A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

On Quora, Trump supporter David Smith asks: If the Mueller report has been submitted and there is nothing about Trump, why are the investigations continuing? I reply:  Oh, sweet summer child. Such an assumption clearly indicates that you’ve not read any of the Mueller Report, which even in its redacted version shows a disturbing picture of not just Russian interference with the 2016 Presidential election with a specific goal in mind, i.e., to help Donald Trump win said election, but also of links between members of the Trump Campaign and representatives of organizations and oligarchs with ties to the Russian government. Here’s an excerpt of some of its conclusions: That fall, two federal agencies jointly announced that the Russian government "directed recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including US political organizations," and, [t]hese thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process." After the elect

On Quora, I keep on seeing questions such as this one: Does George Lucas still own the Star Wars franchise after it was taken over by Disney? My answer: © 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corp.  No. When George Lucas sold his company, Lucasfilm Limited, to the Walt Disney Company in 2012, he sold  all  of the rights to intellectual properties Lucasfilm owned, including: The  Star Wars  franchise and brand, which includes the five  Star Wars  films produced by Lucasfilm before 2012. 20th Century Fox owns the distribution rights for those until 2020, at which time the rights will be transferred to Disney. Fox, however, still owns the rights to  Star Wars,  aka  Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope,  in perpetuity   because the studio financed the making of the film in addition to releasing it. The four  Indiana Jones  movies and the  Young Indiana Jones  TV series ,  which Paramount Pictures released but were financed by George Lucas. © 1981 Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) S

Hello, there, Gentle Reader, and welcome to the 1,000th post of A Certain Point of View.  A lot of water has passed under the bridge since we began this journey on July 4, 2011, which is when I wrote the first post on this blog. On that occasion, I wanted to introduce myself to...well... you, explain why I named the blog A Certain Point of View, and to share the story of how and why I became a Star Wars fan.  The famous Star Wars logo designed in 1976 by Dan Perri. ™ Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)  In First Things First... , I wrote: Welcome to A Certain Point of View, my new blog here at Blogger.com. My name is Alex Diaz-Granados and I'm a (a) writer, (b) budding screenwriter, (c) single guy, (d) online reviewer and (e) die-hard  Star Wars  fan of the "1977 Generation" who still remembers when the first movie was simply titled  Star Wars  and not, as it has been known since 1981,  Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope.   (I also seem to be a rarity among  Star Wars  f

Image Credit: www.toonzone.net Why did Disney decide to end The Skywalker Saga, instead of leaving open the possibility of continuing it after "The Rise of Skywalker"? First of all, The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) does not have that level of micromanaging editorial control over any of its subsidiaries (ABC, ESPN, Marvel Enterprises, National Geographic, Lucasfilm, or 21st Century Fox). I don’t know why people keep on assuming that Alan Horn and Bob Iger are omnipresent and omnipotent and that “Disney” execs have their fingers in every pie, ostensibly ruining franchises and people’s childhoods just for grins. If I seem to be a bit annoyed at this question’s basic assumption, it’s because I  am  annoyed about how intellectually lazy people get, especially when it comes to Lucasfilm Ltd., its leadership, and its role in making decisions as far as its biggest intellectual properties,  Star Wars  and  Indiana Jones. Second, Star Wars needs to grow beyond the trav

On Quora, member Thomas Fay asks:  Do you keep count of how many times you watch the Star Wars movies so you can say you've seen them “X” times? Not since I bought my first (used) VHS video cassette of  Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope  back in 1984. Before  then, when VCRs were still expensive toys that only people with lots of disposable cash could afford, most  Star Wars  fans of the 1977 Generation only saw the Original Trilogy in theaters - as many times as they could. Star Wars -  as the first film was originally titled before its Summer of 1981 re-release - premiered on May 25, 1977, although it didn’t hit theaters in some cities (such as Miami) till early June. 20th Century Fox was  not  expecting it to be a big summer hit, so it acquiesced to Lucasfilm’s request that it release the movie close to Memorial Day weekend. (Fox believed that its Summer of 1977 would be its adaptation of Sidney Sheldon’s  The Other Side of Midnight, and since its board of direct

How do you come up with writing ideas? It depends on the circumstances, really, as well as my current state of mind. As it stands, other than my blog and my answers on Quora, I can point to three things that I have written for public consumption: Save Me the Aisle Seat: The Good, the Bad and the Really Bad Movies: Selected Reviews by an Online Film Reviewer: Alex Diaz-Granados: 9781475075045: Amazon.com: Books Reunion: A Story: Mr. Alex J Diaz-Granados: 9781722120474: Amazon.com: Books Each of these projects had a unique “point of origin.” The oldest of these is  Reunion: A Story.  Although I self-published it last summer, it began life as a creative writing assignment in my sophomore year in college, circa 1987. I don’t remember what the assignment was now, but I do remember that I wrote a dream sequence set during the protagonist’s last day as a high school senior. It only earned a B, but I kept it in my college work files with the intention of  maybe  rewor

On Quora, Mike Austin asks a peculiarly worded question. (I say "peculiarly worded" because it's not quite clear if Mike is asking whether the trailer or the entire movie is the "it" referred to in the question body.) What is your impression of the new Star Wars Episode IX trailer? Do you think it will unite fans? My reply: Oh, for crying out loud….. First, my impression of the trailer for  Star Wars - Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker  is pretty much the same as the impressions I’ve had of previous  Star Wars  films, beginning with the ones on TV for 1977’s  Star Wars: Cool images, yes, but even though they are - by design - a montage of tiny, unconnected moments from a movie no one has seen yet, I have no clue as to what the story’s going to be about. That’s cool, because I prefer that type of trailer to the tell-almost-everything-about-the-plot trailers that some companies like to use to peddle their wares. To be honest,  I don’t wa

Cover art for Marvel Comics' omnibus edition of The Last Jedi comics adaptation. © 2018 Marvel Comics and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) On Quora, member Michael Justin asks: Why did Kathleen Kennedy let Rian Johnson throw away J.J. Abrams’ Episode VIII script if she was going to hire him back for Episode IX? This question, like so many others like it, is based on a basic assumption that seems to be popular among many “fans” who get their information almost exclusively from YouTube or bloggers whose views they share. The assumption:  That J.J. Abrams had a detailed plan for the Sequel Trilogy, even had  scripts  for all three Episodes, and that this grand plan was wrecked by Rian Johnson with  Star Wars - Episode VIII: The Last Jedi.  And clueless, SJW Princess Kathleen Kennedy let Johnson ruin  Star Wars. Oh, you poor deluded child. First of all, just as George Lucas did not write a ginormous 360-page screenplay with all the beats and plot twists of the Original Trilogy c

What was known about Padme, Luke and Leia’s mother, prior to the release of the prequel trilogy? Before the run-up to  Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace’s  release in May of 1999? Certainly not much. And what little we  did  know was either wrong or was learned from tidbits in action figure packages in late 1998, when Hasbro added a  Flashback  line of  Star Wars  figures from the Classic Trilogy but with Lucasfilm-supplied nuggets of information about major characters from the upcoming film. For instance, a  Power of the Force  figure of Princess Leia Organa with  Flashback  packaging was my first inkling that Luke and Leia’s mother was Queen Amidala of Naboo and that Leia was not just royalty by adoption, but she was also royalty - of sorts - by heredity. Hasbro’s writer did not divulge the fact that on Naboo “royalty” was elected and wasn’t necessarily  hereditary,  but Lucasfilm kept a lot of pesky details about such things close to the vest. But  before  1998, we

Many Star Wars EU/Legends fans would love to have seen films based on Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy. But the window for a live-action version closed long, long ago. © 1991 Bantam Spectra & Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)  Quora member Michael Justin asks: Will Lucasfilm ever do a Star Wars movie set between Episodes VI and VII with a de-aged CGI Han, Luke, and Leia? And I say:  No. First of all, as it stands now, the technology for such a complex project is too primitive  and  extremely expensive, plus the results simply would not be convincing. Just look at  Rogue One: A Star Wars Story  from 2016. which uses CGI technology to superimpose the likeness of Peter Cushing (who died in 1994) on actor Guy Henry (who wore motion-capture headgear while filming) to play Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin in a film set shortly before the events of  Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope.  Ditto for the brief appearance of Norweigan actress Ingvild Deila (with a CGI’d recreation of 19-year-old