Ah, James Cameron. The legendary director known for spectacles like Aliens, Titanic and the Terminator. He's also done many a documentary, and of course everyone's favorite tech demo movie Avatar. In more ways than one he's contributed to the film industry like no other director has.
Nowadays, however, he's known for talking smack in the industry. He talks about how 'Wonder Woman' wasn't anything new, and how people will soon get tired of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and want new stories. He whines about how what was accomplished in Wonder Woman was also done back in the sixties, and how Marvel movies are glorified two-hour fight scenes. He even goes as far as to say that Wonder Woman objectified women rather than being a feminist triumph. This coming from the director who got Kate Winslet nude for his fabricated Waterworld In Real Life film, and has had female protagonists in his films before. Hypocrite much? (Still better than George Lucas and Star Wars, though. Barely.)
Those remarks, like George Lucas before him, demonstrate how big of an ego James really has. It's especially seen on his attack on the Avengers, which comes after 'Black Panther' sunk his Titanic in the box office records. This is also coming from the man who wants to make four more Avatar films and trying to revive the Terminator again; the former being another short lived revival for 3D movies, and the latter after coming from two trash films. He even compares his Avatar films to another Godfather story, that the Avatar films are the next family drama. As ambitious that is, there's only one true Godfather film.
Speaking of ambition, James Cameron promised us an entire universe dedicated to Avatar. What do we have, now? A theme park at a Disney resort, and a mediocre-at-best video game. That's it. Sure, Avatar is the #1 movie of all time, but where's the success? No fanfics, no cosplay, nothing. Whatever you were planning before, Marvel and Disney beat you to the punch. Now you're trying to get back at them with your Twitter rants and being the center of all the attention. No congratulations, no 'keep up the good work', not even being grateful for Disney and Marvel making the idea of shared universes popular and possible.
James Cameron also demonstrates the possibilities when someone more successful comes down the road. Either you're considering the new kid on the block a worthy opponent, or you're jealous and fearful of this new competition. James Cameron demonstrates the latter. He complains about a Marvel movie because it came and took a precious record from him. All that hard work and troubled production that he went through in the nineties was now for naught. He knows this, and he doesn't like that one bit.
Because of all of this, I don't want James Cameron to be successful in his eleventy seven Avatar films and his second Terminator revival. In fact, I want him to fail in his latest films because of how unworthy he is of success. Anyone with no respect for any form of competition whatsoever is not deserving of goodwill. James Cameron has arrogance that would make even the Star Wars fan base blush. The fact that he has been this disregarding of his colleagues displeases me greatly. Not even George Lucas is this bad, and his ego was bigger than Atlas on top of being a control freak.
One more thing: poor sportsmanship has its consequences. Jimmy boy, you want to talk the way you do? You better back it up.
Friday, April 27, 2018
Friday, March 30, 2018
Steven Spielberg: Pop Culture's Declining and Fallen God
Steven Spielberg: that name could not be any more familiar to film goers both casual and hardcore. Regarded as one of the greats of the film industry, Spielberg was responsible for many great movies of our time. Jaws, Indiana Jones, E.T., Saving Private Ryan, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jurassic Park, and Schindler's List. If there was a movie he was involved with, it would be considered a classic.
Nowadays, however, he's something of a past-his-prime entity. His first movie outing in years is Ready Player One, a movie based off of a book that rides on the success of one pop culture reference too many and now has faced backlash due to the whole GamerGate debacle. Even with critical success, it's not going to be a movie that's going to light up the charts. It'll be remembered for a month tops before it gets crushed by Avengers: Infinity War and Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Even before taking his latest theater offering into account, Spielberg has devolved into the equivalent of the typical stubborn old timer lamenting on the days of old and how everything in the 21st century is the work of the devil. He whines about how Netflix movies should not be considered eligible for the Oscars, how television is a threat to film goers, and the same old 'media corrupts youth' routine with attacking computer games.
First off, Martin Scorsese is working on a movie for Netflix right now. By that logic, a Netflix film directed by someone as legendary as him is not worthy of awards of any kind. What if other famous directors get into Netflix? Are their films not considered eligible for awards, either? To me, films made for Netflix should be deserving of Oscars. Nay, they ARE deserving of Oscars if they're worthwhile.
Also, when he said that television was a threat to film goers I facepalmed and started doing thorough research on his works. Here's some history that Spielberg hopes you forget about. Steven Spielberg has been involved with multiple television shows, ranging from all ages fare like Animaniacs, Freakazoid, Pinky and the Brain, and Tiny Toon Adventures, to dramatic yet condensed war movie fare like Band of Brothers and Five Came Back, and science fiction works such as Invasion America
and Falling Skies.
He was also the producer for Under the Dome, a CBS show based off of the Stephen King novel of the same title. Spielberg even founded Amblin Television, which more or less was the production company for many of the shows that I mention. So to say that television threatens film goers while being behind both television shows and starting a studio ranges on hypocrisy that most politicians wish they had.
Here's a hint, Spielberg: how about your films as of late have not been relevant since the nineties, and that going to the movies nowadays has the fun factor of a kidney stone while being twice as painful? Most of your movies after that time were either average at best or downright forgettable. Ready Player One may have a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but that means nothing when it doesn't rake in the cash. Not to mention the stress of getting to a theater in the first place, the high cost of tickets and food, and putting up with a volatile audience. Oh, and god help you if you need to hit the restroom. You miss an important scene? Nope, too bad, no pause or rewinds for you.
Lastly, his statement on computer games also assumes people forgot about his prior legacy in the interactive media realm. He was one of the founders of Dreamworks Interactive, which paved the way for the Medal of Honor franchise. The studio also brought in titles like Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair, BoomBots, T'ai Fu: Wrath of the Tiger, and Skullmonkeys.
Dreamworks Interactive later became Electronic Arts Los Angeles, continuing the Medal of Honor Legacy as well as producing Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3. They then became Danger Close Games with the reboot of Medal of Honor and finally named DICE Los Angeles with the Battlefield series.
In addition, Steven Spielberg was one of three writers (the other two being Orson Scott Card and Brian Moriarty) for the LucasArts point and click sci-fi adventure game The Dig. The Dig was originally going to be an episode of Amazing Stories, which is another television product courtesy of Spielberg, followed by a movie before becoming a game. Again, this idea was from Spielberg himself. It became a game because it was too expensive to make into a movie or TV episode. When the game was released, it became a best selling classic; it was not without delays and troubles.
In a way, it saddens me to write this blog post and what Spielberg has become. It's basically the film director's version of the Detroit Red Wings, Gwyn from Dark Souls, or the Roman Empire's legacy. In the case of Spielberg, he was a great director in his hey-day and produced great works even in the nineties. Unfortunately, starting in the 2000s his work started to decline in quality. By the time of the new tens, he has all but become irrelevant in the age of video streaming, Disney the media juggernaut, and an increase in television programming equaling or surpassing the cinema experience. Unfortunately, Spielberg sees the likes of television and Netflix as a threat rather than an opportunity. His need to cling to the past will eventually ruin him in the long run. He's obsessed with trying to protect the traditions of the past while still thinking that he will stay on top. He's wrong in this regard.
This reminds us of an awful truth: we ALL have an expiration date. No matter how great or talented we all are, we are not forever. Though our legacies will be remembered, we are all but parts to be replaced in the great machine. Spielberg and a few other directors are, unfortunately, a harsh reminder of the unwillingness to adapt quickly. Society and Technology goes on, and unless you adapt to current trends, you will die. What happens if you DON'T adapt? You become Steven Spielberg.
This is also a reminder to stay on top of these famous and/or powerful people in case they slip up. Spielberg has become afraid of the legacies he's created, and how he feels they've turned against him. This is a mistake that, unfortunately, he is not aware of. Sooner or later, he'll be gone for good, and without a legacy to continue on. Spielberg, do yourself a favor: evolve, or prepare to die.
Websites referenced:
https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/3/26/17148350/ready-player-one-book-backlash-controversy-gamergate-explained
http://deadline.com/2018/03/steven-spielberg-netflix-oscars-tv-clear-and-present-danger-to-filmgoers-1202353123/
http://www.indiewire.com/2018/03/martin-scorsese-the-irishman-netflix-theatrical-story-of-film-1201944963/
https://lifehacker.com/what-would-make-you-actually-go-to-the-movies-1821605002
http://variety.com/2017/film/features/movie-business-changing-consumer-demand-studios-exhibitors-1202016699/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DICE_Los_Angeles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dig
Nowadays, however, he's something of a past-his-prime entity. His first movie outing in years is Ready Player One, a movie based off of a book that rides on the success of one pop culture reference too many and now has faced backlash due to the whole GamerGate debacle. Even with critical success, it's not going to be a movie that's going to light up the charts. It'll be remembered for a month tops before it gets crushed by Avengers: Infinity War and Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Even before taking his latest theater offering into account, Spielberg has devolved into the equivalent of the typical stubborn old timer lamenting on the days of old and how everything in the 21st century is the work of the devil. He whines about how Netflix movies should not be considered eligible for the Oscars, how television is a threat to film goers, and the same old 'media corrupts youth' routine with attacking computer games.
First off, Martin Scorsese is working on a movie for Netflix right now. By that logic, a Netflix film directed by someone as legendary as him is not worthy of awards of any kind. What if other famous directors get into Netflix? Are their films not considered eligible for awards, either? To me, films made for Netflix should be deserving of Oscars. Nay, they ARE deserving of Oscars if they're worthwhile.
Also, when he said that television was a threat to film goers I facepalmed and started doing thorough research on his works. Here's some history that Spielberg hopes you forget about. Steven Spielberg has been involved with multiple television shows, ranging from all ages fare like Animaniacs, Freakazoid, Pinky and the Brain, and Tiny Toon Adventures, to dramatic yet condensed war movie fare like Band of Brothers and Five Came Back, and science fiction works such as Invasion America
and Falling Skies.
He was also the producer for Under the Dome, a CBS show based off of the Stephen King novel of the same title. Spielberg even founded Amblin Television, which more or less was the production company for many of the shows that I mention. So to say that television threatens film goers while being behind both television shows and starting a studio ranges on hypocrisy that most politicians wish they had.
Here's a hint, Spielberg: how about your films as of late have not been relevant since the nineties, and that going to the movies nowadays has the fun factor of a kidney stone while being twice as painful? Most of your movies after that time were either average at best or downright forgettable. Ready Player One may have a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but that means nothing when it doesn't rake in the cash. Not to mention the stress of getting to a theater in the first place, the high cost of tickets and food, and putting up with a volatile audience. Oh, and god help you if you need to hit the restroom. You miss an important scene? Nope, too bad, no pause or rewinds for you.
Lastly, his statement on computer games also assumes people forgot about his prior legacy in the interactive media realm. He was one of the founders of Dreamworks Interactive, which paved the way for the Medal of Honor franchise. The studio also brought in titles like Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair, BoomBots, T'ai Fu: Wrath of the Tiger, and Skullmonkeys.
Dreamworks Interactive later became Electronic Arts Los Angeles, continuing the Medal of Honor Legacy as well as producing Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3. They then became Danger Close Games with the reboot of Medal of Honor and finally named DICE Los Angeles with the Battlefield series.
In addition, Steven Spielberg was one of three writers (the other two being Orson Scott Card and Brian Moriarty) for the LucasArts point and click sci-fi adventure game The Dig. The Dig was originally going to be an episode of Amazing Stories, which is another television product courtesy of Spielberg, followed by a movie before becoming a game. Again, this idea was from Spielberg himself. It became a game because it was too expensive to make into a movie or TV episode. When the game was released, it became a best selling classic; it was not without delays and troubles.
In a way, it saddens me to write this blog post and what Spielberg has become. It's basically the film director's version of the Detroit Red Wings, Gwyn from Dark Souls, or the Roman Empire's legacy. In the case of Spielberg, he was a great director in his hey-day and produced great works even in the nineties. Unfortunately, starting in the 2000s his work started to decline in quality. By the time of the new tens, he has all but become irrelevant in the age of video streaming, Disney the media juggernaut, and an increase in television programming equaling or surpassing the cinema experience. Unfortunately, Spielberg sees the likes of television and Netflix as a threat rather than an opportunity. His need to cling to the past will eventually ruin him in the long run. He's obsessed with trying to protect the traditions of the past while still thinking that he will stay on top. He's wrong in this regard.
This reminds us of an awful truth: we ALL have an expiration date. No matter how great or talented we all are, we are not forever. Though our legacies will be remembered, we are all but parts to be replaced in the great machine. Spielberg and a few other directors are, unfortunately, a harsh reminder of the unwillingness to adapt quickly. Society and Technology goes on, and unless you adapt to current trends, you will die. What happens if you DON'T adapt? You become Steven Spielberg.
This is also a reminder to stay on top of these famous and/or powerful people in case they slip up. Spielberg has become afraid of the legacies he's created, and how he feels they've turned against him. This is a mistake that, unfortunately, he is not aware of. Sooner or later, he'll be gone for good, and without a legacy to continue on. Spielberg, do yourself a favor: evolve, or prepare to die.
Websites referenced:
https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/3/26/17148350/ready-player-one-book-backlash-controversy-gamergate-explained
http://deadline.com/2018/03/steven-spielberg-netflix-oscars-tv-clear-and-present-danger-to-filmgoers-1202353123/
http://www.indiewire.com/2018/03/martin-scorsese-the-irishman-netflix-theatrical-story-of-film-1201944963/
https://lifehacker.com/what-would-make-you-actually-go-to-the-movies-1821605002
http://variety.com/2017/film/features/movie-business-changing-consumer-demand-studios-exhibitors-1202016699/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DICE_Los_Angeles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dig
Saturday, December 9, 2017
Star Wars: Pop Culture's Pharisee
Alright. The Last Jedi is headed to theaters in a matter of a few days. What better way to celebrate than with a rant on the fan base and even haters?
The Star Wars fan base and haters are some of the most two-faced, hypocritical groups in all of pop culture. As someone who has been growing up with this franchise since the nineties when the special edition re-releases made their way into theaters, I cannot stand it anymore. Where do we even start?
There's the Santa Claus lookalike known as George Lucas. Let me put it this way: nobody in the Star Wars fan-base likes George Lucas. We merely tolerate him simply because he can direct movies and he isn't Tommy Wiseau. Now he is nothing more than the shadow of his former self, having sold his franchise and studio to Disney because even he can't stand what the fan-base has become. It's not even that, either. This man boasts that making money through movies is an act of monstrosity, yet Lucas was the forerunner of movies as a merchandising vehicle, on top of milking his work to death with the 'special editions' and constant collector items.
Really, George, are you for real? You release 'special editions' of your work with 'updates' like eyesore CGI and you don't take into account of how that goes against everything you stand for? You also have the nerve to say that you hate that you and your studio have become money factories, yet you go around making more movies for the sake of completing what you've started while raking in millions in royalties and revenue. It's utterly groan-worthy, and it's about being a total hypocrite. You WERE that sellout you sought to avoid becoming. You WERE the man who made movies for money.
That said, he's tame compared to other people involved with Lucasfilm. Like the CEO everyone loves to hate known as Kathleen Kennedy. Kathleen has become the target of fans and haters alike thanks to her non-existent 'feminist agenda' simply because of Rey and Jyn Erso. This is ignoring the presence of strong, stand-up females in Star Wars like Leia Organa and Padme Amidala, as well as Ahsoka and Shaak Ti, in addition to villanous female characters like Mara Jade Skywalker, the throwaway bounty hunter Zam Wesell, Aurra Sing from the commercial Vigilante 8 mod known as Star Wars: Demolition, Ysanne Isard from the X-Wing novels, Admiral Dalla, Roganda Ismaren and Asajj Ventress.
Asides from that, she's been the target of the fan-base also because of her mafia-like behavior: if you do what she says, you'll be granted a good chunk of the production process. If not, you're cut because of 'creative differences', regardless of whether you've done anything good in your career. That's ignoring that former Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow's finest work was Jurassic World, a reboot of Jurassic Park that was merely average at best and only made money on nostalgia alone. In a way, it's good that he was kicked because he more than likely would have tainted the reputation of the franchise faster than EA did with their loot boxes in Battlefront 2k17. And yes, I'm calling the games by year to avoid confusion.
And then there's JJ Abrams, a director who also has been known to have been called talent-less because of his power to revive franchises via supposed rehashes and retreads. JJ has also been the target of fans and haters. Insults like Jar Jar or Jew Jew Abrams are commonplace with the fans not familiar with his work. He's merely average at best, like Colin Trevorrow before him, but at least he's also competent in his work. While people mostly remember him for the Star Trek films and Lost, he's also done classics along the lines of Alias and Felicity.
Rian Johnson is also the target of hate by the fandom because of 'The Last Jedi', and how their expectations were subverted because of how Rian Johnson directed everything. You do know JJ Abrams was okay with everything Johnson did, right? And that the hate for 'The Last Jedi' came from Russian trolls? And that JJ is going to have to either stick with the changes or correct course with his original script, adding in crappy explanations in the process? If anything, JJ is responsible for 'The Last Jedi' because he approved of the changes to the original story in the first place. It's completely fake because everyone wants to take a dump on these directors for 'ruining their childhood' and their franchise, yet they defend George Lucas in spite of doing the exact same thing. Piss off with this garbage!
You want to know the worst part of this franchise, however? The fan-base. Oh, Jesus Harold Faltermeyer Christ the fan-base and haters. If you thought the Sonic the Hedgehog fan-base was toxic, Star Wars fans makes them look like choir boys. Growing up and marinading in this franchise for a decade, I'd rather look up creepy fetishes, SonAmy slash fan fictions and original characters than put up with a Star Wars fan. Everyone talks about how loyal the fans are, how everyone will stick to Star Wars no matter what happens. They obviously drank the Kool-Aid. Look around the web like on Reddit and the various forums, and then lecture me on their 'loyalty'. We're some of the most knee-jerk sacks of crap in the world, bar none. They'll talk about how Star Wars is going in a better direction one minute, and then demand that everyone and their brother be fired the next.
Speaking of which, the fan-base also wants George Lucas back in spite of people dumping on him constantly. I'd much rather have Christopher Nolan be a Star Wars director than George, JJ, or even Rian Johnson. True, Nolan has done a few select movies worth watching, but he's still considered a top tier director. Do you know how many Star Wars fans would die to have Nolan as a director? The Aztec sacrifices would pale in comparison.
In regards to the haters, however, there is a channel out there dedicated to fake news regarding the franchise by the name of WorldClassBullshitters. I am NOT making that name up. This is a channel where fans and haters alike go for general doom and gloom regarding the Star Wars franchise, but also to relish in their hypocrisy. One video even discusses how the brand is worthless and dead under Disney, never mind the abuse of marketing and how nobody buys the toys because crack is cheaper. In fact, the channel name is perfect for their content: they really are World Class Bullshitters.
I would also like to point out that stormtrooper armor, enslavement bikinis, white robes with cinnamon bun hair, black armor with helmets, Mandalorian armor and Jedi robes are considered proper attire. In fact, if George Lucas has a funeral one day, I expect anyone who attends to hum out 'The Force Theme'. I also see some rooms that are shrines to the Empire and the First Order. You know, the organizations going around boasting their supremacy and making life a living hell for everyone if they don't comply. It's as real as the non-existent freedom and democracy message that the franchise is known for, if George Lucas is any indication.
All of this hides the inescapable truth regarding this franchise. We are all massive hypocrites.
We decry the rebooted continuity for being diversity friendly and politically correct while ignoring how we were so offended with the caricature aliens in the prequels.
We are the type of fans who will root for the Empire and dress up as Darth Vader and stormtroopers, while liking a movie with an anti-fascism message while having zero understanding of the irony behind everything.
We dump on the female protagonists and the heightened presences of women in the new canon but immediately look the other way regarding female characters in the older expanded universe. Not to mention how the early draft of the first Star Wars film had a female protagonist as well.
We will call out Disney, JJ Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy for ruining Star Wars while ignoring that George Lucas ran his franchise into the ground during his time making the prequels.
We will never shut up about how successful Star Wars is, but we will also be quick to bury any failures from the franchise's past.
We will laugh at the DC Extended Universe and their misery in the film production department but ignore that Star Wars movies as of late have been rushed out the door and altered at the last second on top of going through production members like popcorn. Not to mention that George Lucas himself directed three flops during his tenure at Lucasfilm.
We will put George Lucas on a pedestal for being a great director, and then forget that he was the fan base's personal toilet during the prequels, and that Lucas was more concerned about being a marketing salesman and entrepreneur and ran Lucasfilm like it was a country club.
We will rage about how the Legends Expanded Universe is no longer canon, when George Lucas himself openly hated the idea of an expanded universe, viewing his own movies as the only canon.
We feel bad about the horrors that go on in the film industry, including people dying, but happily ruin the lives of anyone involved with Star Wars, Lucas included.
We will say that Star Wars Rebels is another kiddie show but ignore that the bad guys win constantly, Darth Vader shows why he's the dreaded in Season 2's opener, and The Clone Wars was more or less a spiritual predecessor to Rebels.
We will call Jakku another Tatooine but gloss over Jedah in spite of it being a desert planet as well.
We will call Kylo Ren the most evil Star Wars character for killing fan favorite characters but ignore Director Krennic, Grand Moff Tarkin, Jabba the Hutt, Sheev Palpatine, Dr. Nuvo Vindi, General Pong Krell, Keeper Agruss, Count Denetrius Vidian, Gallis Rax, Grand Moff Lozen Tolruck, and the metric crapton of other characters from Legends and Canon expanded universes that would make the wretched hive of scum and villainy known as Mos Eisley blush with their assortment of atrocities.
We also give Kylo Ren so much hell for killing his father but Sheev Palpatine did the same thing and murdered his family in cold blood in his backstory and we don't bat an eyelash.
And then there's Rey. Good old Rey. We can't have her as a Star Wars hero. She's not a true Star Wars character. She's is the avatar of Kathleen Kennedy's feminist agenda. True, she was able to master things early and almost handed Kylo Ren his ass, but that's because she was left to fend for herself on a desert planet and more than likely had her memory erased, to say nothing of Kylo Ren being a stupid idiot like every other Star Wars character and more or less giving Rey her powers on top of the force influencing stormtroopers like they're nothing. And it's not like Luke Skywalker was capable of blowing up the first Death Star on his first day of being in the Rebel Alliance, when most others just shoot up stormtroopers.
Even if fans and haters alike hate her, who else do we root for as a Star War hero?
-Obi Wan Kenobi: A Jedi Master who is something of a hypocrite and deliberately lied to Luke Skywalker regarding his father
-Yoda: A Jedi Master who thought the order he was a part of needed to be destroyed because it had become corrupted
-Qui-Gon Jinn: A Jedi Master who constantly told the Jedi Council to go to hell and cheated his way to victory using the force, on top of being the trainer for the man who would become Darth Vader
-THE ENTIRE JEDI COUNCIL: A group of zealots who take force sensitive children from their homes and turn them into indoctrinated soldiers
-Anakin Skywalker: The future Dark Lord of the Sith who makes Shinji Ikari look modest while only being slightly more useful
-Saw Garerra: A ticking time bomb who is an outcast of the rebellion and a total extremist that makes Grand Moff Tarkin look like a nice guy
-Padme Amidala: A queen who only revealed herself as such at the last second and goes from badass to useless in the span of three movies
-Mon Mothma: A failure leader who dumps bricks and is quick to give up at the sign of an advantage they don't have
-Jar Jar Binks: A stupid idiot who only served to be trouble to everyone around him, and was responsible for the downfall of the Republic
-Galen Marek: A god mode clone who is somehow more powerful in the force than a Skywalker.
And...
-Tyber Zann: A villain protagonist space pirate out of nowhere who somehow hands Grand Admiral Thrawn his ass a dozen times over
It's baffling that this fandom is allowed to criticize a character of one gender because they're supposedly Mary Sues and catering to someone's nonexistent agenda but we praise other characters in spite of doing things that deny the rules of Star Wars as a whole.
Even if you think I have an axe to grind, there is still one thing that is pure truth: The Holiday Special is the real worst work of the franchise. This is a special that almost killed the franchise before it took off, and George Lucas more or less rushed to get 'The Empire Strikes Back' done so everything would not have been for naught. This is in spite of having one of his trusted aides do The Holiday Special, only to quit as a way of saying 'I am not CBS's slave'. And Lucas wonders why The Holiday Special turned out the way it did, while also having done Attack of the Clones, the other nadir of the franchise.
After putting up with The Force Awakens and Rogue One, and looking at the crap-fest of the internet cultists, I came to only one firm realization: I. HATE. This franchise. Everything about this franchise, top to bottom, is abhorrent inside and out. The sheer arrogance, insufferability, and hypocrisy of the fans, the studio and the franchise, every movie, every word, every interview, every work, oozes like bantha poodoo. Nothing would make me happier to see this franchise crash and burn, like The Holiday Special or Attack of the Clones did. It's coming, too. Nobody's looking forward to the movies or spin-off material anymore. Merchandise isn't flying off the shelves like they should. The games released have been disasters left and right. And now Solo has earned the medal of dishonor of being the first Star Wars film to flop. I personally can't wait.
Star Wars fans, I know you're mad at me. I know you want to punch that seventies or eighties computer out, but deep down you know I am right about everything I said. It's pure gold, in fact, to watch the hypocrites tear themselves apart for petty reasons and to cry about how such a franchise that has lasted forty years and sold billions is coming down in flames. It's brilliant comedy and I look forward to more of it. COME AT ME, NERD PIGS!
And, by the way, John Williams and Michael Giaccino are overrated hacks.
The Star Wars fan base and haters are some of the most two-faced, hypocritical groups in all of pop culture. As someone who has been growing up with this franchise since the nineties when the special edition re-releases made their way into theaters, I cannot stand it anymore. Where do we even start?
There's the Santa Claus lookalike known as George Lucas. Let me put it this way: nobody in the Star Wars fan-base likes George Lucas. We merely tolerate him simply because he can direct movies and he isn't Tommy Wiseau. Now he is nothing more than the shadow of his former self, having sold his franchise and studio to Disney because even he can't stand what the fan-base has become. It's not even that, either. This man boasts that making money through movies is an act of monstrosity, yet Lucas was the forerunner of movies as a merchandising vehicle, on top of milking his work to death with the 'special editions' and constant collector items.
Really, George, are you for real? You release 'special editions' of your work with 'updates' like eyesore CGI and you don't take into account of how that goes against everything you stand for? You also have the nerve to say that you hate that you and your studio have become money factories, yet you go around making more movies for the sake of completing what you've started while raking in millions in royalties and revenue. It's utterly groan-worthy, and it's about being a total hypocrite. You WERE that sellout you sought to avoid becoming. You WERE the man who made movies for money.
That said, he's tame compared to other people involved with Lucasfilm. Like the CEO everyone loves to hate known as Kathleen Kennedy. Kathleen has become the target of fans and haters alike thanks to her non-existent 'feminist agenda' simply because of Rey and Jyn Erso. This is ignoring the presence of strong, stand-up females in Star Wars like Leia Organa and Padme Amidala, as well as Ahsoka and Shaak Ti, in addition to villanous female characters like Mara Jade Skywalker, the throwaway bounty hunter Zam Wesell, Aurra Sing from the commercial Vigilante 8 mod known as Star Wars: Demolition, Ysanne Isard from the X-Wing novels, Admiral Dalla, Roganda Ismaren and Asajj Ventress.
Asides from that, she's been the target of the fan-base also because of her mafia-like behavior: if you do what she says, you'll be granted a good chunk of the production process. If not, you're cut because of 'creative differences', regardless of whether you've done anything good in your career. That's ignoring that former Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow's finest work was Jurassic World, a reboot of Jurassic Park that was merely average at best and only made money on nostalgia alone. In a way, it's good that he was kicked because he more than likely would have tainted the reputation of the franchise faster than EA did with their loot boxes in Battlefront 2k17. And yes, I'm calling the games by year to avoid confusion.
And then there's JJ Abrams, a director who also has been known to have been called talent-less because of his power to revive franchises via supposed rehashes and retreads. JJ has also been the target of fans and haters. Insults like Jar Jar or Jew Jew Abrams are commonplace with the fans not familiar with his work. He's merely average at best, like Colin Trevorrow before him, but at least he's also competent in his work. While people mostly remember him for the Star Trek films and Lost, he's also done classics along the lines of Alias and Felicity.
Rian Johnson is also the target of hate by the fandom because of 'The Last Jedi', and how their expectations were subverted because of how Rian Johnson directed everything. You do know JJ Abrams was okay with everything Johnson did, right? And that the hate for 'The Last Jedi' came from Russian trolls? And that JJ is going to have to either stick with the changes or correct course with his original script, adding in crappy explanations in the process? If anything, JJ is responsible for 'The Last Jedi' because he approved of the changes to the original story in the first place. It's completely fake because everyone wants to take a dump on these directors for 'ruining their childhood' and their franchise, yet they defend George Lucas in spite of doing the exact same thing. Piss off with this garbage!
You want to know the worst part of this franchise, however? The fan-base. Oh, Jesus Harold Faltermeyer Christ the fan-base and haters. If you thought the Sonic the Hedgehog fan-base was toxic, Star Wars fans makes them look like choir boys. Growing up and marinading in this franchise for a decade, I'd rather look up creepy fetishes, SonAmy slash fan fictions and original characters than put up with a Star Wars fan. Everyone talks about how loyal the fans are, how everyone will stick to Star Wars no matter what happens. They obviously drank the Kool-Aid. Look around the web like on Reddit and the various forums, and then lecture me on their 'loyalty'. We're some of the most knee-jerk sacks of crap in the world, bar none. They'll talk about how Star Wars is going in a better direction one minute, and then demand that everyone and their brother be fired the next.
Speaking of which, the fan-base also wants George Lucas back in spite of people dumping on him constantly. I'd much rather have Christopher Nolan be a Star Wars director than George, JJ, or even Rian Johnson. True, Nolan has done a few select movies worth watching, but he's still considered a top tier director. Do you know how many Star Wars fans would die to have Nolan as a director? The Aztec sacrifices would pale in comparison.
In regards to the haters, however, there is a channel out there dedicated to fake news regarding the franchise by the name of WorldClassBullshitters. I am NOT making that name up. This is a channel where fans and haters alike go for general doom and gloom regarding the Star Wars franchise, but also to relish in their hypocrisy. One video even discusses how the brand is worthless and dead under Disney, never mind the abuse of marketing and how nobody buys the toys because crack is cheaper. In fact, the channel name is perfect for their content: they really are World Class Bullshitters.
I would also like to point out that stormtrooper armor, enslavement bikinis, white robes with cinnamon bun hair, black armor with helmets, Mandalorian armor and Jedi robes are considered proper attire. In fact, if George Lucas has a funeral one day, I expect anyone who attends to hum out 'The Force Theme'. I also see some rooms that are shrines to the Empire and the First Order. You know, the organizations going around boasting their supremacy and making life a living hell for everyone if they don't comply. It's as real as the non-existent freedom and democracy message that the franchise is known for, if George Lucas is any indication.
All of this hides the inescapable truth regarding this franchise. We are all massive hypocrites.
We decry the rebooted continuity for being diversity friendly and politically correct while ignoring how we were so offended with the caricature aliens in the prequels.
We are the type of fans who will root for the Empire and dress up as Darth Vader and stormtroopers, while liking a movie with an anti-fascism message while having zero understanding of the irony behind everything.
We dump on the female protagonists and the heightened presences of women in the new canon but immediately look the other way regarding female characters in the older expanded universe. Not to mention how the early draft of the first Star Wars film had a female protagonist as well.
We will call out Disney, JJ Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy for ruining Star Wars while ignoring that George Lucas ran his franchise into the ground during his time making the prequels.
We will never shut up about how successful Star Wars is, but we will also be quick to bury any failures from the franchise's past.
We will laugh at the DC Extended Universe and their misery in the film production department but ignore that Star Wars movies as of late have been rushed out the door and altered at the last second on top of going through production members like popcorn. Not to mention that George Lucas himself directed three flops during his tenure at Lucasfilm.
We will put George Lucas on a pedestal for being a great director, and then forget that he was the fan base's personal toilet during the prequels, and that Lucas was more concerned about being a marketing salesman and entrepreneur and ran Lucasfilm like it was a country club.
We will rage about how the Legends Expanded Universe is no longer canon, when George Lucas himself openly hated the idea of an expanded universe, viewing his own movies as the only canon.
We feel bad about the horrors that go on in the film industry, including people dying, but happily ruin the lives of anyone involved with Star Wars, Lucas included.
We will say that Star Wars Rebels is another kiddie show but ignore that the bad guys win constantly, Darth Vader shows why he's the dreaded in Season 2's opener, and The Clone Wars was more or less a spiritual predecessor to Rebels.
We will call Jakku another Tatooine but gloss over Jedah in spite of it being a desert planet as well.
We will call Kylo Ren the most evil Star Wars character for killing fan favorite characters but ignore Director Krennic, Grand Moff Tarkin, Jabba the Hutt, Sheev Palpatine, Dr. Nuvo Vindi, General Pong Krell, Keeper Agruss, Count Denetrius Vidian, Gallis Rax, Grand Moff Lozen Tolruck, and the metric crapton of other characters from Legends and Canon expanded universes that would make the wretched hive of scum and villainy known as Mos Eisley blush with their assortment of atrocities.
We also give Kylo Ren so much hell for killing his father but Sheev Palpatine did the same thing and murdered his family in cold blood in his backstory and we don't bat an eyelash.
And then there's Rey. Good old Rey. We can't have her as a Star Wars hero. She's not a true Star Wars character. She's is the avatar of Kathleen Kennedy's feminist agenda. True, she was able to master things early and almost handed Kylo Ren his ass, but that's because she was left to fend for herself on a desert planet and more than likely had her memory erased, to say nothing of Kylo Ren being a stupid idiot like every other Star Wars character and more or less giving Rey her powers on top of the force influencing stormtroopers like they're nothing. And it's not like Luke Skywalker was capable of blowing up the first Death Star on his first day of being in the Rebel Alliance, when most others just shoot up stormtroopers.
Even if fans and haters alike hate her, who else do we root for as a Star War hero?
-Obi Wan Kenobi: A Jedi Master who is something of a hypocrite and deliberately lied to Luke Skywalker regarding his father
-Yoda: A Jedi Master who thought the order he was a part of needed to be destroyed because it had become corrupted
-Qui-Gon Jinn: A Jedi Master who constantly told the Jedi Council to go to hell and cheated his way to victory using the force, on top of being the trainer for the man who would become Darth Vader
-THE ENTIRE JEDI COUNCIL: A group of zealots who take force sensitive children from their homes and turn them into indoctrinated soldiers
-Anakin Skywalker: The future Dark Lord of the Sith who makes Shinji Ikari look modest while only being slightly more useful
-Saw Garerra: A ticking time bomb who is an outcast of the rebellion and a total extremist that makes Grand Moff Tarkin look like a nice guy
-Padme Amidala: A queen who only revealed herself as such at the last second and goes from badass to useless in the span of three movies
-Mon Mothma: A failure leader who dumps bricks and is quick to give up at the sign of an advantage they don't have
-Jar Jar Binks: A stupid idiot who only served to be trouble to everyone around him, and was responsible for the downfall of the Republic
-Galen Marek: A god mode clone who is somehow more powerful in the force than a Skywalker.
And...
-Tyber Zann: A villain protagonist space pirate out of nowhere who somehow hands Grand Admiral Thrawn his ass a dozen times over
It's baffling that this fandom is allowed to criticize a character of one gender because they're supposedly Mary Sues and catering to someone's nonexistent agenda but we praise other characters in spite of doing things that deny the rules of Star Wars as a whole.
Even if you think I have an axe to grind, there is still one thing that is pure truth: The Holiday Special is the real worst work of the franchise. This is a special that almost killed the franchise before it took off, and George Lucas more or less rushed to get 'The Empire Strikes Back' done so everything would not have been for naught. This is in spite of having one of his trusted aides do The Holiday Special, only to quit as a way of saying 'I am not CBS's slave'. And Lucas wonders why The Holiday Special turned out the way it did, while also having done Attack of the Clones, the other nadir of the franchise.
After putting up with The Force Awakens and Rogue One, and looking at the crap-fest of the internet cultists, I came to only one firm realization: I. HATE. This franchise. Everything about this franchise, top to bottom, is abhorrent inside and out. The sheer arrogance, insufferability, and hypocrisy of the fans, the studio and the franchise, every movie, every word, every interview, every work, oozes like bantha poodoo. Nothing would make me happier to see this franchise crash and burn, like The Holiday Special or Attack of the Clones did. It's coming, too. Nobody's looking forward to the movies or spin-off material anymore. Merchandise isn't flying off the shelves like they should. The games released have been disasters left and right. And now Solo has earned the medal of dishonor of being the first Star Wars film to flop. I personally can't wait.
Star Wars fans, I know you're mad at me. I know you want to punch that seventies or eighties computer out, but deep down you know I am right about everything I said. It's pure gold, in fact, to watch the hypocrites tear themselves apart for petty reasons and to cry about how such a franchise that has lasted forty years and sold billions is coming down in flames. It's brilliant comedy and I look forward to more of it. COME AT ME, NERD PIGS!
And, by the way, John Williams and Michael Giaccino are overrated hacks.
Friday, April 21, 2017
Yelp! I need some reviews! Yelp! Not just any reviews!
As suggested by the title, I've started doing reviews for the website Yelp.
Yelp is a website dedicated to reviews for restaurants, places of amusement, and other varieties of businesses and establishments. This website helps in making an educated decision on which locale to go to or which one to avoid. It's also great for finding niche places or if you're stumped on which restaurant to find near you.
I opened up an account for Yelp back in 2016, initially only having one review under my belt. However, I started writing reviews for various places that I have traveled to. This is because Yelp's reviews are only visible to those with a certain amount of reviews. While I have no idea exactly how many reviews are needed for this, it's definitely in the double digits. Ever since, I've been writing reviews of varying ratings and descriptions to make my reviews get noticed. Now I have seven reviews of restaurants and establishments I have gone to, and that number will climb up pretty quickly.
Yelp has been helpful in finding new restaurants to try, but it also serves as an opportunity to help businesses, too. It's thanks to Yelp that the lesser known restaurants get some sort of attention, while others get the message to clean up their act.
If you want to yourself, you can make an account for Yelp here: https://www.yelp.com/
They also have an app on the go, which can be downloaded for Android phones here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yelp.android&hl=en
Apple users wanting to use this app can use this link to download this app here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yelp-nearby-restaurants-shopping-services/id284910350?mt=8
Yelp is a website dedicated to reviews for restaurants, places of amusement, and other varieties of businesses and establishments. This website helps in making an educated decision on which locale to go to or which one to avoid. It's also great for finding niche places or if you're stumped on which restaurant to find near you.
I opened up an account for Yelp back in 2016, initially only having one review under my belt. However, I started writing reviews for various places that I have traveled to. This is because Yelp's reviews are only visible to those with a certain amount of reviews. While I have no idea exactly how many reviews are needed for this, it's definitely in the double digits. Ever since, I've been writing reviews of varying ratings and descriptions to make my reviews get noticed. Now I have seven reviews of restaurants and establishments I have gone to, and that number will climb up pretty quickly.
Yelp has been helpful in finding new restaurants to try, but it also serves as an opportunity to help businesses, too. It's thanks to Yelp that the lesser known restaurants get some sort of attention, while others get the message to clean up their act.
If you want to yourself, you can make an account for Yelp here: https://www.yelp.com/
They also have an app on the go, which can be downloaded for Android phones here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yelp.android&hl=en
Apple users wanting to use this app can use this link to download this app here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yelp-nearby-restaurants-shopping-services/id284910350?mt=8
Friday, April 14, 2017
What a day (or night) for a dream
Recently, I have been writing entries in a notebook that was lying around in my home. This notebook is my dream diary, that is, a log of my various dreams.
This not only helps me back into writing as a side hobby, but also taps into my psyche and desires. As of this blog post, I have written twenty dream diary entries, and the number is growing by the day.
I will not disclose any entries in my blog, due to certain individuals being in the diaries. While the content of each dream is all ages to PG-13, they contain individuals very close to me. I will also not upload individual entries, either, nor will I sell my dream diary en masse.
That said, I will base my future writing on some of my dreams. Don't be surprised if a future novel contains an event based on a dream I had...
Friday, April 7, 2017
Animator's Dream is complete
I've done it. I've finally done it.
I can happily declare that Animator's Dream Episode I - Animator's Dream has been finished.
I am now in the process of proofreading the novel and, if necessary, removing redundant content. After that, I will find a publisher or have the novel self-published on amazon.com. I will also make a cover for my novel myself; I will hand draw the cover and color it using Photoshop and Illustrator.
This has been a novel six years in the making. Years of concept making and putting it off to take breaks has finally paid off. All I have to do now is get my work submitted and published, spread the word, and hopefully I'll have a hit on my hands. Granted, I may have better odds of winning the lottery, but you never know. Some novels become big overnight, others are sleepers, and a few even become cult classics. Hopefully my work will be big to the point I can make it onto the big or even small screens. Who knows? Maybe I'll put my work on Toonami...
I can happily declare that Animator's Dream Episode I - Animator's Dream has been finished.
I am now in the process of proofreading the novel and, if necessary, removing redundant content. After that, I will find a publisher or have the novel self-published on amazon.com. I will also make a cover for my novel myself; I will hand draw the cover and color it using Photoshop and Illustrator.
This has been a novel six years in the making. Years of concept making and putting it off to take breaks has finally paid off. All I have to do now is get my work submitted and published, spread the word, and hopefully I'll have a hit on my hands. Granted, I may have better odds of winning the lottery, but you never know. Some novels become big overnight, others are sleepers, and a few even become cult classics. Hopefully my work will be big to the point I can make it onto the big or even small screens. Who knows? Maybe I'll put my work on Toonami...
Friday, January 29, 2016
The Star Wars Prequels, or, Justified Reasons For the Hate
After the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, there had been a trend of people hating on the prequel Star Wars films. The prequels were controversial to begin with, but it wasn't until the advent of TFA had there been an influx of bashing on the Star Wars prequels. The big question is, do the prequels deserve all the bashing?
I'm going to be blunt here: the prequels are getting bashed rightfully so because of factors that work against it. First, the films suffer from an abuse of CGI (computer generated imagery). While CGI in film is nothing new, it is a general rule of thumb not to abuse it or else the effect diminishes. In the case of Star Wars, the CGI abuse in prequels is egregious because it shows how lazy George Lucas and his team were in the production of the prequel films. Back in the day, movies were literally built from the ground
up because special effects were not commonplace. As a matter of fact, Industrial Light and Magic was formed because Star Wars had some moments that required these effects. That said, the original trilogies were crafted by hand from model kits; custom costumes and make up. I'm also not engaging in hyperbole when I say model makers left things as is if they didn't want to modify a model in a certain way, or that they had to get toys and models off the shelf or even buy them just to make certain scenes work. For bonus points, props were even reused for certain characters as a means of saving money, and if they couldn't make certain props work they winged it anyways. Guess what, though? It worked. CGI, on the other hand, showed that George Lucas and ILM wanted to take the easier way out and make everything that couldn't be modeled or make-up'd into CGI, and in some cases it looked really bad. Not like the originals which had effects crafted by hand.
Another pet peeve of the prequels everyone dogs on is the portrayal of some of the alien races, such as the Neimoidians; the Gungans and to a degree, the Toydarians. In my case, sterotyping is one thing but caricatures is another. This goes double if that character is named Jar Jar Binks or Watto. It's just offensive and, in some cases, unfunny that these characters are negative takes on types of people. It makes people wonder what Lucasfilm was thinking with the creation of these characters and species. Though what's more offensive, at least to me, is in the case of Jar Jar Binks he's just flat out annoying and nobody really likes this character.
Something else that's talked about in the anti-prequel bandwagon is the neutering of Darth Vader, that is, giving him a form of backstory. We learned that Anakin Skywalker is basically Darth Vader before he became evil, but during his trials and training as a Jedi he becomes increasingly whiny and angsty over time. This is not something that makes people think of Darth Vader. This is a little kid getting upset because he's not getting what he wants. How do you screw up such an iconic cinema character like that? It's embarrassing to think that this angsty child was the Dark Lord of the Sith.
Speaking of neutering of characters, Padme is also a victim of this decay of character effect. For reference, she goes from leading a small team of soldiers in rescuing her home planet of Naboo to being just there and being an overly emotional woman in Revenge of the Sith. Sure she was pregnant with Luke and Leia, but she could have easily gone down with a fight rather than die 'emotionally' (though one argument states that Palpatine used the force to drain her life energy and transfer it to Anakin/Vader to make him more obedient). Rubbing salt into this wound, in footage that would eventually be removed from the final film, Padme not only tries to deal with Palpatine's power, but she more or less acts as the catalyst for the Rebel Alliance in the original Star Wars trilogy. I'm surprised critics and haters of the prequels gloss over this detail.
Now then, when these debates rage on oftentimes people gloss over critical details that would help their argument better. In my case, it's the general feel of the prequels, the message that George Lucas was trying to deliver, and the competence of the characters shaping the plots. I want to get the first out of the way since this is something that bothers me more than the CGI abuse, and the neutering and portrayal of characters as well. The thing about the original Star Wars trilogy was that it was the classic coming of age story; good and evil battling it out to control the universe and decide the fate of everything; small ragtag misfits fighting an empire; and so on and so forth. It was everything a space opera should be and then some. The prequel films, on the other hand, are more like boring political thrillers and feels more like Manchurian Candidate in space. Nobody wants to see debates or use of perplexing dialogue that requires Master's degrees just to know what they are. That's not what Star Wars is about, never has, never will be.
The message part of the prequel Star Wars films is also something people neglect to look over. The general message of the prequel films is that democracy is important and worth defending, but story does little to agree with the message. Characters complain that the Republic is slow and inefficient at making decisions, and Palpatine's plans go accordingly because the Republic allows for it (and on top of that Palpatine was democratically elected, so there's no defense like corruption and such). It doesn't help that George Lucas tried to hop on the post-9/11 band wagon and craft Revenge of the Sith as such, never mind that the rise of the Galactic Empire is akin to that of Caesar Augustus and Nazi Germany, and while Lucas has stated that Palpatine was based off of a U.S. President, it was Richard Nixon and not George Bush. Palpatine says in ROTS "I AM the Senate", similar to Nixon saying "I am the President, therefore I am not breaking the law." which actually makes more sense.
The last issue that even the most staunch of prequel haters forget is how the plot of the prequel films are driven by the fact that characters make headachingly and embarrasingly stupid decisions. In short, they're idiot plots. For instance, going back to Revenge of the Sith the events of that film conspire because characters make stupid decisions, bonus points going towards the Jedi council. In two insances do the Jedi craft their own downfall in this film alone; once, where Mace Windu says to Anakin 'You've gained my trust' regarding learning that Senator Palpatine is a Sith Lord, and twice where upon trying to capture Palpatine they didn't have a backup plan. For the former, that's a slap in the face as Mace more or less said to Anakin 'I never trusted you until now' considering it was a thirteen year gap between Anakin being a Padawan and a Jedi. The latter is when the Jedi didn't bother to activate Order 65, which is one out of whopping 150 orders given to Clone Troopers. For those not in the know, Order 65 is to arrest the chancellor or, if he cannot be contained, kill him. The Jedi didn't bother to activate this order beforehand? I mean yes, the clones would
have been super murdered because Palpatine has a lightsaber and can shoot lightning from his hands, but at least it would have proved the Jedi had an IQ higher than cockroaches. The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones have moments where characters both heroic and villainous make unbelievably poor decisions, but the ones in ROTS are the most painful to witness. Sure the original trilogy and, to a degree The Force Awakens, has characters making bad decisions at times, but at least they were tolerable and didn't make you rage in disgust at how stupid the characters were.
In conclusion, the bashing of the prequel films is more than justified when the information above is taken into account. On paper, all of this sounds like going with the flow of a crowd but, with the correct information and research, the criticisms take shape and justify themselves. It's an example of how the director tries to craft things in his image and take over the role of every critical part of making a film and failing at it. While successful financially, the quality of the films don't reflect this, and the prequel films just serve as an example of quantity over quality.
I'm going to be blunt here: the prequels are getting bashed rightfully so because of factors that work against it. First, the films suffer from an abuse of CGI (computer generated imagery). While CGI in film is nothing new, it is a general rule of thumb not to abuse it or else the effect diminishes. In the case of Star Wars, the CGI abuse in prequels is egregious because it shows how lazy George Lucas and his team were in the production of the prequel films. Back in the day, movies were literally built from the ground
up because special effects were not commonplace. As a matter of fact, Industrial Light and Magic was formed because Star Wars had some moments that required these effects. That said, the original trilogies were crafted by hand from model kits; custom costumes and make up. I'm also not engaging in hyperbole when I say model makers left things as is if they didn't want to modify a model in a certain way, or that they had to get toys and models off the shelf or even buy them just to make certain scenes work. For bonus points, props were even reused for certain characters as a means of saving money, and if they couldn't make certain props work they winged it anyways. Guess what, though? It worked. CGI, on the other hand, showed that George Lucas and ILM wanted to take the easier way out and make everything that couldn't be modeled or make-up'd into CGI, and in some cases it looked really bad. Not like the originals which had effects crafted by hand.
Another pet peeve of the prequels everyone dogs on is the portrayal of some of the alien races, such as the Neimoidians; the Gungans and to a degree, the Toydarians. In my case, sterotyping is one thing but caricatures is another. This goes double if that character is named Jar Jar Binks or Watto. It's just offensive and, in some cases, unfunny that these characters are negative takes on types of people. It makes people wonder what Lucasfilm was thinking with the creation of these characters and species. Though what's more offensive, at least to me, is in the case of Jar Jar Binks he's just flat out annoying and nobody really likes this character.
Something else that's talked about in the anti-prequel bandwagon is the neutering of Darth Vader, that is, giving him a form of backstory. We learned that Anakin Skywalker is basically Darth Vader before he became evil, but during his trials and training as a Jedi he becomes increasingly whiny and angsty over time. This is not something that makes people think of Darth Vader. This is a little kid getting upset because he's not getting what he wants. How do you screw up such an iconic cinema character like that? It's embarrassing to think that this angsty child was the Dark Lord of the Sith.
Speaking of neutering of characters, Padme is also a victim of this decay of character effect. For reference, she goes from leading a small team of soldiers in rescuing her home planet of Naboo to being just there and being an overly emotional woman in Revenge of the Sith. Sure she was pregnant with Luke and Leia, but she could have easily gone down with a fight rather than die 'emotionally' (though one argument states that Palpatine used the force to drain her life energy and transfer it to Anakin/Vader to make him more obedient). Rubbing salt into this wound, in footage that would eventually be removed from the final film, Padme not only tries to deal with Palpatine's power, but she more or less acts as the catalyst for the Rebel Alliance in the original Star Wars trilogy. I'm surprised critics and haters of the prequels gloss over this detail.
Now then, when these debates rage on oftentimes people gloss over critical details that would help their argument better. In my case, it's the general feel of the prequels, the message that George Lucas was trying to deliver, and the competence of the characters shaping the plots. I want to get the first out of the way since this is something that bothers me more than the CGI abuse, and the neutering and portrayal of characters as well. The thing about the original Star Wars trilogy was that it was the classic coming of age story; good and evil battling it out to control the universe and decide the fate of everything; small ragtag misfits fighting an empire; and so on and so forth. It was everything a space opera should be and then some. The prequel films, on the other hand, are more like boring political thrillers and feels more like Manchurian Candidate in space. Nobody wants to see debates or use of perplexing dialogue that requires Master's degrees just to know what they are. That's not what Star Wars is about, never has, never will be.
The message part of the prequel Star Wars films is also something people neglect to look over. The general message of the prequel films is that democracy is important and worth defending, but story does little to agree with the message. Characters complain that the Republic is slow and inefficient at making decisions, and Palpatine's plans go accordingly because the Republic allows for it (and on top of that Palpatine was democratically elected, so there's no defense like corruption and such). It doesn't help that George Lucas tried to hop on the post-9/11 band wagon and craft Revenge of the Sith as such, never mind that the rise of the Galactic Empire is akin to that of Caesar Augustus and Nazi Germany, and while Lucas has stated that Palpatine was based off of a U.S. President, it was Richard Nixon and not George Bush. Palpatine says in ROTS "I AM the Senate", similar to Nixon saying "I am the President, therefore I am not breaking the law." which actually makes more sense.
The last issue that even the most staunch of prequel haters forget is how the plot of the prequel films are driven by the fact that characters make headachingly and embarrasingly stupid decisions. In short, they're idiot plots. For instance, going back to Revenge of the Sith the events of that film conspire because characters make stupid decisions, bonus points going towards the Jedi council. In two insances do the Jedi craft their own downfall in this film alone; once, where Mace Windu says to Anakin 'You've gained my trust' regarding learning that Senator Palpatine is a Sith Lord, and twice where upon trying to capture Palpatine they didn't have a backup plan. For the former, that's a slap in the face as Mace more or less said to Anakin 'I never trusted you until now' considering it was a thirteen year gap between Anakin being a Padawan and a Jedi. The latter is when the Jedi didn't bother to activate Order 65, which is one out of whopping 150 orders given to Clone Troopers. For those not in the know, Order 65 is to arrest the chancellor or, if he cannot be contained, kill him. The Jedi didn't bother to activate this order beforehand? I mean yes, the clones would
have been super murdered because Palpatine has a lightsaber and can shoot lightning from his hands, but at least it would have proved the Jedi had an IQ higher than cockroaches. The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones have moments where characters both heroic and villainous make unbelievably poor decisions, but the ones in ROTS are the most painful to witness. Sure the original trilogy and, to a degree The Force Awakens, has characters making bad decisions at times, but at least they were tolerable and didn't make you rage in disgust at how stupid the characters were.
In conclusion, the bashing of the prequel films is more than justified when the information above is taken into account. On paper, all of this sounds like going with the flow of a crowd but, with the correct information and research, the criticisms take shape and justify themselves. It's an example of how the director tries to craft things in his image and take over the role of every critical part of making a film and failing at it. While successful financially, the quality of the films don't reflect this, and the prequel films just serve as an example of quantity over quality.
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