Reflections on films, politics, and everything else.

Facebook reminded me today that my husband and I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens four years ago, which I noted back then that we were probably the last people in the universe to see it. The recent film we saw slightly sooner, but I’m almost wishing we hadn’t. For me it was entertaining, although, upon reflection, the story felt more like a plot made up either by committee or by a fan focus group. My husband became obsessed with all the whining chatter, which even caused me to loose him for the remainder of New Year’s Eve after I sadly mentioned a recent article about the film in the Washington Post . It’s not like I needed another reminder that life wasn’t a Meg Ryan rom-com. While I feel it can be useful dissecting a film and reading thoughtful commentary, ruminating in disappointment just doesn’t do it for me. I’d rather spend my time remembering the films I did enjoy. Of course you can never fully go back to more innocent times, before social media and the I...

I’m old enough to have seen Star Wars: a New Hope in the theaters (not the initial release, but the re-issue a year or two later), and was a fan, mostly more in my younger years. Still, I wasn’t sure I wanted to see Solo after all the bad reviews. Last week I got the timing off and would have had to wait a while to see the film I’d planned to see, so instead I saw Solo and was pleasantly surprised. It won’t be my favorite Star Wars film, but it was rather enjoyable. A film podcast I listen to – At the Movies with Arch and Ann – features Washington Post columnist Ann Hornaday, who had made repeated negative comments about the film and criticized Ron Howard, calling him “workmanlike.” Another listener called her out on that in the recent podcast, reminding her that he directed A Beautiful Mind , Frost/Nixon , and Rush , all great films. Hornaday did agree to that and then went on to blame the screenwriters (Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jon), and made mention that if a ...