Star Wars Episode III

I am a pretty big Star Wars geek. I admit I am a fan, but not to the extent of dressing up for movies or anything like that. I saw the local news interviewing some moviegoers who said that they cried, and that the movie changed their lives. All I can think is that there are a large number of fans who need to get a job, move out of their parents basements, and spend a few minutes in the sun to help dim the pasty glow they have aquired from years of spending more time with their gaming consoles than interacting with live human beings.
That being said, this was a pretty good movie. It didn't change my life, but I think that anybody who's lives are changed by something they see via an entertainment medium like movies or television didn't really have much of a life to begin with.
I ended up going to each of the last two movies with a freind who has moved away. He is a pretty big fan too, but he was going to be unable to go to this one until a few days after the release. Since I was going to a midnight showing on the opening day, he made me promise to write him a review the next morning. It contains no spoilers, as he didn't want to know too many details before he gets to see it. After reading it, he suggested that I post it somewhere for others to read, so here it is:

Okay, you wanted a full review, so here it is.
Episode III is without a doubt the best of the prequels, and possibly
the best overall.
I knew going into this, as everybody does, the eventual outcome of the
movie, but it still drew me into the story & I found myself quite
surprised at many of the events. I still found myself expecting the
'good guys' to win as they do in most movies.
Anakin's fall is done quite well, with his internal struggles
portrayed clearly to the audience. They actually spent more time on
this than I had really expected. I had feared that Lucas would make
something like the Emperor saying "Join the dark side, Anakin!" and
Anakin just saying "They don't know how powerful I am! Okay, sign me
up." He actually came through quite brilliantly in overcoming my
admittedly low expectations. Your mileage may vary.
Lucas still doesn't know how to write a love scene. He and Tom Clancy
should be required to attend a course on how to write a love scene.
They are quite possibly two of the worst people on the planet at
writing love scenes, and this includes grade school kids who still
think that the opposite sex has 'cooties'.
Ewan McGregor has done an amazing job of trying to incorporate a
likeness of Alec McGuiness into his portrayal of Obi Wan Kenobi. There
were times, especially near the end, where I was able to make the
mental leap between the two. He does this while remaining a serious
badass.
There were three scenes where I felt the movie was a little too
gruesome. It absolutely deserved the PG-13 rating, and I am seriously
pondering if I should attempt to hide my wifes eyes during these parts
when she sees it. I guess I'm just getting soft or something.
I felt that certian parts of the story were rushed at the end, but at
that point I really didn't care because my bladder was about ready to
explode, due to the movie being just a hair shy of two and a half
hours long. Late night + lots of caffinated beverages + long move =
Floating eyeballs.
Lastly, you are probably wondering about 'The Duel'. After reading so
much about it, I actually found myself feeling like it was a little
short. However, there is enough other lightsaber action throughout the
movie that I really don't feel like the movie was lacking in that
department. On the contrary, I felt that it contained just the right
amount of lightsaber action, which translates to a whole lot.

That's the end of the review. It was a good movie. Go see it.

Wuss part deux

After my last post, I thought things over, and decided to not be such a wuss. What was this girl going to do? Sprout fangs and eat me?
The very next day I ended up in the office again, and this time I decided to get it over with. I said "Hello" as I walked past her. She very curtly snapped "Oh, hi." as she brushed past me.
I started thinking "okay, that wasn't so bad..." as I finished my paperwork. Then another deputy walked in. "Oh, Hi Justin!" she gushed to him. "I'm leaving, but you be careful out there and don't get hurt or anything!" And then it hit me. Her voice was like nails across a blackboard and I had this sudden urge to run for my life. If we took a sample recording of her voice and played it repeatedly through speakers at Iraqi insurgents, they would be begging to surrender, if only to make it stop. It was like a flashback to a combat zone.
Maybe my subconscious instincts were trying desperately to protect me and I mistakenly thought it was fear?

If my wife ends up reading this at some point, thank you dear. Thank you for not having that voice. Thank you for not smothering me in cute pet names, nagging admonishments, and inane babble. Thank you for letting me have freinds. Thank you for knowing when to just let me be an antisocial jerk and be left alone. You truely do not know just how special that can be.