There’s good news from Berlin today as Dominic Burns’ latest film Airborne has found UK distribution with Chelsea Films, part of the Curzon Artificial Eye Group.

The film marks the return to the big screen of Mark Hamill, and his name will undoubtedly draw an audience keen to see the Star Wars actor again and the cast is rounded off with a number of Burns’ regulars including Simon Phillips, Gemma Atkinson, Alan Ford and Billy Murray. If you’re a very keen Star Wars fan then you’ll be pleased to know that Julian Glover is also part of the cast.

We’ve been following production the film for a while, and if you’re interested in finding out more you can check Dave’s set visit report which includes a lengthy interview with Hamill and we hope to bring you more on the film as it comes in. Chelsea Films are keeping the 2012 release but have not specified a release date as of yet.

THR were sourcey.

Star Wars hits cinemas today with one extra dimension than we saw back in 1999 when the movie was first released, back then there was so much hype and anticipation for the movie that everyone thought was going to be the greatest prequel of all time. Unfortunately, although the movie made an absolute fortune, it is inherently rubbish (feel free to disagree in the comments below) making you want to punch the screen in anger.

This video has found it’s way onto YouTube and is a special MTV screening from 1999 at Skywalker Ranch that George Lucas put on for as many celebs as possible before anyone had really seen it. Like I say, the movie had so much hype that literally everyone wanted to be there as this video shows.

In the video, we get to see interviews with a very young looking Elijah Wood, Justin Timberlake (as part of N-Sync at the time), Ozzy Osbourne, Tori Spelling, Katie Holmes (before she’d married her now-husband Tom Cruise) to name but a few all with The Backstreet Boys playing in the background. It’s all rather surreal but what get’s me is the anticipation for something so great!

If you want to know what we thought of the movie in 3D, have a read of Jon’s review here.

Anyone know who the heck ‘Maxwell’ is?!

To date, there are currently ten films that have crossed that almost unimaginable threshold of taking more than a billion dollars at the worldwide box office, a record first broken in 1998 by James Cameron’s epic, Titanic, which stayed at the top of the US box office for fifteen straight weeks, a record it still holds today.

Titanic stood alone in the $1bn. club for six years before being joined by Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and over the following years, it has since been joined by eight others, and has only ever been beaten in its worldwide gross by one, Cameron’s Avatar, which took almost $2.8bn. against Titanic’s $1.85bn.

Currently, the billion-dollar club looks like this, courtesy of Wikipedia, in order of highest to lowest:

1. Avatar
2. Titanic
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
4. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
6. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
7. Toy Story 3
8. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
9. Alice in Wonderland
10. The Dark Knight

Of course, there is certainly an argument to say that a list like this is meaningless, since it doesn’t account for inflation or ticket price variations, and thus makes it difficult to compare the films’ grosses. Nonetheless, that doesn’t change the fact that these ten films are the only ones to pass that boundary Titanic first leaped over just before the turn of the century.

In 2011, we saw three additions to the club, in the form of Harry Potter, Transformers, and Pirates of the Caribbean, making it a record year for the number of films to reach that milestone. And so with that in mind, I thought it would be appropriate before the year’s coming blockbusters are released to make a few predictions of who might be joining the club this year.

Technically speaking, with its 3D re-release coming this week, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is looking like a very likely candidate. Its gross currently stands at just shy of $925m., and if the re-release of The Lion King in 3D last year is anything to go by, earning more than $100m. across the globe, then The Phantom Menace could well be the first one to be added to the list this year. (Though it could be argued either way as to whether or not a re-release’s earnings should be taken into account; I leave that up to you to decide.)

Looking forward, things start to get exciting. The candidates looking strongest this year are of course the superhero blockbusters, and we’ve got plenty to look forward to in 2012.

Thirteen years earlier I was in Leicester Square to witness a moment which had long been rumoured, promised then teased when the first of the Star Wars prequel trilogy was released.

It hadn’t started well. The Phantom Menace seemed too quirky a title, however the cast was good – Ewan McGregor as a young Alec Guinness, Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman were on board and Ian McDiarmid turning up to reprise his role as Palpatine.

And then there was Jar-Jar…

In many ways The Phantom Menace was a tipping point in our collective pop culture. Never before was the maxim ‘When the Gods want to punish you, they give you what you want’ more appropriate and we stumbled out of the cinema a little older, far wiser and wondering if The Matrix was still playing across the road.

Years later, and the trilogy complete, The Phantom Menace takes the stage once again, this time in 3D, and while the extra dimension was never going to change the film in any epiphanic way, it’s a shame that the 3D adds nothing to the film. For those who took issue with the film in 1999 you’ll find that time has not been kind and a dull curiosity may tempt you back into the cinema but the numerous problems of the film will always weigh this film down.

The final light sabre duel still looks great, though riddled with narrative oddities, and there’s no doubting that Darth Maul is an excellent addition to the Sithsphere, but the bloodless Jedi characters and feckless narrative drive are still like cinematic molasses. Dave commented during the early part of the film, ‘zzzzzzzzz’.

The 3D post conversion varies wildly in quality, adding nothing save for one soaring shot of a  floating platform high above the surface of Coruscant which induces a moment of stomach-churning vertigo. The pod race has its moments when the vast engines of the racers loom large over the manically paced background but these are sparse exceptions to the rule.

This is not Clash of the Titans/Viewmaster bad 3D, but it is a far cry from what we’ve seen so far of James Cameron’s Titanic 3Ding which is due out in April.

Perhaps this conversion will set a new standard and the subsequent Star Wars episodes will make use of 3D, and I can’t deny I’m curious about seeing how the original trilogy will look in 3D but this isn’t the best advert for the process, nor will it convince many that the addition of a third dimension is anything more than another money spinner.

And The Muppets is out today. I think you know what to do.

To celebrate the release of STAR WARS: Episode I – The Phantom Menace in 3D on 9^th February, we have some awesome goody bags to give away.

IN CINEMAS 9TH FEBRUARY NATIONWIDE IN 3D ONLY  – Experience It For The First Time in 3D!

Whether you’re an old fan or new, there’s no denying that seeing Star Wars on the big screen is an event not to be missed, especially when it’s the first Star Wars movie to ever be presented in spectacular 3D! The duel with Darth Maul, the harrowing Tatooine Podrace, the first meeting of Artoo and Threepio, and the introduction of the Star Wars Saga’s tragic hero, Anakin Skywalker, are all back in an all-new 3D presentation of Episode I, an experience that promises to truly surround you with the Force!

Each goody bag includes a Lenticular Card, Magnet, Sticker Sheet, 3D Puzzle Podracer, Pop-Up Scene and Stickers, A4 Notebook, T-Shirt.

To be in with a chance of winning the merchandise, click next to go to the question and entry form.

Star Wars® and all characters, names and related indicia are trademark of & © 2012 Lucasfilm Ltd.

We are literally just days away from the 3D re-release of the first film in one of cinema’s biggest franchises, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Yesterday, we saw some never-before-seen images that took us behind the scenes of the film. And today, we have a great new featurette, courtesy of Yahoo Movies, in which we see George Lucas and John Knoll, VFX supervisor, discussing the process of the 3D conversion for the re-release.

Listening to them talk, it sounds like they’re going for a different approach to most 3D films these days, and not going for the gratuitous shots of things coming at you out of the screen, but are seeking to use the technology instead to give the image greater depth within itself.

Definitely an interesting take on things, and of course we get some brilliant clips spliced between Lucas and Knoll’s interviews. As Lucas says,

“Whether you see it in 3D or see it in 2D, see it on the big screen. There’s nothing like it.”

Provided the converted film is received well, the expectation is that we’ll get to see a 3D re-release for each of the six Star Wars films once a year over the next six years, which is most certainly something to look forward to.

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace 3D is released here in the UK on Thursday, 9^th February, and you can catch up on the official trailer for the re-release beneath the featurette in case you’ve missed it. I didn’t get a chance to see the film when it was first released back in 1999 (in my defence, I’d only just turned nine at the time), so I can’t wait to see it on the big screen for the first time.

There’s a lot riding on this re-release of George Lucas’s Star Wars films (now with added 3D) as this falls before the re-unleashing of James Cameron’s Titanic later in the year and all eyes will be as much on the quality of the post-conversion process as the film itself.

There’s no doubt that The Phantom Menace has a unique place in Star Wars history and it’ll be very interesting to see how the film plays thirteen years later and without the enormous expectation it was greeted with all those years ago.

I spoke to some veteran ILMers last year for the Blu-ray release of the films and their response was firmly that Lucas wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t just right. Say what you like about the changes made over the years there are few films which could lead the 3D Classic-o-convert (my new name for the process of post converting the favourite films of yesteryear) revolution as readily as these.

We’re due to see the film in a couple of days and we’ve got our hands on a number of images, never before seen, peeking behind the scenes of the film’s production as well as reminding us that it’s not all about Jar Jar.

The film is out in cinemas on the 9th of February. These are the pictures you’re looking for, click to make them larger and more powerful than you can possible imagine.

To celebrate the release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 3D which arrives in cinemas February 9th, we are giving away two pairs of tickets to an exclusive advance screening on Wednesday the 8^th February. The screening will take place at a West End venue (this will be revealed once you receive your ticket), in a galaxy far, far away. Storm Troopers will open the doors at 5:30pm, followed by action in the foyer. The saga will begin at 6:30pm.

Join the celebration as Star Wars returns to theaters. Discover how the epic story of Anakin Skywalker begins on the big screen for the first time ever in 3D. A young slave boy on the desert planet Tatooine, Anakin is strong in the Force, and an amazing Podracer pilot. Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn discovers Anakin and sees his potential to be a great Jedi Knight. Meanwhile, the droid army of the greedy Trade Federation invades the peaceful planet of Naboo as part of a secret plot by the Sith to gain power. In defending Queen Amidala of Naboo, the Jedi Knights will cross lightsaber blades with the deadly Sith Lord, Darth Maul.

To be in with a chance of winning this fabulous prize, click next to be taken to the question and entry form.

Star Wars has always belonged to the fans, and it makes sense that in a time when Yoda is being pimped out to sell mobile networks and Darth Vader has been demoted to training computer store employees how to do their job the fans have a chance to retaliate, to strike back as it were.

So for your viewing pleasure we have Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope as you’ve never seen it before, and it’s a fun way to spend a couple of hours, marvelling at the range and creativity and oddity of talent out there.

The marvellous minds over at Star Wars Uncut had the idea of cutting up George Lucas’s film into fifteen second chunks and offering creative fans the chance to recreate each of the clips any way they saw fit, with the best moments being placed on the front page of the site.

Now the team (headed by Vimeo developer Casey Pugh) have taken the best moments and edited together the ultimate mash-up and it’s online for all to enjoy.

And it’s certainly more enjoyable than the any of the prequels.

If you weren’t aware, Star Wars is coming back to the cinema (I know!) and this time it’ll be coming at you in eye-popping 3D. At least that’s what the promotions that I’ve seen for it so far have been telling us! The other day we had a lovely post for the Darth Vader burger which features a bun direct from the dark side and is completely black. If you missed it, click here forthwith! We also have have competition with Escapade UK to give you the chance to win some costumes from Star Wars, click here to find out more.

Twentieth Century Fox have now released these five posters for the movie which comes from KinoGallery and is for the first movie to be released: Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Have to say, I love the Podrace poster and the one of them in the blue light. Not so keen on the one of them all appearing in the lightsaber though. What’s going on there?

I usually write the synopsis and cast for these movies but since this is the re-re-re-release, I dont think I’ll bother!

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace 3D will be with us 9th February. Click all the posters below to enlarge.

To celebrate the launch of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace in 3D we have teamed up with costume retailer Escapade fancy dress for a competition giving you the chance to win one of two awesome and covetable prizes.

The Star Wars fancy dress gear up for grabs includes one fantastic Star Wars collectors’ edition Stormtrooper helmet and one deluxe Darth Vader costume set with full head helmet & Lightsaber.

How to enter

To enter, simply read the steps below and then follow as many of them as you want to – each method counts as a separate entry (so if you do them all, you have six chances to win!).

For every entry method you use, please create a different comment in the comments section below. Mention in your comment which costume you want to win by writing either ‘Darth Vader’ or ‘Stormtrooper’.

Method #1 – Google +1 the Escapade website then let us know what name you did it under in the comments.

Method #2 – Tweet this exact phrase: “I’d love to win one of @Escapade_UK’s Star Wars giveaway prizes via @HeyUGuys. Click here http://bit.ly/z3Rm3W” then tell us in the comments section you have done it and under what name.

Method #3 – Follow Escapade on Twitter then just tell us what username you did it under in the comments section.

Method #4 – Circle Escapade on Google+. Again, once you have just tell us in the comments section.

Method #5 – Like Escapade on Facebook. Once you have liked them just let us know in the comments.

Method #6 – Share this website (HeyUGuys) on Facebook. Once you have, let us know in the comments section.

Please specify which prize you would like to win in the comments.

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

—————

TERMS & CONDITIONS

• The winner is selected using Random Number Generator
• Unfortunately, due to the nature of this prize this giveaway is only open to UK residents.
• Competition end date – 30th January 2012 at 23:59 GMT
• Entrants must be 18 years or older.
• All entries will be verified.
• If the winner hasn’t replied within 2 weeks to the organiser’s email to receive his prize, a new winner will be randomly drawn.

This has to go down as some of the oddest news that I’ve ever posted but it was so bizarre that it had to go up! I may now have to go to France just to experience one of these as we see that restaurant ‘Quick’ will be serving both a Darth Vader burger and a Jedi burger which seems to feature Yoda’s teeth?!

This is to celebrate the release of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace which is set to be released (AGAIN!) in 3D later this year. The Darth Vader burger or ‘Dark Vador Burger’ as it’s known in it’s native tongue will feature a completely black bun which either means it’s going to be completely burnt to a crisp or it has more colourings in it than one of those buns that you buys from our local cake shop!

This lovely image promoting the delightful treats tells us the burgers will be available until March 1st so if you’re in France and read this, please send us a photo of you eating one!

I guess since George Lucas has to approve all this Star Wars stuff, they must have sent him one to sample. I am now jealous! UK Star Wars PR peeps (you know who you are!), please can we have this here! PLEASE!! Next thing you know they’ll be turning the BT Tower into a giant lightsaber! Oh wait, they did that!!

Source: Mint In Box via Gizmodo

In the past few months, we’ve seen the brilliant first poster and trailer for the 3D re-release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace to whet our appetites for the film’s return to the big screen at the start of next year.

I wasn’t a frequent cinemagoer when the film first came out in 1999 – mind you, I had only just turned nine, so that’s not really my fault – and so I for one (amongst the millions of other fans, I’m sure) cannot wait for it to come back to cinemas. The re-release will be the first of all of the six films to be put back into the cinema in the next few years, following their conversion into 3D to give fans of the franchise a whole new cinema experience to look forward to.

We’ve now got a great new poster for the film to share with you, via IMP Awards, featuring everyone’s beloved little wise character, Yoda. From what I can remember, he doesn’t have a huge part to play in the first film – I think mostly he just counsels Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor, though I could be very wrong about that – but he’s one of Star Wars’ many iconic figures that have made their way into pop. culture since Lucas’ films made their now somewhat historic debut into cinema way back in 1977. So essentially, it doesn’t matter how big a role he plays in The Phantom Menace, because he’s awesome. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see in 3D the fight he has with Christopher Lee in the second film, where he BOUNCES OFF OF THIN AIR!

The Phantom Menace will be making its way back into our cinemas on 9^th February next year, and judging from the incredible success that the franchise’s first Blu-Ray release had this year, it’s going to be a pretty busy time at the box office in just under two months’ time. Without further ado, here’s the great new poster promoting the film’s re-release. Let us know what iconic Star Wars moments you’re looking forward to seeing on the big screen in 3D below.

Back in September, William Shatner himself weighed in on the age-old debate over Star Trek vs. Star Wars that has taken place for decades among fans of both franchises as to which is the superior, which is more worthy of their loyal devotion.

A brilliant new video has now surfaced, with thanks to Deadline for the heads up, in which George Takei, best known for his role as Sulu in Star Trek, tries to broker peace.

“Each is wonderful in its own special way… What’s needed today, now more than ever, is Star Peace, for there is an ominous, mutual threat to all science fiction…”

That threat?

“It’s called… Twilight. And it is really, really bad.”

Takei pokes fun at the younger franchise with the stereotypical complaints pitted against the film by anti-Twilighters, and calls for a mutual banding together of Star Trek and Star Wars fans against this new and dangerous threat, and says that he’s already calling in the big guns to lend a hand,

“To help us rid the world of this vampire menace.”

Brilliant. A great three minutes to brighten your afternoon.

Twentieth Century Fox have released what I believe is the first trailer for the 3D re-release of Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace 3. The movie will be coming back to the cinema February 2012 in glorious 3D to make George Lucas a bit more money just incase he needed it! If you missed it, the first poster for the re-release came out a week or so ago and you can see it here.

Whether you’re an old fan or new, there’s no denying that seeing Star Wars on the big screen is an event not to be missed — especially when it’s the first Star Wars movie to ever be presented in spectacular 3D! The duel with Darth Maul, the harrowing Tatooine Podrace, the first meeting of Artoo and Threepio, and the introduction of the Star Wars Saga’s tragic hero, Anakin Skywalker, are all back in an all-new 3D presentation of Episode I, an experience that promises to truly surround you with the Force! In cinemas February 2012.

So what do we think people? Will you be going back to the cinema to see it yet again or are you completely Star Wars’d out? Let us know in the comments section below.

Looking on the bright side this is the chance to see all six Star Wars films on the big screen once again, but the competence of the 3D conversion will have to be decent to make this a worthwhile return.

Certainly these 3D re-releases will become very big business over the next decade or so with James Cameron’s Titanic looking great in 3D when we saw a few scenes a few months ago, and so George Lucas’s saga returns to cinemas with a new dimension.

This new poster isn’t exactly up there with the design classics of Drew Struzan but it does the decent thing and omit Jar-Jar Binks and Anakin Skywalker from proceedings – perhaps Lucas could have gone back to the Wacom tablet and erased them from the actual film.

They did miss out on a new tagline though – ‘Pod race IN YOUR FACE’ or ‘Jar-Jar now has DEPTH!‘ but whatever you think of The Phantom Menace there is a nice phrase on the poster which bodes very well for the next few years – ‘and select 2D theatres’.

Here’s the poster,

As an avowed Star Wars afficionado of over 30 years I was pleased to have the opportunity to review the latest Clone Wars series on DVD.

Clone Wars is a computer-animated spin-off of the Star Wars movie franchise and it explores the further adventures of the Star Wars characters from the Clone Wars period of the films, plus a variety of others. If you’ve been following them you may remember that the first Clone Wars TV shows were conventional animation but this has been superseded in the more recent series with a slick computer animation look which they seem to push to a new level with each series.

To go back in time a little the original Star Wars films were in part inspired by the old black and white Saturday morning favourite Flash Gordon, and while it would be easy to consider the Clone Wars as only being a Saturday-morning kids cartoon series that would to be at the risk of seriously underestimating it. To be fair this isn’t just a tip of the hat to the Star Wars universe as each storyline is overseen by George Lucas himself and research material includes not only the original films but also extends out into some of the comic book story lines to give us characters such as Savage Opress, a journeyman Jedi with an unconventional Jedi personality.

The episodes themselves have their own distinct characteristics and feature certain personalities with “Evil Plans” being a C-3PO and R2-D2 special including Anthony Daniels providing the voice for C-3PO, “Nightsisters” featuring Count Dooku’s Sith apprentice Asajj Ventress and there’s even an episode featuring Chewbacca, who returned at the specific request of George Lucas himself.

If you know the Star Wars universe and movies well there are plenty of cameo appearances from droids and other characters from the original films to spot. Added to that they’ve ramped up the scale of the space battles to match those of the movies with scores of small fighters bobbing and weaving between fleets of massive starships and torrents of laser fire. Lightsabre battles are well presented with some fabulous set pieces between the warring Jedi and Sith, particularly showcased in the journey of Asajj Ventress from Jedi trainee to Sith apprentice.

The name might not immediately ring a bell, but the face surely will. Julian Glover has decades of highly acclaimed television, theatre and film behind him and has worked with some of the very biggest names in cinema.

He squared off against Indiana Jones in The Last Crusade and he captained an AT-AT during the assault by the Empire on Hoth. He has appeared in a Bond film (For Your Eyes Only), a sword and sandals epic (Troy) and has been directed by Lord Attenborough (Cry Freedom). Truly a legend. I had the distinct pleasure of catching up with him recently to talk about the Hammer production Quatermass and the Pit, which gets a Blu-ray re-release this week and also to look at some of the rest of his hugely accomplished career.

I resisted the temptation to lay out my Indiana Jones nerd credentials (when I got married, we walked back down the aisle to the Indiana Jones theme, my daughter is named Indianna) and instead we got straight down to it. He was, as you would expect, a warm, kind and affable interview subject….

HeyUGuys:You already had a number of television and film credits to your name before Quatermass and the Pit – how did you come to be cast?

Julian Glover: In those days is was quite different. You rarely auditioned for roles, you might meet a director or casting director but this was a direct invite from Roy [director Roy Ward Baker] which I was very pleased to receive, he said “do you want to be in this film” and I said “well it sounds nice” and he said he would send me the script and it was as simple as that. That was how it used to be. Television as well, the director would have an idea who he wanted for a part and would ring them direct. There weren’t the men in suits or producers saying who they did or didn’t like, the director went on his own instincts and I think that’s one of the reasons for the excellence of a certain level of theatre and television of that period being so high. The directors knew what they were talking about.

HUG: I quote no higher an authority than IMDb, which says that you had to do your own stunts for Quatermass, is that correct and if so, how come?

JG: Well I don’t know what you call stunts, I did quite a lot of the heavy work, yes. I always say to people before the film starts, show me the stunt and if I think I can do it I’ll do it, unless you forbid me to do it, which is another matter. I remember when I was making the Bond film down in Italy [For Your Eyes Only] – they simply wouldn’t let me ski, go on a bobsleigh, anything. I think if I don’t want to do it then that’s my right. I think most actors are the same in that respect, unless you’re Steve McQueen, you see the body movement from a stuntman, no matter how hard he tries, I recently did an episode of Casualty and I had to drive into this thing and I was happy to do that myself.

HUG: You played a General in Quatermass, a Major in The Avengers, you’ve been a General, a Commander and even a King. Do you think directors and casting directors see you as having a military air about you?

JG: I’m assured by my wife that when I step out on stage I have some sort of air of authority about me and having done military service I have some experience of that, so I suppose I do have something of that air about me. Playing a King like King Henry IV on stage is of course very different to playing Richard the Lionheart in Ivanhoe. But you’re right to pick up on that.

HUG: Having worked extensively in television and film, what do you consider to be the different challenges of the two media?

JG: With television, you used to have 2-3 day rehearsal periods for TV work, maybe even a couple of weeks together before shooting but it is not like that anymore, but I’ve been lucky enough to have enjoyed a career in theatre, television and film, though it is theatre that remains my true love. Now it seems most television is shot like films, moving along quickly from one set up to the next.

HUG: Having worked with Richard Attenborough on Cry Freedom, Spielberg on Last Crusade and Wolfgang Peterson on Troy, did the scale of those films and the reputations of those directors fill you with trepidation, or were you able to relax and enjoy yourself?

JG: Well of course when you hear you are going to be working with Steven Spielberg you are absolutely terrified but then you arrive on set and you start working and you’re not terrified at all. They are all absolutely lovely people to work with and I’ve never had a negative experience making a film, I’m pleased to say. I think also I’m quite well-behaved and I do as I’m told, which I am sure helps.

HUG: Not many actors can claim to have appeared opposite Indiana Jones and piloted an AT-AT – were those films as much fun to make as they are to watch?

JG: My scenes for Empire Strikes Back were shot on a small set with a green screen behind me and I didn’t see what the AT-ATs looked like at all until I saw the finished film. The set would be moved and shaken around, so it wasn’t terribly exciting to shoot. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was an absolute delight to make and why wouldn’t it be appearing opposite those actors?

HUG: Moving onto your more recent work, our editor and founder Dave Sztypuljak recently visited the set of Airborne. Have you seen the film yet, or is it still in post-production?

JG: It has been edited and they are now doing the sound mixing. I’ve also made another film since that with the same director [UFO, with Sean Pertwee and Jean Claude Van Damme], which has a really interesting idea behind it.

HUG: And you’ve been reunited with Mark Hamill

JG: Well I met him on Empire Strikes Back but obviously we were never on screen together. I met him on the adjacent sound stage where he was shooting other scenes. For Airborne, we heard he was in the area and the director asked him to play this role and he was happy to do so. Of course the money being offered was not able to be much but he doesn’t need the money these days. So the role was changed slightly from a Northern flight controller to an American one.

Airborne is due out soon and you can catch all of our posts on it here. Quatermass and the Pit is out on DVD already and available for the first time on shiny, vibrant Bluray from 10th October 2011 and you can rent or buy it here.

Those of us who grew up with the original Star Wars films will remember the moment all too well.

Towards the end of The Empire Strikes Back a secret is revealed and everything changes.

While most of Generation X-Wing will not remember how we took this particular piece of news thanks to the wonders of the internet we can watch a four year old reacting to the moment, and his face says it all.

Ten seconds in you can actually see the moment when his mind is blown.

To conclude the mammoth Star Wars coverage we’ve given you over the past couple of weeks to celebrate the saga’s release on Blu-ray I’ve got something a little random, but hopefully something you’ll find an interest in.

This visual trip down memory lane finds us back in 1983 with Return of the Jedi about to be unleashed across the world and bring cinema’s most successful science fiction saga to an end (or so we thought).

My Dad, who has written about the films on the site, gathered a lot of the paraphernalia which was published at the time – assorted reviews and magazine articles and the like and I thought now is the time to share them with you.

Not only are there contemporary reviews and ‘first look’ articles (nothing ever changes) but the Look-in covers and ‘fact files’ on the actors are things I remember pouring over as a kid, hungry for anything on my favourite film.

It’s been fun revisiting the series once again, see you all again for the 3D re-releases? No doubt with more little enhancments from the man in Marin County…

Click to enlargify.

And for one final blast from the past here’s a nice little video from a local news programme which gives us a little context on the whole ‘You wouldn’t steal a handbag…’ nonsense we’ve had to endure since.

This came from a site called SW:TOR Strategies. Good for them.