Weekend Watch - The Wild Robot

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is the latest release from DreamWorks Animation, the film adaptation of Peter Brown’s book The Wild Robot. The film is written and directed by Chris Sanders (Lilo and Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon) and features the voice talents of Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Bill Nighy, Kit Connor, Stephanie Hsu, Matt Berry, Ving Rhames, Mark Hamill, and Catherine O’Hara. It follows the adventure of a helpful robot stranded on an island populated only by animals who view her as a potential predator or prey. The film opened this weekend in the U.S., winning the box office in the process. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: A; this is a top 5 film this year for me, and I expect it will be for you as well with its beautiful animation and poignant story.

Should you Watch This Film? Absolutely! This is a film you can watch on your own, with friends, with a significant other, with kids, really with anyone, and you’ll all walk away with something to appreciate.

Why?

                If you’ve seen any trailers for The Wild Robot, you already know that its animation is gorgeous both stylistically and in execution, and that rings true throughout the film, but there have been plenty of animated films in the last decade that are beautifully produced but lack in the story department. This is not one of those films. The voice acting is superb and lends to the story’s emotional weight and poignancy, and the story itself feels just fresh enough to engage even the most cynical moviegoer. While a few minor clichés hold it back from being a perfect A+ film, the story about found family, adaptation, kindness, and even motherhood is certainly one of the most original brought to a mainstream film in the medium in quite some time. It is poignant and important, imparting not just emotional payoffs but actual life lessons that we all need to learn and/or be reminded of in the trying times we live in. This film deserves to be the front-runner for most of the animated awards in the coming award season.

                I came into the theater to watch The Wild Robot expecting quality animation and potentially some emotional beats, but I didn’t necessarily expect to be so wowed by the film’s story and characters. From the jump, we are immersed in this world of wilderness where a robot like the film’s titular protagonist, ROZZUM Unit 7134 or “Roz” (Nyong’o), sticks out like a sore thumb, lacking the ability initially to even communicate with its unsuspecting “customers”. The hilarity and tragedy of Roz’s situation are portrayed excellently as she struggles to find anyone willing to even speak with her after she spends months learning to translate the language of the animals. Eventually her quest brings her an orphaned gosling to adopt and prepare for the coming migration, giving her a new directive – feed the baby goose, teach it to swim, and teach it to fly by the time the rest of the island’s geese undertake their migration ahead of its harsh winters. Roz’s conversations with her less than willing “co-parent” Fink the fox (Pascal) about “programming” and the laws of nature and survival skills mirror concepts that we all are familiar with in our own lives – nature, nurture, social norms, and the competition that society breeds into us. As the film goes on and we see Roz’s gosling Brightbill (Connor) mature into a semi-functional adult goose, those themes become more central alongside the film’s surprisingly profound exploration of motherhood and family, as viewed through the lens of Roz’s role in Brightbill’s life and the lives of the rest of the island’s inhabitants. The film’s final act has a few of its most cliché moments, but it brings everything home in a solid way without feeling the need to put a perfect bow on everything, making it one of the more adventurous mainstream animated films in that area as well.

                The Wild Robot is simply one of the best films of the year so far thanks to its gorgeous animation, skilled voice acting, and poignant story that explores themes relevant to viewers of all ages, engaging not just children, but parents, teens, and single adults as well. It’s a film worth checking out in theaters if possible, especially with its quality animation. Definitely seek it out if it’s playing near you.

Weekend Watch - Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is the latest iteration of the science fiction saga – Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes – which opened in theaters this weekend. This newest film in the franchise remains in the continuity of the Rupert Wyatt/Matt Reeves prequel trilogy of the 2010s, but three hundred years after the end of War, bringing us an entirely new group of heroes and villains living on an Earth that has been increasingly dominated by the intelligent apes, with most humans having fully lost the ability to reason and speak. The film, directed by Wes Ball (Maze Runner) and written by Josh Friedman (Avatar: The Way of Water), stars Owen Teague as our new protagonist Noa, Lydia Peckham as his friend Soona, Freya Allan as the intelligent human Mae, Peter Macon as their travelling companion Raka, and Kevin Durand as the despotic ape Proximus Caesar. The film has received a generally positive reception thus far. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: C+; great visuals and new characters only take this film so far, as it doesn’t seem to have too much that it actually wants to say.

Should you Watch This Film? If you’re a fan of the other Apes films, this’ll scratch that itch for you, and if you’re looking for an easy to watch action/adventure film, this checks those boxes as well. If you aren’t really looking for either of those things, though, I can’t think of any great reasons to watch this film.

Why?

                Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a visually stunning but thematically hollow action/adventure road film. It does a good job of creating new characters that feel fresh and different from those in the trilogy that it follows without entirely separating itself from that trilogy, tying them together with a borderline religion established around the now-deceased hero of those original films – Caesar. Unfortunately, by tying itself to those films, it also accepts the expectation that those films created that, not only will it give us great visuals and an engaging action story, it will also have something to say about the state of the world and about humanity, and it’s just missing those aspects – the commentary on animal testing of Rise, the urging against xenophobia of Dawn, and the warning against demagoguery of War. At my most generous, I can say that the film had some ideas about religion and fate that could have turned into something worth exploring if they had done anything besides mentioning them and then abandoning them in favor of the third act’s action sequences.

                Don’t get me wrong, as a simple action/adventure film, Kingdom delivers a fun, if formulaic, take on those genres, combining tropes of road films, revenge films, and infiltration films into one cohesive piece that has characters worth exploring further. The visuals of the apes remain just as impressive as they have been, worthy of the awards that the franchise still hasn’t won in its rebooted iteration. The world, now three hundred years without human civilization, is full of creative landscapes reminiscent of the plant-covered post-apocalyptic world of The Last of Us, empty but gorgeous. Noa and Mae make for compelling protagonists, with the mystery of Mae’s mission and origins keeping you engaged with her story and Noa’s quest for revenge, restoration, and potentially leadership feeling familiar but still gripping. The film’s action sequences don’t do anything too groundbreaking, but they’re fun and harrowing enough to keep you on the edge of your seat.

                Again, though, the actual substance of Kingdom feels so lacking in the face of all of its style. The villain Proximus feels so generic when held up to the franchise’s previous villains of Koba and the Colonel. His desire for technology to help him establish rule among the ape clans doesn’t really feel that bad, and his despotism feels far less sinister than your typical evil leader type – I guess we’ve reverted to the simple statement that any desire for power is inherently evil. If it weren’t for the fact that the protagonists were basically after the same thing, that explanation could work. Instead, we’re left with a feeling of uncertainty of how to feel when the dust finally settles and everyone gets what’s coming to them. Again, if we had leaned harder into the religious fanaticism of Proximus and his soldiers, I think it would be fine, but instead, he’s just a pretender to empire whose motivations are not far enough removed from the protagonists’ to make his villainy feel earned.

                While Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes fully delivers on the spectacle that we’ve come to expect from the franchise, its thematic shortcomings and generic villain hold it well behind the excellence of the trilogy that it seeks to follow. If you’ve been missing the apes on your screen, it’s still worth watching, but don’t go in with insanely high hopes. The newness of a new era of apes can only take the film so far, but it does look good on the big screen, so do with that information what you will.

Weekend Watch - Kung Fu Panda 4

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is the latest from Dreamworks animation, Kung Fu Panda 4, the latest in the Jack Black-led franchise about anthropomorphic animals doing kung fu in a stylized version of ancient China. This one sees Po, the titular panda, being thrust into a new role as the “Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace”, meaning that he has to choose a successor to be the new Dragon Warrior. His hesitation to embrace this change in titles leads him to seek one last adventure as the Dragon Warrior, bringing him into conflict with this film’s antagonist, the sorceress known as The Chameleon. This installment features the returning voice talents of Jack Black as Po, Dustin Hoffman as Master Shifu, Bryan Cranston as Po’s father Li, James Hong as his adoptive father Mr. Ping, and Ian McShane as Tai Lung, joined this time by newcomers Awkwafina as Zhen the gray fox, Ke Huy Quan as Han the pangolin criminal, and Viola Davis as The Chameleon. The film opened in theaters this weekend. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: D+, this is a film that’s trying to do too much all in the same movie, sacrificing quality in the process.

Should you Watch This Film? If you’ve got a kid who’s a big Kung Fu Panda fan or is really into seeing animated movies in theaters right now, this isn’t the worst option for you, but this isn’t a film that anyone really needs to seek out in theaters otherwise. It’s definitely a streamer at best in my book.

Why?

                Kung Fu Panda 4 is definitely the weakest entry in the franchise so far, missing out on so many of the pieces that make the others successful for not just kids, but adults as well. The voice acting and animation remain the highlights of the film by far with a weak story, intentionally unoriginal villain, and action pieces that don’t quite live up to the rest of the films. The ideas of the film are pretty cool – a villain who can shapeshift into past villains, a new big city for Po to visit, having Po take on a more mature role, and building on the past films’ themes of knowing yourself by exploring the concept of change. Somewhere along the way, though, the film becomes overstuffed with concepts and understuffed with execution.

                It does still justify its existence with some beautiful animation and solid voice performances, but I don’t know that they make it worth seeing in theaters. The film’s best action sequence is probably a chase through the big city, but that happens early in the film’s second act, so the rest of the film doesn’t really deliver on those big action set pieces that we’ve become so familiar with in the franchise. The final fight with The Chameleon was fairly underwhelming and the cool silhouetted fight sequence teased in the film’s trailer has too many cuts to make it look as cool as it could have. The actual settings are richly crafted by the animators, though, and the requisite mix of animation styles in the flashbacks remains solid.

                Jack Black’s vocal performance stays consistently solid, and Bryan Cranston and James Hong get some really fun buddy comedy dad moments that highlight the range of the two actors that we don’t always get to see. Awkwafina is definitely still Awkwafina in her portrayal of the enigmatic street hustler Zhen, but it works really well when she gets to do some vocal sparring with Black’s Po that give us some decently funny moments. In the more emotional moments, both of their performances come up a bit short, but I think that has more to do with the film’s story than it does with either of the actors because Jack Black has hit some phenomenal emotional beats in the past films in the franchise, and Awkwafina isn’t incapable of giving a strong performance, as showcased in The Farewell. The highlight of the voice cast, though, is by far Viola Davis, turning in yet another chillingly villainous performance as The Chameleon. She gives weight and intimidation to the villain that perfectly sets her up to be the film’s big bad, even if the actual story and execution don’t fully deliver.

                The film’s story is really where it falls apart. Most of the story beats feel even more contrived than those of the past films, with developments forced on the characters or just written into the dialogue without much lead-up, making most of the character moments feel shoehorned. While The Chameleon’s character design is really cool and an example of the film’s strong animation, her motivations are just an amalgamation of the motivations of the series’ other villains – she feels that she deserves to know the secrets of kung fu (Tai Lung), she wants to conquer China (Shen), and she’s going to do it by collecting the powers of past kung fu practitioners (Kai). While her shapeshifting goes along with the film’s theme of grappling with internal and external change just when you are starting to get comfortable with how things are, she ultimately feels like the least original of the villains, and it’s quite disappointing.

                Underdeveloped plot and characters and less-than-impressive action sequences leave much to be desired from this good-looking and well-voiced animation sequel, making Kung Fu Panda 4 one to stream later even for die-hard fans of the franchise. It’ll keep kids happy enough if you really want to get out of the house as spring breaks start happening here in the U.S., but I definitely wouldn’t say it’s a must-watch for anyone else. I wish it could’ve been better because I really do think that its ideas are strong, but their execution is just so weak that I can’t recommend it.

Weekend Watch - PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating and review. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers (and a surprisingly large number of my wife’s friends), is the latest animated film about every child’s favorite group of crime fighting pups: PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie. The film is the sequel to 2021’s commercially successful PAW Patrol: The Movie, the first theatrical spin-off of the widely popular Nick Jr. show about a team of dogs who work with a boy to keep their town safe from a wide array of disasters, utilizing large vehicles in pursuit of this goal. Notable additions to the usual voice cast of the film include McKenna Grace taking over to voice the pup Skye, Taraji P. Henson voicing the new villain Victoria Vance, and Lil Rel Howery voicing Adventure City’s news anchor Sam Stringer. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: D without young children, B+ with young children; there’s really only one brief scene that makes this film feel like it’s paying any attention to the adults in the crowd, but the small children that permeated the audience were having a fantastic time.

Review:

                Anyone vaguely familiar with the PAW Patrol franchise probably gets the gist of what this film is about – there’s dogs, they have big vehicles, their boss(?) is an unexplainably independently wealthy child, they want to protect people from bad things happening – and if you’ve seen any marketing for this specific film, you probably know the rest – the dogs get super powers from a meteor and have to stop a mad scientist from stealing their powers and using them to destroy Adventure City. Nothing in this film feels overly original (or makes a ton of sense), but it delivers what the young fans of the franchise come to the theater to see – dogs in cool cars and outfits getting superpowers and doing even more than they usually can thanks to those new powers. The sense of delight and fun was palpable in the theater even if the actual film didn’t give me much in terms of content – the kid next to us in a Chase costume was having a spectacular time, and it was just endearing enough to keep me having a good time.

                The Mighty Movie is not entirely devoid of moments with a bit more depth than the television show typically showcases. This story focuses on the character of Skye – the smallest of the pups who flies a helicopter and, now, a plane as well – and her desire to prove herself as just as good as the rest of the crew despite her smaller stature. Her backstory as the runt of the litter who willed herself to being adopted by Ryder features in a flashback reminiscent of the flashback montages in Pixar films like Cars or Toy Story 2, complete with an emotional song and different color palette. It’s that moment that keeps this film feeling like it almost considered a broader audience than just the kids, but it quickly returns to the fast-paced, less-than-logical action sequences that the crowds came to see.

                While adults in the audience – especially those without young children – won’t find a lot in this film for them, it still delivers some emotional moments and plenty of the kid-friendly action that audiences come to this type of film to see, pleasing the kids in the audience as it should. Don’t expect groundbreaking animation like the Spider-Verse films or innovative stories like TMNT or Nimona, but just come in looking for a good kid-friendly romp, and you shouldn’t be overly disappointed.

Weekend Watch - Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is James Mangold’s entry in the Indiana Jones saga, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which released this weekend in theaters from Disney and Lucasfilm. The film finds Harrison Ford’s adventuring archaeologist in a race against Nazi holdovers, the CIA, and his goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) to claim the titular time-traveling artifact that was invented thousands of years ago by famed mathematician, Archimedes. Along with Waller-Bridge’s enigmatic role, the film also features Mads Mikkelsen and Boyd Holbrook as the true villains and contains cameos from Antonio Banderas, Toby Jones, Karen Allen, and John Rhys-Davies. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: C+; it’s technically an Indiana Jones film, but it’s missing something that the original three definitely had.

Should you Watch This Film? Maybe, if you need a relatively family-friendly action film, this checks that box, but I’m not sure that it’s got much of anything else going for it.

Why?

                Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny follows much more in the footsteps of its most recent predecessor than the films that came before, giving audiences a grizzled and hesitant Jones thrown into an adventure through connections that we’ve only just been introduced to before diving into a lively but not overly high-stakes second act that ends with a ridiculously over-the-top climax. The music and action are well-executed and fun, but the story feels forced, the villain never feels fully committed to his own mission, and the whole thing leaves you asking why they felt the need to make it.

                The action sequences are all pretty solid, playing with the typical Indiana Jones bits, giving Ford one last chance to bust out the whip and fedora (but no gun for most of the film for whatever reason) and get himself into and out of tough spots with a solid blend of suspense, fun, and adrenaline. The opening sequence (taking place back at the end of World War II) is probably the weakest action sequence, struggling to make us believe that we’re seeing a young Harrison Ford when every time he speaks, the aged-down man sounds like an octogenarian. They get better from there with a fun little chase through the streets of 1960s Chicago, a wild tuk-tuk chase around Tangier, before capping everything with maybe the most ridiculous and biggest action set piece in any Indiana Jones film at the end. It might not work for everyone because of how insane it really is, but if you can suspend some disbelief (and why wouldn’t you while watching a film about a globetrotting archaeologist fighting Nazis in the 1960s), you’ll find yourself enjoying it despite your probable frustration with the rest of the film that isn’t John Williams’s score.

                Dial of Destiny’s two biggest issues are its hero and its villain. For the hero (Indiana Jones), most of his choices and developments are externally motivated, not coming from his actual desire to see or do anything but from his obligations to characters and ideas that we haven’t really encountered at all before this film. Even when he does try to make his own choices, Jones is coopted or circumvented by other characters, rendering those moments more as comic relief than dramatic character moments. It’s not so much that Harrison Ford does a bad job of executing the character – he fits well in the role still as it has evolved to age with him – but more that the story is written with Jones as an archetype than as an actual character. Similarly, Mikkelsen’s villain Dr. Voller feels like two villains rolled into one and not well-developed in either facet. On one hand, he’s a scientist devoted to claiming the Dial for science and his own personal use. On the other, he’s a Nazi who dreams of bringing back the Third Reich despite never seeming to espouse any of the ideals of the Nazis until the film’s final act – even in his introduction at the end of the Second World War, he feels more like a scientist swept up by the Nazis than an actual Nazi himself. For the first two acts, you feel like Indy’s facing off against one villain, but then in the climax, the villain is reduced to a literal image of a Nazi officer because that’s who Indiana faced off against in the best films in the franchise. The whole story feels like somebody watched the Indiana Jones films and then had to write another film in the franchise, as opposed to actually wanting to write another film.

                John Williams’s excellent score and some fun action set pieces only go so far in elevating Dial of Destiny’s half-hearted story and middling character development to a place of being watchable and enjoyable. It’s an okay film made worse by the greatness of the first three films in its franchise that is fine for a popcorn flick but not much else. Watch it if you want, but don’t expect to get a game-changing blockbuster for the ages.

Weekend Watch - The last of Us Episode 1

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week, we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers is the first episode of HBO’s new television series, The Last of Us, based on the critically acclaimed survival horror games from Naughty Dog and Sony. The show stars Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Gabriel Luna, Merle Dandridge, and Anna Torv and opened its first episode to widespread acclaim from fans of the games and fans of television in general, briefly earning the highest IMDB rating for a television show ever. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: A-; this show is clearly well-made and has made fans happy. We’ll see how it continues to handle the hype.

Should you Watch This Show? Probably. If you loved the games, my understanding is that this is must-watch television and a phenomenal adaptation. If you know nothing about the games but like post-apocalyptic stuff, this looks to be one of the better offerings out there too.

Why?

                The Last of Us’s first episode, titled “When You’re Lost in the Darkness,” comes out swinging, feeling equally like a high-quality television show and a solid video game adaptation at the same time. If you’re like me and have only heard about the games but never played (because you’re an Xbox gamer only or something), the show does a good job of establishing characters, relationships, and the world in the first episode, doing enough to keep us less knowledgeable viewers hooked while paying enough service to the initiated to not alienate them. Their combination of worldbuilding and character establishment has made this one of the better first episodes that I’ve watched in a while, even if it is nearly an hour and a half in runtime (cable used to do double features for their premieres right?).

                Like he does in so many of his features, Pedro Pascal helps sell the product. His performance as Joel just in the first episode has me hooked and interested in his character development. He plays the hardened cynic who secretly cares about people really hard so well at this point that you’d almost forget his first major HBO role as Oberyn Martell. In The Last of Us, he dons a relatively believable southeast Texas accent and shows us a range in this first episode that goes from stretched but loving father to mournful and hardened veteran to begrudging caretaker who finally has had enough and decides to do something about it. Honestly, if he just turns this first episode in as a sizzle reel to casting agencies from here on, he’ll probably be in a job for the next twenty years.

                Luckily for Pascal, The Last of Us is no Wonder Woman 1984, and he doesn’t have to carry the show on his back. As apocalyptic shows go, the production value is high, and the storytelling seems to be taking it in a good direction. Director Craig Mazin and his team do a phenomenal job in this first episode of capturing the world and, strange as it may seem, the gameplay of The Last of Us in the medium of television. From an early scene of a truck suddenly forcing Joel and his daughter to take the longer, more dangerous route out of town to Joel’s to-do list of sidequests in Boston to what I assume is cutscene dialogue options when Joel and Tess are offered the job of transporting Ellie, this first episode showcases the right ways to turn a video game into a less interactive and more linear form of visual media.

                The Last of Us episode one introduces the show’s audience to its world and characters in brilliant fashion, capturing the spirit of the video game in the form of a television show that is sure to make most fans, new and old, happy. One small knock is the show’s current similarity to many other apocalyptic shows, which should be assuaged by the end of this first season if my friends who played the games are to be believed. Should it achieve that uniqueness and distance itself from the pack, I think we can optimistically say that we have been blessed with yet another hit from HBO. The show’s next episode airs tomorrow night, and all episodes are available from the time of release on HBO Max.

Weekend Watch - The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch, where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a review and recommendations. This week’s subject, as voted by our Instagram followers, is The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Amazon Prime Video’s new show set in Middle Earth, thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies. The show stars Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Markella Kavenagh, Megan Richards, Charlie Vickers, Robert Aramayo, Nazanin Boniadi, and others as a slew of returning and new characters in the Lord of the Rings franchise. The first three episodes are streaming now, and that’s what this review will be based on. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: A-; a fun return to Middle Earth, it might not have as much of a pull for new viewers.

Should you Watch This Show? Short answer: Yes. Long answer: This show probably has more to offer fans of the franchise than new viewers, but its production value and originality might be enough for them too.

Why?

                The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power offers a new look at the history of Middle Earth, bringing a combination of familiar characters and new faces, set at the pivotal moments surrounding the forging of the Rings of Power. Thus far, the show has done a good job showcasing its many storylines, giving the audience a solid mix of action, potential romance, suspense, drama, and lore dumps across its three currently streaming episodes. The leading performers have done well with their roles so far, with Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel, Ismael Cruz Cordova’s Arondir, and Markella Kavenagh’s Nori Brandyfoot featuring as early standouts. With each of these new/old characters come storylines that should grasp the interest of Tolkien die-hards and new viewers. The stories of the fall of Numenor, the hunt for and return of Sauron, the forging of the Rings, the coming of the Istari (wizards), and the founding of the kingdoms of Gondor and Rohan have all been seeded just in these first episodes, offering plenty of potential for great tales as the show moves forward. Against the backdrop of these great moments, the show has also brought plenty of the personal character moments that made the Lord of the Rings trilogy into one of the greatest ever made. Galadriel’s rescue by Halbrand in the sea, Nori’s decision to help “the Stranger”, Arondir’s complicated relationship with Bronwyn, and Elrond’s friendship with the dwarf prince Durin and his wife are all personal moments that already stand out as important and memorable in these first episodes. But perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the show’s story so far has been the teasing of Sauron’s return. Due to the nature of the show’s overall story, we know Sauron is coming, but we don’t know the form he will take, other than deceptive. So far, at least two possibilities have been teased with potentially another coming at the conclusion of this week’s episode. I have enjoyed the mystery surrounding the show’s ultimate villain so far, and I feel that it has created some solid discourse around the show. In addition to its solid characters and story, the show’s production value has been high so far. Utilizing a combination of real locations and CGI like Jackson’s trilogies, the show looks and feels very much like a true return to Middle Earth. Being a television show, some of the CGI doesn’t look perfect, but revisiting The Hobbit trilogy, some of that wasn’t the best either. Additionally, the show also brought back Howard Shore to score the show, delivering new but familiar music to go along with this return to Middle Earth. Overall, The Rings of Power offers a refreshing return to Middle Earth, offering plenty of new stories and characters in a familiar setting to bring in both old fans and new. Check this one out, with new episodes streaming every Friday for the next few weeks.

Weekend Watch - Obi-Wan Kenobi

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give a recommendation and review of it. This week, we’re taking a look at the now completed Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries from Disney+. It started streaming at the end of May and just released its final episode on Wednesday. It features cameos and performances from many of the Star Wars prequel actors alongside some characters who haven’t yet been featured in live action or whose version has not yet been featured in live action and a couple of brand-new characters as well. Let’s dive in.

Letter Grade: B+, imperfect but highly enjoyable (Last episode is an A)

Should you Watch This Show? If you are a Star Wars lover, particularly of the prequel era, this show will make you happy. There are things for non-fans as well, but a lot of what makes it great is the connection to pre-existing content.

Why?

                Obi-Wan Kenobi does a few things extremely well and a few others much more poorly. For starters, Ewan McGregor gets to live in the character of Obi-Wan more than he ever did in the prequel films, creating a deeper on-screen Obi-Wan than we’ve gotten outside of maybe some episodes of the animated Clone Wars show and the final scenes of Revenge of the Sith. In addition, the show uses cameos from the prequel actors well, using them to provide motivation and explanation, not just as fan service (aside from maybe one at the very end of the show). Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Vader is also arguably better than the Rogue One Vader because he gets more screen time, more development, and even more opportunity to be the incredibly powerful and menacing figure that we all saw in that hallway scene – his moments are highly rewarding in this show. The show’s introduction of new characters/actors goes both ways with some very well executed and some less so. The child actress cast as young Leia is a revelation, holding her own with every adult on-screen and serving as a consistent reminder across every episode how much cooler Leia is than Luke. The new character of Reva, played by Moses Ingram of The Queen’s Gambit fame, is somewhat less consistently good – due in no part, as far as I could tell, to Ingram’s acting. Her character arc is highly predictable, and much of her dialogue feels more Phantom Menace than Empire Strikes Back, but at the same time, her character does a lot to make the action of the show happen, and she has some moments to shine, particularly at the end of the show’s second and fifth episodes. The young Luke actor is probably the weakest of the bunch, but he is kept off-screen for most of the show’s episodes and has very little to do when he is there, so it’s not a huge issue. Story-wise, the show’s first two episodes and last episode and a half are incredibly good, giving great action sequences, solid character development, and interesting locales to visit along the way. The middle two episodes drag somewhat in getting to the actual end of the show but do offer a good Vader moment and a solid enough break-out plot to keep you engaged for the show’s climax and conclusion. I’m going to close this out by highlighting what makes this show as good as it is – its devotion to character-driven story and lightsaber fight content. Both Obi-Wan and Anakin/Vader get strong character development individually and relationally throughout the show’s episodes, and their dynamic game of cat-and-mouse is a big part of what makes the show so enjoyable even through moments of weak dialogue and occasional pieces of what feels like filler. And the lightsaber fights between the two help showcase the development of the two characters and their relationship. From their first encounter to their final epic showdown, we see both how both characters have changed from the end of the prequels and how the show is setting them up for their fateful meeting on the Death Star in A New Hope. All told, the show is certainly worth watching thanks to its faithful exploration of the character, quality performances from McGregor and Vivien Lyra Blair, and some phenomenal lightsaber battles. Check it out on Disney+ when you are next in the mood for some Star Wars content.

Weekend Watch - Jurassic World: Dominion

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we give a review and recommendation for a new piece of film or television media that came out recently. This week, we’ll be taking a look at the latest in the long line of dinosaur movies, Jurassic World: Dominion, supposedly the last film in the Jurassic franchise. I went and saw it on Thursday night and have some thoughts for you.

Letter Grade: C, I can’t in good conscience give this film anything higher

Should you Watch This Film? Probably, if you like a basic action film/summer blockbuster that has little to add to filmmaking other than a really good time.

Why?

                Jurassic World: Dominion is one of the most enjoyable messes that I have watched in quite some time. My immediate analysis of the film is that it is a workable combination of Bond action sequences, dinosaurs, and unused Star Wars sets packaged with a Jurassic World message of respecting the world we live in. The film’s story is incredibly thin, tying together the Jurassic World heroes with the heroes of the original Jurassic Park to create dollars and nostalgia, while at the same time focusing its character development on arguably the weakest character, Maisie, played by Isabella Sermon. The film’s new characters – Kayla Watts played by DeWanda Wise and Ramsay Cole played by Mamoudou Athie – are solid additions to the cast, each bringing something unique to the table, but the characters feel somewhat lost amid the already bloated cast, not to mention a new “villain”, the barely fleshed-out, Steve Jobs-esque Lewis Dodgson played by Campbell Scott. Even the film’s script struggles in some places, almost going meta by acknowledging a cringeworthy line delivered by Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire toward the film’s beginning but then slipping back into the frustratingly predictable action film dialogue for its remainder. (Side note, I need to fight whoever was writing Kayla’s dialogue because every second of it felt like an old Millennial trying to sound like a Gen-Z-er or a white guy trying to sound like a black woman, either way, not great.) Jurassic World’s action sequences are its saving grace and why I can still recommend going to see it. Great dinosaur fights and chases provide the highlights of the film, but I wish there were more. The stretches of the human characters talking to each other with no dinosaurs on screen continue to be the Jurassic films’ weakness, trying to add too much of a not great story to a movie where a T-Rex and a Therizinosaurus fight a Giganotosaurus. All told, it’s a solid outing in the action department but needed even more of it to overcome a weak story and writing and make it great. It’s worth seeing on the big screen for those moments, but it might be better if you can find someone else to pay for your ticket.