Star Wars: Episode VII: The Nerd Rage Awakens
- Thread starter cooleddie74
- Start date
JJ Abrams writes the way people talk, George Lucas wrote the way he thought people should talk.
There's no reason to wait til midnight, theaters can show it starting at 7PM anymore.
the Trek movies and M:I:III had several writers you can't tell what was written by Abrams, but Lucas gets mainly the sole credit for the Star Wars movies, so it's really had to say that about Abrams writing.. Armageddon though is mostly his though.
Nice set of Royal Mail stamps and other memorabilia (click on the stamps to see details about the new characters).
http://www.royalmail.com/starwars?iid=PROMO_H1_STARWARS
http://www.royalmail.com/starwars?iid=PROMO_H1_STARWARS
Nice - although, I must admit, it'll be nice, post-TFA release when we will actually get other images from the film that are more than Rey and Finn running from an explosion and Rey standing looking all pensive.
I mean, FFS, we haven't even seen an official image of Leia or Luke yet!
I mean, FFS, we haven't even seen an official image of Leia or Luke yet!
Which Star Wars? Episode IV? Empire and ROTJ had Lawrence Kasdan (who came back to write TFA) as a writer, as well as Lucas.
Episode 1 was Lucas. II had a "yes man" co-writer and three had several people involved, both officially and unofficially, to try and bring it all together.
And we won't be hanging Abrams for the dialog either on TFA, either, because Kasdan is also writing.
Well, as much as they deserved their Oscars, Lucas had so much influence over everything it's hard to not credit him, over all, with the film's success. It was Lucas who decided to abandon the more conventional early introduction of Luke for the droids-centered intro that takes up almost half of the first act, cutting the Tatooine scenes that Marcia had worked on. Which was brilliant IMO.
I know it's a matter of personal taste, but it's interesting to see the pacing of Star Wars cited as a weakness. In 1977, even the non-action scenes were so full of wonderful, unimagined sights and sounds, immersing the viewer in the movie's world, I think very few people thought of the movie as dragging. And after Mos Eisely, it's pretty much an action scene every few minutes for the rest of the picture.
A lot of people criticize the dialogue and acting in Star Wars, and that's fair, but so much of the film is pure movie storytelling as only movies can do, and that ultimately comes down to Lucas. Luke looking at the sunset(s) with John Williams's wonderful theme tells more about him than pages of dialogue ever could. Likewise Ben lowering his hood, the music cue and simple "Hello there!" deftly removes any question of whether he is a good guy.
No other Star Wars movie tried so hard to give the viewer the feeling of a real other world, and to tell an emotionally appealing story in that world. It is probably fair to attribute much of the emotional side to Lucas borrowing from other films, but however he did it, the result was brilliant, and is in so many ways actor- and writer-proof. Lucas the film enthusiast and pastiche-maker is a entertaining, engaging and even inspired director. Lucas the industrialist moviemaker... not.
Was it done in broad strokes? Yes but so was The Wizard of Oz. Does it have plot holes? Yes but so does North by Northwest. "Empire" is a good film, but it seems like an assembly of fun ideas in a world already taken for granted. Star Wars is the one that comes closest to cinematic greatness as well as making history, and earns it.
Star Wars was a great film but I don't think many people are left who place the credit primarily on Lucas' shoulders after how badly he botched the prequels. Sure. It was his vision, but on execution, the people around Lucas raised it to another level. Left to his own devices I think SW would have been just as weak as the prequels.
^ I don't think so, I think Lucas was just a different filmmaker then. Perhaps out of necessity, but more open and collaborative nonetheless. His collaborators were brilliant, but he chose them and was very hands-on about what he wanted. Ralph McQuarrie, John Barry, John Mollo, John Williams and Ben Burtt all acknowledged important ways Lucas helped guide their work.
Yeah, he even though he was only a co-writer on most of his movies, he was also director and a producer, so he probably had a fair amount of control of how things were written. I'll admit, I mainly mean that post as a joke, but I've thought that the MI movie, his Trek movies, and early episodes of Lost and Alias had pretty natural sounding dialogue.
Last edited:
Agreed. There may not be a ton of action in those Tatooine scenes, but there are still a lot of great sights and fun things to discover with the desert wasteland, Jawa Sandcrawler, Sandpeople, Landspeeder, cool droids, lightsabers, Mos Eisley, etc.
Just because we've all become so used to those things by now after millions of viewings doesn't mean it wouldn't have been totally captivating back in the 70s. Not to mention that there's nothing wrong with a movie that takes it's time to establish a world first before throwing a ton of action at us (which is something we used to see quite a lot in films, and which I really miss).
What do they order on the darkside? Is that what that new Whopper is for?
The title of Episode VIII according to movieplot.com:
Neither TheForce.net, nor MakingStarwars have reported on this yet, and movieplot has been known for spewing shit before.
That's a horrible title if it's true. So bland and way too wordy.
Well, it does kinda go along with the trilogy theming of at least the OT films.
Here's a New Thing/Oh Shit/We win
Here's a New Thing/Oh Shit/We win
