Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a spectacular time with your loved ones. I'll shortly be sharing my 2017 round-up of all things film, but now that New Year's Eve is just around the corner, it's time to start getting excited about 2018 in film too. A lot of trailers have dropped recently and if you follow my Facebook page, you'll know I am a big fan of the trailers! And if you have some spare time over the holidays, hopefully it'll mean you have a spare few minutes to watch them too.

Black Panther

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

The Post

Maze Runner: The Death Cure

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

So it's not perfect and aca-awesome, but there's no reason why you can't enjoy this song and dance one last time.  

Back in 2012, Pitch Perfect was a surprise smash hit, with critics and audiences singing its praises for being a musical hilarity. A capella groups rose in popularity, riff-offs became a thing, and the Cups sequence became a party trick. (For the record, I'd been doing that for years.) The group rivalries and frank characters were refreshing, with noteworthy performances from Rebel Wilson and Anna Kendrick, and the sequel 3 years later was even more popular. It's now 2017 and the long-graduated Barden Bellas are no longer Barden Bellas, but there's another sequel because if the formula's good, why not make it a trilogy? Pitch Perfect 3 is what it is: a goodbye, an encore even.

The glory days are over and they're all trying to go about their grown-up lives and careers, but the Bellas decide to reunite one last time. It involves an overseas tour performing for the troops and a contest to be the opening act for DJ Khaled, this time against actual instrumental bands that couldn't care less about riff-offs. The storyline and 'competition' elements are already far less convincing or captivating (a band called "Evermoist" featuring Ruby Rose are the main rival, for example), searching for a shoe-in that doesn't come naturally. What does come naturally, however, is the group dynamic and believable friendship, and believe it or not, the bursting into song. So focus on that and lower your expectations - let the plot take a backseat, and enjoy the show. There's no college in sight, and even some very prominent characters from the franchise are completely missing. The only further plot development involves John Lithgow as Fat Amy's shady dad blast from the past and some decent and extremely unexpected kick-ass action scenes. It's all a bit random really.

The film that springs to mind is Magic Mike XXL - yes, really. It said goodbye to any kind of kinda-serious plot and instead, was all about getting back together for some entertaining dance sequences here and there. Same story here (but with more clothes). The songs include Toxic, plus some more recent hits since the last movie like Ex's and Oh's, Cake by the Ocean, and Cheap Thrills and it's all just harmless fun song and dance which I thoroughly enjoyed. Whilst the spotlight is mostly on Fat Amy's family drama, it also eventually brings Kendrick's Beca back to centre stage in a moment that's almost High School Musical. Throw in some cute guys, funny gags, lots of DJ Khaled, and a message about the importance of family, and that's essentially the film.

It's a film that didn't have to be made, but hey ho. It's the end of a chapter, it feels like it, and there's even a sigh of relief as some characters realise they don't have to perform again; the film and its stars know it can't run forever. For me, I was lost in a bubble of guilty pleasures so I almost wish there were more to it so we could get a longer film (90 mins, 20 mins shorter than the last two) but I doubt that's even possible. The autotuned melodies are pitch-perfect but Pitch Perfect 3 is not perfect. But then again, were we ever expecting it to be?

Pitch Perfect 3 is in cinemas now.

Is it big? Yes. Is it bold? Very. Is the Force strong with this one? Yes - but some may disagree. The Last Jedi is paving the way for a new course of direction for our Star Wars heroes. 

Let's be honest - The Force Awakens was A New Hope V2. The Last Jedi, however, is a smart homage (but definitely not replication) to the past, presenting a strong stance on the future with director Rian Johnson pulling some bold moves out of the bag. Like The Empire Strikes Back, it strikes a darker tone but still remains epic, galactic, funny, a little corny and brave. It's been slightly controversial (more on *those* petitions later) but all in all, a worthy sequel.

Two years ago, the pressure was ON to see if Disney had ruined George Lucas's space opera cult classic - would the new characters be strong enough to stand on their own two feet? Would it be weird to see the old returning characters no longer as icons frozen in time? But now, with a warmly-received Force Awakens and a stellar Rogue One amping up the Disney galaxy-street cred, you could even view The Last Jedi as a game-changer.

We pick up exactly where we left off, with protagonist Rey coming face to face with Original Rey aka Luke Skywalker. (This dynamic reminded me a little of Kung Fu Panda but with less training and finally a breakdown of the light-dark balance.) The general plot follows potential Jedi Rey receiving training and discovering past secrets from potentially no-longer-Jedi Luke in order to bring down the First Order which includes baddie Kylo Ren (Han Solo and Princess Leia's son) and Supreme Leader Snoke (think Palpatine). All corners of the story seem to be firmly stationed somewhere, so if it's not a secret island, it's General Leia and her Resistance crew on a ship, or Snoke's ship...moving but not moving off it, unfortunately. Some of the most standout scenes are actually with Finn and marvellous new character Rose as they actually get to venture out and explore this galaxy far, far away whilst trying to save their fleet from impending doom.

As the title suggests, The Last Jedi is looking at just that. Is Luke this last Jedi - whatever will happen next? We re-meet our man of mystery in a bittersweet haze; remember the good old days when young Skywalker learned from Master Yoda, befriended Han and his long lost sister and ultimately saved his father, saving the galaxy and all with that look of undeterred bravery in his eyes? Yep that guy's gone and this might be hard to take, depending on which stance you'll take. Instead, we have a fallen hero with a multitude of emotions and history, brilliantly played by Mark Hamill. There's a lot of this old vs. new tension that, again, may feel divisive because it extends beyond characters and into the core of the filmmaking and the very core of Episode 8. Are the old Star Wars manuscripts all being burnt? Time will tell.

Ok, without giving too much away, what else happens? There is a secret plan of action that involves disobeying orders and infiltrating enemy lines and following a plan that was never going to go smoothly. There are, naturally, high speed space chases. There's a lot of Force in action. There are also some lovely and poignant scenes with the great Carrie Fisher who will be sorely missed. There's also cute creatures - you might  have picked up on the buzz around these little beings called "porgs" who are adorbs comic relief and you can already pick up some plush Porg Christmas presents from Amazon and HMV. This is Disney, remember? Of course we're going to get damn cute characters (and memorabilia). It's all the stuff that diverts from the Star Wars DNA that's causing mayhem and ticket refund requests and even petitions for the entire film to be remade.

Our heroine Rey (Daisy Ridley) is great as usual but I almost wanted more from her. They focus a lot on the mystery of her family and we finally get some answers - all the character development time is put on her but I still feel like we need more if we're going to leap into this final (or not-final - we never know) chapter of the new trilogy. I also want even more lightsaber action please! Our villain Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is directly pitted against Rey with an exploration that says good vs. evil is not that simple, and we even get to see the Force version of Skype and some very close connections. Like, OMG are they going to hold hands or something? Ren is probably the most conflicted bad guy we've seen on screens for a while and definitely not like previous Star Wars villains because he does all sorts of crazy stuff like get mad and destroy his signature helmet in the first few scenes. Symbolism much? I had my doubts from the first film but I finally see where they're going with this (far, far away).

In a nutshell, there were a few things that didn't do it for me. I'm still not quite sure what's going on in the wider galaxy and although the film feels like an epic, it felt more grounded than usual. I want to know more about the First Order and the threat the galaxy are facing if they win. There are also some characters that could do with some further fleshing out, especially given that we had the longest Star Wars installment to date. And on that point, it had a thrilling third act but dragged in places. But back onto the good - Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) is a joy, a real representation of hope and she manages to shine in her role. John Williams's score is pretty much faultless, and there are also some fun cameos from certain legends. Plus, Laura Dern makes an appearance with bright purple hair in a subplot that is quietly powerful.

I've been looking forward to this film for months (I even mentioned it a while back to a Lego Store employee who held a Lego lightsaber, cue 10 minute conversation) and it wasn't a disappointment. I still can't tell whether it's trying to capture the attention of brand new fans, or take the existing ones on a rollercoaster. What is clear, however, is that these guys are serious when they talk about Han Solo prequels and new TV shows and endless films and different trilogies and everything in between. They have a strong starting point and not necessarily a single direction. Who knows where they will take us next?

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is in cinemas now.