My most-anticipated movie of the year will be released tomorrow! I wasn’t sure if I would be able to watch the movie while it was still out in theaters (I still feel uncomfortable leaving J all alone to watch Claire and Aerin…I know he can do it, but I prefer that he has help!), but my mother insisted on coming over Sunday afternoon to help J watch the girls while I go have a movie date with my sister.  Having helpful, supportive family rocks!

In honor of Suzanne Collins’s bestselling-book-turned-blockbuster-movie, Entertainment Weekly has compiled a series of mock movie poster depicting what the movies would look like if they were directed by famous directors. They’re pretty hilarious, if I do say so myself, and I know that my readers will appreciate them too. Enjoy!

David Fincher:

Garry Marshall:

Peter Jackson:

Pixar:

Woody Allen:

Michael Bay:

Federico Fellini:

Terrence Malick:

Werner Herzog:

Kinji Fukasaku:

Nicolas Winding Refn:

Brett Ratner:

Roger Corman:

Christopher Nolan:

Nancy Meyers:

Alfred Hitchcock:

You’d have the best school ever!

Via 9gag.

Three things I love about these posters:

1. They can be displayed separately or together.
2. Each one has as its background pivotal locations from each movie.
3. The minimalistic yet still completely recognizable figures of Marty McFly at the bottom of each poster.

These screen-printed posters were printed on a limited edition run of 420 (haha) and sold out from Mondo within minutes. Did anyone else notice that the price was $88?

Via trfling.

I was first introduced to the genius of writer and director Christopher Nolan through his 2000 film Memento. A man suffering from anterograde amnesia who must take Polaroids of everything just to get by. An unsolved murder. And two timelines, one playing chronologically while the other presents backwards, eventually meeting in the middle at the end of the movie…what’s not to like?

(If you have never seen this movie, schedule some time off this weekend to watch it — because this movie is like Nolan’s better-known Inception in that you need to be giving it your full attention to fully enjoy it!)

Memento still remains one of my favorite psychological thrillers, so when I came across this visual map of the movie’s sequence of events I knew that I had to share it here with my readers. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Via haha.nu.

Welcome to today’s installment of Cool Tool Tuesdays, where I feature a favorite item from my life and spotlight it so that others who are not familiar with the product may also benefit from it. A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, hardware, material, or website that I have personally tried and love.

Do you have any questions about today’s cool tool? Would you like an item featured in the future? Please leave a comment to this post, or send me a message via my contact form. Enjoy!

As with most Star Wars fans, I hate the various modifications that has been made to the original trilogy and I openly voice my opinion on the matter.

And unless you own the trilogy, in its unedited and original form (often in Laserdisc or VHS format), it can be difficult to relive the untainted masterpiece.

(Just in case you are wondering, I did once own Star Wars episodes IV-VI in VHS format. But it disappeared from my parents’ home while I was away at college. My parents swear they did not touch it, so we can only surmise that a visitor “borrowed” it. I consider this one of the saddest losses of my life.)

There’s also the fact that technology has changed tremendously since 1977, when Episode IV was released. I don’t even know anyone who owns a VHS player anymore — how can we continue to enjoy the authentic version and ensure that future generations will have access to it too?

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Or, in this case, where there is Star Wars, there will be a devoted following of über geeks with tons of time and resources to spare. (Or at least lend for this good cause.)

A very dedicated fan who goes by the name “Harmy” at The Original Trilogy forums has painstakingly put together a very high quality cut of the entire trilogy, utilizing a wide variety of video sources as well as custom mattes. The result: nearly identical versions of the original theatrical releases of Episodes IV-VI in HD format!

Right now, Harmy’s Despecialized Editions are the best restorations of the original trilogy by far. Because it is a fan preservation, it does not technically infringe on copyright laws…but this also means that it cannot be bought or sold. What you can do is download the trilogy and enjoy it from your computer, or burn it onto a disc and enjoy it on your television.

Heck, it even comes with cover art for Blu-ray cases — you can print those out and geek out even more!

You can learn more about the “despecialized” version of each film at the following threads in The Original Trilogy forums:

Episode IV: A New Hope

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Screened.com also featured a special, behind-the-scenes article on Harmy and his project here. It’s worth reading as it tells the tales of fandom, dedication, and “rare examples of Internet dissatisfaction leading to something genuinely amazing and productive.” 

Finding the actual download links to the movies can be a bit of a pain, but they can certainly be found if you know where to look. (And if you’re really having trouble, just let me know and I’ll help you out.)

Harmy says that the “despecialized project” is not quite over yet. An obvious perfectionist, he still sees minor glitches, and wants to work on certain scenes such as the Ben vs. Vader lightsaber duel, or the original hologram of Leia, both of which were recomposited in later edits of the film and given a very different look in the process.

We will certainly be waiting for the newer — ironic when you consider that the goal is to go back to the original — release of Harmy’s Despecialized Editions with great anticipation. But in the meantime, geeks everywhere thank this 23-year-old student for all his hard work.