Reviews

First, I want to address the fact that the fans are getting so much hate regarding their expectations. Despite what some of you may think, our expectations regarding the characters was all created by the lore provided in TFA. If Disney didn't want us to have expectations, than they shouldn't have created the lore that fostered the possibilities for growth. Also, unlike other reviews, I will not be addressing Luke Skywalker. I'll admit, I didn't like his character that much, but he wasn't all that different from Ulic Qel-Droma (Redemption) and Jedi Master Lucien (KOTOR). Rather, I'm going to focus primarily on the major issues I had with TLJ.

Snoke: Episode 7 provides us with a mysterious figure who was well trained in the dark side of the force. He has clear battle marks of either force lightning or a saber. Additionally, we are informed in books that he is not a sith. So who trained him? Where's he from? How did become so powerful? What was full plan for Kylo Ren? What was the rest of the training in had in mind for Kylo Ren when he said it was time to complete the rest of his training? These were all elements raised in episode 7 and it was all "cut" down in episode 8. We were either given no details at all or the answers were basic with 0 depth. What happens? He dies and we learn almost nothing about him. So exciting!...

Kylo Ren: Why does Kylo Ren have such a massive fascination with Rey? (Based on his reaction towards the first order officer when he was informed that BB-8 had help escaping because of a girl. He never had this kind of reaction to anyone else, so why Rey?) How will Kylo Ren continue the remainder of his training? He doesn't really. He just keeps doing his own thing. Snoke doesn't continue his training. Instead, he's the same whiny emo kid that is laughable instead of terrifying. Rather than a Star Wars character, I felt like he was something out of a sitcom and I was just waiting for a laugh track to play.

Finn: Will Finn and Rey continue to develop their relationship in episode 8 now that we see a romance blossoming between them? Nope, some no body, that contributes nothing, shows up.

Rey: Who are her parents? No one important. Is Rey related to Kyle Ren? Nope, she's an average Joe. Why is Rey so strongly connected to the force? Just cause. Will Luke teach her the ways of the force? Nope. He gives her 3 lessons and only 1 we get to see. I honestly loved Rey. I thought she was a wonderful and exciting addition to Star Wars. I felt she was a great symbol for young girls everywhere that they could be heroes too. However, as much as I still appreciate Rey, her origin was a completely wasted opportunity.

Knights of Ren: they played a mysterious role in Kylo Ren's destruction of the Jedi temple, yet they make no appearance in episode 8 and are given 0 mention. How is it that Luke doesn't mention these cohorts of Ren at all when they clearly played a major role in the destruction of the temple?

Phasma: this was a great chance to flush her character out a bit more; however, she gets a small handful of lines and gets almost less time than she had in episode 7. This was a massive waste.

Too many new characters. J.J. Abrams already had a ton of potential growth for the new characters he added to the roster. Johnson added a whole new slew of characters that either had no depth, died, or were flat out boring. Rose, for example, had a flushed out back story, but it was dry and stereotypical. (I was a slave and suffered under the rule of the first order, blah, blah, blah, heard it before with the Empire).

Rushed romance and useless character. Rose barely knows Finn, in person, for more than 12 hours and she tells him she loves him?! Talk about a Disney moment much. The reality is she was a star struck horny teeny bopper who just lost her sister recently and was looking for someone to lean on. That's not love. She had practically 0 purpose in the film. Yes, she saved Finn, but she had no idea Luke was going to show up. If Luke never arrived, Rose's act to stop Finn would have doomed the entire resistance as the drill would have broken down the entrance and the first order would have killed everyone, including Finn, thus nullifying Rose's act of saving him. She was also clearly a plug. Disney released videos on facebook later to justify Rose by saying having an Asian female lead was a step forward for the franchise even though we already have had at least 3 Asian leads, 2 of which were in Rogue 1 and they were awesome! Plus, there was a female Asian who was a Jedi Knight that wielded a green lightsaber in the colosseum in TCW. So her presence, although clearly a plug, was not a step forward. Instead, she some how made Jar Jar look good. Furthermore, Disney shouldn't just be throwing in actors based on race. They should be adding them because their character actually has a function in the story.

Leia's use of the force: Leia some how has a strong connection to the force and uses advanced Jedi techniques to save her life in the vacuum of space and yet we are given 0 details as to how she learned these abilities. We don't know if Luke trained her or if her connection is as strong to the force as Luke's. All we knew from ROTJ was Leia had a connection to the force like Luke and that's it. So how did Leia know to use such advanced force abilities to save her life? Before anyone says, "Luke must have taught her cause it's been 30-40 years", Leia was busy rebuilding the New Republic and eventually had to create the Resistance as the New Republic was disassembling their militaristic might. Without explanation, it just seems as though Leia could use the force to save her life at the right time simply because.

The music: completely forgettable. Every Star Wars movie has at least one memorable soundtrack to match a scene that makes it unforgettable. (I.e. episode 1 *duel of fates*, episode 5 *the Imperial March* episode 4 *intro theme for the first time* episode 3 *battle of heroes*). Episode 8's music was bland and not a single person I spoke to, after the viewing, could remember a single tune. For a movie that people claim to be the best Star Wars film, how is it that almost no one remembers a single tune after first viewing?

In the end, TLJ was a terrible movie full of plot wholes and ignored the lore they created in their own films. They used plugs for the sake of mass appeal and attacked their fan base when the fans expectations were let down. Though the average viewer may not remember TLJ, the fans will remember it as the worst Star Wars movie of all time.

At first, I didn't want to write this review, but this movie was such an injustice to the franchise that I couldn't hold back any longer. Before I continue, yes, as a fan, I had expectations, but those expectations were fanned by the lore created in TFA. If you didn't want the fans to have expectations regarding certain elements, which I will cover in this review, than you shouldn't have created the lore responsible for said expectations. We were given so much possibility for potential growth and Johnson destroyed all of it. For the sake of this review, I will only cover a few major issue I had with TLJ. I will not be covering Luke Skywalker cause as much as I didn't like his direction, it did match similar Jedi in the past like Ulic Qel-Droma (Redemption) and Jedi Master Lucien (KOTOR).

1. Snoke: In TFA, we are presented with a mysterious figure who is extremely powerful and yet he is not a Sith Lord. He has scars all over his face and what appears to be a saber slash. We know almost nothing about the origins of this dark figure or the methods he will use to complete Kylo Ren's training and thanks to Johnson, you'll never know. Despite how TFA ended, Kyle Ren is given zero training and Snoke is killed without any further development of his character. What could have been one of the most fascinating characters was turned into a 2 dimensional villain. How exciting!...

2. Rey: I loved Rey as a new character and her development was awesome. I felt she was a refreshing change for Star Wars and a symbol for young girls that even they can be heroes. She had an interesting lore regarding her mysterious connection to her force as well as who she was related to. Additionally, TFA set viewers up with all kinds of exciting possibilities regarding her training with Luke as well as her relationship with Finn. However, TLJ gives us barely any training time with Luke, her parents are literally nobodies and her natural connection to the force exists simply because? I understand that this portrayal of showing the world how even the underdog can be awesome was their intended direction after watching the film, but this idea has been done to death! Rey's origin story was completely underwhelming and left me feeling disappointed.

3. Leia: I know that Leia has a connection to the force based on what Luke said in ROTJ, but we are given absolutely zero explanation to how she used such advanced force techniques to save her life in the vacuum of space. Yes, it's been 30-40 years since ROTJ, but the books made it clear Leia was busy dealing with the New Republic where she then created the Resistance to salvage what ships she could since the New Republic was destroying all of the militaristic devices. So when did she has time to learn the techniques she used to save her life? At least have a voice over from Luke to establish she learned something from him. Instead, she conveniently has the ability to save her life in an impossible situation simply because.

4. Kylo Ren: As much as some people loved his character, still trying to understand why, Kylo Ren was just as whiny if not even more emotionally annoying than before. His character just seems to be there. He doesn't continue his training and whenever he tries to be terrifying, people just laughed. It's okay to add comedy, but Star Wars needs to be taken a little more seriously. Look at TESB, there was organic comedy that made the characters lovable. That being said, every evil character was dark, terrifying, and powerful. Their presence was memorable and redefined the presence of darkness. Whenever Kylo Ren threw someone, people just cackled which shouldn't be the reaction a dark lord gets.

5. Rose: I can't even say that name without getting angry. Her character was completely useless and a clear plug. According to Disney, she was a step forward for the Star Wars franchise because she's an Asian woman. How is this a step forward?! We already had several Asian leads, 2 of which were from Rogue one and they were amazing! We also had a female Asian Jedi Knight in TCW colosseum fight scene. Plus! We already have had several amazing female leads! So how is she a step forward?! *takes a breath* Furthermore, her character background is overly simplistic. She comes from hardship and slavery under the rule of the First Order. Because this idea of hardship has never been done before right? Then, after only knowing Finn, in person, for maybe 12 hours, she says she loves him?! Come on Disney! at least make your romance believable in a Star Wars film. Now some people defend her purpose in the film because she saved Finn's life, but had Luke never shown up to save the Resistance, the drill would have destroyed the door and the First Order would have killed everyone, which includes Finn. The reality is Rose was just a star struck emotional horny teeny bopper that wanted to get some and she didn't care about anyone else. Her character, as a whole, was annoying and pointless. She some how made Jar Jar look good and that's a terrible achievement.

I could say more, but these are my major beefs with TLJ. The reality is this movie focused on new characters that were either useless or boring and gave zero respect to the lore created in TFA. It's a disgrace to Star Wars and a movie I assure you will only be remembered as the worst Star Wars movie of all time.

First off, I want to say that I am a huge fan of the show and love almost everything about it... except for season 6. This show is a true celebration to nerdism and almost all the characters are both lovable as well as irreplaceable. There is a level of excitement that just makes it so addicting to watch that I can watch it over, and over again with the same level of enjoyment. In the end, I would happily give Community Seasons 1-5 a 9.

That being said, the majority of this review is strictly targeting Season 6. In my opinion, Season 6 BLOWS! Let's be honest, the majority of us loved Community for it's character roster and what that roster brought to the atmosphere of the show. Could we have replaced Troy, Shirley, and Buzz Hickey? Sure, but the characters chosen weren't the greatest. Although L. Roy was okay, Frankie was not only useless, she was annoying and boring. Sure she had some moments, but she had no real personality that was in some way interesting, or lovable like Pearce, Troy, Shirley, Dunkin, or Buzz Hickey. Plus, Abed and Chang might as well have left the show too. Why? Because they were by no means the characters we loved! Abed is supposed to be quirky, fun, socially awkward, and imaginative. Chang is supposed to be psychologically insane who was living with a monkey and tried to take over Greendale. Also, what happened to the romance between Annie and Jeff that was slowly developing over the last 5 seasons?! In the last episode of Season 5, Jeff clearly displayed strong feelings for Annie that grew over time and then suddenly in Season 6 those emotions were completely absent. At the end of the day, we have a show inserting boring characters, and less interesting plots while stating in the first 3 episodes that fans may not respond well to the changes. At least Season 5 came back with a bang, but Season 6 "Frankly" killed the show for me and ruined a lot of amazing potential brought to us in season 5. Finally, where was the imagination?! Every season had some memorable wild adventure like blanket forts, 8 bit video games, themed paintball games, zombies, Inspector Space Time, claymation, cartoons, etc... Even Season 5 had Dungeons and Dragons, Lava World, and G.I.Joe. Season 6 had.... well.... a semi interesting episode of paintball. If a 7th Season is made, Dan Harmon really needs to rewatch seasons 1, 2, 3, 5, and give the fans what made them love the show in the first place! In the end, I give Season 6 a resounding 2!

At first I was very nervous at the prospect of another Superman movie. Especially considering how horrible "Superman Returns" was; however, "Man of Steel" was a roller coaster of a ride as we not only witness Kal El's (Clark Kent's) origins, but we are shown Superman the way he is supposed to be.

With expert direction brought to us by Zack Snyder and the assistance of Christopher Nolan, "Man of Steel" is packed full of action and emotional depth. No Superman movie has ever come close to achieving the atmosphere illustrated in the comics or the cartoon series until Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel". Sure it has a lot of action, but anyone who is a true Superman fan knows that Kal El's battles were almost always explosively long. Furthermore, the biblical metaphors were absolutely brilliant! As Superman was intended to be portrayed as a "Christ Like" figure, you see his journey in "Man of Steel" not all that much different from the New Testament. (Ex: When Clark Kent asked the priest for advice, behind him was a stained glass window of Christ praying to His Father before He was arrested and crucified. Next scene Clark Kent willingly submits himself to be arrested, ascends into the "heavens", and than descends in a crucified form) As Superman's story is not about becoming the best, but an immigrant facing the challenge of home VS heritage, we see Zack Snyder's portrayal of Superman reflect the "Man of Steel" originally designed by Joseph Shuster.

Furthermore, who could forget such actors like Henry Cavill (Clark Kent),or Amy Adams (Lois Lane). Every actor in this movie left their mark, but I needed very little convincing to believe that Cavill was the face of Superman, or that Adams could be a persuasive Lois Lane. And although I am not particularly a fan of Michael Shannon, he was the perfect General Zod. With the level of ferocity Shannon provided, not to mention his one liners, this was by far his best role yet!

This movie soared through my expectations and it will be the first time I ever give a Superman movie a perfect 10!