Be One with the Force: My Review of Rogue One

It's a good time for Star Wars fans to be alive.

Our favorite saga that we thought had ended had been resurrected and we can expect at least one Star Wars film every year now! How cool is that? Last year we were introduced to the new generation of Star Wars in The Force Awakens. This year, we're getting the first standalone film in the saga entitled Rogue One: A Star Wars Story or simply Rogue One. 

For the first time, we're having a Star Wars movie that doesn't center on the Skywalker family. Rogue One tells a heroic story that takes place right before the events in A New Hope. As we all know, Luke Skywalker and his friends from the Rebel Alliance famously destroy Death Star at the end of that movie. Rogue One will let us know how the Rebel Alliance gets a map of Death Star which helps them destroy the superweapon. A team that names itself Rogue One runs the highly important yet dangerous mission. The Rogue One squad consists of new characters that we've never met before such as Jyn Erso, the daughter of the architect of Death Star, and Cassian Andor, a member of the Rebel Alliance. Gareth Edwards, whose previous projects include the 2014 remake of Godzilla, directed this film while Academy Award nominee Felicity Jones leads an international cast which includes Diego Luna, Mads Mikkelsen, Donnie Yen, Forest Whitaker, Riz Ahmed etc.

The Rogue One squad (Source: www.magazine-hd.com)

Before the film was released, there were rumors that reshoots were done for the movie because Disney was not happy with it. The news made me, and lots of other fans as well, really nervous. Last minute changes and problems with the studio are never a good sign, eh? But, after seeing the movie, I realized that we shouldn't have been worried because the film is awesome!

What I love the most about the new generation of Star Wars films is how they trust young, talented and visionary filmmakers and let them helm the projects. J.J. Abrams has proven that he's the right man for the film when he successfully brought Star Wars back to life last year. Rian Johnson is currently working on Episode VIII  and I'm very happy that they choose him as the film's director. One of his previous films, Looper (starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis), is one of the coolest films I've ever seen. For Rogue One, the studio entrusts British director Gareth Edwards, and I approve this as well. He did a remake of Godzilla with Aaron Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen a few years ago and I love the film very much. I think the movie makes a monster attack, which is so otherwordly, feel realistic and plausible. I can say the same thing about Rogue One. This film's tone is a bit different from other Star Wars films. As you know, the other Star Wars films are always kept "light" and child-friendly (but still cool and awesome, of course!), but Rogue One plays with a darker tone. Edwards once said that he was going to make this film a war movie because the saga has the word "war" in its title haha, and he kept his promise. I think Rogue One really captures the roughness of wars. It shows how a war can force good people to do bad things like killing and deceiving. It also shows that not everyone can make it out alive by surprisingly (SPOILER ALERT) killing all of the main characters. This reminds me of Clone Wars. Oh yes I'm still not over Clone Wars haha.

Rogue One is a war movie
(Source: imdb.com)

Introducing new characters in a saga that has such iconic and beloved characters is clearly a challenge. I was a little skeptical about this at first, but Rogue One is surprisingly successful with its new characters. The characters have strong personalities and are definitely memorable. My favorites are Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor, Chirrut Imwe and K2SO. I'm so proud of Felicity Jones's Jyn because she's a woman and she's the leader! I'm so glad they put more women in this saga! Diego Luna has officially become my new celebrity crush and favorite actor haha. His character Cassian is so heroic. And I love his accent very much (I think I have a thing for men with accents hahaha). Donnie Yen's performance as Chirrut Imwe is just so iconic! He even gives us a new quote ("I am one with the Force, the Force is with me.") and makes sure we don't forget it haha. K2SO the droid, played by Alan Tudyk, definitely steals the show with his surprisingly sarcastic personality. Oh I have to mention Forest Whitaker's character, Saw Gerrera, as well. Saw is a character that was first introduced in Clone Wars, which gives me all the Clone Wars feels. He worked with Anakin, Obi-wan, Ahsoka (Tano, Anakin's young Padawan), Lux (Bonteri, son of a senator who used to work with the Separatists but then joined the Republic) and his own sister Steela during the Clone Wars. If Saw can have a part in this movie, can we expect to see other characters from Clone Wars like Ahsoka and Lux in the future films? I told you, I'm still not over Clone Wars.

"I am one with the Force, the Force is with me."
(Source: Tumblr)

Similar to Fantastic Beasts (click here to read my review of it), Rogue One relates itself to the main story of Star Wars without trying too hard. It features tons of easter eggs that I won't mention one by one because someone has already done that here, but it has its own story and its own characters. I hope the upcoming standalone films can do the same thing. Oh yes, there will be more standalone films. I think they're working on that Han Solo film right now. I heard about a Boba Fett movie as well but I don't know whether it's confirmed or not. Those projects are exciting but I will be even more thrilled if they make an Obi-wan movie. Yes, we want Obi-wan!

So, I'm giving another five-out-of-five rating hahahaha. I just can't contain my love when it comes to Star Wars and Harry Potter, you know. Enjoy your holiday and go see Rogue One, everybody!

Rating: 5/5

My Visit to Big Bad Wolf Books Indonesia

My first blog post as a 24-year-old woman! I suddenly feel old because 24 means you are not in the early 20s anymore; you have entered the mid 20s! You are an adult! It is still weird, you know, to see myself as the adult one, especially when I am at work. I spent years being a student but now I am not a student anymore; I am the teacher now, the adult one who leads, makes decisions, gives examples, etc. It is certainly not easy to adapt with the new situation but I am working on it. I still have much to learn.

Anyways, my birthday happens to be the last working day of last week because the following four days were public holidays. So, I had dinner with my family after work that day and went out with my friends on the next day. My friends and I went to the Big Bad Wolf Books Indonesia. It is a massive book exhibition that is held at ICE (Indonesia Convention Exhibition) in BSD City, Tangerang. There, books from various genres are sold with insanely low prices. To illustrate, imported novels normally cost Rp. 150.000,00 - Rp. 250.000,00, but during the exhibition, you can get 3-5 novels with that amount of money because one novel only costs Rp. 45.000,00 - Rp. 60.000,00. Yeah, that is a great offer. The exhibition has been going on since April 30th and was originally scheduled to close on May 8th. However, due to people's' high enthusiasm in visiting the event, the committee decided to extend it until today. You do not need to buy tickets to come to the exhibition.

Books everywhere

I went there with my friends on May the 5th, the first day of the long weekend. One of my friends and I arrived there at lunch time and we were shocked by the super long queue that awaited outside the venue. It took around 30-40 minutes, I guess, before we finally got inside Hall 10, the venue. Inside the hall, all that I could see were people and books. The books were set on huge tables and were grouped into some genres (romance, fiction, cookery, music, biography, etc). It was pretty hard to find the books that you want because they do not separate them based on their authors. It was hard to move around the hall too because there were just so many people there. There were people lining up in front of the cashier, people looking for books, people looking for their friends... And then we had to wait for about an hour before we could finally pay for the books and leave the hall. So, it was pretty crazy and tiring, but, hey, we got great books with cheap prices!

Lia, Nofi and me. After queueing, book hunting and queueing again, we could finally bring our books home!

I did not plan to go crazy and spend all of my money there, so I politely bought three books. And I got one bonus book from my friends! Here are the books that I got from Big Bad Wolf Books Indonesia.

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Well, you all know what this book is about, right? So I think I do not have to say anything about the story haha. I have always wanted to read this book and the rest of the series, but since I started watching the movie adaptations first, I decided to finish the movies before I start reading the books. Now that I have seen all of the movies, I think it is time for me to read the books. I found a copy of The Hunger Games, the first one in the series, as soon as I entered the exhibition hall. According to my friend Lia, the one that I bought has the UK cover. I really like the cover because it is so bright (the background is electric pink while the writings and the mockingjay logo are electric green). The price for this book is Rp. 60.000,00. I was tempted to buy the second and the third books as well, but decided to try one first haha.

2. One Day by David Nicholls

I first heard about this book when the movie adaptation came out. I have not seen the full movie, but I heard it received mixed reviews. Despite the mixed reviews, I find the premise of the story interesting. The story tells what happens to two friends, Emma and Dex, on every July 15 for the twenty years that follow their first meeting. It must be interesting to check on these two characters every year and see how much things change. And they have a complicated relationship that is in between love and friendship, which I find TOTALLY relatable hahaha. So, yeah, I am excited to read this book. Like The Hunger Games, One Day costs Rp. 60.000,00.

3. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

Once in a while I like to read light, fun stories just to ease my brain. That is why I bought Something Borrowed. It seems like a nice rom-com story. It is about a woman who has always held herself back, which makes her miss so many opportunities in her life (ehm so relatable ehm). But everything changes when she decides to confess her feelings to the man she loves, who is her best friend's fiance. I got a copy of the book that has the movie cover (Yeah, it has been adapted into a movie. I think every book has a movie adaptation now, eh?). This one is a little cheaper than the other two books; it only costs Rp. 45.000,00.

4. Bonus: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Well, I did not buy this book at the exhibition. My friends who went there with me, Nofi and Lia, gave the book to me as a birthday present. It is a perfect present because I am a huge Star Wars fan and my birthday is on Star Wars Day (May the fourth be with you!). It is a novelization of the sevent movie. Well, I have seen the movie and have known the story, but I am intrigued to find out how the movie scenes are turned into words in this book.

I am so excited to read all the books above, but I want to finish reading The Book Thief first. I think I would not need to go to the bookstore for the next few months because I still have four books waiting for me haha. Thank you, Big Bad Wolf Books Indonesia! I hope the event will be a annual one so I can come and buy cheap books every year haha. 

My Spoiler-Free Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review

Yesterday, December 18th 2015, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was finally released in my country. Before, it was set to be released on the 16th here, which made me make plans to see it on the 17th, my last day of work before the Christmas holiday. It would be perfect to celebrate the beginning of the much-anticipated holiday by watching this movie with your loved ones, right? My brain was so ready to see it on the 17th too. So, when it was announced that it would be released on the 18th, I was SO MAD. Well, I just had to wait for one more day, but still... It's a typical fangirl problem.

So, I watched it alone yesterday because my usual date could not watch it with me due the sudden change and the fact that he is so busy. It was actually good to see it alone. I could focus on the movie and go on the crazy fangirl mode freely haha.

How is the movie? It is AWESOME. Here is a list of things that I love about the movie:

1. They keep the traditional Star Wars things. It felt really amazing to see the writing "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" showed up at the beginning. And then the title and a short explanation of the current situation came up in the famous Star Wars style with the classic theme song as the background music. Man, I almost cried seeing them. The famous quotes like "May the Force be with you" and "I have a bad feeling about this" are kept too, which strenghtens the Star Wars feel of this movie. 

2. The new heroine, Rey. Two thumbs up for Daisy Ridley for bringing this character to life. She is just so lovable and relatable. She has a heart that is pure, kind and brave but lonely and scarred. She reminds me of young Luke, actually. The fact that she is a girl and the main character in the movie makes me really proud. The previous trilogies are led by male protagonists but this time we have a female protagonist, which is really cool. I hope this character will develop and become even better in the upcoming films.   

3. Another new character, Finn. He's just so funny and sweet. And lovable too, just like Rey. I'm still curious about his background, though. I have a feeling he is related to someone from the previous films haha. Well, I hope we will get to know more about his past in the next movies. 

4. The Darth Vader of the new generation, Kylo Ren. If Rey resembles young Luke, Kylo resembles young Anakin Skywalker. Like Anakin, Kylo seems to be very... conflicted. He certainly finds it difficult to control his anger, just like Anakin. I like this villain because, you know, I love complex characters haha. Kylo is involved in two insanely shocking scenes in the movie that made my jaw drop. Prepare yourself for those scenes!

5. The original trio. Luke, Leia and Han don't have much screen time in The Force Awakens. We all love those three characters but I think it's good to make them the supporting characters. The fact that they don't dominate this movie is kind of surprising but it makes the story more natural. These characters blend with the new characters and support the story when it is needed. I like this.

6. The flying scenes. The Millenium Falcon, the X-Wing... Oh, the flying and shooting scenes are cool and fun and so Star Wars.

7. The lightsaber fight scenes. They are not as classy as the lightsaber fight scenes in the prequel trilogy; they are more... rough here. But I think this goes well with the story. The ones who fight with the lightsabers in The Force Awakens are not trained Jedi Knights while the ones in the prequels are trained Jedi Knights in their glorious days. So, it makes sense if their fighting style is more rough. However, I hope we will be able to see the prequels' sophisticated kind of lightsaber fights in the future films. The prequels might not have remarkable storylines but their fight scenes are really, really cool.

8. The famous supporting characters from the original trilogy. Chewbacca! R2-D2! C-3PO! Seeing these characters again after all this time made me smile. I really wish we could also see other characters from the past films like Master Yoda, Obi-wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, Mace Windu and, of course, Darth Vader. But I don't think it's going to happen *sigh*.

So, overall, the movie is amazing. As a fan, I'm genuinely satisfied and happy about it. Thank you, JJ Abrams and his crew, for bringing back our beloved saga in a classy way!

Rating  : 5/5

The Day I Went to See Avengers: Age of Ultron

I went to see Avengers: Age of Ultron with my sisters last weekend and we had so much fun. There was an Avengers exhibition at the mall where we could see the superheroes' properties, meet some models who wore the superhero costumes, buy Avengers merchandise and play some games. We took a lot of pictures with the properties. I also met Darth Vader that day! A newly opened store was having a promotional event which is related to Star Wars so they put models in some Star Wars costumes! It was a great day for a fangirl like me haha.

Anyways, I saw the hotly anticipated movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron that day. And here are my thoughts about it.

The movie meets every expectation that I had before I saw it. As expected, there is nothing special about the story. As expected, I still find it difficult to relate to the superhero characters. I don't know why but I always have this problem with the superhero films that are produced by Marvel Studios. I can perfectly relate to other Marvel characters whose movies are produced by other studios, like the mutants from X-Men and Spiderman, but not with these guys from Marvel Studios. 

As expected, my favorite thing from the movie is the Maximoff twins, played by Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. I like how they portray the brother-sister relationship of the twins in this film, especially how they protect each other. It's too bad that [SPOILER ALERT] one of them doesn't make it out alive. It's hard to imagine one of them without the other. The action sequences and the humor in this movie are really entertaining too. My favorite action/comedy scene is when Hulk's mind gets manipulated by Scarlet Witch. He turns into his angry mode and forces Iron Man to fight him. It's scary to see how destructive Hulk can be when he is manipulated but the way Iron Man deals with him is just hilarious. I am also happy to know more about Hawkeye's personal life and kind of fascinated by The Vision. The Vision is just so... graceful haha.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen as the Maximoff twins

So, I think Avengers: Age of Ultron is not a brilliant movie, it is really fun and entertaining. Go see it and have a good time!

And here are some of the pictures that we took at the mall haha. The mall is Gandaria City. I think the Avengers exhibition is still on until tomorrow but I don't know about the Star Wars cosplay. 

I. Miss. Clone. Wars.

I think it's been more than a year since the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars was canceled following Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm, the home studio of the Star Wars saga. The purchase brought exciting news for Star Wars fans: there will be a seventh Star Wars movie! But it also brought sad news: Clone Wars, an animated series that was aired by Cartoon Network, is canceled. 

I still can't accept this.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is THE BEST animated series ever. It is even better than the second trilogy of the Star Wars saga (Episodes 1-3). It is so rich, filled with so many fascinating stories that reveal so much about the characters and the saga's main plot. It reveals how destructive the Sith Lord's plan is; how vulnerable Anakin is; how strong Obi-wan is; how the Jedi Order slowly falls apart without anyone noticing... It's the best, and I'm sure all Star Wars fans in the world agree with that. 

So why do they have to cancel it? I know it's because Disney has purchased Lucasfilm, but why doesn't Disney just take over the production and air it on their channel? People love the series so I'm sure they will still watch it. Besides, the production team still has so many stories to tell and is fully prepared to realize those ideas (They've prepared seasons 7 and 8!!). So why does it have to be canceled? WHY?????

Ehm please excuse my emotional explosion. 

I'm being emotional about this again because they released an unfinished story arc from Clone Wars last week. The arc is called Crystal Crisis on Utapau and consists of four episodes. It's a classic Obi-wan/Anakin adventure. There's a Jedi Master who mysteriously dies on the planet Utapau, so Obi-wan and Anakin are sent there to investigate. The clues that they find there lead them to a big conspiracy that involves General Grievous and Count Dooku. You can watch the unfinished episodes here.

Anakin and Obi-wan in action, back before the cancellation :'(

In the second episode in the arc entitled In Search of the Crystal, there's a scene that breaks my heart into a million pieces. It's a scene where Anakin and Obi-wan rest at night and talk about Ahsoka, Anakin's former padawan who leaves the Jedi Order (in that very devastating finale of the fifth season which also breaks my heart and makes me weep). Here's the transcript of their conversation.

Obi-wan : You can't take responsibility for Ahsoka's decision, Anakin.

Anakin : How would you feel if I turned into a major disappointment?

Obi-wan : It's not the same.

Anakin : It's precisely the same. You took me under your wing and practically raised me. I'm your padawan, just like Ahsoka was mine. How well would you sleep knowing that I failed you?

Obi-wan : Not very well, I imagine. Luckily, that isn't true and never will be.

How well would Obi-wan sleep knowing that Anakin failed him? You can ask him yourself after you put on your Vader suit, Ani.

Anakin and Obi-wan definitely have no idea what's coming. They don't know that Anakin would join the Dark Side and dedicate his life to kill every single Jedi in the galaxy; that he would eventually fail his own master. It's just so heartbreaking to know that Anakin has no idea that he would do that, which means that the Sith Lord corrupts his pure heart so much when he convinces Anakin to join him. Anakin aka Darth Vader might seem like the evil in the original trilogy of Star Wars (Episodes 4-6), but this little scene reminds me that he is actually the victim. The one who is hurt the most in this tragedy is Anakin.....

I think I'm going to weep again :'(

That's all from me today. May the force be with you all!