Rating: 
Summary: Two-Hour Commercial For The New SW Doll Line...
Review: After watching the devoid-of-any-charm-sleep-inducing-travesty-of-a-movie known as the 'The Phantom Menace', I dropped to my knees and prayed to God and every saint that I could remember that Mr. George "Quasi-Genius Turned Marketing Whore" Lucas hands the writing and directing duties of the next two films to another party (dramatic-overstating,but I'm just making a point here, folks). Maybe in the hands of people like Lawrence Kazden (who wrote the script for 'Empire'-the best of the orinal trilogy) and Frank Darabont, we'll get some inspired film-making. Something that the Star Wars myth legacy deserves (even though the trilogy didn't deserve 'Jedi' either, but...). But if it stays in Lucas' hands?...YEESH! Do we really need ANOTHER "VILLIAN TUMBLES DOWN A BOTTOMLESS CHASM" scene, or ANOTHER "BIG-BAM-BOOM SPACE STATION" scene, or even ANOTHER "CELEBRATION FINALE" scene? THere is no doubt, to me anyways, that Mr. George is a great 'Idea Guy', and he used to be an inspired all-around filmmaker. But with 'Phantom', all he seemed inspired to do was show some ILM muscle and create a two- hour commercial for the new line of Star Wars Dolls.
Rating:
Summary: Star Wars is Over
Review: After watching this film, I realized that George answers to no one. How did this movie ever get released? George seems to have lost all touch with his fans and what it takes to tell a good story. This film could not have possibly been test screened. While this movie is stocked with great actors, their performances were wooden. Scenes were flat. Characters had no chemstry. Lucas definately seemed more concerned with the fx in the background than what was going on with the main characters. I really disliked the heavy digital look, especially during the final battle. TPM is not a movie, but more like a 2 hour video game. The script was horrible and the movie moved at a slow pace. After the criticism that the cutsie Ewoks drew, I can not belive that he gave so much attention to Jar Jar, who made people in the theater shift uncomfortably in their chairs. Darth Maul was the coolest thing about the movie and he only got about five minuites time. The absolute worst thing about this movie is the introduction of the midocloreans. I have always thought that the force was a spiritul power, not due to a bunch of bacteria. This not only ruins this movie, but the original trilogy. I felt this movie was an insult to most people's intelligence. It was written for kids, but I did not see many kids enjoying this movie. I could go on and on, but I will not. This movie's flaws are pretty evident. There is a big backlash against Star Wars and deservingly so. George is greedy. Where is Episode 4-6 on DVD IN ORIGINAL FORM. Where is Raiders on DVD. Attack of the Clones will be out in a few months, and by looking at the trailers i feel that we are in for more bad scripts and wooden acting. I will see this movie, but I feel that George is not capable of ever directing a movie again.
Rating: 
Summary: Superbit picture quality
Review: After watching this on VHS a year ago, I missed the whole movie. The picture detail is so clear it's unreal. the underwaterscene looks k=like a different movie. And check the bit rate it averages 8.5. Now I just bought 2 superbit movies and the bit rate is also in the 8 area. The sound and seperation are great but still not DTS. Cannot figure out why a picture and sound so good would leave off that option, as only 2% of people hae a certified THX sound system set up??? What Lucas reaaly need to do is FOLLOW HBO!!! There is no way they can fill in the story and give enough time to Anakin changing to Darth, and Obie Won and all inbetween in just 2 2hour movies. Also if this is the past, well it looks more technical to me than 70 yrs later when Luke is 18. So they should make it like the Sopranos or 6 feet under with 10-14 1 hour episodes and sell it as a 4 disc set with a DTS option. Someone please give this idea to Lucas. What would you like a compressed 2 hour movie or a 13 hour 13 part miniseries like band of brothers?
Rating: 
Summary: Too much foreshadowing
Review: After watching this video, I realized that the whole time they were just setting up conflicts to be resolved in the sequels. When I first saw Star Wars: A New Hope, I had no idea that they were going to make more, and I don't think George Lucas did either. All throughout Episode I, they caused all these problems with the young boy, the return of the Sith, and the election of Senator Palpatine, but none of these were resolved. I would have liked to see a little more substance to a movie than just foreshadowing.
Rating: 
Summary: Save your money...
Review: Against my own better judgement I bought a video copy of this film. The quality of the VHS format just doesn't do justice to the film which was amazing in theaters. The transfer to video was visually poor and anyone used to DVD quality sound is bound to be dissapointed. I would hope that eventually this film and the origional trilogy will come out on DVD. If you want to see The Phantom Menace, rent it or borrow it, then join the masses of us who are camping out waiting for Lucas to decide he wants to honor us with the DVD.
Rating:
Summary: STAR WARS EPISODE 1: THE PHANTOM MENACE - Oh, why?
Review: Ah yes, the most hyped up movie of all time. 'A new Star Wars movie! ' The first of a new series of prequels to the classic Star Wars trilogy, PHANTOM MENACE hardly compares to the earlier movies in the series (Er, later entries?) It has a dry but half decent story, but the characters... ouch. Where to start.Obi Wan Kenobi and Qui Gon Jin are easily the two coolest, most well done characters in the whole film. Jar Jar Binks is incredibly annoying as an alien thing, and all the other characters are just plain dull. It seems as if the whole point of the movie was to cash in on the Star Wars craze and make even more money. (Although many people will say that George 'made it for the fans') I must say, the lightsabre battle at the end was truely stunning. Too bad everything else in the movie wasn't. There are far too many pointless, childish parts, and it's obvious that George Lucas intended PHANTOM MENACE to be aimed at a younger audience. It's still an entertaining movie, however, but hardly all it was hyped up to be. Oh well. There's always episodes II and III.
Rating:
Summary: Good fun
Review: Ah, the controversial "Phantom Menace." Well, give Lucas courage for trying. No matter what he came up with would have been pounced on by somebody. I won't complain that the acting in this film isn't great, because it wasn't in the original "Star Wars" movie either (except for Alec Guiness.) What we have here is a spectacle. I shouldn't complain about that either, since specatacle films were practically invented by "Star Wars." Nowadays, however, special effects don't seem so spectacular. Our culture has become dulled to them, so that even all the sound and fury here can't impress us. In this case, Lucas will have to develop some more engaging characters if he is to hold our interest. But it was definitely worth a look. I enjoyed watching this film in the theater, where it was more impressive than it is be on video. It was eye candy, not much else, but that's all I expected. I hope the next one is at least this enjoyable, and hopefully even moreso.
Rating:
Summary: A Good movie Over comercialized!
Review: All die-hard fans cannot help but love this pre-continuation of the saga. The story line was good and the actors filled the rolls perfectly. While I agree with other reviews that the special effects were great; they seemed a little over done. The under-water scenes and especially the grassy field battle scene were just too much. I think the lack of using life-size props and scale models took away from some of the realism that the old films carried. It is also sad to see that with our technology advances the spacecraft looks more high-tech than the stuff in the first films, causing the story line to be out of kilter.
Rating: 
Summary: Star Wars...its coming
Review: ALL I CAN SAY IS FINALLY....THE STAR WARS WEBSITE SAYS IT WILL HAVE 480 MINUTES OF FOOTAGE AND SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDING: Here's what the two-disc set will feature: *The Phantom Menace, mastered by THX for superior sound and picture quality, presented in Anamorphic Widescreen and Dolby 5.1 Surround EX (English), Dolby 2.0 Surround (English and Spanish), and Dolby 2.0 Surround (French, for Canadian release) *Audio commentary by Writer-Director George Lucas; Producer Rick McCallum; Co-Editor and Sound Designer Ben Burtt; Visual Effects Supervisors Scott Squires, John Knoll and Dennis Muren; and Animation Supervisor Rob Coleman, offering personal insights into the making of the film *Seven never-before-seen deleted scenes with full visual effects completed just for the DVD release *"The Beginning" -- an all-new hour-long documentary culled from over 600 hours of footage offering unprecedented access inside Lucasfilm and ILM during the making of Episode I *Multi-angle storyboard to animatic to finished film feature, that lets you flip through the various phases of development of key action sequences *Five behind-the-scenes featurettes exploring The Phantom Menace's storyline, designs, costumes, visual effects and fight scenes *The popular "Duel of the Fates" music video that debuted in 1999 *All 12 parts of the Lynne's Diaries, the web documentaries that first appeared here at starwars.com Galleries of theatrical posters, print campaign, and never-before-scene production photos Downloaded by millions from starwars.com, *The original theatrical teaser and launch trailers, plus seven TV spots including the "tone poems" This looks to be a good one, however note that this film will be released again in a BIG BOX SET in the future, so those of you who will be mad if LUCASFILM re-releases it...you know in advance. But I cant wait any longer...Star Wars Fans..GO FOR IT
Rating:
Summary: It's STAR WARS not "A Beautiful Mind"
Review: All I can say is that I've seen this movie about 7 or 8 times on screen and DVD and it just keeps getting better with each viewing especially if you have the original Special Edition Trilogy with which to compare. Liam Neeson is *outstanding* as a rebel Jedi. Period. Great casting choice. Ewan McGregor gives us a pretty good look at an apprentice Obi-Wan. But the story is what drives this series and George Lucas certainly has a great story. I reduce it to 4 stars but not because of Jar-Jar Binks - who actually gave more life to this film than he gets credit. You're *supposed* to be slightly annoyed with him the same way C3PO tends to drive you crazy. That's the point. He has some really funny lines and the comic relief does it's job. I give this 4 stars instead of 5 because of the incomplete information about the Jedi universe and their history. Not until Attack of the Clones do we really see enough of this. The Jedi Council was repeated all too often with not enough forward movement. There's no hint of "Count Dooku" or whatever his Jedi name is which seems to be a huge plot point in Clones. Oh well, they still set up Obi-Wan and Anakin very well and the Sith is explained appropriately. Mitichlorions (sp?) are pretty well explained as the basis of the Force. The politics are OK which is, after all, the entire reason for the conflict along with the religious implications of Good v. Evil. I'm amazed with Ian McDiarmid the actor being able to reprise his prequel role as Senator Palpatine with the full expectation of where his character is going. The score is superb as usual because Star Wars is as much John Williams (to a point) as George Lucas. I've only seen Clones twice and I don't understand why people are trashing Phantom Menace so much. It has *MUCH* better acting than Clones and thousand times better dialogue. If you are objective, you can't honestly say that Clones is a better story, either. Of course, any movie with Christopher Lee as a villain is OK in my book but, please, did they have to duplicate the scene between Saruman and Gandalf almost verbatim?? It's a good continuation of Phantom Menace but much stiffer and with a totally corny romance to boot. Where's a young Harrison Ford when you need him? This is supposed to be about Phantom Menace but you can't help to mingle the other films when reviewing. My final criticism: George Lucas is a great story conceiver but he needs to hand over directing and partial screen-writing to someone else for Episode III like he did with V and VI. DVD bonus material: very good - definitely worth the price. All a Star Wars junkie could want.
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