The Force Awakens: Remembering what almost was (Nine Years Later)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_OQz0n1GiM

Watching “The Last Jedi” again after seven years: Will I feel any different?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GysRKGPivdI&t=21s

The Rise of Skywalker, Five Years Later

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F8cvxTkIMk

Dick Van Dyke

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4DP8IEh8wI

Superman | Official Teaser Trailer

I don't understand the need to keep rebooting Superman.  It is hard to beat the 1978 Superman movie.

I liked the last two Superman films, and I would have been happy to continue those stories, but they keep going back to the same well.  How many Superman origin stories do we need?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhUht6vAsMY

Why sci-fi alien planets all look the same

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy16KFzM4XU

Superman The Movie/Superman II

Superman The Movie came out on December 15th, 1978. It was fairly impressive for its time. This was just a year and a half after the original Star Wars, and the special effects were groundbreaking. It was one thing to have ships flying through space, it is another to have a person fly through the air and look believable. At the Oscars, the film solely won the Special Achievement Award for Visual Effects.

What I didn't remember about this film is that it is half comedy, showing its comic book roots. It doesn't take itself seriously, unlike the more recent Superman Returns and Man of Steel. The film's goofiness is distracting, but this seemed normal in 1978.  We were used to campy superheroes, having watched Batman on television in the 1960s.

Some Superman fanatics didn't like Man of Steel because that movie ditched the red tights. I think that the red tights look goofy, and in the modern era, I prefer more serious superheroes.



Christopher Reeve was a great actor and he feels like he was born to play Superman. He is completely believable in the role, and he does a great job as his alter ego mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent.

Whatever problems Margo Kidder had later in life, she made a great Louis Lane.

Marlon Brando is great as Superman's father and gives the movie gravitas.

There are only two memorable pieces of music but they are fantastic.  The score by John Williams practically makes the film. Even Christopher Reeve acknowledged this and said that Superman would not be able to fly without John Williams's music.  The Superman Theme is rousing and is used constantly.  The love song "Can You Read My Mind" is Oscar-worthy, and notes from this song are snuck into almost every scene with Louis Lane.

Superman The Movie defined the superhero movie for a generation.  It is extremely well-made but feels dated.  

Rating: A-.

Much credit has to be given to Richard Donner who gave us a great film. 

Superman II was filmed at the same time as Superman.  Richard Donner directed both films but didn't finish the second one.   The filming on Superman II was suspended so that Donner could focus on finishing the first film.  After Superman was released, producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind decided to cut Marlon Brando's scenes from Superman II to avoid paying him a percentage of the film's box office.  Donner refused to make the film without Brando's scenes.

Superman II fails in every regard.  The story is weak.  The villains are goofy.  The special effects look bad compared to the first film.  The Kryptonians have powers we have never seen before, like telekinesis.  Rating: C-.

In 2008 Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut was released on DVD.  This version of the film is barely passable.  I liked it better because it is not as goofy, but I am not sure that I can recommend it.

Why everyone loves "Shared Universes" (And how one may be in trouble before it even starts)

The roughly 23 movies in the Marvel Universe weren't all great individually, but the way they all culminated in Avengers Infinity War and Avengers Endgame was impressive.  Although Endgame made more money, I thought Infinity War was one of the best movies I had ever seen.

James Gunn, who made some good Marvel movies, is rebooting the DC Universe next year with a Superman remake.  I just barely found out about this.  However, there were already a couple of attempts to reboot Superman that didn't go anywhere.

Superman Returns * * * 1/2

People attending The Dark Knight Rises today will be treated to the first trailer for Man of Steel, which is due out next summer.  This is the latest attempt to reboot the Superman series, just coming seven years after the last attempt, which was Superman Returns.  Superman Returns is not so much of a reboot as it is a sequel that is also highly reminiscent of the 1978 Superman movie.  A few parts of it feel like echoes of the previous film with new twists.  Whether or not you will like Superman Returns depends upon your taste, but it is highly reminiscent of the 1978 Superman movie, which I loved, while exploring new territory that is interesting.

Superman Returns explores the Superman story in a post 9-11 world.  After a trip to find his home planet, Superman returns to earth to find that Lois Lane is married and has a child.  It is a world that has mostly forgotten about superheroes.  

I assume that those still interested in Superman are looking forward to Man of Steel.  By now, Superman Returns has largely been forgotten.  Still, the movie received 76% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and I think that it is underrated.  If you fell in love with the first Superman movie,  as I did, then this film has everything you could want.  Watching this movie felt nostalgic, because it does echo some key points from the first movie, but there is enough new material to make it into a good film.  Casting Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor was an act of genius.  He is is brilliant in this movie.

If there are negatives to the movie, it is that it is a little more brooding and that Brandon Routh  doesn't quite look the part.  The 1978 Superman movie states that Superman weighs 220 pounds.  Christopher Reeve bulked up for the movie and really did weigh 220 pounds.  Superman Returns states that Superman weighs only 120 pounds, and the contradiction bothered me. Although Brandon Routh does look somewhat like Christopher Reeve, he also looks too thin for the part.  People expect their superheroes to have some mass on them. 

Man of Steel

 I wrote of review of Man of Steel right after it came out.  I simply noted that I liked it much better than the average review on Rotten Tomatoes.  I am a sucker for Superman stories.  I very much liked the slightly mundane Superman Returns, and I was a big fan of the television show Smallville until it overstayed its welcome by stretching out to ten seasons.

Man of Steel is a near-perfect Superman movie despite a few minor flaws that turned off a few people and critics.  

Just to get this out of the way, the second half of the movie is dominated by over-the-top battle scenes between Superman and other Krytonians, like General Zod.  These superbeings hit each other with such force that they send their opponent flying through multiple buildings doing enormous damage.  Yet, the Kryptonians don't take much damage personally despite the force they inflict on each other.  Superheroes in movies often do physically impossible things, which takes away from the believability, but if such powerful and nearly indestructible beings actually did fight each other on planet Earth, this is what it would look like.

What I like about Man of Steel is that this is the first Superman story to put extra emphasis on him being an alien from another world.  We see Krytopn, and we see their technology and how it is more advanced than ours.  On Earth, the people's initial reaction to Superman is to be fearful, and rightfully so.

Henry Cavill makes a good Superman.  He portrays stoicism and morality in the face of lifelong adversity.  He does a good job of displaying angst over trying to fit into a world that he wasn't meant for.  

But a good hero needs a good villain and we get it in General Zod, who is Superman's apparent equal and played menacingly by Michael Shannon.  Zod isn't just a cartoon character.  He is pursuing the logical goal of preserving the Kryptonian race, even if he has to wipe out humanity to do it

Amy Adams is perfect as Louis Lane.  Kevin Costner and Dianne Lane do superb jobs as Jonathan and Martha Kent.  Many of the other cast members have small but memorable performances, like Laurance Fishburne as Perry White, and Christopher Meloni as a military officer who puts his life on the line.  

However, I feel that Harry Lennix is typecast in most of his roles, always playing similar predictable characters, but he is memorable nevertheless.

I noticed television actors popping up in a bunch of different roles.  I recognized Alessandro Juliani from Battlestar Galactica.

I cringed in just a few places where the dialog seemed simplistic or just unnecessary.  Movies have a compulsion to explain what is going on in the simplest possible terms just to make sure that we get it.

Rating: A-.

P.S. The CW series Superman & Lois feels very derivative of Man of Steel.  The show uses a similar storyline, and similar props and effects.  Since the show is 80% soap opera, I don't care for it.  The 20% that is not a soap opera makes for a good Superman story, but it is not that different from what we have seen before.

The Wild Robot

If you have seen the trailer for The Wild Robot, you might ask yourself, "Haven't I seen this movie before?"  The Iron Giant gave us a robot that fell from the sky but didn't know its origin or purpose and eventually rebelled against its creators. Over the Hedge gave us animals that talk and must cooperate to survive, along with a bear that is a bad guy.  Zootopia gave us an unscrupulous fox who helps the main character.  Logan's Run gave us humans living in a dome.  Silent Running gave us plants being grown in a dome.  Wall-E gave us robots with compassion while on a voyage of self-discovery, along with an evil robot trying to do them harm.  Bicentennial Man gave us a robot that rewrote his own programming to become more than he originally was, and so therefore the robot is wanted by his creators to find out what those changes are.  

Many of the elements we have seen before, but the movie is so well-written and well-executed that it is one of the best films I have seen in a while.  I was impressed.

Rating:  A-.

The following section contains spoilers:

I have one big complaint about a plot point that doesn't make sense and is likely there to push an agenda.  The robot is on an island with animals that normally compete with and kill each other.  While the animals are hibernating for the winter, a massive snowstorm threatens life on the island.  The robot takes it upon itself to bring some of the hibernating animals to a large shelter that it has built.  While in the shelter the animals agree to overcome their natural instincts and cooperate for their mutual survival.  Logically this makes no sense.  If the animals are adapted to hibernate on the island, then they have already found shelter to survive the weather.  The robot, which has overcome its own programming, gets the animals to do the same and make a permanent truce.  So if the animals aren't going to hunt each other, how do they survive going forward?  The message is that competition is bad, and cooperation is good, which reminds me of Our Daily Bread, a Great Depression-era movie with a socialist message.  Both movies have a climactic scene about diverting water.

Reagan

I did not think Dennis Quaid would be the right person to play Ronald Reagan.  This is the same actor who played Gordon Cooper 40 years ago in The Right Stuff, one of my favorite movies.  In that film, Quaid displayed his wide boyish grin, which is on display here as well, and gives away that under all that makeup we are watching Quaid and not Reagan.  However, Quaid gives an Oscar-worthy performance as Reagan, capturing perfectly not only the voice but also the essence of who Reagan was.

The problem with any two-hour biography is that it is going to be rushed.   Ronald Reagan's entire life was much more complicated than what can be shown in two hours.  A single event in his life might take two hours to tell perfectly.  The movie is more of a collection of brief highlights of Reagan's life.  There are so many details left out that I feel shortchanged.  For example, we see David Stockman for only about 5 seconds, and the film barely covers the Iran-Contra scandal.  However, the movie succeeds brilliantly at capturing the emotional feel of Reagan.

Had this been a three-hour movie like Oppenheimer, it could have captured more detail about Reagan's life, but Oppenheimer didn't do this very well and was more of a soap opera.  However, a longer run time wouldn't have made the film any more entertaining.  You can tell that the movie had a limited budget and they did the best they could with the budget they had.

I'm impressed by the performances of a great many supporting actors.

The negative reviews have much to do with how people feel about Ronald Reagan.  If you lived through the 1970s and 1980s then you are going to have a different perspective than people who didn't.  The 1970s was likely the worst decade for the nation in my lifetime.  There was the Watergate scandal, the oil crisis, and then during the Jimmy Carter presidency, we had monstrous inflation,  high interest rates, unemployment, a deep recession, and the Iranian hostage crisis.  Ronald Reagan came along and said that we as a nation are better than this, and we have only forgotten what a great nation we are.  Things did improve significantly under his presidency.

The rushed presentation reminds me of "The Iron Lady", but the difference is that "The Iron Lady" is highly critical of Margaret Thatcher, and this film adores Ronald Reagan.  For older Americans who also adore Reagan, it is preaching to the choir.

The story is told from the perspective of a fictional KGB political analyst whose job was to monitor Reagan as a potential threat to the Soviet Union.  I have no doubt that such people existed, but here it comes off as a gimmick, but it also works by putting Reagan into the context of the Cold War.  Reagan was such a strong anti-communist that the movie made that the main focus of his life.

Since the movie was released during an election year some people might view it as political propaganda.  However, the plan was to release three years ago but the film was delayed by COVID and the writer's strike.

I was so impressed that I wanted to applaud at the end.  I didn't at first because I thought that it might look silly to applaud a motion picture, but when the rest of the audience applauded, I joined in.

Rating:  A-.  Although far from a complete biography, the movie does an excellent job of capturing who Ronald Reagan was.

Star Trek Unification (Kirk's Journey to the afterlife)

With the help of the latest special effects, William Shatner along with Sam Witwer, who played in Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars animation, play James T. Kirk at different ages.  It is about Kirk's journey to the afterlife.

https://home.otoy.com/unification/

Although it is good, I'm not as blown away by it.  The special effects are a novelty.  It is a lovely way to say goodbye to Kirk.  Kirk seeing his younger self reminds me of 2001, A Space Odyssey.  

Lenard Nimoy died almost ten years ago.  All our old favorite actors are dying off, which makes this all the more touching.

The final scene looks like it could have been shot in "The Volume" which is a Lucasfilm spherical stage where all the walls are screens to create artificial scenery.  The Mandalorian series was created primarily on this stage.

Black Friday Deal: 99¢/month for a year | Hulu

https://www.hulu.com/gma

This was the deal I was waiting for.  However, the fine print tells me that I am ineligible because I was a member within the last month.  I click on "Get this deal" and it doesn't give it to me.

I don't like the ads, but I like saving money.   

Disney+ has a ton of content, but I've seen most of it.  I'm especially fond of the Star Wars shows, but there are also Marvel, Pixar, and National Geographic.

When Robert Downey Jr. Goes Off Script and NAILS It

A Disney Holiday Short: The Boy & The Octopus

This qualifies as the sweetest commercial I have ever seen.  It is the usual Disney tripe but is sweet nevertheless.  

This is pretty good PR from a mega-corporation.

Kiss The Sky Scene | THE WILD ROBOT (2024) Movie CLIP HD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mnk4dLa99l4

The Real Reason Why There Is A Second Death Star In Star Wars

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qLiA1-SRBWs

The irony of loving Star Wars too much

@john2001plus
0 seconds ago

Hey Thor, 

I have many thoughts, so sorry if this goes long. 

The ideal sequel trilogy would have been one of Luke, Han, and Leia, but we needed that thirty years ago before the actors got too old.  Disney was stuck where they couldn't continue the story right after Return of The Jedi, so they tried to go down a path of discarding the old characters and introducing new ones.  The decision to discard the old characters seems like a bad one because the fans wanted the old characters.  With current technology, it is not too late to have a story that takes place after Return of the Jedi. 

No offense to anyone, but Star Wars fans appear to be very hard to please.  If a new movie or show is not exactly what they want or expect, they will claim it is bad when it might be entertaining.  We saw that with the prequel trilogy where right away people claimed that Episode 1 was terrible.  However, I loved the entire prequel trilogy. George Lucas tried to make every movie different, but this turned off some people who claimed, "Not my Star Wars." 

The Last Jedi is a dilemma for most people.  It has some bad dialogue.  It has a couple of bad scenes.  It could have been a better film.  However, I will swear to my dying breath that it is an entertaining movie because I found it entertaining.  I enjoyed it quite a bit.  Would I have preferred something a little different?  Yes, but I don't see it as my story to tell.  People are upset by how the movie handled Luke, but I was open to a story about Luke that was different from what I expected.  Had the movie gone exactly the way we expected it could have been boring. 

There is a difference between a movie or show being entertaining and great.  We want Star Wars to be great.  However, it isn't always great, but that doesn't necessarily make it bad.  I like watching shows about Star Wars and I enjoyed most of the TV series even if they were far from the greatness that we wanted them to be.  In particular, I liked Kenobi quite a bit. 

I have a big problem with The Rise of Skywalker.  Bringing back Palpatine undermines Darth Vader's sacrifice.  The movie has other issues.  It is a weaker film than The Last Jedi.  It is a disappointing conclusion to the trilogy.  However, I did enjoy watching it and I might enjoy watching it again.  But I hold movies to a higher standard than I do TV shows. It could have been much better. 

I have a concern that the Star Wars story is too limited in scope to keep making more movies and shows. According to George Lucas, Star Wars is a soap opera about the Skywalker family.  That story has already been told.  Anything that follows is either going be be repeating the same story, or too different for the fans to embrace.  I think that we both would like to see a new set of characters set in a different period.  The Acolyte tried to do this but was mediocre at best. 

Best wishes, 

John Coffey

Red One - Movie Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlobxmZo3KI

Gladiator II - Movie Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs3iTFrhjm4

The Time Travel Movie That Doesn't Move

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO_LMc7YkBw

Ben REBUTTAL: Walsh's Most Overrated Films

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9m-R11AfoY

I Was Wrong About The Wild Robot...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpAOGIN1AKs

THE WILD ROBOT - Therapist & Filmmaker Review (No Spoilers!)

The Wild Robot - Movie Review

There can only be one...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDYh3Nf911c&t=688s

Why The Wild Robot is DreamWorks' Best Movie in Years

The Wild Robot - The Voices Behind the Animals

The Wild Robot | Final Trailer

Is Kathleen Kennedy staying or going this time?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZsWWCtvTBo&t=2s

Why critics kinda hated the Empire Strikes Back

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MWqYuadinhg

@john2001plus
I was turning 20 when the movie came out.  The critics loved it.  The Louisville movie critic called it an 11 on a scale of 1 to 10.  The movie blew me away and it is still my favorite movie.

We spent 3 years wondering if Darth Vader was really Luke's father.

This was released just five months after Star Trek The Motion Picture which was a bit of a bore.

John Boyega to Star in Otis Redding Biopic With Danielle Deadwyler

https://variety.com/2024/film/news/john-boyega-otis-redding-biopic-danielle-deadwyler-1236161720/

Making Movie Theater Popcorn At Home | But Better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOES56VjzJg

'The Apprentice' review: Sebastian Stan dazzling as Donald Trump, from raw hustler to larger-than-life tycoon - Chicago Sun-Times

https://chicago.suntimes.com/movies-and-tv/2024/10/09/apprentice-review-donald-trump-movie-sebastian-stan-roy-cohn-jeremy-strong

Poison gas and the Invisible Man

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HGaGWb_WoWM

What Lord of the Rings Bloopers Reveal About The Making Of The Movie

https://youtube.com/shorts/8oY8Lt_hRno?si=p25pOOo2VEPCnh74

Buster Keaton. The time when movies didn't need voiceovers.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nYK6EqqB8T4

Sam Witwer Explains Why Luke Skywalker is The GOAT

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/f9vt_09rCHk

15 Years Later, I Finally Understand Inglorious Basterds

According to the video, Inglorious Bastards symbolizes American national identity, and the decline of film as a form of storytelling.

Michael Keaton as Batman surprises a kid

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Q8HQxH_iV2g

When film critics clearly just do not get the movie

Whatever Happened to the DEATH STAR?

The Truth About Yoda’s Origin From George Lucas!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5MV6k2u_VEc

The Jetsons - 1950s Super Panavision 70

What you can generate with AI these days, is just astonishing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZOnC8hdX8k

@frankpoperowitzmusic   2 days ago
I could watch two straight hours of Jane just strolling around the apartment.

Disney Plus: You paying more for less is their brilliant business strategy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DppIlEH3GaU

Good video!

A Google search shows that Disney+ is offering three months for $1.99 per month.  This is the version with ads.

Last year on Black Friday I got a combination of Disney+ and Hulu for a year for $3 per month.  

There was a similar offer on HBO Max, now just called Max.  It is my favorite streaming service.

Years ago, I got the Disney+ pre-start discount where I was paying around $4 per month by paying for three years in advance. The problem is that I didn't see a ton of new content that I wanted to watch. I had already seen most of the stuff worth watching.

A must watch version of "Ahsoka"? (The Patterson Cut Review)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s1af99ZNEg

https://www.kaipattersonfilms.com/ahsoka

The Wild Robot | Rotten Tomatoes

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_wild_robot

What Could Have Been: George Lucas' SEQUEL Trilogy

https://youtu.be/nUDNtspH1bI?si=Sc7XO7PotKHxBGue

Why is "The Empire Strikes Back" considered the best Star Wars film? (Star Wars Discussion)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbUdTONl8MY

@john2001plus

0 seconds ago
I had just barely graduated High School when I drove to Indianapolis to see TESB at a big theater with a large curved screen.  I sat in the front row.  At one point my head had to turn quite a ways to follow a ship flying across the big curved screen.  It felt almost 3D.

I grew up in the 1970s.  The country was in a state of malaise for the entire decade.  We had suffered through the Vietnam War, Watergate, the oil crisis, stagnation, and inflation.  China and Russia were evil empires trying to take over their neighbors.  

Star Wars was a beacon of hope.  It said that good could stand against evil.  The Empire Strikes Back became my favorite movie and it still is.

I'm slowly turning into an old man but I am still a die-hard Star Wars fan.

Matt Walsh Ranks The Top 5 Most OVERRATED Films

@john2001plus

2 minutes ago

Matt, You could not be more wrong on Star Wars. Adults loved these films too. I was 17 when the first movie came out, and 20 when The Empire Strikes Black came out, which is still my all-time favorite film. On a scale of 1 to 10, the Louisville movie critic gave Empire an 11. Siskel and Eibert gushed over the first two films.

Show less

@john2001plus

9 minutes ago

I remember being blown away by Avengers Infinity War. I am not a huge Marvel fan, but this one impressed me.

THE EMPEROR (Ian McDiarmid) meets George Lucas! #starwars #shorts

https://youtube.com/shorts/0EP1kJj46qU?si=5Pxpb-nfGLBxeX5X

As Astra: A Massive Missed Opportunity

https://youtu.be/DUwlliWrcYY?si=LZ27VgAb5NzIYttR

A is for Alien Read-Aloud

I saw this book advertised on Facebook and thought it was a joke.  Let's take the scariest movie monster of all time and put it in a children's book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vidgv0Ea0UA

STAR WARS JUST CANCELLED ANOTHER MOVIE! (maybe)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCn_MhDQeCk

I liked the Acolyte better than most people, because most of the fans hated the show, but the finish failed to deliver and turned the series into a daytime soap opera.  However, most YouTubers judged the show negatively before it even aired.  The ratings were abysmal, and almost nobody watched this show.

Disney and Lucasfilm failed partly because their Star Wars shows pushed a woke agenda, which I can live with, but the shows mainly failed because the writing was weak.  

However, Rogue One is a great movie, and Andor season one is a fantastic television spin-off of Rogue One and the best Star Wars Disney has made.  

The Mandorian season 1 was pretty good and the second season was excellent.  However, the third season was barely passable.

'The Acolyte' Canceled: Disney's Star Wars Spinoff Done After One Season

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/the-acolyte-canceled-star-wars-1235978593/

No surprise. Disney made a mediocre show that at best split the fans. I liked the first six episodes but the payoff wasn't great.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

The Reagan Era | Dennis Quaid

Shave and a Haircut

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jUVWn3csvSw

I knew the name because it was mentioned in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" which I saw 35 years ago.

This other video is interesting...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1RUAe32TBPM

George Lucas On The Problems With Big Studios!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7rRFd_uLCnw

Manny Jacinto on why some don't like "The Acolyte"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqIEIirZ9so

@john2001plus
5 minutes ago 

Hey Thor,

I don't interpret the message of The Acolyte in the same way you do.  I don't think that it is saying that the bad guys are the good guys and are justified in murder, any more than Tony Soprano is portrayed as the good guy and is justified committing murder.  You can have a show where a good character turns bad, a show where most of the characters make bad choices, and a show where the bad guys are the main characters.

I know that Leslye Headland made a bunch of statements way out in left field showing her own biases.  However, in the show, these biases aren't so clear.  Yes, the characters do bad things and make bad choices, but it is not clear that the show is defending those choices or saying that the Jedi are bad.

The pre-release comments by Leslye Headland convinced many YouTubers that this was what the show was going to be about, and there was a backlash before the show even started.

In my opinion, the first six episodes are not excellent, but just good enough to be entertaining.  Unfortunately, the show failed to deliver and the payoff was disappointing.

I doubt that Disney would waste another 180 million dollars on a lackluster show, but I would like to see a second season that adds some clarity to the story.  I want to see the bad guys get justice and maybe for Osha and the Jedi to get redemption.  There is still enough mystery in the series for us to get a follow-up.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

P.S.  I think that the series accomplished what it was supposed to; it got people like me to subscribe to Disney+.

Orson Welles tells a brilliant Churchill story

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/r41PPe_Hcrk

The Bad Batch || We're a Family

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbU3lFEonu0

The Beauty of BAD BATCH FINAL SEASON

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDz1bArDzIg

ABOUT STAR WARS George Lucas

https://youtube.com/shorts/5azoEzwTi60?si=BF-3Y5SLiTsmyq7i

The Star Wars: Concept Trailer

I'm impressed.  Before the original Star Wars movie was created, George Lucas commissioned artist Ralph McQuarrie to create some beautiful concept paintings of what the movie might look like.  These paintings helped inspire the visual effects and the look of the film.

Now someone has taken those paintings and animated them with CGI.  It is short but looks terrific.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7JKT9e-c7E

George MacKay Reveals His Most Dramatic Scene in 1917 Was a Mistake

1917 is one of my favorite movies.

The Bad Batch Is Beautiful - YouTube

The Creator

 

After an atomic bombing of Los Angeles by AI, the United States is in a war with Japan to destroy all the intelligent robots.  Whereas the Japanese live harmoniously with the robots, the United States is hellbent on their destruction.

Some of the robots aren't that different from human beings. They feel and possibly suffer, and mourn each other when they die.  

Sergeant Joshua Taylor is sent on a mission to capture a new AI weapon, and this weapon turns out to be in the form of a little girl.  Taylor begins to bond with it and he is also on a side quest to find his wife behind enemy lines and uses the "girl" to help find her.  This creates a conflict with his commanding officer who is a little too gung-ho about killing robots.  She is trying to hunt down both Taylor and the girl.

This movie has shades of Blade Runner and the film A.I. Artificial Intelligence.  Both movies make you question what it means to be human and if a machine can have human qualities.  The ending is reminiscent of Elysium.

The film shows the suffering, destruction, and utter pointlessness of war, which is emotionally powerful for the audience.

The Creator received positive but mixed reviews.  Some criticized the overall tone and the complexity of the story.  However, the movie was made on a shoestring 80 million dollar budget, and it deserves credit for looking gorgeous, like a much bigger budget production.  It is visually impressive and unique.

This is an epic story that I think will age very well.  It could be remembered alongside Blade Runner.  However, the movie's ideas are better than their execution, and the complicated story feels a bit messy.

Rating A-.

The Creator is available for streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zq2WMxOhz0