Field Of Dreams

People will watch, James.

It's the least I could do to review this film to try to honor the man himself and once again we come across a movie that involves sports but is much more than that. To be honest I thought I reviewed this film years back but I'm sure glad to review it now. It's certainly an original story about a Iowa farmer who for reasons unknown to him builds a baseball field in his crops, but a fair bit more happens and just isn't a quest to build said field including meeting a renowned and famous author, and recruiting a former baseball player turned doctor. The one thing I really got to praise about this movie is that it really doesn't drag it's feet, it one hour and forty-five minutes and doesn't waste a second. If it was a really lame movie a ¼ if not a ⅓ of the movie would be them slow burning the unknown voice and trying to deduce what it could mean but no 4 minutes in, "If you build it, he will come." and there's no drama about potential insanity and desperately trying to convince his family it's real if anything it's almost hilariously easygoing with this whole voice thing. My gratitude for that is everlasting! It's funny how lowstakes the plot is but it grabs you so effortlessly and holds your attention to end credits. Whether it's the combination of the simple yet homely feel of the directing and cinematography, the score which adds so much atmosphere and gravitas to each moment, or just the acting itself it's a damn fine movie on it's own merits. Kevin Costner as Ray does a good job playing off the absurdity of the concept without making it seem stupid, he's just as dedicated here as any other role he's done. James Earl Jones as fictional author Terence Mann is a joy to watch, I mean he always is but he shined very bright here showing wisdom, warmth, and humor that I feel is a close approximation to the legend himself and made me laugh to beat the band while also getting goosebumps to shoot down my arms. Amy Madigan as Annie while a secondary character is far from a background character injecting a fiery persona, a good bit of humor, and a lemon twist of 60s hippie-dom that's just further proof why I'm a weak willed man in the presence of ginger haired girls. Ray Liotta as Shoeless Joe Jackson who doesn't really have a lot of lines conveys a great deal, encapsulated in his first scene where his face and body movement can say so much. I actually like how the movie doesn't even pretend to know why all this is happening, even the baseball players acknowledge they died but have no friggin' clue how they step out of a cornfield to play a game, it's a fairly fun and fancy free kind of movie. Some could argue it's sentimental to the point of saccharin overload but if you're invested I don't think you'll care. Even my non-sports inclinating ass gets the almost love letter monologue from James about how the sport of baseball has always been a constant and is still just as popular as ever, speaking from a household in my youth where my grandparents were Texas Rangers fans and my mom was a New York Yankees fan you can bet your bottom dollar I get the fans of this ball game. I mean, if people didn't love it we wouldn't have filmmakers with so much passion making movies like this or The Sandlot or League Of Their Own. There's something there and it's something people like. Easy recommendation from me even to non-sports fans, solid 3 stars, 7.5/10! And I know there was a certain animated special that came out while I was away so we'll check that out next time!

Conan The Barbarian

I won't lie, I liked it.

I have no clue what the consensus is on this movie, good or bad, I heard Conan The Destroyer pretty much sucks but this one I find is good! Out of all the movies this week I had the most background and foreknowledge on this movie, yet even then there was plenty I did not know or expect. A popular plot I'm sure, concerning a young boy who watches his village be burned and his parents murdered before being enslaved, and through the years becomes a mass of muscle with vengeance on the mind as he obtains freedom, meets companions, and eventually settles the score with the evil sorcerer who perpetrated it all. But what I greatly enjoy is the movie is a notch over 2 hours and it actually takes it's time liberally moving from plot point to plot point. It's not in a constant rush where it's a checklist of tasks to gain enough experience points to face the evil mage, it lets the plot and characters have their moments with the exploits of Conan having time to sink in. Despite the barbarian moniker he possesses Conan is a war master with several weapons, gifted with languages and writing, and while lavishing in the decadence of the barbarian lifestyle of PMS (Plunder, Murder, and Sex) there's more to him. Arnold is great casting and it is pretty hilaruously awesome to see him on this quest and wrecking fools, yet from all the stories I've read he was monumentally grateful for the role and wanted to do it as best as he could to which I say he did without fault. James Earl Jones is our villainous cult leader Thulsa Doom which may be the coolest bad guy name ever, and I'll admit this he's kinda scarier and far more intimidating than Vader, he just has this unearthly gaze and you know he's a threat from the start. The guy doesn't speak a word till past the hour mark but you can tell Thulsa Doom means business. Sandhal Bergman, what a badass she was in this movie playing Valeria, taking on an almost Amazon warrior vibe and at the same pace as Conan throughout and while the romance initially seemed quick as hell the chemistry and moments they share I buy completely! And we have Mako as our resident wizard, no complaints from me man, he's cool! Much more action in this one, keeping the blood packs flowing and decent choreography throughout so good work there. Let me tell you something though man, I'm not sure they liked making cuts in the editing room. For those heavyweights or just alcoholic folk out there, take a shot everytime there is a cross dissolve or cross fade as it's sometimes called. Good sweet lord, you're gonna need a liver transplant before we're through. I'm fairly certain the movie performed well and it seems like the crew making the movie formed a tight community, so a lot of the love and care show on film in some variety or another and I had a pretty dang good time watching it so yeah, full recommendation from me. I give it 4 stars, 8/10, ended on a high note and added some more experience to my geek level. I'll be casting 8th level magic in no time.

The Star Wars Holiday Special

Well how about that, two birds with one stone. You get a holiday special and something Star Wars before Episode 9.

What....was that? I can't even believe I just watched that. I have lived for almost 25 years and only now have just watched the Star Wars Holiday Special. I don't even know what to say. What can you say about it? Do I describe the special or talk about it's impact that surprisingly is still felt today? Well why not both. We really got to dig into this. So this special was conceived by George Lucas to help Star Wars remain in the public consciousness, which sort of baffles me because it was released just one year after Star Wars came out and honestly who could forget Star Wars? And I'm talking in 1978, no retroactively thinking. Do you know how much money that film made? It was only the highest grossing film ever, and won several Academy Awards, with an armada of merchandise and one hell of a fanbase that stretched the world over. It was said that when George watched the finished product he couldn't believe it and said it seemed like a cheap cash grab, and memorably went on to say if he had the time he would track down every known copy and smash it with a sledgehammer. So how did it garner such an unparalleled hatred in the Star Wars community that would make the prequels look like some of the finest films ever made? Well the story centers around Chewbacca and Han trying to get to Chewie's home planet (before it was called Kashyyk) to celebrate a traditional Wookie holiday known as Life Day. We mostly spend the special though with Chewie's family, which doesn't sound like a horrible idea until you realize the special doesn't even have subtitles or a translator on standby to fill you in on what the Wookies are actually saying. Some people say it's ear bleedingly bad, but I didn't have much of a problem with it and strangely enough there's multiple vignettes peppered throughout the special because, whoopsie daisy someone lost the plot, so pretty much 85 to 90% of the special is just pure filler. It's not even good filler with worldbuilding aspects and interesting characters that you can grasp from such moments. And to be honest, our main cast don't look that well, Harrison was dragged into it, poor Mark looks like a Ken doll though it is serendipitous to hear how comfortable and good he sounds as a voice actor, and Carrie dear sweet Carrie you can sing honey but that was hard to sit through. What sidetracking filler is there you might ask? Well, there's holographic circus performers, a cooking show by what looks like the evil stepmother from Cinderella, a moment that should never have been created let alone televised and was flat out stated by the producer to be soft core porn, an instructional video to create a radio transciever, a very 1970s looking cartoon, an odd yet very enjoyable I guess short musical with Bea Arthur, oh yeah and a Jefferson Starship music video. I would just like to say, WHAT THE F***?? And guess what, apparently the writer of this special did a lot of cocaine and you know what, I couldn't tell! Everything just gels so impeccably well! Oh sweet baby Yoda, save me. Okay. Breathe. First of all, if you are a fan of 70s television you will recognize the three guest stars of this programme, Art Carney, Harvey Korman, and Bea Arthur, all very talented and funny people. So what cracking material were they given here? Well Harvey Korman dresses as a woman during the cooking segment and plays a faulty replicant in the instructional segment, and I can safely say is wasted tremendously. Art Carney plays a friend of Chewbacca's family, and honestly he seems like he's trying but this writing is just ass. Bea Arthur is the best part of the special period just as a barkeep of a cantina on Tatooine, and I won't lie I loved her segment. In fact, there was quite a bit I enjoyed! Bea Arthur as a bartender on Tatooine sounds like the biggest waste ever, but it works for me, I fully believe her in the part and she's actually pretty funny, it feels like a real bar and just has nice little moments to it, and even when they burst into a musical number (For some weird reason?) I still have a blast with it. And yeah, let's talk about Jefferson Starship previously known as Jefferson Airplane, I honestly and truthfully want this band to be a really real thing in the Star Wars universe. It is totally random and out of nowhere, but damn do I like that song. I really dig the cartoon segment too, it has such a unique art style and is probably the most well known part of the special. It introduced the character of Boba Fett for the first time ever, and really kickstarted his popularity, and I totally get it now! I always really liked Boba Fett but I seriously have much more appreciation and love for the character now. No wonder he caught on so much with fans, badass look, great voice, cool personality, rides a frigging aquatic dragon lookin' thing, is flat out called the best bounty hunter in the galaxy by Lord Vader himself, he's pretty amazing for such a short appearance. So yes there is stuff to enjoy here but man do you have to put up with some absolute fluff to get to it. I was honestly shocked at how much stuff you see in this special that is brought up in the future of the series. The Wookie houses are identical in art style to today's, several of the aliens in the cantina we continue to see in the series that weren't in the original Star Wars, that cool cattle prod thing Boba Fett used is in The Mandalorian, and Chewbacca's family and Life Day are still considered canon by Disney. It's a part of this amazing pop culture dynasty, and while is not exactly the most highly acclaimed piece of Star Wars media even I can't condemn it too much. Beyond that one scene, which shall never be spoken of or even slightly mentioned by anyone or I will feed your carcass to a Rancor, I didn't hate it all that much. It truly is a coked out, rambling, incoherent, and the most worthless piece of fluff ever conceived but you know what? I'd still rather watch it than The Phantom Menace or Attack Of The Clones. Phantom Menace had Darth Maul and the climactic duel. Attack Of The Clones had Christopher Lee and.....um....the clones? This had Jefferson Starship, Bea Arthur, and even a few nice moments between characters. It's not very good, but I can live with it. I give it, 1.5 stars so check it out if you're morbidly curious. The whole thing is on the Youtubes, and if you got an hour and a half to spare and just want to laugh and make jokes, give it a shot. I think I'm so burnt out right now, I don't even care. I just gave an okay review to The Star Wars Holiday Special. I think it's a good thing I only have one more review for the year. Tune in next time for the end of the Skywalker saga and a final chapter to my childhood.

The Sandlot

I almost daresay this is a summer movie, but why?

Well The Sandlot, to my knowledge was the first sports movie I ever saw. Before I even knew half the rules of baseball or even played it myself, I watched The Sandlot. And The Beast frightened me. Yeah, that dog freaked me the hell out when I was young! To the point where I did not want to watch the movie, but now when you see him (in not animatronic form) he looks ridiculously cute, like I would totally get this dog! But if someone told me Darth Vader showed up at the end, I could have pushed through. But anyway, many people consider it to be one of the best sports movies of all time, certainly the most beloved, although and this is surprising even to me, the movie is not really about the sport of baseball but a small group of kids who play it. They play it a lot, even go against a rival team once and yet I hesitate to fully define it as a sports movie. It's more a summer movie to me. So what's the story? A young kid who just recently moved to a new town meets with a group of kids who play baseball every day of the summer, and we are told of this story through his own eyes all grown up. He makes friends with them all, learns to play better at baseball, and just enjoys his time with his friends. And I think that's what makes it more sort of accesible, and more fun for people including young kids to watch. Because it's not about the sport, they don't throw in terminology or lines that only hardcore baseball fans would know. Anyone with a passing interest or knowledge can enjoy this movie. It's more about the young boys than the sport. And that's what makes me say it's not really a sport movie like say, Friday Night Lights or Major League. And the problem is I don't watch sports movies hardly ever, it takes a lot to get me interested in watching one, but with this I feel like I could pop it in anytime and enjoy it, in fact...I do! It's a fun, really good movie with memorable characters, funny scenes, it just has this fun, care free sort of feel to it, and holds the most cuss words I have ever heard in a G rated film! I mean damn kids. I just really like this movie, and for those of you who do classify this as a sports movie, it's definitely my second favorite, next to Rocky. Probably because it defies every single sports movie trope, and for those of you who do not know anything about sports or don't watch sports movies you're in luck. I have a supplemental sort of review-esque video where one of my favorite critics dissect why people watch sports movies. It's not too in depth, in fact it's more of a brief overview of various movie tropes of sports films so you don't have to worry about it dragging on. It's only about 10 minutes if memory serves correctly.

Here's the link: https://youtu.be/s9QdLt_3KCY

Well that's it for today, but tomorrow might hold something new in our midst.

In Retrospect: Rogue One

You may fire when ready.

I forgot how amazing Peter Cushing was in this! I don't care if it's cgi, it's Peter Cushing back to do another movie. Automatic 12 stars out of 10, when you add Carrie Fisher in this as well. I love Star Wars, the original 1977 Star Wars was the first movie I ever saw if you have somehow forgotten that, I already talk about it enough. But it was the first time I saw these actors in my life, and then through the years I saw them in more things. And they are gone now, so it was both triumphant and crushing to see them in this movie again. So Rogue One is still a great Star Wars movie, now that I have watched Rebels, I noticed several more easter eggs that flew by me the first viewing in theaters. It was a lot of fun, the characters in my opinion got better with repeated viewings. Now that I have the ability to rewind and pause, I could gather much more evidence of good performances in this movie. Jyn Erso still feels like an outsider to it all but becomes a true Rebel as the film progresses, Cassian Andor is this hard edged, no nonsense captain willing to do shall we say...morally ambiguous things. In fact, the Rebel Alliance isn't all comradery and heroes and doing the right thing no matter what. They do bad things in this movie, which is very much more like a real war, not everybody believes in their side and does things they may not be proud of. That is a great aspect. Krennic is a backstabbing son of a mother, has no respect or anything for other people, so he gets under your skin quickly. All the side characters like Baze or Ip Man (Yeah I know his name is Chirrut, but it's Donnie Yen so he's Ip Man!) got a lot better as well. Everyone says the Battle of Scarif is the best space battle in Star Wars, I would still say either of the Death Star assaults but it is pretty spectacular. I still am not a fan of Vader's castle on Mustafar though, now people would argue "Well it's on Mustafar because that's where he lost everything. Being there taps into his anger, and pain, therefore making him more powerful in the dark side." and I don't like it. I loved the idea he had this castle on a remote, desolate ice planet, more desolate than Hoth that he could retreat to away from the Emperor. The imagery alone in my mind makes it so badass but whatever, I didn't make the movie. The ending scene was still unbelievable, and it does indeed just keep getting more awesome every time. So worth buying it, so awesome still, Rogue One makes a fine addition to my collection. Will it be part of yours too?

Star Wars Rebels: Season 2

Now it's kicking off.

A vast improvement over the first, season two of Rebels picks up on all the elements that they did fairly well in the first season. Our crew of freedom fighters have now fully joined the Rebellion and have begun to slowly form the basis of their operations, with the Empire always hot on their trail. The action has been upped significantly, the character development continues in some cases brilliantly, we get a few familiar faces this season that never ceases to make me happy, and the finale alone is what brought Rebels on the map for me. If you made it through the first season and thought it was good, by the end of this season you will consider it to be great. Pretty much the season finale to season two combined with the trailer for season three is what got me to watch the show, and once I got the backstory and re-watched the final scenes of the finale, it got ten thousand times better than it already was. I'm excited to watch season three, it's only I think maybe three or four episodes until the end of that so I timed my watchings perfectly. Hell, maybe even in a week or two I can fully review season three! One thing I have noticed though is the big bad of the seasons are surprisingly not in it often, the main oppressive force is the Empire as a whole. The first season had the Inquisitor which was a basic but still interesting villain that appeared throughout the first season but at the end of season one it is very clear who is taking the forefront of the villain role, and yet...he's in it for two episodes, the first and last episode of the season. That kinda sucks but I'm amazed they got the original voice actor for the role which is just the cherry on top of this sundae, but you can forgive it solely because of the duel at the end. I just hope they don't follow suite for season three, I want to see the Grand Admiral in action often, because if you know anything about the Expanded Universe of Star Wars then you can understand my concern for this character. But needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this season of Rebels much more than the last. I'm excited to start watching season three and if all goes well, you can expect that review before the end of this month.

Rogue One

I'm not disappointed.

New Star Wars movie!!! How was it? They did a very good job with it, it was a well made, well put together movie that encapsulates what happened before A New Hope. I enjoyed it, the story I totally rolled with, it was very believable that this is how the Rebels got the Death Star plans. The cast was great, even though I'm not the biggest Felicity Jones fan but Mads Mikkelsen and Donnie Yen and James Earl Jones were fantastic, and I have to say we see some unexpected faces in this movie. I was stunned to see so many familiar faces from the series. Senator Bail Organa from Episode 3 made an appearance, Darth Vader obviously, those two hecklers in the cantina from Episode 4, mentions of Obi-Wan, but most shocking of all was Peter Cushing. I was wondering if they were going to put Tarkin in the movie but...there he was! Peter Cushing as I live and breathe! It looked just like him, it sounded like him, I was freaking out in my seat whenever I saw him! That was positively shocking, the effects in this movie were so outstanding that they brought an old friend back from years gone by. Speaking of which, the film looks amazing with plenty of space battles, and blaster fights throughout. I was wondering if they were almost going to do a straight up war movie, and while it did have it's moments it still felt like Star Wars. They didn't screw around with the continuity, in fact they got it down impeccably with the attention to detail in all you see and remember from the original Star Wars. I'd like to see someone whine about that exhaust port on the Death Star now. What was surprising most is, most of the footage in the trailers is NOT in the movie. A good 80% of all the trailers look drastically different from the finished film. Now other films were like this, like Suicide Squad, the movie looked ever so slightly different from the film (Don't worry I still need to look back at Suicide Squad, I haven't forgotten.) but with this movie you might as well have not seen the trailers. Great movie, definitely go see it, I know I probably will again! Thanks for reading, enjoy the movie, and I shall see you guys next week.

The Empire Strikes Back

You know, now that I have watched this movie again, I do have to agree with people when they say it's better than the original Star Wars.



I've even heard people call this movie a coming to age film, and I have never thought about it that way. But yes, The Empire Strikes Back is a superior film to the original Star Wars with no doubt about it. The stakes are raised higher than before, our heroes go through the darkest chapter of their story, and we get a revelation that shocked everyone in 1980 and still shocks people to this very day. So our story takes place six months after the end of Star Wars and the Empire is relentlessly hunting down the Rebels, because no one destroys the Death Star without turning a few heads and pissing off some people. The Rebels are hiding on a snow planet called Hoth, and the Empire is sending out probes throughout the galaxy and soon finds our heroes. They commence an attack which gives us the iconic battle of Hoth where the Imperial walkers are being fought by Snowspeeders, and it is a fantastic battle that gives us more vehicles that we haven't seen before and is quite intense at moments. So the Rebels are defeated and they have to retreat from the planet, but our main hero Luke has a vision of his old mentor Obi-Wan telling him he must travel to the Dagobah system to learn from the Jedi master Yoda. So Luke travels to Dagobah and starts learning more about the Force from his new master. Meanwhile Han Solo and his crew are being hunted down by the Empire and they eventually have to hide out on the planet of Bespin where they meet Lando Calrissian an old friend of Han Solo's played suavely by Billy Dee Williams. But the Empire soon finds them even there and captures them. Luke senses that his friends are in grave danger and leaves his training to save them, but before he even gets there Han Solo is frozen in carbonite and taken by a bounty hunter. When Luke finally arrives he has an incredible lightsaber duel with Darth Vader which results in Luke losing his right hand and learning some world shattering news. In my opinion this lightsaber duel is the greatest, probably of all the Star Wars movies, it makes the first lightsaber duel in the original Star Wars look like the most boring lightsaber duel in Star Wars history. One of my favorite parts of this fight is in the beginning, Vader treats Luke like he is no threat and single handedly fights Luke but near the end of the fight, Vader's breathing hard and he's really swinging at him and he's not one handing his lighsaber anymore because he knows Luke is a formidable opponent. There are tons of great moments in this movie, some even considered to be some of the greatest moments in cinema. The battle of Hoth is great, and the Imperial walkers are just such a huge threat and they move like machines because they were made with stop-motion. But another scene before that is also just awesome, so Luke is trapped in this cave and the only way he can get out is with his lighsaber, problem is it's just barely out of reach, so he closes his eyes and reaches out his hand and you just barely see that lightsaber just inch it's way towards his hands very slowly, which is awesome because in the first movie Luke really doesn't use the force until almost at the end. There's an unforgettable line of dialogue by Han Solo right before he gets frozen, because this is a big moment for the characters because they think this is the last time they will ever see him, so Chewbacca is freaking out throwing Stormtroopers left and right and Leia finally breaks and she says, "I love you.", to which Han Solo replies, "I know.". That is a badass, ladies and gentlemen. I'm not even going to touch the big secret in Empire Strikes Back for those of you who have not yet seen The Empire Strikes Back, but I will say this, when I first saw this movie when I was either 2 or 3 years old, I freaked a little bit. I've heard stories of people who saw this in the theater in 1980, so the third movie didn't even come out for another three years and people flipped and I can understand why!


So that is my review of The Empire Strikes Back, tune in tomorrow where we will finish the original trilogy, and then we can understand why for the most part the prequels were unnecessary and kinda pissed people off a bit.

Star Wars

It's Star Wars day! But that's not good enough for me, so we will be having a Star Wars week here, where everyday starting from today and ending Saturday I will be reviewing all the Star Wars movies!



So here it is, the one that started it all and my favorite movie of all time! What is there to say about Star Wars? It's one of the greatest movies ever made, it ushered in a new cultural phenomenon that has lasted to this very day, and it's groundbreaking special effects have paved the way for modern technology to flourish. There is too much to say about Star Wars, but we will focus today on the original 1977 version, no special edition version because Han does not shoot first, among other things. So Star Wars, if you've been living under a rock for almost 40 years is an epic sci-fi saga set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away centering around the journey of Luke Skywalker becoming a Jedi. We'll get to the story of the prequel movies soon. So why is this movie above all others my favorite movie of all time? Well it being the first movie I ever saw makes a huge impact, and it making me the happy geek I am today makes a huge difference. I shudder to think who the hell I would be if I never saw Star Wars at the age of 2 or 3. I am the biggest Star Wars fan you will ever meet. No seriously I can quote this whole movie from beginning to end...with sound effects and music included! I have seen it that many times! I love it so much, I have such a huge passion for it even after all these years, it's unbelievable. I love the story, it's concepts, it's ideas, it's technology, it's planets, everything! The characters are unforgettable, we have Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker who has this very simple life but is thrust into action led by a wise mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi played masterfully by Sir Alec Guiness,on their travels they meet a smuggler Han Solo played by Harrison Ford and his copilot Chewbacca played by Peter Mayhew, and are accompanied by two robots C-3PO played by Anthony Daniels and R2-D2 played by Kenny Baker who have to go save Princess Leia played by Carrie Fisher from the evil Galactic Empire headed by Darth Vader played epically by both David Prowse and James Earl Jones and the sinister Grand Moff Tarkin played beyond perfection by the incredible Peter Cushing. Seriously it is because of Darth Vader that I always wanted the villain to win in every movie when I was a kid, because the villains were way more interesting than the heroes, and made me the evil Sith Lord I am today. I could write a 300 page essay on Star Wars, but I will try and keep this short. The dialogue is so quotable, I think almost 100% of what I said when I was a little kid was a quote from Star Wars. The music is perfect, this is John Williams best score ever and it still gives me goosebumps and almost brings tears to my eyes. It's very difficult to describe the appeal of Star Wars for me,it's really just something you will have to experience for yourself if you haven't seen it already. And if you have seen it before, what are you doing reading this? Go watch Star Wars! It may not be a perfect movie, but I love it more than any other movie ever.


So check back tomorrow for my review of the sequel that surpasses the original, and is considered by many to be the absolute best Star Wars movie.


May the Force be with you.