Tag: Star Wars

All the tv of 2020

All the tv of 2020

Posted January 17, 2021

2020 has to have been the year of binge watching for like…. everyone. So instead of a “best of” list I thought I’d do mini reviews on all the shows I watched this year. Mostly, I enjoyed rewatching shows because I enjoy them or in order to finish out the end seasons I’d missed. Volume Balance But first a quick rant. There are several shows not on the list because I couldn’t handle watching them. The volume balance is just so bad–with loud sound effects and music and quiet dialog. What’s the point of watching a show if you can […]

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, The Ultimate Preview

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, The Ultimate Preview

Posted May 22, 2019

There’s a desert valley in southern Jordan called Wadi Rum, or sometimes “the Valley of the Moon.” There are stone inscriptions that are more than 2,000 years old. Lawrence of Arabia passed through there during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. More recently, J. J. Abrams went there to film parts of the latest Star Wars movie, The Rise of Skywalker, because it’s largely uninhabited and starkly beautiful and looks plausibly alien, and one of the things that has always made the Star Wars movies feel so real is the way they’re shot on location, with as few digital effects as possible. George Lucas shot […]

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Posted December 23, 2017

I sort of wish I’d rewatched The Force Awakens before going to see The Last Jedi. In part because it would have been fun. But also because I kept getting Rey’s childhood mixed up with Jyn’s from Rogue One. Every time they said she didn’t know who her parents were I thought, “Yes, she does they made her run away when she was little but she knew who they were.” About half way through the movie, I remembered that was Jyn and not Rey. In the end, though, I really liked what they did with her parents. Someone like Rose. […]

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Posted December 17, 2016

You know those movies where the crew says they’re probably all going to die but they go in and fight against impossible odds and manage to (mostly) survive? Rogue One isn’t that story. This is good, gritty sci-fi. It’s rough characters that would be more complex in a smaller movie but are interesting enough in this one. It’s a decent story but with all the sci-fi and the characters it doesn’t need to be much more than that. Rogue One starts off a bit choppy. The prologue works well and sets a good foundation for both Jyn (Felicity Jones) and […]

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Posted December 27, 2015

Star Wars is once again delighting audiences, though I don’t know that it deserves quite the box office records its setting. Definitely better than the prequels, The Force Awakens introduces delightful new characters, leverages nostalgia to reinvent this universe and does it well. Full disclosure: I am not a Star Wars fan. Of course I grew up watching the original three on VHS. I saw the extended cuts in theaters and liked the originals better. I watched the prequels with excitement (until I actually saw Episode I) and curiosity. I know the first Star Wars is Episode IV and not […]

Event Horizon| Mocking the Avengers

Event Horizon| Mocking the Avengers

Posted December 2, 2011

Picture of the week: Annnnnd we’re back to the Avengers. Because this picture is hilarious and timely. Joss Whedon is renowned for his portrayal of women as strong, interesting figures

Liam Neeson| Star Wars Samurai

Posted May 1, 1999

Liam Neeson became famous as Oskar Schindler in Schindler’s List. He’s about to become a megastar as Jedi knight Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Coming from a Catholic minority in Protestant Ballymena in Northern Ireland, Liam Neeson never dreamed of becoming an actor. As a teenager he was interested in boxing, and won his weight class for three years running until he got punched silly in a fight when he was 15. School was always a serious matter for him, but after spending one year at a university and two at a teacher’s college, he […]

Lucas on Violence

Posted January 17, 1993

Littleton is everywhere, even at a press junket devoted to George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. At a press conference, Lucas was asked to discuss movie violence in the wake of the shootings at Columbine high. Even though the Star Wars movies hardly qualify as the kind of fare that inspires scorn from those who believe the culture is far too bloody. Lucas says his attitude toward big-screen violence remains largely unchanged. “The other films are pretty much the same in terms of the amount of drama, action and violence. My feeling is the key issue […]