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FILE PICTURE: "Darth Vader" accepts the Ultimate Villain award from "Star Wars" creator George Lucas during the 2011 Scream Awards, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011, in Los Angeles. The award show is dedicated to the horror, science fiction and fantasy genres of feature films, television and comic books. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

George Lucas watched the massive success of Avatar and Alice in Wonderland in the 3D format and it didn’t take too long for the creator of the six Star Wars movies to smile and realise it was time for a return of the Jedi.

Consequently, STAR WARS EPISODE 1: THE PHANTOM MENACE is back on the big screen again from today and will reportedly be followed in the stereoscopic format by the five other live-action movies set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Ben Fritz, writing in the Los Angeles Times, states that Lucas’s Industrial Light & Magic special effects shop oversaw the 3D conversion.

Adds Fritz: “Lucas has said publicly on more than one occasion that the technological strides of James Cameron’s Avatar persuaded him to reconsider his long-time disdain for 3D.

“After the Golden Globes, for instance, he told Access Hollywood that he was investigating the possibilities of converting his Skywalker family epic into the trendy format.

“ ‘Haven’t been a big fan of 3D, but that movie definitely improves (in the field of) 3D… we’ve been looking for years and years and years to try to take Star Wars and put it in 3D,’ Lucas explained to Access.”

Reviews

Originally released in 1999 as a “prequel” to the hit Star Wars trilogy of the ’70s and ’80s, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace met with mixed reviews.

Written and directed by Lucas, it is the fourth film to be released in the Star Wars saga, as the first of a three-part prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as the first film in the saga in terms of story chronology.

It was 22 years ago that hundreds of millions of people were first introduced to a saga that would touch their lives in ways then unimaginable.

Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and the subsequent special editions of all three films, became defining events for two generations.

The fast-paced action adventures, set in a new and exciting universe, featured grand design and boundless fun.

The films inspired countless viewers with themes that are universal and timeless: the conflict between good and evil and between technology and humanity, the celebration of heroism, and the limitless potential of the individual.

The Star Wars saga is a modern fairytale reflecting the vision of Lucas, who imbued this new myth with pieces of American pop culture, including movie westerns, swashbucklers and – for seasoning – Japanese samurai epics.

Star Wars was also a reaction against Watergate, Vietnam and other periods of domestic turmoil that seemed to undermine the concept of the hero for disillusioned Americans.

With Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace Lucas returns to the beginning of his colourful story, when Darth Vader is a hopeful nine-year-old boy named Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi is a determined young Jedi knight.

This first chapter, which is rich in art, design, costumes, architecture and technology, follows Anakin’s journey as he pursues his dreams and confronts his fears in the midst of a galaxy in turmoil.

The movie, starring Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor, marked Lucas’s first product as a film director after 22 years and only his fourth overall.

Also new on the Durban film circuit today is the eagerly anticipated THE IRON LADY, for which Meryl Streep has received an Oscar nomination.

Directed by Phyllida Lloyd, the film tells the compelling story of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who smashed through the barriers of gender and class to be heard in a male-dominated world.

The story concerns power and the price that is paid for power, and has been described as a surprising and intimate portrait of an extraordinary and complex woman.

Thatcher was the first female head of government in the West. She was also the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century.

Thatcher is seen as quite a divisive politician – how did that affect telling this story, director Lloyd was asked.

“I immediately saw that it’s not a political film. It’s almost Shakespearean, the story of a great leader who is both tremendous and flawed in all kinds of ways,” she replied.

“It’s a story of power and a crash from power, and what happens when someone whose life has been absolutely bursting to fullness with their work is suddenly brought to an end.

“But in many ways it’s a universal story, it’s a mirror of all our lives, it’s just that the life she led is so epic, so huge – it’s our own lives writ large –it’s the story of what will happen to all of us when our careers end, when we are incapacitated, facing old age.

“We haven’t had the big, public, important life she had, but we all understand about partners and families and letting go, bereavement, and how we support each other at moments of need.”

Also nominated for an Oscar for makeup, The Iron Lady’s cast includes Jim Broadbent as Denis Thatcher. The film also features Alexandra Roach, Harry Lloyd and Olivia Colman.

SAFE HOUSE, shot in Cape Town and teaming Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington under the direction of Danie Espenoza, also opens today.

Also featuring Sam Shepard, Brendan Gleeson and Vera Farmiga, the film revolves around a young CIA agent who is tasked with looking after a fugitive in a safe house. But when the safe house is attacked, he finds himself on the run with his charge.

Another of today’s new releases is Martin Scorsese’s widely acclaimed HUGO, a film nominated for 11 Oscars this year, including that for Best Picture.

Set in 1930s Paris, it is centred on an orphan who lives in the walls of a train station, and becomes wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.

Asa Butterfield plays the title character, while also in the cast are Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Emily Mortimer, Ray Winstone, Christopher Lee and Jude Law.

THE ENCHANTED ISLAND, an opera film, also opens today. More about it on the right.