September 30, 2005

Revenge DVD...one month and counting

On November 1, 2005, the circle, or collection anyway, will be complete. The final Star Wars "episode" will be released on DVD.

Before it came to theaters, Revenge of the Sith was said to be the "darkest" of the three prequels; it would be for the prequels what The Empire Strikes Back was for the originals. Steven Speilberg was quoted as saying he cried during it:

"It's the best of the last three episodes. It's the best way you could possibly imagine for George to finish it off, it has a tremendous ending and it's very dark. You'll cry at the end, it's wonderful".


There was this glowing review (page down) by Kevin Smith:

"Look, this is a movie I was genetically predisposed to love. I remember being eight years old, and reading in Starlog that Darth Vader became the half-man/half-machine he was following a duel with Ben Kenobi that climaxed with Vader falling into molten lava. Now, twenty six years later, I finally got to see that long-promised battled - and it lived up to any expectation I still held. I was sad to see the flick end, but happy to know it's not the end of the Star Wars universe entirely (I've read stuff about a TV show...)".

He pretty much summed up the feeling I had about it.

The trailer, as with the previous two prequels, made me cry. Has there ever been, in the history of cinema, a movie that has such incredible trailers?

Episode III could've, should've been great. It could have should have "redeemed" Lucas and Star Wars. Instead, director/creator/sreenwriter George Lucas majorly dropped the ball. Amazingly, the whole Star Wars phenomena sort of deflated, if not imploded, as a result of Revenge of the Sith. It's like Lucas was feeding on himself, and invited the entire world to look on.

Still, I love the original three, and I'll eventually learn to love this one, as I have the other two (The Phantom Menace, specifically, is a better film as a result of III. Attack of the Clones is pretty tough to watch; it's so pointless and stupid, for the most part). I will be buying the DVD.

The DVD, as with the other two prequels', is loaded with extras:

  • Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1 EX), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1 EX), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
  • Commentary by writer-director George Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, animation director Rob Coleman, and ILM visual effects supervisors John Knoll and Roger Guyett
  • Exclusive deleted scenes with introductions by George Lucas and Rick McCallum
  • "Within a Minute" documentary film about the making of the Mustafar battle
  • "The Chosen One" featurette: George Lucas traces the myth of Darth Vader through episodes 1-6
  • "It's All for Real: The Stunts of Episode III"
  • A 15-part collection of Lucasfilm's Web documentaries
  • "A Hero Falls" music video
  • Poster and print campaign
  • Trailers and TV spots
  • Never-before-seen production photo gallery


    Sweet! I'm excited! Shouldn't be...but I am!

    A couple of days ago, Ain't It Cool News showed several pics of some of the more interesting deleted scenes:

    "The Slaughter of Shaak Ti<"
    That's fairly brutal. You can see why it was thought the movie would earn a "R" rating.

    My favorite are of Dagobah, and a defeated Yoda

    making his escape to the isolated planet where twenty years later, the very last of the Jedi Knights, Luke Skywalker, would seek him out.





    It would've been nice to have seen that sequence in the actual movie!

    My final verdict on the whole prequel fiasco is that Lucas should have made just one. He could've taken the very best from each prequel, and made a truly great, 3 hour plus, classic. People went to see the 3 hour plus The Return of the King, so I'm sure they'd do the same for a Star Wars movie. Nonetheless, I can't wait for November 1, and the opportunity to once again throw money at Lucas & Co., which in no way needs it as much as I do.
  • Austin Powers is Keith Moon

    This should be interesting! From last night's (Thursday) Variety update:

    "Myers lands on Moon"


    IS


    Obviously
    looks more like "Moon the Loon", but I have no doubts that
    will do it right.

    September 27, 2005

    Whimsy blows into town

    With all due respect to Old Haunts, the best place on the Web to find "old photographs of Halloweens long past", I submit a couple of pics of downown Nac, ready to lose itself in the season, as the weather slowly begins to change. This Saturday is October 1, by the way.
    (used in previous post)

    And, why not, a couple more shots of neon from around the Nacogdoches/Lufkin area.

    September 26, 2005

    "Rita bitchslaps Nacogdoches"


    Many live in the Piney Woods of East Texas partly because of its natural beauty due to the numerous, tall, pine trees. 54 mph+ winds aren't particularly dangerous, in and of themselves. But, when you mix the two together, the situation can get ugly.

    Nacogdoches? Almost.

    Things haven't quite descended to a Lord of the Flies level here in Nac, but if my power had not come on last night (Sunday) at 7 (the power went out Saturday morning at 9:45 AM), what with the heat index up at 106° today (Monday)...I might have become something like Jack, running around the streets of Nac, dressed only in a loincloth, screaming for Piggy's blood.
    Evacuees from Houston and the Golden Triangle have overwhelmed this little, East Texas town (Nacogdoches), and have cleared out our stores and gas stations of things such as bread, ice, water, and gasoline. Those people may now get the Hell out. Police have had to station themselves at many local gas stations, what with looting and rioting breaking out in places like nearby Lufkin. It was a fun weekend!
    Nac was lucky in that nobody has died as a result, but we lost some big, old trees. Much like the M. Emmet Walsh character (named "Madman" in the cast listing) in The Jerk, and his hatred of "these cans" (in Navin's point of view), Rita, it turns out (who knew?), has some issues with several specific trees in the Nacogdoches area. She and they had words.
    She hates these trees!!!
    Stay away from the trees!!!
    Some of the trees Rita selected were near power lines...
    ...and people's homes and property.
    "Stuff" can be replaced. And we're lucky we got so little of what Rita dished out. I did wish several times over the last couple of days that either some of the evacuees, or a few seemingly absent electric company personel would've met with a harsher fate. Anyway, I'm as sick of hearing about Rita as I'm sure you are. The bitch...Future posts will be hurricane-free! Huzzah!

    Oh! I nearly forgot. Caspar and Buddy fared just fine, and were happy and moist.
    Caspar, right in the thick of it.
    Buddy, keeping a safe distance and behaving oddly "cat-like".