The reviews are in, and so far everyone thinks The Force Awakens is pretty good. In case you are trying to avoid any spoilers at all, here is a spoiler-free roundup of blurbs. However, if you go read an entire critique, you won’t learn so much that it ruins the movie for you.

The A.V. Club:

There’s a very good chance that most diehard Star Wars fans are going to love The Force Awakens. They’re going to love it because it’s been made to their exact specifications, relayed through years of constructive criticism and very vocal bellyaching.

Uproxx:

…The Force Awakens is almost a Han Solo movie unto itself.

But, not quite, because Daisy Ridley as a lonely desert scavenger named Rey; John Boyega as a former First Order Stormtrooper, now wanted deserter, Finn; and Oscar Issac as Resistance pilot Poe (I would have liked to have seen a little more Poe) are all so fantastic and they bring to The Force Awakens what the prequels were so desperately missing: a sense of humor. There are actual laughs to be had in The Force Awakens! The original Star Wars had laughs. It’s this, more than anything, that makes The Force Awakens feel like a direct sequel to the original trilogy.

Screen Rant:

In summation, it would seem that for the most part, J.J Abrams has done a good job at capturing the original Star Wars magic; in particular, the characterization.

Den of Geek:

The good news is that Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a terrific and at times purely wonderful movie. It has its faults for sure – every Star Wars movie has at least some – and while I wouldn’t call it a truly great motion picture, it is a worthy follow-up to the original trilogy. It captures so much of those movies’ warmth, sense of fun, and entertaining tone that it leaves the prequels quickly behind as a bad, distant memory. It has a sweep and grandeur all its own, and while it may just miss the mythic power of the series at its very best – i.e. A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and most of the third act of Return of the Jedi – it sets up the sequels to do that.

Rotten Tomatoes:

Packed with action and populated by both familiar faces and fresh blood, The Force Awakens successfully recalls the series' former glory while injecting it with renewed energy.

The New York Times:

The big news about “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is — spoiler alert — that it’s good!

At the top is the latest comic from Lunarbaboon.

Okay, the premiere of The Force Awakens was yesterday in Hollywood, and it’s all anyone can talk about. You can see 90 minutes of premiere coverage here. But if you want to get a Star Wars fix that will also help you keep your expectations in check, watch this Honest Trailer from Screen Junkies.   

(YouTube link)

It starts out by declaring that Revenge of the Sith is the best of the prequels. Talk about damning with faint praise! Seriously, this movie would have been okay if Anakin Skywalker hadn’t been such a whiner and a simpleton. Can you believe this kid became Darth Vader? -via Tastefully Offensive

Lots of people share their funny Christmas card photos online, but only one family has been delivering the yule tide yucks for over a decade, proving they were born to do Christmas themed comedy.

They are Laura and Mike Bergeron from Aliso Viejo, California, and their Christmas cards give the gift of laughter and irreverent inspiration year after year.

The Bergerons clearly care about spreading joy during the holidays, and they realize that laughter is the gift that keeps on giving throughout the year.

But they also realize that funny Christmas cards are like crack- you always want more, and when it stops coming it leaves a hole in your life, so they'd better keep those hilarious Christmas card photos coming!

See A Collection Of The Bergeron Family's Funniest Holiday Cards here

(Photo: Lucasfilm)

Dr. Said S.M. Ardalan and his colleagues at Austin Health in Melbourne, Australia conducted a study about the effectiveness of colonoscopies at detecting polyps. For the Value of Audio Devices in the Endoscopy Room (VADER) study, they played music while examining patients. They hypothesized that Star Wars music would be superior to other compositions. The authors write in the Medical Journal of Australia:

The soundtracks from such movies often contain uplifting musical tracks associated with glory, success and large-scale victory. Given we are avid fans of the Star Wars movies (Lucasfilm Ltd), and with the imminent release of the latest instalment, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, we felt it would be important and timely to evaluate the effect of music from the Star Wars soundtrack in colonoscopy. Therefore, we hypothesised that Star Wars music (SWM) would be superior to endoscopist-selected popular music (PM) when measuring quality outcomes in colonoscopy.

We at Neatorama are big fans of Walt Disney and his magical creations, but even as fans, it's easy to get swept away with some of the urban legends built around the man. Even if you're familiar with the one about Walt's body (or even just his disembodied head) being cryogenically frozen, you probably still haven't heard some of the great urban legends. For example, the one about Walt leaving his fortune to the first pregnant man is new to me, as is the idea that he chose seven dwarves to accompany Snow White to represent the seven stages of cocaine addiction.

Review the rest of these crazy myths over on Flavorwire. 

When the Russian Empire gave way to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics they officially, and legally, became a nation of atheists, a sharp turn away from their religious roots.

This made things hard for the devoutly Catholic, and really put a damper on the Christmas festivities, but holiday card artists managed to save the day by sneaking in images of Saint Nick with a little white lie.

These clever artists combined the Soviet space obsession with images of who they claimed to be "Ded Moroz", a wizard from Russian mythology who happens to look an awful lot like Santa Claus.

They combined icons from mythology, cool sci-fi stuff and traditional holiday fare into one utterly amazing outer space scene, creating the kind of Christmas cards most geeks would love to send out to this day.

Man, Soviet Santa is so much cooler than our syrupy, Coca-Cola sponsored version!

See more Engrossing Soviet Science Fiction Holiday Cards here

Arya, a Corgi who lives in Los Angeles, is super excited about the premier of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. To celebrate this glorious event in geek history, she dressed up as an X-wing fighter pilot. You’ll all clear, Arya. Take your shot.

-via Landa Calrissian

(Photo via David Coplan-Castillo)

You’ll never grow old and die in Never Never Land. You’re no good to him dead.

These two unknown cosplayers are perfectly styled as our favorite bounty hunters who will gladly return Captain Hook to Jabba the Hutt.

-via Cosplay in America

Dave wanted to propose to his girlfriend Jenna in a special way. Yes, he did take the traditional route of offering her a lightsaber. But he also went further: he took her on a special Lord of the Rings-themed trip to New Zealand and brought along this custom-built lightsaber to seal the deal.

There's a seemingly endless supply of strange videos online, and just when you think you've reached the far end of freaky something like the Bread Face Blog Instagram account comes along and proves you wrong.

Bread Face Blog isn't about bakery disasters, food sculptures or Powdered Toast Man, it's about an oddly adorable little woman smashing her face into different kinds of bread on video for our amusement.

Now before you completely write off Bread Face Blog consider this- with different lighting, a different song, and a different kind of bread in every video the preposterous possibilities are endless!

-Via Cheezburger

(Video Link)

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens will awaken upon us tomorrow! For 38 years, this ongoing story has warmed the child-like heart in you. Celebrate the occasion and its life-transforming message by buying toys. You can play with them!

But that would be a terrible idea. You must preserve them mint on card inside their original packaging. And make sure that the packaging itself isn't damaged! I recommend using a custom shadow box display case. And, in order to make sure that the box does not suffer deterioration due to exposure to ultraviolet light, make sure that it, like you, is not exposed to natural sunlight. Your mother's basement will fulfill that role perfectly.

Then play with that toy--with only your eyes, of course! This Saturday Night Live commercial has the right idea.

-via Uproxx

We often assume that actors are nothing but famous faces who memorize lines and look good on camera, but many actors are multifaceted individuals who enjoy doing a lot more than basking in the limelight.

Ex-NFL player turned actor/Old Spice spokesmaniac Terry Crews clearly enjoys hitting the gym when he's not on camera, but lifting weights isn't exactly a talent. However, painting photo realistic portraits is pure talent, one most people don't expect a muscle-bound ex-jock to possess.

Sometimes celebs get to show off their hidden talents in a project they're starring in, thereby secretly revealing their skills to the world.

Neil Patrick Harris got to do just that when he starred as the murderous magician Chester Creb in American Horror Story: Freak Show.

See 23 Celebrities Who Are Shockingly Good At Other Things here

A business named Wholesale Clearance UK unearthed a shipment of bootleg figures from the movie The Phantom Menace. It’s no wonder that these toys were shipped off in a clearance lot. They were labeled, and possibly even designed and manufactured, by someone who hadn’t seen the movie, or might not speak English. Probably both. How else would you explain Mace Window, Toby-One, Fly-Gone-Gin, What, and Conehead? The only one of the set that was accurate in both name and appearance is Jar Jar Binks.

They are supposed to talk. Whether they still do after, what, twenty years, is a mystery. Whoever buys these will want to keep the packages intact, but you'd have to resist the urge to find out what they say. See them all at the business’s blog. -via Geeks Are Sexy

(Photo: Dan Arnold/WireImage)

Star Wars fans in Sydney, Australia gathered for a huge party to celebrate the release of Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Darth Vader (or a cosplayer--it can be hard to tell) attended in a suit perfect for local conquest. The national flag forms his cape and breastplate. He's eschewed a lightsaber for a more elegant weapon for a more civilized age: a boomerang. You can see more photos of the cosplayers in Sydney at BuzzFeed.

P.S. What kind of beer is attached to Lord Vader's utility belt? I can't make out the logo.

Santa Claus is the symbol of Christmas, the larger-than-life bearded guy with two lists that keep kids in line and a team of magical flying reindeer who help him deliver presents to kids around the world in one night.

He was based on a real guy once upon a time, but his legend has become as bloated as his belly to the point where the only people who still believe all those Santa stories are really young children and the two Santa fans in this video.

(YouTube Link)

Ryan Gosling and Vanessa Bayer play the two people you'd least like to meet at a holiday party, especially if you're Santa Claus!

-Via Laughing Squid