I Have Seen the Dark Side, And It Is ...Fuzzy

Okay, I've seen Episode 3. I can agree that it was, on the whole, better than 1 and 2, but I still really couldn't get into it. Of course, one of the reasons for that might be because something was malfunctioning at the theater, only the exact center of the screen was in focus. Everything else was a little blurry, enough to make details hard to be sure on. The story was better, but I still have trouble buying Anakin and Padme as a couple (It wasn't as dumb as in Ep2, but it was close). And as was the case with the previous two, I am left with the feeling that George was trying to cram too much into each shot. Yes, George, it's well-done and very pretty (especially the Twi'lek women), but I came to see a story unfold, not to obsessively watch every corner of the screen for details.

Anyway, the short version is that Ian MacDiarmid rocks, as does Ewan MacGregor. Yoda remains the essence of non-grammatical coolness. Hayden Christensen tried harder and on the whole did okay. Natalie Portman tried to make the best of it, but there was just no saving the way Padme was written in this one. Maybe there's a psychological explanation for her, but I was ...disappointed to see a tough and resourceful woman (in the first two movies) turn into a helpless weepy thing that dies from ...well, what she dies from. I don't know, maybe that's a believeable reaction to pregnancy hormones and secret husband stress, but I wouldn't have any experience to compare that with.

Anyhoo, trying to return to having a life now... Busy busy busy this week, mostly about stuff I'm not ready to talk about for fear of jinxing, but I've got a good-sized order of cookies going out in the morning and market this weekend. Money, yaaay! Also I've gotta sit down and do some serious planning for A Candle in Chaos, my online swashbuckling rpg. I've set the stage for some interesting stuff, but now it's time to start working up storylines involving cat-fur-wearing slavers in anarchical pseudo-France. And if I have time, Paulie on a pony...