Me and my friend were contemplating waiting for the DVD in order to avoid all the crazy folks like you guys.

during the opening (where it shows "STAR WARS" in bold) there was nearly a standing ovation.  I shit you not.

That's pretty common, actually.

 

I remember it happening in fuckin' AUSTRALIA when I went to see The Phantom Menace.

 

LA Times review

Not going to the midnight showing like I did for Episode I and Episode II, but my uncle is taking the day off of work and I'm ditching school to see the 9:40 showing.  I'm so excited.

 

That is exactly what I am doing. Call up the sub, give the kids a worksheet and succumb to the Dark Side. My friend is pulling my Godson out of school so we can go see it early Thursday. If possible, we may watch it twice.

I rewatched Episode I to get caught up for this weekend, and it just re-enforced my belief that the prequels are actually pretty decent.

 

I didn't even think Jar Jar was *that* bad, if they had just cut down his screen time a little bit, people would have probably accepted him as comic relief and moved on.

I caught pieces of Ep I on television this past weekend. I'm still not in love with it. Jar Jar is every bit as annoying as people say he is and Jake Lloyd was horrible as young Anakin but that ended up being a blessing in disguise simply because it's easy to believe he grew up to be the equally as horrible Hayden Christiansen. It really is just a kid's Star Wars movie with Darth Vader's childhood as a convenient backdrop.

 

The only part I ended up liking were the doors that separated Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi from fighting Darth Maul together. Obi-Wan having to stand there and watch as his master fought alone was sad. Watching Maul pace back and forth eyeing Obi-Wan after slaying Qui-Gon was INTENSE. Obi-Wan keeps up his perfect batting average by not being better or stronger than his opponent, just craftier.

The only part I ended up liking were the doors that separated Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi from fighting Darth Maul together. Obi-Wan having to stand there and watch as his master fought alone was sad. Watching Maul pace back and forth eyeing Obi-Wan after slaying Qui-Gon was INTENSE.

That has EASILY been my favorite moment of the prequels up to this point. Fuck what you saw in Episode II (Yoda & Maul fighting, etc.) that intense scene is just so great. I have the whole fight sequence on my PC without all the interruptions and it's awesome -- I still think that Darth Maul was one of the best characters that Lucas got a chance to "establish" in these movies as well. Maul is so badass yet he's so mysterious as well. I mean just his entrance INTO that scene was like, "Daaaamn." And then Qui-Gon was so cool with, "We'll handle this." The scene is the shit -- fuck those who call it a "spotfest" type of fight. Anything that even comes close to the awesomeness of that entire fight scene would be Anakin lashing out on Dooku in Episode II dueling with TWO lightsabers and Anakin's flirt with the Dark Side after the death of his mother.

I'd just like to point out that, after re-watching TPM, I liked it a lot better then before.

 

Sure, it has it's flaws, but the movie as a whole seems to make a lot more sense when you already understand Palpatine's whole plan.

That brings up one flaw with the prequels. When Episode I came out, everyone (well I was at least) was all "WTF?" about Palpatine and his dirty dealings. Now that you know more of the story, it makes watching the movie easier because you understand what the hell's going on.

Exactly. At first, I had no idea why I should care about the Trade Federation.

 

But when I learned that they were being used by Palpatine to start a war, so that he could grant himself emergency powers and all that...well, it suddenly GETS interesting.

I enjoyed Phantom Menace when it first came out. the impact has lessened, and yes, Jar Jar is annoying, yes the kid was a horrible actor, but fuck it... I thought it actually kept the spirit of the previous trilogy, at the very least Return of the Jedi with the kiddie characters and worse than usual dialogue. Hell, I enjoyed Clones also. I felt it dragged in spots but I was ok with it. I try and separate my viewing pleasure of those films from my childhood memories because I would go crazy if I didn't. With Sith... I don't know how I will react. I just know I'll be playing hooky just like Flyboy.

Ha, you're taking the day off too, gh? That's so awesome.

Add the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to the list of *** 1/2 reviews.

Ha, you're taking the day off too, gh?  That's so awesome.

I've been driving the kids nuts for the past two weeks, quoting Star Wars...

 

My favorite...

 

*in best possible Yoda impersonation*

 

"That is why you failed"

I can imagine the possiblities for Yoda lines in a classroom must be limitless...

 

 

I can picture GH sitting on a log, lifting the desks with his mind: "Do... or do not. There is no try"

"Do... or do not. There is no try"

Use it all the time.

 

I even have the "Everything I need to Know I learned from Yoda poster in the classroom.

My friend came through with tickets, so I'll be taking this one in at the initial showing. I have no doubts about the movie, but in our group of five, my friend and I are the only ones that I'd say are even moderate SW fans, so hopefully that doesn't get in the way of anything.

I never hated Phantom Menace, but parts of it is incredibly boring. Would've been better if they spent less time on Anakin's homelife, including the entire race being left out.

 

I always liked Clones. It's a good movie, other than the terrible dialoge (stares at Lucas).

I love the folks that think bad dialogue in Star Wars movies is a new concept.

 

 

I think most of Han Solo's lines are ten times as awful as anything in the prequels, they just had the benefit of having Harrison Ford say them.

You know, in the theatres, I didn't mind the pod race at all. The problem came on the DVD when he extended it by 30 minutes.

Just got back from the midnight showing. I'll elaborate on everything later, but for now, a few observations.

 

1) The line - Holy shit. Maybe I should've expected it, since I hadn't ever gone to one of the midnight showings, but the line wrapped around the parking lot all the way to the entrance near the Best Buy across the street.

2) The people who show up with lightsabers and/or in costume make me laugh and reassure me that no matter what I do, I can't possibly be that big a geek.

3) The crowd in the theater was a mix bag. Heavy applause for the opening credits, respect throughout, but laughter at the wrong times (like the scene with Anakin, Windu, and Palpatine.

4) The movie itself lived up to its hype. The most satisfying of the new ones and it brought a nice sense of closure while creating a bridge to the classic trilogy. Could've been trimmed up a bit, but then again, all of the SW movies could've been, too.

I actually thought it went by too quickly. I didn't really necessarily like the lack of character development that Grievous got, but other than that I was thoroughly pleased with this movie, and the plot twist was awesome too.

I never hated Phantom Menace, but parts of it is incredibly boring. Would've been better if they spent less time on Anakin's homelife, including the entire race being left out.

 

I always liked Clones. It's a good movie, other than the terrible dialoge (stares at Lucas).

I agree about the pod racing -- I hate, hate, HATE that sequence of events in Episode I in a distinct passion... everything about it was just so long and boring... I nearly fell asleep in the theaters as I watched it for the second time.

 

I like Clones as well -- hell, I even watched it again last night to prep for today and the dialogue still doesn't "offend" me like it does to everyone else.

 

And, with that I'm prepping to go see Episode III this morning.

May the force be with you, Flyboy... always.

 

As for General Grievious, it is possible they left out his character development since he was featured in the Clone Wars cartoon which was supposed to serve as a bridge between Attack and Revenge.

I actually thought it went by too quickly.  I didn't really necessarily like the lack of character development that Grievous got, but other than that I was thoroughly pleased with this movie, and the plot twist was awesome too.

I think some parts went by too quickly. The scene where Obi-Wan discovers which Jedi killed all of the people was brief, considering what a big turning point it was supposed to be.

 

Watching Ep. III, it's clear that the previous two movies weren't necessary. I think most of us figured that much, but if this one did a fine job of setting everything up for the classic trilogy. The acting still sucks, but Palpatine is excellent despite everyone else's trite dialogue.

 

I could've done without the detailed action scenes, but I'm aware that scenes like that are a staple of the movies. As I said earlier, Ep. III does a great job of bridging the gap between the trilogies and I don't think it could've been done better. Considering how down of a climax is featured here, the viewer can remain optimistic because they already know how things turn out.

 

The one sequence that really stood out to me was the Order 66 portion. Seeing all of those Jedi perish in such a manner was more emotional to me than the part CJ mentioned earlier. Man, I'm getting the urge to go check it out again.

I found this quote interesting, in light of the repeated complaints about the prequels:

 

 

"It's a pretty staggering film as spectacle, and technically brillant. Exciting, very noisy and warm hearted. The battle scenes at the end go on for 5 minutes too long, I feel, and some of the dialogue is excruciating and much of it is lost in noise, but it remains a vivid experience"

 

 

Sound familiar? This could have been pretty much any critic's review of any of the prequels, but it's Alec Guiness's remarks upon seeing the finished print of the original Star Wars.

 

Just saying, no one's come up with any different criticism 28 years later.