2015, Best in Movies

2015 was a phenomenal year for movies, especially on the technical side of things.  There were countless well-made movies with such delicious behind-the-scenes production values that it almost feels like an embarrassment of riches to try and see which movies did which aspect of the moviemaking process best from the past year.  Even still, that doesn't stop me from trying to say what the best in movies was last year.  From best cinematography and costumes, to best actor and director, here is what I think was the best in movies from 2015!

****

Best Song - "Gerrard Street" from Paddington
While I must admit that The Martian very nearly stole this with it's use of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," I have to give it to "Gerrard Street," simply because this particular song really helped bring Paddington to such a joyous conclusion.  Like all of the other calypso songs in the movie, it was performed by D Lime featuring Tobago Crusoe, with all four of the songs being old calypso classics rerecorded for this movie.  What made each one of these songs so effective is that the group is actually singing them on camera, showing up often as a band on the sidewalks of London, it's a fun idea that reminds me of Louis Armstrong's work in High Society.  Personally, "Gerrard Street" is my favorite of all the songs just because it's the most fun to listen to, plus, seeing the Brown family and Paddington have a snowball fight while listening to this song just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Runners-Up
2.)  "I Will Survive" from The Martian
3.)  "Writing's On The Wall" from Spectre
4.)  "London Is The Place For Me" from Paddington
5.)  "Deep In The Meadow (Lullaby)" from The Hunger Games:  Mockingjay - Part 2

Best Make-Up and Hair - Mr. Holmes
It is almost always easier for fantasy and sci-fi movies to really impress with their make-up and hair work, usually because they are having to create looks that are not of our actual world, but sometimes it is the movies of our world that are the most difficult to do make-up and hair work for.  A perfect case and point was Mr. Holmes with the make-up staff having to turn Ian McKellen into a ninety-year-old Sherlock Holmes for most of the movie, while making him look even a little younger than he is in flashbacks to Sherlock's last case before retirement.  Aging make-up can often be the death nail of so many movies, but Mr. Holmes did it so delicately that I actually believed that I was seeing the future Ian McKellen, twenty years from now, onscreen.
Runners-Up
2.)  Cinderella
3.)  Star Wars:  The Force Awakens
4.)  The Hunger Games:  Mockingjay - Part 2
5.)  Steve Jobs

Best Costumes - Cinderella
Only with a fairy tale such as this can you go so extravagantly extreme with the looks on display.  Everything in this movie is beautiful and yet quite impractical, with none of these looks being at all fashionable if they weren't worn in such a colorful world.  From the sleek styles of the Evil Stepmother, to the Evil Stepsisters' gaudy dresses, all the way to the wondrously designed ball gown that Cinderella has made by her Fairy Godmother, the costumes in this movie are breathtaking and help inform us about who these characters are by what they wear and how they wear it.  In short, that is what a good costume designer is supposed to do, and Sandy Powell did it better than any other in 2015.
Runners-Up
2.)  Star Wars:  The Force Awakens
3.)  Kingsman:  The Secret Service
4.)  The Martian
5.)  The Hunger Games:  Mockingjay - Part 2

Best Sound - Star Wars:  The Force Awakens
The two things on the technical side of moviemaking that the original Star Wars helped revolutionize were special effects and sound, so it is only fitting that I believe the sound work in The Force Awakens to be the best sound work of 2015.  Big movies like this are often full of many sounds that do not exist in our world and the sound designers have to create them.  From the adorable beeps of BB-8, to the pulsating sound of Kylo Ren's unstable crossguard lightsaber, many of the sounds utilized in The Force Awakens felt both familiar and new at the same time.  It's really great to hear innovation, and I believe I heard that at times in this particular movie.
Runners-Up
2.)  Inside Out
3.)  The Martian
4.)  Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
5.)  Avengers:  Age of Ultron

Best Special Effects - Paddington
While there were a great many movies this year that had way more special effects shots, the reason I believe the special effects in Paddington were the best of the whole year is because this movie was entirely dependent on its titular character working.  Paddington the bear was made entirely via CGI, with his whole performance being animated.  With those circumstances, it would have been very easy for this movie to fall flat on its face if Paddington looked at all fake or unbelievable.  He was never too cartoony, nor was he ever too photorealistic, he just was Paddington.
Runners-Up
2.)  Star Wars:  The Force Awakens
3.)  Ex Machina
4.)  The Martian
5.)  The Hunger Games:  Mockingjay - Part 2

Best Production Design - Cinderella
For me, the true mark of great production design is when I see a set and wish I could either live there, visit there, or better yet, film on it as a director myself.  Dante Ferretti's design work on Cinderella was nothing short of breathtaking.  He created the kind of lavish environments that can only exist in movies, with his ballroom being a particular stand out.  The size and scale of the things that were designed for this movie sold it as reality, and it was the kind of size and scale so many movies nowadays skimp on to save money, doing it with CGI rather than building it or finding a good location.  Here, because so much of it was physically built, you really could feel as if you could visit these places in real life, and that is when the transportive power of movies work best.
Runners-Up
2.)  Star Wars:  The Force Awakens
3.)  Paddington
4.)  Inside Out
5.)  The Martian

Best Editing - Steve Jobs
I have never seen a poorly edited movie from director Danny Boyle, and Steve Jobs is no exception.  For this movie, Boyle hired editor Elliot Graham to piece together a movie that is essentially a stage play with wall-to-wall dialogue and make it engaging as a movie.  Graham's editing really managed to give the movie a sense of energy when the movie could have really started to bog down and get boring.  The editing always kept the movie feeling fresh and never dull, and yet Graham was not editing like a highly caffeinated toddler, he knew when to hold the right shots and when to utilize a faster pace, which is when you know you've got a good editor.
Runners-Up
2.)  The Martian
3.)  Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
4.)  Star Wars:  The Force Awakens
5.)  Mr. Holmes

Best Cinematography - Cinderella
The cinematography for Steve Jobs is a very close runner-up with the way it utilized the three different types of cameras (16mm, 35mm, and digital), but it was the beautiful lensing of Cinderella that really impressed me the most.  There honestly is nothing new being done here with the cinematography of Cinderella, but Haris Zambarloukos's work is so beautiful, it really makes you feel as if you're looking through a window into a real fairy tale world.  The colors are vivid and the compositions are near perfect, all adding up to make this just an exquisitely shot movie, one that I enjoy seeing every single frame of.
Runners-Up
2.)  Steve Jobs
3.)  Star Wars:  The Force Awakens
4.)  Paddington
5.)  Bridge of Spies

Best Supporting Actress - Cate Blanchett, Cinderella
It is said that the villain is the most fun part to play, and I think that is because the villains often have more to play with.  To make a good villain believable, an actor really has to figure out, at least for themselves, why that person is the way that they are and how they justify the things that they do.  It is obvious that Cate Blanchett did that in Cinderella as Lady Tremaine, aka the Evil Stepmother.  She is so deliciously evil in the part that you are happy when she gets her comeuppance, and yet you can't help but wonder what made her this way.  The way that Blanchett plays her is with a slight undercurrent of not just bitterness, but genuine sadness that has turned her into an icy survivalist just looking to stay afloat in the world that she is accustomed to living in.  I think, to her, she sees Cinderella as everything that she once thought she was and she mourns the fact that she is no longer, and that she probably never actually was, like her.  Maybe I am reading too much into it, but that is what a good performance will often have you do when you see it.
Runners-Up
2.)  Julianne Moore, The Hunger Games:  Mockingjay - Part 2
3.)  Lupita Nyong'o, Star Wars:  The Force Awakens
4.)  Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
5.)  Carrie Fisher, Star Wars:  The Force Awakens

Best Supporting Actor - Adam Driver, Star Wars:  The Force Awakens
How do you create a Star Wars villain in the shadow of Darth Vader?  By (SPOILER ALERT) making his grandson the new baddie.  Kylo Ren (aka Ben Solo) is perhaps one of the most intriguing characters ever introduced to the Star Wars saga.  While there are a lot of similarities between him and Jacen Solo from the now non-canon Expanded Universe of novels, Kylo Ren is his own character.  First off, from the very first frame, Kylo is a terrifying presence.  He seems more unhinged than Darth Vader ever was, which actually makes him more unpredictable as to what he's going to do.  The fact that he is so conflicted about everything he does makes him all that more fascinating from a character perspective.  The greatest challenge of course with this character on paper, was finding an actor who can pull it all off and not fall flat on their face.  Luckily, Adam Driver brought Kylo Ren to life with so much energy.  For half of the movie he is wearing a bucket on his head and yet he is still emoting through his body language and his vocal inflections.  It's doubly hard to act when no one can see your face, but it seems like there are no boundaries or limitations for Driver's performance.  I am super excited to see where this character goes in the upcoming sequels, and Adam Driver is a large part of the reason for that.
Runners-Up
2.)  Harrison Ford, Star Wars:  The Force Awakens
3.)  Michael Pena, Ant-Man
4.)  Hugh Bonneville, Paddington
5.)  Jeff Daniels, Steve Jobs

Best Actress - Daisy Ridley, Star Wars:  The Force Awakens
One of the most exciting things in the world is when you see a fresh face in a movie and feel like you have discovered a great talent along with the rest of the world.  Right now, everyone is feeling that exact same way about Daisy Ridley in The Force Awakens.  She is just such an amazing actress that it's hard to believe that this was her very first movie ever!  As Rey, she has to be emotionally sensitive as well as emotionally tough, a tall order for even the greatest actors and she makes it look so easy.  She sells just about every moment of this movie through her eyes to where you actually feel something throughout, and when (SPOILER ALERT) she reaches out at the end of the movie and calls Anakin/Luke's lightsaber to her instead of Kylo Ren, most other actresses might have overplayed this moment, but she doesn't, she seems legitimately surprised at having called the lightsaber to her.  I really can't wait to see what she does in the future, because Daisy Ridley is the kind of soul-filled actress that comes along maybe once in a generation, but it will be really hard for her to find a role that is a better showcase of her talents than Rey.
Runners-Up
2.)  Lily James, Cinderella
3.)  Britt Robertson, Tomorrowland
4.)  Rebecca Ferguson, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
5.)  Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games:  Mockingjay - Part 2

Best Actor - Matt Damon, The Martian
The role of Mark Watney would be a tall order for any actor, luckily for director Ridley Scott, he managed to nab Matt Damon for the role and Damon just made it all look so easy.  While the part is not the showiest or deepest of roles from this past year, the fact that for almost all of his screentime, Damon is interacting completely with himself, is all the more remarkable that his performance is as warm and soulful as it is.  In every moment, Damon manages to find humor where there might have been none, and that is the mark of a great actor, making the best of their situation, much like Watney is having to do as he's stranded on Mars.  I really don't think The Martian would have been as good of a movie with any other actor.  When you are asking an audience to spend so much time with an actor in such dire circumstances, you'd better like them or else the whole experience would just be too exhausting to watch, but thankfully, Damon's inherent likability is the x-factor that makes The Martian a special experience.
Runners-Up
2.)  Ian McKellen, Mr. Holmes
3.)  Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
4.)  John Boyega, Star Wars:  The Force Awakens
5.)  Ben Whishaw, Paddington

Best Ensemble - Star Wars:  The Force Awakens
It's hard to argue against The Force Awakens cast when it comes to the question of whether or not they were the best ensemble in any movie in 2015.  J.J. Abrams already had aces up his sleeve with the returns of Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Anthony Daniels, but it was the inspired casting of the new characters that made the movie work.  Daisy Ridley as Rey, John Boyega as Finn, Oscar Isaac as Poe, and Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, all excelled in their roles.  Not only was their chemistry palpable between one another, but it was also evident in all of the scenes with the old cast.  Then when you see all of the talent that makes up the supporting players in the movie (Lupita Nyong'o, Max von Sydow, Andy Serkis, and Simon Pegg, to name a few), you really begin to realize that there was not a single weak link in the movie's cast.
Runners-Up
2.)  The Martian
3.)  Ant-Man
4.)  The Hunger Games:  Mockingjay - Part 2
5.)  Avengers:  Age of Ultron

Best Movie Moment - Rey Calls the Lightsaber, Star Wars:  The Force Awakens
For me, no movie is great unless it has at least one of those defining movie moments, you know the ones that when you think of that movie those are the images you conjure up in your mind.  There were actually a lot of powerful movie moments from 2015, but none that gave me chills quite like when Kylo Ren reaches out with the Force to grab Anakin/Luke's lightsaber out of the snow and the lightsaber soars past him into the hands of Rey.  This was the moment that the whole movie was building towards, Rey finally accepting the Force and starting on the path of a Jedi.  Each time I have seen the movie I have gotten a shiver down my spine at this moment.  It is so beautifully realized in the reactions of Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley, accompanied by some stunning imagery captured by cinematographer Daniel Mindel, and topped off with the same music cue that John Williams used when Luke returned to Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru's farm to find them dead.  This whole moment was just a perfect storm from top-to-bottom and it is one that will live on as one of the great defining moments in Star Wars history forever!
Runners-Up
2.)  Riley Comes Home, Inside Out
3.)  Paddington Ventures Into the Film, Paddington
4.)  Blasting Off of the Eiffel Tower, Tomorrowland
5.)  Flying Like Iron Man, The Martian

Best Screenplay - Inside Out
Originality is always the big thing I am hoping for from Hollywood.  While I love sequels and adaptations as much as the next person, I also like new intellectual properties created just for movie screens, and thankfully Pixar is one of the few studios that still tries to do something original every few years or so.  Inside Out is perhaps one of Pixar's finest accomplishments and it is because of the imaginative script.  The characters are all lively, the dialogue clever, and the story structure is almost picture perfect.  Writers Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, and Josh Cooley (working from a story by Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen), managed to tap into the mind of an 11-year-old girl with great truth and clarity, and in doing so crafted a story that is a reflection of what I believe all of our minds are like, by getting to the emotional truths behind every thought and action.
Runners-Up
2.)  Star Wars:  The Force Awakens
3.)  Paddington
4.)  Steve Jobs
5.)  Ex Machina

Best Director - J.J. Abrams, Star Wars:  The Force Awakens
I have long loved J.J., but even I was not expecting him to nail The Force Awakens as well as he did.  On paper he seemed to be the right person to succeed George Lucas, but I have seen time and again that what looks good on paper doesn't always translate.  Thankfully, J.J. threw all of himself into The Force Awakens and made a movie that is his best work to date.  He managed to successfully harken back to the style of the old Star Wars movies while infusing some of his more modern sensibilities to the material, taking Star Wars stylistically into the 21st century.  As for J.J. himself, I think he grew a lot as a moviemaker here.  By having to try and mimic the look of the old Star Wars movies, he really had to kind of strengthen his cinematic storytelling abilities.  In a lot of his previous movies there were still moments where you could tell he was a TV director making movies, but this is the first movie he has directed where I felt that all of his directorial choices were 100% cinematic.  I cannot wait to see what J.J. does next and how he uses the lessons he clearly learned here to make even greater movies in the future!
Runners-Up
2.)  Paul King, Paddington
3.)  Christopher McQuarrie, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
4.)  Pete Docter, Inside Out
5.)  Ridley Scott, The Martian

My Favorite Movie Scores of 2015

When it comes to popular music, I really don't listen to a lot, if any, however if you take a look at my iTunes library, you'll find hours upon hours of movie music.  While I may be abnormal in that I prefer the stylings of John Williams to Adele, I really don't mind that sort of abnormality.  For me, one of my favorite things every single year is listening to all of the new movie music and hoping with every ounce of optimism I have, that with each new movie I will hear a new unforgettable movie theme that can rival any other.  For the most part, 2015 was a rousing success in that department.  There were a great many awesome movie scores this past year and today I would like to share my 10 favorite movie scores from 2015.  As with any list this is entirely subjective, but hopefully this list will be representative of the year that was and will be some great reading and listening to round out the end of the year.  So with all that said, here we go with number 10!

****

10.  Avengers:  Age of Ultron
One of the biggest things that Marvel has struggled with in all of its various movies thus far, is a musical identity that saw themes carrying over from one movie to the next.  While I still think that Marvel has a long ways to go, the score for Age of Ultron made a great many strides in correcting this course.  Co-written by Danny Elfman and Brian Tyler (who also wrote the music for Iron Man 3 and Thor:  The Dark World), the music for Age of Ultron harkens back to Alan Silvestri's score for The Avengers at most of the appropriate moments, while at the same time Elfman penned a new heroic theme for the Avengers that builds off of Silvestri's cues while helping further solidify a musical identity for the team.  As for Tyler's contribution, you can really hear it in the way he weaves in the themes he wrote for Iron Man and Thor in the other Marvel movies he composed, creating an aural consistency that links this movie to those other Marvel movies.  While I still think Marvel could do more on the music front with their movies, Age of Ultron's score was a step in the right direction, let's just hope it continues going down this path.



9.  Mr. Holmes
Carter Burwell is a composer whose contributions to so many great movies have often been overlooked because he is typically not an in your face kind of guy with his music.  Burwell's work on Mr. Holmes is bar none some of his best work, and that is saying something considering he is typically the go-to composer for the Coen Brothers.  With Mr. Holmes, he crafted a very stately, churning theme for the aged Sherlock Holmes that really suited this interpretation of the character, with the theme being at times tragic, uplifting, and mysterious.  While I'm hard pressed to say whether or not anyone else will remember this score come awards time, this is one that should at least be in the Oscar conversation.



8.  Ant-Man
This score was perhaps the most purely fun score to listen to all year long.  Composer Christophe Beck wrote a sensational blockbuster score that does everything that is required of a movie like this.  Beck handles the action sequences with propulsive brass, the quieter moments with strings and woodwinds, and through it all he gives it a flair that is unique and slightly different from other movies.  A large part of what set Ant-Man apart from other superhero movies in general, was the fact that it was a heist movie and Beck really exemplifies that in the music, with the themes often echoing the music from movies like Ocean's Eleven.  However my absolute favorite part of Beck's score is his theme he wrote for the Ant-Man character.  The theme works in so many different capacities throughout the movie with it being everything from a solemn, reflective piece to a massive, heroic overture.  Simply put, this is one of the finer scores ever written for a Marvel Studios movie.



7.  Kingsman:  The Secret Service
Another really fun score, Henry Jackman's music for Kingsman was a great highlight early in the year and still stands up there with the rest of the scores that came after it in 2015.  Of all of the spy movies that came out this year, I actually liked the music for this one more than any of the others, primarily because it was all new and fresh.  Jackman managed to craft a spy movie score that sounded like we had heard it before, but we actually hadn't.  Sure, the music never does anything to break the spy action movie mold, but it does it with so much style and energy that you are hooked from the first few notes of the Kingsman theme that Jackman wrote.



6.  The Hunger Games:  Mockingjay - Part 2
I said it in my review of the movie when it came out, but James Newton Howard has been the unsung hero of the whole Hunger Games franchise.  His scores for all four movies were consistent, while there were few new themes introduced in the latter movies, he just continued to refine what already worked and made it work even better.  The perfect case and point of this was in the music for the final scene of the whole series.  The music harkens back to the main theme that Newton Howard composed for the very first movie and it is still as emotionally resonant now as it was then.



5.  Inside Out
If there is any kind of successor to John Williams, it is Michael Giacchino.  Perhaps the most busy composer currently working (having composed the music for four major blockbusters just this year alone), Giacchino has written some of the most hummable movie music of the past decade or so, primarily thanks to his collaborations with Pixar.  With his score for Pixar's latest, Inside Out, Giacchino once again did what he does best, he created easy to hum themes for all of the primary characters and managed to work them in concert with one another in different tempos and keys to fit the mood of what the story needs at that moment.  His theme for Joy is light and effervescent, while his theme for Sadness is rather brassy and glum, and then his theme for Bing Bong is very bouncy and reminiscent of a circus.  Few composers can actually bring together that many vastly different sounds into a cohesive whole, but Giacchino has the ability to do that and just makes it look easy.  While Inside Out is not my favorite Giacchino score of 2015, it is one of his best of all-time, which goes to say what I really think about it.



4.  Paddington
Most of my favorite movie scores this past year were done by well-known composers, but in the case of Paddington, composer Nick Urata came from the world of Indie movies to craft a score that perfectly captures everything I love about this immigrant bear from Peru.  Urata gave many scenes an appropriately South American flare, especially when Paddington is given a bath to look presentable, but it is Urata's main theme for the movie that gives it heart and perfectly encapsulates Paddington.  The theme is at times soft and delicate, at others bouncy and eccentric, and even grand and majestic, like when Paddington first arrives in London.  I have always loved this bear, and this music is a great way to travel back to the colorful realm of Paddington's adventures when you're needing a nice reminder of the good in our world.



3.  Tomorrowland
The other Michael Giacchino score on this list, Tomorrowland is one of my five faves he's ever written.  The music for Tomorrowland is seemingly simplistic and standard for a blockbuster adventure movie.  It creates wonder and awe, mystery and suspense, and emotional heart tugging all when it needs to, so why is it one of my favorites of Giacchino's oeuvre?  Because it's just full of hope.  The whole idea of Tomorrowland is about discovering hope for the future amidst all of the negative thought in our world and that idea is what Giacchino captured most brilliantly in his themes for this movie.  When you hear his music for Tomorrowland, you just can't help but want to dream, and dreams are the first building blocks in making a better future, so in a way you can say Michael Giacchino's music for Tomorrowland helps make the world a better place.  I can't think of a better way to sum up the score other than that.



2.  Cinderella
This movie was perhaps the most pleasant surprise of the whole year at the theater and the score was one of the reasons for that.  Patrick Doyle is a composer I have been familiar with for a long time and I have often found his scores enjoyable, but I think his work on Cinderella ranks as his best ever.  The score is sweeping and romantic, grand and majestic, and most importantly, heartfelt and emotional.  The core concepts of kindness and courage are musically interpreted in Doyle's music via the theme for Cinderella in the movie, which is one of the most pure and innocent themes I've ever heard for a character.  Contrast that with the tragic and calculating theme he wrote for the Evil Stepmother, and you wind up with a very rich and diverse musical landscape that expertly tells this classic fairy tale anew.



1.  Star Wars:  The Force Awakens
Anytime there is a new John Williams score, I go bananas.  When it's a new John Williams Star Wars score, I go bananas times a hundred!  Mr. Williams has outdone himself again with The Force Awakens.  It would have been very easily for him to have just relied entirely on the old themes he composed for the Original Trilogy and fans would have gone ape over it, but he didn't do that.  While many of the old themes make an appearance here and there within the score, about 90% of the score is made up of entirely new themes that Mr. Williams wrote just for this movie and its brand spanking new characters.  Rey's theme is instantly iconic, perfectly representing the character's innocence, resilience, and charm, by harking back to a swashbuckling-type feel.  Then there is Kylo Ren's theme, which is itself a mirror of Darth Vader's music, but perhaps a little more ominous with much more chaotic turmoil bubbling underneath its minimal facade.  Then you have the March of the Resistance, which is a militaristic piece that speaks to heroism in the face of danger and yet never mimics any of the other marches that Mr. Williams has written for the other Star Wars movies.  In short, The Force Awakens is a complete home run in every department, with the score being just another perfect element to the movie.  Now the real question is where does The Force Awakens score rank amongst the best of the whole Star Wars saga?  It may take a little more time to figure that out, but I've already integrated the new themes and best music cues from the soundtrack into my Star Wars playlist on iTunes, so that says enough for right now.

Movie Review: "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

The Force has awakened once more and this time it feels as if it will never go away again.  Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the seventh installment in the Star Wars franchise and is the first of the Disney-era after they purchased Lucasfilm back in 2012.  Directed and co-written by fanboy lightning rod, J.J. Abrams, The Force Awakens is a Star Wars film that was made by fans, for fans.  While this could have easily been just a whole bunch of fan service to grab for some quick and easy cash, The Force Awakens is more than that -- it's a true tour de force of a movie (no pun intended).

There is simply a confidence to The Force Awakens that is evident from the very first frame, resulting in a movie that is more of a new beginning than a retread of past films.  Taking place nearly thirty years after Return of the Jedi, the film boldly places its new heroes front and center instead of the old stalwarts like Han Solo (who doesn't even show up till nearly forty-five minutes in).  That is not to say that characters like Han, Luke, and Leia do not play crucial roles, but their roles are always in service to the new cast who are the main reason this film works.

Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, and Oscar Isaac make up the hero side as Rey, Finn, and Poe, while Adam Driver plays the mysterious new villain, Kylo Ren.  All of these characters feel very Star Wars, but are different than any other Star Wars characters we've ever seen before.  Rey is a hopeful desert scavenger who had to raise herself when left by her family on the planet Jakku as a child, whereas Finn was a stormtrooper for the First Order (a less politically powerful, but restructured Empire) who defected when refusing to kill in cold blood, and Poe is a Resistance fighter pilot (the New Republic's secret military force led by Leia) who is literally the greatest pilot the saga has ever seen.  And what can really be said about Dark Side acolyte Kylo Ren without giving anything away?  Other than that Adam Driver delivers arguably the most nuanced portrayal of a Star Wars villain ever.  As for Ridley, Boyega, and Isaac, the chemistry between them is impeccable with all of them having phenomenal comedic timing as well as an amazing ability to wear their hearts on their sleeves, with 23-year-old Ridley in particular shining the brightest in her cinematic debut as an actress.  Thanks to the new cast, The Force Awakens is both one of the funniest movies in the Star Wars saga and perhaps the most emotional.

It's quite amazing that Abrams, alongside co-writers Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt, managed to keep such a great balance going between light and dark without going too far either way.  As previously mentioned, the new cast is one of the key reasons that the script managed to work, but the thing that really makes this one so emotional is the old, returning cast.  Carrie Fisher delivers her best work in years as Leia, but it is Harrison Ford as Han Solo that really gets you in this one.  The pure joy of seeing Harrison back as Han is most certainly one of the primary reasons so many people are going to go see this movie, and I will say this much because I don't want to spoil anyone, his return does not disappoint and Han goes to some new places that we've never seen him go before.  As for Mark Hamill as Luke, well I'll just tease that there is a reason he hasn't been in any of the promotional materials so far, and it's a good one.

One of the things that people often say in the film business is that lightning rarely strikes twice, but in the case of the Star Wars saga, lightning seems to have struck seven times now.  Star Wars: The Force Awakens delivered in all of the expected ways as well as in a great many unexpected territories.  As is par for the course with a Star Wars movie, the movie looks and sounds great, with more imagination on display here than in just about any other movie being made nowadays, and what can you really say about the music from the great John Williams?  It's phenomenal, with himself being bold in not relying too heavily on old themes, utilizing mostly new creations for this go around.  That is the best way to sum up The Force Awakens.  It took a great many risks and they all paid off brilliantly, culminating in one of the best movies made in perhaps the last decade.  It's emotional, fun, and just super cool.  Go see it and enjoy it, because Star Wars is in safe hands.

I give Star Wars: The Force Awakens a 10 out of 10!

My Favorite Star Wars Characters of All-Time

Okay, here is a hard fact to believe.  We are only a week away from seeing a brand new Star Wars movie!  Star Wars:  The Force Awakens opens on Dec. 18th, with special screenings starting at 7pm on the 17th the night before.  That is how close we are to seeing the return of Luke, Leia, and Han to the big screen, and also meeting a whole new batch of characters that I am almost certain will live up to the Star Wars legacy.

One of the main reasons I feel so many people love Star Wars so much, and it is really what separates it from any other sci-fi or fantasy franchise, is because of the characters.  We love the characters of Star Wars because they're human with real human emotions bubbling underneath.  We can identify with the best Star Wars characters, and there are many.

When you go through not just the movies, but the countless TV shows, games, books, and comic books over the years, there are hundreds upon hundreds of great characters in the Star Wars universe.  It is one of the few franchises where even the smallest little background character in a movie or TV episode gets a book, comic, or short story written about them to flesh their character out.  For this reason alone, it is almost impossible to say who is the greatest Star Wars character, but that doesn't stop me from telling you my favorites, and that is exactly what I am going to do today -- share with you my 30 Favorite Star Wars Characters of All-Time!

Now let me preface my list by saying that this is entirely subjective and I am owning up to that.  There is no rating criteria here, it's just the characters I like the most from the Star Wars universe (hence why I phrased it as my favorite characters and not the best or greatest characters of all-time).  I am sure everyone else would have a different list of favorite characters, but in sharing mine I hope you meet a few new characters that you've never met before and be interested enough in learning more about them.  One thing I love to do as a fan is to share what I love most with other people, and that is really all I am ever trying to do with lists or reviews or awards.  So without any further ado, here are My Favorite Star Wars Characters of All-Time!!!

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30.  Count Dooku
Played morally gray by Sir Christopher Lee, Dooku is a highly undervalued character in the entirety of the Star Wars mythology.  As The Clone Wars TV series illuminated, Dooku was behind the creation of the Clone Army, impersonating as Jedi Master Sifo Dyas, acting as a key piece of the Emperor's machinations to take over the galaxy.  Equal parts ruthless, manipulative, and charming, Dooku is a character that never really gets his due which is why people need to understand why he deserves more credit.

29.  Chopper
A fairly recent addition to the Star Wars universe, Chopper is the astromech droid aboard the Ghost in Star Wars Rebels.  Unlike Artoo, there is no cute factor with Chopper.  Chopper is selfish, cantankerous, and borderline homicidal at times (that time he wielded dual blasters to save his allies was a real treat).  With that all said, Chopper is loyal to the Ghost crew and would do anything to save them, even though he will do it his way or the highway.

28.  Admiral Ackbar
Famous for saying, "It's a trap," in the Battle of Endor, Admiral Ackbar has long been a fan favorite, while not having a ton of screen time (though that's changing a little with his return in The Force Awakens).  Where Ackbar really won a lot of points with me though was in the Mon Cala story arc on The Clone Wars.  The Separatists and the Republic joined sides in the Mon Cala Civil War, where future Admiral Ackbar acted as attendant to the young prince of the Mon Calamari.  It was here where we really got to know Ackbar in greater detail, discovering that he is a master military strategist who firmly believes in good over evil.

27.  Duchess Satine
The Duchess of the planet Mandalore, Satine is one of the most fascinating additions that The Clone Wars TV show made to the Star Wars mythology.  When she was a teenager, her fierce pacifist beliefs led to her desire to demilitarize her home planet, which led to her needing the protection of a teenaged Obi-Wan Kenobi and his master, Qui-Gon Jinn, during this time.  Obi-Wan and Satine fell in love with one another but never acted upon their feelings because of Obi-Wan's loyalty to the Force (Jedis are a monastic order, therefore romance is forbidden).  Reuniting during the Clone Wars when Satine was once more under duress, Obi-Wan protected Satine from an insurgency known as Death Watch, and in the course of it he revealed his feelings for her by telling her that if she had simply asked him to leave the Jedi Order, he would have for her.  So that makes the tragedy of her death at the hands of Darth Maul all the more heartbreaking, with her dying in Obi-Wan's arms, neither of them ever having acted on their love while both clearly being one another's one true soul mate.  This is why I love the character of Satine.

26.  Grand Moff Tarkin
In a great many ways, Tarkin was the perfect embodiment of the Empire.  He had no other goals than to have power and to use that power to establish order.  There really is no moral conscious to Tarkin because if it would help him, he'd have no guilt in killing someone or blowing up an entire planet!  Played icily by Peter Cushing in the original Star Wars, he also was a thorn in the side of the Jedi via animated form in The Clone Wars TV show, being the heartless prosecutor in the trial of Ahsoka Tano.  He is the epitome of the villain you love to hate and I really love to hate him, no matter what incarnation he shows up in, whether it be film, television, or literature.

25.  Lando Calrissian
Do I really need to explain why Lando is awesome?  It's the swagger that Billy Dee Williams brought to the role that made him such a remarkable character and still does, having recently voiced Lando for a couple of episodes of Star Wars Rebels.  In truth, if he weren't such a conning old smoothie, we wouldn't love him so.

24.  Kit Fisto
Kit was a lesser known Jedi Master but one who really got his due thanks to The Clone Wars TV show.  Known for basically being a walking, talking, lightsaber wielding squid, as we learned from his appearances in The Clone Wars, someone so cool did not deserve to die so unceremoniously in Episode III.  Sporting a Rastafarian-accent and a laid back demeanor, he was just the embodiment of cool.  Add on to that his ability to breathe underwater and his awesome lightsaber skills, and you can see why Kit is one of my favorite Jedi of all-time.

23.  Plo Koon
Jedi Master Plo Koon is another character who was killed very unceremoniously in Episode III only to be redeemed by The Clone Wars TV show.  If I were being so bold, I'd almost argue that Plo Koon is the second wisest Jedi Master behind Yoda.  Sporting a very calm, contemplative persona, Master Plo also had a warmth to him making him an ideal teacher to the Younglings and Padawans at the Jedi Temple.  To sum him up, he's like your favorite high school teacher who also happened to be a super awesome Jedi ninja!

22.  Asajj Ventress
Another creation of The Clone Wars TV shows, Ventress started out as Count Dooku's Sith apprentice, but by the end of the show had survived Dooku's attempts to kill her because she was becoming too powerful to be controlled, and became a bounty hunter instead.  She was a character who was evil when it suited her means.  She had no problem killing, but she was smart about it, standing out for me because she was not purely Sith.  Ventress was not good by any means, but having been raised by the Nightsisters of Dathomir (essentially witches), Ventress really just wanted to have power.  She could easily see reason if she thought it could benefit her in the end, occasionally forming alliances with Jedi like Quinlan Vos and Ahsoka Tano when it suited her means, but in truth the main reason I've always liked Ventress is cause she looks cool.

21.  Darth Maul
There is perhaps no other character in all of Star Wars mythology who is more purely evil than Darth Maul.  A man of few words, Darth Maul saw himself get chopped in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi in Episode I only to have survived because of the power of his hatred towards Kenobi.  Returning in The Clone Wars TV show with new robotic legs, Maul did everything in his power to get his revenge on Obi-Wan.  In one swoop, Maul took over the entire galactic criminal underworld and the planet of Mandalore just to draw Obi-Wan to him, so Obi-Wan could watch as he killed the one woman Obi-Wan ever loved, Duchess Satine.  With the cancellation of The Clone Wars a few years back, we don't know what happened to Maul after the Emperor bested him in their duel on Mandalore, but we can only hope that he'll return someday in the future to wreak some more havoc.

20.  Sabine Wren
I think it says something to the quality of Star Wars Rebels that every member of its main cast made my list of favorites.  I know the show is relatively new, having only run for about 24 episodes so far, but the rebel crew of the Ghost is just that likable.  With that said, Sabine is an exceptionally unique character in Star Wars history because she is the first artist to ever really be portrayed in the galaxy far, far away.  She is a painter who enjoys street art and blowing things up.  That's all you really need to understand about her.  Well, that and that she's a Mandalorian with some cool Mandalorian armor.

19.  Boba Fett
For many a Star Wars fan, the Fett-man might top their lists and while he isn't my all-time favorite Star Wars character, I do like him a great deal.  There just are very few characters in the history of any film franchise that are as mysterious and cool as Boba Fett.  While there are the fans that dislike Boba being a clone of his father Jango and all that, I really don't get the fury over that.  So what if Boba was a clone?  The boy in Episode II is bloodthirsty, he relishes in the thought of Obi-Wan's demise when him and his father are chasing Obi-Wan's ship above the planet Geonosis.  Sure, maybe revealing where Boba came from makes him less mysterious, but the complete disdain many fans have over Boba's origins is really just those same fans spiraling out on their utter hatred that the prequels are not the origin stories they always imagined in their heads for twenty years.  Get over it and just enjoy it.

18.  Jar Jar Binks
Okay, I am going to be bold here in professing my love for Jar Jar, but I really don't care, it's my opinion and no one else has to share it.  The reason I love Jar Jar is simply because I think he's funny.  His purity and innocence makes him a character I personally find refreshing in this day and age of cynicism laced with acidic sarcasm.  He's like a three-year-old in an adult's body.  Exceptionally clumsy, but always polite about it, Jar Jar is the traditional court jester found in Shakespeare and mythology.  While some have tried to come out and say he's racist and all of that stuff, I don't believe he is (just because an African American man is portraying him does not mean he is in any way offensive to his own race).  Plus, if it helps those fans live with Jar Jar's inclusion, just think that the Empire would have never been formed had he not brought about the movement in Episode II to grant emergency powers to Chancellor Palpatine to create the clone army.  Jar Jar's naive belief that he was doing the right thing, ultimately proved to not be good in the long run.

17.  Zeb Orrelios
Yet another character from Rebels to make my list, Zeb is the muscle on the Ghost crew.  Based off of the original concept art done for Chewbacca, he is a warrior whose entire race was almost completely eradicated by the Empire.  Striving to do what's right and protect others from the Empire's wrath, Zeb is also known for his short fuse temper.  To put it even more simply, there is no one else I'd rather have on my side in a galactic bar brawl, save for Chewie perhaps.

16.  Princess Leia
Another character that really doesn't need much explanation as to why she makes the cut of my favorites.  Leia was never the damsel in distress, even when she was captured in the original Star Wars, she always put it back to her captors.  As equally capable with a blaster as Luke or Han, Leia broke all of the traditional damsel stereotypes for adventure films, while having the sensitivity and regal elegance expected of a fantasy princess.

15.  Ezra Bridger
Another recent addition to Star Wars lore, Ezra is the answer to the question:  What happened to all of the Force sensitive children in the galaxy after the collapse of the Jedi Order?  Starting out as an orphaned street rat, similar to Aladdin, Ezra was found by the rebel crew of the Ghost in Star Wars Rebels.  Taken on as an apprentice by Jedi on the run, Kanan Jarrus, Ezra is now training to become a new kind of Jedi to take on the Empire.  With Ezra and the rest of the Ghost crew now working to help the fledgling Rebel Alliance, Ezra has proven himself to be one of the most inherently good characters in Star Wars history.  While occasionally having to combat his own self doubt and anger toward the Empire for killing his parents (presumably, we really don't know what happened to them),  Ezra has gone from being a kid who only looks out for himself to being a hero who helps others without a second thought, and his arc isn't over.  There are still a great many shades that the writers of Rebels will hopefully add to Ezra, and that makes me excited for the future of him as a character.

14.  Qui-Gon Jinn
Long before Liam Neeson became an action movie star, he first proved his action chops as Qui-Gon Jinn in Episode I.  He is the character that I most wish had survived the whole Prequel Trilogy, because he was so awesome.   In a great many ways, he was the opposite of the only other Jedi we knew from the Original Trilogy.  While he was smart and compassionate, like Yoda or Alec Guinness's Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon had a rebellious streak and would go against the Jedi Order if what he felt via the Force conflicted with the Council's rulings.  We can only hope that Qui-Gon might get a spinoff movie of some kind in the future, but even if he doesn't, he will always be remembered for being the awesome master who trained Obi-Wan Kenobi.

13.  Captain Rex
One of the greatest things that The Clone Wars TV show did was it showed that the clones, while they all had the same genetic material, were very different from one another with their own personalities and moral convictions.  Captain Rex is the perfect example of this.  Acting as Anakin's right-hand man in the 501st Legion during the Clone Wars, Rex was not only an awesome fighter and military strategist, but a genuine hero who did what was right, even if it sometimes went against orders (as was evidenced when he went against a corrupt general).  Realizing the corruption within the Republic before it was too late, Rex removed the microchip in his brain that every clone had that made them all kill the Jedi when Order 66 was given.  Because of all of this, Rex proved himself to be his own man.  With him now working with the Rebel Alliance in Star Wars Rebels, it is fun to know that Rex's story is far from over.

12.  Hera Syndulla
The captain of the Ghost in Star Wars Rebels, Hera is the daughter of Twi'lek freedom fighter, Cham Syndulla.  Hera is like the mother of the Ghost crew, she keeps everyone in line and is actually the secret leader of the team.  While she often defers to Kanan, she is the one who always has the bigger plans in motion.  Her compassion and desire to bring freedom to all in the galaxy makes her very determined and headstrong at times, with her always placing the mission first before her own personal wants (most notably her romantic attraction to fellow crew member, Kanan).  It is going to be real interesting to see how large of a role Hera continues to play in the growth of the Rebel Alliance.  Future episodes shall tell.

11.  Wicket
How can you not love Wicket?  He is the star Ewok and is so teddy bear cute you just want to squeeze him.  Exceptionally brave and compassionate, Wicket is the most unlikely of warriors.  While you may mock the Ewoks and wonder how on Earth they could have defeated the Empire, if any soldier has half of the heart that Wicket and most of the Ewoks have, I would want any of them on my side.  It also speaks volumes about why Wicket makes this list in that I still wish I could have an Ewok as a pet.

10.  Yoda
Everyone loves Yoda.  From the very first time you meet him in The Empire Strikes Back, it's really hard to not fall in love with him.  Initially appearing as a funny eccentric, he quickly reveals himself as a wise sage with a firm belief in the light side of the Force.  Of course I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the main reason Yoda is so popular -- the way he talks.  The backwards talk has many different people claiming they were the first to suggest it to George Lucas (from Yoda performer Frank Oz to screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan), but regardless of who was the first to suggest it, the backwards talk is the thing that makes Yoda so unique and unlike any other character in the history of film.  It's funny though, even after all these years Yoda still manages to surprise, like in Episode II when he wields a lightsaber for the first time.  Who'd have ever thought Yoda could be so spry.

9.  R2-D2
It is because of Artoo that I wish I could have my own personal robot assistant.  One of the first characters to ever appear onscreen in a Star Wars movie, he is also, along with his partner in crime, one of only two characters to be in every single Star Wars movie or TV show.  R2-D2 really was one of the first robots in movie history to buck the traditional sci-fi trend of evil and/or heartless robots with no emotion whatsoever.  One thing you can never accuse Artoo of not being is emotional.  He is brave and impulsive, highly loyal to a fault, and stubborn.  Like the adorable stray dog, Artoo is the kind of droid you'd just want to take home with you when you meet him.

8.  C-3PO
As R2-D2's partner in crime, C-3PO is the straight man to all of Artoo's antics.  Threepio is very much the traditional English butler.  He is easily agitated, very fretful, and has a difficult time understanding human reasoning when it contradicts with his fact-based approach.  In truth though, what makes me love Threepio so much as a character is not necessarily his relationship with Artoo and the constant bickering that ensues, but it's the way Threepio reacts to the situations he finds himself in.  From his believing he failed in saving Luke and company from the trash compactor, to interrupting Han and Leia's romantic kiss, all the way to being hailed as a God by the Ewoks, Threepio continuously creates humor without even realizing he is doing so.

7.  Ahsoka Tano
Ahsoka is the greatest element of The Clone Wars TV show.  The revelation that Anakin Skywalker had an apprentice during the Clone Wars was one that I was not entirely sure about when I heard it was going to happen, but it really turned out to be a brilliant move on George's behalf.  Ahsoka starts out as a very smart, headstrong character, whose impulsive desire to prove herself and do good often lands her in hot water.  Throughout the course of The Clone Wars, we watched Ahsoka grow from a brash young Padawan to a powerful, compassionate Jedi in her own right, one who was ultimately betrayed by the very order she swore her life to.  When she was accused of murder and no one other than Anakin believed in her, she had to go on the run to clear her name, and in the end (with Anakin's help) she was able to do just that, but not without coming to the realization that the Jedi had lost their way in the Clone Wars conflict by having to become a military power.  Her shaken faith in the Jedi led her to refusing the offer to return the Jedi Order once cleared and it was really Ahsoka's shattered faith in the Jedi that spurred Anakin to begin to doubt the Jedi Order as well (and we know how that ultimately turned out).  Such a remarkable character is one that I hope someday we'll get to see even more of, especially the years between The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, where she now acts as not a Jedi, but a Force sensitive warrior helping the fledgling Rebel Alliance.  One can only hope that some day she will fight Darth Vader in the fight of the century, I only fear she wont make it out alive if she ever does.

6.  Kanan Jarrus
Kanan is the final member of the Ghost crew in Star Wars Rebels, and my personal favorite.  He is the semi-leader of the team, sharing that duty most often with Hera (the woman he loves, even though neither ever act on their feelings, always placing the mission first), but what makes Kanan such a fascinating character is that he was one of the few Jedi to survive Order 66.  When the clones turned on the Jedi and assassinated all of them, Kanan was a 14-year-old Padawan named Caleb Dume.  His master sacrificed herself so Kanan could escape.  Ever since then he's been on the run, trying to lie low, changing his name to Kanan in the process.  After many years of basically just existing, he met Hera and her fierce determination to help others spurred Kanan to follow the ways of the Force once again.  Now, Kanan has his own apprentice in the form of Ezra, but Kanan, having never become a Jedi Knight and finished his training, is constantly unsure of himself, but he is determined to pass on the ways of the Force to Ezra.  There just really is a lot to love about the character of Kanan, and the main reason for that is because he is so different than any other Jedi in the Star Wars universe.  He does not hold to all of the Jedi Order's rules, in particular the one about not forming romantic attachments, and he's as equally adept at being a scoundrel with a blaster as he is with a lightsaber, but he always does what's right in the end.  I guess the best way to sum up Kanan is if you combined Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi into one character, he is what you'd get, and that's not a bad combination to be.

5.  Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader
You know, a large part of what makes Darth Vader the ultimate villain of all-time is the notion that he was a hero before he was ever evil.  Vader is the cautionary tale of what can happen if we allow ourselves to be tempted by the Dark Side, even when we are doing those things for the right reasons.  He is also the perfect example of how, no matter how much evil has been done by our hands, we can all find forgiveness and redemption.  And while some people despise the Prequels, one of the unique things that the Prequels do, in tandem with The Clone Wars TV show, is really paint us a picture of how a selfless hero can be corrupted by evil.  In Episode I he is this innocent 9-year-old boy who simply wants to free his fellow slaves someday with his Jedi powers.  In The Clone Wars he is a heroic warrior who strives to do what's right in a world where it is no longer black and white.  By the time he goes to the Dark Side in Episode III, it is genuinely tragic because he is doing it to try and save the one he loves most, and in the process actually brings about her death.  From a character complexity angle, Anakin / Darth Vader is the most complex character in the whole Star Wars saga, and while the new films look to have a good villain in Kylo Ren, I don't think any movie franchise will ever be able to come close to Darth Vader as the greatest bad guy of all-time.

4.  Luke Skywalker
Every kid who grew up watching the Original Trilogy believed they could be Luke Skywalker.  That was the brilliance of the character.  He was this idealistic everyman, the cypher for the audience to project themselves onto, and as such is probably the most relatable main character from the Original Trilogy of Star Wars movies.  The thing that I've always loved about Luke though is he's a hero through-and-through.  He always did what was right in the Original Trilogy, even if the end result might have been his death.  While Luke's compassion for others nearly led to his downfall, unlike his father, Darth Vader, Luke was able to not repeat the same mistakes and prove himself to be a Jedi.  It was this act of defiance, in not letting the Dark Side in, that managed to redeem Darth Vader and turn him back into Anakin Skywalker.  You could almost argue that because of this that Luke was the real Chosen One who brought balance to the Force and not Anakin.  Now, while we do not know what's happened to Luke in the thirty years between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, we don't have long to find out, and hopefully it's all worthy of the character.  However, irregardless of what The Force Awakens does to the character, nothing can change the fact that he was the character who experienced the most growth in the Original Trilogy.  His character arc, from being a naive farm boy to being a wise Jedi Knight is arguably the greatest arc of any character in the Star Wars saga.

3.  Chewbacca
Everyone loves Chewie.  He's essentially a big dog who is loyal, tender hearted, and huggable.  Oh yeah, he's also an ace with a bowcaster who can rip your arms out of your sockets if you frustrate him (always let the Wookie win).  With that said, the main reason we all love Chewie is because most wish he could be our best friend like he is for Han Solo.  If we all could have a best friend who was as devoted as Chewie, I think the world would be a better place.  However, it would be nice if a real-life Chewie could talk, but for a fictional character, there is nothing more iconic than Chewie's growls; people often try to imitate them, but rarely sound anything other than stupid (but that doesn't stop us from trying).  The love for Chewbacca is even more evident as we grow closer to the release of The Force Awakens.  While we do not know what will happen to him, we should soon enough.  We should also get some good backstory on the character in the near future with him presumably popping up in the young Han Solo spin-off movie that's in production.

2.  Obi-Wan Kenobi
Sir Alec Guinness's portrayal of wise old Ben Kenobi in the Original Trilogy would be enough to make this list, but what really makes Obi-Wan my second favorite Star Wars character of all-time is the way that George Lucas had Obi-Wan and Anakin's paths mirror one another in the Prequels and The Clone Wars TV show.  Obi-Wan and Anakin really were two sides of the same coin.  They both had loved ones die in their arms (Anakin with his mother and Obi-Wan with Duchess Satine), they both struggled with their feelings of romantic attachment (Anakin with Padme and Obi-Wan once again with Satine), and both were slightly arrogant Padawan learners who often challenged their masters, however where the similarities stop is in how Obi-Wan responded to every thing.  Whereas Anakin always took the easy way and gave into his anger and fear, in every situation Obi-Wan overcame those emotions to be stronger, wiser, and much more heroic.  I think this is something that often eludes fans, but it is the thing that makes Obi-Wan so fantastic to me, aside from the fact that I love the character's dry wit and ability to make light of tough situations.  Ewan McGregor was exceptional as Obi-Wan in the Prequels at maintaining the lighter touches of Alec Guinness's performance while also showing us an Obi-Wan before he became so wise.  He really was the best part of the Prequel Trilogy and while the jury is still out as to whether or not we'll ever see an Obi-Wan spin-off movie with McGregor once more in the role, I think it would be a shame to never give him another go at a role that he owned so well.

1.  Han Solo
Okay, as the kid who said at his kindergarten graduation that what he wanted to be when he grew up was Harrison Ford, this one was a no-brainer.  Why is Han Solo everyone's favorite scoundrel?  Because of Harrison and the swagger he brought to the part.  He is charming, tough, and cynical, and yet his Han is a character who, even though he denies it, keeps finding himself helping others even against his own wishes.  Not to mention the fact that Han and Chewie are one of the greatest buddy relationships in movie history, but it's Han's romance with Princess Leia that is the perfect proof that he is not simply in it for the money.  Han cannot leave the Rebels because of his affection for Leia, and for that matter, his close friendship with Luke.  Han cares, we know it, and deep down even he knows it.  Why else would he keep placing himself in countless life threatening situations for the well being of others?  Just don't ever try and get Han to actually say, "I love you."  "I know," is the best you will ever get on that front.  Although, a lot can happen in thirty years.  The trailer for The Force Awakens found Han saying the exact opposite of what he said in A New Hope regarding the Force.  The Han then did not believe in any of that nonsense, but now Han Solo is wise enough to understand that there are other forces at work in the galaxy greater than him.  It it is going to be real interesting to see what else has changed, and not changed, about my favorite Star Wars character of all-time.