Star Wars: Resistance, “The Engineer”, Review!

On Colossus Base, in the control room, Captain Doza brings his worry to Yeager.  The base’s scanners are down and may not detect a First Order attack.  Yeager’s faith is in Neeku who is busy working on a console with Kaz.  He needs a tool to weld a part and struggles to reach over for it.  Kaz’s work malfunctions and the droid, 4D-M1N (Mary Elizabeth McGlynn), reports that the scanners are now working.  Neeku checks on Kaz’s console, he finds an emergency hologram recording of a female pilot.  It is distorted, but they can hear her audio.  Kaz volunteers to fly the rescue mission.  Yeager tells him to find someone who knows how to use a blaster.  A shuttle heads off with Kaz taking Synara San.   It docks with a large freighter.  Steam fills the room with the opened air lock, Kaz and Synara have blasters out, then the blue-faced alien pilot comes out.  She says her name is Nena (Meghan Falcone), a computer engineer trying to escape the First Order.  Kaz offers to help her ship so she can help work on the base’s systems.  Her suggestion to Neeku gets the controls operational.  In the engine room, she quickly gets things running with Neeku.  

STAR WARS: RESISTANCE -- “The Engineer” -- Disney/Lucasfilm.

They end up at Aunt Z’s bar, but Nena is suspicious about pirates.  She has detected the pirates are draining power to their ship.  Kragan Gorr, the pirate leader doesn’t like the accusation, but Nena doesn’t back down.  For some reason, I’m suddenly had the feeling that somehow Star Wars: Rebels will be tied to this series.  At the finale of that show Sabine Wren and Ahsoka Tano were off to search for Ezra Bridger.  He was lost in hyperspace with Thrawn and the space whales called purrgil.  Filoni tied in Clone Wars with Rebels bringing in Ahsoka Tano and Captain Rex.  The Colossus Base has also been lost.  I think the two groups will somehow run into each other.  The power suddenly goes out and Nena runs away with Neku.  They report the pirates’ activity to Captain Doza and Yeager.   Kaz sneaks into the pirate lair with a mask, but is caught by Synara.  Neku has power regulators working so no power can be stolen.  Nena asks him about his parents whom Neku says are bantha herders.  She tells her story of being sold by pirates to a Hutt clan when she escaped.  A very dark story for a Disney animated series.  Kaz discusses the power loss with Synara who blames Nena.  Synara is suspicous that she could fix her ship.  She wants to check the ship.

STAR WARS: RESISTANCE -- “The Engineer” -- Disney/Lucasfilm.

They enter Nena’s ship and find encrypted data for the ship.  They find that Nena was tracking the base for the First Order.  Synara stays with the ship and Kaz heads off to warn others.  Nena is laughing with Neeku and Kaz pulls his friend away.  He tells Neeku that Nena is working with the First Order.  They run towards Nena’s hip she blasts at them.  She wants Neku to join her.  CB-23 knocks her blaster away.  4D-M1N reports that the First Order has arrived.  Synara fights with Nena who manages to run away and escape in her ship.  Captain Doza needs Kaz and Neku to repair Nena’s sabotage.  Kaz heads off to stop the regulators.  Nena reports to Commander Pyre who sends credits to her account.  The sabotage plot was planned by Agent Tierny.  TIE fighters fire on Colossus Base as Kaz runs to bring the power back to the station.  Kaz reaches the pirates and needs their help.  Captain Kragan shut down power.  Neku restores power and they jump into hyperspace.  The failure has Commander Pyre given the order to take care of Nena.   The two friends head down the market.  

Three Lightsabers out of Five! 

#StarWarsResistance, #TheEngineer, #Nena, #4DM1N 

The Mandalorian, Chapter 2 “The Child”, Review!

The Mandalorian continues with the second episode written by Jon Favreau and directed by Rick Famuyiwa who also directed and wrote the drama Dope (2015).  The Mandalorian has taken a high stakes bounty from a former Imperial official.  He flies to a desert planet, Arvala-7, in his Razorcrest ship.  He has help in the form of Ugnaght Kuiil and also the droid bounty hunter, IG-11.  After taking on a hacienda of blastermen, he has discovered his bounty, a child!  Sorry, I’m still not spoiling the identity of the child who has not be identified, but he is cute and alien.  In the rocky canyons, is a strange lizard creature that scurries away from the bounty hunter and the floating sphere containing the child.  The lil’ alien looks at the lizards.  By the way if they don’t sell a stuffie of the child, there will be riots at Galaxy’s Edge!  Sorry Baby Groot, but you are yesterday’s baby!  The Mandalorian senses something and unholsters his blaster.  

Two Trandoshans leap at him with vibro axes!  They are the reptilian hunters of Wookies whom we first saw in the form of Bossk in Empire Strikes Back (1980).  The Trandoshans are no match for the bounty hunter.  He sees their bounty hunting puck.  Later at sunset, he is using a tool to seal the wound on his arm.  The Child walks over to The Mandalorian and reaches out for the wound, but the bounty hunter picks him up to put him back in the sphere.  Sunrise, The Mandalorian has returned to his ship and found that it is nearly disassembled by Jawas who arrived in their sandcrawler!  This of course is a throwback to A New Hope (1977), but we have only seen Jawas on Tatooine and the planet last episode.  The bounty hunter scopes out the Jawas and then takes out his rifle.  He blasts them into empty robes and reloads.  The Sandcrawler closes up and The Mandalorian chases after it with the sphere behind him.

It has camp items hanging on its roof.  The bounty hunter catches hold of the Sandcrawler’s tread while there are numerous hatches with Jawas popping out.  They have red eyes instead of the pale yellow that we saw on Tatooine.  A spotter Jawa has the driver throw the Sandcrawler towards a rocky outcrop very similar to Indy and the tank in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).  He lies across the treads and then uses his grapnel to ascend the sandcrawler’s side while being pelted with scrap from the Jawas.  The Mandalorian makes it to the top, but has to face a group of Jawas!  Can I play any Dusty Jawas songs after seeing the red-eyed Jawas?  He regains consciousness and heads with the sphere to see the tattered remains of the Razorcrest.   Then, he makes the long walk back to the farm of Kuiil.  He sees the child who chases after a frog.  Kuiil offers to take him to the Jawas. In the night rain, Kuiil rides his Blurrg dragging along The Mandalorian on a platform.  It is apparent that Kuiil would have more than a cameo last episode.  

They reach the sandcrawler parked in a canyon with the Jawas setting up a camp.  Kuiil greets them in the Jawa language.  The Jawas take out their ion blasters as the bounty hunter approaches with his rifle.  Kuiil tells him to disarm and The Mandalorian says “weapons are part of my religion.”  He does accept to trade with the Jawas.  They all sit to negotiate, the bounty hunter tries to speak Jawa, but he does so poorly.  The Jawas want his armor, then the child, before agreeing on The Egg.  Kuiil sighs as the Jawas chant, “The Egg!”  The Sandcrawler heads through the canyons.  It is interesting to see the bounty hunter in the cockpit of the Jawa vehicle.  The rear hatch of the Sandcrawler opens when they reach their destination and The Mandalorian walks out with the sphere.  

He reaches a dark cave in the rocky hills.  This is great because we get the classic Quest with the hero facing the beastie.  Kuiil of course is the mentor and guide.  He checks his armor and blaster before entering.  In the dark cave, he uses his helmet light, revealing bones.  Then, there is a growling before the child watches blasterfire in the cave.  The Mandalorian is tossed in the mud outside of the cave.  The beast has a massive horn with fur something like the Reek in Attack of the Clones, but more like a prehistoric Woolly Rhinoceros.  He finds himself matched without effective weapons against the creature, but somehow he must defeat it to restore his ship.  A strong episode, love the myth part, and a shorter run time, but a complete story.  Still, we have to find out the fate of the Child!   

Five Bars of Beskar Steel out of Five!  

#TheMandalorian, #TheChild, #Kuiil, #Jawas 

Disney+, Should You Add Another Streaming Service?

Disney+ has entered the streaming arena with Netflix and Amazon Prime all competing for viewers.  It is priced at $6.99 a month with 7 days free.  There is also a package with Hulu and ESPN+ for $12.99 a month.  Competitive pricing.  Disney+ features content from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic.  The brands all under the Disney banner.  This is an incredible consolidation of entertainment and informative content that was spearheaded by Bob Iger and the Disney team.  This is the vision that has brought in a record $8 billion at the box office.  It is no longer an animation studio with a theme park.  I remember the days of the Apple Dumpling Gang (1975) when Disney was very tame with family content.  

Tron (1982) and then Touchstone Pictures expanded the Disney entertainment value.  Then, Disney bought Pixar in 2006 for $7.4 billion.  2009, the company purchased Marvel Entertainment for $4.24 billion, I do remember the days when Marvel almost went bankrupt.  This of course opened the content to cover young viewers and some adults.  Then, Lucasfilm was bought by Disney for $4 billion in 2012.  Disney acquired 21st Century Fox in March of this year adding National Geographic.  The brilliance of this is covering the four quadrants.  When audiences think Disney they know it is not in the family niche, but entertainment in its entirety.  Disney+ is the fulfillment of all of these maneuvers that may carry the company in its next phase.  

So the question is should everyone, anyone, add yet another streaming service?  My answer is if you only like a show like The Mandalorian, no.   The days of three networks looking for that must-see show is over.  Viewers now watch multiple programs looking for something fresh that works with their particular tastes.  I’ve subscribed to a number of streaming services and I have to say you need a service where a majority of its content appeals to you.  I was heavily watching one or two shows in other services and then lost interest.  Hopefully, there will be new content added regularly.  Disney+ features a banner running their latest shows; The Mandalorian, Encore!, original films like Lady and the Tramp, and movies like Captain Marvel.  Then, it has icons for the brands before you get selections like Originals, Recommended For You, and Hit Movies.  

The search leads you to Explore selections like National Geographic Exploring Our World, The Muppets, and Marvel Animation Collection.  It also has the search tab so you can look on your own through the extensive library.  The downside is that if you do make a search, say “Spider-Man”, then you return to the home screen and can’t continue searching titles.  The page of the title you choose has a + button to add it to your Watch List and also has Suggested, Extras (a few home video extras, but basically trailers and deleted scenes for now), and Details.  In some of the descriptions, there is “It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”  This is great since there is some classics that don’t need to be edited.  Parents have to aware and explain to their children, if not, pass on the title.  I get the sensitivity, but I’m a major proponent of keeping work intact.  

There are a few titles that have “Coming soon to Disney+.  Due to existing agreements this title will be available on…”. These films are pending, but I like the tag and the expected release date.  So, the first day it was up, I was trying to play The Mandalorian.  No luck, and also with other titles.  I ended up playing The Imagineering Story, a very comprehensive documentary by Leslie Iwerks.  It focuses on building Disneyland and its years up to Walt Disney’s death.  There isn’t a run time, but it is about an hour long  documentary.  Then, it was filling up my Watchlist; cartoon series and films, Tron Uprising which I missed, it is nice to have all of the Clone Wars in one place, and classic movies like Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959).   This is good diversity of content needed for a streaming service.  

I would actually like a host introducing the various areas of Disney+, suggesting titles, Disney could have Kristen Bell, Pixar, John Ratzenberger, Marvel, Brie Larson,  Star Wars, Mark Hamill, and National Geographic, Jeff Goldblum.  This would give a personal touch to the streaming service.  The Extras features are lacking for all of them.   I would like introductions to some of the titles.  Possibly commentary tracks (my favorite), production artwork (a great early home video feature that has been missing lately), music videos (which was big for Disney), panels at D23 Expo, and any documentaries.  The docs could be attached under the Suggested button.  I would like to see a show on the Disney Legends with the D23 Expo ceremonies.  New episodes drop tomorrow!   

#DisneyPlus, #TheMandalorian, #TheImagineeringStory, #Encore, #LadyandtheTramp

Last Christmas Review!

Last Christmas is an emotionally powerful, funny, and uplifting story of a woman who has lost her way and finds a man who may help her change her life!  The story is co-written by Emma Thompson who also co-stars and husband, Greg Wise, her fellow actor in Sense and Sensiblity (1995) and Effie Gray (2014).  Thompson is notably a screenwriter with the Jane Austen adaptation and of course has familiarity with romantic comedies starring in Love Actually (2003).  Thompson also co-wrote the screenplay with Bryony Kimmings who is known for performance piece, Sex Idiot (2010).  

The film is directed by Paul Feig who has re-energized comedy movies with Bridesmaids (2011) and the series Freaks and Geeks.  The movie is centered around Emilia Clarke, who of course is known as Daenerys Targaryen, but I also recall her from another romantic film, Me Before You (2016).  The tone of that film made me expect that this story would not tread traditional rom-com territory.  The title and songs in the films are based on the discography of George Michael.  The movie is very clever in using the songs and hints at Michael’s life, which of course keeps the songs on re-play in my mind.  In interviews, Thompson consulted with Michael over the use of the songs and this is a very strong tribute to the singer.

It opens in church, Yugoslavia, 1999, a young choir is singing.  This is in the aftermath of the Kosovo War.  Then, we get the soloist, Katarina (Madison Ingoldsby) singing while her family watches her.  This includes her mother, Petra (Thompson), and sister Marta (Lucy Miller).  This shifts to London, 2017, where Katarina (Clarke) who now goes by Kate, finds herself in meaningless relationships and also homeless.  This hapless woman wandering through life is very sympathetic.  She rolls around her suitcase which contains her elf outfit.  Kate opens up the year round Christmas shop that sells kitchsy goods.  

Her boss is Santa played by Michelle Yeoh.  We of course know her from Crazy Rich Asians (2018) as well as many action and dramatic roles like Star Trek: Discovery.  She plays a strict owner, but there is more to her character and why she owns the shop.   Santa calls Kate “Elf.”  Kate constantly gets calls from her mother that include the funny ringtone from Fine Young Cannibals.  Her sister, Marta (Lydia Leonard) stops by the shop to ask her to call their mother back.  Leonard was in the film, The Fifth Estate (2013), and the drama Gentleman Jack.   She finds disappointment at her mother fawning over her sister and also the tension that Kate has with her mother.

Kate has managed to find a place to stay with her best friend, Jenna (Ritu Arya), and her husband Rufus (Ansu Kabia).  He does not like Kate hanging around because he spends his time working on complex crafts that don’t survive Kate!  It is a low point in Kate’s life and she finds no joy working as an elf.  She tries to flirt with a customer, but Santa takes over.  Kate then notices through the window, a man in a coat (Henry Golding).  He was Nick Young in Crazy Rich Asians and also starred in Feig’s A Simple Favor (2018).  

They have a fascinating chemistry, he is different, showing her new things.  She leaves the shop to see his attention fixed above, his favorite saying is “Look up”, and he watches a falcon.  Kate joins him and gets a gift from above.  She is of course embarrassed and upset that the man wants her to join him on a walk.  Kate has ambitions to be a professional singer, but just can’t get her life in order to audition properly.  She ends up auditioning in her elf suit and fails again.  Kate heads back to the shop and finds the man about to make a delivery on his bicycle.

He introduces himself as Tom.  She ends up walking with him, looking up, she takes a fall into some rubbish bags!  Tom takes Kate to a secluded park where the patrons sit quietly.  He tells her their stories.  Later, Tom brings Kate to the homeless shelter where he volunteers.  Kate finds it strange that he does not have a phone and can’t find him at times.  She mentions that she hopes to audition for Frozen on Ice, but can’t ice skate.  She ends up at her mother’s house and then they head to a doctor’s appointment.  Her mother, Petra, is very funny in her honesty.  Kate had an illness in the past.

Tom’s next outing is to sneak into an ice skating rink and she gets steady on ice skates before a security guard interrupts them.  At the shop, Santa is stunned to see a Danish worker (Peter Mygind) at a stall next door.  She finds she can’t pronounce his name and calls him “Boy”!  There is also the question of Brexit and the hatred that came out of it towards immigrants specifically the Yugoslavian people.  Petra feels sorrow at the hatred.  Kate somehow has to treat others including her family and get back to a holiday cheer.  There are twists that hopefully I didn’t spoil!  Those who say the film is predictable or saccharine should move back to their Grinch caves and hope that their hearts grow three sizes.  There are a number of laughs and dramatic moments that make this movie one of my top rom-coms! 

Five Rolling Suitcases out of Five!  

#LastChristmas, #PaulFeig, #EmiliaClarke, #HenryGolding, #EmmaThompson, #MichelleYeoh  

The Mandalorian, “Chapter One”, Review!

The pilot episode of The Mandalorian is written by Jon Favreau and directed by Dave Fioni who are both executive producers.  The show was created by Favreau and debuted on Disney+.  There is the pulsing of a scanning device as The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) stands in a snowy environment.  Pascal of course was in Game of Thrones also Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017).  The bounty hunter heads over to a settlement.  Two thugs are working over a blue, fish-like alien (Horatio Sanz).  One speaks Huttese, saying he will remove the glands of the victim, the other is Quarren, with a tentacled face.  The door irises open and The Mandalorian enters.  

The bearded human tries to blame his spilled drink on The Mandalorian.  Mistake.  The bounty hunter walks up to the bar not speaking a word.  The human thug asks if his armor is Beskar steel.  We found out about this Mandalorian element from the Star Wars: Rebels episode "Heroes of Mandalore" (2017).  The bartender slides over a drink and The Mandalorian whirls into action taking care of the two thugs.  The alien thanks him, his design reminds me of Star Trek aliens, and the bounty hunter shows the hologram of him, his bounty.  The Mandalorian walks with the alien in binders.  His contact, the same kind of long snouted alien informant that was in A New Hope (1977) plays a tune on a pipe and a speeder pulls up.  The Mandalorian doesn’t want a droid driver and the contact brings up a broken down speeder with a bearded driver (comedian Brian Posehn).  Interesting casting. 

THE MANDALORIAN -- “Chapter One” -- PEDRO PASCAL -- Francois Duhamel/Lucasfilm. 

They reach a ship just two heavy engines and a long hull almost like a cargo hauler.  The driver warns them about the ice and the bounty watches as something brings the speeder down from under the ice.  The ice cracks and a massive beast with walrus-like tusks latches onto the ship.  The Mandalorian tries to take off, but instead grabs his pole-like weapon with tuning fork-like end straight out of the Star Wars Holiday Special (1978). The creature gnaws at the landing gear and the bounty hunter shocks it with the weapon.  The ship takes off, his bounty screams and then babbles that the ship is Razor Crest, pre-Empire.  The Mandalorian says nothing as the alien goes to find a vacuum tube to “evacuate.”  He finds it below deck along with a weapons locker.  

The alien mentions Life Day, another Holiday Special reference, and finds carbonite slabs with several bounties.  The Mandalorian appears behind him and throws him into carbon freeze!  The ship descends to a planet (the planets are not identified) and the bounty hunter heads over to a cantina.  It is full of strange looking aliens, very Star Wars!  Sitting at a table is veteran Greef Carga (Carl Weathers) and The Mandalorian places the bounty pucks on the table.  Weathers brings a distinctiveness to the Star Wars Galaxy having played Apollo Creed in Rocky (1976) and taking on the sci fi Predator (1987).  His assistant works to remove the bounties in carbonite, the slabs float out of the cargo hatch.  Greef has one high paying job.  He shows the chip and The Mandalorian takes it.  This is probably the first time we see how a bounty hunting task works. 

The Mandalorian walks the streets, Jawas scurry about, and reaches a door, knocks, and the droid eye guard like in Return of the Jedi (1983), pops out.  He shows the droid the chip, it has the same dialogue as RoTJ, which is kinda funny.  Standard greeting. The door opens and the bounty hunter follows a GNK power droid.  There is many SW references dropped in this show.  The door opens and it is full of Stormtroopers in dusty, weathered armor!  The Client (Werner Herzog) is there, an older distinguished man in robes, he wears a medallion with the Imperial crest.  Herzog is a filmmaker of incredible esteem centered around his work as part of the New German Cinema.  A man walks in and The Mandalorian has his blaster out and his staff before the stormtroopers can draw their blaster rifles!  The Client introduces Dr. Pershing (Omid Abtahi).  

He sits and shows The Mandalorian a bar of Beskar steel.  The Client has Dr. Pershing give the bounty hunter a chain fob.  The Client and Greef Carga gives me a Firefly vibe of untrustworthy contacts like Badger.  On the street, we see a cooked Kowakian monkey lizard!, this won’t be sold at Galaxy’s Edge!  He walks into another building and down steps to a hall of other helmeted Mandalorians including children.  The bounty hunter reaches another Mandalorian working on a forge with multiple shafts of blue flame.  The Armorer (Emily Swallow) wears an almost Viking-looking helmet and fur coat.  The Mandalorian places credits and the Beskar steel bar.  The Armorer asks him if his signet has been revealed and he says not yet.  She uses the bar to forge him a pauldron for his armor.  He flashes back to when he was a foundling child, running in red cloth, as blasters cut down others. The Armorer attaches the shoulder pauldron to his armor.  This also something new seeing Mando armor forged. 

The Mandalorian heads his ship to a dry, desert world.  He walks down the boarding ramp and begins scanning.  The bounty hunter has his staff weapon out and scans the plain seeing reptile-like Blurrgs.  These are the beasties pulling the Marauders in Ewoks: The Battle for Endor. (1985).  This scene is similar to Luke sighting the Banthas.  Suddenly, one leaps up and catches his arm!  His flame throws blasts out of its mouth and The Mandalorian tries to strike its head.  The Blurrg drops from an electrified dart.  He sees his rescuer, an old Ugnaught (voiced by Nick Nolte?), Kuill, he has a Colonel Mustard-style mustache and rides a Blurrg with a rifle.  This is the porcine alien from Empire Strikes Back (1980).  

Kuill offers his help and finishes with “I have spoken.” At his farm residence, the Ugnaught and says that he helped others try to find the bounty.  The next day, The Mandalorian is thrown trying to mount a Blurrg.  He tries to ask about a landspeeder, but the Ugnaught says his ancestors were beast riders.  The bounty hunter tries to calm the beast and then mounts it ready to ride.  The Blurrgs leap over rocky cracks in the landscape.  Kuill says that the visitors had brought trouble and he only wants peace.  The bounty hunter scans the remote hacienda and uses a periscope-like device to see the alien gunmen.  Then, sees a bounty droid, very like IG-88 in ESB.  IG-11 (Taika Waititi) has walked into the hacienda and takes on the gunmen sending them running.  

It is hunting for the “Asset.”  IG-11 has a thin profile, flips his body, and carries double blasters firing in any direction.  The Mandalorian wants it to stand down, but is blasted in the shoulder.  He shows his chip identifying that he is in the Bounty Hunters Guild.  They agree to split the bounty and get into an intense firefight!  The Mandalorian has discovered the location of the bounty and the droid holds off the gunmen as they race to the door.  IG-11 declares they are trapped by the army of gunmen and begins to self-destruct revealing from a panel a thermal detonator.   The Mandalorian tells him to instead cover him him while he hot wires the door.  

One of the aliens brings in a large blaster cannon.  IG-11 goes out, but is cut down by the blaster cannon, The Mandalorian blasts the gunner, then uses his grapnel to pull the cannon so he can cut down the remaining gunmen!  He checks on IG-11 and pulls him up.  For some reason, this reminds me of Brisco County and Lord Bowler in the 90’s Western, steam punk action show.  They use the blaster cannon to breach the door.  The bounty hunters find the Asset in a small sphere.  The Mandalorian never takes off his helmet like Judge Dredd in Dredd (2012).  There is so little CG, it does not have the fakeness of CG trying to be sci fi.  I love the action, characters, it is the “feel” of Star Wars in a new setting, which is true Star Wars!  This show has everything except Teek!  

    

Five Bars of Beskar Steel out of Five!   

#TheMandalorian, #JonFavreau, #DaveFiloni, #PedroPascal, #CarlWeathers 

Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Allegiance #4 Review!

We are getting closer to The Rise of Skywalker and the Allegiance limited series has reached a conclusion!  The connecting covers by Marco Checcheto features Rey against a blue background with General Nossor Ri(?) and Chewbacca on the side.  We get BB-8 and X-Wing fighters on the bottom.  We have the two groups, Leia, Rey, and her group on Mon Cala, and Poe and Finn on the Moon of Avedot. “A Rising Tide” is with the creative team, writer Ethan Sacks, and artist, Luke Ross.  We begin with the explosion at the Dac City landing platform.  Then, we get Rey using her Force powers to protect everyone using cargo containers.  Actually, best use of Force, would be to move the explosive off of the platform or to move everyone away, but that may take away from the cliffhanger ending.  Rose spots the saboteur and leaps after him with Rose also in the pursuit.  Rose doesn’t see how she can help, but “borrows” a speeder.  Rey chases after the Quarren bomber through a marketplace and protects a family from his blaster fire.  

The saboteur uses that distraction to escape, but Rose of course stops him.  Rey holds her staff to the fallen Quarren.  An interesting panel with the Quarren in shadow, but Rose is towering over Rey, except actress Kelly Marie Tran is kinda short.  At the moon base, Finn is revived by Poe on comlink.  Poe and BB-8 take cover from bounty hunter blasterfire.  Finn also has to leap away from the bounty hunter ship blasting at him!  BB-8 informs Poe that he will take care of the situation.  He bumps over to a crate of thermal detonators.  One flies towards bounty hunter leader Kendoh and she manages to leap away.  She just notices the thermal detonator hopping at her calf and then leaps away from the explosion?  Hard to believe.  Poe boards his ship as Finn is cornered.  Back at Mon Cala, the First Order fleet has arrived from hyperspace!  Leia sends the others to prep the Falcon while she meets with King Ech-Char.  This all seems to be a set-up for why there are Mon Calamari ships in Rise of Skywalker like the end of Return of the Jedi.  General Nossor Ri puts the blame on Leia, but Aftab defends her.  

Leia reveals Chadkol Gee, the general’s assistant, and their plot to attack Leia’s group.  Leia, nice close-up in her diving helmet, explains that they need Mon Calamari ships to take on the First Order.  Witnessing the destruction of Alderaan and suffering through Rian Johnson’s script.  She frees the binders on the general in an act of forgiveness.  He vows to somehow get the ships through the First Order blockade.  At Avedot, Finn is using the snowspeeder to fly at the bounty hunter, Basso Mak, and ejects in time with a splash page of the explosion.  Poe has BB-8 pop out the ejector seat and heads the ship over to Finn who is screaming for help.  In a series of vertical panels, Finn is about to freefall in his ejector seat.  Kendoh and her gang witness the rescue and escape with the shipment of weapons.  One ship full of weapons does not seem pivotal unless they are prototype weapons.  We also lose track of the Resistance Base on Anoat.  Kendoh mentions the next job concerns the sword that is part of the Galaxy’s Edge limited series.  This is Sacks tying in his two Star Wars series.  Mon Cala, there is the blockade, and the escape, but we have seen the consequences with General Hux against allied planets!  This moves into Rise of Skywalker.  

Three Lightsabers out of Five!

#JourneytoStarWarsTheRiseofSkywalkerAllegiance, #StarWarsTheRiseofSkywalker, #MonCala, #Aftab 

Happy Birthday Neil Gaiman!

Happy Birthday Neil Gaiman!  He started out as a journalist and one of his early graphic novels was Violent Cases with artist Dave McKean.  Then he wrote Don’t Panic: The Official Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Companion (1988) based on the Douglas Adams’ books.  His first work for DC Comics was the limited series, Black Orchid (1988-1989), with art by Dave McKean.  Afterwards, Gaiman was presented with his own spin on old comics character, The Sandman, it was a series that elevated comic books to literary heights. Sandman #8 (1989) introduced Morpheus’ sister, Death.  Sandman #19 (1990), “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, with art by Charles Vess, won the World Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction.  Then, he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett Good Omens (1990), which was turned into an  Amazon Prime and BBC series.  Next, Gaiman worked with Dave McKean on graphic novels; Signal to Noise (1992) and The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch (1994).  

He wrote for television with the BBC Two series Neverwhere (1996) with a novelization in the same year.  Gaiman wrote the fantasy limited series Stardust (1997) with art by Charles Vess.  He wrote the novel in 1999 and it  was later turned to a film in 2007.  Gaiman wrote another novel, American Gods, in 2001.  This was also turned into a television series on Starz that started in 2017. In 2002, he wrote the novel, Coraline, it was made into a brilliant Laika animated film in 2009.  Gauman wrote the screenplay for MirrorMask (2005) directed by Dave McKean.  How to Talk to Girls at Parties was a short story written by Gaiman in 2006 and this was adapted into a film in 2018.  He co-wrote the screenplay for the animated film, Beowulf (2007).  In 2011, Gaiman wrote the script for “The Doctor’s Wife” episode of Doctor Who.  He returned to the Dreaming with The Sandman: Overture (2013-2015), a limited series with art by J.H. Williams III.  Almost all of Neil Gaiman's works are being brought to film and television, but Sandman for some reason.  One of his recent books is Norse Mythology which was published in 2017.  Happy Birthday Neil Gaiman!

#NeilGaiman, #Sandman, #GoodOmens, #AmericanGods 

Batwoman, “Who Are You?”, Review!

Batwoman continues, we have Kate finally becoming Batwoman last episode, a possible relationship with the bartender Reagan, and the mystery of Beth, Kate’s twin sister.  Could the mystery also be connected with the disappearance of Bruce Wayne?  So will we see him at the finale?  Night, Gotham City, a jewel thief ziplines across a building.  Then, the thief with the bluish white wig (Rachel Matthews) takes a ring, sets off explosives for the security guard, and escapes up her rope!  Day, Vesper Fairchild reports the crime and asks where was Batwoman?  Sophie watches on her computer.  It is switched off by Kate who is in bed with Reagan.  It seems like Batwoman has her priorties right!  She gets the text from Luke and tries to get away.  Kate motorcycles to the Wayne Building thinking about her identity.  She meets Roxanna, who represents the Museum of Antiquities, Kate has loaned Martha Wayne’s necklace.  Her assistant, Margaret (Matthews) is helping set up a photograph shoot of the display.  Luke updates Kate on the crime.  Later, he takes Kate to the Batcave to show the prisoner questioned by Kate.  

BATWOMAN -- “Who Are You?” -- RUBY ROSE, RACHEL SKARSTEN --   Photo: Jeffery Garland/The CW -- © 2019 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

The graves of Gabrielle and Elizabeth Kane are being dug up by a bulldozer while Catherine watches.  She walks over to her car, but is interrupted by Alice and her gang.  It looks like blackmail.  Alice wants a “top secret weapon” created by Catherine.  The blackmail is Catherine trying to keep her husband, Jacob, from knowing his daughter is alive.  At the secret clinic, Mary walks out excited to see Batwoman who asks for help, showing the prisoner.  Mary checks on the patient’s leg which is infected.  Gotham at night,  Batwoman is at the top of a building when Luke calls.  Magpie drops in, but her line is cut, she picks herself up to fight Batwoman.  She is acrobatic, but flips towards a window, Batwoman tosses a Batarang at her and it slips back shattering a glass case!   Funny, but it works to see a superhero getting the hang of her weapons.  Vesper critizes Batwoman using the batarang.  Luke isn’t certain what happened.  Her power?  Kate took grenades from Magpie’s belt.  She heads over for a lunch.  Jacob listens to classical music as Sophie checks on him,  She brings him a report on the explosive that freed Alice.  It was from Hamilton Dynamics.  

Reagan is walking with Kate and she asks about why she left and realizes it was an ex-girlfriend.  Kate brings up Sophie.  Reagan notes that she was evicted from her building.  She gets another text from Luke and makes up another excuse, but asks Reagan out to a fundraiser.  Luke makes some tests when he gets an alarm and rushes to the office with his pistol.  He is knocked down by Magpie and blacks out.  The next day, Kate is furious that Magpie stole Martha Wayne’s necklace.  Luke has a cold compress on his head.  Kate worries since Martha died for the necklace.  Luke explains that Bruce spent a million dollars buying the lost necklace.  He also says that Magpie is using explosive ink.  Luke says that Sophie would be able to track down the ink.  Kate tells Sophie and tries to keep her father out of it.  Three men are attacked by Alice’s gang and she knows they were sent by Catherine.  She selects one of them to send a message and cuts the finger off a thug with garden shears.  Luke goes over Bruce more comfortable in his identity as Batman.  He says the explosive ink was sent to a P.O. box.  Kate notes that she has gone to the Gotham Hotel.  Batwoman walks the dark halls talking to Luke over her mike.  She sees the room where Magpie keeps the stolen jewelry.  It is cold which Luke says is rigged to react to climate control.  He lowers the temperature of the suit and asks Kate how long she can hold her breath.  As she searches, Luke says that he realized the Batarang was for Bruce who has long arms!  He suggests she hack into Magpie’s hard drive.  She suddenly sneezes and there is an explosion, Batwoman is thrown out of the window!

BATWOMAN -- “Who Are You?” -- RUBY ROSE -- Photo: Sergei Bachlakov/The CW -- © 2019 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

The prisoner revives and Mary checks his iv.  He calls out to Alice and Mary pretends to be her.  She asks him to explain her plans, but he gives cryptic answers.  “She” cares about someone and Alice has plans for the Mouse.  It is strange that Alice would not find her henchman, but is probably part of her plan.  Wayne Building, Luke places the necklace in the pyramid case back on the mantle.  Batwoman is on patrol as Luke is in the Batcave.  He is printing what was found on Magpie’s hard drive.  Batwoman notes that she has seen Reagan and invited her there.  Catherine meets with her injured thug.  She picks up her phone and speaks to Alice.  At the party, Kate walks in with a bag.  She sees Reagan and then stows teh bag at a mechanical room.  Sophie checks on Kate and then Reagan walks up to them.  Later, Kate has drinks with Reagan.  This is a complication to Kate’s relationship, she has to make the choice between hero and happiness.  Roxanna is there and says that a security guard found the necklace.  She goes to speak at the podium and then unveils the necklace!  Kate speaks to Luke who says that Magpie sent a bomb!  The 3D printer forms a necklace.  Kate heads to the mechanical room.  The lights go out and an alarm is set at the fundraiser.  Batwoman confronts Magpie, but she activates the explosive!  The villany of Magpie, the hard truths revealed for the show, and the tie-in to Batman’s origin is brilliant!  

Four Batarangs out of Five!  

Little Mermaid Live!

Little Mermaid (1989) was really the start of the second period for Disney Animation.  It brought back Disney princesses, fairty tales, and re-energized it with contemporary music.  Little Mermaid Live is a production right after a slate of Dusney films based on classics; Dumbo, Aladdin, and Lion King.  Also, there were a number of live television musicals; Rent: Live! (Fox), The Sound of Music: Live! (NBC), and Grease: Live! (Fox).  They were very live performance based, but Little Mermaid Live! runs the animated film to where it feels like a theme park production.  This is released under the Wonderful World of Disney which presented television specials.  Of course, the animation has moments that may be essential to this retelling of the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale.  The problem is that the humor and emotional moments are in cartoon form so the live performers sing the songs, but not play the characters.  Also, it is nice to hear the voices of Jodi Benson (Ariel), Samuel E. Wright (Sebastian), and Pat Carroll (Ursula).  Glenn Slater contributed additional lyrics.   

Jodi Benson introduces the production.  It shifts from the animation of the ship at sea.  We get Prince Eric with Graham Phillips singing, new with additional lyrics, first with “Fathoms Below”.  Philips was in the Broadway musical 13 (2008).  Prince Eric was so undeveloped that I like the role here.  The animation hybrid must be like the 2016 Hollywood Bowl performance, but it just doesn’t give the live actors a chance to perform the dramatic parts.  The stage is woven in circles with the audience taking part waving blue scarves to show waves.  It may be that Ariel’s song is heard so Auli’i could have been heard early.   This moves to the “Daughters of Triton” where the daughters have some singing parts while Amber Riley from Glee introduces them.  Then, an extended cartoon sequence.  We get Auli’i Cravalho in full costume, suspended above her lair.  Of course she filled the Disney princess role with Moana.  Her rendition of “Part of Your World” includes some high notes and some dancers in the dark like a musical box. Cravalho has great vocals, but again she doesn't get a chance to handle the dramatic part and the romance is in the cartoon.  

The reprise on the beach loses the animation where you could see Ariel has fallen deeply in love with Eric.  Then, of course we get Sebastian trying to cheer up Ariel with “Under the Sea”, complete with bubbles, puppets, aerialists, and Shaggy in shiny, red armor than anything like a shell or crab-like claws.  Shaggy gives some fun vocals in his style that started with “It Wasn’t Me” (2000).  The next scene has Ursula now in the form of Queen Latifah singing “Poor Unforunate Souls” with so much fun she almost steals the show!  Latifah is an actress and rap icon from her single “Ladies First” (1989).  Philips has his solo with “Her Voice.”  Long time Disney fan, John Stamos, is Chef Louis, singing and dancing “Les Poissons” with crabs!  More animation until we get to Shaggy Sebastian serenading Eric and Ariel with “Kiss the Girl.”  Auli’i gets a solo with “If Only” which she sadly sings in her room, it revolves so we can get Eric picking up the song on a bench by a stone wall.  This is two actors getting their moments.  The mute part of Ariel should be handled in the live action adaptation, an interior voice, some reflection where she can heard.  The cast appeared at the end to “Under the Sea” to take their bows.  Voyage of the Little Mermaid is at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  It plays the animation, uses effects like lasers and also puppets, which is a live production at a theme park that is currently playing. I found the singing, just Ariel and Ursula, and the effects, Ariel shifts to mermaid to dress in the blink of an eye, all in 17 minutes! Little Mermaid Live! ran at 2 hour, 58 seconds.   

Three Dinglehoppers out of Five!   

#LittleMermaidLive, #JodiBenson, #AuliiCravalo, #GrahamPhillips, #Shaggy, #QueenLatifah

Terminator: Dark Fate Review!

Terminator (1984) showed us a future nearly overrun by killer robots and Terminator: Dark Fate has a new fight with a trio of tough women to save humanity!  Tim Miller has shifted from the killer mutant, Deadpool, to this next entry in the franchise.  There was a writing committee headed by James Cameron, Charles H. Eglee who executive produced Cameron’s Dark Angel, Josh Friedman, who developed the brilliant Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and David S. Goyer with Justin Rhodes who worked on the screenplay along with Billy Ray who wrote Overlord (2018).  The music by Junkie XL does bring up hints of the synth soundtrack of Brad Fiedel from the first two Terminator movies.  

I think they all understand that Sarah Connor, in film form played by Linda Hamilton, was at the heart of the Terminator films.  This was lost in the non-Cameron sequels; Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009), and Terminator Genisys (2015).  If anyone was looking for a trilogy to wrap up the Terminator story, the best was the Universal Studios theme park attraction, T2-3D: Battle Across Time (1996) that involved Cameron, Stan Winston, the theme park designers, and the original cast.  It followed John Connor again teaming up with the Terminator to go into the Skynet controlled future to destroy it.  Important point if you have seen Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles expanding the world, but in a different way than the movies, then you might like Dark Fate.  

It is a sequel that ignores the previous films until Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), a rebootquel?  The film opens with Sarah Connor’s video interview about her vision of Judgment Day at the psychiatric hospital.  Her narration continues about changing the future that ended on 1997.  Then, we get waves lapping on a skull embedded in a beach.  Terminators walk out of the sea and begin firing on human resistance.  There is an explosion that knocks down a Latina girl.  It shifts to 1998, at Livingston, Guatemala, Sarah Conner is at a beach bar.  This is a fateful meeting with a Terminator.  Dark Fate picks up in 2020 in Mexico City.  

We have in the middle of a highway at night, a time sphere freezing the area and spatting out blue electricity.  Out of it comes the naked figure of a woman who falls off the side.  A girlfriend convinces her boyfriend to help her, but they are surrounded by police cars.  The unknown woman (Mackenzie Davis), Grace, scans the threats and takes out the police officers.  Davis was in another sci fi sequel, Blade Runner 2049 (2017).   Morning, Daniella Ramos (Natalia Reyes) wakes up her brother Diego (Diego Boneta).  Reyes was in the Colombian crime film, Birds of Passage (2018).  Daniella, Dani to her friends, is the average girl who becomes an important figure in this movie, and has to survive at all costs.  Boneta was in Rock of Ages (2012).  He has ambitions to sing, but they leave their father (Enrique Arce) and go to work at a car factory. 

At the apartment complex, another time sphere appears and out of it is another naked figure, this time a Latin man (Gabriel Luna).  He is a Terminator in the Robert Patrick T-100- mold, but more advanced.  The model is later identified as a Rev-9, I’ve seen Biblical comparisons, these run throughout the movie.  At the factory, Diego finds that he is replaced with a robot, strangely topical with the political environment.  Dani goes to argue with the boss.  The Rev-9 has arrived at the factory and tries to find Dani.  She arrives and sees her father and he gets revealed as a Terminator.  Grace has stopped Rev-9 and starts to fight it, she matches it, and takes Dani and Diego away.  

They escape in a pick-up truck, but like T2, the Rev-9 takes a massive truck that barrels past cars.  Grace explains that she has been cybernetically enhanced, now this is similar to Bionic Woman.  She was also a soldier for the human resistance.  Grace has white lines cross hatched across her arms and body which are probably the cybernetic replacements.  She does have a physical cost to taking on the Terminators.  It is not identified what is the cyborg program and why more soldiers do not have it.  There is also an explaination that the Artificial Intelligence that threatens them is not Skynet, but an A.I. called Legion.  Grace has Diego take over driving while she flips to the back of the truck.  She takes hold of long construction pipes which Grace uses as javelins to pierce Rev-9 through the front window.  The Rev-9 has a black Terminator skeletal form and takes hold of the pipe impaling it.  I think the appeal of the Terminator is the skull-like robot, but this is more CG.  Rev-9 forms around the pipe and appears on the hood of its truck.  

Grace saves Dani, but has to confront the Rev-9, this when a trucks slams into the Terminator.  Out comes Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton), she was of course the main character in the first Terminator and Terminator 2. Sarah Connor is old, even more toughened than in T2, and has a cynicism dealing with what she sees as a younger version of herself.  She describes herself as a hunter of Terminators!  This is basically the trio that drives the film, the older veteran, the adult warrior, and the young survivor against a male Terminator.  Some audiences may disagree with this group, but I found them to be refreshing.   Again, it reminded me of the Sarah Connor Chronicles.  

The other part is that the T-800 Terminator played by Arnold Schwarzenegger shows up again later in the film.  There is a twist to his character, I tried to keep spoilers for all of the characters, I wonder if there was a real life hint for Schwarzenegger's character.  I think audiences may expect him to have a larger role in a Terminator movie.  Lastly, there is another instance of reflection of our political situation with immigrants in Mexico.  This might be too heavy handed for audiences, I didn’t mind it.  Grace, no last name, is a formidable action hero though again with limitations.  I also like Dani as a character.  What was pointed out is that there is room open for further sequels.  I would like to see the whole cast return.  Sarah Conner of course is a welcome return, it is easy to see the Terminator films as showing her growth as a character.  Terminator: Dark Fate gives the dytopian future some hope in the form of three deadly women!  

Three Rev-9s out of Five! 

#TerminatorDarkFate, #TimMiller, #MackenzieDavis, #NataliaReyes, #LindaHamilton, #ArnoldSchwarzenegger, #GabrielLuna