Movie review - "633 Squadron" (1964) ***

 Plane buffs love this movie. Solid guys on a mission flick the mission being to blow up something in Norway. Not well directed and the casting of the leads seems off - Cliff Robertson as an American, George Chakiris as a Norwegian.

But the support cast are fine - including John Meillion as an Aussie. It gets points for wiping out most of the squadron. Final attack influential on Star Wars. 

TV series - "Andor Season 2" (2025) ***

 Random thoughts:

- some knock out episodes. Suspenseful ones like the massacre of civilians and getting Mon Mothma away.

- characters blended in. I'm sure the show runners and stuff could explain how they're different. But did Blix have much of a character? Did Stellan S's sidekick. Revolutionaries were ruthless. Fascists were fanatical.

- loved the ending where the brilliant fascist was punished for her maverick nature and put in prison. This felt very real.

- some stuff too Hollywood and dump. Like when they're walking out of the institution and they click on an explosion and don't look just walk on being cool. I think that's what annoyed me about it. It was a movie moment. Not a real moment. And to do rape again. Sigh.

Sorry I just got a bit tired and negative about it. 

Book review - "The Director Should've Shot You" by Alan Dean Foster

 Memoir of a novelist - but someone better known for novelisations. Most film buffs had a Foster on their shelves back in the day - I'm glad he's still at it. Lively account of his life and times. A lot of hours spent in front of the typewriter so not a huge amount for a personal life, at least according to this. 

Some interesting experiences - the challenges of John Carpenter's Dark Star, the generosity of George Lucas giving a percentage on Star Wars, disliking Alien 3 and changing the story (letting Newt live) and being scolded by Walter Hill, getting involved in a actor-director fight on Chronicles of Riddick, working for JJ Abrams (no goss he sounds decent). Too much whining over lack of science in sci fi. But the talk of craft is interesting. Made money from Star Trek log books in the seventies.

Book review - " The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series" by Jessica Radloff

 The best segment is the inception of the show - the near misses, the three goes at a pilot (Jodi lyn O'Keefe's Penny was too mean, then they got a nicer actress but the character was still too mean then got a new character and actress and they were off to the races), the opportunities missed (Kevin Sussman was cast in a lead but Ugly Betty wouldn't let him go), finding the voice of the series. Then as the show becomes successful the book is less interesting - it's about high fiving, dealing with fame, and complaining about the lack of Emmies, and guest stars from people linked to (zzz) Star Wars.. It does perk up at the end with tension among the cast over contract negotiations.

The show's less pleasant racial humour isn't really explored.

TV series - "Andor" (2022) ****

 Some good Star Wars! Takes it seriously. Plays it politically. Drags a little in spots but very compelling. Brilliant prison break.

Book review - "Howard Kazanjian: A Producer's Life" by J. W. Rinzler

 Interesting book. Kazanjian isn't one of the famous producers, he's more of a line producer, but he worked during interesting times. There's a lot of quotes from Marcia Lucas and the book is especially insightful on that and makes you wonder why she doesn't do a memoir.

Kanzanjian was one of the DGA trainees alongside Walter Hill which is interesting. He became a top AD and after doing heaps of TV worked for a lot of directors at the end of their careers, such as Billy Wilder, Hitchcock, Robert Wise and Elia Kazan. He also worked for Coppola on Finian's Rainbow and with Peckinpah on The Wild Bunch (this section is terrific).

He was mates with George Lucas and eventually went to Lucasfilm in the late 70s, producing Raiders and Return of the Jedi as well as More American Graffiti (the account of that is fascinating).

Fans of Star Wars and Raiders will find this interesting. Neat trivia like Kazanjian talking Lucas out of considering Jack Smight for directing a film. Bruce Beresford was considered for Jedi.

Kazanjian's credits post Lucasfilm are not that amazing - The Rookie, Demolition Man, a bunch of other films I hadn't heard of.

Still it's good to have a book about a less recognised figure.

Book review - "A Long time ago in a cutting room far away" by Paul Hirsch

 Entertaining editor memoir. Close up accounts of collaborating with famed directors like Brian De Palma, John Hughes and George Lucas and composers like Bernard Herrman. There's also depictions of working with Charles Shyer (nice but could never make up his mind), Duncan Jones, Herbert Ross (a great experience for Hirsch), Brad Bird.

Hirsch seems to be upfront and honest - I'm sure it's biased in his favour and those criticised will go "that's not how it happened" but he has great credits. He made a lot of genuine contributions to cinema history - persuading de Palma to hire Hermann, the credits and 'Let's Hear It For the Boy' sequences of Footloose, 'Twist and Shout' for Ferris Bueller. He tried to be a director for a bit but not too hard.

This is full of fun stories: having to cut out the bad actor who played Jabba in Star Wars, dealing with temperamental yet brilliant Herman, offending Brian de Palma on Mission to Mars, the moods of John Hughes, the indecision of Charles Shyer on the money pit of I Love Trouble, extracting the juice out of John Hughes movies, what went wrong on Pluto Nash (apparently the original script was funny), James Cameron sledging him on the day Titanic overtook Star Wars at the box office.

Occasionally gets a bit nerdy with talks of splicing and dubs and stuff but consistently interesting. Composers - get to know editors and be nice! They can wreck you with the wrong temp track/edit.

TV review - "The Mandaolorian - Rest of Season 1" (2019) ***1/2

I didn't like this to start off with but then it sunk in what this actually was, as opposed to what I expected it to be, and enjoyed it a lot. It's really a collection of short films as opposed to a traditional TV show, with most of those short films reinventing Westerns (or samurai films inspired by Westerns). Great production values, decent acting, plenty of action. This didn't reinvent the mold but it was far more satisfying than the last two big screen movies for me.

Movie review - "Rise of Skywalker" (2019) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

I'm still processing. A friend told me "I'm just glad this is all over." And I agree. These films have become too stressful.

Some random thoughts - it's how I have to process this:
* it feels like a script that was replotted at directors meeting stage - scenes feel as though they end too early, there's still bits which feel as though they could be cut - and other stuff which feels abrupt (how did Chewie get captured again?, Adam Driver getting to the planet)
* when the film focuses on speed and just motoring along it's a lot better
* the failure to define the characters of Finn and Poe more strongly becomes strongly apparent in the banter scenes - compare them to the clearly defined Luke, Han and Leia the new trio are nowhere near as individual
*plotlines feel thrown away eg the reveal of the spy, why did they need to think Chewie was killed? why not have Finn tell Rey what he was going to say? why not use Rose? (they could have killed her off if they didn't like her but that death would have had more emotional impact - they could have used her in the romantic plot... so many ways...)
* nice nostalgia like the return of Wedge, Han, Luke and Lando - though Lando is under-used
*Rey being Palpatine's granddaughter is fantastic idea but should have been introduced in the previous film and played out (eg suspicion of the rebellion towards this character) - they should've kept at least one parent alive too to explain what happened - the concept of Palpatine being alive should have been built and is a failure of planning
* Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley are the best of the new people though it doesn't really progress from the last movie - I forgot he was Carrie Fisher's son
* why give so many close ups to Dominic Monaghan?
* some great visuals: the death star crashed into the water, the fight among the waves, the final battle, the worlds
* occasionally I was stirred: the appearance of the other ships, Han Solo coming back... but mostly I was bored. I don't want to be toxic, truly, but it wasn't very good.

TV review - "The Mandalorian" - first two eps (2019) **

Stunning art design, costumes and music. The actors are fine. At it's heart this wants to be a film - it's all A plot there's no subplots to cut away to. The lead is behind a helmet, not interacting with anyone. There's no lead human. The emotional kicks given by the film derive from the first two movies - baby Yoda and the jawas.

Book review - "The Ride of a Lifetime" by Robert Iger (2019)

Iger's reputation has shot through the roof in recent years as he helped steer Disney from a bit of a slump in the second half of Eisner's territory. He's the third great CEO Disney have had after Disney and Eisner himself - it'll be interesting to see how long he hangs on.

The book is readable and full of common sense, conciseful tips on leadership - it's quite valuable in that regard. There's not a lot of personal life stuff - the divorce from his first wife is dealt with very quickly - but the best stuff in the book is personal: up close looks at Steve Jobs and Rupert Murdoch, and especially George Lucas whose reluctance to sell Star Wars is very touching.

Iger is best known for being "man who buys stuff" - but that takes its own skill. Massive purchases were made which could have backfired - Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, Fox - but they didn't. He backed away from buying Twitter.

My main note is that Iger champions innovation in the book yet Disney is rapidly becoming known as the place for sequels/remakes only. Time will tell.

Enjoyable read though.

Script review - "Return of the Jedi" by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas

Just finished reading the script for “Return of the Jedi” (Lando dies in the original draft!) and for no particular reason thought would list the top ten things I legit love about the film (its top ten disappointments is too easy)
1) Jabba the Hutt
2) how jabba dies
3) Salacious Crumb
4) that bit of business where Luke bounces on the plank and flips and catches a light saber and starts wasting guards - it’s really cool 
5) the line “many bothans died to get this information” - v evocative, simple
6) Admiral Ackbar (until Nemo probably the most positive on screen role model for fish)
7) the three prong structure of the climax (Endor/Death Star/space)
8 ) the fact the emperor is undone by not factoring in Ewoks
9) the emotion in the final light saber battle with the emperor /Luke /Vader and the Vader acting when he makes his final decision
10) the final images
Jedi is easy to neg for a fan boy but has lots of good stuff.

Okay I should list some negatives
1) it's too easy for Luke to become a Jedi
2) the heroes seem to have no real plan at the beginning
3) the film could've done with a proper second act instead of a very brief Luke visit to Dantoine
4) the stuff about Leia being Luke's sister is awesome but is thrown away

Script review - "The Force Awakens" by JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan

I liked this a lot less as a read than as a film - so much of it's pleasures as a film for me came from seeing how they brought back Leia, Luke, Han, Chewis, C3PO, R2, the Falcon. That's not as good on screen.

Kylo Ren is a strong character as is Rey. The stuff around them is good. Finn has an interesting-ish journey. Poe feels like a nothing.

The First Order being villainous and activated again feels like reheating food - which I guess a lot of this was. It was a good film - I'm just becoming more aware of its faults.

Movie review - "Solo: A Star Wars Story" (2018) ** (warning: spoilers)

I wanted to love this - partly because it's Star Wars, but also because I like that the producer sided with the director and I love Lawrence Kasdan, and have a soft spot for Ron Howard.

But it doesn't work. All the way though watching this I kept saying to myself, "this just doesn't work".

It should have. I mean, there's a lot of good material to play with - Chewbacca, the wookies, the growth of the Empire, Jabba, Greedo, the bounty hunters, Lando, the Kessel run, becoming a smuggler.

And bits of this were good. The special effects. Donald Glover was terrific. Woody Harrelson was good, despite a distracting cow lick on his wig.  I loved the way Han met Chewbacca. I laughed at Lando recording his memoirs and the robot insisting Lando wanted her. I enjoyed the odd nod to the prequels.

But the handling was sloppy. The action scenes lack excitement and verve (Howard's never been a great action director). The cinematography was murky.

The story and script was poor. I was often confused about what was going on. There was a lot of constant exposition

I kept going "you could cut that bit... and that bit". You didn't need to see that opening scene on Corellia. Or really the stuff in the Imperial army (I wonder if there was meant to be more of this, but it was removed after The Force Awakens). Or the whole train hijack sequence - they introduce two characters (one of whom, a wise cracking pilot creature, seems like is a rip off of the raccoon in Guardians of the Galaxy). The film doesn't really start until Han and his gang go looking for fuel.

There's no real villain until Dryden Vos gets nasty at the end. (They set up a baddy at the beginning and never use her again. Imperial troops pop up every now and then and leave.)

There's no real stakes after the half way point - the first half is all about getting Emilia Clarke, but then Han meets her so the stakes are over. Then it's about paying off a debt...?

Alden Ehrenreich was okay in an impossible role - he's good looks and presence, even if he doesn't have that thing Harrison Ford did, the combination of stress and cockiness.

Emilia Clarke is alright. She doesn't have much of a role to play - she's done Bad Things but that's about it. She and Ehrenreich don't have much chemistry. Why no resolution with her character's story? Why not kill her? We don't want to see her again. Why bring in Darth Maul at the eleventh hour? What was that supposed to do?

This simply wasn't very good.

Movie review - "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" (2017) ** (warning: spoilers)

What i liked

- Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, C3PO, R2, Chewie

- Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver

- the special effects

- Crait the old mining planet

- Ahch-To the island - that was really cool

- the cute animals, all of them - truly, I think they were genuinely cute and fun

- the moment Kylo Ren decides to kill Snoke - this was great (even if ripped off Return to the Jedi)

- the urst between Rey and Kylo Ren

- bit of that final battle on Crait with Rey and Chewie zipping around in the Falcon

- all the broken down ships on Crait

- the character of Rose, except at the end (see below)

- the back story that Luke almost killed Kylo Ren (i really liked this)

- the casino planet

What I liked in a campy way

- that woman with frizzy hair and long nose who looked like a uni librarian who played the rebel officer

- all the talk about "turning people" - it was like the galaxy of the gays (when are Poe and Finn going to get a room, Finn seems sexually uninterested in any woman) and Rey was trying to lure Kylo Ren to the joys of heterosexuality

What I was frustrated by but didn't necessarily hate

- no explanation about Snoke's backstory or Rey's backstory ("oh your parents were junk dealers")... we don't know if it's true, it was so dramatically underwhelming

- Princess Leia suddenly developing the ability to fly through space

- Laura Dern trying to pretend to be a bad ass admiral (I'm all for women playing these roles but can they get someone who looks tough eg Judi Dench, Joan Allen - Dern looked like a mother from Sydney's north shore)

- Rey and Kylo Ren doing most of their scenes by intergalactic telephone

- John Boyega's bland "I feel nothing" performance

- the fact there was no explanation to DJ (Benico Del Toro) being locked up in prison when it took him five seconds to get out

- BB-8 suddenly becoming this great fighter and killing all these people

- Rose somehow knowing to fly when she was established as someone who just worked in IT

What I hated

- all the repetitive dialogue

- the bad exposition (is it so hard to do?)

- the lack of narrative momentum

- the acting of Domhall Gleeson whose outrageous scenery chewing threatens Hayden Christensen's rank as the worst lead actor in the series

- not saying what happened to DJ

- not having Luke in person appear at the end

- not having Luke spend a decent amount of screen time with other characters

- the fact the entire rebel army is effectively reduced to a bunch of people who can fit in the Falcon (i got that right didn't I? they lost all their ships and something like 99% of their fighting force and could fit everyone on the Falcon? I know it's roomy but it ain't that roomy)

Most of all - the way all the characters acted like irresponsible selfish illogical idiots

- Poe disobeys orders not once but twice, both times endangering the fleet - why is he even in the films?

- Poe leads a mutiny  against Holdo/Laura Dern - now I love a good mutiny story but it's so poorly motivated, makes him look like an idiot - they try to fix it by having Laura Dern go "I like him" but why should she?  Why have Poe keep his plan to go to Canto Bight secret?  Why have Holdo keep her plan secret? It all felt like wasted screen time - why not have Holdo as a turncoat villain? Why not have Poe as a villain? I'm not wild about stories stories where all the drama could be resolved by a simple chat

- Why have the plan to go to Canto Bight at all? To liberate a horse? Give some kids a ring? Why not have Finn and Rose cross with Rey on Snoke's ship ? Aren't they on there at the same time?

- Finn's going to do a noble suicide run to blow up the big cannon on Crait - and Rose stops him! He's trying to save the rebellion and she STOPS HIM because she's in love with him? Her actions endanger the whole rebel alliance (including their own!!!) - it completely trashed a good character.

- Luke goes out to meet the baddies - the reason being he's trying to give the rebels time to get away only he decides not to tell anyone. Poe just guesses Guesses!

- When Luke goes out to fight Kylo Ren - Kylo calls a halt to the entire invading force so they can stop and duke it out

I've read the above being described as "subverting expectations" and "doing the unexpected" but I think it was just poorly done. 

I didn't mind the basic story - the stakes are the survival of the fleet... Rey tries to get Luke to come out of retirement... there's a mission to a casino planet... but it wasn't put well together.

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Movie review - "Rogue One" (2016) ****

The first two thirds of this are a little wonky - the film never seems to get in a groove. I mean it's got a bright central idea - about the architect of the Death Star, and his daughter who is used by the rebellion. I liked all the various misfits who get together - the Japanese couple, the hardened rebel officer, etc.

But it never seems to get a fix on the characters - they don't seem to use Felicity Jones' rebelliousness. Also some things felt extraneous - she gets a video from dad and then goes and rescues dad?

But the final act is magnificent - it has integrity, gravitas, and I totally got wrapped up with it. War is serious.

Some random observations:
* didn't feel it was necessary for the rebellion to go "we're not going on the final mission" and then changing their mind;
* the recreation of Peter Cushing worked I felt - but Carrie Fisher felt wrong;
* David Prowse's physical presence was missed.

There's a brilliant "Honest Trailers" on this... "setting up the Stormtroopers' weakness against sticks".

Movie review - "Bright Lights" (2017) ****1/2

Perfect remedy (or at least treatment) for those who were genuinely upset at the death of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds so close to each other. It's a fascinating look at these two old broads - kind of like Grey Gardens only with money and more career respect: they were neighbours, great friends, who cared for each other. It's easy to see why Debbie would not want to have lasted long without Carrie.

It's also clear why Carrie didn't live to an old age - she doesn't look well, puffing away on the ciggies and sucking down the Cokes, grumbling at the personal trainer hired by Lucasfilm to look after her (I kept calling out to the screen "listen to him, Carrie! He's not a bad guy.") There's also a few scenes where Carrie seems to be high on something.

Debbie is no saint. She looks fantastic, with little plastic surgery - but to be blunt in a few scenes (especially at the end) she seems to be tripping on something as well.

The directors had incredible access and there's some amazing home footage of little Carrie and Todd, as well as Harry Karl and a handsome Eddie Fisher. There's also a later interview with Debbie's mum who seemed like a bitch and an old Eddie Fisher who looks awful - this was the most disturbing part of it for me.

Debbie does her one woman show full of corny jokes and her fluffing lines and misremembering lyrics (the directors devote long takes to this, which is great), but she loves performing. Todd helps out. Carrie goes to London, attends Star Wars conventions. Both go to award ceremonies and live in a houses full of trinkets and junk. Both mad, both lovely, both talented, both pros. It's a fantastic love story.

Movie review - "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015) ***** (warning: spoilers)

A movie with an awful lot of weight on it's shoulders but they managed to pull it off. Some random observations:
* the first 15 minutes I was worried "are they just going to remake the first movie" but it settled into it's own rhythm after a while;
*it feels very J.J. Abrams - respectful nods to the original, tight direction rather than anything brilliant, and a slim brown haired heroine;
*Hollywood still hasn't found a better villain than Nazis - the Nazi parallels are really shoved down our throats here with the rally scene where Domhnall Gleeson talks;
*was expecting Lando to turn up as Fin's dad;
*Poe seemed a nothing much character - Oscar Isaac is a good actor but this role didn't need someone good as much as more charismatic;
*BB-8 was the most instantly likeable new character but the others grew on me;
*the return of old characters and props was extremely well done;
*the film relied on old characters and story stuff to get its emotion - I feel we could have done with a bit of character work for Finn, Rey and Poe;
*Adam Driver is a very good villain - helped by having a reversal conflict for Luke and of course the "money shot" scene involving Han Solo;
*Harrison Ford very much looks his age but is great in the role:
*Carrie Fisher's plastic surgery was well hidden;
*Daisy Ridley impressed even though I got her mixed up with Keira Knightly at times;
*finally attack on the new Death Star felt surprisingly underwhelming;
*I really liked it a lot.

Movie review - "THX-1138" (1971) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

George Lucas' debut feature as director is a stunning visual achievement with many striking moments but is ultimately unsatisfactory. The set up is fine - its a dystopian future, 1984/Brave New World style, where everyone has a shaved head and wears white and lives these soul-less lives manufacturing something or other; rommates Robert Duvall and Maggie McOmie start a sexual relationship - basically she seduces him to have a baby. The authorities crack down and arrest them; the only option is escape.

Now that's actually a great idea - everyone can hiss at the authoritarian government, it's extremely relatable that two people want a Better Tomorrow, there's great themes of fighting injustice and wanting to escape. Duvall is always good and McOmie is a real find, with her big sad eyes she's instantly sympathetic. And the opening 15 minutes are brilliant - Lucas and his team create a genuinely powerful, evocative "world".

But the Lucas makes a massive mistake not making McOmie the protagonist. She starts off as such, being the one who goes off her drugs and seduces Duvall and clearly wants more - she's the one who gets pregnant. But then she gets carted off and killed off screen and her fetus gets shoved in a jar. Which is admittedly probably the most moving part of the film - but it means we're stuck with just Duvall. Duvall goes on to escape for the last third of the movie, but who cares? His woman and baby are gone. If McOmie had been alive and Duvall could have busted her pregnant arse out of jail I think you would have had a hit.

Or maybe not - because throughout the film Lucas displays a tendency to cut away from anything emotionally involving. We never see McOmie die, we don't see the fate of Donald Pleasance, we never get too excited during the final car chase scene, there are view point of view shots, the editing feels generally unsettling. So the viewer is disconnected. Lucas learned his lesson and then some on later movies.

Movie review - "Spaceballs" (1987) **1/2

Mel Brooks once mentioned in an interview that this was one of his most popular movies because it involved a fairtale and a romance. I think this popularity happened more on video and DVD because on initial release it wasn't that huge; I remember watching it when it came out and being underwhelmed, despite being the target market - Flying High had set a new bar for spoofs which this didn't match. Also in a weird way I feel it came along too soon - if it had arrived say a decade later it would have cashed in on the full Gen X nostalgia for the trilogy, whereas in 1987 Star Wars felt a little old hat.

Still, there's lots of fun here, in particular Rick Moranis as Darth Vader, and also Daphne Zuniga is once again a really pretty, winning heroine (ever since re-watching The Sure Thing my appreciation for Zuniga has shot up - she was excellent). John Candy, Joan Rivers and company aren't exactly of the level of Harvey Korman, Madeleine Kahn and co but show a lot of spirit.