Directed by: James Gunn Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan Michael Rooker, Glenn Close Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and for some language Marvel Studios has been bringing out big, fun superhero movies for several years now, and they’ve reached the point where viewers can trust that a Marvel flick will be a good time, regardless of whether you know the source material. “Guardians of the Galaxy” banks heavily on the Marvel brand, since it focuses on a fairly obscure group of heroes most non-comic fans have never heard of. Fortunately, Marvel has proven once again that it can be trusted. “Guardians of the Galaxy” is a big summer movie in all the right ways. It includes familiar tropes, but mercilessly skewers most of them. It presents us with a group of protagonists who are all either antiheroes or deeply strange
Directed by: Gareth Edwards Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Olsen, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of destruction, mayhem and creature violence The only questions that really matter when grading a giant-monster movie are: are the monsters awesome? Are they on screen enough? For both, the new “Godzilla” succeeds. Unfortunately, it fails pretty much every other question of competence for movies in general, so unless a win on the monster front is enough to make it worth seeing for you, you’re probably better off giving this a miss. The plot is fairly standard: there are monsters, they rampage around destroying things, there’s a big fight between the monsters (in this case, it’s Godzilla vs. a pair of creatures that are supposed to be parasitical towards Godzilla-type-monsters but are the same size he is). To give us something to do while we wait for it to be monsters-fighting-time, there’s a
Ealasaid A. Haas Directed by: Mark Webb Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Sally Field Rated: PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action/violence Superhero movies are big these days, but a small group of filmmakers are discarding the fundamental characteristics that make these heroes who they are in the comics and re-designing them to fit whatever story the writers feel like putting together. First, “Man of Steel” took Superman and turned him into a murderer; now “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” has taken Peter Parker and turned him into a guy with daddy issues who’s following his destiny by carrying on his father’s battle against a hugely powerful corporation. At first look, this film is a poorly-strung-together string of scenes involving a common cast. Start poking at it, and it becomes increasingly clear that this version of Peter Parker / Spider-Man has almost no volition of his own. He wants to break up with
The pre-Oscar season of dull movies studios don’t expect to succeed is finally easing a bit. “Non-Stop” is a film that’s almost summer-action-thriller-esque. It isn’t particularly ground-breaking, but succeeds in its aim to entertain, at least it does if you aren’t expecting it to be a thrilling summer roller-coaster ride of a flick.
I haven’t panned a movie this hard in a long time. Either I need a break or the new “Robocop” was appallingly mediocre. Maybe both.
Directed by: Stuart Beattie Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Yvonne Straohvski, Miranda Otto, Bill Nighy, Jai Courtney Rated: PG-13 for sequences of intense fantasy action and violence throughout Some movies, you can tell whether you want to see them or not by the previews alone. “I, Frankenstein” is most assuredly one of those films. It has a ludicrous plot that can literally be summed up in a single sentence, heaps of action, and loads of gorgeous cinematography. It’s based on a graphic novel (by Kevin Grevioux, who worked as a writer on the “Underworld” movies), and it shows. If you are looking for an hour and a half of brainless entertainment, you could do a lot worse than “I, Frankenstein.” The gist of the story is this: Frankenstein’s monster (Aaron Eckhart) is drawn into the ongoing war between the legions of hell and the Gargoyle Order (yes, gargoyles, like the carvings on old churches. They’re sort of
Directed by: Peter Segal Starring: Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone, Kim Bassinger, Kevin Hart, Jon Bernthal, LL Cool J, Alan Arkin Rated: PG-13 for sports action violence, sexual content and language As the baby boomers age, both indie movies and Hollywood studios have started paying attention, creating out more projects about older characters, often with plots directly about aging. We’ve gotten “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,’ “It’s Complicated,” “Last Vegas,” and many more over the last few years, and “Grudge Match” follows the same trend. Its chief difference is that its two main characters are both boxers in their seventies, with a very old conflict between them. Sylvester Stallone has been refusing to age for some years now – witness his action appearances in the “Expendables” movies, for example — but it’s hard to ignore that the man is over seventy. All the Hollywood tricks in the makeup box and plastic surgeon’s domain can only
Directed by: Carl Rinsch Starring: Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ko Shibasaki, Tadanobu Asano, Jin Akanishi, Rinko Kikuchi, Min Tanaka Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some disturbing images, and thematic elements If you saw the trailers for “47 Ronin,” the Keanu Reeves vehicle helmed by Carl Rinsch (doing his first feature-length film!), you could be forgiven for assuming the flick was another white-savior movie, where all the non-whites need is an American to save them. The trailers make this film look awful. It is not only not awful, it’s actually a fun ride! So, take your preconceptions and toss ’em out the window. This is not the film the trailers make it out to be. The tale of the 47 Ronin is essentially the national legend of Japan, a story about honor, loyalty, and the code of the samurai. The protagonist is Oishi (Hiroyuki Sanada), head of the titular warriors, who seek
Peter Jackson continues his epic prequel trilogy with the new film “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.” As in the previous installment, “An Unexpected Journey,” the story found in the book “The Hobbit” is used as a framework, and events alluded to but not described there are filled in using the author’s other works. Unfortunately, as he did in his “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, Jackson has given us a second installment with a number of things he and his partners made up rather than sticking to the source material. There’s still a lot to love, but Tolkien purists may well be better off staying home.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (which is distinct from but resonates with the comics) finished its first phase with “The Avengers,” and phase two is on its way with “Iron Man 3” and now “Thor: The Dark World.” Marvel is crafting this franchise of films so that they all interlock with each other in various ways, and it works. You don’t have to have seen every single other Marvel film to enjoy them individually, but they are much richer when seen as a whole.