walking_carpet

love both posters but the jung poster is one for the ages.  used the 1992 VHS cover sheets to make custom DVD covers but unfortunately it cut off r2d2.

although....between the 2, its hard to tell if leia is a righty or southpaw ;)

kinda curious as to what the hildebrandt bros woulda have made for ESB if given the opportunity.

one poster I really love that I wish I was able to get is this ROTJ japan poster:

i think my big fat greek wedding played for a long time - and this was advertised.

so the key is to have a sleeper hit - especially if its a low budget movie that makes it big.

man - those ads are great. 

does anyone have the ROTJ newspaper ad that had one critic quoting "its the first movie triple crown!" thats how different things were.  most sequels were crap cash-ins that were only green-lit if the orignal was popular (with some exceptions).  trilogies were virtually unheard of at the time.

whew...35 years ago.

one cool editing scene is where all the rebel pilots get ready and take off in their x-wings.

its the sequence that shows on x-wing closing its canopy - you guys know it.  its cut from all different angles and for a while I thought it was one of many x-wings getting ready.  but its just one.

pretty cool.

also like the editing in ESB where vader causes lukes lightsaber to slip out of his hands and he charges after him. luke falls to the lower level and vader jumps down towards him.  The editing of luke scaling the ATAT and blowing it up with grenade and then detaching is pretty cool.

someone already mentioned ROTJ where luke jumps off the speeder and cuts down the trooper with his lighsbaber.

wish there were animated gifs of all these.

ROTJ (this is probably gonna get nasty cuz so many cool scenes are ruined)

-first seeing jabba after 6 years of hearing about him

-when the rancor dies, the pet-owner cries!!  a big scary monster was someones pet!! bwaaaahaahahahahahahaaa.

-after they blowup jabbas sail barge - starting with luke saying 'lets go..and dont forget the droids' to the shot of the x wing and the falcon going in different directions.  love the music.  nowadays, the jabba storyline is kinda long and come off as filler.  but the idea of a group of people doing what they can to help a friend thats in trouble is just something that sticks with me.

-yoda telling luke not to underestimate the emperor.

-the music when yoda dies and luke realizes what needs to be done.  combine that with the thunder in the background.  just beautiful and somber.

-why dont you use your divine influence...and get us out of this!!  fords expression is just priceless.

-"i wonder if your feelings on this matter are clear, lord vader?"  if ROTJ had a voiceover like goodfellas, we would have heard vaders narration say "when the emperor asked me that, I knew I was never gonna be alive after the battle of endor"

-3P0 telling the story of star wars to the ewoks.  this was a great scene and im glad the droids were able to stay relevant even though ROTJ was mostly the luke and vader show.

-kinda torn about including this one --> Luke asking leia if she remembered her real mother.  it was this scene that really made me curious of the PT and what happened to anakin skywalker, especially after we hear Bens story.  it was a great way to start off the scene too. 

[rant] I cant tell you how disgusted I was at how it got ruined cuz of lucas' completely uncaring attitude towards competant (if not decent) storytelling.

 in 2004, we were all really concerned about this for ROTS because you couldn't realistically have padme die and leia remember her at birth.  but you couldn't leave it open-ended either because it would have been bad storytelling - and given how non-dimensional padme was in the PT, none of us were convinced lucas could pull it off anyways.  Carl Cunningham said that the resolution of padme was shot both ways and either padme survives but its contrived and ham-fisted.  or one of the most pathetic plotholes in cinema history is created.  and please spare me any apologist crap of leia using the force to remember her (the way it was written in the ROTS novel is absolutely ridiculous).  It was scenes like this that made us all anticipate the PT and lucas knew that fucking well and thumbed his nose and laughed all the way back to skywalker ranch.

[/rant over] doesnt bother me as much anymore since I regard PT as EU and pretend ROTS and ROTJ are not same universe.  I guess I'll leave it for old times sake.

-luke meeting the emperor for first time - gotta love that music

-Its a trap!! alright, alright- it was never really one of my "favorites", but with the internet meme and this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRvQKnsjYzM , I gotta add this in now!!  bwaaaahaahhaahahahaahaahaahahahahahahahahahahaaaa!!!!!

-i love it when han taps the stormtroopers shoulder and ambushes him. 

-when the 2 logs swing together and crush the AT-ST

-when the ewoks rope the trooper on the speeder - that was awesome.

-vader crossing the rubicon by threatening to go after leia.  gotta love the music.

-luke NOT crossing the rubicon, refuses to let his emotions get the better of him and telling the emperor that he will never join the dark side.

-Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker - after throwing it all away and spending most of his life ruining himself as much as his friends and loved ones, makes the ultimate sacrifice.  perfectly staged, scored and shot.  THANKS HARMY!!

-vaders funeral - early example of 'closure'

-the celebration - i like yub nub.  i like seeing the rebels celebrate.  i like the idea of seeing a group of characters we all came to know and love - those in the flesh and in spirit.  Thanks harmy!!

ESB

-flyover shot of luke riding the tauntaun

-han saving luke.  han may rub people the wrong way with his ego. but if you got a friend in han, you got a friend for life

-the ATAT tripping over its feet and falling

-the asteroid chase.  just think - this was made in 19-frickin-80 !! 

-yoda going through lukes stuff looking for something to play with.  tossing things out.

-"this one, a long time i have watched.  all his life as he looked away.  never his mind on where he was..what he was doing!"

-yoda knwoing luke f-ed up in the cave..and not being surprised at all by it.

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rH2PkjBFaU&feature=related perfectly written, acted, framed, staged, decorated, lighted, and scored.  this scene is anti-pt.

-vader blocking laser shots with the palm of his hand

-no....there is another.

-we all know about -'i love you' 'i know' - but i also like when chewie howls in protest and gets violent. han tries to calm him down telling him it'll be alright and talking sense into him. 

-seeing han frozen in carbonite for the first time.  cinema buffs talk about what an unorthodox and controversial storytelling device it was for hitchcock to kill off janet leigh not even half way through pyscho.  In 1980, being a 5 year old little kid and not knowing what was going to happen to han for at least 3 more years (when your less than 10, each year is a huge percentage of your life) was every bit as shocking.  still the greatest cliffhanger.

-vader slowly ignites his lightsaber to duel with luke.

-the end-fight on the platform from beginning to end.  i love that high overhead shot of vader and luke.  the lightsabers just glow beautifully against the dark blue background.  Vader telling luke the truth about hwat really happened.  Luke refusing to join him (love the triumphant music).

-'bring my shuttle!'  thanks harmy!!

oh god, too many to list.  but i'll try...

one movie at a time:

SW-

-the entire first 10 minutes on tantive IV.  the overture, seeing the 2 ships pass overhead.  R2 and 3PO being the only characters that the audience is intorduced to.  seeing vader for the first time.  the music once the star destroyer leaves tatooine (thank god lucas didn't rescore the imperial march into ANH)

-see r2 and 3p0 arguing on tatooine and 3P0 kicks him (more on this later)

-binary sunset

-obi-wan showing luke the lightsaber and telling him the story of the jedi

-"Listen to them r2, they're dying!  curse my metal body I wasnt fast enough, its all my fault...my poor master.." 

-"will somebody get this big walking carpet out of my way!?"

-luke and leia having the shootout with the stormtroopers over the chasm (a great theatre moment)

-obi-wans sacrifice

-the "POV" shot of the x-wing diving down into the death star trench.  just awesome even 35 years later

-Han coming to the rescue

-throne room music and clean and shiny r2

georgec said:

I saw this article at AICN. There's nothing too interesting here, but I thought the video was kind of funny.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/54603

"I'm retired." Hehe. Right...

I still think that in maybe 5-6 years Lucas will seriously consider producing a new SW trilogy but hire others to write/direct.

 i think a case can be made he's retired since 1979, if not earlier.

there wont be any more movies - and not because the saga is finished.  he just wont be able to get carte blanche for revenues like he did with the PT.  so he'll stick with something much smaller that'll ensure a smaller but steady supply of revenue from the sycophants and stepford star wars fans.

its funny seeing that AOTC behind the scenes clip of lucas telling john knoll "we see the little green guy pulling olut that laser sword and goin' to town - and thats what everyone's been wanting to see"

couple things - i know a lot of fans that wanted to see an epic showdown between yoda and the emperor, but i dont recall a single fan saying they wanted to see yoda with a lightsaber.  i don't recall seeing any fan art of yoda with a lightsaber prior to 2000.  it made for a great moment in AOTC and brought the house down.  at the time it was the only pop-culture moment that the PT had on par with great moments from the OT.  BUT ONLY BECAUSE IT WAS YODA and because of the OT!  if it was coleman trebor or any other cgi jedi, nobody would have given a shit.

secondly, lucas says 'and thats what everyone wants to see'  wait a minute - i thought lucas didn't give a shit about the fans and he does whats in the best interest of the story, good or bad.

right?????

as for the emperor - would have been nice to see him fight without a lightsaber.  and not see dooku with lightning.  the setup in ROTJ where he is talking ot luke gives you the idea that he is above and beyond lightsabers

Harmy said:

This is pretty cool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0z_TU4Gw5o&feature=g-vrec&context=G2dc41f8RVAAAAAAAAAQ

 OMG (do people still say omg?) that is absolutely awesome.

unfortunately, looks like the explosions have those rings.  so you'll need to despecialize it!!!

;P

Bobby Jay said:

Lightsaber duel de-constructed by (the UK) SIRI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=J0mUVY9fLlw

 beat me too it.

lol, i think ebert once said for episode III that te lightsaber duels were so choreograph it seems like they only want to strike each others lightsbaers, rather than kill their opponent.

I actually kinda liked it when obi wan and anakin spun their lightsabers around but alot of people dont like it.

Davnes007 said:

TV's Frink said:

 

walking_carpet said:

I didn't get this book cuz lucas just spouted so much grandstanding nonsense it turned me off, and I  thought they would one day release the visual script. so Il

Oh no, Lucas got to him before he could finish posting!

 

Or, maybe he wanted to make posts like Negative1, but hit the 'Post Reply' button instead of pushing the Enter key...?

 !!

hmph...not sure how that happened.  unless my thumb moved over the touchpad - highlighting the paragraph and then i deleted and just dind't notice.

crap..now im not sure what I wrote :(

anyways, i like my idea of at least having the closing credits of episode III play against a background of footage from all the wrap parties.  and then have it as a DVD easter egg.

ray_afraid said:

walking_carpet said:

 

at the ROTS wrap party, lucas took the microphone and said something like "when your part of a crew, your part of a crew - and when your not....your not"  WTF?!?!  :(

What does that mean? What was he talking about?

 

it was in that making of ROTS book.  he said a lot of stupid annoying stuff in that book - but this one I may have not quite correct after further consultation...hmm.

the quote is "you're all friends, you know each other, but I have a tendency to not let my professional life and personal life mix" "after a movie finishes, everyone goes there seperate ways.  When you're together, you're together.  when you're not, you're not"

So im told that below that paragraph is a picture of lucas holding the microphone - maybe thats where I got the idea he actually said this to the crew during the wrap party.  its possible he was explaining just to the author his feelings.  The quote is still dubious to me becuase lucas is trying to rationalize his notorious aloofness and disregard for anyone who isnt a sycophant.  but there is still a chance he hadn't completely abandoned even basic social grace.

I didn't get this book cuz lucas just spouted so much grandstanding nonsense it turned me off, and I  thought they would one day release the visual script. so Il

SilverWook said:

That's a good point. We saw sporting events being watched in the bar in Episode II, so there ought to be news broadcasts and even a "C-Span" for the Senate.

 

I managed to finally catch a couple clone wars episodes (one was actually interesting - obi-wan goes undercover and infiltrates a prison)  and it seems like they use a news broadcast at the intro of each episode.

on the eve of ROTS release, there was a rumor/spoiler that vader shouted NOOOOO but it was off-screen and echoed while we immediately cut to padme's burial.

oh man, this is so awesome!

i liked the throne room section - i wish the end-credits were just like the OST. Was like a grand send-off.

i had this crazy idea that the end credits for ROTS should contain a compilation of all the great themes of the whole saga and instead of playing over a star-field, they should have footage of all the wrap-parties in the background from all 6 movies.  Kinda like in the 80s whenever a series finale aired, they would bring out the actors for a curtain call and show the party afterwards.  At least do it for the premiere showing of ROTS at that Manns theatre.

think of how hilarious it would have been to see that footage of fisher and ford from 1977 - still in costume - sharing a joint!!  BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[sigh] then again maybe not.  at the ROTS wrap party, lucas took the microphone and said something like "when your part of a crew, your part of a crew - and when your not....your not"  WTF?!?!  :(

the PT had models, its just the models were drowned out by the CGI.  one example is actually one of my favorite fx shots - in the AOTC Geonosis battle - when the camera tracks that missle all the way to that AT-ST and blows it up.  I dont know if there is an animated GIF of it, but you guys know what im referring to.  That was a model - but everything around it was cg.  I've said enough about the cgi clone troopers.

maybe the correct preference is:

appropriate and meaningful use of cgi where practical effects do not suffice;

properly detailed and lighted models;

and sets that can function as actual environments and not just greenscreen plates that force actors to just slowly and deliberately walk and talk;

and all of these elements have to be composed properly and in a manner that adds dramatic weight.  and you need to choreograph action sequences in a way that engages the viewer so that it stands the test of time after the intial rush.  The action in the OT is like a classic world series pitchers dual.  So much of the action in the PT was like a exhibition home run contest. 

The 'chase' sequence on utapau between obi-wan and grevious in ROTS - for me it sucked because things were moving so fast, you couldnt see anything.  If you're gonna have a sequence move so fast it becomes all a blur, you need to have some knowledge beforehand of what the environment looks like.  so if we dont know where this chase is taking place or even the basic layout, how are we supposed to have any sense of danger?  i guess it doesn' matter because apologists just say "look!! its a homage to temple of doom!!" at least for the pod race, you got a first lap so the next 2 gave you an idea of what obstacles anakin needed to be careful of.

anyway, bakc on topic - afaik, everything in ROTS was filmed on sound-stage, including that scene with obi-wan and beru. i thought the scene looked fine - except beru running up to owen on top of that ledge like she is holding a bag of groceries and not a baby:( but based on how ewan described lucas' direction of that scene, I am not surprised.

 its funny posters here talk about how lucas mispronounces the names of the characters - i remember one clip of footage that shows pernilla august during a script review asking lucas "is it SHMEE or SHMEYE - did we ever decide?"

Someone mentioned John Carter - its too bad this movie is bombing.  I was kinda excited about seeing it.  i hope its still playing in my theatre.

Surely its better than the crap green lantern and transformers 3 movies.

 right??????

SilverWook said:

(In no particular order.)

Blade Runner

The Dark Crystal

E.T.

Conan The Barbarian

Gremlins

Most of the good Star Trek sequels with the original cast.

Tron

Back to the Future

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Batman

And last, but not least, the only good Transformers movie! ;)

 [ that averages to like 1.5 movies per year. :(   besides..gremlins is part of the great class of 84 that I mentioned,  and blade runner didn't become popular until 1991 ;P 

star trek V was crap, but I liked II.  star trek III is a weird one.  i was really excited for it - spock dying in part II was a huge deal to begin with. but just this idea of a group of people looking for a friend who needed help was something that stuck with me.  one of the reasons I still liked the jabba half of ROTJ even if it went on for too long. 

but part III didn't quite end up being like that (need to watch it again...its been almost 20 years).    still, it had cool moments - the enterpise blowing up, christopher lloyd as klingon,

and of course:

 "I...Have had...Enough...of you!!!" 

 bwaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

If you stop and think about it, it is quite an accomplishment of sorts to make a movie that is so bad that it not only literally ends the lead actor's career, but also ruins his life.  Has there ever been another movie that can make that claim?

was about to mention faye dunaway and Mommy Dearest, but not sure if she went as far as to say her life was ruined.

TServo2049 said:

Even if the films of the 80s were on the whole not as good as the films of the 70s, I still wouldn't call the 80s the absolute worst decade for film. IMO, the last decade was much, MUCH worse overall. At least the 80s didn't have endless CGI, ADD editing, overuse of handheld/shaky-cam, or unrealistic high-contrast teal-and-orange color grading.

Back then we had lots of low-budget garbage, but now we have too much big-budget garbage. For example, you listed Death Wish 3 and 4, Ghoulies, and Friday the 13th Part III as examples of the "average" fare of the 80s. I'd still rather watch a braindead Golan-Globus action film, or a Charles Band horror film, or an 80s slasher film than a Michael Bay movie, or Final Destination, or Saw. I can actually physically tolerate the 80s stuff; the 2000s stuff hurts my eyes, hurts my ears, and hurts my head.

That's just my opinion.

you maybe right about the big budget garbage. im tellin ya, movies need a "eric clapton unplugged" to do away with overproduction.

 i've been hearing a lot of this teal-orange thing.  can someone explain?  at first I thought it was too many movies having a blueish tint like Underworld.  I saw a link that explained it further, but not sure if I get it. 

besides, the 'flat' look of the 80s was the teal-orange of its time.  and I think the 2000s had many more great movies than the 80s.  plus there are a lot of foreign films and independent films that are great that weren't really around during the 80s (sheeit, there I go again...i know i've said this before..but where ??  :(   )

In fact, i think what helps 2000s is there just seems to be many more movies released overall - its easier to find something you like.  anyway to find out how many movies were released theatrically in a given year?  does IMDB have this?

to keep this on topic - robocop was one of the very best action-sci/fi movies of the 80s.  sadly, robocop 2 got the 90s off to a bad start.

Cobra Kai said:

walking_carpet said:

 what was it about so many 80s movies (worst movie decade ever) that had this look?  

:O  Worst movie decade ever?  did i read that correctly?  wow, i don't even know what to say...

 nothin' personal.  just speaking the truth.

i firmly stand by my stance as 80s being worst movie decade ever!!  Even if the 2000s had PT and Transformers. 

your username is cobra kai - which means you like karate kid - which was pretty good.  but the problem is your views of 80s are skewed because you have fond memories of all the great and famous movies that came out in 1984- but that year was aberration. 

Sure, the 80s had 2 OT movies, ROTLA, Die Hard, Spielberg, john carpenter, Oliver Stone and cameron.  but thats not good enough.  Most were like death wish 3 and 4, iron eagle, Ghoulies and friday the 13th part III- which I can enjoy, but in an awesomely bad way.  80s had movies like out of africa, terms of endearment, rain man (which i like),  driving miss daisy, chariots of fire winning oscars.  those movies would have gotten pwned in 70s or 90s (do people still say 'pwn')

only exception is maybe the 80s had some good comedy movies with john candy, john hughes, eddie murphy, akroyd and murray-while the 70s had fewer and far between good comedies.

80s = worst movie decade.  now, if you'll excuse me, I got superman IV on - its the part where nuclear man takes mariel hemingway into outer space. 

captainsolo said:

 It's tired, uninspired, looks like a made for TV film

same thing about ROTJ - what was it about so many 80s movies (worst movie decade ever) that had this look?  

Cue the awful NSNA title song.

 aw sheeeeeit...now I cant get that song out of my head :(

I thought I heard that she and peter weller didn't like how the story was overwhelmingly negative and the violence was out of control (always was an interesting debate in 1990 - which movie was more violent, total recall or robocop 2) but this is the first I heard of kershner being the reason why the script was so off-putting.

buddy-x-wing said:

I still don't understand how introducing Anakin at such an early age did any service to the overall story, they should have gone with a mid-teen that was closer to Natalie Portman in age. The problem is you can't expect an audience to make an emotional attachment to a character they know will grow up to become DARTH VADER

By introducing Anakin so young they wasted a whole movie where they should have been establishing the friendship between Obi-Wan and Anakin, and the beginnings of a budding romance with Padme, and as a result none of their characters showed any character development until the 2nd film

 

 the problem is, lucas is not capable of doing that.  He has no real storytelling skills that involve characters arcs and relationships on even the most rudimentary level.  Of course, he also had nothing planned for the PT story - except maybe how the emporer was given his power.

you mention AOTC, but even in this film the characters are wasted - anakin and padmes relationship is laughable unless you forget TPM and just assume they have know each other for quite some time.  That elevator scene in AOTC - lucas shoehorned that in during pickups because he forgot that obi-wan and anakin were supposed to have a relationship.

i cant get over how hilarious these robot chicken star wars skits are.  is it just a coincidence that the ratio of OT to PT skits is like 5: 1  ;)

this one with admiral ackbar is perfect.  the voice is hilarious and everytime he says "small claims court" i laugh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRvQKnsjYzM