Machinations behind the scenes of a daytime soap opera. One key moment aside (a plot twist that doesn’t hold nowadays), this is a sprightly camp farce with everyone in on the joke and strength in depth in the cast and playing. Something of a time capsule, but there’s plenty of fun here to be had nevertheless.
Here’s the trailer.
Eight months after the prank-related killing of a fellow student, those involved are each targeted for murder. Glossy loose remake of The House on Sorority Row, with a focus as much on hotties and hunks as much as the at-times inventive deaths and whodunnit stuff. Carrie Fisher is fun in support.
Here’s the trailer.
Forces align for a last battle between the resistance fighters and the Empire to prevent a Palpatine victory. Patchy finale to the nine-film arc which, despite stirring stuff, plus effective comic moments and detail, fails to convince in its lack of climactic story and its course-correction rewriting of the previous movie. A shame, as the new crew have earned some affection.
An uncritical though still fascinating documentary on the development and making of the original Star Wars trilogy, focusing on production problems with the first film. Plenty of detail here for fans. Though many of these stories have been often-told, they’re collected here in an engaging way. Fun for completists.
An orphaned farmhand finds he is the chosen one to lead an intergalactic rebellion. Splendid and modest SF/fairy story hybrid, unfairly weighed down by later expectations. In its own terms, a sprightly and successful adventure, nothing more.
The last remnants of the rebellion flee the First Order. Superior eighth instalment of the space opera, daring to ring a few changes on the template re-established by its predecessors while bringing new characters further to the fore.
Other opinions? Here’s Lemonsquirtle’s, and here’s Xussia’s.
Chapter 7 in the Skywalker saga. This rebooted SF/fantasy is a calculated pleasure, riffing on no end of series themes and on the structure of the 1977 movie in particular. Slightly soulless, but a decent reintroduction to the mythos.
The Rebel Alliance battles another Death Star. The last part of the original trilogy works hard to include something for everyone (all points from slavery to teddy bears) as well as to wrap up its soap-opera character arcs. For fans only, tho,
![Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker [AKA Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker] (2019, dir. JJ Abrams)](https://255review.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/swros.jpg?w=464)
![Star Wars [AKA Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope] (1977, dir. George Lucas)](https://255review.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/star_wars_ukquad3-1.jpg?w=1200)
![Star Wars: The Last Jedi [AKA Episode VIII: The Last Jedi] (2017, dir. Rian Johnson)](https://255review.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/8012_5776.jpg?w=464)
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