ED CONE: “I feel a little sorry for George Lucas, who can’t seem to help making joyless boring movies and has to know that the LOTR cycle flushed him from the pantheon by demonstrating the superiority of Tolkien as a fantasy writer and Jackson as a fantasy filmmaker.”

I think that’s a bit harsh; Lucas has made some great films. It remains to be seen whether this new effort will be one of them. Here is some more evidence that it won’t be.