A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Photo Credit: eBay. (C) 1999 Hasbro and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)  Pros:  Nice detailing on Palpatine's costume, nifty hovercam accessory Cons:  No Darth Sidious cloak? No lightsaber? Young kids will be bored by Senator Palpatine .... A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.... It is a period of instability in the Galactic Republic. Although 1,000 years have passed since the Jedi Knights defeated the evil Sith order, a phantom menace lurks in the shadows of the dark side of the Force, waiting for the opportunity to make its presence known and take control of the galaxy. With the Galactic Congress steadily growing more corrupt and inefficient under the influence of bureaucrats and special interest groups such as the greedy Trade Federation, hundreds of crises are arising throughout the Republic. Star systems begin squabbling over old grievances, and rumors of a financial scandal involving Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum have further eroded public confidence in the demo

(C) 1991 Warner Books When the late historian Gordon W. Prange and his two co-authors, Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon, set out to write At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor , they realized that they had too much material for one book. The Pearl Harbor story, after all, is so vast and complex that, even without the ill-advised revisionist accounts and conspiracy theories that have become a cottage industry, one volume isn't enough to convey to a contemporary reader the import and impact that the "Day of Infamy" had -- and continues to have -- on American history and foreign policy. Indeed, after Prange's sudden death in May 1980, Goldstein and Dillon not only finished At Dawn We Slept , but followed that best-selling volume with four related books ( Miracle at Midway, Pearl Harbor: The Verdict of History, Target: Tokyo, and Dec. 7, 1941: The Day the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor. ) which delved deeper into topics that At Dawn W

(C) 2016 Harper Design/becker&meyer! and Lucasfilm Ltd. Cover art by Steven Thomas On October 25, 2016, Harper Collins' imprint Harper Design and becker&meyer! published Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy. Written by Lucasfilm Story Group's Pablo Hidalgo, this 112-page coffee table hardcover is an in-universe look at persuasive art created for various factions during several periods of conflict in the Star Wars timeline. Propaganda art has become synonymous with life in the galaxy far, far away. Whether it's a poster of a Star Destroyer hovering over a planet in a display of Imperial domination; a symbol painted on a wall to deliver a message of hope on behalf of the Rebellion; or a mural depicting a line of stormtroopers to promote unity within the First Order; this type of art, as an instrument of persuasive fearmongering and impassioned idealism, captures the ever-changing tides of politics and public sentiment across the

Pros: Excellent scripts, great acting, and superb production values makes this WWII true-life drama worth owning. Cons: It's expensive...and lacks English subtitles for the hearing impaired. I couldn’t watch Band of Brothers when it aired on HBO in 2001, so I bought the late Stephen E. Ambrose's book of the same name. It was the tie-in edition with the cover art taken from the miniseries; promotional materials and a new foreword by the author describing the genesis of the miniseries and his praise for executive producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. Ambrose stated that their personal interest and attention to detail were impressive, for they wanted to make sure they got everything right. I did ask one of my best friends if he could tape it for me; he has HBO and a whole batch of premium channels and he does record programs he can't watch while he's at work, but even though I had logged on to HBO.com and gotten the airing schedule for Band of Brot

Pros:  Gee-whiz 3D animation, witty script, great voice cast Cons:  None With the success of the Pixar/Walt Disney collaborative efforts  Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc,  and  The Incredibles , it looks as though animated films, particularly computer-animated films, are experiencing a creative Renaissance as critics and moviegoers of all ages are treated with features that are visually stunning, wittily written, and are appealing to kids and adults alike. Pixar, which started out as a tiny division of Lucasfilm Ltd and first wowed viewers with the short but visually stunning "Genesis Effect simulation" in 1982's  Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , continues its run of avant garde 3D animated hits with 2007's  Ratatouille , a story of a French rat who joins forces with the son of a recently deceased chef to fulfill his dream of becoming, of all things, a gourmet cook. Written and co-directed by Brad Bird ( Iron Giant, The Incredibles ) this 110-minute-l

Pros:  Whimsical yet touching story, wonderful voice acting and Pixar's awesome visual artwork Cons:  None! Up:  Whimsical Yet Touching   Co-written and co-directed by Bob Peterson and Pete Docter,  Up  is essentially the love story of Carl and Ellie Fredricksen, even though Ellie dies before the film's main plot about the house-and-balloons adventure that gives the movie its offbeat but effective title. Up  begins as an extended flashback in which we first meet Carl Fredricksen as a very shy young boy in a packed movie house watching an old newsreel; it's sometime in the 1930s or '40s and newsreels were the "windows to the world" in the same way that cable networks such as BBC World, CNN and MSNBC are today. In this newsreel we're introduced to explorer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), who's a cross between Howard Hughes and Indiana Jones.  Muntz flies all over the world in  The Spirit of Adventure,  a Zeppelin-like airship with

Pros:  Fine performances by Baldwin and Connery. Cons:  Movie-wise, no. See review for quibbles. One of the things I've learned about screenplay writing is that adapting a book, particularly a popular novel, is not always an easy task. Syd Field's book, Screenplay , devotes an entire chapter to the subject of adaptation. Field points out, and I am paraphrasing here, that novels and screenplays are two different forms of writing. Each has its own rules and each one differs vastly in purpose.   A novel, for instance, is meant to be read by a large audience and each reader can read it at his or her own pace.   Screenplays, on the other hand, are the blueprints for the making of movies. Both tell a story, and if a novel is being adapted into a screenplay, often the same story. I offer this caveat because many Tom Clancy fans often feel that movie versions of their favorite novels often disappoint them. Scenes and characters - even entire subplots and/or adversari