Ian Hoar – Passion for Technology – Geeking Out » Movies

Star Wars: Clone Wars a dud?

Ian Hoar — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 05:06:13 +0000

So I did something I rarely do, I ran out and saw a movie from a franchise I love without looking at any reviews and saw it on the second day. Usually I hold out for a week or even several weeks, but with Star Wars I figured how could I lose? Yes the newest Star Wars movies don’t come close to the originals, but they were all entertaining in their own right. Below is a list of how I would personally rank every Star Wars movie to date.

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Yoda in Star Wars: Clone Wars

The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones is a tough one, Jar Jar and Anakin are annoying in The Phantom Menace, but Darth Maul is pretty awesome and the pod race was cool too. Since I can’t remember much of Attack of the Clones, I’ll put it near the bottom. Clone Wars really does belong on the very bottom of the list. The Empire Strikes back is a no brainer for the top spot.

Seriously disappointing

Okay, without giving too much away here is why Star Wars: Clone Wars was seriously disappointing. First, lets start with a tiny spoiler.

Every single Star Wars movie to date has started with the epic Stars Wars intro. This intro triggers emotions like “OH YEAH BABY. STAR WARS!”, or just a jaw dropping “WOW!”. This one started out no different for the first four seconds. Star Wars music, black space, followed by the yellow Star Wars logo sliding into the distance. Okay, now I’m pumped and getting ready to read the juicy details followed by an awesome signature Star Wars pan down to a massive ship or battle scene… Wait, what the heck is this crap? I instantly see a battle and a sports announcer style voice describing the current situation in the Star Wars universe? Am I in some kind of a bad Star Wars nightmare? I think I glazed over in shock, because I have no idea what the crazy sports announcer voice was talking about. This was a huge disappointment, there was no tension, and I was not drawn into the story at all.

A kids movie?

So that was strike one, by now I’m coming to the sad realization that this is probably aimed squarely at kids and only kids and this is only 20 seconds into the film. I don’t understand why this was done, because I saw the original Star Wars movies as a kid and remember my parents and other parents reading what was on the screen to us little ones. It was way cool, and I still loved Star Wars, every kid did, why all of the sudden has Star Wars been transformed into a Disney style children’s movie I’ll never know. Yes I am sure kids will love this movie, but kids and adults loved the past six movies, so there was really no reason to dumb it down.

What was also really misleading were the Trailers for Star Wars: Clone Wars. They make it look much more serious and darker than it actually is, but they don’t really give any indication of what the movie is really like. None of the trailers have the childish voice acting found throughout this movie either. It was the trailers that made me want to see it in the first place, how deceptive.

With a few exceptions the droids in Clone Wars are more annoying than Jar Jar was in The Phantom Menace, yes they are that bad. Seriously childish and there is absolutely nothing scary about them. The movie is action packed, in fact it is non-stop action with silly voice overs and a weak side story.

Was there anything good about this movie? Well yes, I thought the art direction was fantastic, but some will disagree. The light saber battles were engaging even though none of them had a climatic ending. Unfortunately eye candy alone does not save this movie, it’s seriously a dud in my opinion and pretty disappointing.

WALL-E, a movie I felt good about after leaving the theater

Ian Hoar — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:30:10 +0000

I don’t go to the theater very often. The main reason is that for the past few years not many movies have really done it for me. I walk away thinking it either sucked or was just okay, couple that with the high cost of admittance and you are left with a steaming pile of… well you get my drift.

I am a huge Pixar fan and WALL-E, Pixar’s newest movie totally caught me by surprise. I am not a movie buff by any stretch of the imagination, so it’s no surprise that I was out of the loop when I stumbled across the movie trailers one evening on the web. As soon as I saw the trailers I knew I had to see this movie.

In typical fashion without spoiling the movie with anything more than you would get from the trailers; it is a family science fiction film with a focus on the environment and what might become of it in the future. It’s probably one of the strongest messages I’ve seen in a Pixar movie to date. It’s touching at times and hilarious at others while always visually stunning—money and time well spent and I’m really glad I saw it in the theater.

One other interesting tidbit some people may not be aware of is that there are six vignette trailers online which are promotional and do not actually appear in the movie. I really recommend checking them out, you can find them on the Apple WALL-E trailer site.

Rotten Tomatoes has a 97% rating at the time of writing.

Firefox 3 Launch Party Video

Ian Hoar — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 01:51:46 +0000

Still more Firefox 3 Launch Party news. Chris Luckhardt of motionblur studios was filming throughout the entire party which was hosted at the Mozilla Toronto Office. He has put together a YouTube video of some of the highlights and says…

I posed a simple question to the crowd – “What does Firefox mean to you?”.

For people who know me, yes that’s me near the end of the video, I forgot all about it. Great video Chris, thanks for sharing.

Check out my previous posts, Firefox Launch Party photos and Toronto Firefox Launch Party.

Diary of the Dead

Ian Hoar — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:24:41 +0000

Being the huge Zombie Geek that I am, I had to post this late news. I knew George A. Romero was working on Diary of the Dead, but I didn’t really follow it or realize how far along it was, it’s scheduled for release this month on the 15th.

He has an official MySpace site up where you can get details on the film. Diary of the Dead was independently produced, but it will be released by Dimension Films. He’s also running a video contest where people can submit their own Zombie shorts which could be included in the final DVD release of the movie. I’ve checked a few out and some are pretty cool. He will be judging them himself, and said that he’s really hard to scare.

The movie was already played at the Toronto Film Festival, how do I miss these things. Anyway, check out the site. I’ll probably go and see this when it comes out and post my thoughts.

I’ll also be posting a review of the book I am currently reading World War Z, a fantastic book by Max Brooks, writer of the Zombe Survial Guide.

The Lives of Others

Ian Hoar — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:03:38 +0000

If you see one foreign movie this year, make it this one. It may be a bold statement, but The Lives of Others is quite possibly one of the best foreign films I have ever seen. I was dragged out to it on a Thursday night and didn’t really feel like going, but I’m glad I did. I went to the Carlton Theater here in Toronto. I think there were about 8 other people in the whole theater, so it was nice and quiet, something rare in today’s popcorn, bag crinkling and taco munching crowds.

The movie follows the lives of people living in Eastern Germany before the wall came down. I really don’t want to give anything away, but it’s really about how everyday people’s lives were affected by the communist government and politics of the time; both sides are explored, the life of a staunch supporter of communism, and the people that were literally destroyed by it. This is an emotional drama you won’t want to miss.

Rotten Tomatoes gives an average of 95% last time I checked.

The Simpsons Movie

Ian Hoar — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:09:55 +0000

So my wife and I went to see The Simpsons Movie. It was a solid film and quite witty. Was it worth paying to see it in the theater? I would say yes, although I doubt the theater really adds anything to the experience that you wouldn’t get from the DVD, but as of writting this you can’t get it on DVD yet. If you’re a big fan of the show, then you will most likely enjoy seeing it on the big screen, it’s a real riot at times and probably funnier than the average Simpsons show. Oh…, and if you do decide to go, don’t forget to sit through the credits or you will miss out on some laughs at the end.

28 Weeks later

Ian Hoar — Sun, 27 May 2007 21:19:05 +0000

I saw 28 Weeks Later yesterday. I am a huge fan of the first one, 28 Days Later, but I am always skeptical of sequels, because they rarely come close to the quality of the first film. I happy to say that 28 Weeks Later blew me away. I personally thought it was as good as the first one, if not better. Some of the types of events that are described in the first film are experience in this one. The movie was completely terrifying and I was on the edge of my seat throughout the entire movie. Even though it was such a great movie I found myself wanting it to end because the sheer intensity became overwhelming. Suffice to say, if you like Zombie movies, this is one of the best. Genuinely terrifying.