Seen the film I have
Star Wars: Episode III
I have mixed feelings about the film, since it had lots of the same faults as the two previous ones, but it also had some very good sequences and got much better in the second half of the movie. It was also surprisingly violent. I still prefer the original ones, but this was ok. 7/10.
Just a random observation: I though Alderaan (? - the place where Bail Organa takes Leia) looked just like Darkover would look if there was ever a film about the books.
Short verdict: the first half was almost painfully bad at times, though the rescue operation was cool. The film got better in the second half and by the end it was pretty good.
What I liked:
- Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson makes a very cool jedi), Bail Organa, Yoda
- they at least had one token female jedi in the council
- Palpatine's expert twisting of Anakin's mind
- Hayden broods and glowers well
- Anakin turn to the dark side was believable and the film made me feel sympathy for Darth Vader and the tragedy of it all
- the darkness of the film, especially in the latter half of the movie
- it looked great, especially the space battles & Coruscant
- they did manage to tie it fairly well to the original trilogy
- the ending scene on Tatooine - just perfect!
What I didn't like:
- they only had one token female jedi in the council
- the dialogue and story were occasionally unbelievably corny (well, that's what people have come to expect from Lucas...)
- the FX creatures still look very plastic-y (General Grievous, the thing Obi-Wan is riding, etc.)
- Palpy's instant decay (though it could be explained by his heavy use of the dark side in that scene)
- continuity errors (Leia remembers her mother in ROTJ, but in this film Padmé dies seconds after her birth..)
- the burning of Anakin was really gross
Before the film I saw a trailer for Fantastic Four which could be ok, but it could just as well continue the line of crappy comic book adaptations. I just can't buy Jessica Alba as Susan Richards and Ioan Gruffudd (though yummy) just doesn't feel old enough to play Reed Richards.
The Count of Monte Cristo
I watched this after I got home from SW. It was a nice adventure/romance story if you totally ignored the fact that it was supposed to be based on Dumas' book. I liked both Jim Caviezel and Guy Pearce in their roles. The woman playing Mercedes was pretty forgettable.
[sarcasm]The film has some very vague resemblance to this French book by the same name[/sarcasm], but most of the stuff was totally new. I do understand that books have to be modified and cut when adapting them to film, but this was a completely new story with only some of the names, a bit of the revenge plot, the imprisonment at Chateau d'Ifi, and the treasure kept intact. I really wanted to throw things at the tv while watching the extras where the scriptwriter was talking about the changes he made to the story: how the book just didn't work on film, since it didn't even have any sword fights, etc.
I have mixed feelings about the film, since it had lots of the same faults as the two previous ones, but it also had some very good sequences and got much better in the second half of the movie. It was also surprisingly violent. I still prefer the original ones, but this was ok. 7/10.
Just a random observation: I though Alderaan (? - the place where Bail Organa takes Leia) looked just like Darkover would look if there was ever a film about the books.
Short verdict: the first half was almost painfully bad at times, though the rescue operation was cool. The film got better in the second half and by the end it was pretty good.
What I liked:
- Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson makes a very cool jedi), Bail Organa, Yoda
- they at least had one token female jedi in the council
- Palpatine's expert twisting of Anakin's mind
- Hayden broods and glowers well
- Anakin turn to the dark side was believable and the film made me feel sympathy for Darth Vader and the tragedy of it all
- the darkness of the film, especially in the latter half of the movie
- it looked great, especially the space battles & Coruscant
- they did manage to tie it fairly well to the original trilogy
- the ending scene on Tatooine - just perfect!
What I didn't like:
- they only had one token female jedi in the council
- the dialogue and story were occasionally unbelievably corny (well, that's what people have come to expect from Lucas...)
- the FX creatures still look very plastic-y (General Grievous, the thing Obi-Wan is riding, etc.)
- Palpy's instant decay (though it could be explained by his heavy use of the dark side in that scene)
- continuity errors (Leia remembers her mother in ROTJ, but in this film Padmé dies seconds after her birth..)
- the burning of Anakin was really gross
Before the film I saw a trailer for Fantastic Four which could be ok, but it could just as well continue the line of crappy comic book adaptations. I just can't buy Jessica Alba as Susan Richards and Ioan Gruffudd (though yummy) just doesn't feel old enough to play Reed Richards.
The Count of Monte Cristo
I watched this after I got home from SW. It was a nice adventure/romance story if you totally ignored the fact that it was supposed to be based on Dumas' book. I liked both Jim Caviezel and Guy Pearce in their roles. The woman playing Mercedes was pretty forgettable.
[sarcasm]The film has some very vague resemblance to this French book by the same name[/sarcasm], but most of the stuff was totally new. I do understand that books have to be modified and cut when adapting them to film, but this was a completely new story with only some of the names, a bit of the revenge plot, the imprisonment at Chateau d'Ifi, and the treasure kept intact. I really wanted to throw things at the tv while watching the extras where the scriptwriter was talking about the changes he made to the story: how the book just didn't work on film, since it didn't even have any sword fights, etc.