David Prowse: The Man in the Suit — in memoriam

Of all the people who were involved with the movie, I only ever met one in person and shook his hand. I was there in the summer of 1977 when the imposing figure of Darth Vader boarded the captured Rebel starship at the beginning of Star Wars (a movie that didn’t become “A New Hope” […]

Star Wars: The Mandalorian: Season 1 (Disney +) — a review

One future writing project I’ve been mulling over for a while now has this working title: “King Nerd of Geek Mountain.” A clunky title, I know. At one point, it was just “King of the Nerds,” but it turns out that this was the actual title of a reality television program that I never watched. […]

Solo: A Star Wars Story — a movie review

Was this movie necessary? No. It doesn’t add anything appreciably to the Star Wars canon. It embellishes the backstory of a few important series characters—namely, Han Solo, Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian—but not in any truly surprising or revelatory way. It’s not so much the tale of how Han Solo became the person we first met […]

Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy — a documentary review

It’s more than possible that I’ve watched this before. I’ve seen versions of at least parts of the documentary about the making of the “Trilogy” on several occasions. Plus, I’ve listened to DVD commentary tracks, so some of the voices are familiar to me even when the faces may not be. My Star Wars game […]

Nerd Premiere Twofer: Harley Quinn & The Mandalorian — a review

Sometimes, things that I didn’t intend to happen occur, and, again sometimes, I go with the flow to see where events take me. This is how I got to tour the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee (which is in a dry county, ironically). It’s how I ended up taking the tour of Graceland, in […]

Star Wars: Aftermath: Life Debt, by Chuck Wendig — a book review

Author Chuck Wendig made news last year when he was fired by Marvel Comics. He was working on a Darth Vader series for the comic book giant at the time, and he claimed that his firing was a result of his social media commentary that, according to Wendig, “was too much politics, too much vulgarity, […]

Star Wars Movies (so far) Ranked

Having recently taken the 15-Minute Force project as far as Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi, with at least a year before the final installment of the sequel trilogy, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to rank the movies in a post. Since I haven’t seen Solo yet, it’s not considered for this project. […]

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Nine: The Battle of Crait (Or: The Rebirth of the Rebellion)

02:00:01 – End This is it, the final chapter of The Last Jedi Edition of the 15-Minute Force. Incidentally, it’ll be the last edition of the 15-Minute Force for a long while. Our in-depth dissection and discussion about Star Wars will be going on hiatus for a bit, at least until after the final installment […]

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Eight: What’s Black & White & Red All Over? (Or: Do You Think Leia Shops at “Crait & Barrel”?)

01:45:01 – 02:00:00 Welcome to the penultimate chapter of The Last Jedi Edition of the 15-Minute Force. I can hear what you’re saying. “Penultimate?!? I thought this movie was about over!” I hear, and I understand. Sure, all the best laid plans of Act Two have gone awry. Luke Skywalker hasn’t returned with Rey to […]

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Seven: Act Two May Have Been a Colossal Waste of Time (Or: Things Fall Apart, The Center Cannot Holdo)

01:30:01 – 01:45:00 Here we are with a whole lot of Act Three stuff zipping around us like Matrix bullets. We’re done with training montages and Ahch-To (mostly), and Canto Bight is now a distant memory from a James Bond flick. We are back in the meat of the story as we begin the seventh […]

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