Marvel picks us up and blasts us off into space for Guardians of the Galaxy, a good time off of Earth no matter how you cut it. Guardians launches the Cosmic line of Marvel stories with a rag tag team of misfits who band together to save us all from the evil Ronan the Accuser.

I think the best way to describe the movie is Star Wars meets Firefly. Spaceships, aliens of all shapes, sizes and colors, blaster fights, outlaws and bounty hunters, fist fights, spaceship dog fights. It’s like the Wild Wild West out there. The lovable cast is held together by Star Lord, played by the rising star, Chris Pratt. He’s flanked by Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) and Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper). Star Lord is the only human, Gamora and Drax boast some great alien prosthetics and Groot and Rocket are both complete CG characters (both exceptionally well done, they look and move great). They gel really well together and by the end I was left wanting to see what kind of trouble they get into next.

The movie doesn’t take itself seriously and it has a lot of heart. There’s a lot of jokes and playing around despite the looming threat of galactic annihilation from Ronan, who is hell bent on ultimate power when he turns on his master, Thanos. It’s a really fun and “bouncy” summer blockbuster that moves pretty fast, which I think is its greatest fault. Everyone is thrown together (and trusts each other) really fast and there’s a lot left unexplained. Star Lord is kidnapped from Earth in 1988 and we never know why. We’re told very little about everyone. Ronan is pretty generic, he’s just a bad guy with bad guy plans. It’s also very predictable, all the cliched pieces fall in place right on time (love interest side plot, team work saves the day, switcheroo move by the hero). With so much set up out of the way, I hope they feel like the pressure of launching a new franchise is off them to really get wild and weird with the next one. The movie looks and sounds great with a lush pallet, interesting back drops, quality character work and a soundtrack that matches.

More hooks for the next wave of Marvel movies have been laid and fans have a new team of heroes to cheer for. Marvel continues to ride the wave of success.

Two quick hits since I don’t have much to say about these gems:

300: Rise of an Empire– Eight years between sequels and not much has changed. The story takes place at the same time as 300 and gives insight into Xerxes ascension to power. The visual and audio presentation is the same, very stylized computer animation with copious amounts of slow motion and blood. If you liked the first movie and are down for some more, check it out. Otherwise you aren’t missing anything (except for a really awkward sex scene).

Under the Skin– I’ve heard a lot of good things about Under the Skin and…ugh. This should have been a short film. It runs a good hour too long and if the dead weight was cut out, I think it would leave a really great and interesting 45 minute short.. Scarlett Johansson plays an alien being that seduces men for…some purpose. There’s a lot of mystery about everything. It’s a good concept, it’s made really well (some striking visuals) and Johansson does some great work. The editing is what killed me. There has to be 30 minutes worth of footage of characters driving around. Pointless driving around. I’m leaving out the parts where Johansson talks to men on her quest, so she’s actually doing something. You spend a lot of time in a van in this movie. The rest is a waste of time. There are large chunks of this that I fast forwarded through to get to something interesting. I watched people drive and stand around quickly without missing anything important. There is a lot of “observation” in this movie. The pacing is just brutal, it’s an exercise in patience more than anything. Do not recommend.

2011 saw the release of The Raid: Redemption and it made action film fans stand up and take notice. Writer/Director/Editor Gareth Evans quickly became the man to watch. This year, he’s back with The Raid 2, what I would call a very successful sequel.

The original took place in a apartment building run by a powerful drug lord. Rama is in the SWAT team that goes in and is the only one who manages to fight his way out. The sequel stars Rama again, picking up right after the first movie ends. Gareth Evans expands the story, scope and thus the movies run time by having Rama go undercover to infiltrate a powerful mob ring to shake out widespread corruption.

There’s a lot of great characters through out, I think Iko Uwais as Rama is a phenomenal action star. I hope his career blows up world wide. He’s really likeable and just a complete bad ass. The Raid has some of the most intense and visually striking action put on film and The Raid 2 runs with that torch.

There are a ton of action scenes spread through out. The movie is about 2 hours and 20 minutes and I think close to half of that is action scenes. I won’t be able to justice in explaining the insanity and brilliance that is on display, so I’m just going to say you have to see it to believe it. It’s some of the most epic, no holds barred, choreographed and shot violence. Hammer Girl, Bat Guy and Sickle Man, all awesome, all amazing in their scenes. The car chase scene is stunning, it’s one of the best ever filmed. Gareth Evans keeps raising the bar so high it’s ridiculous.

I’ve rambled enough. Just like the first movie, action fans have to see this. That’s the easiest way of putting it. It’s not for the squeamish though, as it’s very violent and gory.

The Lego Movie is an amazing accomplishment. What could have been a terrible 90 minute long ad, is actually one of the best movies, animated or otherwise, of the year. It’s a great kids movie that also works on an adult level as well (I’m sure Pixar is proud of another team managing this).

Elliot is just an average Lego construction worker doing his thing every day. When he’s tapped as “The Special”, Elliot is thrust into a quest to stop the evil Lord Business from destroying the Lego world.

Elliot is an every man. He’s just a guy who plugs away in the boundaries of his life. When he’s told he has much greater capabilities, he has a hard time believing it. It’s a story of self confidence, taking control of your life and doing everything you can to succeed.

The characters and the voice over cast is outstanding. It’s a huge menagerie of TV and film stars all over the movie. The characters span many universes, which is a blast to see. Comic book characters, movie characters, original Lego set characters, they’re all in here. There’s a lot of funny lines (mostly from Batman, Superman and Green Lantern) which keeps things light, fun and always interesting.

And then there is the animation. Animal Logic has to at least get an Oscar nomination for their work. This movie looks mind boggling. It’s all CG but the genius’ behind this movie figured out how to make it look like real, stop motion animated Lego pieces. It’s so convincing, you think you are laying down on the floor on your stomach watching the biggest Lego play set ever assembled move on its own. Everything about it looks amazing. The lighting is perfect, the depth of field and camera movement is crazy. The backdrops and all of the “special effects” like explosions and water are all Lego based. This is one of the most striking animated movies ever made.

A real surprise and a real treat! Watch it!

Seven seasons and Californication on Showtime is over. The draw of David Duchovny on a show play a writer and good natured degenerate is what brought me in. Hank Moody is a great character and the show had more than a few great moments, but it ran as fast as it could on the same wheel for a few years too many. There’s only so many times Hank could burn bridges, get a new job and apologize to Karen.

The writers knew this and admitted it in the end. There was only one way the show could end. The last plot lines were wrapped up ( on a high note for almost everyone) and Hank and Karen not necessarily a couple, but together ’till the f’in wheels come off baby.

Her is the first time Spike Jonze has written and directed a movie and it’s a marvelous achievement from every angle. With an unusual genre to tackle (sci-fi, romance, drama), Her could have been a disaster of a movie but starting with an excellent script, it’s one of my favorite of the year so far.

Theodore is a introverted man who works for a letter writing company. While he dazzles with the written word for strangers, his real life romantic capabilities have hit an all time low. He’s in the middle of a divorce from his high school sweet heart and prefers to keep to himself and play videogames. When he buys the new computer operating system, “OS1” he ends up falling in love with the software that was designed to meet a users every need with cutting edge artificial intelligence.

Her takes place is the not to distant future where our everyday communication and working tech has become more ubiquitous and smarter. This future is one that is more than likely actually going to happen. The tech giants like Microsoft, Apple and Google are well on the way with learning and predictive tech that caters to our every need. Voice recognition and verbal communication with our devices is getting better every single year. “OS1” shows what could be the ultimate goal for these companies. The “brain” of the OS is always with you in this cool little computer that fits into your pocket. The logical evolution of our cell phones, it’s a phone, computer, planner…everything for every moment in your life. The “current” software is slightly more advanced version of Google Now and Siri. You keep your device in your pocket, an ear pieces lets you tell it what you want and let’s you hear responses. Tell it to read emails, dictate replies, make calls, get reminders etc. In a funny observation of today, people are completely engrossed by their devices unless the are eating together. People whip by each other on the street staring at a screen and talking to themselves with a earpiece jammed in. Half the time human interaction doesn’t exist. But, the next gen “OS1” has a complex artificial intelligence that learns about you. It’s constantly learning and gaining a personality of its own. It takes away the wall of human interaction with a machine and replaces it with a really human interaction for everything. It’s easy to see how and why Theodore falls in love with a being that isn’t human.

In other tech advances, computers are more or less just windows in a room with touch interfaces. Theodore plays video games on a holographic projection system in his apartment. In fact he lives in a smart apartment where the lights come on by themselves as he enters. It’s cool, beautiful, convincing and most importantly, believable.

Spike Jonez is known as a great director with a keen eye and Her keeps those compliments coming. It’s a sharp looking movie, carefully crafted with a warm color scheme. I’m super impressed by the writing as it tackles hard and new subjects about love and relationships with brains and grace. Dialog never sounded trite, stupid or condescending. Part of this success relies on Joaquin Phoenix who delivers a brilliant performance as Theodore.  He’s in just about ever single scene, often by himself with the voice of Scarlett Johansson as Samantha (the name OS1 gave herself when Theodore first installs the program). The whole time I watched I never thought I was watching Joaquin, but Theo (maybe it was the mustache).

I can’t say enough good things about Her. So much so that I can’t think of anything bad to say about it. I wasn’t sure how Jonze was going to finish this story, but he pulls it off with a great and thoughtful ending that solidifies it as a must see movie.

A reboot of the franchise that started in 1987, Robocop updates the Detroit police officer turned android/cyborg story for today’s world. The original, directed by Paul Verhoeven, is a sacred cow of 80’s dystopian action movies so there was a lot of raised eyebrows the moment the remake was announced. While mostly a good effort with good ideas to refresh an idea that is still very applicable (if not more so) today, Robocop ends up more like a half filled balloon than the zeppelin it could have been.

I’ll start with what I liked. A good cast is always important and there are some good people, namely Joel Kinnaman as Detective Alex Murphy, Gary Oldman as Dr. Dennett Norton and Michael Keaton as CEO of Omnicorp Raymond Sellars. The set up is done well. In the not too distant future, Omnicorp has a successful business overseas selling robot security enforcement but a bill banning such use for robots in the USA keeps them (and their profits) from expanding. Raymond Sellars comes up with a twist to their product line, a hybrid man and machine that will circumvent (and ultimately completely remove) the bill. He taps Dr. Norton (who makes highly advanced human prosthetic for Omnicorp) to head this Robocop project. They need a good candidate though. Meanwhile, out in the wilds of Detroit, Detective Alex Murphy sniffs out some internal corruption in his police department so a hit is put out on him to get him off the case. A car bomb all but kills him. 80% 3rd degree burns over his body, missing limbs, the works. Omicorp approaches Murphy’s wife with their proposition and she ultimately accepts. What follows is raises questions of ethics and power in media, medicine, security, privacy and corporations.

The special effects are mostly good, the original Robocop design is seen with some alterations before the suit is further modernized in black (partly due to focus testing, nice idea from the writers). There’s a wild and successful scene where Murphy is taken apart so he can see the reality of his situation, he is far more machine than man now. But he does have his brain and his memories, he’s still Alex but in a different body (with sweet fighting capabilities). The pull on Alex’s humanity is done well as he’s manipulated with technology to serve the corporations needs (in the name of profit) but the human part of him can never be held down for long. Robocop going “against protocol” is always the best.

Now for what I didn’t like. Michael K Williams as Murphy’s partner, Jack Lewis, was a waste of talent for the role he was given. Dr. Dennett Norton is shown as an ethical and good person, but is persuaded to go against his wishes far too easily and quickly multiple times. There’s a scene where Sellars is trying to sell someone on a lie and it’s the most transparent and obvious con that no one would ever believe it. I don’t understand why they had Michael Keaton deliver it like that and use it in the movie. It’s really jarring from the character and the actor. Finally, the action scenes are really weak. There’s four, each of which is very short and surprisingly dull given everything they had to work with. First is a basic restaurant shoot out, then a test sequence of Robocop that only gives us a taste of what he can do. Then, an assault on a bad guy HQ that is confusing to watch and the finale that is mostly ruined by poor CG. There’s no impact to any of these scenes, emotionally or viscerally. The action game is at meteoric heights today and Robocop fails to deliver each time it steps up. They toned down the gore greatly from the original to make it PG-13, but no amount of fake blood would have made this any better so that complaint is moot.

I like to treat reboots as a new entity. They should have their roots in the original, but do enough new (and well) to justify their existence. It needs to do more than retell the same story with a new paintbrush. A reboot doesn’t negate the original(s). If it turns out great, that is awesome. If it doesn’t, there is always the original to rewatch and recommend to others. I found this new Robocop to not be bad, but disappointing and can easily recommend the original over it.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is what you would call a feel good movie. Walter (Ben Stiller), is a day-dreamer who works for Life magazine in the photography department. When the magazine closes to go online only, it’s the last few weeks on the job for Walter and his remaining co-workers to put together the final issue. Sean O’Connell (Sean Penn) is one of the worlds best photographers and he has a long working history with Walter. He sends him a roll of his latest work for the magazine and thinks #25 is the one for the final cover. But it’s not with the other negatives and Walter has to find it.

Walter is a shy a guy who finds himself day dreaming about how he wants (or wishes) things would go for him. He has a crush on his co-worker Cheryl (Kristen Wigg) but can never work up the courage to ask her out (he even resorts to eHarmony in an effort to get to “talk” to her). These fantasies are often really elaborate and pull him entirely out of reality. When he takes on the task of finding the negative, it turns into a globe trotting adventure that changes his life. He comes out of his shell a more confident and positive person.

Ben Stiller directs and stars in Walter and I gotta say it’s some impressive stuff. The special effects are extensive and well done, the pacing of the movie nearly perfect. He balances both rolls as lead and director really well and the surrounding cast is really good. Sean Penn isn’t in much of the movie, but he does an exceptional job with his small, but important role.

Walter’s story is a good and complete one. We are introduced to who he is, get glimpses of who he was and thus how he became the Walter we first see. Sean inadvertently brings out a side of Walter’s life that he thought he could only imagine. Great movie for a long or rainy weekend, I recommend it.

Matthew McConaughey continues to impress with Dallas Buyers Club. He plays Ron Wooodroof, an electrician and part time hustler. We meet Ron when he looks a bit worse for wear and on the bad side of a betting pool. After an accident on a job site, he’s brought to a hospital where it is discovered that he has HIV. It’s 1985 and HIV/AIDS is a full blown epidemic. The moment his friends and co-workers find out he’s HIV positive, they turn their backs and make him a pariah. It’s a sad display of fear, ignorance and homophobia (Ron is heterosexual, but everyone immediately thinks he’s gay. He contracted the virus from a girl who used IV drugs).

Ron is a real stubborn guy. He fights like a cornered animal when he realizes he’s going to have to figure things out for himself. He does the research for current medical advances for the virus and asks to get on the trial drug program at the hospital. When he’s turned down and the dire circumstances for HIV/AIDS patients become clear to him, he makes it to Mexico as a last ditch effort. There, free of FDA restrictions, he manages to find some help. Ron sees his new goal, fighting the virus and the FDA at the same time.

The Dallas Buyers Club is the program Ron starts to help fellow patients (he lifts the idea from a buyers club set up in another state). Using a loophole to avoid being arrested for selling drugs, he charges $400 a month memberships where the person gets all the meds they need for the month. They are paying for the membership, not the drugs. This catches the eye of health officials as patients are going to him instead of the AZT drug trials.

It’s an incredible story, Ron was an amazing man who fought tooth and nail against a brutal illness and the red tape that claimed to be in the best interest of the people for many years. Incredible acting from McConaughey, a mind blowing, transformative performance from Jared Leto as Rayon (Ron’s transgendered business partner) and one of Jennifer Garner’s best roles as Dr. Eve.

With directing that gives the viewer a “fly on the wall” type perspective on Ron’s fight, I found Dallas Buyers Club to be a completely engrossing, compelling and touching tale of how the worst in life can bring out the best in people. Highly recommended.