Monday, November 30, 2015

MadCap's Reel Thoughts - "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope"

Finally, we're to the good movies.

Yes, I know the prequels have their fans and yes I know that people can find some merit in them. I'm not one of them and am one of, I think, many who just wish they hadn't been attempted at all. However, I don't let them taint my memories of these films, oh no no.

And no, I don't let the Special Editions do that either, I actually really don't care about the edits that Lucas has made over the year...save for one, but I'll get to that.

To kick things off where it began in movie theaters in 1977, Star Wars (as it was originally titled, with no subtitle), is the epic tale of young Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). a farmboy on a desert world who is drawn into adventure by the entrance of two droids (Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker) into his life. Taken under the wing of now wise old man Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), Luke begins to learn the ways of the mysterious Force, an energy field that connects all living things...

...which is not generated by microscopic bacteria in his bloodstream, because that would be beyond stupid....

...and goes on an epic quest to save Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) from the clutches of the dreaded Empire with the aid of roguish smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his co-pilot Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew).

...but you all know that story anyway.

I have a hard time saying anything bad about this movie. It may just be after getting through the awful mess of the prequels or it may just be the rose-colored glasses, but it's just that good. I love virtually every scene of this film from the opening crawl to the minute the credits roll in the Throne Room at the end. The acting is pretty decent. The effects are, for their time, pretty awesome and a wonderful showcase of practical effects over the CGI that would be used in later (earlier?) films.

While the environments aren't so broad in scale as they are in the prequels, they're more close and intimate, giving us to focus more on the characters who are to this day still quite beloved by the fanbase - something which the prequels were sorely lacking in.

Seriously, did you really care when Aayla Secura (who I just found out has a name) was gunned down in that jungle in Revenge of the Sith?

No. No, you didn't.

Did you care seeing Obi-Wan Kenobi being cut down by Darth Vader (spoiler alert) when you see this movie for the first time?

Oh, hells yes.

As a child, I thought this film was awesome. It had epic space battles, heroic shoot outs, and the awesomeness that is the lightsaber for the first time. The scene of Darth Vader first stepping onto the Tantive IV (or the Rebel Blockade Runner, whichever you prefer) is still heavily rooted in my mind as one of the most iconic I've ever witnessed and I remember as a kid how it absolutely chilled me to the bone the first time I ever saw it.

Coming from an adult perspective, I love this movie because it avoids most of the problems of the prequels. Most of all, it doesn't bog us down with nonsense and actually has enough closeness to where we can get to know and love out characters. They can even have meaningful conversations with one another.

...but not about sand. Nobody likes sand.

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is now available from Lucasfilms and 20th Century Fox, current rights owned by Disney.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

MadCap's Trailer Reactions - "Captain America: Civil War"

Ohhhh, boy...this movie.

Anyway, you know the drill by now.  Watch the trailer, then read on...

Now, anyone who's been following my blog for a while, or who knows my general disposition towards Marvel Comics, or has a shred of common sense will know that I'm not a fan of the comic book storyline Civil War.

Short recap: The government wants register superhumans after an incident that killed a few hundred civilians. Iron Man says yes, Captain America says no, they fight and so do a bunch of other superheroes in the Marvel universe. In the end, Iron Man does a lot of illegal things, but in the end Cap and the Anti-Registration side are the bad guys so Tony Stark doesn't spend the rest of his life in solitary confinement at a maximum security prison.

Oh, and Spider-Man makes a deal with Satan.  Charming.

Needless to say, I don't have a very high opinion of the event and I don't know a lot of people who do. However, I've decided to not treat this film on the merits of the adaptation. After all, stupid ideas have been made to work in the hands of good writers. And even ideas that were good have been brought to new heights in adaptation - such as in Captain America: Winter Soldier. So, could that potentially happen for Civil War? Let's have a look at what we have so far.

First off: the bad. There's no Spidey in this trailer.  Yeah, I was disappointed, too. Especially since this is going to be his first appearance on the MCU scene, I figured there'd be at least something to show of him. Not showing their hand on him isn't a bad choice, however, especially after the previous two film adaptations of our friendly neighborhood snarky joke machine that have gone over as polarizing at best.

The final scene where Cap and Tony have the exchange about Bucky. "He's my friend" "So was I", doesn't...really work.

One of the very, very few things I will give the comic event Civil War credit for is in the fact that it used the long established friendship of Steve Rogers and Tony Stark as a point of conflict. Sure, they were now dire enemies, but they had been friends and respected one another a great deal.  In any other situation, as they had demonstrated many times in 616 canon, they would have stood back to back against any foe. Mind you, that friendship was used as a way to try to pull at our heartstrings for what was one of the stupidest Marvel crossovers in recent memory, but still, it was there.

In the MCU...they've know each other for all of two major events. While that's a big deal to some, it's not really when you compare it to the (at the time in the comics) 40 years worth of storylines that they had fought alongside one another in. The line "So was I" comes across as Tony trying to put himself up on the same level of Bucky...which is really just offensive when you break it down. Bucky, in the MCU, had been Cap's best friend since before he was ever Cap. Tony is a guy who, while he's fought in two major conflicts alongside Cap, does not have the same bearing with him as a man who he had known since boyhood and fought alongside for years in war against the Nazis/HYDRA.

Needless to say, I was immensely satisfied with the scene where Tony is getting wailed on by Cap and Bucky.

However, since we've gotten through the bad, let's get into some good: Black Panther. Sure, he has no speaking lines, but we do get our first good look at him and I have to admit, I do like how he looks. It's a problem in superhero comic movies to see translations of superhero outfits not come over so well. This has been seen in some films and television shows, as well as been made a joke in others (such as the recently released and quite excellent Jessica Jones). However, Black Panther doesn't seem to have suffered that fate, having a very sleek look to his black armor that is very fitting of the comics version of the Wakandan king.

And so far, that's really all there is to talk about. No Spidey, a little of a very good-looking Black Panther, and a conflict that literally no party involved is going to look good coming out of. Given the "realistic" version of the Marvel world that the MCU wants to present, perhaps we will actually see some consequences to people's actions.

Then again, somebody might want to bring up that whole "Stark's AI tried to drop a city on the world" thing...might help to paint things in a different light.

Captain America: Civil War will be released to theaters from Disney and Marvel on May 5, 2016.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.

Monday, November 23, 2015

MadCap's Reel Thoughts - "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith"

...what's this? A watchable Star Wars prequel? It's more likely than you think.

Maybe it was the fact that this was the closest that any of the prequels had come to even being like the originals.

Maybe it was because there was actually some decent turns by Christensen and others that were so sorely lacking in the others.

Maybe people were just happy that this shitty trilogy was finally fucking over.

I'll be honest, I went to the theater to see this. Seven times. In my defense, there was fuck all else to do that summer. But really, this is the only prequel film that I truly enjoy...not that it isn't without its problems, of course, but we'll get into them.

The story continues with the closing time of the Clone Wars. Anakin Skywalker (Christensen) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) brave a mission to save Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) from the Separatist general, Grievous (Matthew Wood). In the aftermath of this, Padme (Natalie Portman) reveals to Anakin that she's pregnant with their child, which will lead into Anakin having prophetic dreams about her death in childbirth, which will lead into him becoming the Dark Lord of the Sith known as Darth Va-yeah, you know the rest of the story by this point.

Once again, for all that they are given to do here, McGregor and Portman still suffer from really bad direction, as does Christensen, but we've come to expect that. Here, however, is where I'll have some kind words of Christensen's acting.

Yes, you read that right. Do not adjust your monitor.

As I mentioned last week, Christensen's strengths show when he shuts his mouth.  This is primarily evident in some of his first scenes as Darth Vader. The guy can actually command a very menacing and terrifying presence.  The best scenes to show this are the attack on the Jedi Temple and later on Mustafar when he exterminates the Separatist leadership to end the Clone Wars forever.

However, I also have to take that point right back because the way Anakin's fall to the dark side is done is amazingly rushed.  He makes a split second choice to save Palpatine from Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) and immediately falls right for his sales pitch after.  And yes, Episode II and a good bit of this film helped to build up, but it was still based on a very quick split-second decision rather than some great moral dilemma.

And yes, I know. Rash decisions are made in fear. Fear leads to anger, blah blah blah something something something dark side. But really, onscreen, we should have seen a little bit more.

The Jedi Purge, an event that should have far more gravitas and emotional weight to it...really doesn't, mostly because they're a bunch of Jedi who we've had little screentime for and even less interaction with.  And before anyone who's a fan of the animated series or the novels gets in touch - Rule of Adaptation does not apply here. If they wanted me to care, they should have put more time into making characters that I cared about.

Now, as for the characters we do care about...we care about them, but it's a foregone conclusion. We know Anakin falls to the Dark Side and becomes Darth Vader. We know that Obi-Wan and Yoda put Luke and Leia into hiding and then go into exile.  We know that Padme is dead at least by the time of Return of the Jedi so that Luke and Leia can have an awkward conversation about her.

To this film's credit, it is far better acted and is better plotwise than either of the other two prequels.  The music is, once again, awesome as ever because John Williams is still John Williams. The fights are sublime, particularly the several lightsaber duels and especially the duel between  Anakin and Obi-Wan at the end. It was clear they were putting a lot of work in for what was to be the finale of the Star Wars saga, completing the story.

...but did it ever need completing?

The answer is no.

The images of the years covered by the prequel trilogy were pretty much told by Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope, and was done far, far better there in just a few sentences than it was done here in three movies.  Ultimately, did we learn anything new or find anything unique or interesting in the story of Anakin Skywalker's fall to the Dark Side?

The answer is no.

Could this all have been avoided and was it much, much better in our heads?

You're damn right it was...

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is now available from 20th Century Fox and Lucasfilms.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.

Friday, November 20, 2015

MadCap's Reel Thoughts - "Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds"

Do you enjoy Real Time Strategy? Do you enjoy Star Wars? If you said yes to the first question, but not the second one, then this game might be for you!

Yes, this was a game that was made with the clear intention of being marketed to Star Wars fans and, aesthetically, it succeeds in that marvelously. But the problem is that it doesn't really feel like a Star Wars game as much as it does an RTS that happens to have the trappings of Star Wars draped over it.  Not that that's a bad thing, of course, but more on that as we go on.

With the beginning of the game, if you were to start up a new game immediately, you have a choice of six civilizations all of which are visually different and have some various abilities and tech that are different but are otherwise pretty much the same and you can really discount any differences in appearance. Yes, I'm sure that someone will be all too happy to tell me in the comments that I'm hilariously wrong and that there are so many differences in the group based on their various starts that you won't care about because all you will care about is the attack.

Yes, I'm one of those people who plays an RTS and my strategy is defending my base until I build up an army that would make Hannibal giggle like a hyperactive schoolgirl and then roll over my opponents with raw power. And luckily for people like me, there is a mode for you!  The standard game allows players to win by one of three methods: wipe out your enemy completely, gather all the holocrons (for those not Star Wars-saavy, essentially data storage devices that make you money) and put them in a Jedi/Sith Temple for a certain amount of "days", (really minutes as determined by the in-game clock)  or get to Tech Level 4 and build a Monument which will guarantee your victory within a set amount of "days", but will also make you a target for every Tom, Dick, and Jane who is opposed to you.

And while I would be irritated that this is nothing more than just an RTS that just happens to also be a Star Wars game, there is actually some unique Star Wars content within.  Namely, there are campaigns! One for almost every race (except the Naboo, because to Hell  with them and their chrome ships). In fact, the Wookies have two, since their first one is a tutorial that will get the player through the basics of the game that is narrated by none other than Qui-Gon Jinn (sadly not voiced by Liam Neeson, who I can only assume had better things to do at the time).

The others follow various plotlines and have various narrators, some of who are not even involved in the plots of said campaigns. The problem, however, comes from the fact that the standard games do not really have the same Star Wars feel that the campaigns do.  According to what I've been told (having never played it myself) this game is essentially an Age of Empires clone and I could definitely see how, seeing as there really isn't anything unique to it.

Most of the default game modes begin with each faction having a Command Center, three workers and a scout.  Given a default amount of carbon, nova, food, and ore to build/feed their forces, they must go out and get more while defending themselves from other factions and eventually building up a civilization worthy of winning the game.

There are, of course, other approaches beyond simply mowing down the enemy. There's "Terminate the Commander" in which you achieve victory by...terminating the Commander. And, as I stated before, there are the holocron and Monument methods of victory, but you'll rarely - if ever - go for those as your method of choice. Again, unless you're just one of those crazy diehard strategy players who will pick this game up and play the hell out of it.

But if you're a Star Wars fan, you could honestly give this a miss. While it does have some nostalgia value for the original films and it is entertaining to play as the Galactic Empire and waste many, many tribes of Gungans with an army that dwarfs the one the size of Hoth, that's really all the enjoyment that you'll get out of it. The novelty of Star Wars wears off pretty quick when you realize that there's very, very little unique to be pulled from here.

But there's an expansion pack on the horizon and, well...I've got a bad feeling about this...

Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds is now available from Ensemble Studios and LucasArts.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.

Monday, November 16, 2015

MadCap's Reel Thoughts - "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones"

This movie...it's...really bad.

Like...really bad.

Like seriously, this is as bad as bad gets and adding another suitcase full of bad. And I've reviewed Rob Zombie's Nonsensical Band Product Placement And Pretentious Story-Telling Movie, so I know bad.  This is almost universally considered the worst of the worst as far as Star Wars goes - unless you're George Lucas, and then it's the Holiday Special - but does it really deserve the reputation that it holds? Is it really an irredeemable pile of waste that should have been laughed off of any writer's table? Does it have a script that the people who make Syfy Original Movies would be utterly ashamed to wipe their asses with, much less even greenlight? Is it a terrible waste of the talents of Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman, as well as countless others in a sea of mediocre directing?

...um, yes...yes it is. To be so completely succinct about it.

To get to the plot, such as it is, it's ten years since the not as bad but still pretty bad film and there is some more politics we don't care about that basically equate to a civil war in the Galaxy...kind of like that thing they did in the original trilogy, but without all the boring talking and debating about it before it actually happened.  Now-Senator Padme Amidala (a returning Natalie Portman) is nearly assassinated and is assigned two Jedi protectors: Obi-Wan Kenobi (McGregor) and his padawan a now 19 year old Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen).

And boy, let's talk about what a bad choice this was. I've heard that he's improved since and has done better in better films with better direction (Lucas is the root cause of virtually every problem with the prequels) but good lord he should have been laughed out from the screen test if this was him bringing his A-Game. And not to short change the guy, he's actually pretty good when he keeps his mouth shut (see Episode III next week), but the problem in this film is that he never shuts up!

Seriously, the guy's got the cheese and ham to go with the whine.

But as the plot goes on, we learn that the Separatist movement in the galaxy is headed up by Count Dooku (Christopher Lee, whose talents are wasted here among many others), a former Jedi who has fallen in with the Sith Lord Sidious/Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) who is very clearly still evil but nobody can tell because they're complete morons. And also, clones got involved at some point because Sidious wanted an army.

And I could go on for days about how it doesn't really make sense and how if it were remotely realistic that Palpatine would have been shut down so hard by this. But then, government is corrupt anyway as we know and he never would have been able to do any of it without the help of his good friend Jar Jar Binks.

That's right. The freaking Gungan happily handed over emergency powers to Palpatine and thus allowed the Clone Wars to happen. So every single death that happened in the Clone Wars, the Great Jedi Purge, and in the Galactic Civil War that followed them lies squarely on his fish man shoulders.

Nice job fixing it, dumbass.

But that's not really what people take issue with. Oh, no...it's the romance. Ah, yes, romance. When it's done well, you have a sweeping epic that pulls at the heartstrings and takes the viewer from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows.  When it's done poorly, you have the Doctor and Rose Tyler. And when it's done really, really poorly, you have Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala.

Now, this may just be chalked up to the direction of Lucas and I know it had to be done at some point, but Christensen and Portman have no chemistry. At all. Whatsoever. It's just absolutely atrocious and the worst part is that it's not even the relationship of Anakin's that we should be focusing on. Rather than focus on the bond between Anakin and Obi-Wan, it focuses on the forbidden love between Anakin and Padme that is supposed to be deep and tragic and hopeless but, because of the aforementioned (lack of) chemistry, just makes us all want to vomit from the sheer unlikeability of it.

Which, again, is not helped by either Portman (who is wasted in this and the other prequel films) or Christensen (with his aforementioned whiny voice in need of cheese to go with it). They are given bad direction with it, and dialogue that is to this day still being mocked by everyone from moviegoers to film critics. When first year film students are able to write better dialogue than you, George, it's time to stop and hand the reins over to someone who knows what in the hell they were doing.

And if you want a good comparison, just wait until we get to Empire Strikes Back.  I'll have a tirade to go on.

So in summation: yes, this is one of the worst things related to Star Wars that has ever been produced, if not the worst.  George Lucas has said before that he's personally ashamed of the Star Wars Holiday Special of 1978.  The fact is this should be something you're wholly and completely ashamed of, George. Bad writing, bad acting, bad direction. Just all around bad.

Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones is now available from Lucasfilms and 20th Century Fox.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.

Friday, November 13, 2015

MadCap's Game Reviews - "LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga"

Well, you guys remember my lengthy review of LEGO Marvel Superheroes? Take that and apply it to Star Wars.

...

...no, really.  That's pretty much it. It follows the same path except for following the story of the three Star Wars movies that are canon and the three that most people just tend to want to forget. Of course it does it in that quirky LEGO style that we've come to know and...love, I guess? I mean, I played with them as a kid, but I don't really look back on it with extreme fondness or dislike either way. Like with the Marvel version, a lot of the emphasis comes into manipulating the various LEGO bits of environment to acquire studs and bring up that total score.

Oh, and the various other goodies you can run into. Really, going into them would be a pain. You find the secrets and what not throughout the levels - many of which can only be found on the "Free Play" playthroughs after having already gone through the level in Story Mode. It's a game for the collector, much like for its Marvel equivalent.  Replace super powers with Force Powers and other character abilities (such as hi-jumping or droid) and you basically have no real difference beyond the aesthetics.  And while the aesthetics are nice - very faithfully recreated from the movies (in LEGO style, of course) - that's ultimately what they are, just looks.

The camera angles still bug me.  Some of the boss fights drag out way, way too long, and no matter how many times I throw Jar Jar off a cliff he just keeps respawning and I begin to lose interest.

Though, at the very least, the Marvel version never actually made me play as Jar Jar.

...then again, this game doesn't have a cameo from an invincible Joe Quesada.

All joking aside, this game is made for the collector, the one hundred percenter - those who like to scour each and every nook and cranny of the game world to find every last little bit of precious. And for some, that's great! For me, personally? Not so much. But again, there's really nothing to knock here. It's actually very addictive and you could do a lot, lot worse with a licensed game as we've seen a few times here.  And after all, it's Star Wars! And what bad thing ever came out of Star Wars*!

LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga is now available from Traveller's Tales and LucasArts.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.

*The staff behind "From the Mouth of the Munchkin" would like to remind our readers that nothing post-1983 and pre-2015 (pending the new film) is accepted as wholly canon, and thus is not 'Star Wars'. Thank you for your attention.

Monday, November 9, 2015

MadCap's Reel Thoughts - "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace"

...yep, it's that time again.

Time for me to fall right into three films I hate in order to get to three films that I love. Because we all know what's coming in December and it's about time I talked about what has been one of my favorite movie series since childhood. Yes, that's right - the whole series. As a child, this was actually the first Star Wars movie I saw in theaters when it was new. And I loved it.

In my defense, I was eight.

However, as many people from that era did, looking back on it now as a grown man...I find that it's not that good. And it's not because of the abomination that is Jar Jar Binks. It's not because of the wooden acting. It's not because of the needless use of CGI everywhere. All of that, except maybe that first one, I can forgive. That's right, I can forgive George Lucas for all of that. But there is one thing I can't forgive, and I'll get into that in a minute.

Many years before the events of the original film, it is the time of the Republic. Things look a lot better now, and two Jedi (Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor) have been sent to a planet called Naboo to negotiate a settlement with the dreaded and horribly racially stereotyped Trade Federation. Unfortunately they call "no rikey" on the deal and try to gas the the Jedi, who make their way to the planet and rescue the democratically elected Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman), escaping off planet so she can make her case to the Galactic Senate.

However, on the way, they come to a desert planet and find an enslaved Force prodigy named Anakin (Jake Lloyd), discovering he is so powerful...thanks to his midi-chlorian count. And here is where I have my biggest problem with the prequel trilogy - midi-chlorians.

While this is skipping ahead (or skipping back), the Force is described in A New Hope as "an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together." The Force is described as a mystical thing, something that is beyond even the full understanding of those who use it. It's mysterious, vague, and gives a sense of awe. Midi-chlorians, however, are the exact opposite of that. Putting it down to a science and quantifying it.

While I am a big proponent of "magic is just science we don't understand yet" rule, that was neither wanted nor needed in a setting like Star Wars.  It completely ruins all of the very otherworldly mystique that surrounded the Force in the earlier films, and makes it all the more mundane where it was actually one of the sole unique factors that stood out in a universe of unique and diverse alien races. So, needless to say, I am not a fan.

It's also very telling that - after this film - this concept is never mentioned again in the movies. At the very least, George can recognize sometimes when he's done something stupid.

But getting back to the plot, they free the boy, find that the Galactic Senate isn't going to help, and thus go back to Naboo to free it themselves.

So, the Prequel Trilogy had to take the set up mentioned in A New Hope and set the path to bringing it all into fruition - namely the Jedi being wiped out and the Empire taking over. They do this with the introduction of Darth Sidious - in reality Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) - and his apprentice Darth Maul (Ray Park). While Sidious doesn't actually interact with any characters but Maul (as himself), Maul actively tracks and combats the Jedi and poses their first real threat as his attacks reveal to them that their ancient enemies - the Sith - are still active.

Maul was actually an excellent antagonist and I...yeah, okay, I'm trying really, really hard to not just retread Belated Media's "What if Episode 1 was good?" video (which, if you haven't, you definitely should). Needless to say, I agree with quite a few of the points they makes in that that would have improved the film immensely.

While Anakin can be somewhat annoying, I can chalk that up to the fact that Jake Lloyd was all of ten at the time the film was made and thus shouldn't really be held to the same standards as an adult actor. And we will have an adult actor in the next film who is...shall we say...really...really bad...

But I can actually throw some positives out for this film. Ewan McGregor is amazing in his turn as Obi-Wan Kenobi - something that will continue throughout the three films - going from a young padawan on the cusp of full adulthood to having to take on an apprentice just as soon as he gets himself Knighted.

I will never say anything bad about a John Williams score. Ever. It will not happen.

The lightsaber fights are actually really good, especially that big one at the end between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Maul. Really, there is some impressive stunt work there (compounded in awesomeness by John Williams's "Duel of the Fates", of course).

...okay, admittedly, those are the only three things I can really not take issue with.  This film is just awful. The plot has way too much politics and chattiness in both the Senate and the Jedi Council, the Gungans are pointless and should not have in any way been included in the plot, and Liam Neeson is not at his best having to deal with a bunch of bad direction from Lucas.

Oh, and the podrace just drags on. Like, crazy long. Not Ang Lee's Hulk long, but really long regardless. Not a fan.

Next week, however, we go into what is probably the most reviled addition to the Star Wars saga. I hope you like sand...

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is now available from Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.