Episode 3

[WayAbvPar]

Anyone actually seen this yet? Comments? Thumbs up? Down? Sideways?

I haven't seen III yet, but Sideways is an excellent movie  :-D

[schild]

Anyone actually seen this yet? Comments? Thumbs up? Down? Sideways?

I haven't seen III yet, but Sideways is an excellent movie  :-D

We've already discussed Sideways here, but let me just say "BAD WAP, NO DESSERT FOR YOU."

[WayAbvPar]

Anyone actually seen this yet? Comments? Thumbs up? Down? Sideways?

I haven't seen III yet, but Sideways is an excellent movie  :-D

We've already discussed Sideways here, but let me just say "BAD WAP, NO DESSERT FOR YOU."

No merlot for you!

I liked it. Sue me.



And now, back to III. I am half-excited, half-resigned about seeing it. But see it I shall.

[Riggswolfe]

I enjoyed it. I'll put it this way. It was better than the Tatooine and Ewok parts of Jedi but not as good as the final Father/son confrontation part.

So I'd rank the movies like this:

ESB
ANH
ROTS
ROTJ <-Ewoks killed it.
TPM
AOTC <- oddly boring

This movie actually had some fairly emotional moments for me. Totally unexpected. Most of them came during the scenes of the Jedi purge. I didn't expect to have an emotional reaction. I think it was the look on the faces of the various jedi when they realized they were being betrayed. That and John Williams score at that point. Both epic and sad.

[Shockeye]

No, no. You don't have to thank me.

[schild]

I wish you had the second picture from that series where the stormtrooper is pointing at the preggo screaming "Served Served Served" after punching her in the bellyface.

What? Too far? Ok.

[HaemishM]

DONKEY PUNCH... HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

[Sky]

Where's Triumph and Fake Spock when you need them?

[Viin]

I haven't seen III yet, but Sideways is an excellent movie  :-D

Funny that, I just saw it last night for the first time. Not too bad of a movie, though a little slow in the beginning.

Does give me some ideas for my vacation to CA next spring...

[schild]

I haven't seen III yet, but Sideways is an excellent movie  :-D

Funny that, I just saw it last night for the first time. Not too bad of a movie, though a little slow in the beginning.

Does give me some ideas for my vacation to CA next spring...

Better book your trip now, every yuppie and soccer mom will be doing the same thing.

Fucking Sideways. It's a plague on the middle to lower-upper class.

[penfold]

lol @ the myopic Darth Maul in the photo above.

If your going to go to all the effort of shaving your head, attaching littlle horns and wearing full make up, take off your glasses.

Anyway, Ep3 was brilliant, i loved every moment of it.

[MaceVanHoffen]

Fucking Sideways. It's a plague on the middle to lower-upper class.

Agreed.  However, just as there do exist people who dearly love to play shitty games, there exist people who enjoyed Sideways.  My current theory is that they aren't really human, being some sort of subhumanoids that enjoy bad acting, arrogant presumption, pulling the wings off of pixies, and possibly eating babies.  Or maybe I've been reading about Ann Coulter too much and she's rubbed off on me.

[WayAbvPar]

Fucking Sideways. It's a plague on the middle to lower-upper class.

Agreed.  However, just as there do exist people who dearly love to play shitty games, there exist people who enjoyed Sideways.  My current theory is that they aren't really human, being some sort of subhumanoids that enjoy bad acting, arrogant presumption, pulling the wings off of pixies, and possibly eating babies.  Or maybe I've been reading about Ann Coulter too much and she's rubbed off on me.

This is coming from the same guy who loved the Matrix trilogy. Suffice it to say that you and I have VERY different opinions about movies  :-D

[MaceVanHoffen]

This is coming from the same guy who loved the Matrix trilogy. Suffice it to say that you and I have VERY different opinions about movies  :-D

Yes, but my opinion is right.  Now, go drink some Merlot and watch Keanu kick Agent Smith's ass.  Repeat as often as necessary until you see the error of your ways.

[MrHat]

It's worth watching.

The dialogue was painful at times, and I think the theater I was at was a bit out of focus.

Thumbs up, if for anything else than to end this shit.

I left really wanting to watch Episode IV-VI.

[stray]

I decided to just to go see it today and.......


Lucas is NOT such a douchebag, after all. I thought it was pretty cool. I'll agree with Riggs, except that I thought it was better than the first (but not better than Empire Strikes Back....but it's very much in the spirit of it).

And in a strange turn of events, I actually appreciated all the kids in the theater for once. It made me feel like a kid again. When they laughed at the silly stuff, I also laughed. When they wailed.....Well, I didn't actually follow suit on that one, but I was touched.

I think I like Star Wars again. Is that bad?

EDIT: Oh, I forgot to mention. They showed a preview of the Chronicles of Narnia. Whoa. Looks fantastic.

[Abagadro]

ESB
ANH
ROTS
ROTJ <-Ewoks killed it.
TPM
AOTC <- oddly boring

This movie actually had some fairly emotional moments for me. Totally unexpected. Most of them came during the scenes of the Jedi purge. I didn't expect to have an emotional reaction. I think it was the look on the faces of the various jedi when they realized they were being betrayed. That and John Williams score at that point. Both epic and sad.

This is almost identical to what I was going to say, right down to the rankings and the part where I was mildly choked up. The only difference would be that I think ROTS and ROTJ are roughly equal, although repeat viewings will be necessary for a true opinion.  You just have to ignore the lame-o dialogue (i.e. basically whenever two people are speaking).  Christiansen I thought was suprisingly good considering the garbage he was given to work with and that he has to carry much of the picture.  Much appreciation for McGreggor as he elevates things quite a bit and McDormaid is good at chewing up the scenery.  Overall a good flick and worthy of the Star Wars moniker.  It was very packed with plot.  I have no idea why some of this couldn't have been shifted back into the trilogy to make the previous two much more interesting.

Oh, I forgot to mention. They showed a preview of the Chronicles of Narnia. Whoa. Looks fantastic.

I agree with this too. Goblet of Fire looked good too.


EDIT: My only other beef is that Lucas seems to have some compunction (in addition to his hand-cutting-off fetish) to have to fill the screen with ships buzzing around for no particular reason. Half the time it looked like the actors were at a picnic being attacked by gnats.  Very distracting.

[schild]

The people who are saying it's bad aren't being near honest enough.

The people who are saying it's good are just giving Lucas the pity vote.

I can't trust anyone anymore. Fucking Star Wars hasn't been remotely good since Empire, you bastards. You all deserve Sideways.

[stray]

Damn you. I'll just say it:

IT'S FUCKING GREAT.

I loved it. I want to see it again this weekend.

[ahoythematey]

I thought it was very good when you consider the audience generally knows the outcome of the film, but I did have some issues with it, as I have had with all the Star Wars movies, actually.  The music was fucking amazing, edging out Return of the Jedi as my favorite score in the series.  I recognized the emotional moments in the movie, but they didn't affect me nearly as much as the father-son dynamic did in Jedi.  It's important to realize I generally consider Jedi my favorite, though, so maybe my tastes are really backwards.

[MaceVanHoffen]

It's important to realize I generally consider Jedi my favorite, though, so maybe my tastes are really backwards.

Mine too.  Though, ESB is a very, very close second.  I just love the scenes with Luke, Vader, and the Emperor on the new Death Star.  That dialogue is fantastic, which is really rare in a Star Wars movie.

Le sigh.  Looks like I'll have to see Ep. III in the theatres.

[Murgos]

I'll say Ep III was good.  I don't think I can call it 'special' like I would ANH or ESB or even Jedi but having just left the theatre my impression is, pretty good.  It will take time I think to figure out where this one fits in overall though.

It's easily as good as Spiderman 2 or X-men 2, better if you can get past a few cringe worthy lines and deliveries.

[Johny Cee]

The people who are saying it's bad aren't being near honest enough.

The people who are saying it's good are just giving Lucas the pity vote.

I can't trust anyone anymore. Fucking Star Wars hasn't been remotely good since Empire, you bastards. You all deserve Sideways.

It's not bad.  It's ludicrously uneven.  You have B-movie schlock (any of the Anakin/Padme angle) sandwitching some generally great moments (Anakin leading the clones into the Jedi Temple).  Worlds better than the last two prequels.

Is it just me,  or did anyone else find the fights uninteresting?

The best moments for me, mildly spoiler like:




Obi Won takes out General Greivous.  A buddy leans over to me and says, "Bah, I hate stage 3 bosses"

The crowd cheered when Anakin busts in on the kids in the temple and it became obvious why he was there....  That tells you something about where the franchise has gone, I think.

[Riggswolfe]

The crowd cheered when Anakin busts in on the kids in the temple and it became obvious why he was there....  That tells you something about where the franchise has gone, I think.

We had totally different crowds. My crowd cheered during some of Artoo's heroics at the beginning of the movie and when Yoda made his entrance into the Emp's chambers towards the end.

However, from about the moment Anakin led the clone troopers into the Jedi temple until pretty much the last of the purge scenes you could have heard a pin drop. Utter silence. I'm not even sure anyone moved.

[Abagadro]

Same thing here Riggs.

[stray]

Is it just me, or did anyone else find the fights uninteresting?

Only at the beginning. Besides that, I thought it was all pretty cool shit.

Didn't have a shitty crowd either.

[Abagadro]

Whack-a-droid was tired, but I thought most of the rest was cool.

[Ironwood]

Am I missing something ?  Where's WUA views on this ?  Or did we, for maximum irony and because it's RDW, ban him to stop him from commenting ?

 

[stray]

Am I missing something ?  Where's WUA views on this ?  Or did we, for maximum irony and because it's RDW, ban him to stop him from commenting ?

 

He probably had a heart attack.

In the meantime, I'll take his place.

edit: Actually, I'm not quite up to the task.

[WindupAtheist]

I caught a midnight showing with my dad, and another the following afternoon with a friend.  I thought it was very, very good.  Hayden Christensen pulled some acting ability out of his ass for this one, Ewan McGregor was in top form, and Ian McDiarmid was a blast.  The only one who rubbed me the wrong way was, surprisingly, Portman.  Then again, most of the (surprisingly few) shitty lines that made it past the "filter" did end up in her lap this time around, so maybe it's not her fault.

The movie clipped along at a solid pace, striking a good balance between plot and action, and managed to avoid bogging down.  Palpatine's conversion of Anakin was reasonable and well planned, totally unlike his rather tactless "THE MORE YOU HATE ME, THE MORE YOU ARE MY SLAVE! NO REALLY, IT FOLLOWS!" pitch to Luke in the final episode.  The montage of the Jedi being gunned down actually choked me up a little, thanks largely to the music.  The lightsaber duels were fast and well-choreographed, and the less-important ones (Anakin vs Dooku) were wisely not allowed to drag on for too long.  The final battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan was just brilliant from start to finish, best duel of the entire series.  And unlike the Darth Maul battle in Phantom Menace, we actually got to see this one, without cutting away to a bunch of Gungans and other dumb shit every few minutes.  Yoda trying to take down the Emperor was cool, but it didn't have the emotional impact of the Skywalker/Kenobi fight.  From Anakin's supremely arrogant "You will try!" before leaping at Obi-Wan, to his pathetic "I had you!" snarling as he lay there dismembered, it was great stuff.  And McGregor genuinely managed to convey a feeling of bewilderment and crushing disappointment in his last words before walking away to let Anakin burn.

So yeah, I'll give it a 9 out of 10, and put it right up there next to Empire.

[stray]

Hmm...That was...Strange.

A well thought out and coherent review. I was expecting more "Muhahaha!" or something 

[Furiously]

It is odd - I was thinking just a couple nights ago, maybe what made episodes 4 and 5 so good was the score.

I can recall nothing from 1 and 2 that made me think of their scores.

How good would Indiana Jones be without the Indy theme?

[Merusk]

It is odd - I was thinking just a couple nights ago, maybe what made episodes 4 and 5 so good was the score.

I can recall nothing from 1 and 2 that made me think of their scores.

How good would Indiana Jones be without the Indy theme?

The score helps A LOT.  Of Ep1 & 2 all I remember is the Duel of Fates, which I also think is the only really good part of EP1.  I've said to my wife a few times that you can tell Willams' composing style has changed quite a bit over the last 30 years.  The music from the first trillogy relates to the recent only very loosely.   Listen to the new scores he added to the SE and DVD editions and it's the most blatant.  The 'Jedi Rock" song vs Lapti Nek (which fit a lot better in Jabba's Palace) and the ending celebration song vs the most-hated Ewok song.  The originals, although not fantastic works, meshed better with the whole score.

[WindupAtheist]

My rankings as of right now:

#1. The Empire Strikes Back - I actually preferred ROTJ when I was younger, but ESB grew on me with age.

#2. Revenge of the Sith - Given time to think on it, this may displace ESB eventually.  Yes, I liked it that much.

#3. Return of the Jedi - I saw this one theatrically at age six.  A sentimental favorite.

#4. A New Hope - Oddly enough, I was never that high on the original.  Fun, but kinda weightless.

#5. Attack of the Clones - Solid except for the romance, which there was too much of.

#6. The Phantom Menace - This really dragged in the middle.  Plus Jar Jar sucks.  But it's still Star Wars, so yeah.

[Pococurante]

(..) grew on me with age.

Tred lightly - this ways lies bitterness that Lucas is light-weight entertainment rather than religious doctrine for He That Represents My Frustration With Maturity.