A long time ago, in an editing bay not too far away… Born in Modesto, California in 1945 to an Air Force officer father, Marcia Griffin moved all over California, until her parents divorced and she went to North Hollywood, where she and her mother stayed with her grandmother. It was in Hollywood where Marcia…
Tag: George Lucas
The Force is strong with the graphic making-of book, “Lucas Wars” (“Les Guerres de Lucas”)…
******DEATH STAR-SIZED SPOILERS!****** As a “Star Wars” fan for the past 49 years or so, I’ve read innumerable accounts of the making of this movie–which drew me in like a tractor beam at age ten, back in that summer of 1977. To that end, there are several books I consider must-reads about the life and…
Cherished actor Robert Duvall (1931-2026) had a rich history in sci-fi and fantasy…
One of the worst parts of reaching my age is seeing so many artists and creatives from my wonder years passing away. Orbiting senior discount age had made me less sensitive to some, yet others still hit with that gut-punch feeling of true irreplaceability. Someone who’s made waves across pop culture through decades of fine…
Revisiting “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ten years later…
******STAR DESTROYER-SIZED SPOILERS!****** I make no secret of the fact that I, my wife, and other Gen Xers we know found writer/director George Lucas’ Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999-2005) disappointing. While they offered some interesting ideas, they lacked the heart, passion and grit of the original trilogy; replacing them with clunky scripting, soulless performances, and…
Happy Star Wars… Month?
I’d like to open with the hope (not a new hope) that my fellow Star Wars devotees enjoyed ‘Star Wars Day’ this past Sunday, May the 4th, and that the Force was strong with you in whatever way you chose to observe it. On a personal note I’m facing a leg surgery soon and I’m…
Star Wars comes to Riverside, California with “The Inland Empire Strikes Back”…
“The Inland Empire Strikes Back!” Saturday, March 22nd, 2025, Riverside, California. Riverside, California is where I first saw “Star Wars” (years before it was subtitled “A New Hope”) at a long-defunct mall theater back in August of 1977, at age 10, and it changed my life (not to mention the very art of cinema) forever….
20 years later, “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” (2005) remains a deeply flawed, yet uncannily prescient movie…
******STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS!****** I want to begin by saying this will not be a conventional review (the kind normally found on this site), but rather a look at how “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” impacted me after a recent anniversary rewatch. I first saw the film on opening weekend in 2005 on an…
The Force goes FM: NPR’s Star Wars Radio Plays (1981-1996)…
*****STAR DESTROYER-SIZED SPOILERS!***** In early 1981, within the pages of Starlog magazine (the internet before the internet), my then-14 year old self read about an upcoming series on National Public Radio (NPR) that was going to adapt 1977’s “Star Wars” into a 13-part radio play (pre-“A New Hope,” which was added for the movie’s 1981…
The Force Awaits: The anticipation of seeing “Star Wars”…
*****POSSIBLE STAR DESTROYER-SIZE SPOILERS***** Anticipation Back in the late 1970s, I saw “Star Wars” multiple times theatrically. This was back in those dark, primitive days before we watched movies on our phones and tablets three months or less after their theatrical runs. In those days, we then-young, future-oldsters learned the often difficult art of… But,…
A glimpse into Disney+’s new Star Wars series, “The Acolyte”…
******JEDI TEMPLE-SIZED SPOILERS!****** Recently, I wrote a column about what it was like to be a young “Star Wars” fan in the late 1970s. Just writing that column was a sentimental trip that awakened all kinds of childhood nostalgia. But part of growing old with a franchise like Star Wars is watching it evolve over…
What it was like to be a young “Star Wars” fan in the late 1970s…
“A long time ago…” As the name of this column alludes, these are the recollections and inspirations of a middle-aged geek (now in his 50s), who was a ten-year old kid in the summer of 1977 when a certain sci-fi space-fantasy blasted onto movie screens across the country and changed everything that came afterward. Literally….
How 1973’s “American Graffiti” created a ripple effect still felt over 50 years later…
*****TWIN BARREL-CARB SPOILERS!***** After the arguably unjust box office failure of his arthouse-dystopian sci-fi film “THX-1138” (1971), George Lucas was challenged by his mentor and American Zoetrope producing partner Francis Ford Coppola (“The Godfather” trilogy, “Apocalypse Now”) to do something challenging to his own avant-garde sensibilities, which, for young George Lucas, meant creating a warm,…