Slashdot Mirror
Newest Star Wars Reviews Suprisingly Positive
Patchw0rk F0g writes "CBC is reporting on the suprising results of pre-screenings of Lucas' latest (and final) installment of his sci-fi epic. From TFA, "The advance reviews of Revenge of the Sith, the sixth - and final - Star Wars film, have been mostly positive - and in some cases outright effusive." Go figure... maybe Georgie got it right finally."
and all will work out in the end
"Nothing for you to see here. Please move along."
True in so many ways.
how 'bout I give you the finger....and you give me my phone call.
Nice work!
the sixth - and final - Star Wars film
final? aren't there supposed to be nine when they are all done?
What's so surprising? After all, A New Hope was the best one in the original trilogy, IMHO. Lucas is a great director. Just because he did something different the last two times from what you were expecting doesn't mean you'll always hate his work. So why get surprised?
Got it right finally? I'd say he did pretty well on his first attempt...
this must mean they removed jar jar binks
Why does everyone keep saying 'final'? Hasn't he made several statements indicating that he intends to do the third trilogy?
Is there anyone out there, that say, saw 5 out of the 6 Star Wars movies and are not going to see the last one because of a review or vice versa, see the last movie because of a positive review? In general movie reviews are relatively useless unless you know a reviewer well enough to be sure that his/her personal tastes line up with yours.
Or maybe George is cashing in a few favours from friends in the media. Frankly, while it's possible that everyone's expectations were so low from Ep 1 & 2 that anything looks good in comparison, this is also the media which blindly and stupidly supports anything these days. These companies are absolutely desperate to be the one who gets on the bandwagon first.
Click here or here.
And isn't that just the same as alot of other movies that sucked?
We live in an era where you can buy anything, including a good review. Then enough people will just go "wow that looks good!" and go see it based on said review so they will make a fortune by paying out a little money.
I saw a documentry on the series the other day.. and Lucas didn't even start WRITING the story untill most of the sets were at least 75% done.. what kind of director makes hundreds of sets before he even has a story? We all know it'll be the same as the other films. Light sabers every where, Darth spawns, Obi wan and Yoda head for the hills and we'll either see a few Jedi die or it'll just state they died.
Star wars is star wars... and Lucas is well Lucas..
I like muppets.
Well, I'll be watching it whether the critics love it or hate it. I like to form my own opinions.
A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that works.â"John Gaule
Well, where's the torrent?
My name is Aaron Landry, and I approve this message.
I enjoyed them quite a bit. I went to the theaters opening day/night, and the audience cheered and got really into it. It was fun, and enjoyed by all. Even some people in my small town were dressed up as characters.
-Jesse
Nothing says "unprofessional job" like wrinkles in your duct tape.
Just remember folks, seeing all those trailers just detracts from the movie, so avoid them if you can and the movie will be the better for it.
The second movie was quite decent for those that did, but I'll bet the humungoid trailers ruined it for most of you.
Harry Knowles gave it a good review... that means it MUST be AMAZING!
We all know it's going to be shite, but we'll go and see it anyway.
What's that? Good reviews??! Meesa need a lie down.
I've been reading the reviews, too, with a bit a skepticism... but I liked this one most of all. She's an occasional columnist for AICN, and definitely one of their better and more trustworthy writers. She trashed the last two movies, but this one, well...
To quote:
Q. Give us a four-word review.
A. Bloody hell! It's good!
"Suprisingly Positive?" I don't think that Episodes 1 and 2 really crashed and burned did they? I mean, they were on the highest grossing movies list! Who doesn't like Star Wars anyway?
Go on talk about what someone said that others said.
the original three were great. I saw episode I and I was thoroughly disappointed. Because of it, I haven't seen #2, and I don't plan on seeing #3. Lucas lost his chance to make many of us fans again.
Are we sure that there wasn't a ghost writer on this one? ESB is that best and wasn't written by Lucas. Or, maybe he just learn to write this time around. Either way, I have read that it's damn good and can't wait to see it the minute it opens.
Evolution or ID?
Do you want to know what the whole story, the whole character arc, of Anakin Skywalker is? Here it is, in a nutshell:
JESUS GROWS UP TO BE HITLER.
Search your feelings, you know it to be true.
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
"This time, Lucas decided to spend some of the budget on review plants and astroturf."
News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters? Like hell.
Bai Ling (Senator Bana Breemuwas cut from SW3 because she did a Playboy Spread [NSFW]
Firstly I hated the episode one, episode two was alright. So I wasnt expecting much. This one was great, I enjoyed every bit, theres a constant dark undertone to the whole film which is whats been missing from the first two. Go and see it.
I wont tell you how it ends...
---Spoiler Warning---
Obi-Wan walks into a room full of toys and video games. Anakin is playing Super Mario Brothers.
Obi: "Where did you get all this stuff!"
Ana: "I've been using the force like you taught me."
Obi: "You stole all this stuff?!"
Ana: "Of course not."
Obi: "Then what did you do?"
Ana: "I used the force to see into the future..."
Obi: "And....?"
Ana: (Looking down at the floor. Knowing he's in trouble) "...and....and...I used it to find the winning numbers in the Naboo Lottery...."
Obi: "Anakin!"
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
Lucas is a great director.
HA! Mod parent funny!
Well, I wasn't planning to see Episode 3, and gave Episode 2 a skip too. Admittedly, it wasn't because of reviews, but (A) because of Episode 1, (B) because I'm not a big SW fan anyway, and (C) because they released the Episode 3 video game before the movie. Which neatly gives away the whole story. Gotta wonder what were they smoking there.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
It's a trap!
Come play Heroes of Might and Magic Mini online.
Failing that, maybe Jar Jar dies an excruciatingly painful death.
The lightsaber combat in eps 4, 5 and 6 especially seem a little lacklustre compared with the excitement of the big fight in episode 1. And the whole look of the series just jars a little when you have part 4 made 20 years before part 1 and really looking 20 years older even with the lick of paint for the special edition.
Add to that the fact that Lucas clearly changed his mind a few times about where the story was going, with Leia suddenly becoming Luke's sister (and I'm not even convinced that Obi wan's lie about Darth Vader killing Luke's father was originally meant to be a lie), it would make some sort of sense.
And then the guy can stop fiddling with the original trilogy, and "tell the story he originally wanted to tell".
The previews for this movie look very good. Unfortunately, they'll probably let Hayden Christiansen actually speak and that will ruin the movie. The action was fine in both of the prequels so far, it was the god-awful script and acting that made me want to repeatedly stab my brain with an ice-pick.
... when you hire someone who can write.
Rumor has it that Lucas hired a ghost screenwriter for this one. I'll bet that's a huge part of the difference.
That said, I'm not paying to see Episode III. Episode I was an insult and I hold a grudge.
And fell for the Jedi mind trick.
There is a version of the article with just the content, no snazzy graphics.
Content is king.
thanks, just checking.
I'm confused... did Lucas hire someone else to direct Episode III???
If my limited knowledge of the original trilogy is correct, didn't Lucas only direct the first move (A New Hope)?
I don't see how people expected the new trilogy to match the highs of the original trilogy, notably The Empire Strikes Back.
Insert Sig Here
I read the book and have been following the insider info. Jar Jar is only in one brief scene with zero dialog.
That was Il Duce. Can't you even get your mid-20th century dictators straight?
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
Once you have all 6 movies on DVD will you watch them in the order that they are released on in the order that they are numbered? I contend that the 4-6 should always come before 1-3 because I don't want to know that Darth Vader is Luke's father, etc. I think that they should still be viewed in the released order or else the mystery will be lost, however most of my friends disagree with this notion. It would be like watching half of The Godfather II and then watching original Godfather beofre going back to the rest of II.
The Tools Of Ignorance wanna be a tool?
The BBC has some reviews too: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/4528 639.stm
the review was going ok.. until i read:
"My life partner saw some footage from The Duel and said it looked like the Burning of Atlanta from "Gone with the Wind," only with lightsabers, and that sounds about right."
I hate that word.. life partner.
I actually liked the first two movies... the dialogue wasn't exactly mind blowing... even dull at times... but they were still very entertaining by and large. However, I have a feeling that, story aside, if Darth Vader had been in the first two movies I think they would have gotten a much bigger reception. All of the original trilogy had Vader in it in all his 3V1L L337 coolness, and all three of them were very good... the third only dropping off mildly from the first two.
Now that Vader is finally coming back onto the screen he has everybody fawning again. I have a sinking suspicion that the dialogue and acting is going to be similar to that of these last two movies (essentially what makes them 'horrible' in many people's eyes), but its got Lord Vader... so it's AAAAALLLLLL good. My $0.02.
I liked the first two.
The were as good as the rest which is to say, decent action, space opera movies.
Watch out though, you may get modded down unless you insult Lucas soon.
Fool me thrice, shame on me.
meh
Anyway, I'm really looking forward to Xmen 3. The first two were absolutely outstanding. The first one has it's own special flavor; what got me was the, "I've heard these arguments, before." Ouch! Ouch!
The second one, with that hot naked model chick (Mystique) taking over the entire dam, and injecting iron (yeah I know, iron toxicity, but it was still a good plot device) into the guard, allowing Magneto to escape.
Whoever in the fuck's been doing the Xmen series is the new George Lucas. Maybe one day he'll redo these Star Wars films into something halfway decent. At least we have the "story" to guide another try. It's not a bad story, really. It's a good idea, and it could have worked.
Just...uh...not the way it's been done...
You guys are so silly. Isn't he going to make the third trilogy? I mean, come on, every 14 year old around here knows that! And if you read it on the internet it MUST be true.
To the author of this article:
Finally got it right? So it somehow seems that George messed up some critical point in the original three? I think an obssessed legion of fanatical Lucas zealots and Star Wars freaks would beg to differ with that statement. Aside from that, yeah the Phantom Menace wasn't so great. Jar Jar Binks was incredibly annoying (can they please, PLEASE KILL HIM this movie? I'd love to see Jar Jar's fricking head get lopped off with a lightsaber; hell I'd pay money just to see that one scene by itself) and was far to prominent in the movie, but Attack of the Clones was pretty good. Particularly the end battle scene in the arena, and Yoda stepping up to the plate againest Count Dooku were particularly good. Personal opinion: take your opinion and shove it pal. With the exception of Phantom Menace I've liked all the movies, and I don't doubt Revenge of the Sith will be great as well.
" Go figure... maybe Georgie got it right finally."
I highly highly doubt it, even if Anakin does kill Jar-Jar in an extremely violent way. I will never allow my children to see Eps. 1 & 2. They really ruined something I used to hole sacrosanct. I do not accept them anymore than I accept Data's retarded brother, B4. I'll see the new movie and hope it's good, but don't get my hopes up. I sure hope they don't mention metaclorians.
MAKE YOUR TIME
Eps 3, 4, 5
The rest were stinkers.
Sam
Lowered Expectations... You make three interesting movies, with one being exceptional (Empire). Then a few decades later say it was incomplete and release a crappy prequel. Then follow it up with another crappy prequel, getting your fans all desensitized and wanting something remotely good. Expectations get lowered enough that the next prequel you put out is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Also they cry themselves to sleep at night holding their pillows moaning "Han shoots first!"
If Lucas could easily buy good reviews, he would've bought good reviews for the last two prequels too.
I have an optimistic crackpot theory. I'll write it in PHP because that's what I'm using mostly as of late.
if( in_array( 'Darth Vader', $movie ) ){
return awesome;
}else{
return poop;
}
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
It's only been 4 days since this topic was posted last.. C'mon Slashdot....
1 7&tid=101&tid=97&tid=1
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/06/14432
- Mace Windu goes down with style (like black dudes usually do).
- Lucas fears that SWII flops (fear of losing money can make you more conservative)
- This is not for kids.
- Episode II was better than episode I.
- Plot: One of the coolest evil overlords is born. How can it be better.
Add to that some quotes from the article:"Entertaining from start to finish and even enthralling at times."
"The technical achievement here is on such a high level that one is lulled into taking it for granted,"
"the robot R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) delivers brilliant comic action. This holds true throughout the new film as writer-director Lucas does a much better job of interweaving comedy with the dramatic and even tragic."
What can we see deduce from all above? It seems that Lucas is back in the basics again. Better effects, our hero R2-D2 does funny parts, Darth Vader, Yoda, awesome space battles. No new major characters. That means storyline can be more dense. You can fit all the fight scenes plus drama into the movie without destroying it.
Dyslexics have more fnu.
Positive review of SW2 #1
Positive Review of SW2 #2
Positive review of SW2 #3, #4, #5
So why are positive reviews for SW3 surprising?
Definition of "effusive":
3. overly demonstrative; expressing emotion in an
unrestrained manner; exhibiting unrestrained enthusiasm;
-- of people and human actions; as, effusive thanks; an effusive letter of recommendation. Contrasted with reserved. [WordNet sense 1+2]
Visit www.doc2pdf.net for a free, no need to register,
Comment removed based on user account deletion
To be honest though Lucas didn't have an awful lot to do for this film - he already knew how it had to end. I'm no writer but I'd wager it is a lot easier to formulate a screenplay when you already know exactly what it has to achieve to be considered a success.
Contrast that with Episodes I and II, where Lucas had very little in terms of pre-ordained plot development - the result was obvious, Jar Jar Binks et al.
Not to mention of course that since Episodes I and II were poorly received (62% and 65% respectively), reviews of this film were (and are already) bound to draw comparisons and as such favour it accordingly anyway.
For me one of the worst things about the previous two films in the franchise is that because they were continuations (albeit prequels) of what had already become legendary - no one had to try very hard. As a result the acting is wooden, the dialogue stunted and insincere, etc. Reminds me of the cringeworthy Matrix sequels.
Anyway, I personally believe that if the film didn't happen to include the words "Star Wars" in the title, that we would be seeing completely different reviews. And I consider myself to be an avid Star Wars fan to boot.
Their sad devotion to that ancient trilogy has not helped them conjure up DVDs of the original films, or given them clairvoyance enough to find something better to do with their time.
I think he deliberately made the first 2 films suck, so that we will get blown away totally by the third one.
And all the critics burrow back into their caves, like Obiwan in the desert.
Talking about reviews are pretty silly. I doubt even a bad review would stop any slashdotter from seeing this Star Wars finalee.
Except, Vader isnt supposed to appear until the last 5 minutes of the movie or so, so you will still need to sit through 2 and a half hours of a Vaderless Star Wars. That said, after reading some early reviews I'm looking forward to seeing this movie - especially to see how they "dovetail" it to Ep. 4. I'm sure we will all be reading about the inconsistencies, etc. on slashdot in the weeks and months to come!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I am not going to see it. I saw 4, 5 and 6 about half a year before 1 came out and really liked them. I then went on to see 1 and was disgusted. I had not seen the others in my youth, so I was not influenced and had not waited anxiously for so many years.
It just sucked. 4, 5 and 6 were a bit dated, but good. 1 was bad. Therefore I had NO interest in seeing 2 and have no interest in seeing 3. That would be as you would watch only RotK and not the other two.
4, 5 and 6 can stand on their own without the help of a shitty 1 and 2 and perhaps good 3.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
... and boy was that intriguing! can't wait to see whats coming in Episode 4!
there was no character conflict.
if you look at the movie, the high point of character conflict was gui-qon getting annoyed at jar-jar at dinner.
Darth fought them and didn't say -anything- for like 15 minutes. He didn't say how strong the dark side was or how pathetic they were or diddly.
Unlike star wars: new hope, where just about everyone was arguing and disagreeing about something, everyone in the first movie just kinda agreed with each other and went through the motions.
Star wars 2 improved on it a little but was weak on the acting and instead of seeming conflicted, anakin just seemed whiny.
I hope this new movie is decent, that will make 3& 1/2 good star wars films.
Star Wars 3, 4, 5, and the first half of 6.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
Well, he may not ALLOW them to be made - but I'm going to continue with the tradition of suck-ass filmmaking, and with my handheld camera, abandoned child's doll and scummy toilet tank, I'll film the first three and affectionately re-title them "FATHER, MIRROR, FATHER, MIRROR."
Intelligent Design: because MATH is HARD.
Lets be frank here and I'm not trolling.
Nothing will be good enough for the Slashdot crowd. He could film it in super douper total emersion 3D-o-vision with the best script & acting on the planet and there will still be compaints from many of the Slashdot crowd. He could choose to be totally divorced from the bloody thing and people will still hark back to how it isn't quite as good as the one they saw while in their nappy 25 years ago, and George has spoiled.
Hindsight is invariably 20-20 and rose tinted. People seem to forget that the originals had their very dodgy moments too. What people remember is not just the movie, it is the whole experience that they had when sitting there many moons ago, before the got old and embittered by age and by supporting Windows boxes (coz supporting Unix doesn't embitter one as much does it). It was going with their parents, getting popcorn, sitting surrounded in awe by peers, with their parents or older siblings. Playing with X Wing fighters for weeks afterward. It was getting all the mags & figures & watching the cheesy kids shows jump on the bandwagon. It was the fact that this was totally new, nothing else came close.
I watched the rest, I await the next as does everyone else here, even those that refuse to admit it.
Oh and just to piss off the remaining readers I haven't offended yet, I love my TiVo.
Just because your paranoid doesn't really mean they aren't out to get you
What for?
"I worked hard for it. I deserve it. And I have it," Campbell said. "It's all mine."
GL: Damn, I suck as a director/screenwriter... shit people are not going to fall for this for the third time -- I better do something!
This is the *last* time we ever get to be this excited about Star Wars again -- amazingly -- we may not feel SICK about it the next day!
Imagine that!
It's like I'm back in May of 1999 again -- innocent and as yet untainted by Jar Jar.
Also, the swell of enthusiasm has meant great things for those of us who happen to journal the daily life of certain dark lords of the Sith.
I am from a small, grease-loving country in the north called Ca-na-da.
turn in your Slashdot ID and your geek badge. You are no longer welcome around here.
At first when I saw this headline on Matt Drudge, perhaps Speilberg was sad because the yet this was yet another cheesey episode in a long melodramatic series. However, the article says Steve was genuinely moved by the film.
By amazing luck I've seen it at a preview :-)
No spoilers, but it has much the same feel as Attack Of the Clones. As someone else mentioned, it does have a Gone With The Wind feel, especially as Padme looks out across a burning cityscape - she could be seeing Atlanta burn.
Amazing CGI battles/action in the first half, but more characters riding CGI animals, which *never* works (Anakin in AOTC for instance). And in the end too many light sabre duels, a bit too much tying up loose ends (even explaining how Obi turns up as a ghost in the next/first three!).
The 'creation' of Darth is very gruesome, this plus a bit of infanticide makes it surprisingly dark in places.
Well worth the multiplex fare, though I think as with the first/next three, the middle film will prove to be the best.
I'm a member of an oppressed minority group who believes that New Hope was better than Empire.
I dunno why that is. Maybe we didn't care for some of the darkness in ESB, and New Hope was more fun. Maybe the open-ended conclusion was less thrilling than the destruction of the Death Star. Maybe it's the "freshman effect" that made Clerks better than Mallrats. (Not that ESB is anything like Mallrats. ESB is a great movie. Just less fun than New Hope.)
It's not important why. I just wanted to state out loud that although it's accepted wisdom that Empire was better than New Hope, it's not entirely universal.
But that's why I've said before on Slashdot that I thought that Sith had a good chance to be the best of the prequels: it ties in to what I feel is the best of the originals.
Sadly, I don't think even he had enough money for that.
It's funny 'cos it's true. http://www.nationallampoon.com/nl/03_voices/starwa rs/starwars.asp
mod parent up
mod grandparent down
grandparent confused dialouge with plot and is somehow mod'd insightful, parent straightened it out
May you be touched by His Noodly Appendage. RAmen.
Wait I'm confused.
But who knows....
No more possibilities of sequels or prequels or what ever you call the discontinuous style of blathering on.
AND NO MORE CHARACTERS AND PROPS FROM KIDDIE'S IMAGINATIONS!!!
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
So whatever happened to episodes 7, 8 and 9? (If anyone else can remember that far back, when Lucas was talking about his nine-episode epic.)
I mean, other than having a movie about a guy talking about himself ...
The characters are dropped into situations and they react. Like when Han shot a bounty hunter sitting across from him.
Lucas' problem isn't character development. His problem is back-story. Vader had more character development in ep 4 & 5 than any other bad guy has had in ep 1-3.
Lucas just doesn't know how to write a story that will result in the character he has already developed. Which is why he falls back on fan-boy tricks of re-introducing the previously created characters and such (the droids, Boba's daddy, Tatoonie, etc).
Vader has character.
Annie is just put through some badly written situations and dialog so we can get to the Vader suit.
Why did you use "From TFA, " instead of just "From the article" or "From TA" or something?
You do know the F stands for Fuck?
You started out okay, but then you said "From The Fucking Article, " is that really necessary?
Ya'll should think about what your acronyms stand for before using them everywhere.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
http://www.pvponline.com/archive/2005/pvp20050510. gif
it's a trap!
e.
Build Your Own PVR/HTPC news, reviews, &
I watched Episode II while ironing, at home on a Netflix rental. It was so, so bad. (Somebody please explain how the whole "Jedi rescue mission" capper to the movie wasn't utterly stupid and pointless. "We don't fight wars... let's go fight a whole army in a big pitched battle, though." Or please, describe how sneaky Obi Wan was to park his ship right outside the enemy hideout's entrance and then to stand outside it and send his spy message back to the council. Oh, the lameness!)
I wouldn't pay for this unless my various friends came back with unbelievable word of mouth to go with these reviews. The hype machine is so polished right now that, as it comes up for release, any big summer film has this sort of "It's better than expectations" spin on it. I'll trust my friends more.
So it'll go on my Netflix queue. Even then, it won't be that high on the list. Unless real people tell me it's really worth it.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
Location:
Internal Servlet Error:
Root cause:
Having seen the movie I can tell you that this is the best of the entire series. In fact you have to be the most anal star wars fan in the world to find fault in this movie. It is dark, violent, and ties the entire epic together. Want to know why some jedi disappear when they die and some don't? Want to know how luke gets Anakins light saber? Want to know why leia remembers her mother and luke doesn't? Want to know why obi wan can appear to luke? etc.. All the little things star wars fans have been bitching about for over 25 years will all come to light. It is a perfect ending. The only sad thing is when you come to realize that its over.
There were good reviews.
When the axe came to the forest, the trees said, "Look out - the handle was once one of us."
And he did.
At least for Episode 2 I remember a lot of reviews that said the movie was great, and made up for everything from the first . Then the movie was actually released and you had some un-biased reviewers seeing the movie. That's when the bad reviews started to come out.
Even here and here the reviews didn't look to bad.
Personally, I think if III is pretty good, I'll just consider I & II non-existant in my universe and start the story there. Seriously, what would you really miss from I & II other than Anakin and Amidala meeting and some political stuff with Palpatine, the Separatists, and the Clone Army? Goodbye Jedi blood condition, immaculate conception, and crappy romantic dialogue.
Acting by the guy (whose name I refuse to learn) who plays Annakin: 0/10
Acting by by the grits woman: 1/10
Acting by Ewan MacGregor: 2/10
Overall story: 6/10
Nostalgia value as we see the things we recognise from Episode IV: 8/10
Effects: 8/10
Pleasure from hearing Princess Leia's theme again: 8/10
Enjoyment value for those with a fetish for hand amputation: 9/10
Intelligence of characters who don't notice how Padme became pregnant: 0/10
Entertainment value of Yoda's big fight: 6/10
Entertainment value Yoda's big fight would have had if we hadn't seen it before: 10/10
General Grievous's homage to Harryhausen's Kali: 9/10
Amount of sense General Grievous subplot made after editors removed vital explanations from movie: 3/10
Did I mention Annakin's acting?: 0/10
Quality compared to Episodes I and II: 10/10
Quality compared to Episodes IV and V: 5/10
Overall: 7/10
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
I cannot believe they gave away that there was an internal servlet error at org.apache.tomcat.facade.ServletHandler.doService( ServletHandler.java:574)!!!
That was SUPPOSED TO BE surprise ending.
A geek am I.
If what I hear is true, then I think Georgie finally got it right - again. I don't care for JarJar as much as the next guy, but we wouldn't care if he didn't do something right the first time. Or the IVth time - whatever. You know what I mean.
If I was an aging, washed-up movie producer, I probably wouldn't be above bribing a few people to give my lame and tired movie series good reviews wither.
It doesn't matter how good or bad Episode III is going to be. Hardcore fans will see it anyway. Even if they didn't care for I or II.
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
....thanks for runining my childhood D:(
The bad acting is one thing, but it wasn't just that. I can't think of much I liked about EPI and EPII. The story is already laid out, and they were just OK. What do I remember about those movies? The corny and excruciatingly long pod racer scene. The annoyingly cute "Ani". The unnecessarily animated junk dealer. Not only the abomination Jar Jar, but the entire race of underwater annoyances. A feeble attempt to make Yoda look cool via a light-saber battle. The annoyingly scowly older Anakin. The 5 minute long lovey dovey scene in EPII. It was only 5 minutes for me because I only saw it in FFWD mode.
Lucas has created memories in these movies, most of them bad. And these are his grand vision? Even if this movie is great, he would only get 3 out of 6, which is a failing grade. (ROTJ barely passed, being pulled along by the first two movies)
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
If you haven't seen this take on Return of the Jedi, you must. Not only is it hilarious and right on the money, it even predicts and explains the crapiness so prevalent in Eps 1 & 2.
Syntax error: loose != lose, affect != effect, then!=than
HAN SHOT FIRST.
Cute
The rescue mission was a diversion to give yoda time to assemble the army... Of course let's not go into the whole 15 minute diversion thing.. and suspension of disbelief.. etc.
Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
Noble impartiality is all well and good, but there's no point in forgetting history. If it was a director I trusted to make a good movie, I'd be tempted to give it the benefit of the doubt and go see it. Since it's Lucas, and I've already formed an opinion of his abilities based on his past work, the ONLY way I'll see it is if it gets good reviews.
One of the reasons I'm intrigued by the review in Variety (here, but now needs registration) is that the reviewer had many of the same objections to the first movie that I did (I didn't bother with the second). Since he's not blind to Lucas's prior mistakes, he's piqued my interest.
I'm not interested in shoving my opinion down anyone's throat. If you liked the earlier prequels, this sounds like it's going to be better then either of the first two.
Can anybody provide torrents to the unmessed with laser disk versions of the first 3 movies?
Don't blame me, I voted for Cthulhu.
To quote many a Talkbacker at AICN. All I have to say about these reviews is...
PLANT!
Sorry (Formerly Known as) Uncle George, you screwed the pooch on TPM,CW, and the "reenvisioning" of the original trilogy when you put them on DVD. No way this movie can be any good.
1. It was meant to remind people of the movies they liked. They remember Tatoonie from ep 4 and they liked ep 4. (and it saved Lucas from having to create another world and populate it).
... but failed.
Besides, you left out the part about hoping that Vader would NEVER have any desire to visit family members. But that's probably okay because Annie didn't even bother to save his mom.
2. It was meant to remind people of the movies they liked. They remember the droids from ep 4 and they liked ep 4. (and it saved Lucas from having to create another character to speak the lines).
3. Lucas equates "skill" with "flash". A skilled Yoda would be more believable just standing there and blocking every attack (like the two Jedi did when faced with the attack droids in ep 1).
4. That is "explained" by the "fact" that the Sith can "hide" themselves from the Jedi. That is their secret power. That and the ability to quickly find very powerful replacement apprentices who can train in secret to challenge the Jedi. The Jedi's secret power is the ability to blow up the Sith's Death Star in every movie.
5. Jedi may be great individually. But they don't seem to spend any time learning group tactics. If it wasn't for their secret ability to blow up Death Stars, they probably would have been wiped out a long time ago. And that would have been a good plot. Big Jedi convention at Jedi Central and evil Emperor sends a nova torpedo into the sun. All Jedi dead expect for a couple who learned of the plan while travelling and tried to fight the control ship
Ep 3 is a fan boy movie. You get to see the things you've already seen and you get flashy battles. People like flashy battles, right?
Well, duh. Everyone knows that petrification and gritification were side effects of pregnancy.
Time magazine's Richard Corliss says that [...] Revenge of the Sith "shows Lucas storming back as a prime confector of popular art."
If Google's "define:confector" results are accurate, I hope this refers to Jar Jar...
That is a five word review :)
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
I heard it was a quintrilogy. Isn't there a possibility for two more trilogies?
RotJ was on TV the other day, and having seen Return of the Sith, I can say that there are several inconsistencies. I don't want to spoil things too much...but here is an example:
Anakin skywalker has a vertical scar crossing over his right eye. When Luke takes Vaders mask off at the end of Jedi, no scar. This can sort of be explained but it still kind of sucks.
Luke and Leia also discuss their mother in Jedi and that conversation doesn't make much sense after watching Sith.
This is nitpicking to be sure and not glaring plot holes (I can't think of any serious inconsistencies), but Lucas has complete creative control over all 6 movies so it's not like he can blame anyone else.
I will say this though...I can pretty much guess t hat alot of these inconsistencies will be fixed up with YET ANOTHER EDITION OF THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY. You can bet dollars to doughnuts that Lucas will be adding that scar in, etc. The Lucas money machine will be on full steam after this.
Vader is hardly in Sith but you really get a feel for how powerful he was (you will know what scene I am talking about when you watch it).
But yeah, I would have to agree with the positive reviews...I was ragging on Lucas' writing in a previous comment, but his writing was never very good so if we leave that out of the equation the movie kicks a fair amount of ass.
I recently bought the animated Star Wars Clone Wars DVD, thinking even if I didn't like it, it might be a good buy for my young son. To my surprise, it is actually better than any of the recent movies: it has non-stop action and holds up to repeat viewing quite well.
After looking at this more closely, it seems that you did in fact post first. Why don't people like you? Is it a high slashdot UID bias?
The film got an awful review in a major Belgian newspaper. Reviewer called it dull and not any better than previous 2 eps. Reviewer wrote: "kept checking my watch throughout, i did". I believe him.
But asking George to direct is like asking Ginger Lynn to do another porno.
She's not the same girl she used to be. She's different now. You might catch her on a good day, with a little marijuana in her system, and she might lapse back into a total slut. But other than that, she's washed up. Done.
She's just not the hell raiser she used to be...
last post!
Did I use the right word? Sorry, I think I confused myself. But I did hear there was a couple more or so trilogies in it.
Yes, everybody here hates episodes 1 and 2, personally I've only ever seen 1 and skipped 2 entirely though I've heard various first hand reviews of it. Seeing now the 3rd episode get a PG-13 rating, George's plan looks pretty obvious now:
Phantom Menace, with Jar Jar and a boy hero, was not bad, it just wasn't targeted at us existing fans. First and foremost Phantom is kids movie, designed to hook another generation of fans. The second movie a few years later was aimed a few years higher on the target audience scale, and earned a wee bit more respect out of us. And now the 3rd movie has moved up the age scale even more as that new fan base grows up, who are luckily now old enough that the movie also looks good to us old farts.
It's the exact same thing as all the Harry Potter books. Written every few years for a few year older target audience, focusing on hooking and keeping a generation as it matures. Not a bad plan at all...and I'm sure if the writer goes back and writes prequels to hook in a new generation there will be a huge cry of despair from the existing fans who are no longer the target audience.
Good special effects but extremely dumb corny story with simplistic "view" of good and evil. I guess that is one thing that appeals to fans who really don't understand grey shades and multiple conflicting motivations of complex human behavior. The acting is cardboard cut out in the best parts. These are really movies made for small children.
One thing that I always notice in these kinds of Cowboys and Indian movies is the dialogue. When the hapless "writers" want to evoke an accent or primitive or noble they delete all contractions from the dialogue. It's kind of humorous, in a crude stumbling way.
Yeah, I know, the geeks will hate me for critiquing their love story.
"I know, what's even worse are those first few movies. Just a few spaceships, Luke discovers the force, shoots a bunch of stormtroopers and blows up a Death Star or two. And Darth's his father. I mean seriosuly, what do people see in these things?"
You know, I must be one of the very few total nerds who nevertheless haven't even seen Episode 4 until a few months ago. You know what? I can't see what people saw in that either.
The acting isn't really any good. The story really does justice to the "Episode 3" title, because it's like waking into the middle of a movie with not much clue as to what's happened, why are they really fighting, and wth that's really solved. And the one lightsaber fight is not like between the most powerful Jedi alive and his Master, but like between people who've never used one before. Obi Wan holds it like he'd hold his... ahem, let's just say now I see why the "I see your schwartz is as big as mine" scene was there in the Spaceballs parody.
I guess the one that said it the best was one of Scott Kurtz's characters in his PvP Online comic: it's not Lucas that ruined your childhood memories, it's growing up that did it. The only way you could find the new episodes as entertaining as the old ones (or I'd add, the only way to find the old ones entertaining at all too) is if you could see them through the eyes of a 6 year old.
So while you were probably going for sarcasm, I find what you wrote there actually true: the old movies really _are_ even worse.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
Either way, I have never trusted a movie review from anyone but a close friend who I know is reliable. I have yet to find a movie critic whos opinions are consistant with my tastes.
John Podhoretz just posted a warning:
WARNING: He also gives a Jar-Jar spoiler in a later reply.Saw it at a media preview. I was disapointed, and at the end everyone just got up and left. No clapping, cheers, what-not. Just got up and left. Several times on the way out I heard the term "cheese" used.
Each scene looked great, but they didn't tie together as a story, no real character development. So, would make a great screen saver.
Also, I don't think Lucas achieved a good balance of humour and tension. Reminded me of the ROTJedi, where the ewoks kept making silly sounds. Distracted from the weight of what was going on. At least with the original ESBack, the absence of these childish sounds made the whole film build in tension. And, er, Lucas didn't direct it (thank god!).
my $0.02Damnit, I LOVE Return of the Jedi. In fact, it is still my favorite of the original triology. So take THAT!
In fact, just to rub it in, I LOVED the Ewoks. Greatest alien race ever !
Forget the whales - save the babies.
Get your bets on now. I have a feeling Hollywood is waiting to honor this guy just for his box office revenues alone.
You can clearly see the amazing effect it had on his career. Just like the slashdot effect...
He hated EP1 so much that he refused to see EP2, won't even take a .avi and watch it for free. Claims Lucas is a horrible hack who doesn't deserve his time anymore.
I'm trying to persuade him to see 2 and 3, because 2 was good and 3 has the possibility of awesomeness.
I saw Episode 1 on opening night (ticket 13 at the Varsity in Seattle's U District). Hated it! Then I had to see it again that weekend and actually fell asleep during the pod race. It didn't ruin my childhood since I wasn't even born when Episode 4 came out, but it ruined my young adulthood for about a week.
I did boycott Episode 2 and still haven't seen it.
I might give 2 a try on background for this new movie, since 3 has been reviewed better. It looks much darker and more appealing to me.
Q: What did the comedian say to the crowd?
A: If I knew, this joke would be funny.
Gee there's a surprise, a guy who is a master at revisionist history, see all the bastardizations of the original trilogy, had an interview in 2005 that's contrary to what was said in an interview in the late 90's. Of course he says now that there was never any story post ROTJ, it suits his life better to not have further story.
When he first announced that he was doing Ep's 1, 2, 3 it suited his life at the time to also say he was planning 7, 8, and 9.
Why should it surprise anyone that he now says there's no story past ROTJ. It's not like he hasn't changed his story before. After all just ask my posts Great Great Great Grandparent
A contraction only counts as one word.
also had some great writing and acting in it. Same with that other indie flick he did (THX-9087980 or whatever it was called).
Maybe he just sucks at making Star Wars films.
click me
...before we find out who the ghostwriter on the script was?
I'd say the only disappointing aspect of this movie is lack of Vader himself in his suit. Sure, Anakin technically becomes Darth Vader before the shit hits the fan, but it's not the same without the suit. Even then it's not disappointing considering what happens before it, but it just makes you want more.
It'd be nice to see more of Vader himself going ape shit, but you only end up seeing that in the last few minutes when he awakens after being operated on and learning about what had happened. I mean, you'd expect some scenes containing mass genocide or some form of magnificent display of "Hey, I'm the most powerful being in the known galaxy, watch me as I fuck you up big time."
You see all these amazing movies that the human Vader has that the mechanical Vader never uses in the later movies. It would just be nice to see mechanical Vader utilize all these swift "magical" moves that apparently have deteriorated over time.
We have secretly replaced these Slashdot mods' sense of humor with a rusty nail. Let's see if they notice!!
Darth Vader
Maybe not now but sometime later
You're very phallic
You're big, black and metallic
Only you could be so bold
Lord Vader
Fuckin' shit up with your light saber
You're but the learner
But now you're very much gayer
I sence a disturbance in my ass
Darth Vader
We have secretly replaced these Slashdot mods' sense of humor with a rusty nail. Let's see if they notice!!
after that he said "oh, all the time I only intended there to be six. It's just the story of Anakin Skywalker. I never planned for anything after that."
He's such a fucking bullshit artist.
+++ATH0
I'll be damned if I'm going to have my six year witness the "slaughter" at the Jedi Temple, or give him nightmares from the violence.
Not that I plan to see the film, but at least that will be one less brat ruining it for everyone else in the theater.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Name one movie where the pre-release reviews weren't positive. The film companies control what gets said about their movies and they're not about to let some critic slam their film before the public's paid millions to see it. And if a critic DID write a negative pre-release review, he'd never get to see another pre-release.
Watch an Olympic fencing match. They don't dance. Yet that's 100% "melee combat" and they are highly skilled.
If you simply must rely upon movies, at least rely upon good Japanese movies. For example, contrast the final katana battle in Sanjuro (by Akira Kurosawa) between the good guy and the bad guy with any of the light saber duels in Star Wars. Sanjuro's fight lasted one pass.
The Star Wars audience doesn't want realism. They want flash. They want the long sword fights with dialog and dance and daring leaps!
Which is why showing Yoda as a true master instead of a bouncing ball would have been a memorable contrast and helped to define his character.
My thoughts exactly. However, I saw the 3rd Matrix out of the sincere hope it would salvage the trilogy. It didn't.
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
Great movies typically (so much so that I invite the suggestions of counter-examples) start with great scripts. Chinatown, Lawrence of Arabia, Bladerunner, Alien, and on, and on. In fact, there is an ongoing debate as to whether or not screenplays should be considered and studied as their own particular form of literature. It is arguably more than just a guideline.
You are totally correct though regarding the importance and power of direction, auteur theory and all that. Without excellent direction (and all that entails), a great screenplay can easily end up as a drecky movie. Conversely, the best direction in the world (afaik) can't save a drecky screenplay.
George Lucas has employed brilliant marketing techniques by lowering the standards. He realized, the lower he set the bar, the better his chances that one of the films would succeed. Clearly, the bar could not have been any lower after the gems that were Episodes I and II!
:-)
Folks... This is going to be the BEST DAMNED STAR WARS MOVIE since episode II
JAR JAR BINKS [John Podhoretz] Jonah, I fear I can't resist a spoiler. As you may recall, Jar Jar became a senator in the last film. In the new one, he refuses the Majority Leader's request to change a galactic rule that is being misused to deny Obi-Wan Kenobi a seat on the Jedi Council, and as a direct result of his cowardice is swallowed whole by Jabba the Hut. Posted at 10:53 AM
http://xs4.xs.to/pics/04481/p556222.gif
Today's PVP comic seems very appropriate.
Vader Geek: It's too late for me, son. Joss Whedon is my master now.
Reviewers on the take.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
My guess is that he tried to stretch one, maybe two, movies into three to just be symmetrical (or make more money?). There's a lot in the first two that are just filler and lame "foreshadowing." With Episode III he's finally getting to the story he's had floating around in his head all this time.
You do realize its good form to post a link, right?
Pretend episodes IV, V and VI don't exist and watch episodes I and II.
Was the story riveting?
Do you like the dialog?
Good acting?
Be honest, by any measure, the first two prequels were terrible.
Why not post a link so that the rest of us can appreciate your fine-tuned searching skills?
C'mon. They're HIS movies. George Lucas can't possibly get a Star Wars movie wrong. He's the one that invented the concept.
If you feel that he does, no one is dragging you to the theatre to see it. He doesn't care whether you like the movies or not. He makes movies for himself and his core audience, kids age 10 and up (at least til this PG-13).
Like Mark Hamill says, "Get over it, it's just a movie."
Don't like Jar Jar, or Ewoks? Tough, kids love'em. Lucas would put thousands more if it worked with the script. I always had issues with the gay awards ceremonies at the end of them. I am not gonna say they ruin the movies, because they don't. I don't like it, I walk out after the action is done. No big deal. I am not going to say he did something wrong just because I didn't like it.
I have to say, I agree with him. They're HIS movies, not yours. Everyone has an idea about what Star Wars should be. IMHO they should be whatever George decides should make the final cut. He doesn't owe anyone anything. He also reserves the right to change them anyway he sees fit for DVD. If you don't like it, don't buy the DVD.
My 2 cents...
In my book he could cut them to pieces and turn Boba Fett into Han Solo, it's still a good story.
l8,
AC
The bank called and said they ran out of zeroes, so Lucas has no motivation to make any more movies.
I could be wrong, but I don't recall reading anywhere that parents must take their children to this movie. If you knew anything about the story, you would've seen the PG-13 rating coming about 5 years ago. Unfortunately, the movie would really suck if all the sudden yoda tells obi-wan that all other jedi are dead... end of movie.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
It tells the story of Anakin Skywalker (Canada's Hayden Christensen), the Jedi Knight who turns to the Dark Side of the Force and becomes the cyborg villain Darth Vader. Are "spoiler" tags too much to ask for??? Now the whole movies ruined... ... ... .... :)
British playwright, famous for "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" helped with the lines for the movie.
"No fair, you changed the outcome by measuring it!" - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth
Actually, I always thought that he was Lord Helmet's Master and Teacher in the workings of the Dark Side of the Schwartz.
And really, this is nothing uncommon. It's only the really really bad movies that studios will withhold fram pre-release reviews, because they know they don't have the kind of power to do what the parent is suggesting and that they wouldn't be able to stop a mountain of bad pre-release buzz. I think the parent is expressing a rather paranoid view of the movie industry, but I suppose with what the average /. user knows about them, that's to be expected. But reviewers are one group of people the studios want to stay on the good side of, so they don't tend to bully them.
How sucky the Jedi were in episode 1 and 2 becomes clear if you watch the Clone Wars cartoon. The cartoons were fucking awesome -- it really portrays the Jesi as they should have been.
Of course, I really like Samurai Jack too, and both were done by Genndy Tartakovsky.
FLASH
In a shocking development, a surprising proportion of reviews of the latest Star Wars movie by males living in their parent's basement are positive, sometimes effusively so.
I enjoyed the first two prequels, I don't care what anybody says about them. I just have one itty bitty question about a possible plothole though:
1. Obi-Wan goes to Kamino and sees a clone army in the works, finds that it's based on Jango Fett
2. Follows Jango Fett to Geonosis where he sees that a droid army is in the works, finds Jango hanging out with Count Dooku.
I ain't a Jedi or nuthin', but seems to me Obi-Wan and his Jedi buddies should have put two and two together there, that the two armies were being financed by the same people.
I cannot wait for ep III. I have my ticket for the midnight show, the 10:40 AM show the next day, and the 10:30 PM show. Gonna be sweeeeeeet!! Yes, it's sad, I even took a precious vacation day off of work to do this.
Strongly agreed. Mod parent up.
Top 10 Other Things That Han Shot That Didn't Shoot At Him First
I was more referring to the distinctly-dressing religious minority being hunted down and killed by fascists led by a fella with some Jedi heritage of his own.
The whole story is a little horrifying if you think about it for long enough.
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
This is one of the movies that I'm going to see on the band-aid principle. It's probably going to hurt, but you have to take it off eventually, so you might as well just get it done. If it doesn't hurt, well hey, you just got lucky.
Other movies that fall into this category: Matrix sequels and any movie adaptation of your favourite novels.
It may look like I'm doing nothing, but I'm actively waiting for my problems to go away.
--Scott Adams
That said, make your kids wait a few years before seeing it. Many of us have had to wait thirty, so it can be done. And by the way, don't get them started on Harry Potter; you'll have to stop them short on that, too.
last weekend (a friend works for ILM). It is most definitely the best of the recent three. The progression toward the creation of the Empire and the conversion of Anikin to Darth is nicely done and the creation of the Empire bears a scary resemblance to current US politics.
One scene (you'll know it when you see it) was distractingly similar to the Black Night scene in "Holy Grail" and given that this one ends roughly 20 years before Episode IV one can quibble about the age of a couple of the characters. Manikin Skywalker is as wooden as ever but all in all it was a fun time.
The biggest problem was that the early morning line snaked way too close to Starbucks leading many of us to drink way too much of the dark stuff right before a 2.5 hour movie. And when you see movies with the movie-makers _nobody_ leaves before the last credit scrolls off the screen.
~~~~~~~
"You are not remembered for doing what is expected of you." - Atul Chitnis
Yes, if you thought SW I was bad, you need to see
Highlander 2. Now that movie did rape my childhood it was so bad.
Not that I plan to see the film, but at least that will be one less brat ruining it for everyone else in the theater.
Amen.
A Human Right
Remember to bring a wet and preferably smelly fish when you go to see Episode III.
Then if anyone in the audience is actually "surprised" when Senator Palpatine is revealed as the dark lord of the Sith, hit them with the fish.
If they complain, tell them the dark side made you do it.
"There should have been only one."
Sometimes my arms bend back.
I also like to form my own opinions.
Whatever you rabid fanboys think (they seem to be coming out of the woodwork like furious termites--all due to a couple of grudgingly positive reviews) Lucas ruined the Star Wars universe. Once his initial vision was born, it should've been taken away from him by someone with a few more brains. He's currently an ego-maniacal control freak that doesn't have a clue how to make a movie. If you can honestly say that E1 and E2 were good films, then you have smoked more than your fair share of crack.
Okay, I have to disagree with 3 and agree with 5..
"3) Yoda bounces around like a $10 toy from the bratstore? Yoda was supposed to be literally *awesome* if you did piss him off. Not comical. Yoda should have opened his robes, and anywhere from 6-20 lightsabers just levitate outward from him and activate. The bad guy (Darth Brooks? I forget his name) would have to do everything he can to not be mowed down by the cloud of spinning lightsabers biting at him from every side, even the distractions he might throw at Yoda would be smacked away. Let him escape, sure. But make it look like the guy beat the 100,000 to 1 odds in doing so."
Everyone seems to miss this point but it is cruscial to understanding Star Wars: GOOD JEDIS DO NOT USE THE FORCE TO ATTACK, ONLY TO DEFEND. So ther is no way that Yoda could levitate light sabors and attack with them. We've only really ever seen a Jedi kill a real person when they get angry and turn to the dark side momentarily.
5) The big Jedi battle against whatever those things were. They have to be rescued by storm troopers? Mace Windex runs around like a fat man, out of breath, sloppily hacking at things like one of the three stooges would swat at a bee. Some of these Jedi get nailed without ever even seeing it coming. It was so lame. If they can't squash an army that has less than 50 attackers per Jedi, then it's just plain dumb. You get the impression in the first 3 that if the Death Star coughs, Vader will go down to the surface and destroy the damn planet himself. With one arm tied around his back. He might be one of the most powerful ever, but the other Jedis should be with in a few orders of magnitude of that.
I agree with this whole heartedly! My wife and I always envisioned some sort of symbiotic choreographed attack that they would direct via telekinesis.
the 1st two sucked
only ANH/ESB was best
Jar Jar (insert joke here)
Lucas destroyed my childhood memories
Star Wars isn't science fiction
Star Wars was made for children not 30 year old "comic book guys"
I won't watch it
I won't buy the DVDs
Lucas is greedy
Han fired first
Parent is +5 Insightful? Give me a break, he just wrote a bunch of words! Stupid poopy-head.
I've been wondering how Vader became Vader since I saw "A New Hope" (Star Wars to us old farts) when I was 17. I'm going to see see this film if I have to sneak out of work and ware a disguise. Oh wait, they'll think I'm just another geek!
Good Lord 'n' butter you got that right!
...and then sat through 90-odd minutes of the worst tripe I could possibly imagine. I was gobsmacked throughout the movie. I could not believe that anything I was watching had ANYTHING to do with the Highlander movie I loved so much.
I remember being SO geeked that a new Highlander movie was coming out. I dragged my then-girlfriend to it, telling her how amazing the first movie had been, and how much she was going to love this...
That sequel is so heinous, so putrid, so amazingly BAD that it deserves some sort of warning label on the dust jacket of the DVD.
It makes the Matrix sequels seem brilliant. It's THAT bad.
DG
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
Bart: That sucked. ... today.
Lisa: I can't believe 'The Gathering Shadow' was senate redistricting.
Jeff Albertson (aka Comic Book Guy): Worst Cosmic Wars Ever !! I will only see it three more times
TO START
PRESS ANY KEY
Where's the 'ANY' key? I see Esk, Kitarl, and Pig-Up...
You god damn wait. I want to see how you fuckers defend his "vision" when that son of a bitch comes out with Meow Skywalker.
You're all overanalyzing this. Star Wars was made for kids; 10 year olds like Lucas was when he watched Buck Rodgers. It's a kid's movie, and that's why it's not so amazing if you watch it for the first time as an adult.
Against stupidity the Gods themselves contend in vain.
and I forgot just how deep the cringe went when Han is talking to Lando about the Falcon.."Not a scratch, right buddy?". UGH. But it's still a great movie. I was talking to a friend of mine and we were both wary of Star Wars talkin' ,because The Net has taught us that George Lucas hasn't done anything good since Empire, and we were both pleasantly surprised that a)we both liked watching the Special Editions more than the original - I like the huge Death Star explosion, and more importantly Palpatine instead of oldladymonkey in Empire b)We thought the prequels were pretty good and c)we both saw all Star Wars movies as fantastic entertainment, certainly with flaws and problems but who cares! What are we gonna do, watch Bridget Jones Diary with our wives!??!?! Screw that!
Well, that's what the rating system is for, I thought. Star Wars was originally going to be a G rated movie but when Lucas saw some Fox exec's daughter crying from fear of Darth Vadar he changed it to PG. I was hoping Attack Of The Clones would be NC-17, myself. I wanted to see the Holy Conception of Luke and Leia, preferably with "wah-wah" disco music...
More quotes:
... Yoda"
"ridiculous"
"gratuitous acts of violence"
"oddly flat"
"dull"
"Cheesy lines make a comeback"
"The biggest annoyance comes from
"you'll be desperate for the little green sage to shut up"
"There are probably more lame utterances in this film than the other five put together"
Between Vader and Kenobi, who's Schwartz is bigger!
I can't afford a sig!
Sorry, had to be done.
--jd
Don't feel bad if you get uncomfortable while reading it. It's called logic. You're not used to seeing so much of it in one place concerning this film. He uses it throughout. You'll get used to it.
--Rick "If it isn't broken, take it apart and find out why."
Or please, describe how sneaky Obi Wan was to park his ship right outside the enemy hideout's entrance and then to stand outside it and send his spy message back to the council.
Never attribute to sneakiness that which can be adequately explained by the Force.
I used to be a sceptic. These days, I'm not so certain.
That was entertaining to read.
:shiver:....
:p
To date, I rank the 'Episodes' thus:
Episode II - Dark, intricate, and action packed. Only bad(?) scene: the 'hearth' scene between Anakin and Amidala. I cringe just thinking about it. If Lucas goofed with the direction of that scene it shows! However, if he wanted to convey Anakin's awkwardness in a romantic situation, He and Hayden Christansen succeeded in spades!
Episode V - Ditto. Basically tied with Ep II. Won't reveal the (in)famous plot twist here as it is nearly as old and legendary as John Williams' sharkmotif from JAWS (1975).
Episode IV - Lucas (accidentally) redefines blockbuster and creates a memorable moviegoing experience--in spite of the minor intrinsic flaws in the original 1977 film. Yes, I know a major character did something important in the 1977 version that got revised 20 years later to the ire of 'madcore' SW fans everywhere, I'm just glad I finally got the 'Orignal Trilogy' on DVD allbeit their 1997 anniversary re-release versions. Fine, I suppose I could go out and get the bootleg DVD version sourced from the 1994 laserdisc versions of the original 1977/1980/1983 theatrical release of the 'Original Trilogy' if Lucasfilm hasn't shut down ALL (patently illegal) sources for this version....
Episode VI - The 'worst' of the 'Original Trilogy' Unfortunately, Lucas 'sells out' to the 'Dark Side' of merchandising with the inclusion of the Ewoks. Strangely enough, this conscession for cash doesn't detract all that much from the overall entertainment value of this installment.
Episode I - After a 16-year hiatus, STAR WARS is back on the big screen! Yawn.
Maybe that bootleg Phantom Edit I've heard about has more juice than Lucas' full-length 'uncut' version.
However, if the other four films in the saga that I have seen had not been made, it'd be rather entertaining up to a point in it's own right. Alas, this movie was only the $100+ million dollar keystone in the billion dollar deal Lucas struck with Pepsico for (some?/all?) the merchandising rights to the film. Anybody still remember 'Col. Sanders' waving a lightsaber about in the Pepsico TV ads for Episode I back in 1999? I still do somewhat....
Jar Jar Binks is only part of the problem of Episode I and not a fatal flaw of that film. I guess kids these days like pratfalls and scatalogical humor in the films they watch....
Currently waiting patiently to see Episode III on May 19th, 2005. Why couldn't it been the following Wednesday on the 25th? That way, the last(?) Episode could have premiered 'exactly' 28 years after the first one did....
Maybe one day, Lucas will relent to fan pressure and make the 'Original Trilogy' finally and officially available in their original theatrical forms on DVD someday....
doubt it, if its crap, won't go
becomes yet another possible $1 video rental, same as episode II
Not Free SF Reader
Except he got caught in the most routine way possible -- so, you know, it can't be explained by the force, or by any of George Lucas's remarkably lame attempts to claim he's poaching on classical mythology, or anything really other than total lameness...
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
We both know why this makes absolutely no sense. It's not just the time involved... It Made No Sense.
It made almost as much sense as how Dooku flew away at the end by... just flying away. Nice blockade, good thinking. Or as much sense as Anikin being a complete bonehead, to the point where he made my then-9-year-old kids laugh out loud, in The Big Light Saber Fight. That was so bad it was funny, and yet not bad enough to be really fun. Lame, lame, lame.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
Hundreds of Star Wars fans showed up last night at the Cinerama in downtown Seattle to watch the charity premiere of Star Wars: Episode 3: Return of the Sith... and I was among them! As a huge Star Wars fan, I have been looking forward to this movie for three years now, and it was amazing. This might just be the best Star Wars yet! The story contains every element that fans were expecting and hoping to see, and answers a lot of the questions we hoped to one day get answers for: Why do Obi-Wan and Yoda disappear when they die and why didn't Qui-Gon do the same? How does Anakin become Darth Vader? What happens to Padme? Why doesn't Anakin know Luke had a twin sister? Why did Luke and Leia grow up separately? Fans won't be disappointed with this movie. Jar-Jar is a non-mentioned background character you can ignore if you want and Artoo gets to be the comic hero instead (yay!). Also, the style of directing for the sad scenes could possibly be tear-jerkers to the more sensitive audience members, and it capture emotion better than when Anakin lost his mother in Episode 2. Hayden Christiansen's acting has improved, and though Natalie Portman's talent goes to waste in her role as Padme - a role in which her beauty is more important that her dialogue - she does a good job with what she's given and looks fabulous, as always. How many movies has Portman been pregnant in now? At least three... Anyway, my intention was not to spoil the movie and I hope I did not give anything away that you didn't already hear from the prequels and other interviews, but really, you won't be disappointed with this movie. Episode 1 and 2 were all exposition and character development... this is the REAL backstory to how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. I'll predict one thing that will come out of this though... people will be spreading around a new catch-phrase: "Execute Order 66!" I wonder if someone has already made the T-shirt.
More bad news here.