Audiences were spoiled for great performances in 2015. It seems now like we may be in some kind of golden age for exceptional actors and actresses working in their prime - Tom Hardy, Emily Blunt, Michael Fassbender, Brie Larson, Oscar Isaac and the like - and huge stars pushing themselves further than ever.
Whimsical animation for all the family - that's the reputation computerized 'toon mega-studio Pixar has cultivated in its 20 years of hitting cinema screens. The highest Pixar has ever reached in terms of classification is a soft PG; the studio's latest effort, The Good Dinosaur, earned the rating for no more than some mild, dino-based threat, with the film hardly containing the kind of stuff that's going to keep any children awake at night.
After years of waiting and not actually knowing whether a new trilogy would ever come (until Disney bought the rights), Episode VII in the Star Wars saga has finally arrived in the form of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. And, the critical consensus is that J.J. Abrams and his team have delivered a solid piece of popcorn sci-fi entertainment, even if the final product isn't entirely free of (mostly fairly minor) flaws.
The reviews are in and the critics seem to agree: Star Wars: The Force Awakens has overcome the most dreaded hurdle and has quite easily managed to outdo the prequels. It's time to breathe a sigh of relief, as J.J. Abrams has given audiences their first good Star Wars movie since 1983.
There are a number of burning fan questions that are clearly (read: hopefully) going to be answered in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We have questions of whether Rey and Kylo Ren are of Skywalker lineage, how the dregs of the Empire became the First Order, who the Knights of Ren are, where the hell the trailer-absent Luke Skywalker fits into this new trilogy - these are all things that The Force Awakens will simply have to clear up for the audience, simply in order for the film to progress and for viewers to catch up.
What do you imagine when you think of Steven Spielberg? Do you think benevolent bearded uncle of family entertainment, the man behind such popular fare as ET, Jurassic Park, the Indiana Jones movies and, oh yes, Hook? Or do you think dark lord of Hollywood cinema, responsible for some of the most traumatic moments in recent cinema history?
The sheer volume of fan talk and the amount of press coverage dedicated to Star Wars: The Force Awakens might have you thinking that J.J. Abrams' two-hour takeover of the Star Wars franchise is going to be the greatest film of all-time. And yet none of us have even seen the movie to know whether the hype is justified.
