Thoughts on the Sith

Overall, I liked it. Much better movie than the first two prequels. Not without its problems/flaws, of course, some of which I'll discourse on, as well as things I liked:

SPOILERS FOLLOW:

• Let's get this out of the way: Leia in ROTJ has NO REASON to think she's adopted, so when Luke asks her about her real mother she can easily be thinking of Ms. Organa. This is NOT AN ISSUE - PLEASE MOVE ON.
• Chewie - was he necessary? No. Did I like seeing him? Absolutely.
• Grievous - In case you missed 'em, Grievous gets his chest cavity Force-crushed by Mace Windu in the last of the animated Clone Wars shorts. That's why he's coughing and wheezing as ROTS opens.
• More Grievous - I was hoping for so much from this character, he had such a cool looking visual and he's the Alpha-version Vader. DAMN HE WAS COOL!
• Okay, so Episode II set us up for the whole Clone-troopers-are-stormtroopers and Separatists-are-really-the-proto-Rebellion, but the execution of Order 66 was still cool.
• FINALLY a reason why none of the Jedi disappear in this movie, and nicely tying up Vader's confusion in Episode IV when Kenobi does it. Seeing Qui-Gon would've been niec, though.
• Boga - When I saw this thing in spoilers and in toys, I thought it was stupid, but in the film it reminded me of one of my birds. Very sad when it gets shot. :(
• Acting - well, it wasn't the best, but that's not why you go see a Star Wars film, honestly. Lucas has admitted he doesn't know who to get the most out of his actors.
• Mace Windu - I have to admit I never cared much for the character until now. But man, Mace Windu is a bad man.
• By the same token, the Jedi who went with Windu to arrest Palpatine? Chumps; even my boy Kit Fisto, who went out like a punk.
• Ian McDiarmid - when he's playing Palpatine, he's good; as Sidious, though, he was waay over the top, at least IMO. Some nicely done scenes where he's tempting Anakin, though.
• Darth Plagueis as Father o' Anakin - well, I suppose. Kind of ambivalent about this, although I guess it finally gives us some resolution.
• R2-D2 - stole the show. He was great in just about every scene he was in.
• Opening space scene - wow. The ARC Fighter is now one of my favorite Star Wars vehicles. Loved that the X-wing prototype was flown by clones - stormtrooper prototypes - and later used to polish off Jedi in the new model Jedi Starfighters - which are TIE prototypes.
• Dunno why Obi-Wan couldn't just Force push the droids off his ship, though.
• Glad to see that we get some more of the evidence for why Obi-Wan calls Anakin the "greatest starfighter pilot in the galaxy" in ANH. Not enough of that in ATOC, in my opinion, and the crapfest that was the space battle at the end of TPM proved nothing to me.
• Lightsaber battles were all cool, including ones with the aforementioned Grievous.
• LAVA BATTLE - 'nuff said.

Overall, it was definitely the best of the prequels, but not as good of a movie as The Empire Strikes Back. Time will tell how much I like it in comparison to the others. Have to see it again...

Star Wars... Nothing but STAR WARS

In case you've been living under a rock and only coming out to check this blog (and if so, WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?) STAR WARS III: Revenge of the Sith opens at midnight tonight - or one minute after midnight depending on your theater.

Sadly, I have to get up around 4 am to go to work tomorrow, so I won't see it until the afternoon.

My poor Wife. Her birthday is May 19th. Every three years she gets dumped on by Lucas for her birthday. (No, I'm not taking the blame for that one, he could've released the movie at any time)

Car Taint

It has seemingly returned. The story goes as follows:

• Car was making noise.
• Car taken to shop. Told that Car has a bad motor mount, which is causing noise. Bad motor mount on Car is due to an oil leak, which they can't find since there's oil all over the engine. Recommended Car be taken to detailer, who can clean the engine.
• Detailer called about cleaning Car's engine, appointment made.
• After arriving for Car's engine appointment, told that Car's engine could not be cleaned due to age of Car. After some debate, detailer agrees to clean Car's engine "after the cars that are ahead of you". Walk the four miles home. Much drama made of inability to return to detailer before they close (since they took 4 hours to get to Car's engine, despite Car's appointment). Charged $50 to clean Car's engine over the phone, an event that was apparently without precedent in the annals of detailer's history, which meant that it took 10 minutes to make it happen.
• Car returned to shop, where mechanic informs me that detailer only cleaned the top of Car's engine, meaning I'd mostly wasted my $50. Can't find oil leak on first examination, told to bring Car back after driving Car a few days with the oil dye in.
• Car returned to shop on Saturday, told would be ready around 2 pm. Estimate given of $600.
• Call received from shop around noon on Saturday, whereby mechanic asked if Car had had any coolant leak problems (not that I was aware of) and informed me that he'd broken a pipe leading to the heater core that was essential if Car was to have coolant remain in the engine. Parts would arrive no sooner than Monday.
• Parts don't arrive Monday.
• Parts arrive Tuesday, Car is repaired. $800 bill presented. No refund given for broken pipe.

Total cost to repair Car: $850.

Having Car back: Not really so priceless.

I Am Serene

Well, not really - but I am going to see Serenity this May 26th, a whopping five months before the majority of the public can go see it. Scored tickets to the sold-out-before-it-was-even-properly-announced DC show. Woo!

I will post a review here once seen - with spoilers, probably.

Also got Adam and Allison tickets when Joss Whedon couldn't - I am the biggest dork EVER.