Andor (2022-25)

Andor is the best show on TV. It is the most important show of our authoritarian times. Don't be turned off by the Star Wars universe of it all. It has nothing to do with Jedi or the Force. It has everything to do with rebellion. It's about the spirit of revolution, about what pushes ordinary people to finally awaken to oppression and to do something to combat injustice. There are small actions and large, but everyone pays a sacrifice. An iconic quote from Luthen: "I burn my life for a sunrise that I know I'll never see." It's at once devastating and inspiring. It may take place in a galaxy far far away but the emotion is genuinely rousing nonetheless because we can sympathize. We're living through our own empire; it's not hard to see echoes of Ghorman in Los Angeles, Narkina 5 in our prison-industrial complex, Mina-Rau in our farms populated by Central American immigrants for the harvest.

It's a political thriller--a series of heist movies organized in 3-episode arcs (save for a 4-2 combo at the end of season 1). This gives the show a truly cinematic quality. It's like watching a series of Star Wars movies in which time passes between arcs but you're able to fill in the gaps anyways quite deftly. The action and cinematography and production/costume design look as expensive as the show cost. Knowing where this all ends (Rogue One) does not detract in the least from the suspense inherent in Andor. I also like that the show does not solely focus on Cassian. We get the Empire's side too, from the bureaucracy of the ISB. We see both the banality of evil and even hints of how a bureaucrat like Syril could eventually come to see the light. We see the face of the rebellion, and the shadows, the money and the power, the nice and the mean. Mon Mothma's crusade in the senate 

Season 2 Episodes 8, 9 and 10 are three of the most breathtaking episodes in quick succession.  Season 1 Episodes 6, 10 and 12 are also stellar. I'll say other moments that stand out emotionally: Nemik's manifesto and Maarva's last conversation with Cassian, inspired by Aldhani without knowing Cassian's role there, and Bix's final scene. 

Captain Marvel (2019)

Marvel's first movie to feature a female hero is a trip back to the 90s. 90s nostalgia is apparently in right now following Bumblebee. The 90s music was a really nice touch--of course there is some Gwen Stefani. The use of music is actually reminiscent of a movie I think they were indeed trying to emulate: Top Gun. Our hero is an aspiring air force fighter pilot (they didn't let women fly back then). And the cat is named Goose, like the character from Top Gun.

Brie Larson is phenomenal. The movie fortunately does not fall into the trap of many an action movie. There is no love interest. I think it is telling that the first Marvel movie with a female hero does not focus on romance. The Bechdel test is passed in the beginning of the movie. And Samuel L Jackson's supporting part is a lot of fun. We're familiar with much of the Avengers lore, but this movie brings us back and fills in some of the gaps we didn't know existed. And Jackson is a great singer too.

Ready Player One (2018)

Ready Player One is a very entertaining ball of fun, abound with clever references (in homage?) to pop culture high and low. I can only imagine the legal nightmare it was to acquire rights to use all of these references. I think there is perhaps a little disconnect with the audience. No one is going to understand all of the references, it simply runs too wide from Citizen Kane to Minecraft.  The book was originally written by a man of a certain time for whom these references were very relevant to his life. A lot of these references were dropped or changed or made anew and now even a man of his age would not understand all of the references. The target audience of children and teens will not understand many of the references that predate their births. And it's a real shame because a lot of the fun is spotting the Easter eggs. I'm almost certain Samantha's birthmark is a reference to something, but I've yet to figure it out (it is otherwise an oddly specific character trait that doesn't really matter to the plot).

The plot is a quest, to acquire the three keys and win the game (quite similar to Spy Kids 3 plus a dystopian future with debtors prison and trailer park cities). From what I understand, the plot was condensed and simplified from the book. And for the most part, it was pretty cohesive. There was not much lag time between discoveries--it's constantly moving forward, but the consequence of that is they figure out the clues too quickly to be believable. Something I really appreciated was the emphasis on research. There is no brute forcing through this game. You have to hunker down at the library and do some good old fashioned research.

The best part of the movie is the middle. The quest for the second key in a recreation of The Shining. I've read a lot of criticism about character development and plot. The most fully developed character is the dead one, Halliday, the tragic Wozniak. The plot of the movie interestingly builds his character as we discover more about him by advancing in the quest, and in that sense the plot is actually quite clever. Though I can understand that we don't know too much about the rest of the characters, including the protagonist. We don't fully understand what drives him other than the purity and sanctity of nerd culture. Oh, and the immersive CGI is pretty cool.

Darkest Hour (2017)

Darkest Hour is a vehicle for Gary Oldman, but also for Joe Wright. Starting with Oldman, the makeup is incredible. It's uncanny how much he looks like Churchill. And the speeches some grade A acting. Churchill was an eccentric guy and Oldman plays out the eccentricities. His accent is only intelligible most of the time, maybe on purpose. But I think the director maybe takes too much liberties to make him seem Trump-ish, which just is not correct. He is portrayed as a leader that didn't really know what he was doing but that's not true. He didn't win the war by accident. He was strategic. He was smart, a brilliant historian. His intelligence only comes through in his speeches. He otherwise seems...well, Trumpish. And I don't think that really does Churchill justice.

Apart from Joe Wright taking those directorial liberties, he does some other interesting things. There are two shots that seem to suggest that Churchill was crazy, that he hallucinated: Hitler masks and gas masks. The cinematography and production design (the interior of Buckingham Palace is gorgeous) are notable. I really liked most of the cinematography but it's very dark. The darkness, accentuates the few rays of light. And I get that it's the "darkest hour" but the lighting was certainly a choice, a little extreme at times (like the red bulb). There are some really great angles--I like the busy parliament scenes.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Did we need this Star Wars movie? No, not really. It comes between Episodes III and IV. The question it answers is "Where did the so-called New Hope come from?" It tries to distinguish itself from the Star Wars films, establishing itself without the trademark Star Wars opening crawl, iconic music, and even without light sabers. Here's my question though: is it really still Star Wars without these things? I say no. Disney is taking advantage of us, passing this off as a Star Wars movie while denying that very thing. There is no emotional investment in these characters that we know will only be around for this one film within the Star Wars universe. And consequentially, there isn't too much character development. I like Diego Luna. I like Felicity Jones. But the rest of the characters seemed rather pointless to the story.