Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) – Movie Review

Director: George Lucas

Screenwriter: George Lucas

Producers: Gary Kurtz, Rick McCallum

Studio:  20th Century Fox

Production Company: Lucasfilm

Top Billed Cast: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, James Earl Jones

LOGLINE: A simple farm boy comes into possession of two important droids and joins a small party together to take them to their rightful owner a galactic princess who's been kidnapped and held prisoner upon the Deathstar, a spaceship the size of a moon.

VIEWING CIRCUMSTANCES: I can't remember but it was probably on free-to-air television as a kid before I promptly fell in love with it and had my parents by the VHS.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Before Lord of the Rings came along, this was my all time favourite. To some Star Wars fans this is sacrilege. But why must we fight Kevin Smith? Can't there be two THE Trilogies?

STORY: George Lucas admitted/cited that he was strongly influenced by Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, which is a study of mythology (religious 'tales' etc) and the monomyth (the theory that all stories share the same certain stages). This story hits all of those marks and reinvents them for a modern audience, in effect making Star Wars the religion of a generation, which it was for me. Literally, I (along with many others), once put 'Jedi' down as my religion on the Australian Census.


Since this little secret came out The Hero with a Thousand Faces has become a bible for screenwriters.

PRODUCTION: A true breakthrough it what was possible from the medium of film making, George Lucas paved the way for many films and it still stands the test of time over 30 years later!

PERFORMANCE: Great performances all round from who were essentially a bunch of unknowns. It's a pity we haven't seen more of Mark Hamill since in non Sci-Fi/SW related stuff. Same goes for Carrie Fisher actually.

OVERALL: One of the greatest films ever made, it has not only influenced film but wider culture and life.

MEETSLINE: Sci-Fi meets Western and Opera.

FAVOURITE QUOTES:


"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away"


"May the Force be with you"


"Boring conversation anyway"


"Stormtrooper: Let me see your identification. 
Obi-Wan: [with a small wave of his hand] You don't need to see his identification.
Stormtrooper: We don't need to see his identification.
Obi-Wan: These aren't the droids you're looking for.
Stormtrooper: These aren't the droids we're looking for.
Obi-Wan: He can go about his business.
Stormtrooper: You can go about your business.
Obi-Wan: Move along. Stormtrooper: Move along... move along. "

RECOMMENDED ACCOMPANIMENT: Blue Milkshake.

LINKS: 


Check out my deconstruction of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope here: 

http://filmdeconstructions.blogspot.com/2011/09/star-wars-new-hope.html

RATING:

5 out of 5 reels of film.

Movie Review by A.B. McBlogsmith the Backwards Cap Film Reviewer

(C) Review Flix 2011

The Big Lebowski

The Big Lewbowski (1998) – Movie Review

Director: Coen Bros (Joel and Ethan Coen)

Screenwriter: Joel and Ethan Coen

Producers: Joel and Ethan Coen 

Studio: Polygram

Production Companies: Working Title

Top Billed Cast: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Juliane Moore, Steve Buscemi, Phillip Seymore Hoffman, Tara Reid, Flea, John Turturro, Peter Stormare

LOGLINE: The Dude and his unemployed bowling buddies become embroiled in kidnapping and embezzlement with Nihilists, porn moguls, cripples and high society folk after some thugs break into his house and pee on his rug.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Cult classic, one of my favourites. I could watch this again and again. And in fact I do.

STORY: Brilliant! Slightly similar to other modern American farces such as Dude, Where's My Car or even Bubble Boy (with the different groups of characters' stories interweaving, most of them out to get the hero and the viewer never quite sure how it all fits together) but way, way, way better! 

PRODUCTION: Great production, the bowling ball vignette (short sequence that's seperate from the actual film) is famous.

PERFORMANCE: Seriously, Jeff Bridge's The Dude is an all time great performance. All supports are top class.

OVERALL: The Coen Brothers' best film and that's saying something.

MEETSLINE: too good for a meets line.

FAVOURITE QUOTES: 
"That rug really tied the room together."

Jesus Quintana: You ready to be fucked, man? I see you rolled your way into the semis. Dios mio, man. Liam and me, we're gonna fuck you up.
The Dude: Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
Jesus Quintana: Let me tell you something, pendejo. You pull any of your crazy shit with us, you flash a piece out on the lanes, I'll take it away from you, stick it up your ass and pull the fucking trigger 'til it goes "click."
The Dude: Jesus.
Jesus Quintana: You said it, man. Nobody fucks with the Jesus.

"I do mind, the Dude minds. This will not stand, ya know, this aggression will not stand, man."

"Walter, I love you, but sooner or later, you're going to have to face the fact you're a goddamn moron."

"We believe in nothing, Lebowski. Nothing. And tomorrow we come back and we cut off your chonson." 

RECOMMENDED ACCOMPANIMENT: White Russians or Kahlua and Milk and/or "pipeweed".

RATING:

4 1/2 out of 5 reels of film.

Movie Review by A.B. McBlogsmith the Backwards Cap Film Reviewer

(C) Review Flix 2011