Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens

*** out of ****

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the seventh entry in the sci-fi/fantasy franchise, which started in 1977. It is the first movie to take place after 1983’s Return of the Jedi and is also the beginning of a third trilogy of movies among endless “expanded universe” films currently in development by the new Disney-owned version of Lucasfilm. With all those eccentric details aside, I am happy to say that this is a fun adventure film with plenty to enjoy for longtime fans as well as the uninitiated.

The new story follows a young woman named Rey (Daisy Ridley), living a sad existence as a destitute scavenger on a desert planet; a robot named BB-8 carrying important data; a turncoat stormtrooper named Finn (John Boyega); Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), an expert fighter pilot; and a mysterious masked practitioner of the Dark Side of The Force named Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), working with a rebirth of the Empire, known as The First Order.

Following a formula deliberately similar to the original Star Wars movie, Rey and Finn learn about the existence of The Force and the importance in defeating a giant oppressive regime holding a catastrophic secret weapon –but this time the young heroes find mentors in old familiar characters from the original trilogy.

Han (Harrison Ford), Chewie (Peter Mayhew) and Leia (Carrie Fisher) are all back and the ongoing subplot of this new trilogy revolves around the disappearance of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), last of the Jedi and the only hope to everyone - and everything that is good in that galaxy far, far away.

As the first Star Wars movie to be made outside of its creator George Lucas’ control, I got what I was expecting:  An awesome production with cinematic cinematography combined with effective special effects - starring characters who possess character surviving against threats that feel threatening. Prequel haters should know what I’m talking about here.

If a franchise is a malfunctioning or broken piece of equipment and director J.J. Abrams is a mechanic, he’s the guy you call. He locates the original instruction manual and restores everything back to its factory settings. You should be thankful that he got it back to proper working conditions, but you may also feel that guilty urge to stop him from using it as soon as possible. Star Trek Into Darkness is reason enough.

Abrams is not a creative force; he's a competent maker of films with deep perception for achieving tone by borrowing from the best. He hasn't made a great Star Wars film; he's merely fixed Star Wars by giving it the same mission all over again. Let's hope it's for the better.

Some fans will be disappointed in this film’s inability to tell a new story or the unending questions regarding what took place over the last three decades that resulted in such bad circumstances for the old heroes. I never had a finite opinion of what became of the galaxy after the Emperor's death or what our heroes would do next. I just know that I’m very appreciative of this film's new characters. They just may be more interesting than the old ones.

My only major disappointment with this new movie is in the briefly shown new supervillain, The Supreme Leader Snoke, which may be the first dip in Andy Serkis' progressive legacy in inhabiting compelling motion-capture CGI characters. Snoke is just too generic looking for Star Wars if not a distraction from all the realism this film achieves. 

The Force Awakens is far from perfect, but it rights a lot of wrongs that have happened to the franchise. The important thing to take from my viewing of the film is that I was rarely uneasy with what I was experiencing. It was a fun movie with the guts to make bold decisions in order to get things moving again. I can’t wait to see what happens next, but until 2017, I’ll try to get on with my life.

Brooklyn

***1/2 out of ****

John Crowley’s Brooklyn, stars the excellent Saoirse Ronan, who you may remember from 2007’s Atonement –for which she earned an Oscar nomination at age thirteen. She was most recently seen in Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. In Brooklyn, she carries the entire movie as a young Irish lady in the 1950s, immigrating to America to seek out work after giving up on prospects in her home country.

The film focuses on the pains of being homesick and the struggle to make a new life for oneself. The film’s period look is vibrantly colorful and polished - nearly to a fault. I didn’t always believe its environment, but its dreamlike atmosphere makes the movie a very comfortable theatrical experience. Ronan is expectedly excellent, carrying nearly every scene in the film. Thanks to talented co-stars like Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters the movie does feature some charm outside of Ronan’s screen presence, but her love-interest co-star, Emory Cohen, only succeeds at seeming sweet. Somehow, he lacks a genuine touch to his performance.

Regardless, Crowley’s direction and the screenplay by Nick Hornby come together with Ronan’s acting in a beautiful looking, cleverly paced film that can remind anyone of how time passes when big changes happen in life.

Spotlight

**** out of ****

In Spotlight, Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Billy Crudup and Stanley Tucci all star in a journalism procedural recounting the Boston Globe’s 2001 investigation that exposed widespread child molestation committed by priests and the Catholic Church’s role in covering it up.

The film has a vibe similar to All the President’s Men, for its no-nonsense approach to heavy content and thankfully resists showing uncomfortable flashbacks. This movie tastefully tells the stories of its victims through words, not imagery. The acting is as solid as the screenplay, which I’m sure is the product of thorough research.

Spotlight is directed by Tom McCarthy and it puts his shaky career back on track, even if this relatively low-budget movie, which is driven by dialogue, requires the support of multiple studios. I wouldn’t be quick to say that this is a movie that begs to be seen on a big screen, but it’s a rare thing now, when a major theatrical release is perfectly compelling on the simplest of levels.

Creed

***1/2 out of ****

In the seventh entry in the Rocky series – and the first to take a spinoff turn -Creed introduces us to a new lead character and naturally turns Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) into the mentor. Our hero is Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordon), a man who chooses boxing as an outlet for his drive to fight. He’s traveled from Los Angeles to Philadelphia to find Rocky Balboa with a buried secret to tell him: He’s the illegitimate son of Apollo Creed, Rocky’s once-competitor-then-friend who was killed in the ring in a very silly sequel.

Adonis is torn on how to feel about the father he never knew, but determined to make it as a Boxer. The motivation is vague, but Stallone sells Rocky's gradual choice to train Adonis. What follows is a predictable movie with a slightly compelling love interest (Tessa Thompson) and the typical all-is-lost bummer section of Act II. If 007 can get away with it, Rocky can too... but with a montage... or two... or three.

While Stallone, who has always been artistically involved in the franchise, came to this project as a producer, it is impressively the auteur effort of director Ryan Coogler, whose 2013 film Fruitvale Station was a major critical hit of that year. Michael B. Jordon, who starred in that film as well, does a big transformation to justify going up against the tough bodies of some real fighters.

I can only imagine that Coogler wrote and captured this energetic film as a passion project inspired by Stallone’s passion to keep this simple character and his world alive. This is formulaic-yet-fun movie of the strongest kind.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -Part 2

**1/2 out of ****

In Mockingjay – Part 2, the cinematic version of Suzanne Collins’ young adult sci-fi trilogy comes to a close with movie number four. Katniss Everdeen, with the push of some questionable revolutionaries, leads a raid into the capitol of the dictatorship that has oppressed its working class through terror for generations. I enjoyed the film for Jennifer Lawrence’s stunning screen presence and epic production that brings Collins’ final story to life.

Sadly, I wasn’t spared the familiar drawn-out passages, which fail to build toward a satisfying emotional climax. In Part 1, I was critical of the producers’ choice to follow the trend of treating movies like segmented television drama. The second part of this final story suffers more because it stops and pauses often enough to draw attention to all the underdeveloped characteristics I’ve noticed about its futuristic dystopian setting and its people.

Francis Lawrence has a lot of confidence in his astounding filmmaking aesthetics and great actors at his disposal, but his direction lacks an emotional charge in certain scenes, which deserve much more weight. He also wasted some time in this one with a creature attack scene reminiscent of his disappointing film, I Am Legend. You would think it would be better for his career to avoid doing any scene involving CGI ogres again. 

I still maintain my belief that Gary Ross’ first film in the series is the best - mostly due to superior editing. I’m also a little disappointed in the over-used score by composer James Newton Howard, who hasn’t come up with any memorably new material since his excellent score to the original movie.

I certainly found the last entry in this series to be worth my time, but it could have been so much better. Maybe I’m just nitpicking.