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Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
That's a cool re-release poster. If a theater close to me is playing it I'll try and go.
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Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
I wasn't as disappointed in The Phantom Menace as much as everybody else when I walked out of the theater, but I went in with lowered expectations and steeled myself for disappointment.
The first, and biggest red flag, was that Anakin would be six years old. Even with all of the star power -- Liam Neeson as a Jedi knight! Ewen McGregor as young Obi-Wan Kenobi! Natalie Portman as Luke and Leia's mother! Samuel L. Jackson as a badass motherfucker! -- a child Anakin could be nothing but cringe. Another was that what little I had seen of Jar-Jar Binks leading into the movie didn't inspire much confidence in the character's execution. |
Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
If it's eligible for AMC A-List and I have a free night, I'll go, maybe take the kids. Otherwise, pass.
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Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
I’d be mildly tempted to buy a ticket and just come in late to watch the final lightsaber battle on the big screen again. As rough as the rest of the movie is, that’s one of my favorite sequences in all of Star Wars, enhanced especially by the fantastic Duel of the Fates theme.
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Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
If it shows around here, I'll go see it. I like it for the most part. :up:
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Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
Originally Posted by story
(Post 14386497)
If it's eligible for AMC A-List and I have a free night, I'll go, maybe take the kids. Otherwise, pass.
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Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
I don't think I've seen this in twenty plus years. Wasn't a big fan of it, but twenty-five years later, 1999 was an amazing year of my life, and Phantom Menace lurks in the background of so many memories of that summer like the songs on the radio at that time, I will happily go see this again if my theatre gets it (they didn't get the RETURN OF THE JEDI 40th last year, which bummed me out).
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Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
I do wish the re-releases were on a premium screen, even for just a week. (the per theater average would probably be pretty good, better than most) And of course I can't wait to get the Matt Ferguson poster, I didn't care for his Empire release but now that it's apparent he's doing them all I might have to get it.
Crazy we have the 50th anniversary coming up, start saving your money now! |
Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
For the May 4th week I'm guessing Attack of the Clones will be in theaters in 2025 and Revenge of the Sith in 2026 leading up to the 50th Anniversary of Star Wars in 2027.
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Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
Originally Posted by Bluelitespecial
(Post 14386564)
For the May 4th week I'm guessing Attack of the Clones will be in theaters in 2025 and Revenge of the Sith in 2026 leading up to the 50th Anniversary of Star Wars in 2027.
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Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
Originally Posted by milo bloom
(Post 14386385)
I saw it 12 times in the theater back in the day and I will do what I can to see this again. This is the only prequel that is truly what George wanted on the screen and regardless of its flaws, it just feel the most honest.
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Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
I took a nephew to see Phantom Menace because he was a budding SW fan and my wife insisted. Based on previews, I had no desire to see the film. I sat through the film enjoying *him* enjoying the movie (and I was trying not to groan or laugh at how bad/ridiculous it all was). He loved it (the film was directly aimed at his age group at that time - he was ~8). He was a the house a week or so back and we actually talked about that experience. He admitted he realized how "bad" the film is as he got older but still likes it because it was a film of his youth (and I get it). We discussed how much better it would have been without the insipid Jar-Jar character and how the Pod Race was nothing but filler. I also took him to see Attack of the Clones (I didn't like it any better than the first) and then refused to take him to see Revenge of the Sith (the first time I saw that one was on disc after purchasing it to watch with my oldest grandson when he was 9 or 10).
My oldest grandson (now 20yo) loved this film when he was 7-13 or so and would say "I want to watch them all in order!" but I wouldn't let him at my house (and told him why every time he brought it up). He finally understood and around that same time realized that episodes 1-3 just aren't that good. I rewatched E1-3 a couple of years back when I purchased a "Complete" series set. They were still not very good. So... do I tell them it's coming back to the theater? Probably so... and in spite of my reservations would attend with either of them if asked. |
Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
Originally Posted by Jay G.
(Post 14386624)
OK, I'm going to need more context/explanation for this claim, because as far as I know, George Lucas wrote and directed all three prequels, and there wasn't anyone who could tell him "no" on any of them about anything.
AOTC also had a credited co-writer for the screenplay. I think that, in a lot of ways, Lucas' "vision" is overrated by fans. He reminds me a lot of Gene Roddenberry, who created a grand, open-ended mythology that allowed other creators come in and surpass his own initial vision. Roddenberry's Star Trek stories were never among the classic episodes, much like the The Empire Strikes Back was considered the best Star Wars movie despite Lucas having the least involvement in it. |
Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
Originally Posted by Jay G.
(Post 14386624)
OK, I'm going to need more context/explanation for this claim, because as far as I know, George Lucas wrote and directed all three prequels, and there wasn't anyone who could tell him "no" on any of them about anything.
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Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
Originally Posted by Josh-da-man
(Post 14386631)
I can't speak for milo, but I think he might mean that the next two prequels were course-corrected by Lucas after the negative reaction to TPM?
AOTC also had a credited co-writer for the screenplay. I think that, in a lot of ways, Lucas' "vision" is overrated by fans. He reminds me a lot of Gene Roddenberry, who created an a grand, open-ended mythology that allowed other creators come in and surpass his own initial vision. Roddenberry's Star Trek stories were never among the classic episodes, much like the The Empire Strikes Back was considered the best Star Wars movie despite Lucas having the least involvement in it. |
Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
Going to the theater to watch the Phantom Menace was akin to going to a whore house thinking you'd bed Kate Beckinsale and end up with Kate from This is Us.
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Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
@TGMB, maybe you could criticize The Phantom Menace without devolving into crass body-shaming.
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Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
Originally Posted by BobO'Link
(Post 14386629)
I took a nephew to see Phantom Menace because he was a budding SW fan and my wife insisted. Based on previews, I had no desire to see the film. I sat through the film enjoying *him* enjoying the movie (and I was trying not to groan or laugh at how bad/ridiculous it all was). He loved it (the film was directly aimed at his age group at that time - he was ~8)...
Hell, the original Star Wars could be considered a work "for kids," considering it was Lucas's attempt to recreate the type of serial films he watched as a kid, like Flash Gordon. But it had cross-generation appeal due to being just a good movie overall, and the kids that grew up watching it can revisit it as adults and still appreciate it. I personally have a soft-spot for many films and TV shows that I watched as a kid, but of the ones that I rewatched as an adult and found lacking, I haven't really gone back to. It's only the stuff that still holds up that I keep going back to. |
Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
I think I get those memories of being a kid back when I watch The Phantom Menace. Nostalgia truly at work. I don’t recognize it as a great movie but I do enjoy it when I watch it and there are some damn memorable/iconic moments.
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Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
Yeah, what others said, George did a massive course correction on eps 2 and 3 and AOTC really shows that (for the worse) and he kinda got back into his groove for 3, but the whole PT really needed the additional script people from the start. Like, someone who would have told him that the story of The Phantom Menace could have been condensed into the first hour of The Phantom Menace, then a time jump to 19 year old Anakin or something like that. I don't hate the introduction of Anakin as a kid, but there's just not enough "saga" so to speak in the story of TPM.
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Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
I can see the argument that The Phantom Menace is the only prequel that is Lucas's undiluted, unfiltered, uncompromising take on what he thought (at the time) a Star Wars film should be, but I still think it's incorrect to state that AOTC and ROTS are not what Lucas "wanted" . For better or worse, to whatever extent Lucas "course corrected" with the latter films, everything was still ultimately his call, and what he wanted those films to be ended up on screen.
It's why I still give George Lucas credit for the original Star Wars. If one digs into the actual creative process behind that film, it's clear that he solicited a lot of feedback, and took it and incorporated it into the film, from his fellow filmmakers, from his producers, from the actors, from the editors, etc. But all of it was still ultimately his call, despite the far more corroborative nature of that film. So he deserves credit for that as much as Spielberg deserves credit for Jaws, James Cameron deserves credit for The Terminator, the Wachowskis deserve credit for The Matrix, etc. It wasn't until later, when he allowed fans to elevate him as the singular creative genius of Star Wars, that he seems to have let it get to his head and he lost his way, letting his ego take over. If TPM caused Lucas to second guess himself at all, it wasn't enough to make ATOC and ROTS good movies. |
Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
My understanding and history reading of Star Wars has shown that Gary Kurtz had massive influence on George Lucas and was one of the few "No-Men" that Lucas actually listened to. Once they parted after Empire, the Star Wars universe lost its edge with no one to say "No" to George Lucas.
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Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
His ex-wife was also a positive influence, someone he would listen to. Of course, that ended with the divorce.
The Secret History of Star Wars Mark Hamill also notes in 2005 how her sensibilities influenced the content and structure of his films: "You can see a huge difference in the films that he does now and the films that he did when he was married. I know for a fact that Marcia Lucas was responsible for convincing him to keep that little 'kiss for luck' before Carrie [Fisher] and I swing across the chasm in the first film: 'Oh, I don't like it, people laugh in the previews,' and she said, 'George, they're laughing because it's so sweet and unexpected'-- and her influence was such that if she wanted to keep it, it was in. When the little mouse robot comes up when Harrison and I are delivering Chewbacca to the prison and he roars at it and it screams, sort of, and runs away, George wanted to cut that and Marcia insisted that he keep it." ...Dale Pollock provides an anecdote which demonstrates how Marcia's presence in her husband's life influenced his films in subtle but significant ways--in this case, changing the ending for Raiders of the Lost Ark: "[Marcia] was instrumental in changing the ending of Raiders, in which Indiana delivers the ark to Washington. Marion is nowhere to be seen, presumably stranded on an island with a submarine and a lot of melted Nazis. Marcia watched the rough cut in silence and then levelled the boom. She said there was no emotional resolution to the ending, because the girl disappears. 'Everyone was feeling really good until she said that,' Dunham recalls. 'It was one of those, "Oh no we lost sight of that." ' Spielberg reshot the scene in downtown San Francisco, having Marion wait for Indiana on the steps on the government building. Marcia, once again, had come to the rescue." |
Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
One thing that fascinates me about the original Star Wars is how many ways it could have gone south and didn't.
The story, in and of itself, isn't anything spectacular, but when you combine it with Ralph McQuarrie's designs, John Williams' score, and the ground-breaking special effects, it totally elevated the thing into something extraordinary. The early drafts of the story were also terrible, bloated, unfocused messes like the kind of thing an ambitious high school kid might have written. And, on top of that, Marcia Lucas completely saved the thing in the editing room. Even seeing a little bit of the unused dailies, it really could have looked like a terrible tv pilot without Marcia and her scissors. The movie had so many things came together to make the movie something that wholly captured the public's imagination despite having so many things going against it, it's really a miracle. |
Re: The General Star Wars Discussion Thread
Originally Posted by Josh-da-man
(Post 14387438)
And, on top of that, Marcia Lucas completely saved the thing in the editing room. Even seeing a little bit of the unused dailies, it really could have looked like a terrible tv pilot without Marcia and her scissors.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...e558faf1a5.jpg |
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