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About the Store Wars, I didn't think that it was terribly offensive or anything (it's a spoof, after all). I just thought it wasn't very good. Thumb Wars was far and away better.
Posts: 8322 | Registered: Aug 1999
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I was so disappointed by the Phantom Menace that I didn't see the second one in the theater - I waited until it came on cable. I had low expectations and was disappointed even then.
So I'm in the same boat as you, Christine. I need a bunch of rave reviews to even consider seeing it on cable (I won't pay any amount to see it in the theater - Lucas has seen the last of my money).
And I'm not getting them.
My husband and a pile of coworkers played hookey on Friday and saw it. He said that the entire audience was laughing at scenes that weren't designed to be laughed at (apparently Anakin's reactions to certain events were particularly entertaining). He said the acting was bad, the writing was bad, it was just bad. But he thought it was better than the first two. He gave it a 2 out of 10, and the 2 was for the lightsaber fights and effects.
So I probably won't even bother to watch the third one at all.
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I'm just going to say that I loved it. (and hated it but in a good way.) But then I have this tendency to enjoy myself at any given moment. I also loved the Phantom Menace and I liked Attack of the Clones, (of course for that one I have a survival mechanism that puts me to sleep for the entire time they are on Naboo.) Althogh I do look forward to forty years in the future when this is redone by someone who can translate out Lucas's weaknesses. As for Christene follow your own heart on how you should watch it. But I do advise you to watch it. (if you don't wish to put any more money towards lucas then borrow the DVD from a friend.)
ALSO. My guess with the Grevious coughing is that he was a cyborg without lungs, (even though they called him a droid.) and yet his fleshy parts still thought that he should have lungs. So it was a phantom cough.
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Sorry I haven't read through all the replies, but here are my two cents.
The dialogue will not impress you, but then, how great was the dialogue in Episodes IV through VI really? The only reason they have memorable lines is because they had the time and popularity to become canonical.
What REALLY impressed me about the movie is the attention to detail. Whether you see it in theaters or at home, watch Episode IV before III. Pay attention to the gestures and turns of phrase that characterize each character (especially Vader and Kanobi--Yoda is a bit obvious). Lucas (and/or the actors) were amazingly faithful in III. Unfortunately, it's a subtlety that will be missed by most, buried beneath the plot holes and dramatic and gory climax.
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I could have used more scene and less scenery.
Wait for it to come to a second run theater, when your money will mostly go to the theater and buy some concessions while you're there. A larger percentage of the DVD sales go to Mr. Lucas, at least if we're looking at standard agreements.
Rob and I went last night to an independent movie house, because we like the people who own it and want to support them. The longer into a run of a film you wait, the less money goes to the production company.
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I'm still with Pyre -- I liked it. This thread seems an appropriate place for this little gem from Andre Maurois: "In literature, as in love, we are astonished at what is chosen by others." And, we might add, in movies. Posts: 1810 | Registered: Jun 2002
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I definately went to see it as I had a friend who acted in it as a Senator. Couldn't see him in any of the scenes, but it was still cool to see his name in the credits. Also I had free tickets from work.
That said I only thought it was a good movie. I thought that a lot of directorial opportunities were missed that could have made the series as a whole a lot stronger. i.e. the revelation later that Leia is Luke's sister is no longer a surprise. Chewbacca knowig Yoda is too convinient, especially in the fact that later he appears to know nothing about the jedi and thinks that Han Solo is only helping because he is a love sick fool.
The were some great emotional moment for me and I actually enjoyed the fact that Lucas avoided the temptation to end the happily. (though not sure how this could have been achieved). Contrary to opinion earlier the intercut lightsaber battle I thought I was one of the best scenes, after anakins initial descent into darkness.
I would recommend seeing it for the closure it provides, and also because nothing can be the cinema atmosphere.
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Well, today I watched the movie..finally. Got it through Netflix free trial so I didn't even pay for it. Frankly, I still think I got gyped.
Just wanted to weigh in and say how glad I am that I stuck to my principles and did NOT see it in the theatres after the first 2 proved to be so awful. This one, IMHO, was right in line. The dialogue wasn't just bad, it was painful. I neither felt nor believed Vader's transformation. I had no clear sense of passage of time. The ending didn't make sense from what I knew of the original series. (Leigha said she knew her mother when she was little...so what's up with the death in childbirth?) And without my husband editorializing from what he knew about the books, I think I would have understood very little of what happened at all. The effects were there. (Come on, it's commonplace anymore...don't tell me that's really why we go to a theatre?) Yoda kicked a little butt again.
Anyway, just thought I'd share my opinions now that they are based in more than mere suspision.
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Well, actually Leia says she doesn't remember much about her mother, just images and feelings. She was very beautiful but very sad. Though I did always think that was more like a 3 year old memory than a newborn memory. I found the attendants really annoying.
Posts: 366 | Registered: Sep 2006
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The dialogue and acting in all three of the prequels was abysmal, especially considering how talented some of the cast is. Haydenson makes Al Gore look exuberant.
That said, I found Revenge of the Sith better than the first two.
The poster that commented on the dialogue in 4-6 should watch the films again, the banter and dialogue and CHEMISTRY between Ford, Hammil and Fisher was so far beyond 1-3 as to be laughable.
Also did anyone else feel that Revenge would have been much better had it ended when Vaders mask is put into place and you hear James Earl Jones breathing. Had the film ended there I would have felt a much stronger emotional attachment, instead it rambles on for another 15 minutes and completely wimpers to an ending. This is particularly aggravating since the material they cover is understood and seeing it on film is completely unnecesary.
We know Padme dies, we know Leia is taken by Bail, we know Luke is taken by Owen, we know that Vader thinks they are dead.
We did not need to see it on film.
Lucas fumbled the ball with these films so badly that I wish there was a legal recourse for him ruining the franchise and have his rights to direct any future SW projects revoked!
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Well...it might be a bit late to mention this, but if nobody had gone to see the second and third disasters during their primary theatrical runs, Lucas et al would have gotten the message, along with a large financial obsticle to making any more StarWars movies.
Posts: 8322 | Registered: Aug 1999
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quote:Also did anyone else feel that Revenge would have been much better had it ended when Vaders mask is put into place and you hear James Earl Jones breathing.
I thought it would have been better if it had ended just after the "Long ago in a galaxy far, far away..." reel.
All in all, I thought the first movie was the only one of the three that even merited an "Ok, worth seeing once" rating. I know people will disagree with me, but I didn't find Jar Jar to be nearly as bad as everyone else. Further, the first movie presented us with a hero we could love and root for, someone whose destiny, good or bad, would matter. I wanted to see how that little boy could turn into Darth Vader, and at the end of that movie I thought I would get to see osmething like that.
I did not. By the beginning of the second movie we had already lost our hero to teenage angst and the influence of Senator what's hi name who becomes the Emperor. There was no moment, no turning point and I think that, more than anything else, was why I did not see the third movie in the theatres. Worse than the awful dialogue, worse than the god awful romance, and worse than Jar Jar was the fact that the story I wanted to see in the prequels was never shown and scarcely told. My husband commentated from what he knew of the books and that alone gave me any idea of where Vader really came from.
I felt cheated. I now have it in the back of my mind to try to tell the story myself. Well, not THIS story. Star Wars universe is trademarked and the deed is done. Neverthless, I was thinking about telling a real story of a good person, a hero, who for believable reasons turns to evil. Could be fun. For now, it's file under "to do."
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George Lucas is NOT a good writer or director. But if you already know that, and are prepared for it, this is a movie that really shows off his strengths. Movies are a great way for visual people to express themselves. If I wanted a good story, I'd read a book. I'm far more annoyed when a novel author's arrogance gets in the way of their storytelling, because then all you're left with is something with absolutely no entertainment value, unless you consider tossing it into a fireplace entertainment.
I think the prequel trilogy could tell as much story with only visuals, physical acting, and a good score. The plot really isn't complicated enough to require spoken words, and we wouldn't be distracted by the horrid writing.
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Hey, Christine, that sounds like something for a trilogy, no make that a trilogy of trilogies. You could start at the fourth part (the second trilogy of trilogies), write those three books, then write the first trilogy, and refuse to finish the series. Sounds like a winner to me!
But seriously, I think it would be hard to tell the hero's story and end the tale in a satisfactory way in a single novel. It seems to me the readers might hate an author for ending the story with the hero turning bad.
On the other hand, the idea lends itself to a pretty good two or three part series, in my opinion. The end of the first book would likely make readers want to read a second at least.
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If you want to read some of younger Anakin and see the darkness that will later consume him, check out Rogue Planet by Greg Bear. On the whole one of the better SW novels and you don't have to read anything else to enjoy it. Bear only agreed to do one book.
Posts: 552 | Registered: Dec 2004
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