Facebook
Twitter
Google
Reddit
LinkedIn
del.icio.us
MySpace
StumbleUpon
Newsvine
Digg
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio review for the doc series “Charlie Hustle & the Matter of Pete Rose,” about the rise and bitter fall of the major league legend, the MLB’s all-time hits leader, only to be banned from the sport because of gambling. Streaming on MAX and on HBO since July 24th.
Film Feature: Five Things We Want From ‘Star Wars, Episode VII’
Submitted by BrianTT on November 7, 2012 - 1:56pm
Printer-friendly version
E-mail page to friend
PDF version
The Phantom Menace
Photo credit: Lucasfilm
Printer-friendly versionE-mail page to friendPDF version
5. Do NOT Cast a 10-Year-Old as the Lead and Other Lessons Learned from the Prequel Trilogy
The Phantom Menace
Photo credit: Lucasfilm
When George Lucas was the one and only all-powerful Grand Moff Tarkin of the “Star Wars” universe, many of the creative decisions regarding the franchise were solely up to him. If he wanted to cast a 10-year-old as the lead of “The Phantom Menace”, that was his call. If he wanted to create a racially-ambiguous alien sidekick and let his children name him “Jar-Jar Binks”, hey, George pays the bills. He gets to do what he wants. Now that the creative ownership of the “Star Wars” franchise is no longer the concern of just one man, I’m hoping that the new owners will be able to cast a more critical eye towards the prequel trilogy and really work hard to improve the areas that simply didn’t work. For example, while I understand that the “Star Wars” movies speak to children, I hope they’ll think twice about making a not-even-a-tween the action lead of “Episode VII”. Other elements that I hope that are abandoned include: the strange racial overtones of the alien races (the Asian Trade Federation guys were really terrible), storylines involving embargoes or tax problems, the entire concept of midi-chlorians, any sort of musical number, and the tendency to hire staggeringly-talented, award-winning actors and allowing them to mutter their lines in front of a green screen, rather than actually building a set and working with them on their performances. I’m not trying to rip on every aspect of the prequel trilogy, but I do think that, now that the new “Star Wars” movies won’t have to live or die by the opinions of just one man – the man who wrote and directed the prequels himself – there’s an exciting opportunity to look backwards, devoid of emotion or personal prejudices, and really examine what worked and what didn’t. And, hopefully, that whole process, that critical review, that drive for continuous improvement will result in a new trilogy (or more) of “Star Wars” movies that will mean as much to subsequent generations as the originals did to ours.
By Tom Burns
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
