Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Closes Out The Saga On An Underwhelming Note

For the final entry in the nine-film Skywalker Saga, we reunite with the heroes of the most recent entries in the story, scavenger turned Jedi Rey (Daisy Ridley), stormtrooper turned Resistance hero Finn (John Boyega) and folk singer turned pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac). Ultimate baddie Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) has returned from the dead and is now working with Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) on a whole new evil plot. In order to save the galaxy and win the war against these dastardly foes, Rey must muster up all her courage and confront both old & new evil forces as well as her struggle to define who she is.

Solo: A Star Wars Story Is Better Than You'd Expect A Han Solo Origin Movie To Be But Still Suffers From A Derivative Nature

Ever since Harrison Ford shot his blaster through a mosquito alien in a seedy extra-terrestrial tavern in 1977, people have loved Han Solo. Why wouldn't we? He's got bad boy charm, he's got Harrison Ford's immense charm and he gets to serve as a grounded point-of-view in the original Star Wars as a guy who just doesn't care about all of this alien mumbo-jumbo in this universe. Even as a guy who thinks Han Solo is cooler than a morning on Hoth, do we really need a whole movie detailing the man's background? The fact that he carried an aura of mystery was always a big part of Han Solo's charm after all. Well, Disney marketers, er, master storytellers have seen fit to give us a Han Solo movie in the form of Solo: A Star Wars Story, the second stand-alone Star Wars Story following 2016's Rogue One.

In Laman's Terms: The Future of Star Wars Seeks To Avoid Some Mistakes of The Past

In Laman's Terms is a weekly editorial column where Douglas Laman rambles on about certain topics or ideas that have been on his mind lately. Sometimes he's got serious subjects to discuss, other times he's just got some silly stuff to shoot the breeze about. Either way, you know he's gonna talk about something In Laman's Terms!

So yesterday Disney announced that Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were going to producing and writing a new trilogy of stand-alone Star Wars movies. Making sure that the first post-Game of Thrones job for Benioff and Weiss was having such a major role in a new batch of Star Wars movies seemed like the kind of headline designed to appease fanboy sites across the internet by basically saying "The people behind one of your favorite brands is now doing something with another one of your favorite brands!" Cutesy quotes on official Disney or Star Wars social media feeds declaring "Send a raven..." (Hey! That's a reference to a thing I know!) seemed to solidify that this was news designed to make geek sectors of social media light up with enthusiastic responses.

Oh Hey, J.J Abrams Is Now The Director Of Star Wars: Episode IX

Hey, remember when I used to do news pieces on a regular basis on this website? Ah, 2014 memories....

So, real quickly, it appears J.J. Abrams is in the bag to direct Star Wars: Episode IX, stepping in for Collin Trevorrow who departed the project last week over "Creative differences". The predominant rumor had been that Rian Johnson may stick around after The Last Jedi to help wrap up this trilogy, but nope, looks like J.J. Abrams is coming back to the fold. As a major fan of J.J. Abrams as a director (Super 8 is one of my favorite movies of 2011), I'm OK with this news but also kinda wishing we could have gotten someone a bit more bold and unexpected to help this forthcoming Star Wars movie.

Happy 40th Anniversary Star Wars!

40 years is a long time.

Like, a long time.

We've been through seven Presidents Of The United States in that time, four different James Bond actors, the entire runs of TV shows like Breaking Bad, The Sopranos and Law & Order in that four decades of time. So many people have come and gone, so much has been lost and gained, but there Star Wars stands, like a lighthouse in the fog of reality, always standing, always shining, always providing clarity even in the midst of tragedy. It's always residing there as this pop culture institution children love and adults will enjoy both watching on its own terms and similarly enjoy passing onto the next generation.

Rogue One May Carry A Darker Tone Than Past Star Wars Movies But It's Got The Same Rousing Spirit As The Best Of Its Predeccesors

With The Force Awakens reigniting the Star Wars saga last year, now comes time for the next stage of Disney's massive plans for the Star Wars franchise; seeing if they can do stand-alone spin-off movies without either confusing audiences or burning them off of Star Wars by way of subpar quality. The first of these spin-off films is Gareth Edwards Rogue One, a motion picture designed to answer the question that a handful of super hardcore Star Wars geeks may have briefly pondered once or twice over the years before moving on: "Who exactly got those Death Star plans to Leia?" The answer lies within the running time of Rogue One, wherein we get to see the folks behind the intrepid mission to retrieve the Death Star plans as well as plenty of exploration as to what the galaxy was like before Luke Skywalker's adventure in the original Star Wars movie began.

Four Helpful Tips For That Han Solo Movie

With Alden Ehrenreich confirmed this weekend at Star Wars Celebration to be playing the role of Han Solo in Phil Lord and Chris Millers spin-off Han Solo motion picture, one big piece of the massive puzzle that is this Han Solo movie has fallen into place. Plenty of names in the cast will be announced prior to the movies January 2017 start date (can we get Nate Parker or Michael B. Jordan as Lando Calrissian please?) as will big filming locations, but for now, the movie is shrouded in secrecy. But because this is the internet, an aimless land filled with speculation and Star Wars related content, I've decided to compile four helpful tips that writers Phil Lord and Chris Miller should keep in mind as they make the Han Solo movie. I'm sure this extremely accomplished writer/director duo that has experienced endless success in the past decade would love to hear advice on filmmaking from a nerdy 20-year-old Texan.

The Trailer For Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Is Here!

It's a Star Wars world, and we're all just living in it. After The Force Awakens broke every box office record in the book, not to mentioning earning acclaim from both moviegoers and critics alike, Disney/Lucasfilm are off on their plan to make a new Star Wars movie every single year. The current plan is for every other year to deliver a traditional Star Wars episode chronicling the tale of Rey, Finn and Poe Dameron, while alternating years will be home to spin-off features that are a "Star Wars Story".

The Saddest Part About Rey Not Being A Part Of The New Star Wars Monopoly Game? It's Not Surprising

Star Wars: The Force Awakens spoilers ahoy!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review

Warning: This is a spoiler free review of The Force Awakens, but thanks to the uber secretive marketing, pretty much every aspect of the film is being kept under wraps. Ya wanna go into this one colder than the Snow Miser? Don't read this review, which won't spoil plot twists or spoilers, but will basic information about the characters that hasn't been spelled out in the TV advertisements. 

During the 135 minute running time of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, there is nary a glimpse of Max Rebo or any other member of his blue, super adorable, pachyderm resembling species. Therefore, I dub this film a failure of the highest order and ask J.J. Abrams to spend the rest of his life in a Yoda-esque exile.

OK, OK, all super nerdy Star Wars joking aside, let's march onward with the review of what's likely the most anticipated film in the past decade.

Removal Of Slave Leia From Future Star Wars Merchandise Is News So Good It's Worthy Of A Celebratory Ewok Dance Party

Ugh, can't the PC police leave anything untainted? First, these Social Justice nitwits come around remarking about how minorities/women are treated in video games, then they use their Feminazi mind control powers to convince Disney/Lucasfilm to not utilize imagery of Leia Organa in her golden slave bikini in future merchandise. Why can't they just leave my pop culture alone??? Don't they know my complaints about this totally don't stem from my subconcious problems with women but rather about ethics in Star Wars journalism! Save me Trey Stone & Matt Parker/Adam Baldwin!

Here's All The News Announced At The 2015 Star Wars Comic-Con Panel

What would Comic-Con be without Star Wars? Even in the past decade when the franchise hasn't released new movies, The Clone Wars and Hasbro have kept the spirit of Star Wars very much alive at this famous convention. As one might imagine, since the first live-action Star Wars movie in over a decade arrives this December, the epic film saga was there with cast members from the upcoming feature Star Wars: The Force Awakens. To boot, some other bombshells were dropped in regards to future Star Wars motion pictures.

Star Wars Is Coming To Disney Infinity!

The June 2015 Game Informer cover announcing the Disney Infinity Star Wars action figures

Disney Infinity is quite a fun game, way more so than I thought it would be. The action figures are well made and the Toy Box mode that allows you to go hogwild with the characters and environments are quite fun. Now, the next version of the game has been announced via Game Informer, who have announced all the details on Disney Infinity 3.0, which brings Star Wars into the realm of Disney Infinity.

Where The Star Trek Franchise Should Go Next

A while back, I wrote an article about shared universes, in which I noted a bunch of proposed shared cinematic universes (such as one commissioned by Sony revolving around Robin Hood) made me weary of the craze and hoping lackluster shared universes would die out. But notice that I mention lackluster; shared universes aren't bad inherently, and as Marvel and Star Wars have shown, can bring in untold possibilities from a storytelling perspective. Frankly, I felt like I should have emphasized that more in my original editorial, as I didn't want to come off as dismissive of an entire form of storytelling (when the usually incredible website The Dissolve did a surprisingly snooty takedown of cinematic universes, it burned my cinders, I just didn't want to make that same mistake).

Star Wars 2016 Spin-Off Film Named Rogue One, Plus Episode 8 Release Date!

Well, some big news from that galaxy far far away just dropped today, as some crucial details about the next Star Wars films has been unveiled!

Chappie Review

I (Didn't Care For This), Robot

My gut instinct is to say that Chappie goes off the rails, but that would imply the film was on the rails in the first place. Here is the kind of bad film that isn't just low on quality, but constantly left me gobsmacked at the poor decisions every aspect of it's production made. The newest film from director Neil Blomkamp is a cataclysmic and unfocused disaster that's I do feel comfortable dubbing memorable, albeit for all the wrong reasons.

Jupiter Ascending Review

Jupiter Girls, You Make The Rockin' World Go Round

One element that really makes certain pieces of great sci-fi, well, great, is it's ability to translate everyday emotions and worries into a heightened and entertaining environment. The grandaddy of sci-fi cinema, Star Wars, is centered on the universal hope that we all have of wanting to defy expectations and become something great. Sure, there's Wookies, TIE Fighters and a rapscallion Harrison Ford running around, but the plot's centered on a very relatable theme.

Star Wars Rebels (S1E6) Review: A Day Of Revelation

The past two episodes of Rebels have been it's best so far by focusing on character and effective atmosphere, two components that have been recurring aspects of great Star Wars mythology. Empire Day, the sixth episode for this series, isn't a revolutionary piece of television, but I feel comfortable in labeling it another successful outing for the show, which is quickly finding it's footing going more in-depth into the world of its characters.

Star Wars Episode VII Has A Title!!!

The day has come.

We've dreamed about it for two years ever since Disney bought Star Wars and announced more movies.

The title for Episode VII has arrived.

Editorial: The Non-Marvel Shared Universe Movies Need To Stop

(Or: What Hath The Avengers Wrought)

After Marvel's extremely risk plan for combining stand-alone movies into one massive feature film called The Avengers paid off big time, studios began to scramble to join in on the newest cinematic craze; shared universes. The first franchise not from Marvel Studios to test this out was The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which took it's 2012 Andrew Garfield reboot and tired to stretch it to include hints at future spin-offs and sequels. The film was a calamity quality-wise and disappointing financially, which you'd think studios would take as a sign that not all movies need a shared universe.

Nope.