What was the last movie you've seen?

[BurningDoom]

^ You even enjoyed Episode 1?!

[elmagicochrisg]

^ You even enjoyed Episode 1?!

Sure. It was a good intro. No?...

EDIT I'm having fun reading reviews for Ep 1 on IMDB. Damn... ><

If, by some fluke of glorious fortune, you've yet to see this film, please, please, don't bother. Watch Emprie Strikes Back instead. And if you can't get it, why not try peeling all the skin off your left foot? It's immeasurably preferable to the Phantom Menace.

[prfsnl_gmr]

^ You even enjoyed Episode II?!

FTFY

I also enjoyed Episode I...that is...I thought it was at least as good as Episode VI. It is Episode II that I cannot tolerate...

[Hobie-wan]

EDIT I'm having fun reading reviews for Ep 1 on IMDB. Damn... ><

Set aside some movie length time. Fix yourself a drink. Watch these.

http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/

[indecks]

Is The Clone Wars any good? Also, any other SW related movies worth checking out?...

I've never watched the computer animated version, so I can't speak of it. But try to find the Clone Wars series by Genndy Tartakofsky (the guy who made Dexter's Lab). It's two seasons, and fills in the gaps between Eps 2 and 3, and it explains why General Grevious sounds like he has asthma in the film.

I think the computer animated version ret-cons this version, but it is actually awesome. The way it SHOULD have been:


Episode 1: Take the important bits from Phantom Menace (all 5 minutes of it) and roll it into Episode II.
Episode II : Make the animated Clone Wars cartoon (the ones I referenced) the actual Episode II
Episode III: eh for the most part, leave it alone.

[Pulsar_t]

Stranger Than Fiction

Marred by the bog-standard Hollywoodian feel-good tropes and a silly premise, STF is still a rather sweet film all the same.

[BoringSupreez]

^ You even enjoyed Episode II?!

FTFY

I also enjoyed Episode I...that is...I thought it was at least as good as Episode VI. It is Episode II that I cannot tolerate...

I thought Episode II was the one that's considered "okay." With I and III being the hated ones.

[prfsnl_gmr]

^ You even enjoyed Episode II?!

FTFY

I also enjoyed Episode I...that is...I thought it was at least as good as Episode VI. It is Episode II that I cannot tolerate...

I thought Episode II was the one that's considered "okay." With I and III being the hated ones.

Episode I and Episode II rank about the same on Metacritic (51% and 53%, respectively). Episode III ranks considerably higher with a 68% rating, and I am of the opinion that it is vastly superior to Episode II. In my opinion, it is also significantly better than Episode I and Episode VI.

EDIT: My personal ranking...for what it's worth...

Episode IV
Episode V
Episode III
Episode VI
Episode I
.
.
.
.
.
.
Episode II

[BurningDoom]

^ You even enjoyed Episode II?!

FTFY

I also enjoyed Episode I...that is...I thought it was at least as good as Episode VI. It is Episode II that I cannot tolerate...

No you didn't, you just screwed that all up. Episode 1 sucks. #1, FUCK JAR-JAR BINKS!!! Me'sa wants to throttle his gangun ass. So freaking annoying. And then there's Anakin, as a kid. I get it, we should see where he started. But this could have been done in a flashback scene rather than the entire movie. Nobody wants to see Luke Skywalker in an entire movie as a kid, same I don't Anakin. And then you have Darth Maul. He looked really cool, but that's where it ended. He was a really weak villain with very little believability to his motives. And this after waiting 20 years for the next Star Wars movie, so it was a huge disappointment.

Episode II still didn't live up to the original trilogy, but it was decidedly better than Episode 1. Count Dooku and General Grievious were much better characterized villains with more depth than Darth Maul could ever hope to have. And there was a lot more Jedi ass-kicking in Episode II. Plus you got to see Jengo Fett and how could you not love the scene where Yoda was kicking ass?

Episode III, I felt, was the best of the entire prequel trilogy. It felt dark and hopeless, which is exactly how the movie should feel if Anakin is gonna be Darth Vader by the end and the Empire takes over. And it was so action-packed. Plus the emotional impact of Padawan dying really had an impact on so many different characters and was well done. Plus seeing the pure hatred just seething from Anakin during his battle with Obi-Wan was intense.

[Michi]

Crumb

I quite like this cover. It really sums up the film quite nicely.

Oh, look. TCM aired another Criterion film in the wee hours of the morning. I really am starting to suspect that there’s some unofficial agreement between these two. Either that, or they really, really like some of the seedier Criterion films, but are just unwilling to show them during the day. Or not. Who knows. At any rate, I don’t think Crumb would really be classified as seedy. Well, at least not too seedy for a documentary, anyway.

Crumb is a documentary about the life of underground artist Robert Crumb, known for his often sexually explicit and racially provocative subject matter. Some of you may be more familiar with the film based off his work, Fritz the Cat.


Mee..ow?

A movie adaptation, you quickly find out, that Crumb loathed and despised to the point where he killed off the character of Fritz in a later comic.

The movie is a bit different, in that it doesn’t start from the beginning of Crumb’s life, but instead skips around quite a bit from time period to time period, and sometimes topic to topic. It examines everything from his life from East coast to West coast, family to colleagues, and critics to Crumb, yet still manages to remain fluid and easy to follow.

The film is part bio-pic, part art dissection, and part family examination. You learn how Crumb grew up and what ultimately inspired him to become, well him.


Pictured: Him

Through imagery and interviews, with art contemporaries and ex-girlfriends alike, you’re treated to a dissection of his more controversial works, including his sexual predispositions.


Note: There are a lot of them

And finally, you meet his mother and his brothers, Charles and Maxon, and learn about their early life and the paths they took as adults. All of which is interspersed through the entire film, giving you a very personal and in-depth look at one man’s life.


The three brothers.

One of the interesting aspects of the film is how the movie contrasts the life of Robert with that of this two brothers. All grew up in the same environment (Abusive father, troubled school life) and all consider themselves to have been, and continue to be, generally wimpy, and all grew up equally damaged. Yet the film examines the different ways they each handled it.

Charles is the oldest and the one who forced his brothers to draw comic books at home. His solution is to hide, living with his mother and rarely leaving the house. Choosing instead to live in his world of pharmaceuticals and books.


Robert and Charles

Maxon fares little better. While he did manage to actually leave the house, Maxon lives in a beyond crappy apartment, doing sporadic works of art when he’s not begging for money on the street or getting into trouble for sexual assault.

So by the end of the film you discover that, despite being shown all of his worst sides, Robert as fared the best of the three, choosing to channel his demons into his art in an attempt to create something of value.


This is really the only “forum friendly” full comic featured in the film that I could find.

The director of the film, Terry Zwigoff, was an old friend of Crumbs and shot the film over a span of six years and edited it for three. Apparently, Zwigoff was in therapy for part of that time period, which may explain some of the films introspection and thoughtfulness.

Ultimately, Crumb is a full portrait of a man, one that does not gloss over any of the uncomfortable details, instead often examining them in-depth. You not only discover where Roberts art comes from, but how it’s helped him remain sane, despite his upbringing and his very dysfunctional family. It’s a fascinating little documentary that tells Crumb’s story as it should be told, through a combination of interviews, Crumb’s drawings, and Crumb himself. If you enjoy documentaries, Crumb’s work, or art in general, then this is definitely something you may want to look into.


Or not. Your call.