Tobar

Monkey Business (1952)

Went in cold on this one. It was...okay.

Anchorhead said:

Tobar said:

But my number one must read suggestion would be Dark Times.... The writing by Randy Stradley and the art by Doug Wheatley is top notch. I honestly regard them as this generation's Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson.

Wow.  That is high praise indeed, coming from you.  May have to give that a look.

Just be forewarned the first couple issues have some prequely bits thrown in there. My favorite arc so far has been Blue Harvest. That's when they rearranged some things so that Wheatley could be the sole artist and found a fantastic colorist as well.

Now would be a good time to jump into the just started new Star Wars series.

The Tales comics provide a nice variety. Empire was pretty good until it started to focus on the main film characters and was renamed Rebellion.

Agent of the Empire has proven to be pretty entertaining so far.

The above list (except Tales) is all set during the OT. If you're not adverse to exploring outside of that then...

I would highly recommend the Republic series starting with issue #19 when John Ostrander and Jan Duursema started working on the title. Yes this is set during the prequel era but it's far from the hands of Lucas and the Quinlan Vos arc throughout is fantastic.

Would highly recommend working through that before venturing into Legacy which John and Jan helmed together. Some of the dialog is corny but it's a pretty solid series overall.

Knights of the Old Republic was a great series as well.

But my number one must read suggestion would be Dark Times. It was the follow up series to Republic and is set between ROTS and ANH. The inspiration behind it was Obi-wan's line, "Before the dark times, before the Empire..." And believe me, the title does live up to its name. The writing by Randy Stradley and the art by Doug Wheatley is top notch. I honestly regard them as this generation's Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson.

Let's be honest. =P

“I feel like the world of Star Wars has gotten to be so vast, not just in terms of the various mediums that Star Wars occupies, but because of the visual possibilities that technology has allowed and Industrial Light & Magic is so remarkably capable at creating. My favorite thing about Star Wars is the ability to tell an incredibly personal, intimate, and emotional story against a backdrop of conflict and battle that’s planetary and massive. What I would love to see is a story about characters that I am desperately entertained by and definitely care about, and keep that story as focused as possible and make more of that than the pyrotechnics of it all which to me is what makes Star Wars so brilliant. If it’s a TV show, that’s terrific. If it’s animated I’m all for it. If it’s a radio show or a video game or an online experience — whatever it is I would love to discover in this vast universe some new characters that make me feel the way that Luke, Leia, and Han Solo did.”

- JJ Abrams (2008)

Source

Shhhhhhh.

Don't speak of such horrible things. =(

Star Wars: Into Darkness

skyjedi2005 said:

While to others Chaykin was.

That makes me sad.

Super 8 (2011)

In light of the now officially confirmed news, I decided to go back and check out a couple of our newly crowned director's films. I was really excited for this film before it came out and I wasn't disappointed when I eventually got to see it. Though I don't think it worked very well as a homage to Spielberg. The chemistry between the kids was kind of lacking. You can tell what they were aiming for based on the dialog but the interactions between them don't quite click. That plus there was a lot of light swearing. But if you take that aspect of the film out of the equation and judge the film on its own merits, I think it was a pretty nice film.

Cloverfield (2009)

While Abrams didn't direct this one, he did produce and I think his hand can be felt all over it. Found footage films get a pretty bad rap but they can be pretty engaging if done well. I'd say this is one of the better ones. This was another film that I was excited about when it was first teased because I love seeing modern takes on classic genres like giant monsters. I thought the film had a good pace to it and never got bogged down. Though sadly, I have to say I was disappointed in the main attraction; the monster design was a little boring.

Battle Los Angeles (2011)

This one has nothing to do with Abrams, I just wanted to revisit it after thinking about modern takes on classic genres. A lot of people didn't like this one, I don't know why. I thought it was pretty entertaining.

Besides we all know Spock and nurse Chapel were meant to be. =P

SilverWook said:

Didn't Abrams publicly state he wasn't interested, (and committed to the Trek movie franchise) just a couple weeks ago?

Yeah right around the end of December:

 “I quickly said that because of my loyalty to Star Trek, and also just being a fan, I wouldn’t even want to be involved in the next version of those things,” Abrams told Empire. “I declined any involvement very early on. I’d rather be in the audience not knowing what was coming, rather than being involved in the minutiae of making them.”

Bingowings said:

Aliens is the remake of Them! if you hadn't noticed.

I dunno if I can see that. I mean, Alien was definitely inspired by IT! The Terror From Beyond Space but Aliens and THEM! ? Hmm...

That sounds like just the right amount. I love THEM!

I would recommend starting with the original series. The new one just never grabbed me.

Good luck to them.

The 300 Spartans was superior. =P

It's pretty decent. There are some odd things about it though that I don't care for but overall it looks like it has potential.

*throws a brick with "1998" scrawled across it through the window*

TV's Frink said:

pat man said:

Any news about this.

What a weird thing to say.

But appropriate as it's been proven false.

I have uncovered the definitive adaptation of The Hobbit. Enjoy.

Aliens (1986)

Haven't seen this in a while and thought it'd be another nice test of my new blu-ray player. The transfer looked fantastic. I think this was also my first time watching the director's cut and it was good but then I don't remember what was cut in the theatrical. Man do I miss practical effects. All of the effects in this film are executed spectacularly. Though I do wish they would have slowed the footage of their vehicles to give them a sense of weight. Other than that it was all gold.

The Terminator (1984)

Another I haven't seen in a while. It was surprisingly long. I knew Michael Biehn was in both but forgot about Bill Paxton and was surprised by Lance Henriksen.

DuracellEnergizer said:

 

evan1975 said:

I always wondered why in 1985, when everyone was using Japanese animation studios because they were good and cheap, George went with the weak Canadian studio Nelvana?

Them's fightin' words.

 

Indeed.

Bingowings said:

Why are there no whales in Star Wars?

*cough*