What is Movie News After Dark? It’s a movie news column that brings down the Hammer of Thor upon you with a spectacle of lightning, news and think pieces from around the web. And not just once in a while, but every single night (except for Saturdays). Time to kick your week off right with news, news and Doctor Who… There is something curious about the timing of the first round of Thor reviews to hit the web. Knowing Paramount, their publicity team was very calculated in lifting the embargo on a select number of reviewers. They are good at massaging the buzz like that. That said, I trust Drew McWeeney at HitFix, and he seems rather positive on the film. That’s promising. There are also some balanced takes found via this Cinema Blend round-up, as well as an equally impressive and balanced reaction from Peter Sciretta at /Film. Take it one of two ways: the expectations bar is being set low for a big surprise, or it’s being set low to lessen the blow of the film being a lame duck. It could still go either way. We’ll let you know for sure when we review it.

On the surface The People vs. George Lucas is about whether or not George Lucas is a douchebag, but dig a little deeper and you’ll find it poses some probing questions about intellectual property and the ownership of art.

As is the case every year at this time, we need to wrap things up. Much to our dismay, SXSW cannot go on forever. And while reviews will continue to post in the next week as we get caught up on screeners and anything we haven’t written up from the actual fest, we’re confident that we can present you with our picks for the 15 Best Films of SXSW 2010.

You don’t have to be a child of the 70′s to understand the phenomenal impact of Star Wars. The career of creator George Lucas has been nothing short of mercurial since the release of the first Star Wars film in 1977. But as the years passed, Lucas made a series of decisions that, well, to say these decisions upset fans would be a massive understatement.

One of the most highly anticipated films at SXSW 2010 is The People vs. George Lucas, a documentary that looks to be a raw and honest examination of the relationship between George Lucas and his fans who adore, abhor or sometimes share both feelings for the filmmaker and his treatment of the Star Wars saga. Director Alexandre Philippe’s passion for the subject has only been matched by his commitment to the project that was spawned from the idea, and we were lucky enough to get to chat with him as he prepares for the world premiere at Austin’s SXSW Film and Music Festival.

Today, we’re looking forward to a lot of the narrative competition films and a few cool spotlight premieres. It’s the fattest day of screening here at SXSW, so gird your loins — it’s about to get messy.

As continue to pick through the massive 191-feature deep lineup of this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival, we continue to find little films that we’ve been excited about for some time. Chief among these gems is the Star Wars-centric documentary The People vs. George Lucas.

I’ve never been this excited about South by Southwest (SXSW) this early in the year. Usually it takes at least a week of being back from Sundance to get intensely jazzed for the first of the big three film festivals here in Austin, but this year is different.

We got the chance to talk in-depth with director Alexandre Philippe, the director of The People vs. George Lucas. He set the record straight on the intentions of the film (It’s not a fanboy whine-fest), the initial reaction to the trailer and whether George Lucas has heard about the documentary.

Back in February of ’08 we told you about a rebel filmmaker named Alexandre Philippe who was looking for the help of Star Wars fans in the making of his documentary The People vs. George Lucas. We now have a trailer and another call to action.

Were you one of those people who loved the original Star Wars films but absolutely despised the 3 prequels? We’ve got some news for you…