TheRetroCritic

A relatively short Star Wars: The Last Jedi discussion.

I talk... for a while... about Star Wars: The Last Jedi .

Review available on the new website .

The new teaser's here, folks. And it looks pretty sweet.

Review available on the new website .

Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm was the only film based on Batman: The Animated Series to be shown in theatres and, despite receiving critical appraise back in 1993, its rushed release meant it was a flop. It would eventually gain a cult following on home video, though. The film sees Batman (Kevin Conroy, as ever) encounter a mysterious new vigilante called The Phantasm who has been settling scores with various mobsters around Gotham City. It's also something of a prequel as we learn more about how Bruce Wayne became Batman, his relationship with old flame Andrea Beaumont (voiced by Dana Delany) and The Joker's (Mark Hamill) involvement in The Phantasm's revenge mission. This is a tense, melodramatic, layered Batman story every bit as dark and stylish as the best episodes of The Animated Series. The look of Gotham keeps that retro, Tim Burton-esque feel and the whole thing is like a 1940's film noir romance with lots of action and a fascinating mystery thrown in.

Force Majeure is a new, unofficial Star Wars podcast in which each film in the franchise is given its own sort-of-in-depth review. In this first episode, guest co-host Jamie and I discuss Episode VII: The Force Awakens . http://forcemajeurepod.blogspot.com @TheRetroCritic #ForceMajeure

Back in 2007, slightly before Family Guy tackled Star Wars with their own spoof Blue Harvest , the Robot Chicken team delivered a 22 minute-long episode full of nerdy lols then went on to produce two more. Robot Chicken maestro Seth Green of course handled a good bunch of the voice work but the episodes also included cameos from the likes of George Lucas, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams and Anthony Daniels plus a handful of non-Star Wars-related celebrities. Seth MacFarlane also took on a few voices, the most memorable one being the Emperor. The skits are presented in typical Robot Chicken form, separated by short bursts of white noise, and the jokes come fast. As is the case with most parodies, the whole thing is a bit hit-and-miss, but a lot of it does stick. In the first instalment, Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode I , some highlights include the Emperor receiving a collect call from Darth Vader telling him the Death Star has exploded, an Imperial officer e

Picking out the worst moments from the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special would have been too easy so finding 10 things to like about the old TV special seemed like the way to go. Some of these are moments I actually like about the special, though some admittedly for all the wrong reasons. 10 THE COOKING SHOW Ok, so I don't exactly "like" this scene seeing as it's very annoying and completely pointless. Plus I keep wondering whether Harvey Korman is actually in blackface or not whenever I watch it, which is unsettling. No, this bit makes the list because of how entertainingly mad (and bad) it is. What is this Chef Gormaanda even cooking? Why do we care? Why does she have four arms? What on Earth is going on with that hair? Just shut up with those questions and WHIP, WHIP, STIR! 9 LIFE DAY CELEBRATION To the risk of spoiling the TV special for all of you, the Wookies do finally get to celebrate Life Day and Princess Leia gets to sing a litt

The Star Wars mania which had rocked the late 70's and become a huge phenomenon real quick finally came to an end in 1983 with  Return Of The Jedi ,   the third instalment of the space opera which saw our heroes fight back after losing some steam against the Empire in the last movie. Still frozen in carbonite, Han Solo (Harrison Ford), is hanging as a wall decoration in an alien blob's humble abode. Said blob is Solo's last employer Jabba The Hutt, a cold, vile and greedy creature who not only lets the guy gather up dust but soon reduces Leia (Carrie Fisher) to a scantily-clad slave woman and sets a trap (it's a trap!) for Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), before almost having him thrown in the Sarlacc (don't ask) pit for lols. Luckily, Luke has now pretty much mastered the powers of the Force and is a bonafide Jedi master so the gang are promptly reunited and escape, droids and all. The tone for this one is a little different than in the previous films. A New

Back in 1977, George Lucas released Star Wars , an epic sci-fi fantasy space opera with a save-the-princess plot and it soon became a phenomenon, to say the least. It would later be retitled Episode IV: A New Hope as Lucas decided to expand the storyline further. The film was such a commercial hit that two (soon to be three) more films would follow, then three prequels, countless tie-ins, endless novels, tons and tons of merchandising, several cartoon series, it made Harrison Ford's career and Jedi even became a legitimate (-ish) religion! And the crazy thing is the franchise is still as huge as it ever was, with many, many more films planned so let's take a look back at the movie that started it all. Star Wars opens with a captured Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) sending a couple of droids off to planet Tatooine to bring back help. She is being held by iconic baddie Darth Vader (played by David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones) who is running a gigantic space station f