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: 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)

 

Theatrical Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

Date: August 10, 2014
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Time: 2:05 pm
Party: 2 (my mom & I)

Cast:
Star-Lord- Chris Pratt
Gamora- Zoe Saldana
Drax- Dave Baustisa
Groot- Vin Diesel
Rocket- Bradley Cooper
Yondu- Michael Rooker
Ronan- Lee Pace
Nebula- Karen Gillan
Korath- Djimon Honsou
Nova Prime- Glenn Close
Corpsmen Dey- John C. Reilly
The Collector- Benicio Del Toro
Thanos- Josh Brolin
Duration: 121 minutes (+  trailers)
Previews:

Saw another trailer for this animated movie I can never remember the name of: "Big Hero 6"
Don't really see myself seeing it, even though it was mentioned somewhere in trailer it might be Marvel-related. But I enjoyed myself because they played "My Songs Know what you did in the dark"... pretty much the only Fall Out Boy song I'd ever enjoyed.

Then we had the heavy hitters:
Mockingjay-part 1
and the final Hobbit film

Sometime during these, my mom made a comment she should have brought ear plugs. It was pretty loud in the theater during this movie. I noticed at one point that we were sitting in a row with a speaker close by.
Write-up:

We were among roughly 20 people in the theater. In front of us were a dad and two boys and everyone else was either my age or older. But it was a good theatrical experience that everyone got into. There were plenty of laughs to be had throughout this.
One of two things it has in common with "Avengers."
The other thing is, obviously, the idea of having several different personalities coming together to accomplish a common goal.

We begin in 1988 with Peter Quill's backstory. He's a young boy listening to his tape player while waiting in the hospital lobby. His mom dies of cancer and shortly afterwards, he gets abducted by aliens.Fast-forward 26 years later... yeah, this movie takes place in 2014 but in another corner of the galaxy.
During the opening credits, we are treated to Quill getting his groove on to a song off his mix tape. Something that really helped me get a feel for the type of movie we were expecting because the whole 'mom dying' thing put a damper on things early on.

Little by little we're introduced to our characters.
Peter Quill aka "Starlord" is stealing this orb for the guy who had "abducted" him all those years ago and later changes his mind.
Gamora is the "adopted" daughter of Thanos, the much-hyped super villain we saw at the end of "Avengers" and will fight in "Avengers 3," and also after this orb.
Rocket the genetically engineered raccoon travels along with his heavy/bodyguard/tree creature Groot and they're bounty hunters.

All of these characters come together at the planet Xander, which reminded me a lot of The Capitol from The Hunger Games with maybe a touch of Naboo from "The Phantom Menace." Quill and Gamora fight for possession of the orb while Rocket and Groot want to capture Quill for a massive bounty. This public scuffle lands them all in prison where they face hardships and meet their final member, Grax, who has a score to settle with the main villain of the picture, Ronan.

One way or another, they break out of prison and decided to take this orb to "The Collector" to split the money they'd receive in return. Those who stayed around for the credits of "Thor: The Dark World" met this character. I found him extremely fascinating then, but now... I was a little disappointed. He didn't grab me to that same degree.
We find out during this scene, before things go terribly wrong, that the orb contain an Infinity Stone, which is capable of massive destruction and loss of life. Obviously, this is not something you want to see end up in the wrong hands and shortly before the epic battle scene at the end, that's exactly what happens.

As far as it being part of the Marvel universe goes, it's definitely one of my favorites. It catered to my tastes way more than the recent "Captain America." In the overall scheme of things, I'd say it's on a tier just below "Iron-Man," "Avengers" and the first "Captain America".. not excellent, but REALLY well done.
In a nutshell, it's a fun, action-packed comedic space movie with good balance of all those things.

I first "met" Chris Patt in the Lego movie earlier this year and again, he was great here as the everyman who finds himself with a greater purpose thrust upon. Only this time, he has help.
Zoe Saldana seems to have a thing for playing different colored alien butt-kickers and Gamora is no exception. Despite her reputation as daughter of Thanos, she actually has a vendetta against him, seeing as he took her in after killing her parents and torturing her. And compared to the other members of the "Guardians," she's the straight-woman. Everyone else having their comic relief moments.

Quill inserting random 80's references in his dialogue, which includes his stating Gamora has a case of "Footloose" because she says that she doesn't dance.
Drax is rough around the edges, but has moments of unintentional comedy because his race always takes things literally.
Rocket packs a lot of firepower and part of that is his attitude. Early into the promotion of this film, I figured he'd be my favorite character. It's hard to agree with Bradley Cooper doing a killer voiceover.

But then, I didn't count on Groot stealing the show. This tree creature only says "I am Groot" several times throughout as his only bit of dialogue, but he's a remarkably complex character. He doesn't just have a great heart, but he has so many hidden abilities beyond your imagination. Adored him.

I have my anxieties about the next Avengers movie, whether or not there'd be a heroic body count... oddly enough, I was perfectly fine throughout this movie despite how many near-death experiences the "Guardians" have had. Maybe it's because I'd only just met them and haven't grown attached as of yet... or I knew everything was going to work out perfectly fine.

Ronan was a strong villain that was difficult to defeat, but when the defeat comes, the payoff was pretty huge. At the same time, though, to me it felt like it was a little unbelievable. This is made easier when they make the discovery that Starlord's father might not be human (the answer to that question is exactly what sequels are for and obviously "Guardians" will get one).

One thing that stood out to my mom and I was the killer soundtrack. We had songs like "Hooked on a feeling" and "I want you back" as well as a couple others we didn't know, but all kinds of random songs were thrown in as if they were part of the commentary. However, I'd need to see this movie a couple more times to be sure on that.

"Star Wars" fans and Trekkies can argue that this is the Marvel universe's version of their folklores. For me, the trailers reminded me of some of the first animé series we watched at my college's club: "Outlaw Star" (which is about space pirates) and "Trigun" (Quill/Starlord reminded me a bit of that series' protagonist Vash the Stampede, only less lethal).
The mythology of "Guardians" takes a little while to process, but once you get past the first 15 minutes, the rest is a breeze. The only other negative is the action scenes, which can be a little chaotic and hard to follow at times. That's the main reason I didn't want to see this in 3D (the experience of "Thor" was hampered by this through the course of the fight scenes).


Grade: A-

20. Avatar (2009)

Code-name: Na’vi

(but of course…)

 

Writer/Director: James Cameron

Composer: James Horner

 

Cast:

Jake Sully- Sam Worthington

Grace- Sigourney Weaver

Norm Spellman- Joel David Moore

Dr. Max Patel- Dileep Rao

Trudy Chacon-Michelle Rodriguez 

Colonel Miles Quatrich-Stefan Lang

Selfridge- Giovanni Ribsi

Neytiri- Zoe Saldana

Moat- CCH Pounder

Tsu’tey- Laz Alonso

Eytukan- Wes Studi

 

Notable Awards and Nominations:

OSCAR- Best Cinematography

OSCAR- Best Visual Effects

OSCAR- Best Art Direction

Nomination- OSCAR- Best Picture

Nomination- OSCAR- Best Director- James Cameron

Nomination- OSCAR- Best Sound Editing

Nomination- OSCAR- Best Sound Mixing

Nomination- OSCAR- Best Film Editing

Nomination- OSCAR- Best Original Score- James Horner

Golden Globe- Best Director- James Cameron

Golden Globe- Best Picture- Drama

Nomination- Golden Globe- Best Score- James Horner

Nomination- Golden Globe- Best Original Song- “I See You”

 

Write-up:

 

Getting politics out of the way first…

 

…a) because I hate politics in general and b) politics, no matter which side you’re on, stirs up a lot of negativity and I don’t want that bringing the vibe of this entry down

 

I suppose you could say “Avatar” is one of those “love ‘em or hate ‘em” sort of movies. There are strong opinions on both sides. I strongly support and adore the hell out of this movie. But I’d hate for people to take the opposite view for political reasons.

 

Going into this movie, despite how it might look on the surface, I didn’t want to see it for politics. I didn’t come away making it into this big political racket. On those grounds, I did see similarities between it and “Pocahontas” where the white man came to America for gold (much as they did to Pandora in this movie for this mineral ‘unobtainium’). Other people were saying it was akin to us invading Iraq.

 

That part, I really didn’t get. Still don’t. The mere insinuation of that just pisses me off. I mean, James Cameron had this idea in mind of years, long before we even invaded the Middle East, so they were just using the movie to suit their views.

 

But where I will get into the politics of it… how the hell did “Avatar,” arguably the most talked about picture in 2009 NOT win Best Picture? And it lost to a movie few ever heard of before awards season? A lot of us were still figuring out how “Brokeback Mountain” lost to a complete unknown film.

Seriously, if Hollywood is so liberal, why do certain pictures, considered to be very liberal, not get top honors?

 

I don’t remember much of what I saw in theaters in 2009. I didn’t start seriously keeping track until the following year. But “Avatar” blew my freaking mind… and the four of us saw it in 2D. My dad even came to the theater with us and he hadn’t been with us to a movie since 2002.

 

Then I saw it again with my mom and two of my aunts in 3D. Absolutely worth it. Just like it was worth it to get on blu-ray. Like the paper insert says, it’s “the movie blu-ray was made for.”

 

Escapism at its finest

 

In general, I am a huge sucker for escapism. “Avatar” took it to a whole new level. To this day, it’s probably the only valid argument for 3D movies in existence. Mainly because James Cameron knew to shoot it in 2D and 3D, opposed to converting it to 3D in post-production. That’s where you get the sloppiest of efforts. Ironically, one big example of what NOT to do regarding 3D film-making occurred in Sam Worthington’s other major film credit, “Clash of the Titans” and its ill-advised sequel.

 

The majority of “Avatar” was filmed in Hawaii, but you really did feel like you were in another world entirely. Everything was so beautiful. The creatures were so imaginative and gorgeous. My favorites were the banshees, those flying dragon-like creatures… so beautiful. The Na’vi are also really fascinating creatures. They’re so at peace with their environment, believing everything has its place and the balance of everything must be kept. Between the CGI and the motion-capture, this was special effects at its absolute best. Nothing quite like this has ever been done before and who better to handle it than the director of freaking “Titanic.”

I still maintain that movie was a waste of 3 hours and Leonardo DiCaprio dying at the end is reason enough to never sit through it again. So depressing and not worth the ugly sobbing. Still impossible to this day to hear “My Heart Will Go On” without tearing up… it’s frustrating that he’s such a handsome guy but most of his movies aren’t my type and those that are, he dies at the end… oh well, moving on.

 

Because of its sheer length (almost three hours), it’s not the type of movie I like to watch very often. Usually, I see it once a year or every couple years. But whenever I do, going back to Pandora is just one big jaw-drop.

 

Cast of Characters

 

As always, spoilers ahead

 

On this surface, this is another one of those movies where it really is more about the characters and visuals more than the actors. Most of which were relative unknowns going into this.

The only exceptions to this, I think, were Zoe Saldana, Giovanni Ribsi and CCH Pounder. I don’t remember any of their other credits, but they were faces and names that I knew were already out there. And Sigourney Weaver, of course, is the biggest name on the ticket.

 

Sam Worthington was an Aussie apparently living out of his car when he auditioned for the role of a lifetime.

Unfortunately, his other credits are few and none really held water. Movie fans and mythological buffs know what a waste of time the “Clash of the Titans” movies were. They bared little resemblance to the original version and the mythology wasn’t even accurate. Other than that, I knew Sam had done the thriller bomb “Man on a ledge” and had gotten himself into trouble with DUIs and such in reality.

 

It’s too bad because he played a damn good soldier. And like Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker,” experience taught him how to color outside the lines of the reality he’d come to distrust… the only difference is that Jake Sully wound up fighting for a much greater cause: the survival of a planet’s ecosystem and its dominant race.

 

Zoe Saldana, of course, is a bad-ass as Neytiri. All the guys can go as crazy as they want, raving how she’s this “9 foot tall naked blue chick,” but she’s probably one of the most lethal creatures you’ll find on Pandora. And that’s just her attitude ;)

Then again, there are times where Neytiri is hard to listen to because when she flips out on you, she freaking loses it… part of it being her vocal chords with the screaming.

 

There’s a lot of girl power in this movie, which is a rarity, and you get it in all forms.

Just as Neytiri is strong in her skills and her body, Grace (Sigourney Weaver) is strong in her heart and her mind. In layman’s terms, she knows her shit… especially when it comes to Pandora and the Na’vi. Then again, she, Dr. Patel and Norm has been studying them for 3 years, so they’re practically experts. And considering Jake is going into this with no real time to train because he’s a genetic match for his late brother’s avatar, anyone else in the AVTR program seems like an expert compared to him.

 

Grace spends a lot of this movie butting heads with the men in the military department, no matter how much they refuse to listen, she fights for her ideals to the death. And anyone who’d seen the “Alien” franchise knows just how much of a bad-ass butt-kicking actress Sigourney Weaver is (something I really didn’t appreciate or take note of until after this movie).

 

Michelle Rodriguez, who I believe had also been around for a while before “Avatar”, has a lot of sass that’s so admirable. Especially in the third act where she helps the AVTR people get where they need to go to help the Na’vi in their direst hour. She has no problem standing up to authority and just as willing to sacrifice herself for her beliefs.

 

As much girl power is in this movie, it does really suck that it gets most of them killed or almost killed.

 

With a bit of cautionary tale thrown in there, this really makes me hate us, the human race, in general because we’re capable of so much destruction. And for what? Is it really worth destroying a whole ecosystem just to save ours? What’s to stop that destructive cycle from continuing?

 

Sure, “Avatar” has a little bit of “Pocahontas” in it as it does have a little “FernGully”… supposedly there was so much discussion of plagiarism that “Avatar” was deemed ineligible for “best original screenplay” awards…

NEWFLASH! NOTHING IS ORIGINAL ANYMORE!

 

But while on the subject of plagiarism, when “Avatar” was first announced, I took issue with the name as a fan of the animé series.

I thought it was going to be based on “Avatar: the last airbender” and when that wasn’t the case, I contested that they couldn’t use the word.

It’s even sadder that the live action version that was released by M. Night Shamylan was a complete bust… they pronounced the names wrong and the way the characters were written, it’s as if they didn’t see the series at all..

 

…I shudder to think that “The Giver” adaptation will top that degree of mediocrity and non-adaptation, but based on the trailers, it’s leaning that way already.


Coming Soon


"Avatar" is the beginning of the end of my countdown.


With the exception of three of them, the rest of my top 20 favorite movies fall under one or some of the following categories:


1) I deem them the best in their given genre/director/actor
2) they started on a given genre of movies I became fond of
3) they were life-changing for me personally


The three exceptions have the following things in common:
1) They gained their accolades years after their release
2) I saw them all for the first time within the last 3 years because I couldn't ignore the accolades from movie fans and critics
3) like "Avatar," they had valid arguments for the "Best Picture Oscar
-ironically, two of them came out the same year so obviously they couldn't BOTH win


*I should also note with two of them, I only saw them once... which was the case with "Butch and Sundance" (I was lucky enough to catch "Rebel without a cause" and "little miss sunshine" a second time before writing my entries on them)... a little idiotic, but considering how high Richard Roeper and movie fans who follow the Reelz Channel rate them, my rankings will make sense once they're revealed


As for #19 next week, it got me officially started in the superhero genre. Also made me a fan of a particular actor...
Coincidentally (seriously I did not have that in mind when I put this list together), it was the movie my dad saw with us in 2002, which would be the last time until "Avatar" 7 years later.