STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH

STAR WARS EPISODE III -- REVENGE OF THE SITH (2005). Written and directed by George Lucas.

Fearing for his wife's safety and wishing for the power to protect her, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) succumbs to the dark side of the force and becomes Darth Vader. [Of course the fact that young Skywalker is put on the council but not made a "master" by his superiors and the resentment this engenders also influences his decision.] All these years after the original Star Wars it seems strange that anyone would even care about this long and rather silly saga that in general has always been below comic book level [while battening off the ideas of such comics giants as Jack Kirby]. Typical of today's FX movies, there is so much computer animation in the film that it resembles a cartoon. The miniature spaceships and the like which were once so striking now just look like miniatures. The wizened Yoda gets a lot of screen time and is as irritating as ever. Most of the acting in the movie can't be characterized so much as "bad" as simply "dull." At 140 minutes this will best be enjoyed by diehard Star Wars fanatics and may put everyone else to sleep. There are some good scenes, such as a battle between Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) over a river of lava, but the ultimate effect is rather numbing.

Verdict: Hopefully the last Star Wars movie ever. **.

EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS

EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood. Peter Biskind. Simon and Schuster; 1998.

To the sub-title of this book could have been added the words “and destroyed themselves in the process.” This excellent book studies the lives and works of the major directors who came into their own in the seventies and afterward, when directors and not the studios seemed to become the prime power in Hollywood. The directors – Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, William Friedkin, Martin Scorsese, Hal Ashby, Bob Rafelson, Peter Bogdanovich, Robert Altman and others – are depicted as being just as egomaniacal and domineering as any movie star – in fact, they come off as a bunch of major assholes. Biskind chronicles how Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider began a youthquake in Hollywood that tried to capture the waning audience by making films that were hip and irreverent, full of sex, drugs and violence, and once in a while achieved quality. It also documents how many of the decade's most famous directors imploded on their own egos and self-destructed on drugs and alcohol. [In one of the book's funniest anecdotes we learn how Dennis Hopper stopped mixing his gallon of rum a day -- he also imbibed several beers and consumed drugs daily -- with coca cola and switched to rum and cranberry juice because he thought it would be healthier for his liver!] Directors such as Friedkin and Bogdanovich became so successful so soon that they believed their own publicity and thought there was no production that was beyond them, no idea they couldn't turn into a money-making Oscar contender [boy, were they wrong!]. Some of the people give very frank interviews to Biskind, and – surprisingly – put the blame squarely where it belongs – on themselves. Just about everybody agrees that most of today's movies – sequels, prequels, remakes, and big-screen adaptations of awful old TV shows -- stink.

Verdict: A riveting read. ***1/2.