With 2021 finally dawned upon us, it brings a new beginning to what was for sure one of the most tumultuous years in anyone’s recent memory in the year 2020, with a plethora of events that occurred (and many still recurring) that need no repeating. We all know of what went down and what’s going on, things which have spilled over and are still extreme challenges in this new year. In short, 2020 was a year most of, if not all, of us would soon rather forget.

However, what shouldn’t be forgotten are the names of the many luminaries in entertainment that we lost last year, also a stunning amount of creatives and well-knowns of seemingly every type and stripe. While in a lot of ways an “in memoriam” list seems rather arbitrary and irrelevant considering the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in the United States alone last year during the pandemic and of people who became global martyrs by way of insurrectional behaviors by authoritative figures all across America, a list like this becomes in a way necessary, as it’s important to give the proper respect and final send off to some of the individuals who touched our lives in so many ways, especially during last year, when all forms of entertainment became not only entrenched in its typical “escapism,” but also became a healing balm in a sense, something that helped people push through during the darkest times of necessary state and governmental-enforced bondage on us all. And it is for that reason, that we present some of our heroes, guiding lights, inspirations, and illuminations who left us in 2020.

Dreamscape
Blu-ray (Collector’s Edition)
Director: Joseph Ruben
Screenwriter: David Loughery, Chuck Russell, Joseph Ruben
Cast: Dennis Quaid, Max von Sydow, Christopher Plummer, Eddie Albert, Kate Capshaw, David Patrick Kelly
Distributor: Scream Factory
Rated PG-13 | 99 Minutes
Release Date: December 13, 2016

“So, Jane, what you do here, in effect, is count boners?”

Directed by Joseph Ruben (The Pom Pom Girls), 1984’s Dreamscape has the unique distinction of being the second film released to theaters that was rated PG-13 under then new MPAA ratings guidelines, following Red Dawn, which come out five days earlier. And interestingly enough, the film stars Kate Capeshaw, who starred in a violent PG-rated blockbuster that would help create the PG-13 rating: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Co-written by Ruben, David Loughery (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier), and Chuck Russell (A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, 1988’s The Blob), Dreamscape stars Dennis Quaid as Alex Gardner, a man with psychic abilities who is recruited by his old mentor, Dr. Novotny (Max von Sydow), to join the dreamscape project, a government-funded program to diagnose and treat sleep disorders.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens
3D Collector’s Edition Blu-ray
Writer: Lawrence Kasdan & J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt
Director: J.J. Abrams
Cast: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Max von Sydow, Gwendoline Christie
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Release Date: November 15, 2016

Star Wars: The Force Awakens was one of my favorite movies of 2015, and is a film I’ve written a lot about here — bottom line, I love it! Does it have its flaws? Sure, but nothing that I feel hampers the enjoyment of watching it. While there are those who feel it’s a retread of the original trilogy, I believe that it’s a worthy addition to the Star Wars universe.

The film was released in Blu-ray back in April and included a host of bonus features that delved into the making of the sequel. But, sadly, it didn’t include feature-length audio commentary, which is an extra I love on home video releases, especially for an extravaganza like this. Now, Disney has released The Force Awakens as a 3D Blu-ray Collector’s Edition that does include commentary from J.J. Abrams, which to me makes this set worth getting. It also includes the original bonus features, along with several all-new featurettes. So, if you don’t already own this, definitely grab this collector’s edition.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Blu-ray Combo Pack
Director: J.J. Abrams
Cast: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Max von Sydow, Gwendoline Christie
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Release Date: April 5, 2016

Star Wars: The Force Awakens began as my most anticipated movie of 2015 and ended being my favorite film of the year. While seeing director J.J. Abrams’ newest installment in the Star Wars franchise in IMAX was a delight, viewing the film in Blu-ray at home multiple times was just as entertaining. Matter of fact, since the Blu-ray Combo Pack comes with a Digital HD copy, I also enjoyed viewing it on my iPhone.

Written by Lawrence Kasdan, J.J. Abrams, and Michael Arndt, the new film takes place 30 years after the events of Return of the Jedi, the final film in George Lucas’ original trilogy that saw the Rebel Alliance finally overthrow the Empire. Han Solo (Harrison Ford) is still flying around hustling his way through the galaxy with his trusty co-pilot and friend Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), while his love Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) leads a small resistance group against The First Order, an offshoot of the Empire backed by a Darth Vader-obsessed Sith named Kylo Ren (Adam Driver).

Over the weekend Star Wars: The Force Awakens broke a couple of records, and you might have already heard, including Jurassic World‘s all-time biggest domestic opening weekend record.

Because Disney-owned Marvel was cool enough to congratulate Universal Pictures on breaking the record earlier this year, topping previous record-holder Marvel’s The Avengers, it seemed only fair that Universal return the favor. And that’s exactly what they’ve done. Just as Marvel tweeted out a congratulatory image of Chris Pratt riding a Tyrannosaurus rex holding Thor’s hammer Mjolnir in front of the Avengers team, Frank Marshall has tweeted out an image of the T-rex presenting droid BB-8 with a medal.

You can check out the congratulations image below.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Director: J.J. Abrams
Screenwriter: Lawrence Kasdan, J.J. Abrams, Michael Arndt
Cast: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Max von Sydow, Gwendoline Christie
Lucasfilm | Walt Disney Studios
Rated PG-13 | 136 Minutes
Release Date: December 18, 2015

It goes without saying that Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the most anticipated films of the year. And as such, the expectations are very high for director J.J. Abrams to give us something that will remind us what Star Wars is really about. So it is easy to understand why he might be a little terrified about what fans might think of his vision for the franchise for the new generation. But it is safe to say that not only has he met those expectations, he also exceeded them.

I’ll start out by saying that I am not a hardcore fan of the franchise, but I understand its mythology and how people can live and breathe the world of Star Wars. Second, this will be a spoiler-free review, meaning I won’t reveal what hasn’t been already revealed in trailers and interviews. This is so that everyone can be just as surprised about the film as I was when I first watched it with my fellow journalists. Check out my review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens here below.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Director: J.J. Abrams
Screenwriter: Lawrence Kasdan, J.J. Abrams, Michael Arndt
Cast: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Max von Sydow, Gwendoline Christie
Lucasfilm | Walt Disney Studios
Rated PG-13 | 136 Minutes
Release Date: December 18, 2015

“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”

Co-written and directed by J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Super 8), Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the first Star Wars film in over a decade, and the first to be made without creator George Lucas.

Three years ago, Lucas sold his empire to Walt Disney for $4 billion. Enter Abrams, the director handpicked by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy to reignite the franchise. And reignite it he has, along with co-writer Lawrence Kasdan (The Empire Strikes Back) and a cast of new heroes and villains.

The first teaser trailer for season six of HBO’s Game of Thrones has been released, and it is a quickfire reminder of the pain this show has caused many of us over the years, ending of course with the most recent character loss (maybe). Much like that promo art (not that it needs to be said, but you should probably avoid clicking that or watching this teaser if you’re not yet caught up with the show) we saw recently, the new teaser is sure to toy with your emotions about where the new season is heading.

You can check out the first teaser trailer for Game of Thrones season six below.

In less than two weeks, fans will finally get to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We know that J.J. Abrams is already finished with the film, and he and everyone else involved working on it are currently on a whirlwind press tour to help promote the film (not that it needs it because it pretty much markets itself). But as we wait long and longer, our anticipation grows at an incredible rate, and the TV spots that reveal nothing about the film only feeds our fever pitch. Now a set of new images have appeared to reveal a little more about The Force Awakens, but still doesn’t tell us much about the film at all.

Check out the photos after the jump.

The flood gates have opened in promoting Star Wars: The Force Awakens (not that any promotion is actually necessary). We’ve already seen a wealth of peeks and teases and glimpses that have us all a flutter and near fainting, but I suppose more TV spots can’t hurt anyone with just a little less than a month left (!!!) before the movie is finally released to our starving, eager eyeballs.

A pair of new preview spots have been released for the movie, one clocking in at 30 seconds and the other running a little bit longer at 46 seconds. Both brief, but still plenty of fun to watch…especially if you’re ecstatically eating up any and everything Star Wars related you can get your eyes on. You can check them out below.