Cool News
The Whole PHANTOM MENACE/MORIARTY/ MANN/SONY thing...
I've been investigating this case solid for the past 48 hours. Gathering further details and digging to see how solid Moriarty's story was. What I've found is basically, more questions....
It seems that noone is really sure of what is going on with SONY theaters. We haven't been able to get any answers, their website continues to say they will have "Theatre information will be
available on Wednesday, May 12th at 3:00 pm Eastern Standard Time, one week prior to
the movie's May 19th opening day. Our website will have a complete list of our playdate
locations and showtimes at that time. "
However, before I ever heard from Moriarty on this, I had another fella send in a story about how SONY is definately doing a universal pull out on STAR WARS based on the excessive demands from Lucasfilm, and the precedent it would set for theater owners to have to live with on future films from other studios... It was THIS aspect and not the actual 'Quality or alleged lack of Quality' that was the deciding factor according to this source (as well as Moriarty).
There was another meeting at MANN's on Saturday which finished up being 'unresolved'. There will be a final meeting on Monday that will determine MANN policy. That's from Moriarty, but my people tell me that this is a L.A. only problem, and specifically it may be for the VILLAGE and CHINESE only. The CHINESE is allegedly hesitant to dedicate it's big screen for the great portion of the summer to ONE film, even if it is STAR WARS. The issues on their boardroom desk, according to our sources, have been to follow SONY's lead, disturbing reports from Exhibitor's Screenings as well as the critical buzz from NEWSWEEK, TORONTO STAR, ROLLING STONE, ETC.
Basically what we seem to be looking at is some sort of weird heavy duty negotiations here by the theater chains. Personally, I'm sickened by these sorts of things. STAR WARS EPISODE ONE belongs in MANNS CHINESE, MANN VILLAGE, as well as the epic SONY screens. I mean, if Lucasfilm really does 'care' about the theatrical experience and for the joy of the fans... Well then... THE PHANTOM MENACE belongs in the finest theaters. If that means backing off some of the demands.... To me... That means backing off the demands. If the theaters are doing this just to be stubborn, then they should look out their doors at all those people that want to see that movie there. They should realize that every patron that has ever walked into their theaters and appreciated the theatrical experience as MANN and SONY have given us... That THIS is the movie that all those superior modifications in the theatrical experience were created for.
Lastly, I guess the final word on this will be coming from Sony/Loews Website and Mann Theaters Website. Right now it seems that MANN is confirming STAR WARS at some of it's theaters (But not The WESTWOOD VILLAGE or THE CHINESE) and Loews is mute till Wednesday.
I've been continuing to get positive reactions from people that have gone to see THE PHANTOM MENACE, I've talked to 4 people in person that have seen it that LOVED it, and so far... I have yet to speak to one that didn't love it. But... There is a lot of anticipation for this movie, and soon I'm going to be getting in line myself. Probably in the next 12 hours. There has never been a movie that I've been so ready to see, so fired up to see. I wish to God AUSTIN had a 'CHINESE' or a 'WESTWOOD VILLAGE' theater to see this in... The grand AMERICANA where I saw STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE and EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is closed down and was turned into a library... For me... This film experience will never quite be perfect without that theater, and to the residents of Los Angeles that are concerned about what's going on with STAR WARS and their favorite theaters, let's hope that all the politics and negotiating can be put behind us... And those doors swing open and you can experience THE PHANTOM MENACE in the best possible theater in your city. The movie, the theaters and the fans deserve nothing less.
Hopefully we'll get a final... CHEERY word on this issue TODAY after the Mann's meeting.
available on Wednesday, May 12th at 3:00 pm Eastern Standard Time, one week prior to
the movie's May 19th opening day. Our website will have a complete list of our playdate
locations and showtimes at that time. "
However, before I ever heard from Moriarty on this, I had another fella send in a story about how SONY is definately doing a universal pull out on STAR WARS based on the excessive demands from Lucasfilm, and the precedent it would set for theater owners to have to live with on future films from other studios... It was THIS aspect and not the actual 'Quality or alleged lack of Quality' that was the deciding factor according to this source (as well as Moriarty).
There was another meeting at MANN's on Saturday which finished up being 'unresolved'. There will be a final meeting on Monday that will determine MANN policy. That's from Moriarty, but my people tell me that this is a L.A. only problem, and specifically it may be for the VILLAGE and CHINESE only. The CHINESE is allegedly hesitant to dedicate it's big screen for the great portion of the summer to ONE film, even if it is STAR WARS. The issues on their boardroom desk, according to our sources, have been to follow SONY's lead, disturbing reports from Exhibitor's Screenings as well as the critical buzz from NEWSWEEK, TORONTO STAR, ROLLING STONE, ETC.
Basically what we seem to be looking at is some sort of weird heavy duty negotiations here by the theater chains. Personally, I'm sickened by these sorts of things. STAR WARS EPISODE ONE belongs in MANNS CHINESE, MANN VILLAGE, as well as the epic SONY screens. I mean, if Lucasfilm really does 'care' about the theatrical experience and for the joy of the fans... Well then... THE PHANTOM MENACE belongs in the finest theaters. If that means backing off some of the demands.... To me... That means backing off the demands. If the theaters are doing this just to be stubborn, then they should look out their doors at all those people that want to see that movie there. They should realize that every patron that has ever walked into their theaters and appreciated the theatrical experience as MANN and SONY have given us... That THIS is the movie that all those superior modifications in the theatrical experience were created for.
Lastly, I guess the final word on this will be coming from Sony/Loews Website and Mann Theaters Website. Right now it seems that MANN is confirming STAR WARS at some of it's theaters (But not The WESTWOOD VILLAGE or THE CHINESE) and Loews is mute till Wednesday.
I've been continuing to get positive reactions from people that have gone to see THE PHANTOM MENACE, I've talked to 4 people in person that have seen it that LOVED it, and so far... I have yet to speak to one that didn't love it. But... There is a lot of anticipation for this movie, and soon I'm going to be getting in line myself. Probably in the next 12 hours. There has never been a movie that I've been so ready to see, so fired up to see. I wish to God AUSTIN had a 'CHINESE' or a 'WESTWOOD VILLAGE' theater to see this in... The grand AMERICANA where I saw STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE and EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is closed down and was turned into a library... For me... This film experience will never quite be perfect without that theater, and to the residents of Los Angeles that are concerned about what's going on with STAR WARS and their favorite theaters, let's hope that all the politics and negotiating can be put behind us... And those doors swing open and you can experience THE PHANTOM MENACE in the best possible theater in your city. The movie, the theaters and the fans deserve nothing less.
Hopefully we'll get a final... CHEERY word on this issue TODAY after the Mann's meeting.
Basically what we seem to be looking at is some sort of weird heavy duty negotiations here by the theater chains. Personally, I'm sickened by these sorts of things. STAR WARS EPISODE ONE belongs in MANNS CHINESE, MANN VILLAGE, as well as the epic SONY screens. I mean, if Lucasfilm really does 'care' about the theatrical experience and for the joy of the fans... Well then... THE PHANTOM MENACE belongs in the finest theaters. If that means backing off some of the demands.... To me... That means backing off the demands. If the theaters are doing this just to be stubborn, then they should look out their doors at all those people that want to see that movie there. They should realize that every patron that has ever walked into their theaters and appreciated the theatrical experience as MANN and SONY have given us... That THIS is the movie that all those superior modifications in the theatrical experience were created for.
Lastly, I guess the final word on this will be coming from Sony/Loews Website and Mann Theaters Website. Right now it seems that MANN is confirming STAR WARS at some of it's theaters (But not The WESTWOOD VILLAGE or THE CHINESE) and Loews is mute till Wednesday.
I've been continuing to get positive reactions from people that have gone to see THE PHANTOM MENACE, I've talked to 4 people in person that have seen it that LOVED it, and so far... I have yet to speak to one that didn't love it. But... There is a lot of anticipation for this movie, and soon I'm going to be getting in line myself. Probably in the next 12 hours. There has never been a movie that I've been so ready to see, so fired up to see. I wish to God AUSTIN had a 'CHINESE' or a 'WESTWOOD VILLAGE' theater to see this in... The grand AMERICANA where I saw STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE and EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is closed down and was turned into a library... For me... This film experience will never quite be perfect without that theater, and to the residents of Los Angeles that are concerned about what's going on with STAR WARS and their favorite theaters, let's hope that all the politics and negotiating can be put behind us... And those doors swing open and you can experience THE PHANTOM MENACE in the best possible theater in your city. The movie, the theaters and the fans deserve nothing less.
Hopefully we'll get a final... CHEERY word on this issue TODAY after the Mann's meeting.
I've been continuing to get positive reactions from people that have gone to see THE PHANTOM MENACE, I've talked to 4 people in person that have seen it that LOVED it, and so far... I have yet to speak to one that didn't love it. But... There is a lot of anticipation for this movie, and soon I'm going to be getting in line myself. Probably in the next 12 hours. There has never been a movie that I've been so ready to see, so fired up to see. I wish to God AUSTIN had a 'CHINESE' or a 'WESTWOOD VILLAGE' theater to see this in... The grand AMERICANA where I saw STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE and EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is closed down and was turned into a library... For me... This film experience will never quite be perfect without that theater, and to the residents of Los Angeles that are concerned about what's going on with STAR WARS and their favorite theaters, let's hope that all the politics and negotiating can be put behind us... And those doors swing open and you can experience THE PHANTOM MENACE in the best possible theater in your city. The movie, the theaters and the fans deserve nothing less.
Hopefully we'll get a final... CHEERY word on this issue TODAY after the Mann's meeting.
-
+ Expand All
-
WooHoo!
-
I hate Sony, ever since the days of my Playstation breaking down every 10 minutes with them replacing it with someone elses repaired one that had dog hairs and crumbs everywhere (not to forget that black dried-up-sweat stuff that festers inside the mould lines).
The twinkle-toed communist cock-suckers at Sony deserve to rot in hell, fuck them if they don't want to make lots of money by showing TPM, they only make themselves out to be the bad guys once again! -
I live in Australia so this does'nt concern me. What's this about Boba Fett being female. Say it aint so.
-
all i've seen from fan after fan after fan has been: 1) lower your expectations, IT'S ONLY A MOVIE! and 2) pretend you're a kid again. exactly what does that entail? am i supposed to throw out my movie tastes which have developed through experience and viewing over the last 26 years? what kind of sign is it that i have to pretend to be 12 in order to enjoy the movie? it sounds like the same argument people were using for 'the waterboy.' know what? i'm not 12. i don't want to be 12. and i'll be damned if i line up with the rest of the sheep and proclaim how wonderfully brilliant the film is JUST BECAUSE it's star wars. i'm going to try to judge the film on it's own merits. a good percentage of you SW geeks seem to believe that any "true" star wars fan will like the movie no matter how 'kiddie-like' it seems. EVOLVE. it doesn't mean i'm an ultra-serious art-house snob who needs to lighten up. it means i'm being honest, as opposed to staring directly into the lucas headlights and taking anything thrown at me because i've been starving for something, anything, for the last 16 years. just from the footage i've seen so far, it seems that lucas is pandering to the new generation of merchandising and taco bell cups rather than making a film. harry's been taking this stand quite often lately, asking everyone to 'dumb themselves down' so as to better enjoy the movie. keep your perspective and force lucas (by not paying 15 times to see it) to bring his level UP rather than bringing your DOWN.
-
Hey, all...
"Moriarty" here.
I want to thank Harry for clarifying so much of this (as much as can be clarified, anyway), and I also want to say that this story is the one that I have least enjoyed covering so far for the site. The e-mail I got as feedback ranged from skepticism, outright accusations I was lying, and even extreme anger. People feel passionately about this... that's for sure. I know that if the film doesn't play at Mann's Chinese, I'll never see a film there again. This picture is the reason there are theaters. If Lucas and Mann's can't make it happen, then I'm disgusted with the both of them. I genuinely hope that all of this just turns out to be a flurry of last-minute exhibitor nerves and that none of it plays out as I've described. That would make me so much happier than being right.
"Moriarty" out. -
What the pants is with these losers who seemingly watch AICN every second of the day, so they can jump into talkback saying I'M FIRST!!!!" everytime a story posts? Doesn't think strike them as just about the most banal, nerdish, loserish thing a human is possibly capable of doing? Doesn't it worry them that their lives are so empty they need to get their kicks by being the first person to post (and saying nothing whatsoever) in an discussion forum for a news piece on a geek's internet movie website? Guys, please head right down to the Life shop, and uh, get one. --"Mel"
-
Mel, you smell bad.
If you've noticed I posted afterwards with a comment, I just had to slip in a quick one before someone else did.
It really pisses me off when I have to resort to replying to losers who constantly watch AICN every second of the day looking for people who post "I'm First!" messages and then start complaining about them!
Again, you smell. -
As I have said in a previous talkback, I was lucky enough to see EPISODE I last week & I LOVED IT! I saw it in a nice theater, but not the very biggest and you know what? A smaller screen was just fine because this is a GREAT movie. The storyline holds up, even on a "B" screen instead of an "A" screen. My suggestion is not to worry so much. Also, I do not hear people saying that you need to pretend to be a kid to enjoy the movie. I didn't pretend to be a kid, the movie made me FEEL like a kid again (a very different statement). Personally that feeling THRILLED me, how often do I get to leave ALL my worries at the door & see a movie that just makes me HAPPY? Not often enough. I'm not telling anyone else what to think, I am just giving the advice that one should try not to be too critical in advance.
Just my opinion. -John -
I really hope this story is true. Lucas has turned into a major control freak, and someone needs to stand up to him and say, "back down". As a theatre employee, I'm sick and tired of all the bitching about "professional" situations. People like me have to listen to people like you bitch at US for everything from prices in concession to the movie quality to even the ads in front of the movie. Corporate makes all those decisions, and we're just trying to make a living. Then Lucas jumps in, starts making demands, and all of the sudden, there's a new backlash. You have any idea the kind of crap me and my co-workers have had to put up with from Star Wars fanboys complaining about how we'd "better get it right?" And the Union ones everyone are so high on? We have one, and he's TERRIBLE. We "pimply faced geeks" do most of his work for him). As for The Phantom Menace, the plot of this film is terrible. I hope I can become a kid again-it's the only way I'll enjoy this piece of crap. I say give Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio a blank check and free reign to do a big screen Transformers movie. It would be FAR superior.
-
I dont think half the people writing reviews have actually seen the movie. Read the reviews at Dark Horizons to see what I mean.
-
May 10, 1999 3:57:44 AM CDT
******URGENT!: BREAKING NEWS CONCERNING TPM DISTRIBUTION******
by the movie guy
Late last night, I broke a major story concerning the distribution of TPM!
Read it now at http://www.angelfire.com/biz3/themovieguy -
...Jar-Jar loves you.
-
WooHoo!
-
Don't you hate it when pompous assholes sign their name at the end of their post?--"Mel"
-
It sounds like Sony & Mann are just playing hardball. Lucas has something they want, but they have something he NEEDS--SCREENS!! They can throw anything up there and make money, especially when the TPM box office split is so weighted toward LFL for so many weeks.
And now, with a series of tepid reviews coming in, it's not hard to believe the theater execs are shaking a finger in the face of LFL and asking for guarantees that TPM will be the greatest thing since sliced bread. Unfair? Perhaps Sony and Mann see LFL asking for most of the slices of bread the same way. Should LFL be the only one getting guarantees?
And about those reviews. I hope they're way, way off base. I'm 42 years old and have had my day of discovery with Star Wars, but my 8 year old son hasn't and, IMHO, that's who this movie should be for. Not any of us adults who insist we are in touch with our 'child-like' side, etc. It's for the kids--that's from Lucas, by the by.
Last thing about the reviews. What's disturbing is that the criticisms are so similar in tone. Either the 'critic's union' is conspiring against the film or maybe, just MAYBE, there's fire behind the smoke.
We're still there 5/19/99!! -
I'm with Moriarity--if Lucas, Mann's and Sony can't work something out, a pox upon ALL their houses.
-
It'll be interesting to read the AICN talkbacks regarding The Phantom Menace critic reviews starting to come in. Check Variety's and H R's Monday May 10 issues. Todd McCarthy's was mostly negative and H R wasn't exactly raving about it. Could a movie as highly anticipated as this ever receive positive reviews from critics. Not really. -
...because then those morons who have been waiting in line at Mann's Chinese will have wasted a month of their lives for NOTHING!!! (Tee hee hee!)
(Who knew that being so bad could feel so good...!)
C'mon, Sony and Mann's! Stand up to "The Man"! Don't let him push you around...NO movie is worth this. You will forever be slaves to the studios if you give in now!
Peace. -
I'm wondering what Harry and everybody else thinks is the best route to get tickets??
-
I am so dissapointede with this whole Star Wars phenominon... For a good long while it was just about seeing the movie and maybe how much money it would make. Now, though, there's too much hype for my taste. And I have a feeling that that is reflected in the reviews that are coming out. And this SOny thing is another example. I've noticed that it wasn't until the mixed reviews (though thank god none have panned the movie it seems. Variety's wasn't that great though...) that Sony decided to re-think having TPM.
This all sucks. Big time.
And one final note: remember people, even if TPM is only as good as RotJ or even not as good as that, that does not make it a bad movie necassarily. And There are two more installments. his one may just be setting the mood for things to come. -
Ok, I'm one of those theater manager's you are down on...but we have a very good theater and work hard at it and we like big movies, we are all excited to see them. I work on promoting most of them and getting employees and customers involved. I don't know about Sony or Lowes or Mann's...I do know about our situation. We have 4 large houses. The business decision to make is do we tie up all of them for the whole summer thereby screwing other movie goers out of seeing WWW or Austin Powers or Tarzan in a big screen environment because Lucas will not allow us to move the print at all once it is placed on a large screen for 12 weeks. The answer is No. This is an unwise move. Normally, given leeway, we will play them on big houses as long as demand is there and be able to move prints around to other houses as needed to meet the demands of ALL our customers. We do this for YOU. We try to accommodate the majority of what you want to see by providing the most seats. Lucas takes this flexibility away from us. Even if the projector blows up we must first contact Fox before being allowed to move the print. Come On People..think about this. Movies will decrease the audience over time...even Titanic did and we were able to make money and the studio make move and provide great quality and still not screw other people over. We put the prints where they are needed. But Lucas says no...we can't do that. So in effect, we have to now plan for conditions 6, 8, 10 weeks down the road instead of immediate needs and place this movie on smaller screens which basically bites the big one. We are attempting to negotiate an extra print for a limited time frame of 3 to 4 weeks so we can play it on the big screens but it's a tough negotiation. It's a tough place to be in...we know this is a big movie, but we have 18+ screens to fill and we must play to what the audience wants to see now AND in the future. Now if these other theaters only have 1 big screen I see their point at not accepting the 12 week demand...what are they going to do for the other big movies opening later. Now for them if he would make an exception to maybe 4 to 6 weeks..it can be done. Meet us halfway here so we don't get beat to a pulp over a business decision we have no choice but to make.
-
I would first of all like to say that I am from the UK, so I'm having to wait another 2 months to see Episode I. Make no mistake, us Brits are just as mad about the saga as everyone else. And let me tell you that reading the latest news on the movie and downloading all the trailers via the internet only to be left behind for ages is the most ANNOYING thing in the world. Okay, enough ranting. But jeez, we've only just got the second trailer! Anyway, I have not seen, and have no intention of seeing, the movie before its UK July 16th release, and I'm sure it's the same for you guys in the US...9 days to go huh? You lucky people. But what's that? Negative reviews already? Oh dear, I knew this would happen. But why, do people feel it so necessary to slate the film? Sure, everyone's entitled to their opinion, but to go on about enjoying seeing fan's dissapointed faces is just plain cruel. It is YOU people that need to get a life. So what if people want to stand in line for a month? It's their decision. And it's not JUST A MOVIE! Were the Beatles JUST A BAND? No. Was Martin Luther King JUST A PUBLIC SPEAKER? No. And do you know why? They move people. They manage to send a shiver down the spine. And if you guys out there that hate TPM already have lost that childlike innocence and susceptability to artistic beauty, then society really has lost it. Okay, now you guys that have had to put up with these sad bastards' maniacal bitching about the new movie, fear not: 1) It is not a movie for critics - critics can never understand the Star Wars 'feeling'; 2) The movie wasn't just made to satisfy Lucas' pocket, it's been made for the fans too. Jesus, it's this guys brain child...you don't just think he's going to pawn off some cheap shitty summer blockbuster do you? 3) TPM is meant to be different from the original trilogy. This is now a DIFFERENT trilogy. It would be foolish to start comparing the two. This film is meant to be upbeat, like ANH...4) and who says it's a movie for kids? And so what if it is? Wasn't the original Star Wars? And isn't that why we all love it so much? 5) John Williams rules, and the new soundtrack is quite exquisite 6) The FX shouldn't spoil the movie - I personally loved all three special editions, the computer effects ARE different looking from the models, but GET USED TO THEM! You're never going to see Coruscant or Naboo made out of plastic models, right? 7) Jar Jar does look annoying, but he's only in the first movie, and is there for the kids. After all, Obi-Wan hates him, so why shouldn't we? :-> 8) Jake Lloyd looks just fine, don't disrespect the kid until you've seen him on screen. 9) Darth Maul's appearances are scarce because he's not the MAIN BAD GUY! We're left wanting more, and believe me, we WILL see more of the Sith; 10) Natalie Portman is FIT! And she can act, just watch LEON. Leave the poor girl alone. Plus her outfits are cool. 11) Ewan McGregor is cool, perfect for the role, and the lightsabre duel looks amazing. 12) As for the fast pacing, wasn't ROTJ fast paced? I loved that one, although TESB is my favourite. Still, Lucas never said the TPM was going to be that in depth. It just skims the surface of things to come. 13) Acting wooden, eh? Well, you've probably heard this from everyone, but so is the acting in the other films - that's why they're so much fun! 14) Star Wars cannot in any way be compared with films like The Godfather...they are too different. Similarly, Lucas is no Coppola, but who cares? He's good at what he does. It's like people comparing Oasis with the Beatles. Who gives a toss? People like the music, so leave them alone. I think that just about does it, other than to just say enjoy the movie (think of me having to wait two months!). Oh, and by the way, we're not all sad geeks you know. We DO have lives outside of SW, although right at the moment it's hard to think of much else, granted! Hope this post wasn't too long, and MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!! siyoung@lineone.net
-
"Kind of a drag." "Filled with puppets." "People will be disappointed." "George Lucas hasn't made a film for 22 years, and it shows." "I thought it was going to be the story of how this wonderful boy turned into Darth Vader. Instead, it was one battle after another, puppets fighting puppets, actors acting against puppets..." He wrapped up his morose critique with this: "When it was over, people wanted to go out for dinner. I was like, 'Nah. I've gotta go home and be depressed.' I was really psyched, man." Howard Stern absolutely LOVES Babylon Five, so this is really bad news.
-
BTW, yes I saw the movie at Phipps Plaza in Atlanta. It is wonderful and I enjoyed myself -- isn't that what a movie is supposed to do and yeah I'm way over 30 and saw it as a young kid in the 70's. The children are going to LOVE this movie and parents will bring them again and again. Hell they were desperate enough to drag them to Baby Genuses (it sold out a lot--scary isn't it) because it was the only thing available. Imagine the business with SWars with kids. Our resident SW major geek didn't like it immediately, but it's growing on him. He keeps saying he will have to see it a couple of more times to decide. I just laugh at him cause that is the point...even if they hate it they will still keep coming back. We are showing the movie, we will follow every guideline Fox and Lucas have even if it is on our next largest screens but we are working on the large ones, we've had meetings, made game plans, informed and taught our staff what is what, will put up notices, signs, cleaned, painted everything in sight...we are ready to rock and roll as of Wednesday at 3 p.m. and are as excited as you guys are. We enjoy the reactions as much as you guys enjoy coming. It's much more fun to have fun than be screamed at. 15,000+ of you a day will be happy and 100 of you are going to be mother f*&^^ but that is they way it is every big weekend day. All in a day's work.
See ya at the movies. -
I don't think the problem between Lucas and Sony is isolated to LA. A friend of mine who works in a theatre in NYC said that they were not getting TPM because Lucas wanted half of the concession receipts. Luckily, the best theatre in the city, The Ziegfeld, is not a Sony theatre and will be showing the movie.
-
Play nice, boys. There's still time to pull this out. Fans want to see THE PHANTOM MENACE at their friendly local Sony/Loews theater. The whole world wants to see it premiere at Mann's. So don't goof this one up. Lucas, ease back a little on your minimum run length requirement. Take it down to, say, six weeks on the biggest screen in the cinema. Don't worry about looking bad, because you'll be doing a favor to all of us. Tout it on your website as another "special gift for the fans." And Sony and Mann's, have faith. This film will make bookoo cashola, and it will still be packin' em' in well into July. If there ever was a surefire moneymaker, this is it. Don't let your egos (who has CONTROL over the film) get in the way of it. Face it--Lucas has control. So you can play ball and get rich, or you can balk and get screwed. 'Cause every 10-year-old out there is gonna remember which theater he first saw THE PHANTOM MENACE in, and you want it to be a Sony or a Mann's theater, so he'll keep coming back. This is the big one. THE MUMMY'S opening weekend is going to look like peanuts in two more weeks. Look deep into your hearts (and if that doesn't help, try your wallets). You want this to happen. You want to be in on this.
-
This *might* be a good thing. I live in the Denver metro area, and ALL of the Mann theatres here are terrible at getting the film on screen, in focus, in frame, bright enough, and with the stereo on. I have NEVER, and I'm not exaggerating, seen a film in a Denver Mann theatre where one of these, and usually most of them, weren't messed up. Even going out into the lobby and pulling a Shirley MacLaine (as in Terms of Endearment), let alone being polite about it, doesn't work. My wife and I will not see a movie if it's showing in a Mann theatre anymore because renting the video a season later always leads to a better experience watching the film, even if it is not as pure as seeing it in proper frame perspective in the dark with an audience. I'm glad someone with Lucas' clout can do something about it.
-
This isn't a comment on the film, or Lucas, or any of that. Rather it is a discussion of a trend of thought repeated readily on this site by Lucas fanatics. Here is the latest instance of this thinking: "And if you guys out there that hate TPM already have lost that childlike innocence and susceptability to artistic beauty, then society really has lost it." Why is that? I happen to believe that I am in firm possession of "my childlike innocence and susceptability to artistic beauty," and I want to know what exactly the link between that and loving Star Wars is? Select numbers of you believe that if you aren't rabid about the Phantom Menace then you must be a bitter old codger bent on spreading destruction, pain, and woe. I assert to you that this is not the case, rather the exact opposite is probably true [at least for me]. It is precisely because I possess the above traits that I am downright angry about Lucas's latest fiasco. Childlike innocence does not mean that the movie going audience needs to be talked down to or sit through scenes of characters stepping in shit and dinosaur looking things farting. Where was any of that garbage in the original trio? How is childlike innoccence related to marketing? The new film is obviously all about money making, and I just need to know why you people feel that a movie that is shaping up more and more to be merely a monniker for a new line of toys and happy meal prizes, a movie that seeks to tap into this "childlike innoccence" and manipulate children into buying more bullshit, can possibly be representative of any type of childlike anything? Is SALES a part of this naivety? I am supposed to "return to my youth" while Lucas gives me a two hour sales pitch? Last time I checked marketing and money-making were the province of adults, and I just don't understand how a two hour commercial [unless of course you count lemonade stands] can capture what's lost when we lose our virginity? I am not averse to movies making money, but their should be an illusion that that isn't the point of the game. The greatest illusion in all of film making is the deluding yourself into hearing a single author's tale. For two hours you are listening to one man's voice speak, and he is telling you what is true in his world and in his heart. The illusion is that it is about art, pure and personal. With all the distribution squabbles and concessions to money making, Lucas has THOROUGHLY shattered that illusion, and innocence has already been destroyed before I even have a chance to sit in the theater. The "susceptability to artistic beauty" is to ridiculous to even get into...
-
I have chosen to live in a small community away from the hustle and bustle of Vancouver and the film scene down there. It's a beautiful spot in the mountains where I can ski during the morning and go golfing during the afternoon, ocassionally I get an editing job which wrecks my fun but pays the bills. I live in paradise and have a pretty good life except our movie theatre is so bad in this town that when I went to see The Mummy on Friday, I could talk to my date over the opening credits (talk at a normal level), much to the chagrin of my fellow patrons. The screen is in a 1.2:1 ratio so the only time I see widescreen is when I'm editing or when I buy a widscreen copy of a favourite movie (BTW, the release of Jackie Chan's Dragons Forever is gorgeous on DVD). So while you worry and fret about who will be showing this film in your big city, please say a little thank you that you have more than one theatre, and that they probably have excellent sound and a proper sized screen, and remember that my first time seeing a movie like TPM will be like watching it at someone's home. Thank you! (There will be a donation plate passed around to help support my local theatre in order that they can hire a sound guy who has hearing capabilities)
-
Everyone who is in panic should relax. The reviews so far are not that bad. They are almost exactly like the ones for the original sequels to ANH. Great action, super effects, mediocre dialouge and acting. Yet those movies are universally loved. Even RTOJ ,which relative to the other two films was subpar, was still a great movie. These reviews are actually the best thing in the world for the fans because now they will not be expecting anything more than a movie and will be blown away I am sure of that. Ordinary film goers will love this movie!
-
I really am not sure why some of you have your panties in a bunch over what the critics say. Do you really think that most of the general population pays attention to the critics? I don't think so, and why? Because there are plenty of genuinely bad movies that make good money no matter what critics say and there are even more good movies that are ignored despite critical acclaim. Why do people go to see a bad movie and turn it into a top grossing film(i.e. Independence Day, MIB, Forrest Gump...{{shudder}}, ad nauseum and {{shudder}} some more), because they are a lot of fun to watch. These movies make it based on good word of mouth and therein lies the strong point to SW(or at least it did before), it was fun. Did you ever wonder why ESB, widely considered to be the best of the trilogy, didn't do as well at the box office as the others? Because it wasn't as much fun, it was too serious. All I am saying is that you shouldn't concern yourselves with what the critics are saying as they did the same thing with ANH, and honestly they had good reason. If you really look at ANH objectively without considering the rest of the trilogy you will see that it is "bubblegum". Only in light of the whole trilogy does the film become deep and meaningful. And that is the point in TPM. All of you feeling "insulted" because this movie caters more to children should hold your toungue until all three movies come out. Sure you can say that it is not a good movie but you cannot base the depth of the story on one small chunk. That is like reading the first chapter and saying that the whole book is awful.(This is obviously Howard Sterns problem, he expected the whole story in one film and unfortunately this may be the weakest point of the film.)
Now a note to those who insist that they will not dumb themselves down to see this movie. No one is asking you to. You say that you will not make yourself "12 years old" to see this movie. Well obviously you are twelve years old since you do not understand the differance between being child-like and childish. You want a serious adult film don't see TPM. You want to be entertained and reattain the sense of wonderment you surely felt once upon a time then this should be the movie for you.
And one final note to Perigrin.
Where are "...shit..." and "...fart..." references in the original trilogy? Han to Chewbacca- "I don't care what you smell get in there!" Not to mention "...Bantha poodoo..." as said by Jabba the Hutt and the "Echuta!" expletive uttered by the silver protocol droid that sounds an awful lot like "Eat Shit!" to me. hahaha. Man, that's funny.
The thing I guess most bothers me is that some of you people have come to take SW so seriously over the years. I may be a hardcore SW fan but at least I still remember it's supposed to be fun. Maybe you should too. -
WOOHOO!!!!!!
-
Exacttly how the fuck are Sony communists?! Are the executives on the same pay as the workers? Perhaps they have a statue to Marx in each boardroom
And why the hell does MovieGuy post here all the time?
Site plug UK people: http://members.tripod.com/Jona82 -
Peregrin - first off, it would be unfair to generalise about ALL Star Wars fans...okay, I may have flown off the handle a little. Sorry for that. I was simply trying to explain my feelings towards people who are so cynical about the whole 'saga' - as I said, people are entitled to their own opinions. And I wasn't targeting you specifically with my post, so don't take such deep offence. My words may have seemed a little out of place, and you're probably right. All I was trying to say is that I feel certain people have become very anti-Star Wars because it is not the 'serious' film that people want these days. It is not dark or sinister, and I hate to see people slag the new movie off as being simply 'eye candy' (hence my reference to becoming immune to beauty in film). It doesn't have to be dark to be moving, or clever to target all audiences. At the end of the day, I am sorry to have enraged you further on the issue of SW fans (perhaps I take myself to seriously, no?) Why can't we all just get along? I'm sure that if you talked to SW fans outside of their passion for the movies, you'd find you had a lot else in common with a lot of them. By the way, why all the questions? I can't answer them for you, as you obviously don't give my opinions much credibility!
-
There is a great disturbance in the Force.
Clearly Lucas and Co. suffered a slight problem when the less than stellar reviews started coming in. Last time, as you may recall, when lucas was interviewed by 60 minutes, he was on the offensive towards the critics, saying that while Star Wars was a B movie--so were the Godfather films. Now he is emphasizing that it is a movie PRIMARILY for kids 10-13. The Godfather films certainly werent aiming for that audience age. :)
Cant really blame Sony and Chinese(both the theater chain and the country ;) for being a little irate and disagreeable right now. -
Well Pod Racer X ended up beating me to it with much that I wanted to say, but I would like to add that there is rarely reason to prejudice a film based on what critics say. (And I mean the bad AND good reviews) Whenever a new review is posted masses of people polarize around it and one camp or the other cries "SEE, I TOLD YOU SO!" By the gods, use your own brains, be your own critic. Look at professional critics: Some are truely objective and some are pompous asses who prop up their own egos by tearing everything down that isn't the "omnipotent, omniscient and infallable film". I don't care in someone wants to pan Star Wars as long as he's one of the former and not the latter. And even the objective ones might be at odds with your oppinion. Sure, if they have a good film education they can bring something valuable to the debate but it's still just their oppinion. Then there are the amature reviews flying about like bats in a cave. These guys have even more variation of motivation than the pros. Some are guys just like you and me and if they give an honest oppinion then I'm open to it. But some of these guys have been telling us that Episode One sucks for many months now so you know it's not really about the movie at all. And when was the last time you agreed with everyone about a movie? (Except maybe Wing Commander) So the great and allmighty Howard Stern didn't like it. BIG HAIRY FUCKIN' DEAL! Wait till you've seen it and then decide whether or not YOU like it.
-
May 10, 1999 9:32:35 AM CDT
Theater owners should dictate screen placements, plain and simpl
by hal9000
I applaud Sony and Mann for having the balls to stand up against Lucas' vile corporate monopoly, if the story is accurate. Lucas is being totally unreasonable with his ludicrous theater restrictions. TIME FOR A WAKE UP CALL PEOPLE: Episode I does not need to be reserved for a two month schedule on the biggest screens at a theater. People will argue that Lucas is doing it so the film quality will be top notch, but the whole arrangment is totally unfair to the other studios who want to give their films the best theatrical presentation possible. What happens if the audience reaction is just as vicious to the critics? If the business does a nose dive in June, theater owners will be forced to book the new movies on screens that can only accomodate half the patrons as the ones that Episode I will be on until the middle of July. That means that it will be nearly impossible to get in to Austin Powers, Tarzan, or Wild Wild West. I am shocked and confounded that the other film companies haven't spoken out against Lucas' tyrannical behavior. These regulations are a travesty, and will surely inspire other companies to inflict the same kind of restrictions. The theater owners should reserve the right to dictate where their films will be played, they don't need George Frickin Lucas telling them what to do because he's on a power trip. The smaller screens could accomodate the film if the projectionists take the time to ensure quality. I only wish more theaters would follow Mann and Sonys example. They're not morons, they know damn well that this whole arrangement could be hell if there is a backlash against the film (judging by the preliminary reviews, it may very well happen). Also, this bogus restriction will be in effect once the REAL event movie of the summer opens on July 16. The fact that I will have to see Eyes Wide Shut on a lower grade screen almost makes me wretch.
-
All these bad,overly nit-picking
reviews seem to be missing the
point.IS this movie more for kids than adults?Yes,no doubt
about it.Where the original ones also made for kids as well?Once again,the answers
yes.Like this one,did the earlier
movies get panned in general
by the critics???We have yet
again another yes.Seeing a pattern here????Were the
original movies brillant,artistic,
deeply moving,beautifully acted
and realistic??I don't think so.
Did anyone,mainly kids,care at
all.No way!!!We were too busy
harrashing our parents into taking for the tenth time to see
it when they were already sick
of it.One last point.
One constant complaint
besides the kiddie element is
that too many people want to
see how Anakin becomes- you
know- who right away.Like in
this in movie!!I thought this was
a trilogy??See what I mean about the critic's(some) lack of objectivity.I think what Lucas
is TRYING to do is lay the fondation for how this utterly,
innocent boy with remarkable
force abilities falls so far from grace.That takes some
scenes to slow the movie down
and GASP dialogue to set up
these future(notice the word
future)plot threads.Maybe when I see the movie,I'll hate it.
But I suspect that if that happens,it has less to do with
the quality of the film then with
my vanished youthful lounging
to be entertained and escapism. -
I would like to know if I am the only person out there who is getting more than a little tired with Lucas's recent trend towards backpeddling and minimizing the significance of TPM. A lot of you out there are insistent that it isn't supposed to be the "greatest film ever" and it's just another movie, etc., but if you really believe that, you're more lost than I thought. Let's look at what this film has going for it: (1) prequel to the most successful series in film history (2) practically unlimited resources (3) Lucas has TOTAL creative control. Now if that isn't supposed to be the greatest cinematic achievement anyone's ever seen, what is? Aren't you trying to make the greatest movie ever each and every time you make a film? Or are you aiming for mediocrity? How is that "just a movie?" No folks, I think it certainly HAD the capacity to be a lot more than that...FOR HAL9000 -- I couldn't agree more with you concern over Eyes Wide Shut. I don't really give a shit where the Phantom Menace is playing, christ they could project it onto the back of bathroom stalls for all I care, as long as on JULY 16 they have the nicest theatres in the place set aside for Kubrick's masterpiece...
-
You know, I have been waiting, and waiting, and WAITING for this film ever since I was 15 and my dad and I went to the astronomy meeting at Jim's. I was a geek then (c'mon, an ASTRONOMY meeting) and am still a geek now. They mentioned Lucas was planning to do a new trilogy years from then...So I sat back and wondered, "When will that be?" Now that It's only 9 days away, I feel so empty. Why? Too cynical I guess. Now I'm a young adult in my early 20's and have seen my share of bad sci-fi (I actually asked for my money back after seeing the movie "Virus") films and now am looking forward to the first film In a long time that I'm actually pumped for! I don't care about the mixed movie reviews. I went to TheForce.net and it appears they are going to set up an online crisis line for geeks who are worried about Star Wars sucking. I don't blame Lucas for wanting his film to be presented in the best possible format in the nicest theatre. He has the power and the connections. Now if the movie falls apart like a chinese motorcycle, will things really change? He'll still make his money, so will 20th century. And I'll have a shitload of toys I have no intention of opening like when I was a child. And that's it, Why did I buy all those toys when I could've spent it on say, mother's day? I feel so grown up it sucks, and sucks bad. I can't even open toys without taking the value away from them. And that's wrong. Do you people really think, 20 years from now those toys will be worth more than ep. 4's? Everybody will have those bad boy's stockpiled in storage somewhere!! Along with beanie babies and packaged X-force 1 comics. I don't see myself putting my future children through college with a Darth Maul figure. All I want to do is see the movie. That's it. I don't give a shit about the reviews untill I see it for myself. Call Lucas what you will. He is kind of a corporate whore (man, I better be careful before I go into JMS forever territory), but at least he has a vision. So, my fellow geeks, continue to argue amongst yourselves. I will be in the darkened theatre, watch the movie and come home and open my Ep. 1 figures and feel like that kid again. Hopefully all of you will attempt to do the same.
-
Kubrick fans are worse than Star Wars fans, and just as pathetic sometimes. "Eyes Wide Shut will be brilliant" they say having seen only 60 seconds of footage, what is your opinion based on? On his past films? He's made bad films in the past, Barry Lyndon comes to mind immediately. Robert Altman has created masterpieces does that make all his movies brilliant, hardly, Pret a Porter was awful. What if Eyes Wide Shut is awful? Does that make 2001 and Dr Strangelove worse movies? No. Does Willow make Star Wars a worse movie? No. You have to stop comparing works of a filmmaker to his past work and take the new work for what it is, a new work! Is that so hard? And isn't possible to like Kubrick and other filmmakers because it seemes like his fans are unable to do that!
-
"Childlike innocence does not mean that the movie going audience needs to be talked down to or sit through scenes of characters stepping in shit and dinosaur looking things farting. Where was any of that garbage in the original trio?" Did you not watch ROJ? Jabba burping, burping frog outside of Jabba's palace, burping Sarlac after someone falls in, Fett's stupid scream as his jet pack gets activated, Chewies' stupid tarzan scream, pretty much all of the ewok fight scenes. None of this was seen in the first two films - they transported the viewer into another believable world, ROJ many times feels to me like a PeeWee Herman show. Have you seen TPM? Are there farting creatures? People stepping in crap? If so, my worst fears are realized - a movie based on the same style of presentation as ROJ. I was 6 when I saw ANH and a little older with ESB (higher order math is not a good thing at lunch time). I did not need stupid site gags to grab my attention and shape my entire childhood.
-
HEY!! This is off-topic, but this superb actor just passed away Saturday of a heart attack. DOES ANYONE BESIDES ME CARE?? Does anyone else watch, for example, the films of Joseph Losey, in which Bogarde turned in some of his best performances (for example, The Servant, Accident, or even the pathetic Modesty Blaise)?
-
Peregrin isn't taken from a hawk, as some of the sharper people on this site have taken note of, it comes from a true work of myth-based fantasy Lord Of The Rings, and is the name of one of the hobbits who accompanies Frodo on his fated journey: Pippin. His real name being Peregrin Took. As for Kubrick making bad films. I [and certainly many others] would beg to differ. While some of his films may appeal to you less, certainly he has never turned out a tanker like "Willow" or "Howard the Duck." While "Barry Lyndon" is certainly his slowest moving work, and subject to the most grunts of dismay, it is still an unbelievable intelligent, artistic, and moving piece of cinema. Never before has an era been captured on screen so authentically. Kubrick's attention to detail in sets and costumes is staggering, by far outstepping the $250 million Cameron wasted on Titanic. The film is so artistically satisfying because the subject is so finely brought to life throughout every aspect of the production. The editing, the long slow shots, the landscapes, the deliberate monotone of the actors, the geometrically composed Garden shots, etc., all capture the essence of an era. To call it a "bad film" without looking beneath the surface is only to declare yourself a moron. Fans of Kubrick KNOW that Eyes Wide Shut will be brilliant only because the legendary director has not delivered anything less in the past. We have no idea what the film will be like. We have no idea what the mood or tone will really be. I couldn't tell you what the story is really about. But I can tell you that Kubrick will deliver the goods, as he always has. And that is the sweetness inherent in being a fan of the enigmatic director. You can't possibly begin to imagine what he's going to put on the screen, but you know that [unless one of his older films is playing somewhere in the world] there isn't going to more well constructed piece of cinema playing running anywhere...
-
Please Harry Knowles
or Moriarty for the love
of God, please stop all
this comparing and contrasting between Lucas and Kubrick
and The Phantom Menace
and Eyes Wide Shut.
Honestly, I'd had enough
of this crap. Lucas and Kubrick together are two of the best
filmmakers ever whose films
are unique from one another
and should never be compared to one another. Much less all these people discussing Kubrick in a TALKBACK dedicated to talking about
Star Wars! As for Howard Stern, with the exception
of Babylon 5 exactly what
kind of science fiction movies and television does he like ?
-
Alright, I'm not going to make any judgement about SW-E1 before I see the movie, it's as simple as that. If I'm entertained, that's all that matters. I mean, the Matrix is, overall, elementary sci-fi crap, but the action scenes were so incredibly well done that I've already seen it twice and will likely buy it on video. Why? Because it was ENTERTAINING!! Not every film has to be Citizen Kane for christ's sake. Why can't there be films once in a while where we go into the theatre and just completely lose ourselves in the action that's unfolding on screen? Does there really need to be a deeper, darker message to Phantom Menace? I mean, yes, I know that there's mythology and other sources strewn throughout the whole trilogy, but let's be honest, they are, in reality, just movies that are FUN! None of the originals should ever have won Oscars for best picture, because the definitely were not. Anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves. But, they are, without a doubt, three of the most gloriously fun films ever produced, and yes, I love them. I love them as movies, nothing more, they aren't religious experiences. Now, about those who wanted a DARK and DEPRESSING Star Wars, I'm curious as to what exactly you had in mind? I mean, I went through the whole "I hate everything" phase when I was younger as well, but from the tone of some of the people on this board, they were anticipating "Seven" set in the Star Wars universe. Why in god's name would you want that?!! I wouldn't want that, that's what "Seven" was for!!! It's a completely different genre. Not that I don't love "Seven" (I think it is easily one of the best films of the decade), but in all honesty, if I came out of TPM with the same feeling I got after seeing a film about a diabolic serial killer, I'd ask for a refund. Star Wars is all about amazing effects, things we've never seen before, and sights and sounds we can't get in other movies. Yes there is a story in there that is very passable as well, but none of you can honestly tell me (with a straight face) that Star Wars is not first and foremost a purely visual feast. You can't honestly tell me that that's not what originally sucked us all into these films. Over time we've come to appreciate other points, but above all it's still the visuals (and just the overall universe that was created) that we hold dear. Trust me, we are going to get those again. This will be THE most visually astounding film ever made, no question. Peter Travers and Leonard Maltin (among others) have already confirmed this. And with time (and the addition of the other 2 in the series) we will appreciate other points in this one as well. Sorry for the length of this post, just two more comments. One, to everyone who says that putting the "darker" more sinister stuff in the second and third is a copout (since each movie should stand on it's own). Well, that's simply not true. You all argue that ANH, ESB, and ROTJ were all complete stories that could have stood alone without their respective prequel or sequel. ANH, yes, but you know why? BECAUSE LUCAS WASN'T SURE IF HE'D GET TO MAKE THE OTHER'S, SO HE GAVE IT A CONCLUSION!! ESB definitely could not, I mean, the film ends like a Saturday matinee serial, with the good guys going off to rescue one of their own. But this time, both Episode One and Two will likely end without a solid conclusion, because we know beforehand that there will be more films. It's a guarantee. Just let the story develop dammit! Finally, the point I was originally replying to, I am so tired of people sucking up to Stanley Kubrick I almost can't stand it. Yes, the man has made some good films (The Shining, A Clockwork Orange), however, he has made some EXTREMELY mediocre ones (Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, and yes I'll say it, 2001). Adrian Lynne's version of Lolita was far superior, and 2001, while good in parts, has scenes which simply define boredom (a twenty minute flight to a space station where there is no dialogue the entire time is NOT genius, it is stagnant filmmaking). That about wraps it up. Later.
-
Like George Carlin said: "Farts are funny and every kid knows it." I'll never forget the time my friends and I went out to Uno's Pizza. We were all baked out of our gourds and one friend tried to sneak one out. It coincided perfectly with a lull in every conversation in the room. BBBRRRRAAAAPPP!!! By the way where is Lane? Prob'ly in line already.
-
It's Official: http://www.manntheatres.com has updated their list of Star Wars theatres, and the Chinese and the Village are at the top of the list. Good news for line-dwellers!
-
May 10, 1999 12:29:18 PM CDT
IT'S OVER AND THE NEWS IS GOOD. Chinese Theater Los Angeles is
by naclans
It's all over ... check it out for yourself. Then clean out your underwear.
-
First, Opus I agree Kubrick has made some bad movies.
I deteste Clockwork Orange (it's a bore and an unfaithful adaption of the original novel, which was about choice while the films is about how we should love criminals), don't criticize all of us Kubrick fans of sucking up to Kubrick.
Especially when in your post you pretty much announced your love for Star Wars and sucked up to George Lucas. Don't get me wrong, I love Star Wars and having read parts of the screenplay, am confident that Lucas will not disappoint (his directing record is flawless, THX 1138, STAR WARS, AMERICAN GRAFFITI
and he did produce the
Indiana Jones films) and
I am even planning on spending 3 days waiting at the Uptown movie theatre in Washington DC to see the new Star Wars movie.
Do I think The Phantom Menace will be a great movie ?
Yes, but do I think Eyes Wide Shut will be a great movie,
as well ? Yes.
I'm sorry if I sound mean or like a total jerk and I do not mean to be sarcastic here but your statement on Kubrick and Lucas was kind of catch-22.
I mean, here you are criticizing all us fans of Kubrick for always sucking up to Kubrick when in your post on Star Wars you were sucking up George Lucas and how we shouldn't
judge The Phantom Menace
before the movie comes out.
I love both Kubrick and Lucas and hate to see people pit one filmmaker against another.
Yeah, I know that sounds corny but can't we all just put aside our differences and enjoy the new films from two
of cinema's greatest legends.
Both filmmakers have their flaws (Lucas produced Howard the Duck and Radioland Murders and nobody will ever convince me that Kubrick's Clockwork Orange is a great film) and yet both filmmakerts
are great in their own way.
If you don't like Kubrick,
fine with me. A lot of people
don't like him and some people who worked for him (like Alex North who did the original score for 2001 but was replaced in the film by old classical music and was forever mad or Stephen King who hates The Shining film because it's unfaithful to his book) really wanted to kill
him themselves. You can have your opinion and I'll have mine.
Just don't go saying "Hey you people on TalkBack are assholes for always sucking up to Kubrick, you dumb stupid idiot Kubrick fans" when you being a Star Wars fan often are sucking up to George Lucas.
If you can talk about how COOL and how wrong all those negative reviews are when
THE PHANTOM MENACE
is going to be such a great movie, then why can't Kubrick fans talk about how great
Kubrick is and how
Eyes Wide Shut is
going to be a masterpiece ?
As for me, I'm always sucking up to both Lucas and Kubrick.
My 2 cents.
-
...I'm a moron, ouch, I'm hurt! (But thank you for not resorting to the usual inflamatory diatribe spit out in these posts). My problem with Barry Lyndon is the fact that it was not only slow but failed to entertain. Fast does not mean entertaining, I grant you, hell I loved Brannagh's Hamlet and Kieslowski's film and they are slow as molases, but they kept me entertained (not in a bad way but they held my interest with good characters). Whereas Lyndon was kind of like Catcher in the Rye, not very likeable characters in not very interesting situation. I grant you it's beautiful to look at, but so are the Star Wars pictures, and as you have pointed out you think they are crap. Is the difference that one was made by a hero of yours while the other barely is regarded as a blip on your radar? BTW, Paths of Glory and Spartacus are brilliant as well?
-
http://www.manntheaters.com/new.html#star-wars
-
That the Chinese and The Village are now confirmed. I don't know where I would go if they weren't showing it.
Funny thing was, that they were the first to confirm a few weeks ago, before any other theaters were.
I'm not too keen on The Chinese having their own purchasing line, and no moviefone.com, it should be very busy.
oh well
smak
-
I haven't been keeping up with all the news on the Sony thing, I'm sure there isn't a Sony theatre within 150 miles of me, and the nearest will not meet the high standards of Lucas - it only has two small screens with a 200 approx seat capacity in each. Surely Lucas does not need to order how long his picture will be shown and where? Surely if its the quality of movie we all want it to be it will earn it's place in the biggest screens and for the longest times? I think it's really unfair that cinema owners are expected to lose revenue because of his control binge. If he had faith in his own product, then he wouldn't need to do this. It's almost like he's saying 'if I can't get all the viewers with my work no one who's put equivalent or higher effort into their potentially superior picture is gonna get them either'
If the movie is this good then he should be promoting wide viewing of it rather than this snobbery. Surely he should support the smaller cinemas instead of lining the pockets of the huge corporate organisations.
Just my -
I know where I'm gonna see it. The only question is when??
What are the times gonna be? There gonna be a midnight show? Mann hasn't posted that.
smak -
First off, let me start by saying that I am actually a fan of the original trilogy of Star Wars films. While my love for them has grown less as I grow older in years, I am thankful to Lucas for filming them. As a result I was interested in Fantasy worlds at an early age, and went on to read more and more about them -- first in comic books and then in short stories, novels, etc. Lucas was one of the original reasons I picked up a Michael Moorcock novel, and then Tolkien's masterwork Lord Of The Rings. However, having read and been exposed to a lot more myth-based stories since then, I have become aware of the shortcomings of the trilogy. Simply put, it isn't very good fantasy. Granted, it's possibly the best fantasy put to film, but that genre has always been lacking...Anyone who has actually read some of the modern fantasy sagas out there cannot possibly claim that Star Wars is even close to them in terms of conception, imagination, and execution. As I learned more, I discovered that there are much better worlds out there to explore than Lucas's universe [To name a few -- any of Michael Moorcock's work, Tad Williams, Robert Jordan, Raymond E. Feist, George R.R. Martin, Piers Anthony, etc.], and it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. There is a reason why "Barry Lyndon" is more beautiful than "Star Wars" and that reason is depth. "Star Wars" for all of Lucas's crap about mythology is about as deep as a warm cup of piss. Yes it is visually pleasing, and there is something to be said for that, but that something is short and sweet and then silent. That something is NOT comparisons to Dante and Milton, and all the religons of the world. That something is a wow - and then losing yourself for two hours. That something is NOT some asshole telling theatre owners how long the MUST run his movie for. "Barry Lyndon" is more beautiful because the more you embrace it, and the more you study it, the more worlds of detail are revealed. Kubrick is a true genius. Each and everyone of his films, whether you like them or not, is subject to so many levels of interpretation it is almost frightening. And it seems that no matter how deep you go, there is always another layer lurking just below. Kubrick is the beauty of complexity, the magic of interlocking worlds running through his films that are encapsulated in his signature hallway shots: Repetition, regression, and reflection repeated ad infinitum and in each layer, beyond every door, another world of detail...That, my friends is beauty...
-
Thanks for the response. Your points are well taken. And I agree to a bit of hipocracy in my post. However, the fact is that Star Wars HAS been criticized before its release as is evident by all these posts, while Eyes Wide Shut has not. People are blindly saying that it will be a masterpiece when all that (some of them) have seen is a trailer of Tom and Nicole making out in front of a mirror. No offense, but I can see that in a porno movie. Of course, I'm not implying that it will be at that level. Kubrick is a fantastic director, and I'm sure it will be a pretty good movie. But saying now that it is a guaranteed masterpiece is quite a bit premature, and foolish. By the way I never made the statement, "Hey you people on TalkBack are assholes for always sucking up to Kubrick, you dumb stupid idiot Kubrick fans". If you took my comments at the end that way, sorry, that wasn't my intention. All I'm saying is that, right now, if all the action set-pieces from the two trailers were fleshed out with 10 to 15 more minutes each, I would be completely entertained by TPM, I'm sure. I never said it would be a masterpiece at any point in my post. I cannot say the same from what I've seen of Eyes Wide Shut. In addition, I just pray that people don't let the fact that Kubrick has died blindly influence their opinions of that film. Let the film stand on it's own. Don't honor the film just to honor the man. Trust me, if Star Wars turns out to be shit, I won't deny that fact. After all, it is just a movie.
-
No real suprise here over the negative reviews for Phantom Menance. Star Wars fans were too quick to forget Willow and Howard The Duck.
People should have seen this coming from the trailer that look like a "CGI cartoon nightmare".
I hope the this doesn't effect sci-fi in general and hamper the chances of Crusade being picked up for a second series. -
Check out the http://www.manntheaters.com/new.html - they just announced that it'll run both at the Chinese and the Village (Fox). And the best bit is that both places are selling tickets over the phone! Take THAT you guys in line!! SHEESH! -peteski@spinninghead.com
-
Know what my favorite Kubrick film is? BARRY LYNDON. That's right. BARRY LYNDON. A lot of people find it "slow" or "boring" or "a lesser work." This is EXACTLY why I love it so much. It's a STORY, and Kubrick, God bless him, told it as only he could: with a running time of over three hours. This is not a popcorn movie. It's not a movie that you can do a crossword puzzle over. It's not a movie that you can put your brain on autopilot and forget about. It's a movie that requires you to pay attention. When I first saw it, I was amazed at how fast it went. This movie oozes with brilliance and beauty in every frame. I don't mean to be obsessive here, but I DO like twelve out of thirteen Kubrick films (the only one I don't really care for is SPARTACUS -- only because Kubrick wasn't the original director. He was brought on after producer/star Kirk Douglas fired Anthony Mann. Kubrick himself kind of kept a distance from this one, his most "Hollywood" film after completing it). No, I'm not a Kubrick fanatic, collecting memoribilia, that sort of thing. I simply admire the man for his ability to make finely crafted, entertaining films, that are not for the average moviegoer who wants explosions and action every two minutes over story and plotline.
-
Unfortunately, EYES WIDE SHUT may attract the mainstream popcorn-munching crowd, judging from the trailer:
MARY MAINSTREAM: Honey, you want to go to the movies tonight?
JOE MAINSTREAM: What's playing?
MARY MAINSTREAM: EYES WIDE SHUT.
JOE MAINSTREAM: Eyes wide what?
MARY MAINSTREAM: EYES WIDE SHUT.
JOE MAINSTREAM: Who's in it?
MARY MAINSTREAM: Tom Cruise.
JOE MAINSTREAM: Nah.
MARY MAINSTREAM: His wife's in it too. They both get naked.
JOE MAINSTREAM: They do? I bet Zalman King directed it. He does all those RED SHOE DIARY thingies on Showtime.
MARY MAINSTREAM: Actually, it says here Stanley Kubrick directed it.
JOE MAINSTREAM: He directed IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD.
MARY MAINSTREAM: Didn't he die?
JOE MAINSTREAM: Who cares? We're gonna see tits and ass tonight! I'll bring this copy of PEOPLE to read during the boring parts.
MARY MAINSTREAM: You mean the parts where they're not naked?
JOE MAINSTREAM: Yeah, the parts where they talk instead of doing something interesting. -
Even though I've been defending this movie concerning the recent reviews,
its becoming clear that SOMETHING is wrong with the
movie.What clinched it for me was what Lucas had to say
over the weekend about people's expecitons being too
high and how the previous movies got bad presss as well.
This seems too much like damage control to me and damage control is not a good thing.This many people can't be wrong,especially when some are hard-core fans.So far,
not one critic who has seen the film has liked it.And ET's special star wars edition last night(sunday)where they had the reactions from people outside the theatre,where people were raving about the
movie???Why didin't ET show
these reactions last week????
Sounds like damage control
again.Maybe I've become paranoid and corrupted by all
these bad reviews.Someone
prove me wrong. -
May 10, 1999 2:00:37 PM CDT
Dunno about how MANY theatres, but I know of a bit of things in
by angry
The NEW Silver City theatres are going up in West Edmonton Mall, as most people know, and it WILL be playing Star Wars. The tickets go on sale at noon on Wednesday the 13th, and they WILL, I repeat, WILL be playing the movie 24 hours for opening day, or even longer if they think it's necesary. So, I know I'll be getting tickets for 12:01AM on the 19th. So that's cool. Also, I found something cool out about these *new* theatres. THEY HAVE CURVED SCREENS! That just fills me with the goosebumps. I mean, we haven't had any of those here in Edmonton yet, so, I'm excited. ANd, I WILL NOT, I repeat WILL NOT reveal to anyone WHEN the line up is allowed to start. If you go early, you get kicked out for loitering, so, you gotta know WHEN the lineup is allowed to start, or you're outa there. And I KNOW WHEN IT STARTS! BWA HA HA HA HA! I'm gonna be on the news tonight too about this. I'll be the good-looking one in the line that makes everyone else look even worse.
-
I agree with Jetalone. Harry -where the hell is your tribute to Dirk Bogarde?
-
I just got off the phone with a manager at my friendly neighborhood Loews (New Brunswick, NJ). I explained the entire rumor to her and asked if her theatre was going to pull the film. Well, she had a good laugh at this, very amused at the notion of not showing the biggest movie of the year (possibly decade). I suppose she could be wrong, but she was certain that the tickets would go be up for sale on the 12th.
-
Anyone know what is happening for all us deprived people who live out in the middle of nowhere? I've heard that the movie is only going to select theaters so what about the rest of us fans who live in small towns? (I'm talkin' pop. 1 100, nearest city, 1 1/2 hour drive speeding) HELP ME PLEASE!!!
-
As a teacher and lover of cinema for the past four decades, I've watched Harry Knowles here at AICN for quite a while. Well, when I see his inane b/s about sticking up for TPM, I think "Harry caved in, too...he'll never gain any real respect as a critic. He's only proven he's not in the same league with Ebert. I hope he enjoyed his 15 minutes on t.v., because he made two trips in one, his first and his last." Then it struck me. Harry is like all the rest of them. He's so completely infatuated with this shit. People like him realize how far they been sucked in...they've bought all the junk...talked all big and bad about Star Wars forever and ever...and now, they just can't admit that TPM is a nothing but a damn turkey...
....and that's what THE MOVIE GUY thinks...
I'll continue to speak out against the circus that is TPM...visit my site and join me my campaign for truth at http://www.angelfire.com/biz3/themovieguy -
This SONY/MANN thing is starting to remind me of Orson Welles' radio-broadcast of "War of the Worlds." I've been keeping tabs on this rumor all weekend and I still don't see any Martians. By the way, after reading the above posts, could someone please tell me what the complete works of Stanley Kubrick have to do with TPM?
-
...it's a conversation on film, albeit off topic, that hasn't degenerated into name-calling. So, here goes, if Barry Lyndon is a classic, and all of Kubrick's movies for that matter, because it has layers of interpretation (I agree by the way, this is why I like 2001 so much and Dr. Starngelove) then by that arguement Joe vs the Volcano is a classic. It is visually quite interesting (gorgeous sets by Bo Welch help this plus really interesting cinematography) and philosophically quite deep, whether you see it as an allegory for modern man versus nature, or as an existentialist fairy tale (Joe through the three levels of Kierkegaardian life). Joe is one of my fave movies but I would hardly consider it a classic. I have to agree with the poster that stated that we should not compare Lucas and Kubrick, it's like comparing Picasso to Klimt, the both work in the same medium, but they are not the same style. But it's fun to discuss different styles in terms of each other in order to validate our own beliefs in the styles we like. And to all you people whining about this is a Talk Back for Star Wars, this is a Talk Back for whatever we (readers of AICN) want it to be about because we lead the conversation, and if we want it to be about Kubrick vs. Lucas then so be it!
-
Well I can't prove you wrong or right only the movie can do that but I can maybe enlighten you to a few things. As far as damage control you may be right but this does not make the movie bad, it only means that George is trying to protect his investment. Specifically he has been saying all along that it was only a movie and there is no way he will be able to live up to everyone's expectations, he has been trying to control the hype from the get-go. That is smart if you ask me because hype can kill and let's face it when it comes to the most anticipated movie of all time the hype will be huge no matter what. As far as all the critics panning the movie, well not all the critics have been entirely negative. Malton has been very positive. Now some may argue that Malton is Lucas' lapdog but whether or not you beleive that is your business. As far as other reveiwers I can't get specific because I have not read their reveiws persay only heard what others have said. This is because I don't trust critics because this is not a critics movie, they are all panting for Eyes Wide Shut. As far as Lucas defending against the critics by saying all the movies were panned, he was asked about the recent reviews and gave a valid and honest answer. What he didn't do, and what all doubters would do well to remember, is go on and on about how this is the greatest film ever as some do and this is a good sign. Also he shows no fear and has been open about showing it to the press, also a good sign. As far as ET goes, since their SW segments all week have only been about two minutes long each and have concentrated on "new" footage it seems obvious why they would wait for their SW Special to show crowd reactions. Now to answer your question about whether or not reviews may be tainting you, I would say yes. It has happened to me, even so far as good movies that I should have enjoyed but couldn't because all the rave reveiws built the film up too much. In the end the best thing to do is go into the movie with an open mind.
-
Don't worry, Opus.
If Eyes Wide Shut turns out to be crap and a bad film (have I already told you I dislike Clockwork Orange ? With the exception of Malcom McDowell's performance it's sexist, mysgonistic, pro-violence and plain boring),
I'll say it is. I have no intention
of honoring Kubrick the man.
From what I have read about
Kubrick as a man he may have
been a great filmmaker but
was "talented shit" in the words of Kirk Douglas.
I may hate the man but
I like his films. As for
Star Wars, I'm sorry if I took your comments on it,
the wrong way. I just hate
having to try and consistently prevent a pissing contest on
TALKBACK. The problem
with EYES WIDE SHUT
I think will be when it comes out those people who hate
Kubrick and hate the movie
will complain that the people
who love the movie are honoring Kubrick and not
judging the movie. Simiarly,
those who love the movie
will say that the people criticizing it don't get Kubrick's work and must be stupid or
something. In either cases,
both the opposed and
the negative fractions will
be seen as jerks. I hope
that this does not happen.
One of the great things about
TALKBACK is talking with
a person whom you have
never known in your life
and never seen yet find
a friend and fellow admirer
of film and filmmaking.
That harmony and bond I think
is disentingrating into
whoever vs whoever
contests. Honestly,
forget TPM and EWS ?
What else good movies are
there to see this summer ?
My picks are The Blair Witch Project followed by
the Austin Power sequel.
What I guess I'm trying
to say here is "What can't
we all just get along ?"
A quote which comes from
Rodney King but I prefer
it sounding from Jack Nicholson in Mars Attacks,
one of my favorite movies.
Now, everybody here is
your chance to flame
me and kick the living
crud out of me.
-
I just checked the MannTheaters Websight, updated today and the Chinese and Festival ARE NOW CONFIRMED to play the Phantom Menace. I guess they and Lucas realized it would be a public relations disaster to not show the film. Thank God. I really didn't want to go to the Beverly Connection.
-
Basically this is how I look upon critics : 9 out of 10 times a critic praising a movie will tell me to avoid a movie at all costs :) . I personally like my friend's rating system : 6-x = actual score where x is the critic's rating. So who gives a flying f**k what the critics say.
As for Kubrick vs Lucas why not compare John Williams to Marilyn Manson or Mozart to Alice Cooper while you're at it? That is just pointless.
And as for movies and their superiority why does every fricken movie need to be the same thing? Why do we automatically say all drama is superior to all action? Hey I love 2001, but if all movies were 2001 I'd kill myself. And why is it any harder to make necessarily then Star Wars? And how about comedy! Comedy is the most overlooked genre out there. Hey I'll tell you comedy is EASILY as hard or harder to make as drama. How many ACTUALLY good comedy movies come out each year? A HUGE percentage of them are total flops. We only get two or three quality comedies per year most of the time while almost every year there are atleast maybe 10-15 good dramas. It is just BS we've had shoved down our throats by groups like the Academy for our entire existance that tries to get us to believe that that is an accepted truth. Let's praise all types of movies for being good in their own right and not just one group because we've been lead to believe that is true for so long. That's my 2 cents. -
Crisis averted, Manns will be showing TPM after all! Check out www.mannschinese.com for a confirmation of this. Now all we need is word from Sony and we can all breathe easier.
-
May 10, 1999 3:51:50 PM CDT
DO NOT SEE THIS FILM ON ITS OPENING WEEKEND...AND AS FAR AS HARR
by wesreviews
This 12 week biggest screens policy is completely ridiculous. How are we supposed to enjoy all the other movies coming out this summer? Sure, the die hard Star Wars fans will be pleased but what about all the other movies and movie fans out there who are tired of Lucas trying to cram all this down our throats? If he loved movies as much as he claims, he'd understand that there are other movie tastes out there and that every movie deserves it's chance in the biggest theater. As far as Harry Knowles goes, he's proven that his love of cinema isn't what some of us think or what he would want us to believe. Star Wars is a movie. So is Eyes Wide Shut, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, The Haunting, South Park, Wild Wild West, American Pie, and many, many other films coming out this summer. If you support Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, and tell us to lower our critical standards and such and become kids again...well, it doesn't show much on your part. I thought you were okay as a critic, but this has certainly proved me wrong unfortunately. I would think that you of all people would believe that every movie deserves its time in the spotlight, but apparently your idea of cinema only coincides with that of anything made by George (too good to direct movies) Lucas. Well, I'm glad I still have my integrity.
-
Posted before re-reading the other posts to see if anyone else had posted the Mann's update. Sorry about the bandwidth waste, Harry, heheh...
-
Our local Sony theater is planning to sell tickets on Wednesday, so if Sony pulls out, seems they would need to do it quickly
-
As someone who is burning with anticipation for The Phantom Menace, and as someone who treasures a great theater-going experience, I'd like to add my 2 cents on this theater issue. While the Chinese and Village are both excellent places to see any film, they are not necessarily, in my humble experience, the be-all and end-all for the best Star Wars screening. I say this having experienced projection problems at premieres for major films at both the Village and the Chinese. When "Godfather III" opened, the channels for the dialogue tracks went out somewhere into reel 5. The theater shut down for a half hour. Opening day! Al Pacino had a heart attack but nobody said a thing. Doh!
Similarly, when "The Fugitive" opened, the projector went down several reels in and they never fixed the problem for the screening. Had to get a free re-entry ticket. At the Village, for the opening night of "Titanic", a badly threaded loop caused increasing wow and flutter in the music track...so bad that they had to shut down the projector to rethread. Opening night...7:00pm show, mind you! These are supposed to be the best theaters in LA. I don't mean to dis Mann, especially in a widely-read forum...generally their projection is acceptable. T'was probably my bad luck more than anything...I would merely suggest that the theater itself is not going to add anything to the total enjoyment of the show if the projection isn't up to snuff. Personally, I hope Mann doesn't bow out of screening TPM, but I'd be just as happy at any big screen with a solid sound system - the National in Westwood is every bit as good a theater as the Chinese or the Village, not as pretty on the inside, but when the lights go down...I'll be watching the screen, not the walls or the ceiling... -
Tsk...pitiful. I am sitting here in Fly-Over country listening to all the Coastal (east and west) moaning about Sony and co. threatening to yank TPM from their screens. We don't have Sony or Odeon or Loews out here- and TPM is going to play on three screens in the metropolitan Little Rock area. Three. Imagine a whole stateful of fen trying to squeeze into three theatres. One of which is a sticky-floored shoebox. I might get into the cinema sometime in August...2001! But heck, I am not complaining- I'd see TPM on a bedsheet tied between some trees if I got a chance! (Saw Empire that way once.) Quit complainin' and START ENJOYIN'! This is STAR WARS, guys- FINALLY!!!
-
May 10, 1999 4:22:48 PM CDT
A lot of sound and fury over a movie virtually none of us has se
by oberon
I haven't seen EPISODE I - and for that matter, I haven't seen EYES WIDE SHUT. And neither has hardly anyone else here. Based on Lucas's and Kubrick's past work, I have high expectations for both movies, but not impossibly high - and all the early reviews or smack talk here aren't going to change that. I suppose it's too much to ask fellow geeks to keep from filling the Talk Backs with SOMETHING, but we shouldn't harbor illusions that it's anything but speculation or simply ranting. My thought: let's wait and watch the damned movie and THEN offer our opinions. Discussing the screening restrictions, on the other hand, is an entirely different matter. Let's hope that Sony and Kucas can compose their differences. Otherwise the fans are sure to be among the losers.
-
is anyone saying that Lucas is a better artist than Kubrick...preposterous...Kubrick is an artiste, a cinematic auteur, Lucas is the Bill Gates of film; trying to make a buck and a promoter of filth and toys for kiddies, a cyber-Santa Claus...yeh, he made great serials but please i don't think he'd argue that he's an artist anymore than Harrison Ford would claim to be a legitimate theater actor...Lucas has become a corporation/Kubrick always strived for art...and for the guy who doesn't like A CLOCKWORK ORANGE...you're sick in the head and you probably don't get artistic ambiguity...see you at the 7-11...and furthermore, anyone else feel that THE MATRIX ripped off SNOW CRASH (the greatest book in the last 15 years a little too much?) just wondering
-
Here's a radical statement for you: Kubrick is a far better "filmmaker" than Lucas. And yet, I would argue that the SW trilogy stands with Kubrick's best work. Why? How? Who? Weeeelll....the funny thing is, there's more to film, and storytelling, and mythology for that matter, than simply being a great director. It's always a puzzle, going back to Shakespeare, whether or not an artist intends for his story to have as many layers of meaning as are attributed to it. No doubt Kubrick's films have more intentional meaning to them than Lucas's. And yet to argue that there's more meaning in a Kubrick film than in Star Wars is ludicrous. In case you hadn't noticed, Star Wars has been subjected to as much analysis as any movie in history. Was all this meaning intentional? Probably not. But that does NOT make it invalid. The tellers of Greek Mythology, or Grimm's Fairy Tales, were simply telling a story, but these stories UNCONSIOUSLY revealed a lot about human nature...almost more so than it could by deliberately making a point. Kubrick made studied, meaningful stories...Lucas accomplished something almost no one in this day and age has managed to do--create a genuine myth. That is, a mediocre story with powerful primal connections that simply latched onto our culture and will never let go. The two are working in complletely different solar systems, but they're both geniuses at what they do.
-
Since I seemed to missed saturday's POINTLESS ARGUMENT OF THE WEEK I think I'll barge in here. The above header is listed under the pretext of sarcasm. It is the only way I can reply to the idiotic "accusations" that E1 is kiddie- friendly... REALLY? You don't say... SW has always had a fairy-tale-like quality. Sorry for pointing out the fucking obvious... Fairy tales, as far as I can remember have always been "kiddie-friendly" (and none too complicated at that)This quality made it more endearing than the rest of the psychotic bullets 'n' bloodshed toss we've had to put up with for the last 2 decades It's also a fairly good morality tale, about redemption , responsibility, etc that achieves this without clutter or contrived crap that's usually shoved down our throats. That E1 has been slated by so many is no surprise to me : it's either people who didn't rate original trilogy that much or die-hard purists who have forgotten what it is that they obsess over. This is the saddest thing of all, as they expect the magic to be forced upon them. The early magazine reviews were mostly by middle-aged wanking pretentious toff hacks,who are too far up their own asswholes with arthouse horseshit to appreciate primal, visually creative flicks. The script isn't great but so what? The trilogy always came up trump with top storylines and iconoclastic characters but coughed up shit when it came to anything near resembling decent dialogue(Apart fromthe awesome "May the force be with you!" This is mostly due to the settings if nothing else, but also mybe its sci-fi trappings. E1 looks no different, although Lucas looks like like he's come with a storyline more complicated the trilogy films combined. What I've seen looks amazing. And I'm sure in few years when we've calmed down we'll realize one thing: If the merits of the star wars films are the iconoclastic characters, fantastic surreal settings, epic storylines, outstanding visual and material creativity, and technical superiority as regards to film, E1 will stand head and shoulders above the first three films since it delivers 100% more in these departments than those films combined.
-
The Phantom Menace is SHIT. Not really, I ain't even seen it, but nor has hardly any other reporter that is writng about it. They are mostly just taking cheap shots at old Georges baby. So I thought i might as well, even though I think it's probably going to be the best cinema experience EVER. I love star wars to masturbational proportions but controversy sells so Hey..... The Phantom Menace is SHIT
-
Regarding the debate about the throngs waiting to see SWTPM, a few comments. First, did anyone see USA Today's comments on this late last week?(Friday, I believe)
The article reported on a survey asking people if they saw a friend in line waiting for tickets, what would you say to them? 80% said get a life, only 11% said get me one too.
I work as a designer on the Intl Space Station, and I asked my co workers if they were planning to attend SWTPM, and not one of them intends to. None of my friends outside of work are going to see it. My wife, more of a film buff than I, will probably go to it when the crowds die off, probably after the first week.
Second: Of course, the Fox owned papers are going to think it's a masterpiece, no matter how dreadful it is. But I think most
critics are going to trash this movie, and one reason I'm glad I get 6 papers a day (plus checking out more on the net) will be so I can collect bad reviews.
Third: Re the toy sales. I went to a small hobby store and saw the shelves filled with the schlock from SWTPM and walked out. Walmart should change it's name to Vadermart. I think that there will be a backlash against this incredible marketing blitz. Franky, I hope so.
Mr. Knowles, I enjoy your site, but I'll be glad when this movie fades into the sunset of cinematic disasters, and you can discuss other movies in more depth.
-
Kubrick sucks. 2001 sucks. Clock Work Banana sucks. Eyes Wide Shut will suck. End of story.
-
May 10, 1999 5:26:03 PM CDT
THIS RUMOR IS FALSE: GO TO HTTP://STARWARS.COUNTINGDOWN.COM/NEWS
by quentin2
I'm surprised Harry hasn't realized this yet. And if ya still don't believe me, go to the Mann's Official Site. PS: I've read the script, and lemme say this: BY SCRIPT ALONE, THIS IS THE BEST OF THE SW MOVIES WITHOUT A DOUBT.
-
Yeah, as I read the TPM script I got hard. But when I see the film, I swear to god I'm gonna cream my pants!!! I hope nobody notices the wet spot between my legs as I leave the theater and get back in line again...he he... Seriously though, yeah Lucas kicks ass. But, guess what? Kubrick is one of the greatest film makers of all time. Sure, I meant what I said about creaming my pants, but I don't let my love of Star Wars blind my vision. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and DR. STRANGELOVE were two of the greatest films ever made. PERIOD. Kubrick's rendition of THE SHINING was a fucking masterpiece. And I'll bet that Eyes Wide Shut will be good too. Hell, those pics of Nicole and Tom have been getting me horny. EYES WIDE SHUT is another film that will cause me to cream my pants....
-
Hey skeptic, I think its very interesting that you actually plan to "collect" bad reviews. Sounds to me like you have some sort of vendetta against TPM. Anyway, you're going to have a hard time find those generally bad reviews, because most the ones I've read have been overall good. Just because a critic complains about a couple parts of a movie doesn't mean he's "trashed" it. The only truly bad review I've read was the one that'll be appearing in Newsweek this week. So technicalities aside, do you honestly believe people aren't going to go see this film? Most people I know are going...and I'm sure that holds true for a lot of the people that frequent this forum. You know, I think you should go see the movie with your wife a week or two after it comes out, you might actually really enjoy it. I haven't seen TPM yet, but it seems to me from the reviews I've read (I think I've read all of the ones posted thus far), that critics are making the mistake of dwelling on one or two problem areas and not seeing the picture for what it is. They talk about how entertaining it is, and how beautiful it is, but then they spend five more paragraphs whining about how the acting is "wooden" and how some dialogue is on the weak side. If a movie is entertaining then isn't it good? Movies are about entertainment and escapism...why tear down those that excel in that most important area? I love truly deep and artistic films too, but sometimes I just feel like being entertained and wowed. That my friends, is what Star Wars is about. We should have no greater expectations....
-
i cant wait for the new star wars movie. i dont care where or how i see it...well as long as it has stadium seating, surround and a cup holder...im good
go visit the future movies page:
http2.com//futuremovies.com -
This whole pullout thing is a load of shit. Stop spreading rumors and start doing real research. Just goto loewscineplex.com and in plain black and white they are advertising that The Phantom Menace will be playing on over 200 of their SONY/Loews/cineplex Odeon theaters throught the USA. They will post the show times on 5/12 at 3pm. So there you rumor mongrels!!!
-
I live in New Jersey and this morning while listening to Howard Stern, he pretty much said that Phantom Manace sucked after seeing it at an advance screening. This is coming from the guy that said Last action hero was one of the best movies he's ever seen and Face OFF sucked. I think the press and everyone else has it out for this movie for some reason.
-
Yes, I heard a review of The Phantom Menace from an actual person who had seen it! A theatre owner, no less! Their (condensed) review- "The best sound or visuals ever... as for the rest, a 2-hour videogame, except you're not holding the joystick, with cardboard characters you don't give a damn about. I doubt if this will appeal to anyone other than 7 year old boys." Flame me, do what you will, but that's what I heard. I feel so HONORED to get that sort information. SOMETHING ELSE WILL BE BIGGER THIS YEAR, WAIT AND SEE! And we already saw the BEST film, The Matrix.
-
Howard Stern is a great man, and an entertaining radio personality. I don't agree with his views on Face/Off or Last Action Hero...I found Last Action Hero to be just about one of the dumbest movies I've ever seen, and Face/Off is one of my favorite action movies ever...but I think we need to take his views into consideration. Afterall, he HAS seen the movie. That's more than what a few people around here can say. Besides, his movie Private Parts is still one of my favorite comedies of the 90's.
-
These are some of the most absurd, ridiculous theories on any film opening I have ever seen! Too bad I have to wait with all the rest of the commoners to see TPM. I myself just missed out on scoring some press screening tickets because a another reporter got the tickets first. (I did get some of the press photos though. They worth anything?) If this movie rules/blows, I'm going to waste myself if I hear anymore whining! This is a fleeting moment in movie history-- just sit back and enjoy it! That said, anyone got a paper towel?
-
This is my very first post on AICN! And what a forum to post it in. As far as TPM goes I just rescently read on The Force.net that Roger Ebert was quoted as to saying that TPM is worth waiting in line a month for! Though I do not always agree with his reviews, it is comforting to know one of, if not the most famous film critic thouroughly enjoyed it. I hope this makes some who have a bad feeling about TPM feel better.
-
Perhaps people have forgotten why the original Star Wars is so great.
Is it the beautiful acting? Hell no!
Is it the deep thoughts and reflections on society that the movie portrays? Hell no!
Thousands of times, George has said that SW is like a Western. Good vs. Evil. Big Fancy Intricate plot there. When judged by most movie standards, Star Wars is a mediocre movie. But Star Wars has the blow-away factor, which some people can feel and some people can't. Many people think that its cool to not like TPM because they want to be "rebels" and go against the hype. But if nobody winds up watching TPM except for the fans, who are the real rebels then? In all of the reviews, they mentioned the blow-away factor, TPM being something completely different than other movies. If they said that Star Wars was an awesome movie, but they didn't talk about the blow-away factor, I would get worried. But EVERY SINGLE REVIEW makes me more excited. -
Yes I hear it will> i will be able to watch TPM in full glory and be shook to my very bones from Dolby Digital EX and THX sound...
-
ok, movie guy you can leave us all alone now you old fart. and take your dead directors with you with that lame Bible movie. Go back to your daily ritual of masturbating to Teletubbies. And as for anybody putting down A Clockwork Orange, I have never seen a film finer. Peace kids. We're almost there.
-
If the Chinese Theatre in LA is going to pull Star Wars...what about those guys who have been in line forever? They'll be pissed!
On another note....I have read the screenplay and many reviews of PM...Time, Newsweek, Roling Stone, etc. I think that no movie can live up to the hype that has been surrounding Star Wars - including PM. I know I've been waiting for this movie forever and I feel I'm asking it to be the impossible. Just knowing that Jar Jar Binks, who makes the Ewoks look like first rate actors, alone is disappointing. But I'm still going to try to get tickets for opening day! -
Well the good Doctor says that he needs a life. But he probably already knew that. Go watch the movie you fucking freak before you tear it down...I can't believe I wasted my time on his site.
-
Although the mention of Kubrick mystifies me, perhaps this will be pertinent:
"The enemy of the film-maker is (neither) the intellectual (nor) the member of the mass public, but the kind of middlebrow who has neither the intellectual apparatus to analyze and clearly define what is meant (by a film), nor the honest emotional reaction of the mass film-audience member.
"And, unfortunately, I think a great many of these people in the middle are occupied in writing about films."
- Stanley Kubrick
Let's all be VERY careful about falling into this trap. We are all ONLY entitled to an opinion if it is an informed one, and currently not many of us fit that bill. And even then nobody is obliged to Care, remember that.
I would like to like The Phantom Menace. I don't know if I will. I would however like to give George Lucas credit for trying, however it all turns out, because I believe he's got heart. In the meantime, I can't say anything else.
But I will say that we are well on the way to murdering the spirit of a film series that millions have cherished for twenty years, and that is a Sad Thing. -
After look at his site he reminds me of those do-nothing professors who nothing of what they were talking about at college...His rants seem to stem more of jelousy than anything else Lucas has too much power and money etc. its lemon socialism. George Lucas took a risk and he reaped the rewards I have NO PROBLEM with that. Movie Guy You I love movies and I think that George has done more for the medium than anyone...(Think of his tech achievements...)Yes I really do think that and your cheap ranting will not sway me. If Movie guy can show me how Lucas having
a) too much power B) how that power is being misused realisitic then maybe you will have a point.... -
I am a mature critic of films, what can I say. Unlike many, Harry included, I am not enamored with Mr. Lucas and his greatly over-hyped, over-glorified mediocre movies. I liked the first Star Wars okay back in '77, but he should have quit while was ahead. Truly great and legendary films are only made once. Lucas needs to prove himself as a director by making films other than his mediocre fantasies known as Star Wars. and that's what THE MOVIE GUY thinks...visit me at http://www.angelfire.com/biz3/themovieguy
-
You Star Wars freaks are so excited over this movie it could be total shit and you'd still make it good for yourselves. You'd justify it to yourself in your mind with "think like a kid" or "well, think of it as part of the whole" or some such B.S. All the positive reviews I've read by you guys don't even give a substantial reason for it being good. All you do is type "I LOVED IT!!!" with capital letters and a shitload of exclamation points. I think you were disappointed so you are covering for it. I will see it, I'm not saying I won't. But if it's a good movie, I will like it despite the fact that I feel "like a kid" or not. By the way, I don't blame the theater owners. I wouldn't want to stick it in the big theater and keep it there for the rest of the summer. Despite the fact that you geeks are going to see it a zillion times whether it is good or not, there are other films coming out this summer, films that deserve a shot at the big house in the theater. Films that might even, GASP!, be BETTER! No film has ever lived up to this sort of hype. Know what this whole thing reminds me of? A little movie named LOST WORLD. That was a fair movie, more of a ride than a movie though, by another god of a director (a man who's done more than 3 damn movies)which had an enormous opening weekend and then dropped off and now no one even thinks of that one anymore. Think on that around June 15, when Star Wars is clinging in the top five but the buzz and the excitement has worn off. By the way, if you want to bitch about a movie going through reshoots, what the hell did Phantom Menace do? It went through reshoots. I'm already sick of the hype. I'll take Austin 2 and sit back, relax with a cold, overpriced beverage and watch the buzz die a slow death.
-
By the way, George Lucas rocks, Stanley Kubrick rocks, J.R.R. freaking Tolkien rocks, Dante rocks, I rock, you rock, and yes, the Phantom Menace will be fine.
Right? Right. G'night! -
I read today that Fox is outraged that some newspapers actually had the audacity to print reviews of Episode 1. So much so, that the offending papers have been kicked off the Episode 1 press junket. Those papers will think twice before they use that old "Freedom of the press" thing again. Seriously, though: what's the big deal? Everyone and his dog knows that this movie is critic-proof. My suggestion: relax, folks.
Can I go off topic for a moment? I promise I won't say anything about 'The Matrix' or Stanley Kubrick. This concerns a friend near and dear to all of us. Just across the river, in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, there is a casino, Vegas Kewadin, a first-class gaming facility that, for some unknown reason, seems content to provide its customers with third-rate entertainment. Sure sign that someone's washed up? They'll be appearing at Vegas Kewadin. Trust me on this one. On June 6th, the one, the only (drum roll please)...STEVEN SEAGAL is appearing at Vegas Kewadin!! I kid you not! Now, if that's not something that's worth lining up a month for, I don't know what is... -
i DON'T BELIEVE THIS SHIT!!!!! i'M GLAD THAT THEY WONT CARRY THE FILM. AS MUCH AS I WANT TO SEE THIS MOVIE ITS JUST A MOVIE. LUCAS SWEARS THIS MOVIE REVEALS THE FACE OF GOD OR SOMETHING. IT DOESNT EVEN LOOK BETTER THAN THE FIRST 2. LUCAS DOES NEED A KICK IN THE ASS AND BE BROUGHT BACK TO REALITY.
-
In their rather positive review of TPM, they said that Jar Jar, while initially annoying, like the Ewoks, DOES get less annoying throughout the film, unlike the Ewoks. Just thought I'd mention that. Anyone read Pauline Kael's review for Episode 4 from '77? She hated it.
-
May 10, 1999 10:56:45 PM CDT
I personally don't care if Sony doesn't show TPM at their theate
by talex 700
The Loew's Cineplex here where I live just plain suck. Not very big screens and lame sound. Only one screen in the entire theater has DTS sound. The Phantom Menace isn't meant to be seen at the Loew's Cineplex down here. Luckily the Century Gateways, with humongous screens and even terrific sound, will be showing TPM according to their website. I am so frickin' happy. And it will be in Dolby EX.
Have to make sure I get some tickets early. -
I stumbled upon this websight lookin for the buzz on TPM, and without sounding condescending I've really enjoyed everyone's comments. People are still passionate about STAR WARS and that is great. My take on this whole phenomenon...and don't kid your self, this is a cultural phenomenon, is that I pity all of those who grew up on Star Wars as a video phenomenon. I consider my self as one of the 'chosen few'...I was 12 years old when StaWars was released. I was in sixth grade, and at 33 yo, I can still remember to this day seeing the SW commercial and being uterlly grasped by it, as if Chewbacca reached through the screen and grabbed me by the collar and pulled me into the screen AND into the Star Wars universe. I remember seeing that commercial, and make no mistake, it was advertised in '77 as a saturday morning serial with corny voice overs and the works. make no mistake...SW is, and always was, a kids movie..."For children of all ages" as someone above quoted beloved George as saying. I will never forget going to school the next day after seeing that commercial, and all of the boys in my class were equally excited and ran towards each other, all seeming to want the same thing, to verify if it was true..."did you see that movie that was advertised last night? was that a monkey flying a spaceship?
Get this, and make no mistake: Star Wars was great because it had never been done before. Period. It was fresh and new and wonderous and corny and the acting sucked and we all saw the blue screens and we LOVED IT. Corny dialogue??? How many fans out there can honestly say that everytime they watch Star Wars (I've seen it easily over 35 times) and they here lines like "Help, I think I'm melting! This is all your falt!" They don't cringe at the leaden awkwardness of the line? Or the plot so full of holes the movie would sink if thrown in water: They are tracking the ship, right? The fate of the Universe hangs in the balance that the Empire does not find the Rebel base, right? O.K. DON'T GO TO YAVIN! Drop off the ship somewhere, take the droids, and find other passage to Yavin! Period.
THE POINT
Star Wars was great. Empire was fun (the 'love dialogue' between Han and Leia in the beginning was atrocious...)though the Walker seen was not long enough and the asteroid scene made the movie for me...And Return sucked, except for the lightsaber battle at the end. All the acting sucked, and the special effects were O.K., but we all saw the flaws but looked past them. I ultimatley enjoyed the Empire and Jedi because I was not expecting the world, and I knew that they would never surpase the freshness of Star WarsI figured this out when I was disapointed by Empire, but decided to like it anyway because IT WAS STAR WARS.
Now,
TPM is not going to give give any one a reason for living, it is not going to end the war in Yugoslavia, nor will it singlehandedly carry the universe through the next millenium.
But, its STAR WARS for crying out loud, so HAVE FUN!
It is meant to bring out the kid in all of us, but it will only do that IF YOU LET IT!
MY SECRET PLAN
I have found the best weed I have ever had in my life. This awesome hydro that totally knocks you into hyper space. I am going to get totally wasted on the biggest fatty I ever rolled, I am going to go to a matinee showing with no lines and I am going to pretend that it is 1977, that I am 12 years old and I am going to LOVE THIS MOVIE. Then I am going to go home, jerk off, and GET ON WITH MY LIFE.
Try it...ya never know... -
Movie Guy, a question: "What are you? Nuts?" Getting a 5 year old kid to write Lucas must die over a picture of Lucas. That's disturbing. You profess to be serious about movies but only an infantile mind could come up with that.
You profess that you will not seethe movie. Hey, the hype can get unbearable at times. The sanity of some of the fans comes into question at times but I think that crap on your site is a little too far gone.
Movie Guy, for what it's worth: It's just a movie and for goodness sakes if you don't like it then tune it out. -
May 10, 1999 11:46:22 PM CDT
Howard The Duck(Special Edition), A New Hope was sooo 70's, and
by grouchlord
Okay, Howard was a joke, but I've actually met people who like that piece of poodoo. A New Hope was so 70's mentality but I love it, even more now that it so glaringly obvious. BTW, why didn't they just blow up the Death Star when they werer there the first time? I mean Ben could sneak all the way to shut down the tractor beam, so why could't he sneak to the reactor core and toss in his lightsaber? And Skeptic, are you obsessive-compulsive or what?
-
NEWSDROID, as well as other sites have confirmed that this whole thing has been utter bullshit from the beginning, and that all theatre chains concerned will be showing the movie. DOES ANYONE DOUBT THAT HARRY KNOWLES IS DELIBERATELY TRYING TO SABOTAGE EPISODE I AMONG INTERNET FANS?!? I seriously cannot remember the last positive bit of news that Harry has posted regarding TPM, and this last incedent being an out and out lie proves to me that he's pissed about one and only one thing: the way Lincoln at COUNTINGDOWN and other fan sites are stealing his thunder. In response he tries to make a big splash with a story that's utter nonsense, and is at the same time ruining the fun of the coming days for the rest of us.
-
Hey, I like big movies. Before I started working at the theatre, and after. I prefer to work my tail off, as opposed to the usual "sit around and do nothing" that happens at my theatre. To some degree, I was disappointed we didn't get TPM at my theatre. As far as my opinion not being valid, whose judgement is that to make? Probably that of the remarkably intellegent and informed e-mails I've been receiving after my post, most consisting of four letter words and speculating as to how I was born. =p My opinion on Star Wars: It's an entertaining popcorn movie. There's no great signifigance, no deeply developed characters(everyone is good or bad), and nothing really revolutionary to the story. It's probably one of, if not THE, best popcorn movie ever made, true. Lucas was able to take us to the world he envisioned, better than almost anyone else could. But, the fact of the matter is, he also made Willow, Radioland Murders, and other movies that aren't quite as strong. The first impression of a LOT of people in the theatre industry to his conditions are, he's worried about the later summer movies, like Austin Powers, Wild Wild West, etc., and he's created these conditions to get around them. And, like I said, for someone to set down conditions like this, he'd better have a good movie to back it up. If it's not absolutely spectacular, he deserves the criticism he gets. He's built it up to be this, and if it isn't, he doesn't have any excuses. And I don't think it's quite accurate to compare Star Wars to The Beatles and other phenomenons. It's a big movie, sure. But I don't think it defines a generation. I'll go to see it, but in part because I want to make a more informed judgement on it. I've already read the screenplay, and wasn't impressed. It was not as complex as some have made it out to be. The film wouldn't be "foreboding" if we didn't know Anakin grows up to be Darth Vader. It might be a good kid's movie, maybe even a good popcorn movie, but I wouldn't go further than that.
-
Have it on VERY good authority that Loews-Cineplex Entertainment (Sony)will not be playing TPM at ANY NYC theatres. No others are affected. This has to do with the settings of "floor limits" for auditoriums in the city which is a major no-no. From someone in the business side of things, there is WAY too much that is being demanded of theatres on this one.
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 209 total posts 207 posts
- AVENGERS enemy revealed as pink boardgame pieces... You might suffer some form of elation... SPOILERS!!! -- 160 total posts 97 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 144 total posts 77 posts
- Here's The Red Band Trailer For Drafthouse Films' THE FP! -- 68 total posts 68 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 67 total posts 67 posts
- Does ‘SNL’ Rhyme With ‘Deschanel’?? Learn Which SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Vet Hosts After Sexy Zooey!! -- 64 total posts 60 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 480 total posts 55 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 53 total posts 50 posts
- Friday Brings SWEEPS DAY NINE!! Gab Here About Tonight’s FRINGE!! Plus Einstein on TIM, Wiig On PORTLANDIA, MAHER, CLONE, GIFTED, GRIMM, SPARTACUS, SUPERNATURAL, GOLD RUSH And More!! -- 118 total posts 32 posts
- SPACE 2099!! -- 182 total posts 27 posts