MacTheMovieguy

I wish Woody Allen was more consistent. I feel like I love every-other-film of his. Case in point, I loved Blue Jasmine, but not To Rome With Love, but I loved Midnight In Paris. I should love his next film then, because I didn't care for Magic In The Moonlight.

A lot of my not caring for the film lies with Emma Stone. I absolutely love Emma Stone, and was excited to see what Woody Allen would do with her. He's stripped her of everything that makes her likable, and forced her to speak his dialogue word-for-word, and it's actually painful to watch. She doesn't speak like Woody, and she struggles to figure out how to say every phrase he's given her. It's like watching someone who can't act for an hour and a half, but it's worse here, because I loved Emma Stone in The Help, Easy A, and Zombieland. I've also heard she's good in Birdman. Woody Allen and Emma Stone don't go together.

More importantly because of this, Stone is never comfortable in her role. She never connects to her character, and never forms a connection with Colin Firth (who actually isn't bad in his role). But the film hinges on these two having chemistry, and they don't. It's a miscast of epic proportions, because it brings the whole film down. I enjoyed parts of the film, but they were mostly the parts that Emma Stone wasn't on screen. Eileen Atkins is a standout in her role.

The concept actually isn't bad. A magician is brought in to prove that a girl is faking that she has psychic powers. She's so good at what she does, she ends up convincing him, and he falls in love with her. She ends up falling for him. It should have been a good movie, but it was ruined, and Allen seemed to not notice.

I wonder if Woody is happy with the finished product, or if he realized halfway through that he'd made a mistake, and just finished the film as best he could. I probably would have just told Emma Stone to start ad-libbing, and hoping that she'd fall into the character if she was speaking her own words. Woody is too proud of a writer/director to do that. But sometimes, you get it wrong, and you can either put your foot down and freight train through the wreckage, or you can try and fix what's happened. Woody just drove straight through the wreckage.

There are worse films this year, and a charming script tries so hard to make up for the shortcomings of the finished product. It's a frustrating film, because I can directly pinpoint where it went wrong, and I have a feeling that a simple recast could have changed the entire movie. Sure, it's not as deep as Blue Jasmine was, but it could have been a little piece of magic over the summer when we often get so little. Disappointing, to say the least.

Marvel has officially won the comic book game. Guardians Of The Galaxy features a talking raccoon, a kinda-talking tree, and some of the most batshit crazy stuff they've convinced the mass market to watch. Honestly, you're watching a movie with no guaranteed A-listers, from a comic book series almost no one has read.

Chris Pratt is the read winner here, as Star Lord is a great character for him. It showcases his abilities as a leading man, as a comic leading man, as an empathetic leading man, and as a rather average leading man. He's good looking, but not in a freakish way. He's funny, but he's serious too.

Zoe Saldana has another awesome role to chalk up to her resume. Why this girl isn't a leading lady already is shocking. They should have given her Lucy. She deserves to anchor her own movies.

Also, Dave Bautista could be the next The Rock. He doesn't quite have the humor down, but then again neither did Dwayne Johnson when he was in The Mummy Returns. Dave Bautista handles the role of Drax, a character who doesn't understand sarcasm, and takes everything literally, with a tinge of humor that could hint at her having a bigger career.

Bradley Cooper adds a bunch of humor to the role of Rocket. I didn't even recognize his voice. Michael Rooker and Lee Pace round out an strong supporting cast.

The plot is basically everything you've seen before, reworked for maximum enjoyment. There's an origin story for Peter Quill, a scene right out of Raiders Of The Lost Ark, and a film with a feel of a more comedic version of Star Wars.

James Gunn does a magnificent job turning this niche franchise into a fully consumable product, and one that will be remembered favorably. James Gunn, who used to work for Troma, and directed the low-budget Slither, has shown a ton of promise here. I imagine we'll be seeing him directing a lot more in the future.

The next Guardians Of The Galaxy film isn't for another 3 years, but that feels about right. You don't want to oversaturate the market, and every two years seems like too much. That's every other year, and for a big franchise like this, it needs room to breathe. More importantly, Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana need to field other movie offers. Saldana has now starred in some of the biggest franchises, including Guardians, Avatar, Star Trek, and even the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise. It's time she got offered roles where she doesn't have to paint herself a bizarre color.

Packed with action, laughs, and plenty of great pop culture references, Guardians Of The Galaxy is one of the best films of the summer.