Originally posted by: JumpmanCO,
Of course his reputation as a filmmaker is in the toilet after the Prequels...even if I feel it's totally unwarranted...and if you look at the dregs that Hollywood puts out year in and year out compared to the Prequels.
And as for the credit for the Originals, it actually works in reverse now. It seems the on going thing now is to take credit away from the guy just because of what people think of the Prequels and that's totally unfair to do so.
Where's the balance with this guy? To me, he's never been infallible. But compared to a lot of people in the industry who think they know cinema, the guy's got them dead to rights....
I mean, criticize him for his writing and directing, which he's well aware of (even if everyone tends to go overboard in those two departments) but think about where cinema would've been had this guy not continued to push...
Of course his reputation as a filmmaker is in the toilet after the Prequels...even if I feel it's totally unwarranted...and if you look at the dregs that Hollywood puts out year in and year out compared to the Prequels.
And as for the credit for the Originals, it actually works in reverse now. It seems the on going thing now is to take credit away from the guy just because of what people think of the Prequels and that's totally unfair to do so.
Where's the balance with this guy? To me, he's never been infallible. But compared to a lot of people in the industry who think they know cinema, the guy's got them dead to rights....
I mean, criticize him for his writing and directing, which he's well aware of (even if everyone tends to go overboard in those two departments) but think about where cinema would've been had this guy not continued to push...
CGI is what he has pushed, and to me is the downfall of action/fantasy movies over the past 15 years. I will give Lucas/Spielberg all the credit in the world for the great movies they made in the 70's & 80's, but unfortunately their success spawned the advent of the CG generation of movies with zero story, zero substance, and all in the wow factor, and I don't mean Lucas & Spielberg movies per say.
Every filmaker who makes these summer blockbusters today forgets what made the Spielberg/Lucas era movies great: Characters. I talked about this in an earlier post, but the CG has ruined the summer blockbuster, because it is the #1 focus by every filmaker, and even Lucas fell into that trap with the PT.
I can't tell you how many times I have heard that Lucas couldn't do the PT without the advent of CGI, and I say Bullshit! Spielberg made a remote controlled shark work and that movie is a classic, Lucas was able to create Cloud City, without all the spiffed up SE 'outside' looking views, and nobody complained back in 1980 that Cloud City wasn't cool enough looking. NOBODY CARED about the outside of Bespin, it was the story and the characters that made the movie great, not the visuals, they were just gravy.
CG should be a tool, not a crutch, and unfortunately people took the wrong things from the Lucas/Spielberg successes of SW/Indiana Jones/Jaws, etc. those movies were sold on the story & characters, not on the special effects.