Category Movies

May 27 2023

Return Of The Jedi: A 40-Year Celebration

This month marks the 40th anniversary of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the last of George Lucas’s original Star Wars trilogy, and some would say, the end of the classic Star Wars era. It’s seen by many as the least of the first three films, but it is still revered for its great action sequences, especially the climatic Battle of Endor, as well as for its final confrontation between our hero the young Jedi Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance’s sinister nemesis, Darth Vader. Even now, 40 years later, the film is still celebrated and considered to be one of the better Star Wars films.

The story starts out with Luke returning to his home world of Tatooine, not seen since the first film, to rescue smuggler and friend Han Solo. The smuggler was captured by the bounty hunter Boba Fett in the cliffhanger ending to Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and sent to Jabba the Hutt to pay for his debts to the vile gangster. Luke is aided by iconic Star Wars heroes, Princess Leia, Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian, as well as the lovable droid duo R2-D2 and C-3PO. Their rescue of Han and escape from Jabba’s palace is thrilling and sets a great and exciting tone for the movie.

Afterwards, Luke returns to the planet Dagobah for final training as a Jedi with Jedi Master Yoda, who soon dies of old age. The wise old mentor’s subsequent death after 900 years of life is sad to see. After encouraging words from the spirit of his other mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke returns to his friends in the Rebel fleet for the final assault on the Empire’s new Death Star weapon. 

Return of the Jedi introduces a new villain, who has captivated audiences ever since, the evil Emperor Palpatine, played to perfection by Ian McDiarmid. His terrible old visage and cackling laugh instantly made him a fan favorite. His plan along with Darth Vader to bring Luke to the dark side of the Force almost succeeds, as he goads Luke to kill Vader. But good wins out in the end as Vader is unable to allow Palpatine to kill his own son after Luke rejects the Emperor’s temptations, and he kills Palpatine while suffering fatal injuries of his own.

This is preceded by a fantastic lightsaber battle between Luke and Vader with a haunting soundtrack by film composer John Williams in the background. Luke’s unmasking of his father as he was dying is a famous moment in Star Wars history, as we finally get to see the man behind the terrifying mask, a scarred and sad man haunted by his actions. His message to Luke that he was right about Vader having good in him in the end is in some ways the culmination of both the original and prequel trilogies and brings Anakin Skywalker’s story to a sad but fulfilling end.

All of this happens at the same time as the Rebel fleet led by Lando and Admiral Ackbar, attacks the Death Star, but is ambushed by a waiting Imperial fleet. The subsequent space battle is still arguably the best space battle seen on film with swarms of star fighters hurtling through space among massive star destroyers, numerous Imperila TIE fighthers, and Rebel Mon Calamari cruisers.

Despite the odds, the Rebel ships are able to penetrate and destroy the Death Star thanks to the ground efforts of Han, Chewie and Leia. They infiltrate the forest moon of Endor, and aided by the native Ewoks, are able to annihilate the Empire’s shield generator protecting the Death Star. Seeing the diminutive Ewoks, who look like teddy bears defeat Imperial stormtroopers is somewhat silly, but the action is still exciting to watch, especially the speeder bike race through the woods, as well as Chewie stealing an AT-ST walker and using it on the Empire’s forces. 

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi ends with a triumphant celebration in the forest with the Rebel heroes and their new friends after Luke burns the remains of his father in a haunting scene. In the so-called “Special Edition” of the film that came out in the ’90s, extra scenes were added to the celebration which showed other parts of the galaxy celebrating the defeat of the Empire. This included the planets Coruscant and Naboo, which help tie in the prequel films to the original trilogy and being that the prequels had not come out yet, helped increase fans’ anticipation for the prequels. This enhanced the feeling of elation as we saw how wide the scope of the war was in the galaxy.

These closing scenes are also the last time we see the trio of Luke, Han and Leia in their prime, so to speak, and the last image of them all together with their friends having finally ended the Empire’s reign of terror. It is something fans will remember for all time given that we never saw the trio reunited in the sequel trilogy of films that came out in the last decade, although they made appearances in those films. The ending of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is basically a variant on “they lived happily ever after”, which is appropriate since George Lucas intended Star Wars to be a fairy tale, and the film definitely has that feeling to it. It doesn’t quite live up to the standard set by the first two films, which are basically masterpieces, but it’s still a very good film that is remembered four decades later for its iconic moments and is a great sendoff for some of cinema’s most revered characters.

C.S. Link

May 5 2023

Guardians Of The Galaxy, Vol. 3 Perfectly Concludes A Classic Trilogy

Filmmaker James Gunn finishes his tenure at Marvel Studios and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, the finale of his classic trilogy about misfit cosmic heroes.

Gunn has been able to maintain the same level of heart, humor and action throughout all three Guardians of the Galaxy film with the third film, and in some ways he elevated it with his MCU swan song.

Taking place years after the first two films and the events of the last Avengers films, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 brings back all the loony and loveable heroes. Now the owners of Knowhere, a cosmic mining station made up of a dead Celestial’s skull, the Guardians are more administrators than intergalactic heroes. The film begins with a flashback origin of Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), a cybernetically and genetically enhanced raccoon with genius-level intellect. This tragic origin story peppers the film throughout and underscores the emotional and physical pain that Rocket endures in his life. The origin features some of the most gut-wrenching moments in the film and elevates Rocket into a true hero.

After the flashback we are taken to Knowhere where we meet again the other Guardians. Their leader Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) has become a drunk because he is unable to get over the loss of his girlfriend Gamora (Zoë Saldaña), who was killed during Avengers: Infinity War. Adding to his misery is that another version of Gamora from an alternate timeline exists, but she does not have any feelings for him. As his fellow Guardians try to console him, they are attacked by Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), a golden, artificially created super-powered person. Though he is defeated by the Guardians, he gravely injures Rocket before he leaves them. The rest of the film focuses on the efforts of Quill and the other Guardians to find a way to save their friend. The other Guardians include the powerful but dim-witted Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket’s BFF, the tree-like Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), the empath Mantis (Pom Klementieff), and the cyborg Nebula (Karen Gillan). During their intergalactic journey, they soon cross paths with the insane geneticist and Rocket’s creator, the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), who has been hunting Rocket for his own diabolical purposes.

While the film continues the same irreverent tone as the previous entries in the trilogy, it does stand on its own due to its more mature atmosphere. The characters have grown since we first saw them in 2014 and are looking for something more with their lives. This was a rather unexpected and logical thing to do with the characters, because while they have become a family unit, they have to evolve and continue in their own journeys. The core characters, especially Rocket and Peter Quill, each have their own unique arcs and level of development, whether they have to deal with their painful pasts or prove they are much more than what others think of them. Rocket and Quill’s arcs have powerful and engaging arcs that form the heart and soul of the film and elevate it above standard superhero films. These character moments were richly satisfying and came to appropriate conclusions.

Unlike the other films, there is an intense feeling of dread and melancholy that pervades the film as the Guardians face their potential doom at every corner. Without giving anything away, there were many moments where I thought that was it for certain characters. This shows how intensely we’ve become attached to these plucky and quirky heroes. James Gunn skillfully exploits our feelings with each peril he throws at them.  What helps underscore this mood is that Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 is not as goofy as the other films, although it has its fair share of laugh-out scenes. That is alright. This film avoided the missteps of Thor: Love and Thunder where that film got lost in its over-indulgence of silly humor to the detriment of some of its subject matter. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 succeeded where the last Thor film did not in that it treated much of its subject matter seriously and avoided inappropriate silliness.

While the High Evolutionary is the best villain the Guardians have faced in their films, he could have used more nuance, although Iwuji does a fantastic job in his performance as a callous and dismissive scientist with a twisted heart. His cruel actions towards his test subjects, including Rocket during the flashbacks, are a vivid and emotional presentation of one of the film’s themes about animal cruelty and the morality of using animals for scientific research. What the High Evolutionary does to Rocket and others makes us openly hate him. To be honest some of the scenes featuring the High Evolutionary’s test subjects may be too intense for some viewers. So be warned.

The other actors in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 put in some of their best performances. You could tell they are very invested in their characters and knowing this film will be their final time playing the characters, they elevate their craft beautifully. What helps, of course, is that unlike many sequels, the characters are allowed to grow and evolve. Thanks to their performances and how the characters were written, by the time the film comes to its end many viewers will be openly crying, while the rest will pretend they have something in their eyes.

There are a few minor nitpicks with the film that are not really worth mentioning. Maybe Adam Warlock could have used more screentime, but so could have other characters like Kraglin (Sean Gunn), but they do get their moments to contribute and shine, and even give a hint of what is to come.

How does Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 compare to the others in the trilogy? Well, it is much better than the second film and is about on level with the first one, though they are both distinctly different from one another. Given its level of greatness, it is easily one of the finest MCU films, and the best one in recent years, aside from Spider-Man: No Way Home and Avengers: Endgame.  Given the recent missteps in the MCU, it is a joyful relief that the cinematic universe can still deliver a film that emotionally involves us.  

José Soto

Apr 7 2023

The SUPER Mario Movie We’ve Been Waiting For

(SPOILERS WILL BE FLAGGED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PARAGRPAHS CONTAINING SPOILERS)

It is finally time that the Super Mario Bros. franchise gets an ACTUAL movie (don’t bring up the 1993 live-action one…), but is it any good? Critic scores on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic gave the movie a 55% and a 47%. Those are low very low scores compared to the audience scores, which are a high 98% and an 86%. Why are the critic scores so low? This will be discussed later in the article; anyway, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, in my opinion, is a fun and referenced-packed adventure that can be watched by all ages, but is especially more enjoyable for the biggest Mario fans. Of course, it isn’t perfect. As my main issues are with the general pacing which leads to lack of substance in some scenes, as well as other scenes being pushed down to compensate with the little time the movie has.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie begins with out two brothers, Mario and Luigi, living in Brooklyn, New York struggling to get their new plumbing business off the ground and running. Their family do not help them at all, giving them words of scolding rather than encouragement. After seeing on the news that Brooklyn is having a massive plumbing problem, they rush to the scene, desperate to get their names out there. They arrive and pull some shenanigans, which then ends with them underground in a pipe maze. They find our iconic green pipe and get pulled into this warp dimension; Luigi gets sent to the Dark lands, and Mario to the Mushroom Kingdom.

The voice acting in this movie was stellar and I definitely owe everyone on the VA team an apology for my past pessimism when they were announced, especially with Chris Pratt as Mario. He was definitely one of the best performances in this movie, followed by Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, and Anya Talor-Joy as Princess Peach. How could we talk Mario without his original voice actor, Charles Martinet? It was confirmed that he would be in this movie, but I really wish we got to hear more of him, honestly.

The animation in this movie was stellar and groundbreaking compared to what Illumination usually churns out. You could really tell they improved a lot and cared about making this movie the best they could produce. The animation truly compliments the brilliant settings designed for this movie. But there are some parts where you could really tell that this was an Illumination film, not that that’s a bad thing this time around.

(SPOILERS) I will now talk about the number of references that I noticed in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Despite not being a big Mario fan, I was still able to pick out a LOT of fun refences sprinkled into this movie. My favorites being references to other Nintendo games, like Star Fox and Punch-Out, and the worldbuilding and designs in this film. The Mushroom Kingdom was amazing and masterfully crafted with Easter eggs of the past Mario games; the Mushroom Kingdom was definitely my favorite place in the whole movie. Then there were Easter eggs to Super Smash Bros., which keeps the tradition that the Sonic the Hedgehog movies started of referencing the classic games that inspired the films.

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Mar 31 2023

The Return Of James T. Kirk?

Sure, this title seems like your typical Aprl Fool’s Joke on Trekkers, but the possibility in official Star Trek canon was raised last week with the recent Star Trek: Picard episode, “The Bounty”. Spoiler warning for anyone who has not seen the episode.

During the episode Worf, Riker and Raffi raid the clandestine Daystrom Station. Unlike the noble, scientific think tanks named after Daystom shown and mentioned in other Star Treks, this orbital facility was the 25th century version of Area 51. The station stored many of Starfleet Intelligence’s top secret technology, weapons and alien contraband. The Daystrom Station was littered with many Star Trek Easter eggs and call backs, but the one that raised the most eyebrows among fans was the revelation that the station had the remains of Captain James T. Kirk.

The last time Kirk was seen onscreen, as played by William Shatner, was in the 1994 film Star Trek Generations. The late, great captain of the starship Enterprise met his end anticlimatically when he fell off a bridge while aiding Captain Jean-Luc Picard. To many fans this was an unsatisfying way to kill off the beloved Enterprise captain as they felt he warranted a more heroic death. Of course, this was not the last fans saw of James Kirk as he was portrayed by other actors, notably Chris Pine and Paul Wesley. But Shatner’s version of Kirk remains the definitive Kirk that is beloved by fans and many hoped that the actor would someday reprise the role. The closest we got to that was in Star Trek: Enterprise where there were plans for Shatner to reprise the Mirror Universe version of Kirk, and Shatner was slated to cameo in the Star Trek reboot film, but these plans never came to be.

Shatner himself expressed his dissatofaction with the way his character died on screen and went as far as to co-author a series of books with Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens where Kirk was resurrected. The first of these post-Star Trek Generations books was The Return and its plot revolved around Kirk being revived by Romulans using Borg technology to use him against the United Federation of Planets. Kirk with the aid of many Star Trek heroes overcame this plot and went on to live a full life in the 24th century. The books, called the Shatnerverse, are considered an alternate reality for obvious reasons, Still, they were popular with Kirk fans.

Getting back to Star Trek: Picard, which is official Star Trek canon, when Raffi passed by a containment unit in the Daystrom Station, a holographic display showed an image of a skeleton with the signage “James T. Kirk”. This image also had some biographical data and what was interesting was that the display revealed that Kirk was “critically injured” in the events of Star Trek: Generations. It does not say that he died in the film even though Picard was clearly seen standing over Kirk’s grave. So what gives?

Technology will be much more advanced in the far future, especially when it comes to medicine. For all we know a critical injury like falling off a bridge and being clinically dead as we know it today may not be the actual end of a person’s life. It can be possible to revive a person hours after death in the future and it’s possible this could be top-secret technology in the Federation that is reserved for very important people. Or perhaps Kirk remained dead but Starfleet Intelligence and its black-ops offshoot Section 31 may be trying to clone James T. Kirk for their own reasons. This is not far fetched since the Romulans cloned Picard in the film Star Trek Nemesis.

Most likely nothing will come of this, but this Easter egg is fertile ground for future screenwriters. It is also unlikely that Shatner, who is in his early nineties, will reprise his role one last time. However, this tantalizing Easter egg gives fans of the legendary James T. Kirk some hope that he can somehow return someday for one last, great adventure, at least in their imaginations. After all, legends never die.

Mar 23 2023

Top Ten Worst Star Trek Captains

We’ve celebrated Star Trek’s legendary starship captains, but for every Kirk, Picard or Sisko there are some truly horrendous captains that appeared in the Star Trek television shows and films. Here are the worst Star Trek captains in the history of Starfleet.  

10. Captain Liam Shaw (Star Trek: Picard Season Three)

Command: U.S.S. Titan-A, NCC-80102-A

This guy is certainly the best of the worst. Shaw is abrasive, rude, risk-averse and an all-around jerk. But what cements Liam Shaw’s place on this list was how he dumped command of his ship, the Titan A, onto Will Riker, instead of acting like a real captain and getting the Titan out of danger. Still, many times during Star Trek: Picard, Shaw was the voice of reason and he was not afraid to say “Wait a minute, should we be doing this?” whenever our heroes ran off to danger. Also, he often was a scene stealer thanks to Todd Stashwick’s acting skills, especially once we learned he was a survivor of the Battle of Wolf 359.

9. Captain J.T. Esteban (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)

Command: U.S.S. Grissom, NCC-638

The list has many risk-averse commanding officers and J.T. Esteban is great example of this trait. During his brief appearance in the film, Esteban came off as an unyielding, by-the-book type who refused to listen to reason. What was even worse with Esteban was that he was too slow to react to sudden developments and this cost him his life, along with the crew of the Grissom when the Klingons destroyed his ship.

8. Captain John Harriman (Star Trek Generations)

Command: U.S.S. Enterprise-B, NCC-1701-B

“It won’t be installed until Tuesday!” was the infamous catchphrase from this hapless captain. Harriman had the unenviable task of following up the legendary James T. Kirk as he assumed command of the Enterprise B during the opening scenes of Star Trek Generations. Right away, Harriman was in over his head and was frozen with indecision as he tried to command the Enterprise literally under the shadow of Kirk.

7. Captain Lawrence Styles (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)

Command: U.S.S. Excelsior, NX-2000

Styles was a pompous, egotistical jerk who had the audacity to think his shiny new Excelsior was superior to the original Enterprise. Yes, the Excelsior was new with the latest tech, but that does not mean it becomes a legend. The minute he was introduced in the film and displayed a dismissive attitude towards the Enterprise and the original crew, fans instantly disliked him and for good reason. One of the best moments in the film was when he saw his beloved ship suffer an epic malfunction as it tried to pursue the Enterprise as it took off on its last voyage.

6. Captain Gabriel Lorca (Star Trek: Discovery Season One)

Command: U.S.S. Discovery, NCC-1031

The captain of the Discovery was popular when he was first introduced due to his no-nonsense and stern attitude that was a more realistic portrayal of a commanding officer. He even gave the disgraced Michael Burnham a chance to redeem herself by posting her on the ship. However, once it was revealed that Lorca was actually a manipulative wannabe despot from the Mirror Universe, he earned a permanent spot on this list. It’s too bad Lorca turned out to be such a dick, for a while, he was the best character on the show.

5. Captain Ben Maxwell (Star Trek: The Next Generation “The Wounded”)

Command: U.S.S. Phoenix, NCC-65420

The ends clearly do not justify the means with this starship captain. He has a tragic backstory where his family was killed by Cardassians during a war. In the episode “The Wounded”, Maxwell took it upon himself to launch preemptive attacks on Cardassians with his starship, the Phoenix, because he was convinced the Cardassians violated a treaty with the United Federation of Planets and were rearming themselves against the Federation. Even though in the end he was correct, his actions nearly sparked a war between the Federation and the Cardassians that the Federation was not in the condition to fight after Starfleet was decimated by the Borg earlier in the season.

4. Captain Ronald Tracey (Star Trek “The Omega Glory”)

Command: U.S.S. Exeter, NCC-1672

How this lunatic ever passed Starfleet Academy is anyone’s guess. First, he got his crew killed when he led a landing party on one of those parallel worlds and contracted a virus that killed everyone on his ship, the Exeter. Then, he openly violated the Prime Directive by taking sides in a local war on the planet. This he did to supposedly provide immortality to humanity. Finally, he tried to get the locals to kill Kirk, Spock and McCoy by exploiting their superstitious beliefs. Great job there, Tracey.

3. Captain Rudy Ransom (Star Trek: Voyager “Equinox, Part I and II”)

Command: U.S.S. Equinox, NCC-72381

Here is another fallen Starfleet captain who flagrantly violated the Prime Directive. Stranded in the distant Delta Quadrant, Ransom and his ship, the Equinox, had suffered numerous calamities. Desperate for fuel to get home faster, Ransom’s crew discovered that dimensional beings generated a power source for the Equinox, but the beings had to be murdered for the fuel.  This led to a disastrous conflict with the Voyager and its crew. Special dishonor also has to go to Ransom’s first officer, Maxwell Burke, for taking command of the Equinox from Ransom after the captain began to see the error of his ways.  

2. “Captain” Tim Watters (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine “Valiant”)

Command: U.S.S. Valiant, NCC-74210

This insufferable snot-nosed punk deserved to be killed for his arrogance. He gets the title of captain in quotes because he was just an elite cadet who wound up in command of the Valiant when the ship’s crew was killed. So, he doesn’t even deserve to be called a captain. Anyway, during his dictatorial command he refused to listen to reason, threw people who disagreed with him in the brig, and let his arrogance kill the remaining crew of the Valiant when he foolishly led a doomed attack on a Jem’Hadar battlecruiser. In the words of Nog, who was one of the few survivors, “in the end, he was a bad captain.”

1. Captain Edward Jellico (Star Trek: The Next Generation “Chain of Command, Part I and II”)

Command: U.S.S. Cairo, NCC-42136 and U.S.S. Enterprise-D, NCC-1701-D

Man, was this guy a raging A-hole! Super strict, authoritarian, obtuse, antagonistic, unwilling to listen to others, Jellico just rubbed people the wrong way. After taking command of the Enterprise D from Jean-Luc Picard, Jellico quickly alienated the ship’s command officers with his brusque, My-Way-Or-The-Highway style of command. Sure, his manner of running things was effective, and arguably realistic according to those with military experience, but he had everyone so wound up that morale plummeted badly on the ship. It was no wonder that we cheered when Riker finally told him off. Unfortunately, this jerkwad was eventually promoted to an admiral as seen in Star Trek: Prodigy, and he has not changed a bit.

Anyone has a different list of captains that should be mentioned? Feel free to leave a comment!

José Soto