Day: May 23, 2005

Friday was a low key evening as I was feeling under the weather.

Saturday I watched Attack of the Clones in preparation for Revenge of the Sith. We also worked on the wedding list–which is almost done. I’ve got about 12 addresses as homework though. Later in the day, I ended up watching a lot of The Greatest American Hero.

Yesterday was fantastic. The weather was beautiful in the morning so we decided to go to Minnehaha falls for a romantic walk. On the way, we drove by our old neighborhood and visited Roberto an old neighbor friend of ours. He gratiously invited us in and gave us the grand tour of their home. Heather and I then headed on to Minnehaha where we walked walked around the falls and the woods. We sat together on the park bench taking in the view.

Later we went to lunch with my friend Rob at the local Irish pub: Molly Quinn’s. It’s the place for the world’s best fish, chips and a pint. Then Rob and I went to Revenge of the Sith (Reviewed in entry below). And after that Heather and I cleaned up the yard. I mowed and she pulled all kinds of garbage out of the back-yard that the previous owners had left behind. They had a ratty old Ariel doll back there, along with a Pancho hispanic book end, a sign that read: Free Broom Rides, another that read: The Back Room, various shells (hung on the fence and placed strategically around the yard), an Aladdin plastic toy, some brass dolphins, fake wooden tulips, a Pocahontas play set, a Kermit the frog wall hanging, various brass animals nailed to teh wall, a set of bunnies, a porcelain quial, a duck rain guage, tiki-head dolls… you name it. It was in there. Later in the evening we watched Catch Me if You Can. All in all one of the best days on a weekend we’ve had in a long time. I sure do love that woman.

If you’ve been waiting for the completion of the Star Wars universe it has finally arrived. The first two prequels certainly dug their heels into the sand–They also ran their fingernails down the chalkboard for good measure. Revenge of the Sith succeeds in so many areas that the first two films in the pre-trilogy do not. It is by no means perfect–but it is better visually and the talent has improved in many areas.

Hayden Christensen surprised me. To say he wasn’t as bad as he was in Episode II would be accurate. He was actually good in certain scenes as well. Star Wars has never been completely about the acting though. And Mark Hammil’s Luke is certainly an adequate follow-up to Hayden’s Vader.

Natalie Portman, however, left me with a bad feeling. In the first two prequel films Padme’s character progressively get’s weaker. In this, the last installment, she reaches the apex of “dull”. Now pregnant with the twins (this is not a spoiler if you were alive any time before 1983 and saw the first trilogy), Padme spends the whole movie just sitting around and/or fawning over Hayden. Lucklily this is played down–however, it is still annoying. At one point I leaned over to my friend in the theater and mimicked Obi-Wan’s voice questioning, “So what do you do here all day?” to which I answered the question in my best Padme impression, “Oh nothing. I just sit.”

Visuals were stunning. Yoda actually looks more real than he did in the previous two films. However, I still miss the muppet.

Quick List of Pros:

3P0: Not as annoying as Episode II.

Ewan McGregor: Great as usual–excellent at Alec Guinness’ manorisms and speech patterns.

Ian McDiarmid: Perfect as the Emporer then–even better in these movies. He makes this movie what it is.

Effects: Wow. Better than the first two.

Design: Great tie-ins (no pun intended) and we see the interior of the Blockade Runner is exactly as it was in Star Wars Episode 4.

General Grevous

Hayden Christensen Improved

Darth Vader scenes were chilling–particularly the reveal.

Very dark

Quick List of Cons:

Very dark

Padme becomes virtual lifeless statue

Effects of people still look a little rubber-ish. R2 looks too much like a chartoon character. “Droids” was cancelled man, let it go.

We always wanted a daughter. (how convenient!)

As you can see my immediate brainstorming has left me with more pros than cons. I really enjoyed this movie. A lot. WAY more than the first two and as many of you know I was pretty harsh on them (as many of the fans and critics were). Sith nicely ties up the first two movies and the following three. Many critics are complaining about the dialogue being weak. I think it is vastly better than episode II. At least the crazy love story between Padme and Anakin does not have -AS- bad dialogue as in the episode II. And you know what? The more I thought about it… the more I believe that people actually talk like that to one another. I know I have at times.

Sith does leave you on a terrible down note. Before going into the film I expected that when I heard Darth Vader speak for the first time with James Earl Jones’ voice I would cheer. Not so. By the time Vader appears, you actually hate him. No one cheered. And you wouldn’t expect it. You’re not supposed to like Vader. And you won’t. There is a particularly chilling scene with Anakin on Coruscant before he becomes Vader that will assure his place in Hell well after Luke burns his corpse in Return of the Jedi. Definitely not a little kids flick.

Three words: Bravo, George Lucas.

He finished it in style.