Movie: The Inbetweeners 2

These four guys are our generation's version of the Marx Brothers, sort of...

I think this film is easily better than the first one, but I put that down to the fact that it is set in Australia. Well, it's the English version of Australia, which as an Australian, I find hilarious.

This film is definitely not for the faint of heart. This movie makes Kevin Smith look like a boy scout. For example, there is one scene at the beginning of the film where one the characters dresses up as Hermione from the Harry Potter films, sans underpants. They end up in a pub, where the said character is bent over a pool table, playing pool of course. Dangling in full sight beneath the skirt are a pair of rather large testicles (probably rubber...), and a dog comes up and starts to lick them. It actually works better in the film than I can adequately describe here, but that's the kind of humour that this film is all about.

You probably need to see the first movie before this one (well, it does have a 2 in the title after all...), because some of the plot points are linked directly to stuff that happens in the first film.

Movie: 3D Guardians Of The Galaxy

This is an excellent movie. Easily better than I expected.

I had great reservations when I saw that one of the lead characters was an animated racoon. I had unpleasant flashbacks to Jar Jar Binks in the Phantom Menace, but this racoon fits in well with the universe and the other main characters. This is a film that does not take itself seriously, and the film benefits a lot because of that. Well done James Gunn and friends.

I wonder how much Vin Diesel got paid for his turn as the walking tree, Groot. He says a total of four words "I", "Am", "Groot" and at the end, "We". Mind you, Chewbacca doesn't have much in the way of dialogue, but Han Solo seems to understand what he is saying.

The rest of the casting is very well executed. Ex Doctor Who companion Karen Gillan is total unrecognisable as one the the lead bad guys. She also gets to kick some serious butt:

I also like the actor who plays the chief bad guy, Ronan, a guy called Lee Pace, who I actually have never seen before. He has a real big screen presence.

The movie starts out very depressingly. I actually checked my ticket because I thought the cinema was showing the wrong movie.

The 3D in this movie was very well executed. I am a huge fan of 3D, almost verging on addiction. I'm almost at the point of not seeing a movie if it isn't 3D.

You need to hang around for the now traditional Marvel teaser after the credits. This one concerns a certain bird, which George L tried to bring to the screen in the eighties with such ineptness. That would be a hoot if he actually turned up in Guardians II, but I don't think it would happen.

And finally, a shout out for the soundtrack. They have used classic seventies tracks as a backing for some of the scenes. In one scene, they used Cherry Bomb by the Runaways, and at that point I zoned out and didn't actually hear the dialogue. I was grooving away to Joan Jett's guitar.

"Cherry Bomb" by The Runaways

There's also a CD of the songs used in the film (actually 2 CD's, the songs on one and the score on the other). It's quite a good selection:

1: Hooked On A Feeling - Blue Swede
2: Go All The Way - Raspberries
3: Spirit In The Sky - Norman Greenbaum
4: Moonage Daydream - David Bowie
5: Fooled Around And Fell In Love - Elvin Bishop
6: I'm Not In Love - 10CC
7: I Want You Back - Jackson 5
8: Come And Get Your Love - Redbone
9: Cherry Bomb - The Runaways
10: Escape (The Pina Colada Song) - Rupert Holmes
11: O-O-H Child - Five Stairsteps
12: Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

As of today, August 23, 2014, this soundtrack is at number 2 on the Australian album charts.

I'll race you to the CD shop right now....


Here's a great review I just found: "Guardians Of The Galaxy" review

I keep finding all these links on YouTube. Here's another good one, a Q and A with Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and Vin Diesel: Cast Q and A