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…

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,…

Does “Blade Runner” actually ‘Dream of Electric Sheep’…?

****SPOILERS FOR “BLADE RUNNER”***** ****SPOILERS FOR “DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?”**** The Book Like many sci-fi movie fans of my generation, I came into the late Philip K. Dick’s work ass-backward; from the movie adaptations of his works to the books themselves. One movie I’d become increasingly fond of, especially after its 1991 “Director’s…