By George Robbins
We all know by now that the ‘Star Wars‘ franchise has had long lasting affects on society especially when it comes to the subject of pop culture. Pop culture dominates almost everything we see going on around us and it determines what a lot of people end up doing in their lives. The original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy that started all of it changed the course of society in some aspects, thus changing the lives of many different individuals. In the original trilogy, Luke Skywalker takes precedence as the main character of the story and we see his journey to learn about who he is and what he can do. The story of Luke’s journey completely changed everything as it introduced entirely new concepts to the world at large.
In the second film of the original trilogy, ‘The Empire Strikes Back,’ Luke has already gone headway into his journey and partially learned to use the Force. This mystical power is something that allows people access to all sorts of abilities and he starts learning how to use them in this film. By the end of ‘A New Hope‘ Luke started learning how to wield it, but ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ sees him trying to master it to some degree. His journey eventually culminates in a confrontation with the Sith Lord that he believed responsible for his father’s death, Darth Vader. Through that confrontation at the end of the film, he learns that Darth Vader is actually his father.
During their confrontation, Luke ends up in despair from not only finding out that his greatest enemy is also his father, but because he also loses an arm. His lost arm makes it impossible to continue fighting the man he now knows is his father and he has to make a hasty retreat. He manages to escape from the Cloud City that they were on and he is picked up by his friends as they are getting ready to escape from the planet. It is at this point that we see something interesting with his getting a new hand. In order to make up for the arm he had lost, a new robotic arm is made. This arm makes it possible for him to once again resume his training and finally confront his father one last time.
The interesting thing about his arm is that mention of it is never really brought up again. One part of this is because robotics limbs are mostly normalized in the Star Wars canon and the other part is the fact that it is covered in skin. Unlike anything that was really seen in media before, we saw him get a new hand that looked exactly like the one that had been lost. It was a robotic hand covered in artificial skin that he was able to touch things with. Without this loss of senses, he was still able to keep up with his foes in combat. Researchers in Singapore have developed artificial skin aimed to help those with prosthetic limbs regain the sensation of touch and they claim that the biggest inspiration for this was Luke’s arm in the Star Wars franchise. Though still in the experimental stages, it could open up a whole new world for prosthesis and for robotics.
By George Robbins
The ‘Kingsman’ series of films has garnered attention from sources all over the world ever since the first film, ‘Kingsman: Secret Service,’ released in theaters back in 2014. The series is based on a comic book series of the same name that was written by Mark Millar with art by Dave Gibbons. What really got people’s attention with this series was the over-the-top and stylish action pieces we were treated to in the first film. This drove home the movie in the eyes of those who had never heard of the comic series before and this made it more interesting for those that had. The sequel, ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle,’ was released in 2017 and while not as acclaimed as the first film, it still did fairly well.
There is an upcoming prequel that is supposed to be coming out soon call ‘The King’s Man,’ but due to the coronavirus pandemic, there is no telling just when it will release. What is loved most about these films, other than the stylish action sequences, is the fact that they shy away from other spy movie tropes. This has made them wholly original and unique which had resulted in the large fanbase that those films have managed to accrue and has brought the series to the point it is at now. The person that we have to thank for these films is Matthew Vaughn who is responsible for directing all of the films in the series thus far. Vaughn has been working in comic book films for awhile already and this adaptation has cemented his name amongst great directors.
Vaughn is responsible for the directing work of other comic book movies like ‘X-Men: First Class’ and ‘Kick-Ass’ which have both been given credit where credit is due. Although those films haven’t necessarily received commendations and they didn’t do anything really all that new, they were well put together movies that he deserves credit for working on. Now that he has wrapped production for the upcoming prequel, he is just waiting like everybody else to see his late work revealed to the public. One of the biggest issues presented as of late is the fact that he doesn’t seem like he will want to stay with the series from this point forward.
There is more than likely going to be a continuation of the series even after the release of the prequel and this means that we will definitely be seeing a ‘Kingsman 3’ some time in the future. Vaughn has recently said that he does not think he will be returning as the director for the film as he wants to hand the next entry of the series off to a new director. He believes that a change in style could really change things up and make the next entry in the series even more interesting. He revealed that the new prequel will be setting something up that will pay off in ‘Kingsman 3,’ but he isn’t sure if he really wants to be involved. It is something he will be considering for the future, so we may not see his directing style again based on whatever decision he makes.
By George Robbins
For many years now, the Pixar company has been one that has created a lot of different content for people to enjoy and their films are usually pretty well acclaimed critically. They got there start back in the 90’s with the creation of the first ‘Toy Story’ film and from that point on they just kept going on making acclaimed films. When the first ‘Toy Story’ film released in 1995 it quickly ended up being the highest grossing film of that year. They would go on to make a sequel, ‘Toy Story 2,’ that would release in 1999 with similar levels of success that rivaled the original film. It wouldn’t be until 2010 that ‘Toy Story 3’ would eventually come out, but it ended up being a movie that was well worth the wait.
The third film in the franchise would not be the last as ‘Toy Story 4’ ended up releasing in 2019 after a length of time almost as long as the gap between the second and third films. Despite the saying that sequels usually don’t do as well as their predecessors, every film in the franchise has done well both critically and at the box office. ‘Toy Story 3’ is where everything changed for the franchise though because it was much more emotional than the first two films as it saw the toys’ owner growing up and going to college. This was a major moment for people, especially those who grew up with the original films.
There were several moments in the film that give a perspective usually unseen in media when we see the growth of a character and the beginning of the next generation. The original films were already interesting enough given their backgrounds that toys come alive when their owners aren’t around. For those of us who misplaced our toys when we were younger and thought they simply moved on their own, it was something that we all thought of when watching the movies. Often times we would imagine what kind of adventures our own toys were having without us and this movie only fueled our imaginations.
In the third film though, we saw a moment where we as the audience weren’t really sure what would happen and we watched as the toys thought they were going to be incinerated. Ultimately this does not come to pass, but this brought up an interesting question that people have been wanting an answer to ever since the movie’s release. Many people have wanted to know if the toys in the movie could actually die, because we know they can be taken apart, but we don’t know if they are just immortal or not. ‘Toy Story 3’ director Lee Unkrich answered this question posed by a fan this past weekend by saying that they can die, but only if they are destroyed. So it seems the threat in the movie of being incinerated was one that was very real and we should now be glad it didn’t come to pass.
By George Robbins
Many films over the years have gone on to have sequels and franchises based on how well the reception of their first outing was. These films then go on to usually make their studios a lot of money and then they are always remembered for this fact. One film to do relatively well, but never had a chance at a sequel was the comedy ‘Pineapple Express.’ The movie followed a stoner and his dealer being caught up in a murder conspiracy that they accidentally stumbled into. What then follows is a journey that sees the two of them getting closer to one another while trying to deal with the dangerous situation that they have been put into. The movie itself did fairly well but never really had much time in the limelight to really stick out for audiences at large.
Overall, the critical response for the film was that it was a pretty well received movie that a lot of people actually liked. The film did pretty well when it first released in 2008 and has since then gained something of a cult following. People have loved the movie ever since its initial conception and it continues to this day as one of the most interesting modern day comedies out in the world. Beyond just whether or not the film was received well or not, it was also a financial success as it had a budget of around $27 million and it ended up making a total of $102.4 million at the box office alone. Fans have looked at this film for years as a movie that more movies should take inspiration from and they have wondered just why there was never a sequel.
Those wondering why the movie never actually got a sequel will no longer have to try and guess what the reason is that they didn’t get to see a sequel to the cult loved film. Recently, Seth Rogan, who both wrote and co-starred in the film, explained what the reason was for why they didn’t get to make a second movie. While sitting down on the ‘The Howard Stern Show,’ Rogan was asked about the potential of a sequel to the original film and Rogan answered that the crew of the movie was very much willing to make a sequel. Unfortunately, the amount of money that they asked for in order to make the film was too much and Sony decided that they would not fund the film. Rogan admitted that they may have asked for just too much money, but we’ll never know because Sony was not willing to fund a sequel to the first film.
By George Robbins
Movie productions are starting to really get back into things ever since they first had to shut down due to the pandemic back in March. Now that restrictions have been lifted a little bit, studios are doing their best to get their crews back to work and it is working out pretty well. Not every production has gotten back underway just yet due to the fact that those projects might have large crews behind them and some are overseas. Those that are not overseas have pretty much gone back to filming already and it is going relatively well for the time being. There is not much that can stop productions now even as cases spike unless a member of the crew tests positive for Covid-19. In the meantime, productions will carry on as they always have before.
One of the largest productions to get back underway is the production of the newest film in the ‘Jurassic World’ franchise, ‘Jurassic World 3: Dominion.’ They were among one of the larger productions to have to shut down not too long after they had started filming and they started back up again recently. Unlike many other productions, however, they were not really affected all that much by the shut down because they had filmed scenes before the shut down that needed VFX. So when the shut down happened, they didn’t get set back as that work could be finished at home without any kind of hitches getting in the way. Now that they are back on set, they are shooting the newest scenes that will be added to the film.
The scenes that will be done this week are those involving one of the original actors, Sam Neill, who will be making his return in the final movie to round out the trilogy. Neill has been looking forward to getting back to work on the project because it is one that he was genuinely excited to work on. He has said that he has a relatively prominent role in the film alongside his other former co-stars and he is excited to get back to work on a film a wants to keep working on. Hopefully what he has said will actually happen in the film and the character he plays will have a presence throughout the film and hopefully it will not just be a glorified cameo. That being said, it seems like the movie is going to be interesting and it might just meet its deadline so that it can be shown to the public by the end of next summer.
By George Robbins
Many people can agree that probably the worst entry for the DC Extended Universe was the 2016 film, ‘Suicide Squad.’ What we are discovering even more as of late is the fact that it was meant to be a very different film from the one that we ended up with. A couple of months back, fans received word that the Snyder Director’s Cut of ‘Justice League‘ will be coming out on HBO Max some time early next year. When word of this came out David Ayer, the director of ‘Suicide Squad‘ started revealing on social media that what people expected had happened did happen. This means that Warner Bros., the studio behind the release of the movie, had a lot of interference in the project and basically changed the whole thing.
Ayer let it be known that if he was able to make his own director’s cut for ‘Suicide Squad’ then he would since he has it pretty much almost done. Ayer has said that the only thing he needs to do to finish his cut of the film is add VFX and the film will be ready for a release, so he has been advocating for people to ask the studio for this version to release. Based on the response of the studio in regards to ‘Justice League’ he is hoping that they will relent and allow him to put his vision for the film out to the public. In the meantime, in order to get people on his side and to try and get people more onboard with the film, he has been putting out information on the film’s production.
Whenever a fan asks about the film in some way, he does his best to respond in order to make sure people know exactly what happened when the film was made. For instance, when asked about what he wanted in the film versus what actually made it in, he said that Diablo’s backstory is the only thing to make it in. Much of what he already filmed was thrown to the wayside and reshoots were done by order of the studio in order to make the film more light-hearted. What he had in store for the film was a much darker tone than the one we ended up with and as such it didn’t fit in with the story of the movie. This muddled tone is one of the biggest complaints people had for the film and is one of the reasons it didn’t do well.
Overall, there were a lot of changes to the film that cut out entire parts of the story that Ayer wanted to originally be left in. Of these many things, there was a theory that Joker had replaced Harley with other women while she was locked away in prison and Ayer said that this theory “is not wrong.” This is just one of the things that would have made Joker more interesting as a character; which apparently he was supposed to have a much better story than he did. Many of his scenes, according to Ayer, were cut from the film which was a shame considering how much hype there was for the character. Hopefully he will be able to release his own version of the film in the not too distant future and it ends up being a much better version of what we got originally.
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