Star Wars is back, with The Mandalorian and Grogu, the first Star Wars film in theaters in over 6 years. It’s a continuation of the popular (at least, the first 2 seasons) Disney+ show, but even if you go in completely cold, you can figure things out pretty quickly. In the aftermath of the destruction of the Death Star (Return of the Jedi) and start of the New Republic, bounty hunter Din Djarin, often called just “the Mandalorian” to those who know of his reputation in the galaxy, is chasing down vestiges of the Empire generals and higher-ups. He is joined by Grogu, his young friend and toddler-sized alien, who is the same species as Yoda and also highly gifted in the Force, though he’s young and still learning. Djarin’s new bounty is for an Empire commander named Coin, but finding him will force Djarin into an unsavory alliance. Coin’s whereabouts are known to the Hutt Twins, who’ve been running things since Luke Skywalker killed Jabba the Hutt. Before the Hutts give up what they know, they task Djarin with rescuing Rotta the Hutt, who is Jabba’s son and successor. Djarin hates the Hutts but agrees in order to get to Coin. So starts the newest adventure long ago in a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars needs movies like this to succeed if they want to grow the franchise outside of Skywalkers and Jedi. As popular as the Star Wars movies are, if you pigeon hole the franchise to only doing movies about Jedi, there’s only so many directions that can go. This is a straight up action/adventure film set in the Star Wars universe, with hardly a mention of Jedi or universe-shattering events going on at large. I loved the movie. The action and fight scenes are incredible; it doesn’t get more thrilling than when you see X-Wings come down from the sky to start shooting up the bad guys. Plenty of comedic moments too (usually involving tiny Grogu; don’t mess with a winning formula) that had the (full) audience laughing. It’s a great ol’ Star Wars tale. ★★★★½
The Love That Remains is the newest from Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason, someone I have a checkered history with. I keep coming back though, because *everyone* always says his movies are so good. This one follows a family living in a rural area of Iceland over the course of a year, as they are moving on from a divorce. At the beginning of the movie, Anna and Magnus have already separated, but are trying to find out what that means, while they continue to raise their three kids. Magnus is gone for long stretches of time, as he’s a commercial fisherman, and Anna is close to a starving artist. When Magnus is in town, he still visits regularly and tries to proposition Anna for sex; she turns him down, and internally battles her lost feelings for him with her desire to see him dead. The kids, meanwhile, amuse themselves with shooting arrows on the huge stretch of their land, and asking each other questions about their parents’ love lives. With all this going on, the film comes off more as separate vignettes, intertwined with the over-arching story about the failed marriage. Lots of surrealism going on here, with scenes of Magnus floating in the ocean (as aimless as he feels after his marriage) and whatnot. I liked this one more than the previous Pálmason films, but still not sure I get everything it’s trying to say, and I didn’t think it was as funny as everyone else seems to think. ★★★
It’s rare that a coda to a beloved film or series is able to pull it off, but this one does. Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is a proper conclusion to the (excellent) British series that catapulted the great Cillian Murphy to stardom. A few years after the conclusion of the series, Tommy Shelby has found a life of seclusion, away from the violence that pervaded his life as the head of the crime gang the Peaky Blinders. In his absence, his estranged son Duke (recast and now portrayed by Barry Keoghan) is the new head of the gang in Birmingham, and he’s made a deal with the devil. It’s 1940, and Nazis are looking to break England from within; they are wanting to import tons of counterfeit British currency into the country to devastate its economy, and Duke has agreed to help make it happen, with the goal to enrich himself and his gang. Tommy’s sister Ada, a member of parliament representing Birmingham, beseeches Tommy to return to his old stomping grounds and confront Duke to right his wrongs, but to do so, Tommy will need to reawaken his violent side. Not a deep movie, no big “ah-ha” moments, but it is supremely exciting, and Murphy and Keoghan play off each other to perfection. There’s lots to be gleaned if you’ve seen the series, but you can easily watch this as a standalone movie too. ★★★★
Sometimes its the movies that you don’t expect much from that really surprise you. Remarkably Bright Creatures, based off a popular novel, looked like it could be a little campy for my tastes, but I had nothing else going on this particular morning and popped it on Netflix. It stars Sally Field as Tova, an elderly woman who has worked long past the usual retirement age because she has a hard time being alone, a result of her husband and son preceding her in death. For her son in particular, there are whispers around town that he died under mysterious circumstances. Tova cleans an aquarium in the evenings, though she doesn’t seem to need the money, and enjoys “chatting” with the marine animals, particularly the octopus named Marcellus. Though Marcellus obviously doesn’t talk back to Tova, he acts as the narrator of the story for us viewers. Marcellus is constantly escaping his tank, and Tova always guides him back. This quiet little existence is thrown off course when Cameron (Lewis Pullman) comes to town. Cameron is seeking his father, a man who abandoned him as a child, someone he’s never met. But Cameron has a clue to who it is, and it isn’t long until Tova takes him under her wing, seeing something of her lost son in him, and helps him in his search. The mystery of Tova’s son’s death, and the legacy he left, is revealed in the end. Lots of heart-warming moments, but also lots of truly funny scenes, which I didn’t expect. It’s a great family film for all ages, though I think its message of redemption will hit harder for the older (my age and up) crowd. Keep the tissues close for the end! ★★★★½
Redux Redux has an interesting premise, and if you go in blind, you’ll have no idea what is going on for a little while. In quick scenes in the beginning, we see the main character, Irene, killing the same man over and over in various ways, whether it be burning him to death, shooting, or stabbing. Finally, she walks into a diner, sits at the counter, and spots him again. Before we can wonder what the heck is going on, Irene pulls out a gun and shoots him dead again. Unfortunately for Irene, this time there is a cop walking in at the moment, forcing her to flee. She evades them just long enough to get to a moving truck company, where she pulls a bag of keys out of her backpack, pressing key fobs until a truck horn beeps. She jumps in, drives like maniac back to her motel. As police descend on the motel room, she shimmies into a futuristic-looking metal box, presses a few buttons, and the box disappears. We soon learn the plot: Irene’s daughter Anna was killed by this man she’s been continuously murdering. Neville is a serious killer in every parallel universe, and in every one, Anna was victim number 12. Irene has made it her goal to kill him as many times as she can, until her luck runs out. If she ever dies, or gets arrested, then the game is up. This time is different though, because as she hunts down Neville once again, she finds that he has tied up soon-to-be victim # 13. Irene rescues the teenager, Mia. Mia wants in on the revenge tour, setting up some universe hopping hijinks The idea is good, but the execution is rough. The film is super low budget, which I normally don’t mind, but it is pretty hard to ignore. The cast is a bunch of people you’ve never heard of, and based on their acting chops, you probably never will. And there’s lots of weird side quests to increase the movie’s runtime, but serve no real purpose (like the universe-hopping machine losings its “flux capacitor” thingie, forcing Irene and Mia to sidetrack for some power). More than the minimum half star, just because it was interesting enough to get me to watch until the end. ★½
- TV series recently watched: Enterprise (season 1), Conbody vs Everybody (series), Love on the Spectrum (season 4), Marshals (season 1), Beef (season 2), Legends (series), The Testaments (season 1)
- Book currently reading: Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan
Jons Movie Takes 