R.I.P. Carrie Fisher

2016 has truly been one of the worst years for celebrity deaths as so many legends of music, sports, and the silver screen have passed away. Well, 2016 has claimed another legend of the silver screen. Some of you may remember her as Princess Leia in Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope all the way through Episode VII- The Force Awakens which was released last year. Of course, I am talking about Carrie Fisher who passed away today at the age of 60 from the effects of a heart attack she suffered when trying to travel last week from London to Los Angeles. They grounded the plane and took her to a nearby hospital for treatment, but she has passed away. The terrible news was confirmed by her daughter Billie Lourd as a statement was read saying, “It is with a very deep sadness that Billie Lourd confirms that her beloved mother Carrie Fisher passed away at 8:55 this morning.” The statement Lourd wrote also said, “She was loved by the world and she will be missed profoundly. Our entire family thanks you for your thoughts and prayers.”

Carrie Fisher was born on October 21, 1956 in Beverly Hills, CA to entertainers Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. After escaping Hollywood in 19973, she would enroll at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London where she spent her time studying to be an actress. Carrie would return to Hollywood in 1975 where she made her debut in the Warren Beatty film Shampoo before making her jump to play the iconic Princess Leia in the Star Wars films. Besides the Sci-Fi classic franchise, she would star in films like The Burbs, Hannah And Her Sisters, The Blues Brothers, When Harry Met Sally, The Man with One Red Shoe, Wonderland, Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, Scream 3, Loverboy, and so many more. In 1983, she would marry musician Paul Simon to which the marriage is often described as explosive (according to People.com), but the couple would ultimately divorce in 1984. She was also very open about her drug addiction in the past which was talked about in a book by her called Postcards From The Edge which was later turned into a film that starred Meryl Streep. No matter what, she will be surely missed by all who loved her work whether it be the films or the one person Broadway stage show Wishful Drinking. She is survived by her daughter Billie Lourd from a relationship she had with talent agent Bryan Lourd. R.I.P. Carrie Fisher (1956-2016).

Day 351: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

There are reasons I decided to do this challenge and it was to see epic films and there was an ultimate goal that I wanted to achieve besides hitting number 366. That goal was to be at this very point where I am reviewing Rogue One: A Star Wars Story for today’s film. The film takes place some twenty somewhat odd years after the events of Star Wars: Episode III. The Imperial Empire has taken over the galaxy with Emperor Palpatine firm in control. The Rebel Alliance with their backs against the wall discover that an Imperial pilot has defected from the empire with information on a weapon that the empire is creating from the lead engineer himself in Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen). After learning this herself, Galen’s daughter Jyn (Felicity Jones) will risk it all along with a group of rebels to retrieve the info to help the Rebel Alliance. The film also stars Diego Luna (Milk) as Cassian Andor, Alan Tudyk (Zootopia) as K-2SO, Donnie Yen (IP Man) as Chirrut Îmwe, Wen Jiang (Chinese Zodiac) as Baze Malbus, Ben Mendelsohn (Australia) as Orson Krennic, Forest Whitaker (Arrival) as Saw Gerrera, Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler) as Bodhi Rook, Genevieve O’Reilly (Glitch) as Mon Mothma, James Earl Jones (Star Wars: A New Hope) as Darth Vader, and the film was directed by Gareth Edwards (Godzilla). 

Spoiler Alert: There is going to be some information leaked in this paragraph that could give away some details or all the details in the film. So either proceed with caution or do not read any further, but you were warned. First off, I am going to star this by saying that I really and truly enjoyed the film from beginning to end. I thought it was a great stand alone film that was made to explain some details leading up to episode IV that many of you may have wondered about. Now was it better than Star Wars: A Force Awakens? While it may be a valid question, I find it a little unfair because they are two different films. I loved a lot of the individual performances in this film from people like Donnie Yen who was funny and awesome all at once. Felicity Jones was terrific in the film as Jyn and while Diego Luna may not be Han Solo, he was still very cool as well. This film had Darth Vader and even though his appearance was brief, it gives this an edge over F.A. I have to admit that his entrance was pretty bad ass. This film may have had too many quick hard cuts during a lot of the scenes which would be my only criticism. The story was great and the acting was great and it injected humor right in the perfect spots. The battle scenes were pretty amazing as well and it reminded you why you loved Star Wars. I did think it was very awesome to see the late Peter Cushing in the film once again even though he is not listed because it was a CGI version of him. Wait till you get to the end for the surprise visit that comes then. I think there is very little to criticize about the film, but I’m sure others will find the flaws. I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.