Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Michael Kaminski explores the role of Marcia Lucas – who won an Oscar for the editing of A New Hope – in George’s early career over at the Secret History of Star Wars. This is a fascinating read, and Kaminski makes an interesting parallel to the events of Revenge of the Sith towards the end.
Dear media: Over the last few weeks I have seen about a million references to the Sex and the City movie as ‘Star Wars for women.’ I’ve rolled my eyes pretty much every time. Please stop, or I’ll be forced to commit further crimes of photoshoppery.
First off, A New Hope tops Slashfilm’s top ten greatest movie endings. Congratulations, Leni Riefenstahl!
Then, George Lucas makes Total Film’s list of the greatest directors ever. At #95. Well… umm… he did beat M. Night Shyamalan and Baz Luhrmann. Yay?
And to round us off, Cinematical recommends American Graffiti/Dazed and Confused double feature. Aww!
Great American film, or Greatest American film?
The American Film Institute is revisited their list of the top American movies yesterday. In 1998, Star Wars was #15; this time, it’s moved up to #13! Also making the cut are American Graffiti (#62, up from #77) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (#66, down from #60.) New additions include Fellowship of the Ring (#50) and Blade Runner (#97.) Register on the site to download the list in PDF.
Elsewhere…
Just picked up the book The Cinema of George Lucas by Marcus Hearn.
This is an amazing look at George from birth through Episode 3. The author divides up his life into various sections including: birth through USC, Student Films, THX-1138, American Graffiti, ANH, ESB, ROTJ, “The lost years” (my quote, not his) and the Prequels.
Besides the tons of personal pictures, there are some interesting shots from his films. He’s also included shooting schedules and other nifty bits for many films. And there are descriptions of each film that help with his more obscure student works. There are also interviews with folks I haven’t seen interviewed for a Lucas biography.
Very throughly researched. It’s HUGE; weighing in at a solid 4.5 pounds. And, thus far, it’s proving to be an enjoyable read.
Just resist opening the last 20 or so pages of the book and you can avoid any Episode 3 spoilage.
It’s priced at a quite reasonable $50 for a book that’s so large and printed on such high quality paper. (Of course, you can get it cheaper almost everywhere.) A worthy investment for any film buff and almost every Lucas fan.