Movie Number- 73
Title– Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
Genre– Sci-Fi
Branden’s Rating– 7 out of 10
Bridgette’s Rating– 8 out of 10
Average Rating– 7.5
Netflix Rating– 4 Stars
Comments– Only George Lucas could take a great film and make it good. We watched the updated version of the sci-fi classic last night, and if there is anything I hate it is bad CGI work. This updated version was filled with it! At first, I wasn’t sure if I was watching the original version, or the updated version. It became clear once the Han Solo scene started. Man alive, talk about terrible CGI work. Because I knew that Lucas went back and updated his movies I could tell (even though I have only seen this film once before, about ten years ago and remember nothing of it) that this was the updated version. So, I went on YouTube to check out the original scenes, and they were a lot different. Why the hell did Lucas feel the need to add in a ton of animals to the scene? And, most importantly, why was Jabba the Hut turned into a giant squid-like thing when he was originally played by a human actor?! Weird “improvements” and terrible CGI work took this film down from great to good for me. Obviously, the story is still as epic as ever, and I loved every minute that. I never realized just how young Luke Skywalker really is, or how bitchy he is early on, either. We have all six films and are planning on watching them in order of release (I have only seen Episode IV and V, like I mentioned, about ten years ago). Episode IV did a great job of setting up the world of Star Wars, and I am excited to see where the story goes. Good-Great.
Branden has been a film fan since he was young, roaming the halls of Blockbuster Video, trying to find the grossest, scariest looking VHS covers to rent and watch alone in the basement. It wasn’t until recently, though, that Branden started seeking out the classics of cinema, and began to develop his true passion for the art form. Branden approaches each film with the unique perspective of having studied the art from the inside, having both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in acting. He has been a film critic since 2010, and has previously written for Inside Pulse Movies, We Love Cult, and Diehard Gamefan. His biggest achievement as a film critic, to date, has been founding Cinefessions and turning it from a personal blog to a true film website, housing hundreds of film and television reviews, and dozens of podcasts.
