Director: Dave Filoni
Writer: Henry Gilroy (screenplay) and George Lucas (characters and universe)
Genre: Animation/Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi
The Story
The background of Clone Wars is in between Episode II and Episode III of the "real" Star Wars films. Anakin and Obi-Wan are in the heat of battle as the film starts, but back at the Jedi temple Yoda and Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) are working on a way to get safe passage through Jabba the Hutt's territory. It turns out that Jabba the Hutt's son has been captured and to get safe passage through Jabba's territory the Jedis will have to rescue his son. Just as it seems that the Jedis are beginning to hold back Separatists and their droid army, the dark side gains control of a force field and now the Galactic Republic is in a lot of trouble. The only hope they have is for Anakin and his newly assigned Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, to shut down the force field in time. Then Anakin, the Padawan, and Obi-wan must work to get Jabba's son safely home to gain his favor.
Everything Else
The directing was clean and the story made sense, but there was a certain amount of emotion and elegance missing that is hard to describe. Possibly it was simply the fact that we all want more Star Wars, but this is just a tease or maybe it is simply that animation dulls some of the emotion. Either way, there was something missing that made this film fail to capture the true essence of Star Wars. This felt more like the CGI in a Star Wars video game than an actual movie. Nevertheless it did give us some lightsaber action to enjoy for a while.
The battles were interesting, but I would not call them overly exciting. It is almost as if the characters that we once cared about in the regular films are not important to us here. I could not have cared less whether Anakin or the others survived and yet he is really who Star Wars is really all about. The Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, was apparently there to add some flavor and make things more interesting, but she was a tad on the annoying side. Of course I would gladly watch a film with her in it rather than Jar Jar (let's not even go there). Mace Windu had his normal voice from Samuel L. Jackson which was good to hear, but he was not in the film very much. Along with the lack of Windu was the lack of Yoda, and let's face it, Yoda is the coolest character. The dynamics of Anakin also seemed very off. The first two episodes and into the third episode really showed how Anakin was sort of a loose cannon from the beginning, but here he seemed to have a very good handle on himself and even taught the Padawan well. this showed a good side of him, but one that almosted seemed out f character. I would have liked to have seen a couple more hints of Anakins transition here.
The Real Deal
George Lucas just needs to give us what we all want; Episodes 7,8, and 9. The story is already there and if he did it right this time he could probably finish before he dies, but other than putting his name on stuff and making lots of money I have not seen much out of him. I thought the reason we were not getting more Star Wars was because Lucas wanted to do some smaller odder films much like his early days. Oh well, we can't always get what we want. I just felt like Clone Wars was a tease. It could have been good if they had brought more emotion into it. Somehow they managed to make it feel more dry than the dry moments in the real films. I want more Star Wars and this stuff is not going to cut it! Clone Wars was entertaining and somewhat unique, but could have been much better.
The Short Version
Raw Score: 632,122
Sharon Movie? Yes
8/17/2008
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)
3/22/2008
Val Kilmer Movie March Presents: True Romance
True Romance (1993)
Director: Tony Scott
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Genre: Crime/Drama/Romance/Thriller
The Story
It is Calrence's (Christian Slater) birthday. His boss decides to get him a call girl for his birthday without his knowledge, but the call girl Alabama Whitman (Patricia Arquette) ends up falling for Clarence almost immediately. Clarence decides he needs to get Alabama's stuff from her pimp, but when he goes to get it he causes a stir and ends up with dead bodies and a suitcase full of cocaine. Now he has to figure out what to do about the cocaine and the people looking for him and the cocaine. Clarence decides to try and sell the cocaine to a Hollywood producer for a great deal just so he can get out fast. The deal is more difficult for Clarence to pull off than he had originally imagined.
Everything Else
The directing of True Romance was unique in a lot of ways, but did not really take flight the same way that Top Gun did. Although the directing was solid as most Tony Scott films are, it lacked the intensity of other Scott films like Days of Thunder or Crimson Tide. I fell in love with True Romance for its scripting and story; thank you Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino sold this script to get enough money to make Reservoir Dogs and the rest is history as they say.
True Romance does not have the edge of a typical Tarantino film because of Tony Scott, but that does not hinder the excellent story much. Also, it allowed for plenty of stars to be included in True Romance; but then again I seem to recall some decent names in Reservoir Dogs. Ah well, the point is they got paid a lot more for True Romance. That says a lot about how the actors thought about Tarantino's talent.
Back to True Romance, Slater did an excellent job. Slater has a real talent, but for some reason I have never really liked his acting style. We may visit his talent a couple more times in some later Val Kilmer movies. Speaking of Kilmer, I did not even realize he was in True Romance the first time around. That might have been due to his out of focus 15 second part in the film. He apparently shot his part in just two days. The rest of the actors did quite well. You have Dennis Hopper, Tom Sizemore, James Gandolfini, Christopher Walken, Bronson Pinchot (suspect in my opinion), Samuel L. Jackson for about 5 seconds, Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman, Michael Rapaport, Patricia Arquette, and blah blah blah. Honestly it seemed odd that all of these stars were in this movie and only some of them like Pinchot got big roles. Maybe they could not afford the big names for much play time. It really worked though. However, look at Pinchot's face below; I think this says it all. I just don't buy it.
Val Kilmer
To be honest, there is really not a lot to say about Kilmer's performance in True Romance. We can say that he did well as Elvis, but he was in the movie for less than a minute. Kilmer originally wanted to play the role of Clarence, but agreed to do just the small role of Elvis. This was the second Tony Scott film that Val Kilmer appeared in. Possibly Val Kilmer was concentrating on more important roles such as his amazing role in Tombstone as Doc Holliday.
The Real Deal
I still like True Romance after the third viewing. I find the soundtrack a little bit annoying at times and still wish Quentin Tarantino had had the money to make this film on his own, but I will have to live with it the way it is. True Romance is a great movie if you are looking to see a large ensemble of great actors all together in a movie. There is a lot of sex, blood, and language, so keep that in mind if you are thinking of making this a family rental (it isn't).
The Short Version
Raw Score: 812,293
Sharon Movie? No
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Jumper
Jumper (2008)
Director: Doug Liman
Writer: David S. Goyer (screenplay) and Jim Uhls (screenplay)
Genre: Adventure/Sci-Fi/Thriller
Before I get too far into this review, I would like to let you know that I would have a difficult time believing anyone who would call Jumper a good, satisfying movie. It was horrible and should be avoided, but if you are still wondering why, then read on…
Story
Hayden Christensen’s character, David Rice, is a normal kid except for one thing; he has the ability to teleport (jump) wherever he wants to go. Everything seems to be going fine even though his mom isn’t around and he has a terrible father. He can have just about anything he wants whenever he wants it because he can steal without getting caught. But David’s party can’t last forever; Roland (Samuel L. Jackson) is part of a group that has sworn to kill all jumpers (that’s right, David is not the only jumper) and he has finally caught up to David. When Roland gets hot on David’s trail, David has to try and save himself and his new girlfriend Millie (Rachel Bilson).
Now that you know everything that was in the trailer why don’t we delve a little deeper into the plot… oh wait, that was everything. That is literally the entire story. Ok, there is the whole where and who is his mother (Diane Lane) thing, but that is not really developed. There are so many thoughts swirling around in my head right now, it is going to be impossible to get them all on the page. Ugh!
Everything Else
The story was where Jumper completely failed to get off of the ground, so let’s focus on some of the good. Hayden Christensen did a decent job here, but I am still waiting for his breakout performance (don’t worry, I won’t hold my breath). Samuel L. Jackson has been found in just about the widest range of movies I could think of. He has graced the screen in everything from Snakes on a Plane to Pulp Fiction. We all know he is an excellent actor, but I have yet to figure out how he picks the movies that he is going to be in. With that said, he did do a good job, but the hair was a bit of a distraction. Rachel Bilson did well as the oblivious girlfriend, but the scripting held back every actor from doing anything noteworthy.
The movie looked good and for the most part was fun to watch, but there was nothing to make it worth the lack of story. The soundtrack was also sub par. There were a few moments during the movie that I was actually distracted by how bad the soundtrack was. I think Soundtrack Geek will back me up on this.
So what does that leave us with? Well if the acting wasn’t great, the directing and cinematography were decent, and the soundtrack was bad, then that only leaves the story…oops!
The Real Deal
I will attempt not to give anything away, but just know that if you have seen the trailer then you have seen everything that was good about Jumper (literally it all fits into five minutes easily). The characters are so dry and under developed that the main character David Rice could die at any moment in the film and I would not have cared a bit. The rest I care even less about. I left the theater with so many questions about the movie that I was actually mad. Usually leaving the ending open for interpretation is quite welcomed by me, but that is only if the rest of the movie was worth watching. Jumper starts off to a good start laying the background to how David figured out he could “Jump,” but that is the most developed part of the story. The rest of the movie just raises more questions. Why are there no good jumpers? Why are these other people so inclined to kill them? Why doesn’t David seek out his mother who left when he was five? Will David fend off Roland and save Millie? If you are looking for an answer to any of these questions, then you will be disappointed. There was essentially no ending to the movie. Maybe they thought that people would want to see a sequel, but usually that requires at least a decent first outing.
On the bright side, this movie was mildly entertaining, and fairly clean of sex and violence. Yes there was violence, but not a lot of blood. All in all, there is no reason to see this movie in the theaters. I went into it with low expectations and usually that makes me like it a lot more, but nothing could save this poor excuse for a movie. It was like someone came up with the idea (i.e. Steven Gould’s novel), but no one wanted to write out a decent screenplay. The three writers of the screenplay should be ashamed. Honestly! And they are not rookies either. Look them up; it will shock you to see what they have written.
The Short Version
Raw Score: 528,292
Sharon Movie? No
