The AFI has another 100 list, this one is the 100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time. Many of my personal favorites didn’t make the cut, such as:

“I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don’t want to do that.” –Lloyd Dobler, Say Anything

Or:

“Listen pal, you can’t just waltz in here, use my toaster and spout universal truths without qualification!” –Jude, Surviving Desire

But there were some really great ones on the list, like:

“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room.” –President Muffley, Dr. Strangelove

And of course, the number one quote (hardly a shocker):

“Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

Ismail Merchant, better known as one half of Merchant Ivory Productions, passed away today. He had been producing films since 1960 and his works included: A Room with a View, The Remains of the Day, Howards End, and Le Divorce just to name a few.

I did not have a chance to see Revenge of the Sith on Wednesday (damn you, Property final!). But I did catch the very first show as soon as I was done issue spotting about equitable servitudes. In fact, I ran into a classmate there, so all law student’s aren’t evil after all! Unless we were there to root for the Sith. Hmmm. Anyway, here’s my rundown, including some responses to other criticisms I’ve seen elsewhere.

Note: There will be spoilers, so don’t read further if you:have not yet seen the move; and/or care.

Overall Impressions
I liked it. I was predisposed to liking it. I grew up on Star Wars and I am a geek. And this is the episode where Anakin becomes Darth Vader, one of the greatest movie villains of all time. I mean, c’mon. What’s not to like? It would have really had to suck bad, and it did not. My all time favorite remains The Empire Strikes Back but this was dark in the same tradition as Empire, and tied the first three episodes nicely together leading into the original episode IV.

The Visuals
Okay, Lucas has these down. The movie look really, really great. I wasn’t blown away by the effects of the first two. They were meh. Good, but not jaw dropping. I think nearly all of the visuals in this one were perfect. Everything just looked great.

The Action
Nice. Very nice. The fight between General Grievous and Obi-Wan was quite cool, the battle scenes in general were great, and the fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin was pretty killer. But once again, the show stealer was Master Yoda. Watching Master Yoda and Sen. Palpatine/Darth Sidious battle it out in the Senate chambers was pretty damn cool. I mean, c’mon, Yoda meets the Emperor? That’s good stuff. It beats the hell out of an extended pod-race, let me tell you.

Darth Vader
Oh yeah, baby. I’ve heard a few people express dismay that Anakin’s transformation to the Dark Side was too quick-but that is forgetting the other two movies. It’s not like Anakin just got all uppity in this movie; he had discipline problems before, and a serious chip on his shoulder from his mother’s death. I mean, a Jedi doesn’t exact revenge the way he did against the Sand People, now does he? When you combine that, with him being played as a double agent, his obvious sense of entitlement and desire for power, the thing with Padme is just the straw that broke the camels back. He was headed to the Dark Side a while ago, folks. This is just the final step. So if it seems like a baby step, in a way, it is, he’d already made most of the journey.

The Acting/Dialog
Okay, for everyone who says, “the acting was so wooden, it wasn’t very good” or “god the dialog was awful,” I would like to quote my niece, who express as only an teenager could, “Well, duuuuh.”

Look people, this film is not high art. It’s not a Shakespeare Sonnet. It’s talky movie; no My Dinner with Andre here. It’s a damn space western/space opera for chrissake. Stop for a moment and consider, if you will, that maybe–just maybe–the acting is supposed to be wooden? And the dialog is supposed to be cheesy? It’s not like Star Wars had the Gettysburg Address in it.

George Lucas has certainly written better, and Natalie Portman has certainly acted better. But the bad acting/dialog is part of the genre, damnit. Get over yourselves and enjoy the movie, you over analytical twits. To all of you griping about the dialog and acting, you’re nothing but a bunch of scruffy nerf herders.

The Recap
I loved it. I’ll go see it again, just to see if I missed any pointers to the original series, those little gems that were thrown in for fans and people who grew up on the originals. And the story wasn’t bad, it appeals to my own dark side, and nicely tied together all the loose ends from the first two episodes. It’s well worth the money, and I think it will stand out as the best among the first three in much the same manner as Empire stands out among the next three. If you haven’t already, go see it.

Tonight Kristyna and I went out to dinner and the movies with some friends. We ended up seeing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind which was really excellent.

I won’t go into too many details about the film here, because to talk about it in detail would sort of give away a lot about the story. However, I will say that both Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey both give excellent performances. It’s the sort of inventive story that could only come from Charlie Kaufman (who I have now come to believe is a genius)… while at the same time being a very touching story about real human emotions and relationships without being clich?.

It’s another “instant favorite” of mine, and if you liked Magnolia, I think you’ll like this one too. But even if you didn’t like Magnolia, see it anyway.