In this history of all movies and movie franchises, there is no doubt that the most prolific and lucrative of all time, is the Star Wars franchise, that is now almost 40 years old.  One can only imagine the hundreds of billions of dollars in total profits these movies have generated when you consider the profits from the many Star Wars movies, peripheral movies,  TV shows, cartoons, toys and games over so many years.  I remember the first movie when it came out seemed at first almost like a B-movie, but when you saw it for the first time, the quality of the special effects, the story and the overall production was great enough to break box office records and change science fiction films forever. It is impossible to imagine that Star Wars will ever become unpopular because the stories and the characters have always been so compelling. You can even argue that maybe 100 or 200 years from now, they will still be making new Star Wars movies.

The idea for the new Star Wars Movie is a great one and film is a prequel to the first movie in the franchise Star Wars A New Hope that was released almost 40 years ago in 1977.  The story behind this new film is about obtaining the plans to the Death Star in which a weakness was built into it by the father of the main character, Jyn Erso, played by Felicity Jones. The Death Star plans were obtained at the beginning of the first movie in 1977 by Princess Leia, played by Carrie Fischer so I thought this prequel idea connecting these two films was a very good one. I also thought that the building of a weakness inside such a huge weapon that could be figured out by the rebel forces just by seeing the plans was a flawed plot point. If there was some kind of a weakness in the Death Star that could be figured out just by seeing the plans that built the Death Star, then why couldn’t the empire figure this out for themselves while the Death Star was being built, long before the rebels could get the plans? Perhaps a better idea would be that the rebel forces would need some kind of code or primer to figure out what the weakness was with the plans, but I guess that the producers needed a less complex way to connect the first movie with this one. However, this part of the story as it stands, really does not make sense.

This film also used computer generation to have some characters from the film in 1977 appear in this movie, those being Peter Cushing who died in 1994 and Carrie Fischer, who appears at the very end of the film. The special effects, especially at the end of the movie were very well done, but I thought the story overall, was just average, and not outstanding like any of the first 3 movies. The beginning of the film had too many different planet locations that I thought at the early stages of the story, were not necessary and most of the scene locations were too dark, with the exception of the end of the movie. Some of the other big name actors in this film included Forest Whitaker and Jimmy Smits who was also played the same part in two other Star Wars sequels in 2002 and 2005. I thought that all the acting in this movie was well done, despite the story which I thought was only an average one.

Overall, I think this movie is a must see for all Star Wars fans, but for all others, I just give it a marginal recommendation.

Film

Motion picture, drama

“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”
“Lion”

Motion picture, musical or comedy

“20th Century Women”
“Deadpool”
“Florence Foster Jenkins”
“La La Land”
“Sing Street”

Motion picture, animated

“Zootopia”
“My Life as a Zucchini”
“Moana”
“Sing”
“Kubo and the Two Strings”

Motion picture, foreign language

“Divines,” France
“Elle,” France
“Neruda,” Chile
“The Salesman,” Iran
“Toni Erdmann,” Germany

Actress in a motion picture, drama

Amy Adams, “Arrival”
Jessica Chastain, “Miss Sloane”
Isabelle Huppert, “Elle”
Ruth Negga, “Loving”
Natalie Portman, “Jackie”

Actor in a motion picture, drama

Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea”
Joel Edgerton, “Loving” | Video Q&A
Andrew Garfield, “Hacksaw Ridge”
Viggo Mortensen, “Captain Fantastic”
Denzel Washington, “Fences”

Actress in a motion picture, musical or comedy

Annette Bening, “20th Century Women”
Lily Collins, “Rules Don’t Apply”
Hailee Steinfeld, “The Edge of Seventeen”
Emma Stone, “La La Land”
Meryl Streep, “Florence Foster Jenkins”

Actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy

Colin Farrell, “The Lobster”
Hugh Grant, “Florence Foster Jenkins”
Ryan Gosling, “La La Land”
Ryan Reynolds, “Deadpool”
Jonah Hill, “War Dogs”

Supporting actress in any motion picture

Viola Davis, “Fences”
Naomie Harris, “Moonlight”
Nicole Kidman, “Lion”
Octavia Spencer, “Hidden Figures”
Michelle Williams, “Manchester by the Sea”

Supporting actor in any motion picture

Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight”
Jeff Bridges, “Hell or High Water”
Simon Helberg, “Florence Foster Jenkins”
Dev Patel, “Lion”
Aaron Taylor Johnson, “Nocturnal Animals”

Director, motion picture

Damien Chazelle, “La La Land”
Tom Ford, “Nocturnal Animals”
Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”
Mel Gibson, “Hacksaw Ridge”
Kenneth Lonergan, “Manchester by the Sea”

Screenplay, motion picture

Kenneth Lonergan, “Manchester by the Sea”
Damien Chazelle, “La La Land”
Tom Ford, “Nocturnal Animals”
Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”
Taylor Sheridan, “Hell or High Water”

Original score, motion picture

Justin Hurwitz, “La La Land”
Jóhann Jóhannsson, “Arrival”
Nicholas Britell, “Moonlight”
Dustin O’Halloran, Hauschka, “Lion”
Benjamin Wallfisch, Pharrell Williams, Hans Zimmer, “Hidden Figures”

Original song, motion picture

“How Far I’ll Go” (“Moana”)
“City of Stars” (“La La Land”)
“Can’t Stop the Feeling” (“Trolls”)
“Faith” (“Sing”)
“Gold” (“Gold”)

Whether or not you are a regular movie-goer, most people know that the best movies all come out this time of year, just in time for Oscar consideration. The movie Miss Sloane will without a doubt be nominated for best picture and Jessica Chastain, who plays the lead role, will in my opinion, definitely win this year for best actress because her performance in this film is tremendous. For those who think that being a great actor or actress is trivial, they should see this movie. How anyone can remember so much complex dialogue in scene after scene and be so believable in her role, is a truly great accomplishment.

This storyline of this film is about political operatives and lobbyists in Washington and specifically gun lobbyists, even though the NRA was never mentioned by name in this entire movie, probably for political reasons. At the start of this movie, Elizabeth Sloane, played by Jessica Chastain, is an employee of a political lobbyist firm that supports the gun lobby. During a lunch with a major gun lobbyist who wants to bring more political support for no gun control by influencing young women to buy guns, Sloane switches over to the other side and quits the firm she is with. She then tries to do the impossible, by supporting a new bill that wants more background checking for guns. Why an obvious bill like this is considered impossible to pass is what is wrong with Washington. Defending the second amendment for years has been confused with Government control and taking away the rights of citizens to bear arms, rather than improving laws so that known terrorists and crazy people can not get their hands on guns or ever be able to buy machine guns or other dangerous firearms that no law abiding citizen would ever need. Of course, money and payoffs are involved and the gun lobby has enough money to suppress the obvious need for more common sense gun control for many years. A great argument is made in this film where Sloane debates gun control with another political operative and compares gun control with having to get a drivers license. Why is it that we require people to get a license to drive and pass a test, but not for owning a gun?

The main character of Elizabeth Sloane is portrayed in this film as someone who works 16 hour days, has no personal life, wants no personal life and needs drugs both to get to sleep and keep herself awake. There are people like Elizabeth all around Washington and as her doctor points out to Sloane over the phone, the way she is living her life, she will not live very long. This much is very obvious when you watch her extremely high stress, high pressure, rapid fire life.

I thought this movie was extremely well acted, most especially by Jessica Chastain and the many twists and turns, especially at the end were well done. John Lithgow also stars in this film as a senator and his part mostly consists of chairing various senate hearings that are investigating Elizabeth Sloane. The ending was a surprise and I thought was one of the best parts of the entire two hours. I give Miss Sloane a very high recommendation.