Why I love Princess Leia

Growing up with two older brothers, there was always a bit of a tug-of-war between me wanting to be one of the boys and wanting to be girly. When we played with our LEGO people, for example, I was not at all happy to be told that to go into space, my girl would have to take off her hair piece and wear a helmet. (Mom had to mediate that one.) And, while there were many things we enjoyed with three main characters, it always seemed that I got stuck with the lousy one in our play-acting. Alvin and the Chipmunks? My brothers were easily Alvin and Simon, leaving me... Theodore? Tron was another case where Tron and Flynn suited the boys perfectly, and who was left for me? Ram. (I know what you're thinking: What about Yori? Well, did she have a lightcycle? Exactly.)

But when it came to Star Wars, we could all be happy. We had the figurines (that would have been worth something eventually if they hadn't ended up, with the exception of one Stortrooper and one Ewok, in the garbage) (which, by the way, my mom still gets unfairly blamed for). My brothers could be Luke and Han, or Han and Chewie, or C3PO and R2D2, or Darth Vader and Obi-Wan, or Boba Fett and Salacious Crumb for all I cared, just as long as I got to be Princess Leia.

So, let's talk for a minute about the coolness of Princess Leia. It hardly seems necessary to explain, but here are some of my reasons for loving her:

"Who is she? She's beautiful." Princess Leia really is a pretty pretty princess, in a non-fussy sort of way. Sure, she spends most of A New Hope in what amounts to a draped sheet with her hair rolled up into what looks like cinnamon rolls. But when she has a chance to clean up, she does it nicely. And she sure knows a lot of fancy hair-braiding tricks that I wish I knew.

She's got style. Closely tied into the beauty point, I appreciate that Leia has an outfit suitable for any occasion. She's got ceremony style and winter style and visiting-a-city-in-the-clouds style. She's even got bounty hunter style when the need arises. (The slave outfit is a bit over the top, but then, she didn't pick that one out herself. Jabba's taste definitely crossed the line into tacky.)

She's got attitude. She doesn't seem a bit afraid of Vader or Tarkin, at least not until they threaten her planet. Even when she's on death row and woken up in her cell by a Stormtrooper, her first words are a clever remark. And when her would-be rescuers can't save her, she makes her own (albeit stinky) escape route. 

She's got a softer side too. Just because she knows how to sass the Imperials doesn't mean she isn't a nice person. Sure, she may be a bit confused about what type of affection is appropriate between siblings, but she's even got a soft spot for scoundrels, and anyone the Ewoks like is OK in my book.

She speaks Ubese. But then again, so do I."Yatay, yatoh."

Charming to the last. I still want to be Princess Leia.

Here's just a few other fun Star Wars thoughts I'd like to share:

•  I'm an original Star Wars purist, which means that I still prefer watching my unaltered VHS tapes to the "enhanced" DVDs. Yeah, I don't like Greedo shooting first, I'm fine not seeing Jabba until Return of the Jedi, I hate the Boba Fett voiceovers in Empire and the vision of young Anakin with old Obi and Yoda at the end of ROTJ, and more than anything else I can't stand the updated music in ROTJ. The changes in Jabba's palace are bad enough, but the closing music at the celebration on Endor just makes me mad. If I hear the new song, I sing the Ewok version as loud as I can over it. "Yub-yub..."
• Like many fans, I was disappointed by the prequels. The best part of The Phantom Menace to me (well, after Ewan McGregor) was the kids outside the theater dressed up as Obi-Wan and Darth Maul, acting out a perfectly choreographed duel.
• My brother pointed out to me that most of Jabba-speak has the same amount of syllables and inflection as the subtitled dialogue. Now I can't watch it without imagining the English over Jabba's voice in just the same way.
• I really enjoy playing LEGO Star Wars. If you haven't played it, you should, it's great. Guess who my favorite character is? ;-)

My Top 50 Favorite Films

Probably every movie lover makes a favorite film list at one time or another. Fletch over at Blog Cabins just posted a list of his top 50 films, encouraging others to do the same. That was all it took to get me going. (Yeah, I'm also one of those people that feels the need to respond to every email survey I receive from friends. Sharing opinions is fun!)

Top 10 is one thing, top 50 might be even trickier. I've grouped my choices into a few different categories, leaving my favorites for last on each list. It should be noted that these are my personal favorites, which is pretty subjective and basically comes down to the movies I have watched and enjoyed repeatedly, films which get quoted the most in my little world. These are not all necessarily the same movies I would put on a list of the best films ever made. But what good is a movie best list if it's not films you actually enjoy watching, anyway? And so, without further ado, my favorites:

Alfred Hitchcock movies:

Rear Window
Dial M for Murder
North by Northwest
Notorious

Billy Wilder:
The Major and the Minor
Some Like it Hot
The Apartment

Orson Welles:
Citizen Kane
The Magnificent Ambersons
The Third Man

Musicals:
That Thing You Do!
Singin' in the Rain
Oklahoma!
A Hard Day's Night
The Wizard of Oz
Guys and Dolls
West Side Story
An American in Paris

Noir:
Out of the Past
Laura
The Maltese Falcon

Chick Flicks:
Sense and Sensibility
Out of Africa
You've Got Mail

Sci-fi:
Gattaca
Tron
Back to the Future
The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars IV: A New Hope

Newer Favorites:
The Princess Bride
Catch Me If You Can
A River Runs Through It
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Clueless
Sneakers
Much Ado About Nothing
Joe Versus the Volcano
Quiz Show
Moonstruck
The Hunt for Red October

Older Favorites:
Dr. Strangelove
Born Yesterday (the William Holden version, of course)
Father of the Bride (the Spencer Tracy version, of course)
Seven Days in May
12 Angry Men
Gone With the Wind

Casablanca
The Hustler

The Philadelphia Story

If I could only choose one out of all of my favorites as my top pick ever, it would probably be The Maltese Falcon.

By the way, I know there are only actually 49 here. I didn't count wrong, I was just afraid of missing some great movie and feeling bad about it later. So I'm leaving a spot open for floating favorites -- when I think of one that didn't make the list, it will become my current 50th.

Now it's your turn. What's on your list?

Every old movie is new again

Sometimes it seems like there are no new ideas in Hollywood, that every story has already been told, retold, and revisited. Some examples of movie remakes include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, King Kong, Ocean's Eleven, Sabrina, and War of the Worlds, to name just a few. This doesn't even begin to touch on movies that were popular enough to produce sequels, prequels, reboots, re-imaginings, or a series, like Star Wars or the growing collection of Batman movies.

I'm not anti-remake as a rule, in fact I think sometimes a movie remake can be better than the original. Being inspired from the old does present certain challenges, however, especially if the source movie is well-known and well-loved. Then the new movie is bound to be closely scrutinized to see how it measures up to the original. For this reason, classic movies are often a great source for remake material, since oftentimes the older version has been all but forgotten or can easily be changed to be made more current.

There's been some buzz about a few movies lately that I'm definitely interested in based on the source material. So here's my thoughts on some upcoming sci-fi movies borrowing from some old ideas:

Star Trek XI (or Star Trek Zero)
Cons: It's a prequel. I don't get the fascination with prequels. (I'm talking to you, George Lucas.) Fans can be cruel when characters/plots set in an earlier time don't match up with what has already been established. Plus, it's pretty impossible to make things look truly older, given the quality of newer special effects. Didn't we see that in Enterprise?
Also against it: this is an odd-numbered Trek film, for those of you that believe in that curse.
Pros: It's Star Trek! Leonard Nimoy is playing Old Spock.
Verdict: I'm a Star Trek fan, but I've never been really attached to the original series, so I probably wouldn't even notice small deviations. It might be predictable and a desperate attempt to keep the Star Trek franchise going, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

Tr2n
Cons: First of all, let's talk about numbers being used as letters. This is no longer clever (and perhaps never was). It's just strange, and in this case, confusing. Are we supposed to read it as Trzn? That looks like it should be the title for an updated Tarzan movie. Why not say Tron 2, or Tron 2.0 or even The Second Coming of Tron? This choice alone scares me a great deal.
Pros: Jeff Bridges is all gung-ho about it, and is returning to play Flynn.
Verdict: The original Tron was great because it was so different. The style and idea of it -- there's nothing quite like it. Will the new special effects capture the old feeling of wonder? Is it a retelling of the old, a new updated story, or a sequel? Will Brue Boxleitner return as well? I'm curious, but feeling afraid for this one.

The Day the Earth Stood Still
Cons: Keanu Reeves. I'm sorry, Keanu fans, but his inherent dopey-ness makes it hard for me to take him seriously.
Pros: Mad Men's Jon Hamm and Jennifer Connelly are in it. The original is great.
Verdict: Updated special effects might actually enhance the story, if they don't take over. And a message of peace is always welcome. I'm excited about this one.

Will these films fail spectacularly, or join the list of successful remakes? Only time will tell. But now's your chance to weigh in with your opinions, if only so you can say "I told you so!" later.