stan lee | Thoughts From the Booth

IMDB Score – 8.9
Rotten Tomato Score – 92%

Directed By – James Gunn
Starring – Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Michael Booker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Peter Serafinowicz, Glenn Close, and Benicio Del Toro

In the far reaches of space, an American pilot named Peter Quill finds himself the object of a manhunt after stealing an orb coveted by the villainous Ronan.

As of today, I have seen less than five Marvel films, including this one. I was never really into comic books and honestly, the films have not impressed me besides the first Iron Man and The Avengers. Everything changed after seeing this though. A lot of people are claiming this is the best film of the year. They claiming this is the best Marvel film ever. I’ll tel you this. It is NOT the best film of the year. It is arguably the best Marvel film along with The Avengers. This is a film that has one thing going for it, something that it can claim to be unmatched by any other film released in 2014. You will not have more fun in a theater. It’s the funniest movie of the year with pretty great action sequences and special effects. I was shocked by how much I laughed. This is a better comedy than most comedies that have been released in the last five years. Believe the hype. This is the blockbuster of the year.

Like I said earlier, I had no idea what the hell the film was about before I went to the theater. I saw a trailer or two but really only remember what the main cast looked like. I’ve always been a DC person having grown up immersing myself in Batman things besides the comics. Yes I realize I’m not a true nerd by saying that. During the Marvel renaissance I tried to get into the worlds but they never grabbed me. In a way, this film was just like that. The film started and while they did a good job explaining the worlds to me, I just wasn’t grabbed. The antics from Pratt were funny throughout, but it really wasn’t until the last hour of the film where the movie went from decent to fucking awesome. Pratt is a sure fire star in the making. I’ve known this for a while now after seeing him constantly be the funniest part of Parks and Rec but this just iced the cake. Zoe Saldana seems to get cast as the ass kicking alien chick in ever single film so I wasn’t really wowed there. It was just the same routine. Dave Bautista was a scene stealer as DJax, a brute of a man seeking revenge. The ones who made me laugh the most though was the team that made the whole film for me, Rocket and Groot. Rocket, voiced by Bradley Cooper, talked way too much and Groot, voiced by Vin Diesel, talked too little. It was a perfect blend of character and the two of them provided the most belly laughs from me. There are a bunch of scenes involving Groot that had me hunched over. The supporting cast was pretty great, as we get a fantastic performance from Michael Rooker and an evil one from Lee Pace. The cast was just perfect overall.

I did’t really expect the film to be this charming either. The film opens with an emotional punch that leaves the audience reeling and then we have Chris Pratt dancing to 80’s tunes in the scene after. The back and forth between intense and powerful set pieces and goofy fun never felt exhausting. It blended together effortlessly which was to be expected from James Gunn. He was able to do the same in his previous films such as Super and Slither. He crafts serious genre films but in a style and humor that goes back and forth without losing the viewer. He was a perfect choice for this film. It’s going to be very interesting seeing what he does with the sequel, one of which I’m already waiting for.

It’s honestly hard for me to talk about this film. I don’t know the universe well and there were SO MANY scenes that had me cracking up that I just can’t talk about on opening weekend for spoiler reasons. All I can say that is the hype is real. This is one of the better blockbuster films of the last couple years and certainly the most fun you can have in a theater right now. Planet of the Apes may be a better piece of art, but Guardians of the Galaxy is just way too much fun to pass up. See it.

4.5/5

IMDB Score – 6.8
Rotten Tomato Score – 69%

Directed By – James Mangold
Starring – Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Hiroyuki Sanada, Hal Yamanouchi, and Will Yun Lee

When Wolverine is summoned to Japan by an old acquaintance, he is embroiled in a conflict that forces him to confront his own demons.

If you’ve read my reviews over the last year you may have learned that I’m not a huge fan of comic book films. Never having been into them, I really only connect with the films of each franchise and tailor my opinions from them. I don’t like Superman. Thor never interested me. Most of the Avengers themselves never really peaked my interest but have produced two very well done films (Ironman and Avengers). I enjoyed the Spiderman cartoon as a kid but the movies left little to be desired. Batman has always been my favorite but mostly due to the fact that Christopher Nolan is a great director. Finally we come to the X-Men which I’ve seen all the films involved in the series. There have been great ones (X2 and First Class) and horrible ones (Last Stand and Origins). I was always interested in Wolverine and the fact that Hugh Jackman has always played him so well added to the want to see this film. I was surprised but not floored.

What I liked…

I enjoyed the first two thirds of the film. It was enjoyable and entertaining as action set pieces and fight scenes were fun to watch. While lacking any real interesting villains, the film picked up the slack by having a good amount of henchmen falling to their deaths at the hands of the Wolverine. One set piece on a train was pretty fun to watch and we actually got to see most of the action instead of seeing a bunch of bodies blurring by. The film also had a deeper back story with Logan and Jean that played out through the film that kept the movie from just being silly and actually meaning something.

What I didn’t like…

The acting was shit besides Jackman. Svetlana Khodchenkova was particularly horrible as the films main villain. The movie also fell into a pit of CGI and comic book blandness that I had during the last act. At that point I really didn’t care much what happened to anybody. It pissed me off. The whole “OH MAN IT WAS ACTUALLY YOU!?” routine is getting real old real fast. No creativity at all.

Overall the film was a decent watch with an absolutely boring and stale ending that nearly ruined it for me. The scene at the end of the credits setting up the next X-Men movie was worth it though.

2.5/5