star wars | the m0vie blog

The Trouble With Trilogies: Why Superhero Fanchises Have Trouble With the Third Instalment…

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Darren

So, it turns out that The Dark Knight Rises has a top secret ending. That’s very interesting, and I wonder what it could be. A few obvious possibilities have popped into my head, but there’s one facet of this news which really fascinates me: this piece of information gives weight to the suggestion that Nolan is going to give his superhero franchise a definitive ending, something that perhaps explains why we don’t really have a “classic” superhero trilogy yet, despite the fact that quite a few comic book characters have pushed well past the third film. So will Batman be able to do what Superman, Spider-Man, the X-Men and even another Batman have failed to do before him? Will he craft a complete and wonderful trilogy?

Batman really wants to know what the ending is...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: batman forever, Batman in film, Christopher Nolan, closure, conclusion, endings, film trilogies, films, george lucas, Movies, spider man, spider-man 3, star wars, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, The Godfather Part III, trilogies, Wachowski Brothers | 3 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Matrix Reloaded

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Darren

Today I’m taking a look at the Matrix trilogy. All three films, all watched and reviewed in one day. Join us for the fun! All three reviews will be going on-line today.

No, what happened happened and couldn’t have happened any other way.

How do you know?

We are still alive.

– Morpheus and Neo have one of the least obtuse conversations in the film

The reaction to the second and third films in The Matrix series has always somewhat surprised me. I don’t mean that I can’t see the criticism typically levelled at the films – I can see it and I agree with most of it. I mean that most viewers regard the second film as stronger than the third, while I always considered it the other way around. Rewatching all three films in one day just cemented that opinion – but I’m still curious about why cinema fans tend to favour the middle instalment over the last. Neither is as efficient or effective as the first film, but while I appreciate the sense of closure (and action) of the third film, I find myself regarding a significant portion of the second film as just idle padding – the franchise positioning itself for a final film, which would then go on to ignore a lot of what was suggested here.

Blade of glory?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: agent smith, arts, coen brothers, destiny, determinism, fauxlosophy, film, films, free will, hugo weaving, Matrix, morpheus, Movies, Neo, non-review review, philosophy, review, star wars, the matrix reloaded, the matrix trilogy, the wachowski brothers | 2 Comments »

Memories of a Multiplex: The Gaiety Cinema, Sligo

Posted on February 8, 2011 by Darren

I took a trip down to Sligo with the better half at the weekend there. I grew up in the city, but I haven’t found myself visiting too often. There’s something strange about returning to the town where you grew up. Everything seems smaller, even if there are far more shopping centres and recognisable brands around the place. It was good to go back and to see it all again. And my better half was so kind that she suggested that we go to the local cinema and catch a screening. And so we attended a showing of The Fighter at the Gaiety Cinema Sligo.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: arts, Blade II, cinema paradiso, Cultures and Groups, Enniskillen, film, Film director, Four Star Pizza, Ireland, james bond, Matrix Reloaded, Movie theater, Movies, sligo, sligo town, star wars, the gaiety, the gaiety cinema, the gaiety cinema sligo, tomorrow never dies | Leave a comment »

Family Guy: It’s A Trap!

Posted on December 24, 2010 by Darren

Oh, we’re about to do Jedi, aren’t we?

Let’s just get through this.

– Stewie and Peter introduce the episode

And so we reach the end of the Family Guy Star Wars specials. It’s A Trap! is pretty much at an immediate disadvantage – the guys have already made two Star Wars specials, so a lot of the novelty is gone; not to mention the fact that Return of the Jedi is hardly a classic, fondly remembered in comparison to the prequel trilogy, but still nowhere near as good as the original two films. However, the production team acquit themselves admirably. When the episode works, it really works – there are some absolutely hilarious scenes in there. It’s not the most consistent piece of television you’ll see this year, but it’s damn entertaining, and made with a respect that shines through.

That's one bad dad...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: blue harvest, family guy, Galactic Empire (Star Wars), It's a Trap!, patrick stewart, Seth MacFarlane, star wars, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi | 3 Comments »

Family Guy: Blue Harvest

Posted on December 24, 2010 by Darren

A long time ago, yet somehow in the future…

The wonderful thing about myths is that they essentially repeat. All the great and epic stories have been told time and time again, from the first cavemen passing the time by a late night fire through to the matinée screening of the latest big budget blockbuster. Each generation creates their own variation of the myth, putting their own spin on it – some parts are given more emphasis in this iteration, while we shy away from others. In writing Star Wars, George Lucas acknowledged his debt to Joseph Campbell, the author who proposed a “monomyth” – the idea that there is one single overarching story which has been told tim and time again. I reckon that it’s this timelessness is the root of the film’s success, and what makes it such a ripe target for Family Guy.

Click to enlarge...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: blue harvest, comedy, family guy, family guy: blue harvest, george lucas, homage, It's a Trap!, John Williams, Joseph Campbell, Judd Nelson, reference, Seth MacFarlane, star wars, Television | 2 Comments »

Is a Film Ever “Done” These Days?

Posted on October 4, 2010 by Darren

I was reading last week about how George Lucas is planning yet another re-release of Star Wars in 2012. This time in glorious 3D. Glorious post-conversion 3D. Yes, that was sarcasm. It’s interesting that Lucas continues to push for editing and updating the saga, especially considering his earlier position on updating existing films (in this case arguing against converting black & white films to colour):

“I am very concerned about our national heritage, and I am very concerned that the films that I watched when I was young and the films that I watched throughout my life are preserved, so that my children can see them,” he said. He furthermore remarked: “In the future it will become easier for old negatives to become lost and be ‘replaced’ by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten.”

And yet, he has repeatedly demonstrated over the past decade or so that he is devoted to rewriting his version of Star Wars, arguing that it is simply never complete – he’s moving it closer to complete with every update. In this era of directors’ cuts and special extended editions, is becoming commonplace to accept that the theatrical release of a film isn’t the “finished” or “completed” version.

The infamous "everyone rocks out" deleted scene...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: blade runner, directors cut, DVD, extended editions, film, george lucas, Kingdom of Heaven, Movie, revisionism, ridley scott, science fiction, special editions, star wars, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, THX 1138 | 1 Comment »

Sticking it to the Fan: George Lucas and Fan/Hatedom

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Darren

By all accounts, George Lucas should be one of the most beloved people on the planet. Ignoring the fact that he was the forefather of one of the most iconic trilogies of all time (Star Wars), he has managed to expand the boundaries of what is possible with special effects (down to companies like Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound) and even in video games (many of the earliest videogames on flopdisk came from LucasArts). Beyond that he’s also the man perhaps most responsible for Indiana Jones and one of the most influential film makers of all time. And yet his name evokes a huge amount of discord when it’s spoken. Just why is that?

Lucas has un-Fett-ered control of the franchise...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: blu ray, fandom, films, gene roddenberry, george lucas, hatedom, Movies, science fiction, star wars, star wars trilogy, trilogy | Leave a comment »

Is Avatar Addictive?

Posted on January 18, 2010 by Darren

I read an interesting article on Avatar over at CNN last week, which basically suggested that some audience members were feeling a deep depression on returning home from the cinema. Since my dislike of the film appears to a very minority view (a borderline fringe view, to be completely honest), I will assume it has nothing to do with the poor storytelling of the movie. Instead, they seem to depressed at the prospect of leaving Pandora, having been so immersed in the 3D world that James Cameron had created.

Did the end of Avatar leave you feeling blue?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 3d, addictive, avatar, cnn, emersion, geeks, Movie, nerds, news, obsession, obsessive, star wars | 1 Comment »

Family Guy: Something Something Something Darkside

Posted on January 14, 2010 by Darren

Say what you will about the quality of recent seasons of Family Guy (it does go up and down like a yoyo), the Star Wars specials are an ingenious production. Blue Harvest was a fascinating experiment, and attempt to mount a comic retelling of the classic sci-fi mythos in an animated hour-long cartoon. It was a work of genius which worked far better than one might have expected, given the excesses of the show (some where present in the mini-movie, but they were all certainly toned down). So, when a sequel was announced (albeit two years later), anticipation was high. I am pleased to announce that Something Something Something Darkside is just as good as its predecessor.

Brothers at arms...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: blue harvest, family guy, parody, something something something something darkside, special, star wars, Television, the empire strikes back | 1 Comment »

George Lucas Planning a Trilogy of Trilogies

Posted on October 22, 2009 by Darren

Everyone loves a good, juicy rumour and this is about as juicy as it gets. Apparently George Lucas is working on a new trilogy of Star Wars films in order to capitalise on the 3D film-making craze – apparently remastering the originals isn’t all he had in mind. This sounds like something resembling a mixed blessing to anybody with particularly strong feelings about the original trilogy, but there is one grain of hope: apparently Lucas won’t be directing.