Star Wars Uncut- SOPA is Dead! Long Live SOPA!

As SOPA and PIPA are officially dead, I may be a few days late posting this, but I have no doubt they will return someday in one form or another and it is up to us nerds to remain vigilant to ensure they do not. What truly baffles me about this legislation though is that the studios, MPAA, and RIAA don't understand that they are only hurting themselves by pushing for these kinds of laws.

As began this blog, I promised myself that I would only discuss a movie one time. (The Last Airbender series was one really long post cut into four parts.) But as I consider Star Wars Uncut a legally distinct entity from Star Wars, I decided it was ok to do a post on it, but as George Lucas may not agree I suggest watching it here ASAP.

Star Wars Uncut is a project where the original movie was cut up into a series of 15 second clips, handed out to fans, and put back together into a single film with really great results. Every individual director brought a slightly to radically different interpretation of the original from strait-up to comedic to animated to bizarre. Some great running gags in the movie include Han Solo as Indiana Jones and Chewbacca as a dog. It was also great to see how many of the actors were part of the third generation of Star Wars fans. It is so rare for a movie to be so special to so many people so long after its release.

It was a little hard to spot through all the changes in styles, but Star Wars Uncut was also cut in the way that the Star Wars special editions should have been. It featured the additions that helped the movie such as the opening crawl, Jabba as a giant slug, and the additional creatures on Tatooine and left out those that didn't such as completely changing Han's character by letting Greedo shoot first and showing that Han had nothing to do with the destruction of the Death Star by putting in a Millennium Falcon entrance shot between Han's laser blast and the random TIE fighter crashing into Vader.

I find it absolutely ridiculous when content creators go after people involved in projects like this. They aren't trying to replace Star Wars. They aren't making fun of Star Wars. They are paying tribute to Star Wars. They want you to see Lucas' product, not just their own. They are the most die-hard fans you have, George. And their were a whole lot of them. Star Wars Uncut ran 2 hours and 3 minutes long. At 15 seconds a scene, that's nearly 500 scenes and with nearly all of them involving multiple actors, directors and/or cameramen, it's likely that the number of people involved in the project topped 10,000. And how do you think the people who worked hard to put this film together, not to mention the millions who will see it, will feel if you pull it off the net? If you didn't say, "Pissed off," chances are you are an industry lawyer.

Plus, projects like this are great press and good marketing. And George, you could really use some good press. Between the special editions, the prequels, and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, your name isn't quite what it used to be. But, Star Wars Uncut is a great reminder of the film we fell in love with. Did you see how many of the scenes involved officially licensed Star Wars merchandise? I did and so did everyone else who watched it. The fact is fan tributes, and as Joey Wheeler so eloquently points out even fan parodies, are only good for business. So, Lucas, for your own good leave Star Wars Uncut alone. 

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy- I Swear This Has Never Happened To Me Before

I have to respect the makers of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for something I've never before seen in any movie: a plot so incomprehensible that I could not follow it. (And, I've seen Primer.) Sure, I've missed a point or two in many films. I've had trouble dealing with plot holes. I've gotten a few characters mixed up. I've missed a subtle double meaning of a scene. But, I might as well have slept through Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. After seeing the movie, this is all I know about it: British Intelligence is looking for a mole at the top of its organization during the Cold War (I got that part from the trailer.) and they eventually found him. (I'd like to spoil that part, but I don't know who it was.) Here is a loving look at how they managed to make a film so amazingly confounding.

Character Overload- I can keep track of about five distinct characters without any help. Beyond that, I need some way to tell them apart. Different races, genders, accents, missing body parts. I need the director to give me some clues. There were about ten characters of consequence in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, every one of them a white, British male.

Names?- These characters have names, right? How 'bout using them from time to time? I can only recall one character being referred to by name and seeing as he was the lead, his name was the least important to know for clarity's sake.

Time Travel and Body Swapping- Half of the film was told in flashback, told from the perspective of several different characters. It would switch timelines and perspectives far too often, usually with no clear indication of a transition.

The Subtly Sweet-spot- The Last Airbender was dragged down by, more than anything else, an overabundance of exposition, but it was completely comprehensible despite the fact that it took place in a unique fantasy world and had a fairly complex plot. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy lies on the other end of the subtly scale were it just isn't communicating any information. The subtly sweet-spot lies somewhere between the two. The opening sequence of Up, which shows a very clear and detailed Carl and Ellie's life together without using a word of dialog, is located perfectly in the subtly sweet-spot.