Guardians of the Galaxy

Expectations:
Here, in our "Age of the Superhero Film," many moons have passed since Marvel's last bomb. Disney has taken a film franchise and turned it into THE film franchise, and no one expects anything but greatness from this point forward... including me. Sure, Guardians of the Galaxy was going to be different, but, unlike many, I never saw the film as a risk for the Disney's Marvel franchise. With Kevin Feige behind the curtain and Disney's marketing abilities abounding, Guardians was destined to be a hit! At this point, Marvel studios has the power to do absolutely anything that they want, as long as it's connected (however vaguely) to the Avengers' universe. With all that said, I expected Guardians of the Galaxy to be different from your typical Avengers flick, and, at the same time, I expected more of the same humorous, action-packed, mass marketable, superhero mumbo-jumbo that we are all hooked on!

Plot:
For some reason, the serious opening scene of the film did not quite fit with what was marketed to me as a fun, goofy superhero flick. As a result, I was quickly worried about the things to come. But, thankfully, the film jumped back into what I expected and never stopped entertaining me, from that point on.

I've heard so much about the differences of Guardians, compared to the other Avengers-related, Marvel films, but I must say that I disagree, to a certain extent. While there is no doubt that the jokes and dialogue were a bit more mature and clever, the characters and the storyline were really no different. There was a bad guy, who was threatening the universe. There were some good guys, who couldn't quite get along. There was a forced (and obvious) love interest for the main character. There was action. There was death and revival. There were forced connections to the Avengers-world. I mean, if you take out the dialogue of Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), you have absolutely nothing left to call unique! There's no doubt that Guardians of the Galaxy was one of my favorite Marvel films, to this point, so I'm not hating on what was done here, AT ALL. I just don't know why everyone believes the film is so unique...

Characters:
Kudos to the folks at Marvel for having the guts to make a film that featured a talking raccoon and a tree that could only say three words! Sure there were some predictable traits and quirks among the cast, but, Guardians is not a film that would have been financially successful three years ago. Impeccable timing is the key to Marvel's success, and I think the world had to get ready to see these types of characters, in this light, because we have already seen different versions of most of these characters before. Drax (played by Dave Bautista) was just a better version of Thor (100% better). Groot ("voiced" by Vin Diesel) was just a happier version Hulk. John C. Reilly's Corpsman Dey was a perfect clone of Agent Coulson. And, finally, Peter Quill (played by Chris Pratt) was a dumber version of Tony Stark. Let me know if you disagree!

Negatives:
Guardians' two leading, female characters were quite disappointing to me. First, Zoe Saldana's Gamora just didn't impress, in comparison to the other Guardians. She lacked the comedic element, which is what made the film work, and her storyline just didn't interest me. Add that to the fact that she belongs to Star Trek, and it just doesn't work for me. Additionally, her (un)sister Nebula (played by Karen Gillan) was absolutely useless. Remove her from the film, and nothing changes, at all!

Positives:
I'm going to use this space to praise the greatness that was the relationship between Groot (the tree)and Rocket (the raccoon). Basically, it was a mirror of that dude and his reindeer in Frozen... but it was interesting. Rocket absolutely made the movie and was probably the only super-unique character that came out of the film. I'm already hopeful for a Rocket spin-off (probably won't happen until Phase 45). I would watch the heck out of that!

Conclusion:
Although I ranted a bit about the lack of uniqueness, Guardians of the Galaxy deserves every bit of praise that it is receiving! Marvel continues to impress (minus the Thor stand-alones), and I don't see any end in sight. I mean, bringing in Paul Rudd certainly won't hurt! While I can't wait for The Avengers: Age of Ultron, I'm now even more excited for the second Guardians film to hit in a few years. If you happened to miss out on Guardians' opening weekend, go watch! Today! It's cheap ticket day, here in Hattiesburg! I give Guardians of the Galaxy 3.78 out of 5 stars.

The Dictator

Expectations:
Heading in to watch The Dictator, I didn't quite know what to expect. Although many people love Sasha Baron Cohen's other films, my movie knowledge falls short of ever having watched either Bruno or Borat. I had a feeling that this movie was going to have more of a direct storyline and be more movie-like compared to Borat and Bruno, which were just him being in character and doing random, stupid crap (from what I have heard). Personally, I like that structured feel of a movie, so long as it isn't too predictable. Since seeing the Super Bowl ad, I have been waiting to watch The Dictator with great patience, and, while I wasn't too confident in it, I did believe that this film had the potential to be one of the funniest comedies of 2012...

Plot:
I must say that the storyline was both random and structured. There was certainly a plot, but Cohen's random, stupid crap made it's way into the film with ease. The butt of the movie's jokes mostly revolved around either racist or political themes, which opened the door for many hilarious one-liners. However, the plot itself was funny and contained a few elements that only someone as goofy as Cohen could pull off. The biggest problem was that the movie, from beginning to end, had absolutely no twists or turns. It would have been so much better if Aladeen (Cohen) ended up nuking America or something in the end. I wanted to see how far his crazed power could take his hilarity, but I felt like that film structure turned out to be too predictable for this character to really shine.

Characters:
As expected, Sasha Baron Cohen's Aladeen was in basically every scene of the entire film, and I had no problem with it. I only wish that I could dream up a character as crazy and genius as Aladeen. Cohen did his thing quite well, and I have a great amount of respect for him. Zoey, played by Anna Farris, wasn't that great of a character, but her occupation and beliefs made for many interesting moments. She suffered from the fact that the idea of her character was more important than the character herself (if that makes any sense). Many big actors made small appearances in the film, such as Edward Norton, Megan Fox, and John C. Reilly. There is no doubt that these small appearances made for some funny moments. Aside from these roles, however, there were very few major character, which was certainly very different.

Aladeen Character: Aladeen

Aladeen Character: Aladeen

(You will understand after you watch.)

Conclusion:
While I won't be rushing out to buy The Dictator on DVD, I am very glad that I watched it, and it is safe to say that, so far, this is one of the better comedies of 2012 (the year is still very, very young). There were many hilarious one-liners and a few really funny scenes, which usually make for a good comedy, as long as the plot is good. I do wish, however, that the film would have been a little more extreme. Did it deserve an R rating? Heck yeah! But there could have been a more extreme and unrealistic feel to the movie, due to the extreme and unrealistic idea. If you want to see a good comedy, you are probably going to have to wait a while, so I would go check this one out. Also, make sure you pay attention to the American-turned-Arabianish music. That was probably my favorite thing about the whole film. I give The Dictator 2.82 out of 5 stars.