Story

In a galaxy far, far away lived an orphan called Han. He was running scams and cons for local underworld boss Lady Proxima. All he wanted was to escape this god-awful planet with his girlfriend and fellow orphan Qi’ra and become a pilot. His only hopes to achieving this was stealing highly valuable fuel called coaxium. And while his plan doesn’t go as planned, he and Qi’ra manage to evade Lady Proxima’s henchmen and reach imperial shipping yard. But Qi’ra is caught right before they can escape and Han has no choice to abandon her and run away, promising to return for her as soon as he can. As the only chance off the planet he joins imperial flight academy. Three years pass. Han is not a pilot, but he is still trying to make some money to buy his own spaceship to return after Qi’ra. That’s why he doesn’t hesitate a second when opportunity arises to join a gang of smugglers led by Tobias Beckett.

You know nothing, Han Solo (Ehrehreich)

Writing

I don’t know where to start with the problems with this film. I understand, taking the most beloved character from “Star Wars” universe and dissect his past is a huge undertaking. Not only because of crazy horde of loyal fans, but because Solo remains the most complicated and multi-dimensional character in whole saga. To me the whole storyline of the original trilogy is not about Luke or Leia, but about Han and his transformation from a criminal to a good guy. And since the start of the original trilogy is basically a logical conclusion of this film, he needs to turn into a bad guy by the end of “Solo: A Star Wars Story.”

And here it all goes to crap with this film. There is not enough of anything. Firstly, Solo in “Solo: A Star Wars Story” and in “Star Wars” are neither physically, nor emotionally alike, by any means. Solo in “Solo: A Star Wars Story” tries to be bad, he says he is bad, but no one believes him. Not even other characters in the film. Saying you are bad is one thing, actually doing those bad things is completely different.

There is not enough drama. Solo dreams about getting to Qi’ra and turns out it doesn’t even matter. He is supposed to save her, that’s all that we hear but he is not really doing anything to achieve that. Towards the end he is facing dilemma that is so mellow, there is no logical explanation how it takes the whole third act.

Solo (Ehrenreich) is lecturing Chewie

Supporting characters come and go with no specific impact. They are powerful supporting characters. In the average ten minutes of movie time each of them gets, we receive a very rich backstory on them. But why does it matter how you define these characters if they will only disappear from plot and movie forever? For example, there is a weird droid with “droid lives matter” moment that can be totally eliminated from the plot and save us total runtime.

There are not enough laughs. Film is full with some random jokes and one-liners that are supposed to be funny, but you will not find yourself smiling for more than handful of those. There is a weird tendency to try to introduce comedic elements, like Lando’s stupid droid promoting robot equality and such. Solo tries to crack some one-liners to no avail. Sad really.

The bad guys are weak. In the devoted continuation of “The Last Jedi” the badness of the bad guys are heavily mentioned, but their badness is either never shown or is just blatantly bland.

Oh, but there are also twists. Multiple twists. Which are totally ruined by constant foreshadowing. If you literally listen and note everything that is being said in the first 30 minutes of the film, you will know how exactly this all is going to end. And it’s not subtle. Nor they are even good twists. Just some mediocre “Oh I knew it is going to happen, how awesome.”

What film has a lot though is that it tries SO HARD to get sympathy awes by referencing to most beloved things from original trilogy hoping to earn some nostalgia points. How Solo first met Wookie (aww), how he first set his foot to Millenium Falcon (awww), how Solo first sat piloted Millenium Falcon (awwwww). This is so in your face, so fake, no one in the audience actually cared. I remember people cheered and clapped for almost a minute first time we saw Millenium Falcon in “The Force Awakens”. In “Solo: A Star Wars Story” – nothing! “Star Wars” fatigue maybe?

Solo (Ehrenreich) is so happy to steer!

Directing

Ron Howard is one of my favorite film directors. Despite him making a lot of cliche films like “Apollo 13” and “Da Vinci Code”, he always brings in his style and charisma to them. His films are always a wonder to watch. They have that extra something that sets them apart. His “Rush” and “In the Heart of the Sea” have incredible character evolution and drama, combined with relentless action scenes.

But “Solo: A Star Wars Story” is the Ron Howard film that is not Ron Howard film at all. Maybe because he was brought in the middle of the production or maybe he was heavily influenced by producers. Not sure. But “Solo: A Star Wars Story” doesn’t feel like any Ron Howard film. Confusing action scenes are confusing. Cuts are weird. Ron Howard is famous for his cinematography and his incredible wallpaper/poster frames. In “Solo: A Star Wars Story” he has zero. His Formula 1 film “Rush” made everyone grab the armrests (including my wife, who hates racing and sport films). Chases in “Solo: A Star Wars Story” are plain boring.

Such a disappointment and waste of talent.

Lando (Glover) is winning

Acting

There was a lot of chitchat regarding casting Alden Ehrenreich as a younger version of Harrison Ford. I wanted to give him a chance, but he looks horrible as Han Solo. Not because he has nothing in common with Harrison Ford, but because he looks like One Direction reject than actually a badass intergalactic smuggler. Or rather smiling version of Jon Snow. And pairing him with Emilia Clarke‘s Qi’ra doesn’t help but reinforce that last comparison.

Woody Harrelson right now reached a badass level of acting masterclass akin Christopher Walken with movies like “Three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri” and “The War for the Planet of the Apes“. No matter what he says or how he acts, there is literally nothing he does bad, wrong, weird or out of place. He is the only good thing in this film. And this is despite the fact that writers constantly tried to take it away from his character.

Donald Glover is another thing that stands out. His Lando Calrissian is charming and the only entertaining thing in the whole film. But, he is introduced too late into the film and is not given enough screen time. Rest of the supporting cast are disposable, unfortunately.

Summary

Strip “Solo: A Star Wars Story” from Star Wars connections and film will be just lame action film. Film doesn’t offer anything that will make you enjoy it to full extent. Not enough drama, not enough badassery, not enough adventure and not enough plot. Even Ron Howard can’t save this weirdly mediocre film.

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Story

End of 24th century. Takeshi Kovacs wakes up after 250-year-long “sleep” in a new body. Humanity has long defeated death by inventing “stacks” – alien-based device that is implanted into all humans recording every single thing that host does – his personality, memories, character, etc. Human body is no longer a constraint. If you die, your stack (given that it was not damaged) is just inserted into new (or previously owned) body – or “sleeve” and viola! You can run again. Or you don’t even have to die to change sleeve. If you are rich enough you can just buy yourself a new sleeve and become whoever you would like to be.

Before he was put to sleep – “iced” – Takeshi was a renegade revolutionary with extremely deadly set of battle skills. 250 year has changed a lot and he soon realizes that everything he fought against during his life has now become a reality. But he doesn’t have much time to enjoy his new body. He is informed that he has been awakened by mega-rich businessman Laurens Bancroft. He needs Kovacs’ help. See, weeks ago Laurens was murdered. He has been restored to his old backup and has no recollection, of course, of what happened to him. Everything leads to conclusion that he killed himself. But Laurens, who has been living for 300 years, will not accept the fact that he would just end his life. Takeshi needs to find his murderer. And then he will be free.

Kovacs (Kinnaman) gets instructions from Bancroft (Purefoy)

To complicate things, Kovacs pretty soon realizes that a lot of weird things are happening. Firstly, police detective Kristin Ortega has 24/7 surveillance on him. Second, he immediately attracts attention of some high-level criminals. Third, he realizes that the body he has now has belonged to someone who had his own share of enemies. And lastly that Laurens has extremely deep secrets. After all, you can’t just avoid death and not proclaim yourself a God.

Structure

First season of “Altered Carbon” is 10 episodes long. Series starts literally as classic film noir. Character has hateful monologues about reality and what not, there is a “damsel in distress,” soon Kovacs finds a sidekick, in a form of AI hotel proprietor. Somewhere around episode 4 show slowly takes a turn into more of action-fantasy genre. Kovacs’ investigation takes him to investigate various underground gambling, fighting and prostitution dens. Series really slows down somewhere by episode 6, unfortunately. There are multiple twists that basically put Kovacs on completely different track from his main investigation. Of course, it all is tied together in the end and season finishes with strong comeback and offers an ending that will not disappoint.

Kovacs (Kinnaman) punches his way out of zero gravity fight club

There is a lot of social commentary. Series is full with philosophical discussion on what is soul and why should we avoid death. I liked how the world was setup – although the technology to replace bodies exists only the richest of them all can afford it. Regular people still struggle as they used to do before. Yes, if you die you get a new body, but this body can be anyone’s. Early in the first episode we see six-year-old girl, who has died in accident, given a body of older woman. You should have paid, they tell her parents. There is also religious people, called Neo-Catholics who refuse to be revived when they die. Police though has permission to bring back to life criminals for interrogation or victims to testify in court. This world is so rich and

very vivid, it almost makes total sense.

Style

“Altered Carbon” stylistically resembles Blade Runner in every single aspect. Neon lights, rain and gloomy scenes make dirty city even dirtier. But unlike another Netflix crap called Mute, “Altered Carbon” offers totally immersive world. Virtual reality and AI simulation plays a big part, which somewhat give series a new edge. Also I really enjoyed the action scenes through the series. I have double feelings about is Kovacs’ backstory. Directors intentionally withhold information, thus artificially moving plot forward. Up until episode 4, we are given almost no clue about who he was and what he has done and then suddenly there is almost 2 episodes devoted to his past.

Kovacs (Kinnaman) holds his body hostage

If I say that “Altered Carbon” has a lot of nudity, it would be an understatement. There is just a LOT of it. Mind, it is not more than Westworld and definitely less than Spartacus, but you will be surprised how many naked female bodies are there. One scene involves a fight with a dozen of totally nude clones. People are complaining that it is distracting. I don’t think it was distracting a bit, but then again even without nudity the series would have lost anything. It was just at times redundant, that’s all I am saying.

Acting

I have to give it to producers for a bold statement. “Altered Carbon” doesn’t have any A-list actors. Instead the cast is relatively unknown. Surprisingly they all deliver very precise performances. Joel Kinnaman plays new Kovacs and he is strong, cynical, sarcastic, unbending, and smart. James Purefoy is Laurens Bancroft and he is a total charmer as gazillionaire with God complex. I specifically liked the casting of Martha Higareda as

Martha Higareda kicks ass as detective Ortega

detective Kristin Ortega. She has short, dark complexion with curvy figure and is visually total opposite of basically every single female actress on the show. Higareda completely owns her part. She is strong, independent woman, who will not stop until she reaches the bottom of it. Since Kovacs is cynical and unemphatic, Ortega offers us a moral beacon for the most part of the season. Also I will mention Dichen Lehman and Ato Essandoh. Both deliver solid performances that require emotional investment.

Summary

“Altered Carbon” starts very strong, offers immersive world, interesting story and worthy heroes. Unfortunately pacing slows down drastically towards the middle and diverges from main storyline. But it is able to recover towards the end and deliver satisfying ending. Looking forward for Season 2.

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Story

In year 2045, after economic collapse, climate change, overall anarchy, etc. billions of people connect to OASIS. It is the virtual reality system that has been created by famous inventor James Halliday. People go to school, work, play, dream, study, dance in OASIS. They live in OASIS. See, there is nothing to stop your imagination in OASIS, you can be anyone or anything! And while World has embraced the idea and joined the online community, this also made it’s creator and sole owner, James Halliday, a trillionaire. But he passes away in 2040. In his will, Halliday reveals the he has apparently hidden a secret object, an Easter Egg, somewhere in the endless locations of OASIS. He who finds the Easter Egg will inherit the fortunes and also will own the OASIS. And so the hunt begins.

Or so it seems. Because to get to Easter Egg, one must find three keys. And for 5 years since the death of Halliday no one is able to even find the first one. Everyone knows that Halliday was a big nerd and was obsessed with pop culture of 80’s and 90’s. So nowadays what most of the users do is rewatch old movies, TV shows, play old video games, read old books over and over and over to figure out the clue to find the first key. And so does young Wade Watts. He lives in slums of Ohio and goes by the name of Parzival in OASIS. Suddenly, with the help of his best friend he never seen in real life, called AECH and mysterious blogger Art3mis, he has a breakthrough and is able to get to first key. Overnight Parzival becomes a celebrity. And he attracts attention of corporation called IOI, who wants to find the Egg in order to own the whole OASIS. And so the race begins.

Writing

Sreenplay borrows heavily from the book, since the screenwriter is the writer of “Ready Player One” Ernest Cline himself. That being said, there are numerous differences made to the story, mostly to contain the runtime within manageable film length. Also there were changes to the key challenges. They are made more cinematic and visual. Characters no longer have to play some old Arcade game for hours like in the book or lip sync “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” to get to the keys. Instead there are equally amazing new sequences and challenges that will surprise you.

Parzival (Sheridan) and Aech (Waithe) explore OASIS

That being said, character development has suffered tremendously. When the book had Wade as complete nobody who suddenly becomes famous there is a big arc relating to changes in Wade’s personality and his realization of commercialization of whole OASIS. Film doesn’t offer anything to explore that. Also romantic subplot with Art3mis was in my opinion very cliche and too fast. Her character seemed really one-dimensional in the film. So did all supporting characters, actually. Which is really uncharacteristic of Spielberg. I am sure given that film was pushing 2.5 hours already, this was an artistic choice that he made.

Directing

Taking account that 75% of the film happens in OASIS, it is mind-blowing how intricate the World has been made. The opening car race sequence will literally make your jaw drop. And Spielberg goes all in, cashing on his inner teenager, while creating this super engaging and thrilling sequences.  After so many years of period dramas, you would think he has forgotten how to make action enjoyable. After watching the film, I exclaimed “Wow! He still got it!” And interestingly, despite all the madness of color and explosions on the screen, action scenes never lose coherence and never bore you down. Spielberg also utilizes his famous fast/slow sequence alteration throughout the film, as usual, masterfully. Fast scenes are not too much, and slow scenes don’t make you yawn.

Art3mis (Cooke) on Akira’s bike cruises past IOI employees

Also it is visible how much actually Spielberg is loving making “Ready Player One”. Since the film is built on pop culture, he gives us EVERYTHING related to 80’s and 90’s. And by everything I mean, characters from Street Fighter, Alien, Mortal Kombat, Iron Giant, Chucky, Freddy Krueger, Duke Nukem, DOOM, Tomb Raider, Overwatch. Characters drive DeLorean, Christine and Akira’s motorbike. There are so many movie, TV shows, cartoon, comic book, video game, board game, toy line, book references that it will make you go “OHMYGOD! That’s freaking Alien bursting from the chest of Goro!” Unfortunately this abundance of pop culture references is so much, that it might drag you down, honestly, because at some point I caught myself trying to catch a glimpse of Halo soldier fighting with Ninja Turtle, than actually paying attention to the movie.

Spielberg also addresses his own nerd self and pays homage to his own heroes. There is T-Rex, taken directly from the “Jurassic Park” and also King Kong on Empire State Building (1933 film is one of his most beloved ones). He also pays tribute to his late friend and mentor Stanley Kubrick with whole “The Shining” sequence (which was, by the was amazing!). Surprisingly missing from all this action are Star Wars characters. Apparently Spielberg couldn’t get permission from Disney to use them.

Acting

Halliday (Rylance) explains Parzival (Sheridan) what OASIS really is

Tye Sheridan plays Wade Watts. His performance is solid in live action and also in CGI, through motion capture. His character is goofy enough and at the same time is very relatable. Olivia Cooke plays mysterious Art3mis. Unlike her weird role in “Thoroughbreds“, here she shows her emotional side to full extent. Strong and outspoken as her virtual self, awkward and vulnerable in real life. She and Tye share very nice screen chemistry, both in CGI and live action. Ben Mendelsohn plays main villain Nolan Sorrento, CEO of IOI. He is good, but it is virtually same role he plays in “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Rogue One”. Mark Rylance delivers outstanding performance as late trillionaire James Halliday. He is nerdy, awkward, shy, and at the same time delivers the biggest emotional performance of “Ready Player One”.

People of future live in slums called The Stacks

Visuals

The world of OASIS is all CGI with motion capture of the characters faces and actions. While real life is dirty and gritty, OASIS is complete opposite – radiant and cheerful. No wonder people don’t want to leave OASIS. At the same time, Spielberg goes a big way to make you understand the OASIS is not real. Despite how good and nice it looks, there are still some pixelization and meshing on the characters, specifically done to increase this “fake” effect. Visually “Ready Player One” has one of the best CGI effects I have seen in recent. Spielberg bets a lot on that and he wins it all. Some CGI sequences will shock you with detail and complexity.

Summary

Visually outstanding “Ready Player One” marks return of Steven Spielberg to action/sci-fi genre. Being one of his best films in more than decade, it shows that great director still got it. I hope he continues this trend and gives us more of this.

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Story continues from where it left from “Force Awakens” – Resistance fighters led by Leia are on the brink of destruction by New Order, brave Finn is unconscious and Rey is set to make herself a jedi. And that is basically all you need to know, because that is what this film is – three separate films woven together for no reason altogether. Constant shift of focus from one story to another sometimes makes you wonder, wouldn’t it be better if all these stories would have made into three different films? Or even better, maybe make them Pulp Fiction style?

But wait, that won’t do. Because on their own these three stories would not even make a properly watchable material. In fact, the whole Finn storyline, starting with a crazy plan to destroy tracker and ending with a trip to some casino-planet was not only weird, but also really pointless. What it did achieve in terms of story propagation is totally ignorable and in terms of hero development completely unnecessary. And don’t get me started on the plot holes.

Then there is this constant motion to make film the most serious of Star Wars films and still make it goofy and fun. Which is as stupid as writing a constitution with comic sans. I understand, they wanted to make film full of adventure as “Empire Strikes Back” and also to make it psychological as “Dark Knight”, but you can’t have this two at the same time! Not unless you have a genius director at the helm. And (to give him proper credit) Rian Johnson does a solid work, but he is not the person to deliver this. He manages to make film watchable, entertaining and interesting, but that is maximum what he can do.

Which brings me to the entertainment part of it. I really enjoyed the build up. Rey’s adventures with Kylo and Luke were very well made. There was solid lightsaber action. But the ending made me yawn.

6/10

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In the year of 2517 humanity leaves in a relative peace. Independent insurgents are defeated by Alliance, who is now in control of all the stars and intergalaxy space. Oh yeah, and people have found a new star system with incredible amount of planets and moved there. In all this mess one spaceship “Serenity” with very interesting crew tries to survive taking under the table jobs, which are not usually legal. The captain of the ship is rebellious captain Mal Raynolds (Nathan Fillion). He is forced to pick up 2 fugitives on the course of their travel – young doctor who is trying to save his talented little sister River from the hands of Alliance. The thing no one knows is that Alliance has been experimenting on River and is not looking to loose an important asset…

What you need to know is that this is NOT a “star wars” type of movie, with incredible amount of ugly creatures and ridiculous supernatural plots. As a matter of fact, in the Serenity universe there are no aliens. Just the people. The film was conceived as “space western” and director Joss Whedon keeps it that way. Essentially if you strip all the CGI and space themes you will see “Serenity” as a very good western with badass cowboys.

“Serenity”  is a direct continuation of short-lived, but extremely popular TV series “Firefly“. Answering to all the open questions left by the cancellation of the show, film tries to stand alone as a separate entity. It manages so, by introducing the characters and their main traits in the beginning of the movie. Film progresses with incredible speed, and has very interesting action sequences. Nevertheless, I would really suggest watching the whole TV show (its only 15 episodes) to understand the whole idea behind it. I really enjoyed the whole Firefly+Serenity package. I’d give the whole package 9 out of 10. But for the movie ONLY I’m giving 8/10.

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