This is the Star Wars section.
Shows
Star Wars: Clone Wars (The show)
What a delightful show! I LOVE the Star Wars expanded universe (books, video games, movies). When I found out there was going to be a digital Star Wars show, I was disappointed. I was even more disappointed when they started releasing those 1-5 minute “commercial” action sequences, because it was all fighting and no dialogue. If you know me, you know I LOVE stories, dialogue, and character development. Then the show came out and I watched it on Netflix. My goodness what a great experience! Yes, there were cheesy moments and moments that were clearly aimed at children. Yes, those moments lowered the quality of the show. But man, did the show get serious at times. I LOVED everything about Darth Maul, all the Darth Sidieos scenes (the BEST part of the prequel trilogy was seeing the behind the scenes stuff being done by the dark side), and all the Jedi and political scenes. These are the things that make star wars UNIQUE and FASCINATING to me. What I did NOT enjoy about the show were the episodes dedicated to side characters that I and, based on the internet, hardly anybody else cared about (as opposed to the ones I did like). When the show focused on the lore of the light/dark side and all the political/ritual/training/back stabbings that had to do with that, it was on it’s A game. Towards the end of the show, it was on it’s A game. I am PUMPED for Rebels now! For a first star wars show, I expected a lot worse (especially being digital), but man was I stupid to assume that!
22/25
Star Wars: Rebels (Show)
Alas, where the Clone Wars was consistently good, Rebels was either great or horrible. I loved that it continued characters and subplots from Clone Wars and how it focused some episodes on massive, series altering plot points, the return of Ahsoka, the true revelation of what Sidious' plan was (also potentially what Darth Plagueis was referring to), and so on. However, for just as many big scale episodes as there were, there were far more random episodes with unimportant sub plots, bad dialogue, and sub par characters that were either unoriginal or were not captivating at all. Oh look, another sarcastic R2 style robot. Oh, you want a furry and grouchy warriors figure who shouts random things as he charges into battle? Got that. I did begin to appreciate Ezra more over time, especially in the end (and I'm REALLY excited to figure out what happened to him and Thrawn), but man was he a winy brat for a large portion of the show. Still, I'm still reeling from that last major story arc and it's implications (I don't want to spoil anything major, but I'm referencing that place that Sidious and Ezra went to) and I applaud this show for being gutsy in addressing something that could easily have been covered in a feature film.
18/25
Movies
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (Movie)
What was once a wonderful movie from my youthful days has not aged well. One could argue that would throw the validity of my review out the window, because of my age bias, but I would argue that my age hasn't prevented me from enjoying other things from my youth (such as School House Rock, Hey Arnold, or Jurassic Park) so, therefore, my opinion is validated. Indeed, this movie has changed in my eyes primarily due to my own ignorance of quality being shattered. Gone are the days where I enjoy accidental cheese in a movie (as in, cheesy lines) and this movie is stock full of them. The overall atmosphere is lightearted, nothing seems like it is going to be too doom or gloomy, the acting is pretty bad (except for Qui Gon and Obi Won) across the board (including Yoda), and the overall plot of this movie is so small it's ridiculous (it's about ONE planet fighting back against an extremely small fraction of the rising tide against the Empire). Yes, you could argue that this was the Fort Sumpter of the Clone Wars, but it doesn't really feel like that. It is saying something that the sequel takes places roughly 10 years later as to how "important" the events that take place in this first movie are. Indeed, the book "Darth Plagueis" is probably 10x the quality, detail, and scope that this movie was and does Darth Maul a lot more justice too (and it isn't even canon anymore). In fact, I would argue most of the expanded universe and, certainly, the newer books are far superior to that of this movie's story and scope. When we were used to intergalactic battles and planets being destroyed in the first trilogy, this movie is much, much smaller and far, far less important. At least the Naboo ships looked nice, though!
6/10
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
This movie has aged slightly better than the first movie because it isn't as lighthearted. Even when it gets mushy gushy at points, it is also usually when Anakin is about to get all rage mode which, thankfully, keeps the viewer mindful that this guy eventually becomes one of the best tragic villians ever. Still, the biggest problem with this movie is that it focuses on one thing too much. The original focused too much on one planet and this one focuses way too much on a relationship. Yes, that relationship ultimately pushes Anakin towards the dark side, and introduces, in the second trilogy, the twins, but that does not disregard the fact that this movie would have been a whole lot better if they had just skipped over at least SOME of this stuff and focused more on intergalactic politics in the Senate, Jedi/Sith moments, and battles. People don't watch star wars for mushy gushy. Obviously, the actor who portrayed Anakin has received hate ever since it. As a child, I thought he was good, but as an adult I disagree with my youth. You can tell Natalie Portman has become a better actor, and I really like how they had CGI Yoda in this one (In my opinion far better looking and sounding than muppet Yoda), and most of the actors are good but it hurts your movie a lot when your main actor in almost all of the scenes acts like this. I used to hate this movie the most, but honestly it was better than Episode 1 now that I've seen it again after all these years.
7/10
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
Wow, what an emotional experience. Still, after all these years, this movie hits me hard. It is absolutely STUNNING how good this movie is in comparison to the other prequel movies. Where they focus on single topics, on cheezy dialogue/emotional displays, and on the more lighthearted topics altogether, Episode 3 turns that table over; it covers a huge amount of issues going on and doesn't specifically obsess over any of them, it replaces the cheese with freaking awesome internal struggle sequences (there was still a scene or two where the acting on Anakin could have been better, but overall he was much improved in my opinion), and practically avoids lighthearted topics. The music in this movie is constantly pushing you towards not being comfortable. It felt like something was going to go very, very wrong at any moment and it made that apparent from the beginning with the first fight. My goodness did they go dark with this one, and how fitting it was considering it was the height of the sith power over the galaxy. This movie was a masterpiece.
Score - 10/10
Star Wars: A New Hope
The movie that launched a new era of films. Every modern movie that has laser beams, explosions in space, and magical powers has been influenced in some, if not many, ways by this movie. I remember my dad describing what it was like to see this movie when it came out (and he typically hates most movies) and how amazing it was for its time. Looking at the movie specifics and, in retrospect, it introduces us to some of the most iconic protagonists and antagonists in movie cinematic history; Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, to begin, but so many others that are amazing as well. The visuals introduced in this movie were probably the best leap forward in movie visuals history in proportion to the time. Honestly, the movie was so well complete that you didn't even need to have a sequel to it to have a good story. We didn't need to know, at the time, that Vader was Luke's father, or anything else that was later explored in the rest of the movies and show. Obviously, I'm glad we got the sequels and other movies/shows now, but the first movie had everything it needed to be a complete experience. Still, despite it's lack holes, it wasn't the best movie in the series. Indeed, both Empire and Return of the Jedi were better movies due to one thing; character development.
8/10
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
What a weird and drastic difference this movie was from the first! We go from massive space battles to snow battles, from massive ships and a Death Star to fights on Hoth against large Walkers, from a movie about attacking to a movie about defending. All of that mixed together with the revelation that Vader is Luke's father and a decent leap forward in character development makes this a good amount better than the original film. Of the now 9 main feature films, this and The Last Jedi were the most different, in my opinion, and that gives them creativity points. Episodes 1-4, 6, Rogue One, and 7 are similar in many ways (I know there are differences, but not like 5 and 8 have). I was shocked, disgusted, delighted, and every other emotions that indicates surpise when watching this film for the first time, and none of those are a bad thing at all.
9/10
Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi
Perfection. Back to the roots of the original film (large scale, big implications on the galactic level), except bolder and bigger than ever. Ask people from the 80's and they may argue about which was a bigger revelation; Vader being Luke's father or Leia and Luke being twins (which means not only that, but also that Vader had two kids, not just one). Add to the fact that Leia is the other in the quote, "there is another," especially in seeing her role in the new trilogy and not knowing where episode 9 is going to go only adds to the value of her being Vader's daughter. My favorite part of any Star Wars movie show, movie, or book (whether canon or legends), is the ongoing scene with The Emperor, Vader, and Luke in the Death Star. I absolutely love the character development that happens and how it all ends with Anakin coming back and Vader dying by showing his love for his son (and daughter). This is the ultimate villain redeemed story line and it is absolutely beautiful. Watching this scene, especially after seeing Episode 3, only adds to the value; knowing the pain Anakin went through with Padme's death and how he was suppressed by Vader only for him to be resurrected from his long slumber by the revelation that his children were alive is emotionally overwhelming.
10/10
Star Wars: Rogue One
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Total Star Wars Score - 90/110
Last edited by Dulfite - on 15 April 2018
