walking_carpet

really torn on prometheus.  based on the trailer, it looks like it'll be a good movie.  but i liked that the space jockey was a mystery.  hopefully, it'll still be a mystery after the movie.

TinTin was ok in 3d.  Im still waiting for the 3d thats immersive AND fills up the space between the screen and the viewer. 

not much has been made of the 48fps.  peter jackson said that 48fps helps 3d.  if 3d does not catch on, will filmmakers move on to 48fps or both will pass? 

I think the 48fps is a bigger change.  just right when HDTVs were able to solve the whole 24fps/120hz/5:4 pulldown :P 

3d has come in phases before.  was there ever a feature film released in 48fps?

canofhumdingers said:

walking_carpet said:

 thing is, what we saw in 1977 was NOT what lucas described to Fox executives (not to mention he had none of john williams music to set the scene nor ralph mcquarrie and joe johnstons designs).

Actually, some of McQuarrie's ealry concept paintings (such as the one below) were what helped Lucas finally convince Fox execs to take the gamble.

 Yes it eventually did.  I should have clarified that before he had the designs, it was going nowhere - then once the designs were created (like the one above and the 3p0 desert design), things started moving forward

Alexrd said:

walking_carpet said:

While it does suck that he told everyone how awesome everything was even though he knew damn well it was a POS,

Why should he know "damn well" your opinion, and take it as a fact?

 my opinion of the films had nothing to do with that statement you quoted nor my entire post.

georgec said:

Rick forgot to say, "It's so dense. In every shot there's so much going on."

lol

 no question rick is a sycophant, boot-licker and yes-man. 

thing is, as a producer, he seemed pretty good at what was required as far as managing resources, staffing and schedules. While it does suck that he told everyone how awesome everything was even though he knew damn well it was a POS, Im not sure I entirely agree with the premise that the fall of star wars was because lucas replaced kurtz with mcallum.

people keep saying that a 'strong producer was needed to keep lucas in line and kurtz was exactly that'.  but is that really what a producer should be doing?  does kathleen kennedy need to make sure spielberg doesn't phone it in?  did barbara de fina need to make sure martin scorsese was putting an honest days work?  was it lawrence benders responsibility to make sure actors and tarantino were on the same page?  james cameron produces his own movies nowadays but i don't recall gale anne hurd telling him to write better scripts.

If Kurtz felt it was his job to push lucas because a producer does that to directors - i don't agree.  But if Kurtz felt he had no choice but to do this because, well, george was being george and it was wrecking the movie - i consider that to be an indictment on lucas more than mccallum.

of course rick was going to green light everything lucas did, and he had no issue lying to the fans.  and that really sucks. But it should have been expected that lucas demands unwavering groveling and fawning as an employment requirement.  sycophancy is perhaps the only thing lucas values more than money.  LFL is a personality cult first and foremost.

the fact that kurtz had to fight with lucas for the quality of the movies and rick does not, really just means lucas craves underachievement and the arrows should be pointed at him. 

FanFiltration said:

Vader visits the toilet after eating a "Dark Burger".

Is that from the comic!?  that looks more angry and destructive than what was in the movie

EFU said:

I just saw a video of his Daily Show segment

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/popcandy/post/2012/01/video-george-lucas-goes-on-the-daily-show/1

He complained some about how the studios were against him, marketing problems, etc.  Almost sounds like he is already getting defensive in case the movie isn't a success.

lol, not to say i called it... but there you go.   the whole anti-establishment schtick is a joke.  lucas and all his apologists like to regurgitate the nonsense about how 'studio suits didn't believe in star wars cuz they were a bunch of old fogies'.   It made for a really cute fairy tale back in the day but now it has zero credibility.   thing is, what we saw in 1977 was NOT what lucas described to Fox executives (not to mention he had none of john williams music to set the scene nor ralph mcquarrie and joe johnstons designs).  What likely happened was they saw a man who cannot write, cannot direct, cannot work with actors and has lots of bad ideas that derail a movie no matter what good ideaqs there are. 

and I believe that for every story regarding studios that turn lucas down.  think about it - if you were a studio producer and you were well aware of lucas' lack of skills and work ethic, would you trust him?!

SilverWook said:

The merchandising behemoth for PM 3D is beginning to stir...

http://www.fandango.com/movieblog/yoda-battles-darth-maul-in-lipton-brisk-commercial-and-do-you-want-to-eat-this-darth-vader-burger-no-you-dont-689187.html

Doesn't that sithburger look yummy!

 dark vader burger...dyed black?  you know, when people pointed out the excessive merchandising, LFL would spit out the talking point: "look, for every license we issue, we turn away another 10".   this is not helping.

where have you gone, awesomely cool collectible burger king glasses :(

 it truly is the once-proud saga formerly known as star wars.

darth maul and lightsabre yoda - LFL sure knows what the popular parts of the PT was.   i think darth maul has just as many lines of dialog in the commercial as he did in TPM.  where's jar jar?  where's annie's pod racer?

Alexrd said:

walking_carpet said:

but even in the rest of the PT, yoda's clothes have almost no detail.  look at the picture above and see all the textures and then compare to PT. 

On the other hand, compare the motion of the OT Yoda and PT Yoda. One is not overall better than the other. It all depends of the purpose.

 not counting the often silly action sequences, maybe so.  but the idea behind cgi was not just animation but photorealism on top of it.  we kept being told that the breakthrough with cgi was that photo-realistic objects can be created.   remember that scene in TPM with captain tarpals saying 'your honor - queen amidala of the naboo' ? i don't think we ever saw that with yoda - except maybe in ROTS when he was on tantive IV talking with obi wan and bail organa.  Poggle the Lesser in AOTC was better designed.

this inkl has another interview with lucas/cast/crew

http://www.tennessean.com/usatoday/article/52378382

sounds like it was screened for the original airmen (and the article makes note that not many are still with us) and they liked it. 

I am a little bothered that lucas and co. go on and on about the original tuskegee airman and how this is all a tribute, its more important than money, etc etc.   and I don't believe a lot of the behind-the-scenes anecdotes, especially those involving lucas' attempt to reach out to other studios.

Lucas is up-front saying its a corny jingoistic movie.  so things are already in motion to defend it against charges that its superficial, shallow and romanticized.  he mentions the 'old-time' war movies - so there's your homage to 'older, simpler movies from hollywood golden age'  that the apologists love.  Nowadays, war movies - any drama based on a true story for that matter - have become much more nuanced and complex beyond lucas' capabilities.  He says that he wanted the movie to be more about achievements than racism - which is fine, but the trailers I saw had every racism cliche in the book.

Its interesting to note that Rick Mccallum was not featured in this interview.

msycamore said:

Anchorhead said:

No doubt some of those alterations were nothing more than terrible decisions and a clear lack of understanding what made the films special to people over the years. 

...

However, The NOOO in the 6th film has been ridiculed so thoroughly, that I honestly believe adding it to the Original Trilogy was a finger to the fans who made fun of it. 

Just as I think his designing & selling the T-shirts that say Han Shot First were also a big "fuck you" to anyone who dared question his altering of the cantina scene - 

... 

...

If some of these latest things really are done in some twisted way to upset a small group of fans, it is not only extremely childish but a very weird move, most of us would not even be the target of such an action, he is only hurting himself that way, we're only interested in the original films and in that "fuck you department" he have already succeeded. ;)

 

...

 Its a combination of all three: incompetant filmmaking, playing with toys and doing things to spite people.

I laugh whenever I hear someone say 'lucas isn't all about money otherwise he would have released the OOT'.  no - lucas does care about money first and foremost, thats why he is in the franchise business and has made only 2 non SW/IJ films in 20 years. 

given 2 options - 1) sell a million blurays and irritate a fan base or 2) sell 1.2 million blu rays and satisfy everyone, lucas will take the former because he absolutely does get off on annoying people as long as he doesn't kill his cash cow. 

If the Blu-rays completely bombed and overwhelming feedback pointed to the exclusion of the OOT, he would have released it.  

Im tired of apologists saying 'lucas doesn't give a shit how fans feel, he is following his artistic instincts'.  he sure does care about how we feel and react- that 'noooo' was done with the intention of offending fans.  However, 30 years ago up until 1999 he made damn sure it was communicated to the public that he cared about story and characters more than CGI because thats what we wanted to hear.  Lucas knew if people discovered the truth about the fraudulance of the PT and how box office/merchandising revenue was absolute priority, we would have been thoroughly appalled. 

its funny you mention childishness-

•  When lucas first started to play the artist-card to justify the complete lack of fundamental filmmaking in TPM, i heard people say he was being childish. 
• When he released the OOT in non-anamorphic and gave that disgusting MTV interview, again I heard people say he was being childish. 
• During Episode III, I read a fan say lucas makes movies like a kid in 3rd grade that doesn't want to do his homework and makes excuses. IOW, 'childish'.

lol, i think its time we acknowledge lucas has a few, ahem, character defects.  childishness is one.  laziness is another.  so is pathological dishonesty. 

anyway, to get back on topic - the original call.  and not just because its original.  I thought it truly was intimidating.  and it goes better with the music.  the latest call (if the youtube video is correct) is laughable and just  lucas and co playing with his toys.

lol, next year ROTJ turns 30!! man, im feelin' old ;P

its interesting for some people ROTJ is worst.  I cant agree with that but certainly the decline started with this film.  I'll save it for another thread, but ROTJ and AOTC are the 2 sw movies I can talk forever about - good and bad. 

despite the flaws, missed opportunities and under-achievement, ROTJ for me was still the best 'part III' sequel until return of the king. maybe its not saying much, but its another example of what made OT different then your typical crap sequels.

and ROTJ is still a highly influential film.  return of the king, toy story 3 and the matrix revolution remind me a lot of Jedi. (saw Dark Kinght Rises this summer and it also reminds me a lot of jedi)

the SE of jedi had the worst changes because they impacted the story more.  And Jedi conflicts with the PT the most.  how are they going to explain the scene where luke asks leia about her real mother? How are they going to explain the decision to make vader's thought process internal while luke was being tortured?

Hoth-Nudist said:

Wow Red-Tails is finally coming to the big screen?  If what I read in previous posts is right then, good job lucas, it only took you 23 years!  So with george's involvement does that mean Red-Tails will have a huge action figure and vehicle toy line?  Will I be able to buy Red-Tails towels, underwear, toothbrushes,bed sheets, cereal and toasters as well?

Seriously though, I'd like to read or watch the reaction from the real Tuskegee airmen once they have seen the film.  Not sure how many are still alive.

 except for coffee table books and other stuff, won't be merchandising.  whats more likely - and worse - is we'll get more 'interviews' with lucas going out of his way to differentiate himself by saying 'see - look, this movie is coming striaght from the heart, its not about the money'  and more pathetic straw-man nonsense about how 'hollywood would never do this, hollywood would try to exploit this for profit'.

but if this thing cost $58 million, maybe there will be merchandise - or TPM 3D will make up any shortfalls.

as far as the real Tuskegee airmen - im sure they will like it since the movie appears to be nothing more than a tribute to all their accomplishments.   But i'll laugh if they complain that the movie has a lot of action but not much of a story - or if it turns out all the characters and events are fictionalized. 

BTW Hoth, I noticed you did not call him 'Luca$' (I still remember when the TFN moderators threaten to shut down the basher sanctuary unless we stopped calling him that.) - are you becoming a kinder, gentler hoth-nudist for 2012?  ;P

R.I.P.   and thanks for all the memories

man, that poster sucks :( is that the uncanny valley I keep hearing about? cuz that yoda just looks unsettling. 

[sigh] much better:

the new cgi yoda in TPM looks ok, but only because the puppet they used was horrible.  i still can't believe how that was approved.  but even in the rest of the PT, yoda's clothes have almost no detail.  look at the picture above and see all the textures and then compare to PT. 

adywan said:

So the story has changed again then. I guess that all the fans that have constantly beaten upon the OT fans with their" it was always Georges vision to do the prequels but the technology wouldn't allow it.." and that "It was always meant to be a 6 film saga about the story of Anakin Skywalker. You're an idiot if you don't believe that to be true. Why else would the original Star Wars be titled episode 4?..." have just been proved 100% wrong, especially when this has come direct from the "Creators" mouth. ;)

 i read the excerpts but didn't watch the video in that link.  among the many things i can't stand about lucas is he whines about some media conspiracy against him even though he's had more 'interviews' than every other filmmaker in history combined.   and these 'interviews' are nothing more than stunts to give out talking points for all his apologists to parrot. 

and this is more of the same cookie-cutter lucasspeak;  'im an independent art house filmaker'; pseudo-intellectual blather about myths, etc, etc.

its all grandstanding nonsense from a guy who infinitely loves to hear himself talk much more than making movies.  When i read crap like 'i realize i maybe taking a risk for black filmmakers because this may hurt them if the movie fails. but if it succeeds, hopefully it'll lead to more opportunities ...' I'm like 'dude, STFU!'.  btw, why isn't the actual director being interviewed? 

[rant over]

anyway, to your point regarding the SW saga - im not suprised he said this.  he contradicts himself on a regular basis.  Secret History of Star Wars is full of examples.  To quote vincent bugliosi: 'you want to be a good liar, you gotta have a great memory'. 

anyway, so this movie cost $58 million? can't remember where, but I swore I saw the cost was $30-$35 million.  Unless it gets absolutely electrifying reviews and WOM, it may not make much more than that. 

Tobar said:

SilverWook said:

I don't think anyone involved has a clue how to market this movie. :/

Oh I don't know about that. (Click on the What is button) =P

O

M

G

is that seriously going to be the tag-line?  'courage has no color' !?!??!?  I don;t recall seeing that on the posters in my hometown theatre.

if that was in the trailers, people would have been laughing their asses off in every theatre it was shown. 

last couple months has been weird for movie box office.  Hugo and TinTin have not been attracting huge crowds.   Maybe this flick will have a shot because people are getting sick and tired of 3D. thats the only thing I can think of.

if this movie cost only $30 million to make,  it could break even.  even that 'mars needs moms' movie and 'battle field earth' made that.

everyone have a happy and safe holiday....er, i mean Life day!

based on the digital bits, lucas reportedly gave serious consideration to replacing the puppet, but was talked out of it.

puppet yoda in OT occupies space and looks tangible.  for a good chunk of the PT, he does not.  in bails ship he looked pretty good.  and on kashyyk.  The fight in Episode II was probably the only true pop-culture moment in the PT, but that was just a gag to bring the house down.

replacing yoda in OT would be meaningless.  he was filmed specifically based on what the puppet allowed at the time. so what if he had to piggyback luke during the training?  it made for an interesting scene.  in the 2004 commentary, lucas said nowadays he would have yoda bounce along side luke.  i'll let you decide which is better.

I am fully expecting lucas to one day replace it.  at that point, the tide will really turn against him. In the commentary he candidly admits that yoda carried ESB.  He says those scenes on dagobah were deliberate and not flashy but we were so fascinated with yoda AND how he was brought to life.  Maybe he was hoping for the same thing with jar jar, but it didn't work.

SilverWook said:You clearly haven't seen THX 1138! ;)

I still enjoy Howard the Duck more than any of the prequels. Hopefully, Marvel will figure out how to do a more faithful adaptation of the comic someday.

 lol,  good catch!!

but that scene wasn't played for laughs and thx wasn't a kids show.

then again, with howard the duck having lea thompson in her underwear....maybe lucas did have input in the HS sex scene....eek

anyways, i thought the n-sync rumor wasn't true? and what is katie lucas' role in LFL? i know shes a clone wars writer, and that she is apparently a d-bag on twitter (was that confirmed to be her?).  does she have a big say in LFL?  is she trying to use it to get attention? 

I saw Hugo last night.  great movie - a little slow at first, but its fun and the 3D was good.  so in this revival of 3d, that makes 3 movies (coraline, avatar) that really benefitted from 3d, IMO.  everything else has not been impressive.  sadly, im worried this movie won't be a hit - only around 10 people in the showing I went into :(

anyway, I saw trailers for TPM, titanic and beauty & the beast.  I was not impressed by any of them.  It looks like beauty and the beast is coming out a week or so before TPM.  If Lion King is any kind of indicator, I would imagine BATB would be a bigger hit.

I dunno - this new 3d is designed to have more depth within the screen and it can be cool, but I still think the older 3d that fills up the space between you and the screen was better.  the problem back in those days was the movies that came out were gimmicky crap that would just throw things to poke your eye out (friday the 13th part 3).  I stil think the true breakthru in 3D will be the type that fills up the space in front of the screen AND provides depth within the screen.  Hugo sort of did this with the outdoor scenes in the snow.

and there is still something off about most films in 3d - it has that cardboard cutout effect that looks lame.  its really common for films that weren't designed in 3d from the ground-up.  I saw this in all 3 trailers.

see you auntie said:

6 Pop Culture Visionaries Who Get Too Much Credit

Of course George is going to land on that list but only at number 5. 

 

 any such list should have lucas at number 1 and its not even close.  the list should be like the 1973 belmont with lucas as secretariat.

I like how the list sets the record straight by debunking the talking point that lucas simply 'lost it'.  I like how it provides examples of even things like C3P0.  The list still gives too much credit to gary kurtz.  really, the success of OT was just that lucas was surrounded by a hall-of-fame cast and crew that went far above and beyond the call of duty, the likes of which we may never see again.  give credit for lucas approaching john williams to create a symphonic score as opposed to an electronic synthesized score;  but what john williams ended up created was something no one could have ever imagined - lets not kid ourselves.  another example is ralph mcquarrie and the darth vader costume.  it was mcquarrie first that created the breathing mask based on his own assumptions of the character.

Im not going list out more examples because I think we know all the anecdotes, but I will say that I continue to be surprised that even after 30 years I see more evidence of this.  I have been reading the thread regarding Yoda's speech OT vs PT.  I remember being annoyed at the clumsiness of yoda's dialog, but given the acute problems of the PT, it was way down there (i was more annoyed with the fact that yoda - like every other PT character - was dumber than a bag of rocks).  Based on what Im reading, Kasdan came up with the idea of yoda's dialect and was pretty careful in designing it.  It seems like for the PT, lucas just said 'ok, just cut his sentences in half and switch it around'.

Yoda was always the one character that lucas never seem to provide much of a background and at the same time used him as a cheap gimmick in the PT more than any other character.  so i now believe that in 1979, lucas just thought of yoda as simply 'a really small creature' and nothing more.  and it was kasdan and stuart freeborn that really carried the bulk of the creation.

and now there are reports that even lucas' story of chewbacca (i hit a wookie on the road) being bogus :(

so good to see lapti nek (thanks harmy!) again after all these years.  of course i always thought this was a wacky off the wall scene even as a kid (especially when sy snootles says "oooooh---ahhhhh!!").

the puppets did not look real (although watching From Star Wars to Jedi, lucas seemed happy at the time).  but the cgi updates were every bit as fake.  and snootles voice was replaced with that screechy high-pitched whiny voice that lucas seems to love.

even apologists dont like Jedi rocks,  but they insist its better than lapti nek because lapti nek is "outdated, disco porno music".

From what I heard, Star Wars to Jedi is NOT included in the Blu Ray set.  Im wondering if its because so much of it focuses on the rebo band and lapti-nek and it doesn't exist anymore.  Not to mention the documentary also has the biggest, most fraudlent and deceitful B.S. quote in cinema history.

only episode I saw was the rocky horror one.  the kid that played rif riff was pretty good.  too bad susan saradon couldn't make a cameo :(

as far as LFL involvement.  I guess it would depend if the producers approached them first or vice versa.

either way, its free publicity and keeps star wars in the public eye - so its a win win.  very few people have seen the holiday special since 1978 so from a newbies POV (do people still say newbie?), its another parody.

After TPM, i stopped believing lucas had nothing to do with the holiday special.  when you factor in the PT, howard the duck and a lot of the crap in IJATKOTCS, the holiday special is pretty consistent with lucas' true sensibilities - save for the cyber sex scene.

it wouldn't surprise me if the holiday special is one day released.  if reports are correct, the boba fett cartoon is an easter egg in the blu ray set.  sadly, apologists are probably spreading around the talking point that 'see - that cartoon.  thats the only thing lucas did for the special! everything else was not him!!'

i saw nostalgia critics review - the intro was funny and spot-on.

im thinking the innuendo-laden virtual reality scene with itchy and dihann carroll is what horrified lucas more than anything else.

i heard he was considered as Dr. Loomis in halloween.  I love donald pleasance in the role, but its interesting to think how cushing would have fared.

its too bad he was mostly before my time cuz he really is like those old-school, classic villains.  My dad is a big fan.

with so many genre movies nowadays getting big budgets and A-List directors and actors,  this era would have suited him perfectly.