Revenge of the Crits

I know this is kind of off the beaten track, but I just wanted to put down a few words about George Lucas's latest (and final) Star Wars epic. It seems to me that Revenge of the Sith has received two opposing responses: either it's great, or it's cack. Now I saw it the first weekend it came out and I liked it. I've always liked Star Wars, although I wouldn't regard myself as a die-hard fan (wears Jedi cloak at the weekends; registered as a practicing member of the Jedi 'faith'). I accept Star Wars for what it is, which was first and foremeost a return to the pulp cliff-hanger serials of the 30's-40's. Almost all of the bad crits Sith has received have focused on the "clunky dialogue" and the "wooden" acting. Well, hello! Look at the original three! Look at the script/acting in Return of the Jedi, for crying out loud! And yet they're regarded now as "classics".
I agree that the prequels, despite their vastly-superior technology, have not engaged as well as the originals, but they are still great popcorn movies, and I would dearly love to know what the young kids watching them today think. (I would imagine that if I was an 8 or 10 or 12 year-old going to see these movies, I'd be thinking they were the coolest films ever!) I also think that given time, and finally seen in the context of a six-part story, people will look back at the prequels with a much kinder eye, and I think they will appreciate Lucas's saga a bit more (after all he's trying to entertain people, not harm them). Dare I say that given the growing number of unimaginative retread/remake/rehash movies we're being fed with these days , people in the future might even look back at the Star Wars saga and say, "Gee, they don't make 'em like that anymore!"
Come on you cynical buggers! Lighten up! They're only movies!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Music for Writing

Image
How do you write? In silence? Or with heavy metal blasting out at full blast? I used to be able to write with my favourite music playing (usually on my headphones, especially if the kids were in bed). But in recent times I've found it increasingly hard to concentrate with music, particularly music with lyrics. Quite often now I will play a movie score soundtrack. Batman Begins is a favourite, as is John Carter . Recently, though, I've discovered some even more useful musical accompaniment on YouTube. The video below is a good place to start. Not quite 'ambient', more... 'atmospheric'. Puts me in just the right mood for composing prose. ['Comprosing'? Err, no.] Check it out. And if you don't like this one, there are plenty more to choose from.
Read more

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams . . .

Image
Twelve months ago I was in a bad place. The New Year was looming, I had some personal problems that were kicking my behind, and my writing career was not progressing the way I'd hoped. Then, on Jan 2nd, I received a late night phone call from America. It was Joni Labaqui from the Writers of the Future Contest. The story I had entered almost four months previous (and which, to be honest, I had forgotten about) had reached the final 8 of the quarter. Ms Labaqui assured me that my story was really good and that I was a talented writer. I almost cried. As it happens, the story didn't make the all-important Final 3 but shortly after I went on to sell it to Realms of Fantasy Magazine* . [*That's another story.] Anyhoo, this episode taught me a couple of things. One, I can do this . I've "got the chops", as they say. Two, I started telling myself to stop waiting around for things to happen. Make your own opportunities . At the time, I didn't quite know what tha...
Read more

Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy: An Appreciation

Part 1: Batman Begins (2005) Before I was a movie fan I was a comic fan. There's a geek moment in my life I recall even to this day with utter clarity. It's a Wednesday morning, about 7.30 AM. I'm sitting on the steps outside my friendly neighbourhood newsagents. Said newsagent, Mr Chidlow, comes around the corner and on seeing me does a little double-take. "Blimey, you're up early, lad," he says. Yes, I am up early. And the reason I'm there at such an ungodly hour on his doorstep? It's Wednesday morning and that means the new issue of Spider-Man is out. I can't wait a minute longer. I have to know what happens next. Looking back as a man of forty, it's hard to reconcile myself with that 10 year-old kid, an age when you could love something as simple as a comic book with the same passion you might reserve for a religion and no one thought you were strange in doing so. Okay, maybe they thought you were a little strange. In the interveni...
Read more