space opera

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Seven: Act Two May Have Been a Colossal Waste of Time (Or: Things Fall Apart, The Center Cannot Holdo)

01:30:01 – 01:45:00 Here we are with a whole lot of Act Three stuff zipping around us like Matrix bullets. We’re done with training montages and Ahch-To (mostly), and Canto Bight is now a distant memory from a James Bond flick. We are back in the meat of the story as we begin the seventh […]

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Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Six: From Ahch-To to Act Three (Or: Luke and Rey Duke It Out When Luke Takes Away Her Phone Privileges)

01:15:01 – 01:30:00 Welcome back to the next chapter of The Last Jedi Edition of the 15-Minute Force. In our previous chapter, Finn and Rose managed to escape from Canto Bight with the assistance of the slicer DJ (Benicio del Toro in another dialogue mangling role). We can safely assume that they are returning to […]

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Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Five: The Stuttering Codebreaker (Or: The Night Ben Solo Flipped Out, Told Rashomon-Style)

01:00:01 – 01:15:00 We begin Chapter Five of The Last Jedi Edition of the 15-Minute Force wishing we could wash the taste of the previous chapter out of our mouths. I don’t hate this movie. I feel it’s important to say that again. I didn’t love it the way I did The Force Awakens, but […]

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Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Four: Training Montages Belong in ’80s Movies (Or: A Side Trip to Canto Bight)

00:45:01 – 01:00:00 This chapter of The Last Jedi Edition of the 15-Minute Force starts with Rey and Kylo Ren making a long-distance connection via the Force. These two are connected now, somehow, maybe because they each probed the other’s mind. Kylo says, “You’ll bring Luke Skywalker to me.” Then he goes on to say […]

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Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Three: A Rose is a Rose is a Rose (Or: New Plans, an Unexpected Conspiracy, and Roasted Porg)

00:30:01 – 00:45:00 As this chapter of The Last Jedi Edition of the 15-Minute Force begins, we are treated to a tender Mother and Son moment. Kylo Ren, still stinging from Supreme Leader Snoke’s virulent rebuke, is lining up for a bombing run on the bridge of the Raddus, the flagship of the Resistance. Suddenly, […]

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Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Eight: A Father and Son Reunion Rivaling Oedipus’s (Or: Kylo Ren Gets Beaten Up By a Girl . . .Oh, Spoilers)

01:45:01 – THE END As the final chapter of the Awakens Edition of the 15-Minute Force begins Han sees Kylo Ren enter the thermal oscillator. He follows him down a long walkway and shouts, “Ben!” Because, you see, that was Kylo Ren’s birth name: Ben Solo. Kylo responds to his father’s voice: “Han Solo. I’ve […]

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Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Seven: The Battle of the Thermal Oscillator Begins! (Or: The Dramatic Chronometer Counts Down)

01:30:01 – 01:45:00 As we ended our last chapter of the Awakens Edition of the 15-Minute Force, Rey and Kylo Ren had both just learned that Rey is, indeed, strong in the Force. Kylo, who apparently inherited all of his whiny-ass emo genes from Annakin Skywalker (the Hayden Christensen version, not David Prowse or James […]

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Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Six: Reunited and It Feels So Good (Or: D’Qar and Driver)

01:15:01 – 01:30:00 “You, OK, Big Deal?” That’s the question Han Solo asks former First Order Stormtrooper Finn Wilson as this chapter begins. Han just saved Finn from being killed by the melee-weapon bearing opponent that the Interwebs calls TR-8R. This chapter of the Awakens Edition of the 15-Minute Force begins with things already in […]

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Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Five: Finn Comes Clean (Or: When a Lightsaber Calls, Don’t Answer)

01:00:01 – 01:15:00 This chapter of the Awakens Edition of the 15-Minute Force begins where Chapter Four left us last time: In Maz Kanata’s Cantina. Han Solo has just asked for Maz’s help in getting BB-8, the astromech droid carrying a map to locate the last Jedi, Luke Skywalker, to the Resistance. To our surprise, […]

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