Which entertainment industry professionals have prasised the PT?

Like many PT fans, I'm tired of hearing TPM and AOTC bashed. I was wondering who has praised the 2 films. I know about Spielberg and think I remember Kevin Smith saying he liked them. Does anyone remember anything else?

 

Kevin Smith wrote a very good critique/review/response to AOTC. It's worth hunting down if you're after stuff like that. Sadly, I can't think of any others. AOTC got much better reviews than TPM, but the PT is still roundly bashed by pretty much everyone (with some justification, perhaps, but it's still a bit much, IMO). The only praise it gets comes from fans (and Kevin Smith is one, so I guess that doesn't count as much as it could)

 

Anyone else?

 

I remember Spielberg praising AOTC saying that the action scenes were the best since True Lies. Frank Oz defended JJ in an interview.
Others seem to dodge the question by just saying that the PT is "different", rather than praising it.
The Kevin Smith article was in Film Comment I think.

gez

 

I don't know if this guy counts as an "entertainment industry professional," but David Draiman, the singer for Disturbed, has praised all of the Star Wars films, including the PT.

 

He's not a celebrity, but I'm looking forward to lardbiscuit's AOTC review. His website says it's coming this fall.

 

Spielberg said AOTC was his second favorite SW (first is ESB).

And here's a few words from Frank Darabont in an interview with "Flashback".


You're quoted as telling George Lucas, "I wouldn't change a single damn word, and I hope he didn't." Is the script you read what everyone else saw on screen?

It is very much the movie that hit the screen. I still like it very much. I find the backlash perplexing and a little disheartening. To hear some people tell it, it's like crapping on the Mona Lisa. But this has more to do with people's expectations, which were so very high, more than it has to do with the quality of the resulting film. No film could possibly have pleased them. It's hard to have perspective when you're in the heat of the moment. I think PHANTOM MENACE will be assessed some years down the road more fairly than it is now. I thought it was a very smart film. I thought it worked. And what is this "Oh, it's just for kids" comment? What is that about? Who the hell do you think any of the STAR WARS films were for? They were very much in that milieu of mythology for children. What's the problem? The problem is that everybody who saw those movies has grown up, and their memory of the impact of those films has been diluted through the years. [The films have] become so iconic that disappointment was inevitable. George Lucas is capable of many, many things. But making you feel like that wonder-struck eight-year-old again isn't one of them. It can't be done. You're not eight years old; you can't be wonder struck in the same way. Sorry. In terms of its intelligence and its approach, I'd put MENACE up there with EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, which was the darkest and most adult of the original trilogy. And still probably remains my favorite, in a way. STAR WARS will remain my favorite. Luckily, I was still young enough to be awe-struck by it, at the age of eighteen. I don't know how I'd feel about it now, at the age of forty. But when you go in expecting the greatest movie ever made, you're in for a letdown, no matter how good the movie is.

Were you asked to write STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE?

Sure. I was approached very early on in the process. In fact, I was in the cutting room with SHAWSHANK?late '93, I guess that would be. Rick McCallum called me and said, "Hey, we're starting to take the preliminary steps to do the next STAR WARS, and George would like to know if you're interested in performing screenwriting services for him down the road." I said, "Sure?what are you?kidding?" Pin me to the wall; twist my arm. "Be happy to. Give me a call when you guys are ready." And the very simple truth is that George, in sitting down and starting to write it himself, fleshing out the treatments and working out the broad storylines of the three films?he just kept going. He didn't stop one day and say, "Okay, bring in the writer." He was the writer. He brought himself in. People were wondering why the movie was delayed two years from its original announcement. Well, the reason was that George?and very appropriately so?chose to fashion the script himself. So, yes, there was some preliminary interest, but then the need for me never arose, because George was doing it. More power to him. I certainly thought that it was appropriate that George do that. That is the thing that I believe is dearest to him. That's his world; he invented it.



On the flip side of the coin, Jon Amiel, director of the critically acclaimed cinematic achievement "The Core", bashed the PT.
(The Core is ranked a full point lower than TPM at IMDB and, unlike either SW prequel, came about $50M short of breaking even. )


Rick McCallum loves you!

 

Roger Ebert was one of TPM's main supporters. Then weirdly did a complete 180 and ripped on AOTC for the same stuff he loved with TPM. Mucho oddness.

Spielberg also thought AOTC was Lucas' best job as a director out of any of his films.

I'd like to hear from more directors, but they don't tend to be all that chatty sometimes.