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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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The Town, Lite

1/12/2017

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Live BY Night Reviewed

Ben Affleck is a terrific storyteller; he has done great movies like Gone Baby Gone, The Town and the Academy Award-winning Argo. As he has progressed in his directing career, his movies have become more digestible with increasing amounts of both laughs and action. But with his latest movie Live By Night he may have tried to squeeze too much in.   

Live By Night is an adaptation of a Dennis Lehane novel by the same name, which is part of a trilogy following a single family. Lehane is also the author of the novels Shutter Island, Gone Baby Gone, and Mystic River, so you can see the temptation in taking on this series, too. The movie begins with Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck) as an Irish gangster in Boston during the prohibition era. Coughlin gets into some trouble with the Irish mob so he decides to join their biggest rival: the Italians. He’s sent to run the Italian's’ operation, specifically the manufacturing and distribution of rum, in Florida. With everyone needing their booze, he is able to create a bit of an empire despite several organizations trying their best to stop him.
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Live By Night has a million subplots –it’s a mob story, a rags-to-riches story, a revenge story, and a love story. Coughlin has run-ins with rival mob groups, the Klan, and even organized religion. Affleck must have really liked these books, so much so that he probably refused to cut anything out. However, because there is so much happening he has no time to give depth to any of the numerous storylines. Every problem is solved via murder and the movie moves along to the next problem so he can shoot that, too. 
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Affleck is a good looking guy but I don't know if he can pull off the look of the 1920's
Throughout the movie we are constantly shown just how great Joe Coughlin is. He is simultaneously more cunning, more ruthless, more benevolent, and smarter than any of the people around him, and that is probably why he is also the most boring character in the movie. It’s the same problem that someone like Superman has; he is so far ahead of everyone around him that he can’t be stopped. The characters around him are flawed, troubled, or are sporting hilarious mustaches, and that makes them instantly more compelling. It helps that Affleck cast terrific people including Brendan Gleeson, Zoe Saldana, and Chris Messina, who is sporting the aforementioned mustache.

All that said, Live By Night isn’t a bad movie. It feels a lot like The Town, a Boston gangster who tries to live by a certain code of ethics; it was just executed differently. Live By Night is more of a popcorn flick—gangsters, guns, flappers, booze, women! And even when he tries to insert some messages about loving the people around you and hard work, it is all done in broad strokes. Nothing you need to think too hard about.  

Live By Night is a pretty dumb movie, and maybe even a dumb movie that doesn’t realize how dumb it is, but it’s still fun to watch, and by no means is it ever boring. There’s no need to rush out and see this—you’ve seen movies like this before—but if you liked Argo or The Town you could do a lot worse, like watching Bat-fleck fight Superman.
C/C-
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