Attack of the clones

[frogboy4]

Unfortunately or actually - fortunately I spent my free time last weekend attending the Puppet Guild meeting and Cyndi Lauper's club apperance. I will likely see Clones in a couple days. I wanna see some Yoda kick-butt action!

 

[sidcrowe]

Froggy

Well, OK, as long as it's a puppet guild meeting and Cyndi.

Thou art forgiven for thy Clone lateness

 

[frogboy4]

There was a George Lucas debate in the breaks of the guild meeting. Sheesh- people more opinionated than I am. It was great!

 

[beaker]

Just saw EPISODE TWO!

Well, being the last person one the planet to see Attack of the Clones, I took in an early show 2 weeks after the release. I just have one thing to say: Spiderman is giving this movie competition(with fans seeing Spiderman over and over).

Forget the critics, Episode Two has to be one of the most explosive and insanely epic of the saga next to the masterpeice Return of the Jedi (Ok, in my book I doubt if anything could come close to the glory of Jedi). But I liked this one mountains over the the awkward and epicless Phantom Menace or the sterile gloomy Empires Strikes Back.

This film has it all...surprising revelations, all out warfare, romance(Which I didnt find to be bad at all) humor, an awesome bad guy named Jango Fett, and most of all out of hand visuals. I walked out of Spiderman feeling cheated and let down. I walked out of this one feeling triumphant and laughing at all the bad reviews.

So Star Wars fans who havent seen this one, WOW. Spidey doesnt have anything on this bad boy! And one other thing...Sam Jackson's Mace Windu and Oz' Yoda are MAIN characters finally. as we get to see Yoda kick some butt with a light saber.

 

[frogboy4]

Finally saw it! B-

Okay, maybe just a B, but that's mainly because Lucas has had 5 friggin' tries to get it right.

However, I did enjoy it very much. The dialoge was stale in parts, but it passed quickly. There were some chuckles at the screenwriters' expense throughout the theater.

Jar Jar was in it a lot more than I was told. Cut that dude out! And I'm still weirded by the negative racial stereotypes in the film. What's with that anyway?

The film skyrocketed on screen with much momentum and later sagged around the first third. I think a good 15 minutes could have been snipped out of the pic and saved for the DVD, but Lucas has never been much of an editor...or really a director. He's much more of a creator in my opinion and there were some great creations!!

The love scenes were pretty terrible and that is due to poor dialoge and direction. They do pass quicky, though I checked my watch about 5 times!

Once the film gets going again I am blown away! Some really great stuff. The very apparent pixelization of the digital image was a little distracting, but that is forgiven after some of the spectacular scenes. C3PO belts out a few one-liners that cracked me up a little. Good to see him back in top form.

Yoda totally kicks some major butt! I love my Yoda!! Worth the price ot the ticket right there.

Now, I did give Spiderman an A to A- grade. Why? They are entirely different films, but there were no slow moments in it. It's easier to make such a fantastic film with an enormous budget, but Spiderman was also thick on charm. Toby McGuire's nuanced performance made him just as thrilling out of the Spiderman suit and that's why I liked it a bit more (and so does much of America it seems). The only thing I would have changed about that was the Green Goblin's mask. Dafoe can be disturbing enough to freak us out without it.

We're talking Star Wars anyway. Great film - a must see. See it digitally projected, but sit around the middle to the back of the theater.

 

[Drtooth]

Last one? I haven't seen it yet, Beaker! (I was saving up for them Muppet Figures) And the way things are going, I'm going to wind up seeing Lilo & Stitch before that! I dunno why, probably waiting for the "Fandom Menace" to die down, and see it at my lesure!

 

[scarylarrywolf]

Well, I'm glad to see that some people liked it. It seemed more like George Lucas' "TO-DO" list to me somehow. It was wonderful to see Yoda so much, but he wasn't a PUPPET! They ought to be ashamed!

It seems to me that with each movie comes more and more CG. I like it in backgrounds, Special FX, and completely animated movies; but when they use it to make characters in films with real actors in it, it seems cheap to me. I guess it's a lot easier to contrast with real footage. That's just my point of view on it.

Although it was nice to see more of the plot unfold, I didn't see it as one of Lucas' better films. Or maybe I'm just jealous of that guy they've got playing Anakin...

--"Scary" Larry Wolf

 

[sidcrowe]

Star Wars

Hi, y'all.

I got my DSL back.

Attack of the Clones?

Episode II was a disappointment. The original Vader was played by a retired British bodybuilding champ; even covered with a helmet, David Prowse gave Vader a sense of menace and power simply by the way he carried himself. Christensen is too skinny. Are we supposed to believe that he gains well over 100 pounds between the upcoming episode III and IV? And how about the acting? I want darkness and mystery from a young Vader, not whining and pouting. His romance with Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) has no fire, and their dialogue is terrible. Oh yes...the dialogue–it’s weak throughout the entire film! Of course, the constipated talking compliments the wooden acting. Sure, CGI effects look great, cost less money and can be tweaked endlessly, but they ensure that the performances will suffer when used too much. Surrounded on all sides by blue screens and talking to characters who exist only as markers with name tags day in and day out relentlessly erodes the strength an actor can put into a character. Back in 1979-80 when Episode V was being filmed, Mark Hamill was surrounded by a big mess of real fake trees and mud on Dagobah, and Yoda was a real Muppet interacting with him in realtime. That’s why Luke Skywalker’s Jedi training scenes were so believable–Hamill and Frank Oz were two real actors on a real set who had time to get used to each other and the place they were in. They believed in it, and, each other. That simple, foolproof situation is in very short supply with Episode II. The few comedic lines spoken by C-3PO are just stupid. At the very least, couldn’t we have a few good laughs with the droids? The emotional high point of the film is when Anakin begins to slaughter Sandpeople, and it’s cut short before it really gets going. We should’ve seen Anakin trembling and soaked in blood after it was over, but no, it’s merely implied and then told to us in another weak scene from Christensen. The best scene is the lightsabre battle between Yoda and Count Dooku, but it’s too short and leaves little payoff. Count Dooku, played by the 79 year-old Christopher Lee, is for my money the best thing about the film, and he was also freakin’ awesome as Saruman in last year’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, which also brings to mind a comparison with the summer of 1999. Back then I had three expectations for three films. I expected Episode I to be great, Muppets From Space to be fun, and the South Park movie to be crap. I was wrong with all three. The event of a new Star Wars movie proved more exciting than the movie itself. The Phantom Menace was weak, and also spoiled by the baffling stupidity of Jar-Jar Binks and the pitiful acting skills of Jake Lloyd as Anakin. I was further sickened by Lloyd’s appearance in a Star Wars Pepsi commercial that year as well. Muppets From Space was garbage. In a summer that had the return of Star Wars after 16 years, it would have been a piece of cake to do a send-up of all things sci-fi. But no, the movie was a crummy “caper” thing that took place on a few boring sets, with a predictable ending that ruined the mystery of one of my favourite Muppet characters–the Great Gonzo. Let down by both George Lucas and the Henson company, I had zero expectations at that point for South Park: Bigger. Longer & Uncut. That film was a surprise. It was filthy, to be sure, but it was also smart, very funny and had a good story. Its greatest strength was in its music. The New York Times called it “...the best movie musical in years.” The point is, after Episode I and Muppets From Space, I began to wonder if I was the one with the problem, but South Park reminded me that I was right. I’m not jaded, I just know the difference between quality and crap. The Lord of the Rings, released so late last year may as well have been a 2002 film, and it has become my surprise great movie for this year, not Episode II. It’s the little things that count, and there’s a scene in Episode II where Anakin floats a bit of food across a table to Padme and she catches it and eats it. The CGI made easy work of floating the food and giving it a shadow as it traveled, but at the moment when it was eaten, the little scene failed. And, after all the reviews of the film that I’ve read before writing this, it is that scene which gives me a metaphor all my own to end this with. Taking a quick, playful bite out of a piece of fruit can’t be replicated by CGI, because there isn’t any way to compensate for the fact that Natalie Portman wasn’t really eating anything, and it shows. Episode II is like that bit of CGI food: technically flawless, yet unreal. It provides no nourishment as it frustrates and disappoints. Still, I liked it anyway.

 

[beaker]

Sidcrowe: if you didnt like Episode Two, go see Minority Report ASAP. I think this film will wash away any sci fi let downs you mgiht have had this year. I was severely disappointed with
Blade 2 and Spiderman, and AOTC was ok(in between bad and masterpiece) but I took in a preview of Minority Report a few days ago and was blown away. I'd clal it Blade Runner and The Matrix meets Memento.

 

[frogboy4]

sid and beaker (My summer at the movies)

I too was let down by the latest Star Wars film, but not as much as you guys seem to be. The dialog has always been rather corny, but the last two films have been at an all time low in that department.

I certainly wouldn't beat down the actors for Lucas' horrific lines. I wonder how he could ever have gotten married with such cheesy lines meant to be romantic. He's really the ultimate sci-fi goof IMHO. I think Portman and Christianson tried to rise above the garbage and put in capable performances. Lucas may be a good creator, but a crummy writer/director and don't get me started about editing.

That aside I was entertained enough to be willing to see the film again with a friend. B-

Minority Report
Incredible disappointment. Ick, ugh, thump. Kind of clunky IMHO. I really got rather bored, knew the ending in the first five minutes and didn't really care about the characters. All the FX were exploited in the previews so that didn't impress me much either. I just expect more from Speilberg, but after this and AI - I am beginning to put him out of my must-see film list. The whole thing just made me want to see Blade Runner and see how a real sci-fi action film should be. Definite C- I think the public sees this as a weak film too as it really didn't pack the punch it should have at the Box Office, but that's a moot point considering that Scooby Doo has done so well and received so many negative remarks from critics and auds.

Spiderman, however, was just what it said it would be and more. Yeah it could have been better in some spots, but I really enjoyed it. A pretty evenly-paced pic and a great performance by Mcguire made it even better when he wasn't in the suit. The CG was over-the-top, but those who moaned about that missed the point in my view. No one can move that fast, but this guy is Spiderman for pete's sake. Geez. LOL!
About an A for me.

If you liked Memento go see Insomnia. It's not as great but it's still a good film with powerful perfomances by three Oscar winners. What else can you ask for? B+ or A- can't decide.

Bourne Identity was okay. It really could have been more than it was. From what I read much subtext was stripped away from this pic and Julia Stiles pops up in a peculiar place with one of the most inane performances I've seen in years! It really is almost lauguable. For that the film loses an extra point and sinks to a C+

I still think I'm rather kind (I've been told) when I rate films. very few deserve an A IMHO but I really liked Spidey! A film really has to bite to get an F. Even AI gets a D- from me so that says a lot.