Movies

One of the forgotten few of WWII were the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American pilots, crew and commanders of the 332nd Airborne Division that fought so bravely, both in the air, at home, and in a military at a time when people were segregated by their color and few believed that those who were not “white” could even fly a plane. History had practically written their bravery right out of the books, which was a real shame as they had fought as hard as any men against Nazi Germany. But George Lucas plans to change all that and give these men the recognition they so rightly deserve.

One can say a lot about Lucas, but one thing that has always impressed is that he puts characters first, but with action to keep it from drifting into boredom, and he does this in “Red Tails” as he did in Star Wars. The film is not about a history lesson of the unit, but it gets into the personalities of the men, tracing their individual stories, their pain and triumphs...

Lucas finally revealed after a lot of speculation last week about what Star Wars Identities was referring to. The company bought a ton of domain names on the title, even including typos, which sent the fandom into a spin with thoughts of everything from a new series, a new film, toys, etc. But none of us had pegged this one. Course in all fairness, we didn’t have much to go on.

In reality, Star Wars: Identities is the moniker chosen to represent a unique museum experience coming to the Montreal Science Center in Summer 2012. It will focus not so much on the film making techniques and science behind the tech, but a focus on the characters and how they developed throughout the movies. Through the use of props, photos, films, etc, from the Lucas archives, guests will learn how each hero and villain in the Star Wars universe came to be who they are. It will ask what shaped their personal identities and in studying these guys and gals, creators hope that...

Ever since the 70’s, the battle between the fans of Star Wars and the fans of the Star Trek have had a constant argument about which is better, but pretty much for the most part, the main principles in these films have stayed out of the fray, leaving it to those that watch to decide. But when Captain Kirk spoke openly about his reasons while Star Trek was superior, Princess Leia couldn’t let that it go without comment, just like when she told Han she wasn’t a committee.


William Shatner fired the first shot in this latest volley that sounds like something you’d hear in someone’s basement over chips and Call of Duty plays. He criticized Star Wars for being more about special effects than the personal and philosophical subjects brought up in the series. He further said that Lucas’ work was really a derivative of Star Trek presented years later, and thus could not possibly be as good...

LucasFilm has locked in a whole slew of domain names that all reference the title “Star Wars Identities” which has the internet buzzing on what this could possibly be. A new project, a film, an animated feature or TV show. Who knows, it could be hundreds of things.

Or it could be strict speculation on their part. Companies often register domain names for projects that haven’t even gotten off the drawing board, much less to full production, to avoid having to fight for them later should they decide to create something with the moniker. After all, domains are only at most $35 if they get them at Network Solutions, but even cheaper at places like GoDaddy at around $7-10. That is much less expensive than paying a $1000 or more to take it to WIPO arbitration to seize control of the name or buying from the current “owner” who may be using it for honest or squatting purposes. This is especially true for sw-id.com. While its scope maybe limited, it still could...

As you are aware, George Lucas is at least planning on releasing Star Wars Episode I: Phantom Menace in 3D, with the promise (or as some people say the threat) of releasing the other ones as well, if this one does okay. Disney’s recent success with Lion King 3D should give them some hope that rereleases with that added dimension can be popular, but perhaps they should have started with Episode four. But I digress. This is not about that. It’s about the poster that was released on the film and the odd omissions.

The new poster obviously is trying not so much to push the film itself, but the idea it’s going to be in 3D. It displays some of the elements that will benefit from the 3D, such as the pod racers which we think will be very cool, but hopefully not sickening to people with motion illness issues. The other prominent element is Darth Maul. This also makes sense. The battle at the end between the Jedi and Sith was one of the defining moments in the...

The long awaited, but perhaps ravaged revamps of the Star Wars saga hit Blu-Ray players last Friday as Lucas once again released the entire set with an even different version than any of the previous versions, which has what has angered many fans.

Let’s start with the positives and that is the upconvert to Blu-Ray. It was masterfully done, it really was, especially the original trilogy. It’s not easy to take a 30 year old piece of film with all of its 1970’s look and convert it into the crisp and vibrant imagery we see here. And the cool part about it was they were able to do so, while keeping the trilogy’s charm of being an older set of movies, which helps with the nostalgia of it all. And the new films, of course, which were filmed in HD to begin with, stand out with some tweaking of the CG to create about the best that these could look. It was obvious that those in charge of the project were adamant about getting these to feel amazing and not just a...

As you are probably aware, Hasbro makes a lot of the Star Wars toys, especially action figures, and such and so it’s no great stretch that they would take one of their most popular games Operation and make a Star Wars edition featuring our favorite robots R2D2 and C3PO.

The game of Operation has had a long past and for the longest time was just about a guy who was in pretty bad shape. He had to have lots of organs and bones removed from his body or he was going to die. The idea was that you had to be the steady handed surgeon that was able to take out all of these things without touching the sides, for if you did, you blew it and he’d keel over. Or at least a light on his nose would glow and you’d hear a buzz sound. I guess he had those surgically implanted earlier in his life.

Hasbro has a lot of different versions based on everything from Disney to comic book characters. You can save Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story 3, Mater from Cars 2, Spiderman, the Hulk, and even Homer...

A new trailer is out for Season 4 of Cartoon Network’s popular show Star Wars: The Clone Wars and it looks to be a pretty exciting season indeed…

One of the big events of the new season appears to be the undersea battle for Admiral Akbar’s home Mon Calamari. Count Dooku apparently orders his army of separatists to take over the submerged city, but the Calamari are not going without a fight and get the help of the Jedi and the clones. The story, which will play out over three episodes, is a continuation from the online MMO Clone Wars Adventures that debuted earlier. The game is not only fun to play, but because of the dedication in keeping the stories consistent from one to the other, will serve as a very good introduction to the new season. Producers said it was important that the two entities play in the same universe and what happens in one will have consequences in the other.

Anakin is still being haunted by his inner demons, pushing him further away...

Billy Dee Williams has something to get off his chest 35 or so years later over something that his character had done in Empire Strikes Back. The flack he has taken for it prompted him to apologize, but you’ll never guess who he is saying sorry and explaining himself to.

But before I get into that, it’s only fair I post a spoiler warning here. Although it’s hard to believe that if you are reading this site, that you haven’t seen all of them at least once. But to be sure we don’t give anything away, you might want to stop reading here.

SPOILER

Star Wars fans know that in order to keep his operation going in the Cloud City, Lando Calrissian (played by Williams) appeared to have betrayed Han Solo and his friends, offering them up to Darth Vader. And as a result, Han was frozen in carbonite and was taken by Boba Fett back to Jabba because he owed the Hutt money. Later on though in a change of heart, it was actually Vader and the Empire that he betrayed when...

Garmin, a manufacturer of GPS systems for cars, announced that they will be adding the voice of Yoda and Darth Vader into their products.

I love my GPS. It has saved me a few times from being completely lost while trying to find the new restaurant my friend suggested or that far away place for which I’ve never been. It has a nice soothing female voice that lets me know where to turn and the best route. And in an environment where drivers are pretty crazy, that smoothness can help keep the stress down.

But I also love Star Wars and I was disappointed when I saw that TomTom GPS systems had C3PO, Vader, Yoda and R2-D2 (which I am not sure how he would give directions when he can’t talk). I wanted those voices. Almost enough to make me switch, but I’m not one of those that switches just for gimmicks. But when Garmin announced that there were downloadable “voice skins” for my particular GPS system, I was thrilled. And at $13, they are reasonably priced...

There have been books with blueprints in them, mostly drawn by those who wanted to extend the creativity of the Star Wars universe, but now Lucas is releasing through Epic Books a monumental collection of the real blueprints from their archives in a cloth bound limited edition box set.

The book is actually huge in scope and in size. It weighs 35 pounds and is 15” x 18” and 336 pages. The width and height were necessary, according to editor Kristin Mehus-Roe, in order to better show the details that are in each blueprint. Of course, for the price, the large size will also be very impressive to your friends. For those pages that were still too small, there are even gateway pages that fold out, 10 in all.

What is amazing about this is the thoughts and creativity that went into these blueprints, stuff that wasn’t even necessary for the film, such as the nucleonic catalyst tank. No one knows what it does these days and why it was there, but it was. And so...

On ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, they had Harrison Ford on to promote his new movie Cowboys & Aliens. But while in the dressing room, he meets with a rather old friend, or at least we thought they were old friends.

Apparently Chewbacca has been a very naughty wookie over the years, according to the Kimmel skit written by C&A director Jon Favreau. The famed fuzzball has allegedly been sleeping with Ford’s wife and she is still coughing up hairballs, which is a little disgusting. Anyway, he comes to apologize to Ford while he’s in the makeup chair getting ready for the Kimmel taping. But it’s pretty clear that the ex-Han Solo is having nothing more to do with him. In fact, he’s mad from the moment his past partner walks into the room. Props to the hairdresser who hides with his ears cowered on the couch. Ford tells Chewy that he is done with the Star Wars crap and he’s done with him. And no, this has nothing to do with Peter Mayhew, but the actual...