This weekend on Episode 148, we will be returning to a galaxy far, far away, as we will FINALLY be seeing the latest chapter in the Star Wars franchise with Episode VII – The Force Awakens. Already reaching $100 Million in advanced ticket sales, this is easily the most anticipated and hyped movie of the decade so far (to say the least). What a glorious time to be a movie fan.

Now, I am a huge Star Wars fan, having loved the original trilogy since I was 8 years old. I even loved the prequels when I first saw them in theaters as a kid; thank goodness adulthood allows us to learn from our past mistakes. The Empire Strikes Back still holds strong in my top 10 favorite movies of all time, and I love Return of the Jedi and the original Star Wars (yes, it is just called Star Wars) almost equally as much for their own reasons. And the fact that this film is being marketed as an aesthetic return to the original trilogy, shows that Disney buying out LucasFilm may have been for the best.

I have managed to avoid nearly all of the reviews currently out for this film, as well as all potential plot spoilers. Needless to say, I am going in with very neutral expectations; I want this film to be phenomenal, but I will be satisfied to just have another good Star Wars movie again (major thanks to the prequel trilogy for at least preparing us for any possible worst case scenarios). Even if this film doesn’t end up being one of my “best of the year” films, that won’t make it a disappointment. I’m excited that we have a focus on a new cast, a group of unknowns that will allow us to not fixate on familiar faces. But surely it’s an added bonus to see the return of all our favorite characters along the way (Luke, where art thou?!?!)

And J.J. Abrams is a director I truly admire as well; what he did to reboot Star Trek in 2009 I thought was glorious, where he did a wonderful job in balancing the old and the new simultaneously. That’s the biggest thing I’m hoping to see and feel in The Force Awakens; where the narrative goes I have no specific desires for, I just want this to aesthetically feel like that galaxy far, far away, counterbalanced with an injection of new blood and sensibilities that will only prove how timeless this saga is.

My only real worry is, with Abrams being such a big Star Wars fan himself, that this will lead to a film that leans a bit heavily on fan service, creating a rather safe film without too many surprises; this happened already in Abrams’ films Super 8 and Star Trek Into Darkness, two films he himself even recognizes had narrative issues. But even with that being the case, I firmly believe it would still make for a great stepping stone into this new Star Wars rejuvenation that Disney is thrusting upon us, but at the same time I don’t want Abrams to simply coast along in making a film that is 110% of what the fans ask for; I also want him to try and excite us for the future in a surprising way.

My words to J.J., in the words of Yoda, “Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try.” But like one of the major themes to this saga, I have faith. And boy am I pumped!!!

This weekend on Episode 147, we’ll be discussing Ron Howard’s latest film In the Heart of the Sea, starring Chris Hemsworth. This was a film that was slated for March earlier this year but for reasons we can only speculate, the film was pushed back to this weekend coming up. We assume that it was for awards season but that doesn’t seem to be panning out well based on it’s lack of buzz at the current moment. Now, that doesn’t mean the film is bad, in fact it has descent reviews, but it’s not overwhelming anybody. Add in the fact that Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes out the week after In the Heart of the Sea, and this could also be a box office failure for the film too since it’ll have no room to breathe after this week. Star Wars will dominate the next month and that will hurt whatever In the Heart of the Sea could’ve had at the box office, especially if you compare that to what it could have had back in March.

So, the move to push it back to December doesn’t seem to be a good move all all right now, at least on paper. Hopefully I’m wrong and it’s great and it does find it’s legs at the box office, among the chaos the The Force Awakens will bring. I’m really rooting for this film. I’m a big fan of Chris Hemsworth and an even bigger fan of Ron Howard. Howard gave me my biggest surprise film of 2013 in Rush, a film I really loved. In fact, that film made my Top 10 of 2013. Howard’s films based on real-life events have been pretty great. Not just Rush, but also Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man and Frost/Nixon are all pretty good movies.

So, maybe In the Heart of the Sea won’t be gamechanging by any means and it may not be a huge box office success, but I’m looking forward to it either way. The trailers have looked descent and the poster for this film is one of my favorite’s of the entire year. The overhead shot of the boat and the giant whale just beneath the water is terrifying to me (as you can see above). Here’s to hoping.

On our latest episode, #145, we discussed Pixar’s latest film and second to come out this year, The Good Dinosaur. As many of you already know, this film was plagued with tons of production issues and was delayed several years before finally getting a release in theaters. And as we discussed in our review, the results aren’t too terrible all things considered. The animation is stunning as always and the film has that Pixar heart that we all love. Where Fantastic Four failed and crumbled in it’s production hell, The Good Dinosaur came out okay. Banged up a little, but okay overall and you have to give Peter Sohn and company credit for that.

The thing that I love most about The Good Dinosaur, is Pixar and Sohn’s approach to it. They knew that it wasn’t going to completely come together so they focused heavily on what they know how to do best. They gave the film heart, while exploring themes that kids can easily grasp onto and hopefully be moved by. The exploration of overcoming fear and what that process looks like for a young kid is fascinating and relatable for a lot of us, especially with how that ties back to familial love. And as a new parent, I can appreciate that.

During our discussion, we talked heavily about why the humor fails in this film and it’s certainly what keeps this film from being great. In terms of where this fits in Pixar’s catalog, it’s somewhere in the middle for us. We liked it better than Cars 2 and Brave but it’s also far from Pixar’s best work and also Inside Out that came out earlier this year.. But where does it sit for you? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

You can hear more of our thoughts about Pixar and our rankings in our Pixar Movie Series, which you can listen to by clicking here.

Listen to Episode 145 here.