Watching the Star Wars movies in sequence.
Phantom Menace.
An animated movie with the odd human character. Interesting change in style depending on location, interesting use of colour. Too many cuts distracts as does the racism, anti-semitism, flat acting and tax talk.

The Jedi are an elite, militant, religious cult that has no interest in societal issues and just their own power structure.
Liked the running 'body' imagery; who is real, who is acting, who is more than they seem. Holograms, costumes, double crosses.

What does strike me is the originality of design compared to the newest films.
Spaceships, costumes, aliens, sets.
Some have hints of what's to come but most are refreshingly imaginative.
And the pod race and lightsabre fight are two of the best sequences in the franchise.

Attack of the Clones makes it clear from the beginning its 'mature'. Character killed by a terrorist (?), then references to Blade Runner, later The Searchers. We're all grown up. Except that it's not. It's adolescent,, most particularly teenage, right wing, male fantasies.

Annie kills a whole tribe yet his girlfriend merely comments that we all get angry. He told earlier that he believes in Dictators. She still only has eyes for him.
She chooses an interesting leather dress, with collar, to wear whilst explaining how they can't be together.

Best scene in the film is in the cafe. Nicely paced, interesting movement, and a frisson between the two characters. And the oddest pause in the franchise. 'The size of your................ wallet'.
Hmmm.

The film rejects the grandeur of the first, and the first's austere acting (more grandeur). Here McGregor sneaks in a few witty moments (in the case at the start where he points left and looks, momentarily, right).
Good chase at the start, good Harryhausen nod at the end.

But the romantic moments are awful and the battle at the end is such a clash of visual styles that it's difficult to watch. This battle was particularly disappointing as this is what Lucas had done so well in the past.
Again, Lucas needed to be reigned in by someone

Revenge of The Sith.
I never bought Annie's fall so far so quick that he kills children. Always thought that, maybe, just maybe, if they moved Padme's death it might have worked, or put her in a coma. Something.
But those scenes are properly shocking.

The theme of father/son, of lineage, comes to the fore here. Annie needs a father figure, he gets a big brother instead. Annie has no real father (Boba Fett is similar) and needs the Jedi to step into the void. But they're too self centred to care.

These films were full of colour, reds, blues, greens, and greys and blacks. A cartoon landscape.
Lucas tried to create a similarly starkly thematic set of films. We have the parenting theme and the clear 'power/complacency corrupts' theme.

Looking at the newer films I wished they'd continued a bit more from these three. Not just the no-holds designs but also thematically. Only The Last Jedi seems to understand what Lucas wanted with that group of sword twirling monks.

And The Last Jedi seemed to nod at the prequels in terms of lineage as well. Something can come of nothing. And the questioning of power structures.
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Anyway, the prequels are fine but could have been so much more if Lucas had a few more 'no' men and women around him.

Sidebar: Solo.
Again, lineage and corruption are the main themes.
There's a shot in Revenge that harks back to Metropolis, a view from above. In those terms this film is the view from below. (including a rebellion from the poor).
No vibrant colours but an interesting palate.

Ehrenreich grows on you the more you watch the film. He has a few of Ford's physical cues but brings along his own charm. Clarke fares less well.

But the main problem is the amount of story! The some adventure style they went for needed to be under two hours.

And, at some stage, we need to talk about Chewbacca.
Appears in Revenge (which feels wrong) and then here as an early version of the beast Luke fights in Return.
Then, later, he seems almost childlike.
Doesn't add up for me (yet).

Sidebar:
Rogue One.
This is fine once you get over the fact it's about a woman finding her agency only to have committing suicide be her first decision.
Another one with body disfigurement as symbol of mental breakdown.
Love the faux-gritty feeling and use of physical effects.

Star Wars: A New Hope.
First off this the solidity, tactility, constructed feel of the world is so satisfying. Everything looks like someone made it, painted it, dropped it, dirtied it. Flaws are everywhere and I feel relieved.

Of course this is, now, part of the thematic move from the prequels. The prequels very animated, perfect, coloured in aesthetic works in contrast to this world that has fallen so far out of the digital world to thump into the sands. Just look at the dent in R2D2, or C3PO's voice.

And the camera moves in lovely slow Pan's, revealing elements, or nice 70s style telephoto lenses spying from afar, adding to the realism.
Throw in the odd low angle and some lovely wides (held, as all the shots are, for the world to breathe) and we have a film directed with care

But that bloody script...
Don't shoot the escape pod? Look sir droids? Awful dialogue, dodgy plot movements.
The cast do their best and when Ford and Fisher are on screen the whole thing comes alive, as does Hamill.

The added CGI is so flat and two dimensional that, well....

This is just great scifi fun. The action scenes that we loved as children as so simply put together that they are a wonder of editing. They still thrill but, really, they shouldn't.
That's talent.
And the themes are in there, just look at the Leni Riefenstahl ending.

The film lives off its designs, off the world created and so well executed.
The script is so shoddy.
I hardly saw this when I was growing up but spent my childhood playing with the toys.
Is this the real reason it became a phenomenon?

Not being able to see the film as much as we can these days did it become more in our games? Did we create better stories and better dialogue with these wonderful designs?

The Empire Strikes Back:
The most beautiful of the films so far. Some stunning lightning added to the usual colour coding. Hoth/Falcon interiors were particularly striking. (and, of course, the lightsabre fight)

Again the sets, puppet work, add to the tactility and wonder. Your eye feels relaxed and curious in this environment, not heavy and distracted like in the prequels.
Yoda, AT-ATs, Tauntauns, corridors, matte paintings. All stunning. This world has been touched, not just imagined.

Like in the previous film your eye is drawn to the background and not reliant on foreground action. Lead characters come and go and 'hang around' deep in to the frame, not just extras.
A tighter script, solid acting (again Ford and Fisher are marvellous.

And there's room for some nice touches.
Hamill moving a snake out of his way (see, he is brave) the officer using Leia as a human shield, Fisher closing over her top when Lando comes in.
Hamill is wonderful in the Dagoba scenes.
Even the costumes are spot on (capes but no robes!)

This cemented the franchise for many of us when we were young. New Hope had a slow build to a big finish (the sexual climax at the end!) this one speeds along with plot points and character moments happening one after the other. It lived up to the games/stories we had created.

Return of the Jedi.
My least watched Star Wars film. Don't know why. Maybe it's the neutered Solo, maybe it's the Ewoks, maybe it's the return of the Death Star. Not sure. Loved it as a kid but never really put it on to rewatch, even watched the prequels more!

This is all mid-shot.
Exposition delivered in the most mechanical way possible (death bed, tree chat, meeting room). Horrible blue screen where before there were glorious sets and depth of focus. Simple lighting.
Best bit so far is the POV chat between Darth and Palpatine

Where are the pauses for composition? A central feature of the other five films?
The horrible exposition scenes are reminiscent of the prequels. Lucas was supposed to have interefed a lot in this film...
Nice follow dolly to reveal the meeting room, and nice spaceship design.

'Let's all wear camouflage. Except you C3PO, you're giant gold, reflective body will fit right in.'
Why is he there? Why is R2D2 there? He can't even walk around a feckin' forest.
Remember that really annoying me when I was a child. Hated C3PO in this film.

I've kind of stopped watching this. It's fine, I suppose.
The bike chase was good (if you ignore the awkward gurning).
But them we get to the Ewok camp and C3PO is a god... All in mid-shots, of course.

Oh, more exposition, this time on a bridge. Just two people talking on a bridge. The lighting is confused, doesn't know whether it's strong, coming from Leia's right, or soft coming from Luke's right, and the dialogue...
Han comes in, completely superfluous to the whole film.

Favourite sequence, 'boom' down from the half built Death star to spaceship, AT-AT below left. Cut to Vader coming out of the spaceship, cut to AT-AT stopping at bridge.
Thematically it works, Palpatine looming over all, an evil star, and includes matte paintings and stop motion

Then?
Why, more exposition on a bridge...

I say exposition because that's all these are, they're just explaining what's going on etc. There's no character development or revelation, no conflict. Nothing. Just info. Told in such an awful static fashion.

The space battle works best. Lots of movement, lots of designs. Even the Tie-Fighters are changing.
But the use of the Ewoks here is, well, not right. A tribe being exploited and, possibly, wiped out? Something, something, something Native Americans.

The first six films don't hold together in terms of narrative. So many holes, too many for a twitter thread that's already too long.
But they do have wonderful sets, costumes, creatures, spaceships, sound design.
And one of them is a 'proper good' film.

The Force Awakens.
Jaysus, he doesn't hide his love of Spielberg does he? Opens with a nod to Saving Private Ryan and then the camera swoops around long take after long take, there are even a couple of Raiders like tracking shots.

When Poe's around the camera likes to move, with Rey we get a more static frame.
The previous films liked clear establishing shots, that often show off the sets, here we get a few but not as many. Of course Skellig steals the show in that respect. Just looks amazing.

Abrams loves a character running towards the camera! Loves it!

I like this film a lot. It zips along, interesting characters, good actors, nice, gentle humour. And watching them in sequence helps the Han/Chewie entrance.

But it also highlights the weakness of the baddie (yeah, I know what happens in the last one, I'll get to that then) and the awful decision to have a 3rd Death Star in 4 films.
There is No tension in the final 'space' battle.
Good lightsabre fight, though. All character based.

What I really miss in the imagination behind the design. There's none.
More Tie-Fighters, more X-Wings, more Stormtroopers (another rebellion but that's narrative).
Safe
Staid.

But then the Skelligs.
Remember seeing that scene in the cinema and being blown away. That's design!

And the background?
A new rebellion against a new 'Empire'?
What happened to the theme of corruption?
We have the parent/sibling/father figure stuff again but that's a universal Hollywood theme at this stage.

A world torn apart from infighting after the rebellion might have been interesting.
A world that had ambitous ideals undermined by the greed of those that really just wanted power.
Factions within factions.
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Anyway, this is a really enjoyable blockbuster movie.