Star Wars Saga (OT/PT/ST) Discussion Thread

[JMT1979]

It's really not though. Both of these films were well reviewed. Very high production value, great practical and digital effects. Directors that know how to get good performances out their solid cast. The Disney era corrected some of the key complaints aired about the prequels, namely how horribly stilted and sterile they had become. What they lacked was a creator's vision which - combined with the relentless schedule - quickly snowballed into a major problem.

There's things to enjoy about the prequels. John Williams absolutely crushed it, and there is a ton of nice design work. They're still mediocre movies though, romanticized now because they were bad in different ways to more recent stuff.

I don't like the PT or the ST, but I do think ROTS is a great movie, and TFA was decent, albiet completely unoriginal and copy of the OT.
Yes, TFA and TLJ were well reviewed by critics, but they don't represent the view of 99% of people, and are often very wrong.TFA is 7.8/10 on IMDb, while TLJ is 6.9/10 and is very decisive movie.
I'd argue the the ST is much more sterile than the PT, but they are much less stilted.

 

[henzINNIT]

Yes, TFA and TLJ were well reviewed by critics, but they don't represent the view of 99% of people, and are often very wrong.TFA is 7.8/10 on IMDb, while TLJ is 6.9/10 and is very decisive movie.

I wouldn't say critics are often wrong. Rotten Tomatoes for instance, being an aggregate of general approval, is a fairly solid indicator of whether you'll like a film. It isn't a flawless system and high approval can simply mean everyone thought it was good enough, but there aren't many examples I can think of where the numbers seemed particularly off.

I don't think critics should dictate any individual's view of a movie of course. There are some terrible reviewers out there too. On the whole though I value that voice over online fan aggregates. Your imdb or rt user votes etc. may be a larger pool, but still a niche of all people in the end. And generally I find more insight from people who talk about films professionally than the people motivated to score a film online.

 

[JMT1979]

I wouldn't say critics are often wrong. Rotten Tomatoes for instance, being an aggregate of general approval, is a fairly solid indicator of whether you'll like a film. It isn't a flawless system and high approval can simply mean everyone thought it was good enough, but there aren't many examples I can think of where the numbers seemed particularly off.

I don't think critics should dictate any individual's view of a movie of course. There are some terrible reviewers out there too. On the whole though I value that voice over online fan aggregates. Your imdb or rt user votes etc. may be a larger pool, but still a niche of all people in the end. And generally I find more insight from people who talk about films professionally than the people motivated to score a film online.

Each to their own, but I find critics to be out of touch with the average movie goer. While IMDb is by no means perfect, and is a niche audience, it is still the vote of normal people and not critics who are influenced by sponsors, preferences and politics. Of course this impacts normal viewers on IMDb, however it is more likely that the audience on IMDb are more politically balanced then the heavy left-wing bias that permeates critics and Hollywood. It does seem that this divide is a more recent (last five years-ish) thing, as I used to find them a reliable indicator.

The Rotten Tomatoes audience score is a much better indicator than the critics score, however I prefer IMDb as it is a rating out of ten, rather than a percentage of people who rated a movie/show at 3/5 or higher.

 

[xipotec]

I'd take 7 & 8 over the PT any day. I'm not surprised to see Star Wars fans hating Star Wars things, that's a given. I did not anticipate such a big u-turn on the prequels though. The numerous flaws of those are just as apparent as they've always been. I find it so bizarre.

I was very disappointed by TROS though. That is probably my least liked of all of them.

I think this is a visceral reaction from those whom saw the PT with a child's eye. When your young, you just do not nitpick so much, which is what alot of the criticism of the ST is, (and a healthy dose of failed hero worship, by that I mean the hero turned out to be human with flaws, lots of people hated that.)
Lord knows I am defensive of the OT, and it has ALOT of flaws and inconsistancies….to outright crazy stuff….


On a side note, while watching it, I noticed Phasma’s armor blocks lasers, and she appeared to have a Beskar spear??

They say her armor is “Chromium” but since we really know nothing about beskar, its possible thats whats it made of.

Among some of the bad calls the ST did make, one of them was not letting us have Phasma look like this…..she should have ditched the helmet after the Starkiller base debacle.

 

[TurdFurgusonsHat]

All these new garbage Marvel shows remind me that I need to box up and sell whats left of my Marvel figures that aren't Iron Man, Endgame Cap, and Thanos.

 

[Prime Clone]

On a side note, while watching it, I noticed Phasma’s armor blocks lasers, and she appeared to have a Beskar spear??

They say her armor is “Chromium” but since we really know nothing about beskar, its possible thats whats it made of.

Among some of the bad calls the ST did make, one of them was not letting us have Phasma look like this…..she should have ditched the helmet after the Starkiller base debacle.
View attachment 590361

Nah, I was happy for the helmet to stay on. Last thing I wanted was more GoT crossover mania.

Incidentally the Story Group says her armor was fashioned from the hull of Palpatine's Naboo cruiser. Because, y'know, everything in SW has to connect.

 

[Prime Clone]

 

[xipotec]

Nah, I was happy for the helmet to stay on. Last thing I wanted was more GoT crossover mania.

Incidentally the Story Group says her armor was fashioned from the hull of Palpatine's Naboo cruiser. Because, y'know, everything in SW has to connect.

Oh yeah, I get that, I kinda forgot about the whole GOT hysteria….but I think its a good look.

 

[JMT1979]

All these new garbage Marvel shows remind me that I need to box up and sell whats left of my Marvel figures that aren't Iron Man, Endgame Cap, and Thanos.

They're the only MCU characters I have left other than Spider-Man (Tech and Iron Spider). I also have EG Thor as I have the EG trio standing together,

 

[Prime Clone]

Oh yeah, I get that, I kinda forgot about the whole GOT hysteria….but I think its a good look.

I guess if helmetless Boba and helmetless Kylo can pull it off...

 

[Asta]

 

[abake]

You guys are on fire... been laughing for the last five minutes

 

[Khev]

 

[Asta]

 

[Otomofan]

Don't know if "Light and Magic" from Disney + has its own thread, or if it really needs one, but it's good. Just watched the first episode, not expecting anything that I haven't seen before, and was pleasantly surprised to see there's still some good stuff out there that's still "new."

What an amazing crew of unbelievably talented artists. What fun it must have been to be in that crew in the late 70s, just smoking weed all day (you can tell) and being a hippie with a beard and just making models, painting backgrounds, filming and photographing stuff....it looked like an absolute blast. And you can tell in all the interview segments with the surviving artists, all looking like old hippies with their white beards and bald heads, reminiscing about their personal "Woodstock." That year working on Star Wars had to be one of the very best of their lives.

And that's just the first episode!

It's nice to see the old stuff again....washes the taint of Disney out of your mouth. I imagine the back half of the series will be all about the shiny CGI crap Disney churns out now, but at least we can take a trip back to the 70s and revisit the days when it was all practical effects. Man, what an experience that must have been. These guys' life stories are almost as interesting as the movies they made!

 

[Asta]

"I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in warm, slobbery and slightly chewed..."

 

[abake]

Don't know if "Light and Magic" from Disney + has its own thread, or if it really needs one, but it's good. Just watched the first episode, not expecting anything that I haven't seen before, and was pleasantly surprised to see there's still some good stuff out there that's still "new."

What an amazing crew of unbelievably talented artists. What fun it must have been to be in that crew in the late 70s, just smoking weed all day (you can tell) and being a hippie with a beard and just making models, painting backgrounds, filming and photographing stuff....it looked like an absolute blast. And you can tell in all the interview segments with the surviving artists, all looking like old hippies with their white beards and bald heads, reminiscing about their personal "Woodstock." That year working on Star Wars had to be one of the very best of their lives.

And that's just the first episode!

It's nice to see the old stuff again....washes the taint of Disney out of your mouth. I imagine the back half of the series will be all about the shiny CGI crap Disney churns out now, but at least we can take a trip back to the 70s and revisit the days when it was all practical effects. Man, what an experience that must have been. These guys' life stories are almost as interesting as the movies they made!

Hmmm... wasn't interested in this, but I'll give it a watch.

 

[choombaz]

Don't know if "Light and Magic" from Disney + has its own thread, or if it really needs one, but it's good. Just watched the first episode, not expecting anything that I haven't seen before, and was pleasantly surprised to see there's still some good stuff out there that's still "new."

What an amazing crew of unbelievably talented artists. What fun it must have been to be in that crew in the late 70s, just smoking weed all day (you can tell) and being a hippie with a beard and just making models, painting backgrounds, filming and photographing stuff....it looked like an absolute blast. And you can tell in all the interview segments with the surviving artists, all looking like old hippies with their white beards and bald heads, reminiscing about their personal "Woodstock." That year working on Star Wars had to be one of the very best of their lives.

And that's just the first episode!

It's nice to see the old stuff again....washes the taint of Disney out of your mouth. I imagine the back half of the series will be all about the shiny CGI crap Disney churns out now, but at least we can take a trip back to the 70s and revisit the days when it was all practical effects. Man, what an experience that must have been. These guys' life stories are almost as interesting as the movies they made!

I’ve watched the first three and it is really terrific. Not really telling me anything I didn’t already know but it’s much more in depth than I was expecting and refreshing that they don’t sugar coat things like the disagreements that Lucas and Dykstra had. Plus they always seem to find yet more just gold behind the scenes footage.

It’s a very comprehensive collection of interviews from these people, really impressed that they spoke to people like Dykstra, Rose Duignan and Harrison Ellenshaw.

And it gets quite moving at times. Hearing Dykstra try to verbalise what it felt like not to be invited to Marin. Or Joe Johnston explaining how it felt to move and their family being split up. The talk a bit about the whole Battlestar Galactica aspect and one of my favorite moments is when Phil Tippett really opens up about his mental health struggles and how the work helped save him.

It’s gratifying that all of the clips Kasdan has shown so far is NOT from the special editions but from the original film.

I can’t stop thinking about this show.


And yes I agree, it deserves its own thread!

 

[Otomofan]

Yeah, I was amazed at the restraint shown to actually show the movies in original form in HD. Not a single mention of the Special Editions, either.

It gets really "digital happy" for the last two episodes but even that has some fun stuff we haven't seen, in addition to a lot of stuff we have of course.

But yeah, you nailed it on the head. The reason this is so interesting is cause it's about the PEOPLE more than the product, which almost all of the other behind the scenes stuff focuses on. Really interesting to hear from these artists in such an unfiltered way.

 

[Prime Clone]