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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

The War of the Trilogies

12:25 / 31.10.01

Anyone else think this is possibly the worst time for Lucas to do the Star Wars prequils?

He's got two trilogies to go up against (Matrix and Lord of the Rings [I'm assuming the Matrix films are still being made])

So, who do you think will win the War Of The Trilogies?

my thoughts

LOTR: box office, story, and just over all goodness. All they have to do is not piss off the fans to much, and the movie is likely to set box office records. Plus with the story already written, all three movies are going to have a very tight feel to them.

Matrix: the fx gimmicks that you'll see everywhere for the near future and the funnest story to ponder over when your stoned. They've already got the lead with the wire work and the freeze pan thing. I know neither was invented for the film, but most of middle America had never seen it before.

Star Wars 1-3: um, is there anything really? The over all story could be a bit tighter then Matrix. Not the individual flicks, but the cohesive feel between them. Matrix seems to have the biggest possibility of feeling like three different films.

On a related note, I'm thinking about creating a drinking game for Phantom Menance. You take a drink everytime Lucas recycles a scene from the first three films. Only question is, I don't know if I'll make it through the two hours before passing out.

16:17 / 31.10.01

THE PHANTOM MENACE was only two hours?

I swear it felt more like three weeks. Three weeks of my life I'll never get back. Like some horrible alcoholic blackout, some nightmare from which I could not awaken.

19:39 / 31.10.01

<total derailling>
the wirework is obvious, but where else has the freeze pan been used?
</total derailing>

19:53 / 31.10.01

quote:Originally posted by Jack Fear:
THE PHANTOM MENACE was only two hours?

I swear it felt more like three weeks. Three weeks of my life I'll never get back. Like some horrible alcoholic blackout, some nightmare from which I could not awaken.

Hey!
I thought I was the only one feeling that way!
The movie's a true black hole for consciousness and intelligence.

As for the clash of trilogies, I'm putting my money on the Matrix.

22:50 / 31.10.01

quote:Originally posted by Mystery Gypt:
<total derailling>
the wirework is obvious, but where else has the freeze pan been used?
</total derailing>

i believe it was developed specifically for the matrix

11:09 / 01.11.01

Hmmmmmmm......
Well since Lucas lost such peers as Copolla to keep his ideas grounded. (just look at the pod race, awful, they would never of let him do it)Lucas put himself out of the running, aiming his sights low for a kiddie market.
The Matrix had a great start, with an original script. The handling of it evoked some comic book, kung fu sensibilities, and actually made use of Keanu's ability to act badly. I am concerned as to where they will take it, for me the last shot was awesome in intent (Kingdom Come (DC) anyone)but could lead into dangerous territory. Keanu flying, leaping, running and brawling his way through a glorified platform game.
Lord of The Rings, has yet to even grace the screen, but already it has;
a. a great director, polished in style and mature in outlook
b. a grounded, very formed text from which to adapt and embelish
c. The whole of New Zealand's WIs knitting the background chainmail

I sound a bit bias but, I'm sure they will all get my cash a the ticket office.
PEACE

11:53 / 01.11.01

quote:Originally posted by Mystery Gypt:
<total derailling>
the wirework is obvious, but where else has the freeze pan been used?
</total derailing>

I am completly spacing. I know I've seen it somewhere else.

16:58 / 01.11.01

quote:Originally posted by Mystery Gypt:
<total derailling>
the wirework is obvious, but where else has the freeze pan been used?
</total derailing>

Buffalo 66 did something pretty similar near the end.

17:30 / 01.11.01

About a year or two prior to the Matrix, didn't they do the freeze pan in a Gap ad with swing kids and a Brian Seltzer version of "Jump, Jive and Wail"?

17:33 / 01.11.01

That sounds really familiar. You might just be on to something. Course, I never paid much attention to those ads, so I've got no idea what I'm talking about.

20:20 / 01.11.01

The Phantom Menace! How could you not like it? I believe its currently being used in Texas to replace the electric chair although many inmates are demanding they bring back vivisection instead, calling TPM cruel and unusual punishment. The U.N. is demanding it be included in the Geneva convention as a weapon of mass destruction. A rough script of TPM was found in Hitlers bunker with the words "Ive gone too far" scrawled on the cover. Charlie Manson gives it 2 thumbs up (not his though). And it made Timmy cry.

09:16 / 02.11.01

quote:Originally posted by I Am:
Star Wars 1-3: um, is there anything really?
I think the ammo that Star Wars has is the nostalgia-slash-"please be good" factor. My favorite part of Return of the Jedi, and possibly of all the films, was the "Vader Struggles with His Conscience" bit... ergo, "Star Wars II has Anakin getting kicked out of Eden, it has to be good!"

So, I will see Star Wars II even though I am 85% sure it won't be very good, because I so desperately want it to be very good. Don't underestimate the power of five-year-olds, 20 years later. I didn't like the Matrix as much as everyone else did, and I never read Lord of the Rings, so they don't have the nostalgia power of Star Wars. Hence, if we're talking pure box office numbers, I think it will do better than you suggest.

(Well, okay... unless the Phantom Menace backlash trumps nostalgia.)

09:16 / 02.11.01

1rst time i saw the freeze pan was in a rolling stones video, for thier cover of "like a rolling stone" way back when, it premired on FOX on the then new "Mad TV"... the next two matrix films are bein' filmed at once, so they may have a bit more cohession than thought...

09:16 / 02.11.01

Never mind all that. What about the Rambo and Back to the Future trilogies? Or The Godfather, Evil Dead, and Man with No Name trilogies!

12:10 / 02.11.01

quote:Originally posted by doubting thomas:
Hence, if we're talking pure box office numbers, I think it will do better than you suggest.

Oh, I think the Star Wars flicks will do well. There's really no way they can't do well. They're story has become such a part of pop culture that most people will go see it.

BUT, I think more will see LotR. LotR has the same nostalgia factor. About everyone I know who grew up in the 60's, not only read the books, but loved them. My mom, who rarely sees films in the theater, has already made plans with my aunt to see it a few days after it's released (to avoid the initial rush)

I think A LOT more people have read the books then you think.

SIDE NOTE: Every adult I've met who knows a kid that has fallen for the Harry Potter books, seems to take great pleasure in giving the kid a copy of LotR. So, I think not only do you have an older generation waiting for these movies. But, you're getting a younger one as well.

12:12 / 02.11.01

quote:Originally posted by Biolicious K9:
Never mind all that. What about the Rambo and Back to the Future trilogies? Or The Godfather, Evil Dead, and Man with No Name trilogies!

We're just talking about trilogies that are in the process of being released.

14:02 / 02.11.01

...i know...

Ronald Thomas Clontle

14:58 / 02.11.01

"It started out as a trilogy, but now it's seven books. I guess he just had so many ideas..."

Elijah, Freelance Rabbi

19:36 / 02.11.01

<total derailling>
the wirework is obvious, but where else has the freeze pan been used?
</total derailing>

Wing commander used it, i think it was before the matrix cause we called it the Wing Commander effect for the longest time