The best movies ever.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… Wow! To see that one sentence, that blue type on the black screen, it’s something that borders on spiritual and divine. Star Wars. You know this is gonna be good. And yes, I am going to write about the holy trinity because I got the idea where most good ideas for blogs come from: Jaime. Thanks. No other movies get me going like these. They made Mark Hammill look like a legitimate actor, introduced James Earl Jones as the “Guy with the coolest voice of all time”, and, get this, made Carrie Fisher the second highest grossing actress ever, behind only Julia Roberts (and this is a woman who did “Hollywood Vice Squad” and “From Here to Maternity.”) A few things about these movies:

a) The special effects are unrivaled. Even today, the visual and sound effects look legit in all of the movies. My personal favorites are the space battle scenes, especially those at the end of Jedi, accompanied by a stellar John Williams score driving the action. This is the late 70’s early 80’s we’re talking about here. Sure, every kid with a computer can do these effects today, but back then Lucas was doing this stuff with model Millennium Falcon’s and such. They actually had to dress people up as Ewoks. You can’t CGI an Ewok and have the same effect! In addition, the locations were phenomenal: Endor, Hoth, Tattooine and Dagobah? Are you kidding me! Just a kick ass collection of exquisite locales.

b) The acting. The trilogy got every single bit of talent out of what they had. Seriously, Mark Hammill isn’t playing with a stacked deck and he just nailed the role of Luke. They went the same route in the prequels casting Hayden Christiansen as Anakin, a semi-unknown in a huge role, except for one difference: Hayden Cristiansen can’t act. Harrison Ford was ready for superstardom, Carrie Fisher was awesome as well as becoming the adolescent fantasy of 3 out of 5 young males, Billie Dee Williams (and his gheri curl), and of course Obi Wan, Sir Alec Guinness. The astonishing part about this is that, besides Harrison Ford, nobody was really ever heard from again. Except for Billy Dee, who loves him some Colt 45 malt liquor.

c) The story. Honestly, looking at George Lucas, do you think that would be a guy that could write a story including so many various themes? He looks like the guy who’d be writing a screenplay for D&D: The Movie. The love story was actually believable: the rugged loner and the princess. He eventually did basically the same story for Anakin and Princess Amadala in the prequels and has fallen flat on his face so far. Han & Leia were the odd couple that we all rooted for. Anakin and Amadala talk like two whiny kids who’ve read too much poetry. The other story lines are solid: The redemption of Han and Lando, Luke’s coming of age, Leia’s ascension from spoiled princess to freedom fighter, the opression imposed by and eventual overthrow of an evil empire, and of course the relationship of father and son. We get it, we can feel for the characters, we want the rebels to win. When a movie makes you feel like that, it’s a winner.

d) The posters. Check them out on IMDB.com sometime. The best artwork on any movie posters…ever.

e) Darth Vader. He is without a doubt, the most ruthless villain of all time. He’s just a straight up bad ass. Finally, just when he’s about to allow and even help some old wizard kill his kid, he snaps and saves him. Awesome.

I’m finished (for now),
May the force be with you.
Nate