Category: Reviews

I know I said in my last post that The Best Movies of the Decade was going to be the final word on the last decade of movies.  However, and I’m allowed to do so, I changed my mind.  I was going to hold off on this one until I had seen certain movies and now I have.  2019 was a huge year for the industry.  The year signaled not only the end of the decade, but it also heralded the end of certain stories, shows, and films.  We saw the end of Game of Thrones with its eighth and final season.  We also saw the end of the current iteration of Marvel’s MCU with films like Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home.  The 40+year journey of the Skywalkers concluded with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.  While 2019 was a banner year for big blockbuster films, it was also a huge year for the indie and low-budget film scene.  While I wouldn’t say that 2019 was the strongest year for movies, it was no slouch.  There were a lot of heavy hitters and some of them are going to be making this list.  So, let’s take a look back at 2019 and see the gems that it delivered.

Joker

I know, I know, this one seems rather obvious.  The truth is, Joker was one of my most anticipated films of the year and it delivered on all counts.  This isn’t an action movie.  It’s a character study of how one of the most notorious Batman super-villains became what he is.  Honestly, there’s really nothing wrong with this movie and all the controversy surrounding it is very misleading.  Joaquin Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck, a mentally disturbed individual who was abused not just by his mother but by the system that was supposed to help people like him.  Joker is a look at how a broken system fails people, but can inadvertently create a monster.  Joaquin Phoenix turns in one of the greatest performances of his career and the film is absolutely riveting.  It’s not an easy watch and it certainly isn’t going to be for everyone.  Anybody expecting an action film like Batman I urge to look elsewhere for your fix.  This is not that movie, instead it’s something deeper and more profound.

The Lighthouse

This was the movie that convinced me to do this list.  The Lighthouse stars Willem Defoe and Robert Pattinson as two lighthouse keepers on an isolated island and must contend with not only with each other, but the rapid descent into madness that afflicts them both.  To say anymore about the story would spoil the surprise, but suffice to say, The Lighthouse is one of the most unique movies I’ve ever seen.  From the visuals to the audio and the performances, this is a powerhouse of a film that doesn’t always provide answers for what’s going on.  The film’s look is a black-and-white picture framed in a 1.19:1 aspect ratio which gives it a very old early 20th century film look.  Despite the fact that it’s in black-and-white, that actually helps certain details in the film standout.  The background sound of a fog horn that constantly goes off throughout the film helps immerse the audience into feeling like they’re going crazy.  Willem Defoe and Robert Pattinson deliver some of the greatest performances of the year, with Defoe playing a curmudgeonly old lighthouse keeper and Pattinson playing the younger and more inexperienced one.  This is an absolute mind-bender of a film and is one of the best indie films of the year.

Avengement

While Jesse V. Johnson’s Triple Threat was absolutely one of my favorite action movies of the year, it’s Avengement that gets the nod here.  Scott Adkins, in a career-defining performance, plays Cain Burgess, the younger brother of a notorious gangster who was set up and sent to prison.  Being targeted and brutalized while in prison, Cain fights back and escapes, seeking revenge for what he’s been through, culminating in one of the most brutal bar fights I’ve seen.  Scott Adkins has proven over the past couple of years that not only is he awesome with action, but he’s actually become quite a good actor.  Some of my favorite moments in Avengement don’t involve action, but are smaller moments between Cain and his mother.  Those felt real.  This is a far cry from the Undisputed films, but I think that’s for the best.  It allows for a more visceral kind of action and allows Adkins to really stretch his acting muscles.  This is a crime thriller that absolutely must be seen.

Midsommar

Director Ari Aster first made himself known with 2018’s breakout horror film, Hereditary.  It’s a film that did affect me on a personal level, despite how bleak and dark the film was.  It was a real humdinger of a film featuring some of the best performances and intense situations of the year.  Well, Mr. Aster did it again with 2019’s Midsommar, which is kind of his take on the Wicker Man’s cult-based horror.  It’s a slow-burner and at two and a half hours, it may seem like forever, but it keeps you engaged with some real stunning visual imagery as well as a powerhouse performance by Florence Pugh.  It’s definitely got its gory moments, but I wouldn’t say it’s a scary movie.  Like The Lighthouse, this is film that gets under your skin and makes it crawl.  It’s rare for a film to open with such a gut-punch, but it does set up the characters and the story to come.  Oh, and let’s not forget that the majority of the film takes place during the day, which is very unusual for a horror movie.

Once Upon A Time…in Hollywood

It’s hard to believe that Quentin Tarantino has directed only nine movies.  NINE.  But each film that he’s directed has never been a failure.  Sure, some like Death Proof aren’t his strongest, but if those are his worst movies, I’d say we’re in good shape, since he only plans on directing one more movie before calling it quits as a director.  It shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody that none of his movies are of the original variety.  It’s how he brings those movies to life that makes them unique.  He’s unique writing style, especially when it comes to dialogue, is unmatched.  He only casts the best in his movies and Hollywood is no exception.  Starring Leonardo Decaprio as Rick Dalton and Brad Pitt as Cliff Booth, Hollywood follows television star Rick Dalton as he fears being left in the dust by newer stars and an ever-evolving industry.  This is an utterly fantastic piece of 1960s Americana that really nails the era in which it is set.  Tarantino, ever the master of attention to detail, outdoes himself in so many ways in terms of characters, sets and overall style of the film.  He even managed to transform Hollywood Boulevard into the 1960s version of itself and it’s all done without the use of visual effects.  The acting is fantastic and the story is just incredibly well-written.  Quentin Tarantino is a master film-maker and while Hollywood isn’t his greatest, it’s still a hell of a movie.  If you’re a fan of Tarantino, then you’ve either already either seen the film or own it on Blu-Ray/DVD.

There’s a lot of other movies that I saw in 2019, but these are the ones that really stood out to me.  I didn’t bring up Avengers or Star Wars because I don’t think they were really as strong as a lot of other films this year.  Yeah, Avengers: Endgame was a powerhouse of a comic-book film with some really emotional moments, but at its core, it still felt like a comic-book movie, and I was looking for a bit more than that for my Best Movies of 2019.  Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, while enjoyable, felt incredibly rushed.  It didn’t really allow for much character development as it decided that a break-neck pace was in order.  It rushed from set-piece to set-piece without giving the audience to process what was going on.  Outside of being a Star Wars fan and the fact that Episode IX was the end of a 40+ year journey, I didn’t get a whole lot from it other than it being a top-notch action movie.  So, yeah, the movies that I picked as the best ones from 2019 aren’t exactly the big blockbuster movies that most people would expect.  So, those are my favorite movies of 2019, and this concludes my Best of 2019 series.  Thank you all so much for reading and here’s hoping to a spectacular 2020.

Released: July 2009(USA)

Director: Darryn Welch

Rated R

Run Time: 81 Minutes

Genre: Crime/Thriller

Distributor: Phase 4 Films

Cast:
Sam Page: David Dunsmore
Natassia Malthe: Georgie
David Gant: Mohamed Azis
Michael Maxwell: Robert Dunsmore

Before I begin, I would like to apologize for not getting to my Best Movies of 2019 list.  Looking back over my Best Movies of the Decade, I think that was the list that I wanted to end the year on, because it wasn’t any easy one to, having to go through each year and picking out the best one for that year.  If you were expecting an actual Best Movies of 2019, you’re probably not going to see it, at least for a while.  With that out of the way, it is a new decade.  I want to do something special for this month.  It is the National Slavery and Human Trafficking Awareness Month, made official by President Barack Obama back in 2011.  For the next month I want to focus on films that deal with human trafficking in some fashion or another.  It’s a topic that I’m very passionate about and something that more people need to be made aware of.  Slavery didn’t vanish when Congress ratified the 13th Amendment, proposed by Abraham Lincoln.  Oh, no.  It went underground and is seen in every country around the globe, even here in the United States.  So, to do my part, I’m going to talk about movies that deal with this subject.  It’s a backdrop that’s been used by many action movies, thrillers, dramas, and horror movies.  I will be reviewing and discussing both the good and the bad.  That brings me to my first review of 2020: Slave.

Slave follows young David Dunsmore and his girlfriend, Georgie as they head to Spain to meet David’s father, Robert.  Shortly after arriving in the country, the couple head to local club to have a good time.  When David comes back from the restroom after a few minutes, he sees no signs of Georgie and nobody in the club claims to know him or her.  Unable to persuade the local police to help him, he tracks down a local bartender who says that David’s girlfriend was abducted by the White Arab, a psychotic Russian mobster known for trafficking in women.  After telling his father about what happened, David and the bartender set out to rescue Georgie.  Before anybody thinks that this film was actually inspired by Pierre Morel’s Taken which was also released in 2009, Slave was actually released in Spain 4 years earlier under a different name: Wish You Were Here.  The story is pretty straightforward and easy to follow, but in no way is it as compelling as Taken or other similar kidnapping films.  Strangely enough, this is as much of a family drama as it is a thriller, if you can call it that, but none of it was done particularly well.

Part of the problem with this movie is the writing.  The concept behind the film is good enough, but the talent that’s required to craft a compelling narrative isn’t there.  There are some interesting bits here and there, but for the most part the writing is very sub-par especially when it comes to the characters.  Most of the characters are just badly written.  The film’s main character, David, is nothing more than a whiny little bitch.  Every time he confronts people, he’s constantly told that he’s a wimp.  They’re right, he’s wimp that has no backbone.  How Georgie hooked up with this loser is beyond me.  Georgie isn’t a terrible character, it’s just that she’s not given much to do outside of being someone that needs to be rescued.  The most interesting characters in this movie are the side characters.  Robert Dunsmore, who is David’s father, is surprisingly given the most depth despite the fact that he comes across as a sleazy drug dealer.  The other really interesting character is the film’s villain, the White Arab.  This guy is an unhinged psychopath that has no compunctions about what he does.

That brings me to the acting.  For the most part, it’s okay.  There’s nothing that’s going to win any awards here.  Natassia Malthe is decent as Georgie.  She’s obviously a beautiful woman and that kind of helps, but again, Natassia isn’t given a whole to do.  It seems like a thankless role.  The two actors that really seem to be enjoying their roles are Michael Maxwell and David Gant.  Michael plays David’s father and gives the character a brutish, slimy, yet charismatic quality that makes you wonder if he’s actually worth hating.  David Gant, on the other hand is clearly having some fun with his role as the White Arab.  When the character goes ballistic, he goes all out and definitely across as an intimidating force.  Sam Page, on the other hand, though, just really isn’t that convincing and I don’t mean any disrespect to the actor.  He’s doing the best he can with what he’s given, but what he’s given is a whiny little shit that deserves to get smacked left and right for not having a spine.

When you look at the DVD sleeve of the film, you would expect there to be some sex, nudity and violence in the film.  You definitely get some of that, but a lot of it is surprisingly tame compared to other thrillers.  The pacing is also way off.  For a film that runs 81 minutes, it feels longer than that.  It’s too boring to be a thriller, but too tame to be an exploitation or horror film.  What we have here is a film that lies somewhere between “meh” and “bleh.”  It’s not an awful film, I’ve seen a lot worse.  Look, I’m a huge fan of direct-to-video indie films.  Some of my favorite movies never made it to theaters, in this country or any other, but Slave comes across as an overly generic thriller that thinks that it’s more than what it is.  Not only that, it really has nothing important to say about human trafficking or anything of that sort.  It’s something that’s just……there.  At most, it’s only worth a rental, if you can find it.  If you can’t, you’re not really missing anything.

My Final Recommendation: 6.5/10.  It’s not the worst way to spend an hour and a half, but Taken did it better.

I hope everyone’s holidays were fantastic and I certainly hope people didn’t drive drunk after last night’s festivities.  I do still plan on doing a Best Movies of 2019(should’ve done it sooner, I know), I want to do something special for today.  Since it is a new decade, I want to take stroll down memory lane and talk about what I consider to be the best movies of the decade.  I’ve seen a ton of movies over the past 10 years, so picking out my favorites is not going to be an easy task.  For that reason, I will only do one movie per year starting with 2009 and going until 2019.  Here’s hoping to a fantastic new year with some really fantastic movies!  Let’s get the new year started off with a bang!

2009: Avatar

While James Cameron’s Avatar isn’t anything new in terms of story, how that story was told is what mattered.  James Cameron was always a pioneer when it came to visual effects technology.  The Abyss and Terminator 2 are elegant proof of that.  He’s not just interested in telling a story, but also upping the ante in terms of visuals.  Avatar took what The Lord of the Rings did with Andy Serkis’ motion-capture performance and took it to a whole new level.  Avatar is one of the most stunning films I’ve ever seen.  The CGI is great and the photo-realistic environments of Pandora are without equal.  Avatar was also the first movie to utilize a new form of 3D called Real 3D.  It was the first film I ever saw in 3D, and it was one of the most captivating experiences I’ve ever had in a film.  Yeah, the story is Dances with Wolves in space, but the technological prowess of the film is what lands it on this list.

2010: 127 Hours

127 Hours tells the story of Aron Ralston, an experienced canyoneer who gets trapped in a slot canyon in southeastern Utah.  What makes 127 Hours such a good movie is that it doesn’t take its eyes off of the main character, played to perfection by James Franco.  The film does have a bit of a sense of humor, despite the terrifying situation that Ralston finds himself in.  Despite the fact that the film is based on real events and knowing the outcome of those events, it’s still a riveting tale of survival in one of Utah’s harshest environments.  The moment that Ralston has to make a decision in order to live is one of the most harrowing and brutal sequences I’ve seen in a non-horror movie.  This was one of my favorite movies of 2010 and it stands out as one of the best survival movies I’ve ever seen.

2011: Haywire

Haywire is one of the most underrated action films of the decade for a number of reasons.  For one, this was Steven Soderbergh’s first action movie, but you wouldn’t be able to tell with how he frames everything.  Secondly, this is the first leading role for former MMA-superstar Gina Carano and she carries this film incredibly well.  Featuring an all-star cast that includes Bill Paxton, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, and Michael Fassbender, Haywire is a smart and tightly written tale of espionage and betrayal.  It’s absolutely one of my favorite action movies of 2011.

2012: Lincoln

2012 was truly a banner year for film.  A year that saw a large number of incredible action films like Dredd and Skyfall also saw the release of some of the greatest dramas I’ve ever seen.  Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln is one of my favorite films, period.  It’s a story focused on Abraham Lincoln and his efforts to pass the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.  This amendment is about the abolishment of slavery.  Lincoln is every bit as political as it is dramatic.  Some of my favorite scenes involve Abe telling stories, which is what he was known to do and he had a keen sense of humor.  The scenes in Congress are every bit as riveting as any battle sequence in any war movie.  Daniel Day-Lewis delivers a career best performance as one of the greatest Presidents in American history.  It really looked like you were peering through a window into history with how Day-Lewis performed as Lincoln.  That is how great this movie is and we also have Steven Spielberg to thank for it.  It’s definitely an astounding film.

2013: Prisoners

When it comes to kidnap thrillers, Prisoners is in a league of its own.  The film follows two families as they search for their daughters that have vanished.  The premise is simple enough, but what really sets this film apart is its deliberate pacing.  The movie runs at a hefty two and a half hours.  There’s a reason for that.  Like the characters on the screen, the film moves at such a slow pace that it gets under your skin so you understand exactly how these characters feel.  What also makes this film so damn good are the performances.  While the side characters are really good, it’s Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhall who are the focus here and they deliver some of the best performances of their careers.  This movie is incredible.

2014: The Salvation

The Western is a tough genre to really bring to life, mostly because there really aren’t a whole lot of original stories that you can tell within the genre.  That’s why you don’t really see a whole lot of traditional Westerns anymore.  While we have seen Westerns from American film-makers, we rarely see these kinds of films from folks in different countries, which is why The Salvation is such a breath of fresh air.  This is a Dutch-made Western set in the United States.  Starring Mads Mikkelson as Jon, a former Dutch soldier who came to the west for a better life.  After his family is murdered, Jon runs afoul of a man named Delarue played to slimy perfection by Jeffrey Dean Morgan.  This is a straight-forward revenge tale that just happens to be a Western and it’s an incredibly effective film featuring some amazing performances.  The real surprise is Eva Green as the mute Madelaine.  She says more with her eyes than she ever could with dialogue.  If you like Westerns, seek this one out.

2015: The Hateful Eight

There’s just something about a Quentin Tarantino film that just captivates you.  Whether it’s the snappy dialogue or extreme violence that shows up every once in a while, you can be sure the film is never boring and The Hateful Eight is no exception.  Love him or hate him, you have admit that Quentin Tarantino is one of the most unique film-makers in the industry today.  This is not a guy that uses quick edits in his film-making repertoire.  Oh, no.  He lingers on certain scenes to the point where it feels uncomfortable.  Yeah, it feels indulgent at times, but I’d say he’s earned it.  The Hateful Eight follows a bounty hunter, Kurt Russell as he takes his quarry to be hanged, but he has to stay at a lodge with some other unsavory people, which leads to some very interesting moments.  An incredibly strong cast along with a well-written script makes for an incredibly entertaining film.

2016: Silence

Martin Scorcese is one of the greatest film-makers the world has ever seen.  While I can’t say that I entirely agree with what he recently said about what constitutes cinema, you can’t deny that the films he makes are just that: Cinema.  The stories that he tells are intimate, powerful and engaging.  Silence is no exception.  In fact, this might be the most soul-crushing film that Mr. Scorcese has ever made.  The film follows two Jesuit priests, played by Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver, as they travel to Japan to find their missing mentor while trying to spread their faith.  Unfortunately, Japan at the time was cracking down on Western influence which included religion and the shogunate was more than willing to execute people of faith.  Silence is a powerful film about the nature of humanity and spirituality.  It’s a rough one to sit through, but it is ultimately rewarding at the end, but not in the way you think it would be.

2017: Logan

The first comic book film on this list, Logan is a very different beast from other films in the genre.  I loved the X-Men films, but Logan is something truly special.  This is the final appearance of Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart as Wolverine and Professor X, respectively.  What a finale it is.  Logan has a Western-vibe in the style of The Unforgiven and is just as gritty.  For the first time, we get to see Wolverine truly become unleashed.  This is a very violent movie where limbs are sliced off and heads are wrecked.  It’s ultra-violent, but at it’s core, Logan is a character-driven drama about a man faced with his own mortality and what it means to be a hero.  We’ve never seen Wolverine this vulnerable before and when young Laura enters the picture as Logan’s genetic daughter, it becomes a bit of a family drama as well.  It’s not a movie that’s going to be for everyone, but it is a testament to Hugh Jackman’s talent that he’s played the character for so long.  This is as perfect a send-off for Wolverine as one could hope for.

2018: The Hate U Give

One of the greatest things about film and one of the reasons why I love talking about this medium is the ability for a movie to educate and engaging audiences so they can help effect change.  There are a number of films that deal with societal issues, some of which I’ve already mentioned on this list, but The Hate U Give is a film that I think needs to be seen by everyone.  Based on the young adult novel of the same name, The Hate U Give follows young Starr as she witnesses the shooting of her friend by a white cop.  What follows is a very tense and emotionally powerful film that allows Starr to find her voice so she can speak for her friend.  Amandla Stenberg’s performance as Starr Carter is a break-out performance.  She nails it.  Everyone else is absolutely fantastic.  It’s impossible to over-state how important a film like this can be, especially for members of the African-American community.  This needs to be seen by everyone.

2019: Joker

For some, it may not come as a surprise that I would put Joker as the best film of 2019.  It’s a comic-book movie that doesn’t feel like a comic-book movie.  In fact, Joker has more in common with Taxi Driver than it does with Batman.  Joaquin Phoenix’s performance is one for the record books.  His turn as Arthur Fleck is nothing short of electrifying.  While everybody that knows about the Joker as a villain would understand that the Joker is a mass-murdering psychopath, Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix give the character a more sympathetic edge which makes his transformation into the Joker all the more tragic.  The film also deals with mental illness in a way that feels realistic and surprisingly responsible.  The cinematography is absolutely incredible and makes for a gritty and powerful film that transcends its comic-book origins.  This one is required viewing for anybody that enjoys the character.

These are what I consider to be the best movies of the decade, and while some are pretty obvious, others aren’t.  I could’ve loaded this list with action and horror movies, but the medium is so much more than that and I really look forward to seeing what 2020 can bring us.  So, I wish everyone a Happy New Year and I look forward to bringing you more content this year.

Released: December 2019

Director: J.J. Abrams

Run Time: 144 Minutes

Rated PG-13

Distributor: Disney/LucasFilm

Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy/Action

Cast:
Carrie Fisher: Leia Organa
Mark Hamill: Luke Skywalker
Adam Driver: Kylo Ren
Daisy Ridley: Rey
John Boyega: Finn
Oscar Isaac: Poe
Anthony Daniels: C-3PO
Domhnall Gleeson: General Hux
Richard E. Grant: General Pryde
Ian McDiarmid: Emperor Palpatine
Billy Dee Williams: Lando Calrissian

“For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic.  Before the dark times.  Before the Empire.” – Obi Wan Kenobi

Star Wars has been a huge part of pop culture for over 40 years.  The franchise has seen its ups and downs with some of the films not being as good as others, as well as comics, video games and novels to varying degrees of quality.  George Lucas’ films have inspired generations of film-makers, writers, and visual effects artists.  George’s original 1977 film changed the way movies were made in terms of effects, camera operations, and overall story-telling.  The effect that the film has had on the industry is incalculable, and continues to be the foundation of many current and future science fiction films.  There is no measuring stick for how much of an impact that Star Wars has had on film and society as a whole.  After the Original Trilogy concluded with Return of the Jedi in 1983, George Lucas would collaborate with Steven Spielberg on the Indiana Jones films.  In 1999, the first film in the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, The Phantom Menace, was released.  Attack of the Clones would be released in 2002, with Revenge of the Sith closing out the Prequels in 2005.  Lucas would go on to sell his company to Disney in 2012 for 4 billion dollars.  Three years later, A sequel trilogy would begin with The Force Awakens, followed by Rogue One in 2016 and The Last Jedi in 2017.  Two years later, the Sequel Trilogy and the overall Skywalker saga would see its conclusion in The Rise of Skywalker.

The Rise of Skywalker opens as Kylo Ren is searching for a mysterious Sith artifact called the Wayfinder which will lead him to an ancient Sith planet, Exegol.  Exegol is in the Unknown Regions but is also the base of one Emperor Palpatine who seems to have returned from the dead to orchestrate the formation and machinations of the First Order.  Meanwhile, Rey, under the tutelage of Leia Organa, is on her way to becoming a Jedi.  When news of Palpatine’s return reaches the galaxy at large, Rey, Poe, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and Finn head out to find one of these mysterious Wayfinders so they can find the Emperor and bring an end to the tyranny of the First Order once and for all.  I’m not going to sugar-coat it:  The story in this film is a mess.  It spends a lot of time throwing nostalgic bits at the audience instead of trying to find some kind of narrative foothold.  The overall story is very reminiscent of Return of the Jedi, only not as good.  There’s a lot of stuff that the film throws at you but doesn’t really stick and as a result, comes across as a bit convoluted.  I’m going to try and not spoil much here, but there are certain things about the story that really don’t make sense.  The Sith Lord in the room is Palpatine’s return.  No real explanation is given to how he survived being thrown down a reactor shaft by Darth Vader and exploding in blue energy.  It also feels that a lot of what happened in The Last Jedi was tossed out the window.  It feels like the story here was rushed and created to try and fix the mistakes of The Last Jedi.

From a visual standpoint, The Rise of Skywalker is a spectacular film.  Not only do you have these really amazing shots on desert and jungle planets, but you also have some amazing shots that take place in space.  Seeing hundreds of Sith Fleet Star Destroyers is a hell of a thing to look at.  Another awesome shot is of the ruins of the second Death Star on Endor.  Seeing Rey and Kylo Ren battle it out among the ruins is awesome.  There are a lot of very cool visual Easter Eggs that people can pick up on that remind them of previous films.  I’m all for a trip down memory lane, but sometimes the film hits you a little too hard on the head with nostalgia.  The action in the film is fantastic with some pretty decent lightsaber duels, but some of the aerial battles are incredibly intense and thrilling.  The battle over Exegol is truly amazing, especially when thousands of Resistance ships finally show up.  The film is action-packed, nearly from beginning to end.  While I certainly appreciate the fact that the film isn’t boring, the problem is that a lot of things get sacrificed when you do something like that.  We aren’t given a whole lot of time between set-pieces and major revelations to process that information before the next explosion or truth bomb drops.

The acting in the film is, for the most part, top-notch.  The real stars of the show are still Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver as Rey and Kylo Ren, respectively.  Seeing these characters evolve over the course of these three movies has been nothing short of fantastic.  John Boyega and Oscar Isaac are also pretty good.  Mark Hamill makes his return as a Force ghost and….well….it’s Mark Hamill.  He’s awesome.  I’ve always enjoyed watching Richard E. Grant work.  He’s absolutely fantastic as a bad guy.  The Rise of Skywalker marks Ian McDiarmid’s first return to the franchise since Revenge of the Sith, and well, he’s always fun to watch.  Palpatine’s always been a hell of a villain, considering that Palpatine is a master manipulator as well as being a Sith Lord.  Now, onto the issue with Carrie Fisher.  As we all know, Carrie Fisher passed away in 2016, a full year before The Last Jedi would be released, but her scenes were completed for that film.  The Rise of Skywalker would have seen Ms. Fisher play a more prominent role, especially in regards to Leia’s son, Kylo Ren.  Unfortunately, that never happened, but the film-makers still wanted to have Leia in this film, so what they did was they took some unused footage from The Force Awakens and manipulated in a way that made sense.  It was the best that they could do considering the circumstances, and it sends Leia off on a good note.

The Rise of Skywalker is bound to be as divisive as The Last Jedi.  Some people really aren’t going to like this, and you know what?  That’s okay.  This new trilogy isn’t going to be for everyone.  I knew going into The Force Awakens that these new films were not going to have the same look or feel as George Lucas’ movies.  Not even close.  Because I adjusted my expectations accordingly, I ended up enjoying the new Disney films immensely.  The Rise of Skywalker is most likely going to be looked at as a course correction from The Last Jedi, and I wish it wasn’t that.  I really liked the previous film, but I still managed to enjoy the new movie.  Is it the greatest Star Wars film?  No, that would be The Empire Strikes Back.  Bar none.  But Rise is far from the worst film in the franchise which would be Attack of the Clones.  Are there things that I wish the film could’ve done differently?  Of course, I’m always going to have my opinions like that with a lot films.  I went in with some pretty low expectations and I came out really enjoying this one.  Is it the saga finale that we’ve been expecting?  Not even close.  Is it a solid conclusion to the new trilogy?  I would argue yes.  It’s fun, exciting, and visually spectacular.  The music by John Williams is also one of his best and it’s his last Star Wars project.

How do I go about recommending The Rise of Skywalker?  I think, if you’re going in expecting something to be on the same level as anything in the Original Trilogy, you’re going to be disappointed, because it’s nowhere near as good as those films.  However, if you’re willing to set aside some of the issues that plague the film, you’ll find a pretty solid entry into the Star Wars saga.  Yeah, I liked it.  No, I’m not a Disney shill.  It’s a Star Wars film, so it needs to be seen on the big screen.  Just sayin’.

My Final Recommendation: 8/10.