One of my earliest memories was a big night at the drive-in theater with my dad- we were going to see the new blockbuster movie, Star Wars. It was the original movie, the only thing I remember from that night was the trash-compactor scene. Still, though, not bad that I remember something that happened forty years ago.

Like my memories, Star Wars lives on. Of course I had to see its latest iteration, “The Last Jedi.” Can’t say I looked forward to it as much as I did “Blade Runner 2049,” but I figured it’d at least be fun.

It was. I watched it in the company of my daughter and a friend of hers. My daughter has never seen the older movies, and her friend had never seen any Star Wars movies at all. So I was curious about their reactions to the movie- I’ll get to that in due time.

Not really going to put out any spoilers here, besides, the internet is full of those and it seems as if the whole world has seen this movie already. However, I will give you all my take on the film.

It was a typical Star Wars production- massive space battles, personal twists and turns, evil bad guys who never seem bad-ass enough to really kill the good guys, etc. For the devoted fan, it was fulfilling, for the casual viewer it was entertaining. I liked the CGI and world building. It was pretty awesome- and the light saber play was cool as usual. I’d really like to own one of those, even though I don’t know what I’d do with it.

My daughter liked some of the female leads, and her friend was hooked into the story without difficulty, this despite the fact she had never (!) seen any of the other stories. This  is a real display of craft on the part of the film makers- a saga who-knows-how-many chapters on and you can bring someone into the story without effort, very good.

We all had fun, it was an enjoyable evening. Well worth the money we spent on tickets and food. After all, isn’t that the point of a good movie? To get away from stuff for a while, to immerse yourself in another universe?

The latest installment on “Star Wars” has been a massive commercial success, and I can see why. If you haven’t seen this movie, by all means, check it out with your family. It’s pretty good stuff, and Jarjar Binks was nowhere to be found.

Maybe there is a last Jedi, but the Force doesn’t die with this film.

Merry Christmas, all.