Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of The Sith

[MacGuffin]

Sony Music has announced that the soundtrack CD for Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith will street on 5/3. The CD will include a bonus DVD-Video disc that will feature a 70-minute presentation of some 16 newly-created music videos of composer John Williams' signature themes from all 6 Star Wars films (set to footage from the films) that takes viewers chronologically through the entire saga. Each will be introduced by actor Ian McDiarmid (Senator Palpatine) and will feature the music along with dialogue and sound effects excerpts in full Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. The package will also include a booklet with liner notes by George Lucas and a poster.

The DVD is awesome. If you've seen or heard about John Williams in concert performing his scores live while film clips of the movies show on screen, this is what the Musical Journey is like. It's like a Cliff Notes version of the Star Wars saga; the first part showing the growth of Anakin from innocent boy to becoming Darth.

[Myxo]

(Mac already posted about it, but here is an Article today on Yahoo!)

Last 'Star Wars' Movie Said Not for Kids

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. - The Force lands in theaters a bit more forcefully in the final installment of George Lucas "Star Wars" tale.

"Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" is the first "Star Wars" tale to receive a PG-13 rating. The movie was screened for reporters Tuesday night at Lucas' Skywalker Ranch, and the PG-13 rating — "for sci-fi violence and some intense images" — is well-deserved.

The action is relentless and includes sequences more dark and disturbing than anything previously seen in the tragic Skywalker soap opera.

Young Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) completes his transformation into blackhearted villain Darth Vader with a bloodbath against old allies, the body count including a corridor of "youngling" corpses — Jedi children cut down by his light saber.

Anakin is left gruesomely mutilated in a death duel with former mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). His surgical reclamation as the part-flesh, part-machine Vader is chillingly juxtaposed against the bleak childbirth scene of his wife, Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman), whose twins grow up to be heroes of the original "Star Wars" trilogy, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia.

Even cute and cuddly Jedi master Yoda takes his lumps, torched by the electroshock treatment dished out by the saga's puppetmaster, the evil emperor (Ian McDiarmid).

The previous five "Star Wars" flicks all were rated PG, which carry the mild warning "parental guidance suggested," and that some scenes might be unsuitable for children. The PG-13 rating carries the alert "parents strongly cautioned" that some material could be inappropriate for those younger than 13.

"We're getting a lot of flak from parents, a lot of people saying how can you do this? My children love these movies. Why can you not let them go see it?" Lucas told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "But I have to tell a story. I'm not making these, oddly enough, to be giant, successful blockbusters. I'm making them because I'm telling a story, and I have to tell the story I intended."

Of course, the PG-13 rating does not prohibit children under 13 from seeing the film without an adult tagging along. And while it's not likely to make much of a dent in the movie's certain blockbuster status, the rating could give some parents pause.

"These are pretty intense. Who should be allowed to see them should be left up to the parents, but at least they're warned that it's pretty intense," Lucas said. "And obviously, that's not a good business move."

[Stefen]

In the video game, when you play as Mace Windu in a jedi duel, he busts out his light sabre and says "I will strike you down with great vengeance and furious anger!"

[Myxo]

In the video game, when you play as Mace Windu in a jedi duel, he busts out his light sabre and says "I will strike you down with great vengeance and furious anger!"

You're joking, right?

[Kal]

got 20 tickets for the first showing at 12:01am, and I'm inviting everybody at the office and allowing them to come to the office a little later the next day... of course it gives me the opportunity to do the same without anybody bitchin... its gonna be awsome!

[Stefen]

got 20 tickets for the first showing at 12:01am, and I'm inviting everybody at the office and allowing them to come to the office a little later the next day... of course it gives me the opportunity to do the same without anybody bitchin... its gonna be awsome!

Wow, where do you work? Any employment opportunities?

[Kal]

got 20 tickets for the first showing at 12:01am, and I'm inviting everybody at the office and allowing them to come to the office a little later the next day... of course it gives me the opportunity to do the same without anybody bitchin... its gonna be awsome!

Wow, where do you work? Any employment opportunities?

I think we had that discussion before...

[Stefen]

got 20 tickets for the first showing at 12:01am, and I'm inviting everybody at the office and allowing them to come to the office a little later the next day... of course it gives me the opportunity to do the same without anybody bitchin... its gonna be awsome!

Wow, where do you work? Any employment opportunities?

I think we had that discussion before...

Really? Can I get a job? I'm dead serious.

[Kal]

Send me your resume... and we'll see

[MacGuffin]

Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith
By Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter
Bottom line: A rousing finale for the "Star Wars" saga that smoothly brings us back to where it all began.

The final episode of George Lucas' cinematic epic "Star Wars" ends the six-movie series on such a high note that one feels like yelling out, "Rewind!" Yes, rewind through more than 13 hours of bravery, treachery, new worlds, odd creatures and human frailty. The first two episodes of Lucas' second trilogy -- "The Phantom Menace" (1999) and "Attack of the Clones" (2002) -- caused more than a few fans of the original trilogy to wonder whether this prequel was worth it. The answer is a qualified yes. It did take a lot of weighty exposition, stiffly played scenes and less-than-magical creatures to get to "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith." But what a ride Lucas and Co. have in store!

Needless to say, international boxoffice will register in the hundreds of millions. The real question is how much money the entire series, now ready for packaging and repackaging for all sorts of formats and media, will eventually take in. Let's just say a lot.

What seems like the biggest drawback to "Episode III" turns out to be its strongest element. Even casual moviegoers know what is in store for the characters, who will wind up at the point where the original "Star Wars" -- now dubbed "Episode IV -- A New Hope" -- began the whole saga nearly 30 years ago. We know how Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker will turn to the dark side of the Force, how his twin children will be separated at birth and how his former master Obi-Wan Kenobi and the tiny Jedi Master Yoda will turn into mortal enemies. Yet watching these fates unfold with such tragic inevitability, watching each piece fall into place, is genuinely thrilling. In fact, knowing that these strong characters cannot and will not escape their fate is what moves us.

*READ ON AT OWN RISK*


The movie opens with a bang. Anakin (Hayden Christensen) and Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor), swashbuckling Knights in jet planes, swoop into a Sith space armada, batting off various attack forces with seasoned aplomb. In the main battleship, Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) and his coyote-faced, mental skeletoned droid ally General Grievous -- one of many computerized characters -- hold the Republic's Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) prisoner.

Action goes nonstop for more than 20 minutes as the two Jedi Knights supply the jaunty, gravity-defying heroics while the robot R2D2 (Kenny Baker) delivers brilliant comic action. This holds true throughout the new film as writer-director Lucas does a much better job of interweaving comedy with the dramatic and even tragic.

The seduction of the troubled Anakin to the dark side and the turn of the cool, cerebral Palpatine into the dictator of the Galactic Empire occur in an intelligent and persuasive way. The movie opens with the now traditional receding title crawl, which informs us that in the galactic warfare that has broken out, there are "heroes on both sides" and "evil is everywhere." Understandably, Anakin doesn't know whom to trust.

As it is, he leads a double life, having secretly married beauteous Sen. Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman). Her pregnancy will now force that secret into the open and cause him to lose his knighthood. Even more pressing, the rescued Palpatine brings Anakin into his confidence and plants doubts in his mind about the Jedi council. Sure enough, council head Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) signals that he has lost his trust in Anakin.

Palpatine gets Anakin appointed to the council, but Anakin is not allowed to assume to title of master. Even more troubling, each side -- Palpatine and Obi-Wan -- comes to Anakin to ask him to spy on the other side. Soon dreams suggest to Anakin that Padme will die in childbirth. Palpatine hints to the distraught husband that only by exploring the Force more fully can he save his wife.

Poor dialogue and wooden acting still inflict the second trilogy. The tragic dimension of Anakin's dilemma can only barely withstand lines like this from Padme: "You're a good person. Don't do this." Many dialogue scenes, brief as they are, feel awkward and unnatural. Such scenes start cold -- we can almost sense the clapboard moving out of camera frame -- and end with long, lingering shots of actors' blank faces. Yet in face of the epic grandeur of the film's design and action, these are mere quibbles.

Now completely at home with digital filmmaking, Lucas can blaze a pioneering path as no one else. Shooting on soundstages in Australia and Britain with additional photography in China, Thailand, Switzerland, Italy and Tunisia, Lucas thrusts viewers into pitched battles in looming caverns and giant space ships or a lightsaber duel on a river of molten lava. Combining choreographic action aesthetics that are American, Chinese and other worldly, Lucas has redefined fantasy filmmaking with "Star Wars," while teaching a generation of filmmakers to accept no limitations.

Cinematographer David Tattersall makes everything match beautifully, while editors Roger Barton and Ben Burtt (the latter also credited with the ingenious sound design) propel the story ever forward. John Williams, Lucas' music collaborator through all six films, is content to rumble melodically in the background with only brief emotional swells at key moments. Trisha Biggar's costumes and all the props and makeup are delicious fun, genuinely integral parts of the storytelling. And the CG creatures are more lifelike than ever. A particular standout is a giant lizard McGregor gets to ride.

Yes, by all means, rewind!

[lamas]

a couple tv spots:

[Satcho9]

The thing that got me really interested in this movie....not the commercials, not the trailers, not the ecstatic reports....

but the Fact that Spielberg weeped at the end of the movie.


That image alone makes me more excited than ever.

[Just Withnail]

Those two spots are by far the best ads for this film. The expressions of the characters; at last, glimpses of emotion! The music choices are effective as hell, not the bombasic swelling of the orchestra like the other teasers, just...beautiful. "You're going to kill him". After all these years, for the first time, the Star Wars title screen doesn't blast into view; this time it fades in. Simple little detail that chocked me.

[Sigur Rós]

I'm pretty sure George Lucas' scriptwriting will ruin this movie.

[Pubrick]

hahaha. is it really necessary to have the narrator speed-talk at the end of every trailer?

trailers should at least expect the audience to be literate.