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I'll try to keep this thread positive in tone, and will probably remove it in a few weeks, because it's mostly OT, and negativity spreads on the Web all too much.
I was sorely disappointed at George Lucas' idea of a conclusion to the Star Wars 'saga'; the dialog was forced and largely subserviant to the action, the FX (usually ground-breakers with IL&M) have already been done, and done better in such releases as Sky Captain, The Incredibles, and I, Robot, and the story was unevenly paced--rushed at times, and painfully drawn out in others. I expected a satisfying tale of how Ahniken became Darth, and all George could do is hint at a sketchy, undeveloped turn of Ahniken to the Dark Side of The Force.
"Get positive, Gare..." :
? The popcorn at the cineplex was fresh and not too salty,
? The floors were clean, bereft of gum or spilled soft drinks.
? The seats were comfortable
? The lighting and use of color in the movie were excellent
? I learned the proper occasion upon which to use After Effects' "window pane' screen transitions.
? It was good to see Chewie and Jar-Jar again, despite the brevity of these cameos.
? Master Yoda is doing better as a CG than he did as a Muppet; he's more animated, he can now duel w/ a light sabre, and I'm glad they kept Frank Oz as his voice.
? James Earl Jones' voice of Vader is still spine-chilling, even though he had only 3 or 4 lines.
? Sam Jackson died a noble death. He mentioned in an interview on The Comedy Network about three years ago, that he'd die in this episode, but forced his agent to write into his contract that it's be while doing something heroic--he said he didn't want to pass the character Mace Windu on by him slipping on a bar of soap in the shower...
? The theater had free parking.
Trivia: John Knoll is presently the Special Effects Director for Industrial Light & Magic. His much earlier claim to fame, is that he and his brother Tom wanted a viewing and manipulation system for graphics files on their Macs, which had not really been developed much back in 1986. So they wrote what they dubbed BarneyScan F/X and then unsuccessfully tried to market it to a now long-defunct scanner manufacturer.
Adobe Systems, which owned Illustrator (rumored to have been acquired by John Warnock for his wife, an artist), was tiny at the time, but leapt at the chance to distribute BarneyScan. Version 1 came out for the Mac in around 1987, and it wasn't until 1992 or so that Adobe felt the pressure from Aldus' Windows program, ImageStyler, that they released Photoshop 2.5 for the Mac and Windows (the point version was the bi-platform release, and the two versions weren't binary-compatible until release 3.0).
Today, Tom Knoll still write for Adobe from his house in Wisconson, and that's why Adobe established a field office in Wisc.!
Unfortunatly I have to agree with you about the movie. I went in about as giddy as a 10 year old boy expecting to see some pretty amazing things. Not just in effects, but story as well. I left feeling like the payoff just wasn't there. I felt that Anikan turned too quickly. Padme's role was incredibly uneventful and (if you're a OT geek) Leia never looked into her mother's eyes like she told Luke in Jedi. Padme died as soon as she was born.
I will say that the way Obi Wan took care of Anakin on Mustafar was in two word "Bad Ass". It was cool to see how they tied the end of Sith to the beginning of A New Hope though with the costumes, hair styles, and ship infrastructure. That was done nicely.
I was hoping that the story, dialog and acting would improve...I will go and see it but I've been putting it off a bit so as not to have to deal with the stampede.
I agree about the popcorn -- nothing like movie popcorn with "motoroil"...mmmmmmmm! [bustagut]
The best part might just be going into town to "The Egyptian" theater again (and getting away from the rain and mud up here in the woods = "Slimy mudhole? My home this is!")...it's an old one with art deco and Egyptian decor and statues, etc. If the flick stinks I can always admire the surroundings....
James Earl Jones voice might be worth it all......oooooooo B7
Jar Jar????? Well, maybe I'll wait a little longer.......
Long time no hear from me in this vault of Alla Din, filled with good ideas and enthusiasm.
To the off-topic: Meanwhile I saw it twice, and that's enough. Ian McDiarmid finally got a chance to show his talent as an actor, and he did. Apart from Jarjar, he's the best actor SW ever had. I really liked the movie because I never liked parts 4,5 and 6 that much. (I have no sentimentality whatsoever).
What was odd, and no-one seems to notice this, is that in pt6, ROTJ, scene 27 or28 on the DVD, Luke asks Leia whether she has known her REAL mother. She says yes, but only some images are left. Her mother was always sad.
See, this will not do.
Apart from that: I still love the story, even if it seems like I'm telling my own, not GL's.
In my opinion, Annakin Skywalker, the chosen one, brings balance to the force because of his all-encompassing humanity. He has known heaven and hell in his life. The Sith's peace and justice (I loved the way Palpatine pronounced those words. Really real...) is egocentric, but the Jedi are unworldly idealists who prudishly guard their perfection by not engaging emotionally in Life. And Life is the Force.
What GL made of it, I like less as he cannot write dialogs, the characters are wooden dummies.
But with brain set to zero and imagening I was rlookin at what you USsians call "a comic" movie, I loved the space ships and the action.
SW as a whole gives me the feeling of an adult in a childlike body. Much is in it, but it isn't visible. I loved Darth Maul, QuiGong-Jin, Mace Windu, QUEEN Amidala's clothes (and she was very pretty when still a child), Palpatine, Jarjar and BigBossNazz.
My puter still has some oneliners from pt1. On emptying the recycle bin, it says "wipe them out. All of them". And at startup: "You have been well trained, my young apprentice. They will be no match for you."
"Star Wars III", IMO... 
I was hoping that the story, dialog and acting would improve...I will go and see it but I've been putting it off a bit so as not to have to deal with the stampede. 
Linear Mode
