What did it take to get me back to Hang a Lantern On It, after several months of distractions, work and screenplay revisions kept me away ?
The fact that George Lucas is re-releasing the six Star Wars movies in 3D. First up: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, then one a year.
I have railed on (and on and on) about how George Lucas has been milking the nugget of an original idea-- a half-borrowed, structurally derivative but nonetheless original idea-- for well over thirty years now. Fine, that's his business, though it pains me to think how many new ideas and filmmakers and he could have nurtured over this quarter-century-plus. Think about Lord of the Rings: that coulda been a Lucasfilm joint, and looked just as good as Peter Jackson's work, and he had the technology to do them a decade earlier!
There is something pathetic about Lucas wanting to jump onto the 3D bandwagon. For one thing, this bandwagon's wheels are coming off, as the boxoffice on 3D movies gets smaller and smaller. Check out this article in Slate for the blow-by-blow.
Lucas has found many ways to sell the same stuff to audiences over and over again, and I'll admit the re-releases of Episodes IV, V and VI were pretty cool, if a bit of a mixed bag (removing the "yub-yub song" from the end of Jedi, good; Having Greedo shoot first, unforgivable). But laying down $15, putting those stupid glasses on, and watching Jar Jar Binks shuck and jive in 3D? I think he finally crossed the line with me.
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Maybe you're just growing up!
ReplyDeleteEpisodes 1-3 are great fodder for 3D conversion though, because they're already 90% digital image. And Lucas has the data on hard drives AND he probably had 3D in mind when he shot them anyway. Give him a pass, I say.
4-6, I dunno. I do know though that I was at a house party this weekend and there's a 5-year-old named Bob who eats, drinks and expectorates Star Wars. He can't get enough of it. Someone will value this!
Anyway, if it keeps Lucas' grubby revamping mitts off American Graffiti, then let's all encourage George to keep it up until he's dead.
He crossed the line a long time ago, IMHO. The remakes of original Star Wars films (4-6) were travesties. He should have left well enough alone.
ReplyDeletePutting them in 3-D won't make them any better, and will probably make them worse.