It’s past “May the 4th Be With You” Day but this month still has some big Star Wars moments left in it; and The Star Wars Issue is here to celebrate them.
May 25th 2017 will mark the 40th anniversary of George Lucas’ landmark, groundbreaking, era-defining crowdpleaser Star Wars and, considering that our last Jam Session just so happened to feature the producer of that film (the incredible Gary Kurtz) as its guest speaker, we at The Spread thought it would only be fitting to dedicate our May issue to all things set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
We have a host of fun features this month from countdowns of The Top 3 Star Wars: The Last Jedi Fan Theories, 5 times the Special Editions made Star Wars worse and 3 great alterations the Star Wars Special Editions could’ve made to more in-depth features. Matthew Wilson makes his case for the largely overlooked Star Wars: The Clone Wars film to be considered a hidden gem of the franchise while John Higgins shines a spotlight on the friendship between George Lucas and Steven Spielberg and how it shaped not only Star Wars but modern Hollywood itself. Also don’t forget to check out our breakdown of why Star Wars: The Last Jedi has the potential to be the most disappointing film of 2017.
As always, we also have a healthy dose of reviews for some great films out in cinemas right now, including the appropriately space-themed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Alien: Covenant as well as the appropriately magic-sword themed King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. Not to mention the ridiculously grimey dirty-cop flick Sleepless, for anyone looking for a change of pace, as well as the equally ridiculous, but much cleaner looking, Miss Sloane.
In news this month we delve into M. Night Shyamalan’s plans for his long-awaited Unbreakable sequel and dig deep into one of the biggest home media releases of the year, literally, with our breakdown of all the goodies inside the Andrei Tarkovsky “Sculpting Time” Deluxe Collection, featuring 7 of the grand master’s films which are all reviewed by our amazing Spread writers.
Bringing the topic back to stars though, we give the lowdown on a brilliant new group of talented people coming together to shine a light on incredible women working in the film industry today. Catfish Shorts is the co-creation of Cinema Jam’s own Melissa Jean Woodside and we couldn’t be prouder to spread the word about all their great work so far.
We also chat about sci-fi inspirations, and a great many other things, with avant-garde director Luke Losey in our interview while accomplished composer Jim Hustwit breaks down his sacred rules for Getting the Film Score Right.
Our next Jam Session will be on June 5th, in the usual place (Juju’s Bar & Stage in sunny Shoreditch), with two incredible guest speakers: Producer Stephen Woolley (Carol, The Crying Game, Interview with the Vampire) and Art Director Francesca Berlingieri Maxwell (Fantastic Mr Fox, Corpse Bride).
With the sun finally poking its head out, this will not be one to miss. So check out the info here to book your tickets now and enjoy some good food, drink and film with all your favourite people.
Until next time, this is The Spread wishing you all a stellar summer.
