theradicalchild | Entries tagged with movie

The first Indiana Jones film sequel, actually occurring chronologically before the first, opens with American songstress Willie Scott performing a Chinese rendition of the titular theme from the old Broadway show Anything Goes in 1935 Shanghai, where the eponymous college professor, archaeologist, and adventurer negotiates with Chinese mobsters in an exchange of treasured artifacts, which culminates in a shootout that leads to Indy escaping with the woman who semi-serves as a love interest, along with his trusty sidekick Short Round, portrayed by Vietnamese child actor Ke Huy Quan (who would ultimately append Jonathan to his name upon becoming a United States citizen, his other notable role being Data in The Goonies).

The party of three escapes on a cargo plane whose pilots eventually bail out, and after a lucky escape, they find themselves in colonial India, where the first village they encounter has lost a precious stone along with its children used by an evil shaman as child labor, and Indy decides to help them, traveling to a Maharaja’s palace for a hearty “meal”, and that night, after an assassination attempt, he finds a passageway into the eponymous temple, Short Round coming along and Willie following suit to rescue them from a trapped room that nearly kills them, although she needed to overcome her fear of bugs (which I very much share, so it would be hard for me in such a situation).

The remainder of the film involves the three dealing with the cult that stole the sacred stones and kidnapped the children and concludes satisfactorily. It’s very much a good film, but it’s probably my least favorite of the series due to being way too dark and gross at times, and when it originally came out showed the flaws of America’s film rating system (it was instrumental in adding PG-13 to it, although I more think it should have been rated R). Apparently in the eyes of the MPAA’s film raters, saying the f-word is a lot worse than ripping someone’s heart out or otherwise attempting to murder someone, which says a lot of the sorry state of how Americans perceive certain “offensive” content.

The film’s overall xenophobic attitude is another reason I don’t hold Temple of Doom to the in the same regard as other Indiana Jones films (and Short Round is a memorable sidekick, but not in a good way), given the portrayals of the Chinese and Indian people and society, and that I think is another factor to consider when giving movies content ratings. Even so, John Williams’s score is also notable, given the mentioned Chinese rendition of one of the older Broadway showtunes, along with several pieces fitting the Asian locales throughout the movie, along with “The Raiders March” and its various remixes, the ending theme worth sitting through the opening credits to hear. Not a bucket-list film like Raiders but has nonetheless aged well.

Current Mood: contemplative

The inaugural Indiana Jones film starring Harrison Ford as the iconic adventurer / college professor opens with Dr. Jones on an expedition to South America to filch an idol from a temple so that it can be displayed in a museum, with backstabbing aplenty as there would be throughout the main plots of future installments. This subplot doesn’t really have much bearing on the main narrative, like its first two sequels, and when Indy gets home, he hears that the Nazis are seeking the eponymous Ark of the Covenant due to a combination of Hitler’s interest in mystical artifacts and that the Ark itself allegedly makes armies that hold it invincible.

Sure enough, Indy agrees to get ahold of the Ark first, traveling first to Nepal where his old love interest, Marion Ravenwood, daughter of Indy’s old mentor Abner, has the headpiece of the Staff of Ra necessary to reveal the Ark’s location, where others who wish to find the artifact before him get into a tussle, and everyone moves on to its current resting place in Egypt, with several more conflicts in Cairo leading to the desert, where the Nazis waste their resources digging in the wrong location. Luckily, Indy and his trusty sidekick Sallah manage to find the Ark, resulting in a game of keep-away between them and the Nazis.

Given the ending scenes in the film, said game of keep-away seems incredibly unnecessary; Indy could have very easily just stayed home, and it would have ended largely the same way (save maybe for positive historical circumstances given the Nazis’ involvement), though he wouldn’t have hooked up with Marion, critical later in the franchise. It’s certainly an amazing movie and “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant,” but as I’ve said before, critics and audiences confuse that with “infallible,” and I think it’s sad I found out about the film’s glaring issues through Cracked and not any “professional” critics, which says a lot about the sorry state of any kind of entertainment journalism, really.

Current Mood: amused

The very first Star Wars sequel, Episode V in the later-named Skywalker Saga, opens as with other main entries, with an opening crawl, detailing how the Rebel Alliance had to abandon their base on Yavin IV and seek another, in their case on the remote ice planet of Hoth, where Luke Skywalker, hero of the first film, is out on exploratory mission with his trust Tauntaun, only to get captured by a monstrous Wampa, from which he escapes thanks to the Force abilities acquired from his late Jedi mentor Ben Kenobi. Ben’s spirit orders him to the Dagobah system to find Yoda, “the Jedi Master who instructed me,” in which case when George Lucas ultimately expanded his franchise’s cinematic scope, he could have either cut Alec Guinness’s line short or added “when I was a youngling,” which the original Legends continuity would note.

Empire further expands upon the fledgling romance between Han Solo and Princess Leia, the latter describing him with the iconic line as a “stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder.” Han goes out and rescues Luke from the cold of Hoth, after which the Galactic Empire, with the help from probe droids, discovers the Rebel base, choosing to launch a ground assault with their cameloid walkers since their star destroyers came out of hyperspace too late, alerting the Rebellion to their presence and they got the opportunity to raise their energy shields. After my latest rewatch, it sort of makes the Gungan shield technology in The Phantom Menace somewhat make sense, where the droid army could walk through their shields but not shoot through them.

The Rebels are eventually forced to flee again, although given that we don’t see a whole lot of star destroyers on the Imperial side, it begs the question of why the evacuating Rebel ships felt they had to keep near their enemies’ vessels when fleeing, when they could have very easily just flew elsewhere off the planet, again bringing to mind that many science-fiction writers, Lucas included (and this hole would notably recur in Episode I), often seem to forget that space is three-dimensional. On the imperial side, Sith Lord Darth Vader seems especially interested in finding Luke Skywalker given his role in destroying the First Death Star and agrees with his Sith Master the Emperor (in which case I think replacing the holo of Madam Monkeyface with Ian McDiarmid was a change for the better), that he should be turned to the Dark Side.

In the meanwhile, Han, Leia, Chewbacca, Threepio, and Artoo go on their own way, given Solo’s wish to rectify his dealings with Jabba the Hutt, and find themselves on the run from the Empire, in which case the trope of 2-D space does receive significant exception. Han and Leia’s romantic relationship begins to form, while Luke reaches Dagobah to begin his training with the diminutive Jedi Master Yoda, who initially feels Skywalker is too old to train, since instruction in the ways of the Force takes a lifetime, but reluctantly agrees with Ben’s Force ghost. Here arises the question of how much time elapses when Luke is training, along with Han and company eluding the Empire.

Han and his passengers find their way to Bespin where his partner in crime Lando Calrissian, and after a series of events, Luke senses his friends are in danger and wishes to help them, despite Yoda’s insistence that he continue his training. On a philosophical note, Yoda has the iconic line “Do, or do not; there is no try,” which Revenge of the Sith would contradict with Obi-Wan’s statement that “only a Sith deals in absolutes.” Despite Yoda’s warning about Luke breaking from his instruction, he arguably does better than worse in the end, given the events in Return of the Jedi that result, since he really didn’t jeopardize the Rebellion overall.

Luke’s visit to Bespin leads to his confrontation with Darth Vader, the end culminating in the legendary twist that’s been spoiled, imitated, and misquoted to death, which itself mirrored a major twist in Frank Herbert’s Dune, later played straighter in The Rise of Skywalker. In terms of tone, many have said Empire is the darkest Star Wars film, but I think Episode III is way darker, even if it has its narmy instances, since in Episode V Han and others really lighten the mood; even Vader has his moments. As in other films in the franchise, finally, John Williams’s score is notable (the music on Bespin being awesome, for example), and led me to watch the closing credits from start to finish.

All in all, Empire Strikes Back is very much a classic of science-fiction and space opera, just as much so as A New Hope, and is indeed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”, but critics and audiences often seem to confuse that with “untouchable”, and in many cases more appear to love “the idea” of the film instead of the film as it actually is, given the various issues with the narrative and to an extent the dialogue. It is very much a bucket-list movie and one of the great cinematic tragedies, particularly within its genre, although like Episode IV still demonstrated George Lucas’s inexperience as a storyteller, and newcomer Lawrence Kasdan’s as a screenwriter.

Current Mood: amused

I haven’t watched the previous two films in this Marvel Cinematic Universe subseries for years, especially more so due to the huge gap between the second and third films due to statements director James Gunn said ages ago on Twitter (and I really don’t care about the political views of celebrities unless they personally bombard me, which in my experience has been mostly due to those who oppose them and senselessly propagate the especially-intolerant ones), but film three is very much enjoyable on its own and doesn’t really necessitate remembering what happened in its predecessors, and is an effective mix of action, humor, and seriousness, with Rocket and Cosmo the Spacedog in particular really stealing the show (the former’s backstory really elaborated upon, and actually making me cry at one point), and I very highly recommend it.

Current Mood: busy

One of the latest in a long line of adaptations of Carlo Collodi’s magnum opus, and endlessly alluded to and ruined in some respects by activists, journalists, and politicians over generations, Guillermo del Toro’s animated adaptation focuses first on woodcarver Geppetto and his decade-old-son Carlo, who dies after an aerial bombing during the First World War, after which he carves the eponymous puppet out of pine (hence its name), with a Wood Sprite granting it sentience, after which the titular Pinocchio attempts to live up to his father’s expectations while differentiating right from wrong, with the signature element of his nose prolonging whenever he fibs returning from prior versions.

The setting mostly differentiates del Toro’s adaptation from prior ones, mostly during the interwar period before the First and Second World Wars, with Italy’s fascist government taking notice of the alleged immortal puppet and yearning for him to receive indoctrination via formal education. At the same time, a carnival master named Count Volpe, a human stand-in for the fox from prior Pinocchio films (his pet monkey standing in for the silent cat) yearns to use the wooden boy to rise in fame, which leads to a performance before dictator Mussolini, although around this time the puppet begins to develop a greater sense of morality.

Pinocchio begins to form a friendship with Candlewick, the son of a military commander who initially discovers him, and both are conveyed to a military training camp, with the result of a training exercise proving critical to the film’s sociopolitical commentary of familial and national loyalty and such, mercifully not ham-fisted. The adaptation settles most of its characters’ fates, with the ending being bittersweet, and overall justifying the Best Animated Feature Academy Award; despite obviously not being faithful to the book aside from some standard elements, it's a great film on its own, with some good music as well and great voice performances.

Current Mood: impressed

The eponymous feline protagonist, reprised by Antonio Banderas, teams up with his partner Kitty Softpaws to find the Wishing Star and make the titular wish to restore the first eight of his nine lives, with a humorous montage showing how exactly he lost them, while a lupine incarnation of Death chases him. Definitely an enjoyable film, utilizing some of the animation techniques employed by films such as The Bad Guys such as having 2-D elements alongside the studio's typical CG animation, and came out very well despite spending a decade in development hell.

Current Mood: amused

The second Despicable Me prequel sees a young Gru attempt to join a villainous organization known as the Vicious 6 with the help of his diminutive and incoherent Minions, whilst chasing a MacGuffin called the Zodiac Stone. Fairly enjoyable and doesn't overstay its welcome, with some Parental Bonuses such as a Minionized version of Cher's "Bang Bang" during the James Bond-esque opening credits sequence, alongside other good music from the 1970s.

Current Mood: amused

The basis for a Disney+ series over three decades later, Lucasfilm's Willow stars Warwick Davis, who had before played the Ewok Wicket in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, as the eponymous halfling sorcerer Willow Ufgood, who becomes steward to an infant, who had been smuggled out of the clutches of an evil queen, who in turn fears a prophecy of a newborn being her doom and thus gathered the pregnant women of her realm. The elders of the dwarven village where Willow lives decree the baby must be returned to a member of the Daikini, which is, to say, humans, to be raised, although her protection and taking down Queen Bavmorda naturally come first.

The special effects were advanced in their time but contained traces of the era such as the slight-robotic nature of stop-motion, which was similarly present in the original Star Wars trilogy before their digital remaster during the 1990s. The general fantasy atmosphere of the film is nice as well, and I imagine it's what film versions of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy would have looked like had they been made in that era, with actual halfling actors, no less. Granted, some scenes and dialogue come off as awkward, with the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones films being no strangers to this (despite what many critics and audiences popularly believe), but in general Ron Howard did a decent job with the film; I'll watch the sequel series on Disney+ when I get the chance.

Current Mood: satisfied

Spoilers for those unfamiliar with the franchise.

The third and final installment of the eternally-polarizing Star Wars prequel trilogy opens with the off-screen kidnapping of Supreme Galactic Chancellor Sheev Palpatine by General Grievous, leader of the droid armies of the Separatists (which doesn't have a canon on-screen occurrence, even in the extended Clone Wars television series or in the canon books, unless I'm mistaken). Personally, were I in charge of writing the opening crawl, I would have included something about Anakin's imminent plight to the Dark Side of the Force, although the quote "There are heroes on both sides. Evil is everywhere" I think accurately describes politics, particularly in America's duopolized system.

Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi are tasked with rescuing the captive Chancellor from Grievous and Sith Lord Count Dooku, whom the Jedi duo duels on his ship above the city-planet Coruscant, afterwards crash-landing the vessel. When Anakin reunites with his secret wife Padmé Amidala, he learns that she is pregnant, with her unborn offspring until the last minute referred to as "the baby", and I somewhat find it odd that Anakin and Obi-Wan in particular, who spend the most time around her, couldn't sense multiple lives within her womb, despite their Jedi senses, and surely some sort of prenatal screening would have clued her into her twin pregnancy since she was obviously aware.

The final battles of the Clone Wars occur chiefly on the planets of Utapau, where Obi-Wan confronts General Grievous, and on the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk, where Yoda spends significant time, having interaction with original trilogy character Chewbacca. On Coruscant, Palpatine gradually lures Anakin to the Dark Side with the tale of the tragedy of his old Sith Master, Darth Plagueis the Wise, who could manipulate life itself before his ultimate betrayal. Here, the Force having a biological basis in midi-chlorians actually has some significant basis, with a Darth Vader spinoff comic hinting that Palpatine may have had a hand in Anakin's conception in Shmi Skywalker.

Palpatine chiefly preys on Anakin's visions of losing his wife in childbirth, similar to those he had before the death of his mother on Tatooine at the hands of the Tuskens, and feels that turning to the Dark Side can save her, despite the secret Darth Sidious not giving any sort of apparent education in his deceased Master's dark teachings. The Chancellor also appoints Anakin to be his representative on the Jedi Council, which they accept, although he doesn't receive the rank of Master, which upsets him. I think a better quote in this situation would have been, "We accept your appointment to the Council, but do not grant you the rank, privilege, or voting power of a Master."

Playing a significant part in the film's latter events is the Chancellor's Order 66, which turns the clone soldiers, genetically-created to follow orders blindly, against their Jedi Generals. I actually don't feel sorry for the Jedi, since their teachings didn't give any emphasis on defense against the powers of the Dark Side, and Anakin, knighted Darth Vader after he saves the Chancellor from arrest and death at the hands of the Jedi, storms the Jedi Temple of Coruscant in the beginning of his genocide against the Order. One could argue that Anakin was actually somewhat fulfilling the Chosen One prophecy in his decimation of the Jedi, balancing Light and Dark Side followers, given the latter's "Rule of Two", and Vader actually had every right to be angry at the Order given he would have possibly saved his mother had the Jedi not severed his contact with her.

Padmé is somewhat equally and unintentionally unsympathetic as the Jedi, since she really should have known what she was getting into when she became intimate with Anakin, and even as a child, Anakin showed potential genocidal tendencies, given his destruction of a likely-alien-inhabited Trade Federation ship in Episode I, and slaughter of the Sand People that killed his mother. Padmé also thinks her husband incapable of his atrocities, despite having in Episode II confided in her about his killing the Tuskens. Her death was also arguably forced; you could say postpartum depression and/or a broken heart (which I actually somewhat believe is possible), but given what she went through during the Clone Wars, she definitely got out of worse scrapes than childbirth.

Obi-Wan also is arguably not a good hero in that he fails to prevent every major tragedy in the franchise, given the Jedi, who were initially reluctant to take on Anakin as an apprentice, were actually somewhat right in their reluctance, and that he adopts an alias that includes his real last name (Ben Kenobi), while living in exile on Vader's homeworld Tatooine near his stepfamily (although Kenobi's respective Disney+ series shows he doesn't get off completely scot-free). He was also potentially sexist, given his view in Episode V that Luke was the Galaxy's last hope, Yoda having to remind him "No; there is another," which I think would have been better worded as "Do not forget; there is another." Obi-Wan reiterates his claim in Episode VI, with Luke noting as well that Yoda "spoke of another."

Ultimately, the film culminates in tragedy with a duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan on the lava planet Mustafar that leaves the former scorched, and put on life support when returned to Coruscant by the new Galactic Emperor Palpatine. Luke and Leia are born and separated, the latter whom the royal family of doomed Alderaan adopt. The last scene, where Obi-Wan delivers the infant Luke to his stepaunt and stepuncle on Tatooine, was beautiful, aurally (the first part of the music a melancholy remix of the opening crawl music) and visually (with the setting of the twin suns and all), and nigh-impossible for me to watch with dry eyes, serving as a reminder that even in the darkest times, there is still hope.

Overall, the Star Wars film franchise as a whole has very much been a subject of my many arguments over the internet, especially with those who consider the original trilogy infallible (which I personally don't, as Episode III shares many issues with its chronological predecessors and successors), and I feel that the series has been far more about flashy effects and battles, and to a lesser extent the characters, than good writing (and even the "best" film, The Empire Strikes Back, has some holes, and I don't think Lawrence Kasdan is any better a writer than George Lucas). Generally, I would consider the franchise's writing simultaneously good and bad, good in that there are a lot of genuine awesome and emotional moments, bad in that there are said holes in their stories and questionable narrative decisions.

I definitely don't think the film, or others in the Star Wars series, is a masterpiece, but I think it definitely qualifies as "culturally or historically significant," since it has some good sociopolitical commentary (even if some is ham-fisted) about things like the dangers of love, the fragility of democracy, the nature of war, and such. Many of the "flaws" film critics complain about in the film are in the original trilogy, and I'm tired of movie reviewers and even the franchise's alleged "fans" as a whole considering certain films infallible, and pretending certain ones are better (or worse) than they actually are. Personally, I liked the prequels more than the sequel trilogy since the prequel trilogy isn't a case of real life writing them, and again, as Lucas said, "It's the story of a family, and it has to start somewhere."

Current Mood: pensive

Most can acknowledge that Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was a polarizing film among both critics and fans of the franchise, although actual reception of the movie wasn’t completely “negative,” since The Empire Strikes Back and especially Return of the Jedi got weaker reviews upon their original releases. However, the former would ultimately receive vindication as a nigh-infallible “masterpiece,” and while it is indeed an amazing film, it does have serious flaws that “professional” film critics need to consider before passing it off as one of the “greatest movies of all time,” and many of the shortcomings of the original trilogy exist in the prequels as well.

Attack of the Clones occurs around a decade after Episode I and opens with an assassination attempt upon the life of Padmé Amidala, who has since transitioned from Queen to Senator of Naboo. The culprit is none other than a servant of the bounty hunter Jango Fett, father of Boba, who serves as the genetic base for the eponymous clones that serve as the military for the Galactic Republic’s overwhelmed Jedi, with many star systems declaring their independence under the leadership of the enigmatic Count Dooku. As is the case with ghost-trapping in the Ghostbusters series, no one questions the ethics of using rapidly aging human clones as an army.

There is also the inconsistency of Chancellor Sheev Palpatine’s claim that the Republic is a millennium old, when Obi-Wan Kenobi says in A New Hope that the Jedi have been guardians of the galaxy for a thousand generations, which the original Legends continuity somewhat addressed. The exact reasons for Palpatine not letting the rogue star systems go in peace are eventually touched upon as well, and Obi-Wan goes to the planet Kamino, knowledge of which was erased from the Jedi Archives, to survey the clone army supposedly commissioned by long-dead Jedi Sifo-Dyas, and admittedly, not all of the holes in the franchise have been filled by the canon literature.

Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker also serves as guardian to Senator Amidala, and develops an attachment to the politician, which, alongside his Oedipus complex relating to his mother Shmi, is a catalyst for his ultimate fall to the Dark Side. Attack of the Clones introduces Anakin’s stepfamily, the Larses, on Tatooine when he goes to rescue his mother from Tusken Raiders that kidnapped his mother, whom Cliegg Lars, father to Owen, married after purchasing her freedom from slavery. Jar Jar Binks has a more subdued role in Episode II, eventually replacing Senator Amidala, with droid C-3PO serving far more as comic relief and giving a slight tonal whiplash to the film.

Flashy battles conclude the film, with the Jedi deciding to adopt the clone army, and given that its basis attempted to assassinate Obi-Wan several times, it does raise the question of why he didn’t suspect something amiss. Overall, the film does definitely have its flaws, but I probably enjoyed it more than the sequel trilogy since it, alongside its predecessor and successor, aren’t cases of real life writing them or derivative of the original films. Some of the technology does appear superior to that in the original trilogy, but it’s largely due to Star Wars in general being more about the worlds and their inhabitants. Regardless, I would rather watch it and the other prequels than, say, a political documentary.

Current Mood: pensive

I've known of this early adaptation of J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit for a few decades but have never actually seen it in full, and decided to do so on HBO Max. Like the novel, the peaceful Bilbo Baggins is recruited by Gandalf and his dwarven companions as the team's "burglar" (which is probably the most overused word in the movie) to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug. The opening credits say it's "based on the original version of The Hobbit", but it does feature key scenes such as Bilbo getting what would later be identified as the One Ring of Sauron and encountering the corrupted Gollum, with whom he has a riddle contest, although there are many compressed portions. The animators definitely had offbeat takes on the various races and characters such as Gollum, but it has a lot of decent music such as "The Greatest Adventure" which serves as the movie's central theme, along with musical interpretations of the poetry Tolkien featured in the book. All in all, a good watch, albeit aimed at younger viewers.

Current Mood: satisfied
Current Music: "The Greatest Adventure" - Glenn Yarbrough

It's impossible to chance a forum discussion about the Star Wars prequel films without encountering the poster with strong negative opinions or seeing the rare review that civilly balances intelligent praise and criticism of the movies. Regardless, alleged "fans" of the franchise have an odd disdain for creator George Lucas, unlike the reverence that Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry would develop and still has well after his death. In my view, Star Wars was never flawless to begin with, as I could name a number of plot holes in A New Hope, and it's hard to objectively "rate" all films given their lingering issues.

The movie itself begins about thirty-two years before the Battle of Yavin at the end of Episode IV, the focal point in the various media of the Star Wars timeline, the antagonistic Trade Federation protesting the taxation of trade routes by taking over the backwater Galactic Republic planet Naboo, whose ruler, Queen Amidala, is consequentially forced to evacuate thanks to the help of Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, the former who provides a good, intelligent foil to the dimwitted, polarizing, reptilian Gungan Jar-Jar Binks.

Saying that Jar-Jar is an example of "bad" acting would be akin to saying the same of Donald Duck, and the "issues" with Ahmed Best's performance are more a case where the writing, rather than the acting itself, is to blame. As would be the case with science-fiction media since Star Trek: The Original Series, Episode I is full of ethnic stereotypes, the Gungans themselves for instance a parody of Africans not well-versed in English, including BRIAN BLESSED's portrayal of their leader Boss Nass. As well, the Nemoidians represent Asians, and Anakin Skywalker's slave master Watto Jews.

There is the "inconsistency" of Obi-Wan's statement in The Empire Strikes Back that Yoda was "the Jedi Master who instructed me", but since Jedi tend to start training as younglings, it's likely Yoda did train him in his youth, as the defunct Legends continuity confirmed, before apprenticeship to Qui-Gon. Regardless, I think the "inconsistencies" people protest are exaggerated, and not nearly as bad as those in say, The Simpsons. Also, Anakin is a "great pilot", even if not professional, as Obi-Wan states in the original trilogy, and I liked the homage to Ben-Hur in the podrace.

Back to the film itself, it also has a plot hole that originated in Episode V where Queen Amidala's vessel, when fleeing into outer space, has infinite directions to go, and the Trade Federation's ships aren't blocking the whole planet, but her ship flies directly near the blockade, though the scene does introduce R2-D2, the only surviving astromech droid who repairs the ship's shields. Many also bemoan the alleged superiority of the film's technology to that in the original trilogy, although it didn't really seem blatant to me and not as much so as in, say, Star Trek: Enterprise and Discovery.

I'll admit it's obvious, as well, as to the true identity of the eponymous "phantom menace", since when I first saw said character, I was like, "He looks really familiar." I further think it makes perfect sense the Force has a biological basis (midi-chlorians) since if everyone in the Galaxy had access to the energy source, it would've made Darth Vader and later Kylo Ren's respective genocides of the Jedi Order meaningless. Even the original trilogy hints that Force-sensitivity is biological, with Luke telling Leia, "The Force is strong in my family: my father has it; I have it; my sister has it."

Queen Amidala's brigade ultimately finds itself on the Outer Rim world of Tatooine, where the Republic doesn't exist and slavery is still rampant, and they encounter Shmi Skywalker and her son Anakin, who seems to be of virgin birth, given the absence of any father (although Revenge of the Sith and a canon Darth Vader comic hint a little at Anakin's possible patronage). Qui-Gon believes Anakin is the prophesized "Chosen One" who will bring balance to the Force, which admittedly is out of whack since the Jedi vastly outnumber the Sith, who show themselves fronted by the enigmatic Darth Maul.

I don't think Star Wars has ever been about good, cohesive writing in the first place but more about flashy effects and battles (along with agreeable awesome and/or emotional moments), and most can concur Episode I doesn't disappoint in visual or musical presentation. There are questionable decisions with regards to the technology such as the Gungans' shield capabilities, the droid armies able to march right on through them but not shoot through them. Before I saw the movie in the theater for the first time, moreover, some jerkwad in an unrelated forum spoiled a key plot point, but there is another twist earlier in the film that hadn't been spoiled for me.

In the end, I think the first chronological cinematic installment of Star Wars has more going for it than critics and audiences suggest, but it's not without its issues such as the ethnic stereotyping of certain alien races. I think that 99.99% of the people who dislike the film are blinded by nostalgia and deluded into thinking the original trilogy is infallible, which I don't, and shows most critics and audiences unqualified to judge cinema objectively, although admittedly, the film, like the original trilogy, demonstrated Lucas' inexperience as a screenwriter. As he said, though, "It's the story of a family, and has to start somewhere."

Current Mood: pensive

Disney's latest attempt at an animated science-fiction film follows the famous adventurous Clade family as they seek the titular area to save an energy-generating plant root. A bit derivative, but it definitely didn't deserve to get review-bombed, and I actually find myself more agreeing with film critics over audiences.

Current Mood: okay

While Marvel Studios has pretty much dominated the art of comic book movie adaptations, DC and Warner Bros. have really struggled in that regard, and this film starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is no exception. It doesn't overstay its welcome like a few other certain DC Comics films, and while the atmosphere, historical background, and effects are good, it just didn't really enthrall me.

Current Mood: indifferent

Disney's second adaptation of the old folktale (the first animated wartime short oddly not available on Disney+ from what I’ve seen) follows the eponymous avian as he attempts to redeem himself after causing a scare in his town from the sky allegedly "falling", which actually may bear some semblance of truth. It actually beats Zootopia by a decade having a fully-anthropomorphic character roster populated by both mammals and nonmammals alike (with maybe one or two exceptions). Some of the characters like the tomboyish Foxy Loxy are genuinely adorable, and while the film is a bit of an Unintentional Period Piece given some of its music (which is otherwise good), I definitely enjoyed it, and its total avoidance of toilet humor (excepting one urinary reference) definitely helps.

Current Mood: amused

A goose named Peng seeks to reunite two lost ducklings with their respective flock. Had its cute moments, although I don't really care much for toilet humor.

Current Mood: blah

I wasn’t aware this was based on a television series until I looked it up on Wikipedia. An alien artifact gives African animals the ability to talk, with the alien that brings said relic learning about the power of friendship. Cute, but not a bucket-list movie.

Current Mood: okay

The latest adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio and a live-action remake of the classic Disney animated movie, endlessly ruined by activists, journalists, and politicians, director Robert Zemeckis’s film begins with woodworker Geppetto, yearning for a replacement for his long-lost son, granted a wish to make the eponymous puppet come to life, after which the wooden boy’s virtues, with a little help from Jiminy Cricket, constantly come to the test, thanks to characters such as the vulpine Honest John and his silent feline companion Gideon, as the woodcarver seeks his revenant creation. Honest John in my opinion was pretty much the high point of the film, although his and Gideon’s fates, as in the original animated version, remain unresolved, Pleasure Island and the villains are Bowdlerized compared to prior adaptations, and the ending is a bit of a letdown.

Current Mood: blah

A "fictional universe within a fictional universe" film focusing on the eponymous space ranger Buzz Lightyear, who appears in the Toy Story movies as a live action figure. Personally, I found it a competent but generic animated science-fiction film.

Current Mood: okay

E.B. White's Charlotte's Web was the first novel I read and remembered in my grade-school years, and I've seen the Hanna-Barbera version several times. Pretty much all the cast playing the human characters have faded into obscurity, but this live-action remake definitely went all-out when it came to the voices of the animal characters, like Steve Buscemi as Templeton the rat, Julia Roberts as the eponymous arachnid, and so on, and I found it an enjoyable film overall.

Current Mood: satisfied

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The Radical Child

Entries tagged with movie

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Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Minions: The Rise of Gru

Willow (film)

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (rewatch)

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (rewatch)

The Hobbit (Rankin/Bass)

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (rewatch)

Strange World

Black Adam (film)

Chicken Little (2005)

Duck Duck Goose

Jungle Beat: The Movie

Pinocchio (2022)

Lightyear

Charlotte's Web (2006)

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June 2025

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