpoose PC and the distributed power the 'Net creates. Too bad for them...
"My strength is as the strength of ten men, for I am wired to the eyeballs on espresso."
Are you trying to suggest there's something wrong with being gay?
"We will continue to fight these terrorists, and the rogue governments who harbor them, until the universe is safe, once and for all, and the security of the Neo-New Cosmik Order ensured."
It was one year ago today that the Death Star, perhaps the greatest symbol of the Empire's might, was destroyed in an attack by fanatic Rebels, who used small, single-person crafts to infiltrate seemingly impenetrable defenses. Thousands of mourners were on hand to remember and pay tribute to the victims and their families.
"We lost our innocence that day," reflected one mourner. "I guess we thought we were immune from the kind of violence that happens in other galaxies. We were wrong." "I lost hundreds of buddies that day," said one teary-eyed Stormtrooper. "Guys whose only crime was trying make the Universe a safer place."
Although the day was colored by sadness, the mourners found some relief in the news of a decisive victory over the Rebels. In an attack led by Darth Vader, Empire forces were able to rout hundreds of Rebels from a network of caves underneath the surface of the planet Hoth. "We're not sure we got them all," says a Vader spokesman. "There are a lot of places to hide in those caves. But we've delivered a powerful blow to the terrorist's infrastructure, that's for sure. Today, the Empire has struck back."
Initial reports are unclear as to the fate of Luke Skywalker, a hero among the Rebels, who is rumored to have delivered the fatal blow to the Death Star. Skywalker, a former desert-dweller from the planet Tattooine, became a part of the Rebellion after family members were killed. Skywalker was trained by a militant wing of the Rebels, known as "Jedi Knights." Fanatical in their religious beliefs, the Jedi Knights claim to derive their power from the mystical "Force."
It's believed that Skywalker was specifically trained by infamous terrorist O bin Wankanobi. Wankanobi, occasionally called "Ben" and easily recognized by his bearded visage and long, flowing robes, achieved near-martyr status among the Rebels after his death last year during a spy mission. His more fervent followers believe that Wan Kenobi lives on within them today, some even claiming to hear his voice during times of duress.
The attack on the Death Star came shortly after the Empire's destruction of Alderstaan, a planet whose government was known to harbor terrorists. Responding to criticism over the total annihilation of the planet, Vader stated, "There is no middle ground in the War on Terror. Those who harbor terrorists are terrorists themselves. Alderaan was issued ample warning. The fight for continuing Freedom is often burdened by terrible cost."
The cost of this war can still be seen today in the continuing efforts to build a coalition government on Tattooine. Longstanding animosities among the planets various ethnic groups, including the Jawas, Tusken Raiders and scattered human settlers, have been an impediment to the peace process. The Empire continues to maintain a small peace keeping force until a provisional government is finally in place.
Much of the difficulty in fighting the Rebel forces stems from their lack of a central organizing structure. "They don't play by the traditional rules of war," complained one spokesman. "They come in all shapes and sizes, united only by their single-minded desire to destroy the Empire before it destroys them."
The Emperor closed his comments today by stating that "the cowardly attack on the Death Star left a deep scar on the Empire. However, we will not stop fighting until every last evildoer has been brought to justice." He paused for several moments, wiping away a tear and then added with determination, "We will never forget."
"I wish we could all just get along," said one of the mourners. "But it's hard to offer an olive branch to a cult of religious fanatics whose main tool is violence and who insist on calling us the Dark Side." (OK, it's old. So sue me.)
Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
I have a connection that works at Fox and often I get to go to premeires or media screenings, so when I was offered to see AOTC a week and half before everyone else I leapt at the chance. The only problem was I sat next to a newspaper movie critic who wouldn't shut up. I came this close to crushing his larynx while quoting, "A find your lack a faith disturbing."
Not giving anything away, it is awesome. There are more lightsabers in this movie that you can shake a errr... lightsaber at. The problem I can forsee that people would have is the acceptance of Anakin being Anakin. Well nobody really liked the first kid so why should we like the second. They are probably going to be some complaints about this movie, but I didn't have any. AOTC definetly has the best land war of any of the Star Wars movies including EOB. Anyway great movie, I just wonder if it would be any better seeing it in one of the digital theatres.
"It takes many nails to build a crib, but one screw to fill it."
*Applause.* It certainly puts recent events into rather creepy perspective.
.. is there no one but me who believes this pic in the corner is very much alike scat dog porn? Or perhaps urinating dog. Shame on you lucas. You nasty boy.
Loved LOTR, Liked Spiderman
Lucas should have turned the franchise over to Ridley Scott.
The plot was actually quite dumb, on par with recent films starring The Rock. Of course, those movies don't have the hubris to try doing romantic dialogue. AOTC tried, and it was absolutely terrible. Actually, let's face it: Lucas sucks at dialogue. The characters get about as much development as is necessary in a tale aimed at 6-year olds. Everybody is a total cliche. But of course, we're used to that from Lucas. I think he would say that everybody is an archetype--which is Jungian mumbo-jumbo for "stereotype."
Many wondered how the fact Darth Vader's rising up against the Emperor and revealing himself as Anakin Skywalker (ep6) suddenly made him a good guy, though he was directly responsible for the death of thousands of innocent people. Those of us who thought "Huh? Isn't a repentant war criminal still a war criminal?" will be saying "Huh?" many more times during this movie.
spoiler--can't resist:
 
One example: It's only after Senator Brunette-Britney, who is supposed to be righteous, finds out that her suitor killed a whole village of innocent children that she decides she really loves him. Maybe if he also killed their dogs, he'd get a blow job. Or something.
Go burn a cross, Nazi.
Go burn a cross, Nazi. What's it like to be such a Nazi, Nazi??
Go eat a bagel, Jew.
Go eat a bagel, Jew. What's it like to be such a Jew, Jew??
Go eat a bagel, Jew. What's it like to be such a Jew, Jew??
Go burn a cross, Nazi. What's it like to be such a Nazi, Nazi?
Lying to the police is a crime. Lying to the IRS is a crime. Lying to a judge is a crime. Lying to the New York Times is not a crime. Lying to a web page is not a crime.
Lying to the police is a crime. Lying to the IRS is a crime. Lying to a judge is a crime. Lying to the New York Times is not a crime. Lying to a web page is not a crime!