Date Night: "Onward" Edition

I know I haven't posted in a while, things got a little chaotic for me, but I'm trying to get back on track with things now.  So, that includes more blog posts.  Last night, Bryan and I saw Pixar's latest movie, Onward, and we both enjoyed it.

Let's start with our dinner beforehand.  I normally just gloss over this part, but we had to change up our routine a little bit (we're creatures of habit when it comes to certain things).  Normally when we go to the movies in Rockville we go to Gordon Biersch for dinner beforehand.  Unfortunately, Gordon Biersch closed down, so we're both pretty disappointed with that.  Instead, we opted to try World of Beer, which is right across the street from the movie theatre.  We'd been there before, and thought it was alright, so we decided to give it one more chance.  I'm glad we did, as it was much better this time around.  Since we got there at the tail end of happy hour, we opted for more mainstream beers for our first round.  I got Alagash White, which I love but don't drink too often.  For my second beer, I got Secret Llama Blueberry Wheat Ale.  Now, my mom gets this blueberry beer from Rhode Island, and she absolutely loves it, but whenever I drink it, I don't taste the blueberry.  That was not the case with Secret Llama.  It had this wonderful blueberry taste, and they even added some blueberries to the glass.  I would definitely drink it again.  In fact, I think I'm going to see if I can get my hands on it at home.  I highly recommend it, especially if you enjoy fruit-flavored beers.

One of the reasons we enjoyed going to Gordon Biersch so much was the giant pretzel, although they got rid of the bacon sauce and changed up the cheese sauce lately, so it wasn't as big of a hit with us.  World of Beer has a giant pretzel too, so we decided to get it.  I don't like mustard, but Bryan said the mustard was really good.  When he tried the cheese, however, he immediately fell in love.  It was beer cheese, which is always good in my book, but, this time, it had a little kick to it, a little like queso, but it was beer cheese.  The kick wasn't overwhelming, just every once in a while you'd get some of it, and it added something different to the sauce.  Needless to say, we've found a pretty good replacement for Gordon Biersch for when we go to the movies in Rockville.

After a delicious dinner, we headed to the movie theatre.  There were so many trailers.  I mean, I expected quite a few, just not half an hour's worth.  Oh, and a short with Maggie from The Simpsons (Bryan pointed out that there was no talking during the short, as the voice actors cost a ton of money).  It was a cute little short where Maggie meets a boy she has a crush on at the park, and, of course, nothing goes as planned, especially when Homer's suddenly put in charge of taking her to the park.  It was cute, although I found it interesting that they had a Simpson's short during a Disney movie, but that's not my decision to make.  It could be worse, it could be Family Guy.

Okay, enough rambling, now to talk about the movie.  For those of you who don't know what Onward's about, it follows two brothers, Barley and Ian, who are elves but live in a world where technology has replaced magic.  So, you have all the mystical creatures you'd expect in a fantasy movie, but they're doing day to day jobs just like us normal people.  On Ian's 16th birthday, they're given a gift from their father, who died from some illness before Ian was born; it's a magic wand and a spell that can bring their father back for twenty-four hours.  Of course, the boys are thrilled, especially Ian, who never actually met his father.  As can be expected, things don't go exactly as planned, and only half of their dad is brought back (from the waist down).  There's the possibility of getting another one of the gems needed to power the magic wand to bring their dad back, so they set off on a quest.  For Barley, this is his dream.  He's obsessed with role playing this game that's based on what life was like for his world before they stopped using magic.  Therefore, he sees himself as an expert on quests as magic, although he has a habit of acting like a fool, so no one takes him seriously.  His heart is always in the right place though.

When I first saw the teaser for this movie, without really knowing the plot, I thought it looked amazing.  I mean, you have fantasy creatures who have lost the ability to do magic, fly, etc., just living normal, boring lives.  When I saw the first full length trailer, I thought it looked alright, but I was definitely less excited about it, as I didn't really like the plot.  I still wanted to see it though, and I'm definitely glad we did.  I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, and Bryan seemed to enjoy it a lot as well.

One thing I really liked about this movie was how these fantastical creatures have lost the ability to do magic as they became more reliant on technology.  It honestly reminded me a lot of the world today.  With technology, people have forgotten how to sew, cook, make things with their hands, etc.  At the end of the movie, however, there was a definite shift as characters wanted to get back to their roots and learn what had been forgotten over time.  This also reminds me of today.  Quite a few times in my 7th period especially, they get upset because they're not being taught how to sew, cook, build things, etc.  They tell me that they want to learn that.  One student even said, "I heard there used to be a class where they taught you that stuff.  Why did they get rid of it?"  I couldn't agree with them more.  Yes, we live in a society driven by technology, so those skills are important, but that doesn't mean we have to forgo learning how to do things with our hands as well.  Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now.

When it comes to the movie, I also loved the focus on brotherly relationships.  Lately (meaning the past 20 years or so), Disney has really focused on sisterly relationships, with the only exception being Brother Bear, which is an amazing movie.  Onward focuses on the relationship between Barley and Ian as they try to navigate life together and even mourn their father's death together.  What I enjoyed most about that was the fact that both Barley and Ian weren't afraid to show their emotions; they cried, got angry and laughed with each other.  The focus of the movie wasn't really about getting their dad back for 24 hours but rather the growth and evolution of their relationship.

I want to talk more about this movie, but I'm worried it'll get into some spoilers, so if you haven't seen the movie or don't want to read spoilers, this is probably where you should stop reading.

That ending was rough for me, I'm not going to lie.  There were definitely some moments that hit close to home for me, and I think it's just the timing of it all.  Had I seen this movie a year ago, it would have been sad, but I would have been fine.  With my dad passing, however, it all hit very close to home.  I think Bryan sensed that, as he kept squeezing my hand during certain parts. 

The scene where Barley talks to Ian about how he didn't go say goodbye to their dad in the hospital was difficult for me.  I almost didn't go see my dad that last day in the hospital before he took a turn for the worse, but now I'm so glad I did (we didn't know that that was his last day at the time).  I can understand where Barley was coming from, though, as it can be incredibly difficult to see a loved one like that, but it can also be incredibly difficult to live with the guilt of not saying goodbye.  That's difficult enough for an adult, so imagine how difficult it must be for a child.

I do have to say, I'm glad Ian gave Barley that chance to say goodbye.  How they did it in the movie was perfect too.  I thought it was great that you didn't hear specifically what they talked about but instead had Barley recount it later, it gave him a chance to show what was important to him from that conversation.

The other part of the end that I loved was when Ian realized that while he didn't have his dad with him to grow up, he still had Barley, who stepped up and filled in that roll early on, despite the fact that he was young when his dad died.  It was a wonderful moment when Ian realized that he had a male figure to look up, and while it might not have been his dad, it was still someone who loved him and cared for him immensely. 

Overall, I thought that this was a fantastic Disney movie.  It captured the whimsicalness of Disney films and the importance of family in a way that hasn't been done before.  Even though it's not doing as well in the box office as people anticipated, I still hope this isn't the last we've heard from Ian and Barley.

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Prepping for Disney World By Binging Movies

I can't believe I'm almost done with my pre-trip Walt Disney Wednesday posts, I only have two more left (I may have misspoken last week and said there two more left then, and if so, I apologize).  This week's post is one I originally planned at putting towards the beginning of my Walt Disney Wednesdays, but I thought it was better suited for the end.  Let me start out by saying that I have absolutely no idea how I convinced Bryan to watch pretty much nothing by Disney movies with me for the past two months.  If I knew, I would tell you, but he has the patience of a saint and put up with it without too much complaining.  For those of you wondering just how many Disney movies we've watched to prepare for this trip, the answer is a whopping 43, and we still have one more left to watch tonight.  We also skipped over Lion King because we got to that movie right after my dad died, and I just couldn't watch it, although we saw the new one over the summer, so we're counting that.  Now, we didn't watch all of those in the past two months, we watched a few last year before we knew we were going on our trip and a few over the summer before Disney+ came out.  Once Disney+ came out, though, it was all over, and that's pretty much all we've watched since.  It'll be weird not watching that.

When we first started out, watching movies, we watched in any random order; he would pick one, then I'd pick one, and we went back and forth like that for a while until I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and commented how it was the first Disney movie.  From then on out, we pretty much went in chronological order, which I found fascinating because it showed the development and growth of Disney movies.  Not only did the animation and special effects improve, but Bryan and I both commented on how the role of the female characters changed as well.  In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, you have a fourteen year old girl who runs through the woods screaming and then spends the rest of the time cleaning and taking care of the men.  By the time you get to Aladdin, however, you have a strong female character in Jasmine who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to take no for an answer.  Up until she met Aladdin, she even refused to get married because she didn't meet anyone she liked.  I wish we had started watching that way from the beginning, but that's fine.  I was going to list all the movies we watched, but, like I said, it's quite extensive.

Believe it or not, there were several Disney movies that we watched that I had never seen before, albeit not that many.  Bryan's list is significantly longer, and we can't even really remember which ones he had seen and hadn't seen.  As for me, there were only eight movies we watched that I had never seen before: Avatar, Robin Hood, Monster's University, Brother Bear, The Good Dinosaur, Ratatouille, Wreck-It Ralph and Ralph Breaks the Internet.  For the most part, I greatly enjoyed all the new ones I saw, although I didn't like The Good Dinosaur at all, I thought it was weird and just a bit too out there.  It was easy to see why it is the least popular Pixar movie.

Okay, time for me to talk about my top three movies that we watched.  Two of these really shouldn't be a surprise, but the third one is a new movie for me, and I was surprised at how much I loved it.

Beauty and the Beast has always been one of my favorite Disney movies.  I think it's because I could relate to Belle so much, especially given her bookish tendencies.  Let's also talk about that library the Beast gave her.  It has always been a dream of mine to have a library like that, although I also know the likelihood of me getting a library like that is pretty much nonexistent.  I also adore Belle's personality.  She knows what she wants, and she's not afraid to say it.  If anything, she's one of the earliest Disney princesses who really stands up for herself.  Ariel has a little bit of this, but she's also a flighty teenager who falls in love with someone she's never met.  Belle, on the other hand, isn't afraid to stand up to the Beast and brings out the best in him.  I know some people say she has Stockholm syndrome, but if she did, then she wouldn't have run away and wouldn't have stood up to the Beast and pointed out his faults to him.  She simply fell in love with him by bringing out his true personality.

This is another movie that shouldn't be much of a surprise at all either.  I love Stitch so much.  Yes, he's chaos and havoc all rolled into one, but just look at that little face!  He's positively adorable, and I can't get enough of his face.  Don't even get me started on Lilo.  Her tirade about Pudge the fish is one of my favorite Disney movies because on its surface it appears to make absolutely no sense, but once you learn that Lilo's parents died in a car crash during a storm, suddenly you understand why it's important for her to keep Pudge the fish happy so he'll make the weather nice.  Nani is also a wonderful character.  She might look like she's losing control of the situation with Lilo, but you have to take into consideration her age and the trauma both of them have been through.  Nani's about nineteen years old, and she's trying to take care of her five year old sister who has a wonderful spirit, so she's trying to keep her in line while simultaneously encouraging her keep up that wonderful spirit.  The underlying message of "ohana", or family is amazing too.  It truly shows that family doesn't have to be related by blood.

Like I said before, I had never seen Avatar before.  Personally, I thought it was overrated, and I hated that they kept releasing it in theatres with a few extra seconds of footage and then claiming it's the highest grossing movie ever (for the record, when inflation is taken into account, it doesn't even break the top ten).  I also hate that I love this movie because I feel like I'm jumping on the bandwagon here, but since I'm over ten years later, I feel like it's not that bad.  First of all, I thought this movie was absolutely gorgeous.  The scenery was stunning, and I can't wait to stand in Pandora in Animal Kingdom and get as close to being in the movie.  I also love Jake's fighting spirit.  It doesn't take long for him to have an appreciation for the Na'vi people and the nature.  He showed tremendous growth as a character and learned to live with nature, not fight against it.

As can be expected, I also asked Bryan for his top three favorite movies that we watched and why he liked them.  Unfortunately, he just couldn't decide, which honestly surprises me.  I thought that he just went through the motions of watching the movies to appease me, but it would seem that he actually enjoyed watching many more of them than I originally thought.  Glad to know I'm getting my boyfriend into enjoying Disney movies.  There's hope for him yet!

Of course, we didn't like all the movies we watched.  We agreed on some of most of our bottom three movies, but there were some we disagreed on as well. 

Neither of us liked The Three Caballeros.  Both of us found it incredibly weird.  For those of you wondering if it's even a Disney movie, yes, yes it is.  And if you're wondering why in the world we watched it, it's because the characters, Donald Duck, Panchito and Jose lead guests through the ride at the Mexico Pavilion in Epcot.  The movie focuses on Donald, who receives gifts from his friends, Panchito and Jose, and with the help of those gifts, he learns about the beauty of Latin America.  Disney created this movie as propaganda of sorts to teach its viewers about how wonderful Latin America is to boost its image during World War II and get people on board with allying ourselves with Latin American countries.  Bryan and I both found this movie incredibly strange.  It was a blend of animation and live action, not that that is a downside, if done properly.  Bryan was particularly not fond of the ending, which was simply Donald chasing a bunch of women in bikinis around the beach.  Yes, that's a great thing for children to see.  We both thought so highly of the movie that I fell asleep, and he almost fell asleep.

Neither of us were particularly fond of Pinocchio either.  Personally, I thought it was a movie that didn't know what it wanted to be.  You have a puppet who becomes a real boy, and the next day, the dad immediately sends him off to school without showing him around the village or spending time to teach him the ins and outs of existing in the first place.  Bryan's complaint with Pinocchio stemmed from the third act, which he said was "literally hand waved  with a note saying his dad had been eaten by a monster unseen or talked about before this very moment."  It was as if they didn't know how to wrap up the movie within the time or budget allotted, so they threw in the giant whale to bring it all to a close.  Had they at least mentioned the whale earlier, it might not have been so bad.  For me, however, it really stemmed from the fact that the movie was all over the place.  You had Pinocchio coming alive, then working in a sideshow, then turning into a donkey, then getting swallowed alive by a whale.  It's a mess.

Even though we didn't have to watch The Good Dinosaur to prepare for our trip, Bryan absolutely loves dinosaurs, so we watched it.  Like I said earlier, it's easy to see why this is the least successful Pixar movie.  It focuses on the concept of what it would have been like if dinosaurs hadn't gone extinct and instead become intelligent creatures, while humans are more similar to animals in terms of habits and intelligence.  I know, it's super weird.  It tried really hard to teach lessons of being yourself, bravery and friendship, and I can see small children quite enjoying it.  As adults, however, we thought it was just strange and a little bit too out there, even for a Disney movie.  Despite my complaints, I did think Spot was rather adorable, and I wished there was more of him.  Arlo the dinosaur, on the other hand, I found whiny and annoying.

Bryan's final least favorite movie we watched was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and I can see where he's coming from, but I just love the dwarfs so much.  While he does admit that it's a classic, he didn't really care for the overall plot (it is Disney's first movie, so they were just getting started on telling stories, and it makes a lot more sense than Pinocchio in my opinion).  He also complained about "the rampant sexism", which I also understand.  I'm not making excuses, but the movie did come out in the 1940s when you didn't have nearly as many strong female characters as you do today.  I know I talked about this already, so I'm not going to go into more detail.  Personally, I didn't find the movie awful, although it did bother me that the dwarfs spent all the time looking after Snow White and killed the Evil Queen to save her, and the Prince shows up, and she immediately runs off with him as soon as she wakes up.  It's like she didn't even care about what the dwarfs did for her.

Well, that's it for now.  There are only two more Walt Disney Wednesdays until we leave on our trip.  Next Wednesday will be our single digits day, and I'll talk about what I'm looking forward to the most in all the parks as a whole, so be sure to check that out.

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"Knives Out": A Not So Quintessential "Whodunit"

I had heard good things about this movie, but I wasn't entirely sure if I wanted to see it or not.  It sounded interesting enough, however, that I figured Bryan and I could check it out over winter vacation.  We were told ahead of time that one thing we have to do it get the fact that Chris Evans plays Captain America out of our heads, as he plays a completely different character in this movie.

This movie focuses on a very colorful family as they deal with the unexpected death of their father.  While the cause of death was initially ruled a suicide, the police still have some questions and doubts.  This is furthered by the mysterious private detective, played by Daniel Craig with an absurd and over the top Southern accent.  Use less than conventional techniques, he attempts to get to the bottom of the mysterious death while simultaneously trying to figure out who in the world hired him in the first place.

While Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) attempts to figure out if Harlan Thrombey committed suicide or was murdered with the help of two local detectives who are convinced it was an act of suicide, the family tries to deal with each other.  You have Ransom (Chris Evans), the black sheep of the family; Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis), who is strung way too tight; Walt (Michael Shannon), who takes care of his father's publishing company; and Marta (Ana de Armas), Harlan's nurse who loved him more than anyone in his family.  This doesn't include rebellious Meg and far right extremist Jacob, who were Harlan's grandchildren.  It certainly made for a colorful family gathering to say the least.

The cast is a whose who, including the aforementioned Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Christopher Plummer and Michael Shannon, just to name a few.  While I thought all the actors did brilliant jobs, I definitely enjoyed Chris Evans' performance was probably my favorite.  I think a lot of this came from the fact that it was such a huge diversion from Captain America, who he had been playing for seven years.  Ransom was vulgar, self-righteous and self-centered, everything Steve Rogers/Captain America is not.  I also greatly enjoyed Christopher Plummer's performance, although it's hard to find a movie he's not good in.  He really tied everything together and brought Harlan Thrombey to life in the most spectacular way.

Okay, now I want to talk about the plot in a little more detail, but it's hard to do that without spoilers.  So, if you haven't seen the movie yet or want to avoid spoilers, this is probably where you should stop for now.  Please make sure to come back once you've seen the movie.

First and foremost, I definitely didn't expect to find out who "killed" Harlan so early on.  I expected the movie to focus more on who killed Harlan, not part of the cast trying to figure out who did it while the other part tries to hide the crime.  I also hated the fact that Marta thought she was the one who killed Harlan, I felt awful for her, especially given the fact that she was the only one who really seemed to care about him as a person, not for his money.  This is only compounded by the fact that Harlan actually wasn't going to die because Ransom switched the medicine, so had they called 9-1-1 like Marta wanted, he would have lived, and his family would have stayed away, at least for a little bit longer.  Personally, I think that made matters worse for Marta, who should have just followed her instincts and called for help in the first place.

From the beginning, Bryan and I thought Harlan switched the medication and wanted to commit suicide.  After thinking about it, though, I can't imagine he would have done that to Marta, who he obviously cared about deeply since he left all his money, his estate and publishing rights to her.  The fact that he was able to come up with a plan to cover up his suicide at the drop of a hat.  Of course, he is a murder mystery writer, but still, it was like he had given this some thought before.  I found that incredibly strange, which was why I thought Harlan planned this from the very beginning.

Overall, I found this movie pretty good.  Bryan liked it more than Star Wars, but I liked Star Wars more.  I think a lot of this came from the fact that I expected more of a traditional "whodunit", while Bryan didn't have a lot of preconceived notions.  The movie was definitely entertaining, and I liked it, I just wasn't in love with it.  I'd probably give it about a seven out of ten.  It's worth seeing though, and is definitely entertaining.

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Wine, Board Games and Star Wars: the Perfect Start to Winter Break

What a fantastic way to start winter break!  Bryan and I bought tickets to see Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker for the evening, but we decided to start out our day by heading up to New Market Plains.  It had been a while since we'd been there (and by a while, I mean a few weeks), and we're part of the wine club there, so it seemed like a good idea.  On our way up to New Market Plains, we stopped by my house to pick up some board games to play while we're there.

You know you visit a winery a bit too much when the employee there opens the door and greets you with a giant smile.  Yeah, we've gotten to that point in our lives.  Since we're part of the wine club there, we get four free tastings a quarter, so we obvious did a tasting.  We even got to try the new 2016 Chardonnay, which is absolutely delicious and probably my favorite chardonnay that they have right now.  After our tasting, we bought a bottle of the 2016 Chardonnay and set up on the screened in porch with our board games.

We picked up Ticket to Ride on our way up to the winery because I thought Bryan had never played it before.  Turns out, he played it two weeks ago with some of his friends, but that's fine, it's a great game to play.  Apparently one of the cats that lives on the winery property agreed, as he decided to join us.  He only stuck around for a little while, though, because we kept trying to stop him from climbing up on the table and knocking over all the little trains we'd already set up.

For those of you unfamiliar with the game, Ticket to Ride is fairly easy to learn.  You draw three tickets with different routes, and you have to keep at least two of them.  These are the routes you'll have to build.  Some are quite long and worth a lot of points, while others are significantly shorter and worth less points.  You don't want to overextend yourself, though, because if you don't complete a route, you lose those points at the end of the game.  In order to build routes, you draw colored cards.  If you want to connect two cities that have say four orange blocks between them, you have to use four orange cards from your hand (or some rainbow cards, which are wild cards).  If a track is grey, you can use any color you want, all the cards just have to be the same color.  It's a super straightforward game, and if you're interested in getting more into board games that aren't Monopoly, this is a great one to play.  There are many different variations as well, including Scandinavia, the United States, Africa, Europe and one that's all over the world.

Unfortunately for me, Bryan won the first game.  I would have won, but he took the one track I needed to complete my route, and I didn't have enough train cars to go around.  Had he not done that, I would have won.  I did manage to beat him the second game.  We didn't have time to play a rubber match to break the tie, but we'll have to do that another time.

After finishing up at New Market Plains, we drove back down to eat dinner at Gordon Biersch, which is our usual dinner spot before we head to a movie at Regal Rockville.  I just can't get enough of their garlic fries, I could eat them all the time.  We also got the pork potstickers as an appetizer, which is part of their Christmas menu.  They were amazing, and I highly recommend them.  I wish they were on the menu all the time.  They're served with a wedge of lime, and I highly recommend squeezing it over the potstickers.  It's a subtle addition, but it makes a world of a difference.

Done with wine and dinner, we headed over to the movie theater.  I prefer seeing bigger movies like this at a movie theater with assigned seats so we don't have to camp out ahead of time and get good seats together.  We sat in the third row, which Bryan and I decided was the perfect row; you're not too close but not too far away.  It was pretty much the sweet spot.

Let me start out by saying that, personally, I think there's nothing more exciting than seeing the famous words, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." on a movie screen.  There's that anticipation as you wait for that amazing opening to begin with the powerful music and the opening crawl.  To me, it's the most exciting movie opening ever.  There was, however, a little bit of sadness this time around when I realized that this was the last one I'd probably see in theaters.  Of course, if they re-release the movies, I might be able to drag Bryan to see them again, but this was the last time I'd see this opening crawl for the first time.  It was definitely a bittersweet moment.

Personally, I thought the movie was fantastic.  I'll be sure to warn you guys before I dive into anything that has spoilers.  Out of the last three Star Wars movies, I definitely thought that this one was the best.  When it comes to where it falls in the grander scheme of things and compared to the rest of the movies in the series, I still haven't decided where it fits.  Like I said, though, it was the best out of the last three.  That doesn't mean a lot, however, since I thought that The Last Jedi wasn't very good at all.  In fact, it was so forgettable that I had to look up the synopsis at dinner and read it again so I could remember what had happened in it; I remembered the main plot points, but not some of the finer details I was afraid would come up in the movie.

One thing I will talk about before jumping into the spoilers is how General Organa was portrayed.  All of Carrie Fisher's were incredibly awkward, but that's because of her untimely death.  They had to work with what little footage they had of her, which made her scenes seem incredibly choppy.  It's hard to hold it against the movie, however, as they were doing the best they could with a tragic situation.

I feel like that is all I can talk about while avoiding spoilers, so if you haven't seen the movie yet or want to avoid spoilers, this is probably where you should stop reading.

Wow, just wow.  There were so many twists and turns, it was a lot to take in.  I'm struggling with where to start, so let's start with Rey and her family.  I knew she had to be someone important, but I had no idea who.  Part of me thought at the beginning of the movie with her eerily close connection to Kylo Ren that they were twins, but I just couldn't understand why Leia and Han would have abandoned her then.  It didn't seem like something they would do.  Other than that, I honestly had no idea who she was.  It never once dawned on me that she was the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine.  I never even thought of him having children, which is why her being his granddaughter never even crossed my mind.  It definitely made sense though, because Palpatine was so powerful, and Rey was obviously incredibly powerful as well.

Personally, I thought Kylo Ren showed incredible growth as a character.  I definitely got the feeling that towards the end, he was in way over his head and had no idea how to stop the monster he created.  He knew he did something wrong, but he was too far gone and had no idea how to go back and put a stop to everything.  Therefore, his only solution was to keep going forward and hope for the best.  In his mind, he'd come this far, he had no thing left to lose.  In the end, however, Rey brought out the best of him, and he figured out a way to put a stop to everything by sacrificing himself for Rey.  One of his greatest moments, I thought, was when he was talking to his father.  He was no longer a megalomaniac but rather a small child of sorts who just wanted everything to go back to the way it had been before.

Okay, time for complaints.  I actually only have two big ones.  First of all, that kiss.  I mean, seriously?  I didn't seen any point in that kiss at all, and it just made what was an amazing moment incredibly awkward.  I thought that a hug was perfect, maybe a few tears, but there had been absolutely no sexual or romantic tension between Kylo Ren and Rey in the first place, which made the kiss seem even stranger and out of place.  Yes, they had just risked their lives, but there wasn't any sort of history that would cause them to act upon.

Alright, time for my other complaint.  When Bryan and I left The Last Jedi, I was thoroughly convinced that Supreme Leader Snoke was Darth Vader reincarnated.  Bryan insisted that I was wrong, and this was a huge bone of contention between us for the past two years.  We would argue about it back and forth at random intervals, and both of us would get incredibly worked up and passionate.  To me, it made perfect sense; he wanted control of the galaxy, he was incredibly disfigured, and the scar on his forehead lined up with the one on Darth Vader's forehead.  There was no way I could be wrong!  Well, I was, or so I thought at first.  In the movie, you find out that Palpatine created the image of Supreme Leader Snoke in order to pull the strings and control Kylo Ren.  In fact, you even see a tank or sorts with several renditions of Snoke's body.  Here's my theory: Palpatine based Snoke's appearance off Darth Vader.  He did this to create an image that Kylo Ren would subconsciously trust, and who better than his hero, Darth Vader?  So, while Snoke might not have technically been Darth Vader, I think, in a way, he was.  Bryan doesn't exactly agree, but I think he just doesn't want to admit that I'm right.

I would be remiss if I didn't take some time right now to talk about Disney World's Galaxy's Edge (of course).  On December 6th, they opened a new, amazing ride, Rise of the Resistance.  I always assumed they waited so long after the opening of Galaxy's Edge to open Rise of the Resistance because the ride wasn't quite ready yet.  While this might partially be true, the ride also aligns itself pretty well with the movie.  In both, members of the Resistance are captured by the New Order and must escape.  That's pretty much where the similarities end, but it's enough that both tie in together and can work as easy advertising for each other.  When I told Bryan this, he rolled his eyes and said, "No, Disney would never make a ride with a movie tie-in."  In instances like this, I just ignore him.  I thought it made perfect sense, and now it makes me even more excited to ride Rise of the Resistance in a few weeks.

Overall, I thought Rise of Skywalker was a fantastic movie.  Like I said before, I found it to be the best of the last three Star Wars movies.  It did have some moments that were mediocre, but part of it (such as Carrie Fisher's death) wasn't their fault.  It was a fantastic way to wrap up the saga, and it was bittersweet to see everything come to an end

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A "Frozen" Adventure

That's right, I managed to drag Bryan to see Frozen II last night.  It was surprisingly easy, and he didn't seem to mind too much.  While there's no topping the original movie (which is often the case with Disney movies), I did think this movie was good and enjoyable.

In keeping with the spirit of the first movie, Frozen II explores the growth of Elsa's powers as she awakens the spirits of a mystical forest to the north of Arendelle while simultaneously focusing on the sisterly bond Anna and Elsa share as they support each other.  According to legend, indigenous peoples lived there, and Elsa and Anna's grandfather built a dam to help them harness the powers of the gods who also lived there.  While celebrating, however, the indigenous people attacked, killing their grandfather.  Their father was mysteriously rescued, and a mist settled over the forest; no one got in or out ever again.  Elsa accidentally releases these spirits, who force the people of Arendelle out of their kingdom.  Determined to fix her mistake, again, Elsa sets off with Anna, Olaf, Kristoff and Sven to the northern forest to find the spirits and chase after a mysterious voice that has been calling out to her.

Wow, that's a lot to take in.  One thing Frozen II did exceptionally well was its portrayal of the indigenous people, who were inspired by the Sami people, an actual indigenous people who live in Scandinavia.  Disney even signed a contract with the Sami, ensuring they would work with scholars and tribal leaders to make sure they were portrayed as accurately as humanly possible in the movie.  This is a huge step for a company that has a song titled "What Makes the Red Man Red" in Peter Pan.  It's a sign that times are changing for the better, and we are becoming more aware of representing peoples' culture as accurately as possible.

The animation was absolutely stunning in the movie as well.  You could tell that it was Disney really showing off its capabilities.  One thing I thought was gorgeous was Elsa's dress at the end of the movie with her hair down.  For some reason, I thought it was beautiful and incredibly detailed.  It looked like real hair, not like the chunky hair that moved in clumps in old Disney movies.  The animation is slowly becoming more realistic while simultaneously still showing that it's still animation and created by a computer.  It's amazing how far technology has come in recent years.

When it comes to the music, some songs were absolutely gorgeous ("Into the Unknown" and "Show Yourself"), some were along the lines of what you'd expect in a Disney movie ("Some Things Never Change" and "When I Am Older"), and some songs were just way too much (I'm looking at you "Lost in the Woods").  Idina Menzel really blew it out of the water when it comes to Elsa's songs.  She showed off her ability to belt and pour her heart into gorgeous songs.  Kristen Bell even got an opportunity to show off her singing abilities in a soulful, emotional song titled "The Next Right Thing".  It was Kristoff's song, "Lost in the Woods", however that was probably the most cringe-worthy Disney song I've experienced in a long time, if not ever.  It makes fun of cliches from boy band music videos, including Kristoff flopping against trees in an angsty fashion, running his fingers through his hair and turning to sing into a pinecone hanging from a tree that looks like a microphone in a recording studio and even having Sven and other reindeer as backup singers.  It was absolutely awful and felt completely out of place and forced.  Most children, who are probably the only people who would find this song funny, wouldn't even get all the cliches and references, so it's completely wasted.  To make matters worse, the song went on for way too long, and by the time it was done, both Bryan and I were completely over it. 

Okay, I got that all out of my system.  If you haven't seen the movie yet and want to avoid spoilers, this is probably where you should stop reading, because I want to talk about the ending a little.

Wow, I definitely didn't see that ending coming.  I agree, Elsa was definitely happier up north where she could expand her powers and be closer to nature, but I never thought she'd give up the throne!  It was a wonderful moment of growth for both Anna and Elsa.  They had the opportunity to push themselves and really do what they were born to do.  When I think about it, I do feel that Anna was born to lead more than Elsa, but I can't exactly explain why.  I think part of it stems from the fact that Elsa still has so much to learn about herself, making it difficult to also rule over an entire kingdom.  She also spent so much time locked away and in seclusion, she really needs to get out into the world and see what's out there.  She seems so much happier up north at the end, able to stretch her powers and live a free, laid back life.  It will be interesting to see how Anna will handle challenging situations in the future, but she always seems to have the type of attitude where she'll do whatever it takes to get the task done.  Let's also appreciate that Kristoff will be king one day, which is something difficult to wrap your mind around.

I also want to talk about the scene on the ship with Anna and Elsa's parents.  It was absolutely heartbreaking, and I definitely felt myself getting a little emotional.  I can't even imagine the amount of guilt Elsa felt, knowing that her parents died trying to get information about her and her powers.  At the same time, it was a wonderful opportunity to provide the girls, and viewers, with some closure.  Seeing that ice statue of the parents holding on to each other as a wave crashes over them, however, was absolutely brutal.

I feel that in addition to Disney making sure the Sami people were properly portrayed in the film, they also took advantage of the opportunity to include a little bit of a social commentary.  This came out when it was revealed that King Runeard killed the leader of the indigenous people and used that as an excuse to attack them.  This was all after he built the dam, not to help them harness the powers of the gods, but to limit it.  This is exactly like what the Europeans did to indigenous people all across North and South America.  They took away their land, limited their power and killed them when they tried to oppose them.  All of this would, of course, be lost on children seeing the movie, and it wasn't something I entirely realized until after I saw the movie and had time to process through the plot.  I think it's great Disney's including underlying themes like this in it's movies, and this one in particular is a way to call out the horrible things we did to Native Americans, even if it was fairly subtle.

Overall, I thought Frozen II was a fun movie that keeps the spirit of the first movie while not quite living up to the high expectations.  Some of the songs were beautiful, and the message of embracing who you are is still great.  If you're a fan of the first movie, it is definitely worth seeing.

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