Category Archives: Star Wars

Movie and TV Trailer Thursday!

Man, this was a week for new movie trailers. Are they all trying to get ahead of the new Mission Impossible film? Are they just coming out willy nilly? Wanting to get ahead of Barbie and/or Oppenheimer next week? Either way, we got a bunch, and I’m just gonna rapid fire go through them all and give my thoughts.

Let’s start with the first trailer for Napoleon, starring Joaquin Phoenix.

I’m looking forward to this film. Ridley Scott is a great director, and he’s bound to make an awesome, big historical epic. Napoleon is also one of those historical figures that I simply don’t know much about, so it’ll be neat to learn more. Should be a big, fun, interesting historical movie about a figure that doesn’t get much attention.

Napoleon comes out at Thanksgiving time.


Next up, a TV show, the new Twisted Metal show, starring Anthony Mackie. I like Mackie, and I enjoyed the Twisted Metal games as much as the next person.

I liked this trailer, but I also worry about this trailer. It looks a little too cheap, a little too campy, a little too forced. At the same time, what I’ve seen of Sweet Tooth looks great. And I liked Mackie’s jokes, even if I don’t think he’s doing his best in his delivery. It feels…off. It doesn’t feel like his usual charm. But I’m going to check it out anyway, to be sure.

Twisted Metal comes to Peacock on July 27.


How about next we watch Wonka, the first major trailer for this Willy Wonka prequel.

I don’t care for this trailer. And I definitely don’t care for Timothy Chalamet as a young Willy Wonka. This trailer looks like he’s trying too hard. Like he’s trying really hard to nail an impression on the idea of Willy Wonka. And the story looks dumb. Wonka had to overcome a chocolate cartel in order to launch his factory? That sounds dumb. And giving him a sidekick who doesn’t appear in the other movies? Why?

Though those few seconds of Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa are hilarious.

Wonka comes to theaters on Dec. 15.


Alright, two left! Next up is a new, full trailer for Blue Beetle. A superhero movie! I love those!

I like the look of this movie, but I also fear for it. Blue Beetle looks good. The cast is solid, the SFX look great, and it should be solidly heroic. But…it also looks like it’s following the template exactly. Young hero stumbles into powers they didn’t want, goes on a training montage, goes up against a villain who is their exact opposite; it’s all been done a million times before. And it’s also a DC movie, and audiences have been brutal to those recently. I don’t think Blue Beetle is going to rise above the savage reaction to Black Adam and The Flash. But let’s hope for the best.

Blue Beetle comes to theaters on Aug. 18.


Last, but surely not least, is a full trailer for the Ahsoka TV show, starring Rosario Dawson.

Looks great to me! After Andor, I think this show is going to lean more heavily into the whiz bang pow of Star Wars, and I’m fine with that. As long as we get some quality storytelling, some quality character work and great use of known characters, this should be a blast. I’m very excited to learn more about the two new evil Force users and their orange lightsabers. And the live action Rebels cast should be a hoot!

Ahsoka comes to Disney+ on Aug. 23.

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Our First Look at Star Wars: Outlaws Looks Pretty Good

A big, open world Star Wars game has been rumored for some time now. I even did a List of Six about what I’d like to see in such a game when it was first announced two years ago. Based on the new trailer and game announcement, looks like I’m getting about half of what I hoped for. Star Wars: Outlaws will be a non-Jedi game where you play as a plucky, young scoundrel getting up to crimes and mischief sometime during the original trilogy timeframe.

Here’s the cinematic announcement trailer.

Looks fine. Looks full of Star Wars stuff. The protagonist looks neat. I’m disappointed that she’s just another human. And a white person at that. But I can live with it. At least she’s a woman. This is Star Wars. Why can’t we have really diverse alien protagonists for some of these games? Does that not test well? Would nobody buy the game if the protagonist was a lady Twi’lek?

Anyway, here’s the gameplay trailer.

Again, looks fine. That’s all the open world gameplay stuff that I really enjoy. I like how she can transition between locations, including planets, maybe. I like how she can use her little pet to accomplish stuff in game, like effect the environment and grab new weapons.

But it also all looks kind of samey. Nothing really stands out as new or exciting for an open world game. So perhaps it will just be a generally enjoyable Star Wars game. Nothing wrong with that. I like those.

Star Wars: Outlaws, produced by Ubisoft, comes out sometime next year.

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In Which I Rank Every Episode From Star Wars: Visions Season 2

May the Fourth has come and gone, and with it a new season of Star Wars: Visions. I think this is a great little show, and a great idea overall. Sign up a bunch of animation studios from around the world and have them put together their own short Star Wars cartoon. They don’t have to feature any familiar characters and don’t have to be in continuity. Just use Star Wars iconography and tell your own story. It’s a great idea and has resulted in some great cartoons.

I very much enjoyed the first season, when they focused on anime studios. You can check out my rankings on the season 1 episodes here. I also enjoyed the second season a whole lot. They opened up to Western animation studios as well as others around the world, so it wasn’t strictly anime-focused. I can’t wait to see what they do next year!

Join me after the jump for my ranking of all nine episodes of Star Wars: Visions season 2. Expect FULL SPOILERS for the whole season. And feel free to share your own rankings and reviews in the comments below!

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6 Thoughts on the Third Season of The Mandalorian

You know what’s weird? I went looking through my archives and apparently I didn’t do review lists for the first two seasons of The Mandalorian. Why not? I did them for The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan. But why not for The Mandalorian? What was I thinking? I loved the first two seasons! I love this whole show! I wish I could go back in time in my own mind and figure out what happened. At least present day Sean can make up for those mistakes.

TV Rating: 8/10 – Very Good

I really enjoyed the third season of The Mandalorian. I know a lot of people haven’t liked it, but I don’t know what those people are thinking. It was a fun season, full of neat episodes, and some great character moments. This has been a fantastic show from beginning to end, and I can’t wait to see where Din Djarin and Grogu show up next. They’re great new characters and they went on quite the adventure this season — even if it was a dumb movie to have their reunion in The Book of Boba Fett. What were they thinking?! Anyway, since I watch all the shows, I wasn’t lost, and I had a good time with The Mandalorian season 3.

Join me after the jump for my full review/thoughts on the third season of The Mandalorian. Expect FULL SPOILERS for the whole season. And feel free to share your own thoughts in the comments below.

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6 Things I Want to See in a New Rey Skywalker Movie

A week or so ago, the good people at Star Wars Celebration announced a slew of new film and TV projects, including the return of Daisy Ridley as Rey Skywalker. Many of us had written off the sequel movies and their era as dead in the water. They were not well liked by the fans, and we’ve only really heard some bad stories coming out of production. So this was a surprise, to be a sure, but a welcome one.

First yellow, now orange. What’s next? Puce?!

I am not one of those bitter fans who hate all things Star Wars these days. I love all things Star Wars. I’m enjoying the third season of The Mandalorian and see nothing wrong with it. I don’t have very high opinions of the sequel films, but I liked the characters, and I’ll watch any future Star Wars movie that comes to theaters. And I’d be perfectly happy to see another movie set beyond those films, to keep the story going. Rey is the perfect character to follow. I don’t have any problems with the character whatsoever — even though I wish she’d remained a nobody, and not Palpatine’s granddaughter. That was dumb.

Join me after the jump for six things I want to see in a new Rey movie set after the sequel trilogy. And feel free to share some of your own ideas in the comments below!

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