Star Wars The Force Awakens

Spoiler Alert: This Review Discusses the movie. 

In the newest addition to the Star Wars universe, we start out with an action scene, and action scenes continue throughout the movie, never letting down. We have stormtroopers and blasters, and fights between ships, and lightsaber battles. The movie takes us from one gripping moment to the next. We have force sensitive characters from Han Solo to Raye to Kylo Ren, able to do the impossible with their minds. We have mind reading, and force chokes. Overall it was quite well done, and worth the wait. 

Throughout the movie the graphics were amazing. Things we could only dream of in the 70s and 80s were a reality. Once again, in keeping with the Star Wars universe, things were epically huge. In one scene, a battle cruiser eclipses a planet, and continues moving as though that were normal. When Han and Chewie find the Millenium Falcon, the ship they were in is so huge it just swallows it hole. Things are just big in Star Wars, and this followed the pattern. 

Fin seems to be following Han's role as the reluctant hero. He spends most of the movie trying to escape, but in the end comes through for his friend when she's in trouble. At least they made him about something other than money, but his story is still familiar. Although the movie largely focused on him, I think the focus for the series is going to be on Raye. This makes me happy because she's a strong central female character.

We're supposed to know that Vader is redeemed because he doesn't kill his son. In a play on that, Ren does kill his father, and seems not to care at all. So now we have a truly evil guy in the movies, but the evil isn't as finessed as it previously was. The lightsaber seems to burn like fire rather than a laser. However he does seem to have a skill no previous character has shown - the ability to read minds. 

Overall I'd give it an A. 

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

This movie started out with a lot more action than the previous one did. We start out rescuing Han from Jabba the Hut, in a plan that clearly relied more on luck than skill. After they all nearly die, we move into a plan to destroy the Death Star Part II. That's right, the Empire built another Death Star, and it didn't bankrupt the galaxy. Which begs willing suspension of disbelief. Apparently the Empire learned something last time, and the shields are external on a moon. This leads to the question of how they are ever going to move the thing if they need to use it, but, clearly the rebel forces needed to be divided in half, so, external power for the shields it is.

So, Darth Vader learns he has a son and 2 years later he saves his life from the emperor, thus somehow negating all the evil things he has done and turning him into a good guy, good enough that he becomes a light-side ghost with Obi-Wan and Yoda, and gets to return to his old body. I don't buy it at all. He's killed far too many people for one action to redeem the character.

This movie had more fun than the previous ones, bringing in Ewoks to hilariously take on the empire's finest with sticks and clubs. So it was a little lighter toned, and I enjoyed that take. It also featured Leia in a slave girl costume killing Jabba the Hut, which I appreciated because I'd kill anyone who made me dress like that, too.

Overall I give it an A+ and I think this was my favorite of the 6 Star Wars movies we've seen to date.

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

This is the second installment of the Star Wars series. We start out on an ice planet, where Luke has managed to get captured by a yeti. He proves his faith in the force is strong by getting his lightsaber out of the snow to get himself down from the first of many times Luke is upside down in this episode. Then Han proves himself loyal once again by going to find Luke and saving his life. The show took a while to start going, in other words. 

There are fewer action scenes, but there are a few including one where Luke figures out he has to trip a robot that is shooting at his allies. Then Luke steals the rebellion's ship, and takes off to find Yoda. He finds Yoda, but is a complete jerk to him. Although, lets give R2D2 the real jerk points in this scene. He knows Yoda, but chooses not to say anything to Luke when they find him. So R2D2 lets Luke make a fool of himself, like a jerk. But Luke makes a fool of himself and Yoda tries to refuse to teach him. Ben comes back as a ghost, and convinces Yoda to train Luke, something which they both must regret when Luke takes off at the end of the movie to find his friends instead of finishing his training. 

In the Big Reveal, we learn that Darth Vader (which literally means Darth Father in German) is Luke's father. Luke screams, then loses his hand in a fight with Vader.  Vader has many opportunities where he could kill Luke, because Luke is still not good with a lightsaber. But instead he allows him to live and merely disarms him (literally). Vader just found out he is a father, and he wants to give his son the empire to control, but his son doesn't want it. Father of the year material here. 

Overall I give it an A. 

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part II

My parents took me to see Mockingjay tonight. This is the fourth installment in the Hunger Games series, making the second half of the third book into a movie, a tradition I really am not sure I like. I didn't think it worked for Harry Potter where it got us one really boring 7th movie followed by all the action in the 8th. However, I think it worked for the Hunger Games. If you read the books, you know that much of the revolution was not in the books because it all followed first person from Katniss' thoughts. In a movie about a revolution, that really wouldn't work, and splitting the third book into two movies allowed them to insert a revolution that made things work.

While the previous movie focused on efforts to get Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) away from the capital, this movie focused on the revolution against the capital. Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) expresses a surprising amount of independence for a female main character, and heads out with a small group to kill Snow (Donald Sutherland). So that's what the movie is supposed to be about, but in the end we're left hanging as Snow convinces Katniss that someone else was responsible for her sister's death and needs to die more than he does. I'm not entirely convinced on his explanation, but I think it's supposed to be true.

Also, I must confess that I was always on Team Gale (Liam Hemsworth). I knew, after reading the books, that Peeta ends up with Katniss, and they are as happy as people can be after going through what they went through, but it still hurt to see Katniss turn away Gale at the end so coldly. It's not like he killed her sister.

The movie gave me a bit of a fright when the mutts came after them in the sewers but that scene was over soon enough. It made me cry when Katniss threw a temper tantrum over her dead sister. It made me smile when Finnick got married. What it didn't do was make me laugh. It's a little darker than the previous three movies in the series.

Overall I give it an A.

Peanuts

My husband and I went to see the Peanuts movie tonight. He has a lot of nostalgia about it, but I really don't. I watched one of the movies as a kid, but not the regular cartoon, and I wasn't really into it. The Peanuts movie had stuff for both of us, and was really good. 

For me, I saw a lot of myself in the Charlie Brown character - always trying to do good things and always having them turned on their heads. And no, I can't fly a kite. I found the movie touching and funny in about the right combinations. Lucy reminded me of many of the kids I grew up with, except that I was fortunate enough that by high school most of them had forgotten about me. She gives Charlie perfect advice, and then tells him he'll never be good enough to follow it, insulting him the whole time. 

My husband complained that the movie was a little too long. It came in at only 88 minutes, so I'm not sure how much shorter they could have made it and still called it a full length movie. I admit that it did feel like more than 88 minutes to me, too. I estimated 100 minutes after looking at my watch, but that must have included the time for the new Ice Age short at the beginning. 

Speaking of the Ice Age short, can I tell you how fed up I am with Ice Age shorts? How much attention can people give to a rat that wants an acorn? It's old and tired. I hated it the first time I saw it and nothing has changed that opinion. It also put me into a bad mood as the movie I actually wanted to see began and almost ruined the whole thing. Fortunately the first of many scenes that reminded me of my life (Charlie Brown knocking over a fence when everyone is trying to see the new girl) came quickly and I was able to refocus on the present movie. 

For a 50 year old cartoon, these characters really pinpoint childhood still. I guess the more things change the more they stay the same. Nothing seemed out of place either for life growing up or for the show. 

Overall I give it a B+

Star Wars : A New Hope

Here we have the story of Luke Skywalker as he meets Obi Wan Kenobi and Leia as well as C3PO and R2D2, and becomes a Jedi - the last of the Jedi. They have an adventure on the Death Star before escaping to the rebel hideout, a feat which is a lot less impressive when you realize they were allowed to escape so they could be followed, as evidenced by a conversation in which one character says to Vader "I'm taking a huge risk here. You'd better be right." And then the Death Star appears right at the rebel base. So basically the first 3/4ths of the movie they didn't do anything really impressive. They just shot at guards who weren't shooting to kill, and Obi Wan committed suicide by Vader.

After Obi Wan's suicide, I think the movie really ignores a vital fact, which is that it is disturbing as hell to suddenly have voices in your head. I mean, as a schizophrenic, I would know. And the very first thing I thought when Obi Wan says "use the force, Luke," to this guy who could hardly fight a droid a minute ago was "HOLY SHIT THERE ARE VOICES IN HIS HEAD AND NOW HE'S GOING TO FREAK OUT!!!!" because in any realistic universe, that's exactly what would have happened in this moment.

So I guess we assume that being a jedi is going to protect Luke's mind from the voice of his dead friend. Or something. And Luke puts his targeting gear away and fires using the force for the first time to destroy the Death Star. This is the first time in the movie something happened that wasn't what the bad guys wanted or expected.

The graphics were amazing for 1977 and still stand up to be considered good today. When you look at the opening scene you are immediately wowed by the size of the ships, and the power obviously belonging to the empire. The Stormtroopers were impressive, and Vader's imposing size and presence on the screen lets you know immediately that this is the bad guy. Although he's only on the screen for 17 minutes, he stays with you throughout the movie. This is how you create a bad guy.

Overall I'll give it a A-, and I look forward to seeing the rest of the series before episode 7 comes out next month.

Pan

Pan was one of those movies. You know the ones? The ones that are so bad they are almost good? Yeah, that was Pan. Unfortunately, I don't see it becoming a cult classic like so many other movies that fit in that category. Still, I got at least some enjoyment out of the movie, and great enjoyment out of mocking it later. 

Several things combine to make this a bad movie. First, the actor playing Hook (Garrett Hedlund) was terrible. He screamed all his lines, and completely over-acted the entire thing. He had some terrible lines, such as his introduction in the movie, "I don't care about you and I don't have your back." But even when the writing is not to blame, he just can't act naturally. I felt like I was watching a middle school performance or something. 

Also, Captain James Hook is supposed to be the very essence of a pirate. Exactly what you think of when you think "pirate." So why did this movie disguise him as a cowboy? 

Then there was the fact that the whole story made no sense. I mean, there's a prophesy that a flying kid is going to come and lead the rebellion against Blackbeard (Hugh Jackman), so when Blackbeard has a flying kid unconscious in a territory he rules with an iron fist, instead of putting a bullet to his brain, he nourishes him back to health, and then tells him the prophesy, setting in motion the rebellion. 

This continues from beginning to end, when Peter (Levi Miller) rescues all the lost boys and returns them to an orphanage, and then re-kidnaps them in the middle of the night. Why return them to the orphanage at all? Why not just take them to Lost Boy land straight from the mines? 

Where they really lost me, however, was when the ship landed in neverland. The movie takes place in the 1940s in war-torn England. However, when they get to Neverland, everyone sings Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit in a kind of dirgey voice. The newly arrived boys from 1945 know the words and are able to sing along. I don't mind some slight anachronisms, but this was just too much for me. 

All told, this movie was bad. It was terrible. It was so bad it was almost good, but it fell short of that, too. C-.