Stories from the Calindratem

Since it is May 4th, Star Wars day, it feels like the perfect day to do this. Also I finally got around to watching "Star Wars - The Rise of Skywalker", as I missed it at the cinema due to a family issue.  Please note that there are some spoilers ahead, in case you haven't seen all of the movies. Here is my personal ranking based on story, execution and how well it fits into the story as a whole:  9. Attack of the Clones Sadly this is an easy one. Attack of the Clones is by far the worst Star Wars movie in my opinion. Almost everything is wrong with it, from cringe worth dialogue, to bad performances. I am a huge fan of Ewan McGregor, Christopher Lee and Nathalie Portman but sadly not even their talent could safe the bad lines they were given. Add to that the lack of direction by George Lucas and you get scenes that are painful to watch. The love story seemed forced and didn't develop organically, one got the feeling on occasion that Padme simply pitied the...

Recently I joined a website about Science Fiction art. While most pictures were extremely artful and inspired several story ideas, there was one picture that actually annoyed me. It was a drawing of Princess Leia from "Star Wars - A New Hope", with her white dress. Unfortunately the artist has decided to give her extremely fake boobs, a ridiculous cleavage and a slit in her dress that reached to her hip. It wasn't neccessarily that fact that she was potraited sexy, but that she was made into a sex doll. Princess Leia is so much more than that and to reduce her to her sexuality is just sexism in its worst from.  Although Leia, played by the brilliant Carrie Fisher, is usually referred by "princess" she is much more: Senator, rebel, leader, general and spy. In fact I would go as far as saying that she is the most qualified of the lead characters.  She is a born Skywalker, which makes it clear that although she wasn't trained in the Force, she is very ...

I know I am a bit late to the party but it took me two weeks to make up my mind about "Star Wars - The Last Jedi". While there is a lot right with this movie in my option there is also a lot wrong. I will write this review spoilerfree, which will make it however a bit vague.   First of all the movie is good craftmanship. There pacing is perfect, the new characters are well developed and the effects and dialogues are excellent. Viewed as a stand-alone movie it would certainly get an 8 or 9 out of 10 points.  But this is where the problem lies. A Star Wars movie isn't a stand-alone movie, it is part of a saga and as such it must follow the established path. Although the original trilogy had far less sophisticated special effects and a much lower budget, even adjusted to inflation, it made us dream. It became the perfect amalgamation of Fantasy and Science Fiction. In comparision to this Rian Johnson's vision feels somewhat sterile and hearthless. Even comparing...

With the first teaser trailer for "Star Wars - The last Jedi" having been published only a few days ago all of us nerds are going into analyzing mode. Every nuance and imagine is being scrubbed to extract every bit of information.  If we include "Star Wars - Rouge One" this will be the ninth Star Wars movie and not only the latest installment coming out, but also the last one so far in the established chronology. In The Phantom Menace (Episode I) we learnt about the prophecy of "The chosen one, who will bring balance to the force". Much of the first trilogy evolved around, whether Anakin Skywalker was the chosen one or not. While he certainly shifts the balance at the end of the trilogy, diminishing the power of the Light Side, we can hardly call this balance with the rise of the Dark Side in the form of the emperor and Darth Vader.   During the second trilogy although never explicitly mentioned we get the impression that Luke Skywalker, Anaki...