Matthew Wayne Selznick

I was ten years old when Star Wars came out. Read the comics and the novel (ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster, who also did the novelization of “Alien”) before I saw the movie, but when I did see it, it was in style at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

I loved Star Wars. Heck, I was Han Solo in an unfinished college student’s film… but that’s another story. I stood in line for the next two movies, and dutifully (but with increasing disappointment) paid money to see the last (first) three. But the whole thing never made much sense to me. Even less sense, really, once parts I-III were added to the mix.

Finally, a gentleman by the name of Keith Martin has put all the nonsense together in a way that actually holds together. I doubt even George Lucas considered the throughline Martin has deduced, or cared to. Too bad — the films actually would have been much better if this had been the real backstory.

I (finally) saw “I (heart) Huckabees.” Bought it at the video store, used, five bucks, because since I saw the trailer, I knew I would like it, but never saw it.

And that, my friends, was one farked up sentence, up there. But you get me.

What a great movie. I actually applauded at the end. Sitting in my living room, alone, clapping my hands, hard — no golf clap. And now I feel really, really happy. Like, giddy, even.

You need to own that movie. Find it, get it.

hee hee!

My wife’s going to be at a function where Felicity Huffman will be speaking, so we thought we’d watch “TransAmerica” to check out the actor’s Golden Globe winning and Oscar-nominated performance. Sure, we could have started watching “Desperate Housewives,” but… well.

Like the best movies, indeed, the best literature of any kind, what makes “TransAmerica” so good isn’t what happens in the movie, it’s what the movie’s about. There’s a difference. So, if you told yourself you wouldn’t see a “gay movie” (it’s not) or a “trannie movie” (it’s not) I urge you to reconsider.

This is a movie about self-discovery, self-worth, the weight of responsibility, and the rewards available when one faces that responsibility. In other words, it’s about being human. That’s you, right?

Finally, if you’re interested in the actual craft of making art, in this case the actor’s art, Felicity Huffman’s performance is astonishingly transformative in every sense. I didn’t see any of the other Best Actress movies for 2006, but I find it very hard to believe Reese Witherspoon did a better job as June Carter in “Walk The Line.”

Rent this one — hell, it’s worth owning.

This is funny, and beautiful, too.

“The audience is up to something…”

Watch it on YouTube.