i'm in the camp that hates the prequels. also the one that thinks Lucas needs to have his rights revoked when messing with the original trilogy.

however, i'm also not what i would call a fandom geek about any of the movies. i enjoy them, but not in the way i enjoyed shoes like Buffy, Angel, Wonderfalls and many many others.

"My beef with the "new" films is that they aren't very good. There was no emotional pull, just annoyance with Jar Jar and mini-Vader."

I don't agree with that. The Queen distaught over her people dying, Jar Jar Binks being expelled from his people for being different yet still proving his worth by helping the Jedi and bringing his people and the people of Naboo together, the political machinations of Palatine, Anakin having to leave his mother behind, the father/son relationship between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon's dying wish to Obi-Wan were all very compelling to me in The Phantom Menace. Anakin wanting to move forward as a Jedi and Obi-Wan holding him back, the father/son relationship between the two, the attempted assasinations on Padme that force her into hiding and thus keeping her from opposing Palpatine's war machine, Anakin and Padme's forbidden and starcrossed romance, Jar Jar getting manipulated into proposing the army that eventually brings about the Empire, Anakin's nightmare's of his mother suffering and then seeing his mother beaten and dying in his arms, his slaughter of the Tusken Raiders and his confession all were very powerful to me in Attack Of The Clones. No emotional pull? In my opinion there was a lot of emotional pull.

"The lack of convincing chemistry in what is supposed to be a romance didn't help the second film either."

Now with that I can kinda see where you're coming from however I thought they did indeed have chemistry just that at least for the Queen it was restained on purpose and not a lack of talent from Natalie Portman. Why do I see it that way? Well, to me it makes sense, she's been in a position of great power and responsiblility for years and she's emotionally closed off. In the society they live in (very different from the original trilogy) there are rules and expectations and a Jedi and a Senator are not allowed to date. Just before Anakin and Padme are to be executed she breaks through her barriers and professes her love for him. Also, it's important to keep in mind that Anakin and Padme's relationship is supposed to be unhealthy.

"Of course, the third film is where everything is supposed to go horribly wrong, so I'm sure it'll be fine.

Yeah, there's a considerable buzz among insiders even ones that hated both prequels. Tom Stoppard co-wrote the script and of course everyone's favorite villain Darth Vader is returning.

Barry, there's an easy way to quote text here. Just preface it with a right-pointing carat ">" at the beginning of a line, and the text will be automatically indented,

like so.

Barry, your quotes will be more distinct from the text if you offset them with a quickedit (plus it will save you some typing).

If you replace:
[quote]My beef with the "new" films is that they aren't very good. There was no emotional pull, just annoyance with Jar Jar and mini-Vader.[/quote]I don't agree with that.

With:
>My beef with the "new" films is that they aren't very good. There was no emotional pull, just annoyance with Jar Jar and mini-Vader.

I don't agree with that.

You'll get:

My beef with the "new" films is that they aren't very good. There was no emotional pull, just annoyance with Jar Jar and mini-Vader.

I don't agree with that.

No emotional pull? In my opinion there was a lot of emotional pull.

I cried for Jar Jar.

Or because of him.

You have to give a crap about the characters to be pulled about by their emotions.

Obi Wan was the only character I cared about in Menace and Clones. And even then it wasn't a whole lot.

I did like the movies, as there were lots of pretty stuff and effects to look at. But the amount of magic in them is pretty tiny when compared to the original trilogy.

eta:

I cried for Jar Jar.

Or because of him.

Because of Jar Jar I tried to buy the domain jarjarsucks.com. But someone else had already gotten it. (It's gone now.)

You have to give a crap about the characters to be pulled about by their emotions.

Yes. None of the emotions felt earned. I know we're talking about a popcorn movie, but there was no character development - just a string of "important" moments strung together with some annoying comic "relief" and a bombastic sound track.

"Yes. None of the emotions felt earned. I know we're talking about a popcorn movie, but there was no character development - just a string of "important" moments strung together with some annoying comic "relief" and a bombastic sound track."

The original trilogy's emotions were also predicated on "a string of important moments strung together with comic relief and a bombastic soundtrack". Really. Luke's character development happened through his actions and reactions to the events he was thrust into and the same goes for Anakin. Now your beef may be with the performances, direction or whatever but in that regard the two trilogies are very similar. This isn't a television series or a character drama and thus the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy both operate in broad strokes.

Barry, the Prequels are bad. They're indefensibly bad.

"Barry, the Prequels are bad. They're indefensibly bad."

Opinion stated as fact. Come on, you're much too smart to resort to that. Really, I see where you're coming from but I won't roll over and go with the flow.