Here is a documentary review that I did for the fine folks over at http://www.grabbagcinema.com. Please be sure to check it out there and all of their other great reviews
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Star Wars. Amazing. Episodes 4-6. Awesome. Prequel trilogy. Utter garbage. These are the thoughts and sentiments of many fans of the Star Wars saga by George Lucas. As befitting nerdom, you can ask any fan and they will be able to both laud Lucas as the creator of one of the most fantastic universes in science fiction and also vilify him as the architect who will not leave well enough alone. Those are my personal feelings and it is the tone of the documentary The People vs. George Lucas by Alexandre O. Philippe.
Philippe is obviously a fan of the Lucas and Star Wars. There are very few people who have watched movies in the last 35 odd years who have not at least seen one of the Star Wars films, and most people who see them do end up liking them. However, fans are also disgruntled with how Lucas has handled his Empire and they are very vocal about it. Particularly those who do fan films and documentaries as Phllippe does.
Philippe takes a humorous view at poking fun at Lucas. He uses both animation and genius splicing of fan film footage into his dialogue to get his point across. And his point is that even though the things Lucas has done to his image and his brand, the only reason so many people are disgruntled with him is because he is successful and he is tweaking things that we as a people love.
For the actual content of the documentary, it consists of interviews with fans and some commentators giving the background of George Lucas himself and how he developed such a great label as Star Wars. It gives the history of what started out as a simple man trying to make it in Hollywood, but eventually became a business mogul who ruled over his Empire of merchandising, licensing, and production. Inherent in that journey is the root of fans angst with Lucas. He was the rebel filmmaker who bought his story’s rights from Fox and turned it into a franchise that is unrivaled by anything save Star Trek. When you are that popular, fans tend to dislike tweaks to their favorite story.
I personally liked the documentary as done by Philippe. However, you could probably draw stick figures in the mud and call it Star Wars and I would like it so I am not an unbiased opinion. I give it 3.5 bags only because it does tend to drone on at times and if you do not like Star Wars or have never seen it, a lot of the points made you will not care about. They are only things true nerds and fans for life quibble over or could find fault with. Be sure to check out The People vs. George Lucas on Netflix or you can probably buy it at your local video store or online. Look forward to my next installment in 2 weeks here at grabbagcinema.com.
Midlife Musings 