"The franchise really depends on me coming up with a good idea," Lucas said. "And that series is very research-intensive. So we're doing research now to see if we can't come up with another object for him to chase ... hopefully we'll come up with something."
http://www.sfgate.co...amp;type=movies
(* Credit to AP for managing to include a Spoiler in the first paragraph. Some people prefer to watch crap on DVD you know...)
The reaction on Slashdot to Lucas' announcement was savage. I only counted two comments supportive. Why haven't the force.net bedwetters rushed to his aid? You'll laugh and you'll cry at this best-of the Slashdot comments.
"Indiana Jones and The Search for More Money"?
The franchise is DEAD. This last iteration, "Indiana Jones and the Crystal McGuffin" put a bullet in it. George, STOP LISTENING TO THE PEOPLE TELLING YOU THAT YOU'RE GOOD. They're lying to you. Your last good idea you had was hiring Irvin Kershner and Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan for Empire.
Lets face it, the guy hasn't come up with a good idea in quite some time.
It seems to me that Lucas' first movie, THX 1138 can be seen as an allegory for his career. The "American Zoetrope [wikipedia.org]" production house he formed with Francis Ford Coppola back in the revolutionary days of the late '60s in San Francisco was all about the independent thinker escaping from the machine of control and exploitation which was the "old boys'" movie studio system at the time.
You just wait for American Grafitti 2, complete with CGI exploding '57 Chevy Impalas spinning through the air...
That old fart had two really good film ideas. With the first idea he got two really good films, Star Wars and Empire, and then 4 (soon 5) crappy empty sequels. The second idea, Raiders, resulted in one really good movie and one passable movie out of 3 sequels. I feel sorry for the sad joke he's become.
Precocious, annoying children only amuse mothers in the full flush of new-kid hormones.
Because he's a hack who has nowadays completely succumb to CGI for films. He's obviously never been all that great, he's just always had other people helping him. Given free reign, he tends to make worthless crap.
Somebody stop him
He is only okay when it comes to special effects. As soon as an actor appears on screen, it turns to crap. Look at how he managed to turn each and every one of the extremely talented all-star cast of the Star Wars prequels into wooden robots. Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman, Samuel L. Jackson, each and every one of them is a brilliant actor with lots of great roles to their name (well, Natalie Portman is still young, but she'll get there), but all of them managed to give the absolute worst performance of their career in Lucas' films. That's a pretty good sign that he's not really a very good director at all.
I *hate* when people say that about movies. "Hey, it's just a fun movie. Turn your brain off and have fun!" No. I'm all for suspension of disbelief, but only when a movie earns it. A good movie (even if it's just a fun movie) sucks you in and makes you to suspend your disbelief. If you have to put effort into suspending your disbelief, then the movie isn't doing its job. If you have to fight with yourself to ignore the stupidity, then it's just a bad movie.
I know that Lucas thinks that everyone 'relies on him" to come up with good ideas... but seriously, Lucus is a one trick pony. He makes exactly one good movie in a series, then he either hands it off to someone who is talented or he makes a crapfest himself.
Happy endings should never be preferred over a good "bleak" ending, especially within the dystopian genre. Sad endings stick with you, whereas happy endings are the same thing over and over again. Of course, if everyone took up this theory, sad endings would probably become the status quo and would thus be pretty lame too.
the franchise died with the first shot of the latest film which was a frikkin CGI gopher.
Shia LaBeouf can't act.
The roles should be switched, perhaps -- at least Lucas should stop writing because, from his own admission, he really really stinks at writing dialogue. But he's an OK director, he has an eye for imagery. I don't think I'm alone in thinking he wanted the IJ4 movie to hint at Star Wars as a plot device (aliens, right?) since, as he said (paraphrased) "I wanted it to be more far out but Steve kinda stopped me on that"
And let us never speak of kingdoms of crystal skulls again.
> "The franchise really depends on me coming up with a good idea", said Lucas.
We're f#cked!
All three of the prequels were riddled with problems and almost completely devoid of redeeming value other than some nice eye-candy. The Phantom Menace, for example, featured a cute little boy with Star Trekkian sensor-readings that claim that he's special that 'accidented' his way into being a hero in the end. Accompanying him was Jar Jar, a clumsy creature that strained the term 'comic relief', two droids, a young queen, and two Jedi who were 'charismatic' enough to put Robin Williams to sleep. They went on an adventure across the stars to ... put a stop to a trade blockade.... masterminded by creatures that were sadly unconvincing. Nothing in there about the original trilogy. It's just dull. Dull dull dull. And that's only the first of the three. Thankfully, it's also the least offensive. It's nice that you enjoyed them because it means you didn't waste your time or your money. Frankly, I envy you for that. But, dude, the prequels are bad. They're not bad because other movies were better, they're bad because they're bad.
George Lucas lost something in the mid 80's and never got it back. I wasn't sure of that until I saw Indy 4. His writing has become so sophomoric that he has to defend himself in interviews by blaming the fans and claiming that he's paying homages to other movies. Not good.
Indiana Jones and the Still Beating Heart of George Lucas. Seriously, if the franchise really depends on Lucas coming up with a good idea, they might as well call it a day right now.
We could call the new film "Indiana Jones: A Bridge Too Far".
Remember that one scene, where the crazy Arab is doing his thing, and Indy simply pulls out his gun and shoots him? That scene is all wrong, due to editing restraints, we don't get to see that in fact, the Arab shot at Indy first (but missed), so Indy shot him in self-defense.
Perhaps they could make "The Indiana Jones Holiday Special" as an interim measure.
...enough all ready. Time for something NEW, Lucas!