A Green Mushroom

They're so good! I loved getting my Blu Ray of The Force Awakens.  By the time it arrived I had already watched the movie digitally a bunch (since it released that way first) but the Blu Ray came with the special features. They were fantastic!  The main documentary included was one of the best official behind the scenes documentaries I've ever seen.  The deleted scenes added a little bit more context to parts of the movie, but it was obvious why they were cut.  And all the little feature vignettes were awesome from the creature creation to John Williams scoring the movie. I can't recommend the special features enough.  If you love Star Wars like I do it's a must watch!

I'm still catching up on some of The Force Awakens tie-in novels that slipped past me in the months leading up to the movie. While I basically read every adult novel of Star Wars as it comes out, I skip over most of the young adult or early reader books.  Generally this has served me well, but occasionally there's a Star Wars young adult book worth my time.  It turns out Before the Awakening is one of those. It's a book broken into three parts, one for each main character in the movie. Finn's story is all about his stormtrooper training, relationships with his squad, interactions with Captain Phasma, and his first deployment.  It's really good backstory. Rey's story covers a few months of her scavenger.  It explains where her mechanical and piloting skills come from as well as giving some more information on how she views the world. Poe's story ties in most directly with it basically leading right up to the point where the movie starts.  We lea...

I finished The Force Awakens novelization this weekend after seeing the movie twice.  It's probably not something most of you would get a lot out of.  The movie is obviously the superior experience here. But the novelization added some additional context to situations and that's what I was really hoping for.  It had bonus scenes that were either cut from the movie or never actually shot.  And it added just enough that I found myself drawn through the book in two sittings. Especially towards the end of the novel it delved more into what the characters were thinking and feeling during the final scenes. Again, it's too early to throw spoilers into a post like this.  I don't want anyone to accidentally have the movie ruined by me.  But, if you're a die hard Star Wars fan like I am chances are you'll get something out of the book.  If you're not, then go see the movie!  It's fantastic!

I don't feel like I want to do a formal review for The Force Awakens.  It's much too difficult to encompass all my feelings and thoughts.  But I've seen the movie twice already and I have to say I love it! The Force Awakens captures the spirit and the feeling of the original trilogy while still managing to become it's own movie.  It feels like the Star Wars franchise has finally gotten a movie to live up to the originals! This may become my favorite Star Wars movie.  I'm too close to it to tell right now, and hype is crazy.  Perspective and time is needed but I know that this one is right near the top of my favorite Star Wars movies.  The Empire Strikes Back is a difficult one to topple from the top spot but I'm thinking The Force Awakens may have done it for me. Like I said, I need time and perspective before I'll truly know. But I love what they've done.  The new cast is fantastic and they are definitely their own characters.  They d...

Star Wars Aftermath by Chuck Wendig is the first novel in the Path to the Force Awakened series.  Basically, starting with this one, there are novels coming out that fill in some of the timeline between the Return of the Jedi and the Force Awakens. As you all probably know by now I love Star Wars, so I picked this up on release day and had it finished by the end of that weekend. This is the first really good book in the new canon universe of Star Wars.  The others so far have filled in gaps between movies that we already know, but Aftermath truly gives us new information on how the galaxy is progressing after the fall of the Emperor, Darth Vader, and the second Death Star. I've read all the new canon novels as they've been released, but you can honestly skip them all and jump right to Aftermath.  It's the best use of your time. The galaxy is in turmoil after the events of Return of the Jedi and the rebel alliance is in the process of becoming the New Republic....

The Star Wars The Force Awakens teaser trailer 2 launched at the end of last week and it's amazing.  I'm such a huge Star Wars fanboy.  Star Wars is my weakpoint.  I'll see any movie they put out.  I'll buy all the books and get into the games.  I can't resist. But it's amazing to see such promise for the new direction Star Wars is taking.  I know my own judgement on Star Wars is skewed, but it seems like most people are allowing themselves to get excited for this one.  Not to mention the new information on Star Wars Battlefront and Star Wars Rogue One!  The hype is real!