The Phantom Menace - general discussion thread — Page 4

greenpenguino said:

greenpenguino said:

Sandwich shoe paper

No one commented on my 'surrealist' comment

Fixed.

Single standard.

Moth3r said:

greenpenguino said:

twooffour said:

Moth3r said:

... 1990s sci-fi film, heavily laden with CGI special effects but enjoyable and entertaining nonetheless.

See also Independence Day (1996), Starship Troopers (1997) and Men in Black (1997).

Discuss.

Nah.

Independence Day is cheesy and stereotypical, but a giant pile of silly fun. It's got Willi Schmidt, Jeff Nerdbloom and a wacky Jew with a beard, for Christ's sake.

Men in Black... WHAT? You troll (and forum administrator). 

You should add that 'Lost in Space' Remake to the heavily laden cgi list

 

 

*mutters* Although I do like that film more than TPM *mutters*

Ask someone to name a sci-fi film of the nineties that is heavily laden with CGI effects, and I suspect that very few would remember name Lost in Space.

And Men in Black is no less a giant pile of silly fun as Independence Day or The Phantom Menace.

Consider also Terminator 2. The original Terminator film was, in my opinion, a classic, even with it's low budget special effects and mono sound mix. The big-budget sequel doesn't particularly gel with the original (in my opinion - I know many would disagree). It is nonetheless a pretty decent sci-fi flick which is great fun to watch on its own merits, if you are able to temporarily forget that there was another - superior - film that preceded it.

I feel the same way about TPM.

Well, in that case something's clearly wrong with you.

Equating MiB to Episode I, simply because they're both "silly", is BEYOND absurd and displays a complete lack of thinking ability.

MiB is "silly", by the virtue of being a COMEDY. It has a funny protagonist, a well-structured storyline, a comical over-the-top villain, and tons and tons of funny one-liners, GAGS and slapstick.
Is it ever boring? Does it ever come off as uninspired, wooden and lazy?

Okay, let's look at TPM - it's mostly a "serious" action adventure movie, mostly lighthearted in its tone, but generally less comedic than even ANH.

Its attempt to be comedic is almost exclusively condensed in Jar Jar Binks - now how funny that one was in comparison to Will Smith, Edgar the Bug and Jack Jeebs, I'll leave to you.
Aside from that, it's largely boring, lifeless, has no relatable main characters, and ends up being child-like, sappy and annoying at its worst when little Ani comes into play.
Can you say the same about Mib? Or EVEN Independence Day?


I'd probably put Sebulba on par with any hilarious MiB alien -that one was a really neat creation.
All the "awesome technology and funny gadgets" in TPM is quite cool (even though nowhere as refreshing as in MiB), and it has some amusing alien cameos in the podrace.

But being on par with MiB as a movie? PLEASE.

(I ate popcorn when watching TPM in the theater, and I sort of blame its deliciousness for not noticing some of the problems with the movie)

Moth3r said:

twooffour said:

Please explain how this image relates to The Phantom Menace or adds value to this discussion?

May I say dunce?

I have to admit: Back then I've seen TPM thirteen times in the theatre with a clique of fellow enthusiasts. I was among those who had mixed feelings about the huge amount of distance in time to the OT's release.

Yet, even knowing that Lucas' vision could impossibly match anything that the millions of fans had imagined in all these years, I was willing to postpone my judgement until the last of the films was out.

In the mean time I'd enjoy that there'd be a new StarWars trilogy, just for the heck of it. The joy of anticipation and discussion about what would be, how the two stories might connect...

Looking back, I have to say the anticipation and sharing that experience is by far more memorable to me than the movies in itself.

Most of you will probably disagree, but for me, TPM is still the best of the three prequel movies. Simply because the Jedi combat stuff is very well done, imho. Way better than anything we've seen in the other two prequel movies.

The other two films reek of desperation to top the final battle against Darth Maul. The sheer stupidity and mind numbing missattempts at that alone, kept me cringing in my seat when watching AotC and RotS.

lol, 2/4 was banned....

Just like a lot of people would like to ban TPM from the world.

twooffour said:

Moth3r said:

greenpenguino said:

twooffour said:

Moth3r said:

... 1990s sci-fi film, heavily laden with CGI special effects but enjoyable and entertaining nonetheless.

See also Independence Day (1996), Starship Troopers (1997) and Men in Black (1997).

Discuss.

Nah.

Independence Day is cheesy and stereotypical, but a giant pile of silly fun. It's got Willi Schmidt, Jeff Nerdbloom and a wacky Jew with a beard, for Christ's sake.

Men in Black... WHAT? You troll (and forum administrator). 

You should add that 'Lost in Space' Remake to the heavily laden cgi list

 

 

*mutters* Although I do like that film more than TPM *mutters*

Ask someone to name a sci-fi film of the nineties that is heavily laden with CGI effects, and I suspect that very few would remember name Lost in Space.

And Men in Black is no less a giant pile of silly fun as Independence Day or The Phantom Menace.

Consider also Terminator 2. The original Terminator film was, in my opinion, a classic, even with it's low budget special effects and mono sound mix. The big-budget sequel doesn't particularly gel with the original (in my opinion - I know many would disagree). It is nonetheless a pretty decent sci-fi flick which is great fun to watch on its own merits, if you are able to temporarily forget that there was another - superior - film that preceded it.

I feel the same way about TPM.

Well, in that case something's clearly wrong with you.

Equating MiB to Episode I, simply because they're both "silly", is BEYOND absurd and displays a complete lack of thinking ability.

MiB is "silly", by the virtue of being a COMEDY. It has a funny protagonist, a well-structured storyline, a comical over-the-top villain, and tons and tons of funny one-liners, GAGS and slapstick.
Is it ever boring? Does it ever come off as uninspired, wooden and lazy?

Okay, let's look at TPM - it's mostly a "serious" action adventure movie, mostly lighthearted in its tone, but generally less comedic than even ANH.

Its attempt to be comedic is almost exclusively condensed in Jar Jar Binks - now how funny that one was in comparison to Will Smith, Edgar the Bug and Jack Jeebs, I'll leave to you.
Aside from that, it's largely boring, lifeless, has no relatable main characters, and ends up being child-like, sappy and annoying at its worst when little Ani comes into play.
Can you say the same about Mib? Or EVEN Independence Day?


I'd probably put Sebulba on par with any hilarious MiB alien -that one was a really neat creation.
All the "awesome technology and funny gadgets" in TPM is quite cool (even though nowhere as refreshing as in MiB), and it has some amusing alien cameos in the podrace.

But being on par with MiB as a movie? PLEASE.

 He said the movie is "a pile of silly fun." Not "it's a comedy," you moron. MIB is silly fun because its an sci-fi action-comedy that's fun to watch, ID4 is silly fun because it's an over the top disaster film that's fun to watch, and TPM is silly fun because it's a lighthearted children's adventure fantasy that's fun to watch. None of them are in the exact same genre, but they all came out around the same time, they all are sci-fi to some degree, they all have a lot of CG special effects, they all have elements of silliness in them, and they all are considered a generally fun ride, if not by consensus than at least by Moth3r. As he said, "It is nonetheless a pretty decent sci-fi flick which is great fun to watch on its own merits". Read the whole post before you make an over the top response.

WRONG PICTURE!!!

(this trend of using the wrong picture is a menace of the non-phantom variety)

Badass doesn't imply quality. One could argue that 300 is badass, but that film is bad on so many levels, Leonidas' famous line can't save if from being awful.

You can't have badass without bad...or ass...

...

...what was I saying?

Put Captain Solo in the Cargo Hold said:

Badass doesn't imply quality. One could argue that 300 is badass, but that film is bad on so many levels, Leonidas' famous line can't save if from being awful.

At least the transvestite Goa'uld makes it hilariously awful.

ray_afraid said:

RedFive said:

Hal 9000 said:

I'd say TPM is my favorite of the three prequel films too. At least it feels like a film, whereas the other two feel like surreal video game cutscenes.

I have to disagree.  RotS may seem like an extended video game cutscene, but at least it's a badass one.

That's how I'd describe all of the prequels. Bad ass.

 Really? I'd describe most of the action in AOTC as amatuerish and lacking intensity.

Even though IMHO 'bad ass" is faint praise, I still wouldn't apply it to AOTC.

Bad ass and badass aren't the same thing - at least I think that's what Ray was going for.

EDIT: Firefox wants me to change "badass" to "bad ass" or "bad-ass," so who the hell knows?