If I may point back to yesterday for a moment, I pinpointed something that was bothering me. I remember coming out of "The Phantom Menace" somewhat pleased. Since then, my opinion of that movie dropped like a rock.
When "Attack of the Clones" ended, Melissa said she couldn't wait until the next one came out in three years. I, on the other hand, felt like basking in the glow of this movie for a few minutes. Now I remember what I liked about "The Phantom Menace." It wasn't so much the movie itself but the fact that it set the stage for a great second movie.
This movie fulfilled all those expectations. I'm very big on speculation and predicted that Palpatine would find a way to make the troops who would become the stormtroopers into a heroic force. Anyone who has seen the ads for this movie knows this turned out to be a central feature of the movie. No, I was 180 degrees wrong about how he did it but I don't care. I liked it the way it happened.
I was so happy with this movie that I don't feel the need to speculate. There are so many different directions this next movie could take. I'm still sold on the concept of Anakin being turned in the course of a duel before the Emperor but I feel as if there could be better ways of doing it. The Emperor has all but completed his coup against the Republic. There isn't much more that has to happen.
When I defended "The Phantom Menace," I told people it wasn't a movie meant to stand on its own. You were meant to look and say "Gee wiz!" a lot. "Gee wiz! There's Jabba!" "Gee wiz! The Emperor is just a senator and would be likeable if you could forget who he really is!"
"Attack of the Clones" had a lot of those moments. At one point, I turned and whispered to Melissa, "Did I just get a peek at one of the first Star Destroyers?" "Yep!" "Those must be early AT-ATs!" "Yep."
The difference is that they were the icing on the cake this time. You already had a great story with action and vivid characters. The title ended up being a bit silly but "Return of the Jedi" is the only Lucas title I've every really liked.
I have to admit that Natalie Portman is so much better looking in this one than I'd have ever imagined. She manages to rival Leia in sheer sex appeal. It was so nice to see her without all that awful, hideous makeup. Melissa thought she was underdressed but I'm afraid I'll have to disagree. I guess the most important opinions will be of the poor theater employees who have to clean up all the puddles of drool.
Sorry, I meant to keep my drooling to a minimum. There are things in my life other than Star Wars movies. My surgeon put me on a new pill yesterday and I need to give it time to work. It's another anti-inflammatory and I'm happy to note that it is covered by insurance. If it works, I'll be ecstatic.
The pain seems to have started for the day. No, I'm not giving up on the meds or anything. I only have one day's worth in me total. In two hours, I'll get my second dose. I'm giving this drug 30 days. If I'm not feeling significantly better by the time I'm out of refills, it will be time for another one.
The pain makes it hard to think and harder to think about anything else. One reason why I'm gushing so much about the movie is that it makes a good distraction. Otherwise, I'll just be looking forward to the small relief I'll get when I start taking darvocet.
The trend is frustrating me. It seems like I'm taking more and more drugs with less relief. No, I have not and will not exceed the dosages I've been instructed to follow but I used to take one pill a day. Two pills meant a really bad day. Now, I'm looking at three as a likelihood for the day.
What went wrong is that my base pain medication lost its apparent effectiveness. That's forced me to use the darvocet as more than a stopgap measure. Now, it's not getting the job done. I'm on a new base pain medication and I'm hoping it puts things back in balance. Otherwise, I'll need to get some "real" drugs.
Back to some good news. I'm probably getting my good monitor back tonight. When I get that, I'll install the new video card and we'll be playing "Diablo II" in 3D mode among other things. I look forward to that quite a bit.