Star Wars *OT* (Off-Topic)

by Kermit , Raleigh, NC, Tuesday, July 14, 2015, 18:31 (3423 days ago) @ General Vagueness

I revise my statement. I've always appreciated Harrison Ford. His early work is fantastic (even the non-action stuff like American Graffiti and Witness). There are a few movies he's done that I'm not sure I'll like, but I haven't watched them in part because they weren't well received, but Ford is the kind of actor who can be better than the movie he's in. Actors (and writers, for that matter) have a limited amount of control over making a film good. Being involved in something that won't turn out as well as you'd like it to is precisely the situation he was worried about with the new Star Wars, which is why your logic is silly--you assume that his judgment of scripts is necessarily reflected in every movie he's made.

That's almost the opposite of what I was saying. I was saying that his judgment would be reflected in the scripts he made as a whole, which is why I asked if there were any that you didn't like. If it applied the same to every one then it wouldn't matter, you could look at one and apply it to all of them.

You speak a version of English I don't understand. "As a whole" implies to me that there might be exceptions, but generally something is true. The bottom line: I respect and give credence to Ford's opinion when he says a script is remarkable.

Good scripts get changed. Good scripts can get made into lousy movies. That said, bad scripts seldom get made into good movies. The man has starred in some of my favorite movies, so when he calls a script remarkable, that's an endorsement.

Here it sounds like you are just taking the movies you really like that he made and applying that to this with his positive comment about it.
I see your point about how not every movie will reflect his judgment, but that can be turned around-- what if this script has changed, what if it's poorly executed, what if there's some other hiccup?

What the eff if? That doesn't keep me from being excited about hearing him saying very nice things about the script. A good script is hard to find.

Also, not turning out as well as you wanted isn't the only issue with quality. Beyond some technical aspects, a movie is like any other work in that quality is subjective. My point was very much about, not the movie turning out badly, but the movie not turning out in a way you like. Tons of people, including presumably George Lucas himself, thought the prequels were fine, while you obviously consider them garbage.

Heh, find three people over the age of 30 who thought they were good.

That's a subjective thing, and something only you can decide, and something you can only decide once you've seen the movie. Please forgive me if this sounds obvious, but this was supporting the point that you're ill-informed on the movie as it stands, which you've now said is true.

Read my posts again. Where did I ever say that the new Star Wars movie is good? How could I know that? You keep responding as if I said that--I didn't. To be clear: As of now I've heard, read, and seen enough (which I bet money is more than you have) about the new movie such that I hope and expect it to be good, and therefore I'm excited about it. This wasn't true when the movie was announced, but every bit of info I've gleaned since then has gradually gotten me to this point, not least of which what I heard and saw last week. I wouldn't have gotten into this discussion had you not said "we know next to nothing about the script" when what I knew about the script has been a big driver of my excitement. I didn't expect the Perry Mason treatment regarding my admiration of the people involved.

I think you're reading it wrong. He betrayed my faith in him as a creator. It's another way of saying I lost confidence in his judgment and his abilities as an artist. If he decided the make documentaries, or art house films about migrant workers or something, I wouldn't feel justified calling it a betrayal just because he's not making space operas any more. If Bungie decides that what will work best for them as a studio involves making a game for a different platform, that's not a betrayal. That's a business decision. (If I felt differently, I would have been part of the crowd that ditched Bungie in 2000.)

Just out of curiosity, what do you think of the other movies he's made since the original trilogy, or have you seen any of them? I heard Red Tails was pretty good.

Haven't seen any and don't really care to. It's not just his artistic abilities I don't trust anymore. He's shown himself to be an idiot and an ass. I'm not interested in supporting him.

My hopes are intertwined with my excitement for the new Star Wars movie. I'll never understand how fan sites seem to attract people who object to fans who act like fans.

I'm fine with fans acting like fans, it's when they act like fanatics that I get worried. That's not to say you're doing that, but an extreme degree of excitement-- more than I've seen in this thread-- is what I'd call fanatical, and I'm sure you've seen it and seen those people become the most disappointed with the final product, whatever the product may be.

I don't think that's me, but better to be fanatical about something that to be coldly analytical to where I won't let myself savor the anticipation of something that has the potential to be awesome. I know all about disappointment. I'm not scared of it.