[Ghoulish Delight]

But they are bad movies, original trilogy or not. I actually like the story so far, especially in Episode II. It's what Lucas always did best, story. But the screenplay sucks. The dialog sucks. The action sucks. And the acting is abismal (not helped by poor direction). If it were just a matter of "not living up to the originals", then it'd be the story I'd complain about. But the story is good. It's the movie itself that has serious flaws.

I mean, could Christiansen be ANY more wooden? He made Natalie Portman look like Jim Carey in terms of emoting. And, as CP pointed out, there was just scene after scene of him talking with closeups of his non-expressions. So unnecessary.

I've said it a million times. Lucas is a great story writer, and that's it. He really should have left the screenplay and direction to someone with actual talent in those areas. The man just can't write dialog, and his contempt for actors is legendary, so it's not exactly surprising that he doesn't inspire great performances. Heck, even A New Hope suffers from some bad lines and poor direction, but its breakthrough nature and supreme originality more than compensates. These movies don't have that luxury. He was smart enough to hand the reins off for Empire and Jedi. He should have done the same for these.