Movie Review: ***^ If (2024)

 IF stands for Imaginary Friend.  The story of this movie is all the IFs are eventually forgotten.  Their children eventually grow older and forget aboyt them.  Bea (Cailey Fleming) is 12.  Her mother became ill and passed away.  She is now with her paternal grandmother (Fiona Shaw) as her father (John Krasinski) is in need of heart surgery.  Upstairs from her grandmother's apartment she discovers some interewsting creatures, IFs.  Cal (Ryan Reynolds) is trying to help IFs find new children.  Blue (voice Steve Carrel) is purple and Blossom (voice (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) is like a dancing bee.  They recruit Bea to help them find matches.  At first they have poor success; but then start getting IFs back with their previous children.  But the person in need of an IF is Bea herself.  

This movie is written and directed by John Krasinski.  It is about navigating life when things do not always go right, when we have trauma.  The story is about out there but works in the end.

Disney+ TV Review: ****^Star Wars: Andor 2022

 Andor is incredibly good as it keeps building until we hit the climax in the last episode.  Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) is nothing more than a mercenary or thief.  He is recruited by a rebel organizer, Luthen Rael (Stellen Skarsgärd) He and Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) work together in funding the rebellion.  Andor and some other reels carry out a successful heist of an imperial payroll, thus getting needed money for the rebellion.  Cassian hangs low, but in doing so is unjustly imprisoned.  He is set to work on some unknown device.  Escape is impossible as the floor is wired with electricity in it which is turned on at any hint of escape.  But when we realize that any sentence is a life sentence in this prison (a whole floor was killed when one was due to be released) escape becomes the goal.  

Andor's adoptive mother, Maarva (Fiona Shaw) passes away.  He must return to the funeral.  However the epire want him captured so they can torture him and learn secrets of the rebellion, particularly the identity of Luthen Rael.  Luthen Rael also wants to kill Andor so as to prevent being exposed.  It seems there is not much hope for him.  The highlight of the whole series is when Luthen's mother, through a droid, gives her own eulogy and calls for rebellion.  The tension just builds and builds to this point and finally pops.  In the chaos, Andor gives his life to Luthen.

The sage of Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) is weaved into the other stories.  However this story did not reach its head yet.

season two