I'm neither old nor a nerd. On the contrary, I am a dashing young lad with cheek of tan and hair of gold. However, even old nerds shouldn't be subject to the nonstop rantings of some loud mouth kid after they spent $11.50 on a movie.

Sssh. Be quiet. Be very very quiet. Can you hear that? That's the sound of OPA masturbating.

Comparing these to Star Wars is pretty silly. You know that they aren't going for even remotely the same effect. Star Wars is escapist fantasy which to some people translates as "children's entertainment" though obviously it isn't necessarily so. Also, I'm not even sure I would consider either one of these sci-fi.



Alien is a great sci-fi movie. It's better than any of the Star Wars movies in a lot of ways, certainly in terms of acting, dialogue, direction, etc. It's also a suspense/thriller and doesn't have anything comparable to the "universe" of Star Wars. There aren't a myriad of stories to be told within the Alien mythos. It's more "adult", but also far, far simpler in terms of plot, setting, etc.



And I'm just gonna disagree with these.

The Matrix is the most overrated movie of the past 10 years. I was sick of it long before the sequels came out. You're gonna deride SW for ripping off the legend of King Arthur, and then you're gonna cite The Matrix, of all things, as being an example of a better film? Do I really need to go over all of the classic sci-fi stories that it cobbles together? It's the ultimate triumph of style over substance.

Blade Runner is great, better than the SW prequels and Return of the Jedi, but I've always felt like it was kinda overrated. It doesn't have any of the character of the first two original SW movies.

12 Monkeys is my least favorite Gilliam movie, and I find most of the acting in it to be annoying as fuck.

Terminator is a fun, but completely ridiculous movie. I guess it's better than the first two SW prequels, but even that is debatable.

You can really only compare Star Wars to other grand-scale fantasy movies like LOTR (which is, of course, way better) or the Matrix (which is, IMO, way worse).

I can't fucking believe I'm having to explain the merits of Star Wars. I've seen and appreciate a very wide variety of films, but I can still enjoy Star Wars for what it is.

Ah, I see. So we shouldn't be comparing Star Wars to any old sci-fi film, just sci-fi films that are swashbuckling, intergalactic 6-volume epics aimed at children? In that case, you may be correct - Star Wars is the best swashbuckling, intergalactic 6-volume epic sci-fi film aimed at children. Good job, now you can get back to playing with your Wookie dolls.

Oh no, you're right. Go on comparing it to Clockwork Orange and Slaughterhouse Five.

First- Lucas was completely influenced by The Hidden Fortress by Kurosawa rather than the Camelot myths.

Second, the beauty of Star Wars was the fact that it appealed to both adults and children simultaneously. Very few films did that so successfully previously and very few have done so since.

Ridley Scott has said in numerous interviews that he considers the original Alien to be a horror film rather than a sci-fi movie. The formula is pretty standard horror stuff in an outer space setting.

Are the Star Wars films deep cinema? Maybe not, is Lucas Kurosawa, Hitchcock or Lang- no. Are the original three largely entertaining films? Absolutely.

Am I proud to own the original three on DVD?- You bet, and I will argue with anybody that the first two specifically Empire Strikes Back are bertter films than any of the others on the list discussed earlier?

Do the first two prequels blow ass- Yes.

Will I wait for the crowds to die down before seeing this one, and wait to give an opinion until then?- Yes.

You will love Episode III.

OK, just got back from this

+: Architecture, scenery, alien/creature forms, macro-action sequences (saberfights sans Yoda were decent to meh; Yoda fighting is one of the nicest surprises in the prequels), plot/story, spiritual themes, the fact that my balancing-the-Force theory (Sidius/Vader = Yoda/Kenobi) still holds up

-: Everything that involved acting - dialogue, presence, body language, character development, et al. There were so many less-than-a-second reaction shots that looked forced and unnecessary. McGregor was the most passable, and he was barely decent; I think that's a testament to how good of an actor he is given the material he had to work with.

SPOILER: Based on Yoda's last line, I was eagerly awaiting Liam Niesson in the translucent blue glow. I guess Lucas is saving that for the DVD. Asshat.

It was the third of three movies I saw tonight. I enjoyed it enough for what it was. I thought The Interpreter was deeper. I also thought Hitchhiker's Guide was more entertaining.

POSSIBLE SPOILER

Another good moment is when Padme tells Anakin that she's pregnant. At first, he gives her an ambiguous look that reminded of a Chris Rock bit: "when a girl tells you she's pregnant, you can say one of two things. Either you say 'wow, this is great, I love you, I can't believe it!' or you say 'so whatchu gon do?'" I kept thinking it would be funny if Anakin said "so whatchu gon do" in the same intonation as Chris Rock.

Anyway...

Saw it. Thought it was excellent. I think seeing how he tied it together was the real joy of the movie. I will have to see it again to give an honest analysis.

more possible spoilers...










once past the quality of the movie, the inconsistencies between old and new kinda bug me.

01) leia said she had a memory of her mom talking to luke. but padme died in childbirth

02) in empire where luke leaves degobah, obi wan says he's their last hope. yoda says there is another. the scene felt like obi wan was hearing this for the first time -- like he didn't know about leia. what??

03) every single main character from the original trilogy was in the new-old trilogy except han solo. what's with that? just way too much coincidence.

It's on Fox tomorrow ( Sunday ) nite if you wanna check it out fo' free. I'm probably gonna...I haven't seen 1 OR 2 yet.

I was kind of a fence-rider on going to see 3, but now I think I will - it sounds friggin' high-larious.


I'm enjoying this thread, though...I haven't seen this many geek's underwear in a twist since National Wedgie Day.

LOTR would never have been realised if it wasn't for Star Wars. (and personally i thought the LOTR movies sucked more cock than Ian Thorpe)

i had my fingers crossed for a pre-teen Lando Calirisian. I don't think Billy-Dee has much work these days, so he could have probably shaved the 'stache and reprised that oh-so delicious role.

i think Han solo was only 10 or 15 so years older then Luke, so at the end of III, the Han solo charatcer would still be a little kid, and not really have any reason to be there, although it woul dfhave been cool to somehow get him min there somewhere..

Chillin with whatever that malt liquor was he used to shill on TV.

colt 45

My dad of all people told me this was laughably bad, after he took his 7 and 12 y/o kids.

This has shit city written all over it, I will now have to satisfy a morbid curiousity sometime next week.

spoier alert


































the 'nooooooooooooooooooooooo' is the worst thing i have ever seen in my life.

I just got finished watching a bootleg of it. spoilers below.
I still want to see it in the theatre but I don't think it'll change my first impression of it.

good stuff
general grievious, though his coughing was kinda weird. the part when he first comes after obi wan and he's spining the lightsabers was awesome.

yoda fighting.

dooku getting his hands and head chopped off.

R2D2 kicking some robot ass.

generally, most of the action sequences.

bad stuff
almost everything else.

the dialogue between anakin and padme but one part really stood out
ANAKIN: You are so beautiful!

PADME: It's only because I'm so in love . . .

ANAKIN: No, it's because I'm so in love with you.
holy shit, did a 5th grader write this??

darth vader getting off the operating table like space frankenstein and the aforementioned "noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo"

a LOT of the emperor/chancellor's lines after the fight with mace windu.

the 'hey we only have 15 minutes left, let's wrap this up quickly' ending.

Vader's "nooooo" wasn't as bad as Palpatine's "No! Nooo! Noooo!"

yeah that whole part when he was fighting mace windu and kept screaming and whining to anakin was really silly.

Just got back and, man, am I crestfallen.
I'm far from a fanboy, but I enjoy the original movies since I grew up right in the sweet spot of their pop cultural appeal.

I called it after the 2nd one, turning to my friend after the movie and saying they've got too much ground to cover in one movie. I was right. They covered it, but they covered it in fast forward and you didn't get a chance to grab on to anything for very long, save for the scenes w/ the emperor/Anakin, but I thought those were too hammy or understated at various points.

Even tossing out the 2 automatically bad romantic dialogue scenes, Natalie Portman was terrible, a cardboard cutout. Christensen was barely any better. Ewan McGregor was the only actor I could believe and grab on to without complete suspension of disbelief.

More and more, I think Lucas got lucky w/ the original Star Wars and made a great movie, but realized he couldn't keep it up so he handed off the reins before he could fuck up his shot at a fortune and unimpeachable Hollywood legacy. 20 years later, hubris overtook him and the end result is I'm sitting here ranting to a bunch of music geeks on a Sunday night. Jeezus. I need a drink.

It is easily the best of the first 3. I just think it's a little weird how Annakin goes from one extreme to the other practically in one scene (where Sam Jackson's character dies). Also, it seemed the primary reason he goes to the dark side is to save Padme, whom he chokes later. Annakin's just an all around confusing character.

I wonder what the younger kids of today think of the first 3 films that came out. In these prequels, the Jedis and Siths are bouncing off the walls in their saber wars. Then you watch Obi Wan vs. Darth Vader in Star wars IV and it's so restrained as if they can barely lift their light sabers over their heads. Then again, I remember being impressed by The Wizard of Oz when I was young despite the fact that it was 35+ years old.