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Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)
A good story to be sure, but a cluttered one.
I´m a big Star Wars fan. Growing up with the prequel movies defined my taste in fantasy stories. So i was very excited going into watching this series. But wary, since Disney has produced a lot of bad content since its acquisition of Lucasfilm.
Overall: The series is good. The story of Obi-Wan struggling with overcoming the traumatic experience of the Clone Wars and his failure as Anakins master is captivating. The call to action by saving Leia rekindling his motivation to keep fighting is coneptually well done, as is his final confrontation with Anakin.
But, this really great story, that relies on Ewan McGregors stellar acting (which is supported by one of the best child acting jobs i have seen in a long time) and this heavy emotional conflict is cluttered up with things ranging from annoying minor retcons to thorougly unnecessary sub- and sideplots. In my opinion, this stems from the streaming format that needed to strech out a script, which was origianlly intended as a feature length cinema release, to a 230 Minute (without credits) six episode series.
The scenes where the main plot is brought along strongly are really well done for the most part. But all the filler and side-plots are immensly underwhelming. The best example would be Episode 4 of the series, which could be completely cut out, with no change to the grander story. (It also features the most half hearted, ridicolous escape scene in any Star Wars entry.) Same goes for the antagonist Reva, who is irritating most times when she is on screen.
There are also two technical criticisms that i have:
1. The direction and camerawork suffer from the modern streaming series obsession to not do proper lighting on set (many scenes are simply to dark to see anything) and the camera is shaky in many scenes where it is not supposed to. This takes away from the feeling, that this is a cinematic Star Wars story. Budgetary constraints can not be an argument here. It is simply bad taste.
2. The music is decent most of the time, but important story beats miss something essential for Star Wars; actual Star Wars music. John Williams set up beautiful musical leitmotifs for many characters that play an important role in this series and the producer just refuses to use any of them. It absolutely baffles me, why the final fight between Vader and Obi-Wan does not include the score "Battle of Heroes" from Revenge of the Sith.
But as with the prequels, I find that some technical issues of the execution do not take away from my enjoyment following a story that is fundamentally well done. This is why I highly recommend the Pentex Edit of this series, which cuts all of the clutter and just delivers a great story and fixes some pacing, aswell as editing issues (music is one of them). This is where the story really shines and gives credit to the script that some editiing changes can really bring out the best (which would be impossible with the sequel films).
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
A fun action movie
I went into the cinema with no expectations at all. I feared the worst, especially after The Last Jedi left me with mixed feelings.
I liked Rogue One very much and this movie isn´t quite as good, but a good movie none the less.
Camera:
As it is with all new Star Wars movies, they are visually stunning. The colour scheme goes into the darker territory, like Rogue One, but has some nice contrasts in there, which fit the tone of the movie well.
Soundtrack:
John Powell does a decent job. the music isn´t outstanding and lives mostly from the classical themes that it picks up, eventhough it has its moments. John Williams wrote the main theme for this movie, which is fun and as good as you´d expect from the master himself.
Acting:
I was pleasantly suprised with Aldren Ehrenreichs performance as the young Han Solo. It´s no suprise that he can´t emulate the Harrison Ford-Charisma, but he does a good Han Solo. Woody Harrelson is as good as ever, as he takes the mentor role as a mercenary called Tobias Backett. The highlight is definetly Donald Glovers young Lando Calrissian, you feel like he was born for that role; very good.
Story:
The story is nothing new. which is good and bad at the same time. The movie is at its weakest when it tries to envoke emotional moments, that don´t live up to the scenes that movies like Rogue One did. The big advantage is that it doesn´t screw up characters that we know (cough, cough, TLJ...).
It has the scenes that you expect from a Han Solo movie like meeting Chewie etc. They were handled tastefully and without too much fan-service.
There are the usual eastereggs and even some unusual ones, for the people who have seen the Clone Wars and Rebels series, which may leave people who haven´t seen those a bit confused in one particular moment at the end, which you have to see for yourself.
To conclude:
It´s a fun movie, which is not the big story revelation of the Saga, but a decent flick for sure. You don´t notice the change of directors and its a fun ride all the way.
The new Star Wars movies have a bit of a struggle with an alleged political agenda (not to say, that Star Wars wasn´t always political). I have to admidt that The Last Jedi was a bit too much on the nose for my taste. But this movie is one of the most apolitcal movies in the Saga.
You have Landos Droid L337, but that character is more comic relief than agenda pushing, so don´t worry about the "SJW infestation of Star Wars" or whatever some Youtube Review will inevetably say.
Go into the theater and just relax and enjoy a fun movie, with a nice background story for the galaxies favourite scoundrel.
8/10
The Red Pill (2016)
A must see
The documentary is eye opening. It exposes the horrific, totalitarian censorship that comes from the radical feminist movement.
Tackling issues for men, reporting on heartbreaking stories that men went through, this film truly is an important step into the discussion of true gender equality.
Valhalla Rising (2009)
Where to Start....
My goodness, what an experience. I didn't know what to expect when i got around to finally see the movie. Mads Mikkelsen is a great actor, so i decided its worth a watch.
I was kind of blown away by the movie. The start gets you really intrigued and even though its diresome to watch, you just keep sitting there and wondering what will happen. Its dark, brutal, Mads Mikkelsen is amazing in this movie and whats most interesting: Very little dialogue and no music.
Its a very philosophical film, about the humans relationship to religion and the core existence. Its feels like Thomas Hobbes is writing a film, with its own twist.
To wrap it up : The movie takes you through the hell of humanity in its natural existing state, a very strange movie, but it leaves you thinking. I recommend watching it alone, you will need to process this one for a while. Why I'm not rating it a 10/10 is because the watching experience, while interesting, is very painful. Don't get me wrong, it helps the film in its tone, but its one of those you probably watch once.
So give it a watch.
7/10
The Filthy Frank Show (2011)
Absurd, hilarious, genius
The Filthy Frank Show is a show created by George Miller and hosted on the TV Filthy Frank Youtube channel. It displays an absurd reality,with grotesque characters and vulgar humour.
Its complicated to review the show, since the variety of videos makes it hard to summarize. George Miller created a character called Filthy Frank, who is everything, we as humans, should not be. He is racist, sexist and insulting towards various groups and minorities. But also depicts strong opinions, some people might be too afraid to show in real life.
The Filthy Frank show displays our reality with these strange characters living in them, with all kinds of different deities and creatures.
The show seemingly takes place in an alternate universe, but clearly depicts the absurd reality that exist in our society. Furthermore there are some videos, depicting confrontation between this "alternate universe" and our reality, leading us to reflect upon what we as a society stand for.
He created a lore inside this universe, which is well hidden and it takes thinking to really understand it. George Miller uses offensive humour ; contrasting the politically correct entertainment industry, especially in the US. He also composes his own music for the show, which is very well written and thought through with a very clever writing style, mostly in genres like Hip Hop, House and Rap. He often breaks the 4th wall, interacting with the audience and ironically making fun of it.
This show is well aware of it grotesque nature and its provocative content. This combination of vulgar humour, grotesque characters, pop/internet culture references and bizarre story, creates a perfect mix between plain entertainment and thought provoking content, therefore appealing to a broad audience of people. The target audience is younger people, from the teenager wanting to differentiate himself in a society that is becoming more homogeneous and the young adult seeking for clever and absurd entertainment.
George Miller is well aware of his audience and very cleverly plays with the audience, poking fun at it, making us reflect. No matter why one watches the show, its combination of style for each single episode, makes it easily on of the best shows on YouTube and deserves the best rating possible.