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From Entertainment Weekly:The scene is big, busy, inventive in the way of actors jumping around in front of a blue screen pretending to slay mechanical monsters created on a computer, and we are attentive. But entertained? Ah, that sensation is as faint as light from a galaxy far, far away. C+
New York Magazine:
Still, in its own Saturday-morning-serial kind of way, Attack of the Clones is a commendable example of the sort of movie we once loved and then outgrew. Of course, if it was better, we wouldn't feel as if we'd outgrown it.
Anyone besides Auph going to watch it after *that*?
clark
Follow Ups:
I really don't understand why it's become so vogue to bash the Star Wars prequels. I also don't understand why everyone expects so much from Lucas. These movies are made for kids. Maybe now that all of the first trilogy kids are older and hardened by the world they simply cannot relate to the fantasy of Star Wars. I found AOTC to be incredibly intense. I think I would've enjoyed it more had I not read the early reviews (which bashed it of course). Many of the things I enjoy in the original trilogy as an adult I simply didn't get as a little kid. I cherish being able to remember and appreciate all of the things I enjoyed as a kid.Perhaps the last 20 years of wannabe Star Wars movies killed the magic for most people. Which is sad. I'll be the first to admit these movies aren't the pinnacle of movie making. But then that was never the point. The point was to create a space fantasy with it's own mythology and history and have it suitable for people of all ages. It has symbols of love, friendship, family, good vs. evil, mentors and manipulators. And it also has spaceships, shoot-outs, rescues, humor, angst, and dare I say romance.
I don't think I'll ever get tired of the Star Wars fantasy.
Rob CThe world was made for people not cursed with self-awareness
It is way better than to watch "Gladiator" or pathetic remake of "Ocean's 11".
I am sorry, Alex, but I feel even the Gladiator is better and more entertaining than any of the SW films.If I had to choose just between the two, I would not even think.
Now, if someone made a bootleg tape with just close-ups of Natalie, I would gladly pay few bucks for that.
Vic,I'll admit to being a Star Wars nut, but my affection for the series took a major nose dive after Phantom Menace which was a horrible film for reasons too numerous to list.
The crowd last night was made up of the 30+ generation and man do we look old. Not as old as Yoda but getting there. I am so happy that my wife is still in her twenties.
I didn't hate Episode II, but to say that it had major faults would be an understatement.
1. Why does Lucas pretend to know how to create anything resembling a coherent story? He's not a good director (regardless of the billions of shekels) and he clearly hates working with real actors. The script was pathetic and I mean "Ernest goes to Camp" pathetic.
2. The final battle where Yoda opens up a can of Corellian whoop-ass is fun but the digital Yoda just doesn't cut it. After all of these years, I still like the cumbersome looking costumes from the original trilogy.
3. Hadyn (anakin) can't act and he's so bad in a love scene, that I would rather see Ron Jeremy in the role than him.
4. Other than Obi-Wan, R2-D2, and C-3PO...I can't relate to any of the characters and found them boring as hell.
Anything good?
I like the Jango/Boba Fett angle. Other than the mighty Chewbacca, Boba Fett was the single most interesting character from the original trilogy and it was cool to get some insight into his origins.
Natalie Portman is a major hottie and looking better by the hour.
Lucas' horrible descent over to the dark side is nearly complete. Only one more bad film to suffer through.
Wait a week or two before running out to see this film.
Tosh Fett
Actually many of the objections to Lucas' script-writing abilities could have been raised about the first film. I remember seeing an interview with Carrie Fisher where she complained about how difficult it was to deliver some of the lines without breaking up into inappropriate laughter.Clunky as some of the dialog was, at least the original told the story through the characters who by accident or by dint of the personalities of the actors portraying them, were people whom we could relate to.
There was no relationship between the characters that was apparent in TPM, and the story did not appear to be told through the characters. They were just kind of "there."
The special effects in the original were spectacular, compared to what had been seen before; and the film overwhelmed and delighted audiences with the richness of its inventiveness -- the creatures, the droids, etc.
While TPM showed effects on a level they were not impressive in their inventiveness -- they were impressive in that they showed it was possible to produce effects previously available only in cartoons and to replicate digitally scenes that took thousands of extras in the heyday of the Hollywood spectaculars like Ben-Hur and Spartacus.
Bruce,I was 7 when Star Wars came out and it's pathetic to admit that I know every single line from IV,V, VI.
Empire was clearly the best film as it had little things such as a plot, script by someone who understands that a story needs to develop, character development, and g-d forbid tension!
I was so shocked (okay, I kinda expected it) when Vader and Luke battled it out and Vader said...
"Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father..."
"He told me enough...he told me you killed him."
"No Luke...I am your father."
The audience went wild.
There wasn't one line in AOTC that made anyone jump or gasp.
When Yoda gets all the best lines, you know the script had to suck...but then again I always liked Frank OZ.
Tosh Fett
As long as we are confessing, when the original Star Wars movie came out, I was a law student and my wife was the news director of the local TV station in Charlottesville (with a staff of 2). The same people who owned the TV station, owned one of the movie theatres in town. As a benefit, they supplied passes to the theater to the station's employees and their spouses.Guess which theater was showing "Star Wars"?
Guess how many times my wife and I saw Star Wars -- 'cause I can't remember.
Somebody gave me the package of the 3 on VHS tape when they were released as such in the 1980s, so I've re-run them a number of times.
Agree with you that TESB is the most "adult" of the initial three, with a real script, real dialogue and real direction. But, I recall, at the time the buzz was that there was some sense of disappointment in the film, because it didn't meet expectations created by the first movie.
However, a hilarious version that you must see if you ever have the chance is the stage production called "Star Wars in 60 Minutes." It is a Lucas-authorized stage production that manages to tell the entire story of the first 3 films in 60 minutes by capturing snippets of dialogue from each film. USC Drama students (of which my daughter is one) put the show one every year when they participate in the Edinburgh, Scotland "Fringe Festival." They also performed it in Paris last year. Running several shows a day for several weeks, it packed the house and had people ROTFLTAO. The students do their best to imitate the voices of the actors from the movies. I know it's hard to imagine; you just have to see it.
Re: the posts below. Glad to hear that your sister is improving, and I hope the "medical practioners" who are responsible for this debacle are, to put it gently, "relieved of duty."
How's little sis doing? Recovering?
Vic,I appreciate the concern. She's out of the hospital and recovering at home. She has the bag and needs to gain a minimum of 20 pounds before she can eat certain foods.
It was very touch and go for the first 3 days after the operation, as they had to go back and operate again.
My parents have aged about 50 years and my Mother is swearing at everyone within 20 feet.
The biopsy results are due back anyday in regard to the Crohn's that never existed.
Tosh
Take a good care of her, and tell her we are sending our regards.My wife is asking about her and worried - you know the Jewish wives...
For me any SW movie is continuation of something beautiful and romantic. Gladiator on the other hand (for me) is representation of Hollywood at its worst.
As for Natalie - she has pretty face but she is no Audrey.
I was on the phone ordering some glass... woman receptionist was called Audrey... beautiful images kept rolling in front of my eyes. She sounded seductive, and price was right.I went to pick up my order a couple of days later. There was a fat and ugly lady in the office, dressed like she lived all her life in Delaware. The beautiful images faded away.
The power of the name!
SW? Maybe should not tell you what I really think about it. But I don't find them "bad". A Horse Whisperer was BAD film. SW is in the special category.
I have this "name thing", too. I used to have a theory that only beautiful women can be called Audrey or Vivien. :)
As for the SW saga - there are Movies and there are movies. SW is a movie, so I don't judge it by the same standards I do say with Shindler's List or Roman Holiday.
Am I going to see you in NY? I am coming Thursday afternoon and stay at Hilton untill Saturday.
.
I got an invite to the first screening here, a special 12:01am show.
A low key affair punctuated by some dweeb dressed as Darth Vader, said dweeb was far too short in stature and a couple of episodes too early.Better than TPM but that wasn't hard.
This megaflick is a souless, corporate cinematic confection lacking any sense of drama or suspense.
A typical Lucas clunky script (Hayden Christensen has some real howlers), some really bad acting (local guy Tem Morrison and that kid, who sounded like he came straight off the street with heavy newzild accents), comparitively these two put Jake Lloyd on par with Olivier...
Plus some of the worse SFX I've seen in a loooong time.
With all thier expertise one would think Lucas and co. would be able to make the scenes with young Skywalker and Christopher Lee on speeder bikes look more realistic.Most of the scenes with human/CGI interaction also looked extremely fake.
Yoda looked better as a puppet.
His big fight scene had the audience howling in a laughter.Thankfully Jar Jar has a much smaller (on screen) role this time out.
And at ~155 min. the damn thing is waaay too long.
No doubt the editor dozed off at this snoozefest.But Natalie Portman looked great.
Best thing about the whole session was the set of trailers for more interesting films (Blade 2, Minority Report, Spider Man, MIB 2).
Overall ... three yawns.
One can expect the DVD to be a stunning package.
:P
cheerio
v
Awwwwww...it's an artifact of living in isolation down here and of being ahead of the date line.:P
cheerio
Lucas maintains his tradition of not being able to write a script, or direct actors beyond "try and look a little bit angry Hayden".Perhaps LOTR set the standard for special effects which Lucas tries to surpass in AOTC, he probably succeeds.
The price of admission is worth it if you want to see a SFX tour-de-force in a 2.5hr action adventure sci-fi fantasy drama prequel.
"It’s worth the price of a ticket. You’re going to see the damn thing anyway, have a clear conscience."-Eric Lurio, Greenwich Village Gazette.
The fantasy film with emotion, moral weight, characterisation and...special effects that actually SERVE the story? The movie that didn't dumb down to an 11 year old level?Oh, yeah, right...that wasn't what I saw last night...I saw something called AOTC: very cool FX, a lame plot, an awkward love story and some of the most inane dialog ever written for the cinema. (Harrison Ford had it right 25 years ago: "George, you can type this shit but you can't SAY it.") I thought for a minute I might've wandered into Gladiator, but then Saruman was saying something about how Obi-Wan had to join with him and I kept searching the screen for a Palantir.
I think I was entertained. I'm not sure. I knew I was gonna see it anyway out of (misplaced) loyalty. Thinking back (less than 24 hours ago) I seem to recall that I was very pleased by the nice turns of the British thesps (McGregor, McDiarmid, Lee) and it was WAY cool to see the Maori actor from Once Were Warriors playing Bobba Fett's dad...offed in Episode 2, alas.
OTOH, I did actually meet a person who claims Bobba Fett is his favorite Star Wars character. And AOTC is better than TPM, although I realise that is certainly damning with faint praise. So I guess AOTC was worth the price of a ticket. At least I can gripe with conviction.
Please-Trying to assert the superiority of LOTR over Star Wars on any other basis apart from their special effects is nonsense.
Good vs Evil. What a concept !
Speaking of which, how come nobody noticed that Count Yorga is in both movies ? Of course he's a bad guy- he's a freaking vampire you idiots !
I enjoyed AOTC. But I don't think I'm alone in my assessment of its merits aside from its technical vitues. It doesn't matter. It will be a huge hit anyway. We want to love it so badly we will all enjoy it in spite of ourselves.If ya wanna bash LOTR, you can find plenty of allies at AICN. If you think it's only about midgets and rings you didn't geddit. Not that you have to. To each his own. Life's too short.
I'll yoost let the tomato meter speak for me. (Some people are blind to magic and deaf to enchantment.)
May the force be with you...
My views on Star Wars are in the archives...ahem...not really a fan, but like LOTR, Attack of the Clones worth seeing on a big screen.LOTR is pretty much the same fare- take away the SFX and you have...er....midgets and a ring, oh...and the really challenging concept of Good vs Evil. Gee willickers, I wonder how it will turn out ?
n
Some of the reviews I've read do have me worried that Lucas has screwed up. Most of those reviews seem to be written by people who don't care much about the "Star Wars" series anyway though. Saw one that critisized Hayden Christiansen for not being pleasant enough in the role of Anakin(the future Darth Vader). Well, gee.
look around on the NYtimes website and you'll find a review by some fruity critic who hated "Empire". what a moron. THat film is an absolute classic.critics can help give analysis, maybe make you think about the film a little more, but their word is far from gospel. most of the time they are spoiled jackasses who weren't good enough to make movies on their own *or* pawns and kiss asses to hollywood.
none of this means that this movie is necesarily going to be good. the acting looks as flat and uninspired as in TPM. George Lucas should not direct. effects look totally cool though. My george lucas hating buddy likes to say: the original trilogy was good *in spite* of george lucas, not because of him.
i still can't wait to see it.
Washington post today says its "dull." Contrasts the first three that took their inspiration from classic tales with this one that appears to be inspired by the "McLaughlin Group" talking heads TV show.Says Lucas needs an editor.
Sounds like he needs more than that; he needs a fresh idea.
Sad, really. For those of us who are Lucas' contemporaries, the concept that we really are out of fresh ideas (assuming we ever had any in the first place -- as Lucas surely did) is rather chilling.
... but thanks for sharing the critic's analysis. As a rabid filmgoer I'm willing to give George Lucas' Star Wars saga one more chance, but when Jar-Jar pops up this time around I'll be thinking of you! ;^)Your friendly neighborhood AuPh
Just checked the latest stats at rottentomatoes.com-Clones has 24 positive ("fresh") reviews, and 17 negative ("rotten"). Certainly, after the hugely dissapointing Phantom Menace, skepticism is in order. I'll see it on Saturday for myself (my nine year old is chomping at the bit-he wanted to go tomorrow night).
b
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