Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker

First Hit: In the end, it was satisfying and that’s all that mattered.

I was one of those guys standing in line the first day that the original “Star Wars” film, later subtitled “Episode IV – A New Hope,” was released (1977). The moment the words “Star Wars” came on the screen, followed by the storyline scrolling up and fading into deep space, and lastly, the cruiser coming in overhead, I was hooked.

I liked some of the subsequent films. The prequels were a mixed bag, as were the sequels. Yesterday the final movie, number nine, was viewed, and I was happy I saw the ending to the film that started it all some forty-two years ago.

This film brought in many of the old characters in different scenes signaling this saga of stories’ conclusion. Most of these scenes worked well, but some did not.

The highlights included how they intertwined Leia’s (Carrie Fisher) stored archival footage quite effectively into this story. Because of Fisher’s passing, she had a more significant part than I would have imagined. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), was terrific and became the Jedi teacher, just like his teacher Obi-Wan, was to him. Luke gave Rey (Daisy Ridley) her final lessons to become a true Jedi Knight and with that lesson, the sword (OK, lightsaber) was passed to her.

Her rival and representing the dark side, as Darth Vader once did to Luke, was a continuation of the previous film and well played by Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. The story also included small scenes with Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams), who once owned the Millennium Falcon before he lost it in a poker match to Hans Solo (Harrison Ford) and his sidekick Chewbacca.

However, it was Harrison Ford’s addition that didn’t work as well. His talk with Kylo seemed odd because of his casual GQ attire look didn’t seem to fit the Hans of the past. Despite this, I appreciated the closure these additions provided.

The goal of this story was the defeat of the dark side still headed up by Emperor Palpatine. Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) who was secretly managing the demise of the Resistance with the rest of the Siths from their planet Exegol. One of the twists - aren’t there always twists in a Star Wars film, was that Rey was Palpatine’s granddaughter. Palpatine was hoping to turn Rey to the dark side and together with Kylo, they would rule the universe and everything in it.

Heading up the Resistance’s battle against the dark side was Rey, Finn (John Boyega), and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), who had inherited the Millennium Falcon and Chewbacca after Hans death in the previous story. Together they pulled all the outliers of the resistance to do one final battle against the dark side.

The scenes were well done, and the photography and special effects were A-1. The first 2/3rds of the film was a mishmash of battles and strategy sessions attempting to set up the final 1/3rd. The last section built up in a predictable yet effective way.

We know who’s going to win this battle of light and dark, but there was enough there to make one wonder along the way. It’s enough to keep you in your seat when the full-screen cinematography throws up images that touch your joy, curiosity, and memories of days gone by.

Ridley is strong in this role. I never warmed to her in the previous two films, but as this one moved along I started to accept her as the Jedi Knight savior and leader of the Resistance. Driver was excellent as Kylo. He had immediately picked up where Vader left off and even with his helmet off, Kylo’s face scar says it all. Isaac isn’t Ford. And to create a new captain of the Falcon is a significant role to jump into. Ford had his way, and eventually, I bought into Isaac’s version of the Millennium Falcon’s captain. Boyega’s part was good but his overall role seemed to be minor in the scope of things. Williams was okay as Lando, and there was one scene in which his charm was at the level it was when we were first introduced to him. Ford’s role seemed just a bit out of place and almost like an add-on. Hamill’s character was well done and I liked the inclusion. Chris Terrio and J.J. Abrams wrote a satisfying finale to this nine-film saga. J.J. Abrams also directed this effort and was able to put a final period at the end of this well-intentioned set of stories.

Overall: I’m more glad that sad that this saga is over because at least it ended strong.

Marriage Story

First Hit: Well-acted story about a challenging process that many people go through — divorce.

This is a story about Charlie (Adam Driver) and Nicole (Scarlett Johansson), who met in Los Angeles and moved to New York City, where Charlie was living. They got married, worked together in Charlie’s theater company, and had a young child, a boy named Henry (Azhy Robertson).

Over time, the story has Nicole becoming lost in Charlie’s shadow. Although she is the star of all his stage productions, she feels overshadowed. She’s also a long way from her LA family and her family home. Her mother and father were in show business, and before meeting Charlie, Nicole had received some fame for one of her television appearances.

As they contemplate the divorce, there seems to be an unspoken agreement that they will do this amicably. It is spoken that they both want the best for Henry and that both want to be involved in raising Henry.

During the opening scenes showing each of them in brief scenes while a voiceover has each of them stating what they like, love, or struggle with the other person. As the scene unfolds into a current moment, they are both sitting in front of a marriage counselor mediator. Each of them has been asked to read these statements about the other. Charlie is ready willing and able; Nicole is not and storms out of the office.

This made me wonder about some other underlying cause of her wanting to end the marriage. We do learn later that Charlie had a one-time affair with one of the people in his theater company.

The film takes a journey across the US from New York City to Los Angeles, where Nicole and Henry visit her mother. She has decided to stay there, despite her acting in the couples’ latest play heading to Broadway.

Charlie travels out to visit Henry. While in LA, he learns that Nicole has seen an aggressive attorney Nora Fanshaw (Laura Dern), who is pushing to make this divorce contentious. When he’s served with divorce papers, he feels blindsided. To protect his interests, Charlie engages a Los Angeles lawyer, Jay Marotta (Ray Liotta), who wants a $25K retainer to come up with a plan to make sure Charlie gets his son Harry in New York.

However, the aggressiveness of the whole thing turns Charlie off, so he engages a new, more passive attorney Bert Spitz (Alan Alda). During a discussion with Nicole and Nora, Charlie realizes things are out of control for him.

The film then moves to tell what happens to Charlie and Nicole as they go through the divorce court process and the subsequent fallout. A touching scene towards the end shows Henry reading Nicole’s list of traits to Charlie, and Nicole is standing near the door listening in. Very touching.

Driver is excellent as Charlie. The scene in the bar when he’s singing to his theater company employees was wonderfully staged and felt very real. Johansson was terrific as Nicole. I felt as though she captured questioning being swallowed up in Charlie’s life well. Robertson, as Henry, was enjoyable as Charlie and Nicole’s child. Dern was strong as an attorney who wanted her client to win on all counts. Alda was okay as the passive attorney who tried to weave the least obstructive way through the divorce. Liotta was powerful as Charlie’s aggressive attorney. Noah Baumbach wrote and directed this sensitive and sophisticated look at divorce.

Overall: This film touched many divorce subjects and implications both sensitively and effectively.

The Report

First Hit: A strong film shining a light on the United States of America’s illegal torture campaign.

Daniel J. Jones (Adam Driver) wants to be a part of our government, so he meets with Denis McDonough (John Hamm), who is Chief of Staff in the White House. McDonough’s advice is to get involved with a project of importance and make a name for yourself.

Working as a Senate staffer for Senator Diane Feinstein (Annette Bening), he is selected and enthusiastically agrees to investigate the 2005 destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes for her. His life is his work, and he’s dedicated to finding out the truth.

Reviewing online documents, Jones discovers damning evidence that the CIA used “enhanced interrogation techniques” (torture) as promoted by Bruce Jessen (T. Ryder Smith) and James Elmer Mitchell (Douglas Hodge) at secret, “black” (hidden offshore), locations. It appears that the videotapes were destroyed to conceal evidence that the US violated the Geneva Convention rules against torture.

The reason the CIA contracted with Jessen and Mitchell is that they believed they could get information out of captured personnel that would stop future terrorist bombings like 9/11 and maybe apprehend the individuals that instigated 9/11.

In a windowless high-security office in an offsite facility, Jones and 5 others reviewed 6 million pages of CIA materials only to discover that these contractors imprisoned and tortured some 119 detainees and got no valuable information. Their techniques were a total failure.

The move to legalize this program was shown in scenes with White House staff working with John Yoo (Pun Bandhu), who made legal arguments that later were discovered to be unfounded and unsupported.

There are graphic scenes of the torture which aren’t easy to watch, but what really stood out to me was the lack of guts on the part of Senators (including Feinstein) and Congressmen to expose and publicly bring to light our failings and illegal actions. The politicians, who represent us, were mainly worried about being re-elected. Finally, because of political pressure and worries that the information would be leaked to the press, the information is shared with the public.

The film does a great job of intermixing real footage, like John McCain talking about how torture is an anti-American value on the Senate floor, with the story.

Driver is sublime as Jones. His focus and willingness to push all bounds to get the information and get it correct was phenomenal. The film did state that Jones’ full report was some seven-thousand pages long. Bening was excellent as Feinstein as she got her voice and mannerisms down perfectly. However, what disappointed me was how Feinstein seems to play politics for sake of her job instead of getting the truth out. Scott Z. Burns wrote and directed this film with a clear focus of showing how the CIA was exposed and how politics almost keep the facts from US Citizens.

Overall: Although I wasn’t surprised by the actions of the CIA, Senators, and The White House, it’s disappointing to see how we try to hide our horrible and illegal behavior.

BlacKkKlansman

First Hit: Fantastic film about race relations in the United States while reminding the audience about how far we have to go.

This film opens with a clip from the film Gone with the Wind, showing Scarlett walking through hundreds of dead and injured bodies from the Civil War. Then after a horribly racist rant film clip of Dr. Kennebrew Beaureguard (Alex Baldwin) setting the stage for the depth of white racism, this story begins.

We then move to the late 1970’s and Spike Lee captures the feeling, look, and sounds of the time. Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) is looking to find work and sees a billboard advertising about being a cop in Colorado Springs. He’s got the perfect afro and in the interview he's told he'll be the first black cop on the police force - the Jackie Robinson of their force.

Stuck in the records room, he gets on a detail to monitor a black power meeting put together by Patrice Dumas (Laura Harrier). The star of the meeting is Stokely Carmichael (Corey Hawkins), now named Kwame Ture, who gives an amazing talk about ending racism in America and embracing black power. Engaging Patrice after the meeting, Ron was both awe struck by Patrice's commitment to the movement along with being smitten by Patrice the beautiful woman.

After this initial work as a detective, he ends up convincing the chief that he could infiltrate the local KKK chapter. Of course, everyone on the force laughs until, on the phone, he gets an interview with the local leader Walter Breachway (Ryan Eggold). When Walter asks to meet him in person, Ron elicits the assistance of white Detective Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver).

Together they make an amazing team as they navigate the process of being Ron Stallworth, Klansman nominee.

To move his official membership along, Ron calls David Duke (Topher Grace) to ask him if he could get his staff to hurry the membership along. David says he’d be happy to help and that he’ll come to Colorado Springs for Ron’s induction into the KKK. All during this time Ron is dating Patrice and Flip is pretending to be Ron during one on one meetings with the KKK.

These components plus a possible bombing and cross-burning, the story about Ron, Flip, Patrice, Walter, David, and Felix (Jasper Paakkonen) as Walter’s radical right-hand man, the story became wildly engaging.

As the film unfolds, Spike Lee does an excellent job of giving the audience, scenes that run the gambit from humor (Ron calling David for the last time), to intenseness (Flip being pulled into Felix’s basement because Felix thinks Flip is a Jew), to today’s racist displays (when the end of the film easily segues into the 2017 Charlottesville march). Then, watching Harry Belafonte as civil rights leader Jerome Turner, I was transported to how real this story was.

The brilliance of Ron and Patrice moving down the hall almost surrealistically and comically as they watched a cross burning through a window was inspired.

Washington was absolutely wonderful as Ron Stallworth. He perfectly captured the struggle of a black man believing in the law and the black power movement. Harrier was divine as the President of the local black caucus. She definitely looked the part as a radical black woman and I couldn’t help but think about Angela Davis each time she was on the screen. Driver was amazing as Ron’s white counterpart. He embraced the role of Ron perfectly. Eggold was very strong as the local KKK leader. Grace was credibly incredible as David Duke. Paakkonen as the wildly unpredictable member of the local KKK was sublime. Belafonte was beautiful speaking his truth through his character. Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, and Spike Lee wrote an engaging power script from Ron Stallworth’s book. Lee showed me again, why you can never count him out from making a powerfully amazing film.

Overall: This is the second film I’ve seen this year that is Oscar worthy.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

First Hit:  Unimpressive effects, tired story, and there is little hope that the new cast of characters can carry this story into the future.

Trying to create the magic of the original film by using the same music, the open space background and the scrolling storyline explanation almost worked.

However shortly into the story, all we got to watch is multiple battles; signal combatants and groups of combatants. It just got boring to watch fight after fight after fight.

What would have helped was, if Rey (Daisy Ridley) had the depth of spirit and a powerful inner presence to play someone going to take us, and the story, to a next level and into the future. Her facial expressions showed she doesn't understand the depth of this story and the inability to create the kind of intrigue that Star Wars must hang on. The lack of communication through her eyes was a dead giveaway. This was a disappointment because in her first turn as Rey in “The Force Awakens,” she showed promise. The hopes of having a strong independent woman take us forward is perfect because Leia’s character passes with Carrie Fisher’s passing.

Another problem with this film is Luke Skywalker’s role and character (Mark Hamill). Here he is played as grumpy and tired. Yes, he has a right to be tired and grumpy, for all the battles’ he’s been through but the script gives him little room to breathe. Because of this he suffocates as Luke and so does the audience.

The story is essentially the turning over the final page of the old guard characters, and opening the book to the new guard. Hans Solo is gone, Darth Vader is gone, Snoke (Andy Serkis) gets toasted, and Leia, who is the leader of the resistance, has a son, Kyle Ren (Adam Driver), who becomes the leader of the first order bent on destroying the resistance and ruling the universe. Before it was father (dark) and son (light); now it is mother (light) and son (dark).

Too many things are already known, which is the opposite of what made the original film work. The first film was an exploration into the unknown. The films, after the original, varied in strengths and weaknesses, but always sought to keep an edge of the unknown for the future. The Force Awakens, was strong and was that way because it was a welcome back to the original story and characters and what would happen as they passed. Now we know - little.

Besides being overall dark of color, there are a few interesting special effects but nothing that will set this film apart from any of the other effects focused films that have come out in the last few years. Effects can never take the place of a good story with interesting characters.  And having mediocre effects and little story makes this film fail.

Hamill acted as though the life had been sucked out of him. Yes, this was part of the role but it didn’t seem like his heart was in this character any longer. Carrie Fisher as Leia was tired. She looked tired, there was little energy or enthusiasm coming from her and this swan song is not reflective of what she gave to the role in the past. Driver is one of the few highlights in the film as he does have the capability to carry the anger and darkness required as the new enemy of the resistance. Ridley is fair as Rey. She’s supposed to be a ray of light to the upcoming stories but to me she lacks a depth of spirit and it shows in every frame she’s in. John Boyega as Finn is good. As a side character and carrying what is good about the resistance he’s strong, but I didn’t buy into his being the fighter he is made out to be. Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron was good but it’s mostly script and storytelling that fails him. Serkis as the character Snoke is good enough. Rian Johnson wrote this mediocre script that relies on fighting and digital effects more than telling a great story with characters. Johnson also directed this film and it shows that he doesn’t have the chops for telling a Star Wars story that intrigues an audience into the future.

Overall:  This film could keep me from seeing next installment as I don’t want to dragged down any further.