Rey's Parents

https://heroichollywood.com/star-wars-pegg-abrams-rey-parents/#.WsYUl8CGDGw.facebook


The folks over at Heroic Hollywood posted this tidbit from Simon Pegg about the different direction director Rain Johnson took with Rey's parents.  To recap( spoiler alert), Ben Solo tells Rey that her parents really weren't shit.  Just a couple of losers from Jakku which really messes up many fans narratives about who they thought her parents were.

In the article, Pegg says director JJ Abrams had a totally different take.  Feel free to the read the article in the link above.

I'll just say this... it was kinda a letdown to learn that her parents were not going to figure prominently in her history, BUT I kinda though the move by Kylo was more of a swerve to get Rey to join him in his conquest to rule the galaxy.  I figured in episode 9 we would learn the real truth and maybe we will since JJ Abrams is back to close this trilogy of movies in 2019.

What do you think?

The Producer

Please shut the fuck up!

So the trailer dropped for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story the other day.  Normally that would've been something I would've done  a trailer review for and all that but I didn't.  Honestly, as much as I loved The Force Awakens, I am wary of Disney churning out Star Wars movie annually. I do believe too much is too much sometimes and diluting Star Wars with excessive movies could turn it into Star Trek and I would hate to see that happen.

None the less, my issue was not the trailer.  It was the fan boy( white) reaction to the trailer.  Once again, just like the TFA, white, male fans are upset that the star and lead protagonist of this movie was not a white male.  Like much of the hate directed towards Ray and Finn, its based on the fact that they believe the new creators of these movies are diversifying Star Wars too much and its based on some racial bias against white males and pushing a feminist agenda.

Word? This is how you gonna play this?  Now I could dive into how ridiculous the argument is and how pushing one character does not diminish anything from previous characters or movies, but I'm not gonna do that. Or I could dive into this idea of believability of a movie with space ships and Wookies in it, but Im not gonna do that either. I am going to tell those fans to shut the fuck up visually!  Possibly they can only learn through pictures because reading is clearly not fundamental.

In the picture box below are the sci fi films from 2015- just last year and a box of the sci fi films for 2016. I took out superhero movies- which are also almost exclusively white males, but lets just see what the films of the last year and half look like in sci fi.

This is not a comprehensive list for 2015, but the movies are overwhelmingly white male fronted and if you have seen most of these movies, the lack of people of color in them is startling.  Oh but maybe it was just last year right?  Yeah because #OscarSoWhite?  look at the slate for 2016 thus far

So there is a wide variety of movies over the past 16 months and there are no people of color.  Like none!  Yes, there are a few franchises that have white female leads, but the overwhelming majority are white, male led movies. And this is just the last year and half. Do you really want to go back in time to see how many movies and franchises are led by white males?  Is your ego and masculinity so fragile that you are threatened by less than 2% of the movies being made being led by a female?  Get the fuck out of here with that bullshit!  If anyone should be upset, its people of color who are constantly overlooked or marginalized in sci fi.  And its even worse for females of color in this genre. I am still waiting for a Black female to have s significant role in Star Wars.  I mean its only been 30 plus years and 8 movies already.

So cry me some white male tears on this one.  The audacity to be upset that 2 movies of your beloved series is not fronted by a white dude.  Man, you got 6 movies of that from Star Wars already. Let some other people shine.  None of this takes away from Luke or Han or Annakin or Obi Won. See that, I just listed 4 main white heroes.  This is on top of Padme and Leia.  And you give me "Lando" or "Mace" I may smack you if we meet.  One person does not equal diversity!! Learn that shit! Live that shit! Love that shit! Its not like there are no white people in The Force Awakens or Rogue One and they are all not bad guys! Get over yourself!

I'm sorry, not sorry for the rant but nothing angers me more than ridiculous, unfounded rage.  You want to be upset, don't watch then.  Ban the movies, sign your petition to bring back George Lucas.  But remember, George is chilling in his mansion like this!

The Producer

We all have fan blindspots

Picture the scene, May, 1998, a young Producer has skipped work to attend an afternoon screening of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.  I was excited.  I had been waiting for this movie for the 20 plus years since Jedi had come out.  I had already spent loads of money on toys and merchandise and I had gotten my tickets 2 weeks before this screening.  I was beyond hyped!  It was hard to contain myself in my seat.  Then the theater goes dark and that John Williams theme drops and, if I was someone who cries, I woulda cried like a baby!   And the movie starts and its a spectacle- especially the FX. And you get all the light saber battles, and Maul, and Sidious, and the hints of Vader with young Annakin.  But you also get Jar Jar and awful dialogue and what the fuck are midiclorians anyway?
At the time tho, no one could tell me shit.  It was Star Wars! It was back and I was happy.  Now 1998, everyone did not have cell phones, there was no Twitter, or Facebook. At the time, you lived and died on news and fanboy interaction in chat rooms and message boards.  And most fan reaction to Phantom Menace was not as enthusiastic as mine.  In fact, some people hated it. I mean HATED IT! And as much as I tried to defend it, no one was trying to hear me. I was like, "Fuck them, they stupid!" So I went and saw it again. And Again. And I even copped a bootleg video copy in English( with Turkish subtitles).  No one could tell me that Phantom Menace was bad......Except that it was and is a bad movie.  Possibly the worst of the 3 prequels-which are all flawed.

I tell this story because I see the similarities in my defense of Phantom Menace with people defending Batman V Superman.  Now, Batman V Superman is leagues better than Phantom Menace- that is not my comparison.  My point is blerds/nerds will turn on each other and defend their flawed heroes, comics, movies,  and tv shows to the death when they feel that other people do not like what they like.  They say shit like, " You just don't understand", or " The movie was more complicated than you think" and often times they are flat out wrong.  Look, most of these movies- especially comic book movies are not breaking atoms in their depictions of our beloved characters.  People go to movies to be entertained, not to think.  That is why Transformers can make a billion dollars worldwide- not because its any good.  Its just mindless entertainment!  Yet if you tell the wrong person/persons that Transformers is stupid, @realOptimusPrime will attack you on Twitter and call you a moron because you didn't like that stupid movie.

Stop! I mean really, STOP! Look, I did not like or hate Batman V Superman.  I thought it was ok.  To me the movie was a mess- attempting to serve too many masters.  The movie took 3-5 comic book plots and tried to cram it all in one movie and it made the movie messy in terms of flow, storytelling, and length. I really do think there is a good movie in there at about 2 hours and 10 minutes( instead of 2 hours, 40 minutes). But people are going to town on this movie about how its so great and its the best comic book movie ever.... Sorry, I can't roll with that.  But you do you!  One of my biggest mantras that has come with age is that you should "Like what you Like".  If you like it, fine.  But don't try and convince me that I should like it and don't try and convince other people that they should like it.  If you like it, fine.  Be secure in your opinion why you liked it and move on.

I hate that in society now we have "Embraced the debate".  This culture creates a system where people feel the need to convince you that they are right, and you are wrong( as the other person does the same).  This causes people to take the extreme opinion on anything and everything to attempt prove their point. And blerds and nerds are the worst at this.  They will defend their side to the end of the road( even when its clear they are wrong).  As I've gotten older, I really don't have the time or energy for that shit!  Its fun to read and watch it play out on line, but don't come at me with that bullshit!  It's a sure fire way to get blocked or unfollowed.

So if you liked Phantom Menace, or Fast and the Furious, or Thor 2, or XMen The Last Stand... embrace the shit that you love and stop trying to make me or anyone else love that shit!

Worst possible Lando's

Young Han Solo Casting

So the Star Wars people are moving right along with giving us this Star Wars related movie a year plan of theirs.  One of the side angle movies is going to be a young, Han Solo story and Disney is in the process of trying to cast a young, Han Solo.  A list of actors dropped in the article above and to say its underwhelming or non-inspiring would be an understatement.  Each of them is wack in their  own, special way, and, say what you will about Harrison Ford, he was a great Han Solo and them is some large, Wampa sized shoes for any actor to try and fill.

But people forget, because he was the only Black dude in the movies, how big of a star Billy Dee Williams was.  He owned the role of Lando as a handsome, smooth talking, ruffian- the equal to Han Solo in that regard.  So putting just anybody in that role would not go over well in the Blerd community!

But my thought was, if that sorry ass list was the best actors they had for Han Solo, the list of actors they must have for Lando is probably even worse.  There is no way they do a young, Han Solo movie without introducing us to his sometime friend, Lando Calrissian.  So I said to myself, "Self, who could possibly be the WORST actor they could cast as Lando?  I am sure we all hope for the best and Michael B Jordan or Chadwick Boseman takes the role and we'll all sleep better at night.  But if they pass, who could Disney hire that would make Black Twitter want to riot on the Internet streets?

My top 3 nightmare hires.... In alphabetical order!

Nick Cannon

He would be thirsty enough to audition and drum up support for himself on line like he did for the Richard Pryor bio-pic.  Hell no to the former Ms. Mariah Carey.  I would burn all my Star Wars shit if he got the role.

Kevin Hart

He is probably too busy making other bad movies to do this. Plus he would need a booster seat to actually fly the Millennium Falcon.

Jaden Smith

Just NO. Please God, NO!  Please no more science fiction movies for you for a few more years. Please allow the stink of After Earth to die!


Leave your worst suggestions in the comments section or on our Facebook feed or on Twitter!
#worstLando

Star Wars is Anti White?

Wait what? Look, I'm gonna try and make this brief without feeding the trolls too much but the idea that Star Wars is anti- white may be the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in the realm of comics and sci fi movies.  If anything, Star Wars, the Original Trilogy especially, could not be more whitewashed.  So much in fact, George Lucas had to be told that there were no Black people in the movie which is why he enlisted James Earl Jones to do the voice of Darth Vader.  So to all those out there who are upset that their favorite childhood movie is being more progressive, you haven't lived with the fact of loving a movie that literally has a handful of people that look like you in it.

Just to recap the people of color in ALL SIX MOVIES.  This is not counting the Special additions where black people were added in the background and it does not count any aliens and for damn sure does not count Jar Jar Binks! And you tell me how these movies could be considered anything other than anti black.  And just to motivate myself and let you know Vader does not count either- here is the brilliant Hooper X from Chasing Amy letting us know how racist Star Wars actually is!

In the order in which they came out....

Star Wars. There are no BLACK PEOPLE in Star Wars: A New Hope. NONE!

Empire Strikes Back.  Lando and another brotha who is a guard in Cloud City who never talks! That's it! He is probably Lando's cousin!

See he's there!

Return of the Jedi

Mind you Lando is back and is the only credited Black Character in the Original Trilogy.  There are a few "rebels" on the battle of Endor and the attack on the Death Star but that is pretty much it!

Pretty sure its the same black dude!

Blacks in the original trilogy is like that scene from Scrubs were Turk is printed twice on his college brochures to show diversity.

The Phantom Menace

Since we are counting Blacks only, I'm not counting Annakin's Indian friend on Tattoinne. And Phantom Menace has a ton of blacks in the background, but the only speaking roles goes to Mace Windu, Panaka, and an unnamed pilot on the attack on the droid Trade Federation Ship.  And I am pretty sure Mace's body double is caught in a scene as he has on Mace's clothes.  I know its implied that the Gungan's are black but we are not fucking illiterate space creatures.

Attack of the Clones

Attack of the clones if you take out Mace, again has no Black people in it.  Captain Panaka was replaced by Captain Typho but this brotha I think is from an island nation.  And again, there is an implication that the Kimonians are Black but again we are not creatures from another world and planet!

Reminds of that picture of the Rock when he was fat!

Revenge of the Sith

Once again, take out Mace Windu and you are hard pressed to find a Black actor in these movies.  I am sure there are plenty of extra's and some black actors as aliens under all that make up.  But a character who speaks and has a role in the storyline.... Man forget it!  And we not counting Puerto Rican Jimmy Smits as Black!  And before I forget, there are no Black Women in any of these movies. NONE! I am not sure who birthed these few actors that made it but maybe they was spawned because there are no black women!

Look, I love Star Wars more than I should probably and I have made peace with the fact that sci- fi is often whitewashed and even though I am not okay with it, I still can enjoy it but make comments about how no black people or people of color or even women make it into these movies.  But don't come at me and creating hashtags about a movie series that at its best over 6 movies and 12 hours of footage has less than 10 black actors in it.  This new movie may be good or it may suck.  It may give the franchise new blood or life or it may not.  But what I know for damn sure is that its not anti white.

#GTFO!

The Producer

The Force Awakens Secrecy

The Force Awakens


Our good friends over at www.cheatsheet.com posted this article last week about all the secrecy about The Force Awakens.  Here we are a couple of months from the films releases and there have only been a couple of trailers and very little leak to the plot and the characters of this hugely anticipated movie.  Its a Sith like secrecy to this movie.  This is not the norm for blockbusters nowadays.  Between teaser trailers and full trailers often 6-12 months before the movie premier, all this secrecy can be looked at as refreshing.  But it can also be looked at as disturbing, or at least worrisome.

Star Wars does not need any additional hype to the franchise- even after the prequels.  Original fans and their children and their children's children will be lined up for this movie days and  hours ahead of screenings and the excitement they felt back in 1977 for Star Wars or 1998 for The Phantom Menace will be palpable. But what I think Star Wars fans and producers may be missing is the reason people love The Original Trilogy and love to hate the Prequels, is that they are so familiar with the story of the Force and the Family Skywalker. Even though people hate the Prequels, we all knew where is was headed and how it was going to end and there is a level of comfort in knowing that Annakin will become Vader, Obi Won is going to die, Yoda is a great Jedi Master.  And the prequels gave us a glimpse into that world before Star Wars, but we all knew how it ended and even George Lucas couldn't screw that up( but man did he try).  Now, Star Wars producers are banking on fans to just accept whatever this new thing is because it has Star Wars across the screen!  I think that is a huge mistake and I think they may know this, too which is why the original actors who play Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewbacaa are in this movie. That is why you see Vader's burning helmet.... they know there has to be a link for older fans and newer fans!  But you are asking alot for older fans to give a shit about these new characters.  New characters which you have not explained or given much of a backstory for because of this Sith level secrecy.  And lets keep it super 100.... Star Wars has not always done the best at introducing new characters and making you care for them. And even when they did introduce a cool new character( non animated) they killed them off before you could even care about them( Hello Darth Maul, Qui Gon Jin, and Jango Fett and Bobba Fett).

I have always maintained that any new Star Wars movie should have recast all the main protagonist. The Star Wars expanded universe has already told the story of the Skywalkers post the fall of the Empire and seeing that play out over a few movies, with new, younger actors would have been exciting for new and old fans because it would have been a continuation of characters that we already grew up and grew old with.

This new movie seems kinda forced( get it). I do not bow down to the altar of JJ Abrams like many fans do.  I liked what he did with the reboot of Star Trek but as you see, he just recast original characters. He did not reinvent the wheel and make an entire new Enterprise crew for us to care about.

So I am excited but very nervous about this movie. I am an old Star Wars fan who saw the original in the theater and then 21 years later took off work to see Phantom Menace.  I've seen all the Clone Wars movies/cartoons, and have done several DVD marathons with my kids of the Original Trilogy and the Prequels.  My fandom for Star Wars cannot be questioned.  Hopefully they movie captures that news and excitement of Star Wars and gives us moments of awe that my kids can later share with their kids.

The Producer

Comic Book Review: Lando #5

I was so disappointed in issue number 4 and it reflected in my review.  The book had too many splash pages and hardly any dialogue and did very little to advance the story line.  I am happy to report that issue five does not suffer through the same disappointments.

To recap, Lando, our lovable playa/hustler has gotten himself in deep with a loanshark and he has been doing odd jobs to pay down that debt.  Of course there is no honor among thieves and when Lando thinks he has his debt paid, he is blackmailed into "one more job".  Lando, with his faithful male servant, Lobot, two assassin twins, and a curator of artifacts, named set off to steal a ship, the Imperialis.  Once they steal the ship, they are immediately tracked by the Empire and narrowly escape being captured.  Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Lando, the ship they stole belonged to Emperor Palpatine himself and he has every intention of getting it back.  Palpatine dispatches his personal bounty hunter, Chanath Cha to get the ship back by any means necessary.  Meanwhile on the ship, Lando and his crew, while exploring discover a hidden area guarded by the Emperors Imperial Guard and a massive battle takes place between the twins and the guards.  Once the guards are defeated, Lando and Sava  move into the treasure room and discover that the room is full of artifacts from the Sith.

Issue 5 picks outside the Imperialis as Chanath Cha has made his way to the ship and sneaks on board and begins his search for the thieves.  The ironic moment occurs when he need Chanath needs to get on the ship, the access code is 66( Emperor was dropping that code for the longest).

Back in the treasure room, Lando wants to know how much all this Sith stuff is worth.  He figures they take it, find a collector, and sell it for credits.  He asks Sava Korin how many credits could they get and Sava says they could  earn  credits to buy a moon, or two( Lando would call his Lando Land).

While Sava and Lando discuss credits and Jedi and Sith history( Lando is not a believer), one of the twins becmes fixated on the Sith artifacts and picks up a double bladed lightsaber.  It seems being in the room with the Dark Side of the Force and fighting the Emperors Imperial Guard has affected the twin and he goes Tatooine Cantina on the other twin with the lightsaber.  This freaks out Lando and Sava and they lock the twins in the treasure room with one another.

Lando, showing a sense of caring and loyalty that Sava has never seen before, wants to figure out a way to rescue the twins.  Sava, thinking Lando is the Lando she has known forever, is headed to an escape pod until an announcement comes over the speaker system on the ship stating that all escape pods have been disabled( by Channath Cha)

Back in the treasure room, we learn that the assassin twins are actually a couple and that one is male and one is female and they are married and they are looking to adopt a child with the money from this job but being in this room has opened new thoughts of the future as they are exposed to the Dark Side  of the Force in the room.

Lando and Sava debate on what to do. Sava knows the ship has been taken over by an outsider and still makes an attempt to escape before being captured off panel by Chanath.  She tries to say she stole ship alone but the Bounty Hunter is not buying it and Lando's attempt to rescue Sava goes as well as one might think. But once Chanath gets the drop on Lando, the bounty hunter makes a connection with our lovable, playa/hustler

Turns out Chanath is a lady and someone who Lando has had a previous relationship with( best part is that it takes a comic panel for Lando to realize who she is).  She drops knowledge on Lando and Sava that this is the Emperors ship and he wants it back and she has been charged with killing everyone on the ship.  The book ends, tho with both twins wielding lightsabers ready to kill Lando and anyone else on the ship.

That concludes issues 5.  The book got back on track this month.  Issue 4 worried me that there was a lack of conclusion to this story arc but this issue got the book back on track.  Its so funny that Lando's past of promiscuity rescued him certain death.  The book has had shipping issues already but the conclusion to this arc should end with issue 6 before a new creative team takes over the book.

The Producer

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Lando Issue 2 Review

Lando Issue 2 Review

Lando and his crew don't know it yet, but the ship they stole in issue 1 belongs to Emperor Palpatine and he is very interested in getting it back.

The issue picks up as Lando is attempting to get away and jump into hyperspace with the ship, The Imperialis, that they had stolen for the Crime Boss, Papa Toren.  This was to be a quick, easy job that would wipe out the debt Lando owed so he and Lobot could start fresh.

But the life of a hustler and his crew is never easy.  Once they attempt the make the jump into hypserspace, 3 Imperial Star Destroyers appear with the attempts to capture the ship.

Lando, ever the entrepreneur, does not see this as a problem.  Lando figures if the Empire wants the ship back that badly, then it must be worth a fortune.  Lando's crew, on the other hand, definitely sees this as a problem and Lando has to convince them that if the Empire wanted them dead, they would have just fired upon them and killed them.  He figures either the ship or whats on the ship is super valuable which is why the Empire is attempting to capture them.

As the Star Destroyers align their tractor beams to capture the ship, Lando uses a maneuver he must have learned when he was captain of the Millennium Falcon, and he is able to steer clear of the tractor beams and the Star Destroyers collide into one another as Lando and his crew make the jump to hyperspace.

Meanwhile at the Inner Rim, a bounty hunter named Chanath Cha is making a routine collection for a client when he receives a call that he cannot refuse.

Palpatine explains to Chanath that one of his ships has been stolen from and he would very much like to get it back and only a bounty hunter with his level of skill can make that happen for him.

Back on the Imperialis, Lando and his crew begin to explore the ship and its artifacts searching for the treasure that must be on the ship.  As Lobot comes across a locked panel, he logs into the computers system to unlock the door and does find and unexpected surprise!

Issue 2 builds upon the mystery that is the Imperialis.  It will be interesting to see what is on the ship that is so important to Palpatine.  I like how the book plays on Lando's past as a hustler, but it also paints him as an intelligent person, who makes questionable decisions at times, I think all men can relate to that!

This book was delayed by a couple of weeks, but it is back on schedule and issue 3 will be out this Wednesday.  Look for a review shortly after.

The Producer

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New Star Wars and Old Star Wars

The Force Awakens


Early this morning some screen shots of Princess Lea leaked on line and I saw them and forgot to screen cap this for this post. Now Disney has put a cease and desist out there and have pretty much scrubbed their existence.  My bad!
As I was plotting writing this out this morning, I have been in my head about how The Force Awakens is going to handle the new Star Wars people mixed in with the Old Star Wars people.  And this is gonna come off as ageism and maybe a little sexist but them people are old.  I saw a picture from a con a couple of years ago of Luke and Lando and I was like, " I'm not sure how much longer these dudes are gonna be with us"!

And the images I saw this morning of Carrie Fisher did not do much to alleviate the thoughts I had after seeing these two.  Look, we all get old, none of us look the same as we did 35 plus years ago-that is not even my argument.  My point is, how are they gonna believably place these people who we idolized in movies before, into a movie that is focused on the next generation.  You see, even my kids are invested in the Original Trilogy and maybe a bit on the lesser 3 prequels.  The characters they care about are from those movies and they are only 10 and 8.  Now, as much as I love Star Wars( and I do), you are asking me to care about characters that I don't care about and are going to try and shove down my throat an old ass Jedi, an old ass Correllian, and a Princess who by now should be Queen, right? I mean damn! Grab the throne, already! Nobody on yo planet is alive anymore.

I think I may have a hard time buying it and I know I'm not the only one!  People who love Star Wars love the original characters and since its been so long since Jedi, maybe they should have just recast the roles. It would have been weird at first but no weirder than having to CGI the heck out of Luke's face and Lea's jelly rolls( that was mean)!

I will be there opening weekend. I am sure I will buy my tickets way in advance and have my kids there. I just hope they don't over do it with the "old " Star Wars people too much.  It will be too painful to watch!

-The Producer

Empire Strikes Back at 35: What movies can still learn from the best Star Wars | EW.com

Its hard to believe this movie is 35 years old. My brother and I were Star Wars kids from the jump when the first movie came out. I actually do not remember seeing the first movie in the movie theater but I vividly remember having alot of toys and swag from the movies.  My Han Solo, Chewbaca, and Luke action figures ($.99 cent at Kroger) meant the world to me and I played with them on the regular.  Its so funny, now we know the release date of the next big movie 2-3 years before it even comes out.  Back then, especially for two city kids, movies just happened to show up or maybe you caught a commercial on Saturday morning or something.  Our mom knew we were into these movies and we saw Empire the weekend it opened.  We went to the Salem Mall in Dayton, OH and was ready to go!  But Empire when it came out, messed me up.  Its really one of the first movies I can remember where the good guys kinda get their asses kicked.  And not just for a little bit, they get their asses kicked the entire movie.  From Hoth, to the asteroid field, to Cloud City... Its just 2 hours of good guys getting knocked around.  And I hated it!  This was not how it was supposed to go down.  Good guys win, bad guys lose, This is messing with my 9 year old sensibilities. And I felt what way for a long time.  Even after Return of the Jedi, I never went back to watch Empire because I didn't like the way it made me feel.  As I got older and got back into Star Wars( I went away from it for a while.  Being a black nerd in the 80's and being from the city could lead to some ass whippings), I came to appreciate Empire more.  First, there is Lando. Now I remember Lando when I was 9 and I had his action figure but I was too young to recognize " Hey, why you the only ninja in space?"  As I got older, I was like, "Hell yeah, Lando!"  He run his own business, he got hustler/pimp characteristics that make him cool...  This was my ninja!

 2nd was Yoda. As a kid, I was not anti-Yoda but I didn't really dig the character and I didn't understand they dynamic between teacher/pupil.  As I got older, Yoda is dropping knowledge on Luke from so many levels- and not just about the Force:

-"Do or do not. There is no try"
-"Always with you, it cannot be done"





This idea of not quitting, dont give up... Yoda was schooling Luke ( and me).  Side brotha note- The 2nd time I saw Empire was with my dad... God Bless my dad as it was one of those, "Hey your father wants to do something with you" moments.  He came, he was late( of course) and we went to see Empire in downtown Dayton at a movie theater that escapes me.  We got there after the battle on Hoth.  My dad loved Yoda and insisted then and probably now, that Yoda was a brotha.  You know that ancient, black person who, in movies, is always schooling white folks and helping them redeem themselves from the bad shit they did or the good thing they about to do.

3rd was the Jedi action.  New Hope alluded more to Jedi and their powers than they actually showed.  Obi won had some mind tricks but the lightsaber battle between him and Vader was like 2 old men fighting in line at the old folks home for the last sugar free chocolate pudding. In Empire you get to see Jedi's use their powers and even though, looking back now, the lightsaber battle was tame compared to the new trilogy ones, it was still sweet to see Luke and Vader go at it and to see Vader use the Dark Side to punish Luke.

4th... Han and Leia romance.  Now 8 year old me was like "ugghhh, that's nasty".  20 year old me, especially after seeing Leia in that Slave costume at Jabba's palace was like, "heeeeeey, girl"! To this day, the banter between her and Han is so energetic, playful, and sexy.  It would not surprise me at all, if her and Harrison Ford were banging in real life because you could see and feel their chemistry.  To this day, when my wife says, " I love you!" to me I still reply, " I know"!

Man, that movie... I am not even touching on Vader or Bobba Fett( who is Big Hutch's favorite character.)  To this day, its the only Star Wars movie I will watch no matter what the circumstances.  If its on tv, I'm stopping and watching it and whenever I need my Star Wars fix, I always go there.  So Happy 35th Empire!