So, last night me and a couple of fiends went to Guardians of the Galaxy (GOTG), Marvel Studios latest offering. For us this movie has been long awaited, the trailers made it look a must, and it looks to be quite a lot different to the normal Marvel offerings. (I love to normal marvel offerings, particularly of late). There's  lot a internet chatter about how this movie is going to be great and just as much chatter about how bad it's going to flop. I can very happily inform you the negative nay sayers got it totally wrong! This movie is fabulous with numerous laugh out loud moments, plenty of actions, compelling characters and has been very well made. 

The movie starts off in the 80's on Earth, with a young boy who has to say goodbye to his dying mother. He is abducted by an alien spacecraft and we're then transported 26 years into the future where the boy has become a bit of an outlaw, with an opinion of himself that is considerably greater than anybody else's opinion. Through a series of unfortunate events (or fortunate, depending on how you look at things), a motley team of (for want of a better description) misfits is assembled. We've got Peter Quill "Starlord" our abducted human, Gomorrah (the green chick), Rocket the renegade rodent/lab experiment, Groot the tree dude, and Grax the Destroyer (He's a bit of a maniac). Quill becomes the leader (of sorts) to this collection of, um, heroes, and leads them around the Galaxy in search of some mystical orb that no-one really seems to know exactly what it is. (It is revealed in due course)

There's (obviously) a selection of villains, spanning many rungs of the villainous ladder, and with various agendas ranging from petty thievery to make a quick buck all the way through to galactic domination, for the most maniacal. As I said, I have really been looking forward to this, something I try to avoid doing as it often leads to disappointment. However, I can categorically state that this movie totally lived up to expectations, so much so that I'm going again next week with my brother (since his wife dragged him (kicking and screaming) to Mrs. Browns D'movie). The action is fast and frantic, the humour is in no way subtle, in fact many times dialogue was drowned out by the raucous laughter of the audience, thankfully it's hardly an Agatha Christie whodunit so it doesn't matter. The effects and production in general is of Marvels usual high standards, and the 3D (something I'm not really sold on, Avatar and Dread 3D are exceptions) was also good.

You may be beginning to get the feeling that I really enjoyed and rated this movie, and you'd be bang on right. Now, not wanting to over hype or over sell this movie, I promise you this movie will not change the world. It may however, make it just a little bit better for 2 hrs and 1 min. I give this a solid 4.5/5 Choc-tops, Very entertaining! 

Watch out for the "reveal" at the end of the credits. It may test you memory. To find out who it is highlight the following line...
Howard The Duck

Just got back from the midnight opening of the long awaited Star Trek - Into Darkness. And, I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. The basic synopsis is based around an attack on a Star Fleet facility (an inside job) and the hunt for the perpetrator (John Harrison played by Benedict Cumberbatch) by Admiral Marcus Who send Kirk and the Enterprise on the mission to find and kill Harrison.

Without giving away the story (yet), this movie is full of the things you'd expect from the rebooted Star Trek and contains the following...

Kirk's womanising, involving a (apparent) threesome with a couple of alien ladies with tails - insert suitably inappropriate pun to do with cats or synonyms here- :-)

Spock's continued struggle with his human emotions and mourning of his home world.

A major characters resignation.

A major & not so major (but still important in the Star Wars lore) characters death.

Klingons,

Treachery, camaraderie and friendships.

Alien worlds, new aliens, (actually, quite a few new aliens, both floating around the background on earth and as crew on the Enterprise).

The obligatory cool tech, although I don't really remember anything new that's worth mentioning. 

There are hugs and kisses, fights and squabbles, tears and laughter and 1 x Tribble. I would at this point like to digress and take the time to chortle heartily at the girl sitting behind me in the cinema who, prior to the movie starting,  proclaimed in her best outside voice (for everyone to hear) "I have 2 guinea pigs, 1 named Spock and the other Kirk. Yes, that's right, I'm a real fan!" and then at the end referred to the Tribble as "that weird fluffy thing". Please child, hush!

Most importantly, it stays true to the Roddenberry vision of our future and Star Fleet, Kirk the Enterprise and the values they hold important such as, honour, loyalty, integrity (see Scotty), exploration, and the working together for the greater good and advancement of mankind and society. I'm not a big time "Trekkie" but, i do appreciate the vision.

I'm generally not a huge fan of 3D (credit where credit is due, Avatar and Dredd 3D were done great), but the 3D in this is done well and generally not lost even in the action scenes, if you have the choice do the 3D thing.

Anyway, there's plenty of action and anyone who liked the 2009 reboot should love this. Go and see it. It's a solid 4 out of 5 choc-tops!



SPOILER ALERT - If you want to know who Benedict Cumberbatch's "John Harrison" character really is, scroll down.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- I can't do it. Go see the movie!

Just got home from the midnight opening of The Avengers at Rialto Cinemas Dunedin. The place was packed out with nerds, geeks, dweebs and all manner of similar social misfits including myself and about 8 of my friends. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the lovely young ladies who went dressed as lycra clad Black Widow and Captain America (minus the pants) your efforts were appreciated.

It's kind of funny going to a movie like The Avengers, which has a definite following. Looking around the crowded foyer and cinema you see a plethora of kindred nerd types. I found myself trying to figure out who played World of Warcraft and if they played Alliance or Horde. I was also astounded by the number of attractive nerd ladies in attendance. But I think the coolest thing a witnessed tonight was when the movie finally started and I experienced the very audible sound of 400 simultaneous 'nerdgasms'. It made my LOL a little.

Lets get down to the movie. It was fantastic, even my mate Brendon who is a big ol' comic book nerd loved it without fault. Now I'm sure there are faults with it and I'm sure he'll watch it another 10 or 12 times and given a few weeks he'll manage to pick every plot hole or inconsistancy with all the Marvel universes, but the mere fact he didn't dissect it tonight is a testament to it's awesomeness.
The story is good, the casting is near perfect, I heard a little whinge about Mark Ruffalo's Hulk, I personally found his David Banner to be very true to the original TV series and enjoyed him because of that nostelgia. Scarlett Johansson is smoking' hot and fabulous as always. Robert Downey Jr. is perfect as Tony Stark and his comic timing and witticisms are priceless. Chris Hemsworth's comic timing is also spot on and between Robert Downey Jr. and himself, oh and 1 very amusing scene with the Hulk and punch very reminicient of every which way but loose's, "Right turn Clyde" (old people know what I'm talking about), there are many scenes that had the audience laughing out loud.

The plot is easy to follow -Loki is a dick who has stolen something with the view to do something bad and must be stopped- See, told ya it was simple. The technology was great, loving the aircraft carrier! and the awesome interactive holographic displays. The comedy is funny as hell, the action is very actiony. <---- think i made up a word there. The chicks are hot, really hot! The blokes are yummy as well, "Oh that boy who plays Thor is so scrummy!" This is obviously a quote from one of my female friends who came along tonight, and I'll just have to take her work for it. Even after a very long day the movie didn't seem long, it certainly didn't drag at any point. and the appearance during the final credits of SPOILER ALERT!.................................................................... Thanos pointing towards even more nerdalicious stuff to come.

In a nut shell I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, I have to say it's definitely the best I've seen in a long time and a must see. I'll be going back again soon. It's bloody near a perfect 5 choctop rating prevented purely by the fact I don't believe anything is perfection and it will take something exceptional to get a 5 choctop rating out of me. But you know what they say... 4.5 out of 5 ain't bad! GO AND SEE IT!

Update May 8th 2013.


Downloaded "I Am" from iTunes a couple of days ago and finally watched it today. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Well worth a look, especially if you're frustrated with the way our society is heading and are looking for hope, and reassurance that 1 person can make a substantial difference without substantial effort. 


Watch this Doco!

I have to be honest with you. I have not seen this movie, but I have seen the trailer and I saw Tom Shadyac on Oprah last week and it all grabbed my attention. I often find myself asking the same questions, and sincerely look forward to seeing what people like  Desmond Tutu have to say. There's a lot of new science, new theories and maybe, just maybe there's a message, a clue or two that we can take from this documentary that will help us all make this world a better place. If anyone know's if it's playing in NZ or when it'll be available on DVD please let me know. I know that as of 15mins ago, amazon.com have a "notify me when it's available" page and all the other usual vendors have nothing.

Anyway check out the trailer below. Maybe we can make it a movie date sometime soon.

Mos