STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 135 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Star Wars: The Force Awakens from YouTube.
 

In Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the old generation meets the new in this Star Wars sequel.

The seventh installment of the Star Wars series, the movie takes place thirty years after Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - and released thirty-two years after Return of the Jedi, thirty-eight years after Star Wars: A New Hope. Produced, Written, along with Lawrence Kasdan, and Directed by J.J. Abrams, Based on Characters Created by George Lucas, this is a worthy successor to the Star Wars legacy and the first of a new trilogy. With the transition of Lucasfilm over to Disney, Lucas stated that this was a way to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. The movie has all the elements of a Star Wars film including the original cast and I felt that the movie has more action and more story in this movie than in the other movies. I think that is mainly because, not only does the movie have the feeling of the original trilogy, the movie also has the feeling of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

Thirty years after Return of the Jedi - Luke Skywalker/Mark Hamill, the last Jedi has disappeared. The First Order has risen from the fallen Galactic Empire seeks to eliminate Luke/Hamill and the Republic. The Resistance, led by Luke's twin Sister Leia Organa/Carrie Fisher opposes The First Order while looking for Luke/Hamill.

Meanwhile, former stormtrooper Finn/John Boyega escapes the First Order with the help of pilot Poe Dameron/Oscar Isaac and crash on a desert planet - where Finn meets scavenger Rey/Daisy Ridley as they continue to escape from the First Order with the help of Han Solo/Harrison Ford and get to the Resistance with a map to find Luke/Hamill.

I saw this movie at a 9:00 am Saturday showing opening weekend and the theater was packed. The audience reacted positively to the movie and cheered when the Star Wars logo appeared. They also cheered when Han Solo/Harrison Ford as well as the Millennium Falcon appeared. While the original cast appeared in the movie, the movie definitely is the film of the new generation - Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac. Nonetheless, Harrison Ford received top billing in the movie - his first time for a Star Wars film, as well as being the first non-Jedi character to be credited first in the series.

It was wonderful to hear John Williams music during the opening title crawl. I knew I was finally watching a Star Wars movie after all these years when I heard the music. Not only does the movie has new music like Rey's theme, but the movie also uses familiar music like Luke's theme. Just hearing the full 90 piece orchestra and 24-voice men's chorus made me feel like a teenager again experiencing a Star Wars movie. There were times where I teared up a little during the movie as well as yelling YES during some of the scenes.

The aerial battles and the ground battles were incredible for me and felt more realistic when done on planet as compared to being done out in space. Watching in 3D - while I blinked a couple of times with debris flying out at me - at times the aerial and space battles felt like watching a video game to me. The stormtroopers were more ruthless and deadly than in the previous movies, especially one particular stormtrooper. I am looking forward to how the filmmakers are going to treat Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which is coming out in 2016 and is supposed to be more of a war movie than a space movie.

There are more new aliens, although most of them were not major characters. The movie does have some subtitles for an alien language that was spoken.

The droid BB-8 is an actual droid created by Disney Research and not CGI and seven different BB units were used in the film with the actors. It was wonderful to see BB-8 in action and definitely had a personality and felt like the new R2-D2 for the movie. The movie used more practical miniature models and real locations rather than CGI to make it aesthetically closer to the original trilogy. Interestingly enough, at $200 million dollars, this is the highest budgeted Star Wars film so far.

While this is the second Star Wars film that is released in IMAX, this is the first film using IMAX cameras on some scenes during filming. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is being shown on every IMAX screen in North America for four straight weeks.

By the time the movie was over, you definitely get the feeling that there will be more stories to tell and more movies - and it has been announced that everyone will be back for the sequel, Star Wars: Episode VIII.

At the end of the movie the audience applauded.

J.J. Abrams Director's credit as with all the other credits appeared at the end of the movie, just like in all of the other Star Wars movies.

At $100 million, Star Wars: The Force Awakens broke the record for pre-sales, breaking the previous pre-sale record holder The Dark Knight Rises three times over which had $25 million in pre-sales as well as initially crashing the ticket selling websites after starting ticket sales. It also had a record breaking $57 million from Thursday night "previews" and the first film to gross more than $100,million in a "single" day, the fastest to $100 million. This is significant as this is the first live-action Star Wars movie released in December with the widest December release while all the previous movies had been released in the month of May. As of 2015, Star Wars: The Force Awakens holds the record for highest grossing opening weekend at $215 million. Click this link from Box Office Mojo for more domestic records that Star Wars: The Force Awakens broke.

After twelve days, Star Wars: The Force Awakens became the fastest movie to reach $1 billion dollars.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 135 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

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STAR WARS - EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE - 3D

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Rated PG

Running time: 136 Minutes


Click below to watch the Star Wars - Episode I - The Phantom Menace - 3D trailer.



Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation's Star Wars - Episode I - The Phantom Menace - 3D, is a re-release of the classic movie of the Star Wars saga in 3-D. This is the first of the Star Wars films that will be released in 3-D theatrically. This is significant considering that this year 2012 is the 35th Anniversary of the original Star Wars. Given a collectible keepsake of the Star Wars - Episode I -The Phantom Menace - 3D real D 3D glasses to use for the screening - when you purchase a tickit to the movie, while supplies last - is a wonderful marketing strategy for the movie, and adds to the experience when you see the movie with the fans. As the films were meant to be seen in the big theaters, instead of on a tiny TV screen, I definitely wanted to see the movie again in the theater and get the full experience. The people behind me were singing the Star Wars theme song when the opening music started. Most people have seen the movie when it first came out, but there were families who brought their kids to see the movie, and the kids seemed to enjoy the movie.

Originally George Lucas shot the movie in 2D and converted the film to 3D for this edition. While there was more 3D than is usual for a conversion, it was disappointing that there was nothing coming out at you. I only recall 1 or 2 incidences like that, and those incidences were during the pod racing scene. I don't know if that is due to the nature of the technology or if they did not want that happening for the movie. Most of the 3D effects deal with depth going back into the picture - even during interior scenes, which is rare. As a result of nothing coming out at you, the traditional opening ship fly-by was not as impressive as I wanted it to be. I wanted the ship flying over my head, instead of flying into the screen. The best 3D sequence was the pod racing sequence, a sequence which is similar to NASCAR auto racing. This is not surprising as the pod racing sequence was the most popular sequence during the film's initial release back in 1999, so naturally they would focus all of their 3D resources on this sequence.

Since I did not have a movie review blog when the movie first came out, I will review the movie now. The movie itself I have always liked as the best of the movie prequels, despite the fact that a lot of people hated it. Overall, the film has basically a good story and there were a lot of good things about it. The Trade Federation has blockaded the peaceful world of Naboo. Two Jedi Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor are sent to negotiate with the leaders - but the Federation leaders betray them. The two Jedi escape the Trade Federation and head to the planet Naboo to warn Queen Amidala, Natalie Portman, but the Trade Federatoin droids have already invaded Naboo and the Queen is not safe there. Neeson and McGregor escape Naboo with Portman. Eventually, they land on Tatooine for battle damage repairs, where they become friends with a young boy - Anakin Skywalker, Jake Lloyd. Jedi Master Qui-Gon is curious about young Anakin - and feels the Force strong in Anakin. So Qui-Gon wants to take Anakin with them to the Jedi Council. The group must now find a way of getting back to the galactic capital of Coruscant and to solve this trade dispute, but someone else sinisterly waits in the shadows.

Granted there was a lot of story detail in the film that many people, including myself, were very critical with. Jar-Jar Ahmed Best was not as annoying to me as he was when I first saw the movie in 1999, but he was still annoying. I could relate to a clueless character like Jar-Jar being suddenly thrown into this situation, but Jar-Jar does not have good table manners. The fact that Jar-Jar eventually becomes a competant ambassador in Star Wars: The Clone Wars shows the growth of the character. The various alien races representing different races like Blacks and Asians could be controversial, but it never bothered me both then and now. The scientific explanation of the Force takes away from the mystical hokey religion aspect of the Force that we grew up with, at least the aspect of the Force my generation grew up with, making the film more of a science fiction film than a science fantasy. This was kind of a disappointment for me, as I liked the mystical energy field aspect of the Force.

Jake Lloyd as the young slave Anakin has the innocent face that was needed for the role, especially when Lloyd leaves both his mother Pernilla August and his home, but Lloyd was not that great of a child actor. Actually, Lloyd's lack of acting works in conjunction to the later films with Hayden Christensen as Anakin - whose acting also was not that great in the films, so in a sense there was a sort of continuity of bad acting in the movies for the character. Actually, I think Lloyd was better as a pilot than as an actor. This allowed him to do things instead of act. Lloyd's relationship with high school aged Natalie Portman as Padme Amidala was cute as Padme is the quintesential unreachable girl. Ewan McGregor was very young in his portrayal as padawan apprentice learner Obi-Wan Kenobi, while Liam Neeson as Jedi Master Qui Gon reminds me of the older Obi-Wan portrayed by Alec Guinness. It was hard for me to imagine young Obi-Wan Ewan McGregor would turn into older Obi-Wan Alec Guinness. McGregor did not seem to fail enough to show the potential growth into Guinness. 

I liked the political aspect of the Galactic Senate, although the impeachment of Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum Terence Stamp was almost trivialized - as there is very little of Stamp in the movie, which is a waste of his talent. However, the political aspect of the Jedi Council has always bothered me - especially with Mace Windu Samuel L. Jackson and Yoda Frank Oz being part of the Jedi Council determining the fate of Lloyd, even though they were correct about the eventual future of Lloyd as Anakin, I felt uncomfortable about how they treated the child Lloyd. They were more critical of the child instead of being supportive for the child Lloyd as most teachers would be.

The iconic devilish character of Darth Maul Ray Park had more dialog than I remembered him having, although officially he only had three lines. The lack of dialog does detract from the menacing aspect of his character, although Park does kick Jedi butt - which the fans behind me appreciated. Too bad Park's voice was dubbed by Peter Serafinowicz, as I think Park could become more than just an incredible martial artist that plays such iconic martial artist movie roles. The foreshadowing of Senator Palpatine Ian McDiarmid for the rest of the series is truely foreboding. The introduction of R2-D2 and a naked C-3PO was wonderful to see.

The end credits added additional 3-D credits, with additional music to cover the length of the D credits once the music for Duel of the Fates is over. The credits at the end of the movie still end with the sound of Darth Vader's respirator.

There is also a short 3-D computer animated cartoon from Blue Sky Studios of the character Scrat, from the Ice Age films. Scrat's Continental Crack-Up: Part 2 at the beginning of the movie is a typical adventure for the character Scrat to undergo, which also includes the voices from the Ice Age movies.

Rated PG for violence. Running Time: 136 Minutes.

Click below to watch the Scrat's Continental Crack-Up: Part 2 short



Pancho
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RED TAILS

Twentieth-Century Fox

Rated PG-13

Running Time: 125 Minutes



Click below to see the trailer of Red Tails.



Inspired by True Events, in Twentieth-Century Fox's Red Tails, a squadron of Negro fighter pilots must fight bigotry - as well as the Germans during World War II.

Executive Produced by George Lucas, and based on the book Red Tails: An Oral History of the Tuskegee Airmen  by John B. Holway,  Red Tails is set on their Eurpoean home air base in Italy as the pariah squadron of the 332nd Fighter Group of the Tuskegee Airmen from the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama, must fight to get respect for being the first African American military aviators. They wanted to fight for freedom, just like all the other Americans. The Tuskegee Airmen also have to fight the boredom of being based one hundred miles from the front lines. Breaking ground by fighting bigotry at both the highest levels of the Pentagon - with the belief that African Americans can not have the relevant combat skills to go to war, especially when news about the Tuskegee Airmen's lack of performance gets leaked out  - and from their fellow military officers on the ground. These airmen go from attacking targets like trucks on the ground - "traffic" - to eventually fighting for their lives as they engage in air combat with Germany's most advanced fighter plane, the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter.

When General Gerald McRaney asks if Colonel Terrence Howard's men can protect McRaney's bombers from being shot out of the sky, Howard tells McRaney if he can get his men new planes, instead of the broken down Curtiss P-40 Warhawk planes they have now, they can protect McRaney's bombers. When the Tuskegee Airmen get the new P-51 Mustangs, Howard has the planes tails painted red - thus the Tuskegee Airmen become the Red Tails. The Red Tails soon become the bombers best friends. While the B-17 Bomber - otherwise known as "The Flying Fortress" which is a heavily armed plane which flew in wedges of 18 and 36 planes, and with half the crew as gunners with a firepower of a dozen or more high rate 50 caliber machine guns - the bombers were still an easy target for the enemy fighters as the bombers have to fly a specific flight plan to reach a ground target. As a result of being such easy targets, many bombers were lost - until the bombers had fighter escorts like the Red Tails, who were very successful in practically all of their missions as the Red Tails triumphed over adversity.

The film seemed to be uneven. I was expecting the formation of the Tuskegee Airman program. Instead they are already in place, but are being used for routine boring patrols. The stories on the ground seemed to be more like a soap opera, but not as bad as that. There was more focus on David Oyelowo's relationship with Italian girl Daniela Ruah than with most of the other characters. The movie is similar to the TV show Black Sheep Squadron, which was of a similar misfit squadron with an impressive war record. The ariel footage from Black Sheep Squadron seemed more real to me as I believe - but can not recall since it has been years since I saw the TV show - that the footage from Black Sheep Squadron came from 16mm gun camera footage. With all the CGI visual effects, the planes during the dogfights in Red Tails did not seem as believable to me. Gun camera footage from Oyelowo's plane in his various combat engagements is what is shown as projected from the 16mm film projector in the Red Tails mission briefings. When a pilot is captured later in the film and brought to a German Stalag, that aspect of the movie became more like the TV show Hogan's Heroes.

Half the background music was too modern - too synthesized - when compared to the period of the movie, at least what I noticed during the end credits. And when the Red Tails went out on their first real mission, the music was not as inspiring as I would have wanted as martial music is supposed to be. Having the Red Tails fight the new late entry to the war, the German Messerschmitt 262 jet fighters, was interesting as I usually think of the Korean War as having the first combat use of jet fighters. I was expecting film star Cuba Gooding Jr. to be more prominent in the movie, especially as he was in command of the airbase while Howard was off at the Pentagon - but once Howard returned to the base, all of the leadership went back to Howard and Gooding Jr. became a background character behind Howard. While there were some German subtitles, especially when German fighter pilot Pretty Boy Lars van Riesen is on screen, I would have liked to have seen Italian subtitles in the movie as well since they were in Italy - especially when Oyelowo is courting Ruah.

As a historical film, it is nice that the movie Red Tails came out in time for Black History Month.

Rated PG-13 for violence and sexual situations. Running Time: 125 Minutes

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews