@LN78 I thought her scenes with Anakin were sweet. While she doesn’t have that much to do from a traditional Star Wars point of view, she functioned better as a handmaiden who knew a bit more than she let on than I ever really bought her in the queen/senator role. Perhaps I was just comparing her to the performances of Anakin and Jar-Jar and her clear actual acting ability stood out.
@KidBoruto It'll be interesting to see what gets put where. I was adamant that The Bad Batch would arrive alongside Andor, remember? Personally, I can't see Disney wanting to drown out The Mandalorian, given its importance and legacy audience. It's the show most people will re-sub for.
Well, whenever it all arrives, I just know that it won't be soon enough! I need it all, right now!!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
During my sabbatical, I watched almost all of season 7 of the Clone Wars and also rewatched The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones in their lovely 4K versions. The Clone Wars’ final season is a noticeable uptick in quality due to the years that passed and them having a specific plan to finish off the story.
I really liked The Bad Batch from their introduction too so I’m definitely going to check out that show.
The Phantom Menace is a movie I have very mixed feelings about. Even as a kid I knew it was crap mixed with nuggets of gold and I would probably say that having watched the incredibly bland sequel movies, the prequels resonate with me more. I’d probably now describe it as unrefined gold mixed with nuggets of crap.
Qui-Gon is even better than I remember and I forgot how much it was his movie rather than Obi-Wan’s.
Natalie Portman does a great job as well. Unfortunately, Anakin is just rubbish. And there’s Jar-Jar to which I just have nothing else to add that hasn’t already been said.
The soundtrack, subtle hints towards Vader and Darth Maul make up for those two though. A messy movie but one that I’d happily watch again over the sequels.
Attack of the Clones is an odd movie about nothing.
It looks bloody good in 4K though! Kamino especially is glorious and I do appreciate the diversity of planets which is similar to how The Empire Strikes Back increased the scope of the universe.
I forgot how little the Clones were in it though, literally about five minutes.
The Anakin and Padmé stuff is less romantic and more a bit creepy too.
Plus it really is about nothing. Stuff just happens without a clear direction. Definitely glad The Clone Wars fills in the gaps!
At least the arena scene is brilliant.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@nessisonett Glad to see you back, btw. And also happy to see The Clone Wars continue to garner praise. I’m still stuck through in the early seasons, trying to get the motivation to push on to the good stuff.
I recently looked up Jake Lloyd for one reason or another, I can’t remember why, but it’s such a sad tale. The poor guy bore the brunt of fan backlash for TPM and being just a kid at the time it’s unfortunate he was bullied for it. For all his creative genius, George Lucas is notoriously poor at directing actors and a 9
year old kid doesn’t have the experience to know how to perform without direction, like McGregor and Neeson. I think he was an unfortunate victim of circumstance in that regard, and probably was just miscast to begin with.
Ahmad Best did a little better for himself, but will forever be infamous and bear the burden for the Jar-Jar role. Interestingly, I see that he did some voice acting for The Last of Us Part II…?!? I might need to replay the game just to see if I can identify his part(s). Maybe he was the one voicing the gurgling muffled death sounds of the NPCs who get their throats sliced. 😅
But it is interesting to see what happened to the actors over the years. Obviously Portman, McGregor, Neeson have all gone on to have nice careers, whereas Lloyd, Best, and Christensen have essentially disappeared from Hollywood. Such a double-edged sword to be cast in leading role in a large franchise.
@RogerRoger Epic response there, by the way. 😂 There truly is a Star Wars gif for every occasion.
@Th3solution The miscasting of Jake Lloyd thing is weird because on the "making of" documentary for "The Phantom Menace" (or it might have been one of the retrospectives, I can't remember) they show some of the audition process for Anakin and one of the other kids in contention for the part gave an obviously better performance than Jake did. I think the other kid must've had literally zero experience at screen acting or something (whereas Jake had been in that Arnie movie about Christmas toys) so he ended up getting passed over. Either that or his parents had the good sense to read the rest of the script and got him out of there double quick.
@LN78 I haven’t seen the documentary but somehow I remember seeing snippets of his audition at some point. As you point out, I recall that it wasn’t particularly impressive.
There was also an unfortunate juxtaposition of Lloyd with Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense that same year. Similar aged child actors with similar appearance, and drastically different quality of performances. Without that comparison, Lloyd’s Anakin may not had stuck out so much.
It is weird how Lucas just is really inconsistent with identifying talent. He seems to have done better with casting supporting roles (Han Solo, Obi-Wan, etc) than he is for the main protagonists (Anakin, Luke). Although, I think that, like I said, it’s more about his inability to consistently tap into existing talent, rather than poor identification of it. Maybe a little of both.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution Sometimes he even manages to inspire (if that's the correct word) genuinely awful performances from demonstrably brilliant actors like Terrance Stamp and Samuel L.Jackson. It's very odd.
@RogerRoger Blimey! Not even sure how to fully respond to such a wall of GIFs 😂
@Th3solution I really do feel for Jake Lloyd and Ahmed Best. While I do think their performances were lacking, it’s not all their fault and blame does also lie with Lucas and the many other people behind the scenes who approved it. Still convinced Jar Jar is a Sith Lord though.
Finished off the last of The Clone Wars. The final arc is probably the best Star Wars content I’ve seen. Up there with Empire and A New Hope anyway. Bit of a bummer to end on but I guess that’s how Revenge of the Sith ends too! I just immediately started Rebels though and the two part premiere was pretty decent. It does seem a bit more ‘kiddy’ than Clone Wars and the animation’s a bit odd but it’s cool to see the Inquisitors and a more detailed look at how the Empire actually functioned.
@KidBoruto It'll be interesting to see what gets put where. I was adamant that The Bad Batch would arrive alongside Andor, remember? Personally, I can't see Disney wanting to drown out The Mandalorian, given its importance and legacy audience. It's the show most people will re-sub for.
Well, whenever it all arrives, I just know that it won't be soon enough! I need it all, right now!!
Haha yeah! At least this gives me more time to re-watch both The Clone Wars and Rebels (and finally watch Bad Batch Season 1) before Bad Batch Season 2 starts.
@RogerRoger Ah - the famous "no true 'Star Wars' fan" fallacy! Seriously though, Lars Mikkelsen would be great -I loved his turn in "Sherlock" even though the series was well past its prime by then. I remember that back in the days before "TROS" Richard E Grant was the popular fancast for Thrawn. I think I heard Bill Nighy's name being thrown around as well.
@KidBoruto That's still a lot to get through, though, so best of luck!
***
@LN78 Was obviously being facetious; have rallied against that turn of phrase many times before, it drives me up the freakin' wall (especially since many keyboard jockeys have read my opinions and subsequently accused me of not being a "true" fan before).
Thrawn is gonna be tricky to cast, given the character's legacy in the Disney canon and the impact Lars Mikkelsen has already made. I'd love Bill Nighy in the role, he'd nail it (in the same way he nails every single performance he's ever given, in anything, ever). One of the few I'd approve to replace Mr. Mikkelsen, in the same way Rupert Friend was one of the few I approved of to replace Jason Isaacs.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
Forums
Topic: Dex's Diner - The Star Wars Topic
Posts 521 to 540 of 810
Please login or sign up to reply to this topic