Octopus Overlords

Zaxxon wrote:If that's what we get, I can live with it. I still hold some hope for more given Kevin Smith's ebullientedness.

I wouldn't put too much stock in Kevin Smith's reviews of Star Wars movies...

Kevin's Phantom Menace Review

Originally posted May 1999

I saw 'Episode One' tonight.

Hee-hee-hee! Ah - being in this business finally pays off.

The good folks at the BBC sent me to a press screening, so that I can review the flick next week for them. I offer my new Brit peeps a shoutout for that.

Of the film, I can say many things. But the long and short of it is that I liked it - quite a bit. I'd rank it right after 'Empire' in a list of fave 'Star Wars' flicks. It starts great, ends great, and has great stuff sprinkled in between.

Ive seen several reviews that rave about it so Im not about to let a few negative reviews sway my interest. The one thing Ive seen in the positive reviews is that the movie diverges somewhat from the basic thematic formula of the other Star Wars and that may be why some are marking it down. Ill be seeing it on Friday in a very comfy recliner theatre.

Zaxxon wrote:...and then I read the NYT review. Ouch.

After reading that review I have to wonder if he has a bone to pick with Disney. He turns a request by Disney for reviewers to avoid spoilers into an Empire-like force choke on journalists. He even states halfway through the review that maybe he exaggerating his dislike. He then accuses anyone who likes the movie that they are merely Disney drones and are hopelessly trapped. A reviewer should review, not insult the audience for not seeing things his way.

It doesn’t so much preach to the choir as propagandize to the captives, telling us that we’re free spirits and partners on the journey. The only force at work here is the force of habit.

Yeah, thats not pretentious at all.

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:

Zaxxon wrote:If that's what we get, I can live with it. I still hold some hope for more given Kevin Smith's ebullientedness.

I wouldn't put too much stock in Kevin Smith's reviews of Star Wars movies...

Kevin's Phantom Menace Review

Originally posted May 1999

I saw 'Episode One' tonight.

Hee-hee-hee! Ah - being in this business finally pays off.

The good folks at the BBC sent me to a press screening, so that I can review the flick next week for them. I offer my new Brit peeps a shoutout for that.

Of the film, I can say many things. But the long and short of it is that I liked it - quite a bit. I'd rank it right after 'Empire' in a list of fave 'Star Wars' flicks. It starts great, ends great, and has great stuff sprinkled in between.

Ugh.

That Phantom Menace review was pretty damn funny looking back.

Kevin Smith saw The Phantom Menace and claimed he couldn't place the Viceroy's accent, then decided it was... Czech?

Maybe the whole review was trolling.

To be fair to Kevin Smith, there were a LOT of die-hard Star Wars fans trying to put lipstick on that pig (Phantom Menace). I remember walking out of the theater and everyone trying their best to put on a brave face and say how great it was. Nobody wanted to believe the movie they had waited for their entire lives actually sucked.

Roger Ebert initially liked The Phantom Menace as well. But yeah, Kevin Smith is a fanboy who isn't going to crap on a new Star Wars movie when he sees it. Personally I kind of like his enthusiasm for the series. You just have to keep in mind it's not fair criticism.

I expect Rogue One to be... I don't know, actually. I haven't really paid too much attention to it. I'm not particularly excited about it, though I probably will go see it on Thursday night if I can.

I remember enjoying it too the first time I saw it. It's weird - I guess the experience of new Star Wars in the theatre (and the Darth Maul fight was a little cool in parts) up to that point made it seem better.

The beginning and end WERE cool. The rest of it was uneven and showed Lucas didn't understand the lightning he had caught in a bottle.

But I'm not a hater of the prequels. I kept hearing from a friend working on the Star Wars digital pinball to tone down our expectations on Episode One to "kid friendly" because of the daily film he was previewing. We were so jealous at the time.

Yeah, when I rewatched episode one earlier this year with my daughter, the beginning in particular wasn't bad. Also Ewan McGregor was pretty good across the prequels - his performance really stands out (though the competition admittedly isn't fierce).

I've been avoiding reviews because I would go see this movie even if it were bad (the bad-ass shots in the trailer looking up at the Star Destroyers and AT-ATs are sufficient for me) and I want to avoid spoilers. But for people who have read reviews - has there been anything in reviews about the appropriate age level for the movie? My daughter is 7.5 YO and desperately wants to see the movie. For context she's seen all the other Star Wars movies and hasn't had much issue with the content in these, although this seems like a darker movie than most Star Wars.

Anyway, probably going to "pre-screen" it myself regardless, but I'm curious what the sense is on age level.

I'm in a similar position with a 7yo Star Wars fan and that's one of the benefits of work paying me to see it Friday morning. I don't have to gamble on going in blind with the kids.

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie- ... ars-story#

this installment gets quite violent (somewhat more so than 2015's A Force Awakens), with scenes that make painfully clear the sacrifices and casualties necessary in a war against tyrannical evil. There's a high body count, as well as violence that's both large-scale ... and up close and personal.

It depends just how graphic it is.

My 6 and 4 year old sons have seen only the original trilogy. I didn't take them to TFA and they haven't seen it at home yet because that one felt just a little too mature for them. I'm taking them to see Rogue One though. It's time they saw one at the theaters.

McNutt wrote:My 6 and 4 year old sons have seen only the original trilogy. I didn't take them to TFA and they haven't seen it at home yet because that one felt just a little too mature for them. I'm taking them to see Rogue One though. It's time they saw one at the theaters.

With TFA (which I saw in the threater and my daughter saw at home) I was worried about the impact of Kylo Ren shanking Han, but she seemed to handle that ok (might have helped that she picked up from people in advance that Han bites it).

It's hard to predict what will scare a kid sometimes. My daughter saw Book of Life in the theatre with her aunt. We later watched it at home. She warned me that there was a "scary part" in the movie that she wanted me to be there with her for. Turned out it was a two-second bit where the hero gets bitten by a snake. Of course, like 20 minutes after that the hero fights this giant skeletal flame and smoke spewing undead bull. But of course the snake bite was the scary part.

I saw TFA in theaters with my boys (12 and 9 at the time) on one side and my own father on the other.

Dad and I were both pretty tense after Kylo and Han. My kids were fine.

El Guapo wrote:It's hard to predict what will scare a kid sometimes. My daughter saw Book of Life in the theatre with her aunt. We later watched it at home. She warned me that there was a "scary part" in the movie that she wanted me to be there with her for. Turned out it was a two-second bit where the hero gets bitten by a snake. Of course, like 20 minutes after that the hero fights this giant skeletal flame and smoke spewing undead bull. But of course the snake bite was the scary part.

I was 9 when I saw Watership Down in theaters. There's a scene where the warren is buried and you see rabbits suffocating in a tunnel with no exit. It gave me a few nightmares, and for years afterwards I remembered the scene as lasting a long, painful time, so much so that I distinctly remembered wanting to look away and feeling unable to.

I watched the movie with my kids a couple of years ago. The scene in question lasts about a second and a half.

El Guapo wrote:

Punisher wrote:

hentzau wrote:I promised my son that we would wait until his birthday on the 22nd to see it with the whole family.

Rotten kid.

Actually, I don't think that this one is kid safe... You should go Thursday to make sure.

This is a pending issue for me, since my daughter desperately wants to go see this. I'll have to pre-screen it for sure.

Worried about this too. My daughter will be devastated (severely bummed at least ) if she can't see it.

Redfive wrote:

El Guapo wrote:

Punisher wrote:

hentzau wrote:I promised my son that we would wait until his birthday on the 22nd to see it with the whole family.

Rotten kid.

Actually, I don't think that this one is kid safe... You should go Thursday to make sure.

This is a pending issue for me, since my daughter desperately wants to go see this. I'll have to pre-screen it for sure.

Worried about this too. My daughter will be devastated (severely bummed at least ) if she can't see it.

Yeah, we kind of went through this with VII, and I read everything sans spoilers with everyone saying "oh, it is great for kids of all ages." Crap.

My son (now 5.5) had watched IV, V, VI, I, and II without issue. we went to this and he was actually scared by the hologram lord (whatever in the F that thing was - I am obviously not a fanboi) and when, in his words, "kylo ren pushed han solo off of the bridge."

I will be waiting on this one, not only due to the overhype of it is the second coming of "a new hope" (see what I did there?) but also to make sure it isn't as dark as VII.

Holman wrote:

El Guapo wrote:It's hard to predict what will scare a kid sometimes. My daughter saw Book of Life in the theatre with her aunt. We later watched it at home. She warned me that there was a "scary part" in the movie that she wanted me to be there with her for. Turned out it was a two-second bit where the hero gets bitten by a snake. Of course, like 20 minutes after that the hero fights this giant skeletal flame and smoke spewing undead bull. But of course the snake bite was the scary part.

I was 9 when I saw Watership Down in theaters. There's a scene where the warren is buried and you see rabbits suffocating in a tunnel with no exit. It gave me a few nightmares, and for years afterwards I remembered the scene as lasting a long, painful time, so much so that I distinctly remembered wanting to look away and feeling unable to.

I watched the movie with my kids a couple of years ago. The scene in question lasts about a second and a half.

The main scene I remember scaring me as a kid was the scene in The Neverending Story where they have to go between two giant unicorn-ish statues that shoot laser beams out of their eyes.

Those weren't unicorns. (NSFW)

El Guapo wrote: The main scene I remember scaring me as a kid was the scene in The Neverending Story where they have to go between two giant unicorn-ish statues that shoot laser beams out of their eyes.

I watched that a few years ago with my niece and nephew who were something like 8 and 6 at the time. The statues (sphinxes, not unicorns for the record) didn't scare them. But they couldn't watch when the horse got pulled into the muck.

edit: I should've known Isg would beat me to it...

BAM!

Holman wrote:

El Guapo wrote:It's hard to predict what will scare a kid sometimes. My daughter saw Book of Life in the theatre with her aunt. We later watched it at home. She warned me that there was a "scary part" in the movie that she wanted me to be there with her for. Turned out it was a two-second bit where the hero gets bitten by a snake. Of course, like 20 minutes after that the hero fights this giant skeletal flame and smoke spewing undead bull. But of course the snake bite was the scary part.

I was 9 when I saw Watership Down in theaters. There's a scene where the warren is buried and you see rabbits suffocating in a tunnel with no exit. It gave me a few nightmares, and for years afterwards I remembered the scene as lasting a long, painful time, so much so that I distinctly remembered wanting to look away and feeling unable to.

I watched the movie with my kids a couple of years ago. The scene in question lasts about a second and a half.

This movie scarred me for a while, too. I hated the first "vision" Fiver had because of the intensity, and the Black Rabbit of Inle scenes bothered me, as well. I later read the book in high school, and it is one of my all-time top 5 books.

Ralph-Wiggum wrote: But they couldn't watch when the horse got pulled into the muck.

Who the hell could???

DON"T GIVE UP, ARTAX!

If my son can handle Anakin burning up in lava I think he'll be ok with this. Between that scene and the Emperor nuking Luke in Return of the Jedi he didn't seem to have any issues. I know I had issues with the emperor. I'm still scared of him at 40.

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:

El Guapo wrote: The main scene I remember scaring me as a kid was the scene in The Neverending Story where they have to go between two giant unicorn-ish statues that shoot laser beams out of their eyes.

I watched that a few years ago with my niece and nephew who were something like 8 and 6 at the time. The statues (sphinxes, not unicorns for the record) didn't scare them. But they couldn't watch when the horse got pulled into the muck.

edit: I should've known Isg would beat me to it...

Yeah I was a little hazy on the statues. The main issue was the eye beams.

And yeah, the dying horse was sad too. Curious why that doesn't really stand out for me in my recollection of watching the movie.

Horse was the worst part for my daughter. The chasing the bullies at the end made up for it though. She was DYING laughing. Oh and I'll wait a month before seeing this. I somehow avoided spoilers for the last one for 2 months so I'm happy to wait for the crowd to die down a bit.

My 9-y.o. had a couple of nightmares after I let him watch Alien, but he loved the movie.

Bad father, or *excellent* father?

Paying for psychologist father.

Watched the movie last night, and it was pure fan service in a good way. Loved it.

It's the darkest Star Wars movie yet by a wide margin though. While it's not very graphic, I would imagine that children could get quite upset with some of the things that happen in it. This is just as much of a war movie as it is an adventure movie, and no Star Wars movie has really gone into that territory before.

Glad to hear our first impressiOOns are positive.

This was far more fun than it has a right to be.

Lucked into two tix for 10:15 showing tonight. Woo!

Zaxxon wrote:Glad to hear our first impressiOOns are positive.

This was far more fun than it has a right to be.

How has Alan Tudyk not aged a single iota in the 15 years since Firefly aired?

He's an android.

I've only skimmed the thread as I am avoiding any spoilers - I haven't even seen a trailer in months.

Question - anyone see it in IMAX 3D? Is it worth it?

stessier wrote:Question - anyone see it in IMAX 3D? Is it worth it?

I'll let you know on Sunday.

That will work. Thanks!

stessier wrote:I've only skimmed the thread as I am avoiding any spoilers - I haven't even seen a trailer in months.

Question - anyone see it in IMAX 3D? Is it worth it?

If its anything like Force Awakens, no 3d isn't worth it. There wasn't anything to gain from it. I'm seeing it in Imax 2d on Saturday.