Lack of Faith...Disturbing
Nothing particularly new going on, other than:
- Reading the first Eberron novel, The City of Towers, and I'm enjoying it very much.
- Gearing up for Revenge of the Sith on Saturday morning. I didn't particularly dislike the preceding two movies; I only think they could have been a lot better. I'm an old-time fan of the original trilogy, too, but I can't truly relate to others in my generation who are so passionately anti these sequels, who act as though the release of each new prequel wounds them to the soul. They're still Star Wars, man. So they're not better than the originals. That's fine. But the notion that they "ruin" the originals is just silly.
- Thinking about my GenCon plans. I'll be attending this year. I've never been to a single convention before....funny that I'm going to the mother of all gaming conventions.
Escapee episode IV is up.
posted by Jeff LaSala at 9:34 AM
4 Comments:
I never miss a chance to talk about Star Wars. And I often feel that my particular side of the "these movies suck" point is not argued correctly.
I was not ever a "huge fan" of starwars, as a child or otherwise, so they hold no serious place in my life. That said, I know more about Star Wars than I would like to, because I am a fan of sci-fi, games, the Simpsons, and other such things to which having knowledge of these movies comes almost naturally.
I saw Episode 1 on opening night (i think) with Jeff in NYC. I'll admit that leaving the theatre I was caught up in the energy of "fandom" and left in a good mood, but in later thought the movie fell flat.
This is my point, and no one seems to really say this, or maybe they don't agree- a good movie takes more than just the idea. It could be a GREAT idea, a great concept, so original and insteresting, but if the cinematography sucks, or the actors are terrible, or the screenplay or dialoge is excruciating, then this is not a good MOVIE. So why praise something for having great effects or amazing scenes if the rest of it is groaningly unbearable?
Matrix- so damn awesome. Matrix 2- suckfest. Matrix 3- won't see it. Do I want to know what happens? Did I like some of the ideas in 2? Yes, but the movie was a shambles. It was offensive to people to like good movies.
Constantine- love the comic. Effects- decent. Acting- considering the actors, good. Plot and direction- HORRIBLE. Hence, bad movie.
So, when I look at these reviews, whether it be from Starwarsfan4life1987@compuserve.com or Roger Ebert, and they say "A greeting card displays more emotion than Lucas can" or "PADME iz tha suxor!11!!1! ROFLMAO!" (I think Ebert said both, actually) but still give it three out of four stars, or a thumbs up, it kinda irks me.
Yes, people are going to see these movies out of fervor for the story that they've devoted an inordinate amount of their life to. Some people will see it because they like some space action. I go to movies to see good movies, and my idea of a good movie does NOT involve overlooking horrible direction, countless plot holes, cheesy love dialogue, just for the sake of a light saber battle where one dude is using four sabers at once.
So, in terms of the Offense that Star Wars generates.. the personal wound that some might suffer, my view is that when people see this being the popular sci fi, it sets a warped bar for the genre. Oh, cool action, but really shitty dialogue and stupid acting. That is NOT what I want the masses to see sci-fi as. It de-legitemizes the genre in film media. AND it sends a negative message to Hollywood, who thinks that if it's a sci fi movie, then we'd better up the money on the CG, but let's not worry too much about the human side.
Can you imagine if people were clamouring for more movies like Solaris and less for bubblegum laser fights?
So that's my personal wound, I guess. That's why I don't like Star Wars... it COULD be amazing, but isn't. And the reason it isn't is because one man won't solicit honest advice, or admit that maybe someone else should take SOME little tiny bit of control for something. He should have taken a lesson from Empire, but didn't. And he's got a meaty neck.
Yeah, my complaint has to do with the quality of the movie as well. Lucas is not a writer; he's an idea man (and some of his ideas are not so great. Ewoks? Han shot second?).
Han shot second...yes, that's lame. But I never minded Ewoks. Except that at times you can tell they're just costumes.
Ditto JW.
I love the ideas in Star Wars. but sometimes in the execution you can see the square wheels of the script turning, making for a clunky script.
Still, I feel that SW Episode III is a little less clunky, at least in places than the other prequels.
But for goodness sakes, they still feel like Star Wars. It's still okay (if at least cringingly) in my books.
Justin
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