SPACE CASE by ANTHONY LANE “Star Wars: Episode III.â€
The general opinion of “Revenge of the Sith†seems to be that it marks a distinct improvement on the last two episodes, “The Phantom Menace†and “Attack of the Clones.†True, but only in the same way that dying from natural causes is preferable to crucifixion.
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Considering I somehow managed to come out of both Episodes 1 & 2 pretty jazzed, this bodes quite well. Wait– I should preface that– pretty jazzed the first time around. After that, as they say, things fell apart. Quickly. Come 12:01 this evening, we’ll see.
Marc, I really like you, and I hope we hang out more, especially since you live around the freakin’ corner. But jazzed?
Jazzed?
Really?
That being said, I’m … hopeful … about this one. I shouldn’t be, but I am. I just hope Yoda doesn’t really fight again. Like a little green piece of popcorn.
Haha!!! lol. Nice geek word, eh? And to think– I actually thought twice about using “jazzed”. You found me out. I’ve been exposed.
And, yes, Yoda will fight. But not like popcorn. I hope. And I hope the rumors are wrong– word is he farts. Definitely not jazzed about that.
Hmmmm. How to do this delicately…
I distinctly recall a friend called Jason being rather taken with Yoda’s popping about.
Maybe that was some other dude.
I’ve been called out. Yes, I was initially wowed by the new Yoda action figure with the kung-fu grip. Who couldn’t be? That flash of zen green.
But as I reflected on it, I was enthused about that sequence because it was the one bit of engaging action in that whole dumb movie. Ultimately, I think it would have been better for the character had Yoda used other force powers to best his opponent (dooku, or however you spell it), rather than the lightsaber. To me, Yoda’s battle has a hint of Marc’s “fart scene” – it is unexpected, therefore amusing. Yoda’s strength stems from his sense of calm, and that frenetic battle scene just took away from that.
So there is my meager defense.
Marc – how was the movie? Worth seeing?
Short answer: Hell yeah.
Long answer: I’ll tell you after the third or fourth viewing (which should be sometime tomorrow afternoon ;-).
Oh and to answer the big question, Yoda does ***not*** fart in the movie. But there are some “popcorn” moments, only this time they actually feel somewhat substantial (as opposed to the Dooku fight in AOTC which, in the end, really solved or exposed nothing).
While I like to read Anthony Lane for his snarkiness, I’ve found to be ovely cranky of late. Stephen Hunter’s review in the post is a lot more favorable, and Hunter seems much more reliable on American Popcorn Movies.
I suspect Sith will be the first movie beside Harry Potter III that we’ll see in the theatre since the kids were born (although I wish we had seen Return of the King that way). For everything else, Netflix has been just fine.
I should say that I linked to the review because of its snarkiness, not because I thought it was accurate.
I think that Sith will be fine – better than the first two by most accounts. I’m all about seeing it on the big screen.