Well, to be fair, Peter Jackson's original idea was to have two Hobbit movies, but the studio pushed for three. He wrote and directed them, and he loves Tolkien more than most. I really enjoyed the three Hobbit movies, although I do admit that there was an overuse of CG in the third movie. Tolkien himself embellished and retconned the crap out of The Hobbit, so much of the accusations directed against Jackson regarding this is a bit misguided. I remember when people were complaining about the love scene between Aragorn and Arwen in the Fellowship movie, claiming it wasn't in the book. Well, it was in the appendices.
I read a YouTube comment about JJ Abrams' Lost and Fringe: It starts out good, but it soon turns into nonsense. The same could be said about his Star Trek movies. The first one started out fairly good, but then the second movie was crap. It's possible for a non-Trek fan to not know much of TOS and make something remarkable. That's what happened with The Wrath of Khan. JJ obviously wasn't a Trek fan, and the new movies felt like it. The first one was at least fun, but the second one was just... ugh.
I don't even know Gareth Edwards. I haven't seen the new Godzilla movie. This new generation of directors just doesn't do much for me. You're right though; Edgar Wright would do a good job at a Star Wars movie. Heck, Simon Pegg would do a good job, I bet. It's interesting to see him involved with this new movie.
The only thing that makes me at least hopeful about this new movie is this video that was shown at the SDCC. They were showing this at Bandai's booth at the All-Japan Model Hobby Show a few weeks ago. I'm expecting the worst, but I'm hoping to be pleasantly proven wrong.
PS: The only way I can enjoy the prequels is with the Rifftrax commentary. They are the reason why I haven't thrown out my prequel DVDs. They did a great job with the original trilogy too. When Yoda refers to Vader as "Obi Wan's apprentice," Mike from Rifftrax says, "Oh, you mean his padawan? 'Cuz that's what they're called now, you know." I loved that line. Or when Ben is talking to Luke before he destroys the Death Star, he says, "Oh, and after you're done with this, I'll need you to shoot the President. Just trust me on this."
Originally written by usamimi on 2015/12/24, 07:09:50 PST :
Re: Worried about the upcoming Star Wars movies :
sooooooooo has anyone seen the new film yet? I haven't been able to because I've been busy, but I really want to once Christmas is over.
Originally written by llj on 2015/12/24, 07:54:14 PST :
Re: Worried about the upcoming Star Wars movies :
If someone treats me, I will go. But I'm probably not going to go out of my way to see it, as my Star Wars fandom is virtually nil, even though ROTJ was the first movie I ever saw in a theatre that I can remember, anyway . Plus, Disney probably doesn't need my help with their box office totals.
I haven't even seen the much maligned prequels yet, lol.
For someone who grew up during the height of the original Star Wars popularity, I don't think I ever got crazy over it like my other friends did. I mean, I certainly liked the original movies, but in the same way I like any other movie but don't have any passionate devotion to it. I probably owned less than 2 Star Wars toys as a kid. I was more into He-Man and Go-Bots during that time.
It's always sort of weird to see Star Wars fans who are 20-25 years younger than me who are just nuts about the franchise, yet never lived a day in the 80s. Not mocking them, as I'm happy to see anyone appreciate something that was created before their time I'm guilty of the same but I feel like the most exciting times of a franchise is when it is still new and building its legend and it's always a shame, as a fan, if you weren't there to experience that.
But I guess Harry Potter would be the most recent equivalent of that experience. Although I guess Harry was heavily promoted and calculated to be a success by the time the first movie hit, so the success of the movies wasn't a surprise anyway. Star Wars sort of just came out of nowhere, that's what was exciting about it.
I'm trying to think of a huge modern film franchise that came out of nowhere in recent years...Pirates of the Carribbean I guess would be that. Or Toy Story.
Originally written by Kame-Sen'nin on 2015/12/24, 09:07:11 PST :
Re: Worried about the upcoming Star Wars movies :
quote usamimi sooooooooo has anyone seen the new film yet? I haven't been able to because I've been busy, but I really want to once Christmas is over. quote
Saw it, loved it. As much as I tried to not get my hopes up, my optimism got the best of me. I'm happy to say that, despite the high hopes, I thoroughly enjoyed The Force Awakens . I highly recommend it to any Star Wars fans!
Originally written by labsenpai on 2015/12/24, 12:53:41 PST :
Re: Worried about the upcoming Star Wars movies :
For me, the new movie seemed to have a creativity crisis after all the protagonists finish their exciting re introductions. The wrap-up and lead-in to Ep.8 fall safely predictably in grooves dug by the original trilogy. Being a series laden with detailed sci-fi tech, I felt as an artist underwhelmed in many scenes by how mundane or sparse they looked. You can tell which game chapters received the most work. The new actors gave their best, and I'm glad the kid-charmer was a cute droid and not a JJB. All in all, I think Abrams could have spent more time at the drawing board and less time teasing us with nostalgic mishmash.
Originally written by Char Aznable on 2015/12/24, 14:07:55 PST :
Re: Worried about the upcoming Star Wars movies :
I seen it in the theater last Friday and found it to be a complete mess. It wasn't ambitious whatsoever and, at times, it was almost painful to sit through. I really like the original trilogy, and didn't hate the prequels which I enjoyed far more than The Force Awakens .
I don't want to post spoilers here, but for those who have seen the film or for those who don't care, I thought this spoiler-filled article hits the nail on the head url
Originally written by llj on 2015/12/24, 15:21:17 PST :
Re: Worried about the upcoming Star Wars movies :
quote labsenpai You can tell which game chapters received the most work. The new actors gave their best, and I'm glad the kid-charmer was a cute droid and not a JJB. All in all, I think Abrams could have spent more time at the drawing board and less time teasing us with nostalgic mishmash. quote
Isn't that kind of what Abrams did with the Star Trek reboot as well? He's more of a fixer-upper kind of director rather than a bold creative directionist. For the purposes of box office, he was probably the perfect choice for Disney as he's safe enough not to upset the boat and executes the derivative well enough that everyone would at least enjoy it at the base level.
It's getting really good reviews and box office, so it's obviously doing its job to Disney's expectations.
Originally written by labsenpai on 2015/12/25, 20:26:36 PST :
Re: Worried about the upcoming Star Wars movies :
If only Disney expectations were like Ghibli expectations. A director like Abrams would make NAUSICAA 2 THE OHMU AWAKEN by fast-forwarding through the original, taking notes when he sees something explode. Then 3 years later you'd see a twin-tailed Nausicaa swinging a buster sword at a bug-eyed, skinless Titan with laser breath in 3D IMAX. Teto would be voiced by Alan Tudyk.
Originally written by danth on 2016/01/02, 11:06:59 PST :
Re: Worried about the upcoming Star Wars movies :
quote labsenpai If only Disney expectations were like Ghibli expectations. A director like Abrams would make NAUSICAA 2 THE OHMU AWAKEN by fast-forwarding through the original, taking notes when he sees something explode. Then 3 years later you'd see a twin-tailed Nausicaa swinging a buster sword at a bug-eyed, skinless Titan with laser breath in 3D IMAX. Teto would be voiced by Alan Tudyk. quote
I mostly agree with your complaints. SW7 was a retread of A New Hope. There was nothing original, no feeling of awe or wonder at anything, and no feeling that anything of importance was happening. I liked the new actors, and loved Han Solo, but I feel like no effort at all was put into the story or imagery of being in space.
Originally written by llj on 2016/01/04, 12:19:38 PST :
Re: Worried about the upcoming Star Wars movies :
Fanboys don't reward originality though. If a franchise takes too many steps outside of their nostalgia zone, they'll complain, and ultimately that is preventative to maximizing financial returns. Look at all the good--no, not just good, but great--reviews the new movie has received. If people continue to enable derivative and generic products, we will continue to get derivative and generic products from franchises that live and die on the bottom line--no surprise there.
Then again, one could say that if we wanted something new and bold, we shouldn't come to these mega franchises to get that.
Originally written by davemerrill on 2016/01/04, 13:03:48 PST :
Re: Worried about the upcoming Star Wars movies :
We saw it while in Atlanta for Xmas, and I liked it a lot. We were there with my 7 year old nephew and he liked it a lot too. It pretty much felt like a Star Wars movie I felt like I was 7 again myself, seeing the original in the theater. I got lucky and avoided most of the spoilery plot details people were throwing around.
I was also impressed by how upgraded the Phipps Plaza theater is these days every seat is a recliner, a La-Z-Boy fall asleep in front of the ball game recliner. That is a sybaritic level of comfort.
I saw it on New Years, and out the theater, I loved it. As time went on though...? It's a safe movie.
I get why they did it the way they did. My younger sister said it was her favorite of all the movies. So did alot of teens and kids. And I think that's what Disney was going for. To get the new generation into it. So in that front, good on them.
Pros:
-I liked the new characters.
-Loved the use of practical effects.
-Nostalgic feelings.
Cons:
-THE CAMERA. This is something I pointed out to my friends a day after we watched it. WHY ARE THERE JUST TALKING HEADS 80% of the movie?! No change in camera angles at all! Watch the movie again and it'll be hard to sit there. There was n't alot of good cinematography in the movie.
-Forgetable music.
-Forgetable scenery.
-Some time was spent too much on certain areas.
- THE CUT OUT SCENES. Abrams already said he won't release a director's cut, but looking online I was shocked that some scenes that would explain ALOT were cut from the film. Really disappointing.
I re-watched the original 3 after, in fact just a few weeks ago. I greatly appreciated them ten times more than I did when I was younger. Last time I watched them was probably 10 some years ago. They are such great films! Which ultimately made me dislike Episode 7 more and more as time went on.
That said though, I am looking forward to the other movies.
davemerrill wrote:
We saw it while in Atlanta for Xmas, and I liked it a lot. We were there with my 7 year old nephew and he liked it a lot too. It pretty much felt like a Star Wars movie I felt like I was 7 again myself, seeing the original in the theater. I got lucky and avoided most of the spoilery plot details people were throwing around.
I pretty much felt the same way! It really gave me a similar feeling of when I saw the first SW film way back as a kid, so mission accomplished I think! I know a lot of people had issues with the movie, but the original films aren't perfect either, but still manage to be fun, so that's how I viewed it. I'm looking toward to seeing what the rest of the films will be like with all these new plot points they set up.