Apparently, My Costume This Year Was Very Successful!

So, I have never posted a Halloween post before, but this year is a bit special! For one, MovieCritic over at Movies Meet Their Match is hosting a Blog Costume party, for which you can see the graphic up on my sidebar and another one to introduce this post! So, thanks to you, MC!!! :D

In past years, I haven't done much with Halloween, mainly because my family preferred to have a cookout in our backyard and then watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" by ourselves with our own candy rather than traipse around the neighborhood in the cold with small children...but this year, I was PREPARED. I had a costume pretty much all set - it's one I've done before but I've been perfecting over the past year or so. I also had a college professor who offered us extra credit for dressing up on Halloween. So, without further ado, here is my costume! (I apologize for the picture quality and size, but I didn't have anyone to be my photographer that day!)

Compared with Rey in The Force Awakens....

It's not quite perfect (I still can't figure out how to get arm wraps to work right!), but I think the hairstyle really helps! I even ended up winning our class costume contest out of maybe 10 people, so...that was cool.

First, I had a tunic made from a thrift store shirt and sewn-on bits of fabric I had lying around, some gray sports capris, a pair of gray boots and a belt, and a poncho that I borrowed from a cousin for the day! I also had a makeshift lightsaber made from a broken flashlight. With that, and my hair all done up, some makeup on, I daresay it turned out all right!

Anyway, that's that!!! Thanks for the blog party, MC! :) 

The Star Wars Character Tag!!!

Well, as you can probably tell, this post is a filling out of the Star Wars Character Tag, for which I was tagged by the lovely MiddleEarthMusician a while ago! According to rule #4, the "Sorta Rule," I need to treat her to a pizza dinner at my favorite pizza chain, so here are some Lego stormtroopers delivering your dinner, Mem!!! 

(photo from Pinterest)

Now here we go! 

The rules…

1. THERE ARE NO RULES.
2. Refer To Number 1.
3. There is one absolute rule: You MUST use your own characters (OCs) for this tag. (Brownie points if you add pictures of your characters.)
4. The Sorta Rule: Scream a huge thank you to whoever tagged you for this whilst treating them to a pizza dinner at your favorite pizza chain. 
5. The Kinda Rule: Include This Link In The Post So That The Penny Can Read Everyone’s Answers To This Smol Strange Tag: https://asouthernbellewithstoriestotell.wordpress.com/2019/02/18/the-star-wars-character-tag-i-made-my-own-tag-halp/
6. The Rule That’s Not Really A Rule But It Would Be Great: Include The Graphic and Tag at Least Three Jedi or Sith Lords.

#1 Who’s your Obi-Wan Kenobi? (sassy, a great mentor, but can be a bit strict)

Lehye'ahl, I think...he's a little more of a jerk (okay, a LOT more of a jerk) than Obi-Wan, but  he's definitely sassy and strict. He would also be a great mentor (if he had anyone to mentor, that is, most of the people he could have mentored died, hehehehe). 

#2 Who’s your Leia Organa? (feisty, incredible comebacks, does their own thing)

Dehmatthir...he totally fits all of those categories.

#3 Who’s your Finn? (overeager, adorable, cinnamon roll)

Lutea Coggins (who I have a picture for but have not officially "cast" yet). She is a small person filled with the cheeriest personality ever and can also be TOO bubbly at times...however she will not hesitate to Fight You to defend her friends or family. 

#4 Who’s your Padme? (kind, loving, but also kickbutt)

Jorgen, a young and gentle dwarf who smiles a lot but has excellent skills. He hates fighting but does it when necessary, and is also a great cook.

#5 Who’s your Count Dooku? (deliciously evil, extra, and sick burns)

Well...I don't know...none of my villains really fit that category. None of my characters at ALL fit that category....*frowns* I need more villains, apparently. *making a note to work on that* 

#6 Who’s your BB-8? (too cute, everyone loves them, can do no wrong)

Darot...now, this little fellow experienced a great deal of emotional and psychological trauma at a young age and never really recovered from it (that sounds super insensitive and rude to say, but it's true). He has remained a living ray of sunshine and childlike happiness in all of his friends' lives. 

#7 Who’s your Yoda? (underestimated, extra, wise)

Amris...this elf...is too smart for his own good. He knows something about everything and is always ready with some sort of an answer for any question. 

#8 Who’s your Anakin Skywalker?  (bratty, rebellious, whiny)

Eyellyn. This character is a female dwarf who is somewhat the guardian and parent figure to her younger siblings. She can be extremely grumpy, rebellious, and isn't much for giving her companions explanations or information. She doesn't Whine so much as Complain, but you know, it's close enough. 

#9 Who’s your C3-PO? (always worrying, gives depressing information, constantly wailing)

Colderan, definitely! He doesn't MEAN to be a Nervous Nellie, but he has a very soft heart and doesn't want anyone to get hurt. This of course means that warnings come very often from him and he has to make sure that everyone knows the odds. 

#10 Who’s your Luke Skywalker? (hero, has been through a lot, has their share of flaws)

Prince Rhondin!! He is one of my favorite main characters, a young man who....well...he goes through a lot. But somehow he still stays cheerful and bright throughout it all. :) :) 

Bonus #11 which I have made up to add since my answer for #5 was pathetic: Who's your Han Solo? (calls people "kid," has traveled, "I'm making this up as I go" planning)

Ateke, who is an elf and a great friend (and brother-in-law) of the aforementioned Lehye'ahl. However, they are totally different personality-wise and it's kind of surprising that they get along...(oh also I've decided that he would be excellent played by Elijah Wood)

Well, that was fun! :D Thank you so much again, Mem!!!! Ah yes, and as far as tagging goes...hmmmmmmmmm....literally anybody who wants to do this tag. If you own a toy lightsaber, consider yourself tagged!!!!! 

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

Yes, I went to see Solo. Yes, there are spoilers in this post!!!! 

To tell you the truth, I'm still conflicted about this movie.  I enjoyed watching it and I really WANT to love it, but I just still feel...confused. Stuck. And I don't even know why. 

Sorry, sorry. So anyway, this is what I came away from the movie with: 

First, I thought that Alden Ehrenreich did a great job portraying Han. No, he didn't look exactly like Han, he didn't sound exactly like Han, but I think that overall he did an excellent job.  It didn't feel like a parody or imitation of Harrison Ford's Han, which I liked. Alden (using his first name because it's so tiring to type out the last name) put his own sort of spin on the character, while still keeping some of the little character traits that the original Han had. There were a couple moments where he would smirk or do some little thing that would inevitably make me think, "Oh yes, that was Han all over." 

I liked Han's character in the movie as well. Though I didn't care for the romance between him and Qi'ra (sorry!), I still liked him a lot. He was just the right mixture of streetwise and inexperienced, mature and childish. I felt like Alden really got the portrayal spot-on, even without looking exactly like Harrison Ford or anything like that.

To be honest, my favorites were Han and Chewie. I knew as soon as they tossed Han in with "the Beast" that it would be Chewbacca, and that made me excited. When I first saw that trailers for Solo and saw that there were other Wookies, I was afraid that the movie would pay homage to the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special with the inclusion of Chewbacca's family, but THANK GOODNESS they did not. 

I mean, what can I say? Han and Chewie are an inseparable duo, and to have one without the other is just not right. I love how, throughout the entire movie, Han has people double-crossing and betraying him every which way, but then there's Chewbacca, loyal to the end, probably the first person--creature--Wookie--that Han ever had consistent loyalty and friendship from. That made me happy. 

I also thought that Lando was portrayed very well. His persona and, well, Lando-ness was well done by Donald Glover (I think that's the actor's name), and he was definitely a Scoundrel. The card game scenes were so good! And now I think we know why he asks Han in The Empire Strikes Back, "What did you do to my ship?" because, boy, the Falcon sure went through some changes. Also, the scene where he tells Han, "I hate you," and Han replies with "I know," was Perfection. I really didn't like Lando's droid girlfriend though. She was rather pointless and very obnoxious. After she "died" and we're supposed to be all sad about it, I could not take it seriously, like I would if BB-8 or R2-D2 died. I even like K2-SO much better than K3. But that's all beside the point.

Now, on to some other stuff. I really liked Beckett throughout almost the entire film, and then once it seemed that everything was going fine and dandy, after he left, almost the instant before he returned as a traitor, I was thinking, "Oh no, it's Beckett, isn't it?" It was sad that he was the one to betray Han, having been almost a father figure for most of the movie. I wonder if the other two members of his little gang had survived, if he wouldn't have betrayed Han? How would things have gone if the two of them had survived? His character, the way that he was so stubborn and refused to think in terms of helping others, made me a little sad, and his death was honestly painful. He was obviously someone that Han looked up to and admired, and it just hurt to see their friendship/camaraderie end in that tragic way. I liked Beckett...until the end. However, the scene where he was playing Holochess with Chewbacca on the Falcon was great! 

"You're sure you wanna make that move?"

I really disliked Qi'ra for some reason. Maybe it was her character arc--I had this feeling from watching the trailers, from the way Beckett said "everyone will betray you, etc" in the trailers, that Qi'ra would turn out to be a traitor, and well would you look at that, she did! Maybe I don't like her because I don't want to see Leia as Han's "replacement" of Qi'ra, the girl that he lost years ago. But that's beside the point. I just felt like there was too much romance--the first bit, with the chase on Corellia, was fine, I liked her then, but after that...

Maybe it was just that she was SO STINKING GOOD at being a traitor. She led them on all this time, and even Han, who has known her seemingly a long time, didn't notice her treachery until the very end. I feel like they kind of looked at each other and realized that they both knew what she was going to do, but that she was willing to let him get away before she put him in any real danger. I don't know, I just came away from the movie wishing her ship had blown up and she had died. (Anna, that's not nice.) Well I'm sorry! It would have been much more satisfactory than her having a hologram conversation with--DARTH MAUL??? What is going on here????? Might as well have Obi-Wan Kenobi pop up and turn out to be the villain!

I know that the cartoon Clone Wars resurrected Darth Maul with robotic legs, but NO. I'm very sorry. That is just not right. 

Now, the villain, Dryden Vos, was very good. Not that he was a good person, you see, but he was very classy and refined, a non-lame, non-cheesy villain. He was very intimidating and scary, but he wasn't over-the-top. The kind of villain who could stab you in the back while offering you a glass of wine with the other hand. 

It's really distracting to try and write with Obi-Wan popping up every couple seconds.  Let's see, what else is there to say? I don't know why I came away from this movie feeling very conflicted, walking away from the theater and trying to decide whether I liked it or not. Maybe it was because of the seeming endlessness of the betrayal and conflict. There were no definite "bad guys" and no definite "good guys," like in most of the Star Wars movies, and I felt like the line between good and bad was really blurred. There were no Jedi or Sith (which to be honest I rather miss, I love a good lightsaber duel), and the way that everyone uses whatever means necessary to gain their ends was a little disappointing, that there doesn't seem to be any objective Good in the galaxy. However, what's new? Isn't that every Star Wars movie? 

I think I would need to see it again in order to really understand the whole subplot with rival gangs, but the one gang needs the blue power stuff (I forgot what it was called) for their people, not for money. I didn't really understand that or the whole Enfys Nest thing. I also kind of wished that a clearer timeline had been drawn in regards to how long before A New Hope this took place.

I think I can honestly say that I enjoyed this movie. It had a great, almost Western feel to it, plenty of fun and action, and Han/Chewie made it a very entertaining watch. Leaving the conflicted feeling behind, it was a very enjoyable movie and, I think, a worthy addition to the Star Wars canon (other than the whole Darth Maul thing, I just will never accept that). Alden Ehrenreich was an excellent Han Solo without making the movie feel like a Harrison Ford impersonation, and it was a whole lot of fun.

Have you seen Solo? 

Agree (or disagree) with anything I said?

How do you feel about the return of Darth Maul?

Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Additional Thoughts

It has been a month or two since I last saw The Last Jedi and I had originally posted a first-impressions review here. Since that time, however, I have had a few more thoughts than "OH MY GOODNESS IT WAS SO GOOD!" and these are those thoughts. PLEASE NOTE: There are some spoilers in this post if you have not seen it! 

As Relates to Plot: 
The first time you watch the movie, you don't realize this, but a whole lot of the plot was actually not even necessary.

FIRST: Can we talk about this lady? I have quite a few questions, such as: 

1. Who is she?
2. Who does she think she is bossing Poe around like that?
3. Why does she have purple hair? 
4. What kind of an outfit is that? It's awful! 
5. Why didn't she tell them the plan? 
6. Why was she even in the movie?
7. If she was so important why didn't we ever see her before this?
8. Just WHY? 

The thing is that I think Holdo would have been a competent leader but she had severe communication issues. I mean, she obviously knows what kind of a guy Poe is and knows that he's a loose cannon ready to blow something up if nobody tells him the plan, so why didn't she tell him what was going on? It would have been simple: "Poe, I'm fueling up the transports because there's an abandoned rebel base on a nearby planet that I think we can reach so that we have a safer place to get our battle plans ready." This would have solved a lot of problems. Poe wouldn't have started a mutiny (even though, admit it, we were all on his side), Finn and Rose wouldn't have gone on a completely useless mission (which I will talk about in a minute), and maybe people wouldn't have died as much.

This leads to the whole mutiny thing. Now, I know that mutiny is bad and any pirate captain can tell you that too, but, like I said, we were all rooting for Poe and his buddies. Why was this? Because Admiral Holdo was a jerk and annoying and we all hated her! Okay, okay, once she blew up the bad ship in that cool soundless scene, I hated her less because at least she did something helpful.  I guess my whole point is that I don't understand why she couldn't just tell Poe/everyone else the plan instead of just telling him that "you're the last thing we need right now." Yeah, maybe he is, but at least tell him what you're thinking of doing. You know he's going to do something equivalent to jumping in a spaceship and blowing something up if you don't tell him what's going on. Instead she starts sassing and just being obnoxious, rubbing it in his face that he was just demoted (which was hilarious when Leia did it, but nobody likes Holdo). Naturally, he's going to go blow something up. Poe was a little pigheaded and didn't think things through, but, overall, I think we can agree that the percent of things going wrong was 90% Holdo, 10% Poe. 

You can't tell me that this wasn't your reaction to Holdo

Okay, that's topic one. Topic two is the whole Rose and Finn side quest.

They go to the city and park ON THE BEACH instead of like, in the grass where nobody would notice their ship????? Hello? Then we get the whole "don't be cruel to animals or small children" lecture from Rose, which is true, yes, don't be cruel to animals or small children! But right at that time they really needed to get out of there and go save the galaxy. Then again, without the little kids' help (that little boy was so sweet though) they wouldn't have been able to actually survive, so I guess it worked out. 

And then there's the codebreaker. Who was slightly useless. They got in, got the thing, and then it turned out that all their efforts were for nothing and they were just gonna die anyway and the codebreaker was deserting them. I wonder if he's going to conveniently return in the next episode and help them out for real, or actually turn out to be a significant character? But seriously, everything that Finn and Rose did just seemed extra, and they really didn't accomplish anything other than set the animals free and say hi to the cute little kids. Maybe that'll turn out to be important later. But other than that, they just return to their friends on the red salt planet (why was the salt red?) and all is as it was before. (And we got to see some of BB-8's skills.) 

There isn't much to say about Luke, because he was just...Luke.  He was funny at times, and just very much like Luke. I've heard complaints that he was too mean and angry, but, take into account that he's been alone on an island for years without any other human interaction and he is still bitter about what happened in the past.  His duel with Kylo was pretty cool, even though he wasn't actually there and was just a ghost. (I don't understand how Yoda could use force lightning as a ghost, though. Was he just that strong?) And also, the Jedi texts (insert derisive snort here) aren't lost like Luke thinks they are. "Rey has everything she needs," said Yoda, and later, right when Finn is getting bandages out of the Falcon for Rose, we see the texts in a cupboard, at least I'm pretty sure. So Rey stole them. 

Not even gonna talk about Leia surviving floating through space using the Force because I think we all understand that's stupid and she should have died then. Not that I want people to die, but...it would have worked plot-wise.

I was disappointed that Kylo didn't turn good or Rey didn't turn bad, I was expecting one of the two. When they fought as a team, I was so happy, but then he had to go and wreck it. Also, I still don't know if I believe that Rey's parents were nobody. She had a rebel pilot doll in her old home on Jakku! What does that mean? Also related to the Jedi island, why are people so crazy about Porgs? What's so great about them? I mean they're cute and all but they have absolutely no impact on the plot or character development at all. Chewie should have eaten them.

All right, last thing. When they are fighting on Crait (that's the name of the salt planet right?) and Finn is flying straight into the battering ram laser beam, that whole sequence didn't make sense. For one, Finn would have been dead just from the intensity of flying straight into the laser beam. For another, I thought he was going to fly into the cannon and sacrifice himself (wow a move that is not running away for once!), thereby saving the rest of the Resistance, but Rose wrecked that idea. Yeah, it would have been sad for Finn to die, but at least he would have saved the rest of them somewhat. Oh well. It was not to be. 

So anyway, these are my further thoughts on The Last Jedi. I still love it, but of course there are some things that make me scratch my head and wonder "why?" The characters are great and already becoming iconic in the Star Wars universe. Most of the humor is great too.

All right, that's all. Now I need to go watch it again. Also just found out that the working title of Episode IX is "The Black Diamond." 

I'm not sure how I feel about that title....

Any thoughts? 

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

ACK! *screams and runs in circles* You guuuuuuyyys!!!! I just got back from the theater from watching "The Last Jedi."

Pretty much what I've been doing for the past half hour.

IT WAS SO GOOD!!! I can't even quite put my finger on WHY it was so good, but, wow...well done. Basically, it starts right where "The Force Awakens" left off and continues everything from there. I'm not going to do a plot synopsis, because that would be boring, but I am going to talk about the characters and the content.

First, Luke Skywalker (!!!). So, Luke is pretty much still as Luke-ish as ever. He's obviously older and grimmer, but he still has that crookedly messed-up nose. He did get pretty 'forcey' with all that balderdash about dark and light and balance, but you know, other than that, it was great to have Luke back. There were some great moments with him and Rey on the island. AND THE DUEL SCENE WITH KYLO! Spoilers! even though Luke was only there in ghost form and not actually physically dueling...I'm still not sure how that worked, but oh well. I would have liked a showdown with Snoke and Luke, but it was not to be. BUT THEN HE DISINTEGRATED! WHY? End spoilers.

Leia: she is still the same ol' Leia. She was a lot stronger with the force than in the previous episodes and somehow survived being in space with no protection or anything (?) It was a little sad for everyone, I think, after Carrie Fischer died and now we see Leia again. She's a serious, kind of a sad character--especially now that Han is...no longer with us (sniff sniff). She and Luke are finally reunited and the first thing she says: "I know what you're going to say. I did something different with my hair." (or something like that). :) 

Rey: The same 'spunky,' strong girl from "The Force Awakens" who is only now learning her full potential and about the 'true meaning of the force,' and all that jazz. I liked Rey because even though she is strong and somewhat independent, she cares about the others, even seeing the hope left in Kylo Ren, and trying to bring it out. She's not the sort of person who gives up easily. 

Finn: He is still a little cowardly and ignorant at times, almost running away from the Resistance and giving up hope, but in the end he's willing to do whatever it takes to beat the bad guys. I mean, there's not a whole lot to say about Finn. He does meet Rose, the Resistance pilot (who is a new character) and they find they have a lot in common (oooooOOOOOhhhhhh) and learn things from working with each other. He does have an amazing duel with Captain Phasma (who apparently was not put in a trash compactor as we thought). So I'm going to put the character of Rose in here as well; she's a pilot who helps immensely in blowing stuff up, etc. She is so excited to meet Finn, the hero, and then is devastated to learn he is deserting from the Resistance. So she zaps him with some sort of taser thingy. She has a sad backstory of her home being taken over by people who sell weapons to whoever pays the highest and loves animals, and I think she's summed up by one of her lines: "You don't destroy what you hate. You protect what you love." Obviously, she and Finn are destined for each other. :P

Poe. YOU GUYS!!!!! Poe was even better in this than the first one (although he should watch his language sometimes...)!!!! I was a little surprised that a white male character would have a strong, positive leading role, and was glad of it. Poe is still a levelheaded, skilled fighter and pilot with a very strong belief in his Resistance, always planning some way to blow up the bad guys. Leia and a couple other upper officers in the Resistance get mad at him, because he's always trying to blow stuff up and not counting the losses (actually Leia demotes him, which is pretty funny). He can be very headstrong and reckless, almost taking over the trigger-happy, smart-alec attitude of Han. Y'all, Poe is the best. He just seems like a Good Guy and is probably the most "real" character, because he makes mistakes and such. He is still best of friends with Finn (and BB-8), and finally meets Rey (hahahahahaha, maniacal laugh!) and GUYS I think I might have been right about them after all! ("I'm Poe."--"I'm Rey."--"I know." BWA-HA-HA!) Anyway, Poe is great, even if his plans aren't always thought out that well...

Kylo Ren: *cries* 

Spoiler paragraph!! Seriously, though. Kylo makes me sad. The POOR GUY!!! He and Rey are constantly force-telepathy-ing and she knows there's good in him still. Then Rey comes to meet Snoke and Kylo is supposed to kill Rey, and and and and AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH that was such a good scene!!!! We're still unsure about his true feelings, but he's a very mixed-up person. So much conflict! It's like he can't decide whether he's good or bad! He says that he wants to be neither and end the Jedi, the Sith, the Resistance, the First Order, just be none of those, but...I don't know. He knows he can never escape from what he's done to his father. End spoilers. We finally get some insight on HOW he turned bad, how it came to be when Luke was training him. That was helpful information. 

So that's about all I have. Of course Chewbacca, the droids, the other bad guys, and such are all there. They're pretty much unchanged. 

CONTENT: There were a few not-so-nice words thrown in, mostly courtesy of Poe. I think he had about three or so, and there may have been a couple I missed. The Plugged In Review gives more detail, but they go into more depth about things than I would have noticed by watching it. Of course there's violence, it's Star Wars. I'll let you read the Plugged In thing for a more full content guide, but I do think they tend to over-analyze things. There is the whole issue with "the religion of the Force," but I just treat that as "all pretend," and even though I wish it wasn't such a prevalent issue, I can still enjoy the movie. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this film. It was well worth seeing and I'll probably be willing to see it in theaters again! The characters are memorable, the plot is interesting, the action is good, and the movie itself is visually pleasing. GO WATCH IT NOW!!! 

Even though we all miss Han...

And here's a poem for you guys. ;)

Have you seen "The Last Jedi" yet? 

Like it or no? 

Planning to see it? 

Comment below!