Article: Our Five Favorite James Earl Jones Roles
James Earl Jones is a bad mofo when he wants to be. Watch him tonight in “Conan the Barbarian” and see for yourself.
“The Dark Knight Rises” debuts more new character posters
Has the Sacha Baron Cohen shtick jumped the shark?
Tim Grierson on Will Smith, the Last Movie Star
Exclusive download: Corporal, featuring Michael Shannon, presents “Glory”
Star Wars
Article: George Lucas says Greedo always shot first
“It’s not a religious event. I hate to tell people that. It’s a movie, just a movie,” he says of “Star Wars.”
Article: The rise of the film critic filmmaker
The line between film critic and film maker has always been a blurry one. “Battleship Potemkin” director Sergei Eisenstein wrote essays and books about the language of motion pictures that continue to be studied by film students to this day. Many of the biggest figures of the French New Wave, from Jean-Luc Godard to Francois…
Article: Volkswagon unveils their “Star Wars” Super Bowl commercial
There’s a cute dog in there too.
Article: The top 10 prophecies in movies
The year 2012 means terrible things for people who believe that the world will end along with the Mayan calendar on December 21. Thankfully, we have decades of movies to look back on and learn how to deal with whatever the apocalypse has to throw at us. Biblical prophecies, Mayan prophecies and Jedi prophecies have…
Article: Watch: Dogs bark out “Star Wars” Imperial March to tease VW Super Bowl ad
This time, it’s dogs barking the “Imperial March.” Yes, it’s as awesome as it sounds.
Article: Ne-Yo and the “Red Tails” cast talk “Star Wars” love, George Lucas and old-school lightsabers
“Red Tails” hits theaters Friday, bringing George Lucas’ long-awaited film about the Tuskegee Airmen to the big screen in dramatic fashion. During interviews for “Red Tails,” IFC polled the cast of the film about a long list of subjects — everything from working with Lucas to their favorite war movies — but during one particular…
Article: George Lucas to retire from blockbuster filmmaking
Also, he’s heard your bitching, and is done making “Star Wars” films.
Article: “Star Wars” live-action television series gets a working title: “Underworld”
Producer Rick McCallum also gives updates on the production status and content of the series.
Article: LucasFilm registers “Star Wars: Identities” domain names
For those who fixate on everything from Middle-Earths to galaxies far, far away, a great way to keep track of your favorite intellectual properties and franchises is to scan lists of recent domain name registrations. If you spent last week rifling through the records of Corporation Service Company, for instance, you would have learned that…
Article: George Lucas now editing his posters in addition to his movies
The changes George Lucas has made over the years to his “Star Wars” franchise are well-documented. Given that he just tweaked the films again for the new Blu-ray box set, I thought we wouldn’t be getting any more changes, at least for a little while. But the just released poster for the upcoming 3D version…
Article: Listen to two floppy drives play the “Imperial March” from “Star Wars”
For years, the only thing that grunting floppy drive noises meant to us was that we were mere moments away from another failed attempt at traversing the Oregon Trail. But now, some genius out there has programmed a pair the antiquated devices to play the “Imperial March” from “Star Wars,” and it’s even more exciting…
Article: “Star Wars” Wampa sneakers by Adidas keep styling Jedis cooler than Hoth
Let the battle between who can make the coolest nerd-themed sneaker ensue. Earlier this month, news broke that Nike is actually going to produce the sneaks that Marty McFly wore in “Back to the Future Part II,” minus their self-tying feature and attached hoverboard. Of course, the shoes will run you upwards of $5000, but…
Article: Ten changes we wouldn’t mind seeing in the new “Star Wars” Blu-rays
When news broke a few weeks ago that George Lucas was reediting the “Star Wars” films yet again, this time for their first release on Blu-ray, nerds everywhere reacted with collective outrage. “You can’t add Darth Vader screaming “NOOOOO!” to the end of “Return of the Jedi!” they cried. “We don’t want Ewoks that blink!”…
Article: “Star Wars” Blu-rays feature new digital alterations
Here we see George Lucas, on the set of 1983′s “Return of the Jedi” inspecting one of the film’s Ewoks and probably saying something along the lines of “These puppets stink. Can’t wait until I can make them digitally blink.” That’s right “Star Wars” purists: your sacred text is being futzed with once again by…
Article: The Midi-Chlorian Ruination Scale and the summer movie season
Movies are fixed (for the most part) but our opinions of them are fluid. You might see a movie and hate it, then see it again five years later and love it. Maybe your tastes changed, maybe the context changed, but for whatever reason the exact same movie generated two wildly different reactions. One common…
Article: British prop designer beats the Lucasfilm Empire, can still make Stormtrooper helmets
Way back in the mid-1970s, before “The Phantom Menace” was even a twinkle in George Lucas’ eye, Andrew Ainsworth made the headgear that would become the legendary Stormtrooper helmets in the very first “Star Wars” film. Now, over 30 years later, he’s secured his rights to keep making replicas of the helmets in his native…
Article: Modders craft an all-new Star Wars game from “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare”
Aside from the “Lego Star Wars” games developed by the Traveller’s Tales studio, it’s been a dark time for video game fans of the Skywalker mythos. Last year’s “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2″ got a poor reception from many. I myself was personally, very disappointed by the way its uneven storyline and cookie-cutter wasted…
Article: Wookie Translation in New “Star Wars” game
Would-be Jedi Knights and Sith Lords are counting down the days until the release of “Star Wars: The Old Republic,” the massively multiplayer online game that takes places thousands of years before the events of the six Skywalker movies. Players will be able to create characters in classes that map closely to the iconic roles…
Article: A Tribute To Film’s Fictional Bands
Check out this worthy montage featuring some of the greatest fictional bands from film history. Favorites include Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem playing “Can you picture that” in “The Muppet Movie,” the Soggy Mountain Boys belting out “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” in the Coen’s “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and Michael…
Article: The Ultimate “Star Wars: Episode III” Video Review
I love Mike Stoklasa’s video reviews, though perhaps “video reviews” isn’t a generous enough term for this man’s borderline heroic work. Stoklasa uses carefully selected video clips, smart observations about the language of cinema, and deranged humor from his videos’ narrator — a grumpy and cruel old man named Harry Plinkett — to critique the…
Article: Reports of the death of the intelligent blockbuster have been greatly exaggerated.
Around this time every year, the blame for the death of the intelligent Hollywood film is laid at the feet of “Jaws” and/or “Star Wars.” Richard Brody over at the New Yorker rounds up this week’s batch of articles, patiently noting that “It’s always the end of the world, and things were always better before.”…
Article: All About Antiheroes
Lou Ford, the protagonist of “The Killer Inside Me,” cuts a violent swath through his home town while we ride with him the whole way down. Inspired by the film, this week’s IFC News podcast takes on antiheroes at the movies, looking at how they’ve become so prevalent that it’s rarer to see a classic…
Article: Adaptation Logic
Both “Alien vs. Predator” films were by and large disposable mash-up exercises, undone by plots that couldn’t convincingly meld the two series’ worlds and directors who paled in comparison to the ones behind the creatures’ original solo outings. But in theory, this marriage of H.R. Giger’s acid-blooded beasts and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s camouflage-happy intergalactic nemesis is…
Article: George Lucas, fanboy martyr.
Hating George Lucas can sometimes seem like a national sport. Over the years, there have been many reasons for rage: “Star Wars” killed American cinema and made us all blockbuster-watching morons! Then he refurbished his movies and raped everyone’s childhood! And he invented marketing! And he made terrible sequels! Every time George Lucas does anything,…
