Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

First Hit:  At times funny, tongue in cheek and farfetched, but isn’t strong enough to make it memorable the next day.

The best parts of Volume 1, was the irreverent humor used to make the unbelievable story and places they visit, fun. Volume 2 does all this a little better.

Star-Lord AKA Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is with his compatriots; Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Baby Groot (Vin Diesel), and Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and they are off on another adventure. They saved the galaxy before now they're here to do it again.

Whom do they save it from? Peter's father Ego (Kurt Russell) and a reluctant Mantis (Pom Klementieff) who is the one person that can make Ego sleep and relax. Also, for different reasons, Yondu (Michael Rooker) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) want to hurt Peter and his crew as well.

After years of not knowing who his father was, all of sudden Peter is confronted with his father, Ego. Ego lives on planet Ego and is a God of sorts. He traveled to many planets to plant his lights, which he controls through his powers. He's looking for a progeny that can assist him in making the light devices to bloom and take over the worlds he’s planted these things on. Additionally, while on the planets planting his light plants, the story has Ego planting his seed in many women on these planets as well. One of them was Peter’s mom, Meredith (Laura Haddock). However out of all the progeny Ego tests to see who can help him activate the lights, Peter is the only one who shares, and has, Ego's super powers.

The problem is Peter’s eclectic family doesn’t buy the Ego’s premise about wanting to be a loving father and when Peter figures out that Ego is planning control and destruction, he knows he has to kill his father.

All through this, Nubula is trying to kill Yondu now that he’s teamed up with Peter and his team. Then there is Stakar Ogord (Sylvester Stallone) who wants to kill Yondu as well.

In the end there is a life and death struggle for the galaxy and the team wins again and I know I’m letting the cat out of the bag, but we all knew the ending anyway.

Pratt is fun, on the edge of silly, but carries the ability to be both serious and irreverent all at the same time. Saldana is wonderful as the illusive Gamora. Bautista has some of the funniest lines and it’s fun to watch him. Diesel is funny and appropriately constrained as small Groot. Cooper as Rocket was fantastic. Klementieff was great as Mantis. I loved the way she danced between surety and lack of confidence. Russell was really engaged and full of life in this part. Gillan was strong as the golden leader of another planet’s race. Rooker was perfect as the guy who wanted to be good and support the team, but also live within the rules of his own clan. Stallone was OK as Ogord. James Gunn and Dan Abnett wrote a perfect irreverent script that held together through a highly improbable story. Gunn did a great job of providing the right level of effects and joyful fun scenes. Everyone got a chance to shine.

Overall:  This was as good and probably better than Volume 1.

the Fate of the Furious

First Hit:  With improbable situations, circumstances and action, it was funny enough to make me stay till the end. There is very little about this film that is remotely believable. I won’t mention them here but when you watch it, you’ll know what I mean.

Somehow in the saga of these Furious films, Dom (Vin Diesel) grew close to someone which created a situation where the result has him go against his "family." Anyone who’s seen these series of films, Dom makes “family” the main thing that no one goes against. So, for Dom to go against his family, the situation must be a big deal.

Introducing him to this situation is Cipher (Charlize Theron) whose role is to be the smartest person on the planet, wants to control the world by living on a plane using high tech tools and have the ability to take control of any computer on the planet. By doing so she plans to use Dom to carry out some of her physical missions and she has just the motivation to make him turn away from family.

The government intelligence agency headed by Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) and his new underling Little Nobody (Scott Eastwood) want to find out why Dom stole a concussion device. To do this they pull the rest of the family together and add Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard (Jason Statham) to the mix and spare no expense in wrecking expensive cars, tanks, and guns to find Dom, and why he betrayed “family”.

One of the funniest themes through the film was why Tej (Chris “Ludicris” Bridges) was only ranked 11^th on the most wanted list. He throws a fit about this throughout the film.

With no expense held back on making a film that blows up a whole bunch of stuff, wrecking a fleet full of cars, has a submarine chasing cars, and kills a pile of people, F. Gary Gray took Chris Morgan’s script and made it fun.

Diesel was good. I’m not much of a fan of his character because it is always the same one no matter the film. Theron makes a very good bad girl. She pulled this off and was believable (or as believable as one could make this part) enough to not have me cringe. Russell is great. I loved his popping in and out of the film bringing lightheartedness and smarts. Eastwood is fun as the new agent learning the ropes. Johnson is, well, Johnson. His brutishness and size, especially when he’s walking through the prison in the orange jumpsuit, says it all. He can be intimidating. Statham, although not the size of either Diesel or Johnson, has a look and swagger that makes him an equal of the other two in perceived strength. Bridges is really fun and whether he’s unhappy at being 11^th or in the cold weather, he makes everyone smile. Michelle Rodriguez as Letty is carrying on the role she created in the earlier films. She does tough/soft well. Tyrese Gibson as Roman does a great job of being the guy who thinks things through for the team. Nathalie Emmanuel as Ramsey is a perfect complement to Gibson’s "Roman" as part of the team’s brain trust. Morgan’s script was haphazard, had holes in it, and didn’t tie together well but it was fun. Gray must have had fun directing this crew given the script he had.

Overall:  Do not expect this film to make much sense, but it is funny enough, and has enough fun chases to keep you in your seat.

Deepwater Horizon

First Hit:  Although this could have been an interesting film, the disappointing and needless jerky camera work took away from actually seeing what was happening.

I found myself engaged in this film was when the ideological conflict arose between BP (British Petroleum) and Transocean, (owners of the drilling platform). However, I wasn’t engaged as much when the well blew up and everybody was running around trying to save themselves and others. What made these scenes worse was the shaky camera work and lousy editing. It simply was difficult to be engaged with anything when nothing gets into focus. The conflict between the Transocean and BP was, at times, riveting as each side wanted something. BP led by Vidrine (John Malkovich) wanted to hurry the project along because they were 43 days behind schedule. Transocean led by Mr. Jimmy (Kurt Russell) wanted to execute all the appropriate and timely tests to ensure that drilling hole was secure. The lead role in this film was the view from Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) who worked for Mr. Jimmy and was responsible for all the operating systems on Deepwater Horizon. However, as much as we wanted to care about Williams, his wife Felicia (Kate Hudson) and his daughter Sydney (Stella Allen), the real story in this film was about the differences of opinion between BP and Transocean.

Wahlberg was good in this role, however where he was supposed to shine was in the saving of crewmembers from the exploding rig. However, the lousy camera work and poor editing made his segments of the film far less interesting. My favorite part of his role is when he detailed a listing of issues that needed to be fixed on Deepwater Horizon while talking to Vidrine. Malkovich was OK in his role of pushing BP’s agenda. His accent was odd to me, however his intensity was excellent. Russell was wonderful as the know-it-all General Manager of Deepwater. I loved his tenacity and presence to stick to what was important. Hudson was good as Williams’ wife. Gina Rodriguez (as Andrea Fleytas) was engaging and I would have like more from her part. Matthew Michael Carnahan and Matthew Sand wrote a strong script. What failed this film was the direction by Peter Berg who focused on the blowing up of Deepwater Horizon and doing it in a way that didn’t allow the audience to see what was happening. Shame, this could have been good but this shows you how lousy direction and focusing on blowing up stuff doesn’t always make a good picture.

Overall:  Really disappointed how the director got swayed by the possibility of blowing up something and not focusing on the story and reason for the explosion.

The Hateful Eight

First Hit:  A very well shot film that had out loud moments of laughs punctuated on all sides with gore.

Violence is one thing you can depend on in a Quentin Tarantino (Writer and Director) film.

There is no disappoint in this film on that note. Everyone in this film gets a bullet or two. There are also moments of out loud laughs. Some of those laughs come at the expense of absurdity (John “The Hangman” Ruth speaking with Daisy Domergue) while others driven by outlandishly pointed dialogue (Major Marquis Warren speaking with General Sandy Smithers). However, my favorite set of laughs were the issues with closing the door – laughed each time even when I knew it was coming.

There are moments in the dialogue where it seemed that it was being pushed out by the actors and therefore I lost engagement, however those moments were few and far between. Most of the time, the dialogue was so strong, good, and well executed that I was totally immersed in the play of the words.

There is no faulting in any way, shape, or form, the absolutely beauty of the pictures presented on the screen. Even if you don’t like seeing violence, one cannot fault the beautiful way it was shot.

The outside shots of Wyoming, spectacular. The cabin’s close quarters could have felt small and confining, however the film’s format allowed for the real feeling of one large open room for eight people to the interact in and you were there voyeuristically. The storyline around the use of the word "nigger" was OK, not great, as I keep hoping we’ve moved beyond the derogatory use of this term.

Here is it used emphatically to make a point and to paint the connotation of its ugliness when used. The story didn’t hide itself well because both Ruth (Kurt Russell) and Major Warren (Samuel L. Jackson) telegraphed the problem about why all these people were in the cabin without the cabin’s owner being present.

Although there were a number of “Acts”, I’m not sure why the 3rd was so long in comparison. There was an obvious break part way through the third.

Lastly, I’d heard that the film was designed to be shown with a 10 – 15 minute intermission. Our theater did not do this and ran the 187 minute film straight through. Not that I needed or wanted an intermission – I personally don’t like them – despite its length, time went quickly while allowing each scene to breathe and develop.

As Major Warren said at one point:  “… let’s slow it down… let’s slow it way down.”

Jackson was bombastically present in this role as if it was made for him. When he’s laying out a lengthy discourse about his being on the right side of justice, he’s perfect. His eyes telegraph his intense nature. Russell was effortlessly and gruffly suspicious. Wrapped up in a large coat, hat lowered on his forehead, and a face full of hair he was an impeccable rendition of a lone bounty hunter. Jennifer Jason Leigh was oddly amazing as a wanted woman being brought to justice by Ruth. Like a caged cat, her defiance of her keeper, and her hatred towards blacks spewed forth in hisses. Truly a remarkable performance (Oscar worthy). Walter Goggins as newly appointed Sheriff Chris Mannix was very strong as he vacillated between being weak to get an advantage or strong when he was in control of varying situations in the cabin. Demian Bichir as Bob, the suspicious Mexican holding down Minnie’s, was very good stirring the soup of dialogue from time to time. Tim Roth as Oswaldo Mobray the man who hangs people dispassionately was very strong. Interesting that his take so reminded me of Christoph Waltz, that it was a bit eerie. The part could have been done by Waltz but his power would have been too much for the film. Michael Madsen as Joe Gage the quite brooding man with semi-hidden agenda was wonderful. Bruce Dern was great as the old Southern General Sandy Smithers. James Parks as stage coach driver O.B. Jackson was very good especially in the scene when he comes back from the outhouse after dumping the guns in the hole.  Channing Tatum as Jody was great to see. It isn’t often that Tatum plays a heavy and he did this well. Tarantino wrote a mostly wonderful fleshed out script. There were a couple of times where it felt forced or a little stilted coming from the actors, but overall it was very strong. The direction was superb. The camera angles, the broad vista shots, mixed with the wide 70mm lens showing the dance of each of the characters was perfect. The dark humor mixed in with intense situational dialogue was great.

Overall:  This is a strong 8th film by Tarantino and helps his resume.