What did you think of Star Wars trilogy?

[Radiant]

Obi-Wan: Don't try it!
Anakin: I'm better than you think!

Obi-Wan: I have the higher ground, which gives me a +4 to-hit bonus!

[Paper Carnival]

cheesy, but entertaining: http://www.the-editing-room.com/?script=revengeofthesith

[CaptainBinky]

Truth be told, ALL the Star Wars films are pretty bad. But I like IV - VI because I was a kid when I saw them and when I watch them now, I always revert to kid-mode. Fact of the matter is, light-sabers, robots, and Jedi powers are pretty cool. Show them to kids and they'll love it. But I just can't watch the new films without judging them like all films I've seen as an adult. And that is... that they're baaaaad (but they're for the kids, yeah?).

Unrelated note: Anybody watched the series Taken? It's rubbish.

[lo_res_man]

My star wars experience is very small, I haven't seen the originals, except the first 30 minutes of a new hope. I have seen the phantom menace, as well as the second one in theatres. I am probably in the utter minority here, but I liked Jar Jar. He's no worse then a Adam Sandler movie, and is quite delightfully silly.

[Erenan]

My biggest gripe with Episode 3 was the same gripe I had with POTC 2. Pacing. I felt that scene changes were too frequent. It started to jerk me around a bit, and I don't like that. I like for scenes to keep going until they've done what they're supposed to, and then you can change to another one. Ep 3 fell flat on this point, in my opinion.

That having been said, I enjoyed the movie, because when all is said and done, it's still just a movie. Better just to sit back and try to have fun than to go, "Gruh, this movie sucks because of blah blah blah...omg lolz!!1"

[jetxl]

THIS JUST IN:

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (in 3D animated)
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809991325/video/7744414

The whore (freudian slip?) whole Star Wars thing is becoming one big joke to me.

[TwinMoon]

Well yeah, who needs actors.

Seriously though, this is a delayed april fool's right?

[vict0r]

 :'(

[Stupot]

Ep 1: Great
Ep 2: Quite good
Ep 3: "NNOOOOooooOOOOooooOOOOOooooo!!!!!"

[evenwolf]

I saw Ep 1 2 3 and thought they were decent from a "Yay!   Special Effects!" perspective.   But every performance was cardboard.   Including Natalie Portman, Sam Jackson, and Ewan McGregor.   This wasn't their fault because Lucas neither respects his actors nor gives them the opportunity to breathe life into their performances.   He just tells them "stand there. swing light sabre this way.  smile.   say the line.  nothing more."   My friends and I pretty much laughed our asses off at the dialogue of Ep 3.

People say things such as "Lucas is getting old" or that he's losing his touch.    But the only good Star Wars film he directed was "Star Wars: A New Hope".   That was before the world discovered him and let him get so full of himself.   He actually had something to prove.   (sort of like the Wachowskis and how the first matrix movie was excellent.... and now they're doing Speed Racer....)


The best Star Wars movies were directed by Richard Marquand and Irvin Kershner.    Lucas is a great producer but HORRIBLE with actors.   He's honestly one step up from Uwe Boll as far as getting a good performance from an actor. (that seems like a bold statement but I'm not referring to his stories, his filmmaking, or his technical know-how.   Merely his ability to draw out a good performance.)   I think he doesn't pride himself on directing and feels no obligation to effect your emotions one way or the other.    I'd hate to see what the acting looked like if he didn't have access to A list celebrities.

Having said all that.... Lucas is the world's best film producer.  I wish he had handed off Ep 1 - 3 to a young director with something to prove.  Brian Singer would have made them so much better for instance.   Or Peter Jackson.   Or any of the directors of the Harry Potter movies.   Anybody really.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Lucas also didn't pen the scripts for the first three movies but rather collaborated with Brackett and Kasdan (in spite of what credits might say about the first film, I fully believe they penned all three together).  What we see when Lucas makes a go by himself is an utter train-wreck of a script, poor direction, and a complete over-emphasis on style over substance.  When comparing the two sets of films, it's not hard to see which people were responsible for making the original trilogy as admired as it is today:  Kasdan, Brackett, Kershner, Marquand.

[Quintaros]

I think Lucas tends to be very sensitive to criticism and thin-skinned regarding contrary opinions.  He shields himself against criticism of his latest films by saying that at the time of their releases even the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones were critically panned.  It could be that that he misremembers the reception of these films because he dwelled so heavily on the occasional negative review rather than the multitude of positive ones.

Following ESB, Lucas had enough success that he could surround himself with sycophants rather than collaborators and nobody ever told him when his ideas were bad.  Get rid of Kurtz bring in MacCallum.

[jetxl]

When I think of Star Wars I always think of the original 3 movies. That is the base. All other movies, comic books and video games are accessories: They can make the Star Wars realm look better but also worse. The latter was certanly the case with the new movies.
This new project does have potential since episode 3 was pretty much 3D rendered anyway (Episode 3-D). They can make a gazilion more SW movies this way, but does the public really need that...

Was Hayden Christensen's performance better in Jumper, though? He's also cast as the lead role in Neuromancer. I guess he's stuck in those sci-fi pulp movies.

Short but interesting comment by Mark Hamilton on Star Wars at 3:30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W7paueNuEc

[evenwolf]

I haven't seen Hayden give a good performance but someone told me he was great in Shattered Glass.     It's entirely possible he's a decent actor.   Even though I couldn't stand him in Star Wars I blame it on Lucas' oppressive directing style.   

[Emerald]

In general, hype translates to disappointment.

It was exactly the same with the first three (IV-VI). Most of you were probably a bit young at the time to get the full impact, but there were billboards everywhere, ads on TV, you turn on the radio for 5 minutes and you'll hear someone talking about it -- people were standing in 1/4 mile-long lines to see it. It was madness. Everyone expected it to be the greatest experience on God's green earth, and in the end it wasn't much more than a bunch of cowboys in space.

I maintain that the main reason Star Wars is regarded as one of the ultimate movie classics isn't because of its story, or dialogue, or acting, or direction, but because of its advertising. Everyone who was anybody went to see it. Plus, all the baby-boomers were just the right age to appreciate it.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I disagree, Emerald.  I found the originals to be genuinely entertaining space cowboy fests.  The new ones?  No.

[skuttleman]

Any movie with Han Solo in it is going to be superior to any movie without him (provided he shoots first, or course).

[Emerald]

Any movie with Han Solo in it is going to be superior to any movie without him (provided he shoots first, or course).

Witness sucked fat juicy balls...

(Edit: Unless by 'Han Solo', you meant the character, not Harrison Ford himself. I momentarily got them confused )

[evenwolf]

I'll take Emeralds word on it.   For Ep 5 and 6 anyways.   


Another factor besides the lack of Kasdan's collaboration, is how much Lucas ripped off Akira Kurosawa.    Hidden Fortress is said to be the inspiration for New Hope so maybe the new movies sucked so hard because he tried to do something original?    Or were they copies of bad movies this time?   Either way I'll take Kurosawa any day.   I'll  take Sergio Leone (who also copied Kurosawa) with bad dubbing any day.   Lucas?   It better be damn glitzy and full of speedy things.

[skuttleman]

Unless by 'Han Solo', you meant the character, not Harrison Ford himself. I momentarily got them confused )

I meant Han Solo the character, not Harrison Ford the actor.