2. digital
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Attack of the Clones

I haven't been to a movie theatre in quite awhile. With 30K tied up in Home Theatre equipment what's the point? Crappy picture and terrible sound I think I'll pass.

But wait! What's this in the local paper? They've just opened up a new digital theatre just thirty minutes from my house and STAR WARS II is the feature presentation. Some buddy pinch me, this can't be happening.

What to do, what to do, ARE YOU KIDDING??? I love Star wars. This is actually a no brainier.

Fast forward three minutes later. I'm on the computer printing out two tickets for the next show (Smart move) Next drive to and arrive at said theatre 1 1/2 hours early (real smart move)

The lines were just starting to form for the Sunday mourning matinee. By the time the box opened an hour later the line was clear out of the parking lot.

The doors open with twenty minutes till Showtime. Everyone is jockeying for position, but I'm no rookie, I head straight for the center of the theatre at a rapidly accelerated pace. I position myself just slightly back of dead center and perfectly centered left to right. (YOU KNOW THE SWEET SPOT!) In my opinion I was now sitting in the best seat in the house (Phase two accomplished).

The lights dim and here come the digital trailers. THE MATRIX II, AUSTIN POWERS III and MEN IN BLACK II. That in itself was nearly worth the price of admission.

The next three hours were shear ecstasy. I was in total awe. A crystal clear digital video picture with fairly decent digital sound, what a concept. All I could think was " I got to get me one of these!!"

Finally a theatre I can enjoy a movie in. This will probably be the only theatre I ever go to until a few more digital screens pop up around my hometown.

I conclude by saying check out one of these theatres at any cost, it will be well worth the time and effort invested.

That's all for now and may the Shwarts be with you!!!
128x128glen

Showing 8 responses by ben_campbell

ben_campbell
1,169 posts
 
Sd-come on-it's a Star Wars movie-I thought it was great. Personally I think there isn't much between most of the movies-both Phantom amnd Jedi have annoying sequences but ....
Part of the problem is the high esteem the original movie is held,it's really a touch stone for several generations but it's not the greatest movie ever made.
I thought Clones was much better than most of the critics made out and these were the people who raved about Gladiator,Clones isn't trying to be any more than it is,it's escapism.................oh and yeah the sound is awesome,as are the effects.
ben_campbell
1,169 posts
 
Yes but I stand by my main point Sugarbrie-where is the great acting or scripts in any of the Star Wars movies?
The impact of the first movie couldn't be repeated but I would argue the newer ones are only viewed inferior because of crazy expectations and the frankly bonkers notion that some how the movies were classics outwith their field-they weren't....
ben_campbell
1,169 posts
 
Lockss,
Was the scene you mention any less corny and unbelievable than Vaders death scene in ROTJ?-- it suits the plot development as did Vader's sudden escape from the dark side,maybe the series should have ended with the Emperor tossing Luke down that galatic plug hole and left everybody on a downer but with a believeable ending.
And of course the events that change him into Vader are still to be discovered-see my later comment
Nothings changed in any of the Star Wars series except everybody who views them has got older and a strange notion that plot,dialogue,character development and believability(lol) are suddenly crucial in these movies.
Lucas has the burden of dragging these storylines to a conclusion everybody knows,he's beaten before he starts.
As a special effects and fun movie this is great entertainment.
Also Yoda rocked!
Who played him and where was his character development,you may well ask?
Damn you George Lucas,we've grown up and we want realism.....
ben_campbell
1,169 posts
 
Isn't Euan McGregor GOOD?
Come on guys get real,was Obi Wan Kenobi a developed character?
Were the Ewoks a toy franchaise?
Every single Star Wars movie has similar problems to varying degrees,you develop the storyline some slaughter it for being self-indulgent,try to keep the fun in and there is no development?
Make your minds up,I agree with some of the criticisms but you could easily dismiss the original as a hotch potch of Saturday morning serials,pseudo-religious fairy tales,Westens and WW2 dog fights....be serious,there is some character development-if you want to slaughter Lucas for carrying the series on then fine,christ this is the genre where Tom Hanks wins the oscar for turning up every year and Gladiator is seen as a great "serious" movie.
Star Wars 2 is fun,I think it was entertaining,the story and characters were as good imho as the previous movies and yes there was just as much padding-I wasn't expecting much more than I got.
ben_campbell
1,169 posts
 
Jb-depends what you want to see personaly you've confused me with your argument-you say the simplistic Western take for good and evil works for the first three movies( and you should note that the only dichotimy is within Anakin)-ok but now you seem to expect some big political complex plot for the new movies-er how come?
I thought Darth Maul was an excellent bad guy- Christopher Lee does okay but again you are competing with an iconic figure in Darth Vader.
And anyway isn't Vader meant to be the personification of evil?-you'd hardly expect anyone else to be as powerful and that is the whole tone of these new movies,it all leads up to Vader....
As regards Anakin's development there is a much more complex struggle going on here (and much more than you simplisticly state again depends what you want to see..) than any of the previous movies and again you contradict yourself-simplistic is good for the first 3 movies but not here.
Again the full story hasn't been told between Vader and Kenobi-again the known ending is getting in the way.
Finally I think part of the problem is indeed the fact that Star Wars was 25 years ago,it was a special but very simple movie-plot wise there's been nothing interesting in the movies since Vader was revealed as Luke's father.
Times have changed,Lucas was never going to live up to the expectation these movies were going to have,people seem to have gotten hyper-critical over these movies too forgetting that all the previous movies short comings.
The dialogue in these movies has always been duff as Ford himself said to Lucas "George you can write this s*&^ but you sure can't say it"........
ben_campbell
1,169 posts
 
Sugarbrie,
Really with all due respect what tosh,that's such a wild generalisation it's not true,the main difference is that Lucas has went for experienced British actors for specific older parts,to a large extent he's went for unknowns for the younger parts who are mainly American it's hardly fair to compare McGregor with the young guy who plays Anakin,who does a decent job but not much more I admit.
Logically actually this makes sense since McGregor has got to try to become Sir Alec Guiness,he needs a bit of weight there and obviously he's went mainly for lesser known actors for the younger parts so not to detract from the characters-also Anakin has only got to get the black suit on later,not become Jimmy Stewart.
As for your Harry Potter analogy that's off too since the author Ms Rowling (she's Scottish)only allowed the book to be filmed if they stayed true to the story which is set in England and for British actors to play the part,since she is one of the UK's richest women-she didn't need the cash from the movie-quite simply if the studio didn't agree the movie would never have been made.
She certainly didn't want her movie Americanised but that wasn't to do with the quality of American actors rather she wanted the movie to stay very close to the book,most authors even the extremely rich ones do not usually fight to keep their vision uncompromised.
I agree to some extent that historically(British actors had the stage tradition a lot of Americans didn't) that may have been the case but surely nowadays the acting coaching,experience etc. must be closer....
ben_campbell
1,169 posts
 
Sugarbrie I would be a fool to argue with Ebert so here goes... I think his comments have a validity but are wrong in that clearly the Britsh actors are much more experienced than their young American counterparts,he's simply not comparing like with like in relation to this movie........
JB-that's a good post,you have certainly highlighted area's that would have added weight to the storyline and if deftly handled perhaps wouldn't have made the movies too overblown or indulgent.
Lucas I would agree hasn't developed his film-making during the new movies , I suspect he thought about the type of stuff you mention but decided to go down the centre line,rightly or wrongly.
It's a game of opinions I was entertained during Clones and I would watch it again,as is clear from my numerious posts,a saga in itself,that my expectations were not that high possibly because I do not see the first 3 or 2 movies as classics just highly enjoyable fun movies and now I must go before the Dark Side forces me into any more posts on this subject.........................
ben_campbell
1,169 posts
 
Sugarbie..the Dark Side it will not let me stop....I think you are 110% right about SLJ's part but if you compare to to Christopher Lee's part which being a baddie gives him more to get his teeth into (pun intended Hammer fans)then I'm not so sure there is much between the performances both of which are excusible due to their lack of time on screen/development-my argument being that Laurence Olivier himself could have done nothing with the Windu part.......your other points are very valid but perhaps more emphasis should be put on the actual screenplay rather than the direction-this discussion has certainly made me want to watch the likes of Empire again to see if the acting/dialogue/direction is that much better...it's been a long long time since I've seen it
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