Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

By George M. Thomas

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 opens on screens Friday.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 earns a rare distinction.  It joins a list of films -  THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE– that equals or outdoes a predecessor.

A myriad of reasons reveal themselves to bolster that assessment.  Guardians, however, has shown in two outings that it’s the one series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that can balance humor, action and heartfelt emotion into a charming, irresistible cinematic cocktail – one that’s easy to consume and say “Thank you, please, may I please have another.”

Live By Night

By George M. Thomas

Ben Affleck and Zoe Saldana in Live By
Night.

As a filmmaker it’s been fair to say that Ben Affleck has earned the reputation as steady.

As his subject matter as a director started in his hometown of Boston with THE TOWN and veered into history with ARGO,  Affleck displayed natural skill as a director.  He continues that with LIVE BY NIGHT, a cinematic trip that combines both - his love for Boston with a loving look back into history.

While Boston isn’t the complete focus, it plays a distinct role in who Doug MacRay (Affleck), the film’s morally fluid center, is even as he takes hold of a criminal enterprise in Prohibition-era Tampa, Fla.

LIVE BY NIGHT possesses a sense of style along with memorable characters and a captivating story.   It’s an old fashioned morality tale trussed up with some modern trappings.

But at its heart is the story of MacRay, a young guy making the mistakes young guys make.  He’s impetuous.  He’s intelligent and he’s ambitious.

The Book of Life

Review by Bob Ignizio

Produced by Guillermo del Toro and directed by Jorge Guitierrez, THE BOOK OF LIFE derives its visual style from Mexican “Day of the Dead” folk art, and it looks beautiful. On top of that, there's a pretty decent story, one that takes the tired old love triangle formula and actually does something a little bit different with it.

The three characters at the center of the plot are childhood friends Manolo (Diego Luna), Maria (Zoe Saldana), and Joaquin (Channing Tatum). It's obvious even when the trio are kids that Manolo and Joaquin both have a crush on Maria, something that does not go unnoticed by underworld rivals Xibalba (Ron Perlman), ruler of the Land of the Forgotten, and La Muerte (Kate del Castillo), ruler of the Land of the Remembered, whom make a wager on which of the boys will eventually win Maria's heart. Xibalba picks the more physical and extroverted Joaquin, while La Muerte puts her faith in sensitive musician Manolo.

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).

Out of the Furnace (now in theaters)

*Thanks to Grace Snyder for this guest review of OUT OF THE FURNACE. There was an advance screening, but none of our regular staff could make it. The film is still showing in theaters.

Grace is a student at Kent State student who does her own blog 'Let's Get Critical' which she describes as, "reviews of films from an untrained college student with hopes of becoming a film critic."

Review by Grace Snyder

Set in the worn down, steel mill country of Pennsylvania, Scott Cooper’s Out of the Furnace opens by introducing us to Russell Baze, played by Christian Bale. Russell leads a normal life; he works at the steel mill, he visits his dying father, he loves his girl, and he takes care of his younger brother Rodney (Casey Affleck). This all changes when Russell kills a mother and child in a drunken driving incident. He is carted off to prison where he misses his father’s death, his brother’s last tour of Iraq, and loses his girl (Zoe Saldana) to the local chief of police. Upon his release, he is forced to pick up the pieces of his life, especially his younger brother who seems to have fallen off the tracks.

Star Trek: Into Darkness

Review by Pete Roche

Captain’s Log, Stardate 2259:

Damn it, Jim, it’s a dicey thing discussing STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS without revealing major spoilers, referencing past films, or alluding to episodes of the original 1966-69 CBS television series (TOS in Trekkie vernacular), like “Space Seed” and “The Trouble With Tribbles.”    

Hell, it’s still hard for some of us old dudes to concede that Gen-Y doppelgangers of the Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock played so memorably (and for so long) by William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy even exist. 

The Words

Review by Pamela Zoslov

Just before the closing credits for THE WORDS began to scroll, a loud murmur arose from the screening audience. Clearly, this is a movie that requires some discussion afterward.

The film, written and directed by Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal, is constructed as a story-within-a-story-wthin-a-story. It's about a purloined manuscript and a writer who becomes famous by publishing another man's work. The story's narrator is an author, Clay Hammond (Dennis Quaid), who has written a book about the case.