May The Fourth Be With You..."Star Wars: The Last Jedi"

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

Rated PG-13

Starring Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill,

Directed by Rian Johnson

The Story:

The one in which we continue to kill off characters to drive the story forward with a new generation of the cast.

Picking up shortly after the The Force Awakens, Rey (Ridley) tries to learn from Master Luke (Hamill) while the rest of the rebellion is trying to survive and outrun the Empire.

It seems like this one took a lot of flack from the fans compared to the previous installment.

I'm not really sure what the beef was.

While not as good as the last one, this one advanced the storylines, although it may have done so in rather expedient fashion.

It seems like a franchise that wants to hurry up and jettison the baggage of the old cast and move on to the new stories, and that's completely fine.

But it's an awful lot like treading water in some ways while also marathon sprinting in the others.

Some storylines that seem mysterious are quickly dissolved with some dialogue or a quick scene.

Others stretch over the entire movie before there is any sort of conclusion.

But everyone will be back in a year or so to see what happens next.

That's Star Wars for you.

Final Grade:  B-

The Future Is Now..."The Circle"

The Circle (2017)

Rated PG-13

Starring Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, Ellar Coltrane, Glenne Headley, Bill Paxton, Karen Gillan, John Boyega

Directed by James Ponsoldt

The Story:

Mae (Watson) lands a job at The Circle. As she quickly moves up the ranks of employees, her life and importance to the company rapidly changes in ways she could never dream. As her company prepares to unveil their latest technological marvel, Mae has to make a decision that could alter humanity...forever!

Imagine a world where everyone is addicted to technology...

Oh, wait...

Imagine a world where giant technology firms seemingly invade the private lives of their users and employees...

Oh, wait...

So you see, this isn't so much a futuristic thriller as it is a mashup of life as we already know it.

It's both a movie that was a warning to deliver to the audience about these tech giants, but they meander and present the message in such a way that you almost don't care about it, or any of the characters by the time they get around to doing it.

Hanks is charming, with a touch of sinister in the Jobs-like role of Bailey, The Circle's founder.

Yet while watching this film, I realized further that I'll never "get" the appeal of Emma Watson as an actress.

I'm sure that giant cry of blasphemy is from all the Harry Potter fans out there, but with the knowledge that I have not, nor will I likely ever see those movies either, you'll never win me over with that argument.

She just always seems so wooden, or fake to me in all of the roles I have seen her in, I will follow her career with indifference at this point.

The movie is watchable enough, but could have used some serious editing to reduce the run-time from the nearly two hours to a more crisp and effective 90 minutes.

Pick up the pace, trim a lot of the unnecessary subplots that really go nowhere, and you might have had something.

Instead, go find The Truman Show, Nerve,  or any of the other films that have used the "we're watching you" again, and enjoy a much better movie.

Final Grade: C-

A Long Time Ago...And Not A Moment Too Soon! "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Rated PG-13

Starring Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Harrison Ford, Peter Mayhew, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Andy Serkis, Anthony Daniels,

Directed by J. J. Abrams

The Story:

30 years have passed after the fall of the Empire. Rising from the ashes are the New Order, and they are bent on finding Luke (Hamill) the last of the Jedi and killing him. Thankfully, the Resistance is led by General Organa (Fisher) and she has sent her best pilot (Isaac) to locate the whereabouts of her brother. However, nothing is ever easy for the Resistance, and if not for the conscience of a pacifist stormtrooper (Boyega) and a plucky desert scavenger (Ridley), the galaxy would be reduced to a pile of burning rubble.

Seriously, what's the point of writing any synopsis for this movie. Everyone's seen it by now, right?

Those that haven't either don't want to, or don't want to.
:)

Well, I wanted to, and I took the boys, and we had a blast.

When the lights dimmed, and the logo pops up with the John Williams fanfare...

I got a little misty.

This isn't a movie, this was an event 30 years in the making.

The future trilogy, as promised by George Lucas back in the 70s that he retconned himself into believing he never said, is finally here.

And Lucas is nowhere to be found because he sold the franchise to Disney.

They in turn handed the keys to the kingdom over to J. J. Abrams who successfully, like it or not, revamped Star Trek for a whole new generation.

As you watch this movie, there are many, many, many familiar beats to the story.

Sure, it's because J.J. took the entire original trilogy, dropped it in a blender and poured out The Force Awakens.

And you know what?

I liked it.

You didn't need to see the original trilogy to get what was going on here, but it certainly helps.

You definitely didn't need to see any of the misguided prequels.

Everything you need to know is right here.

J.J. Abrams basically said " I'm going to do one Star Wars film, and this is it." He bridged the gap between then and now and introduced us to a whole new cast of characters that we can get to know and love.

Little kids will now be able to be Finn, Rey or Poe out on the playground, if kids still do that pretend stuff in the 21st century.

Plus almost all of the stars of Star Wars have returned in one form or another, and we get to watch Han Solo (Ford) nearly steal the movie out from under his younger co-stars every time he's on screen.

The movie ends with a nice closing shot of what to expect in the next movie which should be here in about 18 more months.

Everyone's got an opinion about this film. This film is getting picked apart in ways I never dreamed possible. Even by people who claim to like it!

My opinion is: I had a lot of fun.

Welcome to 2016.

Welcome to the first film in the running for Best of the Year status.

Final Grade: A-