All Things Star Wars (No Spoilers)

[greyhammer90]

Really? Maggie Gylenhall is pretty awful, and it's hard to take it seriously as the 4th best movie of all time with Christian Bale's voice. I think it's close to average if not for an iconic performance by Ledger.

Also there's the fact that Christopher Nolan can't direct an action scene to save his life. I love the guy, but his ability to visually showcase action without confusing your eye is terrible.

 

[IrishJayhawk]

Another good example is the Phantom Menace. Lots of people left the theatre saying "that was great" because it was Star Wars in a theatre. Then you rewatch it...

But you can never watch it and think, "Boy, Jake Lloyd is a stellar actor. What a great choice." Not the first time, not anytime. Until, maybe, you see Hayden Christensen. Ugh.

 

[greyhammer90]

But you can never watch it and think, "Boy, Jake Lloyd is a stellar actor. What a great choice." Not the first time, not anytime. Until, maybe, you see Hayden Christensen. Ugh.

Now THIS is podracing.

 

[zelezo vlk]

Also there's the fact that Christopher Nolan can't direct an action scene to save his life. I love the guy, but his ability to visually showcase action without confusing your eye is terrible.

Joseph Gordon Levitt rotating hallway fight?

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[IrishJayhawk]

Now THIS is podracing.

I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Here everything is soft and smooth.

Gah

 

[IrishLion]

Case in point, tons of people saw Dark Knight, thought it was amazing, and went on IMDB and gave it a 10/10. It's now rated as the 4th best movie of all time, which is just absurd. Great movie, but not that good.

Dark Knight may not be 4th all time but it's in my top 15 for sure. It's nearly flawless IMO. As rewatchable as any non-comedy or Star Wars movie in recent memory, too.

Really? Maggie Gylenhall is pretty awful, and it's hard to take it seriously as the 4th best movie of all time with Christian Bale's voice. I think it's close to average if not for an iconic performance by Ledger.

Also there's the fact that Christopher Nolan can't direct an action scene to save his life. I love the guy, but his ability to visually showcase action without confusing your eye is terrible.

I think I'm with GK on this one. When I saw The Dark Knight in theaters, I remember literally being in awe while sitting in my seat and watching the film, and then leaving and saying to myself, "That was the best movie I have ever seen."

The setup and intro was amazing (classic heist scene! But then Joker!), they got right back into the action with the Batman, not worrying about catching the audience back up (sorry if you didn't see the first one LOL), Cillian Murphy made another appearance right away (love that guy), and the storyline was complex and full of genuine twists (within reason), but also didn't feel forced or too convoluted. And then, of course, Ledger's Joker, I think, is still the best acting job and most well-executed character ever. Every scene he is in is amazing. The way he portrays all the different aspects of such an unstable character is essentially unmatched, at least in terms of any movies I've seen.

You've got the psychotic, win-at-all-costs, don't-care-about-anyone side of the Joker right away with the way he planned the heist. You've got the badass-you-can't-f*ck-with-me and also the hilarious side of the joker in his second scene when he shows up at the mobster meeting (and the pencil trick was just so brutal and sudden. Another small but great moment in that movie). You've got the fully-unstable-and-evil side with the bomb in the dude's stomach, and the way he acts in his street showdown with Batman and the semi. It's just incredible, and pushes the film over the top for me.

It's in my top 3 fo' sho'

 

[jspags10pg]

Not sure how many people watch Chris Stuckmann's reviews but he's my favorite movie reviewer on Youtube and he did a spoiler-free review last night.

He's a huge Star Wars nerd but is pretty realistic about all the films. Basically he loved episodes 4 and 5, thought 6 was pretty good, hated 1 and 2, and didn't care for 3 much either.

I'll post his review below but to sum it up for anyone that doesn't even want to watch the spoiler-free reviews or anything beforehand...he loved it. Had a few small gripes but nothing glaring, just nitpicking.

I like to go in to movies with as little knowledge about them as possible so I usually don't watch reviews, even spoiler-free ones, of movies I know I'm going to go see but I'm not a huge Star Wars fan (don't ban me) so I watched this one. Don't get me wrong when I say I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, I like the Star Wars franchise, I'm just not a nut about it like some or a lot of people are. I wasn't even sure if I was going to go see The Force Awakens but after this review and other positive things I've heard, I guess I'm gonna have to check it out.

Anyway, here's the review for anyone who wants to watch. Not sure if embedding will work but here's the link if it doesn't.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBMW3y86cpo

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zBMW3y86cpo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[greyhammer90]

Joseph Gordon Levitt rotating hallway fight?

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One good shot of two guys running toward each other down rotating hallway doesn't make up for years of other badly directed scenes. Don't get me wrong, I like his movies, but he can't direct action. This isn't an underground opinion. It's a pretty commonly held belief. He's good for still or far-away shots of set pieces, like the flooding house in inception or the airplane shot in the DK Rises, but he struggles when tracking action.

Here's a good example of someone taking about the freeway chase in DK and how Nolan actively confuses your brain with his direction in these kinds of scenes.

https://vimeo.com/28792404

 

[wizards8507]

Case in point, tons of people saw Dark Knight, thought it was amazing, and went on IMDB and gave it a 10/10. It's now rated as the 4th best movie of all time, which is just absurd. Great movie, but not that good.

Dark Knight is the most overrated movie of all time IMO. It's not even the best film in a relatively mediocre trilogy. Idiot critics like anything that's daaaaark and broooooding even if they're no fun.

 

[zelezo vlk]

One good shot of two guys running toward each other down rotating hallway doesn't make up for years of other badly directed scenes. Don't get me wrong, I like his movies, but he can't direct action. This isn't an underground opinion. It's a pretty commonly held belief. He's good for still or far-away shots of set pieces, like the flooding house in inception or the airplane shot in the DK Rises, but he struggles when tracking action.

Here's a good example of someone taking about the freeway chase in DK and how Nolan actively confuses your brain with his direction in these kinds of scenes.

https://vimeo.com/28792404

I'll try and get to this later after work. In the meantime, thank you for providing discussion and evidence and for not taking my earlier post the wrong way.

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[IrishLion]

Dark Knight is the most overrated movie of all time IMO. It's not even the best film in a relatively mediocre trilogy. Idiot critics like anything that's daaaaark and broooooding even if they're no fun.

This opinion is a travesty, and does a disservice to all opinions the world over.

 

[wizards8507]

This opinion is a travesty, and does a disservice to all opinions the world over.

I did the AMC trilogy marathon the night The Dark Knight Rises came out. The complete awfulness of that movie made me rethink The Dark Knight. This about sums up my feelings:

The Dark Knight: my most overrated film | Film | The Guardian

 

[tussin]

Dark Knight is the most overrated movie of all time IMO. It's not even the best film in a relatively mediocre trilogy. Idiot critics like anything that's daaaaark and broooooding even if they're no fun.

Agreed. It's an average superhero movie with one all-timer character. You take Ledger out of it and sub him in with an average villain performance and no one remembers or talks about the movie.

Taking everything into consideration, it's a good movie. But when you have people that claim it's one of the best movies of all time, that's when you can definitively say that it's overrated.

 

[connor_in]

https://lightsaber.withgoogle.com/

 

[GATTACA!]

Dark Knight is the most overrated movie of all time IMO. It's not even the best film in a relatively mediocre trilogy. Idiot critics like anything that's daaaaark and broooooding even if they're no fun.

This is almost neg worthy.

 

[gkIrish]

I did the AMC trilogy marathon the night The Dark Knight Rises came out. The complete awfulness of that movie made me rethink The Dark Knight. This about sums up my feelings:

The Dark Knight: my most overrated film | Film | The Guardian

1) who is talking about the Dark Knight Rises? What does the quality of that movie have to do with the quality of the Dark Knight?

2) Can you point out a specific scene that you disliked from the Dark Knight?

 

[tussin]

1) who is talking about the Dark Knight Rises? What does the quality of that movie have to do with the quality of the Dark Knight?

2) Can you point out a specific scene that you disliked from the Dark Knight?

I generally think the movie takes itself a bit too seriously and tries to hit on one too many moral dilemmas -- I could have lived without the 3D surveillance angle and was a bit tired by the time the boat dilemma occurred.

Also, a smaller gripe is that the introduction of Two-Face took time away from the Joker.

 

[IrishLion]

I generally think the movie takes itself a bit too seriously and tries to hit on one too many moral dilemmas -- I could have lived without the 3D surveillance angle and was a bit tired by the time the boat dilemma occurred.

Also, a smaller gripe is that the introduction of Two-Face took time away from the Joker.

Personally, I thought that they handled the Joker/Two-Face dynamic pretty well, which is another reason I liked the movie so much. The corruption of Dent at the hands of the Joker was just another feather in the Joker's cap of insanity. I guess I saw Two-Face as Joker's anarchy personified, and it didn't feel crowded to me. Also, it gave us this moment, which is one of my all-time favorites:

However, I can see how others would view it as too much.

 

[Irish#1]

I finally decide to check out this thread and there's a discussion about the Dark Knight? Darth Vader would not be happy.

 

[IrishLion]

I finally decide to check out this thread and there's a discussion about the Dark Knight? Darth Vader would not be happy.

 

[gkIrish]

I generally think the movie takes itself a bit too seriously and tries to hit on one too many moral dilemmas -- I could have lived without the 3D surveillance angle and was a bit tired by the time the boat dilemma occurred.

Also, a smaller gripe is that the introduction of Two-Face took time away from the Joker.

The boat dilemma was great because it set up Batman and Joker to think Batman was right about corruption but in the end but we know that Joker was ultimately right that "anyone can be corrupted" because of Harvey Dent.

 

[Cackalacky]

Dark Knight is the most overrated movie of all time IMO. It's not even the best film in a relatively mediocre trilogy. Idiot critics like anything that's daaaaark and broooooding even if they're no fun.

LOL... surely you jest. Dark Knight is amazing and deep. Its the only DC movie to accurately capture Batman vs Joker and it is probably my favorite super hero movie ever. The duality and circularity of neither being able to kill or exist without the other... The White Knight vs the Dark Knight and the rise and fall of both...

But seriously, Star Wars only here please.

 

[gkIrish]

Feel free to post on Facebook...

 

[Riddickulous]

Avoid the film's Wikipedia page at all costs. The plot is already summarized there.

 

[greyhammer90]

Avoid the film's Wikipedia page at all costs. The plot is already summarized there.

BAH, GOD! THE WORLD ISN'T READY.

 

[ulukinatme]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qzQahpxucKk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[wizards8507]

So I watched The Phantom Menace last night and... it's not as total shit as I remember. Little kid Anakin is much less offensive than Hayden Christensen. Even Jar Jar didn't bother me as much as I thought he would. Midi-chlorians were the only major issue I had (along with some minor ones), but they're a bigger problem for what they do to the franchise as a whole than for the individual film. The Padme-decoy thing was completely unnecessary and Keira Knightley looked way too similar to Natalie Portman for me to follow along with which was the real queen in every scene. My biggest question coming out of that movie is what is the Star Wars community's consensus about Anakin's parentage? Is he really supposed to have been conceived by the midi-chlorians?

 

[NDohio]

Ready for tonight. My son and I are heading out into the madness. Should be fun.

Going back on Tuesday with the whole family.

 

[tussin]

So I watched The Phantom Menace last night and... it's not as total shit as I remember. Little kid Anakin is much less offensive than Hayden Christensen. Even Jar Jar didn't bother me as much as I thought he would. Midi-chlorians were the only major issue I had (along with some minor ones), but they're a bigger problem for what they do to the franchise as a whole than for the individual film. The Padme-decoy thing was completely unnecessary and Keira Knightley looked way too similar to Natalie Portman for me to follow along with which was the real queen in every scene. My biggest question coming out of that movie is what is the Star Wars community's consensus about Anakin's parentage? Is he really supposed to have been conceived by the midi-chlorians?

I've been watching all the movies as well and watched Eps. 1 & 2 this week. IMO, they are actually worse than I remember.

The dialogue is truly awful, the actors show no range, the CGI is lazy and offensive to the viewer, and the pacing is really, really bad. There are hour segments of characters sitting and talking (nothing more) in both movies.

Also, watching as an adult, I found Jar Jar to be more annoying. I agree with you that Hayden Christensen is definitely worse than Jake Lloyd, but Jar Jar is far more annoying than anything in Episode 2. I think it's a toss-up as to which movie is worse. I'm inclined to say that I liked Ep. 2 a little more because Portman was pretty hot.

 

[BeauBenken]

The movies are better if you believe in Darth Jar Jar...