1980 - STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

If you can get through the first 30 minutes of this film with all the Millennium Falcon won't fly jokes with Han Solo and Chewbacca hamming it up, this is turns into a pretty decent sequel.

 

George Lucas gave up direction on this film turning it over to a decent director of actors named Irvin Kershner.  But for the most part this was a Lucas production with his hand prints all over it especially in the special effects sequences which are still very goof.

There may be a touch of what Andrew Sarris calls "strained seriousness"  running through this film but it certainly plays better then the mediocre future films in the series

124 minutes, written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan.

1955 - THE MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET, the stripped down version.

The stripped down version of the holiday film from the 1947 film to put it mildly.  This version has a decent director and cast and is not too offensive.  Apparently this version was part of something called the 20th Century Fox which was some sort of anthology series that at times hacked down and remade their old movies for TV.

The direction is by Walt Disney's go to guy Robert Stevenson and has a good cast with Thomas Mitchell, Theresa Wright and MacDonald Carey carrying the load.

60 minutes.

1977 - STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE

Preparing for the new Star Wars film and thought I would sit through the first three films. So called episode 4 still plays pretty well.  This was the enhanced version that George Lucas fooled around with adding more digital stuff to the film and some scenes that were previously cut.  Adding all this junk really didn't do anything for his film but it didn't really hurt it.  

The cast looks incredibly young and the idea to add Peter Cushing and especially Alec Guinness was an inspired casting choice.  These actors brought some gravitas to what could have been a very silly film.  The trend setting computerized special effects were also a big deal at the time.  Before this with the exception of 2001:  A Space Odyssey no science fiction film looked this good special effects wise.

It didn't escape many critics that Lucas "borrowed" from a lot of other films.  It can be a film buff's dream to do a spot the reference to other war movies particularly the final attack on the Death Star which is a mix of The Dam Busters and 633 Squadron.

Like I said the film still plays pretty well.  The film was written by George Lucas with uncredited help from Brian DePalma, Jay Cocks, Willard and Gloria Huyck.

121 minutes.

1955 - BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK - in Cinemascope

The director John Sturges shows Hollywood how to film in CinemaScope in this thriller that doesn't over stay it's welcome.

This is an MGM production a studio not exactly know for open mindedness when it comes to technological innovation or story content.  So it's kind of amazing Sturges was able to shoot on location instead of some Burbank sound stage.

Again, Sturges use of composition in the wide screen format is very impressive.

81 minutes, written by Millard Kaufman and Don McGuire.

2015 - A VERY MURRAY CHRISTMAS, not amused

20 minutes into this smarmy Christmas Special I pretty much had my fill of this supposed "cool" holiday show.  Bill Murray can't sing and to listen to him sing song after song was pure torture.

I get that the makers of this special are trying to have it both ways, deconstruct a typical Christmas Special like something Andy Williams or Perry Como would do, but the joke wore itself out after a while.  This show also attempts to trade on the cool guy persona of Bill Murray as he brings in a bunch of his Hollywood cronies to worship at the feet of cool guy Murray.

You know a musical comedy show is pretty bad when you are actually looking fotward to Miley Cyrus showing up during a dream sequence.  Maya Rudolph supposedly can sing but you would never know it from the piss poor sound recording of her Christmas performance.

Frankly the Bill Murray "coolest guy in the room" persona is getting a little tired and let's face it Murray's looking a little old to doing it.

 56 minutes.