The Fourth Annual Golden Asshat Awards

[ZapRowsdower]

NOTE: One Missed Call and In the Name of the King are both 2008 releases, and therefore won't be eligible until next year. But fear not, they will not be forgotten.

Worst Motion Picture or Concept for a Motion Picture

Bratz
D-War
Daddy Day Camp
Epic Movie
Hostel: Part II
I Know Who Killed Me

WINNER 2006: Date Movie
WINNER 2005: Alone in the Dark
WINNER 2004: Open Water

Worst Actor in a Leading Role

Jason Behr for D-War
Justin Chatwin for The Invisible
Dane Cook for Good Luck Chuck
Ice Cube for Are We Done Yet?
Cuba Gooding Jr. for Daddy Day Camp
Alex Neuberger for Underdog

WINNER 2006: Marlon Wayans for Little Man
WINNER 2005: The Rock for Doom
WINNER 2004: Cary Elwes for Saw

Worst Actress in a Leading Role

All four Bratz
Lauren German for Hostel: Part II
Margarita Levieva for The Invisible
Lindsay Lohan for I Know Who Killed Me
Jayma Mays for Epic Movie
Dakota Blue Richards for The Golden Compass

WINNER 2006: Julianne Moore for Freedomland
WINNER 2005: Tara Reid for Alone in the Dark
WINNER 2004: Hilary Duff for Raise Your Voice

Worst Actor in a Supporting Role

Richard Burgi for Hostel: Part II
James Franco for Spider-Man 3
Darrell Hammond for Epic Movie
Paul Rae for Daddy Day Camp
David Morrissey for The Reaping
Jon Voight for Bratz

WINNER 2006: Anthony Ray Parker for The Marine
WINNER 2005: Max Thieriot for The Pacifier
WINNER 2004: B2K for You Got Served

Worst Actress in a Supporting Role

Jennifer Coolidge for Epic Movie
Kirsten Dunst for Spider-Man 3
Aimee Garcia for D-War
Marcia Gay Harden for The Invisible
Nicole Kidman for The Golden Compass
Bijou Phillips for Hostel: Part II

WINNER 2006: Michelle Rodriguez for BloodRayne
WINNER 2005: Paris Hilton for House of Wax; Ashley Simpson for Undiscovered
WINNER 2004: Elena Anaya for Van Helsing

The Edward D. Wood Jr. Award for Worst Director

Tom Brady for The Comebacks
Jason Friedberg; Aaron Seltzer for Epic Movie
Sean McNamara for Bratz
Fred Savage for Daddy Day Camp
Hyung-rae Shim for D-War
Chris Weitz for The Golden Compass

WINNER 2006: Aaron Seltzer for Date Movie
WINNER 2005: Uwe Boll for Alone in the Dark
WINNER 2004: Pitof for Catwoman

Worst Original Screenplay

Jason Friedberg; Aaron Seltzer for Epic Movie
Susan Estelle Jansen for Bratz
Jeff Hammond for I Know Who Killed Me
Geoff Rodkey; J. David Stem; David N. Weiss for Daddy Day Camp
Eli Roth for Hostel: Part II
Hyung-rae Shim for D-War

WINNER 2006: Jason Friedberg; Aaron Seltzer for Date Movie
WINNER 2005: Jon Lucas and Scott Moore for Rebound
WINNER 2004: Chris Stokes for You Got Served

Worst Adapted Screenplay

Scott Armstrong; Leslie Dixon; Bobby Farrelly; Peter Farrelly; Kevin Barnett for The Heartbreak Kid
Paul Bernbaum; Gary Goldman; Jonathan Hensleigh for Next
Mick Davis; Christine Roum for The Invisible
Hank Nelken for Are We Done Yet?
Chris Weitz for The Golden Compass
Josh Stolberg for Good Luck Chuck

WINNER 2005: Barry W. Blaustein, Danny Jacobson, Don Rhymer, and David Sheffield for The Honeymooners
WINNER 2004: John D. Brancato, Michael Ferris, and John Rogers for Catwoman

Most Offensive to the Eyes
(Worst Cinematography, Special Effects, or Simply Just Painful to Look At)

D-War
Daddy Day Camp
Epic Movie
Hostel: Part II
Next
The Golden Compass

WINNER 2006: Date Movie
WINNER 2005: Domino

Worst Line of Dialogue
WARNING: Possible spoilers here.

Bratz - "Don't forget to delete my number from your cell phone."
Epic Movie - "I am Captain Jack Swallows." "...Swallows?"
Hostel: Part II - "Isn't it bad luck to toast with water?" "Sure, bad luck for them."
I Know Who Killed Me - "I know who killed me."
Spider-Man 3 - "I saw your dad's wounds. He killed himself. So go help Peter and junk."
The Golden Compass - "I am your mother." "No. That's not true! That's impossible!" "Look into your feelings. You know it to be true." "NOOOOOOOOOO!"

WINNER 2006: X-Men: The Last Stand - "Don't you know who I am? I'm the JUGGERNAUT, bitch!"
WINNER 2005: Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Asshat of the Year

20th Century-Fox - "Well... Date Movie made us some money. Let's go ahead and greenlight this one as well."
Cuba Gooding Jr. - "Sure, I'll take the role that was turned down by Eddie Murphy... No, I'm serious."
Lindsay Lohan - "My career was going in the right direction. I just HAD to fuck it up somehow."
New Line Cinema - "We don't need Peter Jackson. Let's do another fantasy epic with the guy who wrote American Dreamz."
Sam Raimi - "We don't need the writers from the last two. My brother and I can write part 3 without them, even though we never read the comics."
The Bush Administration - "Oops."

WINNER 2006: 20th Century-Fox and Brett Ratner - "Fuck everything Bryan Singer ever did for the X-Men franchise."
WINNER 2005: Hideo Nakata - "I created the Ring. If I want to destroy it by way of sequel, that's MY choice."
WINNER 2004: Michael Moore - "I'm going to publicly announce that I think the people who make me rich are morons."

[Pulpmariachi]

I resent every inclusion of "The Golden Compass."

It's not a terrible movie at all; Dakota Blue Richards did fine; yes, it's not what the book deserved but I still resent it being here.

Who nominates these anyway?

[ZapRowsdower]

That's me... and I personally did not like the Golden Compass at all.

[Quorthon]

Um, Zaps, Sam Raimi is actually a pretty big Spider-Man fan. Getting those movies was like the ultimate point in his career. C'mon man, you originally loved Spider-Man 3! At least it was better than Pirates 3!



The Bush Administration has nothing to do with movies, on top of which, making fun of Bush at this point is like telling the "Why did the chicken cross the road?" joke for the 50 billionth time. Not only is it overdone and lame, but also very unoriginal and tiresome. I don't need political commentary stuffed into every damn facet of my life. But everyone has to throw in their "fuck Bush" comment into everything just for attention. Ironically it causes me to look away as it makes my eyes roll at speeds typically left to quantum mechanics. I think everyone who makes those jokes needs to have their mouths duct-taped for their vapid unoriginality. Sorry if I'm going off on a tangent, but seriously, people get tired of hearing the same shit day in, day out. I've tired of it for ages.

In reality, if you want a real political "oops," refer to the Democrat-run Congress who totally failed in doing what they were elected for--getting us out of Iraq & Afghanistan, and whose approval rating has been consistantly lower than Bush's. So no offense, but making fun of Bush in the light of that knowledge just makes one look ill-informed if not ignorant. I'm mostly referring to all those asshole celebrities, "comedians," musicians, and the like who just can't shut up or come up with intelligent or original things to say anymore. People who go out onstage and yell "fuck Bush," just to get a rise out of the audience. It was lame when Lewis Black (who normally, I freakin' love) ranted about it during the 2007 Comedy Central end of year deal, it was lame when Machine Head interjected into their concert here last May, it was lame in 2004.

[ZapRowsdower]

If that's true, I stand corrected on the Spider-Man issue.

The Bush administration is supposed to coincide with one of my nominees for Best Documentary, which I have not posted yet - I wish to see one or two more documentaries in order to make a decision on it.

[Pulpmariachi]

quorthon said:

Um, Zaps, Sam Raimi is actually a pretty big Spider-Man fan. Getting those movies was like the ultimate point in his career. C'mon man, you originally loved Spider-Man 3! At least it was better than Pirates 3!



The Bush Administration has nothing to do with movies, on top of which, making fun of Bush at this point is like telling the "Why did the chicken cross the road?" joke for the 50 billionth time. Not only is it overdone and lame, but also very unoriginal and tiresome. I don't need political commentary stuffed into every damn facet of my life. But everyone has to throw in their "fuck Bush" comment into everything just for attention. Ironically it causes me to look away as it makes my eyes roll at speeds typically left to quantum mechanics. I think everyone who makes those jokes needs to have their mouths duct-taped for their vapid unoriginality. Sorry if I'm going off on a tangent, but seriously, people get tired of hearing the same shit day in, day out. I've tired of it for ages.

In reality, if you want a real political "oops," refer to the Democrat-run Congress who totally failed in doing what they were elected for--getting us out of Iraq & Afghanistan, and whose approval rating has been consistantly lower than Bush's. So no offense, but making fun of Bush in the light of that knowledge just makes one look ill-informed if not ignorant. I'm mostly referring to all those asshole celebrities, "comedians," musicians, and the like who just can't shut up or come up with intelligent or original things to say anymore. People who go out onstage and yell "fuck Bush," just to get a rise out of the audience. It was lame when Lewis Black (who normally, I freakin' love) ranted about it during the 2007 Comedy Central end of year deal, it was lame when Machine Head interjected into their concert here last May, it was lame in 2004.

I don't think it's so much making fun of Bush, but a line of thought of..."I can't believe we elected this man President. I mean, he said, 'When history was written....'"

Problem with any political joke is that it gets old fast. And unless the President was a complete fuck-up (I'm looking at you Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan) the jokes date fast too. How much do you hear about "slick Willy" nowadays?

[ZapRowsdower]

And also on the Spider-Man thing, yes, I did initially love it. And I still like it. I just wanted to point out that somewhere along the lines, mistakes were made. Mistakes involving the screenplay, which was written by Sam and Ivan Raimi. And I heard Sam Raimi wasn't familiar with the comics, so I figured that's probably what happened (as he did not write the first two).

As a director, Raimi did a fantastic job. The film looked fantastic by any standards, and for the most part the film was worth seeing once on the big screen. But it was more tainted by Hollywood than its predecessors. Sandman was a great special effect, but completely unnecessary. And the James Franco/Kirsten Dunst scenes could have used a few reshoots.

For instance, something should have been said along the lines of: "Franco, what the Hell is that? The... the eye, Franco. Why is one half shut and the other wide open? Were you drinking last night? Should we shoot this another day? Open both your eyes!"

It wasn't a bad movie at all (in fact, it's up for a Snootchie as well). But mistakes were made. The idea of this is not only to point out the worst, but to also point out glaring mistakes. And there was one in the screenplay of Spider-Man 3. If my quip is false, I'll rewrite it. But Sam Raimi definitely made a mistake.

[ZapRowsdower]

Worst Motion Picture or Concept for a Motion Picture


Bratz
Did anyone think this shit would actually make MONEY? I am now convinced that Lions Gate will greenlight ANYTHING that comes their way. This is a disgrace to everything the Breakfast Club established. Time has not been good to modern teenagers, oh no. Forget about angst, parental abuse, hardcore bullying and wanting to be more than a slut or simply not wanting to conform. Today, it's all about the glam, the glitter, and oversized heads on tiny bodies...


Worst Actor in a Leading Role


Dane Cook for Good Luck Chuck
Dane Cook is an annoying motherfucker. Why do studios continue to think this guy is funny? He really isn't. The funniest thing he ever did with his career was a cameo in Mystery Men, where he played the "Waffler". And even THAT was overcooked. The most satisfying moment in Mr. Brooks was when Dane Cook gets slashed in the neck by a fucking shovel... way to go, Kevin Costner!

Worst Actress in a Leading Role


All four Bratz
I wanted to give this to Lindsay Lohan. I really did. But it's kinda hard to compete with FOUR inept actresses. I mean, even when you duplicate yourself and double your suckage, you're still competing with FOUR girls who can't act. I can't find a better term than "strength in numbers"... although I assure you there was no strength here.


Worst Actor in a Supporting Role


Darrell Hammond for Epic Movie

Man, I saw a better Jack Sparrow impersonation at Knott's, during the Haunt. Oh, and THEY used the "Jack Swallows" line first.


Worst Actress in a Supporting Role


Nicole Kidman for The Golden Compass
I'm to assume she's the super-scary antagonist of the film. She wasn't super-scary to me. In fact, she came across as nice. It's the inherent weakness of telling instead of showing. I was told she did all these horrible, terrible things... but when I see her onscreen, I was always like... what a nice lady. She was going for Darth Vader, and ended up being Doris Day. WTF?


The Edward D. Wood Jr. Award for Worst Director


Sean McNamara for Bratz
Because he... directed Bratz. Really, there's no other way of putting it. I mean, if you're that low... what else can I say that your work hasn't already said?

Worst Original Screenplay


Jason Friedberg; Aaron Seltzer for Epic Movie
Wait, you mean ADULTS wrote this screenplay? Because an albino priest running around killing people then randomly shouting "I'm Rick James, Bitch" in latin (even though that's not really what he's saying in latin) sounds like something a kid would write. I mean, do these guys actually sit at home, watch Chappele's Show, and then write down lines they wish to use in their movies? Pop culture is fine, but they're throwing so much in there that they're not taking the time to think about how to make it funny. Except throwing in a fart joke here and there, because you know... farts can be funny. There aren't enough "WAH WAH WAH"s in the world for this movie.


Worst Adapted Screenplay


Chris Weitz for The Golden Compass
Because this movie sucked bad enough I won't even bother to read the book, I can't tell whether or not the suckitude of the movie is because the BOOK sucked or because Chris Weitz had no grasp on how to adapt it. Either way, one-dimensional characters running through Luke Skywalker's story by way of the one compass to rule them all is pretty much the only thing I got from this movie. This is becoming a downward spiral. Fantasy films are on the way to joining dance films in the "they're all the same" category.


Most Offensive to the Eyes
(Worst Cinematography, Special Effects, or Simply Just Painful to Look At)


The Golden Compass
Gotta knock this piece of shit off the cloud it's sitting on. Everything in this movie was recognizably CGI. How this took the Oscar over Transformers was beyond me. Someone really wanted to get under Michael Bay's skin.

Biggest Disappointment or Most Overrated


Michael Clayton
Oh, GOD. I liked this movie and all, but seriously... it was so hollow, how could it be so... fucking... acclaimed? This movie was merely above average, it wasn't groundbreaking. It wasn't anything special. I mean, George Clooney played George Clooney. AGAIN. Christ almighty.


Worst Line of Dialogue


I Know Who Killed Me - "I know who killed me."


Asshat of the Year


Lindsay Lohan - "My career was going in the right direction. I just HAD to fuck it up somehow."
I snubbed her on the Actress category, but I will not leave her out of this one. Miss Lohan, GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER. Cocaine, drunk driving... I Know Who Killed Me... woman, what the fuck? Only a year earlier you were working under Robert Altman. How many actresses your age can say they worked with Robert Altman? In his FINAL FILM, no less. Finish your rehab, get back on the horse and start making good movies again. I swear, if I wake up one morning and find out that you OD'd, the first thing I do when I get to heaven is BITCHSLAP you.

[Pulpmariachi]

I have qualms with your list, especially with "The Golden Compass" inclusions.

First: the Luke Skywalker thing. "Star Wars" has nothing, absolultey nothing at ALL going for it originality. The entire plot has been lifted from Joseph Campbell's discussions of heroes journeys and mythology. It updates elements of Westerns and Fantasies and even some "Star Trek" elements sure, but in reality, the reason why that movie works isn't because it's original, but because it's fun, because you care about the characters and their adventures, and you get wrapped up in their little world.

Second: You're confusing the book and the movie. While I enjoyed the movie -- I'm not going to watch it again, or buy it or whatever but I didn't regret the two hours I spent there -- it's arrogant, ignorant, and ridiculous of you to say you're skipping the books because of them. By now you're surely realized that movies and books aren't the same, and their mediums differ (take "No Country for Old Men:" the movie embraced the pulpiness of it all while the book went on meandering philisophical rants, only two of which you saw in the movie). Philip Pullman's "The Golden Compass" is quite possibly one of the best fantasy series of all time. It's better than "Lord of the Rings" (which is fun but there's much more focus on setting than character, and they don't really elevate from the Campbell definitions either), "Harry Potter", and, I dunno, "The Spiderwick Chronicles." They're beautiful novels, intense and devestating, and bring about great points of courage and leadership and disobedience as well as questioning the heirarchical power of the church (lost in the adaptation), our notion of God, and a great Adam and Eve ending. You're a fool, an idiot, to base not reading these things off their movies. Seperate the two.

Thirdly: Nicole Kidman. She's supposed to be nice, at least, she's supposed to appear so. The movie showed its hand too early about her association, but you have this character that you just can't believe is so evil because she comes off as so good. AND if you would read the books, not sticking with your notion of the films you boy, you'd find even more development into her character, her conflictions, motiviations, and everything else along the way. Kidman played her just fine.

Overall, I think every single one of your inclusions of "The Golden Compass" are because it won the Oscar last night. It didn't get under Bay's skin, and it got under yours, blinding your views upon it, as well as the FAR SUPERIOR books. No, the effects probably didn't deserve what they won, but the sets were exquisite.

You know what? Don't read the books, because you're going to go into them hating them already and they're too good to be diminshed by an angry fanboy. The clouding of judgement is one of the reasons why our country is so...off right now.

Still, these are your reflections, so whatever. My biggest anger point is that you won't even give the books a chance. For shame, Zap, for shame.

As for the rest of the Asshats, they're probably rightfully here.

Incidentally, all the names I called you, which I don't mean at all, came from different monologues of different movies. See if you can place them!

[ZapRowsdower]

I kinda figured that would set you off... and you're right, I'm still angry about its Oscar win last night, and that kinda swung a few categories in its direction.

But the Golden Compass, to me, WAS on the lower spectrum of movies for the year. Definitely in my bottom 10.

I didn't think Kidman did well at all. Towards the end of the movie, I was beginning to wonder... what's so wrong about this woman? Because she has rules in HER domicile, like anyone would? Why WOULDN'T the girl go with her? This wasn't clear to me. Maybe in the novel it comes across better, but this goes back to Chris Weitz' writing. I honestly think the man should go back to writing teen sex comedies or Hugh Grant movies, because fantasy is not his forte.

I wasn't interested in the book to begin with. It's not like the movie swayed my opinion or anything, but it certainly didn't change it. I'm still not interested.

[Heineken Skywalker]

pulpmariachi said:

I have qualms with your list, especially with "The Golden Compass" inclusions.

First: the Luke Skywalker thing. "Star Wars" has nothing, absolultey nothing at ALL going for it originality. The entire plot has been lifted from Joseph Campbell's discussions of heroes journeys and mythology. It updates elements of Westerns and Fantasies and even some "Star Trek" elements sure, but in reality, the reason why that movie works isn't because it's original, but because it's fun, because you care about the characters and their adventures, and you get wrapped up in their little world.

A few months ago the entire plot was a remake of Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress", now the entire thing's been lifted from Campbell?
Sheesh! Next I'll be hearing that it's an update of "Flash Gordon".
How about, it's original in the sense that no one had ever thought to mix ingredients from so many movie genres, myths, legends, fairytales, and even world history, together into a blender and make the tastiest Movie Smoothie ever concocted?
Was Lucas influenced by the stuff he loves? Absolutely. To say there isn't anything original in it at ALL is just silly, to put it mildly.
And we don't get wrapped up in their "little" world. That's a whole other galaxy right there, my friend. Far, far away...

As for the "Golden Compass", I'll let you two battle out its merits or defects. I've never read the book or seen the movie, but I will agree with Zap on one point he made. A lot of these modern fantasy movies are starting to look alike. After "Harry Potter" and the "Lord of the Rings" movies struck gold, we've been innundated with fantasy films based on children's books. For every successful one like "Narnia", we've got several "Eragon" corpses laying around. I don't know about you guys, but I can't tell my Lemony Snickets from my Spiderwick Chronicles. Just saying is all.

And one final thing about this list:
"Dane Cook is an annoying motherfucker. Why do studios continue to think this guy is funny? He really isn't."
Amen, brother!
However, I could've done without knowing his fate in "Mr. Brooks", Spoiler Boy!

[ZapRowsdower]

heinekenskywalker said:

pulpmariachi said:

I have qualms with your list, especially with "The Golden Compass" inclusions.

First: the Luke Skywalker thing. "Star Wars" has nothing, absolultey nothing at ALL going for it originality. The entire plot has been lifted from Joseph Campbell's discussions of heroes journeys and mythology. It updates elements of Westerns and Fantasies and even some "Star Trek" elements sure, but in reality, the reason why that movie works isn't because it's original, but because it's fun, because you care about the characters and their adventures, and you get wrapped up in their little world.

A few months ago the entire plot was a remake of Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress", now the entire thing's been lifted from Campbell?
Sheesh! Next I'll be hearing that it's an update of "Flash Gordon".
How about, it's original in the sense that no one had ever thought to mix ingredients from so many movie genres, myths, legends, fairytales, and even world history, together into a blender and make the tastiest Movie Smoothie ever concocted?
Was Lucas influenced by the stuff he loves? Absolutely. To say there isn't anything original in it at ALL is just silly, to put it mildly.
And we don't get wrapped up in their "little" world. That's a whole other galaxy right there, my friend. Far, far away...

As for the "Golden Compass", I'll let you two battle out its merits or defects. I've never read the book or seen the movie, but I will agree with Zap on one point he made. A lot of these modern fantasy movies are starting to look alike. After "Harry Potter" and the "Lord of the Rings" movies struck gold, we've been innundated with fantasy films based on children's books. For every successful one like "Narnia", we've got several "Eragon" corpses laying around. I don't know about you guys, but I can't tell my Lemony Snickets from my Spiderwick Chronicles. Just saying is all.

And one final thing about this list:
"Dane Cook is an annoying motherfucker. Why do studios continue to think this guy is funny? He really isn't."
Amen, brother!
However, I could've done without knowing his fate in "Mr. Brooks", Spoiler Boy!

ARGH! My bad. I thought the movie was old enough that anyone who wanted to see it probably did already. But there's really more to it than that.

[ZapRowsdower]

Oh, and I just realized...

This was cut and pasted from a Myspace blog, so this was written for a more local audience. I didn't catch this until just now.

That quip for supporting actor is in reference to a local theme park. Not sure how well-known it is outside the state of California, but Knott's Berry Farm, I believe, is owned by Busch Gardens.

Every October, they do a little event called "The Haunt", where after hours, they set up mazes and other Halloween themed activities to scare the crap out of people. Employees dressed as werewolves, vampires and other assorted demons jump out and make loud noises and such. Sometimes, it's pretty damn effective.

Anyway, there's a show they put on. Evidently, it's not all about scaring people. It's a comedic show where they spoof pretty much all the pop culture of the preceding year. In 2006, for instance, the main character was a Captain Jack Swallows. He made a comment about ending up in the wrong theme park. Funny enough, Disneyland is only a stone's throw away from Knott's.

Sorry if this is an unnecessary backstory. Again, I'm not sure about how far knowledge of Knott's Berry Farm travels. But if it was necessary, sorry for throwing in a bit of an inside joke.

[Pulpmariachi]

Who says "Hidden Fortress" didn't borrow from Campbell? The guy's discussions on mythology and whatnot are incredibly influential. AND you pretty much described all the reasons why I said "Star Wars" connected, Mr. H. It was because we cared what happened. Everybody steals from everybody and I once read this thought, I guess, that the only two stories out there are "The Iliad" and "The Odyssesy." Don't know if I agree with that, but someone thought it up. "His Dark Materials", for instance, borrows heavily from "Paradise Lost." It's well aware of that.

I don't really want to get into the makings of young-adult fantasy, only to say that "His Dark Materials" did come first, that the Harry Potter films were pretty much guaranteed to succeed from the first moment, and some transitions are more difficult to make ("Golden Compass" prime example...it needs a remake). The reason I think that young adults have so much fantastic literature geared toward them (and some of it is wonderful, better than the vast majority of adult fantasy, I'm talking Wrinkle in Time, The Phantom Tollbooth, His Dark Materials, those Inkwell books, The Dark is Rising sequence, Harry Potter, and why not, Lemony Snicket) is because there's a certain attraction to characters discovering their own powers as people discover what they're capable of. Then you still get the Eragons and the Narnia, both of which I've pointed out why I've hated.

But I stated my case for "Golden Compass"; I don't understand why people get fed up when something has been called out for being stolen; and I actually like Zap a lot, so I don't wanna get into this huge back and forth debackle that leads into a labyrinth of nothing (stole that one from Borges).

[Heineken Skywalker]

iamthesmitty said:

ARGH! My bad. I thought the movie was old enough that anyone who wanted to see it probably did already. But there's really more to it than that.

Well, it's only what, about a year old or so? Not exactly an old film. But, no biggie. I do want to see it, but you know, so many movies, so little time.

And Pulp, my post was meant to be humorous, hence the Flash Gordon comment, as that was clearly an influence as well. Obviously Kurosawa was influenced by Campbell, and Westerns, etc. and Lucas in turn was influenced by Kurosawa and Campbell, and then younger filmmakers like JJ Abrams and Joss Whedon were influenced by Lucas, Kurosawa and Campbell, and so on.
I've read that quote before too about the only two stories being "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey", and while I see where they're coming from, pretty much everything that would make up most stories that would come later are already in those two, I can't completely agree with it. Think of all the amazing stories, books and movies we would've been deprived of, if creative people just said, "Screw it, Homer already wrote that."
Anyway, neither here or there. Huge SW fan and when someone says that there isn't anything original about it at all, it's bound to set me off.