Dearest Blog, yesterday it was off to the pictures for Guardians of
the Galaxy and some afterthought that dared turn up the same weekend as
Guardians of the Galaxy.
Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.
First on the docket was the afterthought, Get On Up.
Get On Up tells the story of James Brown's self-made rise from dirt-poor childhood to the Godfather of Soul.
Okey-dokey,
readers: confession time...and this is an embarrassing one. I don't
particularly care for James Brown. There, I said it. I respect the
influence of his music on all the music I love, but I've never been a
fan of the man himself. As such, my expectations for a movie full of
music I don't like were middling at best.
If there's one thing Get
On Up does have going for it, it's Chadwick Boseman, who follows up his
stunning turn in 42 with an even more amazing performance...and some
pretty terrific dance moves.
True Blood's Nelsan Ellis is especially
noteworthy as Brown's best friend and longtime professional
collaborator, Bobby Byrd, but, truly, the entire cast is well above
average. The story is kind of a mess, but never dull. It's not told in
linear fashion--beginning to middle to end--but rather jumps among
various periods of Brown's life. The order is seemingly random, but the
segueways are so flawless that, while I wouldn't say I precisely liked
it, I will say it was effective.
I don't imagine it ever felt like there
was much order in Brown's life for himself or those around him.
The
movie also does a fair job of not painting Brown a saint just because
he's: a.) talented, and b.) no longer with us. Then of course there's
the music, LOTS of it. My understanding is Boseman lip-synched to actual
James Brown recordings, and there were a couple times I felt it was a
little obvious, especially having recently seen Jersey Boys, where
numbers were performed live on set. If you like the music, you'll be a
World Champion Chair Dancer by the end, but for me some of the numbers
seemed to drag.
Get On Up clocks in at 138 minutes and is rated
PG13 for "sexual content, drug use, some strong language, and violent
situations." It was far more enjoyable than I anticipated, but still not
the spiritual experience I expect from movies about music legends.
Of a possible nine Weasleys, Get On Up gets six.
Next
up was the movie the about which I (and the rest of the Internet) have
been frantically abuzz for months now, Guardians of the Galaxy.
A ragtag bunch of villains-turned-heroes faces a foe set on mass destruction.
Admit
it, reader(s), even if you aren't usually into superhero movies, you
took one look at this trailer and were completely sold. The
self-deprecating hero. The gun-toting raccoon. The green hottie. The
humor. The tunes...oh, the TUNES!! The buzz has been so overwhelmingly
positive for so long that, by the time showtime finally rolled around, I
was a little nervous about a letdown. I needn't have worried.
There's
a joke going around the Internet, something along the lines of DC
Comics being all worried the world isn't ready for a solo female
super-hero movie, but Marvel says, "Here's a talking raccoon."
I'm a DC
girl myself, but Guardians of the Galaxy, to me, is everything Marvel
does right.
The overall tone of Guardians is humorous. The movie
never bogs down with backstory, yet it tells enough about each character
that he's more than just the sum of his actions in this particular
film.
Everyone is sympathetic to some degree...yes, even the raccoon.
There's plenty of big, explosive action, yet none of those
seemingly-endless scenes of run-on destruction. (Lookin' at you,
Avengers and Man of Steel.)
The art and effects are beautiful and
realistic. I'll happily be the latest in a long line to mention the
soundtrack that's about to become the most-played thing on your iPod,
filled with great 70s nuggets like 10CC's I'm Not in Love and The
Runaways' Cherry Bomb.
Finally, each and every Guardian deserves credit
for a solid performance full of heart and wit...though I still wonder
who thought it was a good idea to give Bradley Cooper a role where we
don't see his magnificent face.
Guardians of the Galaxy runs 121
minutes and is rated PG13 for "intense sequences of sci-fi violence and
action, and for some language." It is that very rare item that actually
lives up to the hype.
Of a possible nine Weasleys, Guardians of the Galaxy gets eight and a half.
Until next time...
Karen Gillan + Zoe Saldana? Yes, please.
