I think one could argue that not knowing which ship is which might be the point of that shot — how it juxtaposes the chaos of a space battle with elegant digital camerawork. I also think that we get introduced to the heroes so quickly that any initial confusion is pretty much immediately dispelled. Everything that…

Fair enough. I figured in an article about the prequels, wherein my reply specifically mentioned things that happened in the same time frame, context clues would suggest I obviously wasn't talking about the original trilogy.

Uh, no shit? ILM and Lucas deserve credit for a lot, but in terms of the prequels adding to that — I'd argue it's negligible and that the artists inspired by their work in the 70s advanced the field far more than they did in the late 90s/early 00s.

Well, like I said, you were unmoved. As I was. But it's a perfectly cromulent piece of writing.

I agree, there are two great Star Wars films so far. One is good to serviceable. The other three are varying degrees of bad.

I actually think that's valid and nuanced, and applicable to real life. There are dark things in the world worth getting mad about, worth letting that passion drive you to try to make a better, lighter world. But it's important to also know when to pullback and not let anger overtake you. A little dark side should be…

Never be bummed that people are learning about filmmaking. It doesn't matter where they learn it from. See also: George Lucas learning quite a bit from Leni Riefenstahl.

I get what you're saying, but Peter Jackson and WETA came along right around the same time and did a lot more with a lot less in terms of marrying convincing CGI to live-action. Lucas may have shown the world a pretty decent demo reel, but I don't think anything in the prequels inspired future artists the way LOTR…

In 1999, that was true of almost every movie, though. And, really, that's as it should be. A director returning to his landmark achievement 20+ years after making it is almost never going to be as cutting edge, groundbreaking or interesting as the new kids on the block who were inspired by him.

Do not underestimate the power of a cool helmet.

The one prequel-based rumor around the new Star Wars movies that I really want to see happen is Ewan MacGregor returning as Obi-Wan for some singular adventure. Something with western and noir influences, because Detective Kenobi being drawn into a Yojimbo/Fistful of Dollars squabble sounds amazing.

This article isn't badly written, especially in comparison to the movies it's discussing. You were just unmoved.

Hey, man, nothing wrong with calzones. They're disappointing if you wanted pizza, but fine on their own. The prequels are undercooked calzones, which makes them bad.

Well, there's also a lot to be said about shooting on those sets in the originals — they were really there, performing those actions and the camera captured them. There's some wobbliness in the first movie due to Lucas' inexperience, but the verisimilitude is high just because the actors are able to just be in the…

Ha. Yeah, I get that's a dirty word in criticism.

I agree, I think there really is a solid story buried underneath all the CGI and staid filmmaking. A tale about a young man falling for a queen and capable of doing anything to protect her, with all the political machinations in the background, using a war of clones as the backdrop, has a ton of potential in the Star…

This article is way too long a way of saying, "I like these shitty movies, please stop making me feel bad about it." The argument always boils down to how pieces work well enough on their own — but like a movie isn't just writing (or mostly lazy directing) — they also have to be more than the sum of their parts to be…

I still think he's doing an understated Obama impression, and with the Reagan stuff this episode, I'm convinced it's very intentional.

When I was a kid, we wore flannel shirts around our waists!

This marketing campaign is the definition of a tease. Your complaints are better grounded in ads for movies where it's clear the whole plot is given away.