Star Wars: The Force Awakens The Franchise With A Similar Plot As The Original

Director J.J Abrams has done it again with his unique way of rebooting once popular franchises. First, he rebooted the Star Trek movie franchise with two movies and now the Star Wars franchise with Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

What Abrams has done with the Star Wars reboot is provide a mixture of the old and new. It was a genius move to bring back characters and actors that Star Wars fans love such as Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2 and of course Luke Skywalker.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens was in good writing hands with Abrams, Michael Arndt and Lawrence Kasdan who wrote The Empire Strikes Back.

The storyline takes place thirty years after the destruction of the second Death Star. Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi has disappeared. Two groups are looking for him, the First Order, a group trying to take over from the fallen Empire and the Resistance, a military group supported by the Republic and led by Princess now General Leia, Luke's sister.  Both groups are seeking information about Skywalker's whereabouts.

On the planet Jakku, Resistance pilot Poe Dameron played by Oscar Isaac meets with a village elder Lor San Tekka played by Max von Sydow to receive the map of Skywalker's location. Just as Tekka hands the map capsule to Poe.  Stormtroopers led by Kylo Ren from the First Order played by Adam Driver attacked the village, killing villagers and Tekka and capturing Poe. Before his capture, Pope conceals the map capsule in his droid BB-8, who takes off into the night.

One of the Stormtrooper, FN-2187 is shaken by the cruelty of the attack on the village by the First Order. Later, BB-8 is captured by random scavenger and then rescued by a female scavenger named Rey played by Daisy Ridley. Rey is tough and a take care of herself person as she was left on Jakku by her parents.

Meanwhile, Ren inflicts pain on Poe to learn about BB-8. Ren leaves to dispatch the troops to Jakku to get BB-8. Stormtrooper FN–2187 play by John Boyega helps Poe escape. Then they steal a TIE fighter.

FN–2187 explains the cruelty of the First Order is the reason he left and helped Poe. Poe asked him his name and FN-2187 replies that his name is one that he was given by The First Order. Poe names him Finn.

 Finn explains how he was taken from his family at a young age to become a stormtrooper. That was a mystery answered for me on how one becomes a stormtrooper.

During a space fight with other TIE fighter.  Poe and Finn’s Tie fighter is damaged from a hit and crash lands on Jakku.  Finn is the sole survivor.

In the junkyard settlement, Finn encounters Rey with BB-8.  Within minutes of meeting each other, the First Order has found them. They run and come across a rundown ship which happens to the Millennium Falcon. They steal it. This was a defiantly a good plot twist.

I will give the movie some cinematic leeway that a scavenger girl who is been on a planet for a long time can fly the Millennium Falcon and fly it well enough to escape small TIE fighters. Wink wink. The scene was very good.

Now in space, the Falcon breaks down and soon it is taken in by a large freighter. Another cool moment comes when Han Solo played by Harrison Ford and Chewbacca played by Peter Mayhew come aboard the Falcon. As they are getting reacquainted with the Falcon that they discover Rey, Finn and BB-8 hidden in the ship. Rey and Finn are awe by the presence of Han and amazed to be aboard the Falcon.

Han explains that all the stories they have heard about the rebellion are true as Luke tried to rebuild the Jedi order, but disappeared after his apprentice Kylo Ren turned to the dark side destroying the Jedi rebuilding.

There is much more with the movie, you will enjoy the surprises and plot twists.

Star Wars:The Force Awakens told a great story while doing an excellent job in introducing new characters. Personally, I felt that parts of the movie didn't feel original as the plot line turned into a race against time before the bad guys blow up a planet with people on it with their super weapon. Does that sound familiar? Yep, it does. The very first Star Wars had the same plot-line.

Star Wars: the Force Awakens brought the Star Wars story full circle while introducing a new generation to the Force and the Star Wars galaxy.

Two more Star Wars movies are scheduled for 2017 and 2019.

While I was sitting in the theater with an audience, I felt the Force was awaken again in all of us, young and old.

Minions Will Made You Giggle Like They Do

I remember seeing Despicable Me and thinking to myself about the small yellow creatures in the movie, the Minions. I wondered what were they and where did they come from?  Now, the Minions have their own movie, Minions to answer my questions.

In the movie, we learned the Minions have existed since the beginning of time evolving from a single cell organism into beings who exists to serve the world and history's most villainous masters. Minions speak their own language which is a combination that sounds like different parts of Italian, Korean and other foreign languages.

We see the Minions as they work for villain masters from a T Rex, a caveman, an Egyptian Pharaoh, Dracula and even Napoleon with some real funny results.

Later, the Minions decide to distance themselves from the villainous masters and start a new life in Antarctica. Well,  the lack of villain masters drives the Minions into depression. I felt seeing the Minions depressed was a hard thing to watch. Usually, they are full of life.

Minion Kevin plans to find a new master by leaving the Antarctic. Yet, no one wants to leave except Stewart, a guitar obsessed Minion. He joins Kevin along with overenthusiastic Bob, who Kevin only chose because no one else was wanted to to go on the trip.

There are funny scenes as the trio travels across Antarctic and the sea. Finally, they arrive in New York City where they learn about Villain-Con, a upcoming convention  where villain meet up to be held in Orlando Florida.

The trio hitchhike with a crazy crime obsessed family to Villain-Con. The trip with the family is really funny.  At Villain-Con, Kevin, Stuart and Bob meets Scarlett Overkill, the world's first female super villain voiced by Sandra Bullock. Their adventure with her was funny as she tries to figure out what to do with them.

Minions is a fun movie as we see the Minions giggle their way in and out of trouble. If you are a fan of the Despicable Me movies like I am. Minions Stewart, Kevin and Bob are so lovable with their separate personalities that it turns the movie into cinematic gold.

If you didn't see Minions in the theater. You now have no excuse because the movie is on DVD/Blu-ray. I guarantee you will develop a Minions giggle as you laugh with them during the movie.

Minions is a great way to enjoy the holiday as the kid we all want to be during the season.

The Peanuts Movie Was Long Overdue But Worth The Wait

Peanuts creator Charles Schulz passed away in 2000. His characters Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Snoopy and the others live in The Peanuts Movie. It is the fifth full-length Peanuts movie and the first feature movie in 35 years.

A Peanuts movie was long overdue with animation being the top movie genre in the movie business now.

The Peanuts Movie keeps the series’ unique style and feeling because the movie was co-written by Schultz's son Craig and grandson, Bryan. I am familiar with The Peanuts looking like the comic strip. The Peanuts Movie is mostly 3-D computer animated. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the computer generated Charlie Brown and Snoopy. There are flashback scenes that actually use Schulz’s drawings.

I have not read the Peanuts comic strip for awhile and occasionally watch the Peanuts TV specials. The Peanuts Movie brought back so many great memories about the characters and their special quirks such as Charlie Brown trying to fly a kite, Snoopy taking on the Red Baron and Lucy giving advice.

The movie starts with school being out for a snow day. Everyone is playing outside. Charlie Brown has a special mission to fly a kite and have it not eaten by the Kite Eating tree. Everyone tells him it is crazy to fly a kite in the winter. Charlie Brown persists on and for a moment, the kite is airborne.  Then in Charlie Brown fashion, the kite starts to go crazy dragging Charlie Brown over the ice rink with kids, the snow and ending up at the Kite Eating tree.

We are sympathetic with Charlie Brown as nothing goes his way. He continues to wonder why. Snoopy consoles him in his kooky way. The strange and enduring relationship between Charlie Brown and Snoopy is one of the hearts of the Peanuts world.

On that snow day, a new family moves in across Charlie Brown and his sister Sally. Next day in school, we find out just who moved in and it is the Red-Haired Girl, the elusive girl of Charlie Brown’s dreams.

Charlie Brown is frustrated that his ever present bad luck will prevent the Red-Haired Girl from noticing him.

In a session with Lucy, she tells him to try to be more confident. Charlie Brown takes her advice and attempts to do magic at the school's talent show, but he rescues Sally whose act in the show isn't working, but at the expense of his. Of course, the Red-Haired Girl is in the audience. Good grief.

Next, Charlie Brown learns the Red-Haired Girl likes to dance. So, he learns to dance with Snoopy's assistance. At the dance, Charlie Brown dances well to the delight of the others. Then, he slips and sets off the sprinkler system cutting the dance short and his chance with the Red-Haired Girl.

The Red-Haired Girl is in the same class as Charlie Brown. Miss Othmar, the teacher with the Wal Wal sound effects voice gives the class a quiz. Charlie Brown smitten with the Red-Haired girl hurries to finish. He and Peppermint Patty raced to the teachers’ desk, trying not to be the last one to hand in the quiz. They sign any quiz and hand them in.

Later, Charlie Brown gets a perfect score on the quiz and is hailed as a genius. After looking at the actual quiz, he realizes Peppermint Patty got the perfect score. He admits that to everyone.

I like this aspect of The Peanuts Movie showing a character like Charlie Brown demonstrating his humility especially since there were kids in the audience. It was a great lesson for them to learn.

In the movie, Snoopy gets his storyline about finding a typewriter and starts writing about his alter ego, The Flying Ace taking on the Red Baron. Also in the story, he meets FiFi, a beautiful dog pilot and falls for her in a funny Snoopy way.

All in all, The Peanuts Movie is a wonderful movie for us who remember The Peanuts and a generation who are now being introduced to them.

In the movie, Charlie Brown achieved something that I don't believe ever happen to him in the movies and TV specials. I will not give it away, but it is very sweet.

I was glad to have my Peanuts experience rekindled. The Peanuts Movie is a total must see.

Spectre Was Worth The Wait For James Bond

I been waiting for the next James Bond movie since I saw James Bond Will Return in  the closing credits at the end of Skyfall, the last Bond movie in 2012.

 Spectre was worth the wait as Daniel Craig returns as superspy “007” James Bond. He just fits the part, there is focus and determination with him in every movie.

 Sam Mendes who directed Skyfall returns as director. Mendes is the perfect storyteller for the continuing story of Craig’s James Bond. He takes the time to tell the story which is filled with references and back stories involving the Bond character.

 The fun part of going to a Bond movie is that I know exactly what I am going get in the movie such as lots of action, jaw dropping stunts, interesting locations and beautiful women. Spectre delivers on all fronts.

 

 

The storyline begins with the assassin named Marco Sciarra who was meeting with some people in the hotel room in Mexico City. Their plan is to blow up a stadium full of people.  Bond tracks them down and starts firing bullets in the room from an adjacent building rooftop. One of Bond’s bullet hits the the bomb and blows up the room which starts the building to collapse towards Bond.  It is an awesome visual stunt. You think that Bond is going to be crushed, but he lands on his seat literally.

 Sciarra escapes blast and is on the run with Bond in pursuit. He makes to a helicopter and flies off, but in true Bond fashion, Bond jumps onto the copter. Bond and Sciarra fight.  As Bond is throwing Sciarra off the helicopter. He takes Sciarra’s octopus ring.

 Later, we find out that Bond’s Mexico City assignment was not sanctioned by the agency. M played by Ralph Fiennes takes Bond off of active duty.

 In another plot line, there is a power struggle going on between MI5 and MI6. C, the head of MI6 is creating an intelligence agreement between nine countries. He wants to shut down the “00“which Bond is a part of.

 Bond feels that there is more to Sciarra than just blowing up a stadium. He disobeys M and travels to Rome to attend Sciarra’s funeral, where he meets his widow, Lucia played by Monica Bellucci. Later that evening, there is an attempt on Lucia's life, Bond comes to the rescue and saves her life.

 In return, she tells him of the criminal organization to which her husband belonged to. She tells Bond that they are meeting that night. Bond enters the meeting by showing the ring that he took from Sciarra.

 As the meeting continues, the head of the organization mentions the incident in Mexico City and then Bond by name and welcomes him to the meeting. Bond takes off running and gets into the cool bulletproof Astro Martin in the parking lot.

 Of course, there is a great car chase scene. Hinx, an assassin played by Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) for the organization is in hot pursuit after Bond.

 Later, we find out the crime organization is called Spectre.

 Lea Seydoux who plays Dr. Madeleine Swann is strong and expressive as she is the one key that Bond needs in finding out more about Spectre. In one dinner scene on a train, Dr. Swann is dressed in a beautiful silk like elegant dress and walks up to Bond who is in a tuxedo, just staring at her.  She says “You should stop staring.” Bond replies “ You should stop looking so good.” A great line that fitted the moment.

 

 The villain is such an important part of a Bond film. Christoph Waltz as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the mastermind behind Spectre is very chilling in the role. Spectre has been mentioned in other Bond films like 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever.”

 Blofeld and Bond have a history link which made the plot line for Spectre more interesting.

 Another thing I enjoyed about the movie was that there were plot points from previous Bond movies including Mr. White and the other villains being linked to Spectre.

 I love that Naomie Harris is back as Miss. Moneypenny as she showed tremendous loyalty to Bond. Ben Whishaw as Q provided some cool gadgets for Bond and was out in the field as well as in the lab.

 Spectre works on its own as the other Craig’s James Bond movies laid the groundwork for this movie.

 

As the movie crowd left, I stayed to see the final credits say “James Bond Will Return.” I can’t wait. I am still humming the James Bond theme song.

Entourage, The Movie Delivers The Same Flair As The TV Series Did And It Works By Art Byrd

In the past few years, when long-running TV series ended, they have left their loyal audiences feeling unsatisfied.

One of the rare gems that left audiences with great satisfaction to the end was Entourage. The series was on HBO from 2004 to 2011. I really didn't care if there was an Entourage movie or not. But, I am glad Entourage creator Doug Ellin and the cast decided to make a movie.

The Entourage movie was fun and didn't miss a beat from the series. The series centered on a movie star Vince Chase played by Adrian Grenier and his childhood friends from Queens, New York who navigated their way through the rough terrain of Hollywood.

One of the keys to the series was the cameos of several actors, athletes and businessmen like Mark Cuban. They often played fictionalized versions of themselves.

The movie starts with a yacht party with Vince who has just separated from his wife of nine days. Vince’s entourage: Johnny “Drama” Chase (Kevin Dillion), Eric “E” Murphy (Kevin Connolly) and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) show up to be there for him. Vince is alright as he admits getting married was a mistake.

Vince calls up his former agent, now a studio head, Ari Gold played Jeremy Piven. Ari offers Vince a new project, but he says he will do the project if he can direct it.

Eight months later, there is a TV segment about Vince’s directorial debut, Hyde which is a new and different take on Jekyll and Hyde. Ari does an interview on the segment which he seems nervous about Vince’s directorial debut. The movie highlights Drama, who is in some pivotal scenes in the movie.

The movie’s production goes over budget by $15 million. Vince meets with Ari to get more money. Ari doesn’t want to go back to the Texas financial backers of the film, but he does.

There are lots of different story-lines going on within the movie such as E and ex-girlfriend, Sloan (Emmanuelle Chriqui) are having a baby, Ari dealing with the Texas money people who comprise of Larsen McCredle played by Billy Bob Thornton and his son, Travis played by Haley Joel Osment and Drama has an embarrassing video on the internet. and Lloyd, Ari’s former assistant is getting married and wants him to give him away. The story-line, I really enjoyed was Turtle pursuing Ronda Rousey, the UFC champion.  Their relationship starts off great, then Turtle turns it into business which turns Ronda off.  Turtle does a crazy thing to win her back. I will let you see that for yourself.

Vince hosts a screening party for Hyde. Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Emily Ratajkowski is there and she and Vince are getting friendly. Travis has a crush on her.  When he is introduced to her; he comes off like a fool. A nervous Vince doesn't’ show his movie, but gives Ari a copy of Hyde.

Ari watches the movie and calls Vince and tells him he is blown away by it. Arriving at the studio, Ari finds Travis’s car parked in his space. Travis is in Ari’s office and tells him while he liked the movie, he did not like Drama’s performance. He demands that Drama be cut from the film. Later, Travis tells Vince, he didn’t like him in the movie. Travis locks Vince out of the Hyde editing room.

Things started to hit the fan, a secret meeting with the studio CEO John Ellis (Alan Dale), The McCredles, the board of directors and Ari’s old friend Dana Gordon (Constance Zimmer) to discuss Hyde is crashed by Ari. He reveals that Travis doesn’t like Hyde because he is jealous of Vince’s relationship with Emily.

The movie takes on a heroic tone as Ari resigns from the studio. Hyde becomes a huge success grossing over $450 million and earning Golden Globe nominations for Drama for Best Supporting Actor. I will not tell, if Drama won, but the scene is very funny.

Entourage, the movie had some loose ends that were tied up in the end. If you love the series you will love the movie. I am very glad that the Entourage ride was not over.

Pitch Perfect 2 Hits A High Note For Fun and Amazing Singing by Art Byrd

When the first Pitch Perfect movie came out in 2012. I waited about four weeks to see it. I was disappointed that I waited that long because I really enjoyed the movie, the music, the characters and The Bellas coming together to win.

As for Pitch Perfect 2, I was wondering how the sequel would come together. So, I went the first weekend to find out and I was so glad that I went. Pitch Perfect 2 follows the same formula that worked in the first with some small tweaks.

The storyline begins years after the Bellas won their first A Capella national championship. They have won ever since. Most of the Bellas are seniors. Now the Bellas are performing at the Lincoln Center where President Obama and Mrs. Obama are in attendance. The Bellas are performing well. Then, Fat Amy played by Rebel Wilson is suspended above the stage in some sort of hanging contraption. At one point of the song, Fat Amy does a flip and splits her pants showing everything. The crowd was horrified including the first family which is a very funny moment.

The Bellas are suspended from performing anywhere by their college and the A Cappella Society. With a loophole, The Bellas are able to compete in the World A Cappella championships where no U.S  A Capella group has ever won.

If a movie like Pitch Perfect 2 can have a villain, it would be the German A Cappella team called Das Sound Machine.  Their lead singer, Kommissar played by Birgitte Hjort Sorensen is very commanding and confident as she belittles the Bellas when talking to them.

The Bellas are a little intimidated by Das Sound Machine especially Beca played by Anna Kendrick who is somewhat flustered and attracted to Kommissar. It is very funny and cute how she deals with it.

Pitch Perfect 2 has some great moments such as the flirtatious exchange between Fat Amy and Bumper played by Adam DeVince. Beca is doing an internship at a recording studio with a producer played by Keegan-Michael Key where she discovers her real talent.  Hailee Steinfeld, who was a standout in the movie True Grit, now does it again as, Emily, a legacy Bella pledge. She is bright, enthusiastic and the one to keep the Bellas tradition going.

One of my favorite parts of the film was the musical riffoff at the home of a millionaire type guy played by David Cross (Arrested Development). The Bellas, Das Sound Machine and the Green Bay Packers, yes, the actually football players such as Clay Matthews, David Bakhtiari, Don Barclay, Josh Sitton, T.J Lang and Jordan Rodgers, with others groups competing against each other under certain categories of music. The hilarious moments were how the groups were eliminated from the competition.

In the theater, I sat in the same row with a four to five year girl who said during one of the performances, “Go Girl.” That's what made it so much fun to watch Pitch Perfect 2 with an audience.

One of the strong element in the Pitch Perfect movies is the music that is recognizable and easy for the audience to sing a lot.  It makes the movie such a feel good experience. The Bellas singing a version When I Am Gone without the cups is worth the ticket price.

Actress Elizabeth Banks who plays Gail, the commentator of the A Cappella competition in the movie did an excellent job directing this follow-up.

If you looking forward to feeling good, having fun and hearing amazing singing. Pitch Perfect 2 will have you singing with your friends out to the movie theater parking lot.

Here is the trailer for Pitch Perfect 2 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bh4mvJ5jUg