Star Wars – Rogue One – episode ?

I had a feeling, right from the beginning, I wasn’t going to figure this one out. Never before in the history of episodic television or movies has there been a more confusing franchise than Star Wars. I’m not sure if this a prequel to the sequel or a sequel to the prequel. Right away I realized there were no recognizable characters in this film. So I decided to settle in my seat and follow the story. Once I got into the movie a little I figured out I didn’t need to know where it fell in the chronology. Little by little this well written story began to unfold right on the screen. This is a great film. I recognized just enough to figure out where in the franchise this story fit. This is a testimony to the people that put this film together. I’m out of touch and have never seen two of the movies that were made in the second set of three films. I guess that would mean I haven’t seen episodes two or three. Or is it five and six? I’m not sure. This new film looks like it will be called episode 3.5.

I can’t say enough about how I became riveted to the story. I found it well paced and suited fine for the senior citizen with ADD. The characters included a lot of fresh faces. Yet they became familiar as they ran around in that far away galaxy a long time ago.  It was kind of like watching an NFL exhibition game. You recognize the uniform and the surroundings yet the players are different. When the leads are on the screen it’s like watching those free agent rookies that are trying to make the team. Then that wheezy guy with the  black cape and the hood shows up and you realize this is the real deal. All in all this was a five star film. There were villains that seemed to have the upper hand. But with a little ” force” and a couple of breaks the heroes prevailed. They showed what some rebels with a little faith and a lot of dedication to doing the right thing can achieve if they put their Jedi minds to it.

Movie Review: Arrival

Presents Ken’s condensed quicky movie review. Tonight’s movie is Arrival. 
Not to be outdone by Marty McFly giant time traveling alien octopuses ( minus one leg) invade earth in pizza doughball shaped space ships. They make whale sounds and spray octopus ink at Amy Adams. She sees the future and saves mankind, the aliens, and the brass from the studio that put up the money for this movie. Overall rating: 7 out of 8 octopus legs.

Creed movie review

Several thoughts came to mind watching this film. Rocky and Creed have been out of the fight game for three decades yet all of the young people in the movie know who they are. The kids I work with think Woodstock was in the 80’s and held at a field in Kentucky. Another note is the stark contrast in money management skills between Apollo and Rocky. Creed was the former world champion and was killed by Ivan Drago in 1985. Yet in the 2014 his widow still lives in the mansion left to her by her late husband. It’s an amazing fete based on how these fighters blow through their bankrolls. Creed must have listened to E.F. Hutton. Rocky on the other hand lives in a run down row house in a rough Philadelphia neighborhood. He uses a land line. Rocky must have invested a bundle in Enron or Homegrocer.com. He does manage to hold on to a small restaurant named “Adrian’s”. He is so broke he has to drive the company van to cash and carry to pick up the supplies. I must have missed one of these movies because I didn’t know Adrian had passed away ( I’d bet that was a dramatic scene when Rocky threw himself over the casket at the funeral).

The film was pretty good though. An unknown fighter named Johnson who works at an investment firm and spends his nights boxing in Tijuana gets a shot at the world championship. They play the Rocky theme. I started to get pumped up like I would watching the old Rocky movies. In the old days I would get pumped up and hit the gym and swim 1500 meters, ride my bike forty miles, and go for an eight mile run. Now when I see Rocky on the screen and hear the music it conjures up visions of Ben Gay, Rogaine,Social Security checks, and reverse mortgages. Rocky has some serious health problems and is thankful for his Medicare supplement program when the hospital bill comes. Rocky also defies all of the logic of boxing history and manages to show almost no brain damage from all of the pounding he took from Creed, Clubber Lang, and Ivan Drago. Little Creed is the long lost child of Apollo and does a pretty good job setting us up for another string of these silly movies. Rocky now looks almost as old as Burgess Meredith did in the first movie. He could crank out another string of these films and play the wise old corner man. Happy endings and open doors to sequels are the theme here. Had they called it Rocky 6 I never would have gone. I understand in the upcoming Rocky 7 the Stallion dons his shorts and gloves and jumps back into the ring and fights on the lucrative Senior Boxing Circuit. Overall I give it 3.5 stars.

Star Wars review

As I left the theater I felt like I would have felt if the Beatles had survived and reunited. I liked the way they brought the surviving characters back to this film. It’s kind of like going to see the Beach Boys at the Emerald Queen. You recognize the guys with the white hair. Then there are a bunch of younger people up on the stage singing the high notes and carrying the show. The old timers did just enough to keep the franchise alive in this film. The new characters stepped in and filled in the blanks. There is enough talent and loose ends to easily get two more movies out of this. No matter how long they wait R2d2 and CP3O always look the same. Mark Hamill on the other hand looks an awful lot like Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead. 

Good plot, good story. The Star Wars family tree always confuses me a little. Kind of like a family reunion at a trailer park in West Virginia. Not sure who the fathers, brothers, sisters, cousins and lovers are. All in all I would give it 4.37 billion stars out of an Infinite Universe of stars.