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George Lucas

baileym43

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i'm a fan of A.I. as well.
Lucas had two different things in mind with each trilogy too. he made the OT for himself. he made the PT for his kids.
but what my friends and i always wondered is what will happen when Lucas passes away ?
will his children be in charge of the intellectual property ? or his lawyers ? or some other governing body ?
and what will they do with it ?
will they open the flood gates to allow for filming of new ideas or will they keep it safely locked away to protect his legacy ?
the sWars books is our main source of pondering. because while there are some really cool novels out there based on and around the sWars universe, there are also some real stinkers.
so while the books, comics, Clone Wars and video games have continued with tales of Star Wars, we haven't gotten any films exploring more sides to the galaxy. except the ewoks movie. 'nuff said about that.
so after he passes, while the books/comics/games will likely go unchanged, will we get more films and more tv series ?
 

Kal-El

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Personally, I hope they quite simply take it to the next level. He should allow for that. Set simple guidelines everyone can follow, so everything stays connected, but allow the saga to grow.
 

nOmArch

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I loved Space Cowboys. Definitely one of his weaker movie's but still a lot of fun.
 

TomH1138

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If we're going to pick Eastwood's worst movie(s), how about the ones where he's a cop with a monkey for a partner? ;-)
 

Rogue-theX

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TomH1138 said:
If we're going to pick Eastwood's worst movie(s), how about the ones where he's a cop with a monkey for a partner? ;-)

You sat on the monkey shit didn`t you? :p
 

L8wrtr

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TomH1138 said:
If we're going to pick Eastwood's worst movie(s), how about the ones where he's a cop with a monkey for a partner? ;-)

I selected from the pool of movies in which he directed. :p
 

Dwight Fry

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While I can, despite not being one of them, relate and sympathize with those who grew up with the whole Star Wars thing being a strong emotional point of their lives, feeling pain and sorrow because of what and how the saga and its creator has become, I just can't get the attempts to paint him as a misunderstood anti-hero or tragic hero who just got out of touch with reality and must be forgiven all his sins. No, he's just as bad as the authority he says he opposes to, but in reality only opposes to when said authority is something or someone other than himself. He doesn't hate authority, he hates competition.

And when he tweaks the movies, he's forgetting at least three important points: one, that film is not individual art. He's just playing around with and thrashing the work of all his co-workers, be it special effects technicians, actors (hello, Mr. Shaw!), and even two directors other than himself. It's not an artist changing his own art. It's a member of a team, the member that happens to have the power, disrespecting the rest of the team.

Two, that by inserting today's technology into yesterday's films (which is the worst of Lucas' sins IMO) he is erasing history, particularly when the original Star Wars movies were a big part of FX development in cinema. He just erased that milestone replacing it with ugly CGI that looked bad in 1997 and look hideous in 2012. But even if it looked awesome, it would still be wrong. It would still be erasing history. Artistically, it's the equivalent of inserting cell phones in a Humphrey Bogart movie.

And three, that he's not Uncle Georgie giving Christmas presents to some bratty nephews that only complain and complain about them. No, these are not gifts at all, the fans are required to PAY for the stuff (over and over again, it seems), the fans made him the insensitive rich asshole he's today by burying him in money so he should be a bit more respectful with the millions of people that pay for his mansion, his fast cars and the caviar on his table, rather than dismissing them with a "grow up, people, these are MY movies". No, George, they aren't. Put them in the public domain, never again charge a dime for anything Star Wars, and we'll shut the heck up. Complaining about presents is rude. But meanwhile, we'll keep calling you out as the old spoiled brat you are.

This said, he's allowed bad movies as much as the next filmmaker is. It's getting it right and then retconning it to shit what annoys me.
 

nOmArch

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TomH1138 said:
If we're going to pick Eastwood's worst movie(s), how about the ones where he's a cop with a monkey for a partner? ;-)

Apart from he didn't play a cop, the monkey was an Orang-Utan and it was quite a good movie.

Although the sequels were a case of diminishing returns.
 

TomH1138

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nOmArch said:
Apart from he didn't play a cop, the monkey was an Orang-Utan and it was quite a good movie.

I'll take your word for it. I didn't see any of them. :)

My stance on Lucas is somewhere between L8's and Dwight's. On the one hand, Lucas doesn't wake up in the morning and think about how many different ways he can ruin people's memories of their childhoods. On the other hand, he hasn't just made one bad film in between making good ones; he hasn't made a good film in over 20 years. Considering that he had a near-flawless record for over 15 years, I can understand why people ask, "What happened to George Lucas?"

And what happened is a complicated number of things that can't be answered simply. I think we've all hit on different aspects of it very well in our various posts.

Dwight, I agree about the Special Edition crap. I could understand doing it the first time in 1997. I was curious about the changes, as was everybody else. But when the changes got a uniformly negative reaction, I would think he would stop. But, no, he made more changes in 2004. People hated those even more than they hated the first set. So you'd think now he would give up. But, no, he adds "Nooooooooo!" to RotJ. The lamest thing in the prequels has now forever defaced the OT as well. That's the only time when I thought that George must be giving a deliberate middle finger to everyone who loves his movies. (Probably not, but that's what it felt like.)

And Lucas has put it in his will that no one, not even his children, can change the films once he passes away. That's arrogance of an almost astonishing level.

See, if Lucas wanted to mess around with Willow and with Radioland Murders and with More American Graffiti, no one would argue with him about it. But the untampered OT is, in the minds of many moviegoers, as close to perfection as cinema ever gets. It's probably the only series of films ever that most people would say didn't need to be tampered with at all. And he can't stop tampering with them. And he won't just release both versions so that people can make up their own minds, as Spielberg did with E.T.

Again, George Lucas is not a moustache-twirling villain. He didn't "rape" our childhoods because he didn't start fiddling with things until after our childhoods were over. But neither is he the "misunderstood genius" that his drooling syncophants love to claim that he is. He's just a human being capable of mistakes, like anybody else. And the point of his own movies, which he himself seems to have missed, is that any human being given absolute power, even an exceptionally gifted person, is going to make a mess of things.
 

theslime

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Bringing out the Dead and Melinda & Melinda are both fine. Flawed, sure, but nowhere near awful.
 

Neglify

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L8wrtr said:
EVERY director lays an egg, most lay several. blah blah blah

Woody Allen: Melinda and Melinda
Martin Scorsese: Bringing out the Dead

You and I need to have a discussion sir.
 

Dwight Fry

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As the Master would say:

TommyFootball.jpg.jpeg


"Hai Jack!"

This thread is now about bad movies by good directors.
 

WyndorfDave

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Anything by James Cameron that doesn't have an Alien or a Terminator. :|
 
S

steFANedit

TomH1138 said:
Dwight, I agree about the Special Edition crap. I could understand doing it the first time in 1997. I was curious about the changes, as was everybody else. But when the changes got a uniformly negative reaction, I would think he would stop. But, no, he made more changes in 2004. People hated those even more than they hated the first set. So you'd think now he would give up. But, no, he adds "Nooooooooo!" to RotJ. The lamest thing in the prequels has now forever defaced the OT as well.

And Lucas has put it in his will that no one, not even his children, can change the films once he passes away. That's arrogance of an almost astonishing level.

Truth is I don't care anymore. I never bought the blu-ray and I never will. Some fan somewhere will someday scan his/hers private film stock and release a high definition version of the original Star Wars. It will be a bootleg online and George will loose a lot of potential money. In the end we will win.
 

Garp

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Lucas is messing around with the Star Wars saga for a very simple reason: because he can. I think he's in love with the technological advantages he has to play with today. He's like a kid who's just discovered all the fun transitions in Windows Movie Maker - and has to add every one to their 5 minute YouTube video. I think he's extraordinarily proud of what he's been able to achieve with these old movies, and wants everyone else to be wowed by them too. In terms of plot and pacing, there is no need whatsoever to have Han meet Jabba in Episode IV; he's just showing off his fun little bag of tricks. I'm sure he can't understand what's happened: he's made them look and sound better, plus he's given us more! Why aren't we satisfied? By not releasing the films properly in their original condition, he's shown that he doesn't understand nostalgia - which is odd for a man who's film harken to 30s and 40s serials so much. But I think that steFANedit is right - business will be the deciding factor in the long run. There are only so many ways he can repackage the films and make a return (3D blu ray releases, for example). High definition, anamorphic versions of Episodes IV - VI are an obvious cash cow. Hell, maybe we'll even see The Holiday Special at last too!
 

Gaith

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steFANedit said:
Some fan somewhere will someday scan his/hers private film stock and release a high definition version of the original Star Wars. It will be a bootleg online and George will loose a lot of potential money. In the end we will win.
Ain't heard of Harmy's DeSpecialized fan editions? It's pretty much exactly that.
 

TMBTM

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Gaith said:
Ain't heard of Harmy's DeSpecialized fan editions? It's pretty much exactly that.

Just to be precise: Harmy's versions are not a HD "scan of private film stock". It's a mix between special edition HDTV, DVD and the 2006 letterboxed GOUT . A quite good mix, but it's not 100% HD nor is 100% exactly the same cut as the original movies, as far as I know. But yeah it is indeed the closest thing to an original cut in HD available.
 
S

steFANedit

Gaith said:
Ain't heard of Harmy's DeSpecialized fan editions?

Of course I have. And I have them ;-) ...the dvd version. If I'm not mistaken he also released a 720p version (haven't upgraded to blu-ray yet so...)

Harmy's DeSpecialized edits are the only version I watch (I remember being absolutely :rofl:about the 2004 dvd coming out and I pre-ordered, before I had only watch Star Wars on VHS, and the 2004 version made my "fire" for Star Wars go out so I'm glad Harmy did what he did.) It's like the Director's cut of Aliens or Donnie Darko. Being a big fan of both movies I really wanted more only to realize that what I already had was waaaaayyyy better. But there it was just to go back, "hmm, new changes sucks guess I won't watch this again." *pops in theatrical cut* "aaaaahhhh" :cool:
 
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