How much Star Wars is too much Star Wars?

Disney announced two days ago that their new plans, having previously purchased Lucasfilm for $4 billion, aren't just to make a new trilogy of Star Wars episodes, nor even to make a few spin-off films set in the same universe.  No, they are planning to make one Star Wars movie every single year, with off-shoot films alternating with official new 'episodes'.  How much Star Wars is too much Star Wars? The idea of a new trilogy of Star Wars films, set to debut ten years after the finale of the prequel trilogy, is perhaps also exciting, even as J.J. Abrams replacing George Lucas as the proverbial leader of this specific universe calls for cautious optimism (Is Star Wars without any real input from George Lucas really Star Wars?  Discuss...).  But how long will the casual fans remain excited about the prospect of new Star Wars films when they appear as frequently as Thanksgiving dinner for years and years on end?

J.J. Abrams is directing Star Wars Episode VII. A look at how the surprising politics of Star Trek may bleed into Star Wars.

So, it's officially official.  Disney just put out a press release, which means I can write about it without fear of it being debunked moments after publication.  J.J. Abrams is indeed directing Star Wars: Episode VII.  And what do I have to say about that?  Well... not much really.  There is indeed a part of me that feels that it is wholly inappropriate and/or unnatural that the same director will be behind new Star Trek *and* new Star Wars movies.  Back in the old days, I believed in the perhaps simplistic idea that every franchise would get their own special director.  Sam Raimi had Spider-Man, Bryan Singer had X-Men, and Chris Nolan had Batman.  Obviously that idea no longer exists. Bryan Singer can helm X-Men and then go on to attempt to reboot Superman with Superman Returns before taking back the X-Men franchise from Matthew Vaughn, who is now rumored to be among Warner's top choices for a Justice League movie.  Even with more and more franchises being rebooted and/or changing hands, it seems like an awfully incestuous little circle, with only a handful of directors seemingly ending up helming these major properties.  Say what you will about Marvel, but they deserve kudos for thinking outside the box on pretty much every major film thus far when it comes to a director.

Um, so there's going go be a new Star Wars movie...

I'm sure you've read the news by now (Forbes).  If you haven't, Disney just spent $4 billion to acquire Lucasfilm and plans on releasing the first of three new Star Wars films in 2015 (press release after this essay).  George Lucas himself had been slowly lessening his role in the company he founded and Kathleen Kennedy will be the president and operate under Disney head Alan Horn. So first of all, Disney just paid another $4 billion to acquire another gigantic company and bring it under the Disney umbrella.  Second of all, we're getting Star Wars Episode 7 in 2.5 years (I'm  presuming it will open Thursday May 21st, 2015).  George Lucas will not be directly involved in these new films behind a consulting role.  And no, Paramount still holds the rights to the Indiana Jones series.  So what are my thoughts on this?  I almost didn't comment, because I'm wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to say.  Truth be told, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this...

Why I almost cancelled my Indiana Jones blu-ray order...

As with most of the geeks here and elsewhere, Amazon will be dropping off my pre-ordered set of the Indiana Jones series on Blu Ray this afternoon.  I ordered it a few months ago, despite misgivings about it.  Misgivings, you say?  Well, here's the rub: My wife and I just watched all four films just last year.  So, and I hinted at this in last week's essay about multiple theatrical viewings, the life of an adult (job, family, etc.) leaves little time for watching movies, even favorite movies, multiple times.  My wife and I just watched Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  What is the likelihood we are going to watch them again anytime in the next few years?  I almost didn't buy the Jaws blu ray for just this reason, as my wife isn't a Jaws fanatic and I can't imagine showing the film to my kids anytime terribly soon (my wife being my wife, she actually prefers Jaws 3 and Jaws the Revenge).  But in the end I eventually spent the $20 on Jaws and the $65 on the Indiana Jones set because I figured my wife would enjoy watch the copious new extras on the sets.  Well, I was half-right.

Review: Side By Side (2012) is a smart film vs. digital debate, a wonderful magical history tour of film's future's past.

Side By Side

2012
99 minutes
Not Rated

by Scott Mendelson

There is something both fascinating and depressing about seeing a film-related documentary specifically dealing with events that I vividly remember.  Obviously as I get older this phenomena will become more and more common, but it's a relatively new experience for me.  Films like Waking Sleeping Beauty and now Side By Side evoke a complicated nostalgia in this particular critic.  This new film, directed by Christopher Kenneally and produced by Keanu Reeves (who conducts the onscreen interviews), examines the current cinematic debate between the advancement in digital video and the fight to keep old school film alive in the current marketplace.  But while there are plenty of potent arguments for both options, and the film never really takes a side per-se, it operates less as a feature-length debate and more as a 90-minute history of the rather swift (around ten years as it relates to this feature) advancements in digital film making.  And watching the picture was a revelation, both because it's so damn good and because I remember pretty much every single moment referred to as if it were yesterday.

Indiana Jones blu-ray collection gets a trailer...

Not much to expound upon here, but Paramount will be releasing all four Indiana Jones films on blu-ray sometime this fall (probably in late September/early October, so they can do a secondary discount during the holidays).  All I can say is that the trailer above is unusual in that it outright hides most of the supporting cast of the last two pictures (no Sean Connery, no Shia LeBeouf, etc).  On the plus side, it doesn't skimp on footage from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull out of misplaced embarrassment.  Anyway, enjoy the above teaser. 

Read it and weep! The Phantom Menace is about to out-gross The Dark Knight! Or: What the onslaught on 3D reissues means for the all-time grossers list.

With just $1 million separating the two films, today or tomorrow is likely the day when one of the more reviled films in geek-ville, Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace, will surpass one of the more openly worshipped geek film in recent years, The Dark Knight, at the global box office.  As of Wednesday, Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace crossed $1 billion, becoming the eleventh film to do so and the first Star Wars film to cross said benchmark.  Obviously there is inflation and 3D price-bumps to figure, but just remember that The Phantom Menace's adjusted-for-inflation grosses from 1999 would equal about $664 million in domestic grosses alone (it earned $431 million in the summer of 1999, the second-largest grossing first-run film behind Titanic at that point).  And don't forget that a number of major fantasy films, chiefly the first three Star Wars films, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial, have had several theatrical releases since their initial respective debuts.  In the days before VHS became mainstream, it was not uncommon for popular films to show up repeatedly at a theater near you.  With the apparent consumer appeal of 3D-converted re-releases, we are seeing a return to what may be a revolving door atop the list of all-time box office champions.

Weekend Box Office (02/12/12): Everybody wins as The Vow breaks records, Safe House opens huge, Journey 2 best Journey 1, and Phantom Menace 3D feels the Force.

Wow.  Just wow.  Four major releases debuted this weekend and every single one of them opened with superb numbers.  On one hand, that means that every respective demographic was ably served this weekend.  On the other hand, one can only wonder how much cash was sacrificed by opening these four movies on the same weekend.  Anyway, the top film of the weekend was the Rachel McAdams/Channing Tatum romantic drama The Vow.  The $30 million Screen Gems drama, which by the way is NOT based on a Nicholas Sparks novel (it's a true story), debuted with an eye-popping $41 million, a record for the studio.  That's well-over $10 million more than the $30.4 million debut of Dear John, which was the previous record-holder for an opening weekend for a pure romantic drama.  The film played 55% under-25 years old and 72% female.  Obviously everything clicked on the marketing for this one, and Channing Tatum is now the official king of the romantic drama, having headlined the first one to open with more than $30 million and now the first one to open with over $40 million, while Rachel McAdams is the queen, now holding the first and fourth-biggest opening weekend for an unfiltered romantic drama ($18 million for The Time Traveler's Wife).  Where it goes from here is an open question, as Dear John did not have the strongest legs, topping out at $80 million (or just below the $81 million gross of Rachel McAdam's The Notebook).  On the plus side, The Vow doesn't have the same-demo blockbuster Valentine's Day nipping on its heals like Dear John did.  Plus, even if The Vow has the same quick-kill performance (2.6x weekend-to-final multiplier), it will become the first pure romantic drama (no explosions, no action scenes, no mass-disaster in the third act) to cross $100 million since Jerry McGuire in 1996.

In defense of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace...

Like so many who read and write about movies, I saw Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace on Wednesday, May 19th, at 12:01am.  Like many who read and write about movies, I did not think it was the greatest film of all time.  But like the majority of the movie-going public, I also did not think it was the worst film of all time, nor did I find it to be some kind of glorious affront to cinema as an art form.  And 13 years later, it is what it always was: a Star Wars movie through-and-through.  It has problems unique to itself, unique to the prequel trilogy, and even some problems that have existed in the series right at the start.  Taking away the fact that one film was a cinematic breakthrough an launched the fandom of a hundred-million would-be movie lovers and the other was released under the crushing expectations of two generations of film fans, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is really no better or worse than Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.  

Weekend Box Office (01/29/11): The Grey tops, while One For the Money and Man On a Ledge somewhat stumble.

In a somewhat refreshing turn of events, this weekend had three wide releases, all budgeted below $45 million and all technically geared towards adults.  And for the fourth straight weekend this month, an R-rated new release topped the box office yet again.  The top film of the weekend was Joe Carnahan's wilderness survival drama, The Grey.  The Liam Neeson vehicle, concerning plane crash survivors struggling to fend off death by various forms of nature (including wolves), opened with a solid $20 million.  Yes, that's slightly below the $21 million debut of Unknown and the $24 million debut of Taken around this time in 2011 and 2009, but those films were PG-13 while The Grey was rated R.  The picture scored a B- from Cinemascore, which is not surprising.  On one hand, it's a good movie, a thoughtful and introspective mediation on several men coming to terms with their forthcoming demise.  On the other hand, the film was sold as an action picture featuring Liam Neeson fighting wolves with his bare hands.  Without going into spoilers, that's not entirely accurate.  Still the film obviously has fans, as the picture scored a relatively rare 3x weekend multiplier.  Anyway, the film cost Open Road Films just $35 million, so this should be a solid moneymaker for the mini distributor even if the somewhat false advertising causes it to drop hard next weekend.

Weekend Box Office (01/22/11): Underworld: Awakenings and Red Tails score. while Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close and Haywire falter slightly.

 Like clockwork, the fourth entry in the ongoing Underworld franchise debuted in the third weekend of January to take the top spot at the box office with a $20 million+ debut.  While the original opened in September of 2003, the rest of the films have all used the mid-January berth every three years.  As so it is that Underworld: Awakenings (trailer) debuted with $25.4 million this weekend.  In pure numbers, that's the second biggest debut of the series, behind the $30 million opening of Underworld: Evolution back in 2006.  But in terms of inflation/tickets sold/etc, it's actually a bit under the $22 million debut ($28 million adjusted for inflation) of the original Underworld.  Considering the last entry, Rise of the Lycans, was a stripped-down prequel lacking franchise star Kate Beckinsale, it's arguably more fair to compare this fourth entry to the first two films in the series.  As such, it's slightly lacking. The budget was $70 million (way up from parts 1 and 3, which cost just #22 million and $35 million respectively, and a bit up from the second film's $50 million budget) and the film had a theoretical 3D price-bump, yet the results weren't even up to the series's peak.  Still, Sony is playing a different game this time around...

Review: Red Tails (2012) is a low-key, mostly entertaining history lesson/B-movie.

Red Tails
2012
120 minutes
rated PG-13

by Scott Mendelson

The strongest aspect of director Anthony Hemingway and producer George Lucas's Red Tails is that it lives in a somewhat Utopian film industry where African-American dramas aren't all that big of a deal.  The picture may have an unfair burden of proving the bankability of larger-budget ($58 million) genre fare revolving entirely around African Americans, but you don't see that sweat onscreen.  It treats itself not like a test case, or a passion project for one of the more financially successful independent filmmakers of our age, but merely a B-movie action drama that involves actors like Cuba Cooding Jr. Terrence Howard, and David Oyelowo.  Red Tails may be (unfortunately) an anomaly, but those behind and in front of the camera treat this as if it were one of many minority-led historical dramas that open each month at the local multiplex.

Blu Ray Review: Star Wars - The Complete Saga (2011)

This will not be an exhaustive breakdown of the set, as I do not have the time to watch and critique each bonus feature.  But I will offer a few words for those who are inexplicably on the fence about the set.  Point being, I'm guessing you've either already ordered or purchased this, or have decided for whatever reason (not the original versions, already like the DVDs, etc) not the pick up this HD upgrade.  Anyway, all six films look varying degrees of spectacular.  I'd argue that the prequels look shinier and what-not, while the original trilogy looks more impressive in relation to its age and relative production value.  There has been talk that The Phantom Menace looks lousier than the others, but I had no real objections as I scanned to a few highlights (Duel of the Red Shirts looks super).  As you all know, my sound system is whatever my Samsung DLP TV offers, so I can only say that the audio sounded fine, with a clear distinction between dialogue, the score, and various sound effects with a generally even volume level at all times (offhand, the big screw-up with the music during the 'Battle of Yavin' has been fixed).

Press Release: Star Wars: the Complete Saga on Blu Ray

Bring home the adventure and share Star Wars™ with your whole family – when STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA comes to Blu-ray Disc from Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment! To be released beginning on September 12 internationally and on September 16 in North America, the nine-disc collection brings the wonder of the entire Saga direct to your living room, where you can revisit all of your favorite Star Wars moments – in gorgeous high definition and with pristine, 6.1 DTS Surround Sound. Dive deeper into the universe with an unprecedented 40+ hours of special features, highlighted by never-before-seen content sourced from the Lucasfilm archives.

The specs after the jump:

George Lucas to tell them 3D-converting amateurs to get off his lawn: Star Wars 3D kicks-off with Phantom Menace in February 2012.

Rejoice or protest nerds! The Star Wars series is indeed returning to theaters post-converted to 3D starting on February 10th, 2012 with The Phantom Menace. After that, it's one movie a year, which will finish off in 2017 with Return of the Jedi, just in time for the 40th anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars: A New Hope. If you don't like it, don't buy a ticket. I'm looking forward to this if only to watch George Lucas show everyone how a real 3D-conversion is done. Back in 2002, he was the only one, with the arguable exception of Robert Rodriguez, who could shoot on HD-Video without it looking like a home movie. 3D is at that point now. Even the good 3D work (Drive Angry for example) still looks dark, muddy, and cheap befitting the non-film it was shot on. Point being, we're at that growth-spurt stage with 3D where everyone wants to do it, and some of them are even skilled at it, but you can still 'see the strings'.

Horrors! Star Wars series is indeed coming to Blu Ray in September of 2011. Will someone please think of the children?!

Yes, yes, I know... Lucas raped your childhood, the original versions of the first trilogy aren't included, Jar Jar sucks, Ewoks are lame, Jake Lloyd can't act, Natalie Portman is kinda stiff, Greedo shoots first, midichlorians are dumb, blah blah blah. Don't want it? Don't buy it. I'll be at home, showing my (then) four-year old the Star Wars series for the first time. I'm still debating on what order to screen them. I'd love to watch them ala Stephen King's It: The Phantom Menace, A New Hope, Attack of the Clones, The Empire Strikes Back, Revenge of the Sith, Return of the Jedi. But I'm not sure that a four year old would get the emotional coherency (it allows for chronological order while preserving the big plot twist for as long as possible). I'll probably just play it safe and do it the old-fashioned way (VI, V, and VI, then I, II, and III). The most promising idea behind the Blu Ray set can be seen in the trailer above. Even as a prequel defender, I've always wished that Lucas made more of an effort to make the new films look more similar to the original trilogy. That seems to be the goal this time around, with the older films looking as shiny and new as the prequel trilogy. Anyway, read the official press release after the jump.

Scott Mendelson

Oh no! George Lucas to offer us the choice to watch the Star Wars series in 3D?!

Oh wait... we can choose to see them in 3D theaters or not? We don't HAVE to give him and 20th Century Fox our money if we don't want to? Oh... nevermind. Anyway, starting in winter 2012, Lucas will be releasing one Star Wars film per year into theaters with a 3D conversion, starting with The Phantom Menace and ending with Return of the Jedi in 2017. As usual, this is less about George Lucas's greed (he's already worth $3 billion, and he's pledged to give half his estate to charity upon his death) and more about him using his Star Wars films to play around with new technology, in this case perfecting the much-maligned art of 3D conversion. Finding time to see all six of them in a theater at one time would be a bit much, but revisiting them in 3D at one per year during the dead-zone of January/February is perfectly fine. First of all, it will have been 15 years since these things were in theaters in any form, so it's not like he's milking the cow every couple years (nearly 14 years after the Special Edition releases in 1997, Star Wars: Special Edition still has the second-biggest January opening in history). Second of all, and this is a biggie to those who accuse George Lucas of being purely out for financial gain, Lucas was among those who signed 'The Giving Pledge' amongst billionaires to give half their estates to charity. So a ticket for The Phantom Menace 3D is a partially charitable donation to whatever foundation Lucas bestows his billions (probably education-related). Of course, if you're one of those overgrown children who still has a temper-tantrum every time George Lucas mentions Star Wars, here's some free advice: don't see the 3D converted versions in theaters. See, feel better? Sometimes the simplest solution is the best.

Scott Mendelson

And the best action scene of the decade is...

For a full twenty-three minutes, George Lucas throws at us everything we could ever want in a Star Wars film. A claustrophobic and suspenseful massive spaceship dog fight. Jedi masters running, jumping, and slashing at everything in their path. A terrific and plot-driven light-saber fight smack-dab in the middle. A fiery crash-landing to freedom. All that, plus successful comic-relief from R2D2 (his fire trick brought the house down at our midnight showing), dialogue that actually sounds authentic and snappy, and a chemistry between Obi-Wan and Anakin that actually feels genuine. It's as if, knowing full-well what darkness and despair the audience was about to go through, Lucas made sure that the prologue was as much sheer Star Wars fun as he could possibly manage... one last time. I know it's heresy, but Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is actually my favorite Star Wars film of them all (relax nerds, The Empire Strikes Back is second). And that gloriously gonzo go-for-broke first reel and a half is a big part of why.

Scott Mendelson

Because sometimes the waiting is the best part...

Yes, despite the mountains of coverage, oodles of fan web-sites, and millions of fans dying for a taste, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is simply a movie. Yet, for fans such as myself, who plan on being there at the first showing on May 19th, it will be the culmination of sixteen years of anticipation. Over the past two years, where it became a reality that this film would actually be made as opposed to merely an arbitrary rumor, something became clear to me.  My excitement about May 19th is not about seeing the movie, nor is it about laughing out loud as it (hopefully) obliterates every box-office record known to man. My anticipation is not about the hope that the movie will actually live up to my expectations, because I know that it can not. Although all of these things will likely give me great bliss in the coming weeks, my 'joy' is something such simpler.