The Jedi Alliance hosts sit in for a WatchAlong with Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones! Join Mark Donica, Joseph Scrimshaw and guest John Rocha for commentary on today’s movie! Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (also known by its subtitle as, Attack of the Clones) is a 2002 American epic space opera film directed by George Lucas and written by Lucas and Jonathan Hales. It is the second installment of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and stars Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman,Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee and Frank Oz. The film is set 10 years after the events in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, when the galaxy is on the brink of civil war. Under the leadership of a renegade Jedi named Count Dooku, thousands of planetary systems threaten to secede from the Galactic Republic. When an assassination attempt is made on Senator Padmé Amidala, the former Queen of Naboo, Jedi apprentice Anakin Skywalker is assigned to protect her, while his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi is assigned to investigate the assassination attempt. Anakin, Padmé, and Obi-Wan are drawn into the heart of the Separatist territories and the beginning of a new threat to the galaxy, the Clone Wars. Development of Attack of the Clones began in March 2000, after the release of The Phantom Menace. By June 2000, Lucas and Hales completed a draft of the script and principal photography took place from June to September 2000. It was primarily shot at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, Australia, with additional footage filmed atTunisia, Spain and Italy. It was one of the first motion pictures to be shot completely on a high definition digital 24-frame system. Download, Rate and Review the Audio Version on iTunes! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/watchalong!/id1050050922?mt=2

Popcorn Talk Personalities sit in for a WatchAlong with Back To The Future Part 2! Join Zach Wilson, Yael Tygiel and Mark Donica for commentary on today’s movie! Back to the Future Part II is a 1989 American comic science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Bob Gale. It is the sequel to the 1985 film Back to the Future and the second installment in the Back to the Future trilogy. The film stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Thomas F. Wilson and Lea Thompson and continues immediately following the original film. After repairing the damage to history done by his previous time travel adventures, Marty McFly (Fox) and his friend Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown (Lloyd) travel to 2015 to prevent McFly’s future son from ending up imprisoned. However, their presence allows Biff Tannen (Wilson) to steal Doc’sDeLorean time machine and travel to 1955, where he alters history by making his younger self wealthy. The film was produced on a $40 million budget and was filmed back-to-back with its sequel, Part III. Filming began in February 1989 after two years were spent building the sets and writing the scripts. Two actors from the first film, Crispin Glover and Claudia Wells, did not return for the final two. While Elizabeth Shue was recast in the role of Wells’ character, Jennifer, Glover’s character, George McFly, was not only minimized in the plot, but was obscured and recreated with another actor. Glover successfully sued both Zemeckis and producer Bob Gale, changing how producers can deal with the departure and replacement of actors in a role. Back to the Future Part II was also a ground-breaking project for effects studio Industrial Light & Magic (ILM); in addition to digital compositing, ILM used the VistaGlide motion control camera system, which allowed an actor to portray multiple characters simultaneously on-screen without sacrificing camera movement. Back to the Future Part II was released by Universal Pictures on November 22, 1989. The film grossed over $331 million worldwide, making it the third-highest-grossing film of 1989. Download, Rate and Review the Audio Version on iTunes! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/watchalong!/id1050050922?mt=2

Popcorn Talk Personalities sit in for a WatchAlong with Back To The Future! Join Zach Wilson, Yael Tygiel and Mark Donica for commentary on today’s movie!

Back to the Future is a 1985 American comic science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Gale and Neil Canton, and starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, and Frank Marshall served as executive producers. In the film, teenager Marty McFly (Fox) is sent back in time to 1955, where he meets his future parents in high school and accidentally becomes his mother’s romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by causing his parents-to-be to fall in love, and with the help of eccentric scientist Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown (Lloyd), he must find a way to return to 1985.

Zemeckis and Gale wrote the script after Gale mused upon whether he would have befriended his father if they had attended school together. Various film studios rejected the script until the financial success of Zemeckis’ Romancing the Stone. Zemeckis approached Spielberg, who agreed to produce the project at Amblin Entertainment, with Universal Pictures as distributor. The first choice for the role of Marty McFly was Michael J. Fox. However, he was busy filming his television seriesFamily Ties and the show’s producers would not allow him to star in the film. Consequently, Eric Stoltz was cast in the role. During filming, Stoltz and the filmmakers decided that the role was miscast, and Fox was again approached for the part. Now with more flexibility in his schedule and the blessing of his show’s producers, Fox managed to work out a timetable in which he could give enough time and commitment to both.

Back to the Future was released on July 3, 1985, grossing over $300 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1985. It won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film, and the Academy Award for Best Sound Effects Editing, as well as receiving three additional Academy Award nominations, five BAFTA nominations, and four Golden Globe nominations, including Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy). Ronald Reagan even quoted the film in his 1986 State of the Union Address.^[5][6] In 2007, the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry, and in June 2008 the American Film Institute‘s special AFI’s 10 Top 10 designated the film as the 10th-best film in the science fiction genre. The film marked the beginning of a franchise, with two sequels, Back to the Future Part II (1989) and Back to the Future Part III (1990), as well as an animated series, theme park ride, several video games and a forthcoming musical.

Download, Rate and Review the Audio Version on iTunes! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/watchalong!/id1050050922?mt=2

The Historic Hollywood hosts sit in for a WatchAlong with Cat People! Join Lex Michael and Byron Thompson for commentary on today’s movie! Cat People is a 1942 horror film produced by Val Lewton and directed by Jacques Tourneur. DeWitt Bodeen wrote the original screenplay which was based on Val Lewton’s short story The Bagheeta published in 1930. The film stars Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph and Tom Conway. Cat People tells the story of a young Serbian woman, Irena, who believes herself to be a descendant of a race of people who turn into cats when sexually aroused.

The Jedi Alliance hosts sit in for a WatchAlong with Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace! Join Mark Donica & Joseph Scrimshaw for commentary on today’s movie! Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (also known by its subtitle, The Phantom Menace) is a 1999 Americanepic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas, produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by Universal. The first installment in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, the film stars Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ian McDiarmid, Ahmed Best, Ray Park, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Pernilla August and Frank Oz. The film was Lucas’ first production as a film director after a 22-year hiatus following the original Star Wars film, and his fourth film overall. The film’s narrative follows the Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi. They escort and protectQueen Amidala, who is traveling from the planet Naboo to the planet Coruscant, hoping to find a peaceful end to a large-scale interplanetary trade dispute. The story also features a young Anakin Skywalker before he became a Jedi; he is introduced as a young slave boy who appears to have unusually strong nascent powers of the Force and must contend with the mysterious return of the Sith. Lucas began production of this film after he concluded that film special effects had advanced to the level he wanted for the fourth film in the saga. Filming started on June 26, 1997, at locations including Leavesden Film Studios and the Tunisian desert. Its visual effects included extensive use of computer-generated imagery (CGI); some of its characters and settings were completely computerized and did not exist in the real world.