Theatrical Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Date: Sunday May 7 2023
Time: 11: 25am
Party: 3 (my mom, aunt and myself)

Review

Considering the surprise success this series had been, there was naturally a lot of hype for this latest installment.
The rumors on the street were a) it was going to be a dramatic departure for the series and b) it was going to be the best marvel movie since “endgame”.
My first thought- oh shoot, how many people are gonna die? I’m pleased to say that any concerns I had going on— they were ultimately unfounded.

In all honesty, while the guardians series are geared more towards fun action with a kick ass soundtrack, it still has a lot of drama. I’m still not over the plot twist about what Peter Quill’s dad did to his mom… but ultimately I feel that this series has done the best job, maybe of any series I’d followed (marvel or not), of balancing comedy and drama. This movie had probably the darkest storyline and easily the highest body count but like life in general, you learn to take the bad with the good and chances are the good is what will stay with you the most.

The first movie threw this ragtag group of characters together and made them a family.
The second movie was more insight into Peter’s tragic backstory and introduced us to Mantis.
The third (and possibly final) installment was all about Rocket Raccoon.

All we’ve heard about his origin up to this point were a couple of outbursts in the first movie. Rocket getting bent out of shape because someone called him “vermin” and how he “didn’t ask to be made.” It was something he never talked about and with all we learn, it’s not surprising.

The main plot of the movie is launched when Rocket is left gravely injured, fighting for his life, and the guardians have to retrieve some sort of code to save him. Because whoever made him installed a kill switch preventing them from operating on him- essentially a catch-22 situation.

Through a series of flashbacks through Rocket’s delirium, we discover he wasn’t the only animal involved in outrageous science experiments. His three companions, Lylla, Floor and Teefs are more machine than animal but despite their eerie appearances, we can’t help falling in love with them. (My mom compared them to Sid’s toys in Toy Story… a cuter version of that but it also depends on what one might consider “cute”).

For some reason, the guardians series (and possibly marvel in general) has a strange obsession with villains with god complexes.

Thanos took it upon himself to “snap” half of the world’s population out of existence as a solution to diminishing resources.
Ego, Peter’s dad, procreated on nearly every planet so he could take over the galaxy.
This villain… he has a bizarre hang up about perfection. Where he creates new and better species but on a whim, he can just as easily destroy them and start over, hoping the next iteration will be free of previous mistakes. Naturally there’s some problems with that. No matter how much time, energy and resources you have, perfection just isn’t obtainable. And it’s always pretty messed up when creators throw away their creations like they’re meaningless to them. Like they don't have lives, hopes and dreams of their own.

Beyond that, we have the anticipated reintroduction of Gamora.
The short version is that she’s back, hanging around with the Ravagers and she has no memory of her time with the Guardians.

The long version, for me, is a bit more annoying. In general, Chris Pratt plays a lot of likable characters and I still think Peter Quill likable. But there are moments where I just REALLY don’t like him. Mostly where Gamora is concerned. I haven’t forgotten that his obsession with her was ultimately the reason why we had an endgame film…
But he’s still holding onto this illusion that he and Gamora are soulmates. Even when she tells him that the version of her that he knew doesn’t exist anymore, he won’t let it go. He even goes on about how they were boyfriend girlfriend when I’m positive that they never even kissed or hooked up or whatever. He’s literally the epitome of a guy who can’t take no for an answer and I HATE that about him.
On top of all that, he was depressed about not being able to find Gamora that the movie starts with him in a drunken stupor… one of many based on how Rocket and Nebula dealt with him.

With Groot, he's still great, but he's more or less the residential Swiss Army Knife of the group. He can sprout wings to glide or a dozen arms, each with its own gun. You kinda reach a point where you throw up your arms and just go with it cuz what other choice do you have?

For me, the highlight of the film were the interactions between Nebula, Drax and Mantis. Nebula is unconventional at best as a hero but she’s still cool. She and Rocket have a lot of similarities because they were manufactured beings that their creators considered expendable.
Drax is still the same- like a neurodivergent insult comic that’s not always aware that his comments are insulting or offensive.
Mantis was always an interesting character but she REALLY gets to shine in this movie. She shows off her unique abilities in battle but she loses her temper on occasion with these other two characters. Some people might find her annoying but I felt like she was one of the few characters that make sense in the insane asylum that is this team. She also reaches an epiphany that maybe she needs to figure out what she wants out of life, opposed to serving the interests of other people.

Another highlight a lot of people will also be talking about- Cosmo the dog. She’s kinda like the dog from “Up” where her space suit does the talking for her, but she contributes more to the story than just “SQUIRREL!!”
There’s an ongoing feud between her and Kraglin all because he called her “bad dog” but when it matters most, she becomes a very valuable asset.

The movie caps off with an epic showdown… the best way I could describe it comes from another movie- “some twisted Pinocchio-Geppetto stuff”
(It occurred to me while watching and took me a few seconds to remember where I heard it from- “Pixels” when PAC-Man attacks his creator, Mr. Iwatani)

The reason why Rocket was attacked was because his creator wanted to take him back— something about needing his brain to fix a problem he was having with his latest attempts at perfection… and finally Rocket gets to give him what’s coming.

I’d say that was the climax of the movie but there were so many climaxes and so much action it is over the top.
One too many perilous scenes where everyone survives against all odds, misdirection where some characters leave their posts to save others and wind up needing to be rescued themselves…
As enjoyable as the character interactions during these moments were… I’d describe this movie as an over large Dagwood Bumstead sandwich. This comic book character is notorious for making massive sandwich with hundreds of layers of bread and ingredients where he’d have to unhinge his jaw to consume the whole thing. Now imagine that times infinity. Some of the layers could have been left off and the sandwich still would’ve tasted really good. (Or you could substitute Shaggy and Scooby Doo- either way, a little too much stuffing)

And before this review gets too overstuffed, I gotta talk about the music…

As always, the soundtrack is as much of a character as the actors. And it seems like it’s gotten a few modern upgrades over the last few years. We still have some oldies and goodies, “badlands” by Springsteen, “crazy on you” by heart. But we also get an acoustic version of “Creep” by Radiohead for the opening credits sequence and “the dog days are over” by Florence + the machine for the big celebratory scene at the end. These are from 1993 and 2008 respectively so it kinda shows times are changing. Both were used very well.

Another thing that’s also kinda neat… Rocket wasn’t into Peter’s music obsession at first but now it seems like he’s just as into it. Plus there’s a cool mid-credits scene where various characters talk about their favorite songs and artists. Killing time before another battle.
As a music fan, I love those discussions and I hope they become more frequent in pop culture… but not too much where it becomes another overdone cliché.

There’s also a quick post credits scene. Nothing previewing another movie. But there’s an interesting Kevin Bacon “cameo” if you pay attention.
Makes me recollect that funny quote from Peter about Kevin bacon being a great hero who taught a town full of people “with sticks up their butts” how to dance.

Grade: A

(It would seriously be an A+ if it wasn’t so overstuffed… if it’s the final movie we get in the series, it went out on a big high)



Trailers


Once again, movie time was 11:25. It didn’t start until 11:51.


Fast and Furious X

Jason Momoa is the bad guy and there’s a scene where a car races down the side of the hover dam… do we REALLY need another of these movies?!

Gran Turismo

Kinda interesting- they’re trying to capitalize on this new trend of making movies from video games. Except this is about recruiting people that are good at this racing game series to drive actual race cars

Hunger Games- Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

I never read the book because I don’t want to see President Snow being portrayed as a good guy when he was younger… but I gotta admit this trailer makes me want to revisit Panam. It looks really good…

Oppenheimer

Decent length trailer as one of the most anticipated movies of the year. Also I FINALLY found where RDJ is in the movie. It’s for a brief second at the end where it’s in a court room in black and white… not sure how big his role will be but he appears to be some sort of lawyer. And before anyone says “just google it!”, I’m not researching it because I wanna be surprised. Even if I don’t see this movie until it comes to HBO

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

They showed a teaser trailer during Mario. This is a full one and it looks impressive… just not something I’m personally interested in seeing

Little Mermaid

Little by little, we get to see more of this movie with each trailer and I can see more potential for it to be a really good live adaptation of a Disney movie I’m very attached to… not spending money on a ticket but when it comes to cable, I’ll definitely see it. And I’ll probably still be a hot mess by the end like I am with the original. It’s very bizarre mix of happy and sad I have zero control over, even in my 30s. Pretty pathetic, right?
I’m just hoping Disney will continue pursuing new characters from different backgrounds instead of redoing old movies with the characters being different races.

A Haunting in Venice

A creepy looking movie that begins with a seance. I wanna say it looks like they’re going outside the typical scary movie formula with this one but it’s hard to be sure. I’ll probably never see it

The Marvels

They did a tv series (or streaming…either way I never saw it) involving a teenager with the same powers as Carol Danvers. Now the worlds are colliding… kinda looks like a small-scale version of what the Spiderverse series is doing. I’m not sure whether I’ll see this one or not. But I tend to enjoy movies that are propelled by a massive estrogen rush (SuckerPunch and the birds of prey Harley Quinn movie in particular) so I might enjoy this one too, even if she’s not among my top favorite avengers

Theatrical Review: Avengers- Endgame

Date: Sunday April 28, 2019
Location: Cinemark Theater at Stroud Mall
Time: 12 noon
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)

Directors: Anthony and Joe Russo

Cast:
(oh god... so many...)

Tony Stark/Iron-Man- Robert Downey Jr. 
Steve Rogers/Captain America- Chris Evans
Thor- Chris Hemsworth
Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow- Scarlet Johansson
Clint Barton/Hawkeye- Jeremy Renner
Bruce Banner/The Hulk- Mark Ruffalo
Rocket- Bradley Cooper
Pepper Potts- Gwyneth Paltrow
Rodey/War Machine- Don Cheadle
Scott Lang/Ant-Man- Paul Rudd
Nebula- Karen Gillan
Thanos- Josh Brolin
Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel- Brie Larson
Peter Parker/Spider-man- Tom Holland
Doctor Stephen Strange- Benedict Cumberbatch
Peter Quill/Star-Lord- Chris Pratt
Gamora- Zoe Saldana
Groot- Vin Disel
Drax- Dave Bautista
Mantis- Pom Klementieff
T'Challa/Black Panther- Chadewick Bosman
Sam Wilson/Falcon- Anthony Mackie
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier- Sebastian Stan
Okoye- Danai Gurira

...if I forgot ANYONE, I'm really sorry... it's a lot to remember... 

Duration: 181 minutes (+ 7 minutes)... ok, the last LOTR movie was 3 hours and 21 minutes... so this movie wasn't nearly as long as that, but it came close... 

Opening Commentary
I was actually trying to hold off on doing this as long as I could... but considering I had a dream last night where I attempt to tell one of these people how great they were in these movies, the time is about right to do it... admittedly, it's been a weird past couple of weeks and I'd been in a weird state of mourning between a lot of different things in my work life and personal life and this movie added a bit on a top of that... 
However, I will try my best to go into this movie without spoiling anything... as much as there are some things I really do want to go into, that will be a separate post. It's something that will need to be done... after all, I did invest a lot of time and money into keeping up with these movies since 2010. It's a big investment monetarily as well as emotionally. And above all else, it's difficult saying goodbye. I will still see Marvel movies (I'm already looking at Spider-Man for sure), just not every single one. It'll be all about the characters involved. 

As for seeing the movie itself... I feel kinda lucky I got there that first weekend. Granted, this theater is has a couple dozen movie houses, so they're able to show it on multiple screens. But the fact the first 2 shows were sold out and we had to wait to see the 12 noon showing, yeah, that tells you all you need to know. 
We went into the theater and literally sat there for 90 minutes waiting for it. The one big negative I take away from this... they are pumping music through the speakers so it's not completely quiet, but it's the same program played on a loop... at least 5-6 songs they played several times... they do this "Noovie" thing before even showing commercials and trailers and that didn't even come on until T-15 minutes. It's just a pet peeve of mine to have things repeated. Come the third time, I just put on my iPod. I got through Side A of "Abbey Road" before the screen turned on-- it was a good way to kill time for sure. 

Trailers... yeah roughly 17 minutes of trailers on top of an already long movie... at least we did bathroom breaks before all this cuz there was no point in the movie where I could have left and come back without missing anything

"21 bridges"- not only written/directed by the Russo brothers, but it stars Black Panther himself, Chadewick Bosman. Kudos for them putting this guy into position to make more great movies. I just hope this was a good movie. Supposedly, this is about trying to hunt down a cop killer and they have to close the 21 bridges leading in and out of the city to do so. It's also very current and topical and if it's well-received, will stir up some good conversation. 

"Hobbs and Shaw"- I already voiced my opinion on the Fast & Furious series... pass!!

"Godzilla: King of the monsters"- my dad loves Godzilla movies, so he'll probably want to see this one. Supposedly 17+ monsters have risen and are threatening mankind and they want to bring Godzilla to take care of them. Particularly the alpha. All the while, they're playing some version of "Somewhere over the rainbow"... don't know why, but it got me a little choked up. Somewhat of a weird music choice, but this haunting rendition oddly worked...

"Dark Phoenix"- the more I see trailers for this, the more I think I might be interested in seeing it... Jean Grey has always been a tortured character and it really goes all in.

"Men in Black: International"- yeah, I don't think this necessarily needed a remake. And another nod to Marvel- it has Thor and Valkyrie (Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson) teamed up as H & M... it did have some funny jokes, though... 

"Lion King"- first time I'm seeing a proper trailer for this... it looks AMAZING... wow, this is gonna be a great year for Disney movies

"Star Wars- the Rise of Skywalker"- this was a teaser trailer really... but considering how the Last Jedi ended, the title confuses me a bit... unless it turns out that Kylo Ren lied and Rae  really is related to someone we knew from the original trilogy. 
The other night, I saw Return of the Jedi for the first time since Luke came back in the previous movie... it was a little strange... also the fact Luke's Jedi powers seemed to have grown exponentially between episodes V and VI... 

The Main Event
Again, as spoiler free as I can manage... but I'll give the basic details...

We catch up with the Avengers remaining immediately following the events of Infinity War. And some of them got a rawer detail than others about the people that were lost... I just had to say "that's not fair!"... 
As shown in the trailers, Captain Marvel joins them and those remaining get to finally rectify the way the previous movie ended... my only question was... why couldn't they have just added these 10 minutes to the end of the previous movie? Maybe the ending of the previous movie wouldn't have been as somber... 

Then we catch up with everyone left 5 years later... you see those words come up and I'm thinking "whoa"... it kinda knocks the wind out of you.

However, despite all the time that has passed, a sentiment remains about fixing things. And this is brought into motion because Ant-Man comes back after being MIA... I did not see the most recent Ant-Man movie, so I was completely lost about the events that transpired. (yeah, I'd seen all of the movies but this one and it wound up being the most crucial detail... go figure!)
And the solution is... wait for it... TIME TRAVEL... 
pretty much every pop culture reference is made in relation to this and I cheered when "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" was among them. Love that movie. 

One fascinating turn of events... Tony Stark's role in all this... back with the Ultron saga, he was the one who wanted to "build a suit of armor around the world" and everyone thought he was crazy... he's the only one who isn't really into this because he'd actually moved on and found his happy ending. But Captain America, who still never got over losing his past (after being defrosted and after these 5 years), is the one pushing for this chance at fixing things. It's almost like Civil War all over again where both of them take different sides on an issue and it's because Tony wavers in his position that the events follow as they do. 
Ultimately what we get from all this... those who have followed these characters after all this time know and understand why they decide to take the actions that they do... and actually, that's the theme for the entire movie. 

CGI comes into play a lot in these movies, but they really upped their game with physical transformations whether it's Tony being emaciated after being stuck in space for 21 days or what happens to Thor 5 years later (why they did that- I think it was strictly comic relief and Tony getting to finally use that Big Lebowski reference he'd been saving... I remember RDJ being on the red carpet, talking about how Jeff Bridges is "The Dude" and his son Indio had no idea what he was talking about)... it also made me think whether Thor and Aqua-Man have more similiarities than I realized. I got a very similar vibe and I'd only seen Aqua-Man in the Justice League movie. 

So with this movie... not going into great detail... 
I actually looked at my phone 3 times throughout the movie to try to gauge time stamps and I think I managed to get each hour perfectly. 

Hour 1- finishing off the previous movie, catching up with the characters, establishing where they are and getting the plan together
Hour 2- Time travel and putting those plans into action
Hour 3- the final epic battle with ALL the characters and the epilogue 

In this respect, the three hours really didn't feel that long at all. At least not to me. 

Much of this movie is fan service- it rewards the fans who saw all the movies because we get to revisit moments from previous films. And the dialogue makes dozens of references to previous movies. I think YouTube had a video that showed all 300+ Easter Eggs in this movie that harkened back to the previous ones. 
And all things considered, I got nearly all of the references and it felt empowering. Almost like following a book series and it's transitioned to the big screen and I get things that other people don't because I read the books. (Also a double-edged sword because I'm upset when things from the books are omitted or completely changed). 

These characters (and the actors playing them) are so well established that none of their actions are surprising at the end of the day. 
I liked how they focused more on Nat and Hawkeye's friendship. Instead of getting a few hints in the first few Avengers movie, they really get a lot of screen time together. I'm still hoping that they shoot a prequel where they really show what happens in Budapest. I just know they were both there and they "remember it very differently." There's so much call for a Black Widow movie, but why not have a movie with the both of them, their different bios and how their paths inevitably cross. Plus, as much as I wanted them to be romantically involved, they're not and it'd be good to see a movie with a male and female working together and it doesn't have that romance. Because romance more often than not ruins these things- particularly in TV shows. Castle and Blindspot are among several that went down or lost viewership because of that.

Of course the time travel thing isn't completely foolproof and one extra stop needs to be taken by Tony and Steve... where they go, I really had no clue about, but it was a really special scene for both of their characters. (This is also where Stan Lee makes his cameo).

One moment that happened made me think about "Heart and Souls" where RDJ makes a comment "It's been an emotional time for us all"... in the movie, he's the "corporeal being" that 4 departed souls use to complete unfinished business. The emotional exchange that happens makes sense for that particular person, but with him conveying the action, it's more than a little bizarre. Especially he had encountered this character a number of times throughout the movie and he happens to be connected to someone's unfinished business. 

The final battle is pretty insane... all the battles really are and they all get to a point where the actions more or less blur together... but like with the previous movie, it's absolutely painful how difficult Thanos is to kill... every single split second is crucial. And Doctor Strange mentioned how it was 1 chance out of 7 billion (it was some huge number- I forgot exactly what that they can win)... he wasn't kidding. 

I also got to thinking about Harry Potter and how that movie ended... and Snape's comment to Dumbledore when he reveals that Harry must face Voldemort when he's at his weakest... saying with sarcasm how he was raised as a lamb for slaughter.
It made me also wonder if certain characters were entrusted with the full truth of what would happen with this movie or these movies, just like J.K. Rowling told Snape what happened with his character. Apparently, that was true for at least one person. 

Yeah, everything in this movie happens exactly as it is meant to. Even how it ends and who makes it and who doesn't. I accept that there was a reason for all of it. I even said at the end of my post on Infinity War that I'd be ok with things ending a certain way... 
but it is nice to see character arcs finishing as well as small hints of future movies. 
There are no post-credits scenes. But it's just as well.
I'd like more Marvel movies... I just don't want all of them to build to a massive climax like this again. Not because it's emotionally taxing, but it's just a massive committment and I'm ready to move on. 

I revisited a bunch of the movies leading up to this... admittedly, I started getting sick of them... but after this, I was happy with the conclusion, but it's very bittersweet at the end of the day. 
It'll be a while before I watch anymore. But I know I at least have to rewatch Spiderman before the new movie comes out (plus I need subtitles to catch EVERYTHING going on- those first 10 minutes were going so fast, it gave me a headache) and Doctor Strange (cuz I got it for Christmas and still haven't watched it- I saw it in the theater ages ago and it's time to revisit that)

Grade: A
(pretty close to perfect, but I can't quite give it an A+... even if its length is justified, it's still an unnecessarily long movie)

Theatrical Review: A Star is Born (2018)

Date: Sunday, October 14 2018
Location: Cinemark Theater in Stroud Mall
Time: 12:10pm
Party: 2 (my mom and I) 

Director: Bradley Cooper
Writers: Eric Roth ("Forrest Gump," etc.), Bradley Cooper, and Will Fetters ("Remember Me")
Composers: [there's so much music in this movie that I can't list everyone... but Gaga and Bradley Cooper both have writing credits on the soundtrack, which is pretty awesome]

Notable Cast (for me, main characters and also people that stood out):
Jackson Maine- Bradley Cooper
Ally- Lady Gaga
Ally's father, Lorzeno- Andrew Dice "Dice-Man" Clay
Bobby Maine, Jack's brother [not father]- Sam Elliott
Rez Gavron- Rafi Gavron
Ally's friend, Ramon- Anthony Ramos
Jack's driver, Phil- Greg Grunberg (I had to include him cuz I recognized him from "Heroes")
Drag bar MC- Shangela
Emerald- Willam Belli

Duration: 136 minutes (+7 trailers... I sense a common theme in this theater, it's always 7 trailers...)

Opening Comments:

So this came out over a week ago and since my mom was going to a conference with my dad, she asked if I could wait a week to see it. No problem, just as long as I'd get to a theater to see it at some point. Not sure why, but it's been really hard getting me out to the movies this year. Maybe I'm over movies in general or having to drive half an hour to a theather takes the motivation out of it... we were so spoiled having the theater down the road from us. 

I remember that this had been in the making for a long time. According to Wikipedia, it'd been even longer... but I did hear a couple years ago that Bradley Cooper was doing this with Gaga and now it's finally here. 

A few things to say about these two people...

Bradley Cooper
I'm such a nerd for remembering this, but when he was named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine in 2011, I didn't really get the hype (and Ryan Gosling not winning had nothing to do with that, I'm not that into him either). To me, he was just part of the Hangover wolf pack and the bully in Wedding Crashers at that point.
But after seeing him a bunch of dramatic roles, I really got to like him. He is good looking and the more I see him interviewed, I really think he's a nice guy that'd be cool to spend time with. The attraction still isn't at the level of some other famous people.
Whether it's The Words, Silver Linings Playbook or Burnt, he just becomes these characters to the point where I don't see him anymore. Not counting the Avengers movies, this is the third time I'm going to see him in a theater release. And again, it has more to do with the subject matter than him as a person. But he's still a highlight of the movie. And something in those movies always hits me in the gut or moves me so I'm crying... not ugly crying, just a tear or two and then we move onto the next scene. 

Lady Gaga
Where to even start with her? I'd been a Little Monster since maybe 2011 after seeing the Monster Ball HBO special. I'd been listening to her and buying her stuff before that- I love pop music and her stuff was the first music in a while (since maybe 2002) I'd been enjoying off the radio. "Born this way" is still my favorite album. The message appeals to the outcast in all of us (I'm a straight white female, we're the same age, and still don't feel like I have my place a lot of the time... unless of course it's among people who love Prince on Facebook or Twitter). And the music has such creative amazing energy. 
I won't be like other fans who've given Artpop and Joanne a lot of crap. There's still something on both albums I can latch onto and really get behind.
A lot of her activism is really admirable: supporting gay rights, anti-bullying... I wouldn't have watched the "Hunting Ground" documentary if she hadn't written a song for it, which SHOULD have won an Oscar. 
But hopefully with this movie, she will finally will cuz she REALLY deserves it for this one. 

Trailers:

A full length trailer of "The Crimes of Grindewalld" from the Fantastic Beasts franchise. I swear I'd have to watch it a dozen times to catch everything in it. I think there was a snake in a scene that was actually called Nagini and it was an Animagus. Makes me wonder if Voldemort's snake was an Animagus that never changed back. 

The Mule- apparently Clint Eastwood is pushing/transporting drugs in his old age? It seems like a very odd concept and I don't know if it'll work. 

The Girl in the Spider's Web- for whatever reason, the sequel to the Dragon Tattoo, "The Girl who played with fire" got completely scrapped (along with the whole cast) and they decided to focus on the sequel to the trilogy... I struggled to read the first book and gave up before getting to page 100 and the movie was so risqué that I didn't want to see it on those grounds alone. This looks more like a solid R-rating than NC17, but I feel kinda bad for Rooney Mara not reprising the role that earned her an Oscar nomination. Also, Lisabeth Slander doesn't seem nearly as autistic as she did in whatever trailers I saw of the first movie. 

Rocketman- a teaser trailer, really, about Elton John's life... why not? Queen is getting one that looks AMAZING. Although it seems weird that Elton John is getting a biopic and he's still alive. Don't you usually only do those for dead people? Not to be rude, but isn't that usually the case? 

Beautiful Boy- it's been getting a lot of air play on TV already. It looks like a really good movie that deals with addiction and family. Starring Steve Carrel and the actor from "Call me by your name" 

The Upside- it seems to be a pattern that Kevin Hart always does a movie that comes out in January... and it's almost always terrible, which is unfortunate cuz that dude's hilarious. But this seems like a sweet movie where he's down on his luck and gets a job helping quadriplegic Bryan Cranston. Some of the comedy might be over the top, but some of it seems well written. Either that or this trailer was shot REALLY well. (Makes me think of that scene from "The Holiday" where Cameron Diaz does a trailer for a Lindsay Lohan/James Franco movie that makes it look amazing, but she and everyone else knows it's crap)

The Favourite- apparently the Queen (whoever this queen is, I have no idea, don't really care) is really depressed and Emma Stone (maybe searching for her next Oscar?) and Rachel Weisz are vieing for her attention. I honestly don't know if this meant to be a comedy or a drama... it's just hard to take completely seriously. 

The Main Event: 

I'll just preface in saying I'd never seen any of the original versions of this movie and at some point, I should at least watch the Judy Garland version. But I knew this was an older movie being remade, so I thought maybe Bradley Cooper and Gaga were paying homage to old Hollywood like La-La Land and The Artist. While they certainly could have pulled that off, it wasn't the case. This take is very modern and current and that's why it's so compelling. 

Bradley Cooper plays an established country singer with addiction issues (drugs and alcohol) to deal with hearing issues he's starting to have in his left ear. (I think the term is tinnitus, which is an incessent ringing. The titular character in "Baby Driver" also had it, which is why he always played music in his ear buds on the job... still need to see that movie). It's a constant struggle. At one point, his brother (yes, his brother) played by Sam Elliot suggests he wear inner ears to perserve what he still has, but he refuses because it cuts him off from the energy of the audience. 
I've seen it on American Idol and The Voice a lot. Singers wear these inner ear inserts so they can hear themselves, but sometimes they'll take one out so they can hear the music or the audience. When you're not used to them, they make it difficult to do your job, but they can also be helpeful. (I'm sure I'd seen Prince wear them a couple of times in concert footage- one was at Hong Kong in 2003 where he did "Shh"... amazing... ok, moving on). 

By chance, Bradley Cooper stops by the one bar that Gaga's character is performing. Not a gay bar (although a lot of the crowd probably fit the description), but a drag bar. 
There was a lot of hype, particularly from my favorite reality singing competition blogger, Lyndsey Parker, about the fact Gaga had the idea for the drag bar in this movie and she recruited two "RuPaul's Drag Race" alums to having speaking roles. (According to Wikipedia, they were from season 3 and they also appeared in her "Applause" lyric video). I'd never seen that series, but it has a huge following and recently won an Emmy for best reality show (RuPaul won three years in a row for reality show host... which is great, but I feel bad for Cat Deeley for not winning one for SYTYCD- she's such a sweetheart, always great with the contestants. And unlike Carson Daly on The Voice, when she asks them questions after they perform or get eliminated, it doesn't sound scripted. It sounds like she actually cares about them and I know she does).
But it got me thinking that maybe at some point, I might watch the show to see what all the hype is about. (I also thought I was going to binge sometime on Project Runaway- another reality show I'd never seen and I have yet to do that either... I have so little time for any sort of binging, unless of course it's YouTube videos on video games...)

Gaga plays Ally (sounds stupid, but I was upset at the spelling of her name- I always imagined it as "Ali", anyway, moving on)- waitress by day and singer by night. And this drag club is a place where she feels comfortable and at home. And it's a really sweet relationship she has with the people there.

Anyway, Ally and Jackson (Bradley Cooper) start hanging out and he finds himself fascinated by her. He thinks she's an amazing singer and songwriter, but she's afraid to give it that extra shot. She said record companies rejected her because her nose is too big: the whole conundrum of "you sound great, but you don't look great"
But he gives her the opportunity to sing her song on stage with him and the wheels start to go into motion... and what a wild ride it is. And sadly he does spend a good chunk of it drunk or wasted and the people around him struggling to help him. 

Ally's character arc was really cool to watch over the course of the movie because it was very similiar to Gaga's own career. She was a struggling singer/songwriter playing at all the clubs and wanting desperately to make the big time. I came across a website that had a bunch of her songs from before she became Gaga. Of course there were one or two comments on the link, saying "you're not a real fan if you're just finding this now"... it's kinda sad that there's a little of that arrogance in every fandom and I'm occasionally guilty of that myself.
But Joanne was also meant to be a return to that- stripping away all the gimmicks and focusing on vocals and raw songwriting. If anything, Ally's songs from this early part of the movie were even more stripped down than that and that's why there's so good. This is a soundtrack I'll definitely be getting in the future. It's also cool that Gaga and Bradley Cooper co-wrote a lot of it. And his singing voice isn't bad, either. 

Later, Ally is approached by a record producer who wants to help her do an album. An offer she ultimately takes and the tide of the movie turns for better and for worse.
And funny enough, it does follow the arc of Gaga's career where she went from the singer/songwriter thing to the pop thing. Some aspects are similiar, but others... it kinda speaks against pop music and the whole machine of record companies. How they make their artists adhere to a certain image and they have to stick with that or else they get dropped, therefore real artistry is extinguished.
Gaga's music had a lot of flash and polish, but her lyrics weren't this explicit. Ally's first hit song under the label and she performed on SNL had a chorus saying something like "how are you walking around with an ass like that"... I know butts and asses sell records, but give me a break...  a lot of the songs just took her completely away from what made her great in the first place. That, coupled with Jackson's addiction issues, created a lot of problems. 

I think one issue I had with this movie was that there was good chunks of plot, but there were also huge chunks where nothing was happening. Montages of sex scenes (which were done tactfully, not too overdone) or hitting different venues and performing and such.
For me, while the movie was 2 hours and 16 minutes long... it felt a little too long. I spent maybe the last 20 minutes waiting for the movie to be over.
I won't give away everything that happened, but there were a couple times throughout the movie I wanted to punch her manager in the face. Just because he has a cute British accent doesn't mean he's excused from some of the stuff he does. 

And by the end of the movie, Ally returns to form and does one last song... and it's amazing and a bit of a tearjerker.
My mom called this a "three tissue movie" and that's totally a good way to describe it. I think I cried at least three times and they were at good parts, during good songs. One was when she finally took the spotlight for the first time in front of a huge crowd- we were all just so happy that she finally owned what made her so good. It was also a tad awkward cuz I think we were the only ones in the audience clapping or cheering and it wasn't even loud cheering either. There wasn't a lot of people in the theater, but a lot of them were a little older and it was crazy that they were seeing something with Gaga in it. I guess cuz she stripped away that whole image and all that risque quirky stuff, she's now more approachable. On the one hand, it's great that more people are appreciating her, but part of me hates that it took this long... kinda like how it suddenly became cool to like Taylor Swift because of her 1989 album- SNL did a whole sketch about that. Kinda funny, but kinda lame cuz a lot of her stuff before that album is really good. (Her "Red" album is my favorite, although "Reputation" I've really gotten into these last few months).

And yeah, the final song is meant to be a tearjerker and the lyrics are very manipulative cuz of what happens in the movie to bring it out... but yeah, it was so good. 

Other than the length, I really couldn't complain. It was a great movie. 
It was also kinda funny seeing Andrew Dice Clay playing her father... I didn't have any idea it was him until the end credits rolled. Talk about playing against type. I first saw him years ago on an old VHS where we recorded a bunch of stuff off the TV and I got to see his "Little Miss Moffet" routine. I also saw him in "The Adventures of Ford Faraline"- for him, but also cuz Morris Day (he was in "Purple Rain" with Prince), although his role was very small. It's not the greatest movie, but it was entertaining in its own little way. And recently I saw him on this reality show where celebrity couples threw dinner parties and he won just because his girlfriend did all the cooking and was really good. There was this hilarious scene at his house where Lance Bass stumbles into his closet and comes out wearing one of his leather jackets. Suddenly, everyone is wearing one :P classic!
As Ally's father, though, he's a driver who also likes to gamble and has a lot of his friends hanging around the house all the time. He also keeps telling a story, saying how he could have been bigger than Sinatra. And he's always bragging to his friends how great a singer she is- long before she became famous. 

Probably the best part of the movie was that the two main actors were so good. They didn't feel like people playing roles- they WERE these characters and I really enjoyed spending time with them through all the ups and downs of their lives and careers. 
If Bradley Cooper gets nominated and wins, I'm sure there's going to be a big uproar about it that goes back to the whole #Oscarssowhite movement. The movie hasn't even come out yet, but I can totally see Rami Malek winning for playing Freddie Mercury in "Bohemian Rhapsody"- that movie looks really good. 
But I really hope Gaga gets nominated AND wins- there's a lot of momentum going her way, between her Julie Andrews tribute, her SuperBowl performance (the best one since Prince- which will forever set the standard for me), and " 'Till it happens to you" being nominated (and losing to Sam Smith cuz he did the latest James Bond theme). If she has any shot of getting an Oscar, this is it and it has to be now. I think she also won an Emmy for "American Horror Story" so if she does Broadway, she has a shot at the EGOT title, something that Whoopi Goldberg, Audrey Hepburn, Rita Moreno, and, most recently, John Legend have won. And of course, Robert Lopez- half of the husband/wife duo who wrote the songs for "Frozen" and are responsbile for "Let it go" becoming one of the most beloved/hated songs of all time cuz EVERYONE had to cover it on some YouTube video or singing competition.

Lyndsey Parker mentioned this on a podcast where she and Jeffery Austin (4th place finisher on The Voice, season 8... I'm still mad he didn't win) bemoaned the fact that the songs from "A Star is Born" are destined to be covered a million times on every possible reality show that involves song and dance.
I didn't realize it until they said it, but they're right and that fills me with dread. Especially considering how overdone the songs from "The Greatest Showman" are already- "This is Me" in particular. Fun fact: Jenny Lynd's song "Never Enough" was dubbed by someone from season 3 of The Voice,  Loren Allred. I don't remember her from the show at all, although I don't remember a lot of people unless they're in the top 12 and I really wanted them to win (and a lot of the time, they don't- I think Cassadee Pope was the only winner I really backed, all the way from the blinds through the whol show- I loved her voice and she sung a lot of pop songs I loved). But I read about Loren after finding this out from The Voice, when someone auditioned with her song, and she said that the producers were trying to create an image around her that she just wasn't buying into. I think she was eliminated in the Live Playoffs. 

Interesting how it all comes full circle- all this talk about artistic integrity and record companies trying to package artists to fit a certain mold or image. It's probably the biggest issue this movie goes into and it's sadly true in real life. Particularly when artists are thrust into the spotlight, don't get to hone their craft and unless they have the right machine behind them or they sell out to a certain market, they're not going to lost beyond their first album or two. 
That's probably a big reason why these days, I really don't buy into a lot of new music. There doesn't feel like anything original anymore and it's all about flash with no substance. Not to mention more rap and hip-hop than I ever want to have in my life... when I listen to the radio, I try to find stations that at least mix up different decades and there's more variety. 
The last albums I have bought: Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, and Jessica Meuse, who I'd been following since she was on American Idol back in 2014 and that album was worth the wait for sure. I'm sure some of their image is being produced in some way, but they feel like the few people that have their own sense of artistry and haven't completely sold out to an image just to sell records. "Reputation" can be argued that it was a move to be edgier and get rid of that squeaky clean image, but some of the old Taylor is still in there. It's just knowing where to look. 
Even Prince (sorry for all the references to him, they just have so much relevence I can't help myself) had to deal with the industry trying to package him a certain way- early in his career, he told his manager and his label that he didn't want to be just another black artist. And he did albums like 1999 and Purple Rain to crossover to the white audeince and gain appeal across all the demographics. (Although he did such a good job creating that image for himself, it sadly defined his career and created a ceaseless battle where people wanted him to always be that guy from Purple Rain when he just wanted to keep going forward and evolving). 
What I've noticed is that the industry always tries to put artists into boxes, but the artists that are in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, the peaks of their careers were in the 80's or earlier and they played their own instruments and wrote their own material. There was a craft of performing and songwriting and playing instruments  and that's why older music is so good. I try not to say that current music is crap. Heck, my dad refuses to listen to anything later than 80's music and the only reasons he knows who Gaga and Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars are either because I follow them myself or he saw them on HBO or as part of the Victoria's Secret fashion show. He also loved that song, "Shut up and dance"- I think because it sounds like an 80's song, but I think he found about it by random chance on some YouTube binge. Somehow, I think we're all guilty of binging something on Youtube :P but with good wi-fi and so many videos to choose from, it's hard to resist. But it's almost gotten to a point for me where, sadly, I may be over current music and the only people I invest in are ones I'd followed for a long time and/or I see a part of me in their work. 

...well, that got out of hand quickly... but I'll leave it in cuz all of it ultimately fits the point. Record companies work at what they do, but at what cost to the artists? 

Grade: A- 
(I swear, if it didn't feel too long, I would have given it a higher score... and there was maybe one loose end at the end of the movie I wish they had tied up... and it goes back to that damn manager... just wanna punch him)

Theatrical Review: The Avengers- Infinity War

Date: Saturday April 28 2018
Location: Cinemark Theater in Stroud Mall
Time: 1:40pm
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)

Directors: Anthony and Joe Russo

Cast... oh boy... I might just copy & paste this whole thing

Tony Stark/Iron-Man: Robert Downey Jr.
Steve Rodgers/Captain America- Chris Evans
Thor- Chris Hemsworth
Bruce Banner/The Hulk- Mark Ruffalo
Black Widow- Scarlet Johannson
Peter Parker/Spider-Man- Tom Holland
The Vision- Paul Bettany
Black Panther- Chadwick Boseman
Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch- Elizabeth Olsen
Loki- Tom Hiddlestone
Heimdell- Idris Elba
Star-Lord- Chris Pratt
Gamora- Zoe Saldana
Rocket- Bradley Cooper
Drax- Dave Baustisa
Groot- Vin Diesel
Mantis- Pom Klementieff
Doctor Strange- Benedict Cumberbatch
Sam Wilson/Falcon- Anthony Mackie
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier- Sebastian Stan
Okoye- Danai Gurira
Thanos- Josh Brolin

Unless there are more people that come up in the movie, that's going to be the majority of them...

Duration: 160 minutes  (+ 7  trailers... trailers started on time, but the actual movie didn't start until 2:02pm)

Write-up:

Introduction

Man, I've been really bad at keeping this blog updated, but I really haven't been to the movies since 50 Shades back in February. Ever since our local theater burned down, I've felt less need to go to the movies and there've been a few I've wanted to see. Isle of Dogs for starters. And with all the success it had, I kinda regret not going to see Black Panther. There'll be another chance, I'm sure... when it comes on DVD and my dad sees it in-flight.
I also have yet to see the new Spider-Man movie. Having RDJ in it wasn't even enough incentive to get me to go. I guess I'm just sick of them trying to remake Spider-Man when Tobey Maguire did it right the first time.

With this movie, I don't have a whole lot of expectations. I've been disconnected from the Marvel universe for some time. It's been a while since the last time I saw an Avengers movie and I gave up Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. after that Ada story arc and the alternate universe. It just drove me too nuts that much of the series was about the team being split apart and fighting all season to get back together. Almost as frustrating as Once Upon a Time always starting a new season with a new memory-wiping curse... I really did love that show and I miss watching it, but it broke my heart one too many times.

And now I'm rambling...

I'd purposely avoiding spoilers, but it's getting rave reviews and on Twitter, I get the impression it's very dark ("and they call DC dark" I think was the quote). There's also talk of a lot of characters being killed off... I mean, losing Tony Stark would be emotional for me, but I'm dying for RDJ to do something other than Marvel. It does sound, though, he is working on a new Dr. Dolittle movie. It has an all-star cast, but of course, he's the only human among them, lol.

Getting into the movie...

This was a first for me. If our local theater hadn't burned down, I'm not entirely sure this would have been avoided. BUT we get there close to 12 for the 12:20 show... they have an electronic sign behind the ticket counter with all the movie times. I noticed within minutes the 12:20 flashing saying "sold out"... I'm like "whoa..." so we immediately get tickets for the next showing and are promptly told to get in line an hour beforehand so we'll get a good seat. An hour beforehand was half an hour of free time... but the line actually wasn't bad and we got really good seats.

Gotta say this for the Avengers crowd at the first weekend of a movie... you'll never find a better movie crowd. They care about everything so much that they will laugh at all the appropriate times in unison and will collectively stay silent when something serious is going down. Hell, I got shushed once during this movie when I was complaining how Spider-Man calls these movies he's referencing "old"... I did not appreciate that. It's not like I was like those little kids at the Beauty & The Beast movie last year that were chatting much of the movie and were promptly shushed when the big song came on. But I guess it's been a while since I'd been in a crowd like this and I'd gotten way too comfortable with interacting with movies. It's not like I do it ALL THE TIME in theaters. (Although I couldn't help but do so when I saw "Let's be cops" and "Ghostbusters" cuz I was the only one in the theater... best time ever)...

Again, I'm rambling...

Then there was the ending where everyone just fell completely silent and whether we said it aloud or not, we had all a sense of "that was it?!"

Trailers

I was able to ID these movies within 10 seconds so I was able to type them into my phone and lock so I could enjoy the rest.

The trailers have been around, but I finally saw Deadpool 2. And it seems like he's trying to put a league together of superheroes. Gee, I wonder where he got that idea... X-Men (which Colossus has been recruiting him for) or Avengers (cuz, you know, it worked so well)... Anyway, it looks like this movie has more of a budget than the last one and I hope they don't try to overachieve too much just cuz they know they have a good thing going.

Crimes of Grindewald- the newest installment of the Harry Potter "Fantastic Beasts" franchise. And it appears Jude Law is Dumbledore... I love Jude, but I don't know if I completely buy it. Cuz Harry Potter is born in 1980 and goes to Hogwarts in the 90's. This franchise takes place in the 20's and maybe 30's... Dumbledore looks A LOT younger here than he does in the Harry Potter franchise. Unless his inevitable duel with Grindewald ages him A LOT, I don't quite see that making sense. But it sounds like Dumbledore is asking Newt Scamander to kill Grindewald because he can't do it. J.K. Rowling said after the books were done that Dumbledore was gay and hinted that he and Grindewald might have been a thing... so I interpret his plea to Newt as "it's not that I can't do it, I just don't want to"...
but it's very exciting for this next movie to come out... too bad it isn't for months.

Mission Impossible: Fallout... WHY?! We don't need anymore of these movies. I'd rather see Jeremy Renner's next Bourne film (that's not a jest, I really do want to see another of those movies from him...)... I didn't know about this movie until ET trailers talking to Tom Cruise about his MI injury and I'm like "another injury?"... this trailer just made me want to see the new Jack Reacher movie that should be on HBO soon.

Venom with Tom Hardy playing the title role... I didn't know about this until I saw the movie posters and we promptly saw a trailer. This looks DARK and terrifying. Something I really have no interest in seeing. Supposedly there is this Indian guy running a company that's experimenting with something called Symbiants, which is some dark substance that takes refuge in the human body and is the next step towards evolution. Tom Hardy gets infected and this substance actually talks back to him in this deep threatening voice and sometimes black fluid comes out of him to attack people around him. Supposedly Venom will become an anti-hero. I know that people are disappointed with how Venom was treated in Spider-Man 3 (among other things...) but completely darkening it up is too far for me. I don't know or care enough about this character (or Tom Hardy for that matter) to proceed.

Solo- we saw this trailer on my dad's iPad ,but this had far better lighting. Woody Harrelson is in it as Han's boss, saying something like "if you expect everyone you know to betray you, you won't be disappointed"... which tells me someone betraying him is why Jabba the Hutt puts such a huge price on his head. And there's a scene with Lando and a card game and supposedly that's how Han gets the Millennium Falcon. My mom of course is excited cuz she loves Han Solo and Harrison Ford and she kinda likes this guy as well, but we'll see when we see the actual movie.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom... going back to dark and terrifying... OH MY GOD... this movie goes way beyond all the previous Jurassic movies. Not only is the island full of dinosaurs being threatened by a volcano, but Blue, the last of Owen's trained raptors gets captured and experimented on and of course, B.D. Wong has to create a new dinosaur (because Indominus Rex worked SO WELL in the last movie). There's a scene where the new dinosaur is in a girl's bedroom... so yeah, this is scary. And is this girl supposed to be Owen and Claire's kid? Why not bring back her nephews from the last movie? (I guess after the last movie, their parents don't want them anywhere near the island or dinosaurs again)...
anyway... it looks terrifying and like nightmare fuel (I'd been saying that a lot lately, although I don't really have nightmares all that much), but cuz I'd seen every Jurassic movie in theaters, I have to see this one. It's tradition.

Incredibles 2... I didn't like the last one that much, so I'm not really looking to see this one either... but the theme is that some organization wants to change the perception of superheroes and they want to use Elastic Girl to do it. Meaning Mr. Incredible is emasculated and has to be a stay-at-home dad. Meanwhile his daughter is going through, what the Quickster called "adolescence" (this franchise I think was closer to PG13 than other Pixar movies, so that's as family friendly as they can put it... although I think "Inside Out" did mention puberty towards the end) and Jack-Jack has a lot of different powers firing off at the same time.

Yikes... now I get the feeling I'm going to be saying more about the trailers than the actual movie. Sorry if that's disappointing...

The Actual Movie

Here's the tricky part... so much happens in this movie, good and bad... that I really don't want to go into every detail. It's one of those movies you just have to see. Especially if you love these movies.
I admit I'd been experiencing "Marvel fatigue" lately with all the movies that had been out... I think mostly because RDJ is stuck doing these movies when he could be off trying to win Oscars... for me, the latest Thor and Guardians installment were kinda disappointing because they either stepped way too far from what made the franchise great or just too dark a turn that I kinda lost faith. "Civil War" was really good and one of the better ones, but it's not the greatest feeling that not like Tony Stark and siding with Captain America when I'd always leaned one way more than the other.
This movie or less took all that fatigue away and now I'm dying for the next volume to come out... because this ending needs to be salvaged and reconciled.

I don't really want to give away which characters run into who because that's part of the fun. And also where they end up going.

Tony Stark and Pepper seem to be planning their wedding... which is amazing to me because in "Civil War," I thought they'd broken up so I have no idea how they reconciled. But needless to say, the events of this movie will put a further damper on things.
And he also winds up confronting a lot of his fears that have been with him since his moment of sacrifice in the original "Avengers" movie... so that's really good closure for his character. Meanwhile, the tech in this movie is RIDICULOUS... how advanced Tony's suit is and all of the extra features his suit for Spider-Man is... it was blowing my mind.
Gotta hand it to this franchise, they step up their technology every time and it's incredible how far we've come in the last 10 years.
Yeah, Iron-Man was released 10 years ago and I don't think any of us could have predicted all this.

Of course one thing people have been clamored for and RDJ had hinted about it on his Facebook page... the two Sherlocks (Downey from the Guy Ritchie franchise- where is Sherlock 3?!! and Benedict Cumberbatch from the PBS series) getting to have actual screen time together. It's pretty awesome. And it reminded me how I really should get Doctor Strange on disc at some point cuz I hadn't seen it since the movies.

On the other side of the galaxy, we have the Guardians. And in true-Guardians fashion, their arrival is announced by a change in music :P and they interact with a couple of different Avengers throughout their screen time. And of course they go how you expect them to... which includes another melee (that was a highlight of the first Avengers movie, so why not?... too bad the timing of it isn't exactly preferable).

If you view this movie in the canon of the whole franchise, seeing it right after the latest Thor movie... let's just say things get very dark, very fast.
Thor is in need of a new weapon to replace his beloved hammer and he gets to visit the forge inside a dying star that Mjolnir came from. I won't give away who he meets there, but let's just say Game of Thrones fans will be VERY happy. And his new weapon is extremely bad-ass.

Then there is Thanos... who had been hyped up since the end credits scene as the ultimate villain of this franchise... you'd think his motivation was just galactic/universal domination. But he has a very interesting motivation that falls almost in line with Dan Brown's Robert Langdon book "Inferno"... his concern is overpopulation, so he wants to obtain all of the infinity stones to rectify that. As far as motivations go, it's actually not too bad. It's well-thought out, actually. In the Pokémon video game franchise, the theme of Black & White was about separating Pokémon from people because certain characters truly believed that they did not benefit from their captivity. That fell in line with the critics of the series that said it was akin to dog fighting. When you really think about it, the antagonists might have a point and if you were in their circumstances, you might believe the same way. However, you have to resist and hold onto your ideals because it will get in way of your happiness and way of life.
I think my overall point to this is that you can side with Thanos and agree with where he's going... but you really don't want to because the price needed to be paid is way too high. Losing people you love and care about.

It was established in the first Guardians movie that Gamora was adopted by Thanos and left him to join the Guardians. Like with Tony Stark, everything kinda goes full circle for her as well and we see how she came into the care of Thanos.

As far as action goes... it's nearly relentless. We get some lulls where there are some good laughs and pop culture references and so on. But the fact the Stan Lee cameo is very early in the movie suggests that things will get pretty dark later on. (and yes, I know I used that word 9 times already... I'll try to stop).

It's incredible to watch, though. It keeps you on your toes. I audibly screamed once or twice because something came out of nowhere. (But in my defense, that has happened a couple of times recently, including one episode of Shadowhunters). The technology is insane and so cool to watch. Just when things look bad for the heroes, others show up to join the fight. We have a scene where all of the female characters get to fight against a common enemy. That was a pretty awesome moment, but I can't help but feel that was planted to pander to a certain demographic. Kinda like this latest trend of having diversity just for the sake of it. Whitewashing in a historical movie where it involves a certain culture or demographic is one thing, that's bad... but feeling the need to include non-white actors and actresses into movies so you can claim "hey, we're diverse, we're good"... to me, it comes off a little forced.
What we need is more good roles written by and for non-white characters. Like Randall in "This is Us" and the movie "Girls Trip" where the writers, director and main cast is black... that's a step in the right direction for sure. "The Good Doctor" also had an interesting episode where one character threatens to sue for unlawful discharge, proclaiming racism and the head of surgery (as black) berates him for an improper use of "the race card" (he was fired because he assaulted another doctor cuz another student said he was inappropriate with her)... he went into a little more detail than that, but I thought that was an interesting moment.

So the fact I am doing a lot of sidetracking kinda suggests I don't really want to talk about certain things in the movie.
As a general rule, I REALLY don't like it when villains are unbeatable. All of them have to have one weakness that gives the good guys a chance to overcome him. Certain parts of this movie were like that, but the camaraderie between heroes and the last minute saves helps with that. But ultimately, that emotional rollercoaster was just toying with our emotions.
The body count (if you can call it that) is substantial. But considering how many of these characters have upcoming franchise installments, it's hard to be completely devastated. Not to mention they did bring a couple S.H.I.E.L.D. agents back from the dead, so it's impossible to kill anyone off, really...

And the fact I'm not a complete wreck but merely just felt numb in all my extremities after the movie ended... that's kinda telling of one of the survivors...
And for those curious, there is a post-credits scene, but it's after ALL of the credits. (Made me wonder how much of the lengthy run time was for credits alone). And it's more fallout from the end of the movie. But there is hope because back-up does get called, but all they give us is a symbol and I have no idea what it is. Who else is there left? Unless they actually bring the cast from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. into the movie as well... that'd be something.

Grade: A (if not for the somber ending, it'd be an A+ easily... probably the best of the whole franchise)

...oh and another thing... why the heck is Black Widow blonde in this movie? Were the movie runner afraid we'd confuse her with Wanda? I'm sorry, that aesthetic change just doesn't work for me.
And the dynamic with Bruce Banner and The Hulk gets even more interesting in this movie-- somewhat of a reverse of how things went down in the latest Thor film. Some of its kinda frustrating, but it also has its entertaining moments.

Theatrical Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Date: Sunday May 7 2017

Time: 1:45 pm

Party: mom, aunt and I 

Writer/Director: James Gunn

Cast:
Star-Lord- Chris Pratt
Gamora- Zoe Saldana
Drax- Dave Baustisa
Groot- Vin Diesel
Rocket- Bradley Cooper
Nebula- Karen Gillan

Yondu- Michael Rooker

Ego- Kurt Russell

Mantis- Pom Klementieff

Starkar Ogord- Sylvester Stallone

Ayesha- Elizabeth Debicki

Duration: 138 minutes (+2 trailers)

Write-up

Opening comments 

As is often the case with these movies (sequels in particular) there's always going to be those negative reviews that bug me. 

One said this had a lot of the things from the first movie that worked. But also criticized it for not really getting to the plot (which I'll add includes the reveal of who the central villain is) until later on and the final battle is inane and runs too long.

Another article wasn't so much about this movie in particular, but a genre of movie that's apparently new and annoying people. (Who these "people" are- I have no idea but I don't want to know them). The article criticized movies sub-genred as "needle-droppers" where a song starts to play, the movie becomes about that song and you're so swept up in nostalgia that you forget the movie is crap.

First of all, I'm not saying this movie is perfect. Second of all, this is not new. Saturday Night Fever- in my opinion- was a terrible movie. It's best remembered for John Travolta kicking ass on the dance floor and The Bee Gees. The movie itself was dark and not particularly fun unless there was music playing. Purple Rain could get the same argument, but the movie was designed to highlight the music as well as introducing Prince to the world beyond MTV. The plot was always kinda secondary behind him, the characters (and most are characters- not 100% accurate to the people in real life) and the music.

Third- I just don't like how this article sees this sub-genre as a bad thing... whatever gets people to see movies, what the hell does it matter why they go to begin with.

As for this movie's music--in my opinion, for this to be a "needle-dropper," the songs have to be memorable. Other than "Brandy" which got played twice- I couldn't remember any. The previous movie I at least could name 3. [But I was already familiar with the Jackson 5 and Pina Colada song, just to name a couple]

Now onto the actual stuff people care about...

We were among maybe 21 people and it was kinda miserable outside so the escapism (which this movie essentially is) was much appreciated 

Trailers 

One was a super tease for the new Star Wars movie. A narrative by Mark Hamill and brief moments with the new characters. From what I've heard, Luke isn't willing to teach Rey about The Force at first. I just hope Oscar Isaac gets a lot more screen time in this movie 

Then there was a trailer for the new Thor movie which I hadn't seen until now. His hammer gets broken and he's forced to be a gladiator and fight the Hulk. He's cheering, saying that he knows him from work and it was hilarious. Can't wait- too bad it's not until November 

The Main Event 

 I guess in a way you could compare the handling of the plot to the novel "Twilight".

 Stay with me on this... 

 The book read like this:

Bella is new in town. She becomes infatuated with Edward Cullen, the two of them get to know each other, she meets his family and suddenly the plot happens.

One could argue (I could) that the plot was about Edward and Bella getting together and in the last third, they're trying to deal with this new threat to their happiness.

Guardians of the Galaxy this time around is a lot like that--except a lot more action-packed and the only thing not really highlighted is romance. Maybe hinted at, but part of me will be kinda disappointed if Star-Lord and Gamora get together because it's so damn cliché.

But we have various plot lines and character arcs happen and maybe it takes a little too long for it all to come together in the final third of the movie.

But if that's what you care about (namely: things making sense), this might be the wrong movie for you.

 

This movie is about character interaction, crazy space battles, and... basically that's it 

Those who care about a plot...

Star-Lord meets his father Ego (no spoilers but this guy lives up to his name in more ways than one).

At the start of the movie, the Guardians are contracted by a golden somewhat regal alien race to defeat this monster who wants to go after their energy source- super special batteries. As much as I love Groot- in this case Baby Groot- the movie focusing on him dancing to music (can't even remember what song-- at least in the first movie the song, in a similar moment, was memorable) instead of the actual fight... it just made the fight seem pointless.

So did the fact Rocket stole some of these batteries... because of his character? Or because we needed to make this race of aliens an enemy for the Guardians... which is more likely to play out in the next sequel. (I did love the methodology of their ships and how they conduct their battles-- the ships are drones and the fighters are on the ship in virtual reality pods, like a more interactive first-person space shooter game).

This first space battle leads to a crash landing, half the crew goes to Ego's planet and the other half eventually gets captured by Yondu's raiders... except Yondu ceases to be in charge after a point. This is due to his favoritism of Star-Lord and past transgressions that get fully hashed out later (which is another nice touch- completing that story arc begun in the first movie).

Character Discussion and Development

Don't quite know why, but the non-humanoid characters are my favorites. I loved Rocket and Groot from the first movie and that's still true. Although Groot not quite as much as Rocket. Which is even stranger because Groot is so cute and Rocket is not only a jerk most of the time, but a lot of what goes wrong is his fault. Also in the review I read, it said playing Rocket is the easiest money Bradley Cooper will ever make. I didn't know what was supposed to mean, considering how hot and cold the article was- but he is so good in this role... I just forget that Bradley Cooper is the one playing him. (I'd only been a big fan since seeing him in movies like "The Words" and "Burnt"- the critics and I are complete opposites on those- but I won't necessarily go out of my way to see one of his movies. The premise has to grab my attention).

Drax was a character that was almost as much a surprise as Groot- he's not always easy to like, but he got a bit of a following after the first movie came out. I think I read somewhere that an autistic boy said he was his favorite character because they had one thing in common-- they take things literally and don't often understand sarcasm.

In this movie, it would seem like Drax had been spending too much time with Star-Lord and Rocket because he makes one or two jokes that are actually kinda funny. But he still doesn't have a complete grasp of the obvious.

Then there's the whole dynamic between Gamora and her sister Nebula-- which is extremely confrontational but also mired in jealousy.

Elizabeth Debicki plays Ayesha, the leader of the regal alien race (whose name I don't remember or feel like Googling) and judging from the post-credits scene (one of FIVE-- so stay to the end of the credits), we won't be seeing the last of her.
For me, it was great to see her again... I hadn't seen her around since she played Jordan Baker in "The Great Gatsby" (she was my inspiration to get a Gatsby 20's haircut-- which I had gotten practically once a year since 2013).

Don't think I'll give away much more than that. But the final third of the movie... so much happens. Not just from a visual effects standpoint, but the character development as well. It's action packed, but there's also a running gag that spans maybe 3 minutes between Groot, Rocket and Star-Lord (it is so stupid and unnecessary, but most people who love these characters won't care) and you feel almost every emotion possible with what's revealed and the results of these final battles.

Grade: A-
[Looking back at the last review I wrote, I gave it the same score... both Guardian movies are great, but for different reasons. That's not something you can often get with sequels, which is nice)