7dp Year in Review: Top 3 posts of 2015

Here we are, in the waning days of 2015 and everyone is looking back on the year that was. It's a natural time to look back and remember some of my favorite posts of 2015. Lets go with an arbitrary number like...I don't know, 3?

Yes! 3! That seems like a perfect choice.

The Top Three 7 Dollar Popcorn Posts of 2015

1. 7 Dollar Popcorn Awakens the Force - December 20th, 2015:

A fairly solid, if light on content, look at my initial thoughts after seeing Star Wars: The Force Awakens.



2. Sometimes the Force Sleeps In - December 26th, 2015:

I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens again on Christmas and had a few more thoughts to share. Another post where we can note it's brevity.



3. 7dp Year in Review: Top 3 posts of 2015 - December 29th, 2015:
   
   A look back at the year that was. To be fair, it's a pretty distant third.
   

7 Dollar Popcorn Awakens the Force

Um...Hi! It's...it's been a while. A long while. Yikes. Um, yeah, I'm alive. I'd just, you know...been busy...doing things.

Like seeing the new Star Wars!

Yup, that's right, I was one of the select millions who saw Star Wars Episode VII: The Wallet Opens. 

It was...well, it was ok. That's good though! Of the 6 prior movies, most of them were less than ok! So, an ok movie is actually a step in the right direction! And, I plan on seeing it again, which is also good.

A couple of not really spoiler-y notes:

C-3PO has the best line in the entire movie.

I love that the Millennium Falcon has a new deflector dish! I wonder if Lando paid for it?

Daniel Craig was great. 

I love that it wasn't just the further adventures of a bunch of white dudes.

Lightsabers are still cool.

Movie Sketch or What the Hell Was I Thinking? I Can't Draw!

So, the other day, over on the twitter, Alex, of the awesome blog Film Forager, posted that she was having trouble coming up with something for this week's movie sketch (I guess it would be worth noting that she posts a weekly movie sketch). I look forward to this as she is a good artist as well as movie reviewer. I, however, am neither a good movie reviewer nor a good artist. Of course I volunteered to fill the movie sketch gap. And she accepted my offer! I have no idea why! She has seen one of my drawings!

This led to a bit of a problem. One bigger than my lack of talent. No, this lead to me A) not knowing what the hell to draw and 2) really wanting to do something good! I tried drawing William Powell from The Thin Man, but I can't draw faces, at all. So, then I was going to try a t-rex from Jurassic Park. That didn't work either. Next I thought that maybe I could draw the ship from Serenity (side note, as a kid, I *loved* drawing space ships!)...nuh uh. Finally, I fell back on Star Wars. 

Yup, me, a pen and a highlighter came together to produce something that looks reasonably similar to a clone trooper's helmet. Overall, I'm fairly proud of it. I've certainly done worse (this is why I'm NOT posting what I scrapped). It's nothing near as good as anything you will EVER see as part of Alex's Movie Sketch Project, but I hope it helps fill the void this week.

Star Wars 2D is fine by me

I'd like to tell you how much money I've spent in my life to watch Star Wars. I'd LIKE to, but frankly, I'm too lazy and too embarrassed to do the math!

The first time I saw Star Wars was actually on TV. We actually may or may not have taped it off of TV. I had those tapes until I was 18 and bought the Special Editions on VHS.

Naturally, I saw all three Special Editions in the theater. Of course I did!

When Episode I came out, I waited in line a week ahead of time to get tickets. On opening day, I saw it twice. Back to back.

I saw Episode II twice as well, though I didn't camp out for it. I did, however, pay extra to make sure I saw it in an all digital theater.

Episode III I only saw once in the theater. To be honest, I was unimpressed with it at the time (it has since become a favorite).

I bought the deluxe VHS edition of Episode I that came with all sorts of neat bonus stuff like a book and a frame of the film. And that actually reminds me, I also bought and read the novelization of Episode I!

Unrelated to actually watching the movies, my 19th birthday was the day they released the action figures for Episode I. I was there at midnight with the other nerds buying them up. It's also worth noting here that I never hated Episode I as much as the rest of the world seemed to. Previous discussions can be found here and here.

I bought each prequel on DVD as they came out. When the original trilogy box set came out, I bought that. When they released the movies as individual two disc sets, I bought those. I had to! The second disc was the theatrical cut of each movie! Star Wars sans 25 years of meddling!

I'm done.

Why on earth do I need to spend one more dollar on these movies? Do I care about seeing them in 3D? No. Do I want to see them on Blu-Ray? I don't even want to get a Blu-Ray player!

I just cannot justify spending any more money on these movies. It doesn't mean that I like them any less, it just means that I've reached my limit. There's nothing else that can be added to these movies that will make me want to spend another dime to watch them.

I'm sorry, George. I just can't do this.

These are just way too cool

In a somewhat rare (for me) act of attribution, these were done by Yair M. and seen on Flickr.

Quite possibly the most amazing 2:12 of your life.

This is all kinds of awesome. This is beyond awesome. This is simultaneously awesome AND every synonym for awesome.

Professor of archeology, expert on the occult, and how does one say it? Obtainer of rare antiquities.

If you read movie blogs, and if you're here it's a good bet that you read one or two, you may have seen a meme going around. Basically, people have been writing 10 movie based facts about themselves, and then tagging other to do the same. I was not tagged. I'm not surprised by this as I write pretty infrequently these days. And besides, if I really cared all that much, I'd just do the damn meme anyways.

Now before you start yelling at me to 'quit your whiny whining whiner', let me explain something. The whole point of that last paragraph (other than linking to 3 other blogs) is because something came to mind this evening and, well, it made for a good lead in.

I have one movie related thing about me that I want to tell you. One thing that I want to write about tonight. See, I was looking for a movie to watch tonight. I'm bored. That's all there is to it. So, it occurs to me that I could watch a movie. Ok, sounds like a plan. I'll put a movie in. Well, I don't want to pay too much attention to it. See, I almost want background noise as much as I want anything. So, whatever movie I pick, it has to be something I've seen before. And it can't be Evil Dead 2 since I just loaned it out. It's been a long time since I saw Amelie and I've been wanting to watch it again for some time.

So I pull the DVD out of the DVD drawer. I put it in the DVD player. The menu comes up. I press play. I wander off momentarily. I come back. I press the audio button on the remote. As much as I love the sound of the French language, I know less than 30 words any more. And besides, like I said, I don't really want to pay that much attention. There is no dub on the DVD. French audio and English subs only. Now. This wouldn't normally bother me. Not even a little. Like I said, I love the sound of the French language. Subtitles don't bother me, not even a little. I just didn't want to pay much attention.

See, this happens to me a lot. I want to watch a movie, but not something new. Something I've seen before. Something that I've seen many times. Something that, if I leave the room and come back, or turn my attention from for a little while, I'll know just what's going on when I come back in the room.

This brings me up to the real reason for this post. My assumption is that I'm not alone in this. That other people do this with movies as well. And, well, I thought that it might be fun to share some favorites. I don't really have a good name for the list, but I'm going to list a few that I always fall back on, and if anyone else is so inclined, comment, or write about it on another blog and let me know.

My List Of Movies I Like To Watch When I Want To Watch A Movie But Don't Want To Watch Something I'm Unfamiliar With (in no specific order):

• Raiders of the Lost Ark (tonight's choice (Temple of Doom and Last Crusade are just as likely))
• Star Wars (any of the six)
• Lord of the Rings (any of the three)
• Shaun of the Dead
• Serenity
• Doomsday
• Event Horizon
• Hellboy II
• Planet of the Apes (the Chuck Heston original)
• Resident Evil

Alright. What have you got?

Scarface has never actually held any appeal for me

560 posts isn't really a milestone, but I'll take it.

This one is making the rounds, and you may have seen it by now, but I don't care. I love it!

Yoda isn't actually a lot of fun to play with...

Do you know what I watched over the weekend? Nothing. I managed to find a way to watch nothing besides a few episodes of Futurama on DVD. Aside from that, I picked up Soul Caliber 4 for the 360.

I had played it when I saw my friends out in San Jose a couple of weeks ago and had a lot of fun playing it. I've had fun with all of the Soul Caliber games though, so that wasn't too surprising. As an added bonus, the PS3 has Darth Vader in it and the 360 has Yoda. You know, from Star Wars. And they both have The Apprentice from The Force Unleashed. Yoda isn't actually a lot of fun though. He's small and kind of agile, but surprisingly slow and unresponsive. The Apprentice though is kind of cool and maybe a little more fun here than in his own game.

One of these days I should get a gold membership and play against people online. The only thing stopping me (well, 2 things) is my hatred of playing games with people I don't know and not actually knowing anyone else with a 360.

One More Video

Those are very nice armadillos...do they come in silver?

Rather than pretending that I could write anything coherent today (that doesn't have to do with me complaining about getting IDed to buy cold medicine), I'm posting a Star Wars video. Imagine if...Star Wars were a silent film...

Why? Seriously, why! Why can't you just make a regular game.

What's long been rumored is now confirmed. Yes, Bioware is working on a new Knights of the Old Republic game and, sadly, yes it will be an MMO. Yes, that bums me out.

I loved the two KotOR games for the original XBox. I've played them both probably half a dozen times, beginning to end. Mass Effect is a great game as well, one that I've played through a couple of times now. Bioware has made some really good games. And, what got me hooked with their games was the story telling and the decision making. I liked that your actions had concequences. Sure, you could kill a guy if you wanted, but people would react to that. It would make you more evil. Saving someone's cat might make you more pure, and all of these decisions would add up and have an impact on the end of the game. It's an idea that has become pretty prominent since then, being used to great effect in games like Fable and BioShock.

Now though, I don't know. I just don't have any interest in playing an MMO. I don't really like playing games online, and I really have very little interest in playing games with, or against, people I don't know. I only tolerate Mob Wars on Facebook because I can just have anyone who bothers me killed. Hell, most days that's all I do in the game, add people to the hitlist. Sure, it kills 3 minutes, but it's not exactly fun or interesting.

So, yes, I'm saddend by their decision to make KotOR into an MMO. I'll have to wait for Mass Effect 2. In the meantime, I picked up Fable 2 last night and played it for a few hours. It's off to a pretty good start, and I'm curious to see how it all plays out. And, as always, I'm already pretty evil.

Another Star Wars poster

 

Credit where credit is due: Poster by Craig Drake and available for purchase from StarWars.com

Change we can really believe in

Credit where credit is due: Poster by David Friedman of Ironic Sans which is easily one of my favorite blog names ever.

Seven things Star Wars can do to make itself interesting to me again...

I think it's become fairly obvious that there is no stopping the behemoth that is Star Wars. Games, books, tv shows, maybe more movies. Who knows. All I know is that George Lucas seems to want to kill Star Wars. I think that's his plan. Kill the franchise. Drain every drop of blood from the stone and leave it in a pile of wanton destruction. I can think of no other possiblity.

So, here at 7 things Lucas could do that would make me interested again. Or, maybe it's really just one thing said 7 different ways.

1. Create a new lead or 12

I like Obi-won. I like Anakin. I like Luke. All I'm saying is that there has to be more than 3 interesting people in the galaxy.

2. End the Clone Wars

I know, the war ended in Revenge of the Sith. Lets talk about something else now.

3. Look to the future

The reforming of of the Republic had to have had consequences. Training new Jedi had to have created some new adventures.

4. If you're going to mine the past, go further back.

Knights of the Old Republic was great. How about more like that? If the Jedi, Sith and Republic have been around this long, there must be more conflicts out there to tell stories about.

5. They don't have to all be trilogies.

The 'Episode X' thing was a crutch. Drop it and make a stand alone movie or two.

6. Show me something new.

Seriously. The prequel trilogy was fun. Let's move on.

7. Get away from the Skywalker era.

That's the big one for me. (And, really, this is all about me.) It's time to move past these characters. It's time to move past this era.

Analyzing Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Princess Leia: General Kenobi: Years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars; now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to present my father's request to you in person; but my ship has fallen under attack and I'm afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I've placed information vital to the survival of the rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi; you're my only hope.

A long time ago in a world that seems light years away now, there was a movie called Star Wars. A few years later they made a sequel, and another one soon after. However, there was something mentioned in that first film that took on a life of it's own. Something that was obviously pivotal to the story of the scrappy young hero who could. Something that laid the groundwork for everything that happened afterward.

The Clone Wars.

For 25 years, we could only speculate. What happened during this war that left the Empire in such turmoil? How were the Jedi wiped out? How did Vader fall to the Dark Side? In 2002 those questions began to be answered with the release of Attack of the Clones.

Since 2002 they've kept answering those questions...regardless of whether or not anyone is still asking.

Aside from Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith there have been 5 video games, an animated series, a CGI movie and, soon, a TV show.

What this really leaves me wondering is, are the Clone Wars really that interesting?

I like the Star Wars universe. I like the characters. But, really, can we move on? It's really kind of KILLING Star Wars for me. It's creative bankruptcy. There are no new ideas apparently. There are no new stories worth telling. That is what this says to me.

It's time to move forward. It's time to go into the dark unknown of the future. Star Wars needs to either stop or find a new story worth telling. If they're just going to keep mining their own past, then the story is already done and over.

Maybe it should have stayed leashed. Maybe that was the problem...

Go ahead and watch this. It's only 2 minutes. I can wait. I just need you to be familiar with the subject at hand.



Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is the latest entry in the ever more diluted Star Wars universe. Not a movie this time, but a video game. A video game that looked pretty sweet, to be honest. I mean, look, you can pull down a Star Destroyer! How cool is that?

Let me tell you how cool it is...it isn't. It's such a stupid thing in the game that it took me 45 minutes to finally bring the damn thing down and dying repeatedly because wave after wave of Tie Fighters come at you making you break your grip on the ship so you can destroy the Tie Fighters and essentially start over on bringing dow the Star Destroyer. You have to use the controller to position the Star Destoyer for a certain amount of time to bring it crashing down. It took me forever and I had the game on easy!

The game takes place in that magical time between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, which at least means that it's not dealing with the already boring Clone Wars. You play as a Sith apprentice named Starkiller. Vader has been training you in secret and is now sending you to kill the remaining Jedi for him.

It's a very linear story. After Knights of the Old Republic, I kind of expect more from a Star Wars game. I don't want to sit down and play through the story, I want an experience. Maybe KotOR is the wrong kind of game to compare it to. Maybe I should compare it to something more linear, like Gears of War or Bioshock, but it still wouldn't fare any better.

It's not a very deep game. While the use of the force is exciting and over the top at times, it's not enough. The game play mysteriously hovers somewhere between over simplified and overly complex without ever finding a happy medium. The story, while filling in an area of the mythos that hasn't been explored too much is interesting, but kind of silly at times too.

The game itself was kind of fun, most of the time, but for $60, I want something that is more than just 'kind of fun'. It's certainly worth playing, just not worth buying.

Dance!

Oh! That reminds me, did you realize that there is a Star Wars animated movie opening the week?

Me either.

Ok, I knew. Let's be honest though, I'm not exactly 'excited'. Not like I was for any of the actual movies. The whole thing feels very...anticlimactic? No, that's not the right word...I'm about as excited as I would be for the release of a new Star Wars book...which is to say that it's pretty meaningless to me.

I want to see this one

Oh, sure, Lucas says that he won't make any Star Wars movies beyond the end of Jedi, but, it would seem Target knows something different...


Episode 12? Really? Is that the one where everyone's grandkids try to save the galaxy like some Star Wars themed episode of Muppet Babies?