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SCENE IT ALL BEFORE

Hooked On A Feeling

5/4/2017

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Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 2 Reviewes

Is it possible to be a Marvel hipster? Can I do it without sounding like a douchebag? If so I knew Guardians of the Galaxy was going to be a hit when most people still had no idea why Vin Diesel was going to play a talking tree. The format of the comic and the people they cast gave me a spidey-sense that this was going to be a big movie. That year Guardians was my second favorite movie of the year and it grossed $773 million. Expectations are high for Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 but this movie is the perfect combination of action and comedy that has made Marvel one of the most profitable studios in Hollywood.
 
I want to say the story for the sequel doesn't matter as much. You're not here for the story; you're here for the franchise and the team. But for those of you curious, this movie is about Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) finding his father (Kurt Russell) and what that means for Starlord’s destiny. That is really all I can tell you without giving everything away. 
 
If you like the original Guardians you are obviously going to love this movie as well. The first movie caught people off guard; I don't think they were expecting it to be as funny as it was given its superhero backdrop. The sequel has a lot of the same energy but when people walk into the theater they are going to have an idea of what is coming. I don't know if this one is better than the original but I liked them equally. And even if you get dragged to this movie by the Marvel fan in your life you should be able to enjoy it.
 
Guardians 2 does sag a little bit in the middle, especially as they try to set up what's coming. Luckily they make sure the laughs never stop, even when the action does. The jokes in this movie work incredibly well; from the dialogue, to Baby Groot, to all the incredible 80s references I was laughing a lot. And for every moment that you are sitting there, hoping they stop explaining everything, all those explanations pay off in an action-packed and emotional final act. 
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In case you are wondering the soundtrack to this movie is also pretty great.
The cast of this movie continues to shine. Obviously, Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana are fantastic. I don't think there is anyone out there that doubts the star power of Chris Pratt, especially after this franchise and Jurassic World has made him one of the most recognizable faces on the planet. I never pictured Dave Bautista as a funny guy but I love Drax delivering deadpan lines and having an over-the-top laugh. Then there is Baby Groot, who has some of the best one-liners in the movie and Bradley Cooper who embodies everything that is Rocket. It was also nice seeing Michael Rooker's Yondu getting more to do this movie. Of all the new members to the team, his character adds the most depth to the story. 
 
Beyond the core members of the team, the cast surrounding our heroes is great. This includes Kurt Russell, who has been riding high on a much-deserved career resurgence, and several different big-name cameos.  Also of note, make sure you don't go anywhere after the movie ends because, typical of Marvel, there are a bunch of after credits sequences, including one all the way at the bitter end.
 
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 doesn't do anything to set up Avengers: Infinity War besides mention Thanos’s name a couple times, which to me is a good thing. I like these characters and I like how far away they are from everything going on in The Avengers world. I know they will eventually team up, but until then I'm enjoying letting the Guardians be one of the best aspects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 
A
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Your Freshman Philosophy Course - In Space

12/22/2016

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Passengers Reviewed

Whatever producer or studio head decided to release his space blockbuster one week after Star Wars must be a mad man. What executive in their right mind would feel they could go against the movie of all movies? But Passengers isn’t like Star Wars at all really; obviously the two are comparable given the genre and the setting, but Passengers tells a complicated and intriguing story and does it on the backs of fantastic performances by two of the most likable lead actors in Hollywood.

In the middle of a 120-year journey, a spacecraft traveling to a distant planet and transporting thousands of people has a malfunction. As a result, two passengers, Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) and Aurora Dunn (Jennifer Lawrence), wake up still 90 years from their destination and are stranded without anyone else on the ship to help them.

That is actually not the entire plot; there is an important detail to the story that is being left out of trailers, so out of respect to the storytellers I am going to leave it out as well. However, there is a contingent of people out there for whom the movie will be ruined by this development. I don’t begrudge that reaction at all; this is a complicated story, but for me that aspect of the plot led to many fascinating themes.

Passengers is simultaneously a romantic drama, a sci-fi thriller, and an action movie –but above all else it is a movie about humanity and morality. In fact, the first part of the movie feels a little like Cast Away as our leads come to grips with being the only people around, and it’s then the movie explores its depths. 

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Jennifer Lawrence may be the top billed actor but this movie is all about Chris Pratt and his character.
In a movie with only two humans, your two leads better be strong and Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence prove themselves worthy. At this point there should be no doubt that Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence is going to be great in a movie. She is one of the most compelling actresses out there and can display a wide range of emotions. If that isn’t enough, she also manages to become more attractive the sweatier and bloodier she gets –or maybe I just have a Hunger Games thing going on, I’m not sure.

But for this movie to work Chris Pratt needs to be likable, REALLY likable, because his character does some evil things in order to survive. Whether you like the movie or not may rest entirely on the performance of Chris Pratt and I think he nails it. There is nothing this guy can do that won’t make you smile. His performances in Parks and Rec, Guardians, and even The Magnificent Seven embolden the people around him and his on-screen presence knows no bounds. When I realized what his character was going to do early in the movie I recoiled, but it was his performance that enables the audience’s empathy.

This movie is the opposite of Star Wars; in fact it feels more like an episode of Star Trek. The story deals more with issues of morality and technology than it does bad guys in capes. Of course there are explosions and exceptional CGI work, but the themes of the movie could work well with a smaller budget and unknown actors, as long as those actors could make the leads almost impossibly likeable.  Passengers makes a bold decision in its storytelling and with so many other by-the-book movies out there it is always a pleasant surprise when someone takes a chance.
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