ST JJ Abrams to direct Episode VII

Interesting....I remember seeing Star Trek in 2009 and 10 minutes in I thought to myself "why couldn't the Star Wars prequels have felt like this?" I am not an old school Trek fan but that was a great film. However I am not sure if I want too many similarities between Star Wars and Star Trek and hope they will always have at least somewhat of a different tone. Like I said, I loved Star Trek, and even though I wished the prequels were more like it, I actually think he is perfect for the job, but at the same time I don't want the 2 saga's to fell too much alike, but I think he will do an amazing job. Does that make sense? He is maybe the perfect choice, but Star Wars and Star Trek just can't be similar in any way!

 

Anyone who is on board with this horrific news needs their head examined. J.J. Abrams is the antithesis of what Star Wars is (OT, of course). It all comes down to VISUAL AESTHETIC.

He's all wrong for Star Wars, which (at least for the OT) was CLASSIC FILM-MAKING. Everything from the shot composition, to the editing, to the practical sets/costumes/models/etc... The pacing, the themes, the characters. Abrams is of the nu-gen group of film-makers who shoot their films like f'n music videos or tv episodes, i.e. Stephen Sommers, Mathew Vaughn, Mikey Bay, Brett Ratner, Len Wiseman, Zack Snyder, etc. With his absolutely ridiculous obsession with lens flares, and that awful, nausea-inducing "floaty cam" or whatever the hell u wanna call it. (It's in that plinkett vid posted earlier like halfway through). Like Mallick-cam... but ON CRACK. He has a terrible eye for cinematography... no depth, no interesting camera angles, shot comp, etc. It's a bunch of quick cuts and shiny, flashy ***. Not to mention his terrible sets, costumes, lack of anything PRACTICAL. Bunch o' CG garbage.

BULLOCKS!

This should have gone to someone "old school" like Spielberg or Zemeckis. How about the fantastic Sam Mendes who just did a bang up job with James Bond? The visual aesthetic used in Skyfall would be friggin' PERFECT for the new trilogy. Fincher would be a wet dream of course... and there's the up and coming Rupert Wyatt who delivered an Apes flick that was FAR better than it had any right of being. What an impressive debut. Brad Bird, Andrew Stanton would also have been better choices as they're a couple of chaps who are still trying to prove themselves. What does JJ have to prove? (Other than being a great director - which of course he will never achieve). At this point in his career, he's a workman, technically "competent", lazy, zombie of a film-maker. His films have all been "financial successes" (like that means a damn for artistic integrity or quality). No passion. No fire. No unique vision or voice. Ever heard an interview with that guy? Completely unremarkable individual. Literally the most boring film-maker they could've chosen.

Poodoo.


Relax and be respectiful of the rest of forum-goers.

 

Anyone else here this, heard today that JJ is on board but not DIRECTOR but helping as Producer or something in the field. I think MUCH like he helped with the new Superman. That due to other films he could't direct it himself.

 

He's already made a poor man's Star Wars movie and a poor man's Spielberg movie. He has a storytelling philosophy that involves mysteries without answers, he regularly abandons projects and gets too much credit for projects he's barely involved with. His movies are soulless facsimiles that borrow elements from other, better directorial styles, without ever fully understanding what made them work in the first place and his only unique trait is an overuse of lens flares. Oh and he also came very close to destroying Superman.

 

My concern is with this choice is that Abrams chose to fundamentally change Star Trek from a cognitive work to an action-comedy. He was willing to recast one of the most iconic science fiction characters in the canon with a new actor (in Pine) that was entirely ungrounded in the original portrayal. He warped or obliterated pieces of the setting (Vulcan) that are foundational to the whole.

I think it is these choices that are the root of the disquiet many people are expressing.

 

And where did you hear it?

 

People freaking about Abrams: Here is the reality

He isn't a bold choice(Duncan Jones), he isn't a great choice(Brad Bird), he isn't a bad choice(Michael Bay). He is a safe choice.

The man is an imitator/conformist. He is pretty the exact guy you want directing a Star Wars film for its first go around. He knows how to work in an established visual identity. The next trilogy is going to be corporate and safe. He fits into that description.

If the script is tight. It won't matter much who is directing. You can all start freaking out if all of his buddies start getting writing credits on the script. Until then, don't worry about it.

 

@Jedisithor: The most frequent arguments that I heard/saw against Joss Whedon after he was selected to direct The Avengers were that he was a cult director (which was true at the time) and had not proven himself as a filmic director (which was also true). These criticisms were accompanied oftentimes with biased negative opinions concerning the man's work, but that negative bias didn't invalidate the truths that were buried in the midst of said negative bias.

Again, I understand that not everyone is a JJ Abrams fan, but if you're going to be bemoaning his choice, is it too much to ask that said bemoaning be accompanied by actual criticisms in the vein of what I just outlined above?

 

So you're saying you'll only see Episode VII one time instead of multiple times? And you'll only buy the first Blu-ray release and not double-dip on the collector's edition?

 

I can't speak for anyone else but I'm pretty sure I've done that a couple of times.

 

I have mixed feelings about the news. Abrams did a great job in start jumping "LOST", even if Lindelof and Cuse nearly screwed it up. And I really liked his work on "SUPER 8", even if the plot wasn't that original. But his handling of "STAR TREK" . . . I was not impressed at all. And I hope and pray he doesn't recruit Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci to write the script. They really screwed up the 2009 film.

 

@Jedisithor: I'm not trying to attack you, so don't take this the wrong way, but the answers you gave me as to why Abrams is the wrong choice for this film seemed to be very much based on negative feelings towards his stylistic choices and the types of things he's done, which came across, at least to me, as wholly negatively biased.

 

I think the problem with Super 8 is that you really had to be within five years of my age in order to fully appreciate it. You just had to have grown up then to really, fundamentally "get" it.

 

Ugh... just reading through this forum is depressing. What happened to this site? I was one of the originals. I came here well before TPM was released and stayed through the release of ROTS (i.e. the death of Star Wars). That is until the first cinematic trailer for the Old Republic was released. That was the first thing to reignite my Star Wars flame. Gave me hope that, in the right hands, Star Wars could still be something pretty incredible. Hell, get the guys who were in charge of those O.R. cinematics to helm this sh#*. People like phatdude1138 are just so... clueless, in general. It's going to be rather difficult to carry on a half-way intelligent conversation or debate with people like that. With all of their anit-logic... using straw man arguments for everything and all that Apologistic nonsense...

*sigh*

This sucks. I was finally excited again, for Star Wars. Everything from the announcement that Lucas had relinquished the rights to all things Lucasfilm (one of the greatest days of my life) up until today's terrible reveal, i was actually on board with. I respected the hiring of Arndt. And i geek-gasmed with the announcement of the amazing Kasdan being back on board. The talk of the Big Three (Four?) returning, Johnny williams coming back for one more ride, etc... I was freakin' pumped!

This news has almost single-handedly killed my enthusiasm for the Sequel Trilogy.

And any true Star Wars fan shares my grief.

 

Agreed 100%. You just have to look at the groundbreaking work that guys like Abrams and Whedon did since the 90s with the medium of television. Whether you loved the product, it was inevitable that they were going to break out and dominate film.

 

i doubt Abrams is going to direct all 3.

 

As opposed to positively biased?

I presented a brief critical analysis of his work. Simple as that. I actually enjoyed Star Trek...it was fun but a bit dumb for Trek. It was also a clear attempt to copy the Star Wars template.

 

Roger that! Or in PT tradition: "Roger Roger!"

I agree, seems like a blatant disrespect move to the canon. Granted people will be on you saying it was the writers, but he must have read the plot before accepting the job, but the point that he didn't CONTEST that story shows he's got zero control over whats good vs whats bad. It looks to me that his motive was $$$, which is ok, but there are people in Hollywood that turn down jobs if the story is not good. And if Abrams thought that the "alternate universe story" was good for the franchise, then that shows his character flaw right there.

The only GOOD news is if he's that much of a TOOL, then he might just direct what Arndt writes. Then we just have to worry about camera shake and flares.

 

Three? My understanding is that Disney wants to just keep this rolling as an ongoing film franchise a la James Bond.

I think there'll be way more than just three new Star Wars movies... maybe even more than three sequels, depending on how you define "sequel".

 

And yes, for the love of ALL THINGS HOLY...


Keep the Unholy Trinity, the cinematic parasites, Orci, Kurtzman, and Lindeloaf far, far away from this.

 

Nothing official or anyone that matters, second hand stuff from a guy i talk on twitter in DM he in the business but not high up.

 

Let's just hope he can adjust his style a bit, I am optimistic they are aware we need a similar feel to the OT