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Tag Archives: Pedro Pascal


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My Review of “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” 

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, rated PG-13
***

The popular Disney+ television series The Mandalorian transitions to the big screen for Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu. The film was directed by five-time Emmy nominee Jon Favreau (The Mandalorian, Dinner for Five), who co-wrote the film with two-time Emmy winner Dave Filoni (Star Wars: The Clone Wars), and Noah Kloor (The Mandalorian).
The film is set a year after the Empire’s defeat in the film Return of the Jedi. The primary assignment from Colonel Ward, played by three-time Oscar nominee Sigourney Weaver (Gorillas in the Mist, Working Girl, Aliens), has for the Mandalorian, played by Golden Globe nominee Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us), an independent contractor working for the New Republic, is to rescue Rotta the Hutt , voiced by Jeremy Allen White (The Bear), the kidnapped son of the late Jabba the Hutt, who was choked to death by Princess Leia in Return of the Jedi. In return, Rotta’s two uncles (known as “The Twins”) will provide him with information about a new Imperial warlord.

The Mandalorian and his adoptive son the delightful Grogu (also known as “Baby Yoda”), head to the planet Shakari to rescue Rotta. When they find him, they see there is a gladiator in a fighting pit owned by lord Janu, played by Jonny Coyne. Rotta is in a locked cell, but knows that he has only one more fight left and then his debt will have been paid (though we are never told what his debt was for). But his captors have no intention of really letting Rotta go. The final fight will be rigged, so that Rotta dies, and his captors will benefit financially from that.
The film is mainly about the Mandalorian and Grogu, along with some Minion-like monkey characters known as anzellans, trying to rescue Rotta. Later in the film, we find out some things about Rotta’s two uncles.
The film contains a large amount of action violence, as you would expect in a Star Wars film. However, there were too many battle/fight scenes. I felt like I was watching a Marvel film, as those scenes were tedious, going on and on. The film also included several scary creatures, so it is definitely not suitable for very young viewers.
The film’s musical score is by three-time Oscar winner Ludwig Goransson (Sinners, Oppenheimer, Black Panther).
We enjoyed the film, but it could have been better, if they would have lessened the amount of battle/fight scenes.


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My Review of THE EQUALIZER 2

The Equalizer 2, rated R
***  

The Equalizer 2, stars Denzel Washington in his first ever sequel. He returns as Robert McCall, a retired CIA assassin. The film finds Washington working with director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) for the fourth time. The film is written by Richard Wenk (The Equalizer, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back), and is based on the television series that ran from 1985 – 1989.
In the 2014 film The Equalizer we met McCall.  A retired CIA agent, he lived simply among regular people.  He had lost his wife and was reading through one hundred essential novels in her memory. The only two people he trusted were former CIA associate Susan Plummer, played by Oscar winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter) and her husband Brian, played by Bill Pullman (The Sinner). He was roused to action only when there were serious wrongs to be righted on behalf of those unable to help themselves.
The opening scene takes place near the Turkish border.  It has McCall, disguised as a devout Muslim, on a rescue mission of a young girl from his neighborhood. Back in Boston, McCall works as a Lyft driver during the day. He also works secretly as a vigilante setting to right the wrongs in society by unleashing swift justice (he sets his stop watch to time his work, completing his work in less than thirty seconds) and protecting the victims.  He helps his neighbors, including Holocaust survivor Sam, played by Orson Bean (Being John Malkovich), and coaches Miles, played by Ashton Sanders (Moonlight), an at-risk teenager from his apartment building on making good life decisions.

***SPOILER ALERT***
He remains close to Susan Plummer, who starts investigating the apparent brutal murder-suicide of a spy (and his wife) from Belgium with whom she worked.
Susan seems to be on the verge of solving the crime when she is viciously beaten and killed in her hotel room in Belgium. Robert then starts his own investigation into Susan’s death, and runs into his former partner, Dave York, played by Pedro Pascal, who thought McCall was dead but was working with Susan on the case. They team up together again to solve the crime, but all is not as it appears.
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Throughout the film we have the constant warnings that a storm is coming. That culminates in the thrilling and action-packed final scene in which the characters have to deal with the hurricane conditions.
Content concerns include a significant amount of violence and adult language.
Themes include vengeance, kindness, deception and betrayal.  In the film we are led to believe his vengeance and violence is justified, as compared to the neighborhood gang violence.  But is it?
The Equalizer 2 is a thrilling, intense and extremely violent film that contains a significant amount of adult language. Washington is excellent as Robert McCall, and Ashton Sanders plays a significant role as Miles.