Category Archives: Sci-Fi

You’d be forgiven for being pretty skeptical of this latest Marvel entry. After all, it’s not every sci-fi superhero movie that introduces not one, but five new leads, among them a wisecracking raccoon and a talking tree. Moreover, this installment – ostensibly part of the larger Cinematic Universe involving the Avengers – is almost totally devoid of familiar reference points. Earth itself barely appears onscreen.

But oh, what a fantastic adventure “Guardians” is.

It’s hard to find enough positive things to say about this movie. I could say that if you watch only one big-budget blockbuster this summer, this should be the one. I could say that it’s loads better than “The Avengers” or anything else in Marvel’s cinematic stable. I could say that watching it evokes the same sense of wonder, joy and imagination that I felt as a kindergartener watching “Star Wars” for the first time. But instead, I’ll simply say that it’s the best sci-fi film I’ve seen since “Inception.”

When galaxy-hopping adventurer Peter Quill (Chris Pratt, bulked up and playing a slightly-more-adult version of Emmet from this year’s “The Lego Movie”) recovers a mysterious relic from a ruined world, he quickly becomes the target of evil Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) and comely assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana). Unaligned bounty hunters Rocket (Bradley Cooper voicing a CGI raccoon) and Groot (Vin Diesel doing mo-cap for a talking tree) soon enter the mix, and are finally joined by the brutish alien warrior Drax (WWE veteran Dave Bautista, delivering a surprisingly strong performance). Oh, and meanwhile, underlying tensions between two celestial empires – the Nova and the Kree – threaten to boil over into all-out galactic war.

If I’d been in the pitch meeting when this was first engineered, I would’ve probably vetoed the idea. It sounds like the stuff of parody, destined to inspire an infinite number of SNL skits. But somehow, director James Gunn – best known for the black comedy “Super” starring Rainn Wilson – pulls off the impossible.

For starters, warmth, humor and exuberance permeate every inch of the film – from the rousing ‘70s-rock soundtrack to quippy pop-culture references that amazingly never feel out of place. Gunn embraces the opposite of the “dark and gritty” phenomenon present in so many comic-book movies today – “Guardians of the Galaxy” is effervescently kinetic, bouncing from planetary mishap to planetary mishap without ever losing its momentum. This isn’t to say that there are no dramatic moments – there certainly are – but never do these congeal into a humorless mess (cf. “Man of Steel”). Pratt – perhaps best known for his turn as bumbling Andy Dwyer on “Parks and Recreation” – proves to be a surprisingly effective leading man.

Additionally, this is one movie that it’s probably best to know as little about as possible before viewing. I had no idea what was going on at first, and for the casual viewer, there aren’t a lot of tie-ins to established Marvel film properties. This, however, is actually an asset: it allows the viewer to “get lost” in an unfamiliar, exotic world they’ve never seen before. Gunn heroically resists the temptation to resort to massive exposition, and instead leaves room for the audience’s natural sense of curiosity.

Here’s an example: about halfway into the film, the Guardians team stops by an outlaw city floating in the middle of space. This base has been constructed inside the severed skull of an unimaginably vast celestial creature, and mining operations in the city involve the extraction of cerebral matter from the skull’s depths. It’s absurd, but at the same time fascinating and different. What was that creature? I wanted to know. What else is out there that we haven’t seen yet? Thanks to earlier superhero films, I’ve seen nobodies morph into superheroes through the marvels of drug use and seen just about every major city on earth turned to rubble through the marvels of CGI – at this point, they’re blurring together into an interchangeable cacophony. Conversely, “Guardians” is truly fresh and original, from its casting to its art design to its thrilling resolution.

There’s not a lot of deep thinking or philosophizing to be found here – but for once, I’ll point to this as one of the film’s greatest strengths. This spring’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” tried so hard to be “edgy” and “relevant” that it ended up feeling kludgy and unsubtle; I, for one, would be fine leaving the “dark and gritty” to Christopher Nolan from here on out. (Most of the movie is suitable for all audiences, though there are a few winking innuendos that most younger viewers won’t get.)

I could go on, but I’ll simply say that “Guardians of the Galaxy” has my highest recommendation. It’s entertaining without ever feeling juvenile, a breath of fresh air in the midst of today’s cynically profit-oriented blockbuster grind. I only hope it turns into the smash it fully deserves to be.

VERDICT: 10/10
A superb thrill ride coupling the best elements of “Star Wars,” “Men in Black,” and “Serenity.” I can’t wait for the sequel.

Normalized Score: 9.2

In my more lucid moments, I hate that I saw this movie. The entire bloated “Transformers” franchise ranks with Diet Mountain Dew, “Supernatural,” Britney Spears, etc. in the “things that I rather enjoy but simultaneously am appalled by” category. And yes, it is beyond question that director Michael Bay is the Monsanto of Hollywood, and that this movie series is symptomatic of everything wrong with contemporary entertainment and global society.

But man, say what you will, I like to watch giant robots beat up on each other. And there is something to be said for the delirious, epileptic grandiosity of watching an alien robot warrior ride a gigantic fire-breathing mechanical tyrannosaurus into the midst of a city-destroying battle.

This time around, the human cast is substantially different. Shia LaBoeuf (who will not be missed) has been replaced by Mark Wahlberg in the role of a down-on-his-luck inventor. (Remember when “The World Is Not Enough” cast Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist? Wahlberg is about as believable as a “quirky science type”). After the Chicago-clobbering events of film #3, public opinion transformed against all aliens and the Transformers have faced systemic genocide. Wahlberg, however, manages to find the heroic Optimus Prime disguised as a run-down semi. Cue lots of explosions and showdowns with angry government officials, who (by virtue of the ubiquitously sinister military-industrial complex) have been working to assemble their own synthetic Transformers. Oh yeah, and there’s also a bounty hunter Transformer prowling around with motives of his own.

No one short of an outright masochist watches this series for plot coherence, so the less said the better.

But what matters, naturally, is not this film’s story, but rather its pyrotechnic special effects and massive levels of destruction. And this series does its action very, very well.

Last summer’s “Man of Steel” was intolerably destructive, vaguely nihilistic, and ponderous. The same cannot be said for this series: the last couple of “Transformers” movies have served up plenty of mesmerizing slo-mo images and gleefully kinetic action scenes, all designed specifically to appeal to one’s repressed inner child. It’s cheesy but also kind of great, like the Roger Moore era of Bond films. Very few other film franchises are willing (or have the budgets) to serve up this level of visual delirium, and things just keep getting more spectacular.

Most of this franchise’s egregious vices remain present. For instance, the product placement is so extreme as to be laughable. A full minute is devoted to watching robots blow up a Bud Light truck, after which Wahlberg pops open a bottle and takes a long drink. Moreover, it’s abundantly clear that Bay is pandering to the lucrative Chinese market – instead of relying on the patriotic tropes of its predecessors, “Age of Extinction” sets its final conflict in Hong Kong and pulls in a host of local film stars for cameos.

Yet oddly, “Age of Extinction” becomes watchable through its over-the-top commitment to the ludicrousness of its own central conceit. At this point, four movies in, it really wouldn’t be a “Transformers” film without relying on gratuitous absurdity and shameless cash-grabbing. It’s the Krispy Kreme Donuts of cinema – yes, you might have a stomachache afterwards, but it’s weirdly comforting in the moment. (As a plus, there’s far less crass humor and quasi-racism than in previous “Transformers” installments. It’s indulgent and bludgeoning, but not particularly offensive.)

If you saw the other movies, you’ll probably see this one. If your tastes are exclusively of the highbrow variety, you’ll stay far away. Maybe, just maybe, I still can’t believe I went to see this movie and am now writing this as a sort of cathartic absolution.

But still, robot dinosaurs. Enough said: http://cdn.fansided.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/229/files/2014/05/Transformers-Age-of-Extinction-Poster-Optimus-and-Grimlock-Crop.jpg

VERDICT: 6/10
By this point, you probably know what you’re in for. It’s pretty satisfying, so long as one’s expectations are set at the proper level.

Normalized Score: 1.6