George Lucas, as many of you know is the writer of the original Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark. He directed the first Star Wars which is an absolute masterpiece of the Science Fiction genre. Now while he did have some amazing successes such as Radiers, Star Wars, and American Graffitti, he also had numerous flops, such as Howard the Duck, More American Graffiti, and the Ewok TV series. While Howard the Duck is overall a fun guilty pleasure, Star Wars the Christmas Special is an absolute tragedy. There is no continuous flowing narrative, no consistency and absolutely no effort. Star Wars The Christmas Special is really about the Wookie holiday Life Day. Most of the movie is following around Wookie families that are so annoying in there constant roaring it will drive you mad. This movie literally grinds on your mental health, and by the end you feel like your brain has just been ground up and spat on. It definitely does not respect the audiences' intelligence, so let's look at what happens next. Now before I get to the plot I would like to say that having spoilers on this review enabled is unnecessary because nothing happens. There are no conclusions, mainly because this movie has NO plot. Several times we get unexplained music videos that jump in randomly and what seems to be a Wookie family drama.There might be drama but there are no subtitles so we are left scratching our heads trying to figure out what exactly they are trying to portray in such long annoying scenes of Wookie babble. Then, the cast of Star Wars finally gets together and it randomly turns into an Asian cartoon. So after a plot in a cartoon which animation looks like it's from a Heavy Metal movie we see the first appearance of the Bounty Hunter known as Bobba Fett. This is one of the redeeming values of the movie is it actually came up with a new character. We also have a drama of B Arthur who plays as a bartender in the bar on Tatooine. B Arthur is the only one who seems to put in any effort at all. The subplot of this short story is that The Empire wants to shut down her bar for reasons unknown. So she has an emotional moment with her customers on the last day of their bar being open. There is a musical number, and the bar finally gets closed much to B Arthur's distress. This is the highlight of the entire movie. B Arthur saved this movie from a 1 star scenario. And I give out 1 stars very rarely. So then we end on the cast of Star Wars trying to clumsily bring everything together and saying goodbye to the audience. George Lucas has gone out of his way to make sure as little people see this nowadays as possible, which gives me a bit more respect for Lucas for not wanting to waste people's time. But the fact that he made it is still a tarnished his reputation which is a stain he will never get out and one we will hope to forget.
Reviews
4 Reviews
Rope
(1948)
Masterpiece.
25 March 2012
"Rope" is an Alfred Hitchcock film based off of a theatrical play and it shows tremendously. We follow the story of Brandon and Philip two men who have just committed murder on a friend they knew for the thrill. They go on to throw a party with the victim's relatives and friends, not knowing that the victim, David, is closer than they think. The camera-work in this film is brilliant, taking slow pans and wide shots building tension. The editing takes a less is more approach which makes it feel more like a play. The pacing is perfect for the movie's tone, along with the music as well. "Rope" is very well acted, and the script is genius. As the film progresses, we feel tension from conflicting emotions of what we want to happen. We want them to not murder again because, obviously murder is wrong, but we also don't want them to get caught. The film progresses as drama heightens as they believe their former College professor, named Rupert is onto them. It all leads up to an amazing climax, and great message of morality. This is my favorite Hitchcock film. My Verdict: 10/10: Brilliant
The Hunger Games
(2012)
Good movie, played it too safe
25 March 2012
The Hunger Games, as many of you know was a very violent book. If you're expecting violence from this movie you're not going to be satisfied. While the story was well executed, and the acting was nothing to complain about, the main problem is the the camera work. The camera is extremely shaky in this movie. The reason for this is 3 reasons: one to save money, two to cover up the gore and violence, and three to build up tension. Probably the goriest visual in the movie is a close up of a cut or two. I am only complaining about that because many people that have read the book have told me how violent it was. Because the main audience of The Hunger Games trilogy is young adults they made the horrible mistake of making this movie PG13. The books, so I've heard, should get a solid R. They purposefully toned down the violence making for a relatively boring character story. Don't get me wrong the character development was superb, but due to the lack of scenes with actual visible violence it is hard to see that the characters are in any real danger. Also without the violence there isn't that sense of disgust towards the antagonists. It all seemed like a game show and the acting does not provoke terror into the audience. Because the characters do not look like their terrified. The actors made the horrible decision of not going past their limits. In other words these were actors who didn't take the emotional part of the film and run with it for the fear of looking stupid. Since the actors didn't want to do more than they wanted to, the main way to instill suspense is through gruesome violence. But no you can't have that because the director thought it was suppose to PG-13. By the way what's so horrible that you can't market a movie that's rated R towards young adults? "I would really want to go see The Hunger Games but it's rate R and my parents would have to come and then I wouldn't look cool." No! If you are not willing to go see a film with a guardian than you are not mature enough to watch the film. I honestly think they could've made this PG, that's toned down the film was. On the bright side though some of the characters do have humorous lines, and there some very interesting characters. If you like the book rent this movie. My Verdict: 6/10: To rent and watch once.
Despicable Me
(2010)
Great family movie
21 March 2012
This film has many funny moments for both children and adults making it enjoyable for not just the children but also for older audiences as well. The voice acting is well done and also well synced to the animation. One of the good things about this film is the fact that it doesn't take itself too seriously, although it does deal with some drama. Although, several things I didn't like were the amount of detail on the strange yellow minions was well underwhelming. Also by the end of the film the name "Despicable Me" doesn't seem to have much relevancy to the story. But, overall it is highly enjoyable and a great 3d experience as well. I give this film 8/10 stars. Verdict: 8/10 Very Good
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