If you asked a critic: Third-best ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Prada’ for kids

You didn’t ask, but I’m going to tell you anyway.

The late great Roger Ebert used to run a weekly column answering movie-related questions from his Chicago-based readership. The Coeur d’Alene Press doesn’t quite reach the audience of '90s- and 2000s-era Ebert, plus I forgot my password to my cdapress.com email account.

So here are some answers to fake questions from fake readers!

Everybody knows the original “Star Wars” from 1977 and “The Empire Strikes Back” are the two best “Star Wars” movies. With a new movie, “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” on the horizon, it got me wondering: Is there any chance the third-best “Star Wars” movie is something other than “Return of the Jedi?”
— Wedge Antilles, Rathdrum

Because of a newfound interest from my 8-year-old son, we recently watched the original “Star Wars” and “Empire Strikes Back” as a family. I told him, “Everybody likes these two movies the best.” Then, of course, he asked about third place.

We plan to watch at least all the "Episode" movies in the franchise, though my son also seemed intrigued by “Rogue One” given its connection to the OG trilogy. So perhaps I’ll change my opinion, but…

The long answer: An argument can be made for “The Force Awakens,” a legacy sequel that, despite its occasionally annoying structural similarity to the 1977 movie, manages to reinvigorate the franchise with fresh, dynamic characters. Count me as a person who also loves “The Last Jedi,” a movie that remains the most divisive entry in the franchise. I particularly like how that movie deliberately attempts to break free of the George Lucas legacy in surprising ways. It’s too bad Disney followed this risky film with “The Rise of Skywalker,” an embarrassing recalibration that’s worse than the prequel trilogy.

As for the prequels… look. I have some nostalgia for them. The screenplays are atrocious, but the elaborate lightsaber duels remain forever “nerd cool.”

That leaves “Return of the Jedi,” a movie that can’t help but be a comedown from “Empire” and goes a bit hard on those Ewoks, but, well, still feels like essential viewing after watching the first two.

So, you know, short answer: “Return of the Jedi.”

When did the original “Devil Wears Prada” become a classic movie? It’s only 20 years old!
— Cornelius Evazan, Post Falls

The recent box office success of “The Devil Wears Prada 2” suggests significant adoration for the 2006 movie starring Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep. To be honest, I saw the original once back then, thought it fine and promptly forgot about it.

Fast-forward to 2026, and I of course want to be part of the cinematic zeitgeist. So I re-watched the 2006 movie, this time again with all my kids. In the opening minutes, they groaned about the movie’s seemingly aimless, non-superhero, non-Jedi plot. Then, once Anne Hathaway meets her new wicked boss at the fashion magazine, my 12-year-old son excitedly said, “Hey, this is like the plot of ‘Ugly Betty!”

Apparently, my wife watched multiple seasons of “Ugly Betty” with my older kids while I apparently played “Spider-Man” video games or whatever.

Anyway, once this connection was made, everyone really enjoyed “The Devil Wears Prada,” despite it not being a heavily plot-driven movie. It’s also fun to go back and see what was considered incredible fashion 20 years ago. I thought Hathaway looked good in her pre-Prada clothes!

The kids now want me to spend $150 to take them to the theater to see “Prada 2.” It’ll likely be money better spent than on another viewing of “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.”

I think I saw you rummaging through old DVDs at a local thrift shop. Didn’t you get the memo that physical media is dead?
— Nien Nunb, Athol

Probably! Nobody wants their DVDs anymore, which means super cheap deals for me at thrift shops, garage sales, etc. I can’t stand when I want to watch a particular movie, but then can’t find it streaming anywhere, despite subscribing to 27 different services.

Because we’re talking $1-2 here for a standard DVD, I’m even buying movies I didn’t like but heard other people say they did. So, yay, here comes a copy of the “Speed Racer” movie (better than I remember!), as well as the Drew Barrymore “Charlie’s Angels” movie (fun!).

I must say, however, it seems like everyone bought and subsequently dumped a copy of the Cameron Crowe misfire “Elizabethtown.” There are hundreds of copies of this DVD in thrift stores across the Inland Northwest. Enough to make a fairly substantial art installation. Someone please do!

    This image released by Disney shows the Mandalorian, portrayed by Pedro Pascal, right, and Grogu in a scene from Lucasfilm's "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu."