h

as i said in my review for Part IV i never grew up watching Star Wars, but these films still invoke the same movie magic that i've imagine me feeling as if i were watching these as a kid, this film especially, obviously i'll never know what that feels like, but *The Empire Strikes Back* is truly marvelous in every sense of the word, expands on Part IV in every way imaginable, its funnier, grander, and the stakes are a lot higher, loses a lot of the charm in that film and gets a lot weirder with it (in a good way), one of my biggest complaints for Part IV was Mark Hamill's performance, but he feels entirely committed in this film, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher are even better in this than the original, i love their whole dynamic, introduces more interesting characters that have a lot impact even within their limited screentime, and you can certainly feel how badly everybody wants this to work, and the filmmaking is as great as expected, maybe even better than the original most people know about the ending, or at least have seen or heard about it in some capacity, i thought it wouldn't deliver, but it's as enthralling as ever, this isn't just an incredibly entertaining film, there's a mystical feeling surrounding all of this, the whole sequence in the Cloud City (including the ending) was so much more mesmerizing than i was anticipated, didn't quite exceed my expectations, but it's exactly what i was expecting, maybe a little bit more, seriously can't understand how this came out in 1980, feels much more modern than many films coming out today, undoubtably a masterpiece and one of the best Sci-Fi films ever made, *Return of the Jedi* soon

[39TH TERROR TUESDAY](https://boxd.it/QANGm) how did this flop when it released, i guess the people over 70 years ago couldn't handle how genre-bending this was for it's time, weaves in so many things within it's short track time, blends Crime, Horror, and Fantasy all into one tightly edited film to create a dreamlike and nightmarish unlike many horror films coming out today, also is weirdly funny at times, i see a lot of David Lynch in this (which is a huge compliment), that's a huge reason on why this worked so much for me, looks absolutely fantastic, lots of beautiful shot compositions and lighting choices, remains entertaining yet unsettling all throughout, Robert Mitchum is playing his character with the utmost charm, but remains deeply disturbing, Harry Powell’s “theme song” is gonna stay stuck in my head for a while i feel as if this is a film that any age group can watch, despite the film being so old, its pushing the boundaries, its unconventional in a way that hypnotizes you up until the end, don't think anything will ever get close to how unique and strange this is, glad to see the people came around to this one even if it took a couple of years, kind of sad to see that this is Charles Laughton's only work, but he certainly made an impression on cinema with just this one film

i don't really hold any nostalgia for this franchise, never was a huge Star Wars guy growing up so this is my first time watching these films which is pretty crazy, but i had to get around to probably THE most influential Sci-Fi blockbuster of all time, still holds up nearly half a century later, didn't expect this to be campier than it was, not that i minded, i loved how charming everything is, owe a lot of that to Harrison Ford's charismatic performance, some of the most impressive production design of its time, the filmmaking makes the film feel alive, everything has so much personality, and it's all working together to create one of the most entertaining films of all time thought it felt a bit rushed though, but that's probably because this is the fourth installment in the franchise and i haven't seen the prequels yet, and Mark Hamill's performance really did nothing for me, i really hope he's better in the latter films, still thought it was pretty great, excited to watch *The Empire Strikes Back*, maybe ill turn out to love these films more than i thought i would

finally deciding to start my Spielberg run, don't really know why i started with this, i've heard from a lot people that this is the most important film in his filmography, the one that means the most to him personally, and you can certainly feel that throughout the film, i don't really know if it'll get better than this, how did he make this in the same year he made *Jurassic Park*, that'll forever be one of cinemas greatest achievements, didn't really expect to come out of this so devastated and distraught, but this truly is one of the most harrowing films ever made, i've seen a handful of World War II films up until this point, but this one tackles a side of humanity, made me angry many times, made me tear up many times, the Holocaust is one of the worlds greatest tragedies, and you can definitely feel the weight of that throughout all 3 hours and 15 minutes outstanding performances from the 3 leads, especially Liam Neeson who you could tell is giving it his all, portrays this complex character perfectly, his transformation from the start to the end is seamless, didn't even know Ralph Fiennes was in this, he's giving an evil and chilling performance, easily one of the best villain performances of all time, his restraint is why this character is so horrifying, and Ben Kingsley is also great, giving such an afraid yet optimistic performance, usually with score's like this i find them "melodramatic", but in the case of *Schindler's List*, i was mesmerized by it, and the filmmaking is unsurprisingly fantastic, the Black and White cinematography washing over this gives it such a melancholic tone, also looks incredible, and it's no doubt one of the best edited films of all time ill probably have more to say about this absolute masterpiece another time, it deserves all the praise it gets, probably would've been even higher on this if i watched this later in my Spielberg run, but it's too late for that, it deserves all the praise it gets, ill stand by my take on War films being the most brutal to watch, and in most cases the most bleak as well, 2 films in a row that have made my heart ache badly, fuck