Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

It's hard to get all five local members of my family to agree on a movie, as we do for Christmas. This was a bit of a compromise, with my mom expecting to be bored some of the time despite a female protagonist. (Hey, modern action scenes do go on rather long by older viewers' standards.) Afterward, she said at least she stayed awake and enjoyed some humor. So how does it stand up for a moderate SW fan?

Well, first, let me assure you that it's not the fanfic-esque retread that many viewers perceived Episode VII to be, for better or worse. Ending possibly mere minutes before the start of Episode IV (you know, the first SW film ever made), it tells the story of how the Empire began its Death Star and how the Rebel Alliance learned its key weakness. The title refers to an eventual call sign for a ship containing a handful of rebels on a secret mission. Chief among them is Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), who has a bone to pick with Imperial Commander Krennic (Ben Mendelssohn) for killing her mother and coercing her father, Galen (Mads Mikkelsen), to design the space battle station, starting when she was little.

The Theory of Everything (2014)

Yes, I see modern releases in theaters sometimes. In this case, a very good yet sparsely attended theater. Perhaps not many people care to see a movie about a theoretical physicist. Or a man who can move less and less as the story continues (which of course feels much faster on screen). Or both. It did remind me at times of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, the most depressing movie I ever...loved. But TToE is much less depressing, and not just because the protagonist is still alive.