Being a Stars Wars Inbetweener

It’s weird being born in 1981. I missed the first two Star Wars films being released in cinemas as I was not even born (inconsiderate parents) and I was only two when Return of the Jedi was released. I’m too old to be a part of the prequel generation but neither am I one of those millions of kids who lined up outside cinemas to see the original trilogy on the big screen.

The first Star Wars film I saw at the cinema was The Phantom Menace when I was nearly 18 years old. I wasn’t young enough to want a lightsaber or Jar Jar Binks doll and I definitely didn’t queue up for hours and hours to see the film on opening night. And what is more, I was not keen on catching Attack of the Clones in the cinema and am bloody glad I didn’t.

When The Force Awakens trailer was released earlier in November 2014, I was chatting to my 16/17/18 year old media students about it. I realised that they were born in 1997 or 1998 and that most of them were too young to have even seen the prequel trilogy in the cinema. Many of them said they loved Star Wars when they were younger but hadn’t seen the films in a cinema. What is really crazy to me is that many of them experienced the Star Wars saga, not in the order of their release (4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3) but in chronological order, as George Lucas possibly wishes we all had.

So as an early 80s baby I find myself in the strange situation of being between Star Wars trilogies; a Star Wars Inbetweener if you will. I’m not one of the uber-dedicated, super-geeky fanboys or one of the legions of filmmakers like Kevin Smith, Edgar Wright and J. J. Abrams who worship the original trilogy and have been inspired by it. I saw Star Wars first on TV, probably in 1987. I then had it taped on VHS so I could watch it over and over again. Of course, it was just ‘Star Wars’ to me; none of this A New Hope nonsense. It took me a long time to get through Empire and Jedi as I found Empire strangely off putting as a child. It was much later as a teen that I was strongly advised that I had to complete the trilogy, Ewoks and all.

I didn’t see the 20^th anniversary George Lucas re-releases in the cinema but I did buy them on VHS. I was mildly excited to see The Phantom Menace, but not as much as those crazy-obsessed, heading-for-middle-aged men who grew up witnessing the majesty of the original trilogy on the big screen. It’s strange to be between fan bases when so many people that are older than me and younger than me claim Star Wars to be the biggest and best franchise ever. The fans seem to own Star Wars. Anyone born in the early 70s will have grown up with these films as the definitive blockbusters of their generation. Anyone born in the early 90s will also likely feel slightly similar. Us early 80s babies are just stuck somewhere in the middle, floating around aimlessly in limbo.

What is more, I was too young to see Terminator 1 and 2, Die Hard 1 and 2, Robocop 1 and 2, Back to the Future and A Nightmare on Elm Street at the cinema. Despite not getting to see Back to the Future in a cinema (as I was only 3 when it was released), I still consider myself the Back to the Future generation. Back to the Future Part 2 was the film that blew my mind on the big screen. Had I not seen the first film on video beforehand, I’m sure it would be a different story. Even if I’m stuck in Star Wars limbo, thank God I’m part of the video generation!

The reason I write all this is that I always felt kind of alone in this Star Wars apathy. It seemed like most people my age loved Star Wars just as much as the fans who are a decade older than them. But then I spoke to a guy the other day who is also 33 and he said he felt the same. Star Wars just wasn’t his thing... he was too young for the hype of the original trilogy to have affected him and too old to have cared much about the prequels.

Do any other early 80s babies out there feel strangely disconnected from the whole Star Wars phenomenon or is it just me?

More on Star Wars:

This is not the Star Wars The Force Awakens Trailer

Rejected Star Wars Episode VII Titles 

Star Wars Episode VII Title Confirmed: The Force Awakens 

More Star Wars Sequels and Spin Offs Every Summer 

The day I met new Star Wars star John Boyega

 

 

Terminator: Genisys Trailer Analysys (see what I did there?)

Everywhere I turn people are hating on the Terminator: Genisys trailer, so I’m here to provide a little bit of cautious and quiet optimism with this analysis of the first trailer. Watch it here:

Unfortunately my CG fatigue kicks in immediately with the opening shot. I hate it when every single thing on screen is completely computer generated. Give me Cameron’s old vision of the dystopian future any day. However, it’s a nice touch having the decaying Hollywood sign visible in the corner of the screen though. I’m guessing it’s not a deliberate comment on the state of the moviemaking capital of the world but it would be nice if it was. Three flying craft enter and head for a destroyed LA skyline.

Cut to Jason Clarke’s nastily scarred John Connor preaching to his fellow war survivors as Jai Courtenay’s Kyle Reese looks on. Was Jason Clarke just picked for his initials? Only Jesus Christ and James Cameron can answer that, but hopefully Clarke will prove himself worthy, though I doubt he’ll ever take the title of coolest Connor from Edward Furlong. On a side note though, imagine if they’d got Furlong back for the role. Have you seen him recently?

The future looks suitably bleak and it’s nice to see Connor and Reese fighting side by side because no matter how many times I’ve tried to watch Terminator: Salvation, it just never feels like I’m watching the version of the future that Cameron intended. So Genisys looks like it has gotten it a bit better but still not nearly as bleak as the vision offered up in the dreams of Reese in the first Terminator film.

 There is what seems to be a quick flashback to the best bit of Terminator: Rise of the Machines as Skynet sets off the global destruction of the human race as missiles strike targets all over our silly little planet. There are also a whole bunch of Terminators ready to be dropped off the production line at any minute, suggesting Connor and Reese are going to have their hands very full getting into Skynet in order to use the time machine.

And this is the point where it gets very interesting to me. What Genisys is going to have to do, is fill in a whole lot of little details that were glossed over in the original films. We finally get to see the time machine and Reese being transported back to the 80s (if indeed it will still be the 80s). After an incredibly homoerotic handshake between the naked Reese and clothed Connor, it’s all lightning and those familiar sphere things transporting Reese.

I will be interested to see how they explain how the resistance found out about the machines’ time travel scheme and if they attempt to justify why the machines decided to target Sarah Connor just before she becomes pregnant with John and why they didn’t just try to kill her when she was a child.

My favourite bit of the trailer is the recreation of those few shots in the alley from the original Terminator film of Reese emerging from his time travel sphere to immediately start being chased by the cops. It’s an interesting touch to have the Figueroa Lounge sign in the background featured quite prominently. I don’t remember that in the original film, but Don Figueroa is a guy who provided artwork for the Terminator: Salvation prequel comic so I suppose it could be a nod to him possibly.

And then we get the biggest shock of all! Sarah Connor comes crashing in, the cop is revealed to be another T-1000 and the roles are reversed as Connor demands that Reese comes with her if he wants to live. Now she is the Mother of Dragons, Sarah Connor is not so scared and weak and in need of saving as her future son thought she would be.

 Basically I’m a sucker for any part of the trailer where they seem to be delving into the first film’s scenes. So when we get the shot of the Griffith Observatory (which by the way I went on a pilgrimage to when I was in LA) and old 80s Arnie facing off against new (really old) Arnie, it gets me very excited. The fact new Arnie has been waiting for his other self and only thought to bring a shotgun doesn’t make a lot of sense but we’ll see how that goes.

 As Sarah says, everything’s changed but why the future hasn’t changed is a mystery to me. I don’t even want to get into the time travel paradoxes of these films as I’m sure they never made any sense in the first place but the films were just so damn good that it never really mattered.

There’s a quick shot of the T-800 saving a young Sarah Connor and a few tidy action beats but by the time Connor says ‘we can stop Judgement Day from happening’, you’re starting to think ‘yeah right, heard that before’.

And finally, the less said about the school bus flip and Arnie dive bombing a helicopter, the better. Let’s hope some of the action scenes have some vaguely practical effects and a real sense of threat instead of this OTT madness.

All in all, I’m quietly optimistic that this will at least have a really interesting new take. I’ve got to say I love the new even more badass Sarah Connor and the return of a liquid metal Terminator is very welcome. It’s never going to live up to James Cameron’s original pair but it sort of reminds me of Days of Future Past which can only be a good thing.

 What do you think?

More on the Terminator franchise:No Fate But What we Make: My initial reaction to the news of a Terminator Reboot

Feminist Analysis of Terminator 1 and 2 

Genre Analysis of The Terminator 

Iconographic Genre Conventions in The Terminator 

Dystopian Visions: The Future is Bleak 

My First 10 Years of Movies: The 80s

Bond 24 Titled Spectre and gets a Teaser Poster

Big things are about to happen in the world of Bond 24 so get watching below:

Sam Mendes calls the 007 stage ‘The stage where budgets go to die’

The title will be: Spectre

7 month shoot across the globe.

Sam Mendes mentioned the key new additions to his crew:

Editor: Lee Smith

Cinematographer: Hoyt van Hotema (Interstellar)

Mendes then unveiled the new Aston Martin DB10

Before he introduced his returning cast:

Rory Kinnear as Tanner

Ben Whishaw as Q

Naomie Harris as Moneypenny

The 'extraordinary' Ralph Fiennes as M

and Daniel Craig back as Bond

As for new cast members, it's a tantalising bunch: 

Andrew Scott as Denby

David Bautista as Hinks

Monica Belluci

Lea Seydoux as Madeline Swann

Christoph Waltz

And here is the teaser poster:

 

Terminator: Genisys Teaser Trailer

I'll be back again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again is what Arnold Schwarzenegger should have really said all those years ago, way back in the now 30 year old original Terminator film. Will Terminator Genisys be a return to form for the franchise that has sadly fallen deeper and deeper into crapness since James Cameron left the helm?

I'm desperately hoping that it will be, but I, along with many others, am not convinced by much that I have seen from the marketing department. It all started off so well with the casting of Emilia Clarke as a young Sarah Connor, Arnie returning and Alan Taylor from Game of Thrones directing. The story details sound like a potentially very interesting new take and Jason Clarke sounds like a decent John Connor, even if he'll never be as cool as Edward Furlong. However, Jai Courtney better do something better for this franchise than he did for Die Hard.

The obligatory trailer tease popped up yesterday, promising the return of a T-1000-alike liquid metal Terminator into the mix. Could this be Matt Smith's role in the movie? Probably not judging by the above photo but it's a shame as I could really see him doing a tidy Robert Patrick impersonation.



And here, after a hellish long wait all day is the first official trailer:



Might I say that apart from a couple of dodgy effects, I am loving the look the look of this. I love the direction they have taken the storyline!

What do you think?

More on the Terminator franchise:

No Fate But What we Make: My initial reaction to the news of a Terminator Reboot

Feminist Analysis of Terminator 1 and 2 

Genre Analysis of The Terminator 

Iconographic Genre Conventions in The Terminator 

Dystopian Visions: The Future is Bleak 

My First 10 Years of Movies: The 80s

St Vincent Review

Curmudgeonly old codger Vincent has money problems, drinking problems and likes to make matters worse by spending what little money he has on sleeping with a pregnant Russian prostitute and gambling on the horses. Just as Vincent is at his lowest, the recently divorced Melissa McCarthy comes crashing into his life by moving in next door with her 12 year old son Oliver. When little Oliver is the target of bullies, he ends up losing his keys and having to ask Vincent for help. So starts a deal between Vincent and the boy’s mother where she will pay him to look after the boy while she works all hours to pay the rent.

Bill Murray is on fire as the grizzled old geezer at the beating heart of this story. Of course there is a heart beneath the gruff exterior. Of course the boy will help to thaw his heart.  Of course he’s not as mean as he first appears. While the old guy and his new young charge begin bonding over breaking bullies’ noses, the supporting cast also get their time in their spotlight. Naomi Watts is saddled with a dreadful accent and Terence Howard is completely wasted but Melissa McCarthy gets to deliver a wonderfully warm and touching performance as the straight one in her odd couple pairing with Murray, nimbly stepping out of the shadow of her recent comedic tour de forces. 

So while St. Vincent is filled with some fine performances, big laughs from Bill Murray and decent drama, it’s all as predictable as you can imagine. Chris O’Dowd fights earnestly in a handful of scenes for the title of funniest guy in the movie but this is definitely Murray’s vehicle. It’s a bright and sunny, heart warming film that never dwells too long on its brief moments of tragedy. Everyone in the film is inherently good, an overly optimistic take on life that occasionally rings false and sugar coats proceedings to the point where you may want to gag a bit by the end.

By the time, Oliver is trying to convince the world that Vincent is a modern day saint, the gags have all but dried up but St. Vincent has earned some of its its heart tugging emotion. Debut director Theodore Melfi has done well to gather such an accomplished cast who are capable of eliciting laughs and tears, even if the writing is frequently a little too obvious. St Vincent isn’t one of Bill Murray’s best films but without him, it would have been a hell of a lot worse. 

What did you think of St Vincent?

Check out the trailer:

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