I never knew it was so easy to add lightsaber effects to any YouTube clip. Earlier this week, when I wrote about the new Clone Wars lightsaber game for the Nintendo Wii, I saw it done with the infamous “Star Wars Kid” video (see it here). And now, thanks again to Fark.com, I see it done with a clip from The Princess Bride (above).

Apparently, this is only the latest in a trend; people have been changing swords to lightsabers in nearly every movie featuring swashbuckling, including the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (see here and here), the Lord of the Rings movies (here), the recent Zorro movies (here), Kill Bill (here), Gladiator (here) and 300 (here). Someone even recently added the effect to the end of Boogie Nights (here).
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James Cameron is the sort of director who can make a movie just to prove a point. And he’s going to do so by making a straight drama that will be shot and exhibited in 3D — or as he calls it, in stereo (short for stereoscopic) — just to let the industry know that 3D is not only for special effects and animated pictures. He discusses the project in an interview with Variety:

I plan to shoot a small dramatic film in 3-D, just to prove this point, after “Avatar.” In “Avatar,” there are a number of scenes that are straight dramatic scenes, no action, no effects. They play very well, and in fact seem to be enhanced by the stereo viewing experience. So I think this can work for the full length of a dramatic feature. However, filmmakers and studios will have to weigh the added cost of shooting in 3-D against the increased marketing value for that type of film.

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• “As a student and fan of special effects and new media,” writes Bob Rehak at Graphic Engine, “I’m struck by the completeness with which the top 10 [grossing films of 2007] encapsulate an evolving mode of high-tech production in serial media.” Those films, of course, include titles like 300, Ratatouille and the latest Harry Potter flick, all of which enjoyed “enormous profitability … in striking contrast to their devalued cultural status.”
• Earlier this morning, I came up with a few reasons why New Line might have bumped Be Kind Rewind by a month. Chris Thilk offers another: it could be because Cloverfield is expected to “march through the box-office like a monster rising from the depths of the sea.”
• At LIBERTAS, Dirty Harry predicts that in calling Knocked Up sexist, Katherine Heigl has irreparably damaged her appeal. “Heigl might’ve thought the quote would help her with the feminist crowd which obviously means so much to her, but the American male who made her a star will only see arrogance, and that’s a turn-off.”
• “Dear Studios,” writes Hacking Netflix. “Stop treating your paying customers like thieves.”

Do we judge action movies with a double standard? Is there a right and a wrong way to make “exploitation cinema?” Kevin brings in pulp cinema expert Adam Forrest to ponder these questions. They take a close look at Grindhouse, 300, and more.

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