Tockinit
not horrible nor great
Maidexpl
Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast
Brendon Jones
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
mmallon4
In this day and age when people use pop culture as an extension of themselves, it surprises me there haven't been more documentaries like this (how about a documentary about the decline of The Simpsons?). I hate what has happened to the Star Wars franchise beginning with the special editions in 1997 as much as the next fan, and The People Vs. George Lucas helps ventilate the anger but it is so much more than that. It isn't just mindless Lucas bashing but does give the man a fair shake.The documentary raises many thought provoking points of speculation about the man. Does he believe that what he's doing to Star Wars is the right thing? Is he getting revenge on a franchise which turned him into the thing he hated and promised himself he would never become, a corporate entity. It goes to show you how the man is a much of an enigma as the characters in his films, as pointed out in the documentary, the rise and fall of George Lucas parallels Anakin Skywalker's decent to the dark side. By the end of the documentary, I felt as one of the fans interviewed puts it, "I love/hate George Lucas". The other major debate raised in the documentary is that of who owns art, the artist or the public and does the public have the right to the material of its own culture?You don't have to start a Star Wars related conversation before people start talking about their disdain for the prequels or the changes to the special editions, yet no official Star Wars documentary is certainly going to address this, nor do I doubt this documentary would be shown at the annual Star Wars convention Celebration.The People Vs. George Lucas showcases a large range of fans from the mature to the more childish, to those defending Lucas. The documentary both celebrates fan culture as well as makes fun of it, weather intentional or not (I wonder if the guy who compares Lucas to a Holocaust denier regrets it?). My favourite part of the documentary is the section which perfectly captures the anticipation and undaunted optimism towards the release of The Phantom Menace and the following disappointment and disenchantment.Inter cut between the interviews are an astounding showcase of fan films (recreating scenes from the movies, telling their own Star Wars stories and those ridiculing George Lucas). This along with the perfect balance between the more serious debates related to artistic ethics all the way to the more trivial, such as whether or not George Lucas raped people's childhoods, makes The People Vs. George Lucas immensely entertaining to watch, as I've now done so several times, making this my personal favourite documentary.
RainDogJr
It's possible that THE PEOPLE VS. GEORGE LUCAS (O. Phillippe, 2010) is thought as a work done by STAR WARS (Lucas, Kershner, Marquand, 1977-2005) fans for the satisfaction of other geeks of George Lucas' magnum opus. And yes, the debate of who shot first (in a scene of STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE), if Han Solo or Greedo, is in essence only relevant for hard core followers of the saga, however exploring its origin take us to other discussions that without a doubt are incumbent on anyone interested in cinema, its social relevance (and mercantile production), or in the preservation of the arts. THE PEOPLE VS. GEORGE LUCAS is presented in four episodes but the thematic is mostly divided in a couple of issues. Firstly you'll discover, or understand better for that matter, why STAR WARS is one of the most important films ever made. Authors like Neil Gaiman give us an idea of what was EPISODE IV back in 1977. Later, we examine why people now hates the mind behind the films that they still love. Even persons that worked in the original trilogy criticize Lucas, and it's certainly not gratuitous: thanks to Lucas and his necessity/stubbornness for actualizing/changing his work (even when he testified in 1988 against the colorization of black and white films), now is impossible to watch the original version of the 3 first movies on a home format extracted from the negative, unless you still own a LaserDisc. According to Lucasfilm the negative of the original was permanently altered to create the "special editions" of 1997. "The SOUTH PARK episode had more impact on Indiana Jones fans than INDY 4" – Brandon Kleyla, director of INDYFANSSOUTH PARK has helped to spread this generalized feeling of frustration and disenchantment that huge STAR WARS and/or INDIANA JONES (Spielberg, 1981-2008) fans has developed thanks to the decisions of the creator of both universes (those decisions certainly include Jar Jar Binks!). However, and even when he wrote episodes like "The China Probrem" (2008), in which Indiana Jones is literally raped by Lucas and Spielberg (in allusion to the childhoods that INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL "raped"), the creator of SOUTH PARK Trey Parker can be seen in the documentary 6 DAYS TO AIR (Bradford, 2011) showing off his lego STAR WARS toys. The love/hate feeling for Lucas is omnipresent in THE PEOPLE VS. GEORGE LUCAS. If SOUTH PARK has given voice to Lucas' fans, this documentary gives them full presence, and fanatics of all types express their opinions without reservations. Is really funny to watch the great compilation of fan works inspired by the saga (and some by Indy) – we get from parodies that combine the world of Luke Skywalker with SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (Donen, Kelly, 1952) to the classic stop-motion animations with the toys. Jean-Luc Godard said it: "In order to criticize a movie, you have to make another movie". And STAR WARS fans have done this over the years, creating their very own versions of editing the originals. Thanks to this, THE PEOPLE VS. GEORGE LUCAS becomes great as film criticism too.With an exceptional work, interviews made in Spain, France, Japan and other countries, and correct use of stock footage (the life of Lucas is perfectly told with previous interviews), O. Phillippe dedicates to the man from Modesto, California a love letter that's truly complicated, and to us a documentary that's just fascinating on all levels. *Watched it on 03 March, 2013
MartinHafer
Whether or not you'll appreciate this documentary has a lot to do with what you think about George Lucas and his tinkering with his original Star Wars franchise. If you really couldn't care less or if you dislike Star Wars, then you shouldn't bother with the film. Or, if you are such a devoted fan that any criticism seems wrong, then you shouldn't bother with the film. But, if you think that Lucas fundamentally violated his contract with his fans, then this is your film!! That's because although some of the folks interviewed defended Lucas, most folks interviewed were mad, VERY MAD, at the man who created the franchise--making it a serious love-hate relationship.Let me explain some of the complaints in the film. First, George Lucas has chosen to re-edit and change his original three films--adding scenes, changing scenes and putting in all new special effects. Second, the final three films in the series (oddly, episodes 1, 2 and 3) weren't up to the quality standards of the first films. And third, Jar Jar Binks is a character who so annoys fans (mostly adults) that people wonder why he insisted not only in putting him in these three most recent films (mentioned in the film) but adding him to the DVDs of the original films (oddly, never mentioned in the documentary). It all boils down to who owns the films--are they Lucas' or does he owe more to his devoted (and sometimes rabid) fans? A few interesting parts of the film include: the fascinatingly hypocritical fact that Lucas led fight AGAINST colorization--Testifying before Congress that films should be kept as they originally were made and changing them was wrong! A discussion of the Star Wars Christmas Special--a show considered by many to be among the WORST TV shows ever made.The use of the word 'rape' which was used quite inappropriately towards the end of the film. Sure, I am one who definitely think it's terrible Lucas has changed his original films and WON'T allow the original films to be sold, but to use the R-word?! This belittles rape and is a bit disturbing.Overall, a film that will appeal to some--and they will love it. Others might just wonder what all the fuss is about anyway!
Mr-Fusion
"The People vs. George Lucas" is a film that sets out to examine the animosity shared by a great number of Star Wars fans over the changes made to the Original Trilogy (among other grievances). Included here are interviewers with every known type of Star Wars fan: the casual goer, the passionate geek, and the bitter extremist who took his/her passion too far. The film does raise some interesting questions at the heart of the matter:1. What, exactly, does Lucas owe his fans? 2. Are the more bitter of the fanbase blinded by passion (and therefore cannot evaluate the new movies on their own merits)? 3. Perhaps most importantly, *Who Owns Star Wars?*With a title like "The People vs. George Lucas", it's expected to see the man put on trial, so to speak. And to an extent, that's what we get here. But objectivity suffers when the film is anchored by fan interviews, and the only soundbites we get from Lucas himself are taken from talk show interviews and documentaries done years ago. And it's the preoccupation with the angry hordes that tends to bog down the film; a 90-minute movie tends to run long when things devolve into a fun and playful look at just how far these people take these movies. So nothing is really answered here, aside from the obvious "Wow, these people are crazy!" sentiment, which we already knew before going in. It's no different than watching "Trekkies" just to laugh at the nerds. You end up asking yourself, "What's the point?"5/10
