Certain moments when a certain type of viewer will laugh out loud even though nothin' especially funny occurred, just so as other folks less learned in matters of daft sci-fi tomfoolery will know that I know.
Maybe when folks ask about "What was your favorite bit?" you find yourself saying "Well it's gotta be that Kurosawa reference in the opening."
Fuck the Kurosawa reference, I didn't even know till I read about it later, but you bet you last ball the next time I go see it I'll point and laugh and scream out loud the second that shot arrives.
But even if you don't wanna be bothered with Kurosawa, what about all the nods and winks and ropes flung across to the outstretched palms of A New Hope?
For example, as far as The Duke might be concerned, the best moment in Attack Of The Clones was when Dooku walked past the hologram of the Death Star plans. That tingle that bounced along a fella's spine, that was some powerful shit right there. "It geeked the bejeesus outta me" is, I believe, the technical cinematalogical term for it all.
There weren't no big deal made about it. The camera didn't zoom in and have someone point it out with a stick, saying "Look here, it's the big thing from out the first one", it just happened. It was just there for a second, but it's all I could talk about when folks asked about if the flick was any good.
Revenge Of The Sith is stuffed to the chops with shit like that, reaching a glorious crescendo in the final shot, a beautiful reprise of the most beautiful moment in A New Hope, which is now, I suppose, itself a reprise, chronologically speaking. The 1977 version is my favorite shot in all Star Wars, so it stands to reason that this variant would be my favorite shot in all the prequels.
It's the one with the two suns, or maybe it was two moons. I dunno. But the sky was red, the gaze was longing and the score was dragging every dream I ever had in the direction of those floating blobs of fiery death, and a fella felt himself choking on the bittersweet phlegm of his own aspirations.
When that final "Written And Directed By George Lucas" appeared, I wanted to stand the fuck up right there and throw my arms around the girl I wished had been there too, maybe kissed her even, since fuck it, this is a glorious moment in our cinema-going lives, and if I get a slap in the yap and a cutting rebuttal, at least for a second I was kissing her whilst that score was stirring every cinematically inclined fibre in my being well beyond their collective capacities for being stirred.
Article comments
1 - Bennett
Stunned silence, like at the end of a great Cyrano.
"Skinny arsehole I see. Bumping around, it is. Not long it took."
:-]
Thanks, for all of it, Duke.
2 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
heh, thanks Bennet. god, this is very long-winded.
3 - Bennett
Yeah, you really let the fingers fly, hell, they damn near migrated south!
Did you catch my post on Simple Tasteful Nudes? I ask because, even in your abruptly single state of mind, a bit more torture won't kill you.
A gal they had up three days ago damn near broke my heart, so pretty she was.
Enjoy!
4 - Eric Olsen
Duker, a novel in "review" form, a walk through our very civilization at the near-beginning of the 21st century; a series of guffaws, chortles, belly-laughs, and snickers, interspersed a with slight welling of moisture in empathy with the profound sadness and death-grief without the satisfaction of death to support it.
I swear to God you will get over this woman, and she never appreciated you anyway.
I think I WILL go see the flick this weekend.
5 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
EO, thank you. I'm glad you dug it. I was a bit unsure about posting it to be honest, it is really very long-winded and self-absorbed.
And you MUST go see it this weekend. Society would stand for nothing less, i'd wager.
And Bennett, i can scarsely thank you enough for alerting me to said post. Excellently written, it was, too. And obviously welcome in these trying times...
6 - Mark Saleski
i will balance out society by not seeing this movie this weekend.
or ever.
oh, and duke, we count on you to be long-winded and self-absorbed.
7 - Mat
My lord, Duke, the length. The Length!
I've had sex in less time than it took me to read that.
I've read Tolstoy in less time.
Ok, so there were a good number of chuckles, a lot of big smiles, and a couple of hearty guffaws too.
Truth be known I just skimmed the cliff notes on Tolstoy. And I've had sex in less time than it takes to read a haiku.
8 - Eric Berlin
Duke, I've been holding off on reading this sure masterpiece as I've not yet seen the latest S Wars. I actually sat through the entirety of Attack of the Clones on network TV, no less, in prep... but it looks like it will be at least several days.
Anyway, just glancing through the comments makes me want to see the damned thing so I can get to the main course right here at the old BC stomping grounds...
9 - Temple Stark
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