Cinema Citations
(a) Geek
Arising from my sick bed at last, while M. was off with a friend to see a movie I had no interest in at one of the more art-house film palaces, I dragged myself up to the commercial cineplex to see the final Star Wars installment. When the first one came out, I not only went to see it more than once, I dragged friends along as well. Here's something new, I thought, even while acknowledging the debt it owed to the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials, some of which I'd seen as a (younger) child when they made a reappearance on television. Sure, they were hokey, and the special effects little more than updates of the processes used to create King Kong. I didn't mind the cheesey dialog or cardboard characters, because it was entertainment only, at least up to the moment when the British census recorded so many citizens claiming "Jedi" as their religion that it would (if recognized officially) achieve the same status as much older, more traditional, church-based religions. I missed, for one reason or another, seeing Phantom Menace and Clone Wars on the big screen, but I have little doubt there'd have been any improvement even just as spectacle over DVD, but this one promised more, so I made the effort. It is indeed a big show, benefiting from the larger format, but really, it was only working for me so long as nobody was talking. I agree with every bad thing I've read about it, and all the good things. I don't mind the AU$16.00 at all. Next up: Fantastic Four.

(b) Non-Geek
While sick, M. and I rented a raft of videos to watch over the long weekend of the Queen's Birthday: one new release and a couple of weeklies. That's how I got to see The Aviator, which is a very good movie and would have been terrific on the big screen. It missed out in the last Academy Awards, but I think rightly so. While the performances are very good, and it's a good looking movie, it's flawed by its focus being in the air, rather than on the ground. When it does focus on the man and his relationships and obsessions, it's very good, but flawed by making too much of an effort on the artistic camerawork. And, of course, it ends much too soon. It feels like it ought to be a much bigger, longer movie than it ends as.

We've also now seen Bright Young Things, Stephen Fry's directorial debut picture, and it's entertaining in every way. It captures the tone of the age, both in its pleasures and its pains, managing the emotional lives of its characters very well. I can generally do without costume dramas, but since they're mostly dressed up very little different from the way high society dresses now, I think this one skirts that category well enough that it's worth seeing for the snap of its dialog. You can be forgiven for wanting to slap Adam Sims around, though; he's infuriating with money and with manuscripts. Next video: I might push for A Series of Unfortunate Events.