PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Dec 18, 2015 23:53:01 GMT -5
My response is largely going to be copied and pasted from our discussion on Facebook about this:
I don't mind a lot of the stuff about ROTJ, like the Ewoks, that most people tend to dislike at all. My only real complaint about the film is that the First Act in Jabba's Palace can be trimmed by maybe ten minutes. Other than that, it hits all its notes with precision. Also, the quieter, character-driven moments like the scene between Luke and Yoda, the one between Luke and Leia, etc. have real weight to them, as does the film as a whole. And it has the best climax out of any of the films. Return of the Jedi is epic, weighty, fun, adventurous -- everything you want in a Star Wars film. I might say Empire Strikes Back's darker tone maybe doesn't fit as well with the established tone of the series, but it's still a strong film and that's another discussion.
Before you pull out the "Empire Strikes Back is darker" card: did Star Wars NEED to go darker, though? Jedi and A New Hope would make me say no, because both those films are gripping and involving without having to go dark. The last 45 minutes of Empire are awesome, but apart from the Dagobah scenes, a lot of the rest of it kind of felt like filler to me. And to me, the whole sequence with Luke, Vader and The Emperor was much more deep and thoughtful than most of the stuff in Empire Strikes Back. As good of a movie as Empire is, I couldn't shake the feeling that it was like watching a newly-21 year-old being excited that they just turned 21 and they're just trying to capitalize on the perks of the age without stopping and pacing themselves. There's some legitimately good scenes in it, but I find the charm of Episodes IV and VI is that they execute as well as they do while defining the characters in ways where you don't need to stop and pontificate about anything. |
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Dec 19, 2015 17:27:45 GMT -5
My response is largely going to be copied and pasted from our discussion on Facebook about this:
I don't mind a lot of the stuff about ROTJ, like the Ewoks, that most people tend to dislike at all. My only real complaint about the film is that the First Act in Jabba's Palace can be trimmed by maybe ten minutes. Other than that, it hits all its notes with precision. Also, the quieter, character-driven moments like the scene between Luke and Yoda, the one between Luke and Leia, etc. have real weight to them, as does the film as a whole. And it has the best climax out of any of the films. Return of the Jedi is epic, weighty, fun, adventurous -- everything you want in a Star Wars film. I might say Empire Strikes Back's darker tone maybe doesn't fit as well with the established tone of the series, but it's still a strong film and that's another discussion.
Before you pull out the "Empire Strikes Back is darker" card: did Star Wars NEED to go darker, though? Jedi and A New Hope would make me say no, because both those films are gripping and involving without having to go dark. The last 45 minutes of Empire are awesome, but apart from the Dagobah scenes, a lot of the rest of it kind of felt like filler to me. And to me, the whole sequence with Luke, Vader and The Emperor was much more deep and thoughtful than most of the stuff in Empire Strikes Back. As good of a movie as Empire is, I couldn't shake the feeling that it was like watching a newly-21 year-old being excited that they just turned 21 and they're just trying to capitalize on the perks of the age without stopping and pacing themselves. There's some legitimately good scenes in it, but I find the charm of Episodes IV and VI is that they execute as well as they do while defining the characters in ways where you don't need to stop and pontificate about anything. Empire is not the best because it's darker, but because it's the most thoughtful, gripping, dramatic, and richest film of the series. Plus, Empire is not THAT dark. The film is still full of the humour, charm, and adventure that defines the series, but it also goes a little further the other way. Anyway, Return definitely doesn't have the best climax. The Death Star Trench run is a classic action sequence and Luke's first deal with Vader is positively epic. Return of the Jedi has some elements of an awesome climax, namely the Luke/Vader/Emperor stuff, but having the Empire defeated by a few teddy bears on a forest is ridiculous. Also, the supporting characters are made a lot less interesting. Bad ass motherfucker Han Solo is given almost nothing to do and the formerly snappy and aggressive Leia is rendered almost entirely passive once they get to Endor. |
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Post by Neverending on Dec 19, 2015 23:47:50 GMT -5
People are criticizing The Force Awakens because it mimics A New Hope. Have these people seen Jedi? They built another fucking Death Star and the plot is too destroy it. Are you... fucking kidding me?
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Dec 20, 2015 0:53:18 GMT -5
But this makes it the THIRD time a 'death star' is used. On top of that throw in the 'droid with secret information' with the character on the desert planet (if it's not Tattooine then why did if have to be desert? Clearly trying to throw back to Ep. IV), a Han Solo chase ending in his blast into light speed, another cantina, another shot of a planet (or planets) being destroyed by the new Death Star, and so forth. The first thing I thought when leaving the theater was 'that was a fun movie...it was A New Hope but still a fun movie.'
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Dec 20, 2015 1:30:49 GMT -5
It isn't THAT big a deal to me because both Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens imitate A New Hope very friggin well. Plus, I find Jedi to be a pretty awesome amalgam of the best parts of both A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. I said Return of the Jedi MIGHT be my favorite, but it could very likely be A New Hope if you ask me again in a few days.
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Jan 29, 2016 20:26:35 GMT -5
Call me crazy, but even though Gilda is supposed to be this classic film noir (which is now in the Criterion collection), the movie is only okay.
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Post by PG Cooper on Jan 29, 2016 20:34:50 GMT -5
Call me crazy, but The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is just a few tweaks shy of being something of a masterpiece. The more I watch that movie, the more I love it. And, call me crazy again, but The Hunger Games might be in the running as one of my favorite film franchises ever. Call me crazy, but The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is just a few tweaks shy of being something of a masterpiece. The more I watch that movie, the more I love it. And, call me crazy again, but The Hunger Games might be in the running as one of my favorite film franchises ever. Call me crazy but I think the Hunger Games is one of the biggest botched opportunities in film history. There is a good premise at the center of the series but it's squandered at ever level by dumb teenagery YA bullshit. The first movie, while far from perfect, is easily the best of the three and actually does have some power because it realizes how disturbing its premise should be and actually critiques society in a way that isn't completely superficial. The second movie gets way too much credit for being more of a traditional action movie and the way it sets up a second hunger games tournament feels like a really lame means of re-treading the first movie and the fact that the tournament is being played by "returning champions" completely robs it of whatever power the first movie had from being about children unwillingly thrown into a violent situation. Also the ending of that movie is dumb and doesn't hold up to scrutiny. The third movie at least goes off formula but everything else about it is infuriating. It takes this character, who's supposed to be this icon of resistance and paragon of female strength and spends a whole movie with her pouting about her fucking boyfriend instead of actually helping this revolution she's sparked. Somebody needs to teach these teenagers that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world, there was a time when people understood that but now, apparently not so much. People on the internet complain about romantic sub-plots too much but this lame love triangle really is a huge cancer at the center of all this, it didn't make sense from the beginning and its gotten worse and worse as the series went on. The only thing worse than a bad movie is a bad movie that you can so easily picture being turned into something worthwhile with a handful simple modifications and that's what makes these movies so infuriating. |
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Jan 29, 2016 21:57:39 GMT -5
Kinda late to the party on that one, aren't ya?  |
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Deexan
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Post by Deexan on Jan 29, 2016 22:05:18 GMT -5
Shots fired.
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Jan 29, 2016 23:26:53 GMT -5
Be clear, the only things I intended to "roast" in that post were the movies, I meant no disrespect to PhantomKnight
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Post by Neverending on Jan 29, 2016 23:30:36 GMT -5
Be clear, the only things I intended to "roast" in that post were the movies, I meant no disrespect to PhantomKnight You leave the bad cop routine to frankyt . |
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Post by Deexan on Jan 30, 2016 0:02:51 GMT -5
frankyt is too busy paying three hundy bucks for gig tickets for him and one of his women.
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Post by Neverending on Jan 30, 2016 0:06:42 GMT -5
frankyt is too busy paying three hundy bucks for gig tickets for him and one of his women. Ticketmaster is his new enemy. |
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Post by Deexan on Jan 30, 2016 0:25:06 GMT -5
This thread is flawed as nobody on this website is sane.
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Feb 2, 2016 11:19:32 GMT -5
Kinda late to the party on that one, aren't ya? Heh, I was re-reading old posts the other day and it just amused me. Call me crazy, but A Christmas Story is a bad movie. |
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Post by Doomsday on Feb 2, 2016 11:50:34 GMT -5
frankyt is too busy paying three hundy bucks for gig tickets for him and one of his women. Ticketmaster is his new enemy. That's why you use Stubhub. |
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Feb 10, 2016 21:48:55 GMT -5
Call me crazy, but the Mike Nichols movie Closer is great.
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Post by Doomsday on Feb 10, 2016 21:52:19 GMT -5
I loved Closer when I saw it. It also holds the distinction of being the movie where the most people walked out of my theater. Sooo many walkouts it was funny.
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Post by Neverending on Feb 10, 2016 22:04:41 GMT -5
Call me crazy, but the Mike Nichols movie Closer is great. I loved Closer when I saw it. It also holds the distinction of being the movie where the most people walked out of my theater. Sooo many walkouts it was funny. I saw it in 2004. I don't remember if I liked it or not. Although I thought Garden State was the better Natalie Portman movie of the year. |
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Feb 10, 2016 22:07:34 GMT -5
It was the first movie I wrote a (short and terrible) review of on CS. Liked it a lot at the time, haven't really thought much about it since.
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Post by Neverending on Feb 10, 2016 22:12:03 GMT -5
It was the first movie I wrote a (short and terrible) review of on CS. Liked it a lot at the time, haven't really thought much about it since. Don't stress out about it. Doomsday's first review was for The Nutty Professor II. |
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thebtskink
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Post by thebtskink on Feb 10, 2016 22:21:42 GMT -5
Call me crazy, but the Mike Nichols movie Closer is great. I loved Closer when I saw it. It also holds the distinction of being the movie where the most people walked out of my theater. Sooo many walkouts it was funny. I saw it in 2004. I don't remember if I liked it or not. Although I thought Garden State was the better Natalie Portman movie of the year. Garden State is the only movie I've ever walked out on. Self indulgent bullshit, with a shitty soundtrack and impossibly emo sentiment |
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Feb 10, 2016 23:18:03 GMT -5
I saw it in 2004. I don't remember if I liked it or not. Although I thought Garden State was the better Natalie Portman movie of the year. Garden State is the only movie I've ever walked out on. Self indulgent bullshit, with a shitty soundtrack and impossibly emo sentiment The sentiment was twee, not emo. Get your cultural stereotypes straight.   |
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Post by Jibbs on Feb 10, 2016 23:53:56 GMT -5
My first CS review was "The 6th Day." Oh yes, I go back.
Pretty sure it was the first review on CS, too.
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Post by thebtskink on Feb 11, 2016 0:16:50 GMT -5
Pretty sure the first X-Men movie was the reason I signed up.
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