Starwoids (2001)

Good movie but grossly overrated

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

*Spoiler/plot- Starwoids, 2001. On 1999, Lines formed outside two Mann's owned theaters in Hollywood and Westwood to see the first Star Wars film Episode 1 first new films in 16 years. Filmmaker Dennis Przywara actually stood in line for 42 days to capture the emotion and drama that event brewed. True fans clashed over a rivalry between the two theater line camps. IN this film you will meet and know many of the fans that participated. Also there are refreshing related Star Wars field trips to Death Valley to see Star Wars filming locations and to Skywalker Ranch in Marin County. Highlighting super fans like the Bobba Fett musician, driver/owner of a custom X-wing car, and the producers of a Star Wars theatrical musical.*Special Stars- 40+ Star Wars fans who waited in a theater line for 42 days to get the first showing tickets of Episode 1.*Theme- Some people are fans and fans make news by acting excessive.*Trivia/location/goofs- Theater lines locations: Mann's Westwood plaza, Westwood Calif and Chinese theater, Hollywood calif. Field trip locations: Death Valley and Lucas Valley CA.*Emotion- A gallant attempt to document a phenomena of film openings in an industry town like Los Angeles. The film is edited confusingly and has no pacing. The director's choice to artificially build some kind of drama by pitting Westwood against Chinese theater line groups did not work to make this a narrative instead of a very flat one dimensional news story piece that will only attract and keep the viewer's interest for a few minutes at most. The film premise is great, but it's way too long and confusing if not a scifi fan.

The description of this film is that it's like a Star Wars version of "Trekkies". This is really inaccurate. While I did not love "Trekkies", it was competently made--with a professional host (Mary Crosby), decent production values and something of interest to non-Star Trek fans. However, "Starwoids" is really poorly made--and is only of interest to the most ardent Star Wars fans. Its production values are minimal--just a lot of handicam shots. There isn't any sort of narration. In fact, it looks EXACTLY like some home movies by some die-hard fans slapped together. Why would anyone want to pay for this? Even Star wars fans would expect much more than this--a film which consists of lots of video of folks waiting in line to see "Episode 1" as well as clips of various fan stuff--like a Star Wars musical--complete with fuzzy camera work and completely devoid of editing. I rarely am this mean to an independent film but this one made me mad---I cannot see why anyone would pay for this and it looks more like clips from YouTube.Worst moments in this 'film'? Fans comparing George Lucas to God--and finding God coming up short by comparison. Talk about the expression 'get a life'.

I should love the subject matter. I love Star Wars, I'm a bit of a nerdy fanboy, I collect the action figures, and I attend midnight showings of any of the movies. But I haven't waited in line. I think if I were younger, and didn't need to work, I'd wait for the fun of it. The truth is that this movie isn't that great. I love certain sections of it. The musical, the figure collectors, and Katie with her X-Wing are all great. The problem is that I find the main players in the movie are not ideal subjects to focus on. The flaws that these people have is in their sense of grandeur, that somehow they are the kings of the fans. The editing is a little annoying too, though I would be pressed to cite an example. I wanted to love this movie, but it's just got too many weaknesses. Good for fans, but otherwise... I wouldn't buy it.

STAR WOIDSEPISODE I THE FANDOM MENACEI saw this Friday, August 17th in Seattle, along with many fellow "Seattle Star Wars" members. The film was much longer than I expected (which is for the best), and full of interesting stuff, always delivered in a light-hearted, good-humored manner. Perhaps my favorite scene was a priest saying--and I quote--Star Wars is "Cool". I hear so many religious comparisons to Star Wars, but I don't think it's accurate, save that people like to have a mythology, and for our generation, it's Lucas' mythology, and boy do we EVER love it--42 days in line? I'm a fan, but not that die-hard. However, as much as one might have reservations about this film being anything other than a lengthy report on a few people "with no life", it's actually quite different--it's a film about what people like to believe in, what they DO believe in, and I gotta tell ya--I never thought that a 42-day wait simply for a movie would be so inspiring! But it's not just about the line for Phantom Menace, but also about Star Wars fans in all their incarnations, about humans worldwide having fun, and looking ahead to having more fun to come.And it just wouldn't be polite to write this review without one honorable mention--Katie (I won't use her last name for privacy's sake), member of the "Road Squadron", the coolest car piloted by the coolest person, right here in Seattle (if you see the movie, you'll see her). Hi Katie!Yes, Star Wars fans are fun, fun people. We may menace the sidewalk, attack the traffic, give new hope to the local food vendors, strike back at the Trekkies and return for Episode II, but we're just having fun, as this film shows. Go see it, all the better with a good crowd, or, as I like to say, "May the Fans be with you..."