Aidan The Aspie Critic: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Hello and welcome to a classic story from a galaxy far far away! In honour of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens coming out, I will be reviewing all 7 (Yes, there are 7.) theatrical, canonical Star Wars movies without any nostalgia goggles, eventually. Unfortunately, this will mean that I will have to review the Special Editions of the original trilogy, but I will try not to let all the stupid changes and bad CG change my opinion on the movie as a whole. I will also be reviewing the movies in order of theatrical release. So, without further ado, let's take a look at Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, or it's original title, just Star Wars, was a science fiction action film released in 1977 by George Lucas. It is regarded as one of the greatest, most iconic, and influential movies in the history of cinema. How does it hold up? I'll get to that later. Let's start out with the story, but let's face it, you all already know this story! It is a time of civil war in the galaxy! The galactic rebellion is rising up against the evil galactic empire. However, the rebels aren't doing so well. They have managed to capture the plans for an ultimate terror weapon, called the Death Star, a moon-sized battle station with the power to destroy an entire planet. However, nobody knows where these plans are, and rebel leader Princess Leia Organa was captured by Darth Vader, dark lord of the empire. 2 robots escape their spaceship being captured by the empire and land on the desert planet Tatooine, where they meet farm boy Luke Skywalker, smuggling dynamic duo Han Solo and Chewbacca, and wise old Jedi Knight Obi Wan Kenobi. Can the rebels save the princess and destroy the Death Star? I'd tell you to watch Star Wars to find out, but let's face it, you already have.

This movie is absolutely fantastic! However, it does have it's problems. The special effects hold up perfectly, for the most part. There are some lazily costumed creatures, some of the flying scenes aren't perfect, and the CG in the Special Edition, of course, is AWFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The direction and acting can also be pretty weird. The dialogue isn't great, and neither are some of the performances. Alec Guiness, James Earl Jones, Anthony Daniels, and Harrison Ford are all great, but Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher.... not so much. Carrie has this weird fake slightly-British accent and Mark..... well, let's just say that I have no idea why people hate Hayden Christianson as Anakin so much when Mark Hamill wasn't much better as Luke. I don't necessarily blame the actors for this, it was just poor direction. There are also some parts of the story that don't make sense, but other than that, this is a nearly perfect movie! How could it be anything other than that? Yeah, it has problems, but if you don't like this movie, it kinda makes you a bad person. Not liking this movie is like not liking The Wizard Of Oz. The 2 movies are very similar, actually. Sure, they have some problems with the story, characters, and acting and special effects at times, but how can you not like something so simple, so innocent, and so iconic and influential and groundbreaking? So, yes. I love this movie, and everyone else does too! I give this movie a 5 out of 5 stars! Possibly the greatest movie ever made.

Have you seen Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope? What did you think of it? Tell me in the comments! 

Next up, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back! See you next time!

Aidan The Aspie Critic: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Welcome back to a galaxy far far away after over 30 years! Is this just another Phantom Menace or has balance finally returned to The Force? Jump to lightspeed, Chewie! Let's find out!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the long-awaited sequel to the 1983 classic, Star Wars: Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi. Well, technically we've gotten several sequels to Return Of The Jedi in the form of video games, novels, and comics, but that's all non-canon now, so we can finally see what REALLY happened after the destruction of the Death Star II and the Ewok party on Endor! A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, the galaxy is yet again in a time of war (What a shock.). Luke Skywalker, the last of the Jedi, has disappeared! The New Republic's military, the Resitance, has found a piece of a star map that may lead to Luke's location. General Leia Organa has sent her best pilot, Poe Dameron, to retrieve the star map piece, but he runs into the First Order (the remnant of the Galactic Empire) on the way and has to send the star map with his droid, BB8, into the war-torn desert wasteland of the planet Jakku. On the way, BB8 meets a scavenger named Rey, a reformed Stormtrooper named Finn, and an old smuggler with a mysterious past named Han Solo. However, little do our heroes know, the First Order, under the watchful eyes of Supreme Leader Snoke, has created an ultimate terror weapon, Starkiller Base, a planet-sized battle station with enough power to destroy several planets at once! Will the Resistance defeat The First Order? Will our heroes find Luke? And will they escape the evil wrath of Kylo Ren? Watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens to find out!

This movie is amazing! It's everything that fans like me have always wanted in a Star Wars movie! This is most DEFINITELY better than the prequel trilogy! No Jar Jar Binks, no Midi-Chlorians, no emotionless love banter, no CG (No, I'm serious. There is barely any CG in this movie!), and no disappointment....mostly. The reason I say mostly is because...well..do you remember my summary of the story? Does any of it sound familiar? It should, because this movie is almost a COMPLETE carbon(ite) copy of Episode IV: A New Hope! Have you seen A New Hope? Then you've seen this movie and you didn't even know it! You can predict how the story is going to go from beginning to end, which I thought was pretty disappointing, but this movie adds just enough new things and old nostalgic fan service to keep things interesting! I still enjoyed this movie from beginning to end! I'd much rather have something familiar than something new, but boring (I'm looking at you "taxation of the trade routes" and "I don't like sand.."!). The characters are all very likeable and memorable, and the performances from the actors were great! I think I have a crush on Daisy Ridley (She plays Rey. She's brilliant!)! John Boyega is really good as Finn, Oscar Isaac is great as Poe, Adam Driver I thought was fantastic as Kylo Ren, Andy Serkis is his great animated (literally) self as always as Supreme Leader Snoke, and, of course, returning cast members Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill steal the show as Han, Leia, and Luke, respectively! The special effects are wonderful in this movie! Like I said, the movie barely uses any CG. They only CG that I could see were the space scenes, the flying scenes, Supreme Leader Snoke, Maz Kanata (The little old lady who owns the cantina.), the Rathtars, and maybe a few other things that I missed. That's it. The rest is all done with physical sets, costumes, puppets, animatronics, and makeup. I loved seeing this. As impressive as the CG in the prequels, admittedly, is, it NEVER looked real. It always just looked like people standing in front of a green screen with animated stuff bouncing around them. This movie definitely looks real! There are also some great plot twists in the story and still lots of mystery and truly powerful and moving scenes. The musical score to this movie is great! It was composed by people like John Williams and Lin-Manuel Miranda, the guy who wrote the music for the new Broadway musical, Hamilton. I don't think any of these songs are Star Wars classics or anything, nothing can beat songs like The Imperial March or Duel Of The Fates, but the score stands on its own very well, bringing us new songs and old favourites. In conclusion, this is not a perfect movie. The story may be predictable and it may have other problems, but this movie is still a blast! I definitely recommend it! I even recommend it to people who aren't Star Wars fans or have never even seen Star Wars! This movie stands on its own very well! I'm impressed with what JJ Abrams and Disney have done with this series, and I can't wait to see what awaits us in Rogue One, Episode VIII, and beyond! I give this movie 4.3 stars out of 5! Truly there has been an awakening, and I have felt it. We all have. Balance has returned to The Force.

Have you seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens? What did you think of it? Tell me in the comments!

Aidan the Aspie Critic: Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

Welcome to another movie review! This movie takes us back to the very beginning of a classic sci-fi story! Sing it with me now! Oh my god, I was wrong! It was earth all along! This is Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes!

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes is a prequel to the classic sci-fi film, Planet Of The Apes. This movie is also a retcon of the already existing Planet Of The Apes prequel, Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes. Since this movie retcons Conquest, most people consider this movie to be a reboot of the entire Planet Of The Apes series. It's definitely a better reboot than Tim Burton's 2001 Planet Of The Apes reboot! Let's just forget that movie ever existed. This movie is the story of a man and his monkey. Well, actually a Chimpanzee, but whatever. The man work at Gen Sys labs, a scientific research facility. Gen Sys has created a drug that patches up disconnected parts of the brain, or in other words, the cure to Alzheimer's. The new drug is being tested on apes and they have significantly grown in intelligence. However, when one of the chimps, Bright Eyes, breaks out of her cage and is then killed, the scientists wonder if there are side effects to the drug. However, it turns out Bright Eyes was only trying to protect her baby, Caesar. The man brings Caesar home and raises him like a son. He is extremely intelligent too, but he was never given the drug! The effects are genetic! The man is convinced that there are no side effects, so he smuggles some of the drug home to give to his father, who is suffering from Alzheimer's. However, the drug's effects on humans eventually ware off, and the man's father steals a car! Caesar comes to the rescue, and bites the finger of the man bullying the father about stealing his car, but Caesar gets taken away by the authorities! The monkey jail is horrible! Caesar and the other apes are bullied every day by the evil owners! Will Caesar and the other apes escape? And does the drug have any other harmful side effects on humans...? Watch Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes to find out!

This movie is awesome! It is intense, emotional, and very interesting! The characters are likeable, the story is engaging, and it can get pretty sad at times! I really liked all the little references and homages to the original Planet Of The Apes, further cementing this movie as a prequel. They are much more clever than in Tim Burton's Planet Of The Apes reboot! I'm sorry, I promise this is going to be the last time I mention that hunk of monkey poo movie. The only thing I can say was not so great is the special effects at times. Much like Jurassic World, the monkeys can look pretty fake sometimes, but the rest of the time the effects are pretty impressive! Andy Serkis, the motion-capture special effects genius actor that brought us Gollum in The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit movies played Caeser in this movie, and you really do feel like the monkeys are actually there. Even if the effects don't LOOK convincing at times, they definitely do FEEL convincing, if that makes any sense. The performances are also very good, special shout out to the guy who plays the man's father! So, yeah. That's pretty much all I have to say. If you are a sci-fi nerd or a fan of the other Planet Of The Apes movies (except for the Tim Burton one! Oh, right. I wasn't supposed to mention it again. Sorry!) then you will like this movie! Even if you aren't a fan or a nerd you should still like this movie! Is give it 4 stars out of 5! You've finally made a monkey out of me!

Have you seen Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes? What did you think of it? Tell me in the comments! 

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes review coming soon!