Movies

Edit: Well, bugger. It appears the Force is with Lucasfilm’s lawyers as the trailer has disappeared for now. But trust me: there’s no Jar Jar in it.

Second Edit: Found a Youtube version – at least for now.

Apparently, the following trailer for Star Wars Episode I‘s upcoming 3D re-release played in front of Three Musketeers this past weekend. However, as nobody went to see that unnecessary remake, I figure very few people saw the trailer. I assume it played in 3D in front of the movie, but the embed below is in good old fashioned 2D.

I note the complete absence of the much-maligned Jar Jar Binks in the trailer (although the Gungan captain – who I believe is named Tarpals and I didn’t even look that up – does sneak in there) but I suspect that he will still be in the movie because, let’s face it, who else is going to get to flick his tongue around in glorious 3D?

In spite of this being by far the worst of the Star Wars movies, I’m actually looking forward to this. Why? Because – assuming I can get him to wear the 3D glasses – it’s the first Star Wars movie I’ll be watching with Jack. I know that I said that the correct order to show them to him is IV, V, VI and then I, II and III but I’m pretty sure that he won’t have too much of a clue what’s going on here story-wise anyway.

Obviously 3D won’t redeem the vast swathes of the movie which are pretty much unwatchable, but I do think that some of it should look pretty good in 3D – especially the pod race. Yes, I’m a sucker for Star Wars and I’m more than willing to use Jack to justify seeing it in the movies again. Even if it is Episode I…

Apparently the American Academy of Pediatrics have released a report saying that 90% of children under the age of 2 watch some TV every day and would be better off not doing.

Okay, I say. That’s fine. We started Jack on UK-import In The Night Garden when he was about nine months old to calm him before bed. It also kept him in place long enough to drink his milk in the morning. He still watches it, although it no longer has the same hold on him it used to. We also have Sesame Street on in the morning while we get ready for work, although it doesn’t usually hold his attention and he tends to play with it on the background when he’s not pooping/eating/getting dressed/brushing his teeth/tormenting the dog/raising holy hell.

I’ve also already said he loves Toy Story and the like, and if the weather’s bad and he’s bored of playing we’re not above putting it on and letting him watch it.

So while I understand what they’re saying, I don’t entirely think it’s fair. We don’t leave Jack in front of the TV on his own; we’re right there with him watching it. We talk with him about what he’s watching. We certainly don’t use it as a substitute for play – and he doesn’t watch TV at all while he’s in daycare.

We’re both working parents with a limited amount of time to spend with our son. We try to get outside as much as we can, we play as much as we can – but there are times where he simply isn’t that into it and he just wants to chill out.

We also make a point of not watching our own programs while he’s up (with the occasional exception of some news) as we don’t want to expose him to things which are beyond his age range – but believe me, there will come an age where he’s subjected to the full range of Star Trek, Buffy, Lost, BSG, Veronica Mars, Vampire Diaries and many other shows – but at ages where he’s appropriate. Right now, we’ll stick with Sesame Street and In the Night Garden.

Although remind me to post about the social inequalities and rampant sexual and political messages in In The Night Garden sometime….

via Deadline

…at least, his first movie in a movie theater. At home or in the car – thank you, thank you, Steve Jobs and Apple for the iPad! – he’ll quite happily sit through any of the awesome Toy Story movies or Monsters, Inc and laugh away at things he finds amusing, but we’ve yet to brave an actual movie theater with him.

Parents who take their babies and toddlers with incredibly short attention spans to movies are a pet peeve of mine, especially when they ignore the child’s screams so they can watch a movie themselves. It’s annoying, it spoils the movie for everyone else and it’s just plain rude. And, unfortunately, in New York it seems to happen quite a lot.

That said, I get the impression that Jack is approaching an age where he can sit and watch something in the movies if it holds his attention. I’m not sure this will actually do that the whole time, but judging by his reaction to the trailer it stands a pretty good chance…

…plus it’s a movie that the Better Half and I actually want to see – bonus!