Adam Driver

Midnight Special

  • Title: Midnight Special
  • IMDb: link

Midnight SpecialWriter/director Jeff Nichols‘ latest is an unusual movie more likely to appeal to sci-fi nerds than the general public. Midnight Special is a good science fiction movie with two major flaws which keep it from becoming the great science fiction movie that starts out with so much promise during its first half-hour.

Without preamble or set-up, we’re thrown into the middle of the action involving the abduction of a young boy named Alton Meyer (Jaeden Lieberher) from a religious cult by Alton’s biological father Roy (Michael Shannon) and Roy’s childhood friend Lucas (Joel Edgerton). It doesn’t take long us to suspect that Alton is no ordinary boy and why the cult, the United States Government, and Roy all have very different plans for Alton and his unique gifts.

A common problem in films like this is when they remind the audience of better films from which they borrow story elements. And Midnight Special borrows heavily. Although not in their class, Midnight Special will remind you of movies such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Starman, and countless others.

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Star Wars: The Force Awakens

  • Title: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
  • IMDb: link

Star Wars: The Force AwakensIt is a dark time for the Rebellion (even if they aren’t called the Rebellion anymore). The rise of a military force known as the First Order, built on the wreckage of the old Empire, is making the galaxy a very dangerous place for everyone’s favorite galactic heroes in a galaxy far, far away.

After waiting 32 years to see Luke Skywalker‘s (Mark Hamill) name appear in a Star Wars crawl the wait is finally over. Since 1983 we’ve gotten several different Star Wars cartoons, three (much maligned) prequels, an endless steam of merchandise, countless comic books and novels, and the sell of the franchise by George Lucas to Disney. The Force Awakens marks the first big project not overseen by Lucas with a storyline that diverges largely from the Star Wars Expanded Universe while playing on similar themes longtime fans are sure to recognize. Returning to what made the original trilogy so successful, director J.J. Abrams offers us a practical lived-in galaxy strewn with the wreckage of the Empire’s epic battles with the Rebellion.

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