"First review" and a lot of new pics!

The Dark Shape

New member
MaxPhactor23 said:
And was terribly received and/or reviewed by critics and the fan base alike. The film was almost universally viewed as abysmal. The few that enjoyed it are in a vast minority. So what?s your point? I hate to tell you this but how much money a film makes does not equal out to it being a good film.

Did Spider-Man 3 have a mixed reaction? Yeah. But to say it was almost universally viewed as abysmal is internet hyperbole at its finest.
 

Darth Vile

New member
You get a lot of personal opinion labelled as fact around here. On another thread that I was just viewing someone wrote, ?I think there will be a terrible public reaction that we haven?t seen since TPM?. Who would describe a movie that has one of the biggest box office returns of all time (not to mention DVD sales) as a ?terrible public reaction??

Personally whilst I thought Spiderman III not to be as good as the first (within realtive context), it was a resonable summer popcorn flick. If anything, I thought Spiderman I and II to be overated (but enjoyable).
 

donufro

New member
Folks, chances are the film isn't even completely in the can.

And for such a secret movie, why would they allow pre-screenings of a movie that's probably not even finished? So people can make judgments on a movie that's not done? So they can blab plot points to other people and ruin it for everyone?

Just because it hasn't been screened, we shouldn't automatically assume it's for negative reasons.

Usually when lousy movies aren't screened for critics, they're disposable comedies or horror flicks and they don't have 19 years of anticipation behind them. They're just stinkers from the beginning. The context is completely different.

I'm nervous about it too but let's just call it like we see it and not assume anything.
 

commontone

New member
donufro said:
Folks, chances are the film isn't even completely in the can.

And for such a secret movie, why would they allow pre-screenings of a movie that's probably not even finished?

Uh, actually, it is finished, as far as we know. Check around the forum...there's a video of John Williams explaining that they were doing the final tweaking of matching the score to the screen, and they would soon be sending it off for prints to be made. This was a week or two ago.
 

Silentrascal

New member
Anyone have any ideas as to whether even a small glimps of the Ark will be seen, even in the warehouse scene? Other bits of info I've read suggest that the Russians are after the Ark to possibly counteract the unknown effects of the crystal skulls (or maybe to defend against anyone else who's after it), and then others say nothing other than the warehouse as the Ark's resting place will be seen.
 

donufro

New member
OK, maybe it is finished. But that still doesn't mean they're keeping it from pre-screenings for negative reasons.

They still wouldn't want it all to leak before the release.
 

The Dark Shape

New member
Darth Vile said:
You get a lot of personal opinion labelled as fact around here. On another thread that I was just viewing someone wrote, ?I think there will be a terrible public reaction that we haven?t seen since TPM?. Who would describe a movie that has one of the biggest box office returns of all time (not to mention DVD sales) as a ?terrible public reaction??

Not to mention, Phantom Menace had legs. That thing almost managed a 7x multiplier in the summer.
 

cdatkins

New member
Silentrascal said:
Anyone have any ideas as to whether even a small glimps of the Ark will be seen, even in the warehouse scene? Other bits of info I've read suggest that the Russians are after the Ark to possibly counteract the unknown effects of the crystal skulls (or maybe to defend against anyone else who's after it), and then others say nothing other than the warehouse as the Ark's resting place will be seen.

Well, that would he a stupid strategy wouldn't it? I mean, didn't Raiders prove that the Ark can't be used by those who only want to use the power for evil?
 

The Man

Well-known member
The Dark Shape said:
Not to mention, Phantom Menace had legs. That thing almost managed a 7x multiplier in the summer.


Yeah, it really was phenomenal. Over here in Europe it got largely positive reviews at first, even though they acknowledged the shortcomings. The real backlash didn't begin for some time. The euphoria wore off, I guess.
 

The Dark Shape

New member
The Man said:
Yeah, it really was phenomenal. Over here in Europe it got largely positive reviews at first, even though they acknowledged the shortcomings. The real backlash didn't begin for some time. The euphoria wore off, I guess.

I think there was always outrage amongst the geeks, the general public just didn't care. They enjoyed it. I mean, there's a very simple way to prove that the Prequels were at least kinda liked --

People kept going back to them. Episodes II and III made a lot of money. All the way down the cinematic line, sequels to movies considered big disappointments don't do well. Look at The Matrix Revolutions versus Reloaded.
 

cdatkins

New member
The Dark Shape said:
I think there was always outrage amongst the geeks, the general public just didn't care. They enjoyed it. I mean, there's a very simple way to prove that the Prequels were at least kinda liked --

People kept going back to them. Episodes II and III made a lot of money. All the way down the cinematic line, sequels to movies considered big disappointments don't do well. Look at The Matrix Revolutions versus Reloaded.

I think the geeks are divided on the PT (excepting ROTS, where most liked it). I think the general public liked them well enough but not as much as the OT.
 

No Ticket

New member
cdatkins said:
I think the geeks are divided on the PT (excepting ROTS, where most liked it). I think the general public liked them well enough but not as much as the OT.

I wish people would shut up about Phantom Menace being a horrible film, because it isn't. The acting is kind of boring sure, but that film overall is still a pretty good one. Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon was one of the best parts of the prequels. And the podrace was an AWESOME scene. If it wasn't in the Star Wars universe, I wouldn't be so kind, but it is. It also has the best lightsaber duel of any SW film ever. AOTCS was a lot more lame to me than TPM. And ROTS is as close to classic trilogy as the prequels ever got... but that was the only movie I think anyone REALLY wanted to see. Anakin going Vader ya know? How can you REALLY mess THAT up... you can't. Which is why everyone likes that one so much.

As a huge SW fan, I recognize that the prequels aren't as good as the OT, but I do not condemn them for it. I am glad we got the prequels and I enjoyed them, but without the same story/setting/actors/characters... it's just different. There's no way any star wars based story could be as good as the original trilogy because it's THAT time-frame, THOSE characters we care about. Ya know? And unfortunately all good things must come to an end.

... but see, this is why I think KOTCS won't suffer the same fate as the prequel trilogy. It IS the same actor(s), director, etc.
 

DaveTheHutt

New member
I think the tragedy of the Prequels is that they revise and undermine elements that made the Originals great - they take all that stuff that was mythic and mysterious (Vader/Obi-Wan's past, for example) and make it clumsily explicit.

Now, when I watch A New Hope and get to the scene with Obi-Wan telling Luke about his father and his betrayal by Vader, all I can see in my mind's eye is Hayden Christiansen stamping about having a hissy fit. *sigh*
 

jasperjones

New member
This could go on for hours lol. I really enjoy them for what they were. WOuld have done a lot of things differently but that's not gonna happen so I just enjoy them as part of SW. There's some great moments. some duff moments and each to their own. I'm really hoping Skull doesn't polarise in the same way but I think after 19 years of built up anticipation and a similarly hardcore fanbase that's gonna be difficult. You can already see the polarisation and we've seen less than 2 minutes of footage. God knows what will happen when the whole film comes out, and of course the internet amplifies all of this. One thing to remember though, the online geek community that seems to count as either positive/ negative buzz is pretty tiny. Vile, Shape et all are right. The hard core may have loathed the prequels but out in the real world a lot of the general public weren't fussed either way and were just excited to see more lightsabers. Even in here most of the negative vibe comes from about 3/4 people saying the same thing over and over again and vice versa. Most of the real world is not foaming for a second trailer but the minute the film is out they will know about it and the film is going to open big.
 

jamiestarr

New member
Here the deal for me:

The Prequels were enormously popular with the general public--just look at the box office. You wouldn't see those kind returns if they weren't. In actuality, it was the critics, and by a certain, but vocal, section of hardcore internet fanbase that didn't like them. The truth is, the Star Wars prequels were an enormous success in terms of popularity. Like the other sequels, they were not overwhelmingly critically acclaimed.

As far as Indiana Jones goes---I think those films have a smaller hardcore fan base, but a much broader appeal to the masses. There are more casual fans of Indiana Jones than hardcore fans---most will probably love this new one without being too harsh or overly critical.
 

Zorg

New member
jamiestarr said:
As far as Indiana Jones goes---I think those films have a smaller hardcore fan base, but a much broader appeal to the masses. There are more casual fans of Indiana Jones than hardcore fans---most will probably love this new one without being too harsh or overly critical.

I think this is definitely true, even if I consider my own friends. I'm the only one who's keeping up with the spoilers and stuff (the freak that I am), but everyone I know is excited about the new film and can't wait to see it. And it is mostly because of Harrison Ford, imho.
 

Darth Vile

New member
jamiestarr,

Agree completley with your last post.

Also - I don't think KOTCS will polarize Indy fans.... and to be honest, I don't believe the prequels polarized Star Wars fans i.e. you'll find a new generation of fans will be brought in.

It's funny, but a friend of mine was visting over the weekend and he brought his 10 year old son (Matt). Matt is absolutley Star Wars mad, so I took the oppertunity to ask him some questions e.g. who is your favourite character, what is your favourite Star Wars movie etc. As you would expect, the answers were all prequel based. And it's kids like Matt who will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of TPM and doing the convention circuits in years to come.

Again as far as KOTCS is concerned, as all the main players like Harrison are back, I've got a stong feeling (as long as it's not a complete turkey), that everyone will enjoy the movie to some degree (both fans and general public alike). There is less contentious debate with KOTCS than there ever was with the prequels. And I think even those who are nervy about the alien theme etc. will concede the point if the movie is entertaining. Some people were always going to dislike the prequels regardless.
 
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