A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Today is Saturday, August 31, 2019, and this is what's on my mind today: First, I'm keeping an eye on the progress of Hurricane Dorian, the fourth named storm of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season and the first truly major threat to the East Coast of the U.S. As of this afternoon, Dorian is a Category Four hurricane and on its way to becoming a Category Five storm. Per the National Hurricane Center in Miami: ZCZC MIATCPAT5 ALL TTAA00 KNHC DDHHMM Hurricane Dorian Intermediate Advisory Number 29A BULLETIN NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL       AL052019 200 PM EDT Sat Aug 31 2019 ...SEVERE HURRICANE DORIAN CONTINUES HEADING FOR THE NORTHWESTERN BAHAMAS WITH LIFE-THREATENING STORM SURGE AND DEVASTATING WINDS... LOCATION...26.1N 73.9W SUMMARY OF 200 PM EDT...1800 UTC...INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------- MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...150 MPH...240 KM/H ABOUT 205 MI...325 KM E OF GREAT ABACO IN THE BAHAMAS ABOUT 385 MI...6...

On Quora, Mike Austin asks: Why has Disney-owned Lucasfilm focused so much attention towards the time before Star Wars: Episode IV with all of their spin-off material? And here's my reply:  That’s not entirely accurate. But we’ll get to that in a bit. I’m not an employee at Lucasfilm Ltd., the folks at the creative end, nor am I privy to the corporate doings at The Walt Disney Company (other than those that we know about from reports in the media). Thus, any answer I give is purely speculative, though it’s based on observation of how the franchise has evolved since 1977. I think that Lucasfilm has chosen to focus on the period that leads up to the Galactic Civil War and the Battle of Yavin because, for many fans, that is  Star Wars.  The Rebel Alliance’s conflict against Emperor Palpatine’s New Order is what the Generation of 1977 grew up/grew old with, and even though the non-canonical Expanded Universe told one possible version of the aftermath of the E...

On the questions-and-answers site Quora, conservative member James Dowry asks: Why is patriotism now deemed offensive, and how can we stop it? My reply: It’s not patriotism  per se  that is deemed offensive. It’s the nearly-hysterical, exaggerated, almost cult-like jingoism and hyper-nationalism that is extremely offensive. Speaking as a first-generation U.S.-born citizen whose parents legally immigrated from Colombia in 1961, I am not ashamed to say that I’m an American. I’ve never self-identified as a “hyphenated American,” i.e. Colombian-American, and I’ve never considered claiming dual citizenship, even though it’s perfectly legal to do so. As far as I’m concerned, I was born in the U.S., so I’m American,  not  Colombian. I’ve also owned two U.S. flag kits, which enabled me to proudly display the American flag on national holidays and other days in which calendars (mostly those sent every year by veterans’ groups to which either my late mom or...

On Quora, member Saif Ramiz asks: Will Luke Skywalker have a cameo in The Mandalorian ? My reply: Contrary to rumors or speculation to the contrary, it is not likely that Mark Hamill will make a cameo on  The Mandalorian  as the galaxy’s sole post-Battle of Endor Jedi Knight, Luke Skywalker. The Mandalorian  is set between  Return of the Jedi  and  The Force Awakens,  which would   not necessarily preclude an appearance by Hamill as Luke if the story really called for it. But the setting is closer to the immediate post-Endor era (five years after the destruction of the second Death Star) than it is to the Sequel Trilogy), which makes any cameos by Hamill problematic at best. There’s also the fact that the show has already been shot and is no longer in principal photography; the premiere is less than two months from this writing, and the 10-episode series’ cast list, which includes Carl Weathers (Apollo Creed from  Rocky ) and N...

© 2019 Deutsche Grammophon On August 30, Deutsche Grammophon, the classical music label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG), will release Anne-Sophie Mutter and John Williams: Across the Stars, a collection of 12 movie themes composed by John Williams and performed by German violin virtuoso Anne Sophie Mutter with the Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles. This unique collaboration between the dean of modern film score composition and one of the world's foremost violinists is the result of a long-time mutual appreciation and a friendship that began when Mutter was married to the late composer and conductor Andre Previn. Anne-Sophie had been a fan of Maestro Williams' movie music since she was a teen living in Germany's Schwarzwald region when George Lucas's Star Wars (1977) was one of the few distractions for young residents of that beautiful but rural area. Per Deutsche Grammophon's website: “There is only one John Williams,” says Anne-Sophie Mutte...

What do some Star Wars fans have against Gray Jedi? Grey Jedi do not exist in the  Star Wars  canon. They did not exist in the canon prior to 2012, the year that George Lucas decided to retire and sell his company, Lucasfilm Ltd., and all of its intellectual properties to The Walt Disney Company. They also do not exist in the  Star Wars  canon in the post-Lucas era. There are Force-wielders like Ahsoka Tano and Maul, former members of the Jedi and Sith Orders, respectively. There are also the fugitive Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus and his Padawan Ezra Bridger, plus the Bendu. And, of course, there are non-Sith Dark Siders such as Kylo Ren, the Inquisitors (which, I believe, were invented for the old Expanded Universe but made canonical by  Star Wars Rebels ), and Supreme Leader Snoke. But there are no Grey Jedi. Grey Jedi are figments of the imagination created by some  Star Wars  fans who write fan-fiction. It’s a hamfisted attempt to create her...

Is there any chance that a young Han Solo and Chewbacca make an appearance in Star Wars: The Mandalorian? No. Not a chance. The series’ position in the timeline does not permit it. The Mandalorian  is set between  Star Wars - Episode VI: Return of the Jedi  and  Star Wars: Resistance,  two stories   which are set before  Star Wars - Episode VII; The Force Awakens. Per Deadline Hollywood, which quotes the show’s creator, Jon Favreau: “After the stories of Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the  Star Wars  universe.  The Mandalorian  is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. We follow the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic,” the  Iron Man  and  Jungle Book  filmmaker posted. So, no. There is no chance that we’ll see the character of Han Solo in this new series set “a long time a...

Photo Credit: Lucasfilm Ltd. © 1983 Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) Is it true that in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, they used Ewoks because they would be cheaper than Wookiees? There are three reasons why Ewoks were used in  Return of the Jedi  instead of Wookiees for the Battle of Endor, and the expense of outfitting a large number of extras was certainly one of them. The Empire Strikes Back,  unlike the film that came before -  Star Wars -  was financed by George Lucas’s Lucasfilm Ltd. It cost $25 million in 1980 dollars, a princely sum in those days, and even though director Irvin Kershner and producer Gary Kurtz did a good job at getting the movie made on time, it still went over budget. Say what you will about Lucas as a director, but the man is an extremely conservative person when it comes to the business end of filmmaking, so sticking as closely to a projected budget was a big deal for him. Even more so because it was his money on the line, not 20th...

Reviewing  Star Trek: The Motion Picture  is one of those “some say the glass is half-empty, some say it’s half-full” conundrums. Robert Wise’s final science-fiction film is a decent film in some respects, but a dull, even cold and soulless one in others. Greenlit by Paramount Pictures in a bid to compete with 20th Century Fox’s  Star Wars,  the film was  Star Trek  creator Gene Roddenberry’s second and last theatrical production. He didn’t write the screen story (Alan Dean Foster’s ‘In Thy Image,” the treatment for a pilot episode to a canceled TV series titled  Star Trek: Phase Two  was the movie’s starting point), nor did he write the screenplay (Harold Livingston wrote a partial script that was added on to during filming). But he sure loaded it with many of his favorite  Star Trek  tropes and saddled it with an unnecessary amount of pretentiousness and a cold, sterile look that is the antithesis of the television show that begat...

Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. On Quora, member Cody Pafford asks: Why are people offended by the Confederate battle flag? My reply: Because the 11 states that formed the Confederate States of America from March 1861 to April of 1865 rebelled against the Union to defend the odious institution of slavery. As a result of this dark stain on the American psyche, and because Southern apologists have tried mightily to whitewash history by claiming the Civil War was fought over the more innocuous principle of “States’ Rights,” the Stars and Bars - which was originally the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, but was later incorporated into the last two national flags of the entire Confederacy - represents the side that started the bloodiest war in American history. Most people who know the history of the Civil War and the design history behind American flags will say - accurately - that this is not the  national flag  of the Confederate State...

J.J. Abrams did not, as you put it,  give way  to anyone as far as directing  Star Wars - Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. Per the original plan that Abrams and the people in charge of Lucasfilm Ltd., each of the  Star Wars  Sequel Trilogy films was to be directed by a different director. Thus, by the time Abrams began pre-production on  The Force Awakens,  the lineup looked like this: The Force Awakens -  Directed by Abrams, with a December 2015 release date Episode VIII -  Directed by Rian Johnson, originally scheduled for a May 25, 2017 release Episode IX -  Directed by Colin Trevorrow, scheduled for a May 2019 release. And in between each of the Saga films, a  Star Wars Story  anthology movie would be released as well. For  Star Wars: The Force Awakens,  J.J. Abrams would direct from a screenplay he co-wrote with Lawrence Kasdan. Originally, the writer for  The Force Awakens  was Michael ...

Could Hitler have been considered "good" in any way? Some argue he wasn't really evil as he really believed and followed his beliefs and thought he was right in his actions. No. Not in the slightest. There is no redeeming factor in Adolf Hitler’s life as a dictator and Commander in Chief of the Greater German Reich’s armed forces that can be even considered to be “good.” It’s amazing (and, frankly, appalling) that three-quarters of a century after the final campaigns to liberate Europe from Nazi domination, there still exist many people all around the world - including citizens of the Allied nations that waged war against the Third Reich - that think Hitler was a well-intentioned man who loved Germany and merely wanted to save Western Civilization from the scourge of Communism. It’s a matter of historical record that Adolf Hitler adored his mother Klara, was good to dogs, was kind to German children (except those who were Jewish or were related to his political...