star wars

“This gets better every time we see it”: For Love of the Film (2005)

/ Fitzpatrix / Leave a comment

The sixth and final part of the latest Disney+ Star Wars series, Obi-Wan Kenobi featuring Ewan McGregor reprising his role as the title character and direction by Deborah Chow (The High Cost of Living), streamed last week and was met with a mostly positive reception if you ignore the racist dweebs who are throwing a tantrum just because a black actress, Moses Ingram, was given a prominent role in a Star Wars production. Incidentally, Ingram, who portrays a Force-using Jedi hunter named Reva, gives a very different performance compared to a lot of other villains in the franchise. In a nice change of pace from the icy, understated calculation of Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin and the operatic rage of Emperor Palpatine and Kylo Ren, Ingram approaches Reva as someone who is desperate to achieve a higher status within the Imperial structure even though she doesn’t truly believe in her mission. Reva comes off like someone who’s trying very hard to be threatening solely because her job calls her to be a menace but her heart isn’t in it. Ingram consistently and effectively sells this characterization and it pays off very well in the final part of the series.

Despite the griping from the racist trolls, Ingram’s performance has received a lot of praise from the majority of Star Wars fans, which goes to show you the importance of positive voices in any fan community. The Star Wars fandom has a lot of toxicity problems to address but I’m confident that those issues will always be dealt with in various ways, whether it’s through charity, discussion spaces or creative endeavors. The subject of today’s post is For Love of the Film, a 2005 short film directed by the current head of Marvel Studios security Barry Curtis and the winner of the 2005 George Lucas Selects Award at that year’s Star Wars Celebration. I’ve chosen this short because it reminds me of how diverse the fandom truly is, especially now. People of various races, genders and ages have always loved the series and no amount of gatekeeping can change that. The Star Wars fandom is not perfect but there will always be bright spots that make it all worthwhile.

Credit: Barry Curtis

“A struggle as old as time itself”: Star Wars: The Lesser Evil

/ Fitzpatrix / 2 Comments

Contrary to what some trolls might lead you to believe, the Star Wars franchise is stronger than ever. This past weekend, the fan gathering known as Star Wars Celebration took place in Anaheim, CA, where fans of the Galaxy Far, Far Away attended various panels about upcoming Lucasfilm projects (including a look at a new series based on the cult fantasy Willow), behind-the-scenes retrospectives, a 20th anniversary celebration of the second installment in the prequel trilogy, Attack of the Clones, and a screening of the first 2 parts of the new Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney+. Of course, for most fans, the main draw of Celebration is getting a chance to meet fan-favorite Star Wars actors and creators and connect with fellow enthusiasts in a variety of ways. Speaking from experience, the 2019 Celebration in Chicago was one of the best conventions I’ve ever attended when it came to making new connections with passionate and innovative fans.

In Celebrations past, the Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards were the biggest showcase of the creativity of Star Wars fans. At Celebration 2015, which also took place in Anaheim, the contest winners were screened before the attendees. Today, I’d like to showcase the winner of 2015’s Filmmaker Select Award, Star Wars: The Lesser Evil, directed by Andrew Kin and Sy Cody White.

Credit: Iron Horse Cinema

“As you wish”: Mandalorian Dance

/ Fitzpatrix / Leave a comment

A few weeks ago, the latest Disney+ live-action Star Wars series, The Book of Boba Fett, aired its season finale. Although its release lacked the immense hype of the first 2 seasons of The Mandalorian, the involvement of El Mariachi director Robert Rodriguez, Ming-Na Wen and Temuera “Jango Fett” Morrison created some buzz. For what it’s worth, I enjoyed the show, even if it felt more like The Mandalorian Season 2.5 at times, complete with a episode where Fett didn’t even appear until the last few minutes. Then again, Boba Fett being a small part of his own show lines up with his portrayal in the 9 mainline Star Wars films. Contrary to his substantial presence in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, Boba only has about 8 minutes worth of screen time in the 9 episodes of the Skywalker Saga. Despite his brief appearances, Fett has retained such a very devoted fan following that his iconic armor was the basis for an entire culture within the Star Wars universe, which might have been the main reason he earned his own spinoff.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun at Fett’s expense. For instance, take a look at Canadian animator Patrick Boivin’s short film featuring our favorite intergalactic bounty hunter as the lead in a Flashdance-inspired dance routine.

Hope you enjoy it! I have spoken.

Credit: Patrick Boivin

“A Tauntaun is for life”: Christmas Tauntauns

/ Fitzpatrix / Leave a comment

The 2020 holiday season is drawing to a close, capping off a year that was, for lack of a better word, chaotic. With everything that’s been happening in these past months, it’s always important to have some fun to keep your mind at ease, whether it’s hanging with friends online or just watching something on TV. A couple of weeks ago, the season finale of The Mandalorian (working title: Growing Up Grogu) aired on Disney Plus and received mostly positive reviews. In honor of the occasion and in celebration of the 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, let’s take a look at Christmas Tauntauns, a strange yet sweet music video from 2001 directed by animator Matt Bagshaw that holds the distinction of receiving the first ever George Lucas Selects Award at the 2002 Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards. If the creator of Star Wars digs it, maybe you can enjoy it too.

Have a happy and healthy new year!

Credit: mattbag3d

“Lightsaber battle royale”: Ryan vs. Dorkman 1 and 2

/ Fitzpatrix / 1 Comment

How ’bout them Mandos, eh? The latest season of Disney Plus’s hit series The Life and Times of Baby Yoda (also known as The Mandalorian) is halfway done and there’s a great deal of worthwhile social media discussion and discourse that follows each new weekly installment. Today’s post won’t deal with any of that. Once again, this will be another dive into the world of Star Wars fan projects. The subject of this post is the Ryan vs. Dorkman duology, a pair of videos that distill the average Star Wars fan film into its most basic elements.

Created by visual effects artists Ryan Wieber (Heroes) and Michael “Dorkman” Scott (Supergirl), the films give you all the intense action, visual creativity and humor that you expect out of most fan films but condensed into a form that fulfills the biggest power fantasy the Star Wars franchise has ever given to legions of fans: “what if I had the Force and a lightsaber?” The most appealing thing about the RvD shorts is the no-frills, DIY setup. Even in RvD2, which is much more technically complex than its predecessor and features a bombastic score composed by Kyle Newmaster and Gordy Haab (Star Wars: Battlefront), the lack of fancy costumes and green-screen composited backgrounds allows you to concentrate on the impressive duel.

Hope you enjoy them!

Credit: maniacmike, DorkmanScott

“A Great Adventure Took Place”: The Imperials Strike Back

/ Fitzpatrix / 1 Comment

It’s been over a month since The Rise of Skywalker, so I guess it’s safe to talk about something related to Star Wars without facing a deluge of opinions both for and against Episode 9 in particular and the franchise in general, right?

my-image

Opinions subject to change.

Of course not. We’ll never be that fortunate, especially when you consider other events associated with the franchise like the final season of The Clone Wars, the series finale of Star Wars Resistance, the production of a series focused on Obi-Wan and the upcoming second season of the Disney Plus flagship series, Baby Yoda and Friends — I mean, The Mandalorian. However, expecting people to stop talking about Star Wars on the Internet is like believing that if you place every single issue of Action Comics into a bonfire, Superman will simply fade from our collective memories.

Once again, I want to take a look at the creative side of Star Wars fandom by showcasing what is said to be the very first Star Wars fan film. Directed by Scott Gill and produced by Mike Bajema, The Imperials Strike Back was created by a group of young fans using a 8mm camera and a slew of homemade props and costumes and was completed before the release of The Empire Strikes Back. I love this short both because of the crew’s creative use of their limited resources, which is something true to the spirit of the original film’s production, and its function as a window into a time period when Star Wars was just a fun space fantasy movie and not some hallowed multimedia franchise where the random Rebel soldier who accompanies the heroes in this short would have been based on an expanded universe character who made his first appearance in a Star Wars Roleplaying Game adventure scenario.

Hope you enjoy it!

Credit: 8mm Kid Epics

“Way to go, Kenobi”: Star Wars Episode III: A Lost Hope

/ Fitzpatrix / 1 Comment

For 42 years, one unconventional and genre-busting film has defined the global moviemaking landscape and continues to entertain audiences around the world to this day. Of course, I’m referring to Robert Clouse’s horror classic The Pack. That is the movie you’re thinking of, right? Oh, you think I’m referring to some dumb little space movie? Well, that’s too bad because I want to talk about the killer dog movie starring the incomparable Joe Don Baker, dammit!

mv5bnjywmjc5ywqtmzdkzi00mzk0ltg0njutodvjnji5ywqynju4xkeyxkfqcgdeqxvyotc5mdi5nje40._v1_

You don’t want to talk about this, do you?

Fine. We’ll discuss Star Wars for the umpteenth time but I want to discuss an area of Star Wars fandom that I’ve always enjoyed: fan films. One of my first posts was a showcase of my favorite Star Wars fan videos so, in honor of the upcoming “end” of the Skywalker Saga, let’s take a look at a fan video that was released in the same year as the previous “end” of the saga. 2005’s Star Wars Episode III: A Lost Hope is a parody of Revenge of the Sith that was directed and co-written by N.T. Bullock, the founder of the independent production company Sequential Pictures, and features Bullock’s Seth Green-esque portrayal of Anakin, Galactic Senators on loan from Sesame Street, a take on Mace Windu by Anthony Washington that feels more in line with Samuel L. Jackson’s usual intensity and an ingenious forgery placed in Obi-Wan’s Jedi sketchbook. The highlight of the short is Eric Kohn’s sardonic approach to Master Yoda.

Hope you enjoy it and…well, you know.

Credit: sequentialpictures, bboy41290, Minnesota Muskie, Star Wars

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Star Wars: Just in Case There Really Is a God

/ Fitzpatrix / Leave a comment

The Star Wars universe is a setting that’s ripe with comedic potential. From the strange visuals to the quirky dialogue, there’s a lot of material to work with. Luckily, most fans respond to the weirdness with a lot of good-natured ribbing. The cult status of Mel Brooks’ full-blown parody of Star Wars, 1987’s Spaceballs, is only one example of the numerous riffs on the franchise. The Ice Pirates, released in 1984, represents a somewhat unique way to cash in on the popularity of Star Wars: instead of a straightforward quest, this would be a more self-aware and comedic adventure, akin to a Guardians of the Galaxy prototype. The results of this bold experiment are mixed to say the least.

the-ice-pirates-movie-poster-1984-1020248504

You know the Emperor’s evil because he wrote the Star Wars Holiday Special!

Directed by Stewart Raffill (who also helmed the infamous E.T. imitation, Mac and Me) and written by Raffill and Krull scribe Stanford Sherman, the film’s self-evident premise of ice smuggling sounds like the setup to a variety show skit. It even looks like some kind of sketch with the cryogenic corsairs in question, looking like denizens of a post-apocalyptic Age of Sail, battling a band of space knights who look like they wandered in from a Renaissance fair. Ice Pirates may look cheap but when it comes to its sense of humor, it hits more than it misses. Despite a few awkward gags that feel like they’re filthy for the sake of being filthy, most of the jokes make very clever use of its setting, especially in its imaginative final battle in the middle of a time storm where machines fight the rapidly aging pirate crew.

Overall, Ice Pirates is a strange beast of a movie that might be better appreciated now in the days of constant Star Wars riffs and memes than when it was released for giving viewers a much weirder approach to the space opera genre. It plays things somewhat cynically but it has all the right ingredients that make a cult classic.

Credit: Deathdealeus1984

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Star Wars: Straight Man to a Tin Can

/ Fitzpatrix / Leave a comment

Imagine a world where, instead of purchasing Lucasfilm in 2012 and acquiring the highly valuable Star Wars brand, Disney decided to revamp 1979’s The Black Hole, their previous attempt to capture the burgeoning space opera film market. Perhaps it would be a modernized retelling of the USS Palomino‘s discovery of the USS Cygnus, inhabited by the deranged Dr. Reinhardt and drifting toward an ominous wormhole. Perhaps it would be a continuation of the adventures of Captain Holland, Dr. McCrae and the charming little robot V.I.N.CENT (with a new voice actor to replace the late, great Roddy McDowell, of course). Maybe this hypothetical revamp would improve the film’s rotten reputation among sci-fi fans. However, one has to wonder if The Black Hole even deserves its status as “movieland’s equivalent to the Hindenburg“. The answer to that is…only slightly.

black_hole

The Starship Eiffel Tower embarks on a fateful mission.

Sure, the script is a little clunky and Gary Nelson’s somewhat bland direction robs certain moments of their needed impact (getting a boring performance out of Ernest frickin’ Borgnine should be impossible), but Black Hole does have some admirable elements. For instance, Maximilian Schell brings a very chilling madness to his portrayal of Dr. Reinhardt, the Nemo-esque scientist who plans to travel through the titular vortex with a crew of drones who are more than what they seem. At times, the film looks beautiful yet fearsome, especially its main showpiece, the Cygnus, with its eerie glow and a design that’s more evocative of a flying haunted castle than a space shuttle or Star Destroyer. In fact, Black Hole is at its strongest when it feels like an old-school haunted house movie filtered through a space opera lens, complete with an appropriately creepy score by John Barry (who scored not one but two Star Wars imitators prior to this) and a menacing monster in the form of Maximilian, Reinhardt’s sadistic robot bodyguard.

While it may play things a little too bluntly, I feel that The Black Hole gets a bad rap. The film has a decent grasp of the terrifying beauty of the cosmos that gets an occasional chance to shine when it isn’t going for its obligatory, whiz-bang space heroics.

Credit: TURBoBISON, seanfc, xussia

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Star Wars: Live Fast, Fight Well

/ Fitzpatrix / Leave a comment

The modern blockbuster, as typified by Jaws and Star Wars, is the B-movie writ large. The current mainstream cinema landscape is driven by concepts and stories that, in the past, would have been considered the domain of schlocky exploitation films and low-budget film serials. One of the earliest filmmakers to bridge the somewhat tenuous gap between two eras of popular cinema is independent filmmaking trendsetter Roger Corman, producer of over 300 films and mentor of many influential filmmakers, including Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Joe Dante and Ron Howard. The key to Corman’s longevity is his eye for talent and his keen understanding of the kinds of movies people want to see. Case in point: consider 1980’s Battle Beyond the Stars.

battle_beyond_stars_poster_04

The untold adventures of Han Solo’s father, Napoleon.

Released a few months after the premiere of The Empire Strikes Back, this shoestring science fantasy, helmed by animator Jimmy T. Murakami and written by Oscar nominee John Sayles, comes closer than most Star Wars imitators to realizing that one of the things that made A New Hope work was its atmosphere. The attention to detail in Battle’s art direction, overseen by a pre-Terminator James Cameron, gives the movie a substance that outshines its roots as a shameless, word-for-word Seven Samurai retelling. The other aspect that elevates Battle above other Star Wars clones is the relatively naturalistic direction. Some of the acting is refreshingly subtle compared to campier space opera fare. In particular, Robert Vaughn providing a somewhat moving performance as the wealthy, solitary assassin Gelt. Granted, he’s portraying the same character he played in The Magnificent Seven, but it’s worth it just to see his moody introductory scene.

For an opportunistic cash grab made to capitalize on Star Wars mania, Battle Beyond the Stars has a surprising amount of sincerity and craft, which gives it a good amount of rewatch value. Overall, Battle feels like the cinematic equivalent of a good cover band: it may not deliver the full experience but it’ll most certainly try.

Credit: Roger Corman [Official YouTube Page]