When I was a kid in school, periodically we were given book orders, full of discount versions of books, but also posters and popular magazines like Dynamite, and lots of tie-ins with the latest news on current movies and TV shows. Anything Star Wars was quickly added to our book order form, and that’s what Titan’s latest tie-in reminds me of most. Star Wars Insider: The Galaxy’s Greatest Heroes looks at 16 of the biggest heroes of the franchise from the creators and actors behind them. But after nearly 45 years, the book allows a greater opportunity for even more people behind the scenes to offer their commentary on fan-favorite characters, with something for every Star Wars fan.
Like an episode of Monk or Murder She Wrote, the next film from writer/director Rian Johnson (Looper, Star Wars: The Last Jedi) is a straightforward mystery. Knives Out comes in on the heels of the similar looking Ready Or Not, and it’s a mash-up of sorts, aiming to have that ensemble cast variety of the last Thanksgiving movie release mystery, Murder on the Orient Express, while trying to bring back the nostalgia of the famous comedy whodunnit movie, Clue. It’s the 85th birthday of the family patriarch and the families of his three children arrive to celebrate. The next morning the patriarch is found dead. Arriving in theaters next week and marketed toward the Thanksgiving holiday crowd, Knives Outturns out to be a mixed bag.
The reason to check it out is as you’d expect: the cast. The cast choices would be a dream assemblage for any film. James Bond Daniel Craig facing off against Captain America Chris Evans? Legend Christopher Plummer delivering a performance as good as his last Oscar-winner? Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, and Toni Collette playing against type? And top it off with Don Johnson, poised to have his own career second wind as a leading man. But the real star performance comes from Ana de Armas(Blade Runner 2049). de Armas, a ringer for a Tru Calling-era Eliza Dushku, plays a nurse to Christopher Plummer’s character. Incredibly charming and engaging, de Armas is also given the biggest opportunity to show the most emotional range in the film. A plus for Bond fans, this movie will serve as a preview of sorts for movie audiences of No Time to Die, as de Armas plays the next “Bond girl” opposite Daniel Craig’s master spy in theaters next spring.
Not a recommended movie for taking on a date, and ultimately a questionable choice for Thanksgiving, one of the conceits (which may take viewers outside the realm of reality) is a character who vomits with each lie. By the end of the film it becomes an in-your-face gross-out, making viewers watch one character… covered… for an entire scene. As a story element this “human lie detector” is also a writers’ crutch, a trick that skips over some story challenges viewers would normally be able to work through on their own.
Last night the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films held the 44th annual Saturn Awards, honoring the best in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other genres, held in Burbank, California. Coming into last night’s presentation, Black Panther was nominated in 14 categories, Star Wars: The Last Jedi was nominated in 13 categories, and Blade Runner 2049 and The Shape of Water were each nominated in nine categories. In television, The Walking Dead led the nominations with seven, followed by Star Trek: Discovery with five. You can never predict who and what will win at the Saturn Awards, but you can be sure they will be very fandom-centric picks.
Black Panther led the night with four wins, for Best Comic-to-Motion Picture Release, Best Director (Ryan Coogler), Best Supporting Actress (Danai Gurira), and Best Make-up. Star Wars: The Last Jedifollowed with three wins, for Best Actor (Mark Hamill), Best Writing, and Best Editing. In television, because of the Awards’ split between traditional TV shows and streaming shows, the expected suspects came out on top: The Flashand Marvel’s The Punisher as best superhero shows, and The Orville and Star Trek: Discovery each winning awards. But the most wins was a tie, with three awards each for Better Call Saul and Twin Peaks: The Return.
Here are all the winners and nominees:
Movie Awards
Best Comic-to-Motion Picture Release
Winner: Black Panther
Nominees: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Logan Spider-Man: Homecoming Thor: Ragnarok Wonder Woman
Best Science Fiction Film Release
Winner: Blade Runner 2049
Nominees: Alien: Covenant Life Star Wars: The Last Jedi Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets War for the Planet of the Apes
Best Fantasy Film Release
Winner: The Shape of Water
Nominees: Beauty and the Beast Downsizing Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle Kong: Skull Island Paddington 2
Best Horror Film Release
Winner: Get Out
Nominees: 47 Meters Down Annabelle: Creation Better Watch Out It Mother!
A new book takes a look behind the scenes of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Abrams Books’ The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. As with the prior entries in its series: The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens andThe Art of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, it reflects fascinating and interesting images from the film, plus commentary and interviews from director Rian Johnson and his staff of creative professionals. Most of the concept art provides a look at ideas left behind, with some exceptions, like the exotic new animals and beasts that could be seen throughout the film, like the sea cow, the porgs, fathier horse-like animals, and the crystalline shard foxes. Johnson notes in the book’s foreword the challenges and hopes of making his new movie “Star Wars-y.” Browsing this new book, it will be up to each reader and moviegoer to determine if he was successful.
As with past books in the series, the book was created parallel with the final post-production and film release, so a few key spoiler scenes are not included in the film. Handily, this edition includes a follow-up section including the death of Han Solo that was omitted from The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. So a few elements are not addressed in this book many fans will want to know about, but perhaps those areas will be included in the behind the scenes volume for Episode IX. But you will find plenty here to interest any fan–plenty of ship designs and concept art for the film’s new environments and sets.
The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi tells two separate stories, one in the text explaining the decisions made by director Rian Johnson and the visual artists and staff, and the second via the concept artwork that was translated to the screen and the artwork left behind. The book lists 77 creators behind the backgrounds, landscapes, sets, vehicles, props, and costume designs. It will take the reader who has seen the film five minutes of flipping through the book to realize it is Jock’s final character rendering work that is seen in the final cut of the film that landed in theaters: Old Luke’s fantastic island garb, Rey’s updated costumes, Rose’s and the Resistance’s uniforms, DJ and Leia’s costumes. Really all the great, final designs that made it to the screen for the main cast came from the pen and paint of Jock. But for whatever reason Jock was not interviewed for the book. What were his influences? Why this or that design? It’s unfortunate because it really looks like Jock’s designs for Oliver Queen in his Green Arrow: Year One series directly influenced his designs for Old Jedi Master Luke and that would have been great to learn.
As you will no doubt hear as moviegoers walk out of theaters this holiday season, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a very “different” Star Wars movie. That said, despite writer/director Rian Johnson’s assertions to the contrary, it is very much an echo of the second film of the original trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back, with several parallel elements you’ll encounter along the way. Picking up where director J.J. Abrams left off two years ago in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Johnson seems to take the bits and pieces of questions raised in Abrams’ film, answers a few, dismisses a few, and ignores the rest, perhaps for Abrams to pick them up again as he re-takes the reins in two years for the final film in the Skywalker family saga. So many questions seem to have been definitively tied up by the end of The Last Jedi, moviegoers are now left to ponder for the next two years, “What could Episode IX possibly be about?”
The Last Jedi is most intriguing when it emulates some of the surprises and emotional impact of last year’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story–a bold, unique film that falls outside the three trilogies of franchise films, but provided a fantastically gritty, nostalgic, and heart-pounding story that put the “war” back in Star Wars. An opening scene in The Last Jedi featuring the heroic death of a new character made me sit up thinking another gritty war movie was coming (only swap a guerilla land war for World War II-inspired bombing runs). Heroism is the theme of The Last Jedi, and every character gets a chance to be a hero, but the damage is not as gut-wrenching as Rogue One. Yet, depending on who your favorite character was in The Force Awakens, every fan should find something in The Last Jedi to be happy about. Even if it might not offer up the excitement of the original trilogy, the third of the new annual holiday Star Wars adventures will be a great excuse to get together with family and friends for the event itself–annual Star Wars movies are becoming what the annual Christmas Special has become for Doctor Who fans, an event that for many will be bigger than whatever you think of the film.
The actors are top-notch in The Last Jedi, including Carrie Fisher in her final performance as General Leia Organa, although Hamill’s work stands out and could easily merit an Oscar nomination. Alec Guinness’s genius as the similar Jedi wizard Obi-Wan Kenobi of the original Star Wars was in his reserved performance and iconic utterances of wisdom. Here Hamill shows that Hollywood has missed the boat for 40 years by not featuring him regularly in mainstream films, bringing a powerful and emotional performance from beginning to end. And gone are the days of Star Wars’ clunky dialogue–Johnson’s success is pulling out the stilted exchanges Star Wars had began to become known for.
If you happened to miss last year’s theatrical release of the sci-fi crime thriller Looper, you might give it a shot now on DVD or Blu-Ray. Although it has some bits and pieces that don’t quite come together and leaves you wondering whether what you think happens at the end is the same as what the director intended, so many great scenes, acting, and sci-fi concepts will have us go back to watch this one again.
In part, it’s what I was expecting from another Joseph Gordon-Levitt sci-fi film–Inception. Inception was over-hyped and more commercially successful, but ultimately didn’t deliver the promised surprises and complexity, but that’s where Looper’s story does it better, with its back-and-forth, twisty time travel tale.
