Star Wars - Episode 7: The Force Awakens (2015) - #Movie #Review

This one is a fun one!

Ok, so I am going to be honest and say that I was one of the handful of people who seems to have actually liked the prequel series... I mean Jar Jar Binks was incredibly irritating, but the rest of it... Well I thought it was pretty good... 

But I have to admit that I have really been looking forward to finally getting in to the future of the Star Wars universe... and that is why I am glad to have seen, Star Wars - Episode 7: The Force Awakens (2015)! 

A great movie, and a fantastic poster! 

Written by: Lawrence Kasdan (Kin), Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3) & J.J. Abrams (Star Trek). Starring: Harrison Ford (Raiders Of The Lost Ark), Mark Hamill (Batman: The Animated Series), Carrie Fisher (Family Guy), Adam Driver (The Simpsons), Daisy Ridley (Lifesaver), John Boyega (Attack The Block) & Andy Serkis (Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes). 

"This is the ship that made the Kessel Run in 14 par secs?" - Rey (Daisy Ridley: A quote from: Star Wars - Episode 8: The Force Awakens.) 

Ok... So I am going to say it.... This movie is basically a decent movie... I mean the story is pretty alright (except for the fact that it is fairly un-original...) Ok, so what I mean by this is this... Ok... So basically this movie takes place about 20 years after, 'Return Of The Jedi'... 

The Universe is now a very different place... The Empire is gone... Replaced by, 'The First Order'... And even though they aren't as big as the, 'Old Republic,' the, 'New Republic' is working on it... 

During this time, Storm Troopers are basically no longer recruited, but born in to service, and then kept drugged up to keep them there! And instead of Darth Vader bringing fear to the Galaxy, it is, 'Kylo Ren' (Played by: Adam Driver) 

Kylo Ren and his shrine to Darth Vader...

Now after a massacre on a world, one of the Storm Troopers gets out of their power and decides to escape... And with the help of a crafty girl who salvages stuff on a back water planet... And with the help of the people who helped end the reign of tyranny of the Emperor, will now work together to stop the next big plot from the Empire's successor! 

Ok so plus points... 

1. Awesome cast and getting to see the characters that made this series... Was awesome! 

2. The special effects are amazing! 

3. And for what it is, the story is alright. 

Now for the main minus point... This movie is fairly unoriginal... It is like J.J. Abrams decided to take the best of the original series (which was basically everything,) and then threw a few little perks in there... 

Don't let that discourage you though... It is a fun one that is worth checking out! 

A Major Contribution To Horror And Science Fiction Movies: The Soundtrack

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] James Horner composing music for a soundtrack to a movie.[/caption]

You know I will be honest with you and say that one of the biggest contributions that the music industry has given to the world of film, rather it be on the big screen or on the small screen is the, 'Soundtrack'!

You might be asking yourself though... Well what about, 'Musicals'? Well the truth is, is that there are some great musicals out there, I am going to have to say though that Soundtracks really take the cake when it comes to the more important of contributions... There are a couple of reasons for this:

1. Universally, rather it be on the big screen or on the small screen Soundtracks compliment the movies or TV series that they are supposed to go to pretty nicely!

2. Now this is just my opinion, but almost every musical TV episode, or music based TV show that I have ever scene has always and so far from what I can tell, will always universally suck!

And this is pretty universally true for the horror & science fiction genre as well!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Believe it or not, a truly fun soundtrack![/caption]

What I mean by this is that rather it be on the small screen or on the big screen, Soundtracks tend to play an extremely important role in the production they are connected to. A couple of great examples of this:

A: Psycho (1960): Universally, the arrangement that music composer, 'Bernard Hermann' put together for this classic horror/thriller by: Alfred Hitchcock (Vertigo) was so well made that in a lot of respects, I think with out this maestro's work, this movie would never have become the insane cultural icon that it is today!

B: Star Trek... I know, I know, I do tend to use this example an awful lot, but it is true! I mean no matter who the composer or musicians are, who are associated with the latest movie or TV series, generally speaking truly help make the movie the historic epic that we all see on the big screen!

Now those are a couple of great examples of some soundtracks that have totally helped make these Horror or Science Fiction movies the true masterpieces that they were when they first came out, and the cultural icons they are today!

And there is another side of soundtracks that I thought that I would mention here that are really important... That is the talent they bring in to work on these movies!

Rather they be composers like, 'John Williams' (Jaws), or heavy metal super stars like, 'Rob Zombie' (Halloween), producers generally bring in some truly amazing talent! A couple of examples are as follows:

John Williams' score from, Star Wars - Episode 3: A New Hope (1977):

http://youtu.be/2Mo0dSHFGPg

Rob Zombie's 'House Of 1,000 Corpses' from the movie he directed with the same title:

http://youtu.be/WT_f2UFNj3U

Charles Bernstein's famous score from, A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984):

http://youtu.be/tn_DjzN8410

Top 5 Sci-Fi Film Composers

I never really thought about it to much, but I was recently listening to a remix version of some of the classic, Star Wars music, and I got to thinking about some of the truly great compositions that some of these world famous Composers have done that have made science fiction cinema history... And you know what? I realized that there was quite a few of them!

In the end this was real tough for me to narrow down, but I thought that I would list out those that I would consider to be the top 5 movie Composers who did some truly great science fiction movie scores!

so here we got...

At number 5: David Arnold (Stargate).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] David Arnold who composed the classic music for, 'Stargate' (1994).[/caption]

Now besides working on the sound track for the classic original, 'Stargate' movie, he has also worked on the music for such movies as, Quantum Of Solace (2008), Grindhouse (2007), and Independence Day (1996).

At number 4: Brad Fiedel (The Terminator).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320"] Brad Fieldel - Film Composer.[/caption]

This guy has been a power house musician, having worked on both Horror and Science Fiction films as, Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1994), Fright Night (1985), Johnny Mnemonic (1995) to name a few!

At number 3: James Horner (Avatar).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Legendary film composer, 'James Horner.'[/caption]

What can I say about this guy, he is pretty bad ass, I mean he scored some of Hollywood's most recently history making films, including: Titanic (1997) & Avatar (2009), so of course I had to include him in this list!

At number 2: Jerry Goldsmith (Star Trek: Nemesis).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Legendary Film Composer, 'Jerry Goldsmith.'[/caption]

For me this guy is a true legend, I mean I love the work that this guy has done in both Science Fiction and Horror! Including such films as: Poltergeist (1982), The Omen (1976), Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) and Outland (1981) and that is to name just a few!

At number 1: John Williams (Raiders Of The Lost Ark).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="576"] Legendary film composer, 'John Williams.'[/caption]

I know it sounds pretty cheesy and kind of the most obvious choice to pick for a science fiction movie composer, but some times the most obvious picks are the best, and in truth, in my opinion John Williams is by far the best most influential Science Fiction movie composer of all time, having composed some of the best music that has transcended time, such classic as the, 'Star Wars' score, the, 'Indiana Jones', score, the score for the first 2, 'Jaws' movies, 'Close Encounters Of the Third Kind', and that is a very small cross section of this guys prolific career!

Now there is a lot of other worthy composers out there that have done some truly amazing work on some truly amazing films, but in truth, these are the one's that I believe to be the best because they have helped compose music for some of the most influential Science Fiction films to come out of Hollywood!

http://youtu.be/A1OfX-0Q0tY

http://youtu.be/5WeO5ZxdCYM

http://youtu.be/xtVyu-A3vkY

http://youtu.be/s_F09jwNJtk

http://youtu.be/Jm8A9bHAaJs

Star Wars: More Could Be Good!

Several months ago I discovered that Disney had bought out Lucas Films, and had planned on not just bringing the Star Wars films back to life, but had also decided to make spin off movies for more than a few of the characters!

At first, like most of the people I have talked to, and most of the articles that I have read, I thought that all of this was a horrible idea… I still think the spin off movies sound pretty ridiculous!

Now the movies on the other hand, I got to thinking about it, and I think that as long Disney does it right, that re-igniting the series might not be a bad idea… I know that is a tall order, but you never know!

Anyway I thought about it, and here are 3 ways that continuing a post-Lucas Star Wars franchise could be cool:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Luke Skywalker (Played by: Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Played by: Carrie Fisher) & Han Solo (Played by: Harrison Ford) in, 'Star Wars - Episode 4: A New Hope (1977)'![/caption]

1. As far as the script goes, they could do an independent script with a new series of ideas… (That can work, Live Free Or Die Hard (2007) did a pretty solid job of bringing the long dormant, ‘Die Hard’ movie series back to life after an over 20 year hiatus… Although, Return To Sleepaway Camp (2008) was a horrible attempt by the producers of the series to bring the movie back to life…) Anyway, that way is a mixed bag, for my money though, I would turn to the novels for inspiration in bring the Star Wars universe back to the world…

The reason for this being of course that since the end of the original series of Star Wars movies, authors from all walks of life have continued the saga of the characters that up to that point had mostly been on the big screen! They kept these characters alive in such a way that was fun and exciting, that was not only believable from the concept of the original story line but would hold your imagination throughout the entire story… And frankly in the opinion of someone (like myself) who has read a fair number of these Star Wars novels, and someone who is a fan of the movies, I can honestly say that I think that not only can these novels hold their own as scripts for a new Star Wars movie… But hopefully is the reason why they are bringing back Darth Vader (and not just trying to cash in on the success of the original series, while destroying the franchise as a whole!)

2. In the Star Wars novels, Han and Leia have 3 kids, Jacen, Jaina & Anakin, and Luke has a kid with an as of yet unseen character, but if they do another movie, not only would it be a chance to bring the world another Star Wars movie, but if they do it right, they could potentially introduce these characters and bring the world of Star Wars to a new generation!

3. The last one that I thought I would mention, is these spin off movies, I mean being as these types of movies always end up being a mixed bag (as with Spin off TV series), they could end up being completely successful (I doubt it), but I suspect more likely that they will end up being like the Wolverine stand-alone movie that came out a few years ago.) With that in mind, I suspect that if they didn't do the stand alone movies for the various characters in the Star Wars movies that you could end up having something really quite awesome!

[caption id="attachment_1222" align="aligncenter" width="446"] Han & Chewie and the rest of the crew as they warp in to their next adventure![/caption]

In the end, those are just three of the ideas that I had that could make a continuation of the Star Wars franchise pretty awesome, there are a lot more, and since things are still developing for the new Star Wars movies… We’ll just have to wait and see…

http://youtu.be/9gvqpFbRKtQ

http://youtu.be/_E7fA-t6RtY

http://youtu.be/3Ocn-_ZCPSg

Star Wars: - Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace (1999) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_330" align="alignright" width="220"] Official Score = 2 1/2 Devils[/caption]

Now In all truth and fairness, the original Star Wars movies that George Lucas made in the 1970s were great! I mean they had (for their time), ground breaking special effects that at the time had been not much further than a pipe dream (and I am sure since then have been a lot of the basis for a lot of modern Space Adventure movie’s special effects of similar ilk…)

Another thing that made the original Star Wars such an amazing good time, was obviously the action/stunt work that both the actors and any stunt men would have had to do in those movies (I mean who doesn't like a good, ‘explosion’ or, ‘Light Saber’ duel, you know?)

And the next thing that I wanted to say that made this original series so fantastic, was the cast in this movie! I mean this movie helped to launch Harrison Ford’s career (who would go on to do many great films, but whom in my opinion is most recognizable for the work that he did as, ‘Indiana Jones’ in another George Lucas classic of the same name, as the role he maintained as, ‘Jack Ryan’ in the classic movie series that are based around the character of, ‘Jack Ryan’ and that had originally been written by Tom Clancy (The Hunt For Red October) as well as playing Han Solo in the original Star Wars movie series!

These movies would also help make legends out of such amazing talents as, Mark Hamill (Corvette Summer), Carrie Fisher (When Harry Met Sally), as well as Billy Dee Williams (Batman) to name a few…

And lastly, I think the top person that made this great (because in all honesty, a lot of this really was his vision), is George Lucas (Raiders Of The Lost Ark)!

With all of this in mind though, the series itself was incomplete!

As great as the original series was, in all, the three original movies, had actually been (from a story stand point anyway, the final three sequels in the entire saga!) So George Lucas would embark on a journey to bring what happened that led up to a Galactic Empire seizing control of the Universe and the Rebels that will stop at nothing to try and take it back!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Before Luke Skywalker was fighting his father in the original Star Wars saga, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi were fighting Darth Maul in, 'Star Wars - Episode 1: The Phantom Menace' (1999)![/caption]

The first movie, which starred Liam Neeson (Taken), Ewan McGregor (Big Fish), Natalie Portman (V For Vendetta), Jake Lloyd (Madison), Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction), Anthony Daniels (Doctors), Kenny Baker (U.F.O.), Frank Oz (Zathura: A Space Adventure), and Ian McDiarmand (MI-5) to name a few; tells the story of how the Star Wars saga began… You see, during this time, The Republic (the pre-cursor to the Empire) is having some serious problems, and a war has broken out between the, ‘Naboo’, and the, ‘Trade Federation’… Now during this time the head of the government sends 2 Jedi’s to mediate this latest crisis, by the name of ‘Qui-Gon Jinn’ (Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (McGregor)…

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] 'Qui-Gon Jinn' (Neeson) and his apprentice, 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' (McGregor) as they prepare to fight there way through the Trade Federation ship![/caption]

After they get their though, they are held captive, and the, ‘Trade Federation’ people try to have them killed, so after they escape and make it to the, ‘land based’ Naboo government, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, along with Queen Amidala (Portman), and eventually a spirited pre-Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker (played by: Jake Lloyd) will head out on a journey of discovery that will not only affect them, or the Naboo, or even the Trade Federation, but the will set events in motion that will affect the entire Galaxy in a way that no one will ever forget!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="381"] Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Queen Amidala, and Anakin Skywalker as they prepare to fight their way in to history![/caption]

In the end, I have heard said that this movie was pretty bad, because of the Jar-Jar Binks factor (a particularly annoying Alien from the movie), and the truth is, is if that character hadn’t been in there, the movie would have been a lot better… But the truth is, is that I liked the movie, and if you can get past Jar-Jar then I think you might like it to… I did!

http://youtu.be/I6hOlI9cg4o