Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Director: Tim Miller (Deadpool)
	Actors: Linda Hamilton (The Terminator 1-2), Arnold Schwarzenegger (Predator, Maggie, Total Recall), Mackenzie Davis, Gabriel Luna (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV-series), Natalia Reyes
	Country: USA, E, CN, H
	Genre: Action, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 24.01.2020, VOD, 40" TV screen.
Synopsis: A Terminator and a soldier from the future arrive in Mexico. After locating their target, they are soon met by Sarah Connor (Hamilton) who is on a mission.
Review: Arguably the best Terminator movie since T2: Judgment Day. T3: Rise of the Machines was a semi-parodic sequel and the last movie with Arnold before he turned Governator, T4: Salvation tried a new approach and failed, and the reboot T5: Genisys was fun to watch but didn't make much sense especially without sequel to answer the questions it left open. In fact the best Terminator recent material may be excellent novels T2: Infiltrator, T2: Rising Storm and T2: The Future War, followed by The Sarah Connor Chronicle TV-series. And in fact Dark Fate reminds me of those good references with its augmented human, the meeting with an old Arnold and other details. I love how the movie opened, thanks to digital de-aging tech, putting you in the mood you were right after watching T2 and making clear that it is a direct sequel to that one. The concept is always the same: a future AI sends a killer back in time to terminate the savior of humanity, followed by a protector sent by the future resistance. But the movie clarifies early on that Skynet was never born, replaced instead by another AI hinting that this kind of future is, under a form or another, humanity's Dark Fate. I like both characters from the future, I like the one they are trying to protect, I like how Sarah is back and how it is explained and the same goes for the original Terminator although I would have preferred it to be a twist. It was almost for me as I was not sure whether Arnold was in this movie, that's the upside of not watching trailers and not even seeing movie posters. Just the basic poster ruins everything, telling you who is back, who is the robot and who the protector, unlike so well-done in T2 when the awesome revelation comes as a surprise. There are many fights in the movie against an apparently invincible machine but they are well choreographed and play the proper role of propelling our characters forward to escape from the enemy. I feared bad special effects from the first shots in the movie but they turned out to be generous and pretty good. Fan service is present but rather discreet and well-placed (except for the not welcome "I'll be back"). Most important, I found that Schwarzenegger was well in the role, better-looking than in any of the movies he shot post-Governator, and with a few hilarious lines. I don't understand why the movie was not more successful, maybe because of how it was marketed or because of its release date. Although it seems unlikely, I would love to see a sequel explore the many possibilities left open by the ending...
Rating: 7 /10

Dirty Dancing (1987)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1987
	Director: Emile Ardolino
	Actors: Patrick Swayze (Point Break, Red Dawn), Jennifer Grey (Red Dawn), Jerry Orbach
	Country: USA
	Genre: Music, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 22.01.2020, VOD, 40" TV screen.
Synopsis: Spending the summer at a mountain resort with her family, Frances "Baby" Houseman (Grey) falls in love with the camp's dance instructor, Johnny Castle (Swayze).
Review: Believe it or not, I had never seen this movie. I finally watched it in order to complete the first season of The Movies that made us and as I wrote in that review, it is not so surprising that this girly movie about dance didn't motivate me that much. But I have finally seen it and realized of course that it is much more than that. The dancing and the love story are in fact secondary, as the movie emphasizes in its conclusion it is more about this girl growing into adulthood and wanting to change the World, in contrast to the well-established generation of her parents. The movie is so well-shot and the story so well-told (in spite of the adversity like you learn in The Movies that made us), I am not surprised that it is timeless and keeps on influencing generations. It is all the more remarkable because the setting is very marked in time, when parents brought their young adult daughters to holiday resorts for them to find a husband. But it is quickly forgotten when the audience focuses on the timeless problems the young generation is facing: unemployment, clash of generations, discrimination, money, even abortion plays a big role in the movie which definitely removes it from being a Musical. Music is important but more because the songs are chosen to match the action and emotions of the characters. Everything flaws perfectly and I didn't find a moment to roll my eyes at the momentary stupidity of the screenplay like I do in most movies that I watch nowadays. I am very glad I finally watched this movie from the 80's which may be my favorite decade for Cinema (and Music?). It does have this quality from that period of time. I am tempted to watch the two other movies that complete the kind of trilogy of most-known "dance" movies: Flashdance and Footloose, but I fear they are more urban and have shallower meanings.
Rating: 8 /10

The Movies that made Us - Season 1 (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: -
	Director: Brian Volk-Weiss
	Actors: Donald Ian Black, William Atherton, Richard Edlund
	Country: USA
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: January 2020, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: The story behind the creation of some iconic movies.
Review: This series is brought to you by the same team that did The Toys that made us, but while I watch that other for its pop culture stories, this one really talks about some of the Movies that made me. As I mentioned in my other reviews, I was not much playing as a kid with brand toys and their story as depicted in the series didn't happen in Europe: most of the associated TV-shows were non-existent and those toys were really expensive. Movies on the other hand, I could enjoy for free and from an early age (dubbed in French of course), like three of the four presented in that first Season: Home Alone, Ghostbusters and Die Hard. Believe it or not, I had never seen Dirty Dancing before. It is not so surprising that this girly movie about dance didn't "make" me like the others, but I had plenty of opportunities to watch it since but I never did. This is now fixed, as I watched it in order to be able to complete my review of this TV-series! The presentation of the series is similar to The Toys that made us: humoristic and dynamic narration, interviews with the main contributors, no fear to mention the failures and conflicts, tons of archive footage, and apparently a lot of research. The series is different from the kind of making-of we usually see as bonus on DVD/Blu-ray editions for several reasons. First they managed to get a lot of footage and interviews around those relatively old movies. Then the narration and interviews make the story less neutral. In particular it is often annoying that in a making-of everything seems to have gone well, people are all in good terms with each other... which is not real life, and the series is more fair in that respect. The movies selected for this first season have in common that they were small productions from the 80's that had a huge success, although very few believed in them at the start. It means that kids who saw them in theaters or soon after on TV are now in their 40's, like me, and able to talk about how those movies influenced them, and eventually make a TV-series about them. I definitely recognize myself as one of those. Being transported while watching those movies at home with my parents, by the fireplace, after a family dinner, with my brothers, built found memories that I will never forget. It is thanks to such movies that I grew a love for Cinema and Genre in particular, and that I started this blog years later. OK the series is well-done but is not a masterpiece, but I give it an extra rating point for the meaning behind the title. What other movies from that time period made me and could be in the second season (also inspired by what his creator is planning)? Jaws, E.T., Indiana Jones 1, 2, 3, Jurassic Park, Alien 1&2, Terminator 1&2, Predator, Robocop, Total Recall, Lethal Weapon, many Westerns.. If you add the constraint that the movie has to be an underdog the list shrinks.
Rating: 7 /10

Furious 7 (2015)

	Also Known As: Fast & Furious 7
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: James Wan (Saw, Death Sentence)
	Actors: Vin Diesel (Pitch Black, Riddick, xXx), Paul Walker (Pleasantville, Timeline, Into the Blue), Dwayne Johnson (Rampage, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle), Jordana Brewster, Jason Statham (The Mechanic)
	Country: USA, CN, J, CDN, UAE
	Genre: Action
	Conditions of visioning: 21.01.2020, Blu-ray, 40" TV screen.
Synopsis: When they get threatened by the brother of previous enemy (Statham), Dom (Diesel) and O'Connor (Walker) assemble the team once more to go against him.
Review: I think to remember that 2015 is when I heard about the franchise again, and started to caress the idea of watching all of it. I remember seeing the trailer, and half of the movie on a distant screen in a bus with no sound before stopping and keeping the surprise for later. Now the time has come. After Justin Lin directed four movies of the franchise and brought it to its culmination (Furious 6 in 2013), James Wan was hired to go on, even though he is more known for his success in a more horrific and violent genre. And I find that he did pretty well, although not topping the previous one. As I learned from the Blu-ray extras (my god it's been an eternity since I watched some of those), each movie has to show new things in terms of human and car Action. In this movie we get a villain with a new kind of motivation and skill set (Statham), the team reaching a whole new level of adventures with even more important allies (Kurt Russell rules), and the stunts have never been seen before (cars don't fly!). James Wan also found new ways to show fist fights (rotating cameras, an awesome opening sequence etc...) and introduce a Thai legend to the franchise (Tony Jaa from Born to Fight and Ong-Bak). Dwayne Johnson is less present in his movie, my guess would be because he was committed to other projects, but when he appears it counts (ahah how he breaks his plaster by flexing his biceps!). The movie is a lot of fun to watch and many scenes, in particular the ones with cars appropriately, are awesome. The theme of Family is present as ever and brings some welcome emotion to this Action fest. I have two critics though, that sometimes took me out of the movie: firstly, in spite of all the fighting we don't see any blood on-screen (only bruises) to stupidly comply with the PG-13 rating. OK it is not The Expendable, but that's annoying. the extended version is only a little bit better (see that website). Secondly, the justifications for the team to go on this or that mission are light, very light, almost James-Bond light. In the defense of the writers, how do you justify for regular people to go Mission: Impossible, once you have used the killer argument from the previous movie? I knew that Actor Paul Walker died during the making of this movie or the next but was not sure which, and that the movie had to be partly edited without him, or with CGIs or his brothers as stand-in. I was pleasantly surprised to go though the whole movie without noticing anything shocking, but being very touched by the ending, a goodbye to the Actor and the character, after which there was no doubt it happened during that movie. I am pretty sure plenty of people complain about how bad it is done, and I guess I would notice defects if I was watching the movie again with that in mind, but for now I like this movie.
Rating: 6 /10

Split (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: M. Night Shyamalan (The 6th Sense, Unbreakable)
	Actors: James McAvoy (X-men 7-9, Filth, Wanted), Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson
	Country: USA
	Genre: Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 20.01.2020, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Three female friends get kidnapped on a parking lot, by a man we quickly learn suffers from Dissociative identity disorder (multiple personalities). While his motives are unknown, Casey (Taylor-Joy) plays the game.
Review: Except his first two movies, I have seen all the ones directed by M. Night Shyamalan since The 6th Sense back in 1999, with more or less pleasure. He was a bit outside my radar until I heard about Split. I will review the movie itself even though what attracted me to it is (spoiler, highlight to read) its last scene connecting it to Unbreakable and the following Glass. A quick internet research showed me that Split may be one of only two movies dealing with multiple personalities, although many deal with two or sometimes three. That other movie is (spoiler in fact) the 2003 Identity which I liked a lot at the time. I imagine this kind of role is an Actor's dream because it allows him or her (James Mc Avoy in that case) to showcase his ability to play a vast range of characters within a single movie. And he does it very well for the few characters we get to meet. I really liked that about the movie. I also like the whole mythology theoreticized by the character of Dr. Karen Fletcher, which in fact already hints at the connection mentioned above. I didn't know the details of the story before watching the movie so I feared a bit when I saw it veer towards kidnapping and sequestration in a basement (like in 10 Cloverfield Lane) but it turned out better and more open than I thought. I liked that Shyamalan tricked me into thinking I found out the twist of the movie (his movies are famous for that) half-way through it, while I was wrong and in fact the twist is that there is no twist, just a story. It is nicely done and not disappointing. After being tired of the Hollywood system and going back to independent films in 2015 with The Visit, I would say that M. Night Shyamalan is not dead and still manages to direct movies that I like.
Rating: 7 /10

Ad Astra (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Director: James Gray
	Actors: Brad Pitt (World War Z, Fight Club), Tommy Lee Jones (Men in Black 1-3, The Fugitive), Ruth Negga (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV-series)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: 20.02.2020, in-flight entertainment, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Astronaut Roy McBride (Pitt) undertakes a mission across an unforgiving solar system to uncover the truth about his missing father and his doomed expedition that now, 30 years later, threatens the Earth.
Review: "Realistic" Solar system exploration is trendy in Cinema and TV those days: Europa Report, Gravity, Interstellar, The Martian, Ascension, The Expanse, MARS. Mind the quotes around "realistic". I like the title of the movie (meaning "to the Stars") and what it is trying to accomplish: showing us a society where mankind is advancing towards Space. It even mentions the Space Corps, the kind of military entity that has been recently created in several countries to protect their interests in Space, and protect those countries from threats from above. The Universe of Ad Astra borrows from (or reminds of, I don't know who came first) The Expanse, with its solar system engulfed in conflicts. It also reminds of the excellent graphic novel Universal War. The large budget permits good special effects, the opening scene in particular is stunning, a pity I missed this movie release in theaters. The cold-blooded character of Roy McBride is also interesting and of course excellently played by Brad Pitt: he can really convey the emotions of this rather cool-tempered hero. I really like the movie until the arrival and discovery on Mars, even though the Science is more and more out the window (travel times, pirates on the Moon...) and it suffers from a mild case of World War Z syndrome (deadly trouble follows the hero wherever he goes but he remains unscathed). I loved to see Donald Sutherland playing a kind of mentor figure, even though for a short time. But I was baffled by the third act: putting aside the fact that Roy survives more and more impossible stunts, the tension going crescendo until then falls completely flat, I was so disappointed that nothing happens, and the morale and final image is so predictible, although I couldn't believe they would do that until the last moment. I understand that the movie is about the journey of the main character into his soul, but it would have been nice that he takes us somewhere with him on this journey. So disappointing.
Rating: 4 /10

Bad Boys 2 (2003)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2003
	Director: Michael Bay (Armageddon, Transformers 1-5)
	Actors: Will Smith (Independence Day, After Earth, Bright), Martin Lawrence (Blue Streak), Gabrielle Union, Jordi Moll (Riddick), Peter Stormare (Minority Report)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 13.01.2020, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Cop partners Marcus (Lawrence) and Mike (Smith) are back, this time investigating a flow of Ecstasy drugs in Miami.
Review: It took Michael Bay eight years to deliver this sequel to the hit Bad Boys. Surprising, one would think it would have come much sooner. But in the meantime the director could perfect his skills, his style and his ability to handle large budgets with The Rock, Armageddon and Pearl Harbor, so that he could give to the world an awesome sequel, and maybe his best movie. I am surprised I don't find it even mentioned in the comments to the Excellent YouTube video Making the Perfect Sequel. I have a confession to make: I love this movie. It fixes every problem there was with the first one and gives the audience so much more. The humor is the same but more: they probably say 200 times "shit" in the movie, which at least makes me laugh. The movie starts with a butt joke and drags it until the end. Nobody close to us dies in the movie, so we don't have the drama issue of the first. The main characters are threatened a lot, but you know they will survive anything. And I burst into laughter when Martin Lawrence makes his rat jokes. Michael Bay hits us with some insane scenes, like the camera rotation through two adjacent room between the cops and the bad guys, or the crazy car chase that happens at an unexpected moment, reminding me of the one in Matrix Reloaded. And who cares how many innocent people die in their cars... We are also rewarded with the most slow motion, sunset, low angles and topless Will Smith that Michael Bay can do. The soundtrack is fun. The side-story with Marcus' sister spices things up a bit. The bad guys really are evil so we just enjoy when they are all cut to pieces. Edgard Wright's Hot Fuzz glorifies Bad Boys 2, and is the reason why re-discovered it and love it. As they say in Hot Fuzz, it is awesome when you think the movie is over while in fact you still ave a half hour to go and a full Cuban adventure including Action that tops what you have seen until now. I think I could watch it again after a week (this time on a big screen) and enjoy it as much.
Rating: 8 /10

Rim of the World (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Director: McG (Charlie's Angels, Terminator Salvation)
	Actors: Jack Gore, Miya Cech, Benjamin Flores Jr.
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: 12.02.2020, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: When an alien invasion starts, four kids in a summer camp unite to stay alive, and maybe defeat some aliens.
Review: This movie is surfing on the wave of the recently popular Alien invasion genre (District 9, Battle Los Angeles, Ender's Game, Arrival...), but maybe a bit late. It also features kids as main characters to surf on that other wave of 80's / Amblin revival (Stranger Things, Super 8...). I wanted to write that director McG is a bit disappointing but his previous movies were no masterpiece either. Rim of the World is a Netflix production, which may explain the lower quality standard as for big Hollywood studios (on that example in particular, because they are able to do much better sometimes, like Annihilation). The story is quite classic for the genre, but too over-the-top and not believable at all. The character of Dariush behaves like well beyond his age and the jokes revolving around him are exaggerated. The motivation of the Chinese girl is fuzzy, and her perfect English doesn't make any sense. The fact that kids are entrusted such an important mission made me laugh. The challenges they have to go through seem very staged, and the worst is when at the end each of them has to overcome his worst weakness to make the mission succeed. The pace is also strange and the special effects borderline. Not really a good movie.
Rating: 3 /10

Bad Boys (1995)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1995
	Director: Michael Bay (Armageddon, Transformers 1-5)
	Actors: Will Smith (Independence Day, After Earth, Bright), Martin Lawrence (Blue Streak), Tchéky Karyo (Doberman), Joe Pantoliano (The Matrix), Téa Leoni (Deep Impact)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 10.01.2019, VOD, 42" TV screen.
Synopsis: Two hip detectives protect a witness to a murder while investigating a case of stolen heroin from the evidence storage room from their police precinct.
Review: After a full career in music videos and commercials, Michael Bay directed with Bad Boys his first feature-length film. This is pretty impressive when you see the quality of the end product. OK the cinematography is not the best, there you see he still had to learn, but otherwise the movie clearly shows that he knew what he was doing and where he wanted to go. Looking back now, it seems like he wanted to re-introduce the 80's Action genre and its mix of Action scenes and Comedy, but adjusted to more recent humor. In fact Action movies not to take seriously. That was a hit and he went on with more movies and franchises in the same style, in particular Armageddon and all the Transformers movies, to saturation. Countless modern movies follow in his footsteps, I am thinking about the latest in the Fast and Furious saga although they have less humor. The movie is made easy for you to watch: purely bad guys, a damsel in distress, cool cops cracking jokes, making fun of each other, funny misunderstandings, sex jokes, car chases and tons of explosions with capital letters. There is also the shouting unhappy police commissioner (nice Joe Pantoliano) directly from the 80's movies. I think the setting in Miami and the cops investigating on drugs rather than the usual robberies or crimes is also a welcome change that contributed to the success of the movie. The downside of this formula is that because the movie doesn't take itself seriously, neither can you and it is hard to feel any serious drama. For example the death early in the movie that connects all the characters and drives them ends up being forgotten and almost joked about.
Rating: 6 /10

The Toys that made Us - Season 3 (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Director: Brian Volk-Weiss
	Actors: -
	Country: USA
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: January 2020, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: The history of the success of famous toy lines, and anecdotes behind those.
Review: The original concept of the "eight-part Documentary series about the toys that we all know" must have been successful because after those 8 episodes split into Season 1 and Season 2, the series is back for more! The mechanics of the series are now well in place and the creators start to dig into less known toy lines in this third Season. It is well in line with the second season and gets the same rating, not as good as the first one because the novelty effect has passed, and again I miss the "context of the period: political, social, economical, fashion". Still it is pretty entertaining to watch. The Power Rangers episode fascinated me more for the concept of the TV-series (Japanese Super-Sentai series dubbed and with additional scenes shot with American actors) than the one of the toys. My Little Pony was just OK. The Wrestling episode gives more insight on the business, and the one on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is quite interesting for the comics book origin and the participation of its creators to the toy lines. There is not much more to say.
Rating: 5 /10

Furious 6 (2013)

	Also Known As: Fast & Furious 6
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Justin Lin (Fast & Furious 3-4-5-6-9-10, Star Trek Beyond)
	Actors: Vin Diesel (Pitch Black, Riddick, xXx), Paul Walker (Pleasantville, Timeline, Into the Blue), Dwayne Johnson (Rampage, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle), Jordana Brewster, Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action
	Conditions of visioning: 08.01.2020, Blu-ray, 40" TV screen.
Synopsis: While Dom (Diesel) and O'Connor (Walker) enjoy their freedom, Hobbs (Johnson) finds them with a mission they cannot refuse.
Review: You know that the franchise has increased its ambitions (and budget) when most of a movie takes place in London, after the USA, Mexico and Brazil. After two movies trying find the good recipe (Fast and Furious and Fast Five), they finally did it, and I find this movie the best of the franchise until this point. I may have to revise the ratings of all movies depending on what comes next. Special effects: good all-along. Team assembling: seamless Bad-ass fist-fights: Dwayne Johnson starts to find his place Universe-building: done with movies that tie in to the previous and next one (even to older ones, see the time-altering post-credit scene) Car chases with new models: of course, this time with an excuse to run older cars in another city environment Family: yes, against the rest of the world Bad guy: resourceful Twists: some Fan-service: you bet, with the return of former cast Jokes: no more than needed Scale: the World is not enough Basically all the flaws from the previous movies are fixed, and don't tell me that a bigger budget only did that. In this movie I found that all the characters have a well-balanced presence and no amount of money can guarantee a good screenplay and director. For example the mini-story between Han and Gisele is OK and not distracting. Tyrese Gibson is more at ease and does a nice meta-joke (comparing the two teams). Tej is the tech guy. Hobbs sees the good in this band of criminals. Walker is still not acting good but it fits his character by now. The story between Dom and Letty is well-done and even though they play the classic memory-loss trick, it is not resolved by a hit to the head but actions and feelings give it a meaning. And we get to see Vin Diesel as an actor more than usual. One thing that can disturb the delicate audience is the exaggeration in the stunts, I mean how many times can a guy take a bullet or get hit by a moving car on the highway without feeling a thing. Also how long can an airport runway be? I didn't mind, as it goes with the rest of the story. I liked the fake ending a-la-Bad Boys 2, and was jumping on my seat as much as our heroes did (Tyrese again) at the apparition of the tank. Awesome. All in all a great action movie. I have to try and slow down the pace at which I watch those movies or they may feel too repetitive. The next two movies were not directed by Justin Lin, let's see how they fare.
Rating: 7 /10

Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Director: J. J. Abrams (Super 8, Star Trek, The Force Awakens)
	Actors: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega (Attack the Block), Adam Driver (J. Edgar, Lincoln), Oscar Isaac (X-men: Apocalypse, Annihilation)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, Fantasy, Epic, Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 05.01.2019, Cine Hoyts Mallplaza Antofagasta
Synopsis: While the Rebellion regroups its Forces, Kylo Ren (Driver) searched the Galaxy for the source of a message sent by a Sith Lord thought dead.
Review: After being disappointed by the two previous episodes, I was entering the theater with low expectations so they were exceeded and this last episode of the Skywalker saga turned out to be my favorite of the sequel trilogy. Like in other modern blockbusters, it seemed to me that the first half hour serves the double purpose of showing everything you thought was spoiler from the trailer, and getting you slowly into the movie with a lot of action and few emotional scenes in order to wait for the audience to have finished their popcorn so that you can finally start enjoying the movie. I like that this movie brings a kind of conclusion to the stories of the characters we have discovered in this new trilogy: Rey, Poe, Finn, Kylo, while still delivering a good dose of fan service with appearance by the stars of the original trilogy. However, the movie spends a lot of time undoing what the previous one The Last Jedi did, to steer back in the direction that director J. J. Abrams initiated with The Force Awakens. It turns out that the Studio (well, Disney now) didn't plan the story of the three films ahead ; they used the starting ideas of Abrams but then it seems like they wanted to keep the flexibility to react to the Box Office between two films. An apparently good strategy to maximize the money return and minimize the audience disappointment, but not one to make a cohesive trilogy. Even George Lucas had the prequel trilogy planned! I like that this movie concludes with a tone similar to the one of the original movies, this is what I wanted, I didn't want a new take on the Star Wars Universe because I knew it was too risky for the studios to go this direction. In the end they went half-half which is not great for anybody. Fortunately for me, they conclude in my preferred direction. The movie is very dense, many many things happen as the characters move from place to place (this calls for a second viewing) but I was never confused and questionning this planet-hopping less than the few adventures in The Last Jedi (argh the casino planet). Note that while The Force Awakens was sold as Han Solo's movie and The Last Jedi Luke's, this one was planned as Leia's movie but sadly actress Carrie Fischer passed away before production started. So the ended up using left-over footage from the previous movies for this one and drastically reduced her role. It is disturbing because her character lacks interaction with the others and the special effects are not perfect, but I found that given the circumstances the studio did its best. The space battles are exciting and the light sabre battles better than before. But I still found many problems with the movie, like character's motivation and reactions, and some basic logic (everybody survives the apparently deadly giant waves). It is also too obviously gender-conscious, with many voices of female Storm-troopers and a same-sex kiss at the end. Part of the ending reminds of the Beacons of Gondor from The Return of the King but that's always a winner, although the music should have been pumped up some more. Another part of the ending reminded too much of that other recent Disney movie Avengers: Endgame. You will know when you hear it. If you can't have enough of hearing about this movie, I can recommend this breakdown by NewRockstars, this recap by Kevin Smith although not as heartfelt as he did before, and this review of the sequel trilogy by The Cosmonaut Variety Hour. I will probably need a second viewing to get clearer ideas on the movie, and maybe revisit the two others. Now like everybody does, let me try to rank all the Star Wars movies (and some series) from my least to most favorite. Disclaimer: this is based on my feelings of today and may not be fully aligned with the ratings I gave at the time I posted my reviews, and this is such a difficult exercise don't blame me for it: 14. Attack of the Clones (I like a few scenes around Mace Windu's "This party's over" but can't stand the love story and the rest) 13. The Last Jedi (I can only watch it for Luke and Yoda) 12. Revenge of the Sith (for the ending) 11. The worst seasons of The Clone Wars, like season 5 10. Solo 9. The Phantom Menace (for nostalgia of my first viewing, but then with the short version of the Pod Race) 8. The Force Awakens (I don't like the Starkiller base) 7. The best seasons of The Clone Wars, like season 6 6. The Mandalorian (more than just fan service) 5. The Rise of Skywalker 4. Rogue One (surprising) 3. A New Hope (of course I love it, tight with the two others) 2. Return of the Jedi (sorry, I love how it concludes the trilogy) 1. The Empire Strikes Back (best balance of everything Star Wars)
Rating: 7 /10