Watching the Star Wars Series for the First Time

I’ve always wondered how long I could put off watching the Star Wars movies before either society shunned me, or I got too curious for my own good. The upcoming release of Episode VII: The Force Awakens is what did it in the end. It’s my family’s movie of choice for our Christmas IMAX outing, and well, I don’t want to be sat watching a movie not knowing what on earth is going on! So, I’ve been compiling this post over the course of 5 weeks, whilst I catch up.

Slight white lie I should fess up to first, I’ve already seen Episode I, but general consensus seems to be that the world would be a much better place without it, so I’m hoping to be forgiven for that.

I will get to see Episode VII on Sunday 20th December, so starting on 15th November, and on every Sunday afterwards, my fiance and I have got together to watch the next installment. We’re watching this in episode order rather than release date, for my own benefit. I get confused easily.

Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)

It would be wrong to miss this one out really, wouldn’t it? For some reason I got my friends together to watch Episode I at the cinema for my 12th Birthday. I don’t remember much other than the pod racers, and I was a big fan of Jar Jar Binks at that age, too. In fact, I did a fairly good impression of him too, in my own opinion, but it probably sounded exactly like my Yoshi impression…

Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)

Impression #1: 2 hours and 22 minutes long?! Sigh...get the kettle on. No, I jest. I quite enjoyed watching Attack of the Clones actually. Anakin is an extremely whiny Padawan though, I much preferred him as a cute little kid. The crazy action scenes were fun to watch too, and the CGI wasn’t bad at all. I also had no idea Samuel L Jackson was in this series either, so that was good. Without a doubt Jango Fett was my favourite character, which obviously sealed his fate (curse my luck) but I’m looking forward to seeing Bobba again!

I’m just not sure I understood the whole clone situation though. With a title of ‘Attack of the Clones’ I was expecting Jedi HQ (or whatever it’s called) to be attacked by clones...but no. Who ordered those clones, anyway? My fiance explained it to me but I forgot already. There’s a reason I haven’t watched Star Wars before now. Wait, do they mean the droid army? They attacked? No, I’m not going to try and work it out...

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Okay, I think I’m really getting into this now. Episode III was much better than the other two, although some of the dialogue just made me cringe. It was a sad ending indeed, but at least I don’t have to suffer Anakin and Padme’s relationship any longer. I have to say though, I feel really conflicted about Anakin turning over to the dark side. On one hand, it’s awful and slaying the younglings is absolutely unforgivable. On the other though, he was pretty much forced into it by both sides. The Jedi Council treated him awfully!


I have just 2 things to whinge about with this one. Firstly, why on earth does no-one wear any proper kind of protection on their wrists? I lost count of how many hands were lost due to lightsabers this time round. Secondly, surely this movie should have been called Attack of the Clones?! This time they did actually attack!

Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
Oh lordy, why did I save these ones till last? Okay, I understand why I was told to watch in release order now. It is so hard going from modern day special effects to this. Although, and I know this sounds weird, I’m really surprised at how modern the Stormtroopers look. I mean, they look exactly the same from 1977 - 2005 without looking odd over time. It’s a terrible way of wording it I know, but that’s what I’m thinking right now.


Anyway, loved the story in this one! There were also so many quotes I’ve always known but without context, and so being able to visualise the ‘these aren’t the droids you’re looking for’ moment gives me great joy. Watching Luke pander after Leia was a little cringey, and I’m hoping they found out that they’re siblings before that gets too weird. I never thought I’d say it, but I am really enjoying Star Wars right now.

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Okay, Star Wars fever has hit me full blast. I have stormtrooper pajamas with matching fluffy socks, I'm playing a Star Wars game on my tablet religiously every day, and I've even nabbed joint custody of my fiance's Star Wars Lego advent calendar. Oops.

The Empire Strikes Back was probably the movie I was looking forward to the most, everyone I spoke to said it's their favourite. Maybe I was expecting too much, and I really did enjoy it, but I preferred A New Hope! Han Solo was hands down amazing in this though. He just oozes charm! I've never been a big Harrison Ford fan, but he converted me. That moment when Leia tells him she loves him, and he just responds with 'I know' was brilliant. The battle on Hoth was a highlight for sure too, but that was ruined a little from watching the new Battlefront game too much. Dem graphics, man!

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
So...unfortunately life got in the way. My viewing schedule got mixed up, and although I'll be watching Return of the Jedi on Friday night, I wanted to get this posted before the internet breaks with The Force Awakens reviews.

I'll add to this as soon as I have seen it but for now...this has been one of the most exciting blogging features I've done. I've gone from reluctantly booking my family's IMAX tickets to being more excited than a child at Christmas!

Thanks for stopping by...but for now I'm logging off the blog, Facebook, Twitter, the Internet, Radio and TV until Sunday night, when I finally get to witness the Awakening.

May the force be with us all...

Review: August: Osage County (2013)

Darn my local cinemas. When August: Osage County came out, I was in full swing of my Benedict Cumberbatch obsession. My closest cinema wasn't even showing it, but another near me was. Unfortunately, I couldn't convince my other half to see it with me, and when I finally egged Jenna on to see it with me "Thursday" she said, "I'm free on Thursday!", I found out that it stopped showing after Tuesday. Now, I've finally seen it!

I don't think I've ever seen such a star studded cast before; so many faces that I love are in this film. Meryl Streep plays Violet Weston, the mother of this huge, but troubled family. A crisis brings her sister and three daughters, along with their partners and children, together to comfort each other. However, when you bring any family together under strained circumstances, supressed issues are brought to light, and arguments ensue.

Despite the fact that not an awful lot actually happens in this film (the biggest part is spent sat at a dinner table), it was amazing how gripped I felt to August: Osage County. No character was left out and I really felt a connection to them all.

It has to be said that even though Meryl Streep was brilliant, Julia Roberts absolutely stole the show. As someone who has never been that bothered by her, she just won my heart, then broke it, and won it all over again. Her ability to portray love but so much anger at the same time was just incredible to watch. It's no wonder that she was nominated for an Oscar for this role, and I'm gutted that she didn't win it.

With such a huge cast, I would talk for hours about each individual character, but I must give an honourable mention now to my two favourite characters, Ivy and Little Charles, played by Julianne Nicholson and Benedict Cumberbatch. Both pretty much forgotten about by the rest of the family, Ivy is the sister who never found love, and Little Charles is the son who constantly disappointed his mother. They were the two characters that I rooted for throughout the whole film. Plus, who can't fall in love with Benedict's little song?



It was a breath of fresh air also to see Benedict Cumberbatch play a character who wasn't super smart and full of himself.

Without spoiling it for anyone, the ending absolutely broke my heart. I just sort of sat still for a few minutes after the credits ended just trying to take everything in. I'm kind of glad I didn't see this at the cinema now or the staff would have had to scoop me out of my seat and carry me out!

I would recommend this film to anyone, even if you aren't a huge fan of dramas. I think anyone could relate to at least one of the characters in this film.