Phantom Menace

Re "New voter ID laws blocked - for now," Oct. 8 This article substitutes he said/she said stenography - Republicans say photo ID laws prevent fraud, while opponents say they entail voter suppression - for objective journalism. In-person impersonation - the only type of fraud that can be prevented by polling-place ID requirements - is a phantom menace. The GOP - with one party member boasting in Pennsylvania that the law there would deliver the state to Mitt Romney - has been unable to point to a single case of in-person voter fraud ever occurring.

Re "New voter ID laws blocked - for now," Oct. 8 This article substitutes he said/she said stenography - Republicans say photo ID laws prevent fraud, while opponents say they entail voter suppression - for objective journalism. In-person impersonation - the only type of fraud that can be prevented by polling-place ID requirements - is a phantom menace. The GOP - with one party member boasting in Pennsylvania that the law there would deliver the state to Mitt Romney - has been unable to point to a single case of in-person voter fraud ever occurring.

"Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace" reached the $250-million mark in 19 days, beating the 36-day record previously held by "Titanic." But "Star Wars" has a long way to go before it can match James Cameron's saga of the doomed ocean liner, which grossed more than $600 million in North America and $1.2 billion overseas. " 'Titanic' was sort of a marathon, while 'Star Wars' is more of a sprint," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitors Relations Co.

Re "Lawmaker calls evolution 'lies,'" Oct. 8 Does anybody else find it odd that a member of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee rejects the findings of mainstream science, publicly calling them "lies"? Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) is supposed to inform, guide and make decisions on national science policy. Meanwhile, our standing in the world with regard to science and education continues its precipitous decline. Stanley A. White San Clemente ALSO: Letters: Raising a transgender child Letters: The GOP's phantom menace Letters: Capital punishment -- the Manson test

And the reviews are in. But the film has yet to open. What's going on here? Call it a rewriting of protocol, as newspapers have been moving up their reviews of "Star Wars: Episode I the Phantom Menace" instead of running them Wednesday, when the film opens. The New York Daily News, the Los Angeles Daily News and the Toronto Star published reviews on Sunday. Newsday will carry its assessment Thursday.

One exhibitor describes it as a "Disney-like ride" from beginning to end. Another exhibitor calls it a "people's movie, not a critic's movie." And another says he can't wait for the next episode to arrive in 2002. In short, theater owners were bursting with optimism after getting their first look at George Lucas' "Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace."

Twenty-two years ago, the release of "Star Wars" marked more than a revolution in U.S. cinema and culture. In destroying the Death Star, Luke Skywalker became a detente-era Paul Revere, signaling Americans to man their Cold War battle stations. George Lucas' 1977 space opera gave Americans a much-needed boost of courage as they turned their attention to completing the long twilight struggle against the forces of international communism.

For 21/2 years, first-time filmmaker Jon Shenk followed one of Hollywood's most enigmatic and influential figures during the making of "Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace." The result, a one-hour documentary called "The Beginning," about George Lucas and the making of his blockbuster prequel, is arguably more entertaining than the auteur's $115-million epic. (Comparing them is easy because the one-hour documentary is available only on the recently released DVD version of "Phantom Menace."

"The Phantom Menace" officially opens Wednesday, but The Times is publishing its review today, in advance of widespread midnight screenings. * Over the 20-plus years since its release, George Lucas' "Star Wars" has influenced so many lives that the writer-director's friend Francis Ford Coppola suggested, more or less seriously, that he turn its philosophy into an organized religion.

Fox Entertainment Group Inc. and Lucasfilm Ltd. said they will show a digital version of the latest "Star Wars" in four U.S. theaters later this month, the first time a fully digital movie will be shown to the public. Texas Instruments Inc. and CineComm Digital Cinema will provide their competing digital projection systems to screen "Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace" on two screens in Los Angeles and two screens in New York starting June 18.

The new romantic drama"The Vow"is poised to steal the hearts of moviegoers this weekend. The tear-jerker starring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams could gross $35 million to $40 million in its debut, according to those who have seen pre-release audience surveys. Sony Pictures, whose Screen Gems label produced the film, is projecting a more conservative domestic opening of $28 million to $30 million. It should be a strong weekend at the multiplex, as three other new movies are also expected to bring in healthy ticket sales.

A sinking ship, clashing lightsabers, talking clownfish: Some 2012 movies will look mighty familiar, with added dimension. Studios have converted several of their highest-grossing catalog titles to 3-D and are rereleasing them in theaters. The list includes James Cameron's Oscar-winning blockbuster weepie, "Titanic. " Young Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio are due back on the deck of the doomed luxury liner April 6, shortly before the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking. George Lucas will unspool the first "Star Wars" prequel, "Episode I: The Phantom Menace," in 3-D on Feb. 10, And on the heels of last year's surprise box-office hit "The Lion King 3-D" comes an updated version of the underwater adventure "Finding Nemo," due Sept.

After 14 years in the making, the long-rumored and oft-delayed remake of the Star Tours attraction at Disneyland is about to become a reality. Walt Disney Imagineering's Tom Fitzgerald has been there since the beginning, writing the attraction's original story line back in 1987 and shepherding Star Tours 2.0 since 1997. On June 3, the rebooted simulator ride makes its official debut at the Anaheim theme park. Photos : Concept art of Star Tours: The Adventure Continues at Disneyland Back in 1997, Fitzgerald was summoned to Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, Calif., by director and producer George Lucas during post-production for "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" to look at footage of what Lucas called the   "perfect sequence" for a long-envisioned update to the Star Tours simulator ride: a pod race on Tatooine.

Mike J. Nichols, in his boastful statement that he has "the storytelling sense that George Lucas once had and lost," proves that he is just another member in that small but vocal group of disgruntled, arrogant and cynical "fans" who believe they know "Star Wars" better than the films' creator ("A Phantom Menace?," by Richard Fausset, June 1). Nichols' "Phantom Edit" is nothing more than a cut-and-paste job to suit his own cinematic tastes. Like so many others of his ilk, he has forgotten that the "Star Wars" films are made for the young and the young-at-heart.

This messy Burbank living room, with its cheap computer and jury-rigged video station, may be the most notorious rebel outpost in the "Star Wars" universe this side of the ice planet Hoth. It is the lair of the Phantom Editor, a struggling filmmaker who boldly remade a copy of the first "Star Wars" prequel into a movie that die-hard fans liked better than George Lucas' original--and became a cult hero in the process.

George Lucas didn't have to travel far to talk to the media about "Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones." The filmmaker opened the gates of his Skywalker Ranch here to journalists last week, where he spoke candidly about a number of issues relating to this latest chapter in his "Star Wars" saga which opened nationwide Thursday.

For moviegoers, "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" is the most eagerly awaited film in years. For Hollywood studios--other than Fox, which is releasing "Phantom Menace"--it's a much scarier proposition. Except for one or two big-budget releases a few weeks before "Phantom Menace" arrives, the remaining studios are staying as far away from the May 19 opening of George Lucas' preordained blockbuster as possible.

Six weeks before the movie battle begins, Daniel Alter and Lincoln Gasking arrived on the front lines of "Star Wars"-mania. Both young men have been camped out since Wednesday afternoon--Alter in front of the Mann Village Theatre in Westwood and Gasking in front of Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood--in hopes of being among the first to buy tickets to the first screening of "Star Wars: Episode One--The Phantom Menace," which doesn't open until May 19.

The latest installment of the "Star Wars" saga got a split decision in reviews from Hollywood's two daily trade papers Thursday. Daily Variety raved, while the Hollywood Reporter mixed lukewarm praise with some blistering criticism.

Can a Spider-Man take a bite out of a Jedi knight? The summer movie season kicked off Friday with the release of "Spider-Man" on about 7,500 screens, and with it begins a meticulously choreographed sprint to that most prized of Hollywood trophies: box-office bragging rights. The Marvel comics superhero will be followed less than two weeks later with the opening of "Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones," and already the spinning has begun on which will have the bigger opening weekend.