STAR WARS: EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE 3D Re-Release Thingy

Yes, I broke down and went to see STAR WARS – EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE. Such an unnecessary re-release in my honest opinion. Friends and acquaintances kept asking me all last week about my thoughts on the re-release and the 3D. I told them that the prequels really aren't my thing anymore and as for 3D, I really do not care for the format. For years I quite passionately defended Lucas and his Star Wars Prequels that was until I watched a quite informative and joyfully entertaining film analysis on EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE. The guys at www.redlettermedia.com really helped me with my Star Wars Prequels denial.


Praise and criticism of everything Star Wars is infested all over the Internet so anything I have to say good or bad has already been said before. So I'm not going to go into any sort of detail but rather just tell you my initial thoughts on the movie and 3D re-release in general.


While I do believe (just recently mind you) that EPSIODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE and the rest of the prequels are pointless mindless kids films, I can still find a little bit of nostalgic fun in them. As a lifelong fan of Star Wars I guess I could take the low road and curse George Lucas for all the changes for the worst that he has done to my “childhood” but the man is responsible for a lot of what I love about movies so I can't hate the guy. The best I can do is just graduate from the fandom and move on to bigger and better things.

Like I mentioned earlier, friends and acquaintances asked about my thoughts and if I was going to see the re-release? I told them if they are wanting to see it then the best theater in town might be the new B&B Theater in Ozark/Nixa seeing as they have the “state-of-the-art” 3D digital projection! Seeing as I am one for not taking my own advice I took the lazy and convenience route and went to see the film at the Springfield 11. I don't know who to blame, the theater or the movie itself but the 3D sucked. It was in fact some of the worst 3D conversion I have seen! I want to blame the theater but I have heard from other sources that the 3D did not look very good at other theaters either?




2D converted over to 3D has never really looks that good anyway and studios generally go the cheap route on this process but this is Lucasfilm not to mention a Star Wars picture so why the crappy 3D?
A reliable critic said the pod race scene felt like one of those theme park roller coaster motion rides! At my theater it did not, no sir. I'll find out from some folks I know that watched it at the new theater in Ozark/Nixa if their 3D experience was any better? Even if it was better and that is indeed the theater to experience EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE it's just to late for me to care anymore, and I am perfectly fine with that.

BLUBBERELLA

BLUBBERELLA the latest “comedy” from Uwe Boll makes MEET THE SPARTANS look like BLAZING SADDLES. Seriously! The entire time I was watching this “movie” I actually was wishing I was watching MEET THE SPARTANS, VAMPIRES SUCK, and even STAN HELSING which are actual comedies compared to whatever BLUBBERELLA is!

What is BLUBBERELLA? Your guess is as good as mine? My guess is that Uwe Boll finished filming BLOODRAYNE: THE THIRD REICH twenty-eight days ahead of a thirty day schedule. So with all that spare time and budget Uwe thought it'd be funny to give his producers and financiers the middle finger and make BLUBBERELLA.

This very well may be the worst attempts at comedy in the history of filmmaking! It's so bad that I really want to give Uwe the benefit of doubt and say that he was making this un-watchable film on purpose to really give his hatters something to talk about but I don't thing Uwe is that smart or clever.

Instead of a zany comedy about an obese half human half vampire killing Nazis in WW2 and saving the world from an army of the undead, we have Blubberella cooking, eating, and complaining about her love life. We also get unfunny fat jokes, gay jokes, Holocaust jokes, and just when it couldn't get more tasteless we get white actors in blackface!

I almost shut this movie off but I'm the one that knew better so I wasn't about to let the movie win.

I'll watch the occasional Uwe Boll film for a “it's so bad it's good” laugh every once in awhile like IN THE NAME OF THE KING: A DUNGEON SIEGE TALE. But I will never watch one of his comedies, oops sorry I meant “comedies” ever again.

CHRONICLE

CHRONICLE is a reinvention of the found footage genre or better yet a new sub-genre we can call Point of View footage. I'm actually fine with labeling it as none of these things and just look at it as a fresh and new narrative device in movies.

After encountering a strange glowing object in a deep underground cave high schoolers Andrew, Matt, and Steve discover they have telekinetic powers which allow them to move objects with their mind. After practicing honing these new found skills with juvenile stunts and pranks, the boys realize their power is like a muscle and it's only getting more powerful.

The three of them master the ability but Andrew seems to be the most powerful one. Out of the three I got the impression he was the only one that truly embraced his new found gift. I think this is why he becomes more powerful than his friends but the movie never really explains why? Matt and Steve never take their power for granted per say but to them it's more about being able to do something cool that no one else can do. Andrew on the other hand believes he has become the next step in evolution, a new kind of Apex Predator.

My favorite part of CHRONICLE is when it essentially becomes a live action version of the Japanese anime AKIRA. All the ingredients are here – unbridled power, teenage angst, a bullied life, and a friendship put to the ultimate test as one friend tries to save the other from destroying himself and others. Another thing I enjoyed was how focused the story was on it's characters and how the phenomenal but minimal special effects took a back seat. This is important because when CHRONICLE becomes about blowing stuff up it feels legitimate because we actually care about what's happening between Andrew and Matt.

It was refreshing to see the filmmakers take a unconventional route with the comic book/superhero found footage genre tale. And what a excellent feature film debut from director Josh Trank! If 20th Century Fox is seriously wanting to reboot the Fantastic Four franchise then Josh should be the first guy and the only guy on their list for the job.

TOP 11 OF 2011

Greetings, if you haven't noticed yet I just wanted to make it official that Catch A Flick has returned. I'm going to try and post at least twice a week maybe more. Currently I am working on reviews for DRIVE, CHRONICLE, and THE THING(2011). I haven't decided yet if I want to do a comparison piece with last year's THE THING and the one from 1982? Over the weekend I just discovered some awesome Italian Crime/Mob films from the 70's so expect to see some reviews of those!

Instead of playing catch up with posting new reviews along with my favorites of 2011 I'm just going to give you a list of my top favorites of last year. So in no particular order here are my favorites:

ATTACK THE BLOCK

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

X-MEN - FIRST CLASS

RED STATE

CAPTAIN AMERICA - THE FIRST AVENGER

HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN

MONEYBALL

HUGO

DRIVE

WAR HORSE

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

REAL STEEL

REAL STEEL is my personal sleeper hit of last year! Nobody took it seriously, the popular joke was calling it Rock em Sock em Robots. Right out of the gate this movie didn't really seem to stand a chance. But can you really blame us? With Hollywood pumping out kid/family movie garbage like GARFIELD, ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUCKS, THE SMURFS, and TRANSFORMERS 1 – 3 a movie about Rock em Sock em Robots automatically becomes a target for scrutiny. Directed by the guy that gave us NIGHT AT THE MUSSEM doesn't help matters either.

But REAL STEEL delivered. Audiences loved it! I regret not seeing this on opening night. REAL STEEL is the kind of movie you really want to see and should see with an audience so you can share that “feel good movie of the year” unity that truly defines a theatrical experience.

I love the fantasy of REAL STEEL! In the not so distant future humans are swapped out for Robots in the sport of Boxing. This idea has a kind of Japanese Anime vibe to it. I could imagine this as a sub-plot idea in ROBOTECH or something. The production design and CGI of REAL STEEL is top notch. It's very believable that this could be our not to distant future and the robots of REAL STEEL look like something that could actually be built. Unlike another series of robot films where characters are just auto parts thrown together resembling mobile auto scrapyards.

The story of REAL STEEL is the ROCKY franchise, THE CHAMP, and OVER THE TOP all put into a blender and set on puree. A struggling promoter feels he has found a champion in a discarded robot. During his hopeful rise to the top Charlie Kenton discovers he has an 11 year old son who wants to know his father.

I normally hate and cannot stand most child acting (GROWN UPS I'm look at you) but Dakota Goyo and Hugh Jackman really end up playing well off of each other and become very believable in the father and son relationship. REAL STEEL every now and then becomes the “Boy and his Robot” movie but never lingers on it very long to become sappy and annoying.

Director Shawn Levy really put himself on the map for me and I am very interested what his next movie will be just as long as it's not NIGHT AT THE MUSSUM 3.