“Red Tails” takes place in Italy in 1944 during World War II, and tells the inspirational story of the Tuskegee Airmen. The group is composed of black pilots who triumph over racial stereotypes and prove themselves to be true heroes for their country. While this is certainly the accurate outcome of the 332^nd Fighter Group’s success, the film glosses over some of the obstacles that these men had to overcome in a segregated US military.

The racism present in the film is surface-level and comic relief is often used to ease the tension caused by a racist statement or sentiment. The victories are emphasized but the struggles are downplayed, which is surprising with Aaron McGruder, creator of the controversial cartoon The Boondocks, as one of the script writers along with John Ridley.

“We Fight! We Fight! We Fight! We Fight! We Fight!” This chant can be heard on many trailers for “Red Tails,” but there are many associations that can be coupled with it.

George Lucas fought the movie studios to distribute the film, the black airmen in the film fought for their country in aerial combat against Germany and they also fought racism in efforts to actively participate in the war.

It has taken 23 years for Lucas to get “Red Tails” to the big screen. The action scenes are executed very well and the use of technologies of the 1940s and today is well balanced. But the ratio of racism to acceptance in the film is not as accurate.

While Major Emmanuelle Stance (Cuba Gooding Jr.) provides words of encouragement to the pilots on the air base, Colonel Bullard (Terrence Howard) advocates in Washington for the fighter group to get more respectable assignments and decent planes to fly. The group had previously been assigned low-priority operations and given hand-me-down P-40 planes. Howard delivers a great performance with his adamant tone and no-nonsense stance, but the quick, positive results seem too easy.

Also, the attitudes of the white US soldiers are only briefly hostile before becoming overwhelmingly supportive of the black pilots. The Tuskegee Airmen show some frustration with the racism surrounding them, but it is certainly underplayed.

Personal issues seem to be more of a focus for the main characters in the film. Marty “Easy” Julian (Nate Parker), leads the unit in every battle, but has a drinking problem and Joe “Lightning” Little (David Oyelowo) is the best pilot in the group but is arrogant, disobedient and distracted by women. Yet, the two are best friends and help balance each other throughout the film. The sense of camaraderie among the other pilots is felt as well as they support each other during battles and on the air base.

Each actor brings much personality and likeability to his character. Nicknames abound with Ray “Junior” Gannon (Tristan Wilds), Andrew “Smoky” Salem (Ne-Yo), Maurice “Bumps” Wilson (Michael B. Jordan), Samuel “Joker” George (Elijah Kelly) and “Sticks” (Cliff “Method Man” Smith). The name of each pilot is painted on his plane, which is also distinguished from other planes in the US military because the tails are painted red.

When the 332^nd Fighter Group escorts the bomber planes to their destinations, the white pilots are able to identify them by their “red tails” and begin addressing them as such. But such ready acknowledgement seems rushed in the film.

More in-depth racism is not the only element missing in the film. Many of the scenes and conversations seem cut short. With a running time of 125 minutes it is possible that Lucas was simply trying to make such a rich story fit in a mere two hours. But regardless of what is missing, what is present is a heart-warming story that successfully depicts the Tuskegee Airmen who left an indelible mark on history.

“Red Tails” is certainly a feel-good war movie. The racism is toned town and the heroism is highlighted, which doesn’t make it the best history lesson, but enjoyable nonetheless.

EA’s stock prices appear to be in a bit of trouble, and it’s reportedly due in large part to the performance of EA’s long anticipated MMORPG Star Wars: The Old republic.

The company’s shares fell almost 3% to $17.75 after stock analyst Todd Mitchell, working with  Brean Murray Carret & Co, released a briefing on the company’s performance, citing an unimpressive December 20 launch of the mega MMO. ”Initial sales appear to be below expectations, and casual observation of early play is causing us to rethink our assumptions,” Murray said in a note to his clients.

NEW YORK — I can still remember watching the DVD of “Clerks 2″ back in 2007. I’m a sucker for trailers, but wasn’t especially paying attention to them this time – a by-product of trying to watch a movie while being with friends. All of the sudden, I start hearing “Star Wars” references coming from the TV and realized, after watching the entirety of the “Fanboys” trailer, I had fallen in love with a movie concept.

It took until Feb. 6, 2009 for the film to be released into theaters.

Kellen Rice and I were lucky enough to catch the film while were in NYC for New York Comic-con as it is in painfully limited release. It was the right audience to see the movie with because we were surrounded by nerds just as dedicated to “Star Wars” as we were. In fact, if you have never seen “Star Wars,” this movie wouldn’t even blip on your radar. On that same trend, if you have never seen “Star Wars” (or didn’t like it), don’t bother going to see this movie.

“Fanboys” is nothing more than a loving homage to how much the actors involved (Sam Huntington, Dan Fogler, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Kevin Smith and Kristen Bell, to name some people you’d recognize) love “Star Wars.” And they love “Star Wars.” The movie is so chock full of references that there wouldn’t be a single ounce of humor with out it.

The film is set circa 1999 (all the way down to “Lump” and thick square laptops) months before the release of “Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.” Eric (Sam Huntington) decides that the best way to repair the three years of anger that had ruined his relationship with ex-best friend Linus (Chris Marquette) – for a reason that will remain unnamed due to how big of a spoiler it is — he and the rest of their old group of friends; Hutch (Dan Fogler) and Windows (Jay Baruchel), should travel to Skywalker Ranch and steal “The Phantom Menace” from right under George Lucas’ nose.

There were a lot of shout outs to the Star Wars culture; like questioning whether Boba Fett really was a bad ass just because he had a jet pack and recalling a three-year-long argument between Eric and Linus over whether Luke really knew Leia was his sister or not when he kissed her, as well as the ongoing Star Wars versus Star Trek feud (just watch the trailer).

But it’s the “in retrospect” moments that really give the movie its humor. There is one scene where a character played by Seth Rogen is showing off his “Star Wars” tattoos: the Empire on one shoulder and the Rebel Alliance on the other. Then he turns around, lifts the shirt off his back and reveals a huge tattoo of young Anakin Skywalker alongside Jar Jar Binks. “Jar Jar Binks, man,” he predicted, “that dude is going to be awesome!”

“Fanboys” is hysterical – if you get it. It is a film that is meant to honor, in a funny way, a film that the people behind it clearly love with all their hearts. Sure it gets outlandish at times, but the way the fan culture is described is not as off-base as those uneducated in “Star Wars” would like to believe. If you think the final scene where Eric and friends are camped out outside the movie theater for the release of the film is a bit out of proportion, just watch this:

But there was a lot of obvious love that went into the making of “Fanboys” and it makes someone who loves “Star Wars” as much as they do appreciate the fact they made the movie to begin with.

The Force clearly was with Kyle Newman and Adam Goldberg in the decision to make the movie, though it probably took a Jedi mind trick for the studio execs to get it into the theaters. Which is undoubtedly why it took three years to release.

In a recent review of George Lucas’ newest box-office hit but critical flop, “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”, I stated that as a writer, director, and creator, Lucas had not really created any new material over the past few years. To back up that statement, I have analyzed Lucas’ creative history with help from the Internet Movie Database.

As a college student at the University of Southern California, Lucas was at his most inventive. Over the course of three years, Lucas created nine short films:

1965 – Look at Life
1966 – 1:42:08: A Man and His Car
1966 – Freiheit
1966 – Herbie
1967 – Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB
1967 – Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town
1967 – 6-18-67
1967 – The Emperor
1968 – Filmmaker

Among those was “Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB,” Lucas got the opportunity to recreate in 1971 as “THX 1138,” his first true film. The plot evolved from an Orwellian-type story of a man identified only as 1138 trying to escape a totalitarian future, to a more involved tale of “1138″ rebelling against his society’s structured rules and, by not taking the drugs used to control their emotions, accidentally impregnating LUH 3417. They get thrown into jail and plan their escape.

Coming only two years later in 1973 was “American Graffiti,” the defining story of its time. Still shown in rock history classes around the country, “American Graffiti” tells the story of two high school students’ last wild night before their first day at college. With its iconic soundtrack featuring the likes of Chuck Berry, The Beach Boys and Buddy Holly, “American Graffiti” is a 70s classic.

And then, on May 25, 1977, “Star Wars” was released. Back then, it wasn’t “Episode IV,” and an entire generation of super nerds had not spent their time ingesting the hundreds of books, videogames, comics, and films that had been spawned from Lucas’ genre-changing film. Back then, it was still just an imaginative political statement. That’s when things began to change.

After creating a follow-up to “American Graffiti” entitled “More American Graffiti,” Lucas made a sequel to his money-making and Oscar-winning Star Wars franchise called “Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back” and it was clear with its ridiculous cliff-hanger (“Luke, I am your father”) that there was going to be at least one more film in the series. But with “Star Wars IV: A New Hope” being only the fourth episode, Lucas had left himself open to create episodes one through three, and also a hypothetical seven through nine taking place after the events of “Return of the Jedi.”

At the same time, in 1981, Lucas’ good friend Steven Spielberg asked him if he wanted to team up with him and create the franchise that eventually became the Indiana Jones series (named Indiana after Lucas’ own dog). “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was followed by “Temple of Doom” in 1984 and (seemingly) concluded with “The Last Crusade” in 1989.

A promising start to a successful career.

So what happened between then and now? Sure, Lucas’ has had continued success, and has never had to scrape pennies together from his couch in Skywalker Ranch, but still, there is a certain quality drop in the films being produced. At first, George Lucas was creating some of the most important films of our time with important political statements that showed his range of creativity. But “Star Wars” stopped him. At age 33, Lucas hit his peak.

Since 1977, Lucas has worked on 13 “Star Wars” features, five “Star Wars” TV shows, 16 “Indiana Jones” features, and one “Indiana Jones” TV show. That doesn’t include the countless spin-off novels, novelizations, video games and comic books.

And he’s only worked on three other projects.

Of those three (“Captain EO” in 1986, “Willow” in 1988, and “Radioland Murders” in 1994), only “Willow” made a splash big enough to be reminisced about today. Lucas created nine individual projects over three years in college. He’s created seven individual projects over 37 years in his professional career.

Please, Lucas, we beg you: something new! Give us something powerful along the lines of “American Graffiti” or “THX 1138″. Give us something to redefine our generation by like “Star Wars” or “Indiana Jones” did in the past.

Just please, please, please stop giving us the same old shit.

Below is a list of films Lucas has worked on in his professional career. The ones with one star are Star Wars related, and the ones with two stars are Indiana Jones related.

1971 – THX 1138
1973 – American Graffiti
1977 – Star Wars IV: A New Hope*
1979 – More American Graffiti
1980 – Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back*
1981 – Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark**
1983 – Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi*
1984 – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom**
1984 – The Ewok Adventures*
1985 – “Ewoks” (TV series)*
1985 – “Droids” (TV series)*
1985 – Ewoks: The Battle for Endor*
1986 – The Great Heep*
1986 – Captain EO
1988 – Willow
1989 - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade**
1989 – Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation**
1992 – Indiana Jed**
1992-1993 – “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” (TV series)**
1994 – Radioland Murders
1995 – Young Indiana Jones and the Attack of the Hawkmen**
1995 – Young Indiana Jones and the Treasure of the Peacock’s Eye**
1997 – Star Wars Animated Adventures: Droids*
1999 – The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Adventures in the Secret Service**
1999 – The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Masks of Evil**
1999 - The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Spring Break Adventure**
1999 – The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: The Trenches of Hell**
1999 – Star Wars: The Dark Redemption*
1999 – Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace*
2002 – Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones*
2004 – Treasure of the Hidden Planet*
2003-2005 - “Star Wars: Clone Wars” (TV series)*
2005 – Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith*
2007 – The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: My First Adventure**
2007 – The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: The Perils of Cupid**
2007 – The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Journey of Radiance**
2007 – The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Demons of Deception**
2008 – “The Clone Wars” (TV series)*
2008 – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull**
2008 – Star Wars: The Clone Wars*
2009 – “Untitled Star Wars TV Series” (TV series)*

George Lucas just needs to stop.

With “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” Lucas has set a new low for milking a series until it’s worthless. While the recent episodes one through three of the Star Wars saga were not the greatest pieces of film literature (Lucas even admitted in interviews that he rushed episodes one and two so he could work on three), they were still fun and profitable. “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” was mediocre but charming, and made the money that its inevitable sequel probably won’t, but it was still Harrison Ford and therefore fun. “Clone Wars” has no such saving grace.

Sure it was a film marketing towards kids, but movies such as “WALL-E” have taught us that kids movies can be for adults too. “Clone Wars” dialogue consisted of bad one-liners and nicknames such as “Skyguy” for Anakin Skywalker and “Are-twoey” for R2-D2. Plus there was the five-minute-long plot and Jabba the Hutt’s flamboyantly feminine uncle Zero (somehow Jabba managed to have a son and an uncle when Hutts are asexual in the Star Wars universe, but we won’t get into that).

Watching the action sequences felt like watching the CGI sequences of a (yes, Star Wars) video game, and not in a good way. Perhaps “Clone Wars” had once been intended to be a video game itself, but once Samuel L. Jackson and Christopher Lee signed on to do their respective voices, Lucas had decided to just steal the video game footage and offer it to a wider, higher paying audience. Fortunately with games like “Star Wars: Force Unleashed” coming out, we have something to look forward to that hasn’t been done over three times.

As for fitting into the Star Wars universe, where did Anakin’s newfound “Clone Wars” apprentice Ahsoka between when “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” ended and “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” began? Maybe we’ll get a comic book strip or some webisodes drawing on a dead plot line for another 10 years.

The original “Star Wars” came out in 1977. The original “Indiana Jones” came out 1981. It’s been about three decades, Lucas. Go make something new.

The only reason “Clone Wars” gets half a star is because it’s Star Wars, not because it’s quality.

Here is an official Lucas Arts trailer video for the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, coming out on April Fools Day for Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, DS and PSP.

This first Star Wars game on the new generation of consoles takes place between Episode III and A New Hope, and promises to tell a new story, unveiling elements to the Star Wars universe not previosly seen.

As its name implies, The Force Unleashed completely re-imagines the scope and scale of the Force by taking full advantage of newly developed technologies that will be seen and experienced for the first time: Digital Molecular Matter (DMM), by Pixelux Entertainment, and euphoria by NaturalMotion Ltd. Paired with the powerful Havok Physics system, these new technologies create gameplay only possible on the new generation of consoles. DMM incorporates the physical properties of anything in the environment so that everything reacts exactly like it should – wood breaks like wood, glass shatters like glass, plants on the planet Felucia bend like plants on the planet Felucia would, and more. Meanwhile, as a revolutionary behavioral-simulation engine, euphoria enables interactive characters to move, act and even think like actual human beings, adapting their behavior on the fly and resulting in a different payoff every single time.

Game features:

• Players hunt Jedi in the role of Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice
• Unleash and upgrade the Secret Apprentice’s four core Force powers – Force push, grip, repulse and lightning – throughout the course of the game, and combine them for ultra-destructive, never-before-seen combos
• Examples of unleashing the Force in ways never thought possible:
  • The Secret Apprentice won’t just Force push enemies into walls – he’ll Force push enemies through walls
  • The Secret Apprentice won’t just Force grip foes to throw them aside – he’ll Force grip them in midair, zap them with lightning, then drop them to the ground to explode like a bomb
• In addition to new adversaries created just for the game, such as fugitive Jedi and Force-sensitive Felucians, players will also confront and associate with familiar faces from the Star Wars films, including Darth Vader
• Visit locations such as Episode III’s Wookiee homeworld Kashyyyk and the floral Felucia, the junk planet Raxus Prime, plus an Imperial TIE fighter construction facility

Get an insider’s look at game production and read and view how it all went down over at Lucas on the game’s official website.

Folks, this one’s gonna be big.