Any hardcore Star Wars fans out there? If so than you already know that the preview for episode 2 is attached to Monsters Inc... If you dont feel like paying 7 bucks to see the 60 second preview, you can either download it from starwars.com (but you need to have quicktime pro, a 30 dollar program, if you want to watch it full screen...) Or, you can watch it on tv for free today, it will be on Total Request Live (MTV)...
Personally, I havn't seen it yet, but I cant wait!!!
If it is half as bad as episode one, you won't be able to pay me to see it.
The last Star Wars was like fraggle rock meets battlestar galactica.
Jar Jar ruined it for me, but even without him it would have stunk.
The first star wars movie I ever saw was episode one. It's also the last I'll see as well. Just my thoughts...
The originals are awesome Ben. Don't knock 'em, until you've seen 'em.
i actually like ep1. we tend to forget that star wars is a child/dream movie. it has many many layers ... but it has to have that top surface level first. it's not as good as the original trilogy ... but it's still damn good. but that's just my opion.
oh, and i already say the preview at monsters inc. then walked out of the theater. but it wasn't in vain ... we say "from hell" which started 10 mins later.
it was a good teaser trailer. i'm very excited to see how it all goes down.
go to kazaa.com and u can download the trailer for free
or apple.com/trailers ... just not the largest one.
I just saw it on tv and all I can say is WOW!!!!
And I've had some pretty serious problems with Kazaa. I would download a song or a trailer, then go to play it and my whole computer would freeze up. Sometimes it would freeze up when I would try to delete the same file later. Then it started causing random errors on other programs. It sucked.
About 5 months ago an Episode II preview surfaced on kazaa, I think the one you mentioned. It is pretty cool, especially the 4 Mandalorians and the Braveheart-like Jedi rush (so many lightsabers...damn thats cool!). But this is a different preview than the trailer running before Monsters inc...the new preview has no sound except for Vaders breathing and some lightsaber sounds at the end. Lots of quick shots of different carechters, just enough to get you pumped for more. Very cool stuff!!!
The Jar-jar kinda "mauled" (bad pun, that) episode I - far as I understood the script, he wasn't originally part of it and was thrown in for "foil" value - I hated him.
The middle three episodes - IV, V and VI were actually quite awesome, and have become, like it or not, a part of our culture, and it takes one hell of a movie to do that.
Of course, me...I wanted to FLY me an X-wing...and LucasArts eventually handed that one to us on a silver platter (X-wing, Tie Fighter, Addons...X-wing va Tie, etc), much to the delight of the now-much-older-crowd who can now afford a computer.
C'mon, admit it, some of us geezers really get a kick out of bearing down on an imperial star destroyer's shield generators with wild eyes and a big nasty grin thinkin "oh yah, this asshole's MINE" as we power through the engine wash to ditch the wing of Tie's zooming up our tail.....
(FYI, don't play me at X-wing vs Tie unless your ego can handle what'll happen to you, been at this longer than some of you been alive, kiddies...)
Episode I does have a few good points, however...particularly one begins to understand the motivations behind the person who eventually became Darth Vader, and especially why he backed Senator Palpatine's play to dispose of the imperial senate (we didn't learn from the Romans either, look at how corrupt OURS are!).
It also pointed out to me one of the reasons Yoda never interfered with Vader, which is apparently because he felt responsible....the "balance" of the Force mentioned in said prophecy was a dark jedi of much power, and the councils pride would not allow them to view it that way - so in trying to defy it, they caused it.
For those with such interest, Episodes VII, VIII, and IX have been published as books authored by Timothy Zahn, and they're quite good (Thrawn makes Vader look like a wuss..) but as usual, the plot-confusing "offshoots" are as worthless as they ever were...the original plot's solid as a rock tho.
-R
I just wonder if Lucas though he 'done good' on the Episode 1 movie
Did he watch the final cut and think "Wow, this is so much better than the original Star Wars!"
Or was he aware that it was lacking in the energy, style and depth of the original movie?
He must have known it was a little weak.
i've heard lucas was pleased. and i think he should be. let's not forget that star wars (original) is really silly on several levels. look at it a bit more critically some time ... it has some cliche lines and other cheezy acting bits.
but ... we grew up on it. and so as we got older, we began to develop the layers underneath and star wars became an essential part of our culture. any sequel fights an uphill battle.
I thought that the Star Wars trilogy was improving with each episode--- which is why I was so let down by Episode I.
I think you're right, though, about the age group I was in. when I saw the original star wars, it was magic, awesome, and I feel like I left the theater in 'shell shock' from what I'd seen. I was prolly 6 or 7 years old.
One of my problems with Episode 1 was the conflict between the Jar-Jar's and the rival race that they learned to get along with. They thought we were stupid....we thought they were stupid....
I didn't think Darth Maul was very scary, and I wanted some of the gory stuff from the other movies. Like taun taun guts spilling into the snow, hands getting cut off, some of the more shocking stuff. it seemed a little "G" rated.
I thought Starship Troopers was a lot better than Episode one.
Don't get me wrong-- I hope Lucas is teasing us with a "campy kids movie" and has something darker, scarier, and more 'raw' in store for us.
Sometimes, the sequel is better-- When I waited for Episode one to come out, I was thinking: If Lucas could make star wars with hardly any money at all, then he'll be able to perform miracles with all his current resources.
Does anyone else think Episode one looked more like a Jim Hensen production than something from LucasArts?
Damn Wayne, you really didn't like episode one at all!!! Was it as good as the original trilogy? No. The original trilogy blazed trails through the movie making jungle. But, episode one wasn't supposed to be some huge, gory drama. It is an introduction to the star wars universe, and I'll be the first to admit that it was geared towards kids. Think about it this way...all the 8 year old kids of the world went and saw episode one and said WOW. Those same kids will be around 11 years old when episode 2 comes out, and this time the story starts to get darker. Then, when episode 3 comes out (the darkest of all 6 movies - pretty much everyone is gonna die) those kids will be 14, old enough to handle the movie and understand the violence.
I've had this discussion with many people before. Most people didn't like jar jar binks. He was to comical, had a stupid accent, whatever. But, is one character really enough to make you hate the entire movie? If so than I'm going to have to say you are too judgmental. These are Lucas movies, we have to accept that he is not making them for us, he is making them for himself. Personally, I've looked past the comic relief so many people hate jar jar for, and look at him as the digital masterpiece that he is. I think it is amazing that ILM can make a digital character who can create such a reaction from America (love him or hate him, you noticed him, and 90% of the criticism was that he talked/acted stupid, not that he looked fake. You've got to at least give him that.)
I hope that everyone who hated episode 1 goes to episode 2, by all means it should be a better movie (lucas is past the grand introduction, now its time to tell some serious story...the clone wars baby!). And if you hated episode one because of jar jar you might be interested to know that he has a very small part in this movie (only a couple of scenes from what I understand). And we get to see Mace Windu and Yoda kicking some ass, that alone is worth the price of a ticket..
I knew it wouldn't take long... go to
http://www.theforce.net/episode2/index.html
and you can see still photos from the Episode 2 trailer. Cool Stuff!!!
oh ... and the jar jar tirades ... keep in mind that jar jar and his people were probably a bit less annoying than the ewoks or c3po. remember all c3po's insipid comments during the original trilogy? he was put in for comic relief. so war jar jar.
also ... a recurring theme of lucas' star wars universe is (ironically) a taunt against technology. think about it. who defeated the empire in the final battle? a single jedi w/ no major weapons and a force of ewoks (talk about primitive ludites). they took down the most technologically sophisticated galactic power. the death star can destroy an entire planet ... but a band of ewoks can help bring it down.
the battle in which jar jar's people defeated the robot army was similar. outnumbered, they fought bravely. and they used slingshots ... so it was in keeping w/ the ewoks motif, but a bit more realistic (since the slinghots threw energy balls of some sort). but notice their armor ... it was samurai fashion (esp when you saw their "cavalry") ...and army based on honor and simple courage defeated battle droids.
just like the original trilogy ... the first was clearlygeared toward kids. but if you look at it carefully enough .. you see the hints of darkness. for example, look at anakin's face when confronting the jedi tribunal. if you look closely, you can already see that he thinks he's better than them. you can already see him going "dark side".
Can anyone suggest some films--? Here's what I want to find out:
How many films actually get better in the 2nd, 3rd etc?
We know most of the 'awesome' movies degenerate into sequels that shouldn't ever have been made, but some get better.
I'm thinking of this, because I really hope the X-men (and presumably Spiderman) have blockbuster sequels, with original cast and higher production quality with each new film.
I thought Spawn was great-- was kind of hoping for a sequel on that one.
Before the price went up to 1.50 a book, I used to love comics, and collected them. The ones I didn't buy I'd read in the drug store. Love comic book movies.I like some of the DC movies, but I read and collected Marvel comics only--- never bought a single DC issue, but I did collect a few of the smaller comic labels... Ralph Snart, Freak Brothers, a few others.
Batman was great, I thought. Batman II good (but I thought the end with the exploding penguins was the 'cheeze' that made it not as good as the 1st.)
I've heard some say that if you remove the second movie, the Indiana Jones 'Trilogy' gets better in the sequels (the last one with Sean Connery was pretty good..haven't seen it all)
Any thoughts?
I too love comic book movies, and still buy comics when I've got extra cash (the average price these days is 3 bucks an issue, pretty pricey). They are writing the script for x-men 2 as we speak, and all of the original cast is returning, as well as Brian Singer (director). Should be pretty cool. And I'm pretty sure that the spiderman crew is all signed on for 3 films. The rights for a spawn sequel just got transfered to another production company, and Todd McFarlane is hard at work on the new movie - I think he is executive producing it, and has described it as more of a crime story (like Seven) with a lot less emphasis on special effects and more on the story and characters themselves. Your theory about sequels getting worse as they go perfectly describe the Batman flicks - I loved the first, the second was pretty good (Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman... Hello Kitty!!!), the third was crap and after I saw the last one at the $1.50 movies I felt I had wasted my money. But there is hope, the next batman flick is an adaption of Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, and is being directed by the guy who did Pi and Requiem for a Dream. Personally I think all 3 of the Indy movies kick serious ass, and cant wait for the 4th (rumored to go into production after Lucas finishes episode 3). Did you like Blade? There is a sequel to that coming out soon... But now that you got me thinking about it, I cant think of any sequels that are better than the originals (except for maybe the Back to the Future trilogy...but the 3rd one was kinda cheezy.) The exception has to be the original star wars...Empire Strikes Back is 10 times better than A New Hope. Some other exceptions are the Godfather movies, and Romancing the Stone/Jewel of the Nile...I guess Kevin Smith movies don't really count as sequels, though they all have the same characters running through them (clerks, chasing amy, mallrats, dogma, and Jay & silent bob strike back). Were the Eastwood flicks (fistfull of dollars, few dollars more) sequels? Its been so long since I've seen them that I can't remember...
>>How many films actually get better in the 2nd, 3rd etc<<
Star Trek, the first film was pretty damn good, and topped the series by a longshot - then Wrath of Khan really blew the doors off.
and then, it went kinda downhill, Admittedly.
Wrath of Khan is an alltime fav and classic of mine, not only for the acting, but the real asskick musical score that backed it up so well.
(You ever want Sound Bites in Wav, or the theme in MID format, just howl)
What else ?
Mad Max/The Road Warrior/Thunderdome...Thunderdome was perhaps a little weak on some points, but the story progresses and gets deeper throughout all three, and they do improve along the way.
Escape from New York/Escape from LA.
The exact same movie, twice, more or less...it's a "B" grade movie, but in the context of Carpenter wanting to write a "B" western-style movie, it does exactly what it was intended to...and if you watch both, you'll consider the sequel better.
Alien/Aliens/Alien3/Aliens-Resurrection.
With the possible exception of 3, it just gets better and better...especially to those with a more complete understanding of the storyline via DarkHorse comix.
(FYI - the now-extremely-rare game Alien vs Predator for Atari Jaguar introduces the idea of Alien vs Predator and touches on why....)
So not all movies go downhill as sequelized, just most of them.
-R
Terminator One, T2
I wish there were a part 3
what, are you promoting this movie?! The first one was (and is) a horrible hunk of shit!! Please for christ's sake stop these CGI shit-fests! This shit is cool if you're eight. If you're a grown person, SHUT UP!!! Awful, awfullness... More movies about real people and real things... like mopeds.
yes. i like cgi movies. i hope actors are some day obsolete. but in all seriousness, cgi allows us to do things we can't otherwise. that's why we have anime. and not all cgi (or even animation or "cartoons") are for children. but it's another art form.
i wouldn't say that "akira," for example, is for an 8-yr old.
but i wouldn't mind seing movies about mopeds. ;-)
I'm sure I'll get criticized for this but I love ALL the star wars movies. Alot of you have already pointed out a part of why some people don't like it but here's what I think: Some of you went in expecting to see the same thing again but with more expensive tech stuff. It's a whole other section of the story. I'm a kid at heart, and an adult physically. I see both sides of the coin and love them both. Sure, it was hensen like, I absolutely LOVE Jim Hensen's stuff. I think the main thing is though that so many people went in expecting to have 20 minutes of background and and hour of pure special effects fighting scenes. This is the beginning. It's the storyline and how it was carried out that matters. I even liked the whole jar jar angle. Also, for whatever reasons whoever said it gets darker from here on in is right. This is the beginning we only see hints of what everyone moreover liked about the original 3 releases. Also, yes I'm a movie buff. I may not know all the technical words for things in a movie (I can say plot!), but I know what I think is good and done the way it should have been. BTW, I was one of those people who waited outside the theater to get tickets - since I live in a smaller town we only had to get in line at 2am the morning they started selling tickets. We were 13, 14, and 15.
Wyn
when i saw ep1, i loved it, but i felt like it was a little short. when the credits showed up i was like, thats it? it left me begging for more, i can't wait for the other two movies to come out, and it would be cooler if another trillogy came out based after ep6 :) but i don't like to think about the state of old age lucas would be in :(
originally star wars was supposed to be a trilogy of trilogies ... so there would be 9 episodes. because of the age considerations, lucas opted to abandon eps 7-9.
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