Ep.2 did have some gee-whiz CGI battle scenes…
Star Wars is Star Wars. Fantasy, SciFi, Good vs. Evil, good popcorn munching fun. What’s not to like? Personally I’m getting DAMN sick of movie snobs. I’m with the OP, if you’re one of those whiny, VERY hard to please, constant complainers, Don’t see it.
In fact do those of us who are willing to take Hollywood, for what Hollywood actually is (and yes, we’re well aware of their stupidity, lack of research on reality, cliches and such, we just aren’t willing to have a conniption fit about each and every one), and stop going to movies altogether. OR, start a protest movement and force them to come up to your standards, either way, HUSH UP.
I’m not sure what exactly it is that some people expect from their movie going experience, but it seems as if those types have gotten unreasonably demanding and unrealistic about what movies are, and what they should be.
It’s only entertainment. Don’t like it? Stop going…sheesh.
So very, very much.
THANK YOU! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
I like Star Wars. I like ROTJ, I LOVE the Ewoks, I like Jar-Jar, and the prequels. What’s not to love? Great music, beautiful costumes, lickable Ewan?
Guess I’m easily amused.
See, SW is SUPPOSED to be hoky. It’s supposed to be a homage to the old B sci-fi shorts of the 1930s. It’s not supposed to be Shakespeare, or Tolkien, or
Bronte.
Don´t give the geeks ideas… geez. 
Sorry, I wasn’t very clear. I meant as compared to just about everything that Hollywood puts out Star Wars is no better and no worse. Most stuff put out by Hollywood is of about the same caliber. Especially according to folks who complain about them.
I mean, there ARE no “Citizen Kane’s” or GWTWs anymore (or whatever can be considered a “great” or good moviei to compare to current stuff).
So what is it people expect? In the last 10 years (at least), I’ve seen no movies that have that much more quality than the Star Wars ones.
Different subject matter, but most are about the same.
Oh, come on. You hardly have to be a movie snob to see the giant, glaring suck in the last two Star Wars movies. I’m about the most forgiving movie viewer out there: I can watch almost anything and enjoy it, especially when it comes to cheesy science fiction. And yes, I get that Star Wars is supposed to be hokey, and all of that, but there’s a fine line between camp and crap, and Lucas crossed that line about twelve parsecs back. The people who didn’t like the last two Star Wars movies aren’t nitpicking: pointing out that the films are poorly acted, almost totally un-directed, and abyssmally written isn’t a nitpick, they’re extremely substantial complaints on the quality of the film.
Wait… you want us to start a protest movement and hush up? How does that work, exactly?
I don’t think asking for a minimal amount of competence in movie making is “unreasonable,” although it often does seem “unrealistic.”
Actually, I’ve found tearing down the new films to be almost as much fun as watching the originals. There’s a certain fascination in seeing something done so totally wrong in every way that’s almost irresistable to me. The closest analogy I can think of is looking at pictures of bombed-out cities from WWII. The absolute destruction of something that was once vital and thriving has a bleak beauty of its own.
There’s also the fact that I’ve seen every Star Wars film ever made opening day, in the same theater, starting when I was two, and I’m not letting Lucas stop me now. Plus, there’s my secret hope that, somehow, some way, this last one will be worth seeing on its own merits, and not simply as MST/Rocky Horror fodder. And lastly, there’s the perverse imp in me that now wants to see this movie more than ever, simply because my prescence there irritates people like you and Soapbox Monkey.
Yeah, I’m going to be there, and I’m going to be laughing my ass off at the talentless crap that passes for a George Lucas movie these days. Anyone has a problem with that? Tough shit: I don’t care.
That’s simply untrue. AotC was significantly worse than the majority of big budget summer movie I’ve ever seen. It is possibly the single worst movie I’ve ever seen in the theater, with the possible exception of the movie Virus. The handful of movies I’ve seen that are as bad as AotC were being mocked by puppet robots when I saw them. It’s not just bad. It’s Battlefield Earth bad. Fuck that: it’s Manos bad.
Bullshit. Absolute, rank bullshit.
I can only assume you haven’t seen any movies since '94.
Took the words out of my mouth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CanvasShoes
Star Wars is Star Wars. Fantasy, SciFi, Good vs. Evil, good popcorn munching fun. What’s not to like? Personally I’m getting DAMN sick of movie snobs. I’m with the OP, if you’re one of those whiny, VERY hard to please, constant complainers, Don’t see it.
They were still better than a lot of crap that gets made. Fun critters to watch, the whole scifi thing. Again, compared to a good percentage of what gets put out there, they were okay. And in NO way am I saying they were some awesome cinematic accomplishment.
.
Quote:
I’m not sure what exactly it is that some people expect from their movie going experience, but it seems as if those types have gotten unreasonably demanding and unrealistic about what movies are, and what they should be.
It was minimally competent. For something NOT competent, see “50 First Dates” Or any Ben Stiller movie.
Quote:
It’s only entertainment. Don’t like it? Stop going…sheesh.
This is true, my mom and I about died laughing at “The Core”. Luckily we only spent 3 bucks on it. The suicidal pigeons were hilarious.
LOL, noooo, it’s not that you’re dissing the recent Star Wars movies, it’s that people, and I wasn’t talking about you, or folks who didn’t like the last 2 SW movies, I’m talking people that are constantly complaining about most movies these days. They’re all the same.
Quote:
Sorry, I wasn’t very clear. I meant as compared to just about everything that Hollywood puts out Star Wars is no better and no worse. Most stuff put out by Hollywood is of about the same caliber. Especially according to folks who complain about them.
All that’s merely a matter of personal opinion. Though I haven’t seen Battlefield Earth, Virus, or Manos.
Quote:
I mean, there ARE no “Citizen Kane’s” or GWTWs anymore (or whatever can be considered a “great” or good movie to compare to current stuff).
Okay…Such as??? And yes, I’ve seen movies more recent than 10 years ago. I see at least 5 a year at the theatre, and several on DVD after their release. Haven’t seen any that could even remotely be considered “Classics” or “great” movies.
Do they have trailers up for this yet? I think that might help us decide just how awful it will be without actually having to see it.
Except, perhaps, the kind of movies that stop after a few minutes unless you keep feeding tokens into the machine. 
?? What brought that on? I’m not that kind of girl. Whatever my taste in movies, it’s CERTAINLY not in porn.
Hey! Don’t diss porn!
Anyway, I’ll see the damn flick when it comes out, as I have seen each one since 1977, when I was accompanied by the girlfriend (now known as Mrs. Mercotan). And I’ll look really hard for things to like. And I’ll enjoy some of it.
But I fear once again it will be the Triumph of Hope over Experience.
Prove me wrong, Lucas! Please!
When you said you hadn’t seen any movies in the last 10 years that were much better than the much-maligned “Star Wars” prequels, it was suggested that you hadn’t seen any movies since 1994. I was merely allowing for the possibility that you had seen, say, “Naughty Nurses” or “Black Bun Busters” or something in the last 10 years, in which case your statement would still be true.
O! I wasn’t honest. Was just responding to the insinuation that my posts somehow = I don’t have the ability to comprehend anything BUT porn.
I won’t get to see the third one. My boyfriend still lives in AK, and I’m down here near Dallas, where I don’t know a soul that would go with me (my mom hates all sci fi movies).
Well, I’m still waiting for someone to name a movie that would be “that much better” as in “worthy of their consideration”.
I haven’t seen any, nor have I even seen any previews of movies that would be THAT far above the caliber of Star Wars. I was waiting for someone to point one out. So far no one has.
Trust me, I am not the LEAST interested in watching porn. (if my boyfriend were here, engaging in private porn would be a different matter :D).
Okay, I’ll tell you what movies from the last ten years I consider to be superior, but you have to tell me what movies from the last ten years you consider to be as good or worse than AotC.
Movies released in the last ten years that I really, really liked. These are films I consider to be in the top 10% of films I’ve seen. The ones marked with an asterix are ones that I consider to have the potential to be Citizen Kane-type classics. I’ll stick to American films, so far as I’m aware, but I’m not diferentiating between “Hollywood” and “indie,” because I don’t think there’s a meaningful difference between the two.
Pulp Fiction
Donnie Darko
Shakespeare in Love
Secretary
Fellowship of the Rings*
Dark City
The Big Lebowski
Fargo*
Fight Club
South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut*
Titus
Grosse Point Blank
The Matrix
High Fidelity
Rob Roy
Pleasantville
The Truman Show
There’s Something About Mary* (A Ben Stiller movie, incidentally)
Scotland, PA
Pirates of the Caribbean
Bound
The Passion of the Christ
Sixth Sense*
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Lost in Translation*
Election
Clerks
Kill Bill
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Three Kings*
The Prince of Egypt
Master and Commander
Finding Nemo*
Toy Story*
James and the Giant Peach
Chasing Amy*
Hmm. That seems to be the best I could do off the top of my head and with reference to my modest movie library. If I actually put some reasearch into it, I’m fairly certain I could come up with a list nearly that long for every year between now and 1994. The fact is, there are a lot of good movies made every year. A hell of a lot.
Now, I’ve shown you mine, you show me yours.
Your statement was that you hadn’t seen a movie in the last 10 years that had that much more quality than Star Wars - leaving it vague as to whether you meant “fairly higher in quality than SW” or if you were referring to films on the level of Citizen Kane. I would suggest the latter is an unfair comparison - just because there may not have been (in your estimation) a film to match that quality in a decade, then our criticism of SW is pointless? That’s like saying if you haven’t had a gourmet meal in 10 years, that you shouldn’t criticize macaroni and cheese.
Here are some excellent films from the last decade, btw, that I certainly think are better than Ep 1 & 2:
Amelie
The Shawshank Redemption
Schindler’s List - from 1993, but hey, we’re only halfway through 2004
Lord of the Rings series
Pulp Fiction
The Usual Suspects
American Beauty
LA Confidential
The Matrix
Requiem for a Dream
Saving Private Ryan
Leon
Life Is Beautiful
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Hero
Fargo
Princess Mononoke
Sling Blade
Being John Malkovich
Memento
Traffic
I could go on. And I’d wager there are a couple classics among the list. Remember, Citizen Kane wasn’t appreciated when it was released, but I don’t have such high hopes for SW Ep. 1 and 2.
The thing is this: For me, and I suspect a lot of folks in my generation, the original Star Wars was a deeply formative experience. I don’t think that it is a stretch to say that the strong possibility exists that I would not have been turned on to the whole Science Fiction genre had it not been for Star Wars.
It was fresh and different at the time. Interesting and inspiring. A mythic story, larger than life.
And the hope that a lot of us had is that, after so long of a wait, the experience would be recaptured. We would be given back, and allowed to relive a part of our childhood.
Is it any wonder weesa so pissed, boyos? Hell, mediocrity would have been nice compared to the steaming pile of suck that we were served.
Many of the movies you list below have also had a number of complaints by other movie goers as being “sucky” etc. And I consider none of the list to be “great” as in a classic type movie.
Pulp Fiction - I did see this one, it was okay. The way the mixed up the timeline and through in little “are they or aren’t they?” errors was intriguing. Travolta and Jackson were, as usual good. Other than that? It wasn’t any PHENOMENAL thing like it was so hyped up to be.
Donnie Darko
Shakespeare in Love
Secretary
Dark City
The Big Lebowski
Fight Club
South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut*
Titus
Grosse Point Blank- Haven’t seen any of these.
Fellowship of the Rings* - I liked it, but I’ve seen tons of complaints about it, as much as with the last to episodes of Star Wars, even here on the board.
Fargo* - Interesting, I loved the dark humor. But again, this one is not a HUGE great classic, I’ve seen a bunch of “movie snob” type complaints about it.
The Matrix - I’ve seen just as many, if not more “it sucked” complaints about this movie as with Star Wars. I liked this one also.
High Fidelity
Rob Roy Haven’t seen these two.
Pleasantville - I liked this one, but it was really odd and STILL not a “great classic”.
The Truman Show haven’t seen it.
There’s Something About Mary* (A Ben Stiller movie, incidentally)- Okay, much too sophmoric, the “hair gell” scene just ruined the whole movie for me. WAY TMI.
*Scotland, PA - Haven’t seen it.
Pirates of the Caribbean - Loved this one, but again, I heard a LOT of “it sucked” even here on the SD.
I didn’t finish off the rest of your list, as it was much of the same, that is “I’ve seen it, liked it etc.”
But none of those movies are “great classics” and all of them have had complaints about how they “sucked” and such from even folks here on the SD. So, it seems that according to the movie going public, in so far as how “good” a movie is or is not. The general consensus is that they’re all about the same. It seems that what the public considers good, or not good is largely dependent upon personal taste as far as what TYPES of movies a person likes.
But for every movie that someone posts as a “great” movie, I’ve seen just as many people come in and bitch about how bad it is. Hence my “there ARE no great or classic movies” statement.