The Starlight Journal

As per my annual tradition, my May the 4th celebrations always conclude with a viewing of one of the Star Wars films. My friend said I should watch “the one where Kylo Ren takes his shirt off”, and so it was decided. How poetic is it that the 1st entry on this site is for the film that has caused perhaps the most annoying never-ending discourse in the social media age. To that, I say, while I have my issues with portions of the movie, I’ve always loved and championed this film, and when this movie hits, it is truly peak Star Wars. A technical marvel – in terms of cinematography, editing, sound design, and performances, it may be the strongest of the Skywalker Saga.

I am a lover of many “nerdy” things, but my experience with Dungeons & Dragons is few and far between. I’ve only played a handful of games in my life, yet I had no problem whatsoever getting into this absolute riot of a good time. The story playing out like a D&D campaign itself, with many twists and new obstacles entering the plot on a whim, this film made me want to join a tabletop campaign immediately.

Perhaps the most quotable film ever made, you could ask me to make a Top 100 list of the best quotes and scenes from Holy Grail and I’d still have to make some tough cuts. My first film study course I ever took chose this as the definitive comedy to watch, and it’s hard to disagree. My personal all-time favorite comedy film.

Hearing “Open the fucking door!” uttered in an MCU film was a true euphoric experience.

Bringing the story of the Guardians of the Galaxy to a close, James Gunn took us on an emotional rollercoaster that goes down as one of the best post-Endgame Marvel films. A true ensemble piece, every member of the Guardians had their moments to shine, the High Evolutionary ranks amongst the best villains of the MCU, and Rocket’s heart-wrenching backstory defines the whole film: it’s his story at the end of the day. A true triumph of a movie, and a near-perfect way to end the Guardians trilogy.

Did I watch this specifically for Daisy Ridley? Well, yes. That, and intrigue over the trailer for the upcoming A Haunting in Venice finally had me check out Kenneth Branagh’s take on Agatha Christie’s murder-mystery stories. I love a good whodunnit, and this was by no means a bad one. The ensemble cast shines, though I couldn’t help of think of other recent, better murder-mystery films as I compared them with this retelling of a classic novel.

Man, those Ben Affleck and Matt Damon fellas sure make good movies together, don’t they? Telling the story of Nike’s recruitment of some guy named Michael Jordan to be the face of their new shoe line, this movie was just as engaging and riveting as a tight NBA Finals series, brought together by the requisite ’80s aesthetic and nostalgia, and Viola Davis simply being Viola Davis. One of Affleck’s best behind the camera.

Once more, with feeling…

My second viewing of Vol. 3 further proved what I had thought beforehand – it is just about as good of a conclusion to this story as you could’ve come up with. The story beats hit harder, the action scenes packed a bigger punch, the emotional beats had me wishing I packed some tissues with me. I enjoyed it even more on my second viewing, enough so to bump my grade up to give it my highest score.

My May wrapped up with a rewatch of one of my favorite franchises from my teenage years. Suzanne Collins’ excellent books were an obsession of mine as I moved from middle school to high school, and rewatching these movies continually showed me that her works, while very well-received and embraced back then, were more ahead of their time than I could have expected. While there were some, well, growing pains early on on just how to adapt these books about teenagers killing each other for the world to watch like the summer’s biggest reality show, they mostly hit the bullseye here. Just, how again were these marketed towards kids and teens, cause holy hell is this a dark movie.

Forget YA adaptations, this is one of the best book-to-film adaptations, period. For a portion of my life, Catching Fire was my all-time favorite book, and 15 year old Andrew gave this movie a 10/10 back in 2013. 25 year old Andrew has to agree, cause it’s even better than I remembered it being. The best of The Hunger Games series by a long shot, this movie has everything, from great action, wonderful characters old and new, a great twist on the 1st film’s games with the Quarter Quell, stunning costume design and cinematography, and gripping political themes that had me thinking of Andor during my rewatch. It blows my mind how good it is, and one of the best dystopian sci-fi films out there.

The early 2010s craze of splitting the last installment of book adaptations into two films results in some weird pacing issues in the two-part final installment, as well as debate of which part is better, and if the two-movie split was even needed. While I think you could’ve merged these two films into one and still had a satisfying conclusion, holy hell the political and war themes this movie brought to the table hit me like a brick to the face. I was ready to start a revolution in my living room by the film’s end. While it’s lesser on the action, it’s my personal favorite of the Mockingjay films.

Also, shoutout to Lorde, who really said I’m going to make my contribution to this soundtrack as big of a banger as humanly possible. I see you girly.

I’ve always had my issues with the Mockingjay story as both a book and a movie, but taking those aside, Part 2 is still a solid conclusion to the Hunger Games story. While there are pacing issues aplenty here, Jennifer Lawrence, Donald Sutherland, and especially Josh Hutcherson give some of the best performances of their lives here to really sell the final climax of the war between the Capitol and the Districts. Most people I know seem to prefer Part 2 out of the 2 films, and while I think this is my de-facto least favorite of the series, there’s still a whole lot to love about this movie. Did it need to be 2 movies? No, but it still finished the story on a relatively high note.

My obsession for this series is back, so I’ll see you in November, Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, don’t you dare disappoint.