Star Wars, Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

Boy, how unpopular does a modern Star Wars movie have to be for me to wait more than two years to check it out? This isn't even a stand-alone; it's the conclusion of the numbered series, and I'd hate to end my knowledge with the unresolved prior episode. Well, what finally spurred me to watch it was a set of diminishing options for passing time on my flight. Most of the remaining movies were either unknown to me, even more panned, or not suited to my mood at the time.

One of the first things we learn is something I never saw coming: Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) is back, and not as a ghost. He claims credit for directing the First Order behind the scenes and corrupting Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), whom he now bids kill the last Jedi, Rey (Daisy Ridley). As impressive as Rey was before, she feels that she has a lot to learn before taking on Palpatine. Good thing she still has plenty of allies, old and new, and Kylo isn't as committed as he once was.

Star Wars, Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)

So yeah, we've made a family tradition of watching current Star Wars movies on Christmas. Never my mom's first choice, but it beats our previous tradition of dark musicals in my book.

Picking up right where Episode VII left off, Rey (Daisy Ridley) has found the hiding place of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and wants him to train her so she can contribute better to the war. But Luke has grown bitter and disenchanted with Jedi ways and dreads the possibility of creating another Vader-esque Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), who has some Force-related connection to Rey. Meanwhile, despite its previous victory, the Resistance is weakening and struggles to retreat from a First Order bent on eradicating it.

The Revenant (2015)

When I realized that I had seen only two of the Academy Best Picture nominees for the year, I got a little antsy. It's been ages since I saw fewer than half the nominees before the ceremony, and those that I had seen are not expected to win. Between heavy snow and my imminent international vacation, I wouldn't have much more of a window for the favored pics, so my dad and I gave this priority on the weekend.

The story is inspired by a key 1823 event in the life of fur trader Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio), namely a battle with a mama bear that he just, eheh, barely won. Since his party just lost many men to an Arikara tribal raid, they are reluctant to stick around, but Glass is in no shape to be moved along the terrain. The captain (Domnhall Gleeson) pays two men to stay with him, along with his adolescent half-Pawnee son, Hawk. Alas, in the temporary absence of junior Jim Bridger, John S. Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) tries to suffocate Glass and kills Hawk for interfering. He then talks Bridger into leaving Glass for dead lest they all die. But Fitzgerald underestimates how much a father's vengeance facilitates recovery....

Star Wars, Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)

I considered skipping this review, because it's quite likely that you've already formed your opinion from multiple other reviews if not the movie itself by now. But it's also quite likely that you'll take more interest in this subject than in my usual fare, so why not? And it's not like I never read what other people say about what I've already seen.

In a way, TFA is inherently sad from the get-go: Only a generation after the end of the Empire, the galaxy faces an equal if not worse threat called the First Order. General Leia (no longer going by "Princess") naturally leads the Resistance, but Luke Skywalker has lain low for so long that many think him a mere legend, Han Solo and Chewbacca have been up to their old smuggling and other shenanigans more than heroism, R2D2 has been inert in Luke's absence, and C3PO is only so useful without R2. Taking more of the spotlight now are Rey, who resembles a young female Luke with a bit more fire; FN-2187, nicknamed Finn, a rookie stormtrooper disenchanted with the First Order's cruelty; BB-8, a diminutive droid carrying an important map; and Poe, a pilot and BB-8's master. The most prominent villain for now is Kylo Ren, an open Darth Vader wannabe who may actually outdo Vader's command of the Force. Where is the Jedi who can hold his or her own against him?

Brooklyn (2015)

I hadn't expected to see this, especially in a theater. The advertising just hadn't grabbed me, if I even knew of it. But when my folks invited me for a Thanksgiving viewing, I thought, "Well, why not? It's popular enough."

In the early '50s, young woman Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) moves from a small Irish town to the titular borough for a prearranged job. It takes her some time to fit in, but a big boost comes when lovable Italian-American Tony (Emory Cohen) courts her and then her boarding housemates help her react appropriately. It looks as though that would be the end of her homesickness, but then some news from Ireland arrives in the second half....