Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

You may have noticed that the final Star Wars movie has generated some controversy as well as lots of money. It's been my observation that casual Star Wars fans liked it but many of the hard core fans (those who might own Jedi robes) were upset with it. I think I may have liked The Rise of Skywalker slightly more than The Last Jedi just because there was less Rose Tico who picked up the mantle of Jar Jar Binks in my opinion. I also struggled with Luke's portrayal in the last movie as well as the whole useless side story of sending Finn to the Galactic version of Monte Carlo for no reason.

I felt this movie made some course corrections from the prior installment. You can tell JJ Abrams was back at the Helm and trying to make changes back to how he envisioned the Star Wars universe compared to Rian Johnson's efforts in The Last Jedi. There were definitely some aspects I did not care for like the overkill of having an infinite number of Star Destroyers with planet destroying capabilities. The death star threat is getting old since they've used it in most of the movies. I'm all for a quick pace and lots of action but it felt rushed like they were cramming too much stuff in the movie without enough character and story development. They could have made two final movies like Harry Potter and The Hobbit did for their final installments. If they did, it would not have been so rushed and they would make twice as much money by dragging the movies out a little longer.

One thing this movie had going against it was that fact that we've been spoiled getting Star Wars movies every two years for some time now. I remember how excited everyone was for The Phantom Menace after a 16 year Star Wars fast. That movie had some of the worst dialogue in the entire series yet I was just excited to see Darth Maul and hear the sound of light saber fights so I enjoyed it when it came out. With each subsequent viewing it's flaws became more apparent and it dropped in favor with me. If we had to wait 10 years between these installments I don't think the fans would be so critical of this last movie.

The special effects were great as usual. Overall the Rise of Skywalker was entertaining and was a nice attempt to bring closure to the series, even though I'm sure there will be more prequels, side stories, and future Star Wars movies that are sure to follow.

I give this movie 7.4 stars in honor of the series but I am still confused and unsure of how much I liked it.

Jumanji: The Next Level

Yesterday I took my son to see the new Jumanji sequel. I appreciated how they expanded on the prior story line and made the characters better friends and a little more likable. The plot was a little more complicated with additional characters as well as swapping around their avatars for who we are used to seeing in those roles. I thought the writing was done well but I actually liked Welcome to the Jungle slightly more since it was so fresh and original at the time (Yes I know it was a sequel/remake, but you know what I mean.)

I was impressed with the Rock channeling Danny DeVito so well. I love Dwayne Johnson but it's always nice to see him expand his acting and break his usual mold. Kevin Hart did a great job sounding like and elderly Danny Glover most of the movie, but it also kept him from being able to shine and be his high-energy funny self.

There was also more variety with the setting. They start in the jungle but also have scenes in the dessert and in a snowy climate. This movie was fun and a little more family friendly (cleaner) than the prior one. It is entertaining and has a good cast but it just didn't make me laugh as much as the prior movie did. I still like it and give Jumanji: The Next Level 6.8 stars.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Last week my kids and I watched the first Maleficent movie since it was available on Netflix. The next day we decided to go to the theater to see the sequel Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. I'm not a big fairy tale fan but I was really impressed with the vibrant colors, special effects, costumes, and cinematography,

This movie picks up several years after the first one as Prince Phillip proposes to Aurora who has been living in and reigning over the Moors. The potential joining of the two kingdoms is hard for Maleficent to support since she distrusts humans. She reluctantly accompanies her god daughter to visit the king and queen in their castle for dinner and it does not go well. The movie did a good job of pitting Angelina Jolie against Michelle Pfeiffer who was the real villain of the movie. Oops.

The plot features some additional side stories which made it a little more interesting. This sequel had some shortcomings but I liked it more than the original and really loved the rich colors, creativity, and costumes in the movie. Angelina Jolie was is perfect for the role of Maleficent. I enjoyed this sequel enough to give it 7.1 stars.

Movies from the plane ride

Last week I was travelling from the US to Ghana and had over 26 hours of flight time so I got caught up on some movies I had not seen. Here's a brief summary of how much I enjoyed each one.

Dark Phoenix- This was my least favorite of the four movies I saw and that is sad since I am a big super hero movie fan. I was mostly confused by this movie and could not figure out how it fit into the X-Men timeline. SPOILERS: I assumed it was supposed to be a prequel since it had many of the younger actors who were in the prequels as well as a younger version of Xavier and Magneto yet Mystique gets killed so that had me confused. If this was a sequel, why was everyone young? Anyway Dark Phoenix didn't have the magic of some of the earlier X-Men films. I give it only 6.0 stars.

The Hustle- I love Dirty Rotten Scoundrels so when I heard they were doing a remake featuring a mostly female cast I was looking forward to it. I didn't have huge expectations going in since the original is a masterpiece but I thought Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway were funny and brought a modern take to the story. Being familiar with the original I was looking forward to the details. It was not as good as the original but still had some funny moments. It seemed to end abruptly but it was better than I expected it would be. I give it 6.7 stars.

Alita: Battle Angel- I was not sure if this is based on a video game or comic book so I was clueless about the story. Even though I did not know anything about this movie, I really liked the special effects. It was one of those half real and half CGI movies but it didn't have that creepy and unnatural feel you get watching Polar Express. I was tired while watching this and honestly can't remember how it ended but it had enough entertaining aspects for me to give it 7.1 stars.

Stuber- I do not usually watch rated R movies, but the airplane version of Stuber was heavily edited. It was obvious since they dubbed over most of the swear words. This is a movie about a hardened cop who takes a ride with an innocent Uber driver since he just had an eye procedure and can't see well for 24 hours. He ends up kidnapping him and making him drive for him all day as he fights bad guys. I didn't care too much for Dave Bautista's tough cop portrayal but I thought Kumail Nanjiani was very funny. This movie is not the Godfather but it made me laugh and that's all I look for in a comedy. I know it got bad reviews but I laughed enough to give it 7.2 stars

Movies I've Seen Over the Last 2 Months

I've seen 6 movies since my last post and since I'm too lazy to do a real review for any particular movie, I will give a brief summary and ranking of each of the movies I've seen. I was surprised that they all were all pretty close to each other in the rankings I gave them. I guess I got a better batch than usual. Here they are starting with the lowest to highest ratings.

Hobbs and Shaw- I am not going to call this movie by it's official long name of Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw. What is that some kind of legal requirement they had to list because they lost a lawsuit? Anyway, this movie was entertaining and I was grateful for the comedy aspect of the film since it is helped me relax and not get upset about so many unrealistic aspects of the movie (especially physics.) I love the Rock "Thank you China" but I only give it 6.6 stars.

Aladdin- You've probably noticed the trend of Disney remaking their animated movies into live action versions. I liked Aladdin more than I thought I would. Will Smith did a good job as the Genie and I appreciate that he brought his own style to the character as opposed to trying to imitate Robin Williams. I thought it was a good remake. I give it 7.0 stars.

Spider Man: Far From Home- I have really enjoyed Tom Holland as Spider Man and the latest installment was pretty good but I had a hard time with Jake Gyllenhaall's character. I think he's an amazing actor but it seemed like he didn't really belong in a comic book movie. Despite my nitpicking, it was still pretty good. 7.1 stars.

Lion King- I really liked the Lion King. I felt it was pretty much remade frame for frame for the most part. The main omission was Scar's "Be prepared" song featuring goose stepping hyenas. I wondered how they were going to do bridge that from the animation so it made sense to leave it out. I was blown away with all the attention to detail and how realistic they made the animals look. I give it 7.2 stars.

Yesterday- This was a fun romantic comedy that also bordered on Science fiction. It didn't feature any big name actors but it was well done and quite pleasant. I enjoyed all the Nostalgia around the Beatles songs and it was a clever and enjoyable movie. I give it 7.3 stars.

Downton Abbey- This is not my cup of tea but I took my wife since I know she likes the BBC vibe and since I am such an awesome husband. The movie held my attention better than I thought it would. There were several subplots woven together throughout the movie and they were all resolved nicely by the end of the film. I'm sure fans of the TV series will love it. I give it 7.4 ironic stars since it was the movie I was least looking forward to but was probably done the best.