Star Wars

4/5 Stars Star Wars: Rebels

Julie Gilbert cartoon, scifi, Star Wars, TV reviews , ,
(FerRub, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Summary:

A scrappy band of Rebels try to resist the spread of the Empire’s tyranny further into the Outer Rim.

Additional Comments:

  • It’s not a must but it is good to watch before The Mandalorian.
  • Characters 4/5: Kanan Jarrus, Chopper (the droid with much attitude), Sabine Wren, Ahsoka Tano, Hera Syndulla, Ezra Bridger, Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios take on Grand Admiral Thrawn and Maul. Captain Rex shows up too. Agent Kallus probably has the strongest character development.
  • If you were/are a fan of the old school EU books, then Thrawn will be familiar to you. He’s a tactical genius, an art lover, and a truly scary dude. Ezra has his moments, and I like his overall character arc, but there are entirely too many whiny teenager moments to make him completely likable. Hera’s your typical awesome pilot. Kanan’s the token Jedi. Zeb’s the muscle man of the crew. Ahsoka has some nice cameos in the series. I think Sabine might be my favorite character from the show. The Mandalorian chick has a lot of growing to do. Her mother’s kinda a trip. I enjoyed the few episodes focused on Sabine.
  • Side Characters 4/5: The show has some interesting side characters, including Bail Organa, Wedge Antilles, Ryder Azadi, Fenn Rau, Saw Gerrera, and Vizago. I do NOT like Hondo Ohnaka. Not sure you’re supposed to like him, but he’s not even a charming scoundrel, just a jerk.
  • Plot 4/5: As a cartoon, each episode is relatively short. I think they stick to a fairly strict 24 min marker. There’s usually some crisis involving the Empire or a scoundrel of one flavor or another. It typically gets resolved within the 24 minutes, but occasionally, there are part 1 and part 2 to cover slightly larger arcs.

Conclusion:

If you want to understand more of the side characters and reveals in the Mandalorian, then it’s worthwhile to watch Rebels. As a standalone cartoon, it’s decent, but if there wasn’t more to look forward to in other Star Wars shows, I’m not sure how much I’d like the series.

(I haven’t finished The Clone Wars, still slogging through Season 1. Not sure I will finish. Time will tell.)

Audiobook Promotions …

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Many of my 42 audible titles are listed on Audiobooks Unleashed.
Whether you’re looking for mystery or suspense or fantasy, I’ve got a title for you. Free codes are probably on audiobooks unleashed.
Normal links go to audible. *The Amazon labeled links are affiliate links. That means I get a very small payment from Amazon if you go through with a purchase.*
Note: Filter by US if you’re looking for those codes as many titles are out.
Ones I think may still have US codes: Reshner’s Royal Ranger, Never Again, Innova, The Golden City Captives, The Holy War, Reclaim the Darklands, Eagle Eyes, Treachery Makes it Tense, Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts, The Dark Side of Science, Ashlynn’s Dreams, Nadia’s Tears, Malia’s Miracles, and Varick’s Quest
There are plenty of UK codes, but not many US ones left.

Redeemer Chronicles (Fantasy)

Awakening – Redeemer Chronicles Book 1, MG fantasy (Amazon) (free codes)
The Holy War – Redeemer Chronicles Book 2, MG fantasy (Amazon) (free codes)
Reclaim the Darklands – Redeemer Chronicles Book 3, MG fantasy (Amazon) (free codes)
River’s Edge Ransom – Prequel to Redeemer Chronicles (Amazon) (email devyaschildren @ gmail.com for free codes)

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Devya’s Children Series Links:

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – short stories featuring Jillian. (Amazon) (free codes)
The Dark Side of Science – official prequel to Devya’s Children; Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live. (Amazon) (Please email devyaschildren @ gmail.com for free codes)
Ashlynn’s Dreams – Genetically altered Dream Shaper learns her gift. (Amazon) (free codes)
Nadia’s Tears – Jillian tries to awaken her sister, Nadia, from a coma. (Amazon) (free codes)
Malia’s Miracles – Jillian and her siblings try to save a friend’s mother. (Amazon) (free codes)
Varick’s Quest – Jillian and Danielle get kidnapped. Nadia’s also in trouble. (Amazon) (free codes)
More Scifi:
Reshner’s Royal Ranger (epic sci-fi) just made it there. (Amazon) (free codes)

Guardian Angel Files:

Spirit’s Bane – Allister and Mina are training to be Guardians. Satan’s out to get them. (Amazon) (free codes)
Kindred Spirits – Mina’s exiled to Earth. Allister’s stuck in the Heavens. (Amazon) (free codes)

5/5 Stars The Mandalorian Review

Julie Gilbert scifi, Star Wars , , ,
Length: 16 Chapters – though those vary from about 34 minutes to 55 minutes.

Available from Disney Plus.

Will attempt to keep spoiler free but read at your own risk. (I did a pretty good job of spoiler-free.)

Summary:

An outer rim bounty hunter gets more than he bargained for when he accepts a lucrative contract from Imperial remnants.

Additional Comments:

  • Old school Star Wars feel 5/5: The story was made for TV, so it kind of meanders a bit. But it hits a lot of the classic Star Wars vibes: shootouts, desperate straits, hand-to-hand contests, interesting characters, cool creatures, fantastic beasts. Stormtroopers are still kinda rubbish at shooting good guys.
  • Characters 5/5: Two words for you: The Child. Okay, so I have more to say, but he’s a huge part of the fan appeal. Disney for all their faults has a lot of marketing genius. If you polled the amount of products out there for The Mandalorian and The Child, I’m betting the Child products far outnumber the Mandalorian just cause he’s so darn cute. Mando’s cool too. Cara, Kuill, some good guys, and the bad guy too have their place.
  • Reveals 5/5: Somebody told me to watch Rebels and The Clone Wars first. I got through Rebels, but I’m still struggling through The Clone Wars. More on that later, but it was worth it to see Rebels to better understand some of the reveals in the latter half of The Mandalorian. End reveal was predictable but still awesome.
  • Plot 4/5: Because it’s made for TV, there are necessarily some meandering going on.
  • When going into season 2, I had to rewatch season 1. While I remembered most of it, there’s enough stuff packed in there to enjoy a second look. Perhaps in a few months I’ll watch the whole saga again.

Conclusion:

Star Wars fans old and new should be able to find something to love in The Mandalorian. Not quite saying it’s worth the $74.63 for a year of Disney Plus by its lonesome self, but it comes pretty darn close.   

Audiobook Promotions …

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is rc-1-3-audio-ad-1024x536.jpg

Many of my 42 audible titles are listed on Audiobooks Unleashed.
Whether you’re looking for mystery or suspense or fantasy, I’ve got a title for you. Free codes are probably on audiobooks unleashed.
Normal links go to audible. *The Amazon labeled links are affiliate links. That means I get a very small payment from Amazon if you go through with a purchase.*
Note: Filter by US if you’re looking for those codes as many titles are out.
Ones I think may still have US codes: Reshner’s Royal Ranger, Never Again, Innova, The Golden City Captives, The Holy War, Reclaim the Darklands, Eagle Eyes, Treachery Makes it Tense, Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts, The Dark Side of Science, Ashlynn’s Dreams, Nadia’s Tears, Malia’s Miracles, and Varick’s Quest
There are plenty of UK codes, but not many US ones left.

Redeemer Chronicles (Fantasy)

Awakening – Redeemer Chronicles Book 1, MG fantasy (Amazon) (free codes)
The Holy War – Redeemer Chronicles Book 2, MG fantasy (Amazon) (free codes)
Reclaim the Darklands – Redeemer Chronicles Book 3, MG fantasy (Amazon) (free codes)
River’s Edge Ransom – Prequel to Redeemer Chronicles (Amazon) (email devyaschildren @ gmail.com for free codes)

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is DC-set-ad-1024x536.jpg

Devya’s Children Series Links:

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – short stories featuring Jillian. (Amazon) (free codes)
The Dark Side of Science – official prequel to Devya’s Children; Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live. (Amazon) (Please email devyaschildren @ gmail.com for free codes)
Ashlynn’s Dreams – Genetically altered Dream Shaper learns her gift. (Amazon) (free codes)
Nadia’s Tears – Jillian tries to awaken her sister, Nadia, from a coma. (Amazon) (free codes)
Malia’s Miracles – Jillian and her siblings try to save a friend’s mother. (Amazon) (free codes)
Varick’s Quest – Jillian and Danielle get kidnapped. Nadia’s also in trouble. (Amazon) (free codes)
More Scifi:
Reshner’s Royal Ranger (epic sci-fi) just made it there. (Amazon) (free codes)

Guardian Angel Files:

Spirit’s Bane – Allister and Mina are training to be Guardians. Satan’s out to get them. (Amazon) (free codes)
Kindred Spirits – Mina’s exiled to Earth. Allister’s stuck in the Heavens. (Amazon) (free codes)

Audiobook Reviews: 3/5 Stars Canto Bight by Saladin Ahmed, Rae Carson, Mira Grant, and John Jackson Miller

Julie Gilbert Audiobooks, scifi, Star Wars , ,

Narrated by Sean Kenin, Saskia Maarleveld, Marc Thompson, and Jonathan Davis

Summary:

A collection of 4 short stories set in the Star Wars universe after it was Disneyfied. To be clear, the title and setting are about all these stories have to do with Star Wars. There’s no bearing on the overarching war. About the extent of the connections is a few recognizable species and a few vague references to the First Order and the Resistance.

How the heck did it earn 3 stars if it’s not Star Wars?

I’m taking the stories individually. They’re not bad stories. They’re just not great either.

Additional Comments:

  • I 100% forget the titles to each story, but the blurbs give enough background to jog the memory. And there’s a convenient list.
  • First story: Rules of the Game 3/5 A hapless Vaportech salesman wins an all expenses paid trip to Canto Bight and about loses his shirt and his life when unscrupulous beings try to take advantage of him. Sean Kenin’s performance was decent. I don’t recall anything that mesmerized or truly assaulted my ears.
  • Second story: The Wine in Dreams 4/5 I had a tough time keeping track of who’s who in this one. It wasn’t the narrator’s fault (I don’t think), but everybody was just so darn forgettable. This one kind of dragged, but I enjoyed the ending, which always gives a book a boost in my book.
  • Third story: 4/5 Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing. Oddly enough, even though I don’t particularly like Marc Thompson (clearly he’s impressed somebody because they hire him for a LOT of Star Wars projects), this might be my favorite of the bunch. He’s very good at distinguishing between characters. It’s his normal narrator voice that sounds pretentious to me. Anyway, the story itself was fun with characters I could root for.
  • Fourth story: 2/5 The Ride. I love Jonathan Davis, but the story contained so many unimpressive, forgettable, annoying characters that it just sort of dragged on. It was a hair shy of being a documentary about how to play Pizaac (I’m totally spelling that wrong), which I’m pretty sure is like Black Jack. There was nothing wrong with the performance. I just don’t like stories about bumbling idiots who win all the time. It’s a severe waste of my time.

Conclusion:

If you enjoy short stories and love Star Wars, you may enjoy this book. Just be aware it’s going to have zero bearing on anything in Star Wars. The ONLY thing it has in common is the talent, the marketing team, and the setting.

Audiobook Promotions:

33 of my 34 audible titles are listed on Audiobooks Unleashed.
Whether you’re looking for mystery or suspense or fantasy, I’ve got a title for you. Never Again (mystery, suspense) and Reshner’s Royal Ranger (epic sci-fi) just made it there.
Note: Filter by US if you’re looking for those codes as many titles are out.
Ones I think may still have US codes: Reshner’s Royal Ranger, Never Again, Innova, The Golden City Captives, The Holy War, Reclaim the Darklands, Eagle Eyes, Treachery Makes it Tense, Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts, The Dark Side of Science, Ashlynn’s Dreams, Nadia’s Tears, Malia’s Miracles, and Varick’s Quest

2019 Movie Review Recap

Julie Gilbert Action Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Horror, Movie Reviews, mystery, scifi, Star Wars ,

*Disclaimer:

The ratings given here are based upon my gut feelings now. They may differ slightly from what was given in a review written a few days after seeing the movie.

Introduction:

This year featured everything from my first official horror movie to the end of several eras of movies (Marvel and Star Wars). Oh, I’m sure they will release more titles, but they’ve at least ended their most ambitious story arcs. Both ended on decently strong notes.

Movies I saw in 2019 (and Off-the-Cuff Ratings and brief comments)

Welcome to Marwen (Seen on 1/1/19): 3.5/5 Stars – A unique experience. Shows a man’s interesting way of healing from a hate crime.

Glass (1/17/19): 3.5/5 Stars – Strange. Violent. Not exactly uplifting, but Samuel L. Jackson is awesome.

The Upside (1/18/19): 3.5/5 Stars – Has some not-so-great lessons, but overall is an uplifting tale about living with paralysis.

Lego Movie 2 (2/7/19): 4/5 Stars – You have to appreciate the ridiculousness of these movies to appreciate them.

Alita: Battle Angel (2/15/19; 2/28/19): 4.5/5 Stars – Fun. Action-packed. Amusing as she gets used to life.

Cold Pursuit (2/19/19): 4/5 Stars – Dark. About what you’d expect from the trailers. Stars Liam Neeson.

How to Train Your Dragon 3: The Hidden World (2/21/19): 5/5 Stars – Lovely music. Nicely wraps up the story. Oh, they’ll probably make another since it made money, but it could safely end here.

Fighting With My Family (3/5/19): 5/5 Stars – A surprisingly good tale of following one’s dream. Tells the origin story of the wrestler named Paige.

Captain Marvel (3/7/19): 4.5/5 Stars – A fun comic book hero movie. She’s definitely overpowered, but it’s all good. There are decent fights and background.

Nancy Drew: The Hidden Staircase (3/15/19): 4/5 Stars – A good but generally forgettable Nancy Drew story. Stars Sophia Lillis

Captive State (3/19/19): 3.5/5 Stars – A rather dull, dark post-apocalyptic, scifi mix.

Unplanned (3/29/19): 5/5 Stars – A hard-hitting, behind-the-scenes of a woman who went from running an abortion clinic to being rather outspoken about the evils of the practice.

Shazam! (4/4/19): 4.5/5 Stars – Fun, surprisingly good comic book hero movie. A foster kid becomes a comic book hero and saves the world.

Hellboy 2 (4/11/19): 4/5 Stars – Surprisingly good, lighthearted, bloody comic-book movie.

Avengers: End Game (4/25/19;4/29/19): 4.5/5 Stars – An action-packed, satisfying part II movie. It wraps up a decade of Marvel movies. They confused some stuff with the timetravel line by the ending they chose for Captain America, but whatever.

Pokemon: Detective Pikachu (5/9/19): 4/5 Stars – Surprisingly good. I’m not a Pokemon fan. I was a little too old when it had its hay-day. I’m also not a Ryan Reynolds fan. He usually picks ridiculous characters. At least Pikachu’s adorable.

Godzilla: King of Monsters (5/22/19): 4/5 Stars – The fights were great. Not exactly going to make my top 100 list, but it was decent.

Aladdin (Disney reboot with people; 5/29/19): 3.5/5 Stars – It won’t ever hold a candle to the animated classic, but it’s all right. Disney essentially takes its own story and smacks it with Bollywood style.

Dark Phoenix (6/6/19): 4/5 Stars – Standard hero going to the dark side story.

Secret Life of Pets 2 (6/11/19; 6/25/19): 4.5/5 Stars – It was cute. I think my favorite minor character was Cotton, the Sheep. It goes up half a star just because of that part with Gigit becoming a cat and riding a Roomba.

Men in Black 4 (6/14/19; 6/21/19) – 4.5/5 Stars – Fun return to a classic universe. It’s a decent reboot.

Shaft (6/17/19): 3.5/5 Stars – Action-packed.

Spider-Man: Far From Home (7/2/19;7/17/19): 4.5/5 Stars – Peter Parker struggles with the mantle of being a hero in the post-End Game world.

Stuber (7/11/19): 3.5/5 Stars – Silly story of a cop and an uber driver going on a grand cop caper.

The Lion King (7/18/19): 4/5 Stars – Another of Disney’s bid to cash in on its own classic tale by switching animation over to CGI. It was visually beautiful, but not enough changed to make it awesome in its own right.  

Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw (8/6/19): 4.5/5 Stars – Nice action thriller. End of the world coming if they don’t stop it. Dangerous tech needs to stay out of the bad guys hands.

The Matrix (20th anniversary) (9/3/19): 4/5 Stars – I hadn’t seen the movie in a very long time. It was nice to revisit.

Angel Has Fallen (9/6/19): 4/5 Stars – A secret service agent is framed for trying to kill the president. He has to do his job while running from killers and cops.

IT Chapter Two (9/11/19): 3.5/5 Stars – Well acted, but disturbing horror story. I have serious reservations about the messages this movie sent.

Rambo: Last Blood (9/20/19): 3.5/5 Stars – Bloody. End fight was awesome. Rest was kind of just an excuse to get there.

Joker (10/8/19): 3.5/5 Stars – Well-acted, but highly disturbing take on the Joker’s origin story.

Gemini Man (10/16/19): 4/5 Stars – Will Smith gets a CGI facelift to fight himself for 2 hrs.

Zombieland 2 (10/18/19): 4/5 Stars – A faithful sequel to the original Zombieland. Ridiculous with all its rules. Not a deep thinker.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (10/21/19): 4/5 Stars – A largely unnecessary sequel, but a decent movie.

Black and Blue (10/25/19): 4/5 Stars – A rookie cop sees something she shouldn’t, gets it on video, and now both cops and drug runners are after her.

Terminator: Dark Fate (11/1/19): 4/5 Stars – I don’t know enough about the franchise to know how this rewrites things. As a standalone movie, it’s okay. Action scenes are great.

Charlie’s Angels (11/15/19): 4/5 Stars – Standard Girl-Power action thriller.

Frozen 2 (11/21/19): 5/5 Stars – Fantastic part 2 of the Frozen tale.

Knives Out (12/10/19): 4/5 Stars – A great whodunnit that would be even better if I gave 1 crap about the characters.

Jumanji: The Next Level (12/13/19): 5/5 Stars – Excellent sequel. It hits all the right ridiculous notes while still weaving in a feel-good story.

Star Wars Ep IX: The Rise of Skywalker (12/20/19): 4.5/5 Stars – A satisfying conclusion to the long Skywalker Saga. I have some reservations about their choices, but it’s still a fun, entertaining movie.

Conclusion:

I went to the movie theaters 46 times in 2019. Thank goodness for A-List. I’ll break the titles down into categories in a second post tomorrow. The end of the year was pretty strong. Haven’t really looked at what’s coming in 2020, but maybe I’ll also prep a list of stuff I want to see. Overall, it’s been a great year for movies.

Associate links to follow…

Note: I’m starting to use a few ad sites for audiobooks, so codes are disappearing quickly.

Available Audiobooks: I have free codes for almost everything. That will change very soon.

New Release: The Shadow Council Series 1: Money Makes it Deadlier – An FBI agent gets caught up in a robbery gone wrong.

Shadow Council Book 2: Revenge Makes it Sweeter – A midnight summons calls FBI Special Agent Megan Luchek into a fight for a young girl’s life.

Shadow Council Book 3: Christmas Makes it Chaos – The FBI agent gets a strange ally in the quest to prevent chaos from rocking a lot of people’s holiday season.

Shadow Council Book 4: Treachery Makes it Tense – The agent and the assassin have to team up if they want to survive.

Shadow Council is also available as a ~13 hr bundle.

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…

Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.

Spoilers and Reflections for Star Wars Ep 9: The Rise of Skywalker

Julie Gilbert Action Adventure, Movie Reviews, scifi, Star Wars ,
cool promo pic for the movie

Spoiler warning. If you haven’t seen Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, this will either tick you off or not make any sort of sense.

Star Wars Movies in Order from Least Favorite to Favorite

Jeremy Jahns asked that question. I answered it, but I’m not sure I answered the same as I’m going to here.

Revenge of the Sith, Attack of the Clones, The Last Jedi, The Phantom Menace, The Empire Strikes Back, A New Hope, The Rise of Skywalker, The Force Awakens, Return of the Jedi.

Comments about the order:

  • Revenge of the Sith ended on a really dark note, and they missed a huge opportunity for Padme’s death. She just gave up felt like a lame excuse of a reason to off her.
  • Attack of the Clones had some important plot development, but it also had a lot of political mumbo jumbo that stunk. I hate politics in real life… why would I want to watch it unfold in my fantasy?
  • The Last Jedi had porgs, which were a huge redeeming value, but it felt like half a story.
  • The Phantom Menace at least had a hugely awesome lightsaber battle and 20 minutes of awesome fighting at the end. I’m going to purposefully ignore the Gungan battle scene…that was the only unawesome part. Favorite moment is still the scaling of the palace walls with ascension guns.
  • The Empire Strikes Back was awesome but ends on a really dark note. It doesn’t feel complete.
  • A New Hope is classic Star Wars and a self-contained story.
  • The Rise of Skywalker brings the story to a close. You can nitpick a lot of stuff, but it does a pretty good job of gathering all the flapping threads and tying them off.
  • The Force Awakens has the advantage of being like A New Hope since it’s essentially that with a different cast. It breathes new life into the saga after a long, long time.
  • Return of the Jedi was a fine end to the story. You could have stopped there with a “they lived happily ever after.”

Spoilers from Star Wars 9:

  • Old school people took a backseat. Star Wars has always had a lot of characters. The old school ones were there for great cameos, but they didn’t fulfill much more of a role than that. I get it, the whole passing on the torch and so forth, but if you’re gonna have them present, you might as well make them a tad more integral.
  • They didn’t end up doing much with the dynamics between Rey, Finn, and Poe. There was some bickering, but I expected more speeches. Rose shows up for a few scenes but very much in cameo mode. They started to have that go somewhere, but this movie, she was sidelined.
  • Rey’s overpowered. It doesn’t bother me. It bothered me that her lightsabers were able to withstand that kind of lightning. It just wrecked a fleet…and now two puny lightsabers are okay? I’d have believed it more if it was just her…like the purity/goodness in her standing strong. I guess visually, it looks cooler with the lightsabers, but even if she did something to them to make it more powerful, it would have been a tad more believable. Scifi should break laws of physics where needed, but it should also strive to explain when it’s gonna go all rogue on us.
  • The end makes me appreciate that fight scene in The Last Jedi a little more. I may actually enjoy TLJ a lot more now that I have the option of watching Ep IX soon thereafter. It might be nice to do the whole trilogy someday.
  • I loved the fact that they made us think that Chewie died by Rey’s hand for a time. That was awesome. It’s a tad disturbing that once they learned it was a different transport, Rey turned 100% okay with it. Doesn’t change the fact that it still blew up and people died.
  • I enjoyed the explanation for the connection between Ben and Rey. Finally, something made sense. Their ability to pass objects and affect things in each others’ surroundings was downright cool.
  • Ben’s death was unnecessary. They passed life energy back and forth like a ping-pong ball in this movie. The snake healing part was awesome and panned out later. Rey stabbing then saving Ben made sense. Even him saving her made sense. Him dying for it doesn’t make sense. It’s not like he’s a threat to her power. If they didn’t go the whole YA romance thing. There’s a lot of room for them to have been allies, friends, maybe even lovers in time.
  • Ben and Rey’s kiss was okay, but I also feel like the only reason for it was to make it YA friendly. I would have believed it more if it were on the forehead, like sibling love not romantic love. They were essentially functioning as a unit at the end, two halves of the same. I think that’s how it was explained anyway.
  • Rey taking on the mantle of Skywalker at the end fits and is nostalgic for the audience, but it doesn’t make much sense from her point of view. Unless there was a lot in between that we didn’t see, like her essentially having a lot of heart-to-hearts with Leia and feeling like her daughter or something, I’m not getting a clearcut reason for her to do that. She has a name, albeit an infamous one. I guess that would be enough to legally change it, but she could also own it. Probably safer for her to be a Skywalker.
  • The scenes with Rey’s parents drop a few thought bombs on the audience. Palpatine had a kid? Since when. I like the twist, but it’s very much got the feel of a hail mary thanks to a “shoot, we wrote ourselves into a corner” moment. Also, if Palpatine had those kind of resources, I don’t believe they wouldn’t have been able to find Rey as a kid. He pretty much could have just Force whammied his son and his son’s wife if he wanted to.
  • Speaking of Force whammying, Palpatine’s also overpowered. Twice now (three times?), we get awesome fight scenes that end with the moral choice to stand for good and *POW*, bad guy pulls the gloves off and zaps the good guys. Game over. Until the power of love fights back.

Conclusion:

The Rise of Skywalker is certainly worth watching. It’s an entertaining battle of good vs. evil and a satisfying conclusion to the Disneyfied Star Wars trilogy.

Associate links to follow…

Note: I’m starting to use a few ad sites for audiobooks, so codes are disappearing quickly.

Available Audiobooks: I have free codes for almost everything. That will change very soon.

New Release: The Shadow Council Series 1: Money Makes it Deadlier – An FBI agent gets caught up in a robbery gone wrong.

Shadow Council Book 2: Revenge Makes it Sweeter – A midnight summons calls FBI Special Agent Megan Luchek into a fight for a young girl’s life.

Shadow Council Book 3: Christmas Makes it Chaos – The FBI agent gets a strange ally in the quest to prevent chaos from rocking a lot of people’s holiday season.

Shadow Council Book 4: Treachery Makes it Tense – The agent and the assassin have to team up if they want to survive.

Shadow Council is also available as a ~13 hr bundle.

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…

Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.

4.5/5 Stars: Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker

Julie Gilbert Action Adventure, Movie Reviews, scifi, Star Wars , , , , , ,
Promo pic for the movie

Starring: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver

Also Featuring: John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Billy Dee Williams, Keri Russell, Naomi Ackie, Anthony Daniels, Kelly Marie Tran, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher

*I will attempt to keep spoiler-free until after the ads

*I may write a separate post with discussion/ reaction to various spoilers

Summary:

A satisfying conclusion to Disney’s Star Wars trilogy if you don’t think about how Disneyfied it’s become. That’s difficult, but if you can accept it for what it is, it’s still a fun story and a good movie. Reviews are looking polarized because if you try to compare it to classic Star Wars, it’s going to fall short.

The galaxy’s in trouble. Rey, Finn, Princess Leia, and Poe Dameron are trying like heck to save it … again. This picks up some unknown time after The Last Jedi ended. Maybe the book gives some more insight into that, I don’t know. I never made it through the novelization of The Last Jedi. Palpatine’s back (that’s not a spoiler, it’s in the trailer) and ready to unleash something big. The good guys need to find the way to the Emperor’s base and destroy his weapon before it kills them. So, ya know, standard Star Warsy plot.

Additional Comments:

  • Plot 4/5 stars: The events definitely had a scattered feel to them. I’ll expand more in the spoiler section.
  • Humor 4/5: I didn’t feel like there were as many lighthearted moments as in some of the other movies, but the ones here worked very well as usual.
  • Characters 4/5: The new crew (Rey, Finn, and Poe) are back. They play their roles. There’s not much in the way of character development for them. I think the person who did the most developing was Kylo Ren. Chewie’s back but in a very minor role.
  • They managed to have 1 scene where they stuck in a porg. Mission accomplished Disney. You can now sell more merchandise. I love porgs.
  • The Millennium Falcon has seen some stuff. Like a lot of hard stuff.
  • I wish BB-8 had a more prominent role.
  • Rey’s pretty overpowered, but I think that’s the point. Finn and Poe are very much background.

Conclusion:

The Rise of Skywalker hits enough satisfying notes to be considered a success in my book. It passes the “entertain me” test. The heroes are likable. The action’s decent, though there’s at least one lightsaber fight that kinda dragged on and on.

Only books 1-3 are available on audiobook.

Associate links to follow…

Note: I’m starting to use a few ad sites for audiobooks, so codes are disappearing quickly.

Available Audiobooks: I have free codes for almost everything. That will change very soon.

New Release: The Shadow Council Series 1: Money Makes it Deadlier – An FBI agent gets caught up in a robbery gone wrong.

Shadow Council Book 2: Revenge Makes it Sweeter – A midnight summons calls FBI Special Agent Megan Luchek into a fight for a young girl’s life.

Shadow Council Book 3: Christmas Makes it Chaos – The FBI agent gets a strange ally in the quest to prevent chaos from rocking a lot of people’s holiday season.

Shadow Council Book 4: Treachery Makes it Tense – The agent and the assassin have to team up if they want to survive.

Shadow Council is also available as a ~13 hr bundle.

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…

Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.

Spoiler Section:

  • The opening crawl had me worried. First, it was scattered. Second, “The dead speak!” has campy written all over it. I know Star Wars can be campy sometimes, a lot of the time, but it still had me worried.
  • The Scavenger Hunt nature of the plot was unnecessary. I feel like several planets’ worth of stuff could have safely been removed.
  • Hux’s reason for being a traitor kinda stunk. If he was gonna flip, having a complete turnaround in thoughts would have been helpful. Not just a juvenile “he must lose” reasoning.

More spoilers to come in a separate post. This one is looking kinda bulky.

Audiobook Reviews 3.5/5 Stars: Master and Apprentice

Julie Gilbert Audiobooks, scifi, Star Wars , , ,

Summary:

Qui Gon Jinn and Obi Wan Kenobi are dispatched to a backwater planet to figure out who’s trying to sabotage the setup for a royal coronation.

Additional Comments:

  • The story contains a fair number of flashbacks that don’t add all that much.
  • It’s an okay story, but I expected better. Maybe I just have delusions from memories of the old school EU stories. I have not tried all that many, but the few I have disappoint with surprising regularity.
  • Fanrie (sorry, I heard the audiobook) and Jedi Rael had a lot of potential as side characters, but they’re not developed enough.
  • Audiobook performance 4.5/5: I love the narrator. Jonathan Davis always puts in a solid performance. Just wish the man had more to work with this round.
  • The not-so-subtle side messages about the evils of big corporations is tedious.
  • Side note: who wrote that book description? It’s kind of awful. Most people are gonna buy it just because it’s Star Wars, but they could at least take the time to write a compelling blurb.
  • It’ll sell well because it says Star Wars. Many who remember the old EU are gonna denounce it as lite trash. Those only into the new stuff are going to enjoy the tie ins to other books.
  • Story seemed to spin its way to nowhere for a large chunk of the middle
  • There’s a big “twist” at the end that works but isn’t that satisfying.

Conclusion:

It only gets the rating it does because I really like the narrator. Story itself is sadly forgettable.

Associate links to follow…

Available Audiobooks: I have free codes for almost everything.

New Release: Money Makes it Deadlier – a FBI agent gets caught up in a bank robbery.

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…

Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.

Nonfiction:
5 Steps to Surviving Chemistry – A primer for chemistry students. Breaks down concepts into simple terms. 

5 Steps to Better Blurbs – A book for writers looking to improve their book descriptions

4/5 Solo – Spoiler Review

Julie Gilbert Movie Reviews, scifi, Star Wars , , , ,

I do not own the rights to this pic. Found it on Google.

Summary:

This is the spoiler review for Solo. You have been warned. Short version of the non-spoiler review: I enjoyed it, but it didn’t blow me away like any of the originals or hit the “wow, only Star Wars could be this good” button.

Additional Comments:

– Not quite an opening crawl, but I do like that this time they tried to set the scene for you.

– Things that made me laugh: Han speaking Wookie. The presence of the imperial star destroyer in the tunnel.

– Of course the Maul thing threw me. I loved it.

– Enfys Nest’s reveal was cool too. She reminds me of Princess Merida. Gotta be the hair.

– I think Donald Glover probably fit his character best.

– Didn’t know much about Qi’ra, but I think she probably has some of the most potential for book spinoffs. I want to know what happened when she got caught in the spaceport.

– The way Han picked up the Solo part of his name is interesting, but I think they could have done better. I mean, if the kid remembers his father, how come he can’t conjure a last name?

– As mentioned in the non-spoiler review, there’s decent replay value to the movie.

– Things every fan wanted to see: winning the Falcon from Lando, Kessel run, Solo’s imperial days, meeting Chewie, Han’s penchant to shoot first.

– I really would have liked to see more of the training at Carida. The “3 years later” thing was kind of lame. I kind of liked the original EU version.

– Things I missed the first time:

Totally missed the reason the other crew was even on that mudball planet. They were there to steal the ship, but the first viewing that went right over my head. Dryden Vos looked like he had facial tattoos removed.

– Plot (4/5): I don’t like time skips, but I can see why it was necessary. It was interesting to see Han as a soldier briefly.

– Characters (4/5):

I like young Lando, but L3’s annoying. She does have a few good lines though. It’s good that they had pretty solid focus on Han, but knowing the backstories a bit more for people like Qi’ra would have been helpful. There are hints she’s done things she regrets, but a few more specifics would have been nice. Backstory for how Chewie ended up as the lone prisoner in that hole would have been good. Tobias Beckett’s an interesting character. Dryden Vos was a neat bad guy. Wish he had a few more scenes. Dude can pull off homicidal creeper very well.

– Coincidences:

Running into Qi’ra on the Crimson Dawn guy’s ship is quite the coincidences. Arguments could be made of several coincidences like that in The Force Awakens, but I still like that movie a tad better.

– Epic Shots:

Han smacking a tie fighter with the Falcon.

Conclusion:

It’s not going to replace most of the Star Wars movies as my favorite, but it’s up and over The Last Jedi and The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.

 


4/5 Stars Solo: Decent Spin-Off Star Wars Movie – NonSpoiler Review

Julie Gilbert Movie Reviews, scifi, Star Wars, Uncategorized , , , , ,

 

Summary:

Han, a street kid from Corellia manages to slip off the planet. Unfortunately, his best friend/girlfriend, Qi’ra, does not. Thus begins his quest to make some serious credits and get back to his home planet. Things don’t exactly go to plan, but like all things, Star Wars-y, they work out from a certain point of view.

Additional Comments:

– For a spin-off movie, it’s pretty good, but it lacks a major “Star Wars” feel for me. The Empire’s a fact of life in this timespan. The focus is on the fringe groups. Don’t get me wrong, I love the EU and was disappointed when Disney shook the magic etch sketch. For me, I guess it just suffers from being a spin-off, though to be fair, I’d say I enjoyed it a heck of a lot more than The Last Jedi because that was just depressing. (Did I mention I hate “to be continued…”?)

– The entire movie reads like they started with a hit-list of Solo references and tried to stuff in as many of them as possible. That makes it fun, but kind of like a story madlib. Surprisingly, they did all right with hitting major points. They did stretch for quite a few as well.

– It’s the movie equivalent of reading Tales of the Bounty Hunters. It’s got Star Wars in the title, so it’ll sell well.

– Twists:

For now, let’s just leave it at there are a few cool ones.

– Aside: Totally been thinking of Qi’ra’s name spelled as Kira.

– Characters (4/5):

You don’t really get attached to any of the initial crew Han runs into, except Chewie, of course. L3’s no K2SO, though she’s there as the comic relief droid. The obsession with equal rights for droids is funny at first, then just tiresome. Enfys Nest is intriguing. Thought that was the name of the group.

– Acting (4/5):

It’s well-done. Alden Ehrenreich isn’t Harrison Ford, but he does okay.

– Closure (4/5):

It’s definitely open for more, but this story ties up nicely.

– Replay value:

It’s good for 3-4 views tops. I’m at two views, might actually be the theater end for me. For perspective, I saw The Force Awakens 14 times and Rogue One 8 times.

Conclusion:

If you have the time, you should definitely go see Solo. Then, at the very least, you can join the conversation. Seems to be very little middle ground. You stand with the haters or the lovers.


2018 Anticipated Movies

Julie Gilbert children's, Fantasy, scifi, Star Wars , , , , ,

Introduction:

Typically, I end up seeing about one movie a month. Looks like we might be off to a slow start in 2018. That said, there are quite a few movies I really want to see this year. Here they are roughly in release order.

 

Black Panther:

Release Date Feb 16, 2018

In recent years, Marvel has done a great job of fleshing out a lot of the characters I’d never heard of because I’m not a huge comic book fan. I read a few Star Wars comics as a kid, but never subscribed to any particular series. Marvel Studios spinoff stories have been well told, well acted, and all around superbly played. That’s why it made my list.

 

Tomb Raider:

Release Date: March 16, 2018

I’m pretty sure this is a reboot based on the excellent video game, Rise of the Tomb Raider. I loved that game. Still do. It provided a cool backstory to how Lara ended up becoming an adventurer. Video game movies in general often leave much to be desired, but I’m going in with the perspective that the movie is going to be its own thing with only vague things like the game. The franchise has usually come through in terms of providing a nice action flick.

 

Avengers: Infinity War

Release Date: May 4, 2018

Looks amazing. I’m a tad nervous about how they can pull off a good movie with so many characters to give screentime to. How do you balance a thing like that. I’m pretty sure from that trailer there are over a dozen Marvel characters teaming up this round.

 

Solo: A Star Wars Story

 

Release Date: May 25, 2018

Not sure I believe this release date. It will make a longer wait for the 9th episode of Star Wars but it’ll be way shorter a wait to get to this movie. This one, to me, will be the true test of whether or not Disney can make a viable spinoff Star Wars movie. Rogue One was excellent, but it also fit in very nicely with the established storylines. Here, they’re venturing into a previously unexplored backstory. Should be fun, but I have my reservations.

 

The Incredibles 2:

Release Date: June 15, 2018

It’s been ages since I saw the first movie, but I remember liking it. Sequels tend not to be as good as the original, but since it’s probably been over a decade since the first one, the franchise probably had a chance to reset.

 

Robin Hood:

Release Date: September 21, 2018

Heard it’s darker than most Robin Hood tales, but it still looks like a good time. People have always taken weird angles with the outlaw. I loved the BBC’s latest TV series on the subject. I guess I’m more curious about this one than truly excited.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix

Release Date: November 2, 2018

I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t kept up with the entire X-men franchise. I think I missed most of the first movies. Might try to do some catchup, but regardless, the last few have been decent movies. They’re decent scifi action.

 

Ralph Breaks the Internet

Release Date: November 21, 2018

The first Wreck it Ralph movie was a good time that harkened back to the beginning days of video games. It struck that rare balance between being a cool kids movie and having enough video game lore to intrigue young adults who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s where video games had some booming years.

 

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Couldn’t find any great promo pictures. Might be too early?

Release Date: December 14, 2018

Arguably the stupidest sounding title on my list, this one looks like a great movie. (Not a fan of the multiple hyphens.) Most fans will agree that the Spiderman movies have successfully entered a new era with Tom Holland in the spidey suit.

 

Conclusion:

I’m optimistic about the year’s choices of big screen movies. Should at least make the AMC stubs plan worth it. Usually, I see Star Wars first on principle, but this year, I’m breaking tradition and going to see Jumanji on Jan 1.

What are you looking forward to seeing in theaters?