C3PX

Star Wars

Empire Strikes Back

Return of the Jedi

And I am not even kidding around. I'd be thrilled to see these three films remade, and ultimately, I think it would solve a lot of problems. The disconnect between the two trilogies could be disolved, by literally allowing them to be two series of films. I'd really like this. I'd love to hear George announce a sequel to Revenge of the Sith.

Then we could have an old Star Wars series and a new Star Wars series, and George can go ahead and tell us he really intended two different series of films since he first began working on The Phantom Menance. I can imagine him saying some thing like, "And I said to myself, this isn't going to work. You can have two trilogies, one from the eighties, and one from the 21st century and sell them as one complete saga. So that is when I decided I would remake the originals. I knew people were going to hate me for deciding to do this, so I never said anything about it until now..." and I would be just fine with this. Make life easier. The yungun's could have their flicks, and my beloved films could vanish into precious obscurity (the best place for anything sacred, really).

captainsolo said:

Also is the L4D sale on Xbox only or also for PC versions?

As far as I know, it was only the 360 version. However, you can get the PC version really cheap through places like amazon and ebay.

Whats up with the (u)'s? There is no swear filter here to try to trick, if the is what was up. If it is suppose to be some form of censorship, it has to be the lousiest form of it I have ever seen.

I don't know. I still have a funny feeling that a fully restored OOT exists. Empire of Dreams and the opening crawl to the GOUT really drop a lot of hints at this. Of course, I could be mistaken and only those few shots were restored (just seems unlikely to me). But even if there is no real LFL restoration of the thing lying around, I find it hard to believe nobody else has taken it upon themselves to preserve this thing. Keep in mind, it is Star Wars we are talking about here. This was no poor quality B-movie, this thing has been a hit since its release. Very influencial. Many awards.

There are a lot of powerful people in Hollywood with the ability to make things happen, and with access to things and places our little community could never reach. Legally, George can sit on his movies and prevent an official release, and there is nothing anyone can do about it, if they did, it would probably cause hard feelings, and I don't think anyone really wants any drama between them and GL. But none of this means restorations and preservations cannot be done behind the scenes and hung onto for a rainy day. This is the 21st century man! I have a hard time believing when live in an age where things like this can still be lost forever. Too many people with too much technology floating around. I mean, how crazy is it that an obscure TV broadcast of the Star Wars Holiday Special still exists in pretty decent quality thanks to people owning VCRs in an age where the things were nearly unheard of?

I have absolutely no doubt one day Star Wars will be readily availble with its original visuals in as perfect quality as humanly imaginable. I just don't see this happening in the near future.

DarkFather said:

Did anyone ever play "Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego" ?

Yeah, that game came with my first CD-ROM drive (which was a whopping 1x!) First game I ever played with full voice.

Wow, all the previous lists were full of some pretty good movies in every ones list. So far all the mentions of good 00's films seem pretty flacid to me. Has it really been that awful of a decade for film (heh, if you can even accurately call them films anymore)?

I guess I will take a go at a list, my top ten, not long thought out, and in no particular order (ranking them takes WAY too much brain power, and doubtless my order would change from day to day).

1. Serenity

2. Primer

3. Spider-Man 2 (really liked part one as well, but I don't want to put both in the top ten, and I felt two was slightly superior to one).

4. Fellowship of the Ring (same as the above, next two installments were also top quality, but the first one ranks higher in my book).

5. Children of Men

6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (really, really pains me to put a movie starring Jim Carrey on this list, but I think this film deserves it).

7. Pan's Labyrinth

8. Gladiator

9. Amelie (Yeah, I actually do like Jean-Pierre Jeunet... when he isn't making Alien sequels anyway).

10. Gran Torrino

Honorable mentions,

Kingdom of Heaven (Director's cut only! Theatrical was pretty awful).

Pirates of the Caribbean (come on, it was the best action/adventure movie it his the big screen in years. It's sequels totally drove it into the ground with unforgivable awfulness).

Shrek (I am not into kids movies at all. Never had any interest in seeing this when it was first released, then I caught it on TV one day and was quite impressed. Good balance (or perhaps unbalance) of things that appeal to kids, and humor intended to keep the adults that accompany them amused. Not to mention it was actually fairly profound for what it was: a shallow kid's flick full of fart jokes).

300 (for what it was, this film was nearly flawless! A lot of the hate came from people who came in expecting/wanting to see a more historically accurate portrayal of these events, or the fans of films like Troy and Alexander, and where hoping for an action drama more along these lines. No such luck, instead they got a cut-off-your-head-and-piss-down-your-neck-cavity-high-paced-action-flick filled with non-stop CG flow of blood, with several memorable quotes thrown in for good measure... now that I think about it more, this film should probably be on my actual list and not in the honorable mention appendix... oh well).

All I can think of off the top of my head.

DarkFather said:

I don't understand the romance between you and Vbangle. :P

LOL. Very clever DF, very clever. :D

This reminds me, I haven't seen Vaderisnothayden around for a while. I miss having him around. Hope he makes his way back here.

vbangle said:

Janskeet said:

 It seems like these days, the more he talks, the stupider he sounds.

lmao. Yes he is "stupider".

 

Oh wow, that is really hilarious. See that? Vbangle was astute enough to point out to us all that Janskeet totally screwed up his grammar by using "stupider" rather than "more stupid". Very funny Vbangle. Guys who correct other people online CRACK me up EVERY TIME!!! I can't stop laughing my guts out! HAHA! Good show my friend, good show! Hehe... heh.

Phew! Now that I have finally caught my breath, I have one for you. You're going to live this! It is very funny. Wait for it, wait for it... okay, here goes... "stupider" and "more stupid" are both acceptable forms! ZING! 

I for one would have to agree, the man is extremely clever, but unfortunately, also quite clueless in many regards. George has really made things difficult for his fans. I really like the guy, so it sucks to hear people rag on him all the time, but the fact is, he deserves most of it (though not the crap from the assholes who are constantly wishing death and misfortune on him).

I am still very fond of his older stuff, and I still see young George as a pretty great film maker, and often lament the fact that that George has been absolutely nowhere to be found for well over twenty years now. Now sure what when wrong. You'd think a guy who had a very small number of hits and a vast pound full of dogs would be a bit more humble about himself and his greatness as a story teller.

If by media you mean "news" and typically celebrity obsessed gossip, no he isn't. This isn't because he is isolating himself, or because they are isolating him, it is simply because there has been no news surrounding him lately. "No need to report until there is something to report", to quote a pretty awful film. 

I don't know about him sounding stupid, I feel that he is a pretty intelligent guy. I think the issue is more that he is pretty full of himself and it shows as plain beard on his face. It is rare to hear the guy speak without tooting his own horn these days, he has always been a bit like that to some degree, but far worse now than when he was younger.

DarkFather said:

 Guys, once I came back and I was Trek. Now I'm back and I'm Drac. No.

I suppose that means you ae going to stop talking like Spock, and start talking like Dracula or Van Helsing?

skyjedi2005 said:

Now the Dig i do remember via the novelization by Alan Dean Foster,lol.

...

Fate of Atlantis i like a lot but the voice person they chose for indiana jones was lame. why no harrison ford?

The Dig was originally suppose to be a film directed by Steven Spielberg. Forget the details, but they ended up making it into a game instead. That is why the game feels so cinematic. I have the book by Alan Dean Foster, but have never gotten around to playing it.

As for Indy's voice in Fate of Atlantis, kind of funny, I have never actually heard it. I never had the talkie versions of any of the old LucasGames/Arts classics. Didn't have CD-ROM drive on the ol' PC back in those days, so I had to stick with the floppy disc versions, which didn't include full voice. Games like Sam & Max Hit the Road and Day of the Tentacle would have full voice in the introductions, then they would switch over to just text. Back then I didn't even realize full talkie versions of those games existed, in fact, even up until now, I had absolutely no idea a talkie version of Fate of Atlantis existed.

Back to the main topic, most definitely some games have better stories than a lot of films. Bioshock is a very good example of this, stick to the same visuals and plot, flesh the thing out quite a bit, and you'd likely have quite a sucessful film on your hands. Unfortunately, any video game film is likely to be completely destroyed (yet to see one that hasn't been). Even some of the mini stories told throughout Fallout 3 are very creative and amusing. Grim Fandango is a fantastic story, beats the absolute crap out of anything the much praised Pixar could ever release.

Orinoco_Womble said:

umm, I dunno about that.  The LOTR series is fantastic, but that bit in ROTK where the ghosts are sweeping and circling up through Minas Tirith near the end kinda looks like a 'scooby doo' cartoon effect to me.  That completely jolts me out of the movie every time.

Also, the original Golum in Fellowship' looks pretty dated these days, but doesn't detract too much from the movie itself.

I think the best visual 'effect' Peter jackson used in those movies is the New Zealand scenery itself.  No CG can possibly compete with that!

I guess I have never really had a problem with the Dead Men of Dunharrow sequence. I suppose I see that as an example of something that would be hard to do without CG and still look good. CGI is really a wonderful innovation in film making, it is when it is used unecessarily and excessively that it bugs me. I felt this bit of the film put it to good use. Not sure what Jackson's alternative would have been to effectively show this scene without CG.

Yeah, the orinal Golum did look pretty rough, but we only see him very breifly. I have always felt that they probably did this on purpose, due to the CG Golum not really being good enough yet. There was really no other reason to keep Golum's appearance a mystery as they did throughout the first film. \

Most definitely agree on Jackson's use of New Zealand. This is what I am talking about. A lesser director would have been tempted to pull a George, get several really high quality shots of places he wanted to be Middle-Earth, and filmed his actors on a green screen and digitally created his world behind them. This seems to be what was done on the recent Indiana Jones move, it is just absurd.

Oh, I dunno. Last ST discussion we had there was a whole lot of face palming, sighing, and baaaaing anytime I or anyone else put The Wrath of Kahn at or near the top of their list.

It kind of hurt my feelings a bit... I cried about it, and considered tossing out my Wrath of Kahn DVD (the ONLY ST DVD I own). I had visions of Ash from The Evil Dead dramatically hacking off his own hand, but with me dramatically hacking the DVD out of my life... I cried about it... I spent several hours in therapy and came to the conclusion that I don't care what the cool kids think. If they want to be cool by being different than everyone else, I don't have to be different with them just so I can be exactly the same (which, admittedly, would make me cool). I guess that is just the sacrifice I have to make to continue loving the things I love, if that makes me a sheep, then sheer me and make yourself a sweater.

Yeah please, I hate to see two of my good ot.com comrades have a falling out over animated pictures. Come'on DF! Bears all around, on me! PROST!

EDIT: I am afraid the damage has already been done Gafe... my post has been edited and I have no way to undo it, but I think you are still safe to drive it in that direction, we've been talking about it for the past few posts, so I am sure even the folks who missed my original spelling mistake will pick up on it. If I really need to I can go back and try to write something very similar to what I originally wrote while being sure to intentionally recreate my spelling error.

DOUBLE-EDIT: Damn, I just can't keep my mouth shut... I will probably regret saying this, as it is kind of throwing fuel on the fire, but in any discussion I like when others correct my historical accuracy, as I don't want to be right for my ego's sake, I want to be right because I am right... if I am not mistaken, Betty Boop is from the 1930's or 40's, and I know Bambi from the 40's, while Japanese anime pre-dates the 1920's... or so say my nerdy friends... do you smell that? Did I just step in something? I am going to go wipe off my shoe now and get back to enjoying that ice cold bear.

Gaffer Tape said:

I have wonderfully amusing mental images of the process in which an American brewery makes a bear at all, let alone one inspired by European beer.

Oops. Did I misspell it? I don't even know, I deleted that section of my post, having written it before reading the last few posts and realizing the precarious ledge this discussion was heading towards. That is a very striking mental image. A European beer inspired American made bear. I think I am going to work the kinks out of this one and make a pitch to adult swim, seems like the kind of thing they'd pick up.

DarkFather said:

You're intentionally being difficult with me. Maybe six months ago, I would have seen this debate through, but I can now detect lost causes.

I hope we can continue getting along around the forum. Peace.

I reassure you DF, Gaffer is one of the last people on this forum to ever be difficult with anyone. He is not afraid to admit when he is wrong, and can be a very humble fellow. He is definitely one of the few people you can have a good conversation with on these forums without it devolving into absurdity due to disagreements.

From reading his posts over the years, it is plain to see he is a real fan of anime (or at least certain anime). I think it is safe to say that in this particular discussion, rather than simply trying to be difficult as some tards on the internet seem to get off on, he was making a sincere case from the perspective of a true fan of anime.

Thanks Heilemann for posting the link. And thanks to the author, Micheal Rubin, for being so generous as to post your work online. Now that I am flipping through this thing, I may have to "register my shareware" and get a hard copy. Looks like this, along with Rinzler's book and Zombie's make up quite the library of information surrounding this particular subject. 

The eighties had so many great movies. Seriously, that was THE decade for awesome movies.

I think just about all of mine have been covered, so I will mention just a few that I haven't seen listed yet, in no particular order of preferance,

- The Wrath of Kahn (seems like it is becoming unpopular to like this one these days, all I can say is screw it! I love this movie!)

- The Evil Dead II (ultimate comedy horror, no matter how down I am, this movie always puts me in a good mood. Maybe because it depicts people having a far worse day than I have ever had.)

- Full Metal Jacket (can't believe this one wasn't on anyone's list already, at the risk of sounding like a first year film student, Kubrick is the man!)

-Brazil

These have already been mentioned, but yeah, Blade Runner, Alien, and Stand By Me (reminds me of life as a 12 year old boy, which is flipping awesome! I feel sorry for women, since they never get to experience this brilliant stage of human existence), are definitely three of my all time favorite films.

Also, I hesitate to even mention Red Dawn, since I don't really consider it that high quality of a movie, but I still enjoy, perhaps just the premise more than anything. If any foreign powers ever invade the United States, you'll know where to find me...

ChainsawAsh said:

Janskeet said:

Skyjedi2005, you're kind of becoming a broken record

Becoming?  I don't remember him ever talking about anything else for the past four years.  You get used to it, though - I'm at the point now where I can very quickly skim his posts to see if there's anything new in them, so it doesn't really bother me.

Ouch! Looks like Skyjedi just lost his biggest fan! I think it was just yesterday I read Janskeet's post where he defended him, and now I read this. How quickly they turn on you, eh Sky? Fans can be so fickle. Just ask George Lucas.

Janskeet said:

skyjedi2005 said:

I will admit i own multiple versions of the prequels on vhs tape, laserdisc, vcd,  and dvd but i never have watched them even once. 

Even TPM? I recall in one of your posts saying "it was not the greatest movie, but looked great on film."

There is no contradiction here. I also think TPM looked far superior visually from the later two films, but this doesn't mean I have had to watch it on home video (which I have done) in order to be able to say this. A single theatrical viewing is all it would really take. Hell, even just watching a few scene from a fanedit could lead you to the conclusion that TPM looks far better than the other two.

What is all this BS about being shanked for liking things around here. This is the second time I have read someone make a comment like that in the past several days.

No one is going to "shank" you, "lynch" you, or murder you by any other means for liking this. It is actually permitted to enjoy things around here.

Oh yeah, I just remembered I have the '97 SE VCDs. I have been meaning to convert those to DVD for a while now. Quality would be nothing compared to a decent laserdisc transfer.

Heh, I was thinking the exact same thing. I would have left out the "almost", as my first thought when looking at the thing was, "Wow, that LEGO man is flipping the bird." Guess I am just not used to seeing LEGO men with fingures.

Star Trek (2009) was awful as far as aliens went with the CG. I felt the ships looked good enough, but many of the aliens just felt like photoshoped distortions of actors without costume or makeup.

I Am Legend is a film that I often cite as a prime example of having been ruined by CG. I love the book and was really excited about the film, but the infected are a big part of the story, and the fact that they look so goofy in their 100% CG form, completely destroys everything that was halfway good about that film. I think Matheson's book deserved far better than that. Wish some one like Del Toro had gotten a hold of it and made something really memorable, rather than it having been made to be just another disposable holiday money grabber.

And that is just it, CG is ideal for the throwaway blockbuster. Who really cares about movies like Armageddon now? These kinds of films are typically hyped beyond belief, then forgotten, ultimately to end up playing repeatedly on cheapy non-premium movie channels like TBS. Years later we stumble across these kind of films while flipping through channels, chuckle and say, "I remember when this first came out" watch it for fives minutes or less, then change the channel. It is hard to say these films are ruined by CG *cough* Transformers *cough*, because they are only made to oooh and aaaww in the first place, and not matter later on.

If you want a movie built to last, you better really think long and hard about how you use your CGI. Few guys like Peter Jackson understand this, a lesser film maker would have gone for CG orcs. The LOTR trilogy will look great for years to come. Remember the movie The Spawn? I remember that movie being visually very cool the first time I saw it during its theatrical run. Years later I happened stumple across it while channel surfing, and was pretty surprised to see how cartoony the CGI looked. The movie was made just a little over ten years ago, and its CG has looked laughable for far longer than that. It looked good in its day, but looked ancient in comparison to films that came out just a few years later. This is the same reason George redid his 1997 CG in 2004, and very likely will be giving it a third update prior to the blu-ray release (does this madness ever end? Probably not...)

Careful, Sky! It almost sounds like you are defending the new Transformers movie! ;)

I agree with you about that reviewer being a nut job, as evident from my long winded post that nearly rivals the length of that pointless review.