Star Wars. Spoilers. Obviously.

I saw the new Star Wars today.

(If you liked it, you may not want to continue reading.)

So back when they announced it, I thought it was a bad idea.

Good for the studio, of course, because they would make a ton of money even if it was terrible.

But bad for everyone who loves Star Wars because there was no way it could live up to the astronomical expectations.

Then the teaser came out. I still thought it was a bad idea. It didn't feel like Star Wars to me.

How is Star Wars supposed to feel?

I can't quantify it. Not fair or helpful, I know. But I was worried then that the people who made the movie would be too blinded by what had gone before to create something new but still wonderful.

Then the full trailer came out. I started to feel hopeful. It reminded me of what I loved about the movies.

Either way, there really wasn't any chance of me NOT seeing this movie. Which I resented because I knew Disney was banking on that and would be tempted to be lazy about actually making a good story.

Anyway. I saw it this morning.

I was really hoping I'd like it.

And there were parts I did like. Rey was cool. Finn was funny, if a little whiny on the order of Luke in A New Hope. BB-8 is adorable. Poe is pretty much The Most Interesting Man in the Universe.

But I didn't like enough of it. They spent an inordinate amount of time on Jakku. I almost laughed out loud the first time Kylo Ren spoke. (And then he took off his helmet and I did laugh. Can you say 'horribly miscast?') I looked at my watch after the first hour trying to figure out why it was taking so long. The Starkiller thing really didn't make sense to me. The plot didn't make sense to me. The ending (and the death) was extremely predictable. There were these long, lingering pauses on characters' faces that were supposed to be significant, but just looked like everyone had gas.

And then I realized that J.J. Abrams had done to Star Wars exactly what he did to Star Trek. It was exactly like the original, but different.

Here's the plot of A New Hope: Rebel leader hides plans in droid to doomsday device. Droid hooks up with desert dweller who is secret Jedi. They escape the planet with the help of a lovable rogue. At some point, a girl is rescued. Secret plans get to the Rebellion. The lovable rogue decides to leave, but ends up fighting for the good guys. The doomsday device has a fatal flaw that can be exploited by a guy in an x-wing. The beloved mentor dies in order to inspire his mentee. The doomsday device explodes inexplicably loudly for being in space.

Here's the plot of The Force Awakens: See above. Same, but different.

I've seen this movie before. I liked it before. I didn't need to see it again.

I understand Hollywood's love of sequels. It's easy to make money on something people are already familiar with.

But I expect a movie to be self-contained. It still has to have a plot that makes sense, and while it can reference what has gone before, I shouldn't need to know all of that to enjoy the movie. There was both too little and too much at the same time. Too little of the good stuff. Too much of the wrong things.

The nostalgia in this one felt cheap. Instead of smiling when the Millennium Falcon appeared, I just thought, "Really? Of all the planets, it happened to be here? That's an awfully big coincidence you're selling."

Same with Han and Leia. And Luke. They are old. And except for Han, they haven't aged well. It took me right out of the movie magic. And seriously, is there no one else in the universe to follow? The inbreeding is a little ridiculous.

Anyway, it felt like JarJar Abrams was saying, "See, I gave you Han Solo and Chewbacca. Now you have to love the new people I created."

The new people who are exactly like the old people. Kylo Ren is Darth Vader lite. Snoke (really?) is an unfathomable version of the Emperor. Hex or whatever is a poor imitation of Tarkin. And what was the purpose of Phasma? She couldn't even pull off Boba Fett levels of cool.

And don't get me started on the barely veiled reference to Hitler.

I really think Harrison Ford is glad he got killed off. He can see where this franchise is headed, and he is jumping ship while his death can still mean something.

Is it time for Captain America: Civil War yet?

(I'm sorry. I didn't hate it. Really I didn't. I just didn't like it.)

Back when I first started funding, I was actually really excited about it. I had enthusiasm, I had drive. I knew academically that it would be hard, but I knew that God was calling me to missions, so it would happen.

At the first church where I spoke, I met with great response. People were interested in what I was doing, and one person in particular offered to head up a prayer team. I had a team of people who promised to pray for me and encourage me and keep me accountable. I counted on that individual to keep things going.

It lasted about two weeks.

Problem is, it took me a couple of months to figure out that things weren't moving. And by that time, there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm.

So my own excitement was cut to the quick.

I need to reignite that passion. I think I'm getting there. But I need your help.