Amy Earhart stars as Stacey in the Pink Five Saga, one of the most popular Star Wars fan films ever made.

A long time ago (well, actually it was just more than a decade ago now) that a fan film created a stir in a galaxy not so far away.

Pink Five became an Internet sensation in 2002 and went on to win the George Lucas Selects Award at the Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards. Creator and director Trey Stokes won a trip to Skywalker Ranch, where Pink Five was remixed at Skywalker Sound.

Since then, it has been viewed millions of times online and spawned three short sequel films, the last of which hit YouTube in 2009.

But the fifth and final chapter has sat unfinished … until now.

Stephen Stanton, who stars as old Ben Kenobi and Emperor Palpatine in the saga, told the Star Wars Book Report podcast the full Pink Five Saga will debut at Dallas All-Con, which runs March 8-10 deep in the heart of Texas.

A recurring voice actor on Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, Stanton said fans should find the final installment well worth the wait.

“I think he did a fantastic job on it,” Stanton said of Stokes, who is also a visual effects supervisor and the co-writer of the Pink Five scripts. “I think everybody is really going to be pleased with how everything turns out.”

Stanton, who has voiced characters including Moralo Eval, Col. Meebur Gascon and the young Wilhuff Tarkin on The Clone Wars, was as puzzled as anyone by the absence of the final chapter. He had already shot scenes as both Kenobi and Palpatine for the fifth short.

“I would look at the footage and say, ‘This is so good. The fans are going to love it. Why doesn’t Trey finish it?’ ” Stanton said. “He filmed most of it … but (Trey) ran out of money, life got in the way. Things like that. It was always just sitting there in stasis.

“Last year, myself and my managers contacted Trey because we were just curious what he was going to do with it. He said I’ve been thinking of a way to try to finish it.”

What followed was a Kickstarter pitch, which fans flocked to support, raising more than $28,000. At a convention in Long Beach last year, the rest of the scenes were filmed in a ballroom.

Stanton said Stokes built sets, such as the interior of the Death Star, and had members of the 501^st Legion participate in the film. Then, the live action footage was combined with visual effects shots in post-production.

Each chapter of the saga has been longer and more expensive to produce. The premiere in Dallas is a thank you to the fans and the 501^st who have supported Stokes’ efforts for the past 11 years. After All-Con, the entire saga will be released online for anyone to see.

Stanton said he’s anxious for people to get a look at the finished product.

“I’ve seen some of the new stuff he shot and it looks phenomenal. It looks like the next Star Wars movie,” the veteran actor said. “Trey was kidding me. He said, ‘You know, J.J. Abrams may be directing Episode VII, but I’m the person directing the next Star Wars film right now.’ It looks so much like the Original Trilogy stuff that it just knocks your socks off.”

Check out the first four chapters of Pink Five Saga:

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And you can download the full Stanton interview on Star Wars Book Report here: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/episode-64-stephen-stanton/id372000895?i=133281549&mt=2

Wayne Chamberlain is the co-host of the Star Wars Book Report podcast, available on iTunes, and a contributing writer with Postmedia News and Canada.com.

All of us experience boredom. But when I just couldn’t go on any more, I asked my robot about movies. Movies can alleviate the symptoms of boredom, including restless brain syndrome, irritable mouth syndrome, and mistaking a preganglionic fiber for a postganglianic nerve. So do what I did to relieve my boredom: go see a movie. You’ll be glad you did.

WARNING: Results may vary by movie. Side effects may include exasperation, confusion, boredom, Soderberghism, and plot holes. If erection from watching lead female actresses make out with each other lasts more than an hour, please consult real pornography.

And… scene.

And that warning just about encapsulates my feelings about Side Effects, a film I had some high hopes for. I’ve loved several of Steven Soderbergh’s other films, especially Traffic. I had hopes that Side Effects would try to do to the big pharmaceutical companies what Traffic did to the drug war. He teamed up again with scribe Scott Z. Burns, who last worked together on Contagion, a film I also wish I could compare this favorably to.

Unfortunately no.

Side Effects is the story of Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara) and her psychiatrist, Dr. Jonathan Banks (Jude Law). She is admitted to the hospital where he practices after a failed suicide attempt. Her husband (Channing Tatum) had recently been released from prison where he had served four years for insider trading. Dr. Banks attempts to treat her depression, and after conferring with Taylor’s previous psychiatrist (Catherine Zeta Jones) puts her on a new antidepressant called Ablixa. While the medication does wonders for her depression, it also causes erratic behavior in her sleep. This eventually causes her to be accused of a murder she most certainly committed, though its unclear she was conscious or not. With his medical treatment called into question, Dr. Banks has to unravel the mystery of the her guilt or innocence.

And so… what is Steven Soderbergh’s deal with Channing Tatum? Is this like some weird performance art piece? Like where he’s intentionally bamboozling us? “Dear America: I heard you enjoy crap movies. Well guess what? I’m going to keep putting Channing Tatum in my movies until you all recognize his brilliance or I trick some of you knuckle-dragging dirt farmers into actually consuming some art.” But you know what? Just like in Magic Mike, Tatum works in this role as the douchey self-involved ex-Wall St. hotshot. So, touché, Soderbergh.

This is a Frankenmovie of epic proportions. The first half tries to be a taut medical drama — and actually succeeds for the most part, although it is pretty heavy-handed. Then just as it gets its most ham-fisted, bludgeoning viewers over the head with all of the subtlety of a sledgehammer, it takes a weird right turn and becomes a very special episode of The BBC Presents: Jude Law: English Detective, MD. And if you thought the first half was ham-fisted, wait until Jude Law starts making a collage of news clippings and medical files on his wall connected by big pieces of red yarn. Then he attempts to solve a mystery that just isn’t all that interesting and for which he really has no motivation to keep digging. Then it just refuses to end. Several times.

And the second half of the movie just basically erases any of the social commentary the first half was trying to make. Because instead of some overwrought theme about how we’re over-medicated as a society and the danger of untested antidepressants, that’s not the case at all. Because all of this was a setup by [ultimate villain here] and he is a man wronged by the system!

But let’s talk about that social commentary. Let me begin by saying that I have several family members who take prescription anti-depressants. I know still others who should be on them or various other psychoactive drugs. So when this movie tries to come at us with a message reminiscent of Mr. Mackey from South Park, “Mmmmmm, drugs are bad, mmmmkay? Prescription drugs? Prescription drugs are bad, mmmmmkay? Anti-depressants? Anti-depressants are bad, mmmmmkay?” it just rings hollow.

Is there a danger that we are over-medicating ourselves? Certainly.  Is Big PhRMA incredibly evil along with their great propensity for good and have they successfully removed several important safeguards that would keep dangerous medicines off the market? Yes. But the message is totally lost and even contradicted by the way it’s delivered, and then contradicted by the second half of the film. Too bad. Does Ambien cause people to do weird stuff in their sleep? Yup. Do some anti-depressants actually increase risk of suicide? Seems like it. Did Celebrex and Vioxx kill some people? Well, I don’t want to get sued for slander, but 60 Minutes certainly made that claim.

This film all comes down to wasted potential. It has a lot going for it: A good, punchy script. Good performances. Characters I care about. Good directing. But the story — the basic backbone of narrative– just falls short. And it’s really hard to overcome that.No matter how good those individual pieces are, the fact that this is a frankenmovie trying to stitch together a cohesive film out of disparate parts instead of a creative piece cut from whole cloth that knows what its message is, makes each of those pieces have to try to work overtime to make up for deficiencies elsewhere.

So if you’re looking for insightful commentary into modern life and modern pharmocology business practices, go watch Love and Other Drugs. If you want doctors solving mysteries, you’re better served by watching old episodes of Quincy or Rizzoli and Isles or Crossing Jordan. Hitchcock this is not. In fact, that’s my real recommendation: for every critic that favorably compares this to Hitchcock, go out and watch some real Hitchcock.  Rope, The 39 Steps, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Suspicion, Shadow of a Doubt, North By Northwest….. just something. And realize that this film has no business being compared to those.

I’ll be sad if the rumors are true and this is Soderbergh’s last film. But perhaps taking a break will allow him to take a break and recharge creatively to be able to bring us some of the brilliance we saw in Out of Sight, Traffic, or even Ocean’s 11. Because this is not an appropriate swan song for someone of greater talent, ” target=”_blank”>whose Oscar acceptance speech in 2001 still inspires me to be creative. At least all of the actors involved in this film will go on to do better things.

I give Side Effects 2 stars: one star for each of the pieces that are so shoddily cobbled together. Do not see Side Effects if you have any of the following pre-existing conditions: Contagion envy, dragon tattoos, a brain, and an unwillingness to accept plot holes and ridiculous character motivations. Patients taking Magic Mike should consult their doctors before taking it in combination with Side Effects, as you may have an undiagnosed but rare condition called Tatum-fetish.

Side Effects has been known to cause headaches, vomiting, zombieism, and may not alleviate the symptoms of boredom it was prescribed for.

Let’s face it, game-based movies are typically pretty brutal. That’s probably Hollywood’s way of exacting revenge given just how crap-tastic movie-based games usually are.

Regardless, the two industries need each other and are destined to feed one another for the foreseeable future.

Agent 47 is the lead character in the Hitman video game franchise.

Cue the latest bit of gaming-inspired news: The website Moviepilot.com is reporting that Fast and Furious star Paul Walker has signed on to play Agent 47 in a film based on the Hitman franchise.

47, a man with a shaved head and a bar code tattooed on the back of his head, was played by Timothy Olyphant in 2007’s Hitman, which was helmed by Xavier Gens. Olyphant was making a name for himself based on his Deadwood performance and while Hitman certainly wasn’t the worst game-based movie ever made, it didn’t exactly connect with North American film fans – grossing just less than $40 million at the domestic box office.

It did, however, crack $100 million around the globe – a decent return on a reported budget of $24 million.

According to Moviepilot.com, commercial director Aleksander Bach will helm this Hitman. He will reportedly work with screenwriter Skip Woods, who wrote the original.

“Filming is expected to commence soon in Berlin and Singapore, but we don’t know much past that, as the actual plot is currently being kept firmly under wraps. If the games and 2007 movie are anything to go by though, I’m sure we can expect to see lots of gun and piano wire action when it releases,” the Moviepilot.com piece concludes.

Indeed, as the game centers on controlling an assassin whose main goal is to blend in and kill silently. That works great in video games, but will it work in a feature film? Chances are, based on Walker’s reported casting, that won’t be 47’s modus operandi.

Question is, will movie-goers and game fans alike embrace the relatively niche actor, pushing Hitman beyond the genre market and into a more mainstream vein. Jack Reacher showed there remains a taste for vengeance-based tales, but Walker isn’t exactly Tom Cruise when it comes to box office bankability.

It’s been no secret that the next four episodes of The Clone Wars all have titles linked to Alfred Hitchcock films. Alfred Hitchcock was one of the greatest storyteller’s of any generation of filmmakers, and it’s obvious The Clone Wars crew looks up to them.

And if you know me (and you know about my column on StarWars.Com), you’ll know that I love cinema history and I love connecting it to Star Wars. So this is a dream come true for me, especially since Alfred Hitchcock is one of my favorite filmmakers of all time.

I thought it would be a lot of fun to watch each of these movies in advance of the episode airing. The next episode of The Clone Wars is called Sabotage, which is the title of the 1936 Alfred Hitchcock film (with an animated sequence organized by Walt Disney!). The second episode in the arc references The Man Who Knew Too Much (which Hitchcock made twice, once in 1934 featuring Peter Lorre and again in 1956 with James Stewart and Doris Day). The third is the thrilling Cary Grant, Grace Kelly film To Catch a Thief (1955). The fourth is Hitchcock’s heartbreaking film, The Wrong Man (1955), starring Henry Fonda.

Sabotage is a famous film and controversial. It centers around a cinema owner named Verloc who’s also secretly a provocateur, working for a group of anarchists and an enemy nation. Verloc doesn’t want to be a bad guy, or contribute to the loss of life, but is forced into acts of violent terrorism due to circumstances beyond his control.

In the films most famous and most nerve-wracking sequence, Verloc employs his underage brother-in-law to unknowingly deliver a bomb in a film canister set for delivery to the London Underground.

But the boy ends up delayed and distracted during his delivery, and finds himself on a crowded bus when the time-bomb goes off, killing everyone.

Verloc’s wife comes to suspect her husband of the crime and the film plays out tensely, further and further, until the guilty parties get their comeuppance and Mrs. Verloc gets her revenge.

More than anything, this film revolutionized the timing of pacing in a tense sequence. It might not be Hitchcock’s finest film, but it has so many compelling shades of gray in the view of the crime and motives of the characters. Some characters are driven to murder, but you sympathise with them.

And this is a film for film-lovers, what with all of the scenes that take place in and around movie theatres and the trappings of cinema at the time. It wouldn’t surprise me to find that Quentin Tarentino had used this film as an inspiration for Inglorious Basterds.

It will be fascinating to see what level of inspiration this film will bring to the next episode of The Clone Wars. Will it be a direct adaptation (like Senate Spy, based on Hitchcock’s Notorious)? Or will it be more of a loose inspiration, like The Man With No Name Trilogy had on characters like Boba Fett and Cad Bane?

Since this is the “Ahsoka Arc,” and all of these films involve crime, terrorists, and people wrongfully accused of crimes, are we going to get episodes about those things? Since Ahsoka is the star, will she be on the run from everyone, accused of crimes she didn’t commit? It seems so.

I highly recommend you check the movie out, which is streaming in full from the Internet Archive in the box above, before this week’s episode of The Clone Wars. Though if you’re worried about potential spoilers from a movie that’s predates even Batman and Superman, you should come back and watch it after the episode airs.

And be sure to listen to the Full of Sith podcast for the latest Star Wars talk…

The film may have been robbed of a Best Picture nod only received one nomination, but with a cast like this it would be a shame to not host them come ceremony time. So far the cast has racked up several nominations for other projects, and I think it’s only a matter of time before we see an actual win from one of the heroes.

Robert Downey Jr. received nominations for his work in “Chaplin” and “Tropic Thunder,” and Samuel L. Jackson was nominated for his role in “Pulp Fiction.” Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner are the most recent nominees, for “The Kids are All Right” and “The Hurt Locker,” respectively. I think this is a testament to Marvel’s success in films where other comic legends have not translated as well – casting actors that not only have some serious chops, but also a nice sense of whimsy.

I’m just looking forward to the BROTP banter of Downey Jr. and Ruffalo, and seriously hoping that Tom Hiddleston gets to be part of the fun as well!

Don’t forget to follow kmc1138 on twitter on Oscar night for wine-fueled fun time commentary!

Say wha?

Chris Pratt, best known as Andy Dwyer of “Parks and Recreation” fame, has been cast as Peter Quill/Star-Lord in James Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

Chris Pratt has a bevvy of likable goofballs under his belt, but his dramatic turn in “Zero Dark Thirty” was mighty impressive. Proving himself capable of such gritty action might have been what pushed producers over the edge in this decision – either way it’s a completely off-the-wall choice, and Pratt’s goofball charm and boy-next-door level of handsome will make a great Peter Quill; the boy who was bullied who becomes the Star-Lord. Definitely no complaints here.

Or, you know, it could have been this pic Pratt tweeted when he was training for “Zero Dark Thirty.”

Also still no complaints.

Did your eyes grow large and your pulse quicken as Iron Man saved 13 civilians from a crashing passenger jet? Mine did! And then they got all squinty when I realized that was what I had watched two and a half hours of ….*shudder*… football for.

But never fear! Watch the new extended cut here at BSR! and at Iron Man’s official Facebook page!

Marvel wants you to get hyped up to see their Iron Man 3 teaser during the Super Bowl. And how would they do that? By teasing their teasers! Here is a good 15 seconds or so from IM3. Some we’ve seen, and some we haven’t. All I know is I’m excited for May 3rd!

-A7ME

In an effort to engage Canadian fans, Toronto ComiCon organizers are banking heavily on Star Trek’s allure.

Building on the event’s inaugural success a year ago, the show brings together a lineup of guests and exhibitors from the worlds of TV and film, comics, horror and anime for two days at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, March 9-10. And the bridge crew from The Next Generation series will be the premier attraction at the second annual Toronto ComiCon (not to be confused with the longer running, much bigger and more popular four-day FanExpo Canada show held each August at the convention centre).

The cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation are slated to appear at Toronto ComiCon in March.

Scheduled to attend are Patrick Stewart (Capt. Jean-Luc Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Cmdr. William Riker), LeVar Burton (Lt. Cmdr. Geordi LaForge), Michael Dorn (Lt. Worf), Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Deanna Troi) and Brent Spiner (Lt. Cmdr. Data).

Other celebrity guests who are slated to appear are Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings, The Goonies), Daniel Logan (Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones), Laura Vandervoort (Smallville, V) and Michael Hogan (Battlestar Galactica).

Of course, the lineups can – and often do – change as the celebrities’ schedules tend to be quite fluid.

The Toronto events tend to have a laid back, fan-friendly feel, with plenty of workshops (including access to some outstanding Canadian and North American authors) and seminars, as well as hundreds of exhibitors and comic artists, plus a celebrity autograph area.

A Star Wars photo session (the 501^st Canadian garrison is usually omnipresent at Toronto geekfests), as well as sketching duels and the opportunity to commission artists to create one of a kind drawings.

For Canadian comic aficionados, one of the key comic attractions this year will be the appearance by Kill Shakespeare’s creators. Toronto native Anthony Del Col and Connor McCreery have garnered attention among comic lovers across North America. The comic features epic battles between ol’ Billy’s iconic heroes and villains.

Del Col and McCreery have inked a follow-up series called Tide of Blood, which will be launching this year.

Robert Bailey, who is an official LucasFilm artist based in Alberta, is also scheduled to appear at the show, where yours truly hopes to follow up with him after my interview during last summer’s FanExpo Canada event in which he revealed he was commissioned by George Lucas to do an original oil painting featuring Ahsoka in a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader.

Bailey is the official artist for the Tuskegee Airmen, the famed all-African-American fighter pilot squadron, which Lucas featured in his movie Red Tails.
(You can hear my first interview with Bailey on the Star Wars Book Report podcast – episode 59, which is available via iTunes or at starwarsbookreport.com.)

As well, comic guests who are slated to appear include: Mike Zeck (Captain America, Marvel Secret Wars), Lee Weeks (Daredevil, The Hulk), Katie Cook (My Little Pony), Mike Del Mundo (Marvel cover artist), Marco Rudy (Swamp Thing) and Ty Templeton (Ultimate Spider-Man).

Tickets are available online now, with prices ranging from $20 for an all-access Sunday pass to $39 for a two-day pass. Childrens’ passes are available for $16 per day.

For information on the Next Generation cast photo-op sessions, autograph signings and VIP tickets, go to http://www.lightspeedfineart.com/toronto-comic-con-vip-tickets.

For a complete list of Toronto ComiCon guests, visit www.comicontoronto.com.

News broke from The Hollywood Reporter that Paul Giamatti is in talks to play the Rhino in the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man, which I think is an inspired casting choice. Giamatti is an excellent actor and it would somehow be fitting that the other half of the duo from Sideways got his chance to play a Spidey villain.

From the Reporter piece:

The role is a dream part for Giamatti, who in the past has said the Rhino was one of his favorite characters when he was a boy.

“I thought Rhino was the greatest thing when I was a little kid,” he told ShowbizSpy in March 2011. “It was a guy who was basically in this rhinoceros outfit and I always thought, ‘Why don’t they have The Rhino in one of their movies,’ but maybe The Rhino wasn’t that big of a deal for anybody but me…If they ever go with The Rhino I would be ready and waiting.”

Around the same time he was also on Late Night with Conan O’Brien where he talked about the character: “The Rhino was fantastic. He was, like, a Russian guy. He was real fast and he hit stuff real hard.

That right there has me sold that he’s the man for the job.

Also buried in the article is news that Felicity Jones is up for a role. I don’t recognize her off the bat, but she was in the Agatha Christie episode of Doctor Who, a favorite of mine. Judging by her looks and status as a British person, I would imagine she could be a great choice as Betty Brandt. But who knows?

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Spectacular maybe?) is set to hit the screen next summer, so this stuff better get organized fast.