This week’s “Cogill Wine and Film, A Perfect Pairing” on reVolver Podcasts we raise a glass to the latest “Star Wars” back story of handsome Hans Solo, pairing the mischievous thief with the first wines Gary and I had a chance to barrel sample using a wine thief. Gary’s review of “Solo: A Star Wars Story” is below.

For details on the pairing, listen to the show here.

We also toast the beautiful region of Prosecco Superiore DOCG, highlighting why the Italian sparklers from the region are so special. I will have indepth details of the terroir, people and wines of the region in an upcoming post on D Magazine/D SideDish soon.

For now, listen to the show through reVolver Podcasts here, or via iTunes, Spotify, I Heart Radio or your favorite place to listen to podcasts. Cheers.

The Film: “Solo: A Star Wars Story”
Originally published in “West Hawaii Today”

“Solo: A Star Wars Story” is getting a bad rap, from haters who demand perfection and from box office pundits who think an 85 million dollar domestic opening week-end is a major disappointment.

But, you won’t hear such nonsense from me. It’s an entertaining, smile inducing, energetic ride into the formation of an iconic Star Wars character and those around him.

From the opening sequence, new creatures appear, the dragon queen arrives as Qi’ra (Emelia Clarke) with a brash, fast talking Han Solo played-well by Alden Ehrenreich.

The couple are torn apart, Solo is thrown into a death cell and there he meets and confronts his future furry buddy in space crime, Chewbacca. It’s the relationship between Chewy and Han that makes “Solo” much more watchable, knowing together they will eventually do great things.

But for now, it’s a matter of staying alive, discovering the Millennium Falcon, reuniting with Qi’ra, and meeting the charismatic, Lando Calrissian for the first time, played perfectly by Donald Glover.

Throw in a visually magnificent train robbery, a scarface villain with a space traveling yacht played by Paul Bettany, and a shady bandit played by Woody Harrelson, and you have a mash up of characters and style that is meant more to entertain than to enlighten.

Film maker Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13) stepped in to command this expensive offshoot when the original directors disembarked before the film was finished, and it’s an admirable effort from an Oscar winning director.

Is this the greatest of the “Star Wars” films? No, it rests comfortably in the middle, but soars as entertainment pure and simple. I found myself smiling most of the two hours running time and never once felt like I had to forgive or forget what I was watching.

Movie theaters are currently crowded with worthy films to see, “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Deadpool 2,” “A Quiet Place,” so lets back off the hating since it takes time to make the rounds. I could care less how much a movie makes on opening week-end, a good movie is a good movie.

And yes, I’ll see “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” again soon, because its a good film.

• Gary Cogill