But of course, we were most interested in talking with George Lucas, the affable genius film director who occasionally graces us in New York with an appearance. Lucas is absolutely one of my favorite people, a lovely guy who seems unaffected by his enormous success.

Lucas is currently preparing "Indiana Jones 4" with Harrison Ford, Blanchett and Shia LaBoeuf. The latter plays Ford's son, which means his mother was possibly the character Karen Allen played in "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

"I can't say," Lucas said when I brought up Allen.

Lucas says that Sean Connery still hasn't signed on, but his character, Indy's dad, is in the script. Other than that, his lips are sealed.

"Steven thinks we can keep the whole thing a secret," Lucas told me. "I explained to him that it's impossible nowadays. We can't live like that."

So then, tell me more about "Indy 4," I suggested.

"Oh no," replied Lucas with a smile.

Lucas told me he has seen all the summer movies since his company, Industrial Light and Magic, does most of the special effects. The only one they didn't work on was "Spider-Man 3." What did he think of it?

"It's silly. It's a silly movie," he said. "There just isn't much there. Once you take it all apart, there's not much story, is there?"

Well, it's not "Star Wars."

"People thought 'Star Wars' was silly, too," he added, with a wink. "But it wasn't."

Lucas, by the way, says he is readying "Clone Wars," an animated series for TV that's derived from "Star Wars." Many "Star Wars" characters appear in "Clone Wars," but voiced by other actors.

And here's a little news: Lucas tells me he will make two more live-action films based in the "Star Wars" era.

"But they won't have members of the Skywalker family as characters," he said. "They will be other people of that milieu."

The two extra films will also be made for TV and probably be an hour long each. But, like "Clone Wars," Lucas doesn't know where on TV they will land.

Hello, HBO and Showtime. It may be time to pony up.

Souichiro, I haven't seen it yet, but I think this is the unintended consequence of hyping a movie too much before it's released.  

BTW, everyone raved over Flags of our Fathers, and I didn't see it until it released on DVD.  The movie was medeocre at best, abd basically was, for the most part, a bore to me.  Yet everyone raved and raved.