Star Wars [2]

I don't know, there was no Rotten Tomatoes back in 1999. It is a useful conglomeration tool, and  films don't just get 94% "positive" and 8.4/10 without being quality films (a certain other trilogy's grass lengths notwithstanding!)

Grass Length. light fuse. stand well back.

The Phantom Menace certainly wasn't seen by critics as the unmitigated disaster that many fans view it as, but it was also nowhere near the level of acclaim that TFA is currently enjoying (94% as of this post).  When ROTS came out a decade ago, Rotten Tomatoes put out a blog post ranking all six films based on the reviews they received during their original releases:

Tomatometer Ranking of Star Wars Series Based on Critical Reaction During Original Release Dates:
83% - Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
79% - Star Wars
65% - Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
62% - Star wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
52% - The Empire Strikes Back
31% - Return of the Jedi

Source (Internet Archive)

It is worth noting that the vast explosion of the enthusiast/geek "press" online probably had some affect on the scores for the prequels, as there were and still are plenty of fanboys who don't hate the prequels with a rabid passion. But I can't say offhand whether the fans or anti-fans had a greater impact, or if they cancelled each other out.

Loved it. I suspect that when I see it again without quite so much surrounding excitement that might be reduced to "really liked", but still, it's an impressive achievement.  The theatre was packed and since I got there "only" 45 minutes early I grabbed one of the last open seats in the back, elevated portion of my theatre.  A guy in a Jar Jar mask came up a couple moments later and immediately got harangued by half a dozen people. Don't wanna go into spoilers or anything but the film captured most of the elements that I think originally made Star Wars great.  A fun action-adventure ride, strong visual worldbuilding, glimpses of the broader galaxy, and memorable and likable protagonists.  The villains were ... well, Kylo Ren was shown in a slightly different tone than I was expecting (not having read much in the way of spoilers on him), but I thought it was done effectively.  Really good performances from Ridley, Boyega, Isaac, and Driver.  Harrison Ford stole the show though, and cemented his legacy, if there were any lingering (post-Indy 4, perhaps) questions there.  BB-8 is fucking adorable and I want one.  The film does feel sorta like a pastiche of the original film at several points but it's not dependent on prior knowledge so it works well on its own.  Hopefully the sequels will go in a more original direction but I can role with this one as a re-introduction to the universe.  My gut feeling right now is that it's easily the third best SW film, behind the original and Empire, which is basically what I was hoping for.  Definitely recommended.

Eldorion wrote:

Tomatometer Ranking of Star Wars Series Based on Critical Reaction During Original Release Dates:
83% - Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
79% - Star Wars
65% - Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
62% - Star wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
52% - The Empire Strikes Back
31% - Return of the Jedi

Source (Internet Archive)

Woah. Empire strikes back, often rated the best of all, came in next to last? I guess the problem was matching high expectations of the highest grossing movie ever made at the time.

I can't find the article at the moment, but I read a really interesting piece a while back (I wanna say it was from the guy behind The Secret History of Star Wars, but I could be wrong) about how a big reason a lot of reviewers loved the original film was because it was a pastiche of various cinematic and serial forms that wore its influences on its sleeves and didn't take itself too seriously.  The darker tone of Empire, the increased worldbuilding, and the greater character development were actually negatives to them because they had never taken the story itself seriously nor seen it as the main attraction.

Edit: actually, it was from Slate, and it doesn't talk about the reception of Empire, but there's a discussion of the reaction of reviewers at the end of the third page:

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/cover_story/2015/12/star_wars_is_a_pastiche_how_george_lucas_combined_flash_gordon_westerns.html

yeah, Star Wars was pretty lighthearted. Empire was a bit of a downer.

On another note - if you want to feel old, notice that nobody is standing in line at the theaters, even for opening night. No matter what they do, that old bit of Star Wars magic will never come back.

There are lines at some theaters, but I think the main reason for the lack of line-ups is that there are so many more theatres now then there were in the '70s. The original Star Wars was in a mere 43 theatres in its first weekend, and it peaked at less than 1100 American theatres that summer (though some of the re-releases saw larger numbers). By contrast, TFA is opening in more than 4100 theatres in the US. That's a nearly 4x increase, compared to a nearly 1.5x increase in population. And that's without taking into account the average number of screens within each of those theatres, which has also increased since the '70s.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=starwars4.htm
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/widest.htm?page=WIDEST&p=.htm

What do you mean by no lines at theaters?  
Are all the seats numbered in your guys' theaters? As far as I know there are still long lines outside my local theaters on big opening nights because whoever gets in first has the best seats, even with their pre-purchased tickets. This isn't true of all theaters, but the nearest one is still like that, and even at the numbered theaters they get lines.
 LotR had this terribly, but all the more popular films since then have had the same deal: Harry Potter, the Twilight Films, PotC, Avatar, etc.

Interesting point about the great increase of film theaters though Eldo. The golden age of theater may be past but apparently more people are attending theaters than ever?

My sister and her boyfriend are in Star Wars right now. I don't think I'll go until after this weekend though!

Glad to hear you liked it too, Eldo

My son is racking his brains out as he thought he heard C3PO say......"we must get you to your master,Luke Hamil " ?? ........in one of the scenes ?? He could be wrong & just hearing things ?? but, if it was a blooper ??

Ah, yes, Luke Hamil. Played by the talented actor Mark Skywalker.

Seeing it tonight in IMAX...hope I like it...

Forest Shepherd wrote:What do you mean by no lines at theaters?  
Are all the seats numbered in your guys' theaters? As far as I know there are still long lines outside my local theaters on big opening nights because whoever gets in first has the best seats, even with their pre-purchased tickets. This isn't true of all theaters, but the nearest one is still like that, and even at the numbered theaters they get lines.

I don't think I've ever been to a theatre with assigned seating. I probably would have showed up early even if we had that, just for the experience and all, but not by 45 minutes.

Interesting point about the great increase of film theaters though Eldo. The golden age of theater may be past but apparently more people are attending theaters than ever?

Well, despite there being a lot more theatres now, I believe attendance actually peaked during or right after WWII, since movies were the main form of escapism for people back then and they flocked to it much more frequently. So despite the lower population, that was the "golden age" in more ways than just nostalgia for classic movie stars. TV is generally blamed for the decline in the decades that followed. These days people talk about the proliferation of other entertainment options as well as the impact of home video, but I don't think anything has come close to the impact of TV in the '50s and '60s.

Hope you enjoy TFA when you get to see it!

Ringdrotten wrote:Glad to hear you liked it too, Eldo

Thanks Ringo! I was definitely encouraged by hearing your positive thoughts.

azriel wrote:My son is racking his brains out as he thought he heard C3PO say......"we must get you to your master,Luke Hamil " ?? ........in one of the scenes ?? He could be wrong & just hearing things ?? but, if it was a blooper ??

That doesn't ring a bell for me but I don't remember anything specific about such a way one way or another.

malickfan wrote:Seeing it tonight in IMAX...hope I like it...

I hope so too! I'm sure it'll look great on the even bigger screen. I ended up seeing it in 3D because I waited to get my tickets (wasn't sure if I'd be able to go to the Thursday night previews). I didn't feel it necessarily detracted anything from the movie, but it didn't really add anything either except in a couple shots where there was the poking-out illusion. But that certainly didn't make it feel more immersive ... exactly the opposite, actually.

Just so you two young'uns know what a real line is, during the original Star Wars the lines to get in would wrap completely around the theater.  I'm talking a 6 theater building in a parking lot, with people packed 2 deep all the way around.  You'd buy your ticket and start walking to find the end of the line.  You'd drive down the freeway and spot movie theaters without even needing a sign out front.



Note the movie theater in the distance. Also note the hint of the "closed" sign on the gasoline station. They had probably given up.

Eldorion wrote:

Ringdrotten wrote:Glad to hear you liked it too, Eldo

Thanks Ringo!  I was definitely encouraged by hearing your positive thoughts.

I'm not going to let all this positivity ruin my crabbit.

There's a 12:30 at my local. By then I'll probably have the strength to drag myself outside and go.

Eldorion wrote:
Well, despite there being a lot more theatres now, I believe attendance actually peaked during or right after WWII, since movies were the main form of escapism for people back then and they flocked to it much more frequently.  So despite the lower population, that was the "golden age" in more ways than just nostalgia for classic movie stars.  TV is generally blamed for the decline in the decades that followed.  These days people talk about the proliferation of other entertainment options as well as the impact of home video, but I don't think anything has come close to the impact of TV in the '50s and '60s.

The big difference I see is that back in the 70's there were only a limited number of 35mm prints of each film made, and those were shipped first to theaters in major markets to get the buzz started.  That meant for us out in the boonies that when Star Wars originally came out we had to choose between a 2 month wait to see it locally or a 150 mile drive to see it in Seattle.  

Two months later when the print finally did arrive locally, it was only scheduled to show for two weeks. Then it had to be shipped on to the next small town theater that was waiting impatiently.  There were only 2 showings each day, so if you wanted to see it on a Saturday, you only had 4 chances or you might miss the movie entirely. Also, movies were rarely re-released (and there was no such thing as the VHS/DVD) so you literally might never see the movie.  

Now with all the options, you never see that kind of panic. If you miss a film in the theaters you can either wait a few months for the DVD release or find yourself a torrent somewhere. So the theaters have adapted by saturating the market with more screens, more showings, and and no limit on "prints", knowing that they've got to grab most of their market in the first month.

halfwise wrote:
Note the movie theater in the distance.  Also note the hint of the "closed" sign on the gasoline station.  They had probably given up.

Also notice that the gas price is still written in cents, 60.9

Lit a fire under my ass and got to an 1130. Movie's about to start.

lets hope you have fallen off the crabbit waggon.

I predict as soon as he hears the fanfare with opening screen crawl he'll melt like butter.