Any star wars fans here?

[JWK]

Ah yes- boba being the clone, i really should have realised that, oh well...

[Cine_Man]

Personally, I can't think of a more cynical act by a "director" than to make yet ANOTHER of these atrocities.

Not a film.... a "show".

Dialogue and acting were "walk-through's".

Because real-live actors are speaking to blue-screens, eye lines are characteristically bad.

24p Hi-Def video origination shows a lot of "noise" in the blacks. Worst in the bar scene, where:

a. Plot point satisfied for formula-movie: A Jedi cuts somebodies arm off.
b. There are a whole bunch of alien cross-dressers who are not alarmed in the slightest, and are listening to bad "music" which was still in style twenty-odd years later.

Funny thing, there was "advertising" in the streets of Coruscant which there never was in any of the other movies. BTW "coruscant" means "glittery".

Oh, and as Chris Farley (RIP) would say... n'member that part where the senior Dark side guy cuts off the arm of his son, or whoever, at the end, after the junior jedi won't join him.... THAT WAS AWESOME! (I'm being facetious).

Lessee..... when Annie gets to his mom RIGHT the minute before she finally expires, after a month or two of torture, because nobody in all that time has been able to catch up with her kidnappers, but it doesn't take the lad more than a few hours, she says.... Oh Annie your so handsome...."... Not, "Lets GTF out of here...." Haydn better stay handsome, cause its all the "acting" he's going to get to do for some time, now. Can you say "Mark Hamill"?

I could go on, but whats the point.
I swore I would not see this movie, even on a bet... but was forced to go to check it out, to see if the PG rating would be a problem for my daughter, who is begging to see this thing. I will take her, to show her that it is an even worse "blockbuster" than "Brigadoon", and on condition that she will NOT drag me to the third, or is it the sixth?, wich I shall not be attending.

Thank you.

[JWK]

LOL!

touched a raw nerve maybe?

LOL!
Just curious cine, but what do you consider to be some of the best current and past films? You seem to be an avid theatre afficionado, tell me, what should i be watching?

oh yeah- have you seen 'Arsenic and old lace'?

cheers

[Cine_Man]

Arsenic and Old Lace.... Cary Grant.... aka Archie Leach.
Related to Robin Leach.... "and I don't know why..." of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous".

I work in the cinema industry.... no I don't take tickets or make popcorn.
I am actually on the "production" side.

To be perfectly honest, I can't recommend anything thats currently in the theatres, and not for years. Unless you're into starlets bouncing and jiggling around.

Well, that wouldn't be so bad, but ;you can get the same thing for free if you know what to look for...

There's no point in recommending a whole bunch of one-off auteur-artiste indies... because there's no distribution.

Tell you what, though... start at the beginning.
Do a Film Studies 200-level course -- look up the syllabus at your local college and go rent the films on tape or DVD. It'll be the same experience and you'll end up with the same qualifications as the students of the college (who tend not to finish because they blow off the school stuff because they get gigs as seconds and assists if there's a movie shooting in their town).

Look at the Lumiere brothers, DW Griffiths, Chaplin, the films of John Huston, the entire Italian Neo-Realist catalogue (Rosellini, Fellini, etc.), the American Film-Noir (I especially recommend "Out of the Past" with Robert Mitchum -- "You do believe me, darling" -- "Baby, I don't care....") They don't write'em like that anymore... except as re-makes -- Out of the Past was remade in the eighties as "Against All Odds" with Jeff Bridges and James Woods (Woods in the heavy role which was originally, and better, done by Kirk Douglas.) But Hollywood has started doing that -- regurgitating its own catalog -- and they've been doing it for nearly twenty years now.
Imagine Formula One if it was the same outcome racde after race.... oh wait a minute... that is what's happening. Oh, well.


Oh, a couple of other things about"Clones"...
It really WAS a joke in "Galaxy Quest" when they used the "stomper" machines that the actors had to dodge...
It really WAS a joke when they started artfully ripping bits off Sigourney Weaver's jersey.
I find it interesting that no matter how fast or how high a vehicle is travelling, that an individual can be "Thrown Clear" and roll to a safe landing and leap to one's feet ready for combat -- clothing miraculously intact and immaculate....

It really IS true that the Force only works on the "weak-minded" -- Mr. Lucas has been experimenting with it for decades now.

OO
[Cine]<
/\

[Henrik]

Funny how a thread about Star Wars turns into a discussion (diskussion) about the value of modern movies!

I can't say I have entirely the same opinion as you Cine, as there are recent movies that I have enjoyed watching. Sometimes it can be very entertaining just to pass 2 hours of pleasure without having to think about what the director is trying to show you.

Living in a French speaking area I have seen a few Goddart movies, and I never enjoyed them. Being Swedish I have seen a number of Bergman movies, and I can't recall ever having laughed or cried at the end. Their movies no doubt have immense artistic value, and I am sure you could point this out to us, but they have not stirred any emotions in me, instead they have only left me with questions.

Some action movies leave me feeling thrilled. As an example I can remember seeing Speed for the first time, not knowing anything about the movie. When I left the theater, I was exhausted! The movie, although probably not a great piece of art, stirred some emotions in me, and I enjoyed it. Other movies, such as Usual Suspects, totally blew me away as the end unfolded. I can think of others where just the acting has left me stunned, such as Awakenings. There are comedies that have had me howling with laughter, such as Something About Mary. I have enjoyed all these movies, and THAT is what I want from a movie.

As for Star Wars, well I never was one for sci-fi movies anyway...

[Cine_Man]

Your reactions are (and encapsulate) the beauty and mystery of the cinema.

Sometimes it is enough to leave the theatre with more questions than you had at the beginning. Thats where David Lynch comes from.

I can't say that I'm an enormous fan of Bergman...there were some magical moments in "Fanny and Alexander", for me... and one of his classics, "Wild Strawberries", I hold in more fondness because of the mastery demonstrated by Sven Nykvist, his DoP (Director of Photography).

I don't mind escapism... when it is superbly done.
You would NEVER, EVER expect my wife to be a "Die Hard" fan... but she's seen it, I think about 6 times, which baffles me because she's a total Edwardian-period-piece, Jane Austen type -- but DH just keeps gettin' better every time....I think it actually has more to do with Alan Rickman

Speaking of whom... Rickman has a small role (No, I'm not talking about Harry Potter), with Kevin Kline and (first appearance) Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (of "The Abyss") in a film directed by Norman Jewison called "The January Man". Its quite an enjoyable little serial-killer mystery, with some wonderful little human moments.
There is one scene in which Kline is debriefing Mary Elizabeth, in the hopes, actually, of de-"brief"ing her... when something happens between them that just took our breath away (the first time we saw it, anyway). Very simple scene, elegant acting, deft touch by the director. It felt totally real. Well worth the rental... no big explosions.

Cine_...

[SrrhLovesMovies]

Have you ever seen Cries and Wispers? There is a sweeedish movie I 'll never forget (unfortunatly). There is a scene in there with a woman and a borken glass botlle...very very scary. Almost Peter Jacsonish....

BTW I finally saw the "attack of the clowns" thingy....
1) It's not a very good movie but it is great entretainment.
2)It's much better then the "phantom menace"...
3)I hope episode three has no scenario, as the acting ruins the nice special effects...lol

Srrh