New "Star Wars" Movie

[kishnevi]

Le GIF juste.

And may I point out that the movie industry has produced hundreds of schlocky movies over the years for every "great" artistic film:  that some "art" films in time are revealed as not very well made schlock:  that some "schlocky" films are seen in later years to be highly crafted movies people still want to see.

[Purusha]

Le GIF juste.

And may I point out that the movie industry has produced hundreds of schlocky movies over the years for every "great" artistic film:  that some "art" films in time are revealed as not very well made schlock:  that some "schlocky" films are seen in later years to be highly crafted movies people still want to see.

Ho come on, not this silly argument again.

Name one single modern director that even remotely compares to the best of former times. This is like with modern classical music. People will bring this or that contemporary composer out of the woodwork, but it never works. Nobody can name a single musician that is on par with a Bach, or a Beethoven, simply because no such musician exists. 

But that's besides the point here, because this isn't about great art versus schlocky entertainment. It is about the decline of the schlocky entertainment in question. One would think it wouldn't be possible to go lower than something like Star Wars, but apparently it is in fact possible. Just look at the state Hollywood is in. Nothing but remakes of older schlock films, which are now hailed as classics, and each of those films is praised for a span and forgotten within the year. Why? Because those films stink, as simple as that. Productions value may be through the roof but those movies fail where it counts.

[kishnevi]

Ho come on, not this silly argument again.

Name one single modern director that even remotely compares to the best of former times. This is like with modern classical music. People will bring this or that contemporary composer out of the woodwork, but it never works. Nobody can name a single musician that is on par with a Bach, or a Beethoven, simply because no such musician exists. 

But that's besides the point here, because this isn't about great art versus schlocky entertainment. It is about the decline of the schlocky entertainment in question. One would think it wouldn't be possible to go lower than something like Star Wars, but apparently it is in fact possible. Just look at the state Hollywood is in. Nothing but remakes of older schlock films, which are now hailed as classics, and each of those films is praised for a span and forgotten within the year. Why? Because those films stink, as simple as that. Productions value may be through the roof but those movies fail where it counts.

Having seen a Jerry Lewis movie or two in my time,  yes it is possible to go really lower, and they were doing it in the 1960s.  I presume you remain in blissful ignorance of them, or you would not have made the remark I bolded.

The rest of your post merely gives evidence that you are prone to mistake your subjective opinions for objective facts....and that you seriously overrate the movies of the past ( and underrate the original Stars Wars).

[SimonNZ]

Progressives are just as racist as the KKK, the only difference is that their racism is based on Marxist precepts rather than aristocratic, hierarchical ones.

Wow. I mean wow. Your mind is a magical place. The kkk were lynching and terrorizing people - how are these things in any way similar? We're talking about one casting choice, who all reports suggest did a good job.

...which btw is less "black" presence (if one feels for some reason they have to be concerned about such utterly unimportant things) than the prequels, which as a kiwi I know had at least three Maori actors, including Temuera Morrison as Django Fett.

The only racism appears to be your defensiveness about seeing a black face in what you percieve to be an exclusively white franchise.


also: my feeling is that the average modern film is far superior to the average film of the past.

...and the quality of the average composition of recent years is superior to the average composition of the Baroque or Classical eras. Your argument only sounds superficially attractive when you cherry-pick just a few top names - look at the whole field.

[71 dB]

Different things flourish in different times and things flourish differently in different times. Computer music can't flourish before computers are invented. Piano music can't flourish before piano is invented. Dummy popcorn entertaiment has been flourishing recently. Who is to tell what are the correct ways to flourish? Purusha is the God who tells us apparently. Thank God I'm an atheist.  0:)

[Mirror Image]

(In Yoda voice) "I see a locked thread ahead. For that, I am certain."

[71 dB]

Name one single modern director that even remotely compares to the best of former times.

Steven Spielberg

This is like with modern classical music. People will bring this or that contemporary composer out of the woodwork, but it never works. Nobody can name a single musician that is on par with a Bach, or a Beethoven, simply because no such musician exists.

On par in what way? You can't expect anyone compose tons of baroque cantatas in the 21st century. How to compare Autechre to Beethoven? It makes no sense. I don't compare, I enjoy both and much more music from different times periods.

One would think it wouldn't be possible to go lower than something like Star Wars, but apparently it is in fact possible.

Be my guest and make a movie better than Star Wars. Should not be difficult according to you, but believe me you can't because you are just you, not George Lucas. After you have created more iconic things than George Lucas I believe you. 

[The new erato]

(In Yoda voice) "I see a locked thread ahead. For that, I am certain."

I think the correct phrase is"for that I certain am"

[Cato]

I think the correct phrase is"for that I certain am"

"For that certain I am!"

From Forbes:

Barring an unexpected chopping of the legs after Christmas, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is all but destined to top Avatar to become the biggest-grossing movie in the U.S. of all time. Moreover, it may well make so much money in America that it'll end up one of the top 10 biggest grossers adjusted for inflation. And as we head into its second weekend, we should note that The Force Awakens has earned a whopping $143 million in its first four weekdays of play, a number that would be among the bigger opening weekends of all time and would be almost double the previous December opening weekend record to boot.

That Walt Disney was able to get both a summer blockbuster-level opening weekend and James Cameron-style December legs is nothing short of remarkable and utterly unprecedented. I don't think even Disney thought they'd be able to get both when they rescheduled the film from its original May 2015 slot back in November 2013.

I will once again state that if you are new to Star Wars or just came back after a long sabbatical, I highly recommend you check out the six seasons of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the two seasons (and counting) of Disney XD's excellent Star Wars: Rebels show.

See:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2015/12/25/box-office-star-wars-the-force-awakens-earns-27m-thursday-for-391m-1st-week-tops-810m-global/

[Karl Henning]

Having seen a Jerry Lewis movie or two in my time, yes it is possible to go really lower, and they were doing it in the 1960s.

I had forgotten those, nor am I truly pleased to be reminded.  But it is not your fault, dear fellow, the fact was called for in the present context.

[Mirror Image]

I think the correct phrase is"for that I certain am"

Have you ever listened to the way Yoda constructs sentences? Instead of saying "You must try," he will say "Try, you must."

[Cato]

I had forgotten those ( Jerry Lewis movies), nor am I truly pleased to be reminded.  But it is not your fault, dear fellow, the fact was called for in the present context.

One was so bad it has stayed in the vault: The Day the Clown Cried

Interestingly, Lewis has screened the film for a very select few Hollywood insiders over the years. Harry Shearer (of The Simpsons) is one of the rare people to have actually seen The Day the Clown Cried. In Shearer's words:

"This was the perfect object. This movie is so drastically wrong, its pathos, its comedy, are so wildly displaced, that you could not, in your fantasy of what it might be like, improve on what it is. 'Oh my God!' That's all you can say."

Shearer told Lewis after the screening that the film was "terrible." Lewis, says Shearer, was furious.

See:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/28683/jerry-lewis-film-nobody-has-ever-seen

[Mirror Image]

Yes, at a time when lynching was common place (and had nothing to do with race specifically. White "criminals" were routinely lynched as well). If it still was you'd see lynching of people who go against progressive dogma. As it is the lynching only occurs at a social level, which is already bad enough, since much of the time it is not only a matter of becoming ostracized but you are also at risk of losing your job and having your life destroyed. But fear not, we are soon moving towards giving jail sentences to thought criminals. SJWs ARE the progressive counterpart to the KKK. Literally. No hyperbole or exaggeration involved.

Besides, does an ideology need to invariably lead to violence before it can be denounced for being evil and wrong? Is racism against blacks ok if no lynching is involved? Was KKK evil solely because it led to lynching and violence, or was it evil in and of itself?

What does ANY OF THIS have to with Star Wars?!?!? Goodness gracious me. Nobody cares what you think, especially whenever it's completely unrelated to the topic at hand, which is STAR WARS.

Moderators do something! There is no call for this kind of thread derailment.

[Mirror Image]

I don't know. Ask J. J. Abrams. He's the one who made a big stink about Star Wars being "too white".

But you know good and well that you're purposely setting up your own platform so you can spew your twisted opinions from your soapbox. Get off your high horse!

[bhodges]

Goodness, folks, all this agita - and on the day after Christmas, too. I'm going to let things cool down a bit, and in the meantime, a reminder: this is a classical music board.

To those of you who are consistently posting about subjects other than classical music - and you know who you are - go and listen to some. It makes you a better person.

--Bruce