2014 Summer Movie Season Awards by Matt Harrison

So this is my 100th post on this blog and I thought I'd do something a little different for it. The 2014 summer movie season has been really fantastic in my opinion and I'd thought I'd give my favourite movies of the summer some recognition with awards I literally made up this morning...


Movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Raid 2 will not be awarded anything as I saw them both in late March/April time. I didn't see every movie of the summer but I saw all of the big ones so without further delay let's begin:



Best Hero - Caesar (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes)

Out of all of the characters in the movies which came out this summer, none were more heroic than Caesar. Andy Serkis put in the best performance of his career and gave incredible raw humanity to a CGI ape. The character of Caesar is one of the best ever created and through him channels an incredible amount of human emotion. Plus he's a badass leader, and winner of Best Hero.



Best Villain - Koba (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes)

Toby Kebbell's amazing performance as Koba proved that Andy Serkis has made motion capture a thing which any actor can do. Out of all of the villains this summer Koba had the most menacing presence and did the most evil things. And on top of that you could actually understand what his motivations were, unlike villains like Ronan the Accuser or Bolivar Trask.



Best action scene - The Tank scene (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes)


We were blessed with some awesome action this summer. I considered putting in the Quicksilver scene from X-Men: Days of Future Past, the Normandy beach fight in Edge of Tomorrow and the cheer inducing final battle from Godzilla, but this one blew my mind the most. When I first saw it I was in awe of how it was created and stunned when I thought about the detail that must have gone into directing and shooting a scene like that. Please watch it if you haven't already, but you must have seen the film by now, right?



Best comic book movie - X-Men: Days of Future Past

I really liked Guardians of the Galaxy, I thought that the characters were all brilliant, the action was good and I loved just how funny it was and how it didn't take itself to seriously. However, X-Men: Days of Future Past was a much more solid movie with amazing performances from actors who transformed into their characters. It had smart writing, amazing action and real drama and tension similar to what Dawn of the Planet of the Apes had. I loved this movie and thought it was the best comic book movie of the summer.



Best music - Guardians of the Galaxy

Star Lord, Gamora, Rocket, Drax and Groot are awesome and yes the movie was funny as hell so I couldn't leave the Guardians out. So I thought about it for a while before I realised that it had the best music of any summer film by far. The actual score itself was sufficient but the addition of "Awesome Mix Vol. 1" added so much into the film's character and personality. The opening scene with Star Lord still impresses me when I think about it today...



Best animated movie - How to Train Your Dragon 2

It had absolutely no competition. It was easily the best animated film of the summer.



Best comedy - 22 Jump Street

There were a lot of really funny movies this summer like Bad Neighbours and Guardians of the Galaxy. But I laughed the hardest in 22 Jump Street. The chemistry and timing between Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum is spot on and the "kitchen scene" with Ice Cube is one of the funniest things I have ever seen.



Best limited release - Boyhood

Richard Linklater's Boyhood proved that good things are worth waiting for. It took him 12 years to make this 2 hour and 45 minute long film and it paid off because it naturally and authentically captured the essence of childhood and growing up better than any film before it. It was an easy watch and deserves some recognition.



Best trailer - Interstellar trailer 1 

A lot of cool trailers landed this summer but none excited me more than the first full length Interstellar trailer which came out in mid May. The thing gives me goose bumps even now when I watch it. I love the way it intrigues you without spoiling anything, plus Hans Zimmer's score which progressively builds up in the background is perfect.



Most anticipated fall movie - Interstellar

It stars some very good actors, has the best musician in Hollywood producing it's score and has the best director working today directing it. Christopher Nolan has made some of my all time favourite movies like Inception and The Dark Knight trilogy. He's yet to let me down and I can't wait to see his next movie despite not knowing a thing about it.



Worst movie - Transformers: Age of Extinction

A Million Ways to Die in the West let me down horribly, Tammy was terrible and The Purge: Anarchy didn't work for me. But I've gone with Transformers as my least favourite summer movie because it was everything that I hated about a Michael Bay film; shit CGI, an incomprehensibly stupid plot, dumb military dialogue, awful humour, weak and 1 dimensional boring characters and that same irritating and epileptic directing style. It's awful and I hate that it has made over $1 billion worldwide.



Best movie - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

It has real human emotion, drama and tension. It has incredible acting and memorable characters. It has an unpredictable story. It has jaw dropping action and CGI. It's a beautifully directed movie and is a marvel to look at on the big screen. It has everything a great summer movie should have. We don't need brain-numbing Transformers action to get a good summer blockbuster, we need everything Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has. This is how you make a blockbuster. It's not only my favourite movie of the summer, but my favourite of the entire year.



That was actually really fun to do! If you agree/disagree with any of my choices please comment below and put your winners for each of the categories. I will be doing a Fall movie preview very soon and I hope I enjoy my next 100 posts as much as I have my first 100. I'll keep up the movie reviews, spoilers and movie news stuff plus I hope to introduce 2 new regular segments for this blog as well in the coming weeks so look at forward to that. What a summer its been and here's to an awesome Fall and Winter!

Thanks for reading,
Matt

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For Movie Review

The summer movie season of 2014 has been extraordinary in my opinion and I'm so happy it ended on a good note...

A Dame to Kill For stars a whole load of awesome people seen on the poster above and is a sequel to 2005's Sin City, a movie which made graphic novel movie adaptions cool and indirectly spawned films such as 300, Watchmen and Kick-Ass. The sequel which took 9 years to come out is again directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller and sees a bunch of characters from the first film returning and interacting with new characters introduced for this film.

If you love the first Sin City movie then odds are you'll love this one as it has all of the sex, nudity, blood, guns and violence which made the first movie popular. The film shares the exact same bleak/badass tone the first film established and also sees its visual style completely mimicked. It is exactly the same as in the first movie; its filmed in black and white with various spots of colour plus uses slow motion to the point where it doesn't feel like a complete gimmick. It is a beautiful thing to look at and it feels as if you're watching the comic book pages move on the big screen.

What I liked the best about this movie was how interconnected the world of Sin City felt. The 3 storylines within the film aren't isolated events as some characters bounce between them. Those 2 are Marv, played by Mickey Rourke who is just a pure badass, and the villain, played by Powers Boothe who in my opinion is one of the standout performers of the movie, and a really good villain.

The main storyline mainly concerns Josh Brolin, a gruff and troubled badass, and Eva Green, who plays the so called "dame to kill for". Out of the 3 storylines this is actually the least interesting despite the fact that the movie spends well over half the runtime on it. It's not done poorly or anything it's just that this particular storyline wasn't anything exciting/refreshing for me. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't bored at parts during this storyline.

However Joseph Gordon Levitt is a good addition to the cast and his storyline is pretty cool. He plays a really quick and talented gambler who always seems to come up with the right cards. However, when he beats the wrong people he learns that Sin City is a cruel and unforgiving hell-whole.

Jessica Alba returns as Nancy and her storyline is the most interesting. Her character actually has some real depth to her and is dealing with some dark stuff which relates back to the events of the first film. Plus she's gorgeous! Her along with Rosario Dawson and Eva Green prove that this film is blessed with some attractive women.

Back on point, while the ending was fairly satisfying, it wrapped up rather quickly and didn't quite pay off as much as the film originally promised that it would. Other than that I really enjoyed A Dame to Kill For and it is a satisfying end to the summer movie season of 2014:


Rating - B


1 sentence summary -  Nudity, guns and violence, what more do you want?


I'm planning something special for my next post, which will be my 100th, so please stick around for that...

Thanks for reading,
Matt

Boyhood Movie Review

This film was made over the course of 12 years. Even if the movie sucked, it still would have had my respect because that is just something to admire...

Boyhood is written and directed by Richard Linklater and was filmed over the course of 12 years. The movie follows a boy named Mason from when he is 5 years old until he becomes 18 and essentially shows various moments within his life which come to define who he is as a person. The film, as mentioned previously, was shot over 12 years with the same actors playing the same characters. It is because of this Boyhood captures the essence of growing up and all the problems which come with it so naturally and authentically. There isn't anything out there quite like Boyhood.

The film is a very easy watch at times because it is so easy to connect to if you are a mother, father or a child who is about to breach into adulthood. It is a movie in which everyone can connect to and is a hard movie to find any faults with.

The acting is very good across the board and everyone puts in a fine performance over the 12 year period which Linklater filmed it. Ellar Coltrane plays Mason and his performance matures as the film progresses and as he grows up himself. Richard Linklater's daughter plays Mason's sister and the brother/sister dynamic they have is as authentic as it could have been and their relationship always mimicked that of an actual brother and sister.

Ethan Hawke is also very good in the movie but my favourite performance is Patricia Arquette who plays Mason's mother. As a character she goes through a lot emotional trauma including a lot of heartbreak and bad life choices. She's truly phenomenal in her role and she probably puts in a performance up their with the best female one's so far in 2014.

The dialogue which the character's speak never feels like actor's are reading from a script. It always feels like dialogue in which 2 normal people would speak to each other in everyday conversations. The fact that Linklater kept that up for the entire film is really credit to how good of a writer he is. His directing is also fantastic and composes a lot of fantastic shots which also made for a visually splendid movie.

But the part of the film which I loved the most was that how it never rammed down your throat that the film had moved on a year through text prompters on the screen. I, as an audience member, had to figure these details out for myself by listening to the stuff they said, the clothes they wore, the social/political events going on and the music playing in the background. I always appreciate when a film leaves me with some thinking to do and Boyhood exactly did that.

This film isn't one for every movie goer out there and some may considering it boring. It is by no means a casual watch, plus doesn't really have a lot of replay value to it. Plus, the 2 hour 45 minute run time is a bit of a stretch and editing out 20 minutes of it wouldn't have been a bad call by those in the editing room.

However Boyhood is a movie which only really got to me as soon as the end credits started rolling. Only then did I grasp the message behind the movie; that small moments in your life are the important ones which define your character and your life, not the milestones we are expected to sequentially achieve. Only then did I realise that it was pretty great movie:


Rating - A-


1 sentence summary - It's a long one, but it shouldn't put you off from a movie in which everyone can connect to!


I think we may have an early contender for Best Picture...

Thanks for reading,
Matt

The Rover Movie Review

Apparently Robert Pattinson can act...

The Rover is directed by David Michod and stars Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson and is a post apocalyptic drama which follows Guy Pearce's character, who is on a quest to reclaim his car which was stolen from him. The movie takes place 10 years after a "collapse" but certain details are left out. How did the "collapse" start? Unimportant. What's it like in countries other than Australia? Unimportant. The film narratively leaves out these details so you can discover the bleakness of this world in which the movie takes place in for yourself.

I have to believe that this movie was marketed poorly because when I saw it today the theatre was fairly empty before at least half of the audience walked out. This movie is not an action blockbuster, it's a slow drama with a meditative pace which focuses on the characters. Some may call this boring, but the film's slow pace hooked me from the start and I enjoyed The Rover from then on.

The movie also works as a thriller and one scene in particular in the film's finale had me on the edge of my seat. It was immersive, intense and the dramatic moments truly had that shock impact because of the film's meditative build up.

The directing from David Michod is very good as well and he does a great job at concentrating on our two main characters instead of concentrating time on a bullshit backstory on the apocalypse. The film also looks good; lighting and focus were 2 things I was very impressed with.

Guy Pearce is fantastic in the role and plays a damaged, hardened badass brilliantly to the point where absolutely every single minor detail was perfected. I can't fault him in any way, shape or form and I think he should play more characters like this. However Robert Pattinson who played Edward Cullen in those shitty Twilight movies is the scene stealer. He plays a "halfwit" and he does it perfectly.

My main problem with the film though is the character development. Don't get me wrong it does happen, but the film leaves it too late. While the actors were performing well, the characters themselves were pretty one dimensional for three quarters of the movie and I did find it hard to latch on to them for a long time.

The musical choices also really annoyed me and added nothing to the film creatively. There are a few aimless scenes and the rest of the cast are completely expendable, but overall I thought The Rover was a very good drama with some great performances:


Rating - B


1 sentence summary - 2 great performances come from a movie which has well paced drama and effective thrills!


Thanks for reading,
Matt

The Expendables 3 Movie Review

I have many problems with this movie even though I enjoyed it a fair amount. This rarely happens...

The Expendables 3 is directed by Patrick Hughes and stars Sylvester Stallone and pretty much every 1980s/1990s action star still alive and sees our favourite action movie heroes team up for a third time to shoot bad guys and prove they've still got it. The plot in a nutshell sees with Stallone basically ditching his old crew and seeking out newer, younger Expendables in order to track down and defeat an old enemy, played by Mel Gibson.

Now I do have many complaints about the movie but I would be lying if I said I wasn't happy going along for the ride which the film took me on. The movie does hint at just how great this franchise can be in a few enjoyable, well-constructed scenes. These include the opening scene in which Stallone lands a helicopter on a moving train and another scene halfway into the movie which involves Mel Gibson explaining just why he is evil. A lot of completely unbelievable stuff still happens in the movie which will make your brain turn into mashed potato but after 3 of these movies, this is what you should expect when buying a ticket.

There are some really good performances in the movie. The first one is buy Mel Gibson, who is probably the most talented actor in the entire film and he puts in a great performance as the Expendable's adversary. He's everything a good villain should be; menacing, witty and genuinely evil. The second great performance is from Harrison Ford, who brings to the table a lot more than Bruce Willis did in Expendables 2.

The rest of the cast aren't bad in their roles but they're really not good actors. A lot of the "older" Expendables aren't actually playing characters (like Gibson and Ford are) but rather parodies of themselves. Yes it is admittedly fun to watch Arnie say "Get to da choppa!!" in a movie again but I honestly would rather see the actors play characters and not parodies.

The movie spends 30 minutes setting up the group of younger Expendables but they are extremely underdeveloped and the long set up of these characters never pays off in the film's final act. Kellan Lutz who I gave a tonne of shit to for his god-awful performance in The Legend of Hercules is one of the new "younger" Expendables and he isn't actually terrible. However, Antonio Banderas is one of the most annoying side characters in recent times and MMA fighter Ronda Rousey didn't really show her acting chops.

Finally the action can be fun but most of the time it is edited to crap and doesn't show the blood, gore or violence which we as fans want to see. CGI blood is replaced by white powder and it just does not look good. If they had a higher rating for this movie they could really go for it and give us the brutal, violent and unrelenting action which the 1980s and 90s was famous for.

With all that said, I actually enjoyed the movie, and there'd be no point in me denying it:


Rating - C+


1 sentence summary - Enjoyable, but plays more as a parody of 80s/90s action movies rather than a celebration of them!


Thanks for reading,
Matt

Marvel Cinematic Universe Release Dates Revealed - My Predictions

DC/Warner Brother's weren't the only studio to recently set release dates for their shared movie universe. Marvel, who's cinematic universe has already been well established, has set 6 more release dates to add to a few movies which have already been confirmed for Phase 3. Like I did with DC's, I will now try (and most likely fail) to predict what movies will come out on the confirmed dates.

These are just my predictions for what they will be. Some of the dates already have confirmed movies occupying them, and they will be clearly indicated. So from now until early 2019, this is how I see the MCU playing out:


May 1st 2015 - Avengers: Age of Ultron  (CONFIRMED)

----------------------------------------------- END OF PHASE 2 --------------------------------------------------

July 17th 2015 - Ant-Man  (CONFIRMED)

May 6th 2016 - Captain America 3  (CONFIRMED)

July 8th 2016 - Doctor Strange  (CONFIRMED)

May 5th 2017 - Thor 3

July 28th 2017 - Guardians of the Galaxy 2  (CONFIRMED)

November 3rd 2017 - Ms Marvel

May 5th 2018 - Avengers 3

----------------------------------------------- END OF PHASE 3 -------------------------------------------------

July 6th 2018 - Black Panther

November 2nd 2018 - The Inhumans

May 3rd 2019 - The Incredible Hulk 2


So we know that The Avengers: Age of Ultron will finalise phase 2 and, barring any more production issues, Ant-Man will kick of Phase 3 just 2 and a half months after phase 2 wraps up. Other confirmed movies for Phase 3 are Captain America 3 (where the Russo brothers will return to direct), Doctor Strange (to be directed by Scott Derickson) and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (where James Gunn will also return to direct).

The rest is all guess work, but I think that Thor 3 will come out between Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy 2. As far as I'm aware a script has been written and it would only make sense considering Avenger's comrades Iron Man and Captain America will both have their trilogies by then.

As for the November 2017 date, I think that'll be Ms Marvel. Marvel have hinted at a female led superhero movie and I think its about time we got one. Many speculate that Black Widow could get her own movie in 2017, but I don't think that would be necessary considering she gets enough screen time in the Captain America movies.

I believe that Phase 3 will end in 2018 and not 2019 as I think Marvel will keep to their 3 year gap. I think The Avengers 3 will happen then and will conclude Phase 3, and hopefully we'll see Thanos being a badass in it!

The 3 movies which I believe will be in Phase 4 are Black Panther, The Inhumans and a solo Hulk movie. Black Panther has been talked about a lot by Kevin Feige much like Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy were, and they've both got their movies! Speaking of Guardians, I believe that movie has proven that an Inhumans movie can work and that they can introduce one more relatively unknown superhero team and make it work.

I want a solo Hulk movie a lot and I think it'll come out in May 2019. I believe the Hulk has a huge hand to play in The Avengers 2 and 3 and we'll see his story arc (hopefully) continue into Phase 4.

So those are my predictions. Agree or disagree? Comment below.

Thanks for reading,
Matt

DC Cinematic Universe Release Dates Revealed - My Predictions

A few days ago Warner Brothers announced that between March 2016 and June 2020, we will be treated to 9 DC comic book movies which will expand their cinematic universe. A few titles are expected to be announced soon, and before they are I'm going to try (and probably fail) to guess the film slate.

I've already talked before about how this is a massive financial gamble for DC/Warner Brothers but to me it sounds as if the studio not only has a long, thought-out plan, but confidence in it. We know for sure that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will kick off this slate of movies, but it will be doing it a lot sooner than we all expected. Warner Brother's decided that they did not want to financially compete against Marvel and Captain America 3, thus they moved the release date forward to March 25th 2016 as opposed to May 6th 2016. While that showdown would've been fascinating, both movies would have taken a hit financially and it was only a matter of time before one of them moved.

The other releases are a mystery, and I'm going to try and predict them:


March 25th 2016 - Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

August 8th 2016 - The Sandman

June 23rd 2017 - The Justice League

November 17th 2017 - Shazam

March 23rd 2018 - Wonder Woman

July 27th 2018 - Flash/Green Lantern team up

April 5th 2019 - Man of Steel 2

June 14th 2019 - The Batman

April 3rd 2020 - Sequel to The Batman, Man of Steel 2, Wonder Woman or Flash/Green Lantern (I can't decide)

June 19th 2020 - The Justice League sequel



So I think that the other DC film that'll come out in 2016 will be The Sandman. The project has a writer in David S. Goyer and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is involved as well. I believe that Batman v Superman will primarily act as a conflict movie between Batman and Superman before becoming a direct lead in to The Justice League, hence the title "Dawn of Justice". The Sandman will be separate from the Cinematic Universe so I think it would make sense to release it in between Batman v Superman and The Justice League.

For months now Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has teased at a role within a DC movie. Many speculate that to be either Shazam (Captain Marvel) or Black Adam, Shazam's nemesis. I think the Shazam movie will follow The Justice League in 2017 and "The Rock" will definitely be in it.

2018 will see the Wonder Woman solo movie and the Flash/Green Lantern team up movie. I think it would be wise for Warner Brothers to put these movies here because audiences will only want to see these movies if they like them in Batman v Superman or The Justice League.

Moving on to 2019 and we have 2 huge movies. I think it'll open up with the long-awaited Man of Steel 2, an ACTUAL sequel to Man of Steel and that'll be followed up by a solo Batman movie, with Ben Affleck wearing the cape and cowl.

The first release date of 2020 was the only one I couldn't firmly predict. I think The Justice League 2 will come out in 2020 but before that we could see a movie which directly ties into it, like Man of Steel 3 or The Batman 2. Or it could be a Wonder Woman or Flash/Green Lantern sequel, if those movies are financially successful. I have no doubts thought that we will see a sequel to the Justice League in June of 2020.

However those predictions I just made could be absolute crap! We could see 2 more Superman movies and 3 more Batman movies for all I know! I honestly don't know but if the slate turned out like the one I predicted, I would be very happy.

We still don't know what movies they'll be. We don't know the order, the villains, the people who'll play the villains as well as the people who'll play the superheroes. We don't really know who'll direct all of these films. But what we do know is that only time will tell.

Thanks for reading,
Matt

5 Reasons Why The Purge:Anarchy Didn't Work

Last summer The Purge was released and it was based on an incredibly awesome concept; murder and all crime is legal within a 12 hour period. The sequel to that titled The Purge Anarchy has been much better received by people, but to me the movie just did not work and I can sum up my feelings towards the movie with 5 reasons.

1) It's characters


Don't get me wrong, Frank Grillo was actually good in the movie and his character (while he was nothing incredible) was actually well realised and you could understand why he was the way he was and why he was doing the things he was doing. However the rest of the characters were hollow, the acting was wooden and the actors portraying them spat out  stupid dialogue. Stupid characters make stupid decisions throughout the movie. Early on in the film a teenage girl yells at a murderer who has entered her apartment "we're in the closet! But don't come near we have guns". I can't explain to you just how stupid that is with words.


2) Is it horror movie? Or is it an action movie?


So you could argue that this movie is an action movie. But then how do you explain the awful jump scares that happen at the start of the movie, which by the way don't work at all and are 100% unnecessary? You could argue that this movie is a horror movie. But then how do you explain the endless amounts of gunfire, slow motion and shaky cam? I'll just settle with it being an action movie... a bad action movie.


3) It's themes


This movie is filled to the brim with social commentary about how the upper classes people of society can exploit the lower classes in awful ways. As soon as it looks as if the movie is going to delve deeper into this issue and make the audience think more about it, it cuts to a mad, masked maniac screaming and setting homeless people on fire.



4) It's predictable


I said before that you understood where Frank Grillo was coming from as a character but he never says why until near the end of the movie. However, when you really start to think about it the answer is staring you in the face. SPOILERS.... he's avenging the death of a loved one. I saw it coming. Also the end of the movie has no tension because it is also pretty predictable.



5) It's just plain dumb


The concept for these movies is undeniably cool... until you think about it for longer than 5 minutes. Why would the fire/ambulance services be disbanded for 12 hours if an old man is on his death bed or a pregnant woman goes into labour? Are the people purging purely evil? Do they not have a conscience? If crime is legal for 12 hours, why not fly to another country and spend a week there during the purge, especially if you're so terrified of it? If someone pissed you off 6 months before the Purge, would you really hold that vendetta against them for that long? Oh I really don't know.



The Purge: Anarchy was made on a budget of 9 million US dollars and has grossed around 84 million dollars as of when this was published. We're going to get more of these movies every single year! If you like the movie that is (obviously) completely fine, everyone is entitled to their opinion. But I'm entitled to mine as well, and if I were to give the film a grade it would be a D.

Thanks for reading,
Matt

SPOILER Review - Guardians of the Galaxy

This is an official spoiler warning for Guardians of the Galaxy, so if you haven't seen it yet then please don't read this.

So if you're still reading you have probably already seen the intergalactic awesomeness and fun which is Guardians of the Galaxy. I really enjoyed the film and gave it a B+ in my original review, but I wanted to explain some more things I liked in the film which could come across as spoilers.

The film opens with young Star Lord on Earth and the first scene is pretty emotional. The poor boy is sat there listening to his "awesome mix volume 1" music in a hospital with his mother lying on her death bed. The mother dies, little Star Lord pretty much breaks down, runs outside and is captured by Yondu on a spaceship. I said that Star Lord had the most depth as a character already and the movie illustrates that through it's soundtrack, which is basically just 1980's classics. This is the music his mother gave to him, and Star Lord listens to it as it is the last attachment he has to his mother and Earth for that matter. I loved the soundtrack by the way. The score was sufficient but the 1980s hits were all fantastic.

We then cut to Star Lord as an older man and he is set to retrieve something. While he's doing this, he's listening to his music, dancing and booting small rat-like alien creatures. It was about at this point I realised the tone they were going for, and boy did it pay off throughout the rest of the film. Star Lord is then captured by Korath (one of Ronan's servants) and I thought that they would arrest him for taking the orb. It didn't pan out like that; it turns out Star Lord is a badass, and he escapes!

He tries selling this orb to someone but as soon as he mentions Ronan's name the buyer basically says "f*ck that sh*t" and kicks him out. Then he meets Gamora and shortly after that Rocket Racoon and Groot. What I loved was how the group didn't actually get along together at first. They only form the team when they all find kindred spirit in eachother as they're all basically outcasts. The group then ends up getting arrested and more awesome 80s music plays and more comedy ensues.

In the prison we see at the start that the four, and now Drax, all have different motivations concerning the orb that Star Lord found. Gamora wants it to be rid of Ronan and Thanos, Drax wants it to exert revenge on Ronan for killing his wife and daughter and Rocket/Groot want it for... money! They escape the prison in a really funny and entertaining action sequence which has one of my favourite parts of the film in it. It was that part where Drax chucks Rocket the gun and he's spinning around shooting things on Groot's shoulders.

Meanwhile we go to Ronan and we find out that he has been tasked to retrieve this orb for Thanos (it's an infinity gem, so obviously Thanos would want it) so he can blow up Xandar. I think Ronan want's the planet blown up because he has kind of dated beliefs and he just doesn't like this peace treaty which they signed. He's a pretty weak villain in my opinion, but we get to see Thanos at last and it did not disappoint.

The Guardians then go to a place called Knowhere which is like a hideout for Outlaws and it also happens to be a huge head of a Celestial being. There we meet The Collector again and he basically explains that the orb is in fact an infinity gem, 1 of 6 objects of immense power. We then get a neat demonstration of that when one of his servants blows up his entire collection.

We skip ahead now and Ronan requires the orb and says screw you Thanos, I'm going to blow up Xandar and then I'm coming for you. The Guardians basically decide that they're not going to let billions of people die at the hands of Ronan and they board the ship. They come across Ronan's servant Nebula (Gamora's sister) before Drax blows her up with bazooka. One of the funniest moments in a comic book movie I swear. Although that is soon topped when Groot in that one scene basically pummels those guys to death before turning around and letting out a cheeky smile! I said it before and I will say it again, this movie was so freaking funny!

The movie was also touching at times. It got me the most when Groot shielded the Guardians and basically sacrificed himself for them. "We are Groot". Man I nearly cried over a CGI tree. What is my life coming too!

Ronan's ship crashes and we come to that bit in all superhero films where we have the final showdown. However, this time the main villain is distracted by the hero challenging him to a dance off. Would anyone else other than Star Lord risk the fate of the galaxy over a dance off? No they wouldn't, and that is why Star Lord is as cool as anything!

Ronan is basically defeated and the orb is then locked away by the Nova corps. Groot doesn't die in the end as Rocket recovers a twig and places it in plant pot so he can grow again. The Guardians have their record cleaned and go off on another intergalactic space adventure.

The post credits scene also made me laugh. It was literally just Howard the Duck talking to The Collector amongst the ruins of his destroyed collection. Could it happen? Nah probably not...

Guardians of the Galaxy is a fantastic entrant into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and really excelled with it's surprising bursts of emotion, it's witty humour and it's characters. I'm so glad we're getting a sequel and I can't wait for the day The Guardians and The Avengers team up to battle Thanos. And I hope Drax is the one that kills him!


Thanks for reading,
Matt

Deadpool Test Footage and New Interstellar Trailer

So I've recently watched the leaked comic con footage of Batman v Superman, the teaser for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies as well as the comic con trailer for Mad Max: Fury Road. I've been spoiled in the last few days, but yesterday after I saw Guardians of the Galaxy I came home and I watched 2 new trailers. One isn't really a trailer but it's still very much worth talking about.



Deadpool Test Footage

Watch the footage here


Hopefully the link above still works and you can see just how awesome this footage really is! A Deadpool movie has been in the works for quite some time in Hollywood and Ryan Reynolds, who played the character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, has been attached to the project for years. Whether Reynolds is physically on set in a Deadpool outfit, voicing a CGI Deadpool or doing motion capture work (which I think he did for this footage), I want this movie to be made fast!

You have an actor who wants to play him, a director attached to the project and fans who desperately want to see it. If a Deadpool movie were to be made the fans would be happy and the studio would make money, nobody loses!

Personally I love the footage. If they actually made the movie the way it was shot in this test footage I would be more than happy. First off Deadpool looks fantastic and Ryan Reynold's voice works for the character. The footage has it's moments of Deadpool being completely badass and other moments where he's constantly breaking the fourth wall and just being hilarious. And that's another thing. Have we ever had a superhero movie where the main character knows he's in a movie and is winking towards the audience? No we haven't. So a Deadpool movie would take a completely new spin on the genre.

I can't recommend enough that you watch the footage it really is something special. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long for the studio to wake up and give us the Deadpool movie we want.



New Interstellar Trailer

http://www.interstellarmovie.com/index-intl.php

Pass code - 7201969


So Christopher Nolan released a brand new trailer for his upcoming sci-fi, space adventure epic Interstellar, one of my most anticipated movies (if not THE most anticipated movie) of the rest of 2014. In order to watch the trailer follow the link and type in this pass code.

The last trailer they did for Interstellar was in my opinion phenomenal. It spoiled nothing of the movie and Hans Zimmer's score built up masterfully in the background. This one isn't quite on that level but it is still a trailer which reveals slightly more of the movie without spoiling anything major. Anne Hathaway finally has some lines of dialogue too, but the best thing by far about this new trailer is how we get to see some shots of them actually doing interstellar travel and some shots on a planet which they find. I know the movie's overall concept but I know nothing about how the plot will pan out and where it will go.

Christopher Nolan is probably my favourite director as he can create grand, epic shots with mindblowing visual effects ,which you need in an entertaining Hollywood blockbuster, but he also can give real depth and emotion to the story, the characters and the writing. This trailer was really good, I loved how he made it fun for us fans to try and access it and I am absolutely dying to see this movie.



If you have any thoughts on the new Interstellar trailer or on the Deadpool test footage leave a comment.

Thanks for reading,
Matt