I'm a pretty huge Star Wars freak. I've loved them since I saw them when I was a kid. Empire Strikes back is not only the best film in the series, but one of the best films ever made, I think.
The new trilogy is okay, but the acting is pretty damn bad. Episode III wins for the reasons Rainecloud mentioned, but a lot of the dialogue still makes me cringe. Lucas should've really let somebody else help him out like he did with Empire and Return of the Jedi. I sat in on a session where David Prowse (Darth Vader) talked about his acting career, including Star Wars, and wasn't surprised to hear him say that Lucas was a very bad actor's director--he gave no real direction over "stand here, say your lines, exit there," etc.
Anyway, I think Episode II is really a pretty miserable movie, mainly due to the acting/dialogue. The first movie had more heart, I think, and much better acting, even though Jake Lloyd nearly ruined it. I'm really more of a fan of the post-RotJ novels, as many of them deliver better storylines, deeper characters, and the like. I had close to 60 last time I counted.![]()