ALMOST...But Just Not Good Enough...AND DONT GET MAD AT ME!

JRC, you and I appear to be of roughly the same mind. It's not that I disliked AotC, I saw it as a great popcorn summer flick. But the potential for the Star Wars universe is so incredibly vast, it's a shame to see any of it being given any type of "dis-service".

 

I actually understand your feelings. I did not have them watching AOTC, but with Spiderman. I had grown up dreaming of seeing Lotr and Spiderman as movies. While Lotr exceeded the vision I had when I read the books, Spiderman left me feeling like I had seen it all before, but in 20 different movies. It just did not leave me feeling like anything special happened. While I did not think AOTC was perfect it did have some incredible moments.....that made it a fun worthwhile movie. Most of all I felt like I had seen a Star Wars movie.

 

DarthMalifluous I prefer A New Hope over The Empire Strikes Back.

You need to remember your opinion is your opinion and not everyone shares it.

 

If polled, I'm sure that most people on this board, and most film-makers/students would rank ESB as not only one of the best sequels of all time, but truely, one of the best movies of all time.

 

This is not to say that ANH is not a great movie. I see it as more of a stepping stone. ESB showed us just how great the Star Wars universe could get and hopes were that it would continuously get better... IMO it hasn't.

 

ESB is good... but not one of the best movies of all time. In my opinion that is going too far.

There are at least 120 movies better than ESB.

RB

 

Many people also prefer Return of the Jedi because that is where Vader comes back from the Darkside and you get a show down with the Emperor.

Truth is Empire has made the least amount of money out of all the films and I believe it was the least popular when it was re-released. ANH is regarded as the classic and quintessential Star Wars film by most non-fans.

 

I'm sorry -- you are WRONG! I loved FOTR, and i love LOTR, but this Star Wars! I f#cking loved AOTC. Seen it 4 times, gonna see it at least 10 more times (hopefully a few of those digitally at the Irvine Spectrum) before it leaves theatres.

The action is awesome and the undertone of Anakin's journey is amazing. Plus, I think the scene where Padme says, "I'm not afraid to die. I've been dying a little bit every day since you came back into my life..." is the most emotional scene since Vader took off his mask.

AOTC is awesome

 

Heh.....yes the problem is with you Jermaine...lol!
I think the problem is really w/ Lucas and his ability to direct actors. Natalie Portman really needed some guidance...she can act but she isnt a seasoned pro like C. Lee.
Now if you want your old Star Wars back.....well......aint gonna happen. Unless Lucas can find someone that is more capable at directing than he is. Like Irwin K. for instance. And even then its not a guarantee.
All I can say is this.....even though the prequel trilogy is flawed I will enjoy them just the same. I take them as they are...not what they could have been. I mean shoot...we watch all of the Dolemite movies and those are freakin fun to watch!! And you know more than anyone that those "movies" are not anywhere near perfect.

BTW....I have heard from a very very veryyyyyy realiable source (went by the name BRENT SUPERSHADOW) that Rudy Ray Moore himself will make an appearance in EP. 3!! No lie!
Scene is at the very beginning and Padme and Anakin are alone together on the 1st night of their honeymoon. It shows them in bed about to consumate the marriage and they say to each other:
PADME: Oh Anakin..... ANAKIN: Oh Padme.....
when just before they kiss Rudy Ray Moore jumps into the room (dressed only in white slacks...no shoes, socks, shirt and sporting a nappy Afro) and says ...PUT YO WEIGHT ON IT...PUT YO WEIGHT ON IT...PUT YO WEIGHT ON ITTTTTTTT.... and then jumps back outside.
Anakin and Padme both say at the same time...MOTHA F(boop!) Its true i tell you!!!! heh

 

Most also saw ESB at a young age. I for one saw it at 12 and still have not had the same experience since. I am not sure its really fair too compare a movie I saw when I was twelve.....nothing today could add up too that feeling you had as a kid. Sure Empire holds up in many ways, but today after having seen it 40 times I can't really watch it and not get bored. Having a new Star Wars...while not perfect, it really fun and gives enough thrills too make you feel young again.

 

I love Star Wars, but people here need to accept the obvious:

Lord of the Rings is infinitely better, Fellowship was the most visually stunning and beautiful film i have ever seen.

Acting is as bad as it can be in AOTC, what about the "if you´ll excuse me..." line, that was the most stupid or "i´m in charge of security here m´lady" Besides Natalie Portman is just pathetic.

Did you see the Two Towers Preview?, man it is going to be so great, i almot burst in tears because of the eexcitement the first time i saw it.

Nevertheless, Star Wars will always have a very special place in my heart. But, i think we will all be a lot happier if someone else directed EP III, i was thinking about Ridley Scott. Ep III has to be really great, almost as great as LOTR, only then SW will be number one in my heart again.

Please Join Me, together we will make Goerge Lucas change his mind, and restore greatness to SW.

Live with it!

 

I'm simply talking about using it as a model from which a film-maker/student/scriptwriter can learns ones craft. It provides a very simple, precise. The "shots" are very clean, maintaining line and form. The script says just enough without overriding the actors ability to fill in the emotive blanks. The musical score is subtle yet perfectly placed and balanced throughout the entire film. The editing is crisp and yet the pace is maintained through sustained "shots". The sound design is never obtrusive, yet it too helps draw an emotive response.

I could go on... wouldn't it be fun to compare this to say Lawrence of Arabia (purely on a form by form basis).

 

"Most also saw ESB at a young age. I for one saw it at 12 and still have not had the same experience since. I am not sure its really fair too compare a movie I saw when I was twelve.....nothing today could add up too that feeling you had as a kid. "

You see, before LOTR...I felt the same way. But, then I sit down in the theater last year, and LOTR made me feel those feelings AGAIN! Not since JEDI had I felt them...almost 20 years. Im 30 years old, now...and LOTR made me feel 'THAT' again...and I was glad...but a bit pissed...because, you know, thats STAR WARS' job to do that for me. Id reserved that space in my heart for Star Wars....
My point is, I dont buy that 'you'll never feel the same way about a new SW film as you did when you were 12, cause it AINT possible...or it aint reasonable.
Im here to say that it IS possible...cause LOTR did it for me. ANd I expected...DEMANDED that AOTC do it for me, to...and it came close, but not like LOTR.
Thats all Im saying.
I was right there watching it, and I enjoyed AOTC a LOT...but I found myself making allowances for obvious deficiences that I wouldve been ALL OVER if I was watching, say, a STAR TREK film.
Understand?

 

Nazgul_Dark, I, like you love both Star Wars and Tolkien's work, but I would never compare them. Mainly because one comes from a great piece of literature and the other does not. Star Wars and LOTR are very similiar in that they are both very mythological, but Lotr has an advantige of having a great writer with a brilliant imagination and filmmakers who knew how too tap that. Lucas has the unfortunate task keeping up the quality of the first trilogy and making it all make sense. In the film idustry that rarely has been done. Lucas is not Tolkien and Jackson is not Tolkien either. Yes Jackson did an amazing job on FOTR, but for the most part he and his co-writers lifted dialogue from the book. Brilliantly executed, but not hatched up in Jacksons imagination. Every new world and action scene we see in Star Wars started out in Lucas's mind. He had too dream this stuff up and make it all fit. This is enough for me not too compare the two movies....its really an apples and oranges argument.

 

To add my 2 cents in, I absolutely loved LOTR, and cannot wait until the next two installments. If it wasn't for Moulin Rouge!, LOTR would've been my favorite film of 2001. Oh, and I am STILL mad that both Moulin Rouge! and LOTR lost to that piece of overrated and unoriginal tripe, A Beautiful Mind. If there is one fan to bash, bash that piece of Ron Howard crap. Long live Luhrmann and Jackson!

Anyways, I still think Star Wars, individually and as a whole, is better than LOTR. And no, I am not basing this after just pure love for Star Wars. I am fascinated with how the Star Wars saga is so mythical, foreboding, and symbolic but also incredibly fun at the same time. I truly believe that the LOTR trilogy will probably end up as my second favorite, but that is all for me. Just plain second favorite.

Oh, and I'd also like to add that Christopher Lee truly rules in both LOTR and AOTC.

 

I have no problem saying that LOTR is a better movie than AOTC. It is, in my opinion, better than ALL of the Star Wars movies.

However, THIS IS A STAR WARS FORUM. We talk about STAR WARS. And in this forum my favorite movie in the series is AOTC followed by ESB.

I do not need to compare the movie to a completely different series of movies based on a fantasy world that is not remotely similar to the other.

I think Citizen Kane is the greatest movie ever made. Does that mean I compare ANY movie to it? Nope. Not a single one.

I suggest that if you can't seperate worlds/movies and just enjoy a directors/writers/producers/actors/etc world then stop watching it and move on.

Absolutely NOTHING (and when I say nothing, I mean zero, zilch, nada) any of you AOTC/SW detractors have to say will change TPM or AOTC.. they are already out.. and probably nothing will change the tiniest scene in Episode 3. So if it is such an offense to your world that Lucas directs these movies and if LOTR or Spider-Man or the latest cartoon by Disney moves you closer to nirvana then by all means... endulge in that world... heavily... and leave this pathetic world of Star Wars alone. We do not deserve you.

RB

 

Exactly, i think you didn´t get the idea of what i said. I think Lucas is a genius, because he is the creator of all this beautiful mithology, but he is not a good director, people must face it, he is not a very good screenplay writer either.

He has all the money in the world, he should hire some good screen writer and a really really good director to make EP III, the best movie of all time.

 

Naw LotR=Boring. I'll download the next one.

 

But I think it is possible to recapture the "glory days" of ESB and ANH, and I don't think age has much to do with it. I saw the OT rather recently (a few years before the Special Editions of '97), and they blew the lid off my head. I wasn't young and innocent, but more of a mature movie-goer, and even a film with all it's bad effects and "cheesy dialogue" still wowed me. Today, some films still impress me too. It's always possible to still be amazed by a film, no matter what age IMO. So, even for a Star Wars film, I think a few of us were looking for something to really "wow" the way ESB and ANH did. AOTC wowed me, but not as intensely as the others.

And I don't think it's that hard to have made AOTC better -- to make it rival (or even surpass) ESB or ANH. There are thousands of talented writers in Hollywood who Lucas could've asked for more help. Some great films have had 4 or 5 screenwriters work on them, so there's no shame in that. If anything, more brains on a film can be a good thing. More ideas, and a more broader taste. I don't know why Lucas should restrict himself to just two, when he himself isn't as great as he used to be. (well, in my opinion, anyways)

And as for the acting, HIRE a better director or assistant. That's it. And there you have it, improvements in ACTING and WRITING (the very things critics have panned) will go a long way. In my opinion, making AOTC better could have been easily done...no need to search for impossible talent when much of that talent was all around Lucas all along.

 

I think of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings as two entirely different types of film.

They are both fantasy yes- but LOTR is modern fantasy, and SW is cyber-fantasy. In LOTR, you have beautiful, grazing fields, enchanted woods, evil cave systems, wizards, gnomes, dwarves, the whole nine yards.

Star Wars is a space opera- a total different idea than LOTR.

If Star Wars was a modern fantasy like LOTR, then the two could be compared. But they aren't.

It's like trying to compare chocolate and steak. In my opinion, chocolate would be Star Wars. It's sweet and to the point. LOTR would be steak in this twisted analogy. LOTR is meaty and takes longer to...chew...but see...you get full after just one piece of steak...you can eat chocolate until you throw up because it just tastes so good!

*rofl*

Anyway, uhm, now that I'm totally confused, uhm, I'll be quiet.

And yes Harry Potter sucks.

And Blue Yoda is beyond your daddy.

 

JermaineRogers-com, you don't have too buy it....people have different experiences. I can say this much. Tolkien was and still is one of my favoret authors. I loved FOTR, but it did not give me the same feelings of great movies I saw as a kid. Superman, Star Wars,Alien, ESB, Raiders of the Lost Ark, ET, Star Trek 2, ROTJ, Terminator, Aliens and many others. Now days very few films of the Sci/fi fantasy genre really cut it for me. Sometimes I just got too except that I am getting older and my tastes have become a bit more demanding. I will be there on TTT opening night and I am sure Jackson will nail it.

 

People MUST face it?

How about you might want to try and face the fact that "we" do not agree with you.

MUST we also face the fact that Islam is the true path to paradise?

MUST we also face the fact that short people have no reason to live?

MUST we also face the fact that men are superior to women?

In the world there have been a lot of "you must" crap and this one is the most lame of them all.

So I MUST think for myself and respectfully disagree with your demand.

RB

 

Why are you mad? You make yourslef look pathetic, showing all your prejudices against Islam.

Shame on you

 

Umm... way to project.

My families faith is half Christianity and half Islamic. My father is a Kosovar Albanian after all.

But thanks for accusing me of prejudice.

RB

 

Chocolate, anyone?