STAR WARS PART VII -- THE FORCE AWAKENS

Mark Hamill as the aged Luke Skywalker

STAR WARS PART VII -- THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015). Director: J. J. Abrams.

Scavenger Rey (Daisy Ridley), former storm trooper Finn (John Boyega), and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) team up with Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and the ridiculous Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) to find the long-missing Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and to destroy an installation that sends out planet-ravaging death-beams. The main antagonists in this are the First Order, who, naturally, want to take over the universe. Our heroes, under the command of General (formerly Princess) Leia (Carrie Fisher of The Women) also have to contend with one Kylo Ren (Adam Driver of This is Where I Leave You), who happens to be the corrupted son of Solo and Leia. I confess I've never been that carried away with the Star Wars movies, but this one (which sometimes seems like a retread of the original film) is colorful, has some good acting -- Daisy Ridley makes an especially good impression -- striking scenic design, and excellent FX. The man-eating, tentacled Rathtars are interesting creatures, and one of the best scenes is a suspenseful confrontation between Solo and Kylo Ren. It's been forty years since the original Star Wars and it's ironic that of the three leads, the oldest, Harrison Ford, looks the best, looking younger than his years, with Fisher and Hamill not having aged well at all and looking much older. J. J. Abrams also directed the Star Trek reboots.

Verdict: Frankly, despite all the money spent on it this is not nearly as much fun as certain of those classic cliffhanger sci-fi serials that inspired this. but it has its moments. **1/2.

SUPER 8

The train carrying a dangerous passenger

 SUPER 8 (2011). Writer/director: J. J. Abrahms.

In 1979 a bunch of kids are making a movie with a super 8 camera when they witness a train crash, which precipitates some very mysterious events: a monster is on the loose in town and there's a governmental cover-up. Frankly, there's too much of the youngsters and not enough of the monster in this Cloverfield derivative, which borders on a parody at times. Not only is this often too intense for children, but the humorous tone is completely at odds with the grim proceedings -- the "sensitive" scenes are undercut by the ugliness. This is another of those movies where we're asked to have sympathy for a man-eating alien while the deaths of innocent people go ignored. The ending involving a locket is sentimentalism at its worst. Stupid and not that entertaining. Elle Fanning makes an impression as Alice.

Verdict: Childish in the worst sense of the word. **.