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Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
Better than the prequels, but still far off for the original trilogy
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens is a film that tries to balance the introduction of new characters and a new storyline, set 30 years after the events in Return of the Jedi, with old characters and story lines that were introduced during the original trilogy and expanded upon in the prequel trilogy.
Most of the film is a pastiche of moments that occurred in the original trilogy. An astromech droid on a desert planet carries a piece of information vital to the Rebellion/Resistance; a lone teenager who dreams of adventure is swooshed into a plot far greater than he/she could have imagined; said teenager meets a legendary figure of prior events who meets his demise at the end of the film; characters meet a wise, 1000 year old small creature who holds clues to their destinies; said droid delivers the information which helps push the plot along; a planet-sized weapon destroys planets and threatens our heroes; our heroes destroy said weapon by lowering its shields and destroying a particular point of weakness; a son confronts his father in his struggle to choose between the dark side and the good side of the Force; said son is the villain of the film and obeys the commands of an evil master who communicates via hologram.
These story elements are what The Force Awakens is composed of, and it suffers because of it. Instead of getting an organic and natural sequel to the events depicted in Return of the Jedi, we get a reintroduction to the universe, which eliminates some previous characters, makes room for new characters, and mixes those characters with the remaining previous characters. For someone with no prior knowledge of Star Wars, if they had just seen episodes 1-7 in chronological order, they would wonder why The Force Awakens seems to spent its entire runtime reorganizing and restructuring all the elements in the previous films rather than telling an original story.
It's not fair to call The Force Awakens a reboot, because it most definitely is a direction continuation of the last six films, but more a restructuring of everything we've come to know, so that the next films can tell new stories with new characters in a newly canonized universe. The Old Republic becomes the New Republic; the Rebellion the Resistance; the Empire the First Order; Darth Vader becomes Kylo Ren, the Emperor becomes Supreme Leader Snoke; R2-D2 and C-3PO become BB-8, and yet all of these characters exist within the framework of the previous ones. Disney and Lucasfilm want to create a rich universe to tell new stories in, and are going to use these characters and these names as reference points going forward.
For those looking for a legitimate sequel to the events of Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens is not the film you're looking for. At least the prequels, which were terribly told stories, served as legitimate prequel stories to the original trilogy, featuring most of the same characters and expanding upon them (Anakin, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Palpatine, the Hutts, the Fetts). The Force Awakens features many of the same characters too (Han, Leia, Luke, R2-D2, C-3PO, Ackbar) but use them to tell stories of new characters, some of which are related to previous ones (Kylo Ren/Ben Solo, possibly Rey) but many of which are simply new introductions to this universe.
7.5/10
Game of Thrones: The Laws of Gods and Men (2014)
Look Where We Are Now
If last episode was showing viewers "look how far we've come", than this episode was surely showing viewers "look where we are now".
Game of Thrones has grown steadily season by season to the point now where it's teetering into becoming the juggernaut it almost is. What started out as an ambitious project with modest ratings has turned into HBO's biggest show since The Sopranos and televisions most earth shattering project. GoT has torn away traditional television forever and showed us that with enough investment, time, and patience even that most ambitious projects can find an audience and the often sought after combination of mass and critical acclaim.
The Laws of Gods and Men was a big episode, both plot-wise and location-wise. The opening shot is that of Braavos, home to the Iron Bank and some gorgeous fictional architecture that could only elicit a single 'wow" from me. It was packed with other "wow" moments; Meereen has never looked so good and Dany's throne room looks absolutely incredible (as well as all built by production designers). Her dragon rising out of a valley and roasting a field of lambs was incredible and a testament to how big the show really has become.
The plot starts to move forward rapidly from here, with the Iron Bank now funding Stannis to eventually conquer the Lannisters (we presume, although there are other threats above the wall Stannis has his eyes on...) and Yara helms a failed rescue mission for Theon, who's now been completely transformed into Reek, Ramsay's personal servant.
Everything builds towards Tyrion's trial on the second half of the episode, which was the stand out scene and the one people will be remembering this one by. As a callback to Season 1, Tyrion ends his trial by demanding he fights for his freedom in front of the eyes of gods and men, after being berated by former enemies, allies, and his lover to eventually lead the room to believe Tyrion really did kill the king. Peter Dinklage's outburst and monologue was the best scene of the episode and was a great way for him to show off his acting chops, which we've been missing for a good chunk of the season.
All in all this episode really pushes things forward and the new direction the show's heading is becoming more apparent.
9.5/10
Game of Thrones: First of His Name (2014)
The Turning Point for GoT
I know people are referring to this episode in a "midseason finale" kind of way, which is totally wrong considering the fact that each season of Thrones is hyper serialized and doesn't need a midseason finale hook to bring viewers back for the last half. With that being said though, this episode was most definitely the turning point for the show.
Game of Thrones may very well be on its back half of the show now, with the producers saying they want 7 (and possibly 8) seasons total. FoHN seemed to wrap up many loose ends from the previous 3 and a half seasons, and pave a much different road for the next 3 and a half.
We found out that Lysa Arryn was the one that murdered her husband (with help from Littlefinger), which was an answer we've been waiting for since the first episode. We learned that Cersei recognized Joffrey as a monster, but chose to love and support his decisions anyways. We learned that Bran has understood his ultimate destiny is to travel beyond the wall and leave his family behind. And we learned that Dany has understood slow and steady wins the race.
In a lot of ways, FoHN was about leaving the past behind, and choosing to look forward on what's head. Lysa moving forward with Littlefinger. Cersei moving forward with Tommen at the throne (and letting Margarey into her life). Bran moving forward away from whatever family he has left. Dany giving up the enticing Iron Throne to move forward and pay back her debts. Everyone is moving forward, everyone has begun to heal from what's happened.
The threats are real, as they've always been, but from here on it the threats are much different in magnitude and embodiment. The "enemy" from the start of season 4 has now been drastically shifted and the dynamic between many characters have fluctuated and landed on a settling point.
I don't expect things to remain the same for very long, they never do on GoT, but what has happened is at least a shift in the show's formula and underlying struggle. No longer is it the war against the Lannister's and King's Landing (although for some it is, *ahem* Stannis) but more about the war against the truths we choose to ignore.
Are the White Walkers to lay siege against Westeros? Will Mance Rayder conquer his lands? Is Dany truly the most suitable for the Iron Throne? What does Bran hope to seek from the three eyed raven? Does Jon's destiny lie with being the natural born leader of the war against evil above the wall? Where will Littlefinger stop, if ever? These are the questions pegging GoT from here on out.
The Counselor (2013)
One of the biggest disappointments of the year.
The Counsellor is easily one of the biggest disappointments in film all year. It just sounded so promising; extremely capable actors, an inventive director, and what seemed like an intriguing story to top it off. So why did it fail so miserably?
The answer lies within the screenplay. Written by Cormac McCarthy (who wrote the novels The Road and No Country for Old Men), The Counsellor's screenplay was absolutely brutal. Sadly, it wasn't even lazy writing that ruined it, it was the fact that it was essentially written as a novel. Let me explain.
Now, I haven't read McCarthy's novels. However, it's very clear that a novelist wrote the screenplay for this movie. The entire movie was essentially what could be looked at as a word for word adaption of what an imaginary "The Counsellor" novel could have been. The awful, unrealistic lines that came out of the character's mouths didn't fit the role they were portraying at all. Sentences such as "the truth has no temperature" were cringe-worthy to hear, especially out of the mouth of the very capable Cameron Diaz. There were too many examples of such lines to write out here, but the majority of what came out of character's mouths were very similar. It just...isn't what people would say, unless maybe they worked on a set of a Shakespearian play.
And when the lines don't work, neither do the actors. Everyone (exluding possibly Michael Fassbender, who was given much less hollow Shakespearian lines (lets call them McCarthers), just acted hollow and rigid. Rightfully so too, as their characters were given no more substance and therefore the actors had nothing to work with.
Did we care about any of the characters? No. Did we understand why The Counsellor wanted in on the drug trade even though he was already rich? No. Did we get any character development throughout the near two hour film? No.
Why did The Counsellor even enter the drug trade, knowing that his wife could wind up becoming a target if things every turned ugly? It was confirmed later in the movie how much he truly loved her, obviously more than any money he would earn, so why put her at risk for a few extra bucks you don't already have? His motivations made no sense.
The plot itself was fairly straightforward, except leaving the theatre I found myself alarmingly confused as to what happened because there was so many tasteless McCarthers being stuffed down the character's throats to try and figure out why the characters were doing what they were doing and what they were going to do.
The Counsellor wasn't bad in all aspects, though. The cinematography was very good, as was the editing and sound editing. The sound of bullets being shot on a desolate road was chillingly real, as was the sound of those who had their heads removed. Visually, the film pretty much hit the spot. The actors did what they could with the script too, but I doubt anyone could have really done any better.
It really seems like the team behind The Counsellor went into it wanting to turn a drug trade plot into something Shakespearian and hollow in the sense that it's a tragedy. For a good example on how to do this, watch the entire series of Breaking Bad. For a good example on how to try to do this and fail miserably, watch (or try to watch) The Counsellor. It's so sad to see so much talent and money go to waste, but sometimes these films are important to have so the generation of emerging new filmmakers know what not to do when crafting their dramas.
5/10
Fringe: Anomaly XB-6783746 (2012)
Slow start but strong finish
"Anomaly" started off with a nice pace, taking place right after the team locates Michael the Observer boy. Unfortunately, the pace soon dips and the episode takes a slow turn as Peter, Walter, and Olivia visit Nina to read Michael's thoughts.
A major chunk of the episode was Windmark interrogating scientists and the Fringe team trying to get a piece of technology. These two linear plot lines took about half of the episode and went by slowly, but as soon as Windmark found the man working with Nina and our team found the technology for Michael it picked up again.
With the "black lab" Nina brought them too compromised, the Observers found her and were about to interrogate her for information on Michael when Nina took a Loyalist's gun and shot herself. It was a tragic ending for Nina, but really raised the stakes. With the piece of technology allowing them to communicate with Michael, the team went back to the lab and Walter asked him questions. Michael showed Walter flashes of his past, and revealed that Donald was actually September as a human!
Yes, this episode did answer a major mystery of the show, but it seemed like it took too long to do it. Just like last weeks, it felt that the first chunk of the episode was stretched out too long, although the final 10 minutes were fantastic. It just feels like time is being a bit wasted here, and with only 3 episodes to go there isn't any time left to stand around.
9/10