The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure
6.5
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Book
The REBEL ALLIANCE has destroyed the Empire's dreaded DEATH STAR, but the galaxy remains convulsed...
Ticket to Ride: Rails & Sails
8.8
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Tabletop Game
Ticket to Ride: Rails & Sails is a standalone game with a double-sided board, the largest used in...
Timeline: Discoveries
7.2
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Tabletop Game
Timeline: Discoveries is a card game played using 110 cards. Each card depicts an discovery on both...
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
8.0
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Book
It's true — all of it! The blockbuster movie jumps from the big screen to the comic-book page!...
Star Wars Omnibus: At War with the Empire Volume 1
8.0
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Book
Collected here are stories of the early days of the Rebel Alliance and the beginnings of its war...
David McK (3372 KP) rated V for Vendetta (2005) in Movies
Oct 23, 2022
The story, then, has more than a hint of The Phantom of the Opera about it - both involve masked figures who live in the shadowy underworld, both involve melodrama and a star-crossed love story - with Hugo Weaving never once showing his face through the entire runtime, but still - impressively - able to convey his emotions through his acting.
David McK (3372 KP) rated Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) in Movies
Dec 18, 2019 (Updated Jun 16, 2020)
Pursued by the Enpire's sinister agents, Princess Leia races home abord her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy ..."
So reads the opening crawl to the first Star Wars film (otherwise known as "Episode IV: A New Hope"), with this opening crawl becoming a feature of all the Star Wars films to date.
That is, until this one - the first to NOT have an opening crawl, and the first to NOT focus on any of the Skywalkers. Instead, this film deals with what was originally only just described in that crawl; by the mission to steal those Death Star plans and, as such, is the first completely self-contained and stand-alone Star Wars film.
I'd heard this described as a war movie, and that's probably a pretty fair comparison - this is more serious than the other six (especially the prequel Trilogy), maybe a bit darker in places, with the Rebel Alliance not afraid of getting their hands dirty and not quite the idealists they were originally portrayed as.
As this is back in galactic Civil War territory, we also have the return of some of the original villains of the saga - it's no secret that Darth Vader casts a shadow over the film (while not being the main villain of it), with an extended sequence towards the end showing just why he was so feared, and probably destined to become - like the 3-way Qui-Gonn Jinn/Kenobi/Maul fight in 'The Phantom Menace', or Vader vs Luke in 'The Empire Strikes back' - one of the most talked about scenes in the entire saga.
(As an aside, and talking of scenes: yes, there are scenes shown in the trailers that don't make it to the final cut, but since I managed to avoid (most of) those trailers, I can't really comment on that.)
Maybe a tad slow in getting started, but the bombastic final act more than makes up for it!
Chris Hooker (419 KP) rated Annie on My Mind in Books
Dec 28, 2017
Nancy Garden did a magnificent job of capturing the angst of first love. This in itself can be hard but add to the mix it being love that is scorned by society and you have a new level of coming of age story. This book was originally published in 1992 which can be picked up from some of the descriptions, none the less, the basis of the story is still relevant today. This story will make you cheer, cry, and want to hit someone with anger. It is a fantastic book.
Ross (3284 KP) rated The Walking Dead - Season 8 in TV
Apr 18, 2018
Entertainment Editor (1988 KP) rated Star Wars: Rebellion in Tabletop Games
Mar 7, 2018
Loosely based on the 1998 video game of the same name, the board game version of Rebellion is ludicrously outsized. The galaxy, too large to fit on a single game board, here sprawls across two. Rebel and Imperial forces aren't represented by cardboard but by 153 plastic miniatures—including three Death Stars and two Super Star Destroyers.
Critic: Nate Anderson
Read the full review here: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/03/star-wars-rebellion-review-a-fully-operational-4-hour-board-game/