More stuff I read and watched a while ago.
Comic Review: Star Wars: Sith War This series picks up right where Dark Lords of the Sith finished off. Uliq Quel-Droma and Exar Kun lead the galaxy into war. Uliq Quel-Droma and his forces, with the Mandalorians (early Boba Fett style mercenaries) attack Coruscant while Exar Kun sways a group of young Jedi Knights to murder their teachers and follow him. Exar Kun fights with a nasty double-bladed lightsabre, just as Darth Maul will much later in Episode I.
Comic Review: Star Wars: Redemption This story takes place some years after Sith War. Uliq Quel-Droma, stripped of his force powers, must deal with the guilt over all the harm he caused. When he is killed at the end his body disappears, revealing that he was still a Jedi Master. This was similar to the ultimate fate of Darth Vader at the end of Episode VI. As in that movie I didn't like how one final good act can redeem the many evil acts that a character does previously. It's seems an awful lot like a Christian death bed repentance. It doesn't seem to mesh with the other Eastern philosophical concepts that fill the Star Wars universe - such as the living force/chi/ki concept and all the teachings of Yoda.
Comic Review: Star Wars: Jedi vs Sith Approximately 3000 years after the last series and we find a world consumed by war. An army of Jedi's fights against an army of Sith. A very weak story that follows around a group of children that I couldn't care less about. The only good thing about this series was at the end when a Sith general wipes out his entire army just to kill as many of the Jedi as possible. The last remaining Sith decides that from this point on there will only be, a master and an apprentice.
Book Review: Star Wars: Bane of the Sith This short story tells us more about the last remaining Sith Lord, Lord Bane. He flees to the ever-popular 4th moon of Yavin to find relics from Freedon Nadd.
Book Review: Broca's Brain - Carl Sagan Not as good as his previous book 'Dragons of Eden' but still very interesting. Very ironic that he found the preserved brain of Professor Broca in a jar in Paris. It spends far too much time debunking the theories of Dr. Velikovsky, a quack in the 60's who believed that many of the miracles in the Old Testament can be explained by a giant meteor that shot out from Jupiter, nearly collided with the Earth twice, and then settled into an orbit around the sun. This comet is now known as the planet Venus. You'd think it wouldn't take too much to discredit this guy but it's the longest chapter in Sagan's book. His other chapters about AI, space travel, etc, are dated but still fascinating. He's a very engaging writer and I'm sure he was a heck of a lot of fun to talk to or just listen to.
Movie Review: Taxi (1998)
The original Luc Besson produced film in French. It's much better than the awful American version which I reviewed some time earlier. This is much funnier and it's amazing how much the lead actor, Sami Naceri, looks like Adam Sandler. 7/10
Movie Review: Heisei Tanuki Gassen Pompoko (1994)
The English name is just Pom Poko. This is one of Japan's famous anime director Miyazaki's older films. He still uses the same themes in his later works though. Here we have a tribe of badgers that are threatened as human development turns their woodlands into paved streets and 2 story houses. As per Japanese legends though, some of these badgers can change their shapes. So the badgers declare war on the humans and trick them by playing various kinds of pranks on them. Mostly just tricks to scare them, but some are very fatal. I thought it was rather strange that a common fighting tactic of the male badgers was to stretch their testicles into large spring shapes and then bounce into their adversaries. No, I'm not making this up. 7/10
Movie Review: Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
This documentary was just fantastic. The director had originally just planned to make a short film about party clowns in New York but it turned into this huge project about a family that was torn apart when the father and one of the sons were convicted and sent to prison for child molesting. Flash forward 30 years later and the son is out of jail and still trying to prove his innocence. Many of the original witnesses now claim that nothing happened and that the police pressured them to lie. What's true, the film leaves you to decide. But the large amount of home video the family took during the time of the trial, and the interviews with all involved then and now are just fascinating to watch. 9.5/10
Movie Review: Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (2005)
The Family Guy animated movie. Not really a movie, just the final 3 episodes of the new season all put together. There is a common story running through all of them but it really doesn't hold up. Only the first 1/3 was really funny. For a series based on comedic asides and quirky pop references such a long story just doesn't work. 6/10
Comic Review: Star Wars: Redemption This story takes place some years after Sith War. Uliq Quel-Droma, stripped of his force powers, must deal with the guilt over all the harm he caused. When he is killed at the end his body disappears, revealing that he was still a Jedi Master. This was similar to the ultimate fate of Darth Vader at the end of Episode VI. As in that movie I didn't like how one final good act can redeem the many evil acts that a character does previously. It's seems an awful lot like a Christian death bed repentance. It doesn't seem to mesh with the other Eastern philosophical concepts that fill the Star Wars universe - such as the living force/chi/ki concept and all the teachings of Yoda.
Comic Review: Star Wars: Jedi vs Sith Approximately 3000 years after the last series and we find a world consumed by war. An army of Jedi's fights against an army of Sith. A very weak story that follows around a group of children that I couldn't care less about. The only good thing about this series was at the end when a Sith general wipes out his entire army just to kill as many of the Jedi as possible. The last remaining Sith decides that from this point on there will only be, a master and an apprentice.
Book Review: Star Wars: Bane of the Sith This short story tells us more about the last remaining Sith Lord, Lord Bane. He flees to the ever-popular 4th moon of Yavin to find relics from Freedon Nadd.
Book Review: Broca's Brain - Carl Sagan Not as good as his previous book 'Dragons of Eden' but still very interesting. Very ironic that he found the preserved brain of Professor Broca in a jar in Paris. It spends far too much time debunking the theories of Dr. Velikovsky, a quack in the 60's who believed that many of the miracles in the Old Testament can be explained by a giant meteor that shot out from Jupiter, nearly collided with the Earth twice, and then settled into an orbit around the sun. This comet is now known as the planet Venus. You'd think it wouldn't take too much to discredit this guy but it's the longest chapter in Sagan's book. His other chapters about AI, space travel, etc, are dated but still fascinating. He's a very engaging writer and I'm sure he was a heck of a lot of fun to talk to or just listen to.
Movie Review: Taxi (1998)
The original Luc Besson produced film in French. It's much better than the awful American version which I reviewed some time earlier. This is much funnier and it's amazing how much the lead actor, Sami Naceri, looks like Adam Sandler. 7/10Movie Review: Heisei Tanuki Gassen Pompoko (1994)
The English name is just Pom Poko. This is one of Japan's famous anime director Miyazaki's older films. He still uses the same themes in his later works though. Here we have a tribe of badgers that are threatened as human development turns their woodlands into paved streets and 2 story houses. As per Japanese legends though, some of these badgers can change their shapes. So the badgers declare war on the humans and trick them by playing various kinds of pranks on them. Mostly just tricks to scare them, but some are very fatal. I thought it was rather strange that a common fighting tactic of the male badgers was to stretch their testicles into large spring shapes and then bounce into their adversaries. No, I'm not making this up. 7/10Movie Review: Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
This documentary was just fantastic. The director had originally just planned to make a short film about party clowns in New York but it turned into this huge project about a family that was torn apart when the father and one of the sons were convicted and sent to prison for child molesting. Flash forward 30 years later and the son is out of jail and still trying to prove his innocence. Many of the original witnesses now claim that nothing happened and that the police pressured them to lie. What's true, the film leaves you to decide. But the large amount of home video the family took during the time of the trial, and the interviews with all involved then and now are just fascinating to watch. 9.5/10Movie Review: Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (2005)
The Family Guy animated movie. Not really a movie, just the final 3 episodes of the new season all put together. There is a common story running through all of them but it really doesn't hold up. Only the first 1/3 was really funny. For a series based on comedic asides and quirky pop references such a long story just doesn't work. 6/10
posted by Jason at 3:05 PM
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