CAUTION: Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
12 Days: 12 Movies – Special Edition Day Four: Return of the Jedi (1983, 129mins, Dir. Richard Marquand)
And so we get to what is generally considered the black sheep of the Original Trilogy. A lot of puppets and folks-in-suits, which led people to think of it as more of a ‘kiddies film’, but after the darkness of Empire, they’d have had that problem with any film that didn’t kill all of the heroes at the end...
Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker both turn up at Jabba the Hutt’s pad, intent on freeing Han Solo from his (wardrobe-malfunctioning) carbonite prison. It all kicks off, and before long, our band of plucky terrorists (that’s what they are, people) are steaming into Endor to blow up a government installation, and receive the trust and help of an indigenous population that the Empire would have realistically slaughtered before setting up the shield-generator base.
That aside, I love the third act of this film; the duel between Vader and Skywalker is amazingly choreographed and executed, with The Emperor providing the same voyeuristic interest that the audience also have. Ian McDiarmid is excellent in this movie; bear in mind that he was only in his thirties the first time he played The Emperor, before ‘growing into the role’ for the prequel trilogy.
In my humble opinion, it’s the weakest of the Original Trilogy films, but with an ending as strong as this, it’s almost certainly better than you remember.
The Good: The final, protracted, awesome duel. Beautiful acting from Prowse, McDiarmid, Jones and of course Hamill. And the sound-design during the speeder-bike chase is beautiful.
The Bad: Even if it was viable to torture droids, you wouldn’t do it by branding their feet. It just defies the logic which the SW universe has worked so hard to build up. Also, the threat of the Sarlaac Pit; to be “slowly digested over 1,000 years”. Well, given that a human would be dead from dehydration/starvation in under 10 days, it’s not that bad, is it? Oh, and Carrie Fisher’s acting in the ‘revelation’ scene. Jeez...
The Ugly: Han’s shirt does a reverse switch, to complement the one it did in Empire. I’m not sure if this means the continuity people noticed or not...
Best Line: “So be it... Jedi.”, The Emperor
My biased rating: 7/10
Tomorrow: Ewoks: Caravan of Courage
DISCLAIMERS: • ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organizations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
CAUTION: Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
12 Days: 12 Movies – Special Edition Day Three: The Empire Strikes Back (1980, 122mins, Dir. Irvin Kershner)
And so we come to what many consider to be the best installment of the Star Wars saga. Darker, more intense and the quintessential cliffhanger ending. tESB follows the ‘sequel is better than the original’ formula, in fleshing out the main characters in ways that just weren’t viable in A New Hope due to time restraints.
For many years I didn’t see the appeal of this one, as it’s reliant on A New Hope and Return of the Jedi for plot coherence. Everything’s a lot tighter this time around, but the viewer certainly needs to have seen ANH (to be fair, not unusual with a sequel), and the cliffhanger ending almost seems forced to me, like the movie ran out of time. In recent years, I have come to realise the greatness of the film, but I still can’t place it above A New Hope.
Puppet-Yoda is fantastic, as is Harrison Ford’s hair. Darth Vader speaks like a pirate for the entire film, and apparently snogging your sister doesn’t cause a disturbance in the Force...
The Good: Character development. In particular, when Han Solo hears that Luke still hasn’t been found in the Hoth wilderness, there’s no question in his mind that he has to brave the elements himself and look for him. Also, the ambiguous traits of Lando and Lobot; a beautifully grey area for such a ‘goody/baddy’ film.
The Bad: The “dead” Captain Needa giving his post mortem escort a helping hand in dragging his body off the deck. By basically standing up. Also, the Stormtrooper’s helmet being hauled off by Han Solo, and him not straightening it as he leaves the room.
The Ugly: Never mind “where did the handcuffs go?”, Han Solo’s shirt seems to change style completely during the freezing process. Beforehand it was a fold-across collar, but thirty seconds later it’s a straight-up-the-middle shirt. Sort it out.
Best Line: “That... is why you fail”, Yoda.
My biased rating: 8/10 As much as I love it, I still think it has weak starting and ending points, and it loses a point for Solo’s shirt.
Tomorrow: Return of the Jedi
DISCLAIMERS: • ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organizations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
CAUTION: Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
12 Days: 12 Movies – Special Edition Day Two: The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978, 100 mins, Dir. Steve Binder)
At 8pm EST, On Friday November 17th 1978, something awful happened. Actually, that's not fair. Something awful had already happened, it was just revealed to the world that evening. "Holiday Specials" were commonplace TV in the USA at the time, and would be for several years to come. They were a kind of 'variety' format. Sort of like Sunday Night at the Palladium with a story running through. And so, the CBS channel aired a program that had been made to cash in on the success of 1977's Star Wars. George Lucas had written the outline for the story, but because he was kind of busy with The Empire Strikes Back, had then given creative control to CBS. The original director, David Acomba, left halfway through the production. George thought this was understandable. If he hadn't been contractually tied to it, he'd probably have burned the thing before it aired. The show got great ratings, but was panned by audiences, critics and probably even the poor bastards who made it. It was never aired again. It was never released officially. Several VHS'd copies have made their way onto the internet, much to the chagrin of Lucasfilm. That's the history, you can read more on Wiki.
So, where to I start with the train-wreck that is SW:THS? It's just AWFUL. No, really. The plot revolves around Han and Chewie trying to get back to Kashyyyk for Life Day, the Wookiee equivalent of Thanksgiving and Christmas combined. It's set two years after A New Hope, and features the 'main' cast of Star Wars (even background Imperials who should have died in the Death Star blast, as it uses segments filmed on the Death Star set). It should work, but I figure that's what George thought when he handed the manuscript in. It's essentially half an hour of plot, padded out for another seventy minutes with singing, dancing, spoof cookery, Wook-erotica and long stretches of un-translated Wookiee speech.
As Steve Sansweet once said, for all the things that are wrong with SW:THS, its' worst crime is that it's BORING. The actors playing Chewie's family grunt and warble their way through scenes with no subtitles and no C-3PO to give exposition. Their acting is enough that you can make out what's going on, but frankly you just don't give a shit. Huge shots with no editing and no background music only make it worse, as it looks like a camera has been left running on set while the cast get pissed in-costume. The only saving grace is the short animated segment, produced by Nelvana in Canada, who would go on to make Droids a few years later.
The Star Wars universe is slowly stripped away with comedic performances from Harvey Korman, Art Carney and the great Bea Arthur; This is made worse when Diahann Carroll and Jefferson Starship do their respective turns, but what really pulls you out with a thump is the acrobatic routine (yes, you read that right), accompanied by what sounds like a synth which would have been crappy even in 1978.
We got a figure of Boba Fett with his SW:THS colour scheme a couple of years back, and it is grudginly acknowledged by Lucasfilm. The worst part? This has the SW logo in it, was written by George Lucas and features the main cast; therefore it's canon. Yes, this actually happened in the Star Wars universe.
I'd recommend you avoid it (and I know most of you will), but you really need to witness this with your own eyes to truly take in the horror.
The Good: The Holiday Special gave us the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk, and our first encounter with Boba Fett. For these reasons, I will tolerate its existence.
The Bad: Too long. Too many song and dance numbers. Embarrassing "comedy" moments.
The Ugly: The fucking rest of it.
Best Line: “You are foolish to waste your kindness on this dumb creature”, Boba Fett, speaking in what turns out to be an allegory for the entire show.
My biased rating: 1/10 And that's only because of the cartoon.
Tomorrow: The Empire Strikes Back
DISCLAIMERS: • ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organizations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
CAUTION: Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
12 Days: 12 Movies – Special Edition Day One: A New Hope (1977, 116mins, Dir. George Lucas)
In the mid-to-late 1970's, the BBC used to show a programme called Clapperboard on a sunday afternoon. It was a film review show, like some before it, and many afterwards. I remember being at my grandparents house as a small child and watching one particular episode, where they were doing a preview of a film called Star Wars.
There was one particular clip that held my attention and fascinated me. It made me want to watch the movie and find out more about this story. I seemed to relate instantly to the enigmatic characters on screen, and even as (what must have been) a three year old, I knew I wanted more of this. That clip wasn't Darth Vader storming the Tantive IV, surrounded by white-armoured troops. That clip wasn't a young farmboy, holding his father's lightsaber for the first time. It wasn't even the Mos Eisley Cantina, full of exotic aliens and silent menace. And the clip wasn't the frenetically paced battle over the surface over the Death Star.
The clip that captured my imagination, was of two robots walking through a desert, bickering with each other. I can't explain it either. Tatooine. Like most children who loved Star Wars, I spent a lot of time drawing my favourite characters, but all I actually 'remember' doodling was scenes from Tatooine. Maybe it's because we spend half of the first film on that planet that it's so burned into my brain? Whatever Star Wars I'm watching/playing/reading, when we go back to Tatooine, it feels like going home.
Anyway, enough of my rambling. It's difficult for me to actually "review" my favourite film of all time as I no longer see it objectively. The horrible old '77 version, the '97 Special Edition and the '04 DVD Edition are all etched into my psyche and I love them all equally (yes, even CGI Jabba). Besides, you don't really need me to give you a plot synopsis for this film, do ya? So I'll just list the points I'll be marking for every film over the next twelve days. Bear in mind I’m watching the old, ‘untouched’ version.
The Good: Just about every moment we spend on Tatooine. Oh, and the Death Star interior is great as well. The production values seem a little dated in the exterior Mos Eisley shots, but even so, they still hold up pretty well. Chewbacca’s make-up/costume is flawless.
The Bad: Why does Walrusman's (okay, 'Ponda Baba') arm bleed when it's chopped off when every other saber-cut in Star Wars instantly cauterises the wound? Thinner blood due to the Aqualish's aquatic ancestry? But then how come he's quite happily living on one of the dryest planets in the GFFA without any visible apparatus to keep him hydrated? I don't know. Don't think George does either, mind.
The Ugly: Why is Anakin's/Luke's lightsaber green on the Falcon? Excusable in 1977, but not in 2004. They fixed the ones in the duel-scene, so what gives?
Best Line: “Red Five, standing by”, Luke Skywalker
My biased rating: 10/10
My absolute favourite film of all time, which includes the other Star Wars movies.
Tomorrow: The 1978 Holiday Special
DISCLAIMERS: • ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organizations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
