The Star Wars Thread

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

Not if Obi-Wan goes down as his most memorable role.

How does that follow? What people remember is the measuring stick of skill? I think his being remembered for Star Wars is something that bothered him a great deal, as he did not have a high opinion of it.

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

On the other hand, Natalie Portman got better AFTER her Star Wars films.

Heck, she was probably better before them, too. Lucas is not exactly known for skill in bringing out the best performances in actors. I seem to recall that Hayden Christensen had done some well regarded work prior to being cast in Episode II, but you never would have guessed it from his performances in Star Wars, IMHO.

[JohnnyV Pictionary Master Find all posts View Profile Close JohnnyV]

How does that follow? What people remember is the measuring stick of skill? I think his being remembered for Star Wars is something that bothered him a great deal, as he did not have a high opinion of it.

Sounds like he thought he was too good for it

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

Heck, she was probably better before them, too. Lucas is not exactly known for skill in bringing out the best performances in actors. I seem to recall that Hayden Christensen had done some well regarded work prior to being cast in Episode II, but you never would have guessed it from his performances in Star Wars, IMHO.

Absolutely. Before = The Profession and as a tween she's still great. During = Garden State. After = Black Swan. She's brilliant in all of them, which makes me feel like the love speech in #2 and "I can't follow" in #3 fails because Lucas lost whatever dialogue skills he had (and, imho, his co-writers were stronger there).

Sounds like he thought he was too good for it

Absolutely. I think he wrote it off as a paycheck that would be forgotten in history but a new generation knew him only from SW and it pissed him off big time. Reportedly some fan told him how many dozens of times he saw SW and he mocked him.

Anyway, in Kwai he's like guy #2 and the main antagonist for the last part.

[Lantern A-train Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Lantern A-train]

Heck, she was probably better before them, too. Lucas is not exactly known for skill in bringing out the best performances in actors. I seem to recall that Hayden Christensen had done some well regarded work prior to being cast in Episode II, but you never would have guessed it from his performances in Star Wars, IMHO.

I'd second this. I thought he was great in Life as a House and in Shattered Glass.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

As much as people like to shit on Phantom Menace, there are some great goddamn actors in it. Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Liam Neeson, Samual Jackson, Ian McDiarmid? Such an amazing cast and Lucas almost seemed determined to get as little out of them as possible. I don't hate on that movie, but it is a shame.

Daniel Day Lewis is fucking amazing. I wonder what they'd bring him in for if it ever happened?

[TheGoatLantern Beta-Lantern Find all posts View Profile Close TheGoatLantern]

Acting was not the problem with the prequels it was the script.

[Fearless Agent Orange Find all posts View Profile Close Fearless]

Acting was not the problem with the prequels it was the script.

Be that as it may, Hayden Christensen sure didn't help things. He may have had decent roles, but his turn as Anakin Skywalker was sub-par at best.

[JohnnyV Pictionary Master Find all posts View Profile Close JohnnyV]

Be that as it may, Hayden Christensen sure didn't help things. He may have had decent roles, but his turn as Anakin Skywalker was sub-par at best.

Very true, Attack of the Clones itself as a whole was completely sub-par. Hands down, the worst of all the Star Wars movies. I'm with Dave, in that I don't really hate on Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith. Phantom Menace, I thought, was a serviceable kids movie. Very little in the way of anything entertaining for adults, but if I had seen that movie as a 6 year old I would have been blown away. Revenge of the Sith was pretty good due to its connections to the original trilogy and second half.

Attack of the Clone was completely ruined by what I believe to be one of the worst romances in the history of movies. Padme and Anakin had such terrible chemistry and the way their romance unfolded, I felt like I was watching a shitty daytime soap opera unfold in space. It seemed to take up nearly half the movie, which then ruined the rest of the movie for me. Yoda flipping off air and getting in a lightsaber battle? Who gives a shit, I want everyone in this movie to die anyway.

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

Attack of the Clone was completely ruined by what I believe to be one of the worst romances in the history of movies. Padme and Anakin had such terrible chemistry and the way their romance unfolded, I felt like I was watching a shitty daytime soap opera unfold in space. It seemed to take up nearly half the movie, which then ruined the rest of the movie for me.

Yes, yes, yes. That WAS the worst movie romance I've ever seen. I've never seen Twilight, so maybe that's stupider, but I have a hard time seeing how. For most of the movie Anakin comes across as a creepy, obsessed stalker AND Padme seems to see this, too. At least she always seemed to me like she was kind of disturbed by his attentions, anytime he went beyond friendly banter. Yet at the end she suddenly, and for no discernable reason, is ready and willing to marry him. Guess she was turned on by the murder of a village full of Sand People?

[JohnnyV Pictionary Master Find all posts View Profile Close JohnnyV]

Yeah, exactly. While there were plenty of problems with Episodes I and III, nothing in those movies were so terrible that I couldn't enjoy other aspects of them. Episode II, however, was just too much of a punch in the gut.

I've seen the first two Twilight movies with Rifftrax, so I'm not the best judge of the series. I will say that while the movie itself is terrible, I thought the romance between Edward and Captain Rainy-day Face felt more believable and natural than the atrocious Padme-Anakin debacle.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

Yet at the end she suddenly, and for no discernable reason, is ready and willing to marry him. Guess she was turned on by the murder of a village full of Sand People?

Holy crap, I think you hit on a whole new sexual subtext of Padme and Anakin's relationship! I suddenly got a visual image of Saturday nights with Padme in the Nazi uniform and Anakin wearing the gimp outfit!

[JohnnyV Pictionary Master Find all posts View Profile Close JohnnyV]

Holy crap, I think you hit on a whole new sexual subtext of Padme and Anakin's relationship! I suddenly got a visual image of Saturday nights with Padme in the Nazi uniform and Anakin wearing the gimp outfit!

If ze bitch vill not pay attention, ze bitch vill get ze LIGHTSABER VHIP !!!

[Tazer That Evil, Yellow Bastiche Find all posts View Profile Close Tazer]

Yo.

Yes, yes, yes. That WAS the worst movie romance I've ever seen. I've never seen Twilight, so maybe that's stupider, but I have a hard time seeing how. For most of the movie Anakin comes across as a creepy, obsessed stalker AND Padme seems to see this, too. At least she always seemed to me like she was kind of disturbed by his attentions, anytime he went beyond friendly banter. Yet at the end she suddenly, and for no discernable reason, is ready and willing to marry him. Guess she was turned on by the murder of a village full of Sand People?

......and none of U ppl can see the paralells between Padme/Anakin & Leia/Han??

while I'll grant that they didnt play out the same on-screen (and yea, P&A's relationship much less so than the other 2), both romances consisted of a high powered & respected female authority figure towards a lower tiered man-of-action who doesnt regard *everything* she says as heaven-sent, and is quite open about THEIR feeling toward the women (and as for Padme, we saw her feel an attraction to Anakin when she'd seen how big he'd grown. yes, its there.)

and besides: anybody who complains about the romance in a scifi as being the WORST THING about the movie has gotten their priorities mixed quite a bit.




Tazer

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

No, don't see much of a parallel. I never felt like Han was a creepy stalker. And Leia didn't fall for him after he slaughtered a village.

(And no, I didn't see attraction from Padme when she saw how big he'd grown. More like surprise, followed by treating him more like a little brother.)