Written by: Jude Watson

Jude Watson has done a great job exploring the Star Wars Universe culture by going to many different worlds and seeing many different galactic activities all the while trying to slowly bring Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi along on their journey towards where we see them in Episodes II and III. This story is no different as we see the galaxy far far away’s equivalent of the Olympics. Something that absolutely should happen but you don’t think much about it happening, until Watson brings it up.

Written by: Jude Watson

Anakin Skywalker’s education continues as we find out more about the mysterious Granta Omega…eventually. As Anakin gets older we need to see a bit more tension between Obi-Wan and Anakin but more importantly we need to see that Anakin is able to be seduced even if it is for the right reasons.

Granta is the first time we see Anakin interacting with a less overt and instead much more charismatic form of evil. Showing shades of Palpatine, Granta befriends Anakin (even if it’s under an alias) so that by the time he is revealed, Anakin has conflicted emotions.

Written by: Jude Watson

I’m surprised it took me this long, but I can be slow at times…This series is not about Anakin Skywalker and really more about Obi-Wan. If you connect the series with the earlier Jedi Apprentice series it is a long drawn out arc of how Obi-Wan got from a youngling in the Jedi Temple to the master of Anakin Skywalker that we meet again in Episode 2.

2010

Starring: Paul Bettany, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, Adrianne Palicki, Charles S. Dutton, Jon Tenney, Kevin Durand, Willa Holland, Kate Walsh, and Dennis Quaid

Written by: Peter Schink and Scott Stewart

Directed by: Scott Stewart

I remember seeing the preview for this and being very excited. It was right up my alley. I love spirituality and gods and angels, et. al. I love apocalypse tales. So right away I knew I was the target audience. Now before I go further, with a wife and three kids as well as a irregular job schedule I don’t get to go to movies nearly as much as I’d like. In fact, I watch most films at home on DVD nowadays. I thought though that I might make an exception in this case.

2010

Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty, Don Rickles, Michael Keaton, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, John Morris, Jodi Benson, Emily Hahn, Laurie Metcalf, and Blake Clark

Written by: Michael Arndt

Directed by: Lee Unkrich

I have to preface with this by saying that I am a huge Pixar fan. I honestly can say that I don’t think they have ever made a bad movie. Ever. Yes I know that some out there might have some negative things to say about A Bug’s Life or Cars, but not me. I think they have been the most consistent production company of all time. By now most people are probably waiting for the BUT this movie sucked! Or something along those lines.

1987

Starring: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Mitchell Ryan and Tom Atkins

Written by: Shane Black

Directed by: Richard Donner

I decided recently to introduce my wife to one of the if not the greatest buddy cop series of all time, Lethal Weapon. It had been quite awhile since I had seen them recently when I recently bought the whole series on 2 discs for $15. I couldn’t pass that up. So over the course of the next week or so (hopefully before my vacation – but you know crazy schedules), I’ll get through the saga.

2010

Starring the voices of: Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderes, Julie Andrews and Walt Drohn

Written by: Josh Klausner and Darren Lemke based on the books by William Stieg

Directed by: Mike Mitchell

While pondering the review of this film, I couldn’t find anything particularly bad to bash. But I also couldn’t find much good to praise either. In fact if I had to pick one word to describe the film? Tired. That’s just how it felt. It was ok, but it felt ragged or as Bilbo Baggins would say like butter spread over too much bread

2009

Starring: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner

Written by: Melissa Rosenberg based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer

Directed by: Chris Weitz

Awful. Just awful. Boring, tepid, limp. Little characterization, little movement, and very little plot. The whole film has one good performance, one somewhat semi-tantalizing aspect, and one semi-interesting plot point. The rest is garbage on just about every level.

2010

Starring: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Ashley Judd, Julie Andrews, Billy Crystal, Brandon T. Jackson, Ryan Sheckler, and Stephen Merchant

Written by: Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel, Randi Mayem Singer, Joshua Sternin, and Jeffrey Ventimilla

Directed by: Michael Lembeck

Fueled by The Rock’s undeniable charm and charisma and some nice performances by Stephen Merchant, Julie Andrews, and Billy Crystal, the film is…a nice film. It’s not going to ever be considered a classic, nor will it light any film lists on fire. But it’s not bad.

2003

Written by: Christopher Paolini

One of the biggest novels of the decade – it was the craze. One of those deemed a successor to Harry Potter. The series itself has trailed off a bit with a lackluster film and lackluster buzz for the upcoming finale, but the first book was a huge surprising hit for an author who was fifteen.

by: Jude Watson

Jude has been doing a good job with this series, far more consistently (through three novels) than he got detailing Qui-Gon’s training of Obi-Wan. Another step forward in the slow development of the team we see in the prequel trilogy.

It is a testament to the large spanning success that Zahn’s Heir to the Empire trilogy was that a spinoff story of sorts detailing some of the events that led to that status quo is a thrilling concept. The Outbound Flight was mentioned a few times with little details during the Zahn trilogy but what was given was tantalizing. An old Republic mission with a few Jedi Masters going off into the unknown. All we knew was that the mission was a failure and the masters were killed.

2007

Starring: Jim Sturgiss, Evan Rachel Wood, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs, Martin Luter McCoy, and T.V. Carpio

Written by: Julie Taymor, Dick Clement, and Ian La Frenais

Directed by: Julie Taymor

It’s hard for me to judge this film. There are so many precursors to go by and so many different audience tastes that factor in. Me? This film is right up my alley but I can completely understand why some wouldn’t want to touch it with a ten feet pole. Let me get some of the qualifiers out of the way as best I can and then I will try to tackle the film.

2009

Starring: Max Records, Catherine Keener, Mark Ruffalo, Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper, Paul Dano, Catherine O’Hara, Forest Whitaker, and James Gandolfini

Written by Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers based on the book by Maurice Sendak

Directed by: Spike Jonze

This was truly a unique and entertaining film. Despite it being a children’s book, I’m certain that the depth of the film will be lost on the young ones. Instead, this is a film for the adult trying to fully understand the psychology of the child. Spike Jonze delivers a truly engaging, sometimes disturbing adaption of Maurice Sendak’s seminal story.