I trust Empire more than either the Hollywood Reporter or Variety, so I'd say it looks pretty hopeful.

[eta: Empire liked Mr and Mrs Smith too.]

Best alien ever

The beach ball? Yeah.

You know, I couldn't contribute to the Donnie Darko discussion because it's sitting on my shelf of To Watch. We've been putting off watching it because the DH wanted to get the one with the extra 26 minutes or whatever added back in. So I asked tonight, after having read Buffista commentary on DD, what those extra minutes were, and he tells me its the physics about the black hole/singularity thing.

Which is a key part of the science fiction game that I asked for the movie references for.

So does that count as a plate of shrimp?

(Probably not, but I'm tired)

The funny thing is that all of Zach's student films (that I saw) were show-not-tell, almost to a fault -- gorgeous pacing and composition, very very very sparse writing.

I believe this, because I believe the first 80 minutes are fantastic show-not-tell. That's why it's annoying when he decides to monologue the points home that he's already made so clear in the last two big scenes.

Now, crossing my fingers for BB.

The tech of Batman Begins: [link]

Somewhat spoilery, as to what the batsuit can do, etc....

I am randomly earwormed with the song "Suddenly" from Xanadu.

I need to find that movie. Gene Kelly on roller skates? What's not to love?!?

The GF and I bought a copy of Xanadu a couple of years ago and it's far worse than we remembered. We didn't even watch the whole thing. It was quite a disappointment.

That happened to me when I found a copy of "License to Drive." Just not as funny when you aren't 14.

That's what I'm afraid of, GC. I know I've watched Xanadu a billion times, but all when I was much younger. I can't remember much about it, except Gene Kelly, how much the guy looks like a Gibb brother, the music that randomly pops into my head that I know all the lyrics to, and a strange sequence pitting modern (read: 80's) musicians against a swing band in some kind of band-off.

And I just read on the IMDB boards (scary, scary place) that someone thinks David Thewlis is in the band sequence. In one of the bands. This thought somehow makes me sad.

Until I think of David Thewlis as a glam rocker. Then I'm thinking of something else entirely. t in bunk

And... glam David Thewlis killed the thread.

hangs head in shame

goes back to bunk

A friend just sent me this article, saying if it's an insight into current conservative thought, [expletive deleted]. I don't know that it represents the general stance from the conservative party, but I think folks predicting Star Wars bumperstickers during the next election are probably right. (Not spoilery for ROTS, as the article's from 3 years ago).

The Case for the Empire From the May 16, 2002 Daily Standard: Everything you think you know about Star Wars is wrong. by Jonathan V. Last 12/26/2002 12:00:00 AM

STAR WARS RETURNS today with its fifth installment, "Attack of the Clones." There will be talk of the Force and the Dark Side and the epic morality of George Lucas's series. But the truth is that from the beginning, Lucas confused the good guys with the bad. The deep lesson of Star Wars is that the Empire is good.

It's a difficult leap to make--embracing Darth Vader and the Emperor over the plucky and attractive Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia--but a careful examination of the facts, sorted apart from Lucas's off-the-shelf moral cues, makes a quite convincing case.

First, an aside: For the sake of this discussion, I've considered only the history gleaned from the actual Star Wars films, not the Expanded Universe. If you know what the Expanded Universe is and want to argue that no discussion of Star Wars can be complete without considering material outside the canon, that's fine. However, it's always been my view that the comic books and novels largely serve to clean up Lucas's narrative and philosophical messes. Therefore, discussions of intrinsic intent must necessarily revolve around the movies alone. You may disagree, but please don't e-mail me about it.

If you don't know what the Expanded Universe is, well, uh, neither do I.

I. The Problems with the Galactic Republic

At the beginning of the Star Wars saga, the known universe is governed by the Galactic Republic. The Republic is controlled by a Senate, which is, in turn, run by an elected chancellor who's in charge of procedure, but has little real power.

Scores of thousands of planets are represented in the Galactic Senate, and as we first encounter it, it is sclerotic and ineffectual. The Republic has grown over many millennia to the point where there are so many factions and disparate interests, that it is simply too big to be governable. Even the Republic's staunchest supporters recognize this failing: In "The Phantom Menace," Queen Amidala admits, "It is clear to me now that the Republic no longer functions." In "Attack of the Clones," young Anakin Skywalker observes that it simply "doesn't work."

The Senate moves so slowly that it is powerless to stop aggression between member states. In "The Phantom Menace" a supra-planetary alliance, the Trade Federation (think of it as OPEC to the Galactic Republic's United Nations), invades a planet and all the Senate can agree to do is call for an investigation.

Like the United Nations, the Republic has no armed forces of its own, but instead relies on a group of warriors, the Jedi knights, to "keep the peace." The Jedi, while autonomous, often work in tandem with the Senate, trying to smooth over quarrels and avoid conflicts. But the Jedi number only in the thousands--they cannot protect everyone.

What's more, it's not clear that they should be "protecting" anyone. The Jedi are Lucas's great heroes, full of Zen wisdom and righteous power. They encourage people to "use the Force"--the mystical energy which is the source of their power--but the truth, revealed in "The Phantom Menace," is that the Force isn't available to the rabble. The Force comes from midi-chlorians, tiny symbiotic organisms in people's blood, like mitochondria. The Force, it turns out, is an inherited, genetic trait. If you don't have the blood, you don't get the Force. Which makes the Jedi not a democratic militia, but a royalist Swiss guard.

And an arrogant royalist Swiss guard, at that. With one or two (continued...)