Last movie seen — Page 305

Went on a Star Wars marathon of epic proportions, including preservations and fan edits:

Star Wars (1977) (Harmy’s Despecialized v2.5): 9.5/10
The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (Harmy’s Despecialized v2.0): 10/10
Return of the Jedi (1983) (JSC LD Transfer): 7.5/10

The Phantom Menace (1999) (2011 BD): 4/10
Attack of the Clones (2002) (2011 BD): 3/10
Revenge of the Sith (2005) (2011 BD): 5/10

HAL 9000’s Cloak of Deception (2014): 6/10
HAL 9000’s The Approaching Storm (2014): 5/10
HAL 9000’s Labyrinth of Evil (2014): 7.5/10

L8wrtr’s Shadow of the Sith (2010): 5/10
L8wrtr’s The Republic Divided (2011): 7.5/10
L8wrtr’s Dawn of the Empire (2012): 5/10

Neon Noir (2015): 5/10
The Blackened Mantle (2015): 8/10- Check this edit out on YouTube…seriously. The Star Wars prequels rewritten with the audio in Japanese.

THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015) (70mm 2D): 9/10- What can I say? I loved it.

Hi AF, nice to see you again. My wife asked to watch the prequels after watching the OT and TFA, and we have been watching L8wrtr’s versions also. Vast improvements.

spooks run wild

TV’s Frink said:

Hi AF, nice to see you again. My wife asked to watch the prequels after watching the OT and TFA, and we have been watching L8wrtr’s versions also. Vast improvements.

Hi Frink! Thanks for the greeting. It’s nice to be back.

I can’t stress enough how much of an improvement L8wrtr made with Attack of the Clones in particular, as reflected by the score. By removing Anakin and Padme’s desire to resist, his love story is surprisingly simple yet effective, and his improvement of the relations between Obi-Wan and Anakin actually makes Episode II fall more into line with Ep. III and, of course, the Original Trilogy, where Anakin is genuinely a good friend, whom Obi-Wan believes in, but the council doubts.

Last seen overall? Mad Max: Fury Road, just now for the umpteenth time. Last seen in theaters? TFA. Last seen that I’d never seen before? Maybe Queen of Earth last week?

Just saw TFA again. 8/10. 9 If it weren’t for 2 or 3 bits of humor which could easily be edited out one day. Speaking of edits, I give HAL9000s prequels each a 7.5/10. Maybe I’m crazy, but while they definitely have flaws that make me never want to watch the theatrical again, I don’t see the prequels as the horrible abomination others do, and I think some edits salvage them to where I actually legitimately enjoy them.

I think I’d find it hard to enjoy watching the prequels simply because I watched them so many darn times when I was younger…

The last time I watched any of the prequels was back in 2009/10, and the last time I watched them before that was 2007. I’m gonna have to rewatch them again sooner or later just to remind myself of how bad they are, but I’m not exactly looking forward to it.

Do yourselves a favor and watch edited versions of them. Still not great, but not as awful.

Yes, the only thing worse than the unedited prequels is more of them.

TV’s Frink said:

Do yourselves a favor and watch edited versions of them. Still not great, but not as awful.

In addition to HAL’s, Q2’s trilogy is also fantastic at giving it a streamlined OT feel. It’s much leaner and has less annoying stuff than HAL’s does, for TPM anyway, but I still rate HAL’s slightly above Q2 for that particular film because HAL’s approach of completely removing Gungan City worked rather well I thought. Much better than just trying to rush through it.

Possessed said:

In addition to HAL’s, Q2’s trilogy is also fantastic at giving it a streamlined OT feel. It’s much leaner and has less annoying stuff than HAL’s does, for TPM anyway, but I still rate HAL’s slightly above Q2 for that particular film because HAL’s approach of completely removing Gungan City worked rather well I thought. Much better than just trying to rush through it.

Completely agree with this. Removing Gungan City entirely, as per HAL’s intentions, makes it seem that the abandoned temple area, shown near their end, is the Gungan’s regular home. Consequently, it becomes more plausible that the Trade Federation’s presence could eventually affect Gungan life.

I find it quite implausible in the theatrical cut that the Trade Federation would waste the resources to find and invade a city hidden underwater.

Saw The Revenant this afternoon. I’m still chewing on it, but I can say with certainty that it had some great performances. Tom Hardy steals the show.

How do you rate II?

SilverWook said:

I need to see the William Shatner Krampus flick now. 😉

JFTR, his part’s not very prominent.

Caught up on a lot of 2015 films the past week.

Black Mass- 4/10- Poor direction and plotting makes a waste of a great cast in this disjointed mess of a movie.

Carol-9/10- A touching, classic love story with fantastic direction

The Hateful Eight- 9.5/10- Tarantino firing on all cylinders to give his most complex, mature work in years.

Legend- 6/10- An unfortunately formulaic take on the gangster movie, only saved by Tom Hardy’s dual performance.

Mad Max: Fury Road- 9.5/10- The basic chase, done with flair and memorability. An unexpected turn from the director of Babe: Pig in the City.

The Revenant- 3/10- A frankly pointless exercise in grit and gore with thinly-fleshed characters, which seeks to find meaning but never hits the mark. After Birdman, it is another disappointing work from the director of Babel.

Spotlight- 9/10- A wonderfully underplayed ensemble piece, which never errs on the side of boredom.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens- 9.5/10- A wonderful romp back into that galaxy far, far away.

We watched Birdman last night. I had no idea what it would be, and I was pleasantly surprised. Some of the long takes and camera moves were just great.