My expectations were middling going into it. I’d heard from other reviews and people who have seen it that it was good. But where does that fall into the mix of being a good movie critically and mainly just a popcorn flick? Let’s take a look, there might be some spoilers but minimal.

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves – Plot

Edgin wants a simple life of doing what is right. Well, maybe not that simple as he throws in his lot with a group called the Harpers. He is partly tasked with keeping bad folks off the streets and then taking artifacts or things too dangerous to be in the world or at least the people’s hands who have them. However, that all goes wrong when his wife is killed by one of the evil groups he’s dealt with.

Forsaking his Harper vows he tries to lead a good life for his daughter but without his anchor falls into drink and depression. Things do get better when he gets someone who helps him through the process. But good things don’t last when he finds of a chance to get his wife back but is betrayed by someone in his own party. So breaking out of prison, how does he get his life back, wife back, and now daughter back, when everything has been taken from him?

Thoughts

Firstly, this is very much a popcorn flick. I tried to tease that it might be more but it’s really not. You sit down and watch it to get a lighter fantasy story with Dungeons and Dragons tropes mixed in. Now, aren’t those the same as fantasy, some of them, but generally how they are done is going to be different.

Use of Dungeons and Dragons

And that’s really the highlight of this movie. It could have easily juts been generic fantasy. They could have picked some random fantasy script slapped Dungeons and Dragons on the marquee and called it good. But that is not what this movie is. They spend a lot of time to make sure that it feels like Dungeons and Dragons, and not just that but to make sure they get it right.

That detail is going to be lost on some people. If you don’t know Dungeons and Dragons it’ll seem like a slightly different fantasy. It’ll still be a popcorn flick, but it will be missing some of that heart. When you play Dungeons and Dragons, or know it fairly well, it’ll feel like Dungeons and Dragons.

The Story

I think the story is where it really can start to drive in that Dungeons and Dragons feel. Things like the monsters, and some jokes about intelligence help, but to make it really feel, the story needs to feel like that too. So what does that even mean?

In a Dungeons and Dragons campaign you often go from one quest to another. Mainly think one set piece to another. Where you interact with some of the story, find new characters and fight something. That works well in a campaign at home because everyone is directly involved in the story.

On the flip side, it often doesn’t work well in movies or books which are meant for a longer sitting but also need a specific end. In Honor Among Thieves, though, it works. Why, because it matches the light tone. You expect them to go and get a random thing. How the party comes together makes sense even though it’s a random(ish) group. It isn’t as tight and nice a story as you want in a lot of movies, but it helps give it the Dungeons and Dragons feel.

But, and this will be a negative for some, it also has a Marvel feel to it. It has that super hero feel in some of the fights or moments where everything comes together. For me, this isn’t a major issue, but it definitely tries to lean on what is successful to find it’s success.

The Acting

Finally, let’s talk about the acting. Mainly because this is an interesting mixture in the cast. You have bigger names like Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, and Hugh Grant in the movie. But then you have lesser known talent to pair with them like Rege-Jean Page, Sophia Willis, Justice Smith, and Daisy Head. It’s an interesting combination of talents playing in main roles.

But that combination works well. I think they did a good job casting the characters so that they made sense for their roles. With a niche in a a niche genre of fantasy, you need a few bigger names, but also it’s nice that it’s not just big names so that you can enjoy what everyone is doing, not just have an actor who is in it for a paycheck. Yes, they all are, but the up and coming or lesser known all need to do well. And even with the more established, they do a good job of putting in effort.

Who Is It For?

Great question on this one, I think for a lot of people this is going to be a fun popcorn flick. In fact, I don’t think that many people are going to watch it and think that it sucks. But it isn’t also going to be one that people are seeking out.

I put it in that camp of people will often stop and watch The Fifth Element when that is on television. But is it a movie people seek out? I feel like it isn’t. That is a good thing, it’ll have staying power. It is also a bad thing, because people will wait on it.

Final Thoughts – Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

This is a movie that I really enjoyed. Is it great, no, but it is a ton of fun. And that is what I wanted in that movie. And the big thing is that it gets it right. I don’t mind movies taking liberties with the story it’s adapting. But with Dungeons and Dragons I am glad that they kept it close to the source materials.

It could have gone more generic with a fewer nods. But it does a good job of building on an really open world of Dungeons and Dragons. It leans into the source material so it stands out like it should. And they tell a true story to the source materials.

My Grade: B+
Critical Grade: C
Fun Grade: A

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Bob’s Burgers Movie – The Plot

The plot is pretty standard to that of the show. Bob and the restaurant are in trouble. They need money, as normal, not to pay Mr Fischoeder but so that they can pay the bank. Time is running out on them and then a sink hole opens up in front of their place.

Will they be able to get the money in time when one is coming to their restaurant? And what will the kids find down in the sink hole that is going to add even more to the drama of the movie?

What Doesn’t Work?

Firstly, I think the animation only kind of works for this. They make the animation better, there is a bigger budget so why wouldn’t they. But part of the charm of Bob’s Burgers is that it isn’t all shiny, it doesn’t try and be 3D and have a ton of depth to it. The movie does, and as a fan of the show, it just feels different. It’s not a massive negative and I got over it quickly while watching, but there are times where it just feels off because of that.

The plot, for me is also just okay. Now, this is another minor negative. The negative piece about it is not that the plot isn’t fun, but it is generally an episode feeling plot stretched out over a full movie. It might really be three episodes squished together around different things. I won’t go into detail as to not spoil anything, but the plot should be better for something that is longer and needs more plot than an episode.

What Works?

The characters, as always in Bob’s Burgers the characters work. And with more time to shine they still work well. Each of them is given a moment to shine and a moment to show off what makes them who they are. Which, I appreciate as it helps fill in for the gaps in the plot by reminding you about the character.

The jokes also still work well in the movie. They take what works well in the show for the likes of Tina, Louise, Gene, and really all the characters we see, and run with them. That means you have a lot of good laughs while watching it because of absurd things that are done. They don’t up the ante on the jokes too much, but they manage to get a lot into the movie.

Who Is It For?

If you like Bob’s Burgers you are going to like this. If you don’t like Bob’s Burgers you likely won’t like this. I don’t think it does that much different from the show, just longer. That is a downside to it, it isn’t going to bring in new viewers. Granted, that isn’t a bad thing, it is made for the fans of the show.

Final Thoughts – Bob’s Burgers Movie

This movie neither wowed me or disappointed me. It is really just a longer Bob’s Burgers episode made into a movie. It’s a bit shinier, didn’t need to be, but everything that I love about the show is there. Still, when I think about it, I would watch it again, but not often. It is an episode but just one that is harder to sit down and watch.

In the end, I think I just wanted a bit more. I wanted it to feel like Bob’s Burgers but bigger, and I don’t feel like it is that much bigger. There is more song and dance, but even that is a regular thing on Bob’s Burgers. I’m not sure what they could or should have done to make it feel bigger, I just wish it had.

Have you had a chance to checkout the movie? Let me know your thoughts on it down in the comment section below.

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Black Widow Spoilers Ahead

As that says, there are going to be spoilers ahead of this film. If you are interested in seeing, I suggest going to a theater to see it, if you can, or checking it out over on Disney+ with their premiere access. That should give you some idea if I like it, but you can make that determination yourself.

The Plot

The Black Widow, it has a pretty straight forward plot. In the movie, we start immediately after the events of Civil War and the battle at the German airport. Black Widow is on the run and using some of her contacts to find a place to lay low. She finds a spot, but a delivery of mail from her old safe house in Budapest brings unwanted attention from the Taskmaster and the Red Room. This is because Yelena, who was under a drug induced mind control by the Red Room was given a drug that caused her to break free.

Black Widow goes to Budapest where she teams up with Yelena. Natasha finds out that when she was there last time and she thought she took down the red room, she hadn’t. The man she’d been trying to kill, to prove her loyalty to SHIELD, Dreykov had survived. And he was still running the Red Room and the widow program.

Yelena and Natasha go to Siberia to break their “father”, who had played their father when they were undercover in the US, out of prison. Alexei, the Red Guardian, was the Soviet’s answer to Captain America. Their own super soldier. He, unfortunately doesn’t have any connection to the Red Room anymore. But he knows that their mother from their time undercover, Melina, likely does.

They go to her, she does indeed and that gets them into the Red Room. Though, not the way that they had planned, being captured, instead, by the agents of Dreykov. However, it turns out that Natasha and Melina had hatched out a plan. They swapped faces, and Natasha was able to get her revenge and take down the Red Room. Along the way finding out that Taskmaster was Dreykov’s daughter, whom she had used to find Dreykov and thought she’d killed originally in Budapest.

What I Didn’t Like

Now, that was a pretty long winded recap. Normally I sum this up better, especially for something that has a straight forward plot, but I wanted to explain things up there for the plot, versus down in what I did and didn’t like.

The main thing that I didn’t like was the use of Taskmaster. There is little to no reason that Taskmaster needed to be turned into a cyborg, basically, or that they even needed Taskmaster for the plot. Natasha has enough past trauma to go through with taking down the Red Room to get closure that you don’t need a notable villain besides Dreykov. And then Taskmaster ends up getting deprogrammed and set free. But what does that even look like? She isn’t going to behave like a normal person in the real world.

But, honestly, that’s about it that I didn’t like. Now, keep in mind, I am talking about likes and didn’t like, not good, bad and average. Average is going to be everything else.

What I Liked

I thought that Florence Pugh was amazing in this. Her portrayal of Yelena really worked and she was the main reason to watch this movie. And with the end credit scene, is the main reason to have watched this movie. She just worked really well as a jaded figure who was out of the Red Rooms control, but doesn’t know how to live. Yelena is a good counter point to Black Widow. She is fairly jaded with everything, and harbors resentment but now has new freedom.

And then that End Credits scene. Florence Pugh is going to be showing up in the Hawkeye TV show. So it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out. Clearly going to be a continuation of that end credit scene. Also, this was supposed to be the first time we met Val. I actually think it works much better that we met Val in Falcon and the Winter Soldier before we met her here. It gives us more context for her and makes this scene play better.

I also like David Harbour as the Red Guardian. He was mainly there for comic relief and to do a bit of fighting. But that worked for the film. It needed someone who could help balance out what would have been a very serious and dark movie. Marvel does a good job of adding characters who help keep their films from diving too dark, which I like. A good superhero movie should have that balance, because the comics have that balance, at least from Marvel and DC.

Finally, I liked the balance that it got. This is the type of spy action film that I want. Now, I know I’m in the minority, but I felt like the previous Marvel attempt, Captain America: Winter Soldier, got caught being half a spy movie and half a superhero movie and not doing either amazingly well. This is more of the spy action movie that I like. Now, I know that people will disagree, but for me, that’s how I feel about it.

Black Widow Final Thoughts

Like I said before the spoilers started, this is a movie that is very much worth checking out. The action is really good throughout. I feel like it has some Bond elements to it. It actually has some direct parallels to Moonraker. A Bond Film that I haven’t seen in a long time, if ever. But now I want to watch it. The action is really good and it balances that level of humor and seriousness really well. I am excited to see more Yelena in the MCU.

This, isn’t a Top 10 Marvel movie for me, but probably Top 15. And I really only have a three or four that I don’t think are good movies. So Top 15 is a really enjoyable movie still. Where does it rank in the Marvel movies for you?

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Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure

Bill and Ted are two high school students who want nothing more than to take the world by storm with their band, the Wyld Stallyns. However, they are almost failing history, and if that happens, Ted is going to be sent to military school. Rufus, a man from the future, comes to the past to save them and give them the push they need to save reality.

Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey

Back again Bill and Ted are just middling musicians and Wyld Stallyns hasn’t taken off, there’s a chance, however, as they get into Battle of the Bands. But things change again when more future people come back and Bill and Ted’s life changes most drastically. Will Bill and Ted be able to get to the battle of the bands and save the world?

Bill & Ted Face the Music

Life still hasn’t gone right for Bill and Ted. Things were going well for the Wyld Stallyns after the battle of the bands, and they had played the Grand Canyon, but that fame didn’t last and they still hadn’t figured out the song that was going to unite the world across all of space and time. And their wives and relatives are having trouble seeing the big picture. Their daughters still believe in them, but when the future begins to doubt them, will they be able to save all of reality?

Thoughts on the Films

This is an extremely silly series of films, with a lot of 80’s and early 90’s feel to it even in the film, Bill & Ted Face the Music, that came out this year. I think that makes the series work well enough. The first two are extremely entertaining, I think that it works as a series that makes little to no sense, and does some very fun things. The third one has a little bit of a different pattern to the ending, but one that works well, as well, though not really any sort of surprise to it. But they keep a similar feel to the jokes throughout all three of the films, and it works in all of them.

Bill and Ted are both very entertaining characters in these films, and the fact that they have a lot of the same talent throughout the whole thing is really interesting. They do recast a few of the characters between films, but a lot of the key players remain the same. The fact that Missy is played by the same actress throughout is a lot of fun, and kind of hilarious how they weave that story throughout the whole thing.

I do think that in order of best to worst is the order that they came out. That isn’t a knock against Bill and Ted Face the Music as much as it is a comment on how solid the first two are. They really hit the right notes for the comedy and I think that Bill and Ted Face the Music is good at hitting those notes, but can at time fall into a different type of sophomoric humor than the previous two installments. And a lot of that is just because of how much time has passed between the first two installments and the third as well, it doesn’t flow as well with the actors.

Final Thoughts

The whole of the three films are very entertaining and definitely worth checking out. They definitely need to be watched in order otherwise they won’t make any sense, so I’d skip just going for the latest and greatest. I do wonder how much I’ll rewatch Bill & Ted Face the Music, but I know that I’ll watch the other two again for sure. They definitely did a solid job, though, for taking something that has been a cult classic for a long time and giving it a fitting sequel. Definitely a trilogy of sophomoric films with a interesting twist to watch.

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Sonic The Hedgehog is the story of, well, Sonic The Hedgehog. He is sent via a ring portal to Earth to hide his awesome speed from those on his home planet. But he obviously can’t help but run in the shadows, because that’s what Sonic does, he runs. Things go awry when an incident occurs and attention is drawn to something weird being in the area where he lives. He needs to then go to another world, but because of an accident, he doesn’t have his rings anymore so he can’t transport, will he get them in time or be found out.

I think the first thing to talk about in this film is Jim Carrey. This film isn’t carried by Jim Carrey, but this is the Jim Carrey from the likes of The Mask, Ace Ventura, and Liar Liar. Everything is over the top, exaggerated, and really what is needed for this film. Jim Carrey going full Jim Carrey helps out this film as he makes a wonderful Dr. Robotnik. Ben Schwartz then voicing Sonic is great, and James Marsden is a wonderful foil as a trusting character, but also kind of that exasperated “why is this happening to me” role in this film. There are other good characters in this film, Adam Pally as Wade, Tika Sumpter as Maddie, and Lee Majdoub as Agent Stone all really round out what turned out to be a solid cast for something that doesn’t have the biggest names, after Jim Carrey, and is a kids film.

Let’s talk a little bit about that, this is 100% a kids film in the best way. There are three types of kids films in my opinion, there are kids films that are only for kids and nothing really for adults, there are kids films that have jokes for kids and adults, and there are kids films that have poop jokes. This in that middle group. The jokes that they give, especially to Jim Carrey, paired with his overly exaggerated movements work well. The jokes will hit on word play for adults and the movements and delivery will still be funny for the kids. All of this while not pandering to a more adult sense of humor. It doesn’t do veiled innuendo for jokes, because eventually, and probably too early kids will figure those out. So this will be a film that can stand on it’s own for a while.

As for the story itself, it’s simple enough. They do a little bit of clever stuff with the rings, but nothing that is too surprising or too much of a twist, which I think is how it should be. Again this is a kids film, it should tell a straight forward story and it most certainly does that. But that isn’t to say that this is a boring story. They do a good job with everything that is going on to make entertaining. There are obviously a lot of moments of humor, but there are moments of emotion, and some fun ideas played around with in this movie. They don’t shy away from emotions in the male characters which is nice as well. The story is just a well enough done straight forward story for a light and fun film, anything more would feel like a lot for it anyways, and it isn’t a that dumb a story either, which a lot of kids films can be.

Finally, let’s talk about the hedgehog in the room, how does the new Sonic look? I mentioned the initial trailer where his body was just weird, and his teeth were flat out creepy. The new Sonic in this look amazing! He looks like he has stepped out of a video game, which is exactly what he should look like. But he doesn’t also then look out of place with everything else. Some of that is Dr. Robotnik also being very over the top as well, on a person. I think they did an amazing job of blending everything together and making it work well in the film. The special effects are nice, and sonic really never looks out of place, which is impressive for them completely rebuilding him after that first trailer.

So, overall, I’ve talked about this film generally in a positive light. And I don’t really think I have a negative for it. This is a good film. It isn’t an amazing film by any means, but it’s a ton of fun for adults, and I’m guessing it’s a ton of fun for kids as well, just with how it played out. There really aren’t any massive weaknesses to it. That said, this is a kids film, I firmly believe that unless you like goofy humor and word play, this will just be a meh film for you. But if you have kids, this is going to be better than a dumb kids film or one that has “hidden adult jokes and if you like word play, Jim Carrey does a good job with it. Definitely one worth checking out, and I don’t know if it’ll get a sequel, but it should.

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Crimson Peak is the story of Edith Cushing, an aspiring author, who has her world turned on it’s head through a series of tragic events and the introduction of a mysterious stranger, Thomas Sharpe. Falling in love with him, she returns to the family manor and clay mines which had brought them to her town and her father in the first place. Things aren’t going well there, the manor is falling apart and Thomas’ sister Lucille is not welcoming of her. Then, she starts to see ghosts who are wandering the manor and tormenting her. Something is very much not as it seems, but can she find out in time?

Guillermo Del Toro is a master of a beautiful aesthetic, and this film is no different. Everything is shot amazingly for a nice creepy factor but still has almost a haunting beauty to it. The manor is amazingly done, and the aesthetic even before and just the costuming makes everything stand out in this film. The horrific elements even have what is an interesting aesthetic to them and are almost beautiful in their own way.

But, for me, I don’t know that was enough to save the film. I liked the acting in the film, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, and Mia Wasikowska do a good job in this film. I think that Jessica Chastain in a lot of ways steals the show, though, I won’t say why as that will spoil things. In terms of a horror film, the acting generally much much better than you’d see. But in terms of overall acting, it is just good, nothing that stands out so amazingly, but also nothing that is wrong with it. I think that they work for the aesthetic that has been created, but, and I’ll get to it next, I think that the story doesn’t do them a ton of favors.

In terms of the story, the issue is that this is a movie that doesn’t do anything unexpected. I think that for me was what really disappointed. It follows a lot of horror tropes, but it doesn’t really have any of the predictable twists, but that’s because it just doesn’t really have any twists in it. I think that the story just ends up feeling flat which causes the rest of the film to suffer. It feels like it’s a bit of a waste when it comes to the aesthetic because nothing stands out as that amazing a horror element. Instead it’s just an average story that bounces between feeling like half a period piece, half a horror film, and generally fairly unfocused. Del Toro has blended two elements well before with Pan’s Labyrinth, but this one ends up not having the same heart and depth that one does. And in some ways, that makes it more disappointing. I like a lot of what Del Toro does, I’m a big fan of Pacific Rim and Pan’s Labyrinth is great, but this movie just lacks the heart that those have, and anything that feels that interesting, beyond the setting. It feels like it should do so much more than it does, instead ending up a beautiful hollow shell.

Let me finish up by saying that when this movie came out originally, I was very excited for it. I’m glad that I didn’t see it in theaters, but I’m also not sorry that I’ve watched it. Like I said, Del Toro nails the aesthetic for this film, there is the right amount of creep and gore, but it’s lacking the heart. And I think for a film that takes itself seriously, it needs that heart, otherwise it feels, as I said before, like a beautiful but hollow shell. If it was more of a B film feel, it’d need other things as well, if it was going for more of a suspenseful story, it’d need other things. Overall, an enjoyable watch, but in the end, just missing that final little bit to put it over the edge.

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Onward is a story that focuses around two Elven brothers, Ian and Barley. Their life is pretty normal for their world, a world in which magic has existed but when technology became easier than magic, the magic users and magic in the world kind of faded away until everyone forgot about them and just saw it more as a legend. However, when a magical mishap happens, Barley convinces Ian that the only way to fix it is through magic and that they need to go on a grand quest, somewhat based around Barley’s favorite role playing game, so that can fix what went wrong.

Now, it’s hard not to go more into the story as that really drives some of the themes of the movie, which Pixar, like normal, does a good job of creating meaningful and real moments. I’ll just say that the biggest one is loss and kind of overcoming emotions and baggage around that loss, not by pushing it down but by exploring and questing through that loss to see what came come out of it, what new things can be found and explored. I think that it handles it really well and handles it in a way that I don’t see many other movies handle it, some of that is because delving into grief and loss can be hard for movies and doesn’t really drive a plot, though they made it work well in this one. I think it’s actually important to have a movie that does this right now though, because a lot of people, whether they fully realize it or not are going through the grieving process of their normal routine and life as we knew it. And really, there’ll be many moments outside of Covid-19 that this is true for people as well, it just stands out as a world we’re going through it together.

As for the other parts of it, the story is not complex, however, I think that is to it’s benefit. There are some decent jokes, but mainly it’s about that feeling of adventure and exploring on this grand quest and how that pairs with the theme of loss and grief and dealing with that. The jokes in this film are fine, I don’t think that they are amazingly funny, but they are generally pretty good callbacks to previous references. Also, just the concept of the world is really interesting, that idea of there being magic in the world is something that I think is meant for more than just the story as written but about finding the magic in our actual world versus just having technology for everything. But that is a much lighter and subtle theme on everything wrapped up in Onward’s versions of D&D.

The acting in the film is good as well. The main two characters, Ian and Barley are played by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt respectively. They both do a good job with the voice acting and portray emotions very well. It is a little bit funny as Ian just has that same feel and almost a bit of a look as Tom Holland does in real life. Those are the main two characters, but the others in it are good as well, there aren’t really any humdrum performances, but everyone else generally steps aside to let those two characters really drive the story. Laurel, voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, has her moments to shine as well, so it isn’t just only the two of them, Ian and Barley, all of the time.

Finally, how does this compare to other Pixar films? There are a lot of Pixar films out there at this point with the Incredibles, Cars, Up, Brave, Wall-E, Toy Story 1-4, so on and so forth. I actually put Onward pretty high up on the list. I think it does a better job than some at telling a story with a complex theme without the theme being as blatantly laid out. Now, there are still moments that make it obvious what the theme is, but I don’t feel like it’s quite as forceful as it could have been portrayed if they hadn’t been careful with the story. I also like it a lot because it is nerdy, it has that interesting fantasy twist to it and the nods to Dungeons and Dragons. I don’t know that I’d say it’s the best, but the ones that I for sure like better, Up, Wall-E, and The Incredibles, I think that I’d want to watch Onward more than some of them just because it has a higher fun factor to it.

Have you had a chance to checkout Onward? What are your thoughts on it, where does it fall in your Pixar rankings?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

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So, without any spoilers, the Rise of Skywalker is the 9th Star Wars film. George Lucas had originally planned on doing nine films in the 1980’s and had it plotted out, but due to the stress of making the original trilogy and the following that he had, he held off for a long time, until he made The Phantom Menace and then Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, which were not that well received. He then later sold the rights to Star Wars to Disney who with JJ Abram at the helm for the first film, The Force Awakens, started a new trilogy.

Now that we have a proper spoiler buffer, let’s talk about Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker. This, like I said, is the ninth film in the Skywalker Saga, and the end of the Skywalker Saga (theoretically). After The Last Jedi, which was half of a good film and some other characters being taken in a direction that they weren’t set-up for in The Force Awakens, JJ Abrams came back in to wrap up the story that he had laid out for Rian Johnson, which had then been promptly thrown away. Abrams then had to try and cut down and cram what he had laid out previously into a single film. That might sound like a bad thing, but I think that it worked for this film.

In the Rise of Skywalker, we start out by getting a pretty heavy information dump about how the Emperor has been broadcasting his return from somewhere deep in space. Kylo Ren, with the First Order, has been trying to track down this signal, but they need an old Sith map to be able to do so. Finding one, he goes to the Emperor. In the mean time, Finn, Poe, and Chewbacca chasing down leads to the First Orders plans and what is happening with their search for the Emperor and plans for domination. Rey is back with the resistance training to become a Jedi. She leaves her training when they get wind that Kylo has found the Emperor, and they go searching for a map of their own. This leads them into a handful of adventures where they run across someone who Poe used to run with and run spice with and they end up wiping out C3PO’s memory in order to translate where the map is hidden. Rey, during this time, becomes more and more obsessed with finding and defeating the Emperor. This leads to her going to a moon of Endor where they come across more Stormtroopers who have rebelled against the First Order. Meanwhile, Kylo is able to track down Rey and they fight on the destroyed Death Star with Kylo getting the upper hand on Rey, but then Leia, feeling the anger and disturbance from her son, used the last of her energy to stop Kylo. In a fit of rage, Rey strikes Kylo who has lowered all defenses and dropped his lightsaber, realizing, though that her anger has taken over, she uses the force to heal him. She runs away, in Kylo’s ship, to the planet where Luke had hid away, and there, meeting the force ghost of Luke, he convinces her that she needs to go and confront her grandfather, Palpatine. The rest of the resistance tracks her flying through a gravitational field, which is why the map was needed and goes to aid her. However, things look bleak until Lando Calrissian manages to gather up the support of people who are willing to stand up to the First Order and they join the fight. During this time, Kylo (Ben), sees a vision of Han Solo who talks to him and gets him to give up his lightsaber, returning back to being Ben Solo. He flies to the Emperor and joins Rey as they stand against the Emperor’s plan to return. The Emperor again gets the upper hand, but what Rey wasn’t able to do in her training earlier in the film, connect with the spirit of the Jedi, she was able to do in that moment and with the power of them behind her, she is able to get back up and defeat the Emperor. There is much celebrating, and Rey goes and leaves both Luke and Leia’s lightsabers back at the moisture farm (what’s left of it) where Luke grew up.

There’s just a little bit of story there, and I normally wouldn’t write out the whole thing, but this is a spoiler episode and I wanted to demonstrate how much was packed into this movie. Now, do I think that it probably would have been better split into two movies and we just lose The Last Jedi? Probably, but does that make Rise of Skywalker a bad movie? I don’t think so. I really enjoyed it in the theater and I thought that it did a good job of wrapping up the Skywalker Saga. Before going to see the movie, my hope was that it was going to wrap up the Skywalker Saga and then we wouldn’t have any more movies with Rey, Finn, Poe or Kylo. And I feel like it did that, now if Disney decides it was popular enough with those characters, they might bring them back again, but I personally don’t want it. With have a massive world, and with the great work that the Mandalorian has been doing, there is clearly room for stories that aren’t focused only around the Empire and the Skywalkers.

For me, one of the things that this film does impressively is wrap up the storylines for the original trilogy characters. We get more of a send off for Han Solo and he gets to deliver a famous line in a meaningful way. We get another send off for Luke. And we get, kind of, a send off for Leia. I feel like hers was the most lacking, which makes sense with Carrie Fishers passing. Her passing in the film is really the start of a turning point for both Kylo and Rey, and then Han and Luke, respectively, finish bringing both of the characters back around.

What might bother some people about this film, and I hinted at it in the paragraph above, with Han delivering a famous line, but there is a feeling to this film that it’s kind of a Star Wars greatest hits. We get lines, we get callbacks, Chewie finally gets his medal. This will definitely be an issue for some people who don’t know what they want, probably just to watch the original trilogy and repeat, but for me, it was what I was looking for when wrapping up the Skywalker Saga. It gave the main characters a send off that they needed and it kind of showed that the story has always been about them, even with the new cast of characters, it was still about Luke, Leia, Han, and the Emperor. For some people, that’s not going to be enjoyable, but it wrapped up the saga.

I think, it’s also fair, as this wrapped up the last trilogy in the saga, to look at this as part of the whole trilogy. I think that you’d be able to watch The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker without watching The Last Jedi and have a pretty complete film. And if someone were to create a cut of The Last Jedi that dropped out the whole gambling planet and Finn and Poe becoming whiny for no reason, you could then add back in the Luke, Rey, and Kylo story. But, I feel like Rise of Skywalker did a good job of recapping some of that information in a meaningful way. Now, yes, you would miss a little bit by skipping The Last Jedi, but less than you’d think. So as a trilogy, that’s definitely a downside for it. I don’t think that Rian Johnson set out to change it so much, but it felt like he didn’t have a full understanding of the characters. I hope that he gets a Star Wars film with his own characters, because I felt like it was interesting in concept, but overall it wasn’t set-up like it should be to continue to tell a cohesive story. But this is a considerably better trilogy than the Phantom Menace trilogy.

Overall, this was a really fun film. I think that it wrapped up stories really well, I think it was decently well acted, and I feel like the saga was completed. Now, don’t ever show me any of these characters as main characters on the big screen again, maybe in the background 10 years down the line would be fine, but even that’s questionable. Or maybe a plaque with Rey’s face on it. I’m ready for more new Star Wars, but I’m also glad to see this finish the way that it did. I hope that Disney and Kathleen Kennedy can get a better, more clear, direction for Star Wars and really be able to build off some of what Marvel has done for Disney but also to then create a more developed universe. I will also wrap this up by saying that I’m not someone who knows the extended universe stuff, but I know there were a lot of references to the stuff that I only vaguely knew about.

So, what were your thoughts on Rise of Skywalker. But, as much as that, stepping back and looking at this as the Skywalker Saga, what are your thoughts on the nine movies put together as a whole?

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John Wick 2 picks up very shortly after the first film as John is trying to get his car back. It jumps straight into the action when John Wick has a marker called in for a favor he had done before, for him, so he could get out. He doesn’t want to get back into the world of assassins, but knows that the only way to truly get out is to do what the guy is asking of him, then he’ll be free. Queue a lot of action and John Wicking.

I’m not sure that I like this film quite as well as the first one. While the action in this film is as great, the action in the first, in particular the fight through the night club, has a beautiful poetry to it. In here, the main fights, while they are extremely well done and enjoyable to watch, I’m not sure that the poetry, the dance, that the first movie had in that scene is fully captured again. Now, that’s not to knock the action, the action in the film is beautiful again. The choreography and “gun fu” in the fights is very enjoyable to watch. In particular the last big fight in the film is well done and the setting for that fight is very interesting. I’ll let you find out what that setting is when you watch it yourself.

Another thing that is a bit different in this film is that you get a bit more plot than in the first John Wick film. I’m not 100% sure that it’s needed in the film, but it doesn’t really hold it back. There are some films, Rampage for example, that can end up keeping the action away from the plot and you feel like the movie is missing the point of what it’s supposed to be. Even with the addition of more plot in John Wick 2, it still is chock full of action and I’m pretty sure that’s what we all wanted to watch. It also helps because this is not a long film, it is just over 2 hours with credits, but that feels right and about as long as you’d want a film like John Wick to run. The first film was a little bit shorter, and the extra minutes probably were the added plot. I wouldn’t want a film like this one to run much longer.

The John Wick franchise, in my opinion, is what they tried to turn the Bourne Franchise into, but they place more plot in Bourne and less interesting fighting. Just to touch on that quickly as I wrap up, I like, in my fights, to be able to see most things that are happening, not the quick close-up and quick cutting fighting from Bourne, also they did the actual plot no services, but that’s besides the point. Wick gets the action on point, it keeps the plots clean and simple and makes a really enjoyable film. Am I excited to see John Wick 3 sometime soon? I’m not sure I’d say I’m excited, but I know it’ll be a good time and will be an enjoyable film, so I won’t complain about that. The John Wick franchise is a good group of films, and if you want great gun fighting, I doubt there is better.

Overall Grade: B
Critical Grade: B
Fan Grade: B+

Have you watched the John Wick movies, how do you compare the first to the second? What is your favorite gun fu movie?

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Avengers: Endgame, what to say about it. It’s the movie event that I’ve been working towards since Iron Man came out in 2008. It’s what I’ve been on the edge of my seat for since Avengers: Infinity War came out last year. I had massive, massive expectations for this film.

So did it live up to the hype?

I personally believe that this movie lived up to the hype and destroyed my expectations. Avengers: Endgame is a great culmination of what really is the first three phases of the MCU. It is huge, it is well written, and it is heartfelt. There is so much that I want to talk about, but that’s for tomorrow. We do get a true end to Avengers: Infinity War and we get to see how all the characters remaining are dealing with the world after Thanos has snapped his fingers.

Let’s quickly talk about the plot as much as we can, or what led up to this point as a refresher.

In Avengers: Infinity War, we had the battle for the Infinity Stones between Thanos, The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and more. Thanos ends up winning and with a snap of his fingers, he wipes out half of all creatures in the universe, then he goes off to retire. The remaining Avengers, Guardians, and others are now left in a world, in a universe, where only half remain and they need to figure out a way to undo it or a way to move forward. We pick up at this point as they try and figure out how to undo what was done and how to move on from what has happened.

Those who were alive, Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Rocket Raccoon, Nebula, War Machine, and Ant-Man. That’s a pretty thin team, though there may be more floating out there that we don’t know about for sure.

Are they able to make everything right?

That’s the million dollar question, how is the world at the end of Avengers: Endgame? Is it back to normal, what has changed? And that’s all stuff that I can’t talk about here, you almost got me.

But let’s get back to the review.

This movie is just over three hours long, and it doesn’t feel like it. The time flies by as there is action throughout, there are heartfelt moments, there are twists and turns. It just works so well. Beyond that, they give you the resolution of so many things that had been started in previous movies. You get those payoffs, and you recognize them, and it’s just really worth it. Even the things you didn’t realize you wanted you get in this film. With all of that, time just flies by and I know after one viewing that there are going to be things I missed for multiple reasons.

Time for an interjected PSA –
If you are going to go to the movie, no one wants your running commentary. If you can’t shut up throughout a movie, don’t go opening weekend, because you are making it worse for the people who care about it and you clearly don’t care that much or have no self control. This is the case for any movie, but something as big as Avengers: Endgame, where it has been a decade leading to it, shut up.
– End PSA

Now, clearly I loved it. But how would I grade it? Is this a film for everyone?

Overall, I think this film kills it and not in the way that Avengers: Infinity War did. They hit the beats perfectly, and with the exception of only one character in the film, they handle them really well, and I don’t think that was the Russo’s fault. Again, that’s spoiler review stuff so wait for it. If you were to just pick this movie and watch it without having seen at least Avengers: Infinity War, it won’t be worth it, but if you’ve been keeping up with Marvel at all, it should be a fun time. There’s so much more than just impressions, that said, that’ll be tomorrow.

Overall Grade: A+
Critical Grade: A
Fan Grade: A+