I was not at all surprised by the largely negative response displayed by “Star Wars” fans Oct. 30 upon hearing the news of filmmaker George Lucas’ selling of Lucasfilm to Walt Disney Co. Then came the announcement that “Star Wars” Episodes 7, 8 and 9 are coming, beginning in 2015.
I could almost set my watch by all the negative postings on the Internet. In fact, I did set my watch to see how long it would take a friend of mine from Chicago to email me his George Lucas-bashing tirade. I received his email within eight hours just as I predicted would happen.
I’ll have more to say on that in a moment. For now, all you haters of Jar Jar Binks, the lousy acting, the bland dialogue, intergalactic politics and emotionally empty digital effects spectacles that were, in viewers’ minds, the prequel trilogy need to be reminded of some of the major misfires of sequels past that almost immediately dashed in some cases future installments.
• "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (1979) and "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" (1989): The one thing that’s always been said about the Star Trek movies is that the even numbered ones are always better than the odd-numbered sequels, a notion direct J.J. Abrams may have put to rest with the success of the 11th Trek feature in 2009 that rebooted the franchise. That won’t erase, however, the two “Search for God” installments with the first Star Trek movie that almost wrecked the big screen franchise before it even started. I suppose if there is any consolation at least Star Trek V’s “Search for God” plot had humor watching Kirk (William Shatner) and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) sing Row, row, row your boat at a campfire while Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) attempted to comprehend the meaning of the words.
• "A View to a Kill" (1985) and "Quantum of Solace" (2008): James Bond has been around for 50 years, but that doesn’t mean all 22 films lived up to fans expectations. For the longest time I thought "Moonraker" (1979) was the worst but now I can say it’s "A View to a Kill" which I put on the list of bad movies I love to hate. One the subject of "Quantum of Solace", it seems the major problem fans had was its running time of 106 minutes making it the shortest of all Bond movies. Bond star Daniel Craig has a different take, however, on the whole debacle.
On ‘Quantum’, we were fucked,” Craig told Indiewire. “We had the bare bones of a script and then there was a writer’s strike and there was nothing we could do. We couldn’t employ a writer to finish it. I say to myself, ‘Never again’, but who knows? There was me trying to rewrite scenes – and a writer I am not.”
• "The Godfather Part III" (1990): No, it wasn’t the miscasting of Sofia Coppola as the daughter of Don Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) and the casting of George Hamilton as the crime family lawyer. I think everyone will agree the character we all missed most was Robert Duvall’s Tom Hagen.
• "Spider-Man 3" (2007): Too many villains (New Green Goblin, the Sandman, Venom) and too many subplots are among the reasons why Sony likely decided to let director Sam Raimi go and reboot the franchise with a new cast five years later telling essentially the same story as the 2002 movie.
• "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008): Russian agents, aliens, UFOs, nuclear testing, Shia LeBeouf and no Sean Connery. At least Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and Marion (Karen Allen) tied the knot.
Which brings me to the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit trilogies and The Dark Knight trilogy. For me, to sit through a three-hour plus sword and sorcery epic it can’t feel like I have sat there for over three hours. Director Peter Jackson’s fantasy epics, while they are likely the most faithful to author J.R.R. Tolkien’s books are endurance tests to see how long it takes before I need to stretch my legs.
I had no problem with "The Dark Knight" (2008) echoing "The War on Terror" in which Bruce Wayne/Batman (Christian Bale) was like President George W. Bush giving law enforcement agencies carte-blanche to go after terror suspects and Heath Ledger’s Joker as Osama bin Laden in clown make-up. I didn’t, however, need to be pummeled with echoes of such issues as the Occupy Wall Street movement, the war on the rich and terrorism with "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012). The Aurora, Colo. massacre didn’t help either.
What it comes to the mass hatred fans have for the prequels and how they think the Disney deal makes them utter the infamous Star Wars quote, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” I quote the words of Governor Tarkin (Peter Cushing) in "Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope" (1977).
“This bickering is pointless.”
If only I had the ability to invoke that invisible chokehold using “The Force” like Darth Vader did. Unlike Admiral Motti in that Death Star conference scene who was saved by Tarkin from succumbing to Vader’s wrath, there would be no one to keep me from using “The Force” on all those negative Nancy’s who despise the prequels and the upcoming Episodes 7-9 as I utter the words of the Sith Lord, “I find your lack of faith disturbing.”
©11/13/12
I could almost set my watch by all the negative postings on the Internet. In fact, I did set my watch to see how long it would take a friend of mine from Chicago to email me his George Lucas-bashing tirade. I received his email within eight hours just as I predicted would happen.
What amazes me is how fans are still infuriated with the prequel trilogy, saying how much Lucas destroyed their childhoods, giving us Jar Jar Binks. I got news for all the negative Nancys out there. There is no such thing as the perfect movie franchise, “Star Wars” included.I know, I know. Everyone from Middle-earth and devoted Christopher Nolan fans will tell me how wrong I am saying The Lord of the Rings and the upcoming Hobbit trilogy, and the Dark Knight trilogy are examples of the perfect movie franchises.
I’ll have more to say on that in a moment. For now, all you haters of Jar Jar Binks, the lousy acting, the bland dialogue, intergalactic politics and emotionally empty digital effects spectacles that were, in viewers’ minds, the prequel trilogy need to be reminded of some of the major misfires of sequels past that almost immediately dashed in some cases future installments.
• "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (1979) and "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" (1989): The one thing that’s always been said about the Star Trek movies is that the even numbered ones are always better than the odd-numbered sequels, a notion direct J.J. Abrams may have put to rest with the success of the 11th Trek feature in 2009 that rebooted the franchise. That won’t erase, however, the two “Search for God” installments with the first Star Trek movie that almost wrecked the big screen franchise before it even started. I suppose if there is any consolation at least Star Trek V’s “Search for God” plot had humor watching Kirk (William Shatner) and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) sing Row, row, row your boat at a campfire while Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) attempted to comprehend the meaning of the words.
• "A View to a Kill" (1985) and "Quantum of Solace" (2008): James Bond has been around for 50 years, but that doesn’t mean all 22 films lived up to fans expectations. For the longest time I thought "Moonraker" (1979) was the worst but now I can say it’s "A View to a Kill" which I put on the list of bad movies I love to hate. One the subject of "Quantum of Solace", it seems the major problem fans had was its running time of 106 minutes making it the shortest of all Bond movies. Bond star Daniel Craig has a different take, however, on the whole debacle.
On ‘Quantum’, we were fucked,” Craig told Indiewire. “We had the bare bones of a script and then there was a writer’s strike and there was nothing we could do. We couldn’t employ a writer to finish it. I say to myself, ‘Never again’, but who knows? There was me trying to rewrite scenes – and a writer I am not.”
• "The Godfather Part III" (1990): No, it wasn’t the miscasting of Sofia Coppola as the daughter of Don Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) and the casting of George Hamilton as the crime family lawyer. I think everyone will agree the character we all missed most was Robert Duvall’s Tom Hagen.
• "Spider-Man 3" (2007): Too many villains (New Green Goblin, the Sandman, Venom) and too many subplots are among the reasons why Sony likely decided to let director Sam Raimi go and reboot the franchise with a new cast five years later telling essentially the same story as the 2002 movie.
• "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008): Russian agents, aliens, UFOs, nuclear testing, Shia LeBeouf and no Sean Connery. At least Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and Marion (Karen Allen) tied the knot.
Which brings me to the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit trilogies and The Dark Knight trilogy. For me, to sit through a three-hour plus sword and sorcery epic it can’t feel like I have sat there for over three hours. Director Peter Jackson’s fantasy epics, while they are likely the most faithful to author J.R.R. Tolkien’s books are endurance tests to see how long it takes before I need to stretch my legs.
I had no problem with "The Dark Knight" (2008) echoing "The War on Terror" in which Bruce Wayne/Batman (Christian Bale) was like President George W. Bush giving law enforcement agencies carte-blanche to go after terror suspects and Heath Ledger’s Joker as Osama bin Laden in clown make-up. I didn’t, however, need to be pummeled with echoes of such issues as the Occupy Wall Street movement, the war on the rich and terrorism with "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012). The Aurora, Colo. massacre didn’t help either.
I will admit my reaction that a new Star Wars movie is coming is mixed. Since "Star Wars – Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" (2005) came out, I have said the movie/toy franchise needs to do what Star Trek did after "Star Trek: Enterprise" (2001-2005) went off the air and figure out a way to reinvent itself.Now with Disney taking over “The Empire” (Lucas will only serve as creative consultant; Kathleen Kennedy will produce), this might be the reinvention the franchise was needing.
What it comes to the mass hatred fans have for the prequels and how they think the Disney deal makes them utter the infamous Star Wars quote, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” I quote the words of Governor Tarkin (Peter Cushing) in "Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope" (1977).
“This bickering is pointless.”
If only I had the ability to invoke that invisible chokehold using “The Force” like Darth Vader did. Unlike Admiral Motti in that Death Star conference scene who was saved by Tarkin from succumbing to Vader’s wrath, there would be no one to keep me from using “The Force” on all those negative Nancy’s who despise the prequels and the upcoming Episodes 7-9 as I utter the words of the Sith Lord, “I find your lack of faith disturbing.”
©11/13/12
