Month: December 2019

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.

2019 has been an interesting year for movies.  There have been sequels and reboots as well as various other pieces of news from the entertainment world.  For this particular post, I want to go over some of the best moments in 2019.  This doesn’t necessarily directly involve a movie, but rather the news and other information surrounding a film or TV series.  Don’t worry, I’ll still include awesome moments from movies as well, but there’s a lot more that happened this year that I really want to cover.  So, with that in mind, let’s go over what I consider to be some of the best moments of 2019.

Joker Hits The 1 Billion Dollar Mark

What do Deadpool, Logan, and Joker have in common?  1.  They’re all based on established comic book characters.  2. They’re all fairly low-budget(in terms of theatrical releases, anyway).  3.  They’re all successful.  This is also really important: 4. They’re rated R.  Normally, I wouldn’t bother mentioning the fact that a film’s success is based on it’s rating.  The truth of the matter is, is that these films are hard-R-rated films.  They’re violent, not for kids, and yet, people went out to see these films in droves.  Why?  They’re well written, well acted, and very well made.  Before Joker was released, Deadpool had the distinction of being the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time.  Then Joker hit cinemas and blew audiences away with an incredibly nuanced character piece involving the most notorious comic book villain in pop culture.  The numbers don’t lie: $1,054,941,623.  What this proves is that you can have an R-rated comic book movie and still have it be very successful, provided you get all the ingredients right.  Comic book movies aren’t just for kids anymore, and I’m really curious to see what comes next, especially for DC and Warner Bros.

Captain America Lifts Thor’s Hammer/”Avengers!….Assemble.”

Avengers: Endgame was one of the most anticipated superhero movies of 2019.  Not only did the film NOT disappoint, it blew away the competition becoming the highest-grossing film of all time.  The film was loaded with incredible moments from beginning to end, but there were two that truly stood out for me.  Both of these moments take place during the final battle with Thanos.  The first moment is when Captain America picks up Thor’s hammer, Mjollnir in a sequence that was only teased at in Age of Ultron.  The second moment is when every superhero that was snapped out of existence in the previous film returns, culminating in what I consider to be one of the most epic battles in comic book movie history.  The film is exciting, thrilling, funny, and incredibly emotional, especially if you’ve been a part of the journey since the original Iron Man back in 2008.

The Mandalorian Hits Disney Plus

I’ve been a huge fan of Star Wars since I was a kid.  I’ve seen the Original Trilogy countless times on VHS, DVD, and Blu-Ray.  I also really enjoyed the Prequels, even though many people didn’t.  I’ve also enjoyed the newer films, despite the fact that they really didn’t bring anything new to the table.  With Rise of Skywalker out towards the end of the month, I wanted to bring attention to a new story based on the iconic franchise: The Mandalorian.  The show follows a lone Mandalorian warrior as he makes his way through the galaxy as a bounty hunter, tracking down targets and delivering them for a fee.  What I really love about this show is how much it feels like the Original Trilogy in terms of tone and style.  Like the original film, The Mandalorian is a Western in space, being influenced by the likes of Spaghetti Westerns and other films in the genre.  It works.  It’s restrained in its story-telling, only revealing bits and pieces throughout each episode.  A second season of the show is currently in pre-production.  I’m excited and I think a lot of people are, too.  This is the breath of fresh air that Star Wars has needed in a long time.

A Holiday Reunion – Xfinity 2019

I will fully admit that I have my issues with Comcast as a company in terms of how they conduct their business.  Normally, I wouldn’t give a second thought to an advertisement from a company that I’m not a big fan of, but this particular ad is truly wonderful.  This is E.T.  For the youngsters out there, E.T. was a family science fiction film released back in 1982 by director Steven Spielberg.  It featured a young boy befriending an alien that was left behind when his ship tried to escape hunters.  The film followed young Elliott on his adventures with “E.T.”  It was a wonderful film about the innocence and curiosity of being a kid.  It was fun little ride that had more than a little heart.  The film’s ending broke a lot hearts back in the day, but it was well-earned and was a natural conclusion for the characters.  It’s still gets me every time.  This ad reunites E.T with his friend Elliott, with Elliott having a family of his own.  His own kids discover the little guy(which is still very practical, by the way), and it just ends up being such a heart-warming little tale in its own right.  It’s one of the best ads I’ve seen in a long time.

Obi-Wan Kenobi Series Is Official

In another piece of Star Wars news, it was announced earlier this year that a 6-episode series featuring Obi-Wan Kenobi was green-lit.  Obi-Wan Kenobi, initially played by Sir Alec Guiness in the Original Trilogy was replaced by Ewan McGregor in the Prequel Trilogy.  McGregor is arguably the best part of the Prequels, so it would absolutely make sense that he would return to play the character in a new series.  The series is set to take place between Episodes III and IV.  Story details aren’t available yet, but I will keep you informed.  If Obi-Wan is half as good as The Mandalorian, I think Star Wars is going to be in much better shape going forward, especially after the Skywalker saga wraps up with Episode IX.  The fact that Ewan McGregor is returning makes me incredibly exciting.  Kenobi is such an interesting character and to see McGregor basically channel Alec Guinness at times, while making the character his own, is mind-blowingly awesome.

Iko Uwais and Tony Jaa vs. Scott Adkins, Triple Threat

In case you haven’t noticed:  I love action movies.  I love great action movies even more.  When Tony Jaa entered the scene with Ong-Bak, he turned heads and over the years, he’s gotten a lot better in terms of his acting, but he’s also lost none of his physicality.  He’s had some weak films, for sure, but so has Scott Adkins.  Getting the chance to see these two titans go at each other in a star-studded action film was a dream come true.  Triple Threat is the film that The Expendables wished it could be.  Solid action, solid gun-fights, and amazing action cinematography.  This is how you make an action movie.  This final battle between Iko, Tony and Scott is one of the reasons why I watch these movies in the first place.  I would put it up there with the fight scene with Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris, as well as Jet Li vs Donnie Yen in Hero.  Triple Threat is one of my favorite action movies of the year and for good reason.  It’s that good.

Netflix’s The Witcher Trailer Drops

Before I picked up The Witcher video-game back in the day, I had no idea that the game was based on a best-selling series of novels in Europe.  After playing The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt, I decided to check out some of the books.  Wow.  This was Game of Thrones before Game of Thrones was even a thing.  I’m genuinely excited for the show, because the show is not based off the games, but the books.  Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia?  From what I’ve seen, I think he can do it.  The show looks fantastic and epic.  I just hope that they manage to really make it good, especially for the fans of not only the games, but the books as well.    I’ve got my fingers crossed for this one.

2019 has obviously seen a lot in the entertainment world, but these are some of the more memorable things that happened that caught my eye.  I’m still planning on doing my Best Films of 2019 list before the end of the year, so stick around for that.  There may be some surprises in there that you might not see coming.

With Christmas and various other holidays literally right around the corner, how do we celebrate all that jazz?  Do we celebrate it with eggnog, singing, and family time?  NO!!  We celebrate it with blood-curdling screams,gratuitous violence and gore!  In this latest post of The Best of 2019, I want to talk about some of the best horror movies I’ve seen this year.  In contrast to my opening sentence, the best horror films often don’t have a whole lot in the way of gore or even shock value.  Horror is a genre of film that really shouldn’t rely entirely on cheap scares or the aforementioned shock value, even though, sometimes those elements can be a benefit if used properly.  The best horror films generally tend to be character-focused, even if the characters are only skin-deep.  The scares and tension come from the situations that these characters often find themselves in.  In all honesty, this is probably going to be a short list, because I didn’t see a whole lot of horror movies this year, because there really wasn’t a whole to offer, but what was being offered was pretty decent.  So, let’s peel the skin off this bad boy and discuss my personal favorite horror films of 2019.

Midsommar

Ari Aster is a name that people should know about.  This is the guy that directed last year’s horror film breakout, Hereditary.  Midsommar is only Aster’s second film, but you can tell that he’ trying to expand on his repertoire.  Midsommar is a very strange film.  It reminds me a lot of The Wicker Man(the original, NOT THE BEES!!!)in terms of story and plot development.  The film follows Florence Pugh’s character after she suffers a devastating family tragedy and goes with her boyfriend to Sweden to observe this bizarre cult.  Over the course of the 2.5 hour run time, strange things begin to happen as people disappear.  Midsommar is one of the few horror movies that takes place mostly during the day, making it much more unsettling.  It’s an incredibly beautiful film in terms of its cinematography, set and costume designs, and Florence Pugh’s performance is one of the best of the year.  If you can sit through the run time, Midsommar can be a visually interesting film.

Art of the Dead

Sometimes, the best horror movies don’t always make it to theaters, and that can be a good thing.  Art of the Dead is a horror film that kind of showed up out of nowhere.  My initial impressions with the marketing of the film led me to believe that this was going to be another cheap direct-to-video schlock-fest.  How wrong I was.  The premise is simple enough:  Seven painting representing the Seven Deadly Sins, painted by an artist that went insane, are sold to a family only for strange things to happen.  People begin to die in horrible fashion and each family member is being affected by these paintings.  There a couple of things that separate this film from the rest of the DTV crap that was released this year.  For one, the effects are almost all practical, meaning they use prosthetics, buckets of corn syrup and costumes.  Granted, some of those effects aren’t that great, but it’s a very low-budget feature, so it’s still impressive that they went with practical effects.  There is minimal use of CGI here and that’s absolutely amazing.  The stand-out performances are from Robert Donovan, who plays Father Mendale, and Alex Rinehart, who plays Kim.  Art of the Dead is a huge surprise for me, and I’m absolutely glad that I got to check it out.

Bloodline

Here’s another surprise of a film:  Bloodline.  Why?  There really wasn’t a whole lot of waves made about this film before it was released, and I’m not entirely sure why.  The setup is very similar to a lot of other films dealing with serial killers with a few twists:  Seann William Scott plays a high school counselor who moonlights as a serial killer.  Here’s the thing, the people he targets are people who abuse the students that he sees, so it’s almost also a vigilante film at the same time.  What really makes this film work is Seann William Scott.  I mentioned him in my Best Performances list, but it bears repeating:  Scott is absolutely incredible here.  He plays against type.  Instead of playing the goofy and obnoxious characters that he’s known for, he plays a more downbeat, intense and unsettling role in Bloodline.  It would still be a decent thriller, but it’s Scott’s performance that drives the whole thing.  It’s not perfect, but I have to say, it’s one of the more interesting horror films that has come out in the last few years.

Crawl

This might sound like me being a bit of a broken record, but often the best horror films are the simplest in terms of story and execution.  Alexandre Aja’s Crawl is one such movie.  The premise of the film sees a professional swimmer heading back to her family’s house to find her father during a Category 5 hurricane.  While she finds her father, they are attacked by a group of alligators who’ve come in during the storm, leading into a battle for survival.  Is it simple?  Yes.  Do the characters make some dumb decisions?  Definitely, but we wouldn’t have a movie, otherwise.  While the gators are CGI creations, they are surprisingly well done and detailed.  The performances are good and the action is tense.  I loved almost every single minute of this film.  Yeah, it’s not very deep(see what I did there?), but it doesn’t need to be.  It’s a creature feature that doesn’t need to be any more than that.

Ready or Not

There have been  a lot of horror films over the past decade that have been obsessed with trying to shock the hell out of the audience with extreme levels of violence and sexuality.  What happened to horror movies that just wanted to be fun?  Ready or Not is a film that dares to be fun, and fun it is.  The story is this: Samara Weaving’s character, Grace, has married her boyfriend Alex, who is a member of prominent and wealthy family.  The family has a tradition in which the new member of the family gets to pick a game that the family plays at midnight, but Grace unknowingly picks the “Hide and Seek” card, which means the entire family is literally gunning for her.  It’s ridiculous, it’s outlandish, and it’s incredibly funny.  It’s definitely a twisted little film, but in all the best ways.  What makes it work is the fact that it doesn’t take itself seriously at all.  It’s bloody, violent and intense, but it’s also one of the funniest movies I’ve seen this year.  The family members trying to kill Grace are about as incompetent as you can get and Samara Weaving just nails it with the humor and action.  She’s fantastic.  Everyone is fantastic here.  I was not bored by this movie whatsoever.  It’s definitely worth checking out.

Brightburn

I love it when movies take what many would consider to be a conventional film and turns it on its head.  Take Brightburn for example.  This is a film that takes the Superman mythos and flips it over.  What happens when Superman, instead of doing the right thing and fighting for truth and justice, decides to embrace his darker side?  Brightburn is that movie.  While I can’t say that the film works all the time, but it’s anchored by some really strong performances from Elizabeth Banks and David Denman.  The real standout here is Jackson Dunn as Brandon Breyer.  This is a kid that instead of fearing what he is, decides to embrace it in the wrong way.  The film earns its R-rating, make no mistake about it.  It gets pretty gory at times, but the concept and execution are mostly on point.  Brightburn is a unique spin on the superhero genre, and by making it a horror film, it should allow film-makers to take established character stereotypes and run wild with ideas.

While there were other horror movies out there that were released this year, these were the ones that I saw that really impressed me the most.  Well, with December in full swing, I should be wrapping this up with my Best Movies of 2019, hopefully by the end of the month, so stay tuned for that.