The Phantom Menace 3D Discussion - Page 5

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shloggs 

I like McWeeney's film writing generally, but since I began following him on twitter, have grown to consider him insufferable.  

The quickest way to get over anybody is to follow them on Twitter.  I used to like Pegg and Wright. Followed them on twitter, can't stand them now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sebastian OB 

I don't have children, but if I ever do, I'll make goddamn sure that the movie that introduces them to the wonder of film will not be the Phantom fucking Menace.

You'll have literally no choice.  They'll see something on TV, or round at a friends house long before you can choose what to show them.  I was lucky in that my oldest didn't show a spark of interest in anything until the Incredibles was on TV when she was about 1. She was mesmerised.  I dug out my copy of Nemo and popped it on and she was hooked.

Since then I only try and allow "quality" (no Barbie, no fucking "Buddy" (talking puppy) movies, no knock offs) in the house, but she still gets other people to take her to Alvin and the Chipmunks or whatever.

Having said that, the first film I've ever seen her absolutely fall for, and be completely "no fidgeting at all" hooked by, was Hugo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hammerhead 

The Pixar 3D re-releases have all been rendered in stereo from the original data. Apparently, Toy Story presented a big challenge because the studio's current production technology wasn't backward-compatible. But here's to archiving!

I'm interested to see the rerelease now. I like watching the Toy Storys back to back to see how the rendering improved from movie to movie (cause that's the kind of nerd I am). I'm interested to see what kind of polish they gave Toy Story 3D, if any.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rockley 

I'm interested to see the rerelease now. I like watching the Toy Storys back to back to see how the rendering improved from movie to movie (cause that's the kind of nerd I am). I'm interested to see what kind of polish they gave Toy Story 3D, if any.

 

In my opinion, they did it right. They haven't changed or 'upgraded' any of the visual textures; as far as I can tell the right 'eye' is the original film exactly, with the new left eye rendered to complement it. What I noticed most of all was the depth of the reflections on (and in) Buzz's helmet, and the fact that Buzz glows all the time, not just in complete darkness.

I have seen some talk that selected shots in Ratatouille will be re-composed for 3D, with Bird's approval.

Well, I went to this with the family tonight.  Christ, what a horrible fucking movie.  Lloyd is atrocious and all, but the lady playing his mom gives what is surely the worst performance in a film that was ever released theatrically.  I kept thinking of how furious and frustrated Neeson must have been after a day of shooting all that awful horseshit with all those amateurs on Tattooine.  The Darth Maul Duel of the fates sequence is perfection though, too bad it takes up about 4 minutes of screen time in this 2 hour 15 minute movie.  The 3-D was fine, if a little dark.  The last 25  minutes looked great, but all the interminable sequences of people sitting around plowing through miserably boring exposition doesn't benefit from the conversion at all.

I'll tell you what the phantom menace is.  The post-conversion.  WHAT post-conversion!?  At most, it just felt like stuff that flew out at the screen got a little pop-up effect.  Otherwise, the images popped no more than a vibrant 2D projection with shallow depth of field would have.

What a gyp.

And I saw this plodding film in 4DX!  The seats shook, water was sprayed, lights were flashed, wind was blown!

Still a plod.

Still think Liam Neeson and McDiarmid are great.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shloggs 

Well, I went to this with the family tonight.  Christ, what a horrible fucking movie.  Lloyd is atrocious and all, but the lady playing his mom gives what is surely the worst performance in a film that was ever released theatrically.

 

Really?  I thought Pernilla August was quite good.

I don't think she makes much of an impression either way.  

No, mcnooj, this is one of the prequels we're talking about, so obviously it was THE WORST THING EVER RECORDED IN THE HISTORY OF RECORDING, and no survey of shitty-b films or direct-to-video schlock or racist and misogynistic exploitation films could possibly compete with the horror of a mediocre mom with a crappy sci-fi script.

And yes, people, please keep your precious children far, far away from from this abomination, 'less it taint their fragile developmental artistic minds, and leave them drooling idiots not fit for polite society. How will they ever appreciate the subtle social commentary of Spongebob Squarepants, once their minds have been corrupted with the likes of "puuduu"?

THE HORROR. THE HORROR.

GEORGE LUCAS RAPED MY CHILD'S CHILDHOOD JUST LIKE HE RAPED MINE HE ALSO RAPED MY CAT'S KITTENHOOD WHEN IT WALKED IN THE LIVINGROOM WHERE I HAVE EPISODE ONE PLAYING ON A CONTINUOUS LOOP

Only so that you can accurately comprehend every instance where it fails as a film, of course!

Finally took the girl to see this.

My impressions:

The Lucas Film logo was the best 3D thing, and while the 3D conversion was good, it added next to nothing.

I was bored for very long periods.

The pod race additions added nothing.

This incarnation of Yoda was the second best one in the series.

The final fight is still my favourite of the whole 6.  Especially the Obi-Wan/Maul one on one part.  The pace of that is astounding.

My daughter's impression:

THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!

I think this is the first time I've seen the whole movie in a long time.  There is so much clunk.  So many dead spots, it's odd.  But I still prefer it to Attack of the Clones.  And having watched the whole of Sith again recently, I can now say that I do actually prefer it to TPM.

Forgive me if Plinkett or someone addressed this, but what is Maul's motivation in that fight? Padme & co don't have to "take the long way"-- if they'd just wait three minutes there won't be anybody blocking that door since Maul retreats and draws the Jedi into the Fighting Room where, incidentally, they don't have any effect on the larger battle. Was the strategy merely to take the Jedi off the board?

Busted out my Blu-ray set. I could watch this one in thirty to forty minutes chunks. Some good stuff, it's an honest failure. Tried putting on the other two. Yeah. No.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jacob Singer 

No, mcnooj, this is one of the prequels we're talking about, so obviously it was THE WORST THING EVER RECORDED IN THE HISTORY OF RECORDING, and no survey of shitty-b films or direct-to-video schlock or racist and misogynistic exploitation films could possibly compete with the horror of a mediocre mom with a crappy sci-fi script.

 

And yes, people, please keep your precious children far, far away from from this abomination, 'less it taint their fragile developmental artistic minds, and leave them drooling idiots not fit for polite society. How will they ever appreciate the subtle social commentary of Spongebob Squarepants, once their minds have been corrupted with the likes of "puuduu"?

 

THE HORROR. THE HORROR.

Ok, I'll admit to being a hyperbole monster from time to time.  But I stand by my shock at such lazy casting of such an important role(s).  I just had to vent after dropping 30 bucks for me and my family to be that bored for what felt like an eternity.  I knew what I was getting into though, so it's my own fault and now I'm lashing out at old Smee Skywalker to assuage my self hatred. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcnooj82 

I don't think she makes much of an impression either way.  

It's understated, but she does a lot with very little. She also has kind of a strangely great widow's chemistry with Neeson that it's still disappointing the film doesn't address more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hammerhead 

Forgive me if Plinkett or someone addressed this, but what is Maul's motivation in that fight? Padme & co don't have to "take the long way"-- if they'd just wait three minutes there won't be anybody blocking that door since Maul retreats and draws the Jedi into the Fighting Room where, incidentally, they don't have any effect on the larger battle. Was the strategy merely to take the Jedi off the board?

Sidious tells him to take out the Jedi first.  Plus "revenge".  There's a hell of a lot of stuff that's convenient for plot though. Why is it convenient for Sidious to have the planet invaded, or the treaty signed? Is it just to gain sympathy in the senate?  I suppose "last survivor" would carry a lot of weight but a lot of his plotting is so far out.

 I did notice more "setup" this time though, specifically Anakin staring daggers at Mace Windu the whole time after he says he won't be trained.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Clark 

It's understated, but she does a lot with very little. She also has kind of a strangely great widow's chemistry with Neeson that it's still disappointing the film doesn't address more.

I did chuckle when he helps her off the beast in the pod race hanger and effectively goes "how you doin'?".

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Originally Posted by Andy Bain 

I did chuckle when he helps her off the beast in the pod race hanger and effectively goes "how you doin'?".

Oh, Qui-Gon... you DOG!

Then there's the seemingly supportive hand he puts on her shoulder as she sees Anakin about to fulfill his dreams.

But then his thumb starts RUBBING ON HER!

When she tells him that Anakin had no father, you know he's thinking... "What a CRIME!"

There is no father, ONLY PALPATINE!

I want you inside me, GALAXY GUARDIAN!!!

The prohibition on Jedi love must mean they were heavily into one night stands.

You can't tell me he didn't tap that.

"Trapped by a sandstorm".  How convenient.

And that's why he didn't lift a finger to save her (despite the fact he could easily have jumped town with her), and her downcast look when she realises it.

Qui-Gon was all about defying the Jedi code when it suited him.

"Can mom come too?"

"Yeah... about that."

or alternatively:

"She already did."

Eugh.  I shouldn't have typed that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy Bain 

 I did notice more "setup" this time though, specifically Anakin staring daggers at Mace Windu the whole time after he says he won't be trained.

The weird thing is that, as Sairus suggests, this is setting up an emotional motivation that doesn't actually factor into the act its foreshadowing.  Obviously he is eventually going to kill Mace, as the entire purpose of the character is for Anakin to have someone established to kill when he goes bad, but the way it plays out he's not even angry with the guy when he murders him. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcnooj82 

"She already did."

Eugh.  I shouldn't have typed that.

no, no.  That was my biggest laugh out loud of the day :)
 

It's being reported the 3D blu-ray release will be a Panasonic exclusive.

If you already have a 3D home theater you enjoy, George Lucas wants you to go ahead and fuck yourself.

It's barely 3D anyway! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barkatthemoon 

It's being reported the 3D blu-ray release will be a Panasonic exclusive.

 

 

Wait, what?  Does that mean you can only play it on a panasonic blu-ray player?  How is that even possible???

EDIT: Oh, I see, you have to buy a Panasonic blu ray player to get the disc...oh that crafty Lucas, there he goes again.

Which means you'll find blu-rays of it being sold on its own on Ebay for stupid prices.

Star Wars Fandom is one of the greatest examples of Stockholm syndrome I've ever seen.

I don't understand.  The discs will only be sold with a Panasonic 3D blu-ray player, or the 3D render of the film will only work on Panasonic blu-ray players?

If it's anything like previous 3D blu-ray exclusives, it will only be sold with Panasonic 3D blu-ray players and not separately.

Aside from that, it's like any other 3D blu-ray.

I don't get the point of doing it as these exclusives.  It seems like it would only help Panasonic.  What does Lucas get out of it as opposed to making millions selling the disc on its own?  Is he THAT jealous of Cameron?  The Avatar 3D blu-ray was a Panasonic exclusive too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ambler 

Wait, what?  Does that mean you can only play it on a panasonic blu-ray player?  How is that even possible???

 

EDIT: Oh, I see, you have to buy a Panasonic blu ray player to get the disc...oh that crafty Lucas, there he goes again.

 

This would be more of a Panasonic thing.  They paid a fuck-load of money to keep the Avatar 3D BD exclusive.

I can't imagine that those sort of deals helped 3D TV adoption.

But hey, Green Lantern is not exclusive, and we all know how much people loved that movie.

Does Lucas even make the Lucasfilm decisions anymore?  People assume he calls shots like these, but maybe he doesn't and just sits back and strokes his turkey neck all day while someone counts his money for him.

If the 3D release of TPM was doing better business, it probably wouldn't be getting that kind of Blu-ray release.

Only if Lucasfilm does something that makes us happy do we wonder who actually called the shots!

If it's something dumb, IT'S LUCAS ALL THE WAY!  To hell with the facts!

How many dimensions do fans need to be disappointed in? I was content with two.