What's it about?

It is a period of civil war.
Rebel spaceships, striking from a
hidden base, have won their first victory
against the evil Galactic Empire.

During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret
plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an
armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.

This is their story.

What did we think? Stephen Scott says: Where Return of the Jedi was let-down due to 'alleged' toy company requirements, Rogue One seems let down by a meddling committee. Too many cooks dilutes a terrific premise (4 stars) and muddies great characters (3½ stars) thanks to an overly-convoluted introduction (minus 2 stars) and dollops of unnecessary spoon-feeding (minus 7 stars).

But make sure you see it on the big screen for the final battle sequence - it's basically a 21st Century version of the ROTJ final act (5 stars in all its glory - wow it's good).

Epilogue: If you recall, we all loved Star Wars for George's ground-breaking "used universe" and the mythical unanswered questions (Jedi, Clone Wars, why there is no underwear in space). Edwards delivers a gloriously dirty reality, but the committee let the movie down by interrupting him, and providing us with too many answers to questions we didn't ask. A Star Wars movie doesn't require title cards to tell the audience where we are, that's part of the charm. Drop us in and let us swim!

What’s it about?
When a spaceship malfunctions, two passengers on a 120-year voyage to a new home planet wake up from their sleep state 90 years too early.

What did we think?
Elizabeth Best says: Take a sci-fi flick, throw in some romance, a few major (and kind of messed up) ethical dilemmas, and a healthy dose of tension and you have a movie that will almost certainly promote robust discussion of that “what would you do?” variety after the credits roll. In what seems to be a trend in movies these days, the trailer for Passengers is a little misleading. Without spoiling things, the premise of this movie is a LOT darker than we are led to believe.

What’s it about?
An aspiring actress (Emma Stone) and a jazz musician (Ryan Gosling) meet and fall in love in Los Angeles, musical style.

What did we think?
Elizabeth Best says: La La Land is simultaneously a loving homage to the golden age of cinema and completely uncharted filmic territory; nostalgic and new all at once. It delivers the feelings of falling in love in a heady, melodic rush that’s absolutely captivating. It channels films such as Singin’ in the Rain and An American in Paris while navigating the modern pitfalls of romance. But it’s so caught up in the quirky and magical “newness” of its concept that towards the middle it seems to rely solely on that. Unfortunately, this means the pacing feels at odds with the gloriousness of the rest of the film. But the magic returns for a finale guaranteed to take your breath away.

What’s it about?
An advertising executive (Will Smith) totally shuts down when tragedy strikes. His “concerned” friends (Kate Winslet, Edward Norton, Michael Pena) try to help when he starts questioning the universe and writing letters to the concept of Time, Death and Love.

What did we think?
Elizabeth Best says: The intriguing trailer for this film is a lie. The concept, so artfully set up in the preview, is destroyed minutes into the film, creating a jarring effect that leaves a bitter, mean-spirited aftertaste. Collateral Beauty is emotionally manipulative, and seems to be created specifically to tug so fucking hard on heartstrings that it makes some kind of discordant non-musical cacophony of awfulness. It’s a movie purely about emotions that feels like it was made by someone who doesn’t understand how to human AT ALL. It gets two stars for what I thought the concept was, and the rest of the three taken off for what the actual movie robbed me of.

What’s it about?
A condemned man is rescued to take part in an experiment that allows him to connect to his ancestor’s memories using science… What? Really? How on Earth does that even…? Okay, Fine. That’s the story.

What we thought
Dan Beeston says:
I’m not sure if it was a problem with the mix but the film was SO LOUD that I felt flattened. The images flash by like they’re trying to cure Malcolm McDowell of his violent tendencies. No character seems sympathetic or even interesting. The story makes no sense. This film made me feel like a grandfather trying to program a VCR at a rave concert. The experience was a physical torture and I had to walk out after an hour.

Fuck this film