What I loved about Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens on opening night and completely loved it. J.J. Abrams did an amazing job capturing the spirit of the original and building an awesome new environment for the future of the franchise. 

It's not a perfect movie, but it is amazingly fun and I enjoyed every minute of it. If you haven't seen it and are even remotely a Star Wars fan, go and see it.*

You can find spoiler-free reviews all over the internet. I'm not going to do a review or spoil any plot points, but I want to talk about the things I really loved in the new movie.

• Rey. I have daughters. And I couldn't be happier that Rey is a strong, independent and awesome character in the Star Wars universe. The original trilogy didn't have any strong women outside of Leia. I can't wait to see what my daughters think of Rey.
• Droids. BB-8 steals the show. Seriously great. And great moments from C-3PO and R2-D2, too. Funny and comical in the same way that they were in the original trilogy. Not obnoxious and slap-stick like the prequels.
• Spoiler Free. I went into the movie completely spoiler free. I hadn't read reviews or online spoilers. I watched the trailers, but that was it. I didn't have any idea what was coming next. And it was perfect.
• Mystery. Lots of mysteries are revealed, but even more are teased and not answered. Plenty to reveal in the next two movies.
• Production Design. The movie looks incredible. It's a perfect visual extension of the original trilogy. The ships are great. The planets look amazing. And the whole thing looks like Star Wars.

I'm going to see it again tonight with my wife and will probably have more thoughts. But as a Star Wars fan, I'm happy. Thanks, J.J.

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* And see it now, before the movie is spoiled for you. 

Space!

Last week, it was "Attack of the Comic Book Trailers." This week, the awesome trailers are about space.

First up, a trailer for Independence Day: Resurgence. Looks like a fun summer action movie that tries to recapture the spirit of the original.

And then, the trailer for Star Trek: Beyond was released. It's going to be shown with Star Wars, which makes sense since they are both J.J. Abrams reboots. It also looks great. I enjoyed the first two Star Trek reboots and this looks to extend that world.  As a designer, I love the look and the art direction.

And of course! Thursday! Star Wars! So excited!

Comic book trailer season

As we count down the days to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it looks like Marvel and DC are getting their summer blockbuster trailers ready for the surge in holiday movie goes. And they all look pretty impressive.

I've already posted about Captain America: Civil War. Looks incredible:

I wasn't excited about Batman v Superman... until the latest trailer. I haven't been super impressed with the DC cinematic universe. It's so dark. And I wasn't sure how this Batman v Superman plot would play out. Now I'm intrigued. Wonder Woman looks awesome. 

And now, Fox has dropped the trailer for X-Men Apocalypse. I really do like the last two X-Men movies. And considering that I grew up with X-Men as my favorite comic, I always want to love the X-Men movies. I'm cautiously optimistic.

Avengers 3: Civil War?

So I've been worried about the Avengers franchise. I liked "Age of Ultron," but Joss Whedon's departure from the franchise concerns me. And with the addition of every character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to the cast of Captain America: Civil War, I was worried the film would be come a confusing mess. (Oh yeah, they are adding Spiderman, too.)

The first trailer has dropped for Captain American: Civil War and it's impressive:

The trailer looks awesome, but it does look like another Avengers movie. I was concerned about adding Tony Stark to a Captain America film, but I seems to make sense. You can't live in the universe and deal with big concepts and not include all the relevant characters. The emphasis on Bucky is surprising to me, but he is one or two people that Captain America would do anything to protect.* And it was good to see Black Panther, too.

I'm looking forward to the seeing Captain America: Civil War, even if it really is Avengers 3: Civil War.

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* Bucky and Peggy Carter. Can't wait for season 2 of Agent Carter by the way...

Entertainment Weekly has a Star Wars preview! →

I'm more than a little excited about the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Entertainment Weekly has interviews and promo shots from the film and I'm impressed so far. I trust that J.J. Abrams will make something great and I have no doubt it will be better than the prequels. If you want to take a look at some cool promo shots and read some articles that tell you a whole lot without actually telling you anything important, hope on over to EW and check it out.

The second teaser trailer awakens...

I'm excited about the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens this December. And the release of the new teaser trailer. So much to examine and speculate about. Here it is below:

I also love that one of my favorite podcasts, the Incomparable, did an hour and half breakdown of a 2 minute trailer. And I listened to the whole thing. December can't get here soon enough.