star wars Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Everyone loves the brooding, over-bearing look of Darth Vader; clad all in black, draped in a cape, wearing an almost featureless mask. We're given no glimpse of any speck of his flesh, forcing us to speculate what kind of person the embodiment of evil actually looks like, and when we're finally given a look at the man under the mask in Return of the Jedi, we understand the reason for his full-body suit: Vader is horribly disfigured, his body severely withered for reasons yet to be revealed.

However, protecting his crippled frame is not the real reason behind Darth Vader's helmet and breathing mask. The following may be common knowledge for die hard Star Wars trivia masters, but for those of us casually in love with the original trilogy, it should come as an amusing bit of insight into the design of one of cinemas most iconic characters. SCI-FI Wire recently interviewed Ralph McQuarrie, George Lucas' conceptual designer responsible for the look of much of what ended up in Star Wars, including Vader's appearance, and the reason he gave is more mundane than menacing:

An extended trailer for the next Family Guy Star Wars special has arrived online over at Apple and iTunes (watch it after the jump). Titled Something, Something, Something Dark Side, this time the animated sitcom is aiming their lightsabers at Empire Strikes Back. Featuring large camel robots who hurt their knees, annoying high-pitched princesses and a giant chicken dressed as Boba Fett, fans should expect the same sorta hilarious shtick that came out of Family Guy's first Star Wars spoof, Blue Harvest (though some feel the Robot Chicken Star Wars episodes one-upped them considerably, but that's a topic for a different day).

Because of the popularity of the first special, 20th Century Fox is pimping out the follow-up pretty hard. It's due to hit DVD and Blu-ray on December 22nd, and I imagine they'll actually air it on television at some point in 2010. A spoof of Return of the Jedi, titled We Have A Bad Feeling About This, is also being planned.

The official description for Something, Something, Something Dark Side goes something like this: "Holy ship! The Family Guy empire strikes back with another hilarious parody of your favorite sci-fi saga! May the laughs be with you as (Chris) Skywalker joins forces with (Peter) Solo and Princess (Lois) Leia to battle (Stewie) Vader and his Imperial minions. A host of new characters comes along for the wild ride, including Mort Goldman as Lando Calrissian, Chris's boss Carl as Yoda, and the Giant Chicken as the nefarious Boba Fett. It's an outrageous, out-of-this-world experience you'll "saber" for light-years to come!"

Watch both trailers for Something, Something, Something Dark Side after the jump.

Usually this is something we'd post over at SciFi Squad, but I thought these sneakers deserved some more love over on Cinematical, too. Apparently adidas Originals is launching a collection of Star Wars-themed sneakers and clothing for the 2010 Spring/Summer season -- and with it comes this first look (more of a tease) at some of the products they'll be pimping to the public. As a self-proclaimed adidas fanatic (not to mention a giant fan of all things Star Wars), I'm already head over heels (get it?) for these Stormtropper sneakers. Of course they don't show you the entire sneaker, but how cool is that back? I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the hippest or most up-to-date when it comes to the hot new sneakers on the market, but that Stormtrooper sneaker has to be one of the more fantasticlly fanboyish I've seen in quite some time.

In addition to the Stormtropper sneakers, adidas Originals is also adding Vader-themed sneakers, sweet Skywalker-themed sneakers, Yoda-themed sneakers and a totally retro sparkly silver lightsaber battle/Han Solo vibe'd pair of sneakers for those who have no problem saying "F*ck it -- this is what I'm wearing, this is what I love." Check out the teaser images below, and stay tuned to SciFi Squad as we'll dole out more photos over there once they arrive online. The line is due out in January 2010.

Well, it's that time of the year again -- time to wait until the very last minute to buy presents for your loved ones in order to solidify the fact that you'll be waiting on insanely long lines next to people who don't shower and like to scream at their misbehaving kids about once every 10 seconds. Or at least that's what I'll be doing this year. One thing I always look forward to, though, is heading out on a cold winter's night to purchase a way-too-expensive Christmas tree for my living room ... and then decorating it while consuming some nice tasty beverages that may or may not be of the alcoholic variety.

But when you're a movie geek like me, you want to decorate that tree with tons of really random movie references so that your family can come over and be all like, "Um, is that the car from Ghostbusters hanging on your tree?" Luckily, for nuts like us, there's Hallmark -- who this year have unleashed a pretty cool collection of nerdy movie-related ornaments tied to Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz, Ghostbusters, The Corpse Bride, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, A Christmas Story, Bolt, Cars, Toy Story, Shrek, Harry Potter and more.

And in case you're wondering which ornament I'll be purchasing for my tree this year, look no further than the right of your screen. I shouldn't have to tell you which movie and scene that ornament references. Check out a few of my personal favorites below and the rest over at Hallmark.



[via Topless Robot]

A little known fact about Empire Strikes Back was that George Lucas had popular singer/songwriter L.B. Rayne put together a righteous power ballad for the film's soundtrack, and supposedly the song -- titled "Skywalking" -- was to be featured throughout the film and over the credits as well. Lucas, however, scratched the idea at the last second, later admitting that it didn't really fit with the film's themes. Rumors suggest there's a lost cut of Empire Strikes Back that contains "Skywalking" in the film, though I've personally never seen it, nor do I know anyone who's seen it.

Back in the late 80s, I remember my friends passing around a bootleg cassette tape of "Skywalking", but that was the last I heard of it ... until now. Yes, folks, the power ballad that was at one time a tall tale Star Wars fans shared with one another around a late night campfire has finally arrived online in music video format. Of course this song would never have worked in the movie, but it's great to have it out there again so that younger Star Wars fans can enjoy a little piece of galactic history.

As far as L.B. Rayne goes, his career pretty much ended in 1985 when he lost to a one-legged mule in a drinking contest ... but his legacy lives on! After the jump, check out Rayne's power ballads for Empire Strikes Back and Indiana Jones (another one Lucas commissioned but never used).

Slugging through the cold Monday morning, I took a moment to read the latest xkcd (a huge image through the link), and they've managed to boil some major cinematic experiences down into line charts. The latest installment of the web comic tackles Movie Narrative Charts; most specifically, the movie character interactions in Lord of the Rings, Star Wars (original trilogy), Jurassic Park, 12 Angry Men, and Primer.

The charts are actually a pretty intricate set of lines showing how each character progresses through the movie -- who they meet, and the main events and conflicts that take place. However, the big wow for me is in the overall look -- how that mass of lines evokes the same memories of confusion, or lack thereof, watching the films. There's the rolling but easy-to-follow storyline of Star Wars, the pure simplicity and ease of 12 Angry Men, and best of all -- the confusion of Lord of the Rings and Primer.

I could never get into the books, so watching Rings was an exercise in intrigued confusion -- trying to keep the characters straight, waiting for a slow moment to whisper a question, and trying to make sense of a thick storyline funneled into a film. And on the other end of the confusion spectrum, there's Primer -- the film that spins around and evokes stunned, hard-to-define confusion, the spiraling lines also mimicking a lot of the wide eyes of "what the f...?!" I saw after the film's screening at TIFF.

Sometimes it's terrible storytelling, sometimes it's confusion as an art form, and sometimes it's just the mind trying to deal with mass amounts of information. Xkcd managed to lay out some of the main moments of my cinematic confusion, but what are yours? What films leave you trying to follow and make sense of the narrative?

After reading Peter Hall's post on Kevin Spacey's stunning impersonations, I had to reacquaint myself with the old SNL sketch he mentioned and get as much Spacey as I could. (Check it out if you have no idea what I'm talking about.) From there, well, the handy site called YouTube suggested something else for me -- Kurt Russell's Star Wars audition.

If you didn't already know, he was one of the many actors vying for the role of Han Solo (according to IMDb, a list including Nick Nolte, Christopher Walken, Jack Nicholson, and even -- egads -- Steve Martin). What's funny about the clip (after the jump) is how completely earnest and goodie Russell was playing it -- almost like the good-natured Disney fare from his youth. There was none of the true cockiness, ego, or charisma that made the character so memorable. No, no one could have done what Harrison Ford did with the role, but we all know that Russell had the charisma necessary for Mr. Solo. Or rather, that he would soon enough. Somewhere hidden inside that actor was the toughness, alluring machismo, and heroic wonder that thrived soon after in Escape from New York. My best guess: He didn't take this weird little flick seriously, at all.

Man, I'm so glad that "it" came out in Snake rather than Han, aren't you?

Let's face it, your the hero of your movie is only as good as your villain is bad. If you've got an amazing, swashbuckling, ass-kicking hero who faces off against someone wimpy, it just feels like you had an amazing appetizer and a lackluster main course. We want villains that we love to hate, not villains that we hate to love, and once we find them, we don't want to let go of them so easily. Just look at how much Darth Vader has dominated the world of villainy. He was in four of the six Star Wars movies, and is still pretty much the poster-boy for awesome villains.

But what about the villains who could have joined him? There's a whole slew of sub-villains who weren't given enough screen time, or were killed off too easily. Villains who deserve to roam the hallowed halls of the bad guys and girls club. We dedicate this Cinematical Seven to those who could have been great, but are instead relegated to the ranks of the Almost Perfect Villains Club.

Darth Maul

Speaking of Star Wars, Did this guy get a bad rap or what? He a Dark Lord of the Sith for pete's sake, yet he hardly talks, zips around on a scooter, and gets killed at the end of the only movie he appears in. He does kill Obi Wan's mentor, sure, but why not keep him around for later? He looked scary and cool at the same time, and wielded very cool double-ended saber. Plus, Ray Park did a kickass job playing him and making those fight scenes look amazing. Unfortunately, one chop to the midsection and he was never heard from again. Darth Vader went on to become a legend, but Darth Maul only became "that guy with the red face and the horns," and no one is rushing to make a movie about his origins. The Star Wars saga actually has a plethora of great villains we would like to see more of: Jabba the Hutt, Grand Moff Tarkin, Boba Fett, IG-88, and more.

When I closed my eyes and pictured the greatest villain costumes in sci-fi movies, I was surprised how often hair -- and headpieces -- come into play. That makes sense for those of us who are not costume purists because we're thinking of the character as a whole, and in movies we're very often looking at close-ups of villains. We want to get up close and personal, to study the sneer, to examine the evil eyes, to absorb the dismissive scowl, to observe the raised eyebrows.

Isn't it the whole package that sells a character as a villain? The actor makes all the difference in the world, no matter if he's buried under a ton of makeup or becomes nearly unrecognizable, but the costume plays an important role. In honor of all those who will sally forth this weekend in costumes that are good, bad, and ugly, we salute the designers of the top ten (plus a couple of bonus selections) greatest villain costumes in sci-fi movies, and the actors who wear them.

The Emperor Ming (Flash Gordon)

It takes a truly evil villain to pull off this particular outfit. Arrayed in varying shades of deep red and gold, Ming (the always game Max von Sydow) threatens to steal the show when those eyebrows are raised. Somehow Ming looks both sartorially forward-thinking -- what is that raised cowl doing back there except to frame his bald head -- and ridiculously, gloriously silly.

Read the rest over at SciFi Squad

If you're still on the lookout for the perfect movie-themed jack o' lantern patterns for Halloween, look no further because we've dug up something for everyone. Are you a stickler for the rules of Halloween (i.e. don't blow out the jack o' lanterns til after midnight...)? Try the bag-headed Sam from Trick 'R Treat. Jedi in training? Carve the Death Star so you can practice infiltrating it. Bonus: you and Lego Luke Skywalker can even blow it up once Halloween's over!

Personally, I always went for the grotesque or ironic celebrity pumpkins. One of my best Halloween creations was a glowing, sultry J. Lo pumpkin. (The best part was watching her wither and decay the next week. So evil!) I've always sworn by the patterns over at Zombie Pumpkins, where you can find just about every movie icon you can imagine. Download SUPER easy patterns like Freddy Krueger, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, the Joker, Jigsaw's puppet, Gremlins, and even assorted characters from the Harry Potterverse. (An Albus Dumbledore to protect your porch!) And yes, folks - they've even got new patterns from Twilight, Zombieland, and Michael Jackson, circa Thriller. Too soon?

Read on for more -- and the Death Star jack o' lantern -- over at SciFi Squad.