"25 Possible Best Picture Nominees 2017" - Updated

"25 Possible Best Picture Nominees 2017" 

(Updated)

 “Marshall” – Actor Chadwick Bozeman who played Jackie Robinson and James Brown takes on another iconic African American in Thurgood Marshall and his earlier life before becoming the first African American on the Supreme Court.  As the nation teeters on the brink of WWII, a nearly bankrupt NAACP sends Thurgood Marshall (Chadwick A. Bozeman) to conservative Connecticut to defend a black chauffeur against his wealthy socialite employer in a sexual assault and attempted murder trial that quickly became tabloid fodder. In need of a high profile victory but muzzled by a segregationist court, Marshall is partnered with Samuel Friedman (Josh Gad), a young Jewish lawyer who has never tried a case.

“The Greatest Showman” - An upcoming American biographical musical drama film directed by Michael Gracey and written by Michael Arndt, Jenny Bicks, and Bill Condon. The film stars Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams with Jackman in the lead in the story of American showman P.T. Barnum, the founder of the circus which became the famous traveling Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

“Dunkirk” - Director Christopher Nolan of the Batman trilogies, tell the true story of May 1940, when Germany advanced into France, trapping Allied troops on the beaches of Dunkirk. Under air and ground cover from British and French forces, troops were slowly and methodically evacuated from the beach using every serviceable naval and civilian vessel that could be found. At the end of this heroic mission, 330,000 French, British, Belgian and Dutch soldiers were safely evacuated. Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh and Thomas Ryland star in this epic.  

“Phantom Thread” (or Title Could Change) – Director Paul Anderson who gave us “Boogie Night and “There Will Be Blood” offers up an American drama film set in London's fashion world in the 1950s. The film stars 3 time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis and Lesley Manvi. The music will be composed by longtime Anderson collaborator and Radiohead member Jonny Greenwood.

“Suburbicon” – George Clooney gets behind the camera as Director of a story written by Joel and Ethan Coen of Fargo fame. The film stars Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Josh Brolin and Oscar Isaac and it’s a dark comedic turn when there is a deadly home invasion in the quiet town of Suburbicon, a seemingly perfect family turns to blackmail, revenge and betrayal. 

“Downsizing” - Director Alexander Payne of Oscar nominated films “The Descendants” and “Nebraska” tells the story of a man and his wife join a community of miniaturized people after undergoing a process to shrink themselves. The film stars film stars Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, Christoph Waltz, Alec Baldwin, Neil Patrick Harris, and Jason Sudeikis. Buzz has this film listed as an early front runner.

“Blade Runner 2049” - Directed by Denis Villeneuve (Sicario) and starring Harrison Ford, Jared Leto and Ryan Gosling “BR2049” tells the story of LAPD Officer K – a Blade Runner  (Ryan Gosling), who discovers a dark secret that might bring an end to humanity. K's discovery leads him to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former blade runner who disappeared thirty years ago.

“Battle of the Sexes” – Director Danny Boyle  (Trainspotting and 28 Days Later) tells the story of The 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) which became the most watched televised sports event of all time. Trapped in the media glare, King and Riggs were on opposites sides of a binary argument, but off-court each was fighting more personal and complex battles. With her husband urging her to fight for equal pay, the private King was also struggling to come to terms with her own sexuality, while Riggs gambled his legacy and reputation in a bid to relive the glories of his past.

‘'The Post” (or it could change) - Director Steven Spielberg offers up a true story about the Washington Post and Pentagon Paper and the newspapers publication of highly classified Defense Department documents about the Vietnam War known as the Pentagon Papers and the ensuing legal battle with the federal government over the newspaper’s right to publish them. The film is expected to star Tom Hanks as Ben Bradlee, then the Post‘s executive editor, and Meryl Streep as publisher Katharine Graham.

“Darkest Hour” - An upcoming British war drama film directed by Joe Wright. The film stars Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill who faces a crucial moment against Adolf Hitler's army in the beginning of the Second World War.

“The Shape of Water” – Directed by Guillermo del Toro the film tells the story of in 1963, in a hidden, high-security government laboratory where she works, lonely Elisa a mute who is trapped in a life of silence and isolation. Elisa's life is changed forever when she and co-worker Zelda discover a secret classified experiment where an amphibious man is being held captive. Sally Hawkins is Elisa, Michael Shannon and Octavia Spencer who is Zelda.

“Mudbound” - Directed by Dee Rees, with a script written by Virgil Williams based on the novel Mudbound by Hillary Jordan. Stars Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell and Mary J. Blige about a family who relocates to rural Mississippi when they find themselves trying to cope with numerous issues, including racism and a relative's return from World War II.

“Detroit” – Oscar Winning Director Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty) tells the true story of an incident during Detroit's 1967 12th Street Riot. Starring John Boyega (Star Wars), Will Poulter, Algee Smith, John Krasinski and Anthony Mackie, the plot revolves around when police raid The Algiers Motel in Detroit in 1967 during one of the largest citizen uprisings in United States history.

“The Current War” - The film is about the competition between electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse to create a sustainable system and market it to the US public. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch (The imitation Game), Michael Shannon, Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max F.R.), and Tom Holland.

“Molly's Game” – Proliferate Screen Writer Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) starring a great cast including Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Chris O'Dowd, Bill Camp, Graham Greene and Jeremy Strong. It’s the true story of Molly Bloom, a young skier and former Olympic hopeful who becomes a successful entrepreneur and a target of an FBI investigation when she establishes a high-stakes, international poker game.

“The Glass Castle” - is an upcoming American drama film starring Brie Larson, Naomi Watts, Woody Harrelson and Sarah Snook about a young girl who comes of age when her dysfunctional nonconformist nomadic alcoholic siblings and family move to New York to be near here.

"The Snowman" - Detective Harry Hole (Michael Fassbender) investigates the disappearance of a woman whose pink scarf is found wrapped around an ominous-looking snowman. Also starring Toby Jones, J.K. Simmons (Whiplash), Jakob Oftebro and Chloë Sevigny (HBO’s Big Love).

“Mother” - An upcoming American psychological horror thriller film, written and directed by Darren Aronofsky starring  Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Domhnall Gleeson, Ed Harris and Kristen Wiig with the plot being about a couple's relationship being tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence.

“Thank You for Your Service" - Three American soldiers return from Iraq and struggle to reintegrate with their families and adjust to civilian life while also struggling to forget their memories of war. Miles Teller (Whiplash) as Adam Schumann stars along with Amy Schumer and Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider).

“The Death of Stalin" - An upcoming film directed by Armando Iannucci and chronicles the events that transpired after the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953.  Adrian McLoughlin as Joseph Stalin, Jeffrey Tambor as Georgy Malenkov and HBO’s Boardwalk Empire Steve Buscemi as Nikita Khrushchev.

"Murder on the Orient Express" - A lavish trip through Europe quickly unfolds into a race against time to solve a murder aboard a train. Everyone's a suspect as Detective Hercule Poirot sifts through 13 strangers to find the killer before another person ends up dead. Directed and starring Kenneth Branagh, along with Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer. 

“The Book of Henry” - upcoming American drama film starring Naomi Watts, Jaeden Lieberher, Jacob Tremblay (Room) and Sarah Silverman.  In a small suburban town, a precocious 11-year-old boy, Henry Carpenter and his younger brother, Peter (Jacob Tremblay), are being raised by their single mother, Susan (Naomi Watts), a waitress. Henry has a crush on their neighbor Christina (Maddie Ziegler), stepdaughter of the Police Commissioner (Dean Norris). To protect Christina from harm at the hands of her stepfather, Henry comes up with a plan to rescue her that he writes down in a book.

 “Wonderstruck” - Set in 1927 and 1977, Rose (Millicent Simmonds) escapes her home in New Jersey to catch a glimpse of her idol Lillian Mayhew (Julianne Moore) while Ben (Oakes Fegley), who lives with his family in Minnesota, runs to New York after his mother dies and he finds a mysterious note.

“The Personal History of Rachel Dupree” – 2017 Oscar Winners Viola Davis and Mahershala Ali are husband and wife set during the early 1900s in South Dakota, Rachel (Davis) and Isaac Dupree (Ali), an African American couple, raise their family on an isolated ranch in the Badlands.

“Mercy” - Lucy, the daughter of a man who is on death row, falls in love with Mercy, a woman on the opposing side of her family’s political cause. As a result, Lucy’s value for truth is tested as her world begins to unravel. Kate Mara & Ellen Page.

Alien: Covenant - Review

Alien: Covenant

Sir Ridley Scott, Director of “Alien”, “Blade Runner”, “Black Rain”, “Thelma & Louise”, “Gladiator”, “Black Hawk Down”, ‘Hannibal”, “Match Stick Men”, “Robin Hood”,  “American Gangster”, “Body of Lies”, and “The Martian”  brings to the screen his latest in “Alien Covenant”  the sequel to his 2012 “Prometheus”.

THE ALIEN FRANCHISE: Over a span of 38 years "The Alien Franchise" has become a bit of a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. If you try connecting these stories solely with the years they were released .i.e.  Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992), Alien: Resurrection (1997), Alien vs Predator (2004) and Prometheus (2012), you will surely discover they are no longer chronological linked, with some no longer even relevant at all. Such is the case with the films from 1992, 1997 and 2004 who are not really worth any of your consideration going forward if you are an "Alien" purist as I am.

As it stands now Director Ridley Scott has offered up a new energized interpretive refurbishing of "The Alien Franchise" with the development of a series of cinematic prequels to tell the story i.e. “Prometheus and Covenant”, as well as for any future “Alien” films he may portend to deliver that will eventually take us back to the very beginning of the original “Alien” in 1979. Got it?

BACKGROUND No.1: In the film year 1979 “Alien” starring Sigourney Weaver, we find her as Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley with a seven person crew on a mining spaceship called the Nostromo. On their way home to earth they receive a distress signal that results in them landing on an abandoned planetoid designated as LV-426. When the crew investigates they come upon a crashed derelict "horseshoe shaped" spaceship. Once inside crew member Kane becomes infected with a face hugging creature that kills him using him as a host to eventually evolve into a killing xenomorphic entity that eventual forces Ripley to both abandoning and destroying her ship. It’s the galactic year 2122. Got it?

BACKGROUND No.2: In the film year 1986 “Aliens” Ripley is discovered in her shuttle in hyper sleep for 57 years after destroying her ship the Nostromo. Awakened, she is told that the same Alien planetoid LV-426 that she landed on years ago is now inhabited with a large group of scientist working to "terra forming it" for sustainable life. The problem is they have not been heard from the workers there in a while. So a contingency of hardnosed Marines and Ripley as a special advisor are dispatched back to LV-426 to investigate why they lost communication with the people there. When they arrive Ripley discovers the scientists have been overran by the same “Aliens” species she previously battled on the Nostromo to be now embryonic host for “baby aliens”. Ripley narrowly escapes by nuking from orbit the entire LV-426 planet from the mother ship USS Sulaco.. It’s the galactic year 2179. Got it?

BACKGROUND No.3: In the film year 2012 “Prometheus” (A prequel to the 1979 "Alien") we find two archeologist as part of a science exploration crew landing on a distant moon now labeled LV-223 aboard the scientific vessel named Prometheus. Searching for “Engineers" who are believed to be the creators of human life on earth, the ship Prometheus is destroyed when it was discovered the Engineers wanted now to destroy life on earth with a “black goo” substance. Crew members Android David and Dr. Shaw survive the catastrophe by commandeering an alien “horseshoe shaped” spaceship to find the home planet of the Engineers to answer the questions …………. “Why they made us and then want to kill us?”. It’s the galactic year 2094, - 28 galactic space years BEFORE THE 1979 "ALIEN” story where Ellen Ripley begins. Got It?

“ALIEN COVENANT” PLOT: In "Alien Covenant" it’s the galactic year 2104, nearly 10 years after Dr. Elizabeth Shaw and android David blasted off from LV-223 to the engineers’ "paradise planet" in their commandeered alien "horseshoe shaped" spaceship.

On the ship Covenant we see a new crew on a deep space mission transporting sleeping 2,000 colonists in cryostasis to a paradise planet designated Origae-6 in order to start a new life. There is also a new synthetic android on board named Walter who is an identical look alike to the android David who was a survivor with Doctor Shaw of the previously doomed Prometheus expedition.

When they are almost to their destination the Covenant is alerted with a random transmission sounding like John Denver’s song “Country Roads” which alerts them to the presence of a nearer by planet that has better conditions for supporting life.

The Covenant crew takes the easy option by setting down on the untested and uncharted planetoid environment…………... “Wow!!! There is air here. There is wheat to eat. What could be bad about this place?”……………. Uhh, why are there no animals around?..........Gulp.

Shortly after arriving on this mysterious wonderful looking world things soon turn ferociously dark and dangerous when a hostile alien life-form becomes a terrifying entity for the crew to battle for their survival. Got it?

REVIEW: Smartly so, Director Scott draws his Covenant inspiration from his 1979 “Alien” and James Cameron’s 1986 “Aliens” while connecting in a satisfying way a link to his “Prometheus” and its conclusion.  That’s good.

Technically speaking, from both “Alien and Aliens” we see the return of the original elongated helmet head "alien” with bag pipes coming out of his back, acid for blood and slobbering drool to be the central menace that "Alien" Science Officer Ash once said was   …….. “The perfect organism, who’s structural perfection is matched only by its hostility and purity as a survivor..............completely unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality”.

You know, I have never figured out why the Alien's primordial instinct is to always kill everything that is human,........... Is he in some pain physically, need a root canal or an aspirin, especially with all of those endless rows of extending teeth of steel.........Maybe he is just "alien" lonely and has no real way of conveying his deeper more intimate emotional needs, so he lashes out................Ehh, I digress.

Structurally speaking, Covenant recaptures the infusion of the moody sense of ominous dread lurking about. In addition we see the balance of the film's uniqueness as both a science fiction story as well as a monstrous horror film. There is also the eerie evoking of isolation while trying to survive in space. And there are some crafty directorial moves for the feel of genuine raw tension that kept adding up to something bigger, faster, chaotic and more amped up to the very end.  That’s good too.

But the best and most interesting aspect about “Alien: Covenant” is Michael Fassbender, who clearly deserves Oscar nomination consideration for his David - Walter imagining. As stated he plays two virtually identical-looking synthetics as David from the Prometheus and as Walter on the Covenant with absolute brilliance. A performance somehow he manages to draw clear distinctions from on the surface as two identical characters who wear the same outward poker face personas and yet making enough of a subtle enough effort to be intimately different with different agendas and different alliances. It is astounding to watching him play off one another, especially when David teaches Walter how to play a flute for some odd reason (later explained in the film). That scene is so compelling and flawlessly drawn out we hardly stop to question were there indeed two actors actually on the screen; it just felt naturally that there were.  But the critical difference is watching Fassbender Michael Fassbender’s make David from Prometheus, into some Shakespearean mix of the erudite charming dashing hero of Lawrence of Arabia and a mean as hell Lucifer-esque Frankenstein-ish Monster. He will make you squirm.

"SO DAMN IT MAN THIS IS GETTING WAY TOO LONG, IS THE MOVIE ANY GOOD?" Well yeah and you notice it right a way from its visual look. From the set design, to its graphics design and to the special effects itself, Scott spared no expense in making this  story; it is a stellar looking film. And overall it is still just a fascinating concept that continues to work these many decades later that is gripping for those of us who like our science fiction with intellectual thought put into it...............AND YET, there were some obvious flaws as well. 

With the exception of Fassbender’s work and Danny McBride’s “Tennessee” as the pilot, the rest of the crew were kind of cookie cutter, man to woman, inter-changeable with nothing to make them really distinctive. They lacked the chemistry for some unifying camaraderie as was obvious from the “Alien and Alien” films. Oh I get it; a large crew on board, clearly they are the predictable assortment for a diversified crew, but in reality they are cannon fodder; - "the body count" if you will for the pending doom to come as we systematically watch them be horrifically dispatched by the “alien". 

Also, while the story is solidly connected from beginning to end it does go a little flat after David introduces the crew to his dark and damp home for the past ten years. While Fasssbender was great to watch, I got the feeling the rest of the actors were just hanging around the set waiting for their cue to see who was going to die next..........."Hey Ridley is it my turn to be gored or decapitated now?"

“Alien Covenant” is good. It is also crazy, kinetic, macbre, theological, loopy, creepy, poetic, operatic, Shakespearean, sinister and above all just plain fun to watch. Its a quality compliment - a quality companion to "Prometheus" and the "Alien Franchise". But I  suspect Scott will keep getting this story better probably in the two more films he promised to come. BUT WHAT I ADMIRED THE MOST was the taking of Alien Covenant in the direction of giving the fans probably what they wanted, ………an interstellar frightening gory tale that stays in its gory horror lane by delivering nonstop fear and terror whether it is completely plausible or not with some twists and turns you may anticipate and others you may not.

WARNING: I noticed with the ending screen credits that hockey masked wearing, machete toting and murderous sociopath killer Jason Voorhees of “Friday the 13th” fame wrote the screenplay for "Alien Covenant"……………Hell, I'm just kidding. BUT, this is a heads up for some of you that "ALIEN Covenant" is a gruesome display which Director Scott seemed to readily enjoy. Yes, “Covenant” is drenched in a lot of erythrocytes and thrombocytes (medical terms for red & white blood cells) as Ridley goes all Vin Diesel-ish “Fast and the Furious" on the slaughter factor holding nothing back, executing the carnage in very imaginative ways.

In the end Covenant clearly moves on to another film. It also moves on to creating more questions to be answered.  Who again are the engineers?   Why again did they create us? Why again did they want to kill us?  What is the black goo? Who and why created the “xenomorphic alien”? Why do humans who touch the goo turn into monsters? WHY? WHAT? WHERE?

“Covenant” does leave Ridley Scott with a plenty of plot possibilities for his two more films. To a larger point, while I have no direct script knowledge on how these series of prequels will link up to the LV-426 planet of the 1979 Alien,  I still have a pretty good idea as to what might happen going forward. But in the end, according to the timeline I laid out, Ridley Scott has about 18 more "galactic  years" to take us back to that crashed derelict "horseshoe shaped" spaceship on that cold uninhabitable planet with the crew of the Nostromo and it's Captain Dallas, Warrant Officer Ripley and their crew of Lambert, Kane, Brett, Parker and that creepy milk drinking android named Ash................... The Alien future looks sinisterly good and I cannot wait. 

Got it?

3.50 Stars

The Wall - Review

The Wall

Starring only two actors in John Cena and Aaron Taylor-Johnson ("Nocturnal Animals), “The Wall” is a deadly psychological thriller that takes place in 2007 following two US soldiers who are pinned down by an Iraqi sniper with nothing but a crumbling brick wall between them. Their fight becomes as much a battle of physical will as well as emotional wits to out maneuver one another in this cat mouse game of lethally marksmanship.

REVIEW: “The Wall” is a smart examination of personal self-examination while under the duress and threat of being killed by an anonymous assassin – killer. Specially, the film is more about a personal cathartic cleansing than it is purely about military combat. It’s a bare bones look at how life and death stress and situations seems to be an unusual catapult launching point for unbridled confessions of one‘s most inner deep regions of the soul.

HEY, DOES THIS PLOT SOUND FAMILIAR? Well it should. In 2003 Director Joel Schumacher along with Colin Farrell in the film “Phone Booth” examined similarly a street hustler named Stu who became locked both figuratively and emotionally in a perilous pinned down captive situation inside a New York City phone booth, all the while an anonymous caller (the voice of Kiefer Sutherland) threatens to put a bullet in his head if he ever leaves the booth.

But what started out in “Phone Booth” as a simple action thriller about a deranged killer on the loose, cleverly flipped into a careful meticulously story along the lines of a significant psychological thriller.

We watch Stu go from fearing for his physically life to also fearing having to reveal personal dark secrets of his life all the while his nervously concerned wife waited nearby, including one such secret revealed he had cheated on her with other women.

Comparatively speaking (in a good way) “The Wall”, with a running time of only 80 minutes felt more like 2 hours with its gritty intensity, especially in the long moments when the Iraqi sniper and the US solider engaged in highstakes intellectual verbally jousting with each other, leaving the viewer when long periods of silence kicked in ………………”What’s going to happen next”. And while “The Wall” did have a few moments where these silences and conversations felt more tedious and dull, the story overall is pretty solid throughout.

 “Phone Booth” and “The Wall” are almost identical in structure and plot development, with “Phone Booth” the better of the two as it worked harder and smarter into gradually building up to a finale that had more reflective heft at the end. Which is the one major drawback I had with “The Wall” as its finale felt more like someone just ran out of things to say or to do.

Still overall I found “The Wall”, mostly satisfying, griping and entertaining to watch. It’s a very good rental.

3.00 Stars

Snatched - Review

Snatched

Goldie Hawn and Amy Schumer team up together in the Mother – Daughter comic adventure pairing simply titled “Snatched”.  What they should have called it was “The exhausting, stale, obnoxious, boring, off putting, brain dead film that “snatches” an hour and a half out of your life that you will never get back”. Yeah I know it’s a much longer title but I think you already know where this review is going.

PLOT: When emotional slacker Emily (Amy Schumer) gets dumped by her boyfriend (Randall Park) right before they’re planning to take a trip to South America, she decides to go with her overly cautious conservative mother (Goldie Hawn) instead. Things start out rocky as it’s clear the two are very opposite in their approaches in life as they end up bumping their heads at every turn instead of having fun by bumping margarita glasses together. Things only get worse as the two find themselves embroiled in a dangerous kidnapping scheme by an overly charming and handsome tourist Emily meets at a bar. Once captured the criminals call to their home back in the states speaking to Emily’s Brother Jeffrey demanding a $100,000 ransom for their safe return. Only problem is Jeffrey is a 40 year old man who still lives with their mother because he has a phobia about leaving the house as well as interacting face to face with strange people.

Feeling they are going to die given the plight of their circumstances both mother and daughter reluctantly band together forgetting all of their petty differences in the attempt to making it out of paradise alive.

REVIEW: “Snatched” may be one of the dumbest films I have seen given that the plot and trailers looked to have offered far more promise. Generally speaking if you categorize a film as a “comedy adventure” then I should do more than chuckle two times the whole movie. More importantly, I should not chuckle in a crowded theater by myself. Literally I heard not one patron in the theater laugh out loud once during its 90 minute running time. This film was depressing to watch two actors make such fools of themselves trying to connect the plot to something that was designed to be an homage to mother – daughter relationships as well as take you down the path of some good biting humor and “adventurous” entertainment.

Take it from me, entertainment wise, you would derive more pleasure by driving cross country from California to New York just to watch your initials harden in some freshly poured sidewalk cement…………………….in the dead of winter…………………in below zero temperatures ……………….than to spend money on this clunker of a film.

Per usual I never say not to see a film, but if you do want to see it, I suggest you do not waste your mother’s day money watching this in the theater. Nor should you Netflix it, Redbox it or pay $6.99 for it on cable “On-Demand”. Instead wait for it to come on TNT as part of your free basic cable…………………..in the year 2055. You will be senile enough by then to laugh out loud.

1.00 Star 

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 - Review

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2

Coming off the highly successful debut 2014 film “GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY”, we again find Peter Quill aka “Star Lord” intergalactic bounty hunter leading his unusual assortment of team members thrust into danger with the mission of saving the galaxy.

In this 2017 sequel “GOTGV2” we find the “Guardians” (as they call themselves) traversing the outer reaches of the cosmos after being hired by a powerful alien race called the Sovereign to protect their precious “energy batteries” from invaders. When it is discovered that Rocket has stolen these items they were sent to guard, the Sovereign dispatch their armada to search for vengeance. But as the Guardians try to escape, the mystery of Peter's parentage is revealed causing a whole new circumstances for them to be concerned about while fighting off their pursuers.

In the original 2014 film “GOTG” it had a concept that was smart, fresh, tongue and cheek silly, irreverent, sexy, filled with timely humor, good music and a big heart, all the while encasing all of these attributes into a solid plot for these rag tag adventurers to protecting an object called “orb” that would end up saving the universe. The technical strength of that 2014 film was it never strayed too far from its principle lead character “Star Lord” while at the same time balanced out the rest of the story with timely supporting performances from “Root”, “Rocket”, “Yondu”, Drax and “Gamora”. The result was a fun filled refreshing new take on the science fiction space adventure genre.

In this 2017 sequel effort Director Peter Gunn directs “GOTGV2” with the same characters and the same refreshing and imaginative look, but he totally ignores the need to keep one foot of the film rooted in some timely comedic interplay between all of the “Guardian” principles. This result this time out is a film that was not only narratively confusing with its sloppy storytelling, it also felt for all of its 2:18 running time to be perpetually hollow, obnoxiously loud, routine in its execution and just plain depressing to watch. Somehow Director Gunn, who directed the first film, managed to double down on the “smart dumb stuff" from the original effort and made this film just dumb. At the same time he completely strips all of its crafty comedic timing for a dramatic bloated exotic mess of a story between the principles that never made any real sense and never was very clever.

“GOTGV2” still does offers a few good moments of crazy laugh out loud humor, but not enough of it to keep the film focused into having some meaningful purpose or direction.

If you go to see this film thinking you will get the same good feeling you got from the 2014 film, something tells me you will be terribly disappointed. It seems Director Gunn forgot he made a funny film back in 2014 and instead tried to make an overly dramatic serious film this time out with very few gags along the way. Ultimately “GOTGV2” works way too hard to please all of our “senses” with too many boring characters and too many boring scenes.

Venture into the deep intergalactic cosmos of your local movie theater to see this sequel effort if you really want to, but you do so at your own $12.50 ticket price peril. I suggest waiting to see it when it is playing in your local “Red Box Galaxy” dispenser.

2.50 Stars

America’s 50+ Most Iconic TV Shows

         "America’s 50+ Most Iconic TV Shows"

                                  " They Generated Conversation Throughout The Week"
                                "They Had Broad Cultural Appeal - Some Were Made Into Movies"
                                                               

•                        24 •                        60 Minutes •                        All in the Family •                        American Bandstand •                        American Idol •                        Bonanza •                        Breaking Bad •                        Cheers •                        Dallas •                        Deadwood •                        Dexter •                        Dragnet •                        ESPN Sports Center •                        Fargo TV Series •                        Fraser •                        Friends •                        Game of Thrones •                        Hill Street Blues •                        Homicide Life on the Streets •                        I love Lucy •                        Jeopardy Game Show •                        Laugh In •                        Lost •                        Mad Men •                        Married with Children •                        Mary Tyler Moore •                        MASH •                        Miami Vice

•                        MTV •                        Oprah •                        Oz •                        Price is Right •                        Saturday Night Live •                        Seinfeld •                        Sesame Street •                        Sex and the City •                        Sopranos •                        South Park •                        St. Else Where •                        Star Trek •                        Survivor •                        The Americans •                        The Cosby Show •                        The Daily Show •                        The Dick Van Dyke Show •                        The Jefferson’s •                        The Fresh Prince of Bel Air •                        The Simpsons •                        The Super Bowl(s) •                        The Tonight Show - Johnny Carson •                        The Walking Dead •                        The West Wing •                        The Wire •                        Twilight Zone •                        X- Files

Lester’s 15 Summer Possible Must See Movies

Lester’s 15 Summer Possible Must See Movies

1.   ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ (May 5)

2.   ‘King Arthur: Legend of the Sword’ (May 12)

3.   ‘Alien: Covenant’ (May 19)

4.   ‘Wonder Woman’  (June 2)

5.   ‘The Mummy’ (June 9)

6.   ‘Rough Night’ (June 16)

7.   ‘Baby Driver’ (June 28)

8.   ‘The House’ (June 30)

9.   ‘A Ghost Story’ (July 14)

10.        ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ (July 14)

11.        ‘Dunkirk’ (July 21)

12.        ‘Detroit’ (Aug. 4)

13.        ‘The Dark Tower’ (Aug. 4)

14.        ‘The Hitman's Bodyguard’ (Aug 18)

15.        ‘It’ (Sept 8)