Official Star Wars Thread

Post by **James** » October 7th, 2006, 11:48 pm

Lucas to try to get even more of your money?

http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/stor ... 100566.asp

Post by **ShyViolet** » October 8th, 2006, 7:16 am

Some choice Episode II moments:

EWAN MCGREGOR
Hi there.

TEMUERA MORRISON
I'm just a simple man trying to make his way in the universe.

EWAN MCGREGOR
Er, um, that's great. So who are you?

TEMUERA MORRISON
My clone son is Boba Fett. He was a small role in the original trilogy and ravenous Star Wars fanboys elevated his importance based merely on his cool appearance. George Lucas, utterly sacrificing whatever vision he claims to have for the series, has made his role much more important by coincidently making his father responsible for the clone wars. But you can take a flying leap up my a**, Jedi scum.

They FIGHT.

TEMUERA MORRISON (CONT'D)
Isn't it cool how bada** I look?

EWAN MCGREGOR
Actually, you seem somewhat inept in this fight. I'm outsmarting you and kicking your as**repeatedly.

TEMUERA MORRISON
Hey, I said I look cool, I didn't say I was good at fighting. I'm modeled after the original Boba Fett; he gets killed by a blind guy accidentally.

HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN
I love you, Natalie. Why can't we be together?

NATALIE PORTMAN
Um, because my name would be Padme Naberrie Amidala Skywalker. I may have put Jar Jar in charge in my absence, but I'm not a complete moron. Besides, I'm kinda worried Lucas is going to tell us we're brother and sister. We must not fall in love. Excuse me while I change into something that reveals more cleavage.

HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN
I wish I could just wish away my feelings by wishing a wish with which one wishes!

NATALIE PORTMAN
Wow. And George had help with the script, too.

The conclusion:

EWAN MCGREGOR
I had this horrible dream. I was an actor, and my job consisted of prancing about on blue sets and talking to sticks with pictures of faces taped to them. It was horrible. Who would do such a thing to the world of cinema?

YODA
It's all over now. Back in three dimensional, somewhat textured world you are.

NATALIE runs in.

NATALIE PORTMAN
Hayden! I'm completely in love with you, despite never being given a single god damned reason for it to be so. Let's get married!

IAN MCDIARMID
Yes, yes! Get married! Have children who will one day turn my Sith apprentice against me and lead to my demise! Everything is going according to my design!

DIRECTOR GEORGE LUCAS
Stay tuned for the next installment: It Came From the Dark Side!

END
Copyright 2002 Rod Hilton. All Rights Reserved.

Post by **Ben** » October 8th, 2006, 8:56 am

Those things are great. He gets everything so spot on, though especially the lame tie-ups in the prequels. The reasons not to bother with them at all and how much Lucas is just ripping people off with bad storytelling for people who don't "think" are all right there.

James wrote:Lucas to try to get even more of your money?

http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/stor ... 100566.asp

I saw that at The Bits. Of course, this 30th Anniversary box comes <I>after</I> the 3D theatrical re-issues with all new special effects, right?

Post by **ShyViolet** » October 8th, 2006, 10:54 am

This was on the Yahoo! main page today. I guess it's "big news" or something.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061006/ap_ ... le_lucas_9

Post by **Ben** » October 8th, 2006, 1:50 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv4Potdpjhw

Worth repeating...!

Post by **ShyViolet** » October 8th, 2006, 9:53 pm

That was EXCELLENT!!! Thanks, Ben.

SOOOOOO funny...they had George down pat.

Lucas should be forced to watch this. On a big screen, in a movie theater.

Oh yeah, loved "Christopher Lee's" part!!! Hayden was beyond hilarious.

Post by **Meg** » October 9th, 2006, 9:20 am

Ha ha! My freind showed me that a few days ago. It's so awesome!

Post by **ShyViolet** » October 11th, 2006, 6:59 am

Hayden: I love... George.
Robin Gurland: Oh, I think he's great.
Rick Macullum: Oh, he's a genius. And rich.
Jake Lloyd: He's my new dad.
Viggo Mortinson: I hate his guts.
Christopher Lee: I loathe that man.

Post by **Ben** » October 11th, 2006, 12:22 pm

Money, money, money...

Post by **ShyViolet** » October 11th, 2006, 4:32 pm

"So, I sat down to write....Frodo. And then, I started thinking, we don't need a script. In the past, 20, 30 years ago, you needed things like props, actors, a script. But this is the digital age--you don't need a script. Nowadays, we've got money, and computers, and electricity, and money....who needs a script? So we just threw that idea right out the window."

"I don't use locations. I have computers."

"My friend Francis Ford Coppola said I should use Marlon Brando as Gimli. I said, whatever."

"I'm so glad I got this opportunity....I just love Tolkien's books... and all the money I've made off of him...."

Post by **Ben** » October 11th, 2006, 5:57 pm

ShyViolet wrote:"I'm so glad I got this opportunity....I just love Tolkien's books... and all the money I've made off of him...."

That. Is the best line. Ever.

Post by **ShyViolet** » November 12th, 2006, 8:48 pm

This is quite an interesting review of ROTS from Roger Ebert, although he sort of liked it (he gave it ***1/2 stars) you could tell he's a bit unsure. He probably felt obligated to like it with all the hype that surrounded the film back then. He makes some very good points here.

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

BY ROGER EBERT / May 19, 2005

Cast & Credits
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Ewan McGregor
Anakin/Darth Vader: Hayden Christensen
Padme: Natalie Portman
Chancellor Palpatine: Ian McDiarmid
Mace Windu: Samuel L. Jackson

20th Century Fox presents a film written and directed by George Lucas. Running time: 140 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for sci-fi violence and some intense images). Opening Thursday at local theaters (midnight screenings Wednesday at select locations).

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George Lucas comes full circle in more ways than one in "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith," which is the sixth -- and allegedly but not necessarily the last -- of the "Star Wars" movies. After "Episode II" got so bogged down in politics that it played like the Republic covered by C-Span, "Episode III" is a return to the classic space opera style that launched the series. Because the story leads up to where the original "Star Wars" began, we get to use the immemorial movie phrase, "This is where we came in."

That Anakin Skywalker abandoned the Jedi and went over to the dark side is known to all students of "Star Wars." That his twins Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia would redeem the family name is also known. What we discover in "Episode III" is how and why Anakin lost his way -- how a pleasant and brave young man was transformed into a dark, cloaked figure with a fearsome black metal face. As Yoda sadly puts it in his inimitable word order: "The boy you trained, gone he is, consumed by Darth Vader."

As "Episode III" opens, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and his friend Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) are piloting fighter craft, staging a daring two-man raid to rescue Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). He has been captured by the rebel Gen. Grievous (whose voice, by Matthew Woods, sounds curiously wheezy considering the general seems to use replacement parts). In the spirit of all the "Star Wars" movies, this rescue sequence flies in the face of logic, since the two pilots are able to board Grievous' command ship and proceed without much trouble to the ship's observation tower, where the chancellor is being held. There is a close call in an elevator shaft, but where are the guards and the security systems? And why, for that matter, does a deep space cruiser need an observation tower, when every porthole opens on to the universe? But never mind.

Back within the sphere of the Jedi Council, Anakin finds that despite his heroism, he will not yet be named a Jedi Master. The council distrusts Palpatine and wants Anakin to spy on him; Palpatine wants Anakin to spy on the council. Who to choose? McDiarmid has the most complex role in the movie as he plays on Anakin's wounded ego. Anakin is tempted to go over to what is not yet clearly the dark side; in a movie not distinguished for its dialogue, Palpatine is insidiously snaky in his persuasiveness.

The way Anakin approaches his choice, however, has a certain poignancy. Anakin has a rendezvous with Padme (Natalie Portman); they were secretly married in the previous film, and now she reveals she is pregnant. His reaction is that of a nice kid in a teenage comedy, trying to seem pleased while wondering how this will affect the other neat stuff he gets to do. To say that George Lucas cannot write a love scene is an understatement; greeting cards have expressed more passion.

The dialogue throughout the movie is once again its weakest point: The characters talk in what sounds like Basic English, without color, wit or verbal delight, as if they were channeling Berlitz. The exceptions are Palpatine and of course Yoda, whose speech (voiced by Frank Oz) reminds me of Wolcott Gibbs' famous line about the early style of Time magazine: "Backward ran sentences until reeled the mind."

In many cases the actors are being filmed in front of blue screens, with effects to be added later, and sometimes their readings are so flat, they don't seem to believe they're really in the middle of amazing events. How can you stand in front of exploding star fleets and sound as if you're talking on a cell phone at Starbucks?

"He's worried about you," Anakin is told at one point. "You've been under a lot of stress." Sometimes the emphasis in sentences is misplaced. During the elevator adventure in the opening rescue, we hear "Did I miss something?" when it should be "Did I miss something?"

The dialogue is not the point, however; Lucas' characters engage in sturdy oratorical pronunciamentos and then leap into adventure. "Episode III" has more action per square minute, I'd guess, than any of the previous five movies, and it is spectacular. The special effects are more sophisticated than in the earlier movies, of course, but not necessarily more effective.

The dogfight between fighters in the original "Star Wars" and the dogfight that opens this one differ in their complexity (many more ships this time, more planes of action, more detailed backgrounds) but not in their excitement. And although Lucas has his characters attend a futuristic opera that looks like a cross between Cirque de Soleil and an ultrasound scan of an unborn baby, if you regard the opera hall simply as a place, it's not as engaging as the saloon on Tatooine in the first movie.

The lesson, I think, is that special effects should be judged not by their complexity but by the degree that they stimulate the imagination, and "Episode III" is distinguished not by how well the effects are done, but by how amazingly they are imagined. A climactic duel on a blazing volcanic planet is as impressive, in its line, as anything in "Lord of the Rings." And Yoda, who began life as a Muppet but is now completely animated (like about 70 percent of what we see onscreen), was to begin with and still is the most lifelike of the non-humanoid "Star Wars" characters.

A word, however, about the duels fought with lightsabers. When they flashed into life with a mighty whizzing thunk in the first "Star Wars" and whooshed through their deadly parabolas, that was exciting. But the thrill is gone.

The duelists are so well-matched that saber fights go on forever before anyone is wounded, and I am still not sure how the sabers seem able to shield their bearers from attack. When it comes to great movie sword fights, Liam Neeson and Tim Roth took home the gold medal in "Rob Roy" (1995), and the lightsaber battles in "Episode III" are more like isometrics.

These are all, however, more observations than criticisms. George Lucas has achieved what few artists do; he has created and populated a world of his own. His "Star Wars" movies are among the most influential, both technically and commercially, ever made. And they are fun. If he got bogged down in solemnity and theory in "Episode II: Attack of the Clones," the Force is in a jollier mood this time, and "Revenge of the Sith" is a great entertainment.

Note: I said this is not necessarily the last of the "Star Wars" movies. Although Lucas has absolutely said he is finished with the series, it is inconceivable to me that 20th Century-Fox will willingly abandon the franchise, especially as Lucas has hinted that parts VII, VIII and IX exist at least in his mind. There will be enormous pressure for them to be made, if not by him, then by his deputies.

Post by **Dacey** » November 13th, 2006, 10:04 am

Vi, for the last time, critics *don't* feel obligated to praise a film just because it's getting hype. I mean, look at the reviews for "The Da Vinci Code".

Post by **ShyViolet** » November 13th, 2006, 11:55 am

It doesn't make them give good reviews but sometimes it does lead them to be more leniant...

I mean ***1/2 stars for ROTS? And you can tell Ebert didn't even love it all that much, and if you read his review you can see that he feels kind of bewildered about what to write--since the subject of the film was far better than its actual execution.

If hype counted for nothing, The Phantom Menace wouldn't have gotten any good reviews at all....

And I know TDC got some positives as well.

Post by **Dacey** » November 15th, 2006, 10:51 am

If hype counted for nothing, The Phantom Menace wouldn't have gotten any good reviews at all.

There are people who really like that movie. Just so you know.