Movie Review: Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens (PG13 – 135 minutes)

I waited quite a while before writing this review, hopefully everyone has seen it (more than once) by now!  Just in case you haven’t, I’ll keep the majority of the review spoiler-free – then warn you before I decide to get into some more detailed plot points.  I was going to try to stay completely spoiler-free, but it’s so tempting to get into all the depths and mythology of Star Wars, the now-defunct Expanded Universe, and interweaving story lines from various other books and movies when talking about the Force Awakens.  I can’t help it – I love this universe and all the stories in it – so I’m definitely going to mention a few of them!

Let’s pretend you’re completely unfamiliar with Star Wars, here’s your catch up paragraph.  George Lucas wrote the first Star Wars trilogy – Episodes IV, V, and VI (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi) - released in 1977, 1980, and 1983 respectively.  They told the story of Luke Skywalker, a young farm boy who learns that he’s the son of Anakin Skywalker, a once great Jedi Knight who turned against the light side of the Force and embraced the dark Side, becoming Darth Vader, assisting the Empire in spreading tyranny across the galaxy.  Luke teams up with Senator Leia Organa (who is later revealed to be his twin sister), rogue pirate and smuggler Han Solo, his rugged co-pilot the wookie Chewbacca, and two droids, humanoid protocol droid C3PO and astromech R2D2.  Together, they defeat the Empire, and bring peace and justice back to the galaxy – reinstating the Republic and the Senate that governed it – which had been disbanded by the Emperor at the beginning of Episode IV. 

That’s a brief summary, but it covers all the basics. Those three movies were such a huge hit with fans that it created an entire universe of books, toys, TV specials, and comics.  Lucas always had more stories in his back pocket, and in 1999 – released Episode I The Phantom Menace, in 2002, Episode II The Attack of the Clones, and in 2005, Episode III Revenge of the Sith.  That line in the original trilogy explanation about how Anakin Skywalker, once a great Jedi Knight turned against the light side and became Darth Vader?  Well, these three movies explain how that happened. 

This prequel trilogy was not nearly as well received, for many reasons – and while I will try not to get into a huge discussion of that here – I can say that they lacked the heart of the original trilogy.  In many ways, that was due to the story.  While the original trilogy felt familiar and real, due to mostly practical effects and relaxed performances and scrappy characters in a rebellion against a big bad Empire - the prequel trilogy was set during the height of the republic, as opposed to the grittiness of the time after it fell.  The republic at its height was much more formal and reserved.  Now, there was also the issue that almost every effect in the prequels was CGI, or done on green screen – and while the effects were excellent – they did not feel real.  The performances were also much more wooden – mostly likely directed to be that way.   There are parts of the movies that I like – in particular, I loved all the political intrigue – how the Senate was corrupted from the inside, how the Separatists rose up and separated from the Republic – how the clone army came to be to fight against the separatist droid army – and how Senator Palpatine from Naboo organized the entire sequence of events.  Right down to finding the one shatter-point that he could twist into the destruction of the Jedi order in Anakin Skywalker while pretending to be totally trustworthy the whole time.... 

There are, of course, many (many many) things I don’t like about the prequels – but hey, it’s a new year, let’s stay positive! The best thing about them was that they led to the animated Clone Wars Series - Netflix that if you haven't seen it. 

Lucas sold Star Wars to Disney, who promised to make more Star Wars movies, and under the direction of new Lucasfilm head honcho Kathleen Kennedy (thank goodness for Kathleen Kennedy), she found director J.J. Abrams, and they set about bringing us Episode VII – The Force Awakens.

Now, if you’re familiar with the Expanded Universe stories – you know all about Grand Admiral Thrawn, how Han and Leia had twins Jacen and Jaina – how they and their younger brother Anakin trained under Luke at his new Jedi academy and that Luke and his wife Mara Jade had a son named Ben.  You also know that Chewbacca died saving Anakin and many others from the Yuuzhan Vong invasion at Serpindal.  You know that eventually Jacen fell to the dark side and became Darth Caedus, killing Mara – and that Jaina had to track him down and eliminate him.  You know that Jaina Solo was an incredibly strong, powerful female character who had amazing stories, and would have been amazing on screen, especially chasing down her brother after he turned.

When J.J. first started working on Episode VII – the first thing he stated was that he was going to be telling all new stories – and not using anything from the expanded Universe stores.   

The Force Awakens begins with the same familiar crawl of words as all other Star Wars movies – basically they help set up the story, in case we don’t know what happened prior.  We learn that Luke Skywalker is missing, the New Republic is fighting against the First Order which rose out of the ashes of the Empire, and that Leia, now a leader of the Rebellion supporting the republic and fighting the First Order, is desperately searching for Luke – hoping he can assist. 

We are introduced to rebel pilot Poe Dameron as he picks up what seems to be vital information regarding Luke’s whereabouts on the planet Jakku.  Just as he collects what he needs from a mysterious old man, the First Order shows up.  One of the First Order stormtroopers seems to have issues with new villain Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma giving orders to kill everyone in the village.  Poe is captured, but not before he hides the information in his droid, BB8. After interrogating Poe, Ren finds out what he did with the information, but our rogue Stormtrooper, FN2187 (FN stands for Footsoldier Number – or so I’m told), breaks Poe out and together they steal a TIE fighter to head back to Jakku to pick up BB8.  Meanwhile, BB8 has connected with scavenger Rey, a woman who is making her living trading pieces she collects from the crashed ships on Jakku.  

She’s waiting for the family that left her there to come back and get her.  Poe and Finn (as Poe decides to call FN2187 – because that’s not a real name) crash, and Finn – thinking Poe is dead - grabs his jacket– runs into BB8 and Rey.  BB8 recognizes the jacket, and Finn tells them Poe is gone, Rey assumes he’s a resistance fighter, and together, the three of them fly away from Jakku in a local junk ship, which just happens to be the Millennium Falcon. 

Okay – from here on in – spoiler alert – you’ve been warned.  I’m going into plot details!

The Falcon gets picked up by a freighter that is being piloted by legendary smuggler/pirate/scruffy-looking nerf-herder, Han Solo and his co-pilot, Chewbacca.  They learn that Finn and Rey are attempting to get BB8 back to resistance headquarters, and after dealing with a pure action/comedy distraction sequence of two groups of bad guys both trying to collect money from Han – they head to Maz Kanata’s place. 

Maz Kanata is a thousand-year old lady who hangs out in weird cantina that she’s built on beautiful planet.  Maz tells Han to take them to the resistance on his own. Finn is more concerned about evading the First Order (he doesn’t want to go back, and who can blame him?).  Rey feels pulled into Maz’s basement, called by Luke’s lightsaber in a box, and is treated to a force-vision – with lots of images in it that can all be interpreted in multiple ways – so let’s just go with general vision-stuff for now.  She freaks out – and despite the fact that Maz tells her to take the saber, she panics and runs.  The First Order attacks, and Maz tells Finn to take the saber to Rey. 

In the battle, Kylo Ren captures Rey because she’s seen the map, and takes off just as the resistance pilots show up.  Finn has a brief battle with a Stormtrooper who seems to have gear designed to fight against lightsabers (if all the Jedi are gone, why would you have that gear on a Stormtrooper?).  Leia shows up, and Han tells her that their son, Kylo Ren, was there and caused all the destruction.  They all head back to Resistance headquarters, where Finn is happy to find that Poe is still alive, but not nearly as happy as BB8 (did I mention how adorable BB8 is?).  C3PO shows up, still annoying, but pretty funny, and we learn that R2D2 went into ‘lowpower mode’ when Luke disappeared and is non-communicative. 

Ren attempts to interrogate Rey on the ‘Starkiller’ base, a planetoid that drains energy from a nearby star to fire at and destroy multiple planets.  He is unsuccessful, as she begins to realize her own strength in the force. After being commanded to do so by Supreme Leader Snoke, General Hux destroys several republic planets, causing the rebels to decide to take action.  Han, Chewbacca and Finn will land on the base, rescue Rey, and shut down the defense system so that Poe and his pilots can take out the regulator that is holding the weapon together.  

Well, Rey pretty much rescues herself, but runs into Finn and Han when they show up.  They set some explosives just as Han decides to confront Ren – Ren gets really whiny about his struggle, sounding an awful lot like his grandfather when he was young, then impales Han with his lightsaber.  Chewbacca sets off the explosions, and they all run – the pilots start the destruction of the planet, and Finn and Rey encounter Ren in the forest.  He knocks out Finn, but then Rey is able to force-grab Luke’s lightsaber, and duel with Ren.  She gets the upper hand just as the planet begins to pull apart, and Chewbacca brings in the Falcon to pick up she and Finn.  Hux bails on the base, presumably grabbing Phasma and Ren to head back to wherever Snoke is. 

Back at the resistance base, everyone is pretty excited about the victory, but sad about Han.  R2 wakes up, and projects a map with a missing piece, luckily that’s the piece that BB8 has.  Rey takes the Falcon with Chewbacca and R2, and finds an island on an ocean planet – she climbs a whole lot of steps to finally come face to face with Luke and hold his lightsaber out to him.

In my opinion, J. J. did a brilliant job with making this movie feel like the original trilogy.  The majority of the sets and effects are practical, and that really makes a difference.  So much so – that the two CGI characters – Snoake and Maz - really stand out and feel almost cartoon-like.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s noticeable.  The action sequences are great,  the battles are amazing, and the chase sequences are all fun.  The plot is very echo-y of Episode IV, and while many have complained about that, I actually think that’s a good thing.  It feels familiar, but introduces a lot of new.  In terms of the actors, everyone is fantastic.  All the performances feel very natural.

• Harrison Ford is top billed and that is absolutely justified.  This is definitely a Han Solo movie, and he is wonderful.  Han’s death is not really a surprise, after all, Ford has been campaigning for it since 1980 – he felt Han’s should have a hero’s death.  And in this, he’s right, and it works.  It will be a shame not to see him back in the next movie, but he really went out with a bang.

• Carrie Fisher looked amazing, and brings the same determined power to General Leia that she originally brought to Princess Leia.  I especially love how irritated she gets with Han – even when he’s just trying to help.  The two of them have incredible chemistry, and it was wonderful to see them together again.

• Mark Hamill looks great as Luke – even though you only see him for a moment.  In the meantime, keep watching the Flash – I’m sure the Trickster will be back again!

• Lupita Nyong’o did the performance capture for Maz, and again – the CGI is excellent, but she still doesn’t feel as real as she would have had it just been Lupita in some prosthetics and makeup.  But, she’s a fun character, especially when she asks about Chewbacca – “Where’s my boyfriend?”

• Andy Serkis likewise does a great job with Supreme Leader Snoke, but we only see him as a CGI hologram in this movie.  Is he really that big? Or is he much smaller? Will he be CGI when we see him in person?  Who is Snoke? Where did he come from? How did he ‘create’ Kylo Ren? Hopefully we will eventually get some answers for this pile of Snoke questions.

• Domhnall Gleeson plays General Hux – and really, he’s not in the movie much – he just gets an attitude with Ren here and there.  They seem to be in competition for Snoke’s favor. 

• Gwendoline Christie plays Captain Phasma, and I cannot wait to see more of her, mainly because that chrome armor is really nifty.  I do like that you never saw her without the helmet, it made her a little more mysterious.

• Oscar Isaac plays Poe Dameron – the ‘best pilot in the resistance’.  He’s fantastic – super-actiony and a Han Solo-type for a new generation.  I can’t wait to see what adventures he will have from this point on.

• Adam Driver plays Kylo Ren –and there are all kinds of theory and speculation about his backstory and while I’m interested to learn how the boy who used to be Ben Solo becomes the Master of the Knights of Ren, I didn't mind not having those answers yet.  There were a lot of temper tantrums on his end when he didn’t get his way – and while some have complained that made him less threatening, I found them to make sense for his character – which is pretty much a really lost and tortured young man.  I thought he did a great job and made for the beginning of an epic villain – but we’ll see where he goes from here.  And is there any good left in him? Can he be redeemed? Not after killing his father, in my opinion...

• Now – to the two who stole the movie for me – John Boyega is a revelation as Finn.  From the tortured stormtrooper to the fake resistance fighter to the man rescuing his friend – he is above and beyond excellent.  His absolute exuberance in the role shows through at every moment.  There are those who have complained that he’s got too many jokey lines, that he’s too over-the-top.  I disagree.  He’s incredibly watchable, crazy hilarious, and really almost the best thing in the movie.

• Almost – because BB8 is adorable and Daisy Ridley as Rey is the best thing in any movie this year.  She’s strong and powerful, but with no excuse and no reason.  She just is.  In previous Star Wars movies, Amidala and Leia were powerful women, but almost had to be because of their station.  Rey begins as just a scavenger.  She’s just a person on a planet doing what she can to survive.  She steps in to help the larger fight because it’s the right thing to do, and once she begins to come into her power, she does not hesitate to use it to get done what needs to be done.  Ridley’s performance is engaging, straightforward, and wonderful. Her chemistry with Boyega is absolutely real and wonderful.  I wish there was some way to put into words what it means to have a Star Wars movie grounded in a woman this strong – but I think the legions of little girls who want to be Rey will begin to convey how I feel.  When I was a little girl – it was not cool for girls to be into Star Wars, now – Rey makes it beyond cool, and not just for little girls, she’s an action hero for everyone.  I cannot wait to see what she becomes.

Was there anything about it I didn’t like? Honestly, at this point, no – there wasn’t. 
Yes, it follows the same plot points as Episode IV – that doesn’t bother me. 
Yes, it’s filled with jokes – I loved that, it’s really hilarious in moments. 
Yes, R2 only conveniently wakes up with the map to Luke at the end – but in my opinion that makes sense because Luke remotely awakened him when Luke felt the ‘awakening’ in the force of the one who could bring about the re-birth of the Jedi – when Rey starts to come into her power. 
Yes, it did feel like J.J. borrowed a little of the stories from the Expanded Universe – Are Ren and Rey a version of Jacen and Jaina?  It sure feels like it.  Could she be Luke’s daughter?  Is she something else entirely?  I’m not upset at any of those questions, I’m excited I get to ask them, and look forward to learning the answers.

There is one thing.  I feel like I could have used a longer ‘mourning for Han’ sequence from Chewbacca and Leia – a hug between them when they return, etc.  But honestly, it’s probably better that didn’t happen, I would have been a mess! 

11 out of 10 – I loved it, it’s exceptional.  It was everything I wanted and more, and I cannot wait to see the next one!

Here's the SDCC Panel from last summer...

Retro Movie Review: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1976 – PG – 121 minutes)

Star Wars: Episode IV, A New Hope, was released in May of 1977.  I was six months old, and my parents took me to the theater to see the movie because they wanted to see it.  I’m told I behaved very well.  The first toys I remember playing with are Star Wars action figures.  My two younger brothers and I would recreate the movies as well as we could with the figures we had.  We never had a Princess Leia figure – so Spiderman would stand in, because he was the slimmest of the Marvel figures we had.  We attempted to recreate the Rancor battle scene using our toys and some stop-motion work with my dad’s early video camera.  Star Wars to me has always meant family and fun. 

After graduating from USC in 1967, George Lucas released THX1138 which was based on his own student film, then the nostalgia piece American Graffiti.  He then wanted to make a Flash Gordon movie, but couldn’t get the rights.  He then decided to write his own space opera, and in 1973 he began writing “The Star Wars”.

Because Lucas’s first writing included multiple characters and stories, he realized he had to narrow it down to get it to a filmable movie.  He continued to write, and In January 1975 completed a second draft, which he gave to the conceptual artist he hired – Ralph McQuarrie, who created paintings of certain scenes in the story.   The third draft was finished in August of 1975, and was finally picked up by 20^th Century Fox who approved a budget of $8.25 million.  Lucas’s Industrial Light and Magic came into their own as the visual and practical effects company that put together the look of the film – using many models to create the iconic look of the ships and the space battles. Exotic locations were used to enhance the story, which took place in a far away galaxy.

Essentially the plot to the movie is very simple – The galaxy is ruled by the Empire, but there is a rebellion.  The rebels get their hands on the plans to the Empire’s new weapon – As they attempt to get those plans back to their base, the plans end up with an old Jedi and his new young apprentice.   Those two quickly make friends with a couple of space pirates.  Together, they rescue a leader of the rebellion – return the plans to her, she gets the plans back to the Rebel Alliance, and they use the plans to attack the Empire’s new weapon.  That’s really about it for the plot, but it’s the beauty of the story in the glorious details that win over the fans. 

The movie begins with a crawl of words that explain the state of the galaxy; and we learn we are in the middle of the rebellion against the Galactic Empire as we are dropped right into the action. The Rebellion’s ship is being chased by a much larger Imperial Star Destroyer.  The Star Destroyer captures the blockade runner, and the Imperials prepare to board.  We are introduced to humanoid protocol droid C3PO and the trash-can on wheels astromech droid R2D2.  R2 meets with the senator, receives some information – then gets himself and C3PO to an escape pod, leaving just as the ship is captured.

At this point, you have the greatest entrance of any character to any movie of all time as Darth Vader enters the ship.  Remember how you felt the first time you saw that?  He’s huge, dressed all in black, and very quickly establishes his power as he demands the ‘plans’ that the rebels stole.  His Stormtroopers catch Senator Leia Organa of Alderaan, suspected of being a leader in the rebellion and transporting the plans.  She manages to hide them in R2D2 prior to being captured.  

The droids take an escape pod and head down to the nearest planet as Vader takes Leia back to the Death Star for some interrogation by a floating torture droid.  At this point, we learn how excited the Empire is about this new Death Star, and that the Emperor has just disbanded the Senate, and given power to the regional governors to maintain Imperial control.  That one line by Grand Moff Tarkin has all the political knowledge we get in this trilogy.  The prequel trilogy was like 63% politics. The droid doesn’t really work (it’s a floating ball with needles, what were they expecting?) so they decide to destroy her home planet. 

The droids meander around the desert, C3PO complaining as R2D2 looks for ObiWan Kenobi – a former Clone Wars Jedi General who can assist in getting the plans back to Alderaan.  Along the way, the droids stumble into Luke Skywalker, a boy who dreams of joining the rebellion and participating in massive space battles, but is currently stuck drinking blue milk with his aunt and uncle on their moisture farm (how do they harvest it? Where do they sell it?  How do they store it? These questions are never answered). Luke sees part of the message that R2 is carrying for Kenobi, and thinks it might be Ben Kenobi – a hermit who lives in the desert nearby.  After a fight with his uncle about his future, Luke watches the double sun set on Tatooine to the dramatic swells of John Williams’s amazing score – creating an iconic image.  R2 sneaks out, and Luke and C3PO have to head out after him in the morning.

They catch up to him in the Jundland Wasteland, and after an encounter with Tusken Raiders (or Sandpeople), They are rescued by Ben and head back to his place, where Ben attempts to reconcile with the fact that his past has just come looking for him.  He gives Luke a lightsaber – a “more elegant weapon from a more civilized time” and tells him it belonged to his father, who was a great Jedi Knight.  Here you get a brief explanation of the Jedi and the time that has passed – for more details on that, watch the Clone Wars animated series (Netflix that now!).  Ben attempts to talk Luke into coming with him to Alderaan, but Luke is bound by guilty duty to his uncle’s farm.  On the way to get Ben a ride, they quickly learn that Imperial Stormtroopers are tracking the droids, and have killed his Aunt and Uncle.

Luke, having nothing left, heads with Ben and the droids to Mos Eisley (a “Wretched hive of scum and villainy”, perhaps the greatest description of anywhere, ever) to hire a pilot to get them to Alderaan. They spend time in a cantina - with the most random group of aliens and creatures ever assembled. 

They hire pirate, scoundrel, and all-around Indiana Jones-type Han Solo and his co-pilot, the 200 year old Wookie, Chewbacca.  Han gets some brief backstory (Jabba the Hutt has a bounty on his head!) before they all meet up at Han’s ship.  They barely escape some Stormtroopers, and on the flight, C3P0 and Chewbacca play Dejarik while Luke gets some preliminary training from Ben.  Ben then feels Alderaan get destroyed. 

They are pulled into the Death Star – a small-moon sized space station.  Han and Luke dress as StormTroopers, and head out to rescue the princess while Kenobi shuts off the tractor beam.  He then battles Darth Vader, and loses…or did he?  They make it back to Yavin IV – give the plans to General Dodonna, and prep for battle, since the Death Star has tracked them.  Han takes off with his money, Luke gets a ship – and the battle begins.  The Empire gets cocky about their space station, Vader takes off into a small fighter to battle the ships one on one, and Han comes back to provide cover to Luke as he takes the shot that blows up the Death Star. 

The rebels have a huge celebration, and everything is great – everybody gets Medals, except for Chewbacca! 

Until, of course, you have the events of Empire Strikes Back:  Vader gets obsessed with hunting down Luke as The Empire continues to chase the rebels. The movie opens with my favorite sequence of any movie, ever, as the Empire uses large AT-AT walkers to hunt down the rebels on their hidden base on the ice planet of Hoth.  

Luke goes to Dagobah to train with Yoda about how to be a Jedi – Han and Leia fly to Could City, where Han’s old friend Lando accidentally betrays them to Vader who puts Han in carbonite freeze.  Luke jumps the gun on the end of his Jedi training, heads to Cloud City – and loses badly in a fight with Vader – finding out that Vader is his father, and that his father didn’t actually get killed by Vader as Kenobi told him.   The movie ends with Han in Boba Fett’s clutches and Luke and company getting ready to try to rescue him. 

The trilogy ends with Return of the Jedi – the Empire secretly builds another, bigger Death Star and is prepping to wipe out the rebellion, once and for all – because surely it will work this time.  Luke and company rescue Han from Jabba the Hutt – Luke goes to visit a dying Yoda and snaps at the ghost of Kenobi for not telling him about his dad and learns Leia is his twin sister.  Everyone gets back together and they launch a huge plan to shut down the defense shield for the Death Star on the forest moon of Endor while the fighters attack it in space.  Vader and the Emperor attempt to get Luke to join them, but instead, he stays good, convincing Vader to eliminate the Emperor – which eventually leads to Vader’s death.  The rebellion is successful – everyone parties with ewoks as Luke burns Vader’s remains so that his ghost can hang out with Yoda and Kenobi’s ghost.

And now – 38 years later, we will get to learn what happened next.  If you read the EU books, you know there was an accepted storyline that dealt with Han and Leia’s children, Luke’s relationship with Mara Jade, Grand Admiral Thrawn, then the invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong, and the battle between Darth Caedus and the Sword of the Jedi.  When Disney bought Star Wars and announced new movies, all of that history was wiped away, and now we will have new stories.  That’s exciting, but also a little sad for those of us who loved those stories and characters. 

Original trilogy – 15 out of 10.  Okay, that score makes no sense, but it’s the best group of movies made, and the basis for an incredible universe of stories.  If you haven’t watched them in a while – rewatch them, then go see the new one.  They completely hold up, thanks to the amazing mostly practical effects, and great storytelling.  

Bonus - Honest trailer for the original --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsb9ZTmbSKQ 

Bonus 2 - Honest trailer for the prequels....well, parts of them were okay.

Movie Review: The Night Before (R – 1h41min)

This particular group of friends has worked together a lot – and that does make for stronger comedy.  The Night Before feels most similar to This is the End – which if you missed, featured most of this group of friends playing themselves on their way to James Franco’s house party as the world ends - literally. That one too was mostly drug-fueled low-brow comic bits with occasional touching friendship moments.   

Ethan, Isaac, and Chris have been best friends since high school – 14 years ago, Ethan’s parents were killed in a car crash, just before Christmas.  Isaac and Chris resolved that he would never spend Christmas Eve alone, and so for the last 14 years, they have spent Christmas Eve together, doing the same random things.  Well, Chris is now a big-time pro football player, and Isaac is about to have a baby, so they have agreed that this will be the last Christmas Eve that they have this tradition. 

Isaac’s wife is so grateful that he has been so prepared and supportive during the pregnancy that she gives him a little box filled with drugs before he heads out with the guys so that he can have a good time.  Isaac is thrilled with the box, but has been secretly panicking and worrying that he’s not ready for the baby.

Chris has been playing football for a long time, but has suddenly become successful.  We learn that he’s just recently started doing steroids because ‘everyone else is’, but to him it’s worth it, because the top-tier players on his team now know who he is.  He’s feeling a little guilty, and has been avoiding his mother, even though he’s in town for the holiday.

Ethan is still stuck in a rut after losing his parents, he had a great girlfriend who wanted things to take the next step, but Ethan panicked about the commitment, and sabotaged the relationship.  He’s just now beginning to realize that he loves her.

Those are the character traits for the three leads that they must deal with throughout the course of the night.  As they start the night, they being their normal traditions, however, their buried issues start coming up as they run into Ethan’s ex and her friend, Isaac gets way too high, and Chris gets sidetracked by trying to find weed for his quarterback on the way to a secret Christmas party.  It again is mostly drug-fueled low-brow comic bits with occasional touching friendship moments.  

Honestly the movie is exactly what you think it is.  Directed by Jonathan Levine, who previously did 50/50 and Warm Bodies, it’s certainly well-done, and parts are really funny.  Much of the comedy is improvised, which pays off well when you have actors that know and like each other in real life.  However, as with most of the movies by this crew, the female characters are barely two dimensional, which is a shame, because they have some really great comediennes in the movie.  Also – the drug use is almost constant and without any repercussion.  But, in the end, the three work through their issues, and each of them grows a little bit.  They reevaluate and strengthen their friendship throughout the course of the night, and there are some touching moments. 

• Joseph Gordon-Levitt is another young actor who undoubtedly has an Oscar in his future. He’s very good as the stationary Ethan.  JGL is able to take a character that could be fairly unlikeable (he’s really stuck in the past and a little stalker-y to his ex) and turn him into a sympathetic character who we really want to see turn his life around by the end of the movie.  Honestly, without JGL’s likability, this character could have been really annoying! 

• Seth Rogen plays Seth Rogen – he has some truly funny moments, especially the scene you’ve seen in all the commercials where he ends up at Midnight Mass with his wife and her family after doing much of the drugs she put in the box for him. 

• Anthony Mackie goes all out as football star Chris Roberts, whose social media game is “on point”.  He gets some really funny moments as he desperately tries to get the quarterback to like him.

• One of the biggest losses the movie has is that it cast Jillian Bell as Betsy, Isaac’s wife, and gives her almost nothing to do – she absolutely stole 22 Jump Street – and it’s a shame that they don’t give her anything insane in this movie.  She’s wonderful as Isaac’s supporting wife, but I found myself wishing she was able to get into some hijinks of her own.

• Lizzy Caplan is certainly capable as Diana – Ethan’s ex.  I do have a major issue, but again – it’s with the writing, not her.  More on that later!

• Mindy Kaling is also criminally underused.  Whether or not you watch the Mindy Project (and you probably should – it’s hilarious), you can agree she’s an amazing comedian – it’s a shame to have her just as the ‘ex’s best friend’.  It gives her nothing to do aside from fighting with Isaac for James Franco’s affections – seriously.  Franco gets to play himself with the volume turned way up - I hope it's turned up and that's not really how he is!

• Ilana Glazer is one of the female comics who actually gets some funny scenes – she’s one half of the team behind Broad City – and she brings some raunchy Grinch-iness to this movie as she seduces Chris and steals the weed he procured for his beloved quarterback.

• Michael Shannon plays the guys’ weed dealer – Mr. Green and he steals this movie.  He’s creepy (he’s always creepy) and hilarious!  He helps each guy realize what their issues are and what they need to do to overcome them.  The weed dealer is the conscious of the movie? Sheesh.

It's genuinely funny - and really well put together.  If you enjoy these guys in anything else - you will love this movie.  It’s a hard R because of the language, the excessive drug use and some pointless nudity.  My biggest issue, and really it’s probably not a surprise considering the performers and writers ( I say this with all their movies) is the lack of strength in the female characters.  At this point, I should accept it and stop complaining about it - but I can't help it - especially when they cast such talented ladies!  The one thing that upset me in particular is that Diana (and her friend) encounter the guys at the karaoke bar early on, and they learn they are all going to the same secret party.  Overcome with guilt at ending their relationship and spurred on by Miley Cyrus (never take advice from Miley Cyrus) Ethan suddenly proposes to Diana on stage at the party.  

Diana says yes, because she’s surrounded by people, but as soon as they get a moment alone, she lets him know that it’s not fair to propose to her like that when they’ve been separated for months.  She tells him that she’s not ready to marry him, because after all, when she wanted to move to a stronger commitment, he backed out of the relationship.  The next morning – he shows up at her parent’s house to tell her he’s still in love with her.  Now, this is great for a movie – but in real life – that is so incredibly inappropriate and uncomfortable and really stalker-y.  But, hey – rom-com rules apply here, and instead of being exceptionally creeped out that this maniac proposed to her then followed her to her parents’ house, she’s charmed and invites him in to meet her parents (which he had refused to do when they were dating).   The movie justifies it by having Diana state that she did miss him and went to the karaoke bar and the party because she knew that Ethan would be there.  I guess that makes it okay?  It just really made me uncomfortable – but I’m going to assume that’s just me, and again – while it would be weird in real life – it works just fine as a happy ending to the movie.

6 out of 10- Gained points for the happy ending – lost points for the reason listed above – gained points for Michael Shannon’s performance, also simultaneously gained and lost for Tracey Morgan.

Bonus Video 1 – The guys on Lip Sync Battle – hilarious!

Bonus Video 2 – If you want an excellent JGL rom-com – check out (500) Days of Summer

Bonus Video 3 – cast interviews

Movie Review: Hunger Games: MockingJay pt. 2 (PG13 – 137 minutes)

Well, finally.  We’ve reached the end of the Hunger Games saga.  What started as three books written by Suzanne Collins (first one published in 2008) has finished as four films.  I felt about the movies the same way I felt about the books – I liked the first one, and they went progressively downhill from there.  Yes, they were YA (young adult) novels, just like the Divergent, Twilight, and Mortal Instruments books.  As an aside, have you started writing your YA novels yet? You probably should, chances are you’ll get them made into movies.  The trailer for the next one was already in front of this most recent Hunger Games movie – the 5^th Wave.

To sum up the Hunger Games story to this point (sticking just with the movies), in the first movie, Katniss Everdeen is a headstrong young woman living in a post-apocalyptic North America consisting of 12 districts ruled by a wealthy capitol who spends her time illegally hunting with her buddy/romantic interest Gale to provide food for her younger sister Primrose and slightly out-of-it mother who hasn’t been the same since she lost their father.

Every year, the capitol hosts the Hunger Games, where one boy and one girl from each of the 12 districts fight to the death in a deadly, carefully-crafted arena as the fight is broadcast to everyone in PanEm.  Basically it’s to remind the districts who is in charge.  Well, Katniss’s little sister gets picked as tribute for district 12, and Katniss can’t allow that, so she volunteers as tribute.  She and Peeta Mellark, the male tribute from 12, suddenly get whisked away to be pampered and prepped to participate.  They get a little training, and a little hoopla – and come up with the plan to play to the audience with a fake love story to help them survive.  In the process, Katniss decides all this is nonsense, and makes an enemy of the President of PanEm, President Snow.  She breaks the rules to ensure that either both she and Peeta survive, or both she and Peeta die – well, since it is being broadcast, and all of PanEm has fallen for their faked love story – they are allowed to live, but Snow is not happy with her.

In Catching Fire – Katniss’s act of rebellion has started to cause folks in the other districts to rise up against Capitol Peacekeepers here and there – what with her stoic hand signals and catchy whistling she picked up from Rue.  People suddenly start to realize they don’t want to give their kids up to death games and start pushing back on the capitol.  Annoyed, Snow enacts the ‘Quarter Quell’, meaning that from all previous Hunger Games champions, one male and one female from each district is chosen to go back to the arena to fight.  Since Katniss is the only female champion in 12, she knows what’s up – Snow is trying really hard to get her dead to quash the rising rebellion.  Well, she heads back in, and sure enough – she lives through most of it again – being airlifted out at the end, as Peeta is captured by the capitol.  Who knows what dastardly things Snow will do to him (and who cares?)?!

In MockingJay part 1 (because we need to squeeze as much money out of the fans as we can, so of course the last movie is split in two) we find that Katniss is being cared for in the mysterious district 13, which was not wiped out complete as the capitol said.  There, under the watchful eye of Rebellion President Coin, she is groomed as the MockingJay – the figurehead of the rebellion.  They shoot a bunch of propaganda films with Katniss to send out to PanEm to fire up the already angry citizens.  Meanwhile, Snow brainwashes Peeta, and uses him to make his own propaganda films, badmouthing Katniss.  The rebels mount a rescue, and Peeta gets brought back to 13, where he promptly attempts to choke Katniss to death.

That brings you up to speed for Mocking Jay part 2 – now, admittedly, that does skip several important details, like who the other champions are, who the gamemakers are, who’s leading this rebellion, and who’s working for Snow.  If you haven’ t read the books but liked the movies – I recommend the books, they have more details, and are quick reads.  Spoiler-alert from this point forward.

This one begins with Katniss being treated for a sore neck after Peeta’s attempted choking.  She checks in with Peeta, and he’s fighting through his brainwashing, but not really there yet.  She recovers enough to attend Finnick and Annie’s wedding - which was similar to the Bill/Fleur wedding in the last Harry Potter – in the books it’s a big deal because you’ve spent a lot of time with these characters, but a lot of that was glossed over in the movies, so the wedding loses a little meaning.  She tells Johanna that she’s going to kill Snow – enough with all this messing around.  She sneaks off to the front line (because while she’s been making propaganda films, others were out there fighting).  Once she arrives, she’s assigned to a unit – but since Coin caught wind of her attempt to sneak out, her unit is Gale and her camera people again, so they can continue to use her as media.  Her mission has been changed from single-stealth-assassin mission to last-unit-broadcast mission.

She and Gale conspire to leave the group so she can kill Snow, but then they encounter some Pods – it seems Snow has had the Hunger Games gamemakers install various things around the capitol that have very unique and deadly tricks here and there to prevent people from getting through.  They lose a few folks in a tar-based wire-stabby pod, and Coin sends them Peeta, because that will look good on film?  Or just cause friction between Katniss and Gale? Or just make everything more difficult?  In any case, he’s still not operating at top level, and flips out from time to time. Eventually, she and Gale make it through to just outside the President’s compound because he’s invited all of the capitol residents to come there for safety – there are some explosions, so the Peacekeepers tell everyone to pass their kids forward, to get the kids in the compound first.  Medical personnel are running in to help them – including Katniss’s sister Prim.  Now, this is a bit sudden – but it happens like that in the book too – Prim’s been working toward being a doctor, so she’s dropped on the front line of the battle when medical folks are needed.  Suddenly, a capitol plane flies overhead, bombing the compound, and taking out the kids, and everyone in that area who was helping. 

Katniss wakes up again, learning Prim is dead and once the capitol saw Snow bomb their kids – they helped overthrow him.  Coin has Palpatine-d herself into the Presidency (“Things are a bit dicey right now, so I’ll go ahead and take charge until we have the time for a full vote” – sure lady, sure.).  Katniss wanders around to find that Snow is being held captive in his greenhouse – he tells her Coin was the one who bombed the kids/Prim, which causes Katniss to get angry on a new level.  She cuts Gale out of her life, realizing that was one of his plans that Coin decided to use.  Not really his fault – but hey, she’s pretty angry.  She gets summoned by Coin to a meeting with all the surviving Hunger Games Champions – apparently Peeta is almost back to normal.  Coin – get this – wants to reinstate the Hunger Games to keep the Capitol people in line, she asks the champions to vote.  Katniss – get this – agrees with her, but mainly because she’s hatching a plot in her head – she demands to be the one to execute Snow, which Coin grants.

As Katniss is walking very slowly down the ‘avenue of champions’, Coin gives a big time speech about being united and working together, and that Snow is going to be punished.  Katniss walks up, and gets her arrow ready, then suddenly shoots Coin instead of Snow – the people rush forward and tear Snow limb from limb, and once again – Katniss gets taken away.  The people get to vote on their new leader, and Plutarch Heavensbee  sends her a letter, letting her know he’s not surprised, but proud of her.

The story ends with PanEm rebuilding as Katniss heads back to District 12 to retire.  Peeta ends up there too, and the two of them end up with two kids as the movie ends.  In the book, there is a line where she says that she eventually learns to love Peeta - how's that for settling?

This movie, like the previous two, was directed by Austrian director Francis Lawrence who had also done Constantine, I Am Legend, and Water for Elephants.  It explains why the weird sewer ‘mutts’ in this movie look like the demons in Constantine, which also look a little like the creatures in I Am Legend.  

In any case, he does a fine job – the few action scenes are very good, and certainly keep you on the edge of your seat.  The problem is that there are just not enough of them.  The majority of the movie is very slow and talky.  Not his fault – it stays very true to the book.  There’s not much to say about the cast, they’re the same they’ve been for all the movies:

• By this time, Jennifer Lawrence’s could probably play Katniss in her sleep, and for some scenes it seems like she is.  Not an issue, that’s what is expected from Katniss in this movie.  She’s tired, frustrated, desperate, and desolated in this particular story.  There is no happiness for Katniss – even in the epilogue, she seems resigned rather than happy.

• Josh Hutcherson does a good job playing Peeta – good enough that every time he kept insisting that he was a danger to the group and they should leave him behind, I agreed.  He’s been my least favorite character from the start – certainly not Hutcherson’s fault, in fact, I would say he does a great job with what he’s given.

• Liam Hemsworth plays Gale, and as much as they tried to sell it as a love triangle, it never really was.  Katniss is never as into Gale as he is into her.  Gale is committed to the revolution and shifts to being a soldier first, and he’s never really developed as much as he could be. 

• Woody Harrelson plays the only former district 12 champion, Haymitch. He was reluctant to train Peeta and Katniss at the beginning, but now has grown to be a great friend to them.  Harrelson is also responsible for a favorite part of mine in the movie, when he says goodbye to Elizabeth Banks’s Effie, the kiss he gives her was improvised by Woody.  It was a genuine and sweet moment that I’m grateful they left in!

• Just a quick follow up on Elizabeth Banks – Effie has gotten back some of her awesome outfits in this movie – and I have to say that she’s been one of the most interesting characters in the series.  She could have been written off as a ditzy capitol stooge, but Banks gives her layers of kindness to show she really cares about her charges and what happens to them.

• Donald Sutherland is always a fantastic villain and he nails the oozing evil that is Snow.  I especially enjoyed the glee he has as he gets to tell Katniss that it was Coin who betrayed her.

• The late Philip Seymour Hoffman had already shot some scenes as Plutarch Heavensbee, so those were no issues – having him send a letter to Katniss instead of visiting her in person at the end was a fitting send-off.  There were a few times where he was noticeably CGIed into a scene, but they weren’t too bad.

• Julianne Moore brings a very cold decisiveness to President Coin.  She’s all grays and lifelessness.  She wants her rebellion to succeed at any cost, and will not hesitate to use anyone to get there.
• Willow Shields plays Prim, and her death in the movie is just as quick and sudden as it was in the book.  I always felt that was unfair– she was the reason her sister volunteered – the whole point of these books -  I always felt she should have a hero’s death, and honestly, it basically happens off-screen.

• Sam Claflin plays Finnick, he’s basically there to help Katniss out, and keep her motivated on her path. 

• Mahershala Ali plays Boggs, who starts to believe in Katniss – even when she wants to go against the orders he was given by Coin.

• Jena Malone plays Johanna, and while there’s not much of her in this movie, she’s pretty badass for the moments she has.

• Jeffrey Wright very briefly shows up as Beetee again.  Not much else to say there, he really has nothing to do in this one.  At least in the last one he got to make Katniss some fancy arrows.
• There was some pre-movie marketing stating that Gwendoline Christie (Captain Phasma and Lady Brianne of Tarth from GOT) was in this movie, and let me tell you – what a huge waste of an amazing lady.  She gets one scene, the one they show in the commercials. 

I gave the first movie an 8, the second an 8 (should have maybe been a 7) and the third a 6.  Like I said, they get progressively less interesting, as Katniss becomes more and more of a pawn in other people’s games.  In this one she starts to reclaim part of her own destiny, but never really comes into it.

7 out of 10 – certainly entertaining in parts – but I still like the first one the best.  I’ll bump this one up a bit.  Gained points for the tar-wire trap, scary.  Lost points for Peeta being so annoying.  Gained points for Katniss shooting Coin in cold-blood at the end; Lost points for that being the only thing Katniss is able to do to on her own.

Bonus Video 1 –How the Hunger Games Should Have Ended

Bonus Video 2 Cast Interviews…