Stop me before I pay Lucas $8!
quote:
Originally posted by Squishy:
To expect an Oscar winning performance is what I deem laughable, and if you do think that to be the case then I feel I’m correct in my previous assumption.
If neither the actors or the director care enough about the project to do their absolute best, or at least to *hire* the best people for the job, then why should I care? Why should I have to ignore what I see as deficiencies in the film? When I go out and spend a significant amount of cash on seeing a movie, I at least expect a decent attempt from everyone involved, and if not, I’m disappointed. I don’t know Hayden Christensen’s previous work, so I didn’t know what to expect. I know both Natalie Portman and George Lucas, however, are capable of *much* better work. No, I’m not expecting Oscar-caliber work. I’m expecting actors that can *do their jobs*, though, and I don’t think that this is asking too much.
quote[quote]I’m sorry Aleck, but you are overly critical, if proof were needed then you only have to look on this board, I honestly cannot remember a time where you have either backed down from an argument or agreed with anyone.[/quote]
Okay, this is total bullsh!t. Complete and total. I have never once, *ONCE*, said anything personal against you in the course of this little debate, Squish. I have merely been stating my opinion about a movie, an opinion that you keep attacking as “laughable” and “overly critical.” I even conceded that I was perhaps being too harsh in my original post. It was *you*, Squish, who kept this whole debate going. *YOU* were the one who had to keep chiming in with things like “So Star Wars is now an art film?” and the like. *YOU* were the one who began arguing every point I made. *YOU* were the one who started making personal comments. I’ve never backed down from an argument? Read up the board, Squish, where I conceded that I was being too harsh. I’ve never agreed with anyone? Ask the number of people I’ve agreed with on things. I’m not going to sit back and say “oh, yeah, you’re right” when I don’t think that they are or when I’ve got a differing opinon. I’m not some spineless jellyfish who’s going to acquiesce to any opinion offered simply to avoid debate. If that means I’m “overly critical,” though I’d be hard-pressed to find a definition of that term that matches up with what you said, then fine. At least I’m using critical thinking instead of just taking whatever slop is placed before me.
I can argue with you until I’m blue in the face, but there’s not much point, we’ll just end up going round in circles.
Thankfully, most people will ignore your comments and make their own minds up.quote[quote]Spiderman has won it’s success on the back of X-Men, and the same will be true of the Hulk.[/quote]
That’s not what I’m talking about. You continue to miss the point. I’m not talking about financial success, I’m talking about the fact that [i]Spider-Man[/i] has been continually praised for, overall, better acting, dialogue and direction than [i]Attack of the Clones[/i]. I never once mentioned financial success, I’m talking about critical success. The critical success of a film that is pure entertainment and not an “art” film, which counters your argument that critics, in general, scoff at anything not arty.
And your continual bringing up of “the public loved it” excuse is meaningless. If that meant anything, then you oughta be jumping with joy over the fact that someone from Bros is in [i]Blade II[/i], since they were so huge. If it meant anything, you oughta be praising to the high heavens the blazing musical talent that is Robbie Williams or N*SYNC or Britney Spears or Kylie Minogue because, well, they’re just so damned popular.
quote[quote]But critics are still the same as the rest of us, they like something that is new, and Spidey’s effects are amazing, but if you took away all the CGI and the sound effects, you are back to reading the comic book, a comic book that started Spidey off, that made him popular, hard to go wrong with that isn’t it, especially when you have Avi Arad and Stan Lee making sure the character remains faithful to his comic book heritage.[/quote]
If you took away all of the CGI and sound effects, you’d be left with some decent writing and acting. If you took away all of the CGI from [i]Attack of the Clones[/i], you’d be left with precious little. It’s a shame that Lucas hasn’t been as active as Stan Lee in making sure that the [i]Star Wars[/i] franchise lives up to the legacy of the first couple of films, and he’s the one *directing and writing* the things.
quote:
But nowadays the actual quality of acting is not as important as the CGI, even the plot can get away with it to a certain degree, but neither are bad enough to overide your enjoyment of a film, and the same is true of SW2.
Squishy
And that sums up what is so freakin’ distressing about this whole argument. As long as tons of cash has been spent to make sure that the CGI looks good, and that things blow up nice and make lots of noise, then the acting and writing can be tossed. Screw quality, just gimme bright colors and loud noises!!!
–Aleck