One final update before I pack up the laptop: The Clone Wars is currently averaging 44% on Rotten Tomatoes. Now keep in mind, this probably isn’t even all the reviews that are currently live, and the bulk of them will be showing up Wednesday and Thursday as daily newspapers post their weekend content. So don’t start harping on how the media doesn’t understand Star Wars quite yet: It’s far too early to take the percentage at face value.
Today in The Clone Wars: Six new commercials
StarWars.com posted six TV spots this morning. They’re all kind of blurring together for me at this point so I’m not sure if these are new or the same ones that’ve been knocking around, but I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen Dark Day, above. The others: Around the Galaxy, New Apprentice, Never Before Seen, Legends, and Untold Story.
And here are a few more reviews for you: IESB, the AP, and Newsday’s Pet Rock blog. Meanwhile, The Guardian’s Ben Child looks into the ’embargo’ that killed Harry Knowles’ review.
The Clone Wars: Monday afternoon critical mass
- The L.A. Time‘s Hero Complex blog has a report from the Egyptian Theatre premiere; More photos at Monsters & Critics.
- George Lucas tells reporters why The Clone Wars was able to forgo most of the prequels’ big-name actors.
- Mental Floss has seven reasons The Clone Wars will be worth seeing. (Snark alert!)
- Scientific American has a lengthy Q&A with The Science of Star Wars author Jeanne Cavelos on the scientific possibilities of The Clone Wars – they also sit down with Dave Filoni.
- Cinematical’s Monday morning poll asks if you’re excited for The Clone Wars. As I type this, it’s 52.9% ‘Nope, not excited at all.’
- Controversy! A (negative) AICN review of the movie was taken down at
Lucasfilm’sWarner Brothers’ request. - Since Rotten Tomatoes still isn’t calculating, here are some reviews from the majors: The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Empire. We’ll start getting the bulk of them later this week. When I’m on a plane and most of CJ will be getting drunk. Great timing, huh?
The blogside: Early fan reviews of The Clone Wars
- Damn Fool Idealistic Crusader was at the Egyptian Theater premiere.
- It’s probably not much of a surprise that the Star Wars Prequel Appreciation Society enjoyed the movie.
- Luthe enjoyed it, too!
- Sompeetalay has the blow-by-blow.
The Clone Wars premieres, reviews trickling in…
The official premiere was last night, along with press and preview screenings were held over the weekend… Rotten Tomatoes has a couple of reviews, but hasn’t started calculating yet.
Today in The Clone Wars (so far)
The movie was screened for the media yesterday, so I’ll be on the lookout for increased coverage. So far there’s not too much out there (embargos?) but CNBC’s Jim Goldman has some (nonspoilery) praise. And StarWars.com has an interview with George Lucas and Dave Filoni.
To hold us over, io9 has ten reasons why the Clone Wars TV series is going to rule, including “seriously kickass female ninjas.” Not really sure about Ashoka myself, but I am looking forward to see more Asajj Ventress. Head over to Moviehole for an interview with TCW’s Anakin, Matt Lanter, and U.S. military folks are advised to check with their base theaters for early screenings!
Todayish in The Clone Wars: The second review!
- Review: SFX gives the movie four stars.
- People: George Lucas in The Times; Reel Talk has an audio interview with Dave Filoni from SDCC. (via;) Matt Lanter talks to Skewed and Reviewed about voicing Anakin Skywalker.
- Music: ScoreNotes has an audio interview with composer Kevin Kiner; You can preview his work (and gander at some mild spoilers) over at starwarsthemusic.com. (via)
- Posters: CanMag has a couple of new quad posters.
AP reviews The Clone Wars
The Associated Press got an early peek at The Clone Wars and chatted with Dave Filoni about the movie. Their take is pretty positive, but they do manage to cite least one detail that outdoes the hilarity/horror of “punky muffin.” Here’s hoping it sounds better in context…
More reviews from The Clone Wars preview
Holy press crush Batman! And they like it! (Mostly.) Yes, more spoilers.
- Los Angeles Times’ Show Tracker: “It just might be better than all the live-action prequels put together.”
- The Live Feed: “‘Clone Wars’ is likely the most photo-realistic animated TV series ever produced.”
- Premium Hollywood: “If this series stays at the quality we just witnessed, I’ll be there week after week after week.”
- Scott D. Pierce’s TV Talk (Deseret News:) “…Holy cow, it was great!”
- Tim Goodman’s The Bastard Machine (SFGate:) “I’m not sure your average adult is going to be watching this regularly, but I know my 5-year-old is going to flip for it.”
- Variety’s take is… businesslike, The Star-Ledger’s Alan Sepinwall is skeptical, IGN is mainly positive, and Zap2it’s From Inside the Box has the best collection of Dave Filoni quotes.
- The negative voices are The Oregonian’s Idiot Box, Andrew Ryan of The Globe and Mail’s L.A. Diary and MeeVee’s Joel Brown.
Book Review: The Star Wars Vault
I love the experience of opening up the year’s big Star Wars coffee table book. This one’s quite the experience.
The Star Wars Vault, by Stephen J. Sansweet and Peter Vilmur, is The Star Wars Scrapbook on steroids.