May The Force Be With You. Now Go.

I finally watched George Lucas' first feature film, THX 1138. I was surprised to find that it was actually good. I expected it to be a dull student art film, and while it was pretty cerebral (read: exposition heavy), I found it to be well paced and interesting. He even threw in a car chase at the end. Really.

The copy I saw was the recent reissue of the film, so of course George couldn't keep his mitts off the "Digitally Enhance" button. There was still that washed-out 70's film stock look, but the cityscapes had been beefed up (or so I assume) and he clearly enhanced or outright added a few critters and characters near the film's finale. No Jar Jar Binks, but I think a new monkey man or two may have been thrown in.

Speaking of Star Wars, I loaned a friend my copy of Revenge of the Sith and the animated Clone Wars series DVDs. We both agreed that the Clone Wars were the best of the batch since the original trilogy. But in George's defense, other than the acting, dialogue, direction, characters, and plot, the prequels were solid gold.