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blue screen acting I didn't get home until three thirty this morning. That was not something that I had planned, but I didn't mind. It was good to get out of the house and talk about movies. Besides I'm usually awake at that time of the day anyway. Before I fell asleep I watched a great documentary on the Battle of the Bulge. Parts of World War II are fuzzy for me so I enjoy filling those gaps when I can. ... After I woke up, I started to watch my newly arrived from Singapore DVD copy of The Last Emperor. Every time that I watch it, I get so emotional. Pu Yi was someone caught up in events that were bigger than him and naturally he got crushed. It almost makes me want to cry. Plus the long standing hatred between the Chinese and Japanese is amazing to see on screen. ... With Episode II, George Lucas delivered exactly what I thought that I was going to see. Quite often people complain about the lack of a story and poor acting in his movies and I am always amazed at these comments. Let me explain. Lucas has said over and over that he wanted to make a movie for the "kids" and that is exactly what he did. There is no depth to the story and with the exception of the long winded exposition about the senate and the federation there is really little to think about in the movie. Everything is all about image. Substance is nothing. Lucas wants chase scenes and goofy aliens that we can gawk at and own as action figures. Lucas has also said that he wanted to emulate the tongue in cheek serials that he grew up seeing and I swear that Amidala's ship could be straight out of Flash Gordon if it only had a lightning bolt painted on the side of it. Plus those two rubber mouthed aliens with Count Dooku are just as funny to me as Ming the Merciless. From what I have read I am sure Lucas would be more than happy to make a movie without any actors at all. They get in his way. He would much rather do everything with computers. The man has problems relating to people and I think has admitted that in a round about way in some interviews. All that I wanted to see was Anakin have his hand cut off to parallel Luke losing his hand in Empire. Lucas repeats themes and doesn't go deeper than that in his storytelling. It was also nice to see Natalie in those outfits again. I truly hope that the film wins an award for best costume design. What Lucas needs is someone to sit on him to keep things in check or at least have them make sense. I know that he had help in the writing chores from someone who worked with him on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and it shows. The whole robot factory sequence had that comedic feel of danger that almost becomes a living cartoon. I kept waiting for a trash compactor sequence. Sadly any other other influences on George Lucas are gone. Joseph Campbell died years ago so any mythological elements that may have been present in Episode IV have been forgotten and replaced by too much cgi. Plus with Jim Henson dead, Yoda doesn't have to be a Muppet anymore. Sigh. Sometimes a person has to step away from the keyboard and do something on screen that requires thought and or acting. Models for special effects are fine with me. Personally I think that it would be fun to have either Terry Gilliam or Ridley Scott direct Episode III and lock George away on Skywalker ranch. People seem to forget that Empire the best of the previous three wasn't directed by George so this wouldn't be a completely new idea. What I honestly think is missing from this triology is the humor of a Han Solo character. Everyone takes themselves too seriously and the slapstick of C-3PO is not what I am asking for either. We need someone in the film to give us the everyman comment. Luke needed someone to snap him out of his quest and Leia needed to mellow out as well. Ben was too disoriented to be funny so that left us with Han.
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