Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) Film Review

Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) was abducted from Earth as a small boy and as an adult travels the galaxy stealing stuff for money. Stealing an orb turns out to be a bad idea, as he ends up with some nasties after him, led by Gamora (Zoe Saldana). Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) is a genetic creation – essentially a talking racoon and has a mate who is mostly tree, Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) and they kidnap people for cash, and end up after Peter too. Things go bad, they end up in jail and then escape with one more hanger on – Drax (Dave Bautista). And they have to fight together to find freedom. And friendship.

And it is that corny, but it is also extremely funny and clever and not so cheesy, with loads of fights and cool crazy special effects and really bright coloured creatures, and Glenn Close and John C. Reilly and Benicio Del Toro and Peter Seranfinowicz and I think I may be a little too excited over this one so I am going to go lie down for a while.

Guardians of the Galaxy was nominated for Oscars for Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Achievement in Special Effects and for BAFTAs for Best Make Up and Hair and Best Special Visual Effects/

 

The World According to Garp (1982) Film Review

Based on a novel by John Irving, the film follows the story of TS Garp (played, as an adult, by Robin Williams), a writer with an unusual beginning. He was conceived when his mother, Jenny Fields (Glenn Close), has sex with a dying soldier when she was a nurse in the war. As a child, she rarely panders him, and often embarrasses and dominates him. When he decides, as a young man, to head to New York to pursue a career as a writer, she follows, writes her story and inadvertently becomes a hero to the feminist cause, often overshadowing and partially defining his life.

I read this book many years ago and found it compelling, and remember thinking that the film captured the themes of the book – identity, the place of women in 1970s American culture, when it is to be a man – really well. Funny that, because watching it this time made me wonder why they hated women so much. By ‘they’, I mean many of the male characters in the film, the filmmakers, and even John Irving. Things that can be forgiven of a man have horrifying results for the women, and the women in the film are so extremely aggressively hateful of the men as well. While the individual main characters seem to truly care for each other, everyone else is a caricature, from the hooker with a heart of gold, to the militant feminists disfiguring themselves in a misguided way of supporting a rape victim, even to the horny male student insisting on forcing a sexual act from his lover.

Perhaps it is just that there is far too much story for one film, and in trying to cram it all in, too much of the important detail and nuance is lost. Or perhaps John Irving really did have that much hate.

The World According to Garp was nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (John Lithgow) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Glenn Close)