BDA, I couldn't agree with you more.

I am so fucking tired of "competent" and "average" summer action movies with no vision, originality, or personality to them. The whole Comic Book movie explosion was honestly the worst thing that could've happened to blockbuster film-making. The 90s had its share of shitty action movies and die hard knock-offs, but at least every movie was self-contained and tried to 100% deliver on its premise (I'm thinking of stuff like The Rock, Con Air, Face/Off, Speed). Now everything is a goddamn origin story, or a setup for a more interesting story that "we'll totally get around to in the sequel guys".

If anybody except James Cameron had made Avatar, it would've ended before the big battle even took place, with a post-credits scene hinting at what was to come. I miss movies that just go all out and deliver on their premise, walking out of the theater feeling satisfied instead of thinking "well the sequel will probably be good".

My specific fear about the new Star Wars is that we'll get a situation similar to Tron Legacy. That's a dangerously close parallel, where it's taking a 40 year old franchise and trying to make a direct sequel to it while also re-introducing it as a big Disney franchise. That's a movie that is to me at least, totally boring, that doesn't at all deliver on the promise of it's premise, and seems to exist to setup a better sequel in the future instead of being a good adventure movie on its own. I really, really hope that doesn't happen here. The smartest thing they could do is to really tell a good self-contained Star Wars story, with a satisfying finale that ties up everything from THIS movie, instead of leaving us hanging.

Well, I don't necessarily agree with that either, at least for these first 3 (god that does feel weird even saying that). 

The originals aren't that sacred to me, only 2 of them are any good in my opinion, so if they can capture the spirit of the originals and blow our minds with 40 years of vfx innovation, that could be a big success.
I actually really like the idea of getting the original cast back, which it sounds like it will be the case.

Just imagine, whoever is the big bad in this one has been tearing shit up the whole movie, and Luke has to finally come in and face off with him. Tells Han and everyone to leave them, walks forward and pulls out that green sabre. Could be amazing if handled right. If handled wrong, could be Tron Legacy.

Last edited by bullet3 (2013-01-27 09:13:40)

Tentpoles will always be safe. If that bothers you, stop watching them.

I think Trey is right. Disney is working from a business model and they went with someone they are confident will produce a good product to sell.

I personally think that while American society isn't nearly as jaded as the 70's (Trey has spoken to that point in most of the SW commentaries) its getting pretty jaded. That is why something that is fun, perhaps with even a simple story, sounds like a good idea to me.

Personally, I am sick of dystopian worlds were death stalks every corner, Earth is shattered husk, and humanity lives on the ragged edge. Dystopia has its place as a story, but its getting pretty old.

So, why not do what George did originally, which was base it off of 40's sci-fi, a little political satire in there (Vietnam being an inspiration for the Rebels, small guy versus big guy)? Give me giant space ships that are incredible and characters who are real facing problems I can understand. I think the spirit of the originals is far more simple than people realize.

I honestly don't see asking much more.

I may be just spewing optimistic speculation here, and have no experience making movie for a company but here's a thought I had:

If Disney just wanted to make toy commercials, like Lucas did, then they would not have gone out and found, courted and hired a writer working on other science fiction films, and only loosely associated with Disney or a director who is very busy working on another huge science fiction franchise.

So, while there is room for the business model to be same old, same old, different day, Disney is clearly putting more in to this than than just a toy making machine. They obviously could have brought on any number of writers and directors they had in their back pocket-they didn't need to go out and find someone.

The other thing is, Star Wars is already toy fodder-Lucas did that, so if that happens, not only will I not be surprised, it will be no worse than were the franchise is now.

Regarding the story, Disney is known for taking classic stories and turning them in to something else, different and a little new.  So, more potential exists for them to say, well what if it is a princess (or prince) in distress, like the original, but now do something new.

Reading the "Making of Star Wars" you realize that Lucas' original ideas were a lot of themes revolving around a princess being captured and rescued. That's Disney's bread and butter.

1) Every movie is a crap shoot. The only thing you can do to shift the odds is to start with proven material and hire proven cast and crew. Disney is doing that.

2) Hollywood in general is desperately trying to give you people exactly what you want as fast as they can, as well as they can.

You liked the superhero stuff? Here—have a dozen more. You didn't like Hulk? We'll MAKE IT OVER AGAIN. You like cerebral sci fi like Philip K Dick? Here's Inception, Looper, Total Recall, Chronicle, In Time, Source Code, The Adjustment Bureau, and whatever the fuck Charlie Kaufman does.

You're nostalgic for the '80s? How about remakes of everything that was popular only with big budgets? Plus, we'll keep the old franchises alive with new entries. You like books? We'll do all the Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games... whatever sold over a million copies.

You want original stuff? WE GOT STUFF WE CAN'T EVEN EXPLAIN: Drive, Splice, The Fountain, Cloud Atlas, Cabin in the Woods, Abraham Lincoln as a vampire killer, joke trailers turned into action movies, military stroke jobs, martial arts movies with big budgets, cowboys and aliens together, remakes of successful European and Asian movies you didn't watch because you won't watch anything with subtitles.... YOU NAME IT.

ANYTHING and ANYBODY you like, we'll do more of that. And we'll hire directors who know what they're doing, and we'll give them big budgets and total control. You didn't like the Star Wars prequels? We'll pay billions for the franchise and give it to somebody who SEEMS to know what he's doing. WHAT MORE CAN YOU ASK FOR?!

I have my personal doubts about new Star Wars, but everybody seems to be trying make good movies these days, Battleship aside.

Last edited by Zarban (2013-01-29 01:07:01)

EDIT:

As was DRIVE.

He also lists "remakes" under the "original" category... :forshame:

I didn't know Drive was based on a book either....*hangs head*

By "original", the imaginary movie studio head just meant stuff that wasn't from traditional comic books, the '80s, or a hugely popular book series.

He didn't mean ORIGINAL original. That's contrary to the idea of starting with proven material, except where the writer himself is a proven commodity.

Last edited by Zarban (2013-01-29 01:08:25)