Guardians of the Galaxy | Movie Review

Well my most anticipated movie of 2014 is finally here. Guardians of the Galaxy stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, the voice of Vin Diesel and the voice of Bradley Cooper, John C. Reilly and Karen Gillian. This is Marvel's riskiest film since the first Iron Man. This is not your typical superhero film. It is very heavy on comedy and is not your typical action movie.

In this film, The Guardians have to join together to take down Ronan The Accuser who is after The Orb which has fallen into the hands of Star Lord. Together, Star Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Groot will (for their own reasons) try to take down Ronan and might just become quite possibly, the most unique and weirdest team in a superhero film ever.

The casting choices in this film were strange to say the least. Chris Pratt works perfectly as a guy who is mentally stuck in the 1980's. Zoe Saldana plays a badass warrior who is trying to forget put her past behind her and she is one of the best female roles in a superhero film that there has ever been. Dave Bautista was a huge risk. But as a side character, he is really good and really funny, even though I think it took until about half way through the movie for his character to really shine. The two people who stole the movie for me, however, were Rocket and Groot. I, personally, liked Groot more than Rocket. His facial reactions to everything that happened had me laughing so hard that I actually missed the dialogue that came after. Also the way he says 'I am Groot' every time, gets funnier as you realises how true it matches his emotions. So a lot of credit goes to Vin Diesel for pulling this off. Rocket is the kind of character who people want to have his own spin off movie. He is really funny and so awesome.

The villain, Ronan The Accuser, has been getting some pretty negative feedback in terms of being compared to Malekith from Thor: The Dark World. He is said to be an under developed villain, bland, generic and overall not as cool as Loki. Because lets face it, the weakest point of the Marvel cinematic universe is the villains. That is why I am hoping that the next two Avengers films with Ultron and Thanos really change everything. Now, I am not saying he is on the same level, and for spoiler reasons I am not going to say why. But in my opinion, Ronan reminds me of Darth Vader. He is pretty cool and is a great villain for this movie. It is also building to another villain because, keep in mind this is only the first film.

One flaw I have with the film however, is that like many Marvel films such as: Iron Man, Thor, The Incredible Hulk and Thor: The Dark World. This movie takes a little while to warm up. Granted, this movie takes a lot less time then the ones I mentioned above and it is a lot faster paced in comparison to these other movies, however, looking at this film with objective eyes, it is a noticeable flaw that only caught my attention upon my second viewing.

The story is pretty quick and simple. But is made so great by the characters. It could only be so great if it is in this type of a movie. No other Marvel movie is like this, and I love it so much. It had to happen, it was so necessary for such a great change to the series and I hope this series continues. And no, I do not think that this movie needs to have a crossover film with ANY other character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe apart from maybe a cameo from one of The Avengers in future films or vice versa.

I'm going to give Guardians of the Galaxy

A

I'm Jonathan and this is Movies for the People

Sex Tape | Movie Review

Sex Tape stars Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel and Rob Corddry. In this movie, Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel's sex life is not what it used to be. So after some tequila, they decide to make a 'sex tape'. Things go wrong and the 'tape' gets added to the 'cloud' so now they have to get it down from the 'cloud'.

This movie was getting a lot of negative reviews. It only has 18% on rotten tomatoes and around a 5 on IMDB so I knew going into this movie that it might be awful. Before I continue I just want to say that I went in with absolute lowest expectations possible. I was pleasantly surprised and found it a pretty watchable movie.

Is it good? Not really. Is it stupid? You betcha! But I love Jason Segel in How I Met Your Mother and he was pretty hit and miss in this film but when he hit, you could tell that he was channeling Marshal Erickson. And as for Cameron Diaz. She's not great, but it is a huge step forward compared to her joke of a performance in The Other Woman. The characters don't really bother me as much as I thought they would which I guess is a plus?

About 50% of the jokes don't really hit. Which is a huge flaw. No one in the theatre was laughing and it was kind of embarrassing because I wasn't really laughing either. But compared to most other people who have watched this movie. I actually think that the time passed quick and I was entertained for 90% of the movie.

Overall Not much to say. Below average but entertaining

I'm going to give Sex Tape

B-

I'm Jonathan and this is Movies for the People

2001: A Space Odyssey | Movie Review

If you have not watched 2001: A Space Odyssey yet. What you need to do is turn off your computer. Go purchase the blu ray (and a blu ray player if necessary) of this movie and watch it immediately. 2001: A Space Odyssey is Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece. It stars Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood and Douglas Rain as the voice of the incredible Hal 9000.

THIS PLOT SYNOPSIS CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS ALTHOUGH YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THIS FILM BY NOW SO BE WARNED:

This is a four act film. The first 25 minutes of the film contains no dialogue. It is known as 'Dawn of Man'. In this, we see the evolution of mankind and how we have evolved from apes. In one of the greatest transitions in cinema history, we are transported to the year 2001 (or 2000) and I will not spoil anything here, but this act contains the most dialogue to length ratio.

The third act is the most famous and long act with the H.A.L 9000 and Dave.

The fourth act is one of the most confusing and tripping moments that you will ever see in film history. It has been discussed endlessly, with people giving their own theories to what the ending means and I of course have my own theory, just like everyone else who has seen this film.

This movie is praised as a masterpiece. The acting is perfect for what the film needs to be. The characters are toned down enough due to the fact that 1 hour and 28 minutes of this 2 hours and 30 minute movie contains no dialogue. The first and fourth act have no dialogue. The second act is dialogue heavy and their is dialogue inter spliced in the third act of the film.

The special effects all hold up today. The cinematography is incredible and the score is completely hypnotising. The long shots are so beautiful to look at, they are just so amazing in every sense of the word.

My one flaw with this film is that (this has been tested) I can fast forward (at x1.5) for about 1/3 of the movie without noticing a difference or impacting the film even in the slightest. Apart from that, I have no other flaws with this classic movie that will live for many more years as a masterpiece.

I'm going to give 2001: A Space Odyssey

A

I'm Jonathan and this is Movies for the People

The Expendables 3 | Movie Review

Yes, this movie was leaked online. I watched this film on Youtube. I have heard that it is not illegal to watch a film on Youtube (it is to upload it) but when it comes to morals, lets just say that if I was going to watch this in theatres, I would have waited the 3 weeks and actually seen it in theatres, however I had no intention in seeing this film until I saw it on Youtube and I have been sick recently so now I have a review for The Expendables 3.

The Expendables 3 stars Sylvester Stallone. Everyone else gets between 5-25 minutes screen time each. They consist of Jason Statham, Wesley Snipes, Mel Gibson, Jet Li, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Antonio Banderas and Harrison Ford. In this film, Sylvester Stallone is facing a new problem in Mel Gibson. He decides to recruit new, younger members to join The Expendables.

This is an action flick. So of course you want to see loads and loads of action. Well then there is a problem. There is no action. 3-4 action scenes max. 1 big action scene, 2 medium level action scenes, and 1 small one at the half way mark. The action, in my opinion, is a very mixed bag. On the one hand, you have some great stunts performed by, most likely not the actors in the film, probably stunt doubles. And then on the other hand, you have fast cuts so you don't see any blood or extreme violence so that this film can be kept at PG-13 (M) to get more money. This detracts from the one of the only redeemable features of this movie.

The characters are even more of a mixed bag. Sylvester Stallone has shades of an interesting character but sadly is removed of any character development from the first two and denied any further development as a character. The young Expendables are truly awful. They are just so terrible. Boring characters, two dimensional action stars with barley any action to compensate for their lack of everything else. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harrison Ford and Wesley Snipes are all terrific characters and easily the best part of the movie. The problem there is that these characters could have benefited from more screen time, companions at minimum. Mel Gibson plays an above average villain but nothing to run home about. Again, could have benefited from more screen time.

My main problem with the film is the overall pacing of the film. While the action scenes are mindless entertainment, they could have been more compared to the first two. But the scenes that don't contain action (which is most of the film) contains some of the worst dialogue ever. And not in the 1980's, funny, laughable dialogue bad, just boring, uninteresting and hard to watch.

To reiterate, the positives are: the second action scene, Arnie, Harrison and Wesley's one-liners and the fact that if it is on TV and I am doing something else, I guess I could just have it on in the background. In terms of negatives: Fast cut action, boring dialogue, the young Expendables, lack of character development and no action.

I'm going to give The Expendables 3

D+

I'm Jonathan and this is Movies for the People 

Batman: Volume 3 - Death of the Family | Comic Book Review

Just to be clear, this is just the Batman arc that takes place across Batman #13-17, not the companions such as Batman and Robin, Batgirl, Red Hood and the Outlaws. Death of the Family is the continuation of Scott Snyder's Batman story. In this volume, The Joker is back and is targeting the entire Bat family (Batman, Nightwing, Red Robin, Robin, Batgirl and Alfred) and is also planning something big that involves many popular, beloved Batman characters.

#13 was an amazing issue. The way they show the police station in the dark as The Joker talks to Commissioner Gordon and the other officers was actually frightening (or at least just to me because The Joker scares me) and the way they reference Joseph's Kerr's back story in this issue is amazingly incredible.     10/10

#14 focuses more on Batman and him coping with the return of The Joker. This is a lot different to the previous issue but is of course still incredible.     9.5/10





#15 started the continuous 3 issues, 1 story section of the story. The Joker is getting more and more evil and the story is getting more and more intense. And you can see that this takes a toll on Batman psychologically.     9.5/10

#16 is the beginning of the end. Batman is unsure of his plan but knows that The Joker is has a counter to whatever Batman does, giving an interesting take on Batman's approach.     9.5/10

#17 wraps up the story in such an incredible way. Action, intensity, a semi reveal, psychological insanity and overall a terrific conclusion to an amazing story.     9.5/10

My average for this story is

9.6

I'm Jonathan and this is Comic Books for the People