Cool News
Will GET SMART Be Smart??
Merrick here...
USA Today has some tidbits about the GET SMART movie currently in production (Starring Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway in roles originated by Don Adams and Barbara Feldon – who I had a huge crush on back in the day), The Rock, Alan Arkin, and Terrence Stamp. Damn cool cast, there.
This from director Peter Segal (THE NAKED GUN 33 1/3, ANGER MANAGEMENT, and the upcoming SHAZAM!):
"We try to show the disconnect between government agencies as we saw right after 9/11 when the CIA and FBI weren't really communicating," Segal says. "We wanted to make sure we were politically satirical."
The article goes onto say:
The film updates the relationship between the two heroes, telling an origin story of how Smart became an agent and met 99. In this version, she is the veteran spy who takes the newcomer under her wing
You can read more about the film’s approach to its source material (as well as a few plot points) in the original article, HERE.
I loved this series as a kid, although I’m not sure it plays so well now. I used to go around saying “Missed it by that much!” all the time, annoying my parents greatly. Of course, nearly everything I said annoyed my parents greatly.
I’ll never forget going to see THE NUDE BOMB (the 1980 GET SMART feature film) with my dad…also a fan of the show. I was so looking forward to the movie, and it simply didn’t deliver. When the lights came up there was that uncomfortable, awkward silence that you get when an audience has been severely let down. The only other time I’ve noted a similar reaction so dramatically was for the (opening midnight) screening of PHANTOM MENACE – when shocked and disappointed fans moped silently from the theater like it was some sort funeral. Which, in a way, I suppose it was.
None of this has anything to do with the new GET SMART movie, which…if handled wisely…could be a lot of fun. I don’t necessarily dislike the overall approach they’re taking at the moment, except for making it an origin story. I don’t think this serves the concept, or the audience, at all. This is the kind of thing works on its own merits…we don’t need to have it spoon fed to us.
Readers Talkback
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nuff said
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Uncertified Evil Genius
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if smart is the newbie how will he be the self assured spy guy he is with agent 99?
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And Carell is perfect for the part.
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If Max is new, why would he have a lower agent number than 99? are they counting down?
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Wow, freydis... that was freaking hilarious
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It still scares me!
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...hard. A definite DVD rental, and not a new release DVD rental; for this type of P.O.S. you wait until it hits the dollar shelf.
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I don't get why so many people dog on "Phantom Menace"...where did you people see it? People moping out of the theater? Like a funeral? I know you film geeks didn't care for the film, but let's not recreate history here...<br> <BR> Episode 1 was a HUGE, HUGE hit with almost everyone BUT the hardcore (aka hardhead) film goer. It opened big, stayed big, and played for a long, long time. If the average person (who's nowhere as stupid as most idiots here would think) really hated this movie they would have stopped going. Last time I personally checked, most quite liked it and saw it multiple times.<Br> <BR> Matrix sequels? Definitely disappointed...absolutely. Star Wars prequels? Not anywhere as disappointed as you'd think. I wouldn't exaggerate your personal disappointment onto the rest of the world...that makes us believe you far less. Marketing may get you in, but marketing won't keep you in. <Br> <BR> That said, I hope the best for the Get Smart movie...been a big-time fan for a long time, and love the new cast...get this right!!
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April 11, 2007, 1:08 p.m. CST
I remember liking the Nude Bomb when I saw it on cable.
by kinghenryVIII
Back during the early days of HBO and Showtime. I was around 8 or 9 and I loved it due to the fact it showed boobies and asses (my neighbors were all older and gave me a rush lesson on the goodness of girls). The desk / car .... the baddie with a nylon on his head and the thimbles on his fingers .... the cloning machine with like 50 Maxes and 50 bad dudes (can't remember his name) ... the giant zipper as the way into the mountain. And everyone thought the chic who played the lead was Princess Diana - "I saw Diana's boobies" everyone was saying. Great stuff. Atleast it was when I was a youngin'. I'm sure it's aged horribly by now.
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Because the original series is sooo old and has been out of syndication for so long we need an introduction story? If no one ( the "movie going demographic") remembers the series and what made it such fun, why even make it??
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...Don't they, Jar-Jar? Spinning's a good trick. Obi-Wan is holding me back! I hate you! Nooooooooooo!!!
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I loved your post. I agree with you about the opening night crowd reaction. The crowd I sat with seemed to love it. <p> The film did open big and maintain the top spot for a good portion of that summer movie season. <p> The only point the detractors might get us on is this: George Lucas and 20th Century Fox held the theater owners feet to the fire. The owners were told that if they wanted to book the film they had to agree to book it for 12 weeks; and they were forbidden to move it to a smaller auditorium, after opening it in a large one. <p> These demands were unprecedented at the time and I do recall some dissatisfaction was expressed by some members of the theater owners group. However none of them wanted to miss out on the first Star Wars film in 16 years. <p> All in all I remember that as a great summer; and I personally saw the film 10 different times before it left theaters. so... thanks again for your post, kuguy3000.
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April 11, 2007, 1:22 p.m. CST
Sorry 'bout that chief, I'll miss this one by that much
by LaneMyersClassic
Unless Hymie the robot is played by Jeff Goldblum.
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TPM was fine. As a Star Wars movie it was a massive disappointment. I rewatched it for the first time a couple of weeks ago and Jar Jar was actually more offensive than I remembered. I wish Al Sharpton had tried to get George Lucas fired. "Nappy Headed Ho" indeed.
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Wow, when did they recruit her? Age 12?
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In a debate concerning the most disappointing films of all-time, the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy is 100% a contender for the top spot. <p> I think the cast lined up for GET SMART are inspired choices. The most perfect choices possible actually. But the director is the problem here. Peter Segal? Still, Steve Carell is hilarious so there will be some laughs.
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Essentially that's all any of the Star Wars movies are "kids films". But I like em'.
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Could be the Dr. Strangelove of our times if done right. Not saying it will be, just that it could be.
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Segal's comments on 99 show his complete lack of understanding of the characters, while his movie resume shows he doesn't understand quality comedy. 99 wasn't Laura Petrie, and Max isn't Johnny English. There's so many similarities between this script and Johnny English that you might as well call it Johnny American, not Get Smart. Check out the movie review at: http://www.wouldyoubelieve.com/movie.html
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I know Hollywood likes to pretened women over 29 don't exist, but for the love of god she doesn't look old enough to have graduated college...
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Sure, the story was stupid, but so were the stories from the TV show. The only problem was that 99 was not in it, which viewers knew before seeing the movie. I was surprised that others were so negative on the Nude Bomb. I also liked the first Star Trek movie (Vger) and was surprised by the negative criticism of it. Of course, I was just a kid at the time I saw those two movies.
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...for the prequels, I think you're the one engaging in some emotional projection.<p>As was pointed out, theater owners were contractually bound to hold the film over for months. This gvave guys like me, who left the opening day screening wanting so desperately to have loved that movie that we were able to convince ourselves that we did...for a short while, time to reconsider.<p>After reading my review of Menace (which spent more time on how great it was to have STar Wars back in theaters than on the actual movie itself), a buddy asked if I'd take in a second showing with him. During that screening, I was struck immediately by how stupid the bad Charlie Chan alien accennts were and from there the rest of the threads holding together the illusion of appreciation quickly unravelled.<p>I can only assume others in the theater were also mostly second screeners (save my buddy, who wasn't as big a Star Wars fan going in and hasn't forgiven me for bait-and-switching him like that since), because that oddly quiet yet palpably dissatisfied atmosphere followed us out into the lobby and across the street to the bar until the silence was finally broken by my friend asking me how high I was when I wrote my review.<p>The Phantom Menace is actually the reason I stopped writing film reviews. It showed me in painful detail that my objectivity had been clouded by what I wished were true.<p>I wish the prequels were good movies or at least entertaining and engaging space fantasy. They weren't. They were a few spectaculatr lightsaber and space battle sequences imbedded in some of the worst movies ever made.
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This will suck thoroughly and consistently. I'm sure we can expect edgy and politically hamfisted commentary on Bush and the war. Finally! <p> By the by, the FBI and CIA weren't allowed to share info. There was a virtual wall set up that prevented info sharing that would likely have stopped 9/11. Jamie Gorelick wrote the policy as a deputy AG under Janet Reno. Just sayin'.
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Leaving boring political matters aside, is it true there's not going to be a Hymie character? Puddy leaps to mind as the best replacement for Dick Gautier, but the Rock might be able to pull it off if that's the role he's in for. <p> An origin story is completely unwarranted, it sounds like they didn't know what to do and an origin story has a prefab template that fills up a lot of screen time.
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Offering sparks for both a political debate AND a SW Prequel debate!!!
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Like I give a fuck about what you think about Star Wars. Hit the bricks with that shit, kid. Hit the fucking bricks.
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I can't believe I just realized where the fuck the title for the Police Squad movies came from... I am ashamed of myself.
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I hate it when the smarmy movie guy goes into the "yeah, we dumped everything that worked with the source material and came up with some stupid shit during an 18 hour crack smoking session" speech. An origin story? Who the fuck cares!?!?!? This is Maxwell Smart, Agent 86...we don't care WHERE or HOW regarding him. And 99 as his trainer/mentor? They've jumped the shark and are fucking him without KY. Merrick, this may actually turn out WORSE than Phantom Menace.
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The first trilogy are quality films enjoyable by all ages. The Phantom Menace was badly put together, dumbed down and more obviously geared to the sale of toy tie-ins.
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Cuz from the Daily Show on, Carell has shown good judgement in roles, if not projects ( Bewitched, anyone? ). So I assume he saw something in this besides dollar signs.
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This is wrong on so many levels.
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makes sense to me.
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As underwhelming as the prequel trilogy was, calling them the worst films ever shows a clear misunderstanding of what the word "worst" truly means. I'd watch Anakin and Padme rolling in a field on a 120-minute loop before I'd ever sit through the first 20 minutes of "Employee of the Month" again.
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I mean, the movie wasn't THAT fucking bad. Every SINGLE person in the theater at the midnight release that I was at was Standing, CLAPPING and wondering How fuckign LONG we were going to endure for Episode 2! Darth Maul and Kenobi's fight happened RIGHT before the movie ended and you say it was like a fucking Funeral? I smell Bullshit. Oh yeah, it's coming from Merrick! MERRICK IS FULL OF SHIT.
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I miss the old show - it was my favorite back in the preschool/kindergarten days -heh- and seriously needs to have a permanent place on TV Land. This is perfectly cast ensemble - I can't imagine anyone alive better to play Maxwell Smart than Steve Carell. Alan Arkin and Terrence Stamp are legends. I hope surviving originals get some cameos. And just don't give The Rock too many lines. lol Mel sounds happy with it so far, so I'm sure it'll be great.
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Is that Mel Brooks has a hand in this movie somewhere. He was a co creater on the show and it would make sense that he be involved in the flick somehow.
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The midnight screening I went to was a madhouse. It wasn't until the second or third viewing of the movie that people started to realize that maybe the movie wasn't that great after all.
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Zing! It's funny how AICN acts like the world hates Phantom Menace but if you talk to anyone in the real world everyone has a high opinion on it. I know for a fact that when it came out everyone was super excited about it and was for a while until Craig Kilborne said it sucked. The day after he said that the fallout began and all of a sudden everyone hated it. Now look at where Craig Kilborne is. People hate Phantom Menace because it was popular and thats it.
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My god they better get this right. I don't see how they can't. The casting is the most perfect casting I've seen in a long long time. Not one person cast is a disappointment. VERY stoked for this.
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April 11, 2007, 3:37 p.m. CST
I'd say after my third viewing I walked out of TPM like
by iamnicksaicnsn
it was a funeral. I mean, in retrospect it was horseshit, but I actually think I'm liking it better now than Episode II. Especially if you watch it in Spanish, the Spanish voice-over actors make JarJar and Anakin much more easier to take.
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Makes it a lot better.
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They've both passed on the project..Mel is too involved with bringing Young Frankenstein to Broadway, and Buck thinks the whole project is a bad idea. I think they're both afraid the Stupidio will spew up another "Bewitched." They're getting credit as creators, but won't be involved. Kudos to them.
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that this is going to suck.
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Shhhhh! I am in the cone of silence.
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I was rapturously excited about it coming out--completely on-board with the universal explosion of geeking-out over it. But even though I managed to convince myself it was better than it actually was for a while, I can still remember when I felt that that something was wrong. It was very early in the film, when the arriving ship was blown up and the pidgin English began. I remember a deep moment of unease and an unmistakeable sensation that this suddenly did *not* feel like a Star Wars movie. Things later in the film remedied that a bit, but through three movies it never quite got back on track. In the end, I liked the *idea* of these new stories, the *idea* of the plot points and characters, more than I did the actual execution or dialogue.
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It sounds like they may be angling for some kind of Austin Powers-type dynamic with the incompetent lead and younger-but-savvier female sidekick as the grownup. Don't know if that's a good idea or not, but the casting seems to suggest it's going in that direction. Look for Stephen Colbert as the diabolical villain in "Get Smarter!" and Christopher Lloyd as Smart's father in part 3, "Get Even Smarter!"
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...that's kind of getting to the points you were making about not seeing the difference between the prequels and the originals.<p>In the prequels, aliens spoke (ridiculously accented) english. In the originals, most spoke in foreign or completely made-up languages.<p>One approach was creative and stimulated the imagination. The other was lazy and offensive.<p>I tend to agree that the original trilogy is somewhat overrated by nostalgia.<p>Star Wars (the first movie) was cool precisely because it was so different than most everything that had come before it (even while drawing on so many famuiliar sources for fodder and inspiration). It captured the imagination even if the writing was pretty poor and the acting spotty. But Empire was just a well conceived, written, acted and directed film. It transcended the genre and, I believe, elevated the other two movies by association. Jedi's a mixed bag. It's got some great story moments and real solid performances by a few, but others (like Leia and Guinness) seem to be phoning things in and some of the most dramatic reveals are handled in a very quick, half-hearted way ("Oh, yeah, Luke...all that stuff I told you about why you should kill Vader? It was kind of bullshit. He's really your dad and you've been trying to get in your sister's pants all this time.") to make room for a teddy bear fight designed to sell toys to a new generation (fans of the original two films were already outgrowing their action figures by the time Jedi came out).<p>So I don't place the entire original trilogy on a pedestal. I acknowledge the warts and adjust my expectations because I love the basic idea behind Star Wars. But the prequels completely failed to live up to those expectations or the name of the franchise. At least for me.
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I went with a group of about 20 people. We had tickets to 3 showings that day, and the night before we had a SW marathon with the original trilogy. After the first screening, every member of the party walked out with strained smiles and tried to avoid eye contact with each other. Remember, lovers, just because Britney Spears sells ten billion records, it doesn't mean her music is any good. The prequel trilogy permanantly altered my perception of the SW movies, and today I can't even watch the OT with the same level of appreciation. </P> Oh, and mr. ahole ramirez, the aliens in the original trilogy didn't speak English, hence the need for interpreters and subtitles.
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What, does she take off her top in this film like she does in Havoc and Brokeback Mountain?
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Let me start of by saying that Get Smart is one of my favorite comedies of all time and I had a rare opportunity to express my thanks to one of the original directors recently (Gary Nelson) and tell him how much I appreciated the show. But...what I can't understand is how Hollywood feels the need now to make sure we know every little thing in the backstory. Doesn't that take away the fun? Take Hannibal Rising for instance. I have no desire to read the book or see the movie. Why? Because it's infinitely more fun to imagine (remember when people used to do that) what transpired before. The problem I see is that now most people need to know every little detail because they lack that imagination. Simply tell a good story and people will enjoy it. (Though it didn't do Grindhouse any good as much of the audience was too dimwitted to realize that there were 2 movies and the missing reels and scratches were supposed to be there.)
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April 11, 2007, 6:25 p.m. CST
Maxwell Smart Origin Story = Flames on Cone of Silence
by Wyatt Wingfoot
Sorry. Someone had to do it.
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Did I hear that right? Did someone actually suggest that Craig Kilborne was the guy who set ablaze the anti-Phantom Menace craze in America? I know the "Late, Late Show" had everyone in the country staying up until 1:30 in the morning hanging on his every word, but I never realized he was such an influence leader. I guess that's why the Daily Show has died in the ratings since he left. I feel bad for that Jon...umm..aaaaahhh....mmmmm... I wanna say Stewart, not quite sure because he has never gotten out of the shadow of Craig Kilborne. Granted he and he alone was the reason Beachwarmers was such a monster hit so I shouldn't be so suprised.
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until i was about 15 years old.
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Hathaway actually looks something like Barbara Feldon and has had similiar comedic timing in her movies. So I can buy her playing 99. But as other say, how can she be a veteran agent. She is still playing tennagers. Carroll looks old enough to be her father.
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OK...I'll certainly jump on the "TPM was a huge let down" bandwagon. But, c'mon...the last 45 mins of Ep. II were pretty fun. Then Ep. III, I thought, was pretty good overall. It was a perfect lead up to the original three. My only criticism of that one was that it wasted Portman. Other than that, fine summer movie.
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Nothing special, but had its good points. The problem is it was a Star Wars movie and it had two great and one pretty good films to live up to. Lucas also hurt himself by adding racist characters, demystifying the force, and casting an annoying kid as Anakin (which followed with casting an annoying older kid to play him in the next two movies). If Phantom Menace wasn't a Star Wars movie history would look kinder on it, but it still wasn't a great movie.
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Frickin' sweet.
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TPM and ATOC were "average". They are better than many movies that have been made in the past decade... but not on the same level as the OT. People who claim they are the "worst" movies... can't be objective. It's based more on being let down and emotional about not having the same buzz you had when the OT came out. Now ROTS is another story. Still not as good ESB... it was "much better" than the first two Prequels. Most people I know do claim ROTS is as good if not better than ROTJ. I would tend to agree. I think what did it for me... was missing the old banter between Han, Leia, Luke, Chewy, C-3PO, R2 etc etc There was a chemistry there with these characters that the PT didn't have. Sure the fights were amazing. Sure the special effects top notch... and even when you strip down the story itself... it's actually engaging. The problem was... you don't care. And I attribute that to not really rooting for any of the characters. ROTS had actual emotional weight to it. Lucas finally gave us a movie that was on par with the OT. Anakin and Palpatine's talk at the Opera house was fantastic. The scene where there was NO DIALOGUE - and Anakin and Padme look out different windows knowing something bad is going to take place (damn you John Williams for coming up with that awesome idea!!). The moment where Anakin runs into the little Jedi room and the kid asks him for help... and Anakin turns on his lightsaber as the kids do a little jump as if to ask "what the fu@K?" The entire take down of the Jedi per The Emperor. And Anakin and Obi-Wan's dialogue and acting before they fight (one of the best lead in's to an actual light saber battle). Now if we could have just gotten rid of Anakin's hopping on the stupid little lava robots. Argggggg
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... when i went to see it, i was very much looking forward to it. in the first 5 minutes, i was thrown off by those idiotic alien voices, i couldnt understand what they were saying! from that point on... i kept telling myself that it was gonna get better at any moment and it never did. in retrospect, it was the best of the 3 prequels imo but it was a huge letdown. i cannot honestly compare it to the originals, indiana jones, willow, none of the famous Lucas works and it stand up on its own. i remember wishing the film was about over after the pod race... and it kept going, and at that going nowhere. the lightsaber action, imo, of the prequels was shit... the effects were decent, but in the originals the lightsaber was a deadly weapon, it was powerful, undefined, dangerous. in empire it was scary, and in jedi it was a surprise that it could reflect lasers. cool! in the prequels it was always a toy, it was swung around to make cool noises, it had no ambiance of danger... look at how quigon sheathed it... no respect for the danger of the thing.
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I have completely lost faith in adaptations of classic TV shows since the raping of Kolchak. I wish it had been a movie that did it, though, then it would only have been a 90 minute blight on the world of entertainment. Sorry, just venting...
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April 11, 2007, 7:54 p.m. CST
I guess its just not politically acceptable anymore...
by fractureJonze
Come on, guys. Its a little played out to ALWAYS have the woman be smarter, faster, stronger, and more competent than the male counterpart. I'm sick of the dime a dozen scene where the woman shows the dude up at some masculine thing like driving fast, punchin out folks, or hammering nails. It's getting ridiculously cliche now, because its pretty much a given. Not trying to be sexist or anything, I just hate to see a scene coming from a mile away when I'm trying to enjoy a movie.
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No offence by the way. Star Wars (OT) is a childhood sweetheart who you've always had a special place in your heart for, only to see her again 20 years later wearing too much make-up and giving jocks blowjobs in a parking lot for easy money. Fuck you, Lucas.
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..is obviously aimed at the audience who stood and applauded The Phantom Menace. In short, film goers without a clue.
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Don't get me wrong, The visual effects, the pod race, John Williams in fine form - episode 1 WAS a great film. But it was let down by a production so convinced that it was making a guaranteed winner. Things could have been done to repair the film in post. A complete replacement of Jar Jar's voice work & even dialogue (Manning from ice age would have been better. shit even Sid would have been better) <p>if you watch the phantom menace casting there were 3 kids short listed for anakin - and I can NOT for the life of me figure out why they didn't get the kid that was actually good! Personally though, I think Anakin should have been the age Luke Skywalker was, the only real difference being that Anakin was fully weilding of his force skills and already on the path to the dark side because he simply lacked the ability to control himself. <p>oh well. it's all done now. but before we keep knocking anakin, if you watch the OT and really listen to Vador... he is nothing but a whinging bitch.
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"Get Smarter" indeed
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Are the directors way of trying to make something their own and update it for the idiot-box, MTV era flash-and-pop cretins. Fuck the origins. Look what it did to Vader. And he didn't even have flames......
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What, was she hit by a Young Bomb? Is she actually in her forties, BECAUSE STEVE Carell is! This is a needlessly stupid idea, and if it is reflective of the care they have for the story, we're in for a really big and steaming corn-studded turd of a crappy film.
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April 11, 2007, 10:41 p.m. CST
Don Adams owned the role of Maxwell Smart so...........
by wackybantha
....how can they even attempt to have the new Max say those classic lines? I bet that he won't? Or does the script say different?
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of the Get Smart movie. So, to surge the fiasco: KAOS should be a rock band/motorcycle gang and the Chief should be some annoying mommy type and Hymie should be a 12-yr-old boy with bangs and a smart-ass attitude and Agent 13 should be in the closet and Fang should bite Max in the groin har-de-har-har.
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April 11, 2007, 10:57 p.m. CST
i like when they talk up how smart they want to make..
by slappy jones
films like this...."its about the disconnect between the cia and fbi after 9/11 and its a rather political satire blah blah blah" but when we see it it will be "did you just fart in the silence booth max?" "sorry about that chief"...
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gay weiner friends. i didnt mind it the first time around, i was just happy to see a star wars again. now i realize they aint that grand unless im high. but they were all weinery right after.
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i think that george shoulda used the same anakin throughout all 3 films and he probably should of used that blonde kid that looked like young luke.
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Film at 11:00.
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character motivation need to be focused on. It's a spoof, it shouldn't take itself so seriously.
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Yes, because that's what every lighthearted spoof needs.
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"99 is a little more kick-(butt) and tougher, more emancipated. She's more the female James Bond, teaching him the ropes." <p>So it's Get Smart, but with male bashing.</p>
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do we predict for this film?
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I like her.<P>That is all.
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Mel Brooks might not have a hand on the project but apparently has at least a pinky. According to what I read in an interview, he has several projects going on right now simultaneously which are variations in one form or another of past works of his. Get Smart was mentioned, and he sounded happy with it. Also mentioned was the Spaceballs cartoon which will begin airing on G4 within the year.
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Was the possibility of History of the World Book II.
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But this is pretty close to what I read: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1538836,00.html
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This sounds fucked.
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and Jaws in The Nude Bomb! How bloody cool was that to a ten year old? Good cast for this but the psychological mumbo-jumbo for this sounds as disgraceful an idea as it was when they cast Kolchak with some young yuppie, made out he'd lost his wife and gave him a female sidekick.
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April 12, 2007, 7:18 a.m. CST
GET played by Ben Stiller SMART played by Owen Wilson
by Spandau Belly
and a director who says he's "a big fan of the original" but felt it needed "modernizing and an ironic tone".
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...you describe for the prequels really only applies for me to ROTS. Menace and Clones are just poor movies. Bad acting (except for MacGregor in Clones) due in large part to terrible scripting (dialogue was wooden, plot was encumbered by boring backstory unfolding in the foreground, most interesting character int he first film was a throwaway, and key elements of the original trilogy -- like the mystical nature of the Force -- were undermined).<p>You're right that, as a movie, ROTS was better than the other two. It was paced better and there were some very solid performances (Palpy and Obi Wan). But I hate that one most of all precisely because all the potential that was there is completely destroyed by Lucas' inability to sell Anakin's turn.<p>There was no reason for him to turn when he did. Sure, he'd made a mistake and cut of Windu's hands in an effort to prevent the Jedi Master from killing what appeared to be a subdued opponent. But that doesn't make him irredeemably evil and it certainly doesn't make his next logical step the slaughter of a bunch of kids.<p>People argue that he turned because he thought it would save Padme, but even that theory is blown out of the water by the dialogue in that very scene, where the Emperor admits that he liead about knowing how to beat death. Why would Annie believe him when he followed that admission with the promise that, working together, they could unlock that secret?<p>WHat should have been the most compelling and heartbreaking moment in the entire saga -- Vader's turn -- ends up being comically pointless. And it didn't have to be. The seeds for a plausible turn had been sown with Annie's jealousy and the covert meetings between Padme and Obi Wan. Lucas wouldn't even have had to make Obi and Padme sleep together (although that wouldn't have been outside Obi's established character as the most evil, manipulative motherfucker in the universe). It would've been perfectly believable for Annie to leap to that conclusion and to tear through the Jedi temple looking for his "friend" to get some righteous payback. The Emperor should've been stoking that flame. The movie would've been a thousand times better and might even have elevate those other two pieces of shit by association (like Empire did for the rest of the OT).
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Like the rest of you. Yeah, I thought it was boring too. The problem was that It was released at the same time as the Matrix. the matrix made Phantom Menace looked redudant. The pod race was cool but i felt the relationship between padme and anakin was weird. He was just a kid and she was a teenager. I mean creepy. People bitched and with good reason over jar-jar. I though that simpson episode perfectly and hilariously summed all that was wrong with the prequel trilogy and that stuff about jim jam bonks was hysterical. The renamed the movie the drone wars.
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seriously.....i read someone (here i think) once say it took lucas like 20 years to ruin his legacy the wachowskis did it in 4.....those fucking sequels sucked and not because "i didn;t get it" ....i love that argument like they wwere so complex and deep that you just don't get it man...of i got it alright........ they obviously spent the years between the first film and the sequels on holiday up each others asses because they were fucking awful.
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But didn't we already kinda know what was in the works with the release of the "Special" Editions. The fact is that Lucas can make great art, yet is completely ignorant about just what it is that makes the art great. And calling all the movies "Kids movies" is meaningless. "Toy Story 2" is a kids movie, but it's also a great film. "Curious George" is a great kids movie, but to compare it with Toy Story?
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If you didn't that's okay. But if you think Star Wars was anything other than fantasy (it was NOT science fiction by ANY means) then you are trying to redefine a genre. Good luck.
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Ughhh. When will they learn to stick to the source material?
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We're supposed to be talking about Get Smart, and how awful it's going to be.
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