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The bad reviews of the original non-SE versions of the films

Discussion in 'Classic Trilogy' started by sdj, Apr 24, 2003.

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  1. sdj

    sdj Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 3, 2002
    I've seen them on here before and I used to remember a site that had the url to scathing reviews of the original films. I know they are out there and I just wanted to show them to someone. Could someone show me where?
     
  2. eclipseSD

    eclipseSD Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    May 11, 2002
    I had a very insightful thread a few months ago about this chocked with scathing reviews.......
    it got deleted.

    This is why it is important to up threads.

    I will try to find the site again and do a repost.

    **sigh**

    Edit: The site with the reviews was an archive.org stored website. It was a review database, might have been an old Rotten Tomatoes web site.
     
  3. Darth Dark Helmet

    Darth Dark Helmet Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Dec 27, 1999
    Yeah, rottentomatoes.com is a pretty good source, they generally have most of the reviews for a movie, good and bad.
     
  4. eclipseSD

    eclipseSD Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    May 11, 2002
    Their current reviews are of the SE with a 98% rating.

    The one I saw had it around 34% I think.
     
  5. Rogue_Solo

    Rogue_Solo Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Feb 21, 2001
    Bad reveiws of Star Wars? Sarcrelige!
    8-}
     
  6. son-of-skywalker13

    son-of-skywalker13 Jedi Grand Master star 2

    Registered:
    May 27, 2002
    i believe that is the point, to show that no matter how good georges movies are, people will still hate it. Now, with the PT around, its just as bad
     
  7. DamonD

    DamonD Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 22, 2002
    Yeah, I remember reading a old review of ESB (around '83) that really laid into it for 'wooden acting, boring characters' and even for making a lot less cash than ANH.

    Everyone has an opinion, even the idiot that wrote that stuff :p
     
  8. SLR

    SLR Jedi Knight star 5

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    Oct 20, 2002
    Thats why I spend absolutely no attention to the reviews of critics. They are just people w/ their own opinions (no more valid or correct than yours on mine). Remember, opinions are like a-holes, everybody has got one and they all stink.
     
  9. Spacehunter24

    Spacehunter24 Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 2, 2003
    Here are some snippets of original 1978 reviews for STAR WARS.

    * "On the debit side are the film's human performances. Save for Alec Guiness, the cast is unmemorable." - Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune

    * "It is all as exciting as last year's weather reports. What you ultimately have is a set of giant baubles manipulated by an infant hand." - John Simon, New York

    * "Between these two factions, the ideological differences are hardly more striking than those that separate the Greens and Golds in prep-school athletics." - Molly Haskell, The Village Voice (referring to the war between the Rebels and "Imperialists")

    And in what has to be the absolute funniest review ever....

    * "STAR WARS is an entertaining crowd-pleaser and a monumental technical achievement, but it's a long way from being a classic." - Stephen Farber, New West
     
  10. Master Salty

    Master Salty Jedi Grand Master star 6

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    Apr 18, 1999
    That just goes to show what big morons these so called "movie critics" are.
     
  11. DarthSil

    DarthSil Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Mar 19, 2003
    And it also goes to show that the Holy Trilogy was not free from criticism as some have suggested. All of the Star Wars films have received a nasty amount of bad mouthing.

    But who cares anyway? They haven't convinced me that these films are nothing less than classics.
     
  12. gezvader28

    gezvader28 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Mar 22, 2003
    The point of critics is just to generate conversation about the films, it's not like they're all in one club or anything.
    And critics often help a film if it hasn't been noticed. But a lot of them do try and cut down the blockbusters or high profile movies.

    TIME magazine gave Star Wars a rave review of course in 1977," the year's best movie"they said.
     
  13. sdj

    sdj Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Jan 3, 2002
    Rotten Tomatoes only has the SE version reviews.
     
  14. Durwood

    Durwood Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    May 18, 2002
    Reviews of the original releases are hard to find, and many of the reviews you can dig up today are actually for the Special Editions in which a lot of critics changed their tune.
     
  15. TK_Four_Two_One

    TK_Four_Two_One Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Jun 17, 2002
    yip... star wars was mainly panned when it was released!
     
  16. sdj

    sdj Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Jan 3, 2002
    There are more negative reviews I just can't find them now.
     
  17. YodaJediMaster12

    YodaJediMaster12 Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    May 26, 2002
    This is a great thread, because it shows everyone how moronic critics really are and how they have always berated SW movies. Therefore, no one should ever look to critics' opinions about SW in order to validate his own feelings about the saga.
     
  18. Spacehunter24

    Spacehunter24 Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 2, 2003
    Hell, I never look to critics for opinions on what movies to see for anything. If I listened to critics, half the time I'd see the worst movies of the years and miss all the good ones.

    There's only one critic whose opinions I trust: me. :D
     
  19. DamonD

    DamonD Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 22, 2002
    That's the best way to be.
    In the end, the only person you can rely on for your opinions is yourself ;)
     
  20. TheWombat

    TheWombat Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 9, 2002
    Actually I had an argument with a friend, who is an AOTC basher and claimed that ESB was a media darling all the way. I was able to dig up these:

    "The root of the problem with The Empire Strikes Back is its complexity." -- Richard A. Blake, AMERICA

    "There's no plot." -- Colin L. Westerbeck, Jr., COMMONWEAL

    "Unpromising!" -- Richard Combs, MONTHLY FILM BULLETIN

    "Lucas has been so preoccupied with the construction of mechanical amazements that he has perhaps forgotten there is more in Homer than epic battles, one-eyed giants, the song of the sirens and the whims of the gods." -- Robert Hatch, THE NATION

    "No amount of lightness, however, can lift this movie out of the swamps of Dagobah." -- Robert Asahina, NEW LEADER

    "Far less entertaining than the first!" -- John Coleman, NEW STATESMAN

    "Empire is simply a minor entertainment." -- Tom Allen, VILLAGE VOICE

    "I found myself glancing at my watch almost as often as I did when I was sitting through a truly terrible movie called The Island." -- Vince Canby, NEW YORK TIMES

    "Diverting piece of nonsense." -- John Simon, NATIONAL REVIEW


    I love how the first two completely contradict each other. My friend was completely silenced of course, hehe.

     
  21. guittarjedi

    guittarjedi Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    May 21, 2002
    Okay we've found negative reviews of the originals, now can anyone find glowing reviews of TPM and AOTC? I doubt it.
     
  22. eclipseSD

    eclipseSD Jedi Knight star 5

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    May 11, 2002
    I suppose I will deliver the blow to guittar:

    "It's well-made and entertaining!"
    -- William Arnold, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

    "A testimony to how far special effects have come."
    -- James Berardinelli, JAMES BERARDINELLI'S REELVIEWS

    "There is a sense of discovery in scene after scene of The Phantom Menace."
    -- Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

    "A vigorous, romping, hugely entertaining movie!"
    -- F.X. Feeney, MR. SHOWBIZ

    "Delivers exactly what every kid of any age wants: wows. And plenty of them!"
    -- Bob Fenster, ARIZONA REPUBLIC

    "It's an extremely enjoyable movie, blending imagination with technology and creating visual eye candy, wrapped up in a lightweight but enjoyable story."
    -- Matt Easterbrook, MATT'S MOVIE REVIEWS

    "A terrific piece of visual entertainment!"
    -- Ted Fry, FILM.COM

    "It sustains the gee-whiz spirit of the series and offers a swashbuckling extragalactic getaway, creating illusions that are even more plausible than the kitchen-raiding raptors of Jurassic Park."
    -- Janet Maslin, NEW YORK TIMES

    "The Phantom Menace takes twists and turns you don't expect."
    -- John Podhoretz, NEW YORK POST

    "Phantom had me from the moment it touched down on Naboo."
    -- Carrie Rickey, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

    "Though I've been bored senseless by the Star Wars phenomenon for over two decades, I found The Phantom Menace something of a pleasant surprise."
    -- Jonathan Rosenbaum, CHICAGO READER

    "Visually dazzling, inventive beyond imagining and full of resonant detail that recalls stories told or hints at those to come!"
    -- Susan Stark, DETROIT NEWS

    "The wow-factor action is irresistible, and Lloyd is no less appealing than '60s Disney star Kevin Corcoran!"
    -- Bruce Westbrook, HOUSTON CHRONICLE

    "A highly entertaining and visually breathtaking movie, capable at times of rocking and delighting you."
    -- Michael Wilmington, CHICAGO TRIBUNE

    "Lucas has proved he has the Naboos to pull it off again."
    -- Susan Wloszczyna, USA TODAY

    "Pure adventure!"
    -- Philip Wuntch, DALLAS MORNING NEWS

    There are many "glowing" reviews for TPM just as there are many bad reviews for all 5 films. It really doesn't prove anything.

     
  23. StarDude

    StarDude Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2001
    I like this thread. It supports my belief that the PT will one day be considered "classic."
     
  24. sdj

    sdj Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Jan 3, 2002
    Both TPM and AotC have a 63% fresh rating (which means only 37% of the reviews were bad) so it makes it overall a fresh rating. So there were more good reviews than bad.

    The original films are all reviews of the SE and are generally better even though many of the critics that gave good reviews this time around even though before they dissed the films. Besides that fact RotJ still only has a 78%
     
  25. DamonD

    DamonD Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Nov 22, 2002
    Plus, RottenTomatos.com is not the be-all-and-end-all of movie criticism after all ;)

    Spacehunter24, TheWombat, eclipseSD, thanks for all those quotes. I'm sure a few more can be dug up if further proof is needed :)
     
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