#2,323: Rogue One

The Edge of Seventeen - ★★★★☆
Although I might not relate to the direct experiences of the characters, this movie seems more true to what high school feels like than other, more buzzed about high school films.

De Palma - ★★★★☆
So much fun. Makes me want to go watch every De Palma movie. 

Manchester by the Sea - ★★☆☆☆
Whatever. Take all the acting prizes you can carry. I didn't fall asleep, but that doesn't mean I wasn't bored.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - ★★★☆☆
I guess this is my favorite Gareth Edwards movie? I guess I get the pick now; all of his movies are about characters at the periphery of some actual story that we only glimpse in passing. The 8th grader Star Wars geek in me finds a lot of the little details interesting and nods along at the references, but the modern-day movie going part of me is still kind of suspicious. Star Wars seems like this big open space, and if you're going to commit to doing a series of in-universe movies that are outside of the Skywalkers-and-company, how do you end up picking such safe (re: boring) subjects? Why are you making more prequels? I don't want to see each sentence of the opening crawl blown out to 2 hours. I really, really don't want to see Han Solo pranking the dean. For one thing, you're Star Wars, every extra has a name and back story, and fans will lap up anything you put in front of them. For another, you're produced by the studio that brought us Guardians of the Galaxy. Even though it's the worst MCU movie, at least it's bold!

And this huge media push to tell us this is the 'first stand alone Star Wars movie'? You are full of jokes.