as if "Greedo Shoots First" (GSF) wasn't insult enough

[cathaarsix]

i saw the final installment of the Star Wars franchise on Saturday, and here's my take: deeply flawed. one the whole, it was worth my seven dollars, if only beause i can now complain about how terrible the movie was. a few points which were particulalry eggregious

Comments

[the_mad_laugher]

Your points are sound. That said, I didn't think it sucked quite as bad as you said. I understand your hatred of the Frankenstein scene. It was laughably done, Lucas really didn't have to have him yell like that. But, if you think about it, he just went through all this shit to save Padme, only to discover 1. He's in a fucking robotic suit for all time--I bet he didn't have much of a say in that, and 2. his wife is dead, so he couldn't actually control life and death as promised

Re: I still think George Lucas made Ep. 1-3 on a dare.

[the_mad_laugher]

My theory re: the actors is actually that, for most of them, just being a part of SOMETHING Star Wars outweighs the normal concerns about quality of directing/dialogue, and that, as you say, is definitely a strike against them. I was merely saying that I've seen other movies with most of the main actors, and they were far better actors in those movies than in the Star Wars films. This is both a fuction of their lowered standards and the fact that George Lucas can't direct people very well.

Re: I still think George Lucas made Ep. 1-3 on a dare.

[the_mad_laugher]

Here are a just a few reasons:
Return of the Jedi (don't forget, Ian McDiarmid was in both)
Trainspotting
Pulp Fiction
Shattered Glass
Big Fish
Pillow Book
Jackie Brown

I would throw in some Natalie Portman movies if I thought she was a good actress, but I think she's been in movies that were good in spite of, not because of, her presence.

I love our lj debates. :)

Re: I still think George Lucas made Ep. 1-3 on a dare.

[cathaarsix]

who acted well in Pulp Fiction? Samuel L. Jackson made his name in that movie playing a one-dimentional gangster with delusions of erudition, and that character, whom i will refer to as Samuel L. Jackson, was the same character he's played in nearly every movie he's been in since. he's an entertaining hack, but not a good actor.

and Pillow Book was shite; Orientalism in the worst way.

Re: I still think George Lucas made Ep. 1-3 on a dare.

[the_mad_laugher]

OK, but I'm sure you will agree that, disagreements about the philosophy of the Pillow Book notwithstanding, most of these actors acted better in those movies than the Star Wars prequels would suggest (even Samuel L. Jackson).

Re: I still think George Lucas made Ep. 1-3 on a dare.

[cathaarsix]

true; even Jackson seems wooden, and in other films he's, at worst, just a parody of himself. and it's true that McGregor has better in him.

to me, the biggest acting disappointment was Ian McDiarmad. the Emperor in the original movies was low-key, and that only served to underscore his truly malificent bad-assness. in ep. III, he was an embarrassingly cartoonish buffoon. (at least when the makeup went on)

Re: I still think George Lucas made Ep. 1-3 on a dare.

[ex_dvk]

Dignity < Millions of dollars for being in a star wars film.

[cathaarsix]

Lucas clearly doesn't really understand women, and to say his depiction of Padme was one-dimensional would be overly generous. the issue of his pathetic depiction of Padme is something i've actually been discussing on another friend's LJ today, in paralel to this discussion

[tetetetigi]

I stand by my statement that Leia would have kicked her own mom's ass if she knew what a wimp Padme was. Sure, she loved herself a man, too, but when he was in trouble she risked her neck to save him the second she got the chance instead of wringing her hands and moaning to herself. Not to mention shooting about as many stormtroopers as either of her male counterparts, choking a gangster to death (one who outweighed her by about a ton), falling off of a speeding air-car without killing herself, and encouraging a band of primative teddy-bear-men to fight for her. All without messing up her hair. Plus, she was sassy.

(No, I didn't want to be Princess Leia when I was a little girl... ok, maybe a little).

[cathaarsix]

yeah; Leia totally rocks. and Padme's contrast to Leia is so stark that it makes her all the more pathetic. but then that's the case with this whole new trilogy; it's so much more pathetic in every comparable aspect to the original trilogy.