**Official** MEDIA reviews of AOTC -- your reactions

This thread is to continue the topic created by d8camjordan3 to discuss reviews of AOTC that you have read or seen in the news media. The original thread got side-tracked by members who CLAIM to have seen the movie early. That was contrary to the purpose of the thread, so it was locked.

If you are a member here and have seen AOTC early, you may post a topic about it, but please be ready to post proof that you have seen it, or chances are no one will believe you.

Enjoy!

 

• www.observer.com

• www.wired.com

• www.movie-reviews.colossus.net

• NY Daily News

• www.newsday.com

• www.nypost.com

• Roger Ebert

• people.aol.com

• www.thesun.co.uk

• www.canoe.com

• www.joblo.com

• www.joblo.com/arrow

• Hot Button

• Times UK

• LDJW Films

• Entertainment Weekly

• The Trades

• Gareth Von Kallenbach

• Chicago Force

• TheDigitalBits.com

• foxnews.com

• www.mirror.uk

• TFN Views Attack of the Clones, Review I

• TFN Views Attack of the Clones, Review 2
  

• Anderson Cooper at CNN.COM

• Ronald Epstein at HomeTheater.Com Scores 5 on scale of 1-5

• Harry Knowles Review

• 
  http://www.pstwo.net/mike01.html

• 
  http://www.pstwo.net/joel01.html

• http://www.crazedfanboy.com/nolansnewsstand02/moviereviewpcr110a.html

• http://www.filmjerk.com/reviews/starwars.html

• http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=12162

• http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020429/story.html

• http://us.imdb.com/CommentsShow?121765

• http://www.countingdown.com/movies/jerseygirl/movieinfo/story?item_id=718431

• http://corona.bc.ca/films/details/sw2.html

• [link=http://www.coronap

 

So what do we know about when the first media/licensee showings are actually going to take place?


o]||||{ -------SaberSlinger-------

 

The first that I know of is on May 12th. I wish I was going to go see that, but I have to wait for the 16th.

 

Supposedly there have been trade and press screenings all day today. Ron Epstein at the Home Theater Forum is very likely to be posting a review late this evening, and I'm sure many others will be popping up all over the place too.

 

Great. I just love waiting


o]||||{ -------SaberSlinger-------

 

First US screenings seem to be on 5th and 6th though there has been word round the campfire of a number of screenings tonight, for which I have been unable to find any proof whatsoever. The first UK screening takes place on 8th and then the second press screening on the 11th. The 12th sees the cast and crew screening of the film in London followed by a number of charity screenings. Charity screenings the world over start taking place as early as 9th.

I suggest that until we get any reviews, none of us posts on this thread, kind of like what we used to do waiting for the Select Photos. Bookmark this and the first legitimate review you see, post it here and let the fun begin.

 

There is 1 proper Review in the old Thread on page 10. It's from a New York newspaper, I'm pretty sure that one is genuine. Should it be re-posted into here?

 

I'm with AL - let's leave this sucker alone until we actually have reviews to discuss.


o]||||{ -------SaberSlinger-------

 

indeed

if it is genuine that is

 

Thats cool by me, but here is the review that The_Mighty_Chewbacca posted earlier...Can we agree that this one is legit?

Ok, i have typed up part of the review. I excluded a lot of the plot syanposis since we all know it. i only included the acting low-downs on the Ewan, Hayden, and Natalie too. the review was mad long. A lot mostly had to do with marketing and tons of pre-review comments about how Lucas played it smater this time in marketing and other such. I cut most of that. I left what is a basic impression of the movie, acting, overall fell, and the speacil effects. Here it is.




From The Daily Gazette, reviewed by Dan *edit*. Review given to The Phantom Menace, B-.

Headline- Star Wars is back! And the force is with it!

To say The Phantom Menace was a bit of a disappointment would be an understatement. Thankfully George Lucas pulls all the right strings for the latest installment to the Star Wars saga-Episode II, Attack of the Clones.

This time around, Lucas has played it smart in hopes of building a better blockbuster. Lucas has hired on a co-writer, Jonathan Hales, to help brush up on the shoddy dialogue and characters that The Phantom Menace fell victim to. It is easily apparent that this paid off. Also, the marketing campaign for 'Clones' is almost non-existent compared to the enormous hype of The Phantom Menace. The absurdly high amount of Star Wars hype surrounding 'Menace' made it next to impossible to live up to it.

George Lucas has listened to the complaints of 'Menace' and built around them to create a movie that is enjoyable for a much wider demographic than 'Menace'. 'Clones' moves at light speed through a dazzling course of action, drama, and romance.

Attack of the Clones draws the viewer in right from the start, creating a very mysterious and tension filled atmosphere with the failed assassination attempt on Senator Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman). Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and his Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), are assigned to protect the Senator. The movie takes off from there; twisting and turning through dramatic love scenes to dazzling action.

The dialogue is better, much better, than the flat, plot-based, dialogue of ?Menace?. The high-octane speeder chase through the streets of Coruscant bristles with witty banter and tension. These drastically improved lines spice up the action and make it much more enjoyable and fun than ?Menace?. However, there are shortcomings. The love scenes, while filled with beautiful landscapes and supplemented with a truly grand score composed by John Williams, just don?t seem to flow as smoothly as they should. The graceful atmosphere can?t overcome the stiff chemistry of Hayden Christiansen and Natalie Portman. George Lucas comes close to hitting the mark with the romance, but not quite all the way there.

While the love scenes fall a bit short, George Lucas handles the conflict amongst his characters extremely well. The heartbreak the audience feels for young Anakin Skywalker is handled in just the right way, reminiscent of the Luke Skywalker versus Darth Vader conflict of the original movies. Hayden Christensen?s performance in these areas easily overshadows his flat love scenes.

Ewan McGregor is easily the standout performance of this movie. Every scene with Anakin is very well done, capturing the conflict between master and apprentice. Throughout the movie he remains calm and cool, delivering some truly memorable one-liners.

Natalie Portman delivers a good performance. Her performance is decent and builds her character enough to believable, but lacks a spark. She comes off too slightly set back, events happen that should dramatically effect her yet her flat performance somewhat diminishes them.

The special effects are truly stunning. ILM has created a visual masterpiece, one that highlights the action and greatly adds more life to the Star Wars feel. Although in some scenes they may seem a bit over-done, it still is a wonder to take them in. This time around they d

 

Yes, I'm almost certain this is the first proper review we have seen

 

Yes, that is the legit review that I typed up. I edited many unecessary parts and a cut down the size of most of the paragraphs that I typed up. The review was very long.

I obtained a copy of the review, it still hasn't been published, from my Uncle, an editor for the newspaper. He knew I was a huge SW fan and asked if I wanted to read the review.

 

Well, hopefully this rather positive review sets a precedent.

 

oh, and by the way, thanks to The_Mighty_Chewbacca!

 

Not sure if I buy that review. Because it starts out by complimenting the film's much improved dialogue, then goes on to call the chemistry and dialogue in the love scenes flat. So, it basically compliments this movie on the good dialogue, then bashes the dialogue for the love story part of the movie, which we all know is the most dramatically crucial part of the movie. If it was so flat in those scenes, then the movie as a whole would assumably drop in quality becuase the love story drives the movie, supposedly.

This just doesn't add up.

 

Not a bad review, I dont like people who are going to over anylise the love scenes, Star Wars isnt about love scenes. Its just a way for GL to make sure Luke and Leia are born in wedlock anyway..

 

Yeah, but he doesn't completely trash the love story either...

George Lucas comes close to hitting the mark with the romance, but not quite all the way there.

So they way I took it was that even though the love story was a bit flat, it still didn't detract from the overall experience.

 

I believe there is a note on Harry Knowles' site that says he is going to New York on Thursday (today) to see a press screening.

Here is the quote from the article "Mysterio and Others look at SIGNS!!!":"Hey folks, Harry here... I'm off to New York to see if I can get into that Screening Of STAR WARS on Thursday at the Tribeca thingamagig... If you have an extra seat, drop me a line at Harry@AintItCool.Com!!! Yeah, I've seen it once... You didn't think that was enough did ya?"

So, it looks like some people are seeing it today. So I expect reviews tonight or tomorrow.

Also the Home Theater Forum said they would have a big review tonight and speculation is that it is AOTC.

 

LuukeSkywalker: That's not the full review. I had to pick and choose what to type, so the transitions between ideas may seem a bit akward. The review was to long to type. I wasn't even supposed to type it up, my uncle would flip. He would have been suspicious if I was up for an hour with the thing typing. In reality that whole section was about a full page, analyzing it as a whole. The author did a much better transition from good critique of the dailgue to the shortcomings of it. I just edited in the best critique and the worst critique.

 

I buy the review, it just sounds like a critique.....not that we have to agree with it. I just read the comments Harry Knowles made about going too a screening tonight. That is straight wrong if he gets too see it twice and most of us poor saps have not even seen it once. At least we have each other.

Here is of review of Harry't trip too New York.(edited for content)

"That Episode 2 screening at Tribeca is for either families who have lost loved ones because of the World Trade Center attacks or kids living below poverty. If you get an extra seat there, that means that some grieving family member or poor child will not be able to attend a movie that could at the very least put a little ray of sunshine in their lives and maybe a smile on their face. And, besides youve seen the movie already; wait like the rest of us for May 16th. So please, dont be a chump and still some poor kids seat. If you do, then you sir, are an ##$##."

I don't think that is a thumbs up. Either this statment is true or its one mighty guilt trip.

 

Keep an eye on Countingdown.com too since the guy there says he saw it today.

 

Waiting, waiting,

 

Hmph, counting down indeed

 

What gets me about that review is the b+. That guy cleans the movie. It has A all over that review. But, we will see. The guy has to put it in the paper at some point.