Retro Reviews & More

This post will be a spinoff of sorts of "Into the Fray". There is enough debate in the subject matter for it to be similar, but also different enough since the goal is not to declare a definitive winner. Akin to "Into the Fray," there are contenders, but dissimilarly there is not criteria to choose them. They simply are, and there are more than four. It could be measurable by another set of criteria, but which is best really depends on objective. Still, some common criteria are inevitable. Star Wars: The  Watch Order Debate Star Wars has a public history of nearly fifty years, with the novelization of the first film predating even it by around seven months. To date, there have been twelve films theatrically released, eleven of them live-action (plus another scheduled to release shortly). Since the single fully animated movie, The Clone Wars , was actually a big screen pilot for the small screen series of the same name, we are only looking at the live-action films. L...

STAR WARS Parallels Welcome to the final post of  Star Wars : Parallels. The previous three have been by episode, beginning with those in the first position of each trilogy, then the middle , and finally the third and final . I feel it appropriate to once again quote George Lucas regarding his approach to the prequel trilogy. "It's like poetry, it rhymes." Like it or not, that is a near perfect way to analyze moments that may seem repetitive but are in fact derivative of each other. Sometimes these moments align differently by position in each trilogy, and some may even occur within the same trilogy from time to time. This is the type that is today's subject. As always, some parallel and yet may contrast.  [Legend: OT: Original Trilogy, PT: Prequel Trilogy, ST: Sequel Trilogy,  ANH :  A New Hope ,  TESB :  The Empire Strikes Back ,  ROTJ :  Return of the Jedi ,  TPM :  The Phantom Menace ,  AOTC :  Attack of the Clones , ...

STAR WARS Parallels For the past two weeks, it's been all about "poetry and rhymes" (parallels) in the Star Wars saga, episode by episode of each trilogy. The first is appropriately about the first episode of each, and the second about the second , and this is the third about the final episode of each trilogy. Reminder once again and particularly in this positional sequence, these moments can contrast each other. [Legend: OT: Original Trilogy, PT: Prequel Trilogy, ST: Sequel Trilogy,  ANH :  A New Hope ,  TESB :  The Empire Strikes Back ,  ROTJ :  Return of the Jedi ,  TPM :  The Phantom Menace ,  AOTC :  Attack of the Clones ,  ROTS :  Revenge of the Sith ,  TFA :  The Force Awakens ,  TLJ :  The Last Jedi ,  TR OS :  The Rise of Skywalker ] Position III (Episodes VI, III, IX) Title:  Episode VI is subtitled  Return of the Jedi , Episode III is subtitled  Revenge of the Sith , an...

STAR WARS Parallels The subject last week was parallels among the first episode  of each Star Wars trilogy. The gist of the goal of this series is taking George Lucas' quote from behind the scenes of the first prequel, The Phantom Menace , "It's like poetry, it rhymes," and applying it liberally to all three trilogies. This is part two about the second episode of each trilogy and please recall, some things contrast. [Legend: OT: Original Trilogy, PT: Prequel Trilogy, ST: Sequel Trilogy,  ANH :  A New Hope ,  TESB :  The Empire Strikes Back ,  ROTJ :  Return of the Jedi ,  TPM :  The Phantom Menace ,  AOTC :  Attack of the Clones ,  ROTS :  Revenge of the Sith ,  TFA :  The Force Awakens ,  TLJ :  The Last Jedi ,  TR OS :  The Rise of Skywalker ] Position II (Episodes V, II, VIII) Title: Episode V is subtitled The Empire Strikes Back and Episode II is subtitled Attack of the Clones . Both conta...

STAR WARS Parallels "It's like poetry, it rhymes," is a famous, or infamous depending on your point of view, quote from Star Wars creator, George Lucas, during behind-the-scenes footage of The Phantom Menace . Regardless of your feelings towards that statement, it is indeed the approach he took with the prequel trilogy of films. The endeavor I am taking here is to attempt to draw some parallels between each of the trilogies. Mostly, this will be comparison by episodic position, but there will be others that are "out of position" later and some contrasts along the way, as well.  [Legend: OT: Original Trilogy, PT: Prequel Trilogy, ST: Sequel Trilogy,  ANH :  A New Hope ,  TESB :  The Empire Strikes Back ,  ROTJ :  Return of the Jedi ,  TPM :  The Phantom Menace ,  AOTC :  Attack of the Clones ,  ROTS :  Revenge of the Sith ,  TFA :  The Force Awakens ,  TLJ :  The Last Jedi ,  TR OS :  The Rise ...

Tombstone  vs.   Wyatt Earp : A Comparison of Actors For the third and final time: Two movies were released six months apart during the western boom of the 1990s about the real-life and legendary Wyatt Earp. The makers of the first to be released,  Tombstone , focus their story on the events leading up to the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and the aftermath. Wyatt Earp , on the other hand , tells a more complete story, still centered around that historic event, but provides much more detail before he ever arrived in the Arizona mining town. Undeniably,  Tombstone  is a tighter and also more factually accurate film (for some elaboration on this, please see its entry in each  SEVENSES: Westerns  and  SEVENSES: Biopics ). Aside from the larger span of its figure's life,  Wyatt Earp is yet a very good film on its own merit, much of which is due to its ensemble cast, also a part of what makes Tombstone so engaging. That is the concluded subject ...