Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker

I went to see this on my own the day after it came out. It was a very enjoyable afternoon of escapism.

I liked seeing the different worlds, and the hints at the enormity of the Universe. When you see the Knights of Ren parading around in their matching outfits it opens up the possibility of various cults, including the Sith and Jedi, competing in a semi-magical world. This is a bit like the situation I imagine about the time of Jesus, with various charismatic leaders competing for followers. Only in Star Wars it's better as the cults really do have supernatural powers.

The best bits of the film were with Rey, and the allusions to the history of the Jedi. A lot of the rest felt very similar to previous films, and for me at least there were about eight too many 'crowdpleasing' moments where an old person or artefact appears. Let's just ditch C3PO and R2D2.

A review I read said this is a fairly safe film and doesn't continue interesting ideas from The Last Jedi. I think that's probably right, although perhaps it needs another watch to be sure. Strangely, when I was thinking of whether or not this new film had any classic Star Wars moments I thought back wistfully to the cloners planet in Attack of the Clones, Count Dooku, Obi-Wan and Qui Gon Jinn, and even the romance with Anakin and Queen Amidala.

So I still think Episode I, II and III were under-rated, and perhaps this is too.

Joker

This was a tough film to watch. It's immediately uncomfortable because of Arthur's manic laugh, which comes out at inappropriate moments due to his medical condition (does that really exist?) Then the film gets darker as it goes on, and Arthur loses hope. The backdrop, which prevents it getting too miserable, is that it's taking place in Gotham City and boy batman is around too. Thomas Wayne isn't quite the hero we thought he was though.

There's a certain amount of ambiguity during the story, and as it's all told from Arthur's viewpoint, and he's an unreliable narrator, it's hard to know what to believe. It's a little like American Psycho and even more like The Machinist. Not only does the protagonist not really know what's true, he doesn't really care.

I would say the pacing is slightly off and the second half drags a little, plus the crossover with the TV show seems a little far-fetched (it feels like it's about the 1970s, so how would anyone have filmed Arthur's performance in a little comedy club and sent it to a talk-show?). Those are my only issues though, apart from it obviously being rather grim viewing. I wouldn't recommend it to many, but I'd like to see it again myself.

Ad Astra

I got to see this at the IMAX when my bike was getting serviced and it took longer than expected. I enjoyed it. The opening sequence is excellent, and introduces Brad Pitt as a cool-headed space-pilot. But he also has existential doubts, centred around his distant father, played by Tommy Lee Jones. TLJ is really good, and never once breaks into his manic cowboy act that I find rather annoying.

The film is slow and stately, but takes place in space so is still exciting. A bit like Space Odyssey or Gravity, but not Solaris which is still boring. It's also set in the future where space travel is relatively normal. Could it happen in our lifetime? Probably not.

I have a few qualms about the plotting, which seems un-necessarily contrived. There's really no reason for Brad to go to the moon on the way to Mars, except for us to have a good look at the moon and see some Space Pirates. I also don't know why later on the crew of the shuttle that he boards all decide to kill him. Space madness perhaps? And the whole thing could easily have been made without the plot-device cosmic surges.

Overall I thought this was elegant and interesting. Not quite Bladerunner 2049 but I'd watch it again, on an even bigger screen if possible.

Amazon Prime

During an accidental trial of Amazon Prime this is what I've watched, with ratings out of five:

• The Sick - 3
• Wonder Woman - 1
• The Acccountant - 4
• Handmaiden - 3
• Molly's Game - 2
• Lean on Pete - 3
• Safety not Guaranteed - 2
• John Wick 2 - 2
• Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society - 2
• The Post - 3
• The Boys (Series) - 5
• Model Minority - 4
• Margin Call - 4
• Basic - 2
• Inglorious Basterds - 3
• Chalet Girl - 2

Overall a pretty good bunch.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

I made a special trip to see this, but was slightly disappointed. I felt a bit like a child watching a film for adults, and not quite getting it. The main two characters were good, and there were some gripping scenes, but I found the overall narrative too slow and disjointed. Tarantino and other Americans might enjoy nostalgic flashbacks to old American TV but it means little to me. It felt like just when the story got going there was another ad break.

The most interesting bit was the connection with the Mansun family. Brad Pitt visits their creepy farm, and later hippy killers come to the house he's at. As far as I can tell this is just a coincidence.

Avengers: Endgame

[CONTAINS SPOILERS]

The last time I went to the cinema was to see the previous Avenger's film, which finishes with half the Universe disappearing. This one starts bravely with an extended period of grieving, a bold move for an action movie, then Ant-Man pops up with some chat about the quantum realm and they all go back in time to fix it.

Aside from my inevitable complaints about time travel (see later) it's an OK plot and the pacing is good. The film acknowledges that the magic stones are not worth much attention and instead focuses on the characters. The best of these is Thor, who is always enjoyable. Lots of the other superhero cameos are colourful but rather silly. I don't understand why The Incredible Hulk stays as the hulk other than for a rather poor joke about him not being angry before, and every time I see Thanos's stupid chin it reminds me I'm watching a child's film.

There's a decent attempt to try and explain the rules of time travel. Each time an event in the past is changed it creates a new timeline, leaving the original one unchanged. But by that logic I'm not sure how they actually do change their timeline and defeat Thanos. My other gripe is that when they bring back all the people who disappeared five years ago they come back at the age they were when they disappeared. That's going to be a bit confusing. And what about the people who've remarried and have a new family then their old wife comes back?

At three hours long and a late showing in 3D I was getting rather tired by the end. I'm sure I saw Loki steal a stone at some point and not give it back, presumably I had a little nap while that was going on.

Overall I found this a bit too much. It's a glut, a binge of colourful entertainment which will not stay with you long.