Star Wars - The Last Jedi  (2017) Whoa. Excited Star Wars folks?

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Sweded) (If you saw be kind, rewind...)

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

For the second straight year, I saw a Star Wars film on Christmas Day. I feel like I have to always preface Star Wars reviews by disclosing that I’m an avid Star Trek fan and I’m strongly of the opinion that it’s hard to love both. (I have discovered in the past few years, many friends who indeed love both.)

That said, the reboot and the subsequent prequel as it was gave me a chance as someone who isn’t steeped into Star Wars canon an entry point to the films.

So onto Rogue One. We discover a universe at war and an intrepid resistance seeking out allies where it can, to create fissures in the defenses of the Empire. I thought the film was generally well acted. Star Wars felt more Shakespearean/Greek Tragedy in this episode than I’d truly noticed before. 

All in all, if you have somehow not seen Rogue One already and are on the fence -- if you like sci-fi fantasy, then you’ll probably enjoy this story. It’s better than a lot of things and it’s backed by the whole Star Wars canon which gives it a heft that a similarly developed story would simply not be able to sustain. 

For the second year in a row, I have not walked out of the theater any more of a Star Wars fan. But again, was able to appreciate why some people would be so caught up in the mystique of this kid’s story from the 70s and 80s that’s managed to endure and thrive for a whole new generation.

Some casting news. 

Rogue One - A Star Wars Story (Trailer #2)

Jupiter Ascending (2015)

I’m familiar with a majority of the Wachowskis work on the big screen and it’s been a mostly positive experience. Yes, that third Matrix film was a dud but I liked Speed Racer, enjoyed V for Vendetta and the 1st Matrix movie still stands up well to this day. I think they’re one of the most imaginative writers/directors working in the biz today and I wanted to give this movie of theirs a shot. Yeah, it got killed by critics and barely broke even at the box office but that didn’t mean it was guaranteed to be a terrible film. Part of me wondered if the masses were right but I wanted to see with my own peepers if that was the case.

After giving this movie 2 hours of my life, my first thought was that I didn’t hate it.  This isn’t a historically bad film at all. I’ve seen some real basura and this wasn’t a complete nightmare on celluloid.

However….

I can see why critics gave so many thumbs down and why it never gained traction 

The good:

The visuals - The Wachowskis spared no expense to make this film’s visual appeal top tier. The costumes, the sets, some of the CGI, the technology involved in a film that spans the universe…all of it stimulating the optic stems something serious.

The diverse cast of supporting characters -  I can’t remember such a diverse blend of races and sexes in space. You’ve got robots, aliens, dragons, and humans spliced with the DNA of animals all co-existing in the same visual space with none of them sticking out like sore thumbs. Plus all the human races are accounted for here as well.  Nikki Amuka-Bird as Captain Diomika Tsing of the Aegis stuck out to me in particular, doing a wonderful job as a strong and forceful member of an intergalactic police force .  

The bad:

A lack of immersion – All moviegoers are not created equal, which I understand. I totally get that. Sometimes the content you create may go over some people’s heads and you can’t always hold anyone’s hand or dumb it down just so everybody can get “it”. But this movie did a poor job of immersing the viewer into the fictional world it created.  We’re thrown into the deep end of a wave pool and told to make our way to shore as fast as possible and that’s not gonna work for a lot of people. I can see how some would give up on an endeavor like that 30-45 minutes in. I was able to get right side up about an hour into the film but not everybody can be so lucky...

Eddie Redmayne – He was laughably bad in this and that’s on the directors. I’m not sure who okayed his performance or how that allowed to stay in the film after all the editing but his character was a mix of Gary Oldman’s police captain from The Professional spliced with an old man with emphysema. Terrible.

The plot – You couldn’t explain this thing to anybody else coherently if you tried. It’s packed to the gills with a lot of ideas but explaining how each part interlocks with another would be an fool’s errand. I wonder if this movie was even pitched. My guess is that someone heard the Wachowskis wanted to make another movie and were bringing a lot of financing to the table so they said, ‘Sure, why not? We might get another Matrix!”

Jupiter Jones – Mila Kunis did what she could with this role but I think it was a poorly realized character from the jump. She spends a majority of the first hour of the film asking questions.  Most of her dialogue starts with a who, what, where, why or how and that can be exceedingly frustrating when the character doesn’t seem like she’s learning anything along the way. Why ask all those questions if you’re not using the information to your advantage, Jupiter?

She also spends a lot of time on Channing Tatum’s back or in his arms because she’s constantly being saved from falling. Beginning, middle and end there’s a scene with her falling and screaming and Skates McGee aka Channing Tatum comes to her rescue.

I’m not even going to go into her throwing herself at Channing multiple times, hinting that she’s REALLY into the fact that he’s spliced with animal DNA…UGH

Rollerblading through the cosmos – I can’t in good conscience let that slide. Let the hoverboots be like Jupiter’s at the end (skateboard style) or just hover with them like Iron Man’s boots. The rollerskating thing just looked ridiculous 90% of the time.

All in all, Jupiter Ascending was an ambitious project from the Wachowskis that had a lot of promise. Some of that promise, especially through the visuals, was fully realized and needs to be commended, praised and utilized across Hollywood going forward. But the movie as a whole can’t support the weight of its creators imaginations.  Questionable acting performances, a convoluted plot that’s not even really focused on who the film’s named for and an insistence on not being accessible really hurt this film and prevent it from being the smash hit it could’ve been.

Yet another Star Wars review, it’s not our own, but I strongly recomend reading it. 

Worth a read. 

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

This review will likely contain minor spoilers. Proceed at your own risk. If you’re new to our blog, occasionally more than one of us sees the same movie and when that happens, we almost always write a different review because we’re all coming at this from wildly different perspectives. So don’t be confused. 

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the sort of addition to a monumental franchise that can make a fan out of viewers who weren’t raised understanding the pull of the Force.

The Force Awakens opens with a classic action movie opening on Jakku where we meet Rey (Daisy Ridley), who lives a solitary life as a scavenger, and expects to spend the rest of her life there until a chance encounter with a droid sweeps her up with the rebel alliance.

The dark force is known this time at The First Order, headed by Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). While Rey is on Jakku, a non-conforming Stormtrooper (John Boyega) teams up with a rebel pilot, Poe (Oscar Isaac), to make their escape in a First Order spaceship, and return to Jakku to retrieve the Droid. 

Not surprisingly, Rey and the Stormtrooper, who gives himself the name Finn team up, and the rest are ~spoilers~. 

Without getting further into the plot, I will say this was the Star Wars I needed. It touched on old Star Wars without waxing poetic about a time gone by (though the audience might have been). 

The effects were a mix of puppets, reality, and CGI, which worked to make it an immersive cinematic world, and the stunts neither drove nor hindered the plot. 

The writing for Rey and Finn was excellent. I appreciate the fact that they had time as a platonic duo, and that Rey was written out as a fully independent, multi-faceted character with lines that showed awareness of traditional movie tropes, and mocked them with a knowingness the audience could appreciate without being patronizing. Ridley and Isaac were both adept at navigating the varying emotions of their characters, and peers to Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. 

This movie has made me a fan of Star Wars. (I’m watching the prequels, and had watched the original trilogy in preparation.) The lifetime fans I know, loved it in equal measure. You should watch it. 

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

You care?

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) Trailer