What pisses me off is that it takes them four paragraphs, 12 lines, and 160 words to mention either of the creative team that made the movie--and then when they do, they mention only one of them, and get his role in the partnership wrong:
In an interview with the List director Leigh Whannell says, " It's not that we're saying 'no sequels', it's just that we haven't put any thought into it because we're still so focussed on the release of this one and we're way too superstitious to talk about a sequel."
Sigh. Leigh Whannell is the writer of Insidious (and also plays a role in the film), not the director. His partner James Wan is the director.
(They also created and worked on the first three installments of a little film franchise I like to call... Saw. Which is probably al least part of why I'm touchy about seeing them properly credited, though I like to think I'm a stickler for proper credit in any case.)
This is derived from a long meme I found on Becca's blog. She answered all 30 questions in one post; I think the original idea was to answer one a day for a month. I'm shooting for something in-between, breaking it down into three parts...which seemed appropriate.
This is part three.
21. Your favorite moment in Empire Strikes Back
22. Your favorite moment in Return of the Jedi
The Emperor tries and fails to corrupt Luke. As with the Yoda/Obi-Wan situation, it's very much a toss-up between this and the Sarlaac pit sequence.
23. Something you wished was different in the series
A. They wouldn't have replaced the animated Clone Wars with the CGI one.
B. Okay, the end of Return of the Jedi. Vader is watching the Emperor electrocute Luke and, we know, about to come back over to the light side of the force. Arguably, the whole series, including all the tie-ins, has been leading up to this. And it's played on an expressionless piece of dark plastic.
Every time I see this, I think the same thing: Why didn't they have Luke knock off part of Vader's helmet during their fight? Like, at least enough that we could see his eyes? That way, they would've been able to actually show Vader struggling with and overcoming his conflict.
Plus, think how dramatic an "unveiling" that would've been. Compared to the "Oh look, Darth Vader is really just a harmless-looking old man" unmasking that we did get. That's been bothering me for years.
C. Get rid of the stupid CGI character idea and cast a living actor as Jar-Jar Binks.
The George Lucas who thought it was a good idea for Greedo to get off the first shot.
25. Your favorite book/series from the Expanded Universe
(book)
or
(series)
Funny thing is, both of these are spin-offs of other tie-ins (or vice versa) that don't appeal to me in the slightest.
26. Your favorite Obi-Wan Kenobi quote Alec Guinness version:
"Mos Eisley spaceport: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."
He deserved the Academy Award nomination for being able to speak that line alone.
Ewan McGregor version:
"So uncivilized..."
BTW, least favorite:
"Not even the younglings survived!"
That's the worst line in a movie most of the dialogue of which makes me want to perform a self-lobotomy with a spoon.
27. Your favorite Yoda quote See "Favorite Quote" in Episode 2 of this Meme.
28. Your favorite Darth Vader quote:
Darth Maul: "What could you hate enough to destroy me?"
Darth Vader: "Me."
BTW, an aside: I didn't realize until I was coming up with these posts how many of my favorite scenes were the light saber fights.
But it fits in with what I think is one of the weaknesses of the prequels. In the original trilogy, those fights usually took place in the third act. There'd be at least one scene earlier in the film to establish what a light saber was, but the big battles were almost always saved to the end. I think they had much greater dramatic power that way.
In the prequels, though, Lucas was basically trapped by having established that they were the "elegant weapons of a more civilized age." It's hard for scenes like the "Duel of the Fates" in Ep. 1 to have as much impact, at least on me, when it feels like we've been watching light sabers waggle around for most of the past two hours.
29. Best Star Wars related story/incident you’ve had
When I was in high school, my best friend and I were watching Star Wars either on TV or on tape one day. We got to the scene where they’re briefing the X-Wing pilots before the attack on the Death Star, and these lines:
General: The target area is only two meters wide. It's a small thermal exhaust port, right below the main port. The shaft leads directly to the reactor system. A precise hit will start a chain reaction which should destroy the station. Only a precise hit will set off a chain reaction. The shaft is ray-shielded, so you'll have to use proton torpedoes. Wedge Antilles (Red 2): That's impossible! Even for a computer.
Then in perfect unison with Luke, I said "It's not impossible. I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home, they're not much bigger than two meters."
And then looked up to see the strangest look on my friends face...
30. Why you love Star Wars
These past three posts notwithstanding...I'm not always sure that I do. As a fully-grown (allegedly) man, I acknowledge that Star Wars is far, far from perfect: The dialogue in the prequels and the awful padding in Return of the Jedi being particular pet peeves. To say nothing of the writing of the female characters.
I also think Lucas's motive at this point is almost completely greed. One of my pet theories about Star Wars characters and stories is that they get much better the less Lucas has to do with them.
Other writers are much, much better than he is at crafting compelling stories and presenting believable characters. Even in the crukking video game tie-ins. But this also applies to the movies themselves.
Look at Empire. By my readings, it seems to have been the film with which Lucas had the least to do...and 99% of fans, I think, would say it's the best.
BTW, speaking of Empire: I don't care about this video game. Never played it, or the original. So I don't care if there's a second sequel to the game.
But if there isn't a novel, graphic or otherwise, to wrap up the Empire-like loose ends left at the end of this storyline...ooh, I'm gonna be pissed.
On the other hand, of courses I love it first and foremost because I'm of the generation for whom it was all, really and truly, new.
Like a lot of us, I tend to get very protective of my first experiences of it (hence, "I will never call it "A New Hope').
It's also a way in which I bond with my nephew (the Jedi Ewoks were his idea).
In an interview with Popeater, Paltrow addressed just why she believes she has so many critics by saying:
"I think my work ethic is the reason why I'm successful. I think that a lot of people don't want to put in effort and it's easier to not change, not do something good for you... [They're just] pissed off at someone else doing that. Everything in my life that's good is because I worked my ass off to get it and to maintain it."
In an age in which America's class-divide is greater than it's ever been, our patience has simply waned for the George W. Bush's and Gwyneth Paltrow's of the world -- people who were born on third base and act like they hit a triple. America was founded on the idea that everyone has equal opportunity to carve out their piece of the American Dream, but increasingly that's becoming less and less of a reality. And there's something infuriating about listening to people born into the Dream -- silver rattle in one hand, silver spoon in the other -- lecture the rest of us on how easy it is to obtain -- if we're just willing to "work our asses off" like they do.
It seems like there used to be an unspoken pact between those who were born into privilege and the rest of us to keep all out class warfare from breaking out. They would quietly go about spending their money in respectable, socially beneficial ways -- philanthropies and such -- and we wouldn't publicly point out that the only way they got their job, record deal, book deal, political appointment etc. was because of the last name of their parent or their spouse. But not only have people begun riding their families' coattails more publicly (Donald Trump, Paris Hilton, Tori Spelling, Ben Quayle, Megan McCain, George W. Bush, Jenna Bush, Ms. Paltrow, the list goes on), but it's become par for the course for these same people to dismiss allegations of nepotism out of turn, which would be funny if most people weren't too busy trying to figure out how to pay for college to laugh.
So I've been meaning to talk some about the show Mr. Sunshine, co-created by and starring Matthew Perry as the manager of a huge arena. I don't think I'm going to watch it any more (if there is any more), but I've watched every episode to date, and at a certain point I realized I was doing so not because I was especially enjoying it.
Rather because I was trying to figure out why it just wasn't working for me. And this is what I've come up with: They're trying to do Aaron Sorkin without having Sorkin, and Perry is out of tune with the rest of his show.
The similarities to a Sorkin show are easily evident, with Sunshine being set "backstage," as all of Sorkin's series (West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60) are, and underlined by the presence of more than a few past Sorkin collaborators either in front of or behind the camera.
Aspiring to do a Sorkin-type show is a worthy goal, to be sure, but one thing this demonstrates is that it's harder than it looks. Even Sorkin doesn't keep his balance all the time, look at the third season of West Wing, and his ear for language is rare if not unique among his peers.
Without maintaining that balance, and without that sense of language, Sunshine is swimming against the tide...and it doesn't help that Perry is going in a different direction.
Perry appears to have two different styles of acting, both of which can be very effective.
One of these is, not necessarily only dramatic, but certainly more reflective, such as he employed on Studio 60 and his guest bits on West Wing. The other is basically sitcom, or more specifically Chandler, the wisecracker covering up emotional turmoil.
The latter mode frankly can be a bit overacted, but usually that's okay because it's in keeping with the rest of the show (nobody seriously thought Friends had much of a connection to real life, did they? And I liked the show.)
Trouble is that the two don't work together very well. On Sunshine, we have most of the cast smoothly underplaying (and hence coming off a little bit boring), while Perry overacts like Celine Dion putting over a song.
Only Allison Janney strikes a consistent balance, and appears to be having the time of her life, but she's helped by the fact that the weight of the show is not on her shoulders.
The combined result is like watching idiot acrobats who don't understand physics try to make a teeter-totter work with one person at one end and everybody else at the other. After a while, you gotta wonder why they're just standing there.
This is derived from a long meme I found on Becca's blog. She answered all 30 questions in one post; I think the original idea was to answer one a day for a month. I'm shooting for something in-between, breaking it down into three parts...which seemed appropriate.
The Millennium Falcon destroys the Imperial fighter at the end of Star Wars (I will never call it "A New Hope.")
"You're all clear kid, now lets blow this thing and go home!"
13. Favorite quote
"...a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan's apprentice."
14. A scene that makes you happy
15. A scene that makes you sad/angry Luke after Vader "kills" Ben Kenobi.
16. Photo of your Star Wars related things (books, action figures, posters, shirts, etc.)
Don't have one. It's not a lot, anyway--just a few books. But there is this picture of me Christmas morning 1980 (I think)...
17. Your favorite moment in The Phantom Menace
The 22 years before it.
18. Your favorite moment in Attack of the Clones
19. Your favorite moment in Revenge of the Sith
Obi-Wan light sabers Darth's remaining limbs off and leaves him to burn to death (he thinks). Either that or "POWER! UNLIMITED... POWER!"
20. Your favorite moment in Star Wars See "All time favorite scene in any of the movies," above.
"We cannot continue this out of control spending. It is basically economic child abuse," said Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) during an interview on Fox News."
PS: Having gone to the Tenn well twice today, I feel compelled to say again: I have no Google Alert or something like that tripped to email me when stories about The State of Insanity appear. They just find me.
Because it's usually good fun and also underlines some things I take pride in avoiding in my own work. Case in point: Your Highness; the female characters therof:
I mentioned boobs. Yes, there are a lot of boobs in this movie. But not much interest in women. Zooey Deschanel plays the intended bride of Franco, the son of the king. She's brought onstage, quickly kidnapped by an evil sorcerer, spends a good deal of time as a captive in his lair, is rescued and lives happily ever after. She might as well be a mannequin, for all she's given to say and do. This intelligent, nuanced actress, standing there baffled. Used as a placeholder.
Natalie Portman is the Xena clone, a fierce warrior, laid on for anime fans who seem to regard such characters as masturbatory fantasies. She too has no personality, although she has more dialogue, all of it expressing cliches of steely determination.
"I believe the teachers in New Jersey in the main are wonderful public servants and care deeply. But they're union – their union are a group of political thugs."
Emphasis mine.
Then I was going to say, "I like a story about criticizing teachers that ends up showing the need for good ones."
(I'm on a grammar kick today.)
As I say, that's what I was going to do. But when I tried, I got:
This message contains blocked content that has previously been flagged as abusive or spammy. Let us know if you think this is an error.
Now, I don't know if it was the use of the word "thugs" or just that in combination with "political." But I feel like it's got to say something about something that a U.S. Governor is using language you're not allowed to use on Facebook.
All in order of criticizing people for having the temerity to expect a decent wage and respect in the workplace for educating his constituents. Why wouldn't the GOP want the U.S. to have an educated populace?
The painting, "Two Tahitian Women," went back on display Tuesday after conservators determined that the painting, which was covered by Plexiglas, sustained no damage after a visitor attempted to pull it off the wall and hit it Friday.
The woman charged in the attack, Susan Burns, of Alexandria, Va., is expected to appear in D.C. Superior Court on Wednesday.
Sigh...wouldn't you just know she'd be from Virginia? (My mother comes from there.)
According to court documents, Burns told investigators: "I feel that Gauguin is evil.
Um...no, Gauguin was an artist. And while I don't know enough about his life to say whether he was a moral man personally-and I suspect my definition differs from hers...doesn't matter. We're talking about one of his paintings, which can be neither evil nor virtuous.
He has nudity and is bad for the children.
Look lady, there's a little thing called context. Not all nudity looks like it comes from the pages of Playboy.
He has two women in the painting and it's very homosexual.
As we all know, two women = homosexual. It's just the way it works.
Just as any combination of six men and women leads you to an omni-sexual orgy:
Oh BTW, this is the painting:
You can clearly see how in this case, the work is not just homosexual, it is very homosexual.
I was trying to remove it. I think it should be burned. I am from the American CIA and I have a radio in my head.
You know...I'm beginning to think this woman just may be crazy.
This is derived from a long meme I found on Becca's blog. She answered all 30 questions in one post; I think the original idea was to answer one a day for a month. I'm shooting for something in-between, breaking it down into three parts...which seemed appropriate.
1. All-time favorite character in Star Wars
Yoda. According to one of those quizzes (which as we know are never wrong) he's the Attack of the Clones character I'd be.
2. Favorite member of the Rebellion
Luke Skywalker. Or Leia Organa. Or Han Solo. Or C3PO...this is hard!
3. Favorite member of the Empire
I suppose I can't say Galen Marek, can I? He was Vader's apprentice but never actually a...so, ooh, Juno Eclipse!
4. Favorite Jedi
Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi. Honestly it's a toss up between him and Yoda for all-time favorite or favorite Jedi.
5. Favorite droid
R2D2
6. Favorite type of ship, or specific ship
X-Wings
7. Favorite planet
Kamino. I like a watery world, so it was either this or the Gungan part of Naboo, and that was never going to happen.
8. Favorite movie in the original trilogy
Empire Strikes Back
9. Favorite movie in the prequel trilogy
Attack of the Clones
10. Favorite photo that’s related to Star Wars The Yoda-Buddha!
This naturally begs the question: Which fantasy world would I like to live in?
I'm tempted to choose the world of Back to The Future, a world wherein it can be both constantly 1985 and Lea Thompson forever young and hot (now she's merely older...and hot).
However, the drawback to this is, it would be a world directed by Robert Zemeckis and there's no way that would agree with me for very long.
Plus it's a world where Elisabeth Shue is unrecognizable, and you know that's wrong.
And sadly, not George Lucas' universe either. Sure the music would be great, and it would look very pretty.
But a reality wherein everyone speaks Lucas-style dialogue would force me to hang myself.
So here's what I came up with.
1. The world in which Republicans keep telling me we are living. Where we have a really progressive, even--gasp!--liberal president. I swear if we were living in the world they seem to be tearing their hair out over, I wouldn't need to take pills to go sleep at night.
2. The world of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. All you need to know is: It's Gilliam, plus it has a couple of beautiful girls in it, one of whom grows up to be an incredibly talented director and writer-
3. Canada. Don't tell me it's real. No, I'm kidding.
3. Tolkien's Hobbiton. The one scored by Jules Bass and Maury Laws, pls.
4. The Muppets world.
If I have to explain this one, get the hell out of my blog and don't let me see you back here until you've seen the first two Muppet movies and every single episode of The Muppet Show. I'm sorry, but I have to have some standards.
5. SawWorld.
No, I'm kidding again. The world I live in has enough bleak endings, thank you.
5. The world of Wall-E. It's a world of enduring love and greatly animated beings, which is all I need in order to be happy to be alive.
