American Graffiti

Donnie Darko would qualify (sort of). Set in 1988, made in 2001.

I think Lucas honestly DID try and do other things after Star Wars. They just were flops. Look at the films he produced: Labyrinth, Tucker, Radioland Murders, Willow. If they do better, we don't get the prequels (or, more likely, they are just produced by Lucas).

The sad thing is, I don't have a problem with any of those movies. I think they each have something unique and worthwhile to offer. My stance has always been that George Lucas suffers from what I like to call Stephen Sommers Syndrome: The more money you give the guy, the worse the film ends up being. Convoluted, bloated, wall-to-wall CGI, misguided and self-indulgent.

Robert Rodriguez also suffers from this but in a different way. He likes to be cost effective but he's more like a contractor who's set out to build a house: "I'll just get rid of my expensive and time-consuming crew and just do everything myself! That way, I can put big, stone gargoyles EVERYWHERE and no one will be there to even suggest that's not a good idea! Screw film as a collaborative medium! It's all about MEEEE!!!"

So, yeah, the film may be under budget and even turned in early but the "fast, cheap and out of control" aspects are now negative markers that hurt the results of the finished product. Think of a kid in an arts and crafts class:
"I'm done!"
"Uh, you still have an hour left on time. I gave the class that amount of time for a reason."
"Yeah but I finished way early. See?"
"Hmmm. What is this? The assignment was to make a pirate ship. You failed to use all of the materials I gave you, you left out the crow's nest and are those rocket boosters on the bottom?"
"Yeah, isn't it awesome?"
"No, it's a pirate ship, I-- Okay, whatever. Points for imagination, I guess. What about the other kids in your group? Where are they in all this?
"Oh, I told them to go play."
"You--"
"Yeah, they were only slowing me down. What do I need them for when I can just do it all by myself?"
"IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A TEAM BUILDING EXERCISE!"

There are also filmmakers who make better producers and idea men, rather than Directors: McG, for example. His work in television (The OC, Chuck, Supernatural) is far more nuanced, interesting and creative than any of the films he's made. I think part of that is because he's forced to work within the boundaries of weekly, network television, so his decisions are more restrained while also more carefully considered. Working in a more long-form narrative is also helpful for people like him, since he's not trying to cram everything in the space of a feature film.

I think Sam Raimi had the right idea when he made Drag Me To Hell. Go back to your small-scale roots, to remind you why you started making movies in the first place. Look at Robert Zemeckis. He got away from the motion-capture cartoons he kept trying to force feed us and got back to his character-driven, human dramas with Flight.

They say the best way to critique a film is to make another one. The problem is, George Lucas just kept making more Star Wars or messing with the Star Wars that was already there. Not only was that not the work he'd started with, it was pre-existing material that could only allow him to go so far, creatively. What he needs to do is go back to the smaller, more micro-cosmic stories that challenged him as a creative storyteller, like American Graffiti.

However, the man is a billionaire at this point and therefore, doesn't actually need to do a damn thing for the rest of his life. Clearly, he wants for nothing. What stories does a guy like that have passion for, anymore?

Land Before Time was '88, and the franchise played out through the 90s and into the 00s I think. The first one was very dark, slow, and honestly quite depressing. It had an outstanding score, which carried the movie. After that they became simple children's sing-alongs. Kid's like me loved them but I don't know how much money they raked in compared to a serious theatrical franchise.

In case anybody cares, that little blue blue car that Dreyfus had was French, 1967 Citroën 2CV AZA...