LomoKino

Lomography, hipster camera manufacturer extraordinaire, has created a handcranked 35mm movie camera. It's called the LomoKino and it can shoot up to 48 seconds of footage on a single roll. The LomoKino was released on November 3rd, 2011.

Sofia Binks

2010's documentary The People vs. George Lucas features archival interview footage of Francis Coppola talking about his one-time pupil and eventual business partner in an empathic, forgiving light whenever questions of art vs. commerce come up regarding Lucas as a sellout following the blockbuster success of the first Star Wars film in 1977.

Unfortunately, there is no contemporary interview in the film with Coppola reacting to the Star Wars prequels. Would Coppola have sympathized with the harsh reaction to The Phantom Menace and especially the major outcast of the new trilogy, Jar Jar Binks? Coppola tacked an additional film onto his own legendary series when he made The Godfather Part III in 1990, sixteen years after the second Godfather film was released. Interestingly, Lucas released Menace in 1999, sixteen years after Return of the Jedi played in theatres.

Coppola's third Godfather film did not receive the public lashing The Phantom Menace did, but it featured a performance as hated as the character of Jar Jar Binks. Coppola's daughter Sofia played Michael Corleone's daughter Mary, resulting in a widespread critical drubbing. Those who liked The Godfather Part III noted Sofia Coppola's performance was the worst part of the film. Those who disliked the film said Coppola's performance stood out as amateur in a film that didn't need to be made in the first place.

When I ran the idea of Sofia Coppola as the Jar Jar Binks of The Godfather Part III past my friend Braden, he ran with it, noticing a number of similarities I completely missed between GF III and Menace. Hopefully he reads this and responds in the comments section, because he has some great things to say about similarities between the two films.