Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

By George M. Thomas

Felicity Jones and Diego Luna in ROGUE ONE: A STAR

WARS STORY.

Whether a standalone flick free of the Skywalker Chronicles could satisfy the hunger of rabid STAR WARS fans has been a question of debate since the first trilogy wrapped way back when.

It’s been answered with ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY.

If you combine reasonably compelling characters, rip-roaring action, and spectacular special effects, the STAR WARS crowd will flock.  

Witness the second trilogy, after all.

There was never any doubt that there would be other films in the Star Wars Universe after Disney shelled out a reported $4 billion for George Lucas’ little baby that grew from that first set of films – just as there will be more Indiana Jones films. 

Side By Side (now on home video)

[SIDE BY SIDE is now available on home video.]

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.

Anyone who has ever made the acquaintance of Cleveland's ace resident-indie/experimental filmmaker Robert C. Banks Jr. knows that the guy is an enthusiast for film - real film, celluloid. Whether black-and-white, color-reversal, color negative, Banks has been proponent of actual chemical emulsions, in spite of the advances made by relatively bargain-rate, inferior quality (at first) competitors like videotape and digital. Light shown projected through real film frames, he said, is like looking through stained-glass windows, which I always thought was a lovely way to put it.

Well, Chris Kenneally's documentary SIDE BY SIDE bids to be the ultimate smackdown in the film-vs.-video argument. It didn't quite cover all bases for me, but there is an all-star lineup and enough issues raised to keep a Robert Banks debate going all night long.