Star Wars

Episode II fell off by over a third and the series has still not fully recovered- Eldo

Not least in reputation- which cant be measured at the box office but can go a long way (I think much the same is happening with PJ and TH films- they are making their money but the reputation of the franchise is going down the tubes)

Well, jeez, based on Wedge's role in 4, 5, and 6, most of his acting would be done in a cock-pit on a green screen. Of course it would have been boring. I don't blame him.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Not least in reputation- which cant be measured at the box office but can go a long way (I think much the same is happening with PJ and TH films- they are making their money but the reputation of the franchise is going down the tubes)

I hear some people say that Episode II is worse than I (I personally agree), and others who swear up and down that Episode I is the worst SW thing ever.

Box office is actually one of the most reliable indicators of audience perception that we have. Audience polling doesn't have a great track record, and user scores on IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes have such narrow, non-random sampling that they're worse than useless. But box office returns reflect the viewing decisions of all different kinds of movie-goers, and the reception of a film is often reflected in its sequel. This wasn't necessarily the case in decades past, when sequels were not a given and many people wouldn't turn out for them even if they did enjoy the first movie, but these days sequels are much more common and accepted. As an example, you can track public reaction to each of the Harry Potter movies by seeing how the next movie in the series did. Of course, there are other factors (such as the final movie boost effect) that have to be taken into consideration too. Star Wars Episode II and Harry Potter DH2 both showed signs of that.

Well this has just been a "rag on the prequels" fest for a few days hasnt it.

 

  

  

 
  
  

While I've done my share of criticizing the prequels, I will say that I think the hate can get a little overboard.  I still consider Episodes I and II to be bad movies, but they're hardly awful or the worst thing ever.  The most frustrating thing for me is trying to have a conversation about the Star Wars universe during the prequel era and people refusing to think critically about anything if there's an opportunity to shit on George Lucas instead.  I'm talking about stuff like "only a Sith deals in absolutes" line.  People love to bring this up as an example of George Lucas being a terrible writer because "durrrr that's an absolute itself!"  But this totally misses the point that throughout the entire trilogy, the Jedi Order is consistently depicted as being out of touch, incapable of self-criticism, and therefore unable to effectively respond to the threats they face from the Separatists and the Sith.  It's one of the biggest themes in the trilogy, and it's not at all subtle, but you can score more Internet points by saying "I don't think Lucas is capable of writing something that thought-out" (which has happened to me).  Even though we know Lucas is capable of this, because he wrote the original Star Wars, which had plenty of political subtext itself (though much of it was ultimately relegated to the novelization and radio play).

When it comes down to it, in a broad sense, the prequels are actually really well done in terms of story, with the many underlying themes, one of which you just pointed out Eldo. Its when we get into the small details, such as dialogue, some character development, acting, among other things, that the trilogy becomes lacking and in many peoples' opinion outright bad.

I think we can expect to see him a mo-cap suit again the poor bastard.

maybe he is mo-capping Jar Jar

I think it's a safe bet to say that Serkis will be mocapping again.  He actually has had live-action roles since LOTR, but all of the ones he's famous for (King Kong, Planet of the Apes, Tintin, The Hobbit) were mocap roles. GIven how safe they're playing things with SW7, I'd be very surprised if they were to break typecasting for him.

He had a live action role in King Kong too, albeit a minor one.

oh god

 

 

I love that picture.   

Eldorion wrote:While I've done my share of criticizing the prequels, I will say that I think the hate can get a little overboard.  I still consider Episodes I and II to be bad movies, but they're hardly awful or the worst thing ever.  The most frustrating thing for me is trying to have a conversation about the Star Wars universe during the prequel era and people refusing to think critically about anything if there's an opportunity to shit on George Lucas instead.  I'm talking about stuff like "only a Sith deals in absolutes" line.  People love to bring this up as an example of George Lucas being a terrible writer because "durrrr that's an absolute itself!"  But this totally misses the point that throughout the entire trilogy, the Jedi Order is consistently depicted as being out of touch, incapable of self-criticism, and therefore unable to effectively respond to the threats they face from the Separatists and the Sith.  It's one of the biggest themes in the trilogy, and it's not at all subtle, but you can score more Internet points by saying "I don't think Lucas is capable of writing something that thought-out" (which has happened to me).  Even though we know Lucas is capable of this, because he wrote the original Star Wars, which had plenty of political subtext itself (though much of it was ultimately relegated to the novelization and radio play).

I thought that there were some parts of all 3 films that were good but countered but some parts that were utterly awful. I do think that they also suffered from the fact that people knew what was going to happen.... no 'I.... am your father' moments.

The things that I found annoying were the continual references back to the original trilogy as if the fact we are told it is the same universe isn't enough and that we also needed constant reminders it was one and the same. That pissed me off.

Totally agreed on the overuse of connective elements. Just unnecessary and self-sabotaging.

Also, obligatory "it's like poetry" reference.

Eldorion wrote:
Also, obligatory "it's like poetry" reference.

Hopefully it'll work.

bungo am cry

Godzilla director to helm Star Wars spin-off film - /Film

Godzilla 2 and 3??? Jesus.

As for the screenwriter.

His latest screenwriting work was the sci-fi movie After Earth (2013), starring Will Smith, for which he received a Golden Raspberry nomination. He will be writing the first Star Wars spin off film with Gareth Edwards directing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Whitta#Screenwriting

Wow, they got a real winner on their hands.