You have to be of a certain mindset to appreciate a film about a bunch of übergeeks who, back in 1988, hatch a hair-brained scheme to break into Skywalker Ranch (home of George Lucas) and steal a copy of The Phantom Menace before it comes out. You’d have to be well-versed in the ‘verse. You’d better be strong with the Force, and you’d better know the name of Chewbacca’s home planet, even though it’s never mentioned in the first three movies.
Yes, you’d have to be of a certain sensibility for such a senseless movie. I’m glad to say that nearly everyone I know is exactly that geeky and they’ll all love this film.
I’d heard about this movie a while back and I really wanted to see it, if only because I’m a huge fan of Dan Fogler (Balls of Fury). But make no mistake… this is a film by fanboys, for fanboys, about fanboys. The rest of you will be quite forcibly pushed out an airlock and left there while me and my friends snicker at things you couldn’t possibly know and would never waste the brain cells to learn. This goes waaaaaaay beyond the great and worthy Greedo Shoots First debates, kids. This is hardcore stuff. This was clearly a labor of love. Of single-minded, obsessed, nearly mentally deranged love.
But, Zod, I giggled my ass off through most of this movie and I was laughing out loud, literally guffawing, in the first three minutes. Because this film was made for me and people like me.
And there are times when it jumps the shark and nukes the fridge and you kind of have to be okay with that. It comes with the territory.
Back in America, I had an epic DVD collection. Over 400 movies and TV shows acquired over several years that are now sitting in a climate-controlled storage facility in Florida, along with a 55-inch screen TV to watch them on. (Yeah. I’ve got your Death Star right here.)
When I moved to China, one of my guilty pleasures was going to a DVD store around the corner from my apartment and getting a movie to watch with dinner every night. When I moved to Beijing, I found a good place that had a great selection, and reasonable prices.
Now I’ve got a guy.
I have made the final transition. A block from my apartment there’s a guy who spends his entire day squatting in front of an open suitcase with his highly-illegal, obviously-pirated DVDs. But they’re only 5 kuai each. Or about 85¢ USD. This one even has the audio commentary.
85¢.
The Force is strong with this one.
amused
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I.Love.This.Movie.
You’re right. It is made for people like us. And villains who don’t wash their hands.
Trying to decide whether to move to Beijing or break into your old house.
Break into the old house. It’s less expensive. But if you move to Beijing you’ll actually have Frank.
Urchin – Because they’re evil. Hehehe. Thank you for that.
hpmike – Man, somebody should be watching that TV. I actually bought my house to accommodate the TV. It was too big for my apartment. (Is it wrong to miss an inanimate object so much?)
Urchin – You really are just too sweet for words. Thank you, my friend.
Only sweet to folks I like. Trust me. There are people out there who would swear on their own souls that I’m as evil as they come. And I wash my hands. :p
It feels like I’ve been waiting for this movie forever! It’s at the top of my Netlfix queue after missing its brief theater release. Glad to hear that it doesn’t disappoint.
I remember actually being upset when I originally saw Return of the Jedi because, based on books I’d read and rumors I’d heard, I thought we were actually going to see what Kashyyyk looked like! Instead we got Ewoks on the moon of Endor. I guess the high speed chase scenes through the trees made up for it.
Not sure if they had this at Disneyworld on the right coast but at Disneyland, there was a ride called Star Tours. They had travel posters to Hoth, Endor and Tattoine. Oooh! A dream come true!
Unfortunately the ride never made it to any of those promised destinations. Instead, a Johnny-5 type robot (Short Circuit) takes you on a crash course through an asteroid belt. I rode that ride so many times, trying to get into different shuttles thinking the experience would be different. No dice. I always WISHED they’d give us more options in the future so we could fly through the trees of Endor or between the legs AT-AT walkers on Hoth. Disney imagineers missed the shuttle on that one. So much potential wasted
Josie – “Missed the shuttle” is a great turn of phrase. Leave it to you. And as if you’d have to tell me who Johnny-5 is. Shame on you.
Josie,
I loved that ride. Very cool stuff for a 12 year old boy – especially since there was no wait when we went so we cycled through it a couple of times. The ride had a great line-up area as well. Highlight of the trip.
The Indiana Jones stunt spectacular was pretty cool as well. Especially when Indy actually got crushed by the rolling ball.