MLB and I sat and watched blade runner last week. I had forgoten how dark of a movie it was. I kept wanting to use the remote to turn up the brightness.

Shannon, I can remember thinking exactly the same thing the last time I watched it (which has been more than a year ago). I assume that was the director's intent, but at times I felt like I was going blind.

It's still a great flick, though.

"Expecting pithy pointy political insight from Lucas is like reading transcripts of Spongebob episodes to learn about perils and stresses on the marine ecosystem."

The novel for "Episode 4" (the "first" SW), being the exception. I found the original "movie tie-in" book to be surprisingly political.

Btw, Mr. Lileks is in error. Jar-Jar appeared on screen for 3.11 seconds. Not 3.09. That's 3.11 seconds too long. (okay, I made those numbers up.)

Jar-Jar at the end of EP3 was Mr. Lucas throwing his directorial middle finger to everyone who didn't like the annoying Gungan. Hell freezes over before I buy any DVD with Jar-Jar in it.

Lucas' vision for the new trilogy was... well, his new vision. Personal opinion, (based on the sort of obsessive nit-picking I laugh at Star Trek people for having), Lucas blew it.

I'm glad you mentioned the Alien "quadrilogy", Eric. You raised a very good point (as usual). Lucas' failure to maintain a consistent vision is magnified in light of the Aliens movies.

...particularly because every Alien movie was directed by someone different (Scott, Cameron, Fincher, Jeunet ).

Even so, they still retain the same "feel" throughout the series, even with each movie having a different focus. Considering there's an 18 year difference between the first Alien film and the fourth with a lot of studio meddling over the years as well, Lucas doesn't have any excuses for losing his way, since he's retained exclusive control over his own franchise.