Spectre

Review by Matt Finley

Even as a casual 007 fan, I know that every James Bond film is going to engage with, or, at the very least, be reflective of, three things: current action movie trends, looming cultural anxieties, and, of course, the decades-spanning mythology of Bond himself – his women, gadgets, cars, co-workers, cocktails, and license to kill.

By virtue of that latter list – an easy inventory of all tropes Bond – SPECTRE delivers. And then some. If Director Sam Mendes’ first 007 outing, the miraculous SKYFALL, was like the best box o’ donut holes you can buy at your local bakery, his follow-up is the Sam Club’s version,  bulky and excessive, bumping around inside inferior packaging… but still un-put-downably delicious.

SPECTRE begins with 007 (Daniel Craig) secretly pursuing a posthumous tip from the former M, leading him to a mysterious ring bearing the titular terrorist group’s cephalopodic logo and a single chance to infiltrate the shadowy collective.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Review by Bob Ignizio

Abducted by aliens as a little boy, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) grows up to be a ne'er do well space pirate who calls himself Starlord, not that anyone else does. He teams up with a talking raccoon named Rocket (voice of Bradley Cooper), a walking tree named Groot (Vin Diesel), a green skinned assassin named Gamora (Zoe Saladana), and an extremely literal tattooed barbarian named Drax (Dave Bautista) to keep a glowing purple rock of immense power out of the hands of bad guy Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) who wants to use the rock to destroy the planet Xandar, ancient enemy of his race the Kree.

Other notables in the mix include Yondu (Michael Rooker), a space pirate Peter double-crossed, purple skinned evil doer Thanos (Josh Brolin), Ronan's evil underling (and daughter of Thanos) Nebula (Karen Gillan) and his other evil underling Korath (Djimon Hounsou), Xandarian cop Dey (John C. Reilly), weird hoarder dude The Collector (Benecio Del Toro), and head of Xandarian defenses Nova Prime (Glenn Close).