seattle times movie reviews

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Moira Macdonald and other Times critics weigh in on movies playing in Seattle area for a week or longer.

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'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' review: A future not unlike the past WATCH

At nearly 2½ hours in length, "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" spends a lot of time plowing familiar ground, writes our reviewer.

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Review: ‘The Fall Guy’ pulls off a great stunt: It's fun WATCH

"The Fall Guy” is longer and a bit more self-aware than it needs to be. But it has that rare quality in a big-studio film:...

Review: Anne Hathaway-led ‘The Idea of You’ is pure escapism WATCH

Don't be surprised if you get "Notting Hill" vibes from "The Idea of You": It's kind of the same movie, and worth watching all the...

'Boy Kills World' review: What better way to get revenge than with a cheese grater? WATCH

While "Boy Kills World" gets weighed down at times, Bill Skarsgård and H. Jon Benjamin make for a fun duo in this bloody good action-comedy,...

Review: Zendaya serves up an ace in the steamy love triangle 'Challengers' WATCH

Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” is not a perfect movie, but Zendaya makes it a great pleasure, writes critic Moira Macdonald.

Review: A murderous preteen ballerina vampire runs rampant in 'Abigail' WATCH

The volume of bloodletting is undeniably impressive, and the filmmakers effectively employ a lot of creepy remixes of the “Swan Lake” theme, writes our critic.

Review: Guy Ritchie's latest film is chaotic fun, if a little middling WATCH

Guy Ritchie's latest film is undeniably fun, but a little too self-impressed, writes our reviewer.

‘Civil War’ review: Alex Garland’s dystopian vision of America horrifies WATCH

Alex Garland's "Civil War" is closer to a horror movie than you may think — and one that hits a little too close to home,...

‘The First Omen’ review: Horror prequel descends into excessive hysteria WATCH

The “Omen” franchise enters “Rosemary’s Baby” territory with “The First Omen," writes our reviewer.

Review: Dev Patel pulls no punches in directorial debut 'Monkey Man' WATCH

“Monkey Man” is a big swing, and a big swerve for the director. Luckily, it connects, landing with a satisfyingly bone-crunching intensity, writes our reviewer.

Starry memories: As farewell, film critic recalls favorite interviews

Editor's note : After 35 years as one of the best, most knowledgeable and hardest-working film critics in the country, Seattle Times movie reviewer John Hartl is retiring. Over the years, he's forged an incredible bond with this newspaper's readers, and his passion for film has had a direct hand in creating the diversity of the film scene here. Seattle is a movie-loving town, and that's due in no small part to his efforts. We wish him well in his new endeavors.

I made a precocious debut in The Seattle Times 53 years ago. I was 2, the subject of a prize-winning snapshot taken by an Eastern Washington photographer, Marvin Schroeder, who caught me playing in a sprinkler outside my parents' Ellensburg home.

"I doubt that he remembers riding on his father's shoulders down to the Central Washington State College film library to help him rewind film," said Schroeder, who made the connection between his photos and the grown-up me several years ago.

Perhaps my fate was sealed by the time he took that sprinkler photo and submitted it to The Times' photo contest. It would be movies and newspapers from then on.

I turned up again in The Times at age 20, reviewing a movie (Steve McQueen's "Nevada Smith") for Wayne Johnson's arts-and-entertainment department while finishing up a degree in journalism at the University of Washington. It would be the first of thousands (!!!) of movies I would cover over a period of nearly 35 years.

Now I am retiring, at least from the daily grind, which has, frankly, ground me down. I started thinking seriously about retirement last summer, around the time that a co-worker asked if my review of "Nutty Professor 2" was actually my resignation.

Last month, I wondered if The New York Times' relatively new critic, A.O. Scott, was registering the same disillusionment. He ended his review of the new Freddie Prinze Jr. bomb, "Head Over Heels," by advising readers to ignore its existence:

"Think about the stock market," he wrote. "Think about Renaissance paintings. Think about noble beluga whales, swimming through the briny deep, blissfully oblivious to the existence of movies like this one. Try to be more like them."

It's not just the stupidity of most studio movies that gets to you over time. Near-criminal foolishness has always been a large part of this business. It's the escalating hype surrounding the release of the junkiest stuff, the willingness of the press to play along, the lust to be "No. 1 in America" on thousands of screens. Everyone gets into this delusionary act; even TV Guide carries Hannibal Lecter's face on its cover, as if "Hannibal" were scheduled to turn up on pay-per-view this week.

Meanwhile, the theatrical distribution system intended to support and benefit from the hype is collapsing. The chains have expanded so drastically that hundreds of theaters are now closing, victims of too much confidence in the continuation of this disastrous state of affairs. The audience has not grown noticeably larger over the years, even if inflated ticket prices and box-office grosses suggest otherwise.

When I started reviewing movies at The Times in June 1966, few pictures opened in more than a hundred theaters in the entire country, and they were not regarded as instantly disposable. Many of them came with promotional campaigns that nurtured their slow release from city to city. One of the side effects of this was the opportunity to interview actors and directors in a less hurried, deadline-crazed atmosphere. The 1970s/1980s may have been the golden age of interviews, at least as far as Seattle was concerned.

Movie critics are always being told that they've got cushy jobs, that seeing movies for free is everyone's idea of an ideal livelihood, but the biggest perk may be the chance to meet their creators. True, some interviews are bound to turn out badly, partly because there's something formulaic built into the process. But at their best they become true conversations, filled with remarkable insights into people as well as cinematic history in the making.

Among the ones I won't forget: George Lucas, on the eve of the 1973 release of "American Graffiti," dreaming about a new project called "Star Wars" (it would take him years to persuade a studio to finance it); Liv Ullmann discussing Ingmar Bergman and "The Emigrants" at a three-hour dinner at the Space Needle (never did the conversation lapse); Charlton Heston sharing epic memories and a couple of bottles of wine with me at Labuznik (I was nervous about meeting Moses); Lillian Gish discussing her relationship with D.W. Griffith and expressing her disapproval of Robert Mitchum's performance in "The Night of the Hunter" (we agreed to disagree); Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, celebrating the unexpected success of the ultra-low-budget "Easy Rider" (they stayed in the most expensive suite at the Westin).

Some interviews felt more like budding friendships than professional assignments. Beau Bridges, Candy Clark, Gregory Peck, Colin Firth, Paul Walker, Dom DeLuise, Debra Winger and Bud Cort were so welcoming and down-to-earth that it was no longer possible to think of them as movie stars.

Bob Rafelson was refreshingly, exhaustively candid about the creation of "Five Easy Pieces" (though not always quotable in a family newspaper), while Peter Bogdanovich was so eloquent that I felt compelled to ask for a follow-up interview two days later. He not only agreed to do so; when I landed in the hospital with meningitis, he called to ask if I was OK. What a mensch. How could I have been so mean to him in my reviews of "Nickelodeon" and "At Long Last Love"?

Similar mixed feelings accompanied the arrival of the late Stanley Kramer in Seattle and at The Seattle Times, where he wrote a regular column. I had admired his earlier films, especially "The Defiant Ones," "On the Beach," "Ship of Fools" and "Judgment at Nuremberg," and I had enjoyed interviewing him a number of times.

But his career was waning, and he made his last and worst picture here: "The Runner Stumbles." When I panned it, I thought I would be fired. I was far from alone. The Times stood by me and did nothing to interfere. I would interview Kramer again, and he never mentioned the matter, aside from confessing that sometimes a filmmaker ends up with "cottage cheese" no matter what his intentions.

Some interviews become particularly melancholy in retrospect. After we did a lovely if hurried phone interview, Peter Finch sent me a nice note (a rarity in this business) saying how much he enjoyed the article that resulted. He died just a few days later, shortly before winning a posthumous Oscar for "Network."

It's hard not to be shaken by such brushes with mortality. One of my first interviews at The Times was with a terrific African-American actor named Rupert Crosse, who came to Seattle shortly before being nominated for an Oscar for "The Reivers" (1969). He was young, full of invention, clearly at the beginning of his career. He died of cancer in 1973 and he's forgotten today, but Jack Nicholson (bless him) found his work significant enough to mention Crosse in his Oscar acceptance speech for "As Good As It Gets" just three years ago.

AIDS rubbed out the careers of Anthony Perkins and Brad Davis, not long after they came to Seattle to promote movies I barely remember. But I won't forget how personable and amusingly self-deprecating Perkins could be - or how intense and driven Davis was. At that point, Davis already knew he was HIV-infected, though hardly anyone else did.

Surely the eeriest of these interviews was with Brandon Lee (Bruce Lee's son), who was accidentally killed by a gun loaded with real bullets during the filming of "The Crow." One year before, he was in Seattle promoting another picture, and voicing his worries about the special-effects sequences in his upcoming film.

"You're not in control if a roof is supposed to collapse on you and you have to trust that it's rigged properly," he told me. "The accident on 'Twilight Zone' (which killed actor Vic Morrow) is always in the back of your mind." In his late 20s when he stopped here, he was just getting started as a leading man. He would earn his best reviews, posthumously, for "The Crow."

Some actors prefer not to discuss their personal lives; others don't care what they reveal. During interviews for "The Rose" (1979) and "Stella" (1990), Bette Midler couldn't stop talking about her experiences playing the Acid Queen in Seattle Opera's early-1970s production of The Who's "Tommy." She vividly remembered the rain, the kids in the chorus fighting with the director, her own unhappy love life, LSD experiences and the bad notices she got.

"Coarse and stagy, with unappetizing mammaries," she said. "That's what one of the Seattle newspaper critics called me. I'll never forget that review. It was a nightmare to do that show. Who knew it would be so horrible? Everyone's moving to Seattle now. What have you got up there? What's changed?"

One event that made Seattle special for years was the annual Science-Fiction X-Po at Seattle Center, where Harlan Ellison talked about the merits of the various "Star Trek" episodes and Robert Wise groused that he'd like to recut the first "Star Trek" movie, which had just been released to theaters.

George Pal, director of "The Time Machine," graciously discussed the ambitious fantasy projects he'd never been able to get off the ground ("Odd John," "Childhood's End"), while Jack Arnold talked passionately about how he rewrote the metaphysical ending of "The Incredible Shrinking Man" based on his own religious beliefs. For every sci-fi geek in town, the X-Po was heaven.

And then there were the pills. Matt Dillon, here to promote the film version of S.E. Hinton's "Tex," sullenly refused to discuss the upcoming movies of Hinton's "The Outsiders" and "Rumblefish," in which he also starred. Sean Penn rudely read a magazine while I tried to conduct an interview with him and his wife, Robin Wright Penn. Bob Hoskins and Neil Jordan, apparently jet-lagged, clearly didn't feel like promoting "Mona Lisa"; one local journalist walked out of an interview in which they seemed hostile to his questions.

Others were a mixed bag. Rupert Everett seemed reluctant to discuss anything when he visited the Seattle International Film Festival in 1984; one year later, he returned and couldn't have been more charming. Russell Crowe and Michael Rapaport communicated a nervous energy that was interesting on-screen but draining in person.

Some actors were astonishingly honest about their disappointment in the movies they were supposedly pushing. At a Trader Vic's press conference, attended by at least a dozen journalists, Joseph Bottoms trashed Disney's "The Black Hole" while his publicist freaked out.

When I told Peter Berg that I didn't buy the unrealistic ending of "Crooked Hearts," he didn't hesitate to agree; he explained that the reluctant cast had been brought back to reshoot the finale. Patrick Macnee clearly didn't care for "Shadey," whose distributor had footed the bill for his American tour, but he loved talking about "The Avengers" and Diana Rigg. At lunch at the 13 Coins, waiters and customers dropped by our table to ask, "How's Emma?"

Of course, Emma isn't real, and in a sense neither are most of these interviews. It's easy to delude yourself that Robert Redford or Robert Altman are your close acquaintances because you've talked to them a few times, but your true friends are often your co-workers.

At The Seattle Times, I've been privileged to work with many people whose names haven't appeared on marquees, but whose friendship has meant far more than celebrity.

Among those Times employees who have made this 35-year trip especially worth taking: John Voorhees, Melinda Bargreen, Tom Richardson, Misha Berson, Patrick MacDonald, Peggy Stockley, Mark Rahner, Robin Updike, Fred Birchman, Deloris Tarzan Ament, Carole Beers, Janine Dallas Steffan, Rajeeve Gupta, Bob Longino and Michael Upchurch. I know I've left too many off this list, but if I ran on any longer, I'd feel like I was accepting an award.

John Hartl can be contacted at [email protected] .

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Movies reviews and recommendations by The Seattle Times

Looking for reliable movie reviews and recommendations? Look no further than The Seattle Times. Whether you’re a film aficionado searching for the latest releases or someone just looking for a casual movie night suggestion, The Seattle Times has got you covered. With a team of expert critics and insightful commentary, this trusted source provides valuable insights and honest opinions on the latest films, helping you make informed decisions about what to watch next. From blockbuster hits to independent gems, The Seattle Times is your go-to destination for all things movies.

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Movies section of The Seattle Times

The Seattle Times offers a comprehensive and diverse movies section where you can find all the latest news, reviews, and recommendations in the world of cinema. Whether you’re a casual moviegoer or a dedicated film enthusiast, this section has something for everyone. From blockbuster releases to independent gems, you’ll find all the information you need to stay up to date with the ever-evolving world of movies.

Movie reviews by The Seattle Times

When it comes to movie reviews, The Seattle Times is your go-to source for honest and insightful critiques. Our team of experienced and knowledgeable critics provide in-depth analysis and thoughtful commentary on the latest releases. Whether you’re looking for recommendations on what to watch this weekend or want to know if a highly anticipated film lives up to the hype, you can trust our reviews to be reliable and trustworthy.

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Film criticism in The Seattle Times

Film criticism is an art form in itself, and The Seattle Times takes pride in its commitment to delivering high-quality analysis of the cinematic world. Our critics dig deep into the themes, performances, and technical aspects of a film, providing you with a deeper understanding and appreciation of the art of filmmaking. We believe that film criticism should go beyond a simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down review and aim to elevate the conversation around movies.

Film reviews in The Seattle Times

At The Seattle Times, we understand that everyone has different tastes when it comes to movies. That’s why our film reviews cover a wide range of genres and styles, ensuring that we have something for everyone. Whether you’re a fan of romantic comedies, sci-fi epics, or horror films, you can count on our reviews to provide you with an honest and comprehensive assessment of the latest releases.

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For those who enjoy the cinematic experience of watching movies on the big screen, our cinema reviews offer insights into the latest releases playing at theaters in the Seattle area. We provide information on the visual and auditory aspects of the film, as well as the overall experience of watching it in a theater. Whether you’re looking for the best theater to catch a new release or want to know if a film is worth seeing on the big screen, our cinema reviews have got you covered.

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If you’re looking for a reliable source to discover the top movies of the moment, look no further than our top movie pick lists. Our experts carefully curate these lists, taking into consideration factors such as critical acclaim, audience reception, and cultural impact. Whether you’re searching for the latest Oscar-winning film or a hidden gem that flew under the radar, our top movie picks will guide you towards the best films out there.

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There are certain movies that simply cannot be missed, and The Seattle Times is here to make sure you don’t overlook them. Our must-see movie lists highlight films that have captured the attention of critics and audiences alike, often becoming cultural touchstones and influential works of art. Whether it’s a classic from the past or a recent release that is making waves, our must-see movies recommendations will ensure you stay in the loop.

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Stay up to date with the latest releases in the world of cinema through our comprehensive coverage of new movies. Our team provides timely and informative articles on the most anticipated releases, giving you an inside look at what to expect before heading to the theater. From interviews with the cast and crew to behind-the-scenes features, our new releases coverage offers a deeper understanding of the films that are hitting the screens.

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In conclusion, The Seattle Times is your ultimate resource for all things movies. With our comprehensive movie reviews, knowledgeable film critics, and curated recommendations, we’re here to help you navigate the vast landscape of cinema and discover the films that will entertain and inspire you. So grab some popcorn, sit back, and let The Seattle Times be your trusted guide to the captivating world of movies.

May the 4th be with you! Here’s everything our critics have said about the ‘Star Wars’ franchise

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With “Star Wars” Day looming, it’s an apt time to take stock of The Times’ reviews of each installment — movies and TV shows — in the ever-evolving, paradigm-shattering intergalactic franchise.

Updating our list from 2015 , which came before a new wave of “Star Wars” films and TV series endeared the franchise to a new generation of fans, we’re including our reviews of the latest theatrical entries in “Star Wars” movie canon, and some notable mentions of the TV, streaming and serial projects that gave us backstories for Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Mandalorian and his beloved Grogu.

Here, in the order of the action in the “Star Wars” universe, are the reviews and features (some from a long time ago) that appeared in a newspaper in a galaxy not so far, far away ...

‘Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace’ (1999)

Former L.A. Times film critic Kenneth Turan — who reviewed all three prequel films — didn’t love “The Phantom Menace.” His review said it was obvious that the new addition to the franchise was “aimed at younger audiences” and noted that it “delivers lots of spectacle but is noticeably lacking in warmth and humor.”

Review: The Prequel Has Landed

‘Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones’ (2002)

Turan was also not feeling newcomer Hayden Christensen and his sulky take on Anakin Skywalker: “Judging by his performance here (perhaps not a wise thing to do), young Canadian actor Hayden Christensen was picked for Anakin strictly on his ability to radiate sullen teen rebellion, something he does a lot. Anakin chafes like a grounded adolescent at the restrictions Obi-Wan places on him, grousing that the master is “overly critical. He never listens. He just doesn’t understand. It’s not fair.”

Turan dubs the relationship between Anakin and his beloved Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) “High School Confidential in Outer Space” and states that the two are less troubled by their forbidden love and more “burdened by a formidable lack of chemistry.”

Review: “When We Last Saw Our Heroes ...”

‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ (2008)

Times staff writer Michael Ordoña described the feature film that launched George Lucas’ computer-animated TV series as a “theatrical pilot for the upcoming animated television series” and wrote that “anyone older than 8 with the majority of brain functions intact will have a bad feeling about this.”

“But where new characters, plot threads and better dialogue might have made up for much, ‘Clone Wars’ simply doesn’t aim high enough,” he wrote. “For those who had expected improved writing from the last four films [‘Return of the Jedi’ to ‘Revenge of the Sith’], your hopes will be dashed on the ornately realized rocks of Tatooine.”

Review aside, the TV series ran for seven seasons — first on Cartoon Network, then Netflix and finally Disney+ — from 2008 to 2020. Not to mention, “The Clone Wars” (both film and series) introduced its share of key characters and lore that has been indispensable to the franchise in the Disney+ era.

Review: It’s a Weak Jedi Mind Trick

‘Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith’ (2005)

Turan came in with show-stopping pun: “‘Revenge of the Sith’ is a visual stunner, but beware of the talk side.”

Enough said.

Review: It Looks Hot ...

‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ (2018)

Former Times film critic Justin Chang took on the newer “Star Wars” installments after Turan left The Times in 2020. His duties involved reviewing the lesser-loved film “Solo,” whose rocky behind-the-scenes story involved the firing of original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller and the hiring of their replacement, Ron Howard. The film details how fan-favorite rogue Han Solo scored the famous Millennium Falcon, met Chewbacca and came by his surname.

“[Howard] and his collaborators (including screenwriters Jonathan and Lawrence Kasdan) have cobbled together a high-speed, low-energy intergalactic heist movie, an opportunity to spend too much time with people you don’t care about and too little time with people you do,” Chang wrote.

Review: ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Never Gets Off the Ground, But Don’t Blame Alden Ehrenreich

Obi-Wan Kenobi has a deep history. Before the Disney+ series, here’s what to know

We look back at the Star Wars history of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, originated by Alec Guinness and played in ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ by Ewan McGregor.

May 26, 2022

‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ (2022)

The titular former general and Jedi master, introduced in 1977’s “ A New Hope ” and whose backstory was expanded upon in 1999’s “ The Phantom Menace ,” got his own space adventure in this Disney+’s six-episode limited series starring Ewan McGregor.

Times staff writer Tracy Brown explained that for series co-write Joby Harold, part of the excitement of the Disney+ series was exploring what could have happened between “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope” for McGregor’s Kenobi to become the version embodied by Alec Guinness. The series is also a touching tribute to everybody’s favorite princess: “Leia’s role in ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ both expands her significance in the overall ‘Star Wars’ story and recontextualizes existing canon in a way that deepens Leia’s imprint on the saga,” Brown wrote.

Commentary: How Disney’s ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ changes Princess Leia’s legacy forever

‘Star Wars Rebels’ (2014)

Times television critic Robert Lloyd wrote that the 2014 expression of the “Star Wars” brand seemed “sent to hold your attention until the arrival of the seventh live-action film.” The cartoon series premiered on the Disney Channel and was “the first tangible fruit of the incorporation of ‘Star Wars’ into the Walt Disney empire, and a Disney cartoon is very much what this is.”

“Though firmly in the Lucas tradition, this is also a Disney cartoon, for a Disney crowd and a Disney corporation — watching, you can almost feel the plastic and the plush — and whatever the characters are up to, however cute or sentimental the business, it is smartly designed and cinematically staged, and not hard to enjoy.”

Review: Disney Is the Driving Force of ‘Star Wars Rebels’

‘Andor’ (2022)

The critically hailed Disney+ series “Andor ” tells the story of how Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) transforms from disaffected, self-centered thief to committed resistance fighter willing to die for the cause, Brown wrote.

“Eschewing many of the familiar tropes and set pieces associated with the franchise, the series has pushed ‘Star Wars’ storytelling to new heights,” Brown said, and its political proclivities made the series must-see TV.

Commentary: ‘Star Wars’ Has Always Been Political. ‘Andor’ Made It Must-See TV

‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ (2016)

Landing in theaters a year after “The Force Awakens,” the brisk and momentous story was actually set about three decades prior and is a “swiftly paced, rough-and-ready entertainment that, in anticipating the canonical events of ‘A New Hope,’ manages the tricky feat of seeming at once casually diverting and hugely consequential,” Chang wrote.

“With the Death Star undergoing its final quality assurance tests, the evil Galactic Empire is very much in the ascendant. The Rebel Alliance is fractious and disorganized. And what initially seems like a zippy stand-alone adventure soon reveals itself as a grimly exciting prequel to the first, or should I say fourth, film in the series, ‘Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope.’ (Think of the new movie, if you must, as ‘Star Wars: Episode III.V — Dawn of a New Hope.’)”

Review: ‘Rogue One’ Adds an Uneven but Thrilling Wrinkle to the Mythology of ‘Star Wars’

Unlike ‘Andor,’ ‘Mandalorian’ is going all in on ‘Star Wars’ lore. Here’s what to know

Season 3 features protective space dad Mando (Pedro Pascal) and adorable Grogu (Baby Yoda) on yet another journey steeped in “Star Wars” allusions.

March 1, 2023

‘Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope’ (1977)

The first-ever “Star Wars” film from director Lucas — originally titled simply “Star Wars” — was heralded by the late Times critic Charles Champlin as “the year’s most razzle-dazzling family movie, an exuberant and technically astonishing space adventure in which the galactic tomorrows of ‘Flash Gordon’ are the setting for conflicts and events that carry the suspiciously but splendidly familiar ring of yesterday’s westerns, as well as yesterday’s ‘Flash Gordon’ serials.”

Review: ‘Star Wars’ Hails the Once and Future Space Western

‘Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back’ (1980)

Champlin really got into the spirit of the Force, praising both the first film and this one for their optimism and more: “‘Star Wars’ and ‘The Empire Strikes Back,’ like all superior fantasies, have the quality of parable, not only on good and evil but on attitudes toward life and personal deportment and there is something very like a moral imperative in the films’ view of hard work, determination, self-improvement, concentration and idealism,” he wrote. “It does not take a savant to see that this uplifting tone only a little less than the plot and effects is a central ingredient of the wide outreach of the films.”

Review: In the ‘Star Wars’ Saga, ‘Empire’ Strikes Forward

‘Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi’ (1983)

We found someone who loved the Ewoks! The late Times movie critic Sheila Benson called the final film in the original trilogy “frankly irresistible” and heaped tons of praise on the furry fiends from the moon of Endor.

Review: ‘Star Wars’ Continues With an Inventive ‘Jedi’

‘The Mandalorian’ (2019)

The big-budget, live-action series launched Disney’s streaming platform (and gave us the adorable “baby Yoda,” a.k.a. Grogu). Lorraine Ali, who was then a Times’ TV critic, described the show as “‘Star Wars’/Disney right down to its weird sand creatures and blighted outposts, and a safe-but-entertaining start” for Disney+.

“The premiere episode of the first live-action series in the ‘Star Wars’ universe is a direct descendant of the big-budget film franchise in both tone and execution. It’s long on impressive special effects and alien shootouts, and short on a fresh story line beyond the usual unwitting hero with a mysterious family tree and a destiny that involves saving the universe (or part of it),” she wrote. “The feel of the series is blockbuster cinema — action-packed, predictable, entertaining — so it’s jarring when the first episode ends at around 35 minutes.”

Review: ‘The Mandalorian’ Is ‘Star Wars’ to the Core: A Safe, Entertaining Blockbuster

‘The Book of Boba Fett’ (2021-22)

The first spinoff of “The Mandalorian” focuses on fan-favorite bounty hunter Boba Fett, who left a lasting impression despite only six minutes and 32 seconds of screen time and four spoken lines during the original trilogy, Brown wrote. (Hey, the action figure was cool.)

Picking up after the events of “The Mandalorian,” “The Book of Boba Fett” follows Fett (Temuera Morrison) as he establishes himself as the new crime lord in charge among the local scum and villainy on Tattooine, along with his faithful right hand, Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen). The series also filled in some gaps about what Fett was up to between the events of “Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi” (1983) and his appearance in “The Mandalorian.”

Commentary: Boba Fett Had Four Lines in ‘Empire Strikes Back.’ How He Ended Up With His Own TV Show

‘Star Wars: Ahsoka’ (2023)

When Ahsoka Tano crashed into Anakin Skywalker’s life as his newly assigned padawan apprentice in 2008’s animated “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” she changed “Star Wars” forever.

Much like her master, the teen was reckless, impulsive, stubborn and didn’t always follow the rules. She was also the first female Jedi protagonist who audiences got to see in action onscreen in a franchise that until pretty recently held the lightsaber-wielding users of the Force in the highest regard.

The next chapter in the character’s 15-year legacy was “Star Wars: Ahsoka,” which similarly broke new ground on the live-action side of the galaxy far, far away. Starring Rosario Dawson, the series boasts the first nonhuman “Star Wars” title hero as well as a core cast primarily composed of women. Both are representational milestones and examples of how “Star Wars” has become much more inclusive than it was when the original film premiered in 1977.

Commentary: ‘Ahsoka’ Proves That ‘Star Wars’ Has Long Been a Galaxy Where Women Can Be Heroes

‘Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens’ (2015)

Turan wrote that the most hotly anticipated motion picture since “Gone With the Wind” had “an erratic, haphazard quality to it” but was “a definite improvement” on the franchise’s “abortive” second trilogy set, “The Phantom Menace,” “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith.”

“‘The Force Awakens’ is only at its best in fits and starts, its success dependent on who of its mix of franchise veterans and first-timers is on the screen,” Turan wrote. “But ‘The Force Awakens’ is also burdened by casting miscalculations and scenes that are flat and ineffective. Sometimes the Force is with this film, sometimes it decidedly is not.”

The Force was certainly with it at the box-office. The film grossed $120.5 million on its opening day, and in 2016 became the highest grossing movie in U.S. history (at the time), not adjusting for inflation.

Review: ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’: Was It Worth the Wait?

‘Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi’ (2017)

The series’ eighth official episode, directed by Rian Johnson, was hailed as “easily its most exciting iteration in decades” by Chang, who described it as “the first flat-out terrific ‘Star Wars’ movie since 1980’s ‘The Empire Strikes Back.’”

“It seizes upon Lucas’ original dream of finding a pop vessel for his obsessions — Akira Kurosawa epics, John Ford westerns, science-fiction serials — and fulfills it with a verve and imagination all its own.”

Review: ‘The Last Jedi’ Brings Emotion, Exhilaration and Surprise Back to the ‘Star Wars’ Saga

‘Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker’ (2019)

“The Rise of Skywalker,” the frenzied big-bang conclusion of the franchise’s third movie trilogy, “offers itself up in the spirit of a ‘Last Jedi’ corrective, a return to storytelling basics, a nearly 2½-hour compendium of everything that made you fall in love with ‘Star Wars’ in the first place,” Chang wrote in 2019.

“The more accurate way to describe it, I think, is as an epic failure of nerve,” he said. “This ‘Rise’ feels more like a retreat, a return to a zone of emotional and thematic safety from a filmmaker with a gift for packaging nostalgia as subversion. Still, let’s acknowledge [director J.J.] Abrams for the proficient craftsman and genre-savvy showman he is. Like some of his other major pop-cultural contributions (two enjoyable ‘Star Trek’ movies and the twisty TV series ‘Lost’ among them), ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ is a swift and vigorous entertainment, with a sense of forward momentum that keeps you watching despite several dubious plot turns and cheap narrative fakeouts.”

Review: ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ Is Here to Remind You Just How Good ‘The Last Jedi’ Was

Former Times staff writer Meredith Woerner contributed to this report.

More to Read

‘The Phantom Menace’ dominated 1999’s box office. History has been kinder to it

May 3, 2024

The unmissable addition to Disneyland’s Star Tours ride? Space whales

April 9, 2024

Ahsoka, Andor and the Mandalorian are coming to Disneyland’s Star Tours

March 5, 2024

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Nardine Saad covers breaking entertainment news, trending culture topics, celebrities and their kin for the Fast Break Desk at the Los Angeles Times. She joined The Times in 2010 as a MetPro trainee and has reported from homicide scenes, flooded canyons, red carpet premieres and award shows.

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Solar Storm Intensifies, Filling Skies With Northern Lights

Officials warned of potential blackouts or interference with navigation and communication systems this weekend, as well as auroras as far south as Southern California or Texas.

By Katrina Miller and Judson Jones

Katrina Miller reports on space and astronomy and Judson Jones is a meteorologist.

A dramatic blast from the sun set off the highest-level geomagnetic storm in Earth’s atmosphere on Friday that is expected to make the northern lights visible as far south as Florida and Southern California and could interfere with power grids, communications and navigations system.

It is the strongest such storm to reach Earth since Halloween of 2003. That one was strong enough to create power outages in Sweden and damage transformers in South Africa.

The effects could continue through the weekend as a steady stream of emissions from the sun continues to bombard the planet’s magnetic field.

The solar activity is so powerful that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which monitors space weather, issued an unusual storm watch for the first time in 19 years, which was then upgraded to a warning. The agency began observing outbursts on the sun’s surface on Wednesday, with at least five heading in the direction of Earth.

“What we’re expecting over the next couple of days should be more significant than what we’ve seen certainly so far,” Mike Bettwy, the operations chief at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, said at a news conference on Friday morning.

For people in many places, the most visible part of the storm will be the northern lights, known also as auroras. But authorities and companies will also be on the lookout for the event’s effects on infrastructure, like global positioning systems, radio communications and even electrical power.

While the northern lights are most often seen in higher latitudes closer to the North Pole, people in many more parts of the world are already getting a show this weekend that could last through the early part of next week.

As Friday turned to Saturday in Europe, people across the continent described skies hued in a mottling of colors.

Alfredo Carpineti , an astrophysicist, journalist and author in North London, saw them with his husband from the rooftop of their apartment building.

“It is incredible to be able to see the aurora directly from one’s own backyard,” he said. “I was hoping to maybe catch a glimpse of green on the horizon, but it was all across the sky in both green and purple.”

Here’s what you need to know about this weekend’s solar event.

How will the storm affect people on Earth?

A geomagnetic storm watch or warning indicates that space weather may affect critical infrastructure on or orbiting near Earth. It may introduce additional current into systems, which could damage pipelines, railroad tracks and power lines.

According to Joe Llama, an astronomer at Lowell Observatory, communications that rely on high frequency radio waves, such as ham radio and commercial aviation , are most likely to suffer. That means it is unlikely that your cellphone or car radio, which depend on much higher frequency radio waves, will conk out.

Still, it is possible for blackouts to occur. As with any power outage, you can prepare by keeping your devices charged and having access to backup batteries, generators and radio.

The most notable solar storm recorded in history occurred in 1859. Known as the Carrington Event, it lasted for nearly a week, creating aurora that stretched down to Hawaii and Central America and impacting hundreds of thousands of miles of telegraph lines.

But that was technology of the 19th century, used before scientists fully understood how solar activity disrupted Earth’s atmosphere and communication systems.

“That was an extreme level event,” said Shawn Dahl, a forecaster at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. “We are not anticipating that.”

Unlike tornado watches and warnings, the target audience for NOAA’s announcements is not the public.

“For most people here on planet Earth, they won’t have to do anything,” said Rob Steenburgh, a space scientist at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

The goal of the announcements is to give agencies and companies that operate this infrastructure time to put protection measures in place to mitigate any effects.

“If everything is working like it should, the grid will be stable and they’ll be able to go about their daily lives,” Mr. Steenburgh said.

Will I be able to see the northern lights?

It is possible that the northern lights may grace the skies this week over places that don’t usually see them. The best visibility is outside the bright lights of cities.

Clouds or stormy weather could pose a problem in some places. But if the skies are clear, even well south of where the aurora is forecast to take place, snap a picture or record a video with your cellphone. The sensor on the camera is more sensitive to the wavelengths produced by the aurora and may produce an image you can’t see with the naked eye.

Another opportunity could be viewing sunspots during the daytime, if your skies are clear. As always, do not look directly at the sun without protection. But if you still have your eclipse glasses lying around from the April 8 event, you may try to use them to try to spot the cluster of sunspots causing the activity.

How strong is the current geomagnetic storm?

Giant explosions on the surface of the sun, known as coronal mass ejections, send streams of energetic particles into space. But the sun is large, and such outbursts may not cross our planet as it travels around the star. But when these particles create a disturbance in Earth’s magnetic field, it is known as a geomagnetic storm.

NOAA classifies these storms on a “G” scale of 1 to 5, with G1 being minor and G5 being extreme. The most extreme storms can cause widespread blackouts and damage to infrastructure on Earth. Satellites may also have trouble orienting themselves or sending or receiving information during these events.

The current storm is classified as G5, or “extreme.” It is caused by a cluster of sunspots — dark, cool regions on the solar surface — that is about 16 times the diameter of Earth. The cluster is flaring and ejecting material every six to 12 hours.

“We anticipate that we’re going to get one shock after another through the weekend,” said Brent Gordon, chief of the space weather services branch at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

Why is this happening now?

The sun’s activity ebbs and flows on an 11-year cycle, and right now, it is approaching a solar maximum. Three other severe geomagnetic storms have been observed so far in the current activity cycle, which began in December 2019, but none were predicted to cause effects strong enough on Earth to warrant a watch or warning announcement.

The cluster of sunspots generating the current storm is the largest seen in this solar cycle, NOAA officials said. They added that the activity in this cycle has outperformed initial predictions .

More flares and expulsions from this cluster are expected, but because of the sun’s rotation the cluster will be oriented in a position less likely to affect Earth. In the coming weeks, the sunspots may appear again on the left side of the sun, but it is difficult for scientists to predict whether this will cause another bout of activity.

“Usually, these don’t come around packing as much of a punch as they did originally,” Mr. Dahl said. “But time will tell on that.”

Jonathan O’Callaghan contributed reporting from London.

An earlier version of this article misstated the radio frequencies used by cellphones and car radios. They are higher frequencies, not low.

How we handle corrections

Katrina Miller is a science reporting fellow for The Times. She recently earned her Ph.D. in particle physics from the University of Chicago. More about Katrina Miller

Judson Jones is a meteorologist and reporter for The Times who forecasts and covers extreme weather. More about Judson Jones

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