George Lucas "privilege" Empire Strikes Back voted no.1, wasn't always a trilogy

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I read my copy of Empire the other day and realised how much I hate voted-based lists like this. The Dark Knight as the 3rd best film ever? Inception in 10th?

Come the fuck on people.
 
Don't these people know that a loud minority has declared that TDK has aged poorly, not rewatchable and is now beginning to suck? It's been 6 years already, stop liking something more than them!
 
Don't these people know that a loud minority has declared that TDK has aged poorly, not rewatchable and is now beginning to suck? It's been 6 years already, stop liking something more than them!

I never cared for it in the first place. I'm ahead of the curve?!
 
Make Up Your mind George, i thought it was always 3 films?

No, it was originally one story. It was never planned as three films originally. When he got the chance to do it, the first act had so much to it, he couldn't fit the whole story into one movie so he made the first act which we now know as Star Wars: Episode 4. There's stuff to call George Lucas out on, but he's always been consistent on this aspect of the original trilogy.
 
Don't these people know that a loud minority has declared that TDK has aged poorly, not rewatchable and is now beginning to suck? It's been 6 years already, stop liking something more than them!

Majorities can often be wrong (as proven by this list :P). They also tend to make generic choices.

Most people in America believe in God.
 
TDK wasn't a comic book film. It was a crime drama/thriller that happened to use a comic character (that didn't have any powers).

It was adapted from comic books, using comic book characters and story ideas. That's about as literal a definition you can get for comic book films.
 
Since you're clearly the type of person who would love 2001, please fucking explain it to me. It's basically unwatchable... But yet a top 10 movie of all time?

You should explain why it's unwatchable, because that's the more puzzling stance to take.

TDK wasn't a comic book film. It was a crime drama/thriller that happened to use a comic character (that didn't have any powers).

I've always maintained that Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was a cold war submarine film.
 
True indeed, but I also think there's this sort of self-perpetuating thing with it at this point.

I wouldn't be surprised if in another 10-20 years, the way people like to throw out "Citizen Kane" as shorthand for "great movie I haven't actually watched but I know fucking snobs I don't like have seen it," might be replaced by "Shawshank," honestly. Like, say "I don't know what you're talking about, Transformers 13 was fucking awesome. I mean, what were you expecting, fucking Shawshank Redemption? Just turn your brain off, dummy."

Ha it may get to that point, considering its continual relevancy to the "hoi polloi" on imdb.

I just can't hate the movie, I just can't. Some people will always see melodrama where others see uplifting story. Some people will see emotional manipulation where others see emotion. Its just tit-tat, back and forth bickering at this point what film snobs declare ok for the masses to enjoy. So what it didn't do something ground-breaking for the genre? It kept people engaged, and its not something stupid like Transformers making the top 10. Thats enough. (not directed at you btw Bobby). It is truly the Shawshank Redemption of movies!!
 
The Godfather is the second-rated American movie in history by the American Film Institute and Star Wars (Episode 4) was 13th. Hell, even Shawshank (72) and Pulp Fiction (94) made the Top 100, albeit much further down the list.

It's not exactly a 14 year old boys like these movies deal, outside of The Dark Knight.

People who used to be 14 year old boys also love them. Let's take a quick tour of female characters in these movies:

The Empire Strikes Back: hey Leia's pretty cool and so is... umm well there's also...
The Godfather: uhhhh well...
The Dark Knight: there's that lawyer babe whose entire function is to die but at least there's also... umm...
The Shawshank Redemption: Rita Hayworth has an important role
trolololol
...
Pulp Fiction: Well at least here we have that stickup lady, Uma Thurmon, and that girl who talks about bellies...

But hey, I love the shit out of all these movies. I was a fourteen year old boy once myself. The Godfather is a legitimate masterpiece of cinema, and Empire is fantastic. But these five movies hardly represent what we might consider the breadth of human experience.
 
Gotta love that dark middle chapter.

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The Dark Knight at number three? I'm not that surprised to be honest. I only see this weird hate for it on the internet. To most people I've spoken to regarding comic book movies, old and of different generations, it's pretty much the only comic book movie most don't consider childish crap made for nerds. Probably because it's pretty much a crime drama starring Batman and Joker. If I remember, the previous list from Empire had The Dark Knight in it too. That and Batman Begins were the only two comic book movies in the top one hundred.

Anyhow, pretty terrible list. There's two Star Wars movies in the top ten and a bunch of other stuff. Blah, blah, and so on.
 
Yeah... Sight and Sound does the only good poll IMO. Empire's lists have mostly great movies on it, but they always seem compiled in a terrible order and focus mostly on fan favorites. It's like they published the IMDB top 200.
 
No, it was originally one story. It was never planned as three films originally. When he got the chance to do it, the first act had so much to it, he couldn't fit the whole story into one movie so he made the first act which we now know as Star Wars: Episode 4. There's stuff to call George Lucas out on, but he's always been consistent on this aspect of the original trilogy.

Which is why he recycled the Death Star as the finale of the third film? C'mon. He didn't even know Vader would be Luke's father until halfway through pre-production on Empire, and the Luke/Leia sibling thing was dragged in for Jedi out of nowhere to explain Yoda's "There is another" line after Lucas decided to only do three movies and not six (or nine, depending on who you ask).

Star Wars is pretty clearly meant as a standalone film, in large part because I'm sure Lucas never expected to have the opportunity to do another. A lot of characterization points change between Star Wars and Empire, especially regarding Vader and the treatment of the Force, that give away the fact that the sequels were totally made up on the fly. Worked out damn well for Empire. Jedi, well...it's not on that top ten list for a reason.
 
George Lucas said:
"The fans like The Empire Strikes Back the best, partly because it is so dark.

"It's an overall story and as it happens in the second act, things get dark"

Who gives a crap how dark it is? My stool is dark, and doctor says that's bad.
 
Which is why he recycled the Death Star as the finale of the third film? C'mon. He didn't even know Vader would be Luke's father until halfway through pre-production on Empire, and the Luke/Leia sibling thing was dragged in for Jedi out of nowhere to explain Yoda's "There is another" line after Lucas decided to only do three movies and not six (or nine, depending on who you ask).

Having a story that evolves means not every detail is set or details don't change. He clearly says that when he talks about his original story. He's said this for a long time. Something I knew growing up as a kid. I also heard about 9 films total growing up as well.

Star Wars is pretty clearly meant as a standalone film, in large part because I'm sure Lucas never expected to have the opportunity to do another. A lot of characterization points change between Star Wars and Empire, especially regarding Vader and the treatment of the Force, that give away the fact that the sequels were totally made up on the fly. Worked out damn well for Empire. Jedi, well...it's not on that top ten list for a reason.

Well duh, he didn't expect he'd get another shot so he carved out one movie and made it stand alone. He's said this about how Star Wars came to be for a long time as well.

The point is he's said this about the OT for quite some time now and has been the narrative about how Star Wars came to be. He's not changed his stance on this aspect.
 
The thing is, there was a emotional resonance with Luke and his character.

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The whole act with Yoda and his development of Luke really struck a chord with my 8 year old self when I first caught (or remember) Empire around 1990, as around then I started to appreciate the words and not just the obvious visual appeal.

It was inspirational. Beautiful. And yes, a little dark - but I think the appeal is far more subtle than just 'its teh dark'.

HEY LETS MURDER CHILDREN, FROM MY POINT OF VIEW THE JEDI ARE EVIL

Exactly. RotS was teh dark but it was also ass as.
 
I know I should respect the opinions of others, and I do, but few things make me not want to more than fan polls of the greatest movies of all time. It makes me feel like a snob, but The Dark Knight at #3? I fucking love The Dark Knight, but come on!
 
...
11. Blade Runner
10. Inception
...

NO! I honest to god still don't see why Inception is so well regarded and to see it beat Blade Runner is an insult.

But let's see what I have to say about some of the others.

Gladiator: Gave this a rewatch recently and...I really couldn't for the life of me figure out why this won Best Picture. It just feels like another revenge story that they played straight. I'd have to agree with Roger Ebert here, judging from his review (http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/gladiator-2000).

Toy Story 3: Disappointed to see this one so low, considering how lists like this one usually go for the heavily nostalgic types, and seeing how the movie pierced into that, not as a retread reminding us that it was part of an already critically acclaimed series, but as something that on a personal level occurs to all of us, one way or another. To see this so low on one of these "fhanboi" lists is surprising to say the least.

J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies: Really? With one that has an underlying message which says "9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB! WAKE UP SHEEPLE!". And the one who put that aspect into film is now set to direct the next one? Okay, whatever suits ya.

Avengers: Yeah, I don't really have much positive to say about it. It's just an average movie when you get right down to it, nothing more that a movie that left me saying "...that's it?".

Alien and Aliens: After watching Alien for the first time a few months back, I'd flip their positions.

Transformers: ...I have no words, except these...the movie before it is a Kubrick flick.

Jurassic Park: A thrill ride from start to finish and one of those movies I tend to watch when nothing else is on, but I think that's all there really is to it, without more of why the park is what it is.

Fuck any list that doesn't have a Mel Brooks or Marx Brothers comedy in the top ten.
I'm honest to god shocked that Blazing Saddles is so low and that the likes of Young Fronkensteen and The Producers are non existent
 
The further away from Lucas they get the Star Wars franchise, the better off we'll be.

I'm still super salty about those Star Wars games he pretty much torpedoed.

Everyone wants this man to go away but I simply don't care anymore. I'm long passed Star Wars. Until they do the full monty like in blade runner final cut it is worthless. We also need the originals as well. It will prolly never happen. 4k is a chance I guess.

Wonder how Lucas feels knowing those CGI films are going to look positively hilarious in 4k?
 
I'm glad TDK is still getting rated as high as it is, it's phenomenal.

People forget how good the marketing was for it, and how well it delivered after Ledgers death. Just thinking about how much pressure Nolan was under & how he (and Heath) nailed it perfectly just makes me smile. Sooooo good.

Shouldn't be downgraded just because it's Batman.
 
which is why future Star Wars films, or at least the spin-offs, should have a darker tone. i'm all for having more lighthearted or kid friendly Star Wars like Clone Wars (even CW has dark moments), but The Empire Strike Backs has more adult characters and some genuinely more adult moments than the other films.

side note, my dream would be to have Chris Nolan or Neill Blomkamp do a future SW spin-off film, just for to see how interesting they could write possible villains.
 
Reminder that there are fools in this world who think ROTJ > TESB.

Indeed there are. The stuff between Luke and Vader in ROTJ had more emotional resonance than anything else in the trilogy, and the finale is the perfect marriage of themes with storytelling.

Empire ending on a bit of a downer doesn't trump that.
 
There's a joke in the storyboards to The Empire Strikes Back about how sequels weren't planned until the money started rolling in from Star Wars.
 
it's a list voted for by the public, of course Shawshank and TDK were going to make the list.

I don't really know how Shawshank entered the public consciousness as this "great movie" but it's there now—and it's not going anywhere, I guess
It's a nicer version of Escape from Alcatraz.
 
Indeed there are. The stuff between Luke and Vader in ROTJ had more emotional resonance than anything else in the trilogy, and the finale is the perfect marriage of themes with storytelling.

Empire ending on a bit of a downer doesn't trump that.

What does trump it is the fact the last 30 minutes of Jedi are preceded by the first hour and 40 minutes.

It's quite a nice-sized hurdle. Jedi doesn't clear it.
 
Titanic > Gump, Wall-E.

doesn't rely as much on gimmickry as Gump, and doesn't completely fall apart for the second and third acts like Wall-E. good movie.

Oh I see your point, but I respectfully disagree in regards of Wall-E. I haven't seen it in a while, but I don't remember having any problem with the story progression. It was logical, and I felt that the whole movie had a heart. Maybe the ending with the whole memory wipe fake-out was a little bit too overboard, but otherwise it was perfect for me. But I would be interested in why you think differently.
 
I give Lucas little to no credit for TESB. He wrote the story, but the rest was everyone else.

Driected by:- Irvin Kershner

Written by:- Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan

Story by:- George Lucas.
The story was a very brief outline. Same goes for Jedi. Yet Lucas has no problem taking credit for everything.
 
This is the kind of best-of list for guys I knew in college with the super-sized bong and the blacklight Scarface poster. Where's Fight Club?

Since you're clearly the type of person who would love 2001, please fucking explain it to me. It's basically unwatchable... But yet a top 10 movie of all time?

At its release maybe you wouldn't hear that sentiment as much as you do now, but I think tolerance for a really deliberately paced movie that doesn't pander to the audience is really growing smaller and smaller each year. Then again, the only people I've really heard say that 2001's unwatchable are college kids, maybe kids were unimpressed back then, too.
 
TDK wasn't a comic book film. It was a crime drama/thriller that happened to use a comic character (that didn't have any powers).
That's even worse, as it's a fucking disgraceful attempt at a crime/drama thriller

it sure as fuck ain't no Heat
 
i love the first two nolan batmans (except for some bullshit)

but top 5? also i'm sick of shawshank redemption. thanks tbs.

only genre film i could throw in top 5 would be a lotr movie. and if it had to be a superhero film then it's probably a film by based singer (or spidey 2)
 
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