philraid

Bought a bunch yesterday as a belated birthday gift. A lot of it was just me buying stuff that I couldn’t believe I didn’t already have:
The Addams Family and Addams Family Values- DVD
Back to the Future Trilogy- Blu-ray
The Big Sleep (1946)- DVD
Never Say Never Again- DVD
Coming to America- DVD
Deliverance- DVD
Dumb and Dumber- DVD
Escape from New York- Blu-ray
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off- DVD
Flash Gordon (1980)- Blu-ray
Forbidden Planet- Blu-ray
Ghostbusters 2- DVD
King Kong (1933)- DVD
The Last Starfighter- Blu-ray
The Marx Brothers Collection boxset which has A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, Room Service, At the Circus, Go West, The Big Store, and A Night in Casablanca- DVD (technically was a rebuy as I had six of these, but I didn’t have A Day at the Races or the boxset)
Short Circuit- DVD
Total Recall (1990)- Blu-ray
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)- DVD

Taxi Driver
Animal Crackers (although picking a favorite Marx Brothers movie is almost impossible)
RoboCop (1987)
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Being There
Dr. Strangelove
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Princess Bride
Brazil
Goldfinger
Network
Blade Runner

“One Year of Love” by Queen.
I rewatched Highlander recently, so I’ve been listening to the soundtrack a lot the past few days.

Definitely one of my favorite bands. Rubber Soul’s my favorite album of theirs. “In My Life” and “Nowhere Man” are currently my two favorite songs of theirs. George Harrison is probably my favorite of the four, although John Lennon’s a close second.

My favorite band is Queen, so you’re basically asking me to pick a favorite Queen song, which is impossible. I did rewatch Highlander recently for a podcast, so I’ve had a lot of their songs from the soundtrack stuck in my head.
I couldn’t list favorite songs. I could list favorite bands and artists, though. The aforementioned Queen, The Beatles (George Harrison’s probably my favorite), Pink Floyd, Frank Sinatra, Frank Zappa, The Who, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Tom Lehrer, Randy Newman, John Williams, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, David Bowie, Harry Nilsson, Warren Zevon, 70’s era Joni Mitchell, Erik Satie, The Doors.
As you can see, some of it is a bit eclectic, although I definitely favor stuff from the 60’s and 70’s.

I should point out that the Top 3 are all 10/10 movies for me, so ranking them is kind of pointless.

1. Raiders- Perfect escapism. Perfect hero, perfect villain, perfect action set pieces, an engaging plot line. Good balance between intensity and humor. What else is there to say?
2. Temple of Doom- I like that they took risks and tried to do something different. It’s such an insane ride. Of the four, it feels the most to me like a 30’s adventure movie.
3. Last Crusade- Used to be my favorite and I do still really love it (mainly because of Sean Connery), but I like the intensity of the first two more. I will say though, this one is the funniest of the series and probably the most quotable.
4. Crystal Skull- I don’t think it’s as bad as some say, but it’s not good either. Has its moments, but it’s pretty lackluster. It loses me around the halfway point. I didn’t think the plot or action scenes were that great. Hopefully Dial of Destiny is better.

They were good. Felt like a logical extension of the original trilogy, especially compared to stuff like Darksaber or The Crystal Star.

I liked that Leia was a politician in it. Luke felt like Luke. Han felt like Han.

Mara Jade’s a cool character. I have mixed thoughts on the expanded universe (at least the parts I’ve read, I’ll admit my knowledge of it is pretty limited), but she’s definitely one of the best characters to come out of it.

I’m gonna be honest, at first I didn’t really get the big deal with Thrawn. Now I get it. He was a different type of villain than what we usually got. A more smart and calculating villain.

Also, The Last Command I thought they kind of dropped the ball with the story. The whole Luke having an evil clone plot point (and that they got the DNA from his severed hand) I thought was pretty stupid. Especially the fact they named him Luuke. That was dumb.

But overall, I thought they were decent. Not great, but good. I can see why Timothy Zahn’s considered one of the better EU writers.

There’s a lot of things I would change. Way too many to list and I don’t exactly have anything fleshed out here nor do I feel like being too long winded, but I think these ideas could have been interesting. At the very least they’d have been better than Rise of Skywalker.

One of the main ones would be to have Finn be more prominent as a character instead of… what they actually did with him in the last two. They set him up as a defected stormtrooper and potential Jedi in Force Awakens and then never did anything interesting with him again. Basically just give him something to do.

Another thing, have Rey be tempted a lot more by the dark side. We got brief glimpses of that in the movies, but there should have been more. Maybe have scenes in Last Jedi of her training with Finn and they serve as mirror images of each other. Finn used to fight with the bad guys and now he’s becoming a Jedi, meanwhile Rey is getting tempted over to the dark side. And then she eventually decides to turn to the dark side and at the same time Kylo sees the light, so him and Finn have to stop her. Then there might actually be some suspense. At the very least they took an actual risk with these characters. Then at the end one of them would kill Snoke and one of them would die and it’d be this big dramatic moment.

Which that’s another thing. Instead of bringing Palpatine back to life, I would keep Snoke alive in Last Jedi and have him be the main villain in Rise of Skywalker.

Another thing I’d change is I’d make the original trilogy characters a little less important to the main plot. Definitely have them be there, but have it be more of a passing of the torch type thing. They already didn’t do a whole lot with Han and Leia, so keep them more as cameos. If you’re gonna keep Luke as a main plot point, I think having him in an Obi Wan or Yoda role is fine.

Caston said:

philraid said:

1. Clone Wars (2003)- Well-animated, lots of good action scenes, and it does a good job bridging the gap between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

It is so pleasing to see this series still gets much love and respect.

I always feel like I’m one of the few people that prefers it over the other Clone Wars show (granted more people have seen the latter), but yeah it’s really good. It still has the best depiction of General Grievous.

I’ll keep this brief because I don’t like thinking about these movies and I don’t feel like going in depth on them. I already did that when I did podcasts.

Force Awakens- I think it’s okay. When I first saw it I really liked it, but it didn’t hold up on rewatches. I like the first half, but I lose interest in the second half. It becomes too derivative, but the initial set-ups for some these characters was interesting. I do have some nostalgia for it because it’s the first Star Wars movie I saw in the theater and it represents a time in my life when I was more optimistic.

The Last Jedi- Loved it the first time I saw it, but it didn’t hold up at all. Has parts that I like, but the bad parts are so bad that they ruin the experience for me. I like some of the stuff with Luke, but I despise the other two plot lines. It’s such a badly paced movie with an inconsistent tone. That being said, there are some fan edits that are able to make it somewhat enjoyable, which is more than I can say for the next one.

Rise of Skywalker- Fuck this movie. The plot makes no sense and it basically seems to go out of its way to make everything pointless. It traumatized me enough that I almost lost interest in Star Wars. It’s my least favorite Star Wars movie (well unless you count the Clone Wars movie or the Holiday Special).

Let me put it this way, I don’t love the prequels, but when I do Star Wars marathons, I’ll still watch them now and again. I accept that they exist. With the sequel trilogy I’m at the point where I don’t even know if I ever want to watch them again. Especially the last two. I get depressed even thinking about them. I’ve only been able to get myself to watch fan edits the past few times I’ve rewatched them. Part of it is that they’re more cynical than the prequels, but also part of it is the inconsistency.
The prequels for all their faults felt like they had more of a vision behind it. There were some choices that didn’t work, but at the end of the day they felt like one vision. With the sequels you have two movies that don’t even logically go together because they had two directors playing tug of war to cancel each other out. They never committed to one thing and they paid the price for their lack of vision.
Again, there’s plenty of things you can criticize about the prequels, but they at least feel like a trilogy. The sequel trilogy feels like it was compromised.

darklordoftech said:

I find it interesting that in the Leigh Brackett ESB script, Vader isn’t Luke’s father and Luke’s sister isn’t Leia, but The Emperor as we know him is there rather than him being the figurehead described in the novelization of ANH.

Yeah, his sister was named Nelith or something if I remember right.

Used to be the 2006 DVDs, but now it’s the despecialized versions.

It’s been a few years since I read it before doing a podcast on Empire, but I was surprised at just how different it was to the finished movie. Namely that it was far more ridiculous than the final draft. I did find it funny that they actually showed the dinner scene on Cloud City and it’s revealed that Darth Vader doesn’t eat or drink. Such a strange detail to include.

I usually call it either “Star Wars” or “the original Star Wars film.” I never liked the New Hope title and I stopped referring to the movies by episode numbers years ago. Numbers make for boring movie titles.

Definitely. It was supposed to be a “wretched hive of scum and villainy”, which it definitely felt more like that in the original film. You turn around any corner you could get shot or captured by a criminal or the Empire. Adding in more buildings, CGI rats and dinosaurs makes it feel more like a zoo or a theme park.
I also just never understood why they kept going back to this planet in the movies, especially since it was never as interesting as it was the first time around for a lot of reasons listed above. Why did Anakin have to be from the same planet as Luke?

The prequels are weird for me. As a kid I loved them. I didn’t know people hated them until years later when I started watching YouTube reviews and there’d occasionally be some comment about how the prequels were terrible. Eventually I learned about how the original movies were made first and the prequels came later.
It wasn’t until I saw the Plinkett reviews that I finally understood why people didn’t like the prequels and it ended up rubbing off on me. I went through this period of about five years where I thought the prequels were terrible and I basically became an original trilogy purist.
I ended up changing my mind after rewatching them for a podcast I was doing. They weren’t as bad as I remembered and I actually ended up enjoying them. I guess like Groucho Marx said “time wounds all heels.”
Now I have a more balanced view of them. I don’t think Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones are that great, but I don’t hate them either. I kind of go back and forth on whether I like them or not. Revenge of the Sith I like, although I do have some problems with it.
I could go on about some of the problems I have with the prequels, but that would take all day. Basically I accept that they exist and every once in awhile I’ll watch them. But for me, the original trilogy is Star Wars. Those are the ones that actually matter to me.

I bought them back in 2014 because at the time I thought it was the only way that I’d ever be able to see the original versions of the movies. Obviously I didn’t know about the despecialized versions and stuff like that back then. And they were not cheap either. If I remember right, Empire and Jedi were about $40 or $50 used.
Back then I thought they looked alright, at least on the TV that I had. It was a square TV, so the formatting issues weren’t a problem. I was also less picky about picture quality back then.
Half a year ago, I pulled out the DVD for Star Wars and checked to see how it looked on the flatscreen TV and that was when I realized how obvious the flaws were with it. Not very good sound or picture quality and the image was right in the center of the screen.
I do still keep the DVDs just because I like having the original movies in a physical format, but if I watch them, I’ll just watch the despecialized versions or other fan restorations. I keep waiting for the day they eventually just release the damn things on blu-ray.

Recently I was wondering if I might be feeling that way, but I think that’s probably just because the special edition (the 2004 one that is) was the version I first saw as a kid. Because when I actually think about a lot of the changes that were made, I don’t think they were improvements. They’re less intrusive than the changes to the other two movies, but that’s not hard to accomplish. If I had a choice between just those three special editions, is it the special edition that I would sit down and watch? Of course it is, but I still don’t think the changes were really needed.
I thought that I liked the changes to Cloud City, but on a recent rewatch I realized that they said in dialogue that Cloud City is supposed to be a small outpost. It doesn’t look like a small outpost in the special edition. Also, the CGI has really dated and looks out of place. Especially the shots of people standing around listening to Lando talking on the speaker.
The Emperor change in theory makes sense, but the execution is inconsistent with Return of the Jedi since it’s Revenge of the Sith Ian McDiarmid. There was something a little more ominous and mysterious about the original Emperor even though it is a different looking person. Also the dialogue makes much more sense in the original version.
Boba Fett’s voice change I can sort of understand for consistency with Attack of the Clones, but again, I don’t think the execution was great. Plus Jason Wingreen’s voice was perfect for the character. I like Temuera Morrison, but his delivery doesn’t even compare.
The only change I might keep (and this might surprise some people) is the Wampa scene. I remember that scene freaking me out when I first saw it as a kid, so I might keep that in there for nostalgic reasons. Watching it again, it doesn’t look too out of place (at least compared to these other changes), although it is ultimately unnecessary.
The only addition that I would say is an improvement is fixing some of the matte lines on the ships, but I don’t really care all that much about minor details like that. The movie’s over 40 years old, it’s okay for there to be a few technical mistakes here and there.
So overall, I would say the theatrical version is still better.

1. Clone Wars (2003)- Well-animated, lots of good action scenes, and it does a good job bridging the gap between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
2. Andor- I wasn’t sure if I was gonna like this, but it was actually pretty good. Made me appreciate Rogue One.
3. The Mandalorian- Like the space western vibe.
4. The Clone Wars- I don’t have the same attachment to it that some people have, which might partly be because the movie left such a bad impression on me. It did get better as it went on, but there were some choices I wasn’t on board with.
5. Rebels- Has its moments, but I didn’t really get into it. I guess the main characters didn’t fully win me over.
6. Visions- Not huge into anime, but there were some parts of this that I liked.
7. Obi Wan Kenobi- Liked the stuff with Obi Wan and Vader. The rest was boring and pointless. Should have been a two hour movie instead of a miniseries.
8. The Book of Boba Fett- Had its moments, but was mostly a missed opportunity.
9. Ewoks- I’ve seen better. I’ve seen worse.
10. Forces of Destiny- Only watched a few episodes of it. Completely pointless.
11. Droids- I love R2-D2 and C-3PO, but this show did them a disservice. I did like the theme song by Stewart Copeland, though.
12. Resistance- I couldn’t even finish one episode of it.

That podcast was an interesting listen. A lot of good casting ideas. I would have loved to have seen John Hurt in a Star Wars movie.

1. The Empire Strikes Back- A no-brainer. The best made of the original trilogy. It’s a near perfect film.
2. Star Wars and Return of the Jedi- I go back and forth on which one I like more. Star Wars has better action and humor, Return of the Jedi has the better emotional moments. I also have more nostalgia for Return of the Jedi, so sometimes that wins me over when I rewatch it.
3. Revenge of the Sith- The best of the prequels. I think the story is more investing than in the other two and it’s better paced. There are some corny parts, though.
4. Rogue One- Found it boring the first few times I watched it, but it grew on me on the last rewatch. Probably because I watched Andor beforehand.
5. Solo- A lot of people don’t like it, but I thought it was a fun side adventure. My problem with it though is that even though I’ve seen it multiple times, parts of it are forgettable.
6. Attack of the Clones- Of the prequels, this is actually the one I have the most nostalgia for. Has a lot of fun action scenes, but also some boring and dumb parts. I do have a soft spot for it, but I will acknowledge that it’s not a very good movie.
7. The Phantom Menace- It’s a slog to get through parts of it. Feels too self-contained. Has some good parts, but doesn’t hold together as a narrative and especially not as an introduction to the galaxy.
8. The Force Awakens- Used to really like it, but it didn’t hold up on rewatches. A lot of stuff that got set up and never paid off. Whenever I try to rewatch it, I get bored around the halfway point.
9. The Last Jedi- First impressions can be so inaccurate. I loved this when I first saw it, but wow did it not hold up to scrutiny. I’ll give it this, it did try to change things up. There’s parts I like, but the bad parts are so bad that they ruin the movie.
10. Rise of Skywalker- A joyless lazy mess. Almost killed my passion for the series. It was so bad that I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to rewatch the older movies.
11. The Clone Wars movie (Forgot to include it in here)- Bad animation, bad story. I’ve only seen it twice and that’s two times too many. Put me off watching the show for years.

Maybe give Chewbacca a moment of glory, and bring Warwick Davis back as Wicket.
And thanks.

The ewoks make their triumphant return and destroy the First Order.

Manos: The Hands of Fate and Birdemic: Shock and Terror both have Blu-ray releases.