Guardians of the Galaxy

Actors:  Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Benicio del Toro

Rating:  10 out of 10, I honestly think this is the best movie I’ve seen this year.  I was expecting a tongue in cheek Marvel adventure but this turned out to be a very good movie in and of itself.  While it did have some very, very funny dialogue it was also a very good adventure flick.  You add in a talking, smart ass raccoon and a one line talking tree which works so unexpectedly well (Bradley Copper and Vin Diesel voices helped). Chris Pratt has never been my cup of tea but he’s very funny in this and handles the adventure part with aplomb. Saladana is at her slinky best despite (once again) being buried under a mountain of makeup.  Is it weird that she can be so sexy repeatedly as an alien species.  The theater was packed and this was the best way to see this as we all joined in the experience.  The entire audience clapped at the end which is totally out of character for a New England locale but a good indication of how good this movie was.  Be sure to stick around for the post credit scene which had me rolling.

MVP:  Pratt effortlessly and surprisingly carries the movie as Star Lord Peter Quill

The Four Musketeers: Milady’s Revenge

Actors:  Michael York, Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay, Richard Chamberlain, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Geraldine Chaplin, Charlton Heston, Faye Dunaway, Christopher Lee, Simon Ward, Raquel Welch, Spike Milligan, Roy Kinnear

Rating:  9 out of 10, This is the second half of the 3 Musketeers which was released as a sequel once they realized how much footage they had on their hands.  This one is even better than the first albeit a little darker.  The boys are running around France trying to thwart Charlton Heston’s evil plans along with laying siege to some rebels.  Just where did the Cardinal come up with all these henchman?  Even with all the hijinks the back story of Milady and Athos is heartbreaking when it reaches the climatic scenes.  Together with the first half of the film, easily the best version of the classic Dumas book ever brought to the screen.

MVP:   Raquel Welch as the clumsily tragic Constance Bonacieux

The Three Musketeers

Actors:  Michael York, Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay, Richard Chamberlain, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Geraldine Chaplin, Charlton Heston, Faye Dunaway, Christopher Lee, Simon Ward, Raquel Welch, Spike Milligan, Roy Kinnear

Rating:  9 out of 10, One of my favorite movies from the 1970’s and by far the very best (along with the so called sequel – the Four Musketeers) movie version ever made of the Dumas classic.  Some of the action scenes haven’t aged as well as the rest of the movie but that’s probably because we’ve been so spoiled by CGI.  I had forgotten what immense screen presence a young Oliver Reed had – he just leaps off the screen.  I always wondered why he didn’t do more.  There was the well-remembered headlong mix of action, comedy and drama delivered by the supremely talented cast.  This film also marked the first time Raquel Welch was more than just a pretty face (amongst other features of her anatomy) as she was an able comedic, slapstick actress while still being just drop dead gorgeous.  A great romp down memory lane.

MVP:  Oliver Reed as Athos dominates the screen

The Expendables 3

Actors:  Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Antonio Banderas, Jet Li, Wesley Snipes, Dolph Lundgren, Kelsey Grammer, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey, Glen Powell, Victor Ortiz, Robert Davi, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger

Rating:  7 out of 10, This movie was much better watching a second time.  It wasn’t a great attempt at moving the franchise into a younger generation.  I was surprised that they chose to veer away from the entertaining by-play between the aged mercenaries to play to a non-memorable group of youngsters.  Even the aggressive use of performance enhancing drugs cannot hide the onslaught of time on Stallone and Schwarzenegger although it was good to see Mel Gibson back at work as a passable villain.  Even Harrison Ford showed up for some unknown reason but at least he had the class to look slightly embarrassed.  The earlier two movies were entertaining if cartoonish.  The new director decided to go all the way into cartoonish.  Stallone also wrote this movie which was a surprise since he’s still a pretty good writer, if not judged by this.  The biggest failures were the young Expendables who dropped the baton which was being lazily handed to them by the seniors.  This is the kind of movie though that requires the suspension of disbelief and immersion into mayhem.  On that level it works fairly well.

MVP:  Banderas as Galgo the non-stop talking comedic relief.

22 Jump Street

Actors:  Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Peter Stormare, Ice Cube, Amber Stevens,

Wyatt Russell, Jillian Bell, Jimmy Tatro, Nick Offerman

Rating:  9 out of 10, This movie shouldn’t have worked because it was a tired retread of the first movie (which was hilarious).  It soars for exactly that reason.  I’ve never seen a sequel that poked so much fun at itself and at sequels in general.  The plot was tame and exactly what you would expect but the movie was aimed directly at the idiocy of most sequels – it wasn’t evenly thinly disguised.  The film revels in being a sequel that parodies sequels.  The end credits took this to another level including some very funny cameos.  See this movie for the end credits if nothing else – funny beyond words.

MVP:  Channing Tatum as Greg Jenko displays great comedic timing

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Actors:  Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Bruce Willis, Jaime King, and Powers Boothe, Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Eva Green, Dennis Haysbert, Ray Liotta, Christopher Lloyd, Jamie Chung, Jeremy Piven, Christopher Meloni, Stacy Keach, Lady Gaga, Alexa Vega, Julia Garner, Juno Temple

Rating:  8 out of 10, I liked this sequel to one of my favorite movies of all time.  This one has the same groundbreaking digital effects scenery of the first where most of the action is in black and white with just a few objects colorized.  My favorite character, the indestructible Marv, was back pulverizing anything in his way while Miho decapitated henchmen by the bushel.  This was a prequel in some ways since when we last saw Marv he was riding an electric chair. Some of the other returning characters were dealing with events from the first movie.  I really liked this second movie but it didn’t have the same dark edge of the original, it was a little too brightly lit.  There were some new characters introduced who more than held their own led by Joseph Gordon-Leavitt and Eva Green (or more correctly Eva’s breasts).  Sin City is like film noir on some amazing performance enhancing drugs.  It doesn’t apologize for being violent or absurd but revels in it.

MVP:  Gordon-Leavitt as the cocky Johnny, lucky in everything except parentage

Maleficent

Actors:  Angelina Jolie, Ella Purnell, Isobelle Molloy, Elle Fanning, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, Janet McTeer, Sharlto Copley, Sam Riley

Rating:  8 out of 10, Disney, ever ready to wring every last dollar out of their franchises, decided the wicked witch of the Sleeping Beauty saga needed her reputation rehabbed.  Angelina Jolie was tone perfect for the lead role as the misunderstood fairy queen.  She’s become such a pop culture icon that you forget what a talented actress she is and her eyes eloquently tell most of the story.  It was cool seeing all the images from the original story brought in with a new meaning as we see the story from the “evil” queen’s side as she battles to protect her people from the humans.  The movie sometimes pushes the cute level a little too much (we are talking Disney here folks) and applies the typical Disney hammer to make points that could have been more subtly introduced.  All that being said, it was a fun watch.

MVP:  Jolie, very eye eloquent in the title role