So I finally saw Episode III

[tracilicious]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

That's the thing, this wasn't really made "in Hollywood". He funded it, he shot it. The only reason he involved anyone else was for Fox's distribution network. I heard an interview with a Fox exec who said that Lucas just completely blew off anyone who tried to talk to him about the movie. The man's a complete egomaniac, he thinks he's god's gift to movie making at this point and obviously doesn't listen to anyone's input.

Ah, now I see. One of my favorite SNL skits of all time was the one where they made fun of George Lucas. He called himself God the entire time. I guess it isn't too far off from the truth.

Alex, I suppose the focusing on special effects worked, because there were moments in the movie where I found myself watching the background and forgetting about what the characters were saying.

I watched episode IV last night (or at least most of it, I fell asleep). It is such a fun movie. There's comedy and whimsy that is completely lacking in 2 and 3. It isn't like the world is any better in 4, 5, and 6 either. In fact it's worse. Did Lucas actually write these himself?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by tracilicious

Did Lucas actually write these himself?

Lucas wrote and directed the very first Star Wars script himself. And if you watch it objectively, you can see that it's the least polished of the original trilogy in terms of dialog, direction, and cinematography. However, all of those could easily be ignored due to the novelty and genius of the wholly original presentation of the story.

For Empire and Jedi, Lucas has a story writing and producing credit. The scripting and directing were handed off. IMO, the dialog, writing, direction, edtiing, etc. are superior in both of those movies. However, I tend not to compare them as a whole to the original because, well, it's the original and like I said I'm willing to forgive Star Wars some of its flaws because of the level of originality.

Then comes the prequels. Not only was Lucas never a particularly good screenplay writer or director to begin with, he has done neither for decades so he's even worse. He's insulated himself from the movie making world (heck, from any aspect of the real world) to an extreme degree. He's allowed his ego to grow to galactic proportions. So, completely forgetting the rather brilliant move he made for Empire and Jedi, he refuses to relinquish those roles and insists on doing it "his way". Feh.

We all should have seen this coming with the Special Editions. That was his true vision? That's what he truly wanted? Thank the lucky stars that at the time he made the original trilogy, he had budget restrictions and a studio to answer to to reign him in.