Star Wars 7 Cast!

So there is a lot to talk about this week when it comes to Star Wars. I've been re-watching the prequel films, trying to figure out a review for them without sounding redundant or repeating countless things that have been said about them before.

I plan to give some kind of review on those movies in some capacity soon but right now there's bigger news.

The picture to your left is a really funny picture because I think they're trying to recreate the casting pictures from the original Star Wars trilogy. You know the old ones with Harrison Ford when he was just a simple carpenter, before he became our messiah. And Mark Hamil and Carrie Fisher before they got old.

Like this one!

And it makes me very excited because the picture above is a picture of the new cast members and the original cast members sitting down to discuss Star Wars episode 7.

Now the new episode is still over a year away but with May the 4th coming up, its time to start dishing out information about the movie.

Now I'll be honest, when I first heard they were doing another Star Wars trilogy... I wasn't wild about it. It just kind of seemed like a ploy Disney was using to make money off a franchise they probably spent too much money to get. Of course they're going to get their money's worth. Well some time has past and I'm warming up to the idea of it, especially with a studio like Disney. A company with a history of dishing out great movies and running them into the ground until they die. But at least it'll have a good start and hopefully last until this trilogy is over.

So as long as Disney swears to spare no expense in the mission to bring Star Wars back right, all I have to say is...

You're dealing with a property that I hold very close and dear to my heart. You mess with Star Wars, I mess with you.

But onto the reason I made this post. The new cast was revealed today. Now this is very exciting news because its a situation I've never been in before. I was too young to really think about how new the prequel film's cast was. They were just immediately the Star Wars cast. Now I have time to look into these actors and really "get to know them" before I see the 7th episode.

But the original cast is confirmed. Now we all kinda knew that they were coming back but it was never 100% confirmed. Now its absolutely confirmed and there's no more of this bullshit wondering if they'll be in it, they are, its done.

The movie is suppose to take place 30 years after Return of the Jedi. Han and Leia are married and we can assume they have kids, kids that perhaps will have important roles in the next movies?

I'd like to believe we're going to catch up with Luke as a much more powerful Jedi. And of course Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2D2 will be along for the ride.

But the more important roles are that of the totally new people.

Here's an album of the new cast members. No clue what their parts are yet but here they are.

Now to be totally honest, with the exception of Andy Serkis, I have absolutely no idea who most of these people are. So I'll start with that.

I won't claim to be a huge Andy Serkis fan. In a list of actors I really like, Andy Serkis doesn't really ever fall on that list. However, I can credit the man for two things. Every movie I've seen him in, I've loved. Maybe its just a coincidence, but I'm pretty sure I can also say I enjoyed the hell out of him. And that's mainly due to the incredibly things the man can do with his face. Gollum is still one of my favorite characters from Lord of the Rings and its because of Serkis.

Now it brings up the question, are they going to have Serkis be a CGI character or just have him act. Only time will tell. All I know is that the man can act, and I don't care if he's a gungan, I think this is a great choice.... Don't make him a gungan though...

I'd like to possibly see him in a live action role, possibly as a crime lord or possibly a Sith but I'm not sure if the FX possibilities are too much to pass up for Abrams. Only time will tell.

The other casting I think will be interesting is the casting of Daisy Ridley.

Ridley is a total newcomer. She's been in some random ass TV and some music videos or something but nothing really big. I don't know, I'm basing it off of one head shot but she looks like she would fit in Star Wars.

The guesses for her mainly focus on her being the daughter of Han and Leia. This is all conjecture but she is sitting in between Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher in the group photo... I'm super excited to see what she can do and while we do run the risk of screwing her over with only knowing her as that chick from the Star Wars films, this could be a huge launch pad for a huge career and I love that. I think that's really what made the original trilogy really good was the raw untested talent. Harrison Ford was a full-time carpenter. The only mainstream actor was Alec Guinness.

I don't know, but I'm excited.

The one complaint people have had with this list is that Ridley is the only female beyond Leia.

I'm just going to put it out there. THERE WILL BE MORE WOMEN! There is no way the entire movie is just going to be focused on these 13 people. Sure they may be the core cast but there will be more. They have given themselves room to bring in new characters to interact with these characters that they have set up for years and years to come.

Abrams wants a more diverse cast and he will bring it. Just watch. It will no longer be a galaxy far far away with only Princesses, and hookers as the only women, and 2 black men in the entire galaxy. (Lando, Mace Windu, .5 if you count Darth Vader's voice)

For a reference, use this video.

There are a lot of new characters and I'm really looking forward to seeing these characters in action. Some are going to be Jedi, some are going to be bad guys, some are going to be... random ass guys. Regardless, I think this is a really good cast.

I might go into more detail but I'm hoping we'll get a title of the film and character names in the coming days, considering May the 4th is coming.

Stay tuned as I will be taking more Star Wars in the weeks to come. However, I'm try to keep my knowledge as limited as possible about this film. I am interested in knowing the title and possibly the names of the characters but beyond that, I'm not watching any trailers, or reading anything about the story. I just want to show up on opening night and be amazed.

That being said, there's still a lot to talk about. Especially the current announcement on what it means to be Star Wars canon. I'll be talking about in the next post.

What do you think? While I'm not going to read anything about the story, I do like to speculate. Where do you think they're going with the story and who do you think these characters are?

Comment and discuss below!

I'll leave you with this. Along with the cast, its already been known that John Williams will return to do the music. And the truth is John Williams is just the man. Here's an oldie but a goodie. Enjoy!

24: Season 8: Part 2

I wasn't really sure if I wanted to write this review in two parts. I wanted to just write it in one fell swoop but as I was writing the first part, I realized that there are a lot of problems with the 8th season, but the main problems come from the last act of the season.

A brief overview leading up to the hardest part of the 8th season is that Jack is in New York with his daughter, her husband and his granddaughter. I'll reemphasize the point I made in past reviews that Jack is happy with his daughter and granddaughter. This is a place we have never seen Jack Bauer before. He's ready to start a new civilian life with his daughter in LA, its a great opening to a season.

 At the same time, President Omar Hassan, a President of a middle-eastern country is in New York with President Taylor trying to reach a controversial but very important peace process.

Jack is planning on going back to LA with his daughter until a former informant comes to his door and tells him that there is a mole within the government working to bring an assassination attempt on President Omar Hassan.

So Jack is brought back into action to search for the assassins looking to kill Omar Hassan.

He joins up with an old friend in Renee Walker when its discovered Hassan's assassinators are looking to get ahold of nuclear rods and the rods are being held by Russian mobsters who Walker had worked with before.

I may have said this before, but everything with Renee Walker was phenomenal. The storyline of her undercover in the Russian mob was dark and it was different than anything we had ever seen in 24. It was good. That also important to note. Annie Wersching was phenomenal and the relationship between her and Jack was really good. I will talk more about that in a little bit, but the series got a lot better when Renee Walker was back in the picture.

So after the plot line with the Russian mob, there is a short period where they are going after the terrorists who have the nuclear rods and plan to detonate a dirty bomb in New York. Now there are a couple problems, one being the daughter of Hassan, she was annoying. Also the idea that the dirty bomb was such a small part of the threat was a little bit of a problem. The first two acts of the 8th season have problems, but they not horrible. They're kind of like season 6, it was different and sometimes had stupid characters. However, it still would have been a good season.

However, then there was the final act. (I know that wasn't a really brief overview)

The final act of the season begins with the death of Omar Hassan, the death of the main terrorists, and the conclusion of pretty much everything that had been built up in the past 16 hours.

Jack apologizes for failing to save Omar Hassan but he takes Renee back to his apartment and they begin a romantic relationship.

I'll address this before I move on. On its own, making the relationship between Jack and Renee a romantic one was pretty predictable. It was sort of alluded to in the end of the 7th season and I think it was something fans were waiting for, or expecting by that time in the 8th season.

That being said, I liked it. Pretty much anytime Jack is happy, I'm happy when I'm watching 24. Its something Jack accomplishes finally and its a great feeling.

However, it does bring up the biggest problem I have with the last act and really the 8th season of 24 as a whole. Jack falls in love so quickly with Renee. It happens so quickly, and at the same time, she is murdered very quickly. Now when that happened, I was just heartbroken. It was the loss of a great character and the destruction of something that could have been a really great relationship between the two of them.

But the aftermath really bothers me every time I watch it.

The reason is mainly because of the first scene we see of Jack in the 8th season.

We see Jack Bauer as the grandfather, having the family he's always wanted but never could because of his obligation to his country. Suddenly Renee is killed and he is willing to throw everything away to make sure that she didn't die in vain.

Now Jack makes the rationale that he is not just doing to get revenge, that he is instead doing it because he doesn't want the United States government going into a peace process that is so corrupt without doing all he could to make sure it doesn't go that way.

But then you watch the brutality of the torture scene with the man who killed Renee. Compare that with how he killed Nina Meyers, compare that with way he killed the man who assassinated David Palmer. It was just an escalation of violence that was very confusion to me as someone who had watched Jack Bauer for 8 seasons. You may say he had more time and needed to get information from him so he had to torture him. Well then look at the mess Jack makes at the Russian consulate. He straight up murders a whole Russian delegation at the United Nations all because of a peace process that was corrupt and that the Russians killed Omar Hassan.

Jack Bauer goes from a man with everything to a man with absolutely nothing to lose with little to no transition. If you look at the promos for Live Another Day, you can see a much darker Jack Bauer that I would understand would murder a whole Russian delegation. But when Jack says he has absolutely nothing to lose in season 8, I just don't buy it. He has EVERYTHING to lose!

We've seen Jack rebel against the government before, we've seen him exact revenge. I don't think we have any misconceptions that Jack is going to stay within the law when he's doing what he thinks is right. However, to chop Renee's assassin up into little pieces, put a chimney prod through the chest of a Russian delegate, it just seemed over the top, even by Jack Bauer's standards.

All I can say is that it was a...

The upside about this radical blood thirsty Jacker Bauer that was born in the end of the 8th season is that it does open up for a new kind of Jack we get to see in Live Another Day.

If you've seen anything from the new Live Another Day season coming up in May. You will see that Jack is not the same kind of hero. I hope that they really develop that well in that Jack is willing to go to any length. Further than he was willing to go in any other season. I think it will open up for a fantastic storyline.

I just wish this interesting, very dark Jack Bauer would have been born out of something that made a little bit more sense. The loss of Renee should have hit him but in my opinion, it hit him too hard in Season 8 and it makes the last act of the season really difficult to watch.

And while we're talking about difficult things to watch, let's talk about Allison Taylor in the last act. With the terrorists dead, Jack doesn't really have anybody who will get in his way... until they decide to throw away any development we've had with Allison Taylor and just straight up make her the bad guy.

That is what happens in the end and it's all because of Charles Logan.

I'm not quite to the point of talking about Charles Logan in full length but he does play an intricate part in the last act. He is brought in by Ethan Kanin to talk with the Russian delegation and smooth out a road for them to come back to the negotiating table after Omar Hassan is dead. Logan is able to bring them back by blackmailing them with the information that he knows about their involvement with the assassination of Omar Hassan.

Now the Russian involvement in the conspiracy is a pretty large leap as killing Omar Hassan would maintain their influence in the IRK... I guess. The reasons the Russians are involved is very sketchy and really was a plot device to get the last act of the season a lot more action. Somehow being in the peace process would weaken Russian influence in the IRK, but then why would they be in the peace process to begin with?

But anyway, back to Allison Taylor.

I'll remind you this was the same President who had the opportunity to look the other way when her daughter was up on charged of murder and she changed her mind and sent her daughter to prison. Without any attempts to cover it up, she straight up said, nope, I'm not going to be a part of this.

But suddenly she's the main barricade to Jack Bauer as he unravels this conspiracy. Suddenly she buys into Charles Logan's manipulation. Suddenly she's the weak President everybody claimed she was in the two seasons she was in. Suddenly she was not that model of morality and good choices. And that sucks.

Imagine if they had done that with David Palmer?

Imagine if David Palmer had suddenly been totally against Jack, hard lining him, and making it so he can't do what is right?

It would never happen.

I haven't watched a season with David Palmer in a while and I'm sure there are parts in his seasons where he is not always the shining example of morality that I'm building him up to be, but my point is he was never considered the ultimate bad guy. He was never a deliberate obstacle.

Its unfortunate because Allison Taylor was on the way to being the best good President on the show. Since Palmer, the show had struggled with their presidents, either they were Evil (Logan) or they were weak (like Wayne Palmer) or they were boring. (Like Keeler, and Daniels). But none of them were as awesome as David Palmer. And the last act really brought Allison Taylor down for me because she wasn't just doing something immoral, she was doing stupid things the entire season and this was the pinnacle of it.

So what about Logan?

Charles Logan was really a surprise of a President because as a good guy, he was really mediocre. He wasn't awful, he got the job done and he even had some great moments in the 5th season.

But when Charles Logan becomes the ultimate bad guy in the 5th season, I think that was the last great twist of 24. It was unexpected, it was bold and they really pulled it off really well.

So they brought him back in the 6th season, and re-watching it, it was alright? It was such a short stint and you just saw a neutered version of the great villain we had come across before. His fate was obscure but it was no surprise when they brought him back.

Except this Logan was no longer neutered. He was on the up and rising and instead of redemption, he was working towards regaining his former glory. Regaining the prestige he once had and in a sense he was regaining power.

Was it good?

Well it gave us this scene.

I don't want to say bringing Logan back was a bad choice because it wasn't. Gregory Itzin is a great actor and he brings a great edge to that character.

But I just don't feel that he was used to his full potential. He was more of a puppet master but in the end it really didn't amount to much. He was utilized to find Jack Bauer and take him away quietly but in the end Logan wasn't totally needed in the 8th season. He could have been replaced with a sketchy cabinet member or someone in the United Nations.

It didn't have to be Charles Logan and that is unfortunate.

There are a couple other things that didn't really work in the last act but in the end it really came down to those three issues. The unnecessariness of Charles Logan, the moral failing of Allison Taylor, and uncharacteristic brutality and direction Jack Bauer takes as if he had nothing to lose... when he had everything to lose.

So what can we learn for Live Another Day? After watching some of the behind the scene trailers for the season, I am actually really looking forward to it. The 8th season, with all its flaws, really do set Live Another Day up for a different 24.

And I think different is good.

24 had really fallen into a rut so much to the sense that nothing seemed to surprise us anymore. The twists of people being moles was no longer brilliant, the characters were no longer developed enough to be freaking awesome.

I think Live Another Day has the opportunity to end the 24 story the way it should have concluded. I don't know if that means Jack Bauer has to die, I don't know if it means that Jack gets a happy ending. What I do know is that this season needs to be good.

If you're going to bring back a great villain, make sure it makes sense he/she comes back. If you build up a character of great moral character, don't make them fail for no reason. And finally, if you claim Jack has nothing to lose, he actually has to have nothing to lose.

I've got a good feeling about it the more things I see about it. But the 8th season, especially the last act was a train wreck that was just unfortunate.

But that's my thoughts. What do you think? Did you like the 8th season of 24? What's more do you think I should review more seasons? Its a lot of work but if I get any requests I will definitely do so. Leave your answers and thoughts in the comments below.

I'll leave you with this. This is the video that really put my faith back into this project and I think it is actually going to be pretty good. This video has a lot of information about characters and it gives a lot away about the beginning plot. You've been warned so don't complain if you didn't want that. You've been warned. Enjoy!