May The Fourth Be With You ~ Happy Star Wars Day 2014!!!

[Karl Henning]

Grrrrl Force!

[Cato]

Today's (Nov. 6th) Wall Street Journal has a long article on the 3 prequels and how awful/mediocre/terrible/silly/annoying/etc. they were:

...Novelist and MIT professor Junot Díaz was eight years old when he saw the original "Star Wars." Now 46, the writer said, "The second Star Wars trilogy proved that you could, in fact, retroactively damage a pop-cultural masterpiece."...

Complaints about the prequels are plentiful, if perhaps nitpicky to outsiders. Some say "Menace" really offered no characters to cheer for. It centered on a childhood version of villain Darth Vader as a prepubescent twerp. It introduced the annoying—and, to some, racist—character Jar Jar Binks. (Wall Street Journal critic Joe Morgenstern called Jar Jar "a Rastafarian Stepin Fetchit.") It rendered the mystical power of "The Force" mundane by attributing it to "midi-chlorians"—germlike organisms inside people.

"Attack of the Clones" in 2002 and "Revenge of the Sith" in 2005 brought loyalists further heartbreak. Star Wars fan Mike Stoklasa, whose online video critiques of fantasy movies run as long as 90 minutes, began his analysis of "Attack of the Clones" by calling it "the worst thing ever made by a human, except for bagpipes." (He reviews under the name Mr. Plinkett.) His "Revenge of the Sith" review suggested "Sith" was an anagram for what the movie was made of. "I think we all saw this movie just to get it over with," he said. "This was like going to an autopsy."

Collectively, the prequel trilogy delivered one stomach punch after another to some hard-core fans—generally men of a certain age—who had invested so much passion in the franchise.

See:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/fans-love-hate-relationship-with-the-star-wars-franchise-1446662135

[Karl Henning]

"I think we all saw this movie just to get it over with," he said. "This was like going to an autopsy."

That's beautiful.

[Cato]

"I think we all saw this movie just to get it over with," he said. "This was like going to an autopsy."

That's beautiful.

Mr. Plinkett has a certain style      : if you want to hear him tear apart the ill logic in the script nearly scene by scene...

https://www.youtube.com/v/ho16PDZGzDM

[kishnevi]

He had no right to insult bagpipes...

[Cato]

He had no right to insult bagpipes...

True!     I recently heard this in Season 4 of Arrested Development: "As with all bagpipe music, it was hard to tell if it was good music played horribly, or horrible music played well."

[Rinaldo]

Plinkett's dissection of the prequels is something that should be taught at film schools.

[lisa needs braces]

I quite enjoyed that documentary (available on Netflix) called "The People vs George Lucas" which presented in amusing detail Star Wars geeks' beef with Mr. Lucas.

[lisa needs braces]

The Emperor's Phone Call (slightly nsfw)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F1d3QWsyk0

[lisa needs braces]

An excellent part from that documentary showing how the super-Star Wars fans had so much anticipation for  "The Phantom Menace" and ended up getting disappointed. Of course we know a lot of people didn't like those films but it's amusing watching these fans relate their story of high expectations and let down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxbPybTg08E

[The new erato]

Today's (Nov. 6th) Wall Street Journal has a long article on the 3 prequels and how awful/mediocre/terrible/silly/annoying/etc. they were:

See:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/fans-love-hate-relationship-with-the-star-wars-franchise-1446662135

Did he also mention that Haydn Christensen's "performances" (the word grates in this context) was the worst in a leading role in a major movie ever (I have no time to read the whole article)? The sheer awfulness of it all beggars belief. 

[71 dB]

It's cool to have another Star Wars movie out, but I don't like how the buzz has resulted in all the Lucas/Ep. I-III hate come up again. There are actually some people who love the prequels and I am one of them. I love the way Lucas took the saga into the 21st century just as much as I love the original trilogy. I feel I need to isolate myself from the world, because I am so fed up with the bashing. It's scary, like a fundamental religion with one truth. People "brainwash" themselves watching all kind Youtube documents of "how bad" the prequels are. Bashing PT has become a new way of snobbism. They are brillant movies, just in a different way people expect. Most people apparently never got that. I did.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

I've always loved Plinkett's reviews and Robot Chicken. 

[mc ukrneal]

It's cool to have another Star Wars movie out, but I don't like how the buzz has resulted in all the Lucas/Ep. I-III hate come up again. There are actually some people who love the prequels and I am one of them. I love the way Lucas took the saga into the 21st century just as much as I love the original trilogy. I feel I need to isolate myself from the world, because I am so fed up with the bashing. It's scary, like a fundamental religion with one truth. People "brainwash" themselves watching all kind Youtube documents of "how bad" the prequels are. Bashing PT has become a new way of snobbism. They are brillant movies, just in a different way people expect. Most people apparently never got that. I did.

I think the main issue is that people don't like the movie because it isn't what they wanted it to be. It is one of the reasons I always liked Roger Ebert's reviews. He reviews the movie as it is and rarely reviews it against what it could have been. I think it is a rare quality though and most people review it against what they wanted it to be. But then expectations were so high for Phantom Menace - I'm not sure it could ever have met them. In this sense, perhaps the new series has more modest expectations and thus is more likely to be viewed favorably.

[TheGSMoeller]

I think the main issue is that people don't like the movie because it isn't what they wanted it to be. It is one of the reasons I always liked Roger Ebert's reviews. He reviews the movie as it is and rarely reviews it against what it could have been. I think it is a rare quality though and most people review it against what they wanted it to be. But then expectations were so high for Phantom Menace - I'm not sure it could ever have met them. In this sense, perhaps the new series has more modest expectations and thus is more likely to be viewed favorably.

Well said, Neal.

[Cato]

It's cool to have another Star Wars movie out, but I don't like how the buzz has resulted in all the Lucas/Ep. I-III hate come up again. There are actually some people who love the prequels and I am one of them. I love the way Lucas took the saga into the 21st century just as much as I love the original trilogy. I feel I need to isolate myself from the world, because I am so fed up with the bashing. Most people apparently never got that. I did.

I think the main issue is that people don't like the movie because it isn't what they wanted it to be. It is one of the reasons I always liked Roger Ebert's reviews. He reviews the movie as it is and rarely reviews it against what it could have been. I think it is a rare quality though and most people review it against what they wanted it to be. But then expectations were so high for Phantom Menace - I'm not sure it could ever have met them. In this sense, perhaps the new series has more modest expectations and thus is more likely to be viewed favorably.

Did he also mention that Haydn Christensen's "performances" (the word grates in this context) was the worst in a leading role in a major movie ever (I have no time to read the whole article)? The sheer awfulness of it all beggars belief. 

I can understand how people can like the movies, and why others were so disappointed: certainly there are things to enjoy in them, e.g. Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor (the latter's imitation of the voice of Alec Guiness is marvelous) are fun to watch.

In the end, (and I very much wanted to like them) I find that they they are mediocre: the scripts are just too clunky and illogical, and the casting at times is terrible (e.g. Christensen) and yes, Neeson, McGregor, Samuel L. Jackson, Natalie Portman, et al. are handicapped by the scripts.

Richard Basehart once commented that in comparison to hokey T.V. scripts (in his later years he was in a T.V. show called Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea) Shakespeare's plays were easy "because the lines are there!"  Many people would agree that for the prequels the lines are NOT there.

[TheGSMoeller]

I can understand how people can like the movies, and why others were so disappointed: certainly there are things to enjoy in them, e.g. Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor (the latter's imitation of the voice of Alec Guiness is marvelous) are fun to watch.

In the end, (and I very much wanted to like them) I find that they they are mediocre: the scripts are just too clunky and illogical, and the casting at times is terrible (e.g. Christensen) and yes, Neeson, McGregor, Samuel L. Jackson, Natalie Portman, et al. are handicapped by the scripts.

Richard Basehart once commented that in comparison to hokey T.V. scripts (in his later years he was in a T.V. show called Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea) Shakespeare's plays were easy "because the lines are there!"  Many people would agree that for the prequels the lines are NOT there.

It is the writing, Cato. In fact look back at the original trilogy, Ep.IV was written by Lucas and Ep.V and Ep.VI brought in different screenwriters, and I feel there was an obvious increase in quality with the scripts.

I think Lucas has an imaginative mind but not as good at executing that into a film as others. I feel the same way about James Cameron, he's a talented director but horrible screenwriter. Avatar and Titanic are visually stunning but the dialogue is cringe-worthy.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

I think Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine was one of the more enjoyable things about prequels (Plinkett seems to agree). He overacts beautifully, chewing the scenery like only he can. It also brings thoughts back to golden days of Return of the jedi where he appeared with actually good lines.

[Rinaldo]

Bashing PT has become a new way of snobbism. They are brillant movies, just in a different way people expect. Most people apparently never got that. I did.

I'm glad you find enjoyment in the prequels and I can imagine there are plenty of idiots who bash them because that's what "everybody" does. That said, while I admire what Lucas tried to do, I think he failed miserably. And even though Plinkett's reviews are quite nasty, they contain lots of moviemaking insight that goes to the root of PT's problems.

There are bits & pieces I enjoy (as Cato said, McGregor is brilliant, given the script / direction he had to work with) and the world building is still marvelous at times but for me, the prequels lack the drama, the mystique and the camaraderie of the old trilogy.

I think Lucas has an imaginative mind but not as good at executing that into a film as others.

Exactly. He's a genius, but one who needs other people to question him and flesh out the amazing ideas he has, just as Kasdan & Kershner did in Empire.

[Mirror Image]

I never cared for the prequels and I still think it was a big mistake killing off Darth Maul in the first installment of that trilogy. This was a character that could have had used more development and that would have been a great foil to Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker throughout the whole series.