Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi - quick review (spoiler free)...

What's it about?
After destroying the Star Killer base in the previous episode, the remnants of the Resistance are on the run with the New Order pursuing them, their total destruction within Supreme Leader Snoke's evil grasp. Meanwhile, Rey meets the mythical Luke Skywalker and gains new experience with The Force as Poe Dameron's rogue sense of rashness is challenged by General Leia Organa.
Who would I recognise in it?
Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Laura Dern, Benicio Del Toro, Andy Serkis, Lupita Nyongo', Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, and more.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Episode VII blew the doors off the box office, but was criticised for hewing too closely to Episode IV in terms of story and structure, and the death of an iconic character ruffled a few feathers. Episode VIII, meanwhile, treads more of its own path and enacts a few bold choices that are surprising for a franchise this old and financially important ... and, of course, the most ardent complainers of the social media world are still whining...

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Looper:
What's it about?
Rian Johnson's time travel sci-fi thriller set in the near-future where time travel hasn't yet been invented, but in thirty years it will have been. After its invention it is immediately outlawed and becomes the preserve of the mob, who send people they want killed back-in-time for "Loopers" to kill. One day though, each Looper will have to "close their loop" and kill their own future self - however Joe's elder-self has other ideas.
Who would I recognise in it?
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Noah Segan, Jeff Daniels, Paul Dano, Piper Perabo, and Garrett Dillahunt.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
The best films, particularly genre films, always have a fantastic central idea to them. In the case of Looper it's the idea of your present self trying to kill your older self who just wants to survive to preserve their own future, and the schism that this presents. Packed full of ideas (an older incarnation of one character finds themselves literally falling apart, for example), Johnson's film is a spectacular mix of mind-bending sci-fi (set in a near-future world that is, for the most part, recognisable), retro chic ("Gat Men", for instance), thoughtful ideas, and blazing action. An instant classic of the genre. Great.

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