When A Stranger Calls Back - still have a soft spot for this film even though it has the whiff of a cheap tv movie. Offers up a few plot contrivances to get the original characters back into a similar situation and could do with more moments of tension but overall enjoyable. There's a great bit near the end where the ventriloquist killer hides which is the perfect combination of far-fetchedness and creepiness. Carol Kane's voice still grates though.
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace - as much as I'd love to go against received opinion and find some hidden depths in this I just can't. It's awful. Truly awful. A 2 and a half hour animated soulless toy advert. The rubbish about the taxation of trade routes will do nothing but alienate it's core demographic, the cartoonish slapstick pratfalls of Jar Jar F--king Binks will do nothing but annoy the parents and the creepy way Queen Amidala perves on young Anakin will just disturb everyone. Meesa never watch again sir!
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones - not terribly interesting sequel. The overuse of cgi makes the previous film look subtle in comparison and it's surprising how dated it looks. I suspect another revised edition in 10 years with every pixel replaced. The only real good bit is the revelation that in granting Senator Palpatine emergency powers Jar Jar Binks is effectively responsible for the creation of the Empire. Nice one Jar Jar!
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - aka The One Where Stuff Happens. The least sucky out of the prequels which obviously doesn't say a great deal. Anakin's conflict between good and evil is laughably pantomime and really undermines the character of Darth Vader in the original trilogy. It does have a few nice set pieces but suffers the same issues as the previous films in that none of the fights have any dramatic tension since the outcome is already known. By the end it just feels like they're ticking all the boxes to wrap it up and tie it into the original trilogy. "Luke and Leia born? Check! C3P0's memory wiped? Check!". Pointless Chewbacca cameo too. Am I ever going to sit through this again? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
Hopefully going to go through the original trilogy today.
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