Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014) - Movie Review

Official Score = 4 Devils

So far I have to say that I am pretty impressed with what Marvel has been doing in it's continuous creation of mega-box office smash hits from the comics that helped bring Marvel in to the world of popularity!

Let's take, The Avengers (2012), besides the fact that this movie is the culmination of a lot of the truly fantastic Marvel Super Hero franchises that have come out in the new millennium, (including: Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor & Captain America,) this movie has helped catapult these stars and their respective independent movie series in to the stratosphere!

And you know what? Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014) is another ultra successful notch in Marvel's prolific collection of mega hits!

The movie poster for: Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014).

Written by: Nicole Perlman (Thor), James Gunn (Dawn Of The Dead) & Directed by: James Gunn. Starring: Chris Pratt (Jurassic World), Zoe Saldana (Star Trek), Dave Bautista (Riddick), Vin Diesel (The Last Witch Hunter), Bradley Cooper (American Sniper), Michael Rooker (Slither), Karen Gillan (Doctor Who), Glenn Close (Mars Attacks!).

"Well he don't know talkin' good like me and you, so his vocabulistics is limited to "I" and "am" and "Groot," exclusively in that order."

- Rocket Raccoon (A quote from: Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014))

Now this awesome tale, tells the story of how an intergalactic thief, (and the only human traveling in outer space), Peter Quill (Chris Pratt steals a rare precious orb for a privateer who intends to sell it... The only thing is that, 'Ronan: The Accuser' (Lee Pace), who also happens to be working for a secret benefactor, (who has a dark desire to acquire it,) also is trying to get it as well!

During this time, Peter ends up being imprisoned with, 'Rocket Raccoon' (Bradley Cooper), Groot (Vin Diesel), (Both of whom had helped get Peter arrested on Nova Prime,) Gamora (Zoe Saldana) & Drax: The Destroyer (Dave Bautista)...  Initially they escape with the intention of selling the orb.

The Guardians Of The Galaxy... Their first mission... Escape from prison!

But when they find out what the orb is, and with the impending danger to the Nova Empire, they make themselves 'The Guardians Of The Galaxy', and decide to deliver the orb to the heart of the Nova Empire, and stop Ronan: The Accuser before he can deliver it to his master!

Now I will be honest and say that when I first heard of this movie I had not held out much hope for it... Don't get me wrong, I knew it would be good, I just didn't know how good! I mean everything about this movie was so well done, that I can totally see why this became one of the highest grossing movies of 2014!

Slither (2006) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_325" align="alignright" width="263"] Official Score = 3 Devils[/caption]

Growing up in the 90s as a fan of horror and science fiction movies, some of my favorites were and still are such films as, Scream (1996), I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and even, The Faculty (1998)... I thought that these and a lot of the other horror and science fiction (rather it is mainstream or indie) were pretty well made and a lot of fun to watch!

The truth is though is that when the new millennium hit, it seemed to me like filmmakers kind of lost the momentum that they had managed to gain in the late 90s with some truly awful horror and science fiction movies that came out in the first part of the new millennium (I would say that since then though that the quality of the movies in these genres have gotten better and better though.)

The reason that I mention all of this is that I just recently saw an indie B Sci-Fi/Horror movie that was not only a lot of fun, and was well made, but also was a reminder of some the great classic Horror and Science Fiction movies of the 1990s, and that movie is, Slither (2006)!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="190"] A truly fantastic film![/caption]

Why was this movie so great? Well first off I wanted to say that this movie has an amazing cast of actors and actresses, including: Nathan Fillion (Serenity), Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games), Michael Rooker (Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer), Rob Zombie (Halloween), Lloyd Kaufman (Terror Firmer) & Jenna Fischer (The Office).

I also thought that the story was pretty awesome and brilliantly created, in that the movie takes place in a small town, and tells of how after an Alien symbiote queen lands on Earth, a man by the name of Grant Grant (Michael Rooker), while sexually frustrated and about to cheat on his wife, Starla (Elizabeth Banks), ends up in the woods with a younger woman, but after coming across this weird Alien, ends up being infected by the queen and becomes the host!

Now at first everything seems to be normal, but as the new Alien/Grant infects the young woman, and the woman becomes fatter and fatter, weird things begin to happen, (such as dogs, horses, cows and the like disappearing, which brings Chief Bill Pardy (Fillion) to investigate...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="499"] Chief Pardy & his team as they investigate some one who just seemed to be really, 'hungry'...[/caption]

But when the woman gives birth to hundreds of these tiny little worms/symbiotes that begin to take over the town, Chief Pardy will have to gather up the last surviving towns people to stop the Grant/Alien from destroying the town and eventually the world!

The other thing that I liked about this movie is the fact that the style in which this movie was made was like an awesome homage to classic 90s Horror/Sci-Fi movies, and that they also gave a kind of fun homage to John Carpenter's, 'The Thing' when they named the mayor, 'Jack Macready' (Played by: Gregg Henry), and that it looks like his store is called, 'R.J. Macready's', (In John Carpenter's, 'The Thing' the lead character's name is, R.J. Macready!)

As a matter of fact, the only thing that I wasn't completely satisfied with, is the fact that this is supposed to be a a Horror/Sci-Fi/Comedy... But although this movie has its moments with comedy... It is more just simply awesome then funny!

In the end, I really found this one to be an awfully fun time, and if you check it out you might find the same as well!

http://youtu.be/QfPkYyfCvOU

Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer (1986) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_322" align="alignright" width="258"] Official Score = 1 1/2 Devils[/caption]

Written by: Richard Fire (The Borrower), John McNaughton (Wild Things) & Directed by: John McNaughton. Starring: Michael Rooker (Jumper), Tracy Arnold (The Shot) & Tom Towles (Night Of The Living Dead)

This bizarre tale is a story about two friends... And their mutual interest in murdering people... You see Henry (Rooker) and Otis (Towles) , who met while they were in prison, and when they got out, they found a tiny little hovel of a small apartment building and ended up moving in together.

During this time, Otis is trying to stay about as clean as possible (despite the fact that he is a degenerate of the worst kind,) and Henry is sort of a handy man about time... That is about to change when Otis's sister, 'Becky', (Arnold) comes to town to stay with her brother after the damage that was caused on her by her husband...

Now what she doesn't know, and what neither Henry or Otis will come to expect, is that after a short period of time of weird domestic bliss, they will start down a road that none of them ever expected, and some may not survive from!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="610"] This strange family and their bizarre domestic bliss...[/caption]

On the plus side, I suspect that this movie was in some capacity the inspiration for Rob Zombie's, House Of 1,000 Corpses (2003).

Also I think that this movie may have been the inspiration for people to start making movies based on the events of real serial killers.

In the end though, as a movie, this movie was bland and predictable (about the only thing from the movie stand point is what I mentioned above, as well as the fact that being a fan of Michael Rooker, I found seeing him in one of his earliest roles was quite cool!)

As a movie based on a true life serial killer, the movie was disjointed, and sorely lacking cohesion in showing the darker side of the crimes that this guy committed!

In truth, this is not one of the better horror movies I have seen that are based on true events, and unless you have the patients to wait till it starts getting good (which it does toward the end of the movie... A little to late to really make anything of it), than this movie probably is not the movie for you!

http://youtu.be/OHVHqOoQf5k