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Flash Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
THE man’s wavy untamed hair in the photograph was the closest looking to his own. No one else in the photo album had hair similar to this man, so there was a good chance that man in the photo could be his father. The young boy would pull out his mother’s photo album anytime he was feeling sorry for himself. Sitting on the sofa with the album in his lap he would stare at this one particular photograph of the man with the wavy hair and wonder what the man was like. The little boy would get lost inside his imagination, placing himself next to his possible father in a variety of scenarios. They would be at the amusement park; sitting side by side in a roller coaster that was about to climb up a steep embankment, their hands tightly clenching their shouldstraps with their legs pressed up against each other. For several years the young boy believed his real father was out there somewhere. SOME people were born into a family while others created their own. A basic definition of family is a group of people related to one another. It could be by blood or there may be something else in common. I have a friend who has a family by birth. Though she continues to try over and over, her and her family have different expectations or maybe it is just different feelings of what makes a family. She has been disappointed more times than not with her so-called family. The only time they do something as a family is if it is convenient for her siblings; they have never gone out of their way for her. So the windup is my friend has started to create her own supportive family among her friends. This action science fiction film will show you what my friend did in her life. SETTLING into their roles as the Guardians of the Galaxy, the group of friends encounter strong forces that will test the bonds they have recently formed with each other. This adventure sequel starred Chris Pratt (Jurassic World, Passengers) as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana (Star Trek franchise, Nina) as Gamora, Dave Bautista (The Man with the Iron Fists, Spectre) as Drax and Michael Rooker (The Bone Collector, Jumper) as Yondu. Right from the start this picture grabs you with its special effects and action packed scenes. And just like the original movie, this one also had a great soundtrack. I thought the script was intriguing with its strong theme of family. Not wanting to get too deep with this theme the writers did not forget to include the same type of humor that was used in the last film. Now this brings me to my issue with this movie; it unfortunately was not the first one because since we are familiar with the new franchise, this installment did not have the same fresh quirkiness because I had seen it before. I do not consider this a major complaint; I still laughed and enjoyed the action. If you are not a fan of science fiction I am not sure you would get totally into this picture, but I am sure you would not be able to stop your feet from tapping along to the music. There were three extra scenes during the credits and one more brief scene at the end of the credits.
3 stars
Flash Movie Review: The Last Man on the Moon
I used to think that each of us had a finite amount of breaths inside of us; once you used them up you were done. So I was careful with my breathing, trying not to sacrifice any of them needlessly. This took place when I was a kid. Though I grew out of that phase I still believe everyone has to sacrifice something to achieve a goal. Recently I met someone who wants to start writing a movie blog. Their enthusiasm is contagious with the excitement they display when talking about their recently seen films. The screen does not matter much to them for they watch movies on their television screen, cellular phone, computers and when possible at a movie theater. If I remember correctly, for the month of January they had seen something like 70 films. You just know this individual had to give something up to devote so much time to movie watching. With my own movie site I know I have had to sacrifice social interactions with friends and family so that I could get to the movie theater. Besides there are not many people who can or want to sit with me watching 3 films in a row when I am forced to do it at times. Heck, I even have to sacrifice housework sometimes to get to a movie theater, but this I do not mind too much. The point is each of us who want to get or do something has to give up or sacrifice something to make it happen. I refer to this as the pluses and minuses of life; for every plus you gain there is a minus that comes with it. If you don’t believe me watch this documentary about the last man to have flown to the moon. ASTRONAUT Eugene Cernan did not start out wanting to be an astronaut; he just absolutely loved to fly, the faster the better. This film festival winning biographical movie was its own little time capsule of American history. With personal and never before seen footage, interviews with fellow astronauts like Alan Bean and Eugene’s commentary; this was an interesting adventure picture. The way I can describe this movie’s affect on me is to say I felt like the history I knew about the Apollo space program just got colored in with more details. The tidbits Eugene offered about NASA along with archival footage kept my interest throughout the film. Oh, and before I forget I wanted to make sure to mention I loved the quote Eugene’s wife stated about staying home. One does not need to be a science fan to enjoy this documentary because the story really was about the sacrifices and effects one experiences as they strive to reach a goal in their life. Luckily we are able to be witnesses to a memorable event that was not only historic but personal. In the scheme of things seeing this movie would fall into the plus column of one’s life.
3 1/4 stars
Flash Movie Review: Earth to Echo
It was a different time where a discarded flashlight was a ray gun and a retractable ballpoint pen was a rocket ship with extra thrusters. It was in the alley behind our houses where my friends and I would let our imaginations lead us on untold adventures when we were kids. A broken tree branch became my secret trap detector. I would test the ground with the prod of my stick, making sure there were no trapdoors before we would venture forward. There was one particular tricky spot where apartment buildings flanked us on both sides; their dark gangways always open in a petrified scream with a whistling wind forcing its way out towards us. We could never be too careful. On extremely hot days each of us had our empty dishwater bottles filled with cold water that we would spray at each other to keep our body temperatures down while we traversed the scorching landscape on the planet Mars. We never had a dull moment as we played and explored around our neighborhood. EXPLORERS are what three friends would have to be when a strange signal suddenly appeared on their cell phones in this science fiction movie. Newcomers Ted Halm, Brian “Astro” Bradley and Reese Hartwig played Alex, Tuck and Munch; the three friends who followed the signal that would lead them to an out of this world destination. This action family film started out with the good idea of having the three friends taking off on a mysterious adventure. I am not a fan of the handheld filming look, so I quickly became annoyed with the unsteady camera shots. The actors were adequate; I took them as their characters. When they were talking to each other the script was fine; however, the rest of the script was bland. There were really no big exciting or tense parts to this picture. If Jason Gray-Stanford (A Beautiful Mind, Monk-TV) who played Dr. Lawrence Madsen was to be the “bad guy” the writers could have made him more extreme. Except for a couple of scenes I thought the special effects were paltry. Now to the biggest issue I had with this film. This story was done before by director Steven Spielberg when he filmed E.T. He did a wonderful job where the movie is considered a classic. If a movie studio is going to create anything that resembles that film they need to make sure they get the best people to do their best work so the viewer will not be reminded of E.T. This did not happen and in fact, this movie had no imagination. Except for young kids who are not familiar with E.T. I cannot recommend spending money to see this film. There was a brief extra scene at the end of the credits.
1 3/4 stars
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