Back to the Future is a science fiction comedy starring Michael J. Fox, which was a big hit, and I liked it very much.
Rating: A
The two sequels are enjoyable experiences, but not at the same level.
Friday, April 3, 2026
Patton (1970)
Patton won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1970. It is a great film biography that shows both the good and bad sides of George S. Patton.
Rating: A
Thursday, April 2, 2026
The Acolyte (2024)
All Star Wars shows and movies are listed in their story order.
I like The Acolyte much more than most fans, but it still falls way short of what it should have been. The streaming series on Disney+ is a prequel to Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, with events taking place about a hundred years before the movie.
At a cost of around $250 million to make 8 episodes, some YouTubers referred to the show as a money laundering scheme. The quality feels second rate and some fans hated the show from the outset.
It did not help that writer-director Leslye Headland gave interviews prior to the release indicating that the show would have a more negative take on the Jedi. This biased many people against the show before it aired. This could have been consistent with the prequel trilogy, which implied that the Jedi Order fell due to their overconfidence and hubris, but the series portrays the Jedi as corrupt, which is not good.
I think that the first six episodes are entertaining. They are not great, but they led me to believe that the series was building up to something good. I was interested in the story of Osha and her Force connection to her evil twin sister Mae.
Unfortunately, the show fails to stick the landing. Episode 7 is not good, and the final episode has a few logical problems.
The streaming ratings for The Acolyte were abysmal, so Disney cancelled the show. The first season feels like a setup for a possibly better second season, so I was hoping that a second season would have redeemed the series.
Rating: B-.
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
Months before the movie came out, they released an amazingly cool teaser trailer that didn't give away too much. This is why people stood in lines for hours to get tickets. When I actually did get to see the movie in the theater, the audience went nuts over the opening scenes. They waited 16 years plus a few hours in line to see another Star Wars Movie, and they were going to be one of the first ones to see it.
The first five minutes of the movie did not instill confidence. The first shot is of a slightly goofy looking spaceship followed shortly by some goofy looking aliens. Moments later the Jedi Knights display their remarkable powers. I had some concerns that this "Episode I" of the series would confuse people about "Jedi Knights" and "The Force" if they weren't already familiar with the other Star Wars movies. George Lucas thinks that people should watch the Star Wars movies in episode order, as opposed to the order in which they were actually made, but it is really "Episode IV", the first movie made, that introduced us to the ideas of the "The Force" and "Jedi Knights."
Despite my concerns, I think that the movie is a masterpiece. The story is simply too good. But it is a masterpiece with a nearly fatal flaw. There are a number of "aliens" in this movie whose style of speaking is hard to understand. I understood almost everything that was said in this movie, but it requires a good ear and careful attention to follow the dialog. But I know a number of people who think that this movie is full of gibberish. So, by all means, turn on the SUBTITLES if you are going to watch the movie at home.
The other nearly fatal flaw is the character of Jar Jar Binx. I don't think that this is a flaw at all, because I like the character, but a great many people don't. The reasons why people don't like Jar Jar is that he is a bumbling fool mainly in the movie for comic relief, and he is also the character who most frequently sounds like gibberish. Despite this, I think that it is good to have a comic relief character in an otherwise serious movie. But the negative reaction to Jar Jar Binx caused this character to be less utilized in the next two movies.
All these concerns are minor. This is a really good story that is rich in detail and stunning to look at. I am almost sorry that I waited ten years to watch it again.
Rating: A-
Did you know for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace…
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
I am very impressed with how Hayden Christensen consistently portrays Anakin as a tormented character. This is a tough trick to pull off, since we already know that the sweet boy from Episode 1 turns evil. The question is how did he get there? Here Hayden Christensen makes the transition very believable.
It gets confusing talking about episode order versus production order. This is the fifth Star Wars film, but it is called Episode II. George Lucas suggests that people watch the movies in episode order, but I disagree. There are people and places in this movie that take on much less significance if you have not seen the first two movies, called episodes IV and V. It is better to see the original trilogy first.
Star Wars movies are difficult to evaluate because there have been enough of them that different people have different ideas about what a Star Wars movie should be. Every time George Lucas takes the series in a different direction, which he has done with almost every Star Wars film, a certain number of people rebel against the change.
In 2002, I was blown away by this movie, but now just a little less so. In terms of action and special effects, this is the most intense Star Wars film so far. Technically and visually it is an amazing achievement, but it borders on turning into a video game; There is too much action. The story is good, but a little less compelling than the best Star Wars movies. The relationship between Anakin and Padmé is simplistic making it less believable.
Since this is the second movie in the second trilogy, it is tempting to compare it with The Empire Strikes Back, which is widely regarded as the best of the Star Wars movies, and by me as the best movie ever made. However the two movies and the two trilogies are very different. The first trilogy was about good people rebelling against evil and caring for one another. The second trilogy is about the rise of evil. The emotion in this film comes not from a close group of people who care about each other, but from the struggle and suffering of the main characters. Personal relationships take a back seat to intense action.
Middle movies in trilogies are transitional films because they have no clear beginning or end.
Roger Ebert criticized the movie for not looking good (and for simplistic dialog). On the first release of the film, I noticed some brief technical glitches in the special effects that seemed to be gone 3 weeks later. This could mean that the movie was rushed to meet it's release date, but then the film was remastered and sent out to theaters again, or there could have been a problem with the digital projection at the theater I went to.
Star Wars movies are difficult to evaluate because there have been enough of them that different people have different ideas about what a Star Wars movie should be. Every time George Lucas takes the series in a different direction, which he has done with almost every Star Wars film, a certain number of people rebel against the change.
In 2002, I was blown away by this movie, but now just a little less so. In terms of action and special effects, this is the most intense Star Wars film so far. Technically and visually it is an amazing achievement, but it borders on turning into a video game; There is too much action. The story is good, but a little less compelling than the best Star Wars movies. The relationship between Anakin and Padmé is simplistic making it less believable.
Since this is the second movie in the second trilogy, it is tempting to compare it with The Empire Strikes Back, which is widely regarded as the best of the Star Wars movies, and by me as the best movie ever made. However the two movies and the two trilogies are very different. The first trilogy was about good people rebelling against evil and caring for one another. The second trilogy is about the rise of evil. The emotion in this film comes not from a close group of people who care about each other, but from the struggle and suffering of the main characters. Personal relationships take a back seat to intense action.
Middle movies in trilogies are transitional films because they have no clear beginning or end.
Roger Ebert criticized the movie for not looking good (and for simplistic dialog). On the first release of the film, I noticed some brief technical glitches in the special effects that seemed to be gone 3 weeks later. This could mean that the movie was rushed to meet it's release date, but then the film was remastered and sent out to theaters again, or there could have been a problem with the digital projection at the theater I went to.
The DVD version looks gorgeous and has no such problems.
Like The Phantom Menace, whatever flaws this film may have, it still feels like a masterpiece to me. The story is simply too good and the movie is a feast for the senses.
Like The Phantom Menace, whatever flaws this film may have, it still feels like a masterpiece to me. The story is simply too good and the movie is a feast for the senses.
Star Wars The Clone Wars (2008) Movie and Series
Star Wars: The Clone Wars was created by George Lucas, who released the first four episodes of the TV series together as a movie in 2008. The movie and the seven-season TV series take place between Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.
Fans mostly hated the movie, accusing George Lucas of “ruining Star Wars.” The Rotten Tomatoes score is only 18%.
I watched the movie where it belongs—on streaming. As part of the TV series, it serves as an entertaining introduction, but it is far from the best that the series has to offer. After the movie, the early episodes of the season 1 were really good, and the show improved with each new season. It started somewhat kid-friendly, but grew darker and more adult with each new season.
Just as the series improved with each new season, so did the computer animation, which was initially somewhat simplistic, but by the final season, it looked very good.
However, season 3 episodes 3 through 6 felt like a temporary dip in quality, with a slower pace that had people asking, “What the hell is wrong with The Clone Wars?” These episodes weren’t bad, but they weren’t great either.
Nevertheless, this is a great series with many standout episodes. It rarely disappoints.
The movie introduces the character of Ahsoka Tano, the Padawan (apprentice) of Anakin Skywalker. The series starts and ends with Ahsoka. Her character was initially designed to be somewhat irritating, which turned off many fans—but this was deliberate. Ahsoka’s character arc features significant personal growth, and she eventually became a fan favorite, even earning her own live-action series starring Rosario Dawson.
The show does what the movies didn't; it humanizes the clone troopers and gives them individual personalities that we root for. It also improves upon the character of Anakin Skywalker, filling in more of his story.
Ratings...
The movie: B
The series: A-
Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith completes the second trilogy and is the third out of six in episode order. It is about the fall of the Galactic Republic, the rise of the Galactic Empire, and the fall of Anakin Skywalker to the dark side of the force. The rise of the Empire somewhat parallels the fall of the Roman Republic.
The first 33 minutes is a series of action sequences that serve as the intro to the movie. I could not help but think that this is overkill since it is the longest intro sequence I have ever seen, and the movie seems to be trying to impress us with its special effects, which are indeed impressive. We get to meat of the story 33 minutes into the movie, which is a series of events that lead to the downfall of Anakin. When he finally does succumb to the dark side at the hands of Chancellor Palpatine, he goes on a killing spree against the Jedi order.
Some people might find the story to be a bit of a downer, but this was the intent all along. This is about a man's descent into hell and the triumph of evil. The movie is technically and visually amazing, but maybe there was a little too much emphasis on special effects making the story a little less compelling than its predecessors.
I think that the plot has a few minor logical problems, like how easily and completely Anakin turns to the dark side of the force, why Obi-Wan didn't go with Yoda to fight Palpatine, and why Obi-Wan and Anakin didn't burn up while fighting each other on the volcanic world of Mustafar.
Nevertheless, this is a very powerful story.
The movie ends where the first movie started: On Tatooine. The final shots of an infant Luke Skywalker and the setting Tatooine suns is very emotionally stirring and reminiscent of the first movie.
The audio commentary available on the DVD is worth listening to. It gave me new insights into the film.
The audio commentary available on the DVD is worth listening to. It gave me new insights into the film.
Rating: A
The Bad Batch Is Beautiful (2021)
The Bad Batch is an outstanding animated Star Wars streaming series, whose initial events coincide with the end of Revenge of the Sith. It follows the story of a few genetically enhanced clones who break away from the Empire. One of the clones is a girl named Omega, and the group become like a family:
It is a sequel series to The Clone Wars and a prequel to Star Wars Rebels. The animation is superior and it looks really good. So far it is my favorite animated Star Wars series. It is less dark than The Clone Wars, and a little more kid-friendly.
Rating: A
Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)
I like the Kenobi mini-series better than most Star Wars Fans. It tells part of the story of what Obi-Wan was doing between Episode III and Episode IV. In this series, a young Princess Leia is kidnapped, and Obi-Wan is recruited to rescue her.
It is seems that LucasFilm is incapable of creating shows and movies that are logically consistent with previous Star Wars movies and shows, or they simply don't care. However, the hardcore Star Wars fans get upset when something doesn't match up. The show has some logical problems, but I found the rest of the mini-series very entertaining.
Fans also complained about the character of Reva, saying that she is the main character in a show about Kenobi. However, this isn't true. Although Reva is a prominent secondary character, it is still Kenobi's show.
I like Ewan McGregor as Kenobi, and the guest appearance of Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader. Some fans complained that this entire series is just an excuse to see Kenobi and Vader fight again, which maybe it is, but the fight is very well done.
Rating: B
I would like to see a second season, but that may never happen given the negative reaction by some Star Was fans.
I think that Star Wars fans are hard to please. If anything doesn't match their expectations, they will say that the entire show is bad.
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Solo: A Star Wars Story is a busy movie, so much so that I didn't feel like I could absorb it all on the first viewing. I was unhappy with the ending, which is confusing, has too many twists, and ties up everything a little too neatly. This detracted from what was an otherwise a fun movie. I needed to see Solo a second time so that I could better understand the film. In fact, I caught the last showing before it disappeared from my local theaters.
Solo: A Star Wars Story starts out fun as we learn that gangsters on Corellia force kids into a life of crime. Solo looks like he is barely an adult as he schemes with his girlfriend, Kira, to escape from under the thumb of a gangster. Parts of this story aren't as logical as they could be, but we get a thrilling chase scene as Solo and Kira try to flee. Kira doesn't escape, and Solo's only way out is to join the military of the Empire.
Jump to three years later and Solo tries to desert from the Empire, meets Chewbacca, barely escapes death, and joins a gang of thieves lead by Tobias Beckett, played by Woody Harrelson. They hope to make a big score that will allow them all to retire from a life of crime, but things don't go well, which leads to a confrontation with a gangster, Dryden Voss, played by Paul Bettany who we know from the Avengers movies. They try to make a second score, which leads to further complications, including joining up with Lando Calrissian and making the famous Kessel Run.
All this is mostly fun until the ending. On the second viewing, the movie made complete sense to me, unlike the first time, and I was better able to appreciate the film and ending. I understand what they were trying to do, but the ending is still a bit too convoluted, forced, and not particularly logical given what we know about the Han Solo character and the universe he lives in.
Does Alden Ehrenreich make a good young Han Solo? I like this actor, but initially, he seems unconvincing. On the second viewing, it was easier for me to accept him in this role because I understood better how this character is young, naive and too optimistic. However, we have no reason to think that he would be this way given that he grew up under the worst possible conditions. He is very green, but this is not how we imagine Han Solo would be compared to the older cynical version we saw in the original Star Wars movie. I expect him to be cynical from the start.
Other than Solo and Beckett, this movie lacks interesting characters. Voss is somewhat intriguing, but his screen time is short and he seems like a stereotypical gangster. Kira is a generic girlfriend character until a plot twist at the end.
Much has been written about Donald Glover's portrayal of Lando Calrissian. He does a good job, but the character isn't likable at all, and it is hard to see why Solo develops a friendship with him. The lack of likable characters hurts the movie.
Solo: A Star Wars Story is often exciting, starts out fun, but doesn't really finish that way. This is a decent movie that could and should have been better given the $260 million they spent on it. There were production problems, the original two directors were fired, and most of the movie had to be reshot. The movie doesn't always seem logical, nor is it always consistent with the Star Wars universe that we already know.
One scene bothered me when Solo walks up to a bar and orders a "brandy." It blows my mind that an Earth drink would exist a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
I've changed my rating from "B-" to "B".
Despite my qualms, there is enough good stuff here to please Star Wars fans.
If you don't mind the 50 minute length, this video is entertaining and spot on.
Star Wars Rebels (2014)
It follows a small group of independent rebels fighting the Empire, who later join a larger rebellion. There is a good assortment of likeable characters that we become attached to.
The main character is the orphan Ezra Bridger, who joins the group as he is discovering that he has a connection to the Force, and his Force abilities slowly grow with time. He is mentored by Kanan Jarrus, a Jedi-in-training who survived the Jedi Purge. The Bad Batch briefly introduces us to a young Kanan during the Jedi Purge.
The show develops its own fairly deep mythology, sometimes involving animals like wolves and owls that have a mystical connection to the Force. In this, we can see the influence of Dave Filoni, who is now co-president of LucasFilm and the chief creative director.
The episodes are well written and never disappoint. It is my second favorite Star Wars animated series, just barely behind The Bad Batch.
The story of Ezra Bridger is continued in the Ahsoka series.
Rating: A
Maul Shadow Lord (2026)
Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord takes place during the same time period as Star Wars Rebels and Solo: Star Wars Story, and could be considered a sequel to both, as well as Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and Star Wars The Clone Wars.
The critical response has been very favorable. The animation is very advanced compared to other Star Wars animated shows.
After watching the first eight episodes, I am very impressed with the series. The show had a slow start, but episodes 5 and 6 are amazing. Episodes 7 and 8 feel a little repetitive, but are still good.
What's There to Love About Andor? (2022)
The pace of the show is a bit slow which turned off some people, but it is still a great series. The second season starts off even slower, but after a couple of episodes it gets really good.
Andor doesn't feel like Star Wars because it is not a glitzy comic book movie deliberately reminiscent of Flash Gordon. Instead, Andor is a gritty science fiction soap opera about living under a fascist regime. It could have been its own thing unrelated to Star Wars. The show is character-driven, and almost every single character is outstanding, which is why everyone loves the show.
With Disney+ you can watch all 12 Star Wars movies, Andor, The Mandalorian, and the really excellent animated series such as The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, The Bad Batch, and Star Star Wars Visions. In addition, you could watch 37 different Marvel movies starting with Iron Man, and some fairly good series such as Wandavision, Loki, and "The Falcon and The Winter Soldier". Plus you get all the Disney and Pixar content.
Rating: A-
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
As of this writing, Disney has made five Star Wars movies, and this is the best of the bunch.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a mixture of Star Wars and a traditional war film, set in the Star Wars universe. As such, it feels like a different kind of Star Wars movie, with more gritty realism and less style. It is a prequel to the original Star Wars movie, A New Hope, and events in Rogue One lead right up to the beginning of A New Hope.
When Jyn Erso is a young child, her father is taken prisoner by the Galactic Empire and forced to do research on a new weapon, the Death Star. She is raised by a rebel extremist Saw Gerrera, but eventually finds herself imprisoned by the Empire and headed to a forced labor camp. She is rescued by the rebellion, who want to use her to get to her father. Her father has smuggled a message to the rebellion, saying that there is a weakness in the Death Star, and if they could find a way steal the plans, then they could destroy it.
Whereas the previous Star Wars films were ensemble pictures with many great characters, I feel like the only great character in this film is the protagonist Jyn Erso. There are a handful of other characters that are interesting at different levels, such as Rebel Alliance Intelligence officer Cassian Andor, who becomes a love interest for Jyn, weapons researcher Orson Krennic, blind rebel warrior Chirrut Îmwe, and rebel-owned Imperial enforcer droid K-2SO, who also provides some comic relief. Because there is much going on in this movie, most of the secondary characters don't get a lot of screen time, so we don't get to know them as well as we would like.
Darth Vader's appearance in the middle of the film isn't particularly meaningful, and the voice by the 85 year old Jame Earl Jones doesn't have quite the same impact it once did. There is a subplot here about Orson Krennic having a power struggle with Grand Moff Tarkin, but this seems more like a distraction. However, this is made up by Vader's later appearance where he is for a moment completely badass.
Rogue One compared to The Force Awakens is slightly stronger on plot, but a little weaker on characters. Rogue One has more characters, but consequently each character gets less attention. Neither movie feels like a perfect Star Wars film, but both are good enough.
Did we need a movie to fill in the story between Episode III and Episode IV? No, but it does make for an entertaining diversion providing something that we have not seen before.
Rating: A-
Star Wars Episode IV: The New Hope (1977)
Reportedly George Lucas went to Hawaii to hide because he thought that the movie would be a flop. Instead it was the highest grossing film for a few years. It also started the greatest film franchise to date, and made famous the cast, the most successful of which is Harrison Ford.
But George Lucas could not resist tinkering with the film later. The 1997 Special Edition added improved special effects, extra scenes and minor changes. The most controversial of these changes is where Greedo shoots at Han Solo first. This is almost universally met with disapproval because it takes away from the rogue image of Han Solo. Other minor changes were made in the DVD version, and more changes are planned for upcoming Blu-Ray and 3D releases. It is unlikely at this point that you could see the original Star Wars as it appeared in theaters, unless you have an old video tape copy, but I am happy with the DVD version, which is the current standard for the film The upcoming Blu-Ray release may become the next new standard version of Star Wars.
I have seen the movie somewhere between 10 and 12 times. I have lost count. I found myself wondering if I would be bored seeing it one more time? Apparently not. I found myself quite caught up with the film.
My only criticisms are that: 1.) It takes a while for the story to get going. We don't meet Luke Skywalker until exactly 15 minutes into the film, and Luke doesn't decide to leave his home until 30 minutes into the movie. 2.) The last third to half of the movie is almost all action, and as good as that is, it leave less room for character development, which is done better by the next movie.
James Earl Jones On Playing Darth Vader
James Earl Jones On Being The Voice Of Darth Vader
George Lucas On How STAR WARS Got Made
This 100 year old music sounds EXACTLY like Star Wars
James Earl Jones On Being The Voice Of Darth Vader
George Lucas On How STAR WARS Got Made
This 100 year old music sounds EXACTLY like Star Wars
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