And in other news, California is running out of water. Yeah but let’s play the game shall we? Were they worried about their opening box office numbers or was the Star Wars team looking for maximum fluffer action? Either way, I don’t think anyone is going to complain about this (except for old grouches like me). I want to see the trailer but not The Avengers so I guess I’ll have to wait.
I grew up in the era of Star Wars. I was there and an active participant of how movies were about to change. The funny thing was, as a child of the 1970s I grew up under the umbrella of feminism so you had characters like Princess Leia in Star Wars who was the toughest character in the movie (until the later versions). Smart, capable, not just boner fodder. Then there was Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark, same thing. I did not know as a kid waiting in line to see Star Wars over ten times in the theater, committing every line to memory (I challenge anyone to a Star Wars quote-off. I will win because I am part of a rebel alliance and a traitor) that this whole system would eventually lead to the decline of women in film. I never thought it would go in that direction because back then women were actually thought of as people.
As a Star Wars fan (only what was the first Star Wars to me and the second, Empire Strikes Back) I will see the new one because that first movie really is part of my DNA. And here’s hoping filmmakers today who are cheap knock-offs of George Lucas will remember why those movies were great – it wasn’t about the visual effects.
I suspect JJ Abrams’ Star Wars will be like JJ Abrams’ Star Trek – satisfying enough to meet expectations, breezy, funny but not groundbreaking the way the original was. No one can really afford to be groundbreaking anymore as the fix is in – so that it will make shitloads of money worldwide.
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I’m just happy we’ll get to see a full trailer for Star Wars in 1 month. Bonus that after the trailer, we get to see Avengers: Age of Ultron. 🙂
“You are dissing a movie that’s being directed by one of Hollywood’s top directors, you know this, right? And I unequivocally put Joss Whedon near the top of that list.”
Your list sounds bad but I would love to see who else is ~unequivocally~ included.
– Watermelons
You are dissing a movie that’s being directed by one of Hollywood’s top directors, you know this, right? And I unequivocally put Joss Whedon near the top of that list.
The Avengers: the Age of Ultron and Star Wars VII, will be two of the best films of the year. Both in terms of box office, as critical. I believe the great films of heroes who have been released in recent years will finally have the respect they deserve.
…part of “the” rebel alliance…
I think Ultron will suck and JJ is safe and well rather bland filmmaker to me. you are dead on the money mama.
The Avengers is gonna be pretty bad.
I’m looking forward to it with reservations. I’m surprised to see so many excited while forgetting how disappointed they were with the prequels. Hopefully the people making this film do not live under a rock and are fully aware of the issues of the prequels regarding the writing, directing, acting…well pretty much everything. Exhaustive action sequences and over reliance on visual effects. Those last two issues Abrams can easily avoid and one of things I liked about his take on Star Trek well more so the first one(2nd was pretty weak), is his use of actual built sets with Kirk running about where as Lucas got so bored with the prequels sitting in his chair that even when a character would deliver important information like Anakin to an uncharacteristically boring Samuel L. Jackson, Jackson retorts that they must move quickly only for them to move at the speed of a turtle probably because there wasn’t much room left on the platform in the green screen room. Hopefully Abrams can find the right balance of visual effects and practical locations and built sets. Some interesting framing would be nice. Hopefully not too much lens flares. Mr. Plinkett got it right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENc7e8g9kFI
While I don’t think Abrams is the most inspired choice, he is certainly talented. He brought back the Mission Impossible to it’s roots as a team film. His first Star Trek effort came off respectful enough to most fans while playing to an even wider audience. It was basically Star Trek for Star Wars fans. I also enjoy most of the Goonies/Stand by Me stuff in Super 8. It’s when Abrams tries to homage the Close Encounters of the Third Kind/E.T. of Spielberg where he kind of falters. He tries to create a thematic connection between the alien and the kid and it doesn’t really work. I’m far more interested in whatever Rian Johnson will do with the 2nd, but I am definitely looking forward to this hoping that will feel like Star Wars, but also expand the universe and bring some new and interesting things to it and not just feel like a nostalgic trip. The original films still hold up even if the 3rd has some issues. But yea, Abrams is the very definition of a smart competent filmmaker. Not a great one, but a competent one. At least they got Lawrence Kasdan to lend a hand.
I’m not sure it makes much sense to claim that Star Wars wasn’t/isn’t “about the visual effects”. One of the major reasons Star Wars was/is so affecting and impressive is the inventive, innovative special effects: so convincing yet so effortless, so otherworldly yet so natural. Not really sure why you feel the need to distance a great film from one of its strongest assets. Sure, they’re practical effects (well, at least before the reissues), but that doesn’t make them a categorically different thing from CGI, really.
IMO, Empire Strikes Back was the only worthy chapter in this whole behemoth experiment.
Sure, Abrams approach will be fresh(er) and he’s snagged some interesting cast members, but will it be worth venturing yet again into that galaxy, accompanied by yet another John Williams march?
I’ll spend my milk money on a double trip with George Miller instead, I think.
Sasha, I think Abrams’ Star Wars will be just a bit better than you give it credit for but that’s a fair way to sum him up. To me he’s a very reliable filmmaker.