George Lucas retires

[Sandor 797]

Nirvana was critically acclaimed, but by OUR generation!

So it was our generation who was writing for Rolling Stone magazine back in 1992...? Know your history man. Nirvana was respected by critics much older than we were at the time. 2Unlimited and Take That were not. Even though I am not a big fan of Nirvana, and never was, I would never state that it was merely OUR generation that respected Nirvana. And even most of my generation didn't like Nirvana or rock music at the time.

Even my sister who was the world's biggest fan and had her bedroom filled with posters of Cobain now admits they admits they were simplistic rubbish.

Ah, your sister's opinion vs. the common opinion of critics and pop/rock media literature... Even if you don't like their music, Nirvana was a highly influential act that redefined rock music back in the early 90's. Contradicting that borders true infancy and ignorance.

[Jilal 569]

:groupwave: :groupwave:

[Once 605]

New generations are already wondering what the big deal was with Star Wars.

Really..? I don't really care about a generation that puts Justin Bieber on top of the charts and turns Transformers 2 into a box office smash.

Oh, wow, thanks. Like you said about 2Unlimited and Take That, Bieber and Transformers only really have 12 year old fans. It's not the entire generation.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

So it was our generation who was writing for Rolling Stone magazine back in 1992...? Know your history man. Nirvana was respected by critics much older than we were at the time.

Critics?

Critics are paid to have an opinion. If the money is good enough, and it fits the magazine's profile then a 57 year old critic will love what Justin Bieber is doing! Music journalism is possible even less unbiased and impartial then sports journalism.

The fact remains that the pop music of today only appeals to a narrow age-group, like it did in "our" day, and to the generations before us.

At 34 I am in no way able to deduce if pop music today is any good. Is Lady Gaga the new Madonna, does she speak for the new generation? Or is she just a weird looking freakshow?

I can't tell.

I could tell in 2002....

[Jay 37,364]

You messed up the quoting there somehow

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Surely you must be mistaken

[Jay 37,364]

Well it's fixed now, but wasn't when I posted

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Move along!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

So we can nag Katie Lucas for the original versions now.

[The Dark Trilogy 39]

Unlike Ben Hur, Star Wars is more than a movie.

Sorry, but Ben-Hur is also more than only a movie.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

Anyone else saw that Lucas admits the "nuke the fridge" scene is his doing? Not the whole sequence, but the actual nuking the fridge:

When I told Lucas that Spielberg had accepted the blame for nuking the fridge, he looked stunned. “It’s not true,” he said. “He’s trying to protect me.”

In fact, it was Spielberg who “didn’t believe” the scene. In response to Spielberg’s fears, Lucas put together a whole nuking-the-fridge dossier. It was about six inches thick, he indicated with his hands. Lucas said that if the refrigerator were lead-lined, and if Indy didn’t break his neck when the fridge crashed to earth, and if he were able to get the door open, he could, in fact, survive. “The odds of surviving that refrigerator — from a lot of scientists — are about 50-50,” Lucas said.

Other hilarious bits:

“You think ‘Lawrence of Arabia,’ you think ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai,’ ” Rick McCallum says. “Then you think, Oh, my God, ‘Red Tails.’ ”

And

Lucas’s films are relentlessly — and to some, maddeningly — old-fashioned and naïve. “If it’s a popcorn movie,” Lucas told me, “it needs a lot of corn.”

[Jay 37,364]

See post #11 of this thread.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

Serves me well for not reading the whole thread in one sitting. I'm developing an worrisomely annoying habit of doing this lately.

[Wojo 2,453]

Unlike Ben Hur, Star Wars is more than a movie.

Sorry, but Ben-Hur is also more than only a movie.

Indeed. It's a rather old novel, written by an American Civil War veteran during the late 1800s, and inspired many stage performances, a silent movie, and finally William Wyler's magnificent motion picture event starring Charlton Heston.

I'm not sure what the bigger turnoff to Ben-Hur is. The fact that it's so old?

The fact it hasn't been remade in recent decades with superior special effects, less talking, and quicker camera edits?

Or maybe the fact that it is subtitled "A Tale of The Christ," which means that Jesus has a prominent role in this morality play about a man who, on his quest for vengeance, finds love, peace, and finally purpose on a hill outside Jerusalem.

A movie about that might make many people queasy, so a space opera with laser swords, robots, spaceships, and incestuous love triangles is imminently more appealing.

[Brónach 1,302]

Star Wars is inmediately more appealing because it's more universal. It's like a tale for kids that recreates some prototypical mythology instead of going back to one of them.

It's also shorter which makes it easier to grasp and memorize for many people. The designs of things are weird and striking. Both have awesome music to no end, but the Star Wars score is more likely to catch the attention of people. And so on.

Also very appealing to many is that Star Wars is set in a different world. I think the main reason I used to be a Star Wars fan is because I wanted to go there. And the music.

[Wojo 2,453]

You're 19. Nobody expects you to respect the classics.

[Brónach 1,302]

I didn't say anything about quality other than both have great music. I only said way I think it's easier to make people see Star Wars than to make people see Ben Hur.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Other hilarious bits:

“You think ‘Lawrence of Arabia,’ you think ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai,’ ” Rick McCallum says. “Then you think, Oh, my God, ‘Red Tails.’ ”

Yeah I rolled my eyes at that. They're freaking Red Tails as if it's the next Godfather.

[Wojo 2,453]

I need you like Cuba Gooding needed a bigger part. He's way better then Ben Affleck.

[Sandor 797]

So it was our generation who was writing for Rolling Stone magazine back in 1992...? Know your history man. Nirvana was respected by critics much older than we were at the time.

Critics are paid to have an opinion. If the money is good enough, and it fits the magazine's profile then a 57 year old critic will love what Justin Bieber is doing! Music journalism is possible even less unbiased and impartial then sports journalism.

Wow.... How much longer are you willing to twist and turn reality in order to suit your opinion? First you claim it was merely our generation that respected Nirvana and their Nevermind album. Then, after you realize Nevermind is generally held as an important album in rock history which was hailed by critics at the time, you reason that their praise was merely motivated by a paycheck. And yet you compare me to an infant....

The fact remains that the pop music of today only appeals to a narrow age-group, like it did in "our" day, and to the generations before us.

At 34 I am in no way able to deduce if pop music today is any good. Is Lady Gaga the new Madonna, does she speak for the new generation? Or is she just a weird looking freakshow?

Another wow. The only way that you seem to be able to get an argument across is by painting the world as an extremely two dimensional, black and white, stereotypical realm: teenagers listening to today's pop music, their parents and grandparents calling it "noise", ... That is an almost cartoonish, cardboard reality in which your laws work perfectly. In the 'real' world many parents listen and enjoy today's music as much as the 'kids' do. What, you think all grown ups didn't like The Beatles or The Rolling Stones back in the day? You think Lady Gaga has no fans among the 30+ demographic? Just because you have become a bit of an old fart already (sorry ) doesn't mean you can speak for an entire generation my friend.

[A24 4,333]

Or is she just a weird looking freakshow?

Yes, just like Madonna. Of course, since we are already familiar with Madonna, Lady Gaga needs to take it a step further. I guess many people admire someone who acts (and dresses) eccentric and who is sexually provocative. As you know, music alone is not enough, the artist has to represent a way of live (to make up for the colorlessness of the fans).

[Sandor 797]

Or is she just a weird looking freakshow?

Yes, just like Madonna.

The pop/rock world needs more freakshows in my opinion, and way less calcutated, play-it-safe, fabricated, carbon-copy, producer-designed acts.

[mrbellamy 6,287]

Other hilarious bits:

“You think ‘Lawrence of Arabia,’ you think ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai,’ ” Rick McCallum says. “Then you think, Oh, my God, ‘Red Tails.’ ”

Yeah I rolled my eyes at that. They're freaking Red Tails as if it's the next Godfather.

I initially read that as the story of the Tuskegee Airmen has so much potential that the idea of a movie about them is as exciting as those films, not that Red Tails itself actually is. Though I suppose with McCallum, you never know.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

McCallum is a non entity. He has no influence.

[Wojo 2,453]

George Lucas' interview with Oprah and his black girlfriend is being rebroadcast on OWN right now.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Once you go black, you never go back...

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

He's just trying to prove he's not a racist because of all the Jar Jar, Watto and Nute Gunray accusations.

[A24 4,333]

The pop/rock world needs more freakshows in my opinion, and way less calcutated, play-it-safe, fabricated, carbon-copy, producer-designed acts.

You are describing Lady Gaga in a most perfect way. I don't think there's a more calculated pop singer than her, especially when it comes to 'image'. She's selling an image and she's knows it.

BTW, how does a freakshow make music better? Personally, I have more interest in musicians who put all their energy into their music.

Alex

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Lady Gaga seems to take herself very seriously.

[Thor 7,504]

A relatively small band of outspoken Star Wars fans hardly makes George Lucas the "most hated man on the planet". If anything, he's one of the most beloved.

Exactly. I've always liked him, even the SW prequels, and never really understand that hatred that is so prevalent in forums like this.

Personally, I'm REALLY looking forward to him entering the art house realm again, if that is indeed what he's gonna do. Back to his THX-1198(?) days again. Coppola has done it with success, so I see no reason why Lucas can't do it too.

Too much cynicism and 'shooting-from-the-hip' sentiments here!

[mrbellamy 6,287]

I agree with you. Only a few months ago, I happened to chance upon that old 2005 quote from him about how he wanted to return to the "art" world after Revenge of the Sith, and I was beginning to wonder if he'd ever get to it. Hopefully he means it now, I love his early work.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

It's not the 'Star Wars fans' who constantly pick on Lucas. It's the people who like to pick on George Lucas and Star Wars fans who pick on George Lucas.

What the hell are you on about?

[A24 4,333]

Lucas going back to artsy fartsy films?! He can't even go back to making a decent Star Wars film. It's the same with Scott, just because Ridley goes back to making sci-fi movies doesn't mean we'll be seeing the excellence of his heyday. We'll have to wait and see but for now I've seen almost no evidence (from either director) that suggests that we going to be in for something great. I'm curious but they had their time. They have to make way for the young lions.

Alex

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

A relatively small band of outspoken Star Wars fans hardly makes George Lucas the "most hated man on the planet". If anything, he's one of the most beloved.

Exactly. I've always liked him, even the SW prequels, and never really understand that hatred that is so prevalent in forums like this.

People don't hate him as much for the prequels as much as they hate him for not releasing the original unaltered trilogy in a satisfactory form.