Quote from: EdSolo on May 15, 2013, 10:07 AM

Quote from: Master_Phruby on May 15, 2013, 09:41 AM

Quote from: McMetal on May 15, 2013, 08:43 AM

Quote from: EdSolo on May 15, 2013, 06:52 AM

I would call a movie based on political disputes over a trade route a poor story.

Seconded, what an abysmal mess that was.

Yet we all loved it and bought every toy related to it.

It wouldn't say everyone loved it.  I would attribute a large portion of its success on the fact that it was the first Star Wars movie made in 16 years at the time it was released.

Then where was that criticism at the time?  For some time, the only thing SW community was outwardly critical of in The Phantom Menace was Jar Jar Binks.  And then when Episode II finally came out, THEN the floodgates opened and people were hating on TPM more outwardly. 

Personally, I've found the delayed criticism of the prequels to be more objectionable than the movies themselves.  And I've always looked at that criticism through the filter of an audience that saw the OT as kids, and they wanted to relive that level of excitement as 20/30/40 somethings.  That was never going to happen, and no filmmaker could live up to expectations that high.

Where were you at the time?  Movie critics weren't too hot on TPM as I recall.  On-line communities were also a lot bigger by AOTC as compared to when TPM came out in 1999 so the hating was as in your face as it was by 2002.  Many Star Wars fans weren't pleased with TPM and it just wasn't Jar Jar.  One big gripe was that Obi-Wan was Qui-Gon's apprentice and not Yoda's apprentice.  Young Ani was pretty universally bashed as well.  I was certainly disappointed that the story was poor.  I remember sitting in the theater thinking that I hoped the movie got better.  It was just an age thing either.  Lucas made a poor story.  He was much more interested in special effects and digital filming than actually telling a good story.  If he had given up some control as he did with ESB and ROTJ, the PT trilogy could have probably been a lot better.

Quote from: McMetal on May 15, 2013, 08:43 AM

Quote from: EdSolo on May 15, 2013, 06:52 AM

I would call a movie based on political disputes over a trade route a poor story.

Seconded, what an abysmal mess that was.

Yet we all loved it and bought every toy related to it.

It wouldn't say everyone loved it.  I would attribute a large portion of its success on the fact that it was the first Star Wars movie made in 16 years at the time it was released.

I would call a movie based on political disputes over a trade route a poor story.

I would think the major gripe with the "twist" is that a major villain from the Iron Man universe essentially doesn't exist.  I suppose a true Mandarin could show up later, but I think that ship has sailed.  I don't see why Kingsley's version couldn't have had the magic rings.  I think the depiction of AIM fit very well in the movie Marvel universe.  I don't think you could have brought in a character like MODOK into the movie.  I think they did a good job with most of the Extremis elements as well.  I'm not sure I would have gone with the Killian arc as they did though.  Overall, I think the villains have been the weak point in the Iron Man trilogy as a whole.

I don't know if Episode VII will do Avengers type opening weekend numbers.  The prequels left a sour taste in the mouth of the casual Star Wars fan.  The only reason TPM made the most money was because it was the first Star Wars film in 16 years.  The poor story certainly hurt the box office of AOTC and the poor story of AOTC hurt the box office of ROTS, which was easily the best of the three prequels.

The saving grace for Episode VII will be signing the big three to appear in the film.  I think that will get people who were turned off by the prequels somewhat excited.  However, you are going to get the "they are too old" crowd.  The story will really be a key in all this.  Disney cannot afford to have a boring trade dispute/political story line.  There will need to be an enemy that is a credible threat to the Jedi and a lot more action than we saw in TPM.

When new movies were announced in the 90's, I really wanted them to make the sequel trilogy back then.  At that point, the major stars were not "too old".  Ford has always said he wouldn't play Solo again, but I bet Lucas could have at least got him to cameo for a death scene.  The other reason was so that nine episodes would have actually been made.  At that point, I never though Episodes VII through IX would be a certainty if Episodes I through III were completed.  Until the Disney sale, that was the road Lucas went down with his revisionist "I only intended to make six movies" statement.

Lucas is new Spoiler Source: Big 3 returning

If you get the entire quote from the Bloomberg article, Lucas goes from saying they were signed, to they were in final negotiations, to who knows if they would have signed.  He seemed to really backtrack on it after he initially let it slip.  I think the most interesting thing is that Lucas was actually going to go forward with the sequel trilogy on his own as a means to showing the franchise was still profitable for any potential buyers.

As long as RG3 is back at 100% by August, I will be happy.

Unfortunately, any new item will not have a discount.  They do give you points for each item that you purchase that you can use to discount future prices.  However, there are a couple things to note.  First, you don't actually earn the points until about 30 days after the purchase.  Second, if you use points to purchase an item, you do not earn points on that item.  In that respect, it is better to use points on a cheaper item or to save up enough points to purchase an item for free or near free.  I believe you get one point per one dollar in item price and each point is worth a penny.

In terms of Hot Toys, if they are anything like the Marvel line, they usually sell out and hold their price on the secondary market so finding a bargain is quite tough.