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@@briantresden2933 Yeah, because Empire Strikes Back is a much better film than most modern Marvel movies. Like Gene and Roger were saying, it's not just a mindless spectacle.
@@bagggers9796Star Wars was never good. Same with superheroes, its the embarrassment of American entertainment. Should have burned it long time ago along with Star Trek. Bill Maher video called "Grow up" is my sentiment on this.
"Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." C.S. Lewis
Interesting that no one in this interview mentions the use of classic lore & mythos tied to great storytelling, albeit redressed in sci-fi, to introduce it to a younger, and next generation.
Multiple decades later & people STILL cant get enough of the mystique of Yoda, as indicated by Grogu's popularity. Obviously Grogu isnt Yoda but he is the same species & speculated to be a relative to Yoda. Great job NMSW on deep diving for this rare footage 👍
John Simon was not a Sci-fi fan. He used Mark Twain's "Huck Finn" as a reference, instead any of the works by H. G. Wells, Piers Anthony, Isaac Asimov, etc. Someone who doesn't like a genre cannot be objective about it. John's proper response should have started with "I don't normally enjoy this type of film." The same can be currently said of not only critics, but creators that join a genre they don't love, simply for a paycheck or inclusiveness. You're doing yourself and your audience a disservice if you work on topics you don't love, because audiences won't see the best of you, and you'll be forever marked as subpar, or even hated because of it. The fans are not at fault, if your performance reflects the disdain you have for your work.
Exactly, I’ve tried to get into Anime, but I’ve found it’s not my speed. Nothing against it, and I respect it as a type of of animation. If I was tasked to review one I would start with that.
As Albert Einstein once put it: "The greatest sign/mark of intelligence is imagination and creativity." I'm paraphrasing of course, but you get the idea; and you know anything that Einstein said had merit/weight, as it was coming from one of history's brightest minds. Not to mention of course, kids are often times smarter than a majority of adults, as adults are so often severely closed minded, as to quote the wise master Yoda: "Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is." #NotMySTARWARS #SellLucasfilm #CancelDisney #WelcomeToTheRebellion
Ideas are a LOT cheaper than baloney. Like aholes, everyone has them. GOOD ideas now ---- those are very rare. Ideas that will markedly improve the lives of human beings.
Notice how he contradicts himself? First he says that these movies are suitable only for children, and dumb children at that. Then he turns around and complains that there was so much going on that he, a grown man, couldn't understand the story. I think that people get from Star Wars exactly what the ancient Greeks got from listening to the Iliad. Timeless themes of courage, of honor, of friendship, heroism, right-and-wrong; and I think he's just a bloodless old turnip who has forgotten what it means to be human.
Let's face it---- it was a melodrama. I found the original Star Wars a highly entertaining film, but it was melodrama appealing to very human but trivial sensibilities. It really exploited us as an audience in very calculated ways. But that was fine, especially for the first film. But that became shopworn for me with all the sequels.
@@SeattlePioneer That’s pretty much every movie. Movies are designed to appeal to our trivial sensibilities and complaining about them is like complaining about curry having spices in them or ice cream being cold.
@@Lobsterwithinternet > They don't have to be, but most certainly are. And with all the "WOKE" DEI movies, it may be getting a LOT worse. Trash seems to pervade the culture these days. I understand that the "JOKER II" movie is an egregious example of this trend. I often find that the first movie is real entertainment, with sequels being trash. Star Wars was an example of that, and so were the Harry Potter movies. I found the first Harry Potter book and movie to be charming and creative, and the subsequent books and movies to be exploitive trash ---- although I read and viewed all those in the original series. Go figure!
“Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” “A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.” -C.S. Lewis
Yeah, I found that statement to be quite laughable too! That was one sorry old fart sour puss. Or maybe he just saw into the future and saw what Dizney did!
John Simon was perhaps the most miserable man in Hollywood history, I'm not even kidding or exaggerating. He made a whole career out of being a heel, the very embodiment of the stereotype of the pretentious, unctuous theatre critic, rarely ever giving any film a positive review, frequently attacking actors' physical appearances (despite as Ebert once said, "looking like a rat"), making misogynistic, racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic comments and "jokes", etc. He reveled in being reviled. Just a loathsome creature, through and through, and since only the good die young, he outlived both Siskel AND Ebert, finally dying in 2019 at the age of 94.
@@SamJohnsonAZlet's be honest, kids aren't going to want to watch stuff like that, they're going to want adventure. I read Huckleberry Finn as a kid because it was full of adventure. You learn about life and the adventure is what draws the younger audience. He can't seem to understand that crucial detail that makes Huckleberry Finn such a classic. It's not just the themes of life, it's how it gets your attention. He's a lazy critic.
"You might as well be watching an animated cartoon". That may have been an insult in the 80s but it it really isn't an insult to the modern generation.
John Simon outlived Sisket & Ebert & died years after them, but Ted is still alive today. Despite "Return of the Jedi" being a film that is "90% special effects" as Simon said, it has since become a classic & I suppose it is going to outlive all of us here in the comments & everyone alive in the world right now, as it will continue to captivate audiences yet to be born decades in the future. 11/16/23
Its only a classic because manchildren are godawful. You have better 80s action movies over Superheroes or Star Wars. Only people with low IQ of low hanging fruits type of taste are into Star Wars or superheroes.
And Ebert’s counterpoints that CGI and special effects are apart of the movie just as much as the acting and dialogue still stands for the prequels. Ebert really enjoyed the prequels as well don’t let RLM and his followers negatively influence you to the dark side like that guy you’re talking about.
I find John Simon to be a moronic hypocrite. He says the special effects are like Disney's animation and could just as easily be done that way. Only Disney didn't make animation like that back then and not even today still don't. You'd have to go to Japan to find animation like that which can get violent depending on the story and that Simon guy would just hate that too.
Return of the jedi is the end of the "SkYwAlKeR SaGA". I wasn't alive back then but at least the films didn't need that BS marketing "Skywalker saga solagon" for them to sell.
Interesting snapshot on a much bigger debate. Simon obviously represented the "escapism is bad" school of thought in lit. criticism, and his argument that SW is bad because it is not as nuanced and historically/socially relevant as Huckleberry Finn is a really weak one. That's comparing apples and oranges, as they say. But while I'm firmly on the Siskel/Ebert side in this, I can also understand how somebody coming from a much older, quasi-classicist paradigm could have problems adapting to Pop Literature, like SW. We have to remember just how much the movie and TV landscape was changing from the 70s to the 80s. I think Simon misses the boat in a lot of ways, but I do believe he is being honest in his reaction and that is a valuable perspective on a completely different view of literature.
I'm not the biggest MCU fan but John Simon sounds like all the critics following Martin Scorsese's criticism. Just like Star Wars, just like Westerns, MCU could inspire the next generation of filmmakers to push the artform in new directions
As someone who loves great genre films, including superhero ones, what absolute tripe. The next generation of film-makers will be even more illiterate, clueless, and slaves to mega-corps. We are in a downward spiral of imbecility, degradation, decay. Watch a great movie from any decade up to the '70s to experience the fall of verbal and visual wit, and of good composition.
This was 40 years ago and at 3:00 he actually said Disney could easily do a better job with some colored pencils.Disney did have the chance to make something great but ruined it with their twisted agendas over the last few years.
Nobody remembers or will remember John Simon . People will always recall the masterpiece of Star Wars; The Return of the Jedi . Walt Disney though was great foresight however, and predicting baby yoda toys .
Superheroes, Star Wars and Star Trek arent even good entertainment for 6 year olds. Its superficial low hanging fruits of entertainment. You only make them lower in IQ level
Return of the Jedi was and still is my favorite movie of all times. I could watch it a million times and not get bored and I probably have already. haha. I grew up in a very rural area without many theaters around and my family was dirt poor so I had to wait for it to come out on vhs and back then we had to actually rent the vcr to watch movies that we rented too. haha. I went around school avoiding spoilers before I got to see it. I remember to this day hearing some kids talking about it and thinking that they said Luke cut off Vaders head instead of his hand.
Oh pls, the prequels were absolutely amazing. As someone who grew up with the prequels, it absolutely catered to our generation perfectly. And it added amazing things to the lore too
Huh, this kinda reminds me of a hypothesis of mine. I feel like the deaths of George Carlin and Joan Rivers is what politicians and celebrities were waiting for to get psychotic, as we see today. Maybe the passing of Siskel and Ebert did the same for film making. Gotta love that "30 years ago" remark lmao.
Love the Return f the Jedi. Fantasy is tremendous great imagination love this movie I got married the day this was released. Saw it in the morning got married 3 hours later.
I've learned finally that Everybody's brains are different and will react to different things ...I kind of suspect his brain has some sort of limitation if he wasn't *Able* to see the flesh & blood elements. ... (brain too easily over-dazzled by movement & sounds?)
It's kind of ironic that S&E would accuse this guy of being 'old at heart', because they were so often on the wrong side of pop culture history themselves.
The whole world knows that the two beloved Chicago-based film critics, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert might have COVID-19 if they are alive right here on earth in the year 2022 because they defended Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in 1983.
I love the original trilogy but it's weird that what John Simon says about Jedi is how I feel about the prequels. A boring, jaded special effects nightmare, devoid of any real humanity.
I thought that the original Star Wars was a sensational exposition of a story line illustrated by special effects and using classic mythology and tales with which people could identify. Fine. The additional episodes merely exploited the fun and freshness of the original to sucker the audience into imagin9ing that the plot line had any real substance or importance at all. It didn't. The Harry Potter movies ---and books, had the same problem. The first book and movie was a wonderful dive into the imagination. The additional examples merely exploited the original great world that had been created to suppose that the plot line and characters were in any way important. They were not.
John Simon's criticism was ahead of his time. Compare the Spider-Man trilogy with Tobey. It has some IQ writing despite the cheesyness to it, but i think the whole 90% special effects is starting to show with Andrew Garfield movies and ultimately a shitshow after him with these lame tired Superhero films where nothing feels real to me the more i look at it.
Although I massively disagree with him, I respect John Simon for expressing an unpopular opinion. The reason I say this is because I despise Aliens, a sequel that people say is better than the original (which makes me cringe every single time I hear it). Whenever I express my opinion, I have literally no allies.
There is a difference between not liking something and putting down those that do. That is just plain jealousy. Alien and Aliens are just different movies. It is understandable not to like both. You have an action thriller, and you have horror. Alien is amazing. That does not somehow disqualify Aliens from also being amazing because it is. Whichever genre you prefer will be your favorite of tbe 2. Aliens had a strong female lead with huge character growth in a time where that was EXTREMELY rare. And action scenes, characters, and props that are the most copied in movie history. Do you know how many "Vasquez" characters and "Pulse Rifles" I have seen in video games, shows, and movies I have seen in the last 35 years?
@@thec9424 I don't shame people for liking Aliens, even though I disagree with them. I just think Alien never needed sequels in the first place. Same thing with Jaws! Both are masterpieces of suspense and horror, neither one of them ended on a cliffhanger or a sequel-baiter.
@casesoutherland4175 The guy in the video is putting people down who like Star Wars. I didn't mean you. Aliens doesn't need your support. I don't like "The God Father" movies or any "mafia" movie. I never understood how little short dudes can come off being "tough." But they are critically acclaimed and don't need my support either.
They’re all three right. It is pabulum for children. It does have terrible dialogue and the story fundamentals are awful. It is a rehash of better source material. But it is also thrilling and fun and inspiring. All of those things can be true at the same time.
Disagree. The first two are wonderfully done and belong in the same category as both the Fairbanks' and Korda's 'The Thief of Bagdad', 'The Wizard of Oz', 'Le Belle et Beute', Zeman's 'Baron Munchausen', the early Disney classics and 'Jason and the Argonauts'. As for the source material, it is far superior to the Flash Gordon serials and the super-science space-operas of Burroughs. It is worthy of the westerns of Ford, which I bet Simon loved. Jedi is a huge fall from which Lucas has never recovered.
@@SeattlePioneer Empire is the best of the lot by a wide margin. I hate franchises and sequels. They've only worked with 'The Bride of Frankenstein', 'The Godfather II', and trilogies by masterful directors, such as Ray, Kurosawa. Occasionally, a small select handful of superhero movies, when they were good, where the sequel is superb because they ironed out the effects, the story, 'Spiderman II' and 'X-Men II'. Plot is important but most screenwriters don't have the craft for it today.
wow… i actually felt kinda sorry for that john simon guy… i bet he was just a jooooy to be around in person… but, i felt pity for him, he sounds like the type person that has had ‘misery’ as a roommate for most his life… may the Force be with you john simon…. 😔 🤣🤣🤣
It was not a great movie. The ewoks defeat the stormtroopers? And Darth Vader is redeemed? I always had a hard time with that ending. The best part was that the emperor got what was coming to him. But no, it wasn't a great movie and how for the love of God can a large slug be a criminal mastermind and boss of an enterprise when Leia kills him so easily?
Honestly, Ebert's demeanor sort of proves Simon's point lmao. "...helped me to stay young at heart. I would say not that I am childlike, but that he is old at heart." Like...yeah, that's what Simon is saying. At this point, it's undeniable that Simon was right, especially when one considers the violent reactions to the newer Disney films and the lengths to which fully grown adults would go to demonstrate their childishness to try to relive 1983. Yeah, the dialogue isn't great, the three actors aren't great, and kids are mostly entertained by the idea of the universe or the action. Siskel and Ebert admit that, but this just makes Simon MORE correct!
I like everything Star Wars but this guy does have a point. Generally speaking todays sci-fi type movies are just special effects slide shows with very little story or plot if any...it's all about special effects. Watch or read any bluray review and all you will get is how it "looks" and "sounds"...absolutely NOTHING on the story and plot...especially reviews that mention 4K. He's correct again as far as children go...just look at the News...they aren't the brightest and most have no common sense at all.
Lol, this guy probably thinks Marlon Brando was a good actor because of 1 good performance and Jack Nicholson is a good actor despite overacting in literally everything he’s been in since Chinatown.
Well the criticism of the sheep who are into 90% special effects are correct. People who watch movies now only watch superheroes which is low hanging fruit of entertainment, no stories or plot just stupid special effects and some guy in spandex with boring repetition of getting powers vs supervillains
My God does this man not only fly over the target but drop the full payload!!! I have always liked Star Wars but this man Simon is inherently describing the infantilization of post WWII Boomer generation through the use of egalitarian lies, over simplification and everyone getting a "participation trophy" because "you can be anything you want". A whole generation believing race is not real, gender is optional, and replacing yourself with Third Worlders whose aggregate IQ is below 80 "is a good thing" I have to give it to this man, he saw the future before most and the sea of grown adult Bugmen decked out in Marvel gear and surrounded by the POPs toys proves it. It was all intentional by the way. The dumbing of Post WWII society I mean, I assume EVERYONE knows this already Generations of farmers and laborers who could intelligently write and discuss the Illiad and Huck Finn replaced by adults who weep because Thanos was mean
As a kid I loved all three original movies. As an adult I still love the first two, but no longer care for the third,...so something happened there? Return of the Jedi,..."meh". :(
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@@NotMySTARWARS being a movie critic is a job people get who aren't smart enough to be a trash collector.
John Simon is that guy who passes out toothpaste instead of candy on Halloween
Or those little New Testament Bibles. 😂
Some people will ridicule this guy for his stuffy opinion...and then trash Marvel movies with the same critical ideas.
@@briantresden2933 Yeah, because Empire Strikes Back is a much better film than most modern Marvel movies. Like Gene and Roger were saying, it's not just a mindless spectacle.
@@bagggers9796Star Wars was never good. Same with superheroes, its the embarrassment of American entertainment. Should have burned it long time ago along with Star Trek. Bill Maher video called "Grow up" is my sentiment on this.
"Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."
C.S. Lewis
Interesting that no one in this interview mentions the use of classic lore & mythos tied to great storytelling, albeit redressed in sci-fi, to introduce it to a younger, and next generation.
No but the Critics did when they reviewed it for their own show and I am certain he is aware of that, even if he is wrong.
i think ebert did on the Saturday review as an amalgam of old westerns with classic sci fi
Multiple decades later & people STILL cant get enough of the mystique of Yoda, as indicated by Grogu's popularity. Obviously Grogu isnt Yoda but he is the same species & speculated to be a relative to Yoda.
Great job NMSW on deep diving for this rare footage 👍
The final dual and helmet removal redemption scene is genuinely brilliant cinema. The best of Star Wars.
John Simon was not a Sci-fi fan. He used Mark Twain's "Huck Finn" as a reference, instead any of the works by H. G. Wells, Piers Anthony, Isaac Asimov, etc. Someone who doesn't like a genre cannot be objective about it.
John's proper response should have started with "I don't normally enjoy this type of film."
The same can be currently said of not only critics, but creators that join a genre they don't love, simply for a paycheck or inclusiveness. You're doing yourself and your audience a disservice if you work on topics you don't love, because audiences won't see the best of you, and you'll be forever marked as subpar, or even hated because of it.
The fans are not at fault, if your performance reflects the disdain you have for your work.
Exactly, I’ve tried to get into Anime, but I’ve found it’s not my speed. Nothing against it, and I respect it as a type of of animation. If I was tasked to review one I would start with that.
Return of the Jedi > Rise of Skywalker
By an extremely long shot!!!
#NotMySTARWARS
#SellLucasfilm
#CancelDisney
#WelcomeToTheRebellion
"Rise of Skywalker" should be renamed "Identity Theft of Skywalker."
#NotMyStarWars
#FireKathleenKennedy
#CancelDisneyPlus
#WeLoveGinaCarano
@@UltimusMagus Facts!
Return of the Jedi is better than all of the Star Wars movies except Empire Strikes Back, and maybe New Hope.
Eating Pizza > Getting stabbed in the eye
As Albert Einstein once put it: "The greatest sign/mark of intelligence is imagination and creativity." I'm paraphrasing of course, but you get the idea; and you know anything that Einstein said had merit/weight, as it was coming from one of history's brightest minds. Not to mention of course, kids are often times smarter than a majority of adults, as adults are so often severely closed minded, as to quote the wise master Yoda: "Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is."
#NotMySTARWARS
#SellLucasfilm
#CancelDisney
#WelcomeToTheRebellion
>
Children are easily led around by their nose, ears or other emotional appeals. Big whoop.
@@SeattlePioneer Hahaha!!! Speak for yourself! Adults are too!! I was speaking in comparative terms!!
Ideas are a LOT cheaper than baloney. Like aholes, everyone has them.
GOOD ideas now ---- those are very rare. Ideas that will markedly improve the lives of human beings.
Notice how he contradicts himself? First he says that these movies are suitable only for children, and dumb children at that. Then he turns around and complains that there was so much going on that he, a grown man, couldn't understand the story.
I think that people get from Star Wars exactly what the ancient Greeks got from listening to the Iliad. Timeless themes of courage, of honor, of friendship, heroism, right-and-wrong; and I think he's just a bloodless old turnip who has forgotten what it means to be human.
When he's not a "film critic" he's actually the grinch during Christmas time
This guy referred to Mark, Carrie, and Harrison as "ghastly actors". I love them all.
Let's face it---- it was a melodrama. I found the original Star Wars a highly entertaining film, but it was melodrama appealing to very human but trivial sensibilities.
It really exploited us as an audience in very calculated ways. But that was fine, especially for the first film. But that became shopworn for me with all the sequels.
'get off my interview!'
@@SeattlePioneerempire strikes back is a top 5 movie
@@SeattlePioneer That’s pretty much every movie.
Movies are designed to appeal to our trivial sensibilities and complaining about them is like complaining about curry having spices in them or ice cream being cold.
@@Lobsterwithinternet >
They don't have to be, but most certainly are. And with all the "WOKE" DEI movies, it may be getting a LOT worse.
Trash seems to pervade the culture these days.
I understand that the "JOKER II" movie is an egregious example of this trend.
I often find that the first movie is real entertainment, with sequels being trash. Star Wars was an example of that, and so were the Harry Potter movies. I found the first Harry Potter book and movie to be charming and creative, and the subsequent books and movies to be exploitive trash ---- although I read and viewed all those in the original series.
Go figure!
i agree with john simon, all children should spend the holidays watching the nuremburg trials
“Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”
“A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.”
-C.S. Lewis
Well quoted
I wonder if he would have lived to see if Episode III and say that left children dumber.....
Return of the Jedi is a masterpiece
Correct.
It’s real good!
Its terrible. The only close to good movie is Episode 3, because it had a plot and not 90% special effects for low hanging fruit consumers
@@Sparrows1121 yeah yeah
🤣
I think it’s a good movie, definately underrated, but masterpiece it is not.
This guy doesn't even know that Huck Finn was NOT a children's book.
😂 “Star Wars tries to keep kids stupid” 😂😂😂
Yeah, I found that statement to be quite laughable too! That was one sorry old fart sour puss. Or maybe he just saw into the future and saw what Dizney did!
#NotMySTARWARS
#SellLucasfilm
#CancelDisney
#WelcomeToTheRebellion
😂
Simon seems to be a sad sad man. Many of us identified with Luke and his dreams
I identified with 90% special effects that i got blinded by
John Simon was perhaps the most miserable man in Hollywood history, I'm not even kidding or exaggerating. He made a whole career out of being a heel, the very embodiment of the stereotype of the pretentious, unctuous theatre critic, rarely ever giving any film a positive review, frequently attacking actors' physical appearances (despite as Ebert once said, "looking like a rat"), making misogynistic, racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic comments and "jokes", etc. He reveled in being reviled. Just a loathsome creature, through and through, and since only the good die young, he outlived both Siskel AND Ebert, finally dying in 2019 at the age of 94.
John Simon's heart must have given out considering how much special effects dominate a film these days.
That would imply that he had a heart to begin with.
This man is so sad. Return of the Jedi is a true masterpiece.
@@matthewlawrence708 I wholeheartedly agree!
Who could forget the Tender Mercies action figures, sequels and cosplayers?
He recommend kids a melo drama about a drunken cowboy and girl who find love like bruh
@@SamJohnsonAZlet's be honest, kids aren't going to want to watch stuff like that, they're going to want adventure. I read Huckleberry Finn as a kid because it was full of adventure. You learn about life and the adventure is what draws the younger audience. He can't seem to understand that crucial detail that makes Huckleberry Finn such a classic. It's not just the themes of life, it's how it gets your attention. He's a lazy critic.
and prequels?
Could you imagine being this guys kid? Hopefully they turned out happier than their father.
He probably forced his kids to stay inside and read Shakespeare......when they were 8.
"You might as well be watching an animated cartoon". That may have been an insult in the 80s but it it really isn't an insult to the modern generation.
John Simon outlived Sisket & Ebert & died years after them, but Ted is still alive today. Despite "Return of the Jedi" being a film that is "90% special effects" as Simon said, it has since become a classic & I suppose it is going to outlive all of us here in the comments & everyone alive in the world right now, as it will continue to captivate audiences yet to be born decades in the future.
11/16/23
I could argue with that, but that would come from outside of rationalism loop.
Its only a classic because manchildren are godawful. You have better 80s action movies over Superheroes or Star Wars. Only people with low IQ of low hanging fruits type of taste are into Star Wars or superheroes.
4:03 - Sounds like he's talking about the prequels
And Ebert’s counterpoints that CGI and special effects are apart of the movie just as much as the acting and dialogue still stands for the prequels. Ebert really enjoyed the prequels as well don’t let RLM and his followers negatively influence you to the dark side like that guy you’re talking about.
if kafka was a movie critic his name would be john simon 😂
Imagine how this guy would react to Disney Star Wars. His head might explode!
I find John Simon to be a moronic hypocrite. He says the special effects are like Disney's animation and could just as easily be done that way. Only Disney didn't make animation like that back then and not even today still don't. You'd have to go to Japan to find animation like that which can get violent depending on the story and that Simon guy would just hate that too.
That simon dude perfectly summed up the sequels.
Who knew Ebert could be absolutely so wrong about disney being able to make star wars movies?
Ebert was such a sharp guy.
Return of the jedi is the end of the "SkYwAlKeR SaGA". I wasn't alive back then but at least the films didn't need that BS marketing "Skywalker saga solagon" for them to sell.
I think he's the guy who steals candy from children
John Simon never had a fun day in his life
Interesting snapshot on a much bigger debate. Simon obviously represented the "escapism is bad" school of thought in lit. criticism, and his argument that SW is bad because it is not as nuanced and historically/socially relevant as Huckleberry Finn is a really weak one. That's comparing apples and oranges, as they say.
But while I'm firmly on the Siskel/Ebert side in this, I can also understand how somebody coming from a much older, quasi-classicist paradigm could have problems adapting to Pop Literature, like SW. We have to remember just how much the movie and TV landscape was changing from the 70s to the 80s. I think Simon misses the boat in a lot of ways, but I do believe he is being honest in his reaction and that is a valuable perspective on a completely different view of literature.
I'm not the biggest MCU fan but John Simon sounds like all the critics following Martin Scorsese's criticism. Just like Star Wars, just like Westerns, MCU could inspire the next generation of filmmakers to push the artform in new directions
As someone who loves great genre films, including superhero ones, what absolute tripe. The next generation of film-makers will be even more illiterate, clueless, and slaves to mega-corps. We are in a downward spiral of imbecility, degradation, decay. Watch a great movie from any decade up to the '70s to experience the fall of verbal and visual wit, and of good composition.
I wonder if this Simon lived long enough to see Disney's vague fanfiction.
This was 40 years ago and at 3:00 he actually said Disney could easily do a better job with some colored pencils.Disney did have the chance to make something great but ruined it with their twisted agendas over the last few years.
Nobody remembers or will remember John Simon .
People will always recall the masterpiece of Star Wars; The Return of the Jedi .
Walt Disney though was great foresight however, and predicting baby yoda toys .
The Return of the Jedi, a masterpiece! A huge fall-off from Empire.
Superheroes, Star Wars and Star Trek arent even good entertainment for 6 year olds. Its superficial low hanging fruits of entertainment. You only make them lower in IQ level
Return of the Jedi was and still is my favorite movie of all times. I could watch it a million times and not get bored and I probably have already. haha. I grew up in a very rural area without many theaters around and my family was dirt poor so I had to wait for it to come out on vhs and back then we had to actually rent the vcr to watch movies that we rented too. haha. I went around school avoiding spoilers before I got to see it. I remember to this day hearing some kids talking about it and thinking that they said Luke cut off Vaders head instead of his hand.
they're defending Empire Strikes Back
Bro was ahead of his time. It basically is for man children now.
Plot Twist: Simon was actually reviewing the prequals.
Oh pls, the prequels were absolutely amazing. As someone who grew up with the prequels, it absolutely catered to our generation perfectly. And it added amazing things to the lore too
When critics were real critics...
They never come across as children's films and are awesome
Huh, this kinda reminds me of a hypothesis of mine. I feel like the deaths of George Carlin and Joan Rivers is what politicians and celebrities were waiting for to get psychotic, as we see today. Maybe the passing of Siskel and Ebert did the same for film making. Gotta love that "30 years ago" remark lmao.
Love the Return f the Jedi. Fantasy is tremendous great imagination love this movie I got married the day this was released. Saw it in the morning got married 3 hours later.
I've learned finally that Everybody's brains are different and will react to different things ...I kind of suspect his brain has some sort of limitation if he wasn't *Able* to see the flesh & blood elements.
...
(brain too easily over-dazzled by movement & sounds?)
I wonder what he would say about The Clone Wars.......
I bet John Simon shakes his kid's hand when he drops him off for 3rd grade.
He never had any
@@randomguy56789 that makes sense
It's kind of ironic that S&E would accuse this guy of being 'old at heart', because they were so often on the wrong side of pop culture history themselves.
John Simon was just ahead of the curve. If this program aired 10-20 years later, he would qualify as a diehard fanboy. “Worst Episode Ever.”
Simon would be spot on if he was talking the Prequels...
Jedi was the worst of the 1st 3 imo though.
The whole world knows that the two beloved Chicago-based film critics, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert might have COVID-19 if they are alive right here on earth in the year 2022 because they defended Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in 1983.
John Simon is a time traveler.....he was referring to Episodes 1, 2, 3, and beyond....excluding Rogue One (episode 3.5).
Tell me you didn't really watch the movies without really telling me
I love the original trilogy but it's weird that what John Simon says about Jedi is how I feel about the prequels. A boring, jaded special effects nightmare, devoid of any real humanity.
And what about the Disney trilogy?? Dreadful garbage.
“90% Special Effects” … … … John Simon must have really loved the prequel trilogy, then … … …
I thought that the original Star Wars was a sensational exposition of a story line illustrated by special effects and using classic mythology and tales with which people could identify. Fine.
The additional episodes merely exploited the fun and freshness of the original to sucker the audience into imagin9ing that the plot line had any real substance or importance at all. It didn't.
The Harry Potter movies ---and books, had the same problem. The first book and movie was a wonderful dive into the imagination. The additional examples merely exploited the original great world that had been created to suppose that the plot line and characters were in any way important. They were not.
Simon got a point 👉
Walt Disney could have made the Irony.....
It's jealousy. Their artsy films don't do nearly as well and it irks them.
This certainly did not age very well for this Simon character. Talk about being the old man of the old men. Good job John Simon, you old jerk!
This guys downs animation also which is interesting. Such a myopic view on what should be entertainment in the first place.
John Simon's criticism was ahead of his time. Compare the Spider-Man trilogy with Tobey. It has some IQ writing despite the cheesyness to it, but i think the whole 90% special effects is starting to show with Andrew Garfield movies and ultimately a shitshow after him with these lame tired Superhero films where nothing feels real to me the more i look at it.
Although I massively disagree with him, I respect John Simon for expressing an unpopular opinion.
The reason I say this is because I despise Aliens, a sequel that people say is better than the original (which makes me cringe every single time I hear it). Whenever I express my opinion, I have literally no allies.
There is a difference between not liking something and putting down those that do. That is just plain jealousy.
Alien and Aliens are just different movies. It is understandable not to like both. You have an action thriller, and you have horror. Alien is amazing. That does not somehow disqualify Aliens from also being amazing because it is. Whichever genre you prefer will be your favorite of tbe 2.
Aliens had a strong female lead with huge character growth in a time where that was EXTREMELY rare. And action scenes, characters, and props that are the most copied in movie history. Do you know how many "Vasquez" characters and "Pulse Rifles" I have seen in video games, shows, and movies I have seen in the last 35 years?
@@thec9424 I don't shame people for liking Aliens, even though I disagree with them. I just think Alien never needed sequels in the first place. Same thing with Jaws! Both are masterpieces of suspense and horror, neither one of them ended on a cliffhanger or a sequel-baiter.
@casesoutherland4175 The guy in the video is putting people down who like Star Wars. I didn't mean you.
Aliens doesn't need your support. I don't like "The God Father" movies or any "mafia" movie. I never understood how little short dudes can come off being "tough." But they are critically acclaimed and don't need my support either.
Well it would have been better to just not show this ! cause i never saw it before, and well its still means nothing !
Sorry, Simon was right. Movies have been grossly dumbed down.
They’re all three right. It is pabulum for children. It does have terrible dialogue and the story fundamentals are awful. It is a rehash of better source material. But it is also thrilling and fun and inspiring. All of those things can be true at the same time.
I agree. And it was well worth doing the first time.
But the repeated repetition of pablum tends, in the end, to reveal it as.... pablum.
Disagree. The first two are wonderfully done and belong in the same category as both the Fairbanks' and Korda's 'The Thief of Bagdad', 'The Wizard of Oz', 'Le Belle et Beute', Zeman's 'Baron Munchausen', the early Disney classics and 'Jason and the Argonauts'. As for the source material, it is far superior to the Flash Gordon serials and the super-science space-operas of Burroughs. It is worthy of the westerns of Ford, which I bet Simon loved. Jedi is a huge fall from which Lucas has never recovered.
Earlier posts:
Your post:
@@SeattlePioneer Empire is the best of the lot by a wide margin. I hate franchises and sequels. They've only worked with 'The Bride of Frankenstein', 'The Godfather II', and trilogies by masterful directors, such as Ray, Kurosawa. Occasionally, a small select handful of superhero movies, when they were good, where the sequel is superb because they ironed out the effects, the story, 'Spiderman II' and 'X-Men II'. Plot is important but most screenwriters don't have the craft for it today.
wow… i actually felt kinda sorry for that john simon guy… i bet he was just a jooooy to be around in person… but, i felt pity for him, he sounds like the type person that has had ‘misery’ as a roommate for most his life… may the Force be with you john simon…. 😔 🤣🤣🤣
I would have to agree with his terrible acting opinion with 2 out of 3 of the main characters. Let's not say Harrison Ford is a terrible actor.
This guy has no idea what he's talking about
It was not a great movie. The ewoks defeat the stormtroopers? And Darth Vader is redeemed? I always had a hard time with that ending. The best part was that the emperor got what was coming to him. But no, it wasn't a great movie and how for the love of God can a large slug be a criminal mastermind and boss of an enterprise when Leia kills him so easily?
I agree
Spot on by John Simon. Just look at all the balding, wimpy man children that make up Star Wars conventions.
Honestly, Ebert's demeanor sort of proves Simon's point lmao. "...helped me to stay young at heart. I would say not that I am childlike, but that he is old at heart."
Like...yeah, that's what Simon is saying. At this point, it's undeniable that Simon was right, especially when one considers the violent reactions to the newer Disney films and the lengths to which fully grown adults would go to demonstrate their childishness to try to relive 1983.
Yeah, the dialogue isn't great, the three actors aren't great, and kids are mostly entertained by the idea of the universe or the action. Siskel and Ebert admit that, but this just makes Simon MORE correct!
Three lousy actors
😂😂😂😂
I like everything Star Wars but this guy does have a point. Generally speaking todays sci-fi type movies are just special effects slide shows with very little story or plot if any...it's all about special effects. Watch or read any bluray review and all you will get is how it "looks" and "sounds"...absolutely NOTHING on the story and plot...especially reviews that mention 4K. He's correct again as far as children go...just look at the News...they aren't the brightest and most have no common sense at all.
Lol, this guy probably thinks Marlon Brando was a good actor because of 1 good performance and Jack Nicholson is a good actor despite overacting in literally everything he’s been in since Chinatown.
Well the criticism of the sheep who are into 90% special effects are correct. People who watch movies now only watch superheroes which is low hanging fruit of entertainment, no stories or plot just stupid special effects and some guy in spandex with boring repetition of getting powers vs supervillains
My God does this man not only fly over the target but drop the full payload!!! I have always liked Star Wars but this man Simon is inherently describing the infantilization of post WWII Boomer generation through the use of egalitarian lies, over simplification and everyone getting a "participation trophy" because "you can be anything you want". A whole generation believing race is not real, gender is optional, and replacing yourself with Third Worlders whose aggregate IQ is below 80 "is a good thing"
I have to give it to this man, he saw the future before most and the sea of grown adult Bugmen decked out in Marvel gear and surrounded by the POPs toys proves it. It was all intentional by the way. The dumbing of Post WWII society I mean, I assume EVERYONE knows this already
Generations of farmers and laborers who could intelligently write and discuss the Illiad and Huck Finn replaced by adults who weep because Thanos was mean
John Simon is someone who thinks kids should be watching Huck Finn instead of Star Wars ? Is this guy high?
No, and they can watch both and others too.
This guy was the beginning of woke
he was a critic for a conservative rag
As a kid I loved all three original movies. As an adult I still love the first two, but no longer care for the third,...so something happened there?
Return of the Jedi,..."meh". :(
Booooooo
@@NotMySTARWARS Don't you mean, "nooo,...NNNOOOOO!" :-)
Return of the Jedi is a masterpiece
@@DayTripperrr Sorry, dude I just can't agree with that.
@@lookingforwookiecopilot why don’t you like jedi
His husband felt the same 😊
Good movies, but average as films.
They are the same thing like car and automobile. Nice try though.