Red Tails

I just watched Red Tails, and WOW. I like the Prequels and even I thought it was an almost total flatline. It wasn’t even outright bad per se, just very very bland, and felt like it was missing some… key ingredient.

I mean, where to start. Even the editing. The delivery of lines. The lines themselves.

Red Tails to me is how most of you here see the PT, I imagine.

It’s funny because I noticed/liked the opening text/color of the text in relation to the other colors on screen and it reminded me of the title card/credits of the documentary George did on Coppola’s movie The Rain People. (I think it was Rain People).

I’d say one of the biggest things that dragged the movie down was the constant cockpit dialogue.
The acting was good/fine outside of those.

Is Ben Burtt a bad editor? Is Anthony Hemingway a bad director? Is John Ridley a bad writer?
How much did GL shoot himself? Do we know specifics?

Chlorine said:

I like the Prequels

Suspicion level increasing.

Chance for idiocy to occur in (ab)normal amounts, rising.

😉

Unwatchable

Mocata said:

Unwatchable

Nah, just very outmoded and bland.
Still better than the CW superhero shows that I watch/used to watch before I gave up on them.

Ryan McAvoy said:

‘Red Tails’ was the best film Lucas had made for some time but it’s still got those Prequel problems. I suspect Lucas used the same modus operandi, shoot the movie, see what you got and then re-shoot 50% of it against a green screen. The difference is that unlike the prequels, there was a decent Director and solid cast for principle photography.

I disagree, I think the PT is much better than Red Tails.
At the very least it was better in terms of musical Score, cinematography (Tattersall>Aronson), and editing (Burtt did both, but Lucas did interesting (IMO) things in the PT such as intercutting Vader’s “birth” with Padme’s death that Red Tails didn’t do.)

I’d bet Lucas did all that cockpit stuff on a green screen himself afterwards (Just my theory), as Hemingway is a proven talent with actors. He Directed half of ‘The People v. O. J. Simpson’ which was one of the best Directed/Acted TV shows of recent years IMO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EioYvZ_jaAc
I see Hemingway directing the cockpit footage. (1:25).
Lucas is in the background in other shots, but he’s not telling the actors what to do. Hemingway is.

SilverWook said:

The IMDB claims Lucas directed reshoots, as Hemingway was busy on another project by that time.

Maybe he did, but Hemingway directed cockpit footage too, as per my above youtube link.

No way to know, it seems.

Chlorine said:

but Lucas did interesting (IMO) things in the PT such as intercutting Vader’s “birth” with > Padme’s death that Red Tails didn’t do.)

I’m guessing this idea came from the discussion he had with Peter Jackson during the LOTR filming.

Ryan McAvoy said:

Chlorine said:

No way to know, it seems.

But we can guess based on the sharp decline in quality in many of the green screen sequences. It’s the same in the PT, to a lesser degree. Whenever AOTC cuts to a green-screen re-shoot, the performance takes a nose dive.

I mean, why would you guess against the video evidence of Hemingway directing green screen cockpit footage?

Also, i’ve always wondered- why does Ewan have a fake beard in the re-shoots? Why did he shave if he knew they were coming back?

Jetrell Fo said:

Chlorine said:

but Lucas did interesting (IMO) things in the PT such as intercutting Vader’s “birth” with > Padme’s death that Red Tails didn’t do.)

I’m guessing this idea came from the discussion he had with Peter Jackson during the LOTR filming.

What makes you think that?

Because during the filming of the LOTR Trilogy Peter Jackson specifically discussed conversations he had about ideas with George Lucas? I could be wrong, wouldn’t be the first time.

😉

Jetrell Fo said:

Because during the filming of the LOTR Trilogy Peter Jackson specifically discussed conversations he had about ideas with George Lucas? I could be wrong, wouldn’t be the first time.

😉

I just mean that my editing example was very specific, and we don’t know what Jackson and Lucas talked about.

Though I do not have a transcript of their probably private conversation, the Extended ROTK and ROTS endings have a very similar feel and flow, unless you’ve never seen the former, I’m sure others here know what I’m talking about.

http://www.starwars.com/news/the-cinema-behind-star-wars-the-lord-of-the-rings

http://www.theonering.com/news/the-lord-of-the-rings-movies/george-lucas-and-peter-jackson-become-good-friends-foxnews-com

http://www.thelandofshadow.com/peter-jackson-shares-his-honest-thoughts-about-george-lucas/

Jetrell Fo said:

Though I do not have a transcript of their probably private conversation, the Extended ROTK and ROTS endings have a very similar feel and flow, unless you’ve never seen the former, I’m sure others here know what I’m talking about.

I have seen the extended ROTK, and i’m not sure what you’re talking about. What is the equivalent of the ROTS Padme/Vader crosscutting in ROTK?

Both movies do a multiple ending/wrap up sequences thing, but that’s different.

And TPM beat Jackson to the punch as far as multipronged climaxes go.

I’m sorry I tried having a conversation with you. I’ll try again at a later date.

😦

Jetrell Fo said:

I’m sorry I tried having a conversation with you. I’ll try again at a later date.

😦

?
I’m not trying to be rude or anything, i’m just asking what the equivalent of the ROTS Vader/Padme crosscutting is in ROTK.

You’re the one who brought up LOTR in relation to my comment about crosscutting…