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I had surgery yesterday. Pretty invasive but standard. They took out a huge chunk of the base of my tongue because it blocked my air passageway, especially when I slept.
Winston slept next to me all night.
Winston slept next to me all night.
I’ll be almost completely without a voice for two weeks. I’m going to try relaxing and recuperating, generally taking it easy...
But I am going to do a pain-med fueled livetweet of all the Star Wars movies during all of this... so... I guess you’ve been given a heads up.
But I am going to do a pain-med fueled livetweet of all the Star Wars movies during all of this... so... I guess you’ve been given a heads up.
So, uh... let’s start The Phantom Menace...
I unabashedly love this film and I think it has one of the most exciting openings. It’s tense and the destruction of the Radiance putting the Jedi on high alert is just great.
The way the opening builds mystery and tension is so well done.
The way the opening builds mystery and tension is so well done.
This is unabashedly rad.
Qui-gon melting that door got the biggest reaction in the theatres...
I love how much straight up Flash Gordon there is in this film.
Seriously.
And although A New Hope gets all the credit for being inspired by Kurosawa’s Hidden Fortress, it’s Phantom Menace that takes all the best and most interesting bits.
Qui-Gon is the Star Wars equivalent of Mifune’s General Makabe.
Qui-Gon is the Star Wars equivalent of Mifune’s General Makabe.
Queen Amidala is definitely Princess Yuki. And the handmaiden double plot comes straight from Hidden Fortress.
Otoh Gunga is gorgeous and has the best Star Tours segment.
Qui-Gon is underrated in the wisdom department and I’m glad @amy_geek got as much of him as she did in her meditation book.
Seriously, Qui-Gon detouring through Tatooine is 100% Makabe going through enemy territory to get the Princess to safety.
Counter-intuitive, but brilliant.
Counter-intuitive, but brilliant.
Watching droids get picked off the ship and screaming ALWAYS gets me. It hurts in a way I can’t explain.
Is it weird I saw this so many times on 35mm, I remember where most of the reel changes go? The first switch over is the establishing shot that introduces this scene:
Not quoting the movie as I watch is harder than I expected.
Curse this surgery.
Curse this surgery.
Here are my thoughts on Jar Jar.
Though the pit droid kicking Jar Jar in the groin is 
Seriously, every bit Jar Jar has is straight out of a Chaplin, Keaton, or Lloyd film and I love every minute. I’d love to see @silentmoviegifs dive into that deeper. It deserves more appreciation.
This bit is straight out of Buster Keaton’s 1924 film The Navigator. (You happen to have the matching gif, @silentmoviegifs?)
Anakin in Phantom Menace straight up breaks my heart in the best ways.
He’s so earnest and just wants to help.
This sets up his fall beautifully.
He’s so earnest and just wants to help.
This sets up his fall beautifully.
This swell of music might be one of Williams’ best. It’s so beautiful.
The podrace is incredible filmmaking and Ben Burtt deserved the Oscar for sound design for that alone. Here’s a piece I wrote about it and Ben Hur. https://www.starwars.com/news/the-cinema-behind-star-wars-ben-hur
The podrace is great on its own, but @GregProops honestly puts it over the top.
I think Phantom Menace exemplifies the genius of George Lucas. No two Lucas Star Wars movies are alike, but they’re all, at once familiar. They rhyme with each other, but boldly give is something new. That’s why The Last Jedi is the most Lucas-like of the sequels.
There were sooooo many fan theories about how Aurra Sing was going to be the next Boba Fett based on this single shot.
There were so many fan theories about how Kitster was going to actually BE Boba Fett, too, so...
There is not enough Shmi appreciation.
She’s the only person who gave Anakin a choice. And she let him go despite her attachment in the way Anakin was never able to learn to do with Padme.
“You can’t stop the change anymore than you can stop the suns from setting.”
If only Anakin had learned this lesson and taken it to heart.
If only Anakin had learned this lesson and taken it to heart.
Anakin listening to his mother’s final lesson to him would have saved him a lot of grief.
This moment is devastating and it’s because Terence Stamp is fantastic.
Thank you @ek_johnston for adding even more nuance to all of the handmaiden scenes. I loved them all already, but now they’re elevated beyond where I ever thought possible. That’s what good Star Wars books do and yours are some of the best.
This is one of the best shots in Star Wars. Full stop.
That film director Sofia Coppola played Sache delights me to no end.
Qui-Gon’s Noble End always hits hard.
The work @ArfKeldo and his team did on this film is nothing short of astonishing. Film history owes a debt to their work.
The Phantom Menace holds up beautifully for a 22 year old film. The physical model work is gorgeous, the 3D animation is groundbreaking, and it’s just a fun comfort movie. When I’m feeling down or recuperating it’s always the first thing I put on.
I just took a new dose of pain meds and lunch is a cup full of ice chips. Let’s roll straight into Attack of the Clones and see how coherent I can be.
I love how this film opens. Middle chapters in Star Wars trilogies subvert our expectations and the pan up from the crawl, right into the assassination attempt is meant to tell us to expect the unexpected.
Corde’s death hurts.
Their chemistry is so good here. And I love how this mirrors the elevator scenes on the Invisible Hand in Revenge of the Sith.
Literally, the only thing I dislike about this film is Obi-Wan’s fake reshoot beard. It’s 100% otherwise.
I love how it gives Obi-Wan a James Bond subplot and Anakin gets Doctor Zhivago. (I wrote about the Bond stuff here. https://www.slashfilm.com/star-wars-james-bond-connections/)
This is forever the most badass move in Star Wars. Full stop.
John Williams pulling in the electric guitar for the Coruscant chase is <chef’s kiss.>
I bet @DavidWCollins has had many choice words to say about it on his delightful and enlightening podcasts. ( @SoundtrackHSW)
I bet @DavidWCollins has had many choice words to say about it on his delightful and enlightening podcasts. ( @SoundtrackHSW)
I love the editing design inside the club in Attack of the Clones. It very naturally pulls the rug out from under you when Obi-Wan attacks Zam when you thought she was chasing Anakin.
Just terrific stuff.
Just terrific stuff.
Palpatine’s grooming of Anakin is gross.
I love George Lucas’s subtle visual storytelling. One of my favorites here? The establishing shot of Padme’s apartment that doubles as a shot to show is her window is getting repaired. It’s just the little details that make these movies 
I buy the love story in this film 100%. Anakin acts exactly like a celibate teenage monk with no training in the ways of love would. And Padme is so focused on her work and public service that the hero of her people who dedicated HIS life to service would obviously attract her.
Dex doesn’t get enough appreciation.
Anakin and Padme’s love scenes play out realistically. When you were just starting to date, nothing you said was any better and you know it. You just don’t want to think of Anakin Skywalker as being at clumsy at love as you were. Or I was.
Presumably, Grogu is here at the temple during this movie. Wonder where.
Across the Stars is the best piece of music John Williams ever wrote.
Padme embarrassing Anakin in front of Queen Jamillia is a choice and I’m here for it. He deserved it.
I looove the Kaminoans. They’re a great reference to Close Encounters of the Third Kind and they just look and sound so cool...
When you’re in a place as beautiful as the Naboo Lake Country, with John Williams scoring, and as attractive as Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen, does it matter what you say?
The fireplace scene is, un-ironically, my favorite scene in this movie and one of my favorites in the entire Skywalker Sage. It’s breathtaking in the most forlorn way.
The character animation of Watto in Attack of the Clones is some of the finest in the history of cinema.
I love how Rian Johnson echoes the seismic charges with the Holdo maneuver in The Last Jedi. Killing the sound for a weapon is such a bold move and I love to see it.
I love how George Lucas smuggles the highlights and themes of The Searchers into this movie. Here’s a video I did with @StarWarsExplain about it.
They really play Count Dooku like a Bond villain in this picture. It’s doubly cool since he WAS a Bond villain.
Seriously, though. Same energy.
It’s so weird when people say Anakin’s turn to the dark side is too abrupt when it starts 40 minutes into Episode II, predicated on threads built in Episode I, then gets turned into an impossible Faustian bargain...
I really wish they would have kept Dooku being a sith out of the marketing.
The Droid Foundry sequence is riveting. Doubly so if you’re a kid. Watching this with Valkyrie and she is all in.
The Jedi showing up in that arena, igniting dozens of sabers is everything young Bryan wanted in a Star Wars movie.
I love the Saving Private Ryan cinematography when the clones show up. And the shots of them fighting in the dust are incredible.
The Dooku/Yoda fight is riveting. Adding to the fact that they were once master and apprentice, and Dooku was once Qui-Gon’s master is sooo fascinating.
I also love that they give Yoda the choice here to go after Dooku or save Anakin and Obi-Wan. This could have stopped the war if he let them die. Which would have been more Jedi-like?
It highlights the difficulty of Anakin’s choice in Revenge of the Sith.
It highlights the difficulty of Anakin’s choice in Revenge of the Sith.
The end of the film subverts expectations the same way the pan up at the beginning does. We’re expecting a bad ending and get a wedding. How bad is that?
Really bad.
Really bad.
I need a nap. Revenge of the Sith is next, either later today or tomorrow. Should I do Solo and Rogue One after that, or save them for after saga?
Starting Revenge of the Sith now. https://twitter.com/swankmotron/status/1347957451698524160
