Guardians of the Galaxy Review: I Am Groot!

Wow.  This movie is fun.  Just a big ball of fun for about 2 hours.  Honestly, I was a little worried about this movie.  It's characters that aren't that well-known, with actors that I personally don't care for in most movies, and this is another one in a long line of Marvel movies that are starting to get a little formulaic.  Throw in the non-stop media barrage about this movie and it gave me some pause. 

But this movie is just so much fun. 

I enjoyed just about everything about it.  It's a total cheesefest, but that's why I liked it so much!  The Marvel Universe movies are about the big action.  Iron Man and Captain America does have that level of humor, but it's mostly about the drama.  Guardians of the Galaxy is all about the comedy.  That's not to say there isn't some great action, but it's secondary to the comedy.  Come on!  One of the characters is a gadgeteering anthropomorphic raccoon hauling around a BFG! 

What worked so well and what pushed this movie along is The Guardians.  Five colorful and well fleshed-out characters that you want to keep following.  They are hilarious.  They are fun.  We're rocking out with Starlord listening to classic rock.  Groot has his one sentence he repeats (I am Groot) that is a standard sentence that means just anything.  And the rest of the team seems to understand instinctively what he's really saying.  We got the sexy green assassin with a tragic past.  And then we have the brick of the team who his species is incapable of taking a joke or speaking with a filter.  If you're making Dave Bautista fun and interesting, you're doing MANY things right.

The biggest reason to see this movie is that it continues the overall story arc with the Infinity Gems.  This one is the purple "Space" gem.  The way they portray it is different from the comics.  This gem if slammed into the ground can destroy an entire planet's ecosystem and kill everything on it.  That is why Ronin wants it.  He's a genocidal religious terrorist who wants to wipe out all life defended by the Nova Corps.  (When are we going to see Nova by the way?)  All the while we have this story crossing in the path of Thanos.  So this is only going to get better.

Got to see this movie.  It's just a ton of fun.

Stay after the final credits for what could possibly be the funniest and best cameos so far.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Review: It's World War Ape!

This movie is so good.  Just so good.  I think it has just enough of everything I like.  It has the cheese factor when they have apes with guns riding horses into battle.  I've already sold you on the movie, haven't I?  But believe it or not, there's also a lot of heart in the movie too.  There's some genuine drama.  All the characters are balanced and their motivations are clear.  Even the felt a level of sympathy for the story's villain. 

This is also a movie that got me thinking.  I always love that.  It's enriching.  There's things the movie brings up that require discussion.  What is the nature of conflict?  What does it mean to be a human versus an animal?  At what point did humans stop being animals?  Did we ever stop being animals?  Can we stop conflicts before they get out of hand?  Can any society be built on utopian idealism?  How does one learn to stop hating?  What is it about human nature that yearns for peace but is compelled to war?  In one way this movie gives us an answer but it's not one many will like.  The answer might just be that conflict is unavoidable.  As long as people have differences, there will always be conflicts.  And is that such a bad thing? 

I have a bit of a soft spot for this series.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes was one of my first reviews for this site.  I absolutely loved that movie.  I called it the best movie I'd seen all year.  This one is in good running for that same honor.  The acting was brilliant.  The writing was again just top notch.  I just love a movie that can be a bit ambiguous and gives us some room to think for ourselves.  The villain of the movie is wonderful.  Just like Magneto in X-Men: First Class it's easy to understand why he thinks the way he thinks and does the things he does.  It's not just some character in a black hat reveling in his own evil.  It's a guy (ape) that was systematically tortured by humans and has a very rational distrust and hatred for humans because of it. 

Caesar's motivations are very understandable as well.  He's desperately trying to create a new society.  One built on peace, love, and understanding.  His society seems to only have one written law.  Apes don't kill apes.  He's not trying to be some gallant warrior.  He just wants his little piece of the world and to not be bothered by outsiders into his society.  I'm sure that has to ring a few bells in our own culture. 

I could go into spoilers here but I think it's clear where this is going.  Prejudice and hatred lead to conflict.  It's not hard to figure out what happens. 

But this movie is just so good.

Luckily they are already working on the third installment.  Expect me to gush over another Planet of the Apes movie in 2016.

Hope to see you then.