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My preparations for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 3D

Posted in books, movies, Star Wars with tags books, movies, Star Wars on February 3, 2012 by Paxton

Star Wars Episode I in 3D comes out on February 10 which is a week from today. Being a Star Wars guy, I’m really excited to see the movie again on the big screen.

I was just the other day reading my 10th anniversary review of Star Wars: Episode I. Hard to believe that was nearly 3 years ago. While I think the movie runs a little long, there are scenes and moments in it that are awesome. Darth Maul, obviously, is a BAD ASS. Darth Sidious/Palpatine is great. Qui Gon Jinn is awesome. Ewan as Obi-Wan, podracing, the final 3-way lightsaber battle and John Williams’ score (and most notably Duel of the Fates). All awesome. Not awesome? Jake Lloyd. This kid has been vilified for this movie, and I feel bad for him. I do. But his performance is terrible. And Jar Jar. What can you say about f**king Jar Jar other than he sucks ass?

Regardless, I am excited to see this again in theaters and in 3D. Plus I’m almost positive they’ve replaced that fugly looking Yoda puppet with full CGI. I saw clips of the scenes at that Star Wars Concert that toured the country two years ago. That is exciting.

So, in preparation, I’ve been reading up on some of the Episode I ancillary material to round out my experience with this movie. I know Episode I has been a bit maligned, but honestly, I think it’s better than Episode II: Attack of the Clones which is mostly terrible (except for, again, the final 3-way lightsaber battle).

Here are some of the things I’ve been reading to enhance my readiness for Episode I in 3D.

Star Wars: Darth Plagueis by James Luceno – This book was released in January. I borrowed it from my friend Dr Mike and read it this past week. I just finished it on Tuesday. It’s amazing. Epic and sprawling, the plot of this book spans many years beginning 30+ years before The Phantom Menace and ending just after the events of the movie. It’s a “behind the scenes” book. The book is obstensibly about Darth Plagueis (Palpatine’s Sith Master), but it’s every bit Palpatine/Darth Sideous’ book as well. You see Plagueis come up as an apprentice, kill his master, obtain Palpatine as an apprentice, then begin the Grand Plan to bring down the Republic and decimate the Jedi Order. This book is mostly, like I said, behind the scenes, but it’s amazing how it tries to reconcile plot lines from the movies, TV shows, comics and other novels. Truly worth the read. This book makes the convoluted Trade Federation subplot in Episode I almost make sense. I have a feeling this book is going on my year end “best books” list and it’s only February.

Star Wars Episode I Journal: Darth Maul by Jude Watson – This came out the year after Episode I. It was during the early days when we knew nothing about Darth Maul. This was the first time he was revealed to be a Zabrak from Iridonia. I loved Maul so back in the day I bought up everything I could about him. This is a light, fluff read. Less than 100 pages. It’s essentially written as Maul’s journal during the events of The Phantom Menace. It’s a behind the scenes book similar to Plagueis but you don’t get as much information. It’s mainly Maul waiting around to do stuff. Cool but a bit light in detail.

Star Wars: Darth Maul – This was a comic series from 2000. It’s a fantastic story that takes place a few months before The Phantom Menace. It depicts Maul’s first real assignment from Darth Sidious. Essentially Darth Maul vs Black Sun. And it’s awesome.

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Nerd Lunch Episode 22: Creating our own team of Expendables

Posted in movies, podcast, pop culture with tags movies, Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcast, podcasts, pop culture on February 1, 2012 by Paxton

This week, the Nerd Lunch crew welcomes Aaron Nix to the fourth chair. In this episode we are all tasked with creating a team of Expendables.

Western Expendables

However, unlike the movie, we aren’t creating a super team of action heroes, we are creating a super team of Western stars and a super team of Romantic Comedy stars. I know it sounds weird, but trust me, it’s podcasting gold. Yes, we’ve done it AGAIN.

To your ears: You’re welcome.

Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner. And yes, still rocking the Zune Marketplace.

The Cavalcade review of the 2011 Oscar Nominees

Posted in Academy Awards, movies, Oscars with tags Academy Awards, movies, Oscars, Oscars Wild on January 26, 2012 by Paxton

Well, the academy released the Oscar nominations for this year’s Academy Awards. Again, some surprises, some not so surprising. I usually like to take a look at the most popular categories and give you some of my thoughts on the decisions. Looking back, I see I’ve done this recap since 2007 (for the 2006 movie year). Here are those articles:

2010
2009
2008
2007
2006

Normally, by now, I’ve posted my Movie Board articles telling you guys what my favorite/least favorite movies of the year are. However, I’m still catching up on Oscar eligible movies, so I’ll have those up in a few weeks. I have my preliminary list, but there are some good ones I need to see just to be sure.

Anyway, back to the Oscar nominees for this year. You can find the full list of nominees at Oscars.org. Now, let’s take a look at the “money” categories and judge how the Academy did this year.

Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in “A Better Life” – What? Who?
George Clooney in “The Descendants” – Man, Clooney no longer does the “one for you, one for me” formula. He pretty much just does whatever the hell he wants to do. How else do you explain The American or Men Who Stare At Goats? I miss the Clooney from Ocean’s 11, Goodnight and Good Luck and Intolerable Cruelty. I’m not having as much fun with the current version.
Jean Dujardin in “The Artist” – This movie actually doesn’t sound that bad, but I have yet to see it.
Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” – Looks amazing. Really want to see this movie. Oldman is great in pretty much everything.
Brad Pitt in “Moneyball” – Again, I really want to see this but have not yet had the opportunity.

Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn” – This movie doesn’t look great.
Jonah Hill in “Moneyball” – Props to Jonah for dipping his toes into the dramatic pool.
Nick Nolte in “Warrior” – I hear this movie is great, but I can’t support a Nolte nomination. For anything.
Christopher Plummer in “Beginners” – Meh.
Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” – This movie looks amazing. But I’m reluctant to see it because as a new dad, I feel the heavy father-son relationship at the center of this plot will completely undo the macho-man hold on my emotions and cause me to bawl like my wife at cheesy cell phone commercials.

Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs” – Close may be fantastic in this, but it just “feels” tailor made for the Oscars. Like they were trying to get Close a nomination. Julie Andrews did gender bending first in Victor/Victoria. Close’s makeup in this just looks like posturing for an Oscar. See also Nicole Kidman’s makeup in The Hours and Charlize Theron’s in Monster.
Viola Davis in “The Help” – Better movie than I expected and Viola was great in it.
Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” – Really, really good movie. Hard to watch, but very good. Rooney Mara is also great in it.
Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady” – I imagine this is good. I want to see it.
Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn” – Not a fan of Michelle Williams.

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Nerd Lunch Episode 20: Movie Sequels

Posted in movies, podcast, sequels with tags movies, Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcast, pop culture, sequels on January 19, 2012 by Paxton

Episode 20 is now available to the legions of Nerd Lunchketeers. This week we are joined again by a fellow Jacksonvillian Robert Zerbe of To The Escape Hatch. This week we discuss the always relevant topic of movie sequels.

I’ve discussed the subject of movie sequels before, but this is a more in depth investigation. A drill down, if you will.

We talk about sequels we feel work, sequels we feel don’t work, sequels we wish had never existed and we even discuss movies that never got sequels but we wish had. It’s a lively discussion that I think you’ll enjoy. So join us, won’t you?

Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner. And yes, we are still on the Zune Marketplace.

European Darth Vader burger is set to Force Choke you to death with AWESOME

Posted in fast food, France, Paris, Star Wars with tags fast food, movies, Paris, pop culture, Star Wars on January 13, 2012 by Paxton

When I visited Paris, France with my wife back in 2007, one of the more awesome fast food places I found was called Quick Hamburger Restaurant (or just Quick). It was all over the city, including this nice two floor version next to the famous Moulin Rouge.

At the time, they were offering these awesome Double Effect sandwiches. It was two different sandwiches fused into one. Like this fish sandwich melded to a chicken sandwich.

It looked like these two sandwiches were making out. GET A ROOM, GUYS! Anyway, they also had sandwiches that melded burgers and fish and burgers and chicken. It was a spectacular idea that I’m sad to say never caught on here in the States.

Well, Quick is trying to do it again. They currently have a promotion for the Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 3D release in a few weeks. They have released three new burgers with a Star Wars theme. Here are some ads via MovieLine.

In this ad on the left you see the Dark Burger accompanied by the awesome Darth Maul. It looks like 2 burger patties, a special sauce, lettuce and maybe some spicy pepper cheese. On the right you see the Jedi burger alongside the ever wise Yoda. This burger also has two patties, maybe some regular cheese and what I believe are cheese curds (also used on awesome as f**k poutine).

In this second ad you see the Jedi Burger again. No different than the last ad. On the left, though, is the money shot. The Dark Vador. It looks similar to the regular Dark Burger, maybe just some red peppers have been added on top of the lettuce, but the buns ARE BLACK! BLACK BUNS! It makes the burger look burned. Burned like Anakin Skywalker’s scarred visage at the end of Revenge of the Sith! I love everything about this. I’m willing to overlook the fact that this promotion would probably be more appropriate for the release of Revenge of the Sith 3D in 2014 as Darth Vader is only a child in The Phantom Menace. But that’s neither here nor there because I want this burger in me RIGHT NOW.