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ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (2016) – My rating: 8.5/10

rogue-one_astarwarsstoryBefore the last Star Wars adventure, which was about finding Luke Skywalker, (who is also the last Jedi) for his help in saving his sister and the republic from being destroyed by a new device, there was a story waiting to be told.  A new Death Star, a space station-based superweapon capable of destroying an entire planet  was being developed by a research scientist, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) who is now hiding on the planet Lah’mu with his wife Lyra Erso (Valene Kane) and daughter Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones).  Rogue One: A Star Wars Story goes back before The Force Awakens and tells us how it all came to be. Brilliantly acted, the story is excellent and to the point. The Force lives on.

In Rogue One, Imperial weapons developer, Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) arrives on planet Lah’mu to take Galen back with him to complete the unfinished Death Star. Galen refuses and his wife, Lyra is killed  during the confrontation, but their daughter Jyn escapes and is taken to safety by Rebel extremist, Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker). Saw is a veteran of the Clone Wars and a friend of the Erso family who mentors Jyn in her later childhood years.

As usual, I don’t want to ruin an excellent story, so I will stop here but tell you a little about some of the new and different characters and about some of the old characters.  While Rogue One mainly focuses on Jyn, it has produced  characters such as:  A Zatoichi-esque blind warrior and friend  who is obsessed with the Force and believed to be one of the Guardians of the Whills, Chirrut Îmwe, (Donnie Yen).  His character brings much excitement and amazement to the story.  Jiang Wen (Baze Malbus), a Rebel warrior, mercenary and best friend of Chirrut Îmwe. I totally loved Wen and all that he brought to the story.   Bodhi Rook I (Riz Ahmed), a former Imperial cargo pilot who defects to the Rebels under the influence of Galen.  A significant character who keeps us in loads of suspense.  Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a Rebel Alliance Captain and Intelligence officer. A lovable, handsome, complicated character who is a little too soft spoken for the role.  K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), a Rebel-owned Imperial enforcer droid who was reprogrammed by Cassian Andor. K-2S0 is a delight and brings much to the screen.  James Earl Jones reprises his role, lending his voice as Darth Vader and Jimmy Smits, Genevieve O’Reilly, and Anthony Daniels reprise their roles from previous films as Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, and C-3PO, respectively.

[NOTE]:  At the time of this post, Carrie Fisher has passed.  She will be missed — RIP Princess Leia Organa!!

 

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JASON BOURNE (2016) My rating: 8.7/10

JasonBourneYouKnowHisNameIt all started in 2002 with “Jason Bourne Identity”.  Jason is found with 2 bullets in his back, unconscious, with amnesia.  He had no idea who he was.  Since then there was Bourne Supremacy in 2004, Borune Ultimatum in 2007, Bourne Legacy in 2012 and just Jason Bourne in 2016.  Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) still has not fully regained his memory but is still trying to find out who he really is with the help of rough CIA agent, Nicky Parson (Julia Stiles).  After Nicky hacks the CIA and learns significant information about Jason’s identity, she is exposed and tailed all the way to Jason Bourne, who is in Greece.  The hunt is on once again to try and capture, kill or bring Bourne in.  Once they meet up, Nicky tells Jason vital information about his father and Treadstone, which is a Black Ops he was part of.  CIA Director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) orders his people to find Parson in hopes they can reach her before she can hand off the files she hacked to Bourne.  Dewey calls on The Asset (Vincent Cassel), an ex-Blackbriar assassin who also holds a personal grudge against Bourne, having been captured and tortured as a result of Bourne’s actions in “The Bourne Ultimatum” and harbors resentment toward him because of it.  The Asset is ruthless in his pursuit of Bourne following him from Greece to London then Las Vegas where they engaged in the best car chase (between a Police Swat vehicle and a Dodge Charger) I’ve seen in years.  In fact, it may be the best I’ve ever seen.  All told, the chase scene involved some 200 vehicles. The scene concludes as the speeding SWAT vehicle busts through the Riviera casino entrance and onto the gaming floor, demolishing slot machines and anything else in it’s path.  This is how it looks at the end of the chase.  SwatCarCrashI won’t reveal what happens next but I am saying, SEE THIS MOVIE!  Dewey has a team of shady type agents working for him, including Heather Lee, (Alicia Vikander) the head of the CIA Cyber Ops Division.  Dewey is also busy bullying  Aaron Kalloor, (Riz Ahmed) the CEO and founder of Deep Dream, a social media enterprise that fits in nicely to his new project.  I found Jason Bourne to be entertaining, thrilling, exciting, well acted, with awesome special effects and a great ending to a really good series.

 

NIGHTCRAWLER (2014) – My rating: 8.5/10

NightcrawlerWhat a great actor Jake Gyllenhaal has turned out to be.  For Nightcrawler, Jake lost 10 pounds to play his part and shows off his acting skills as he plays a dark, sinister character who is willing to do anything to be the best at what he does.  It’s a whole, different style of paparazzi we never think about.  A Nightcrawler goes way beyond paparazzi status because they don’t just film celebrities.  They film anything that interest the public and sells it to the highest bidder.  That means crime, accidents, fires and whatever shows pain and suffering when you are most vulnerable.  It seems the more privacy laws in affect, the less privacy we actually have.  Jake Gyllenhaal plays Louis Bloom to perfection.  He was down right creepy.  Rene Russo plays Nina, the News Director of the night crew of the LA TV station where Lou sells his videos.  Bill Paxton plays Joe Loder, another Nightcrawler with a better character.   Riz Ahmed plays Rick, Lou’s apprentice.  Nightcrawler is a thriller that’s well directed, well acted and has a plot that’s different enough to lead the pack in entertainment.  Of all the movies out right now, you’ll find this a refreshing change of pace.

[NIGHTCRAWLER is nominated for Original Screenplay (Writing)]