Robot: Visual Atlas from Ancient Greece to Artificial Intelligence
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From Ancient Greece onwards, humans have been swept up in a race to replicate and rebuild...
Citizen Radio
Podcast
Citizen Radio is hosted by Allison Kilkenny and Jamie Kilstein and is dedicated to covering the...
Les Cigares du Pharaon (Cigars of the Pharaoh) (Tintin #4)
8.5
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Herge's classic comic book creation Tintin is one of the most iconic characters in children's books....
Le Trésor de Rackham le Rouge (Red Rackham's Treasure) (Tintin #12)
8.0
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Herge's classic comic book creation Tintin is one of the most iconic characters in children's books....
Stand Up & Sock it to Them Sister: Funny, Feisty Females
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"Funny is Funny" Joan Rivers But how do you make it in the world of comedy if you are a woman? With...
Royal City: Next of Kin: Volume 1
10.0
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In his most ambitious and most personal project to date, JEFF LEMIRE spins the captivating and...
The Star Trek Encyclopedia: A Reference Guide to the Future
Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda
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In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the classic show, a fully authorized revision of the...
Star Wars
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The release of Star Wars in 1977 marked the start of what would become a colossal global franchise....
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated The Old Guard (2020) in Movies
Jul 22, 2020
And this one, THE OLD GUARD, is a fun enough and well worth checking out.
Starring Charlize Theron and based on a limited-run comics series from 2017, THE OLD GUARD tells the tale of a group if immortals (beings who cannot die) who bond together to serve the greater good of humanity.
While the plot is rather "by-the-book": young, hip, ego-maniacal mega-industrialist uses nefarious methods to capture the immortals to use for his own (money making) purposes, the star power of Theron holds this piece together in interesting ways.
Make no mistake - this is Theron's film (as the oldest of the immortals) and she is terrific. She demands attention anytime she is on the screen and when she shares the scene with strong actors like Chewitel Ejiofor(12 YEARS A SLAVE) and young Kiki Lane (IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK), it makes for an interesting film, indeed. Unfortunately, the rest of the Immortals (Luca Marinelli, Marwan Kenzari and - especially - Matthias Schoenaerts) are rather bland and the "big bad" (played by Dudley Dursley himself, Harry Melling) and his generic henchmen just aren't interesting enough.
The Direction, by Gina-Prince Bythewood, and the fight choreography is professional, but nothing special, which adds to the "meh" I was feeling whenever Theron was not on the screen.
But there is enough going right in this film that in this day where there is a dearth of new entertainment available, THE OLD GUARD fills the void quite well.
Letter Grade: B
7 Stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) in Movies
Feb 11, 2021
A lot of it's strength lies in its stellar cast once again. All the key players from the first movie are back, with a whole heap of new faces, and expanded roles for side characters. New cast members include Kurt fucking Russell as none other than Ego the Living Planet, which is wild in itself, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, as well as smaller roles for Sylvester Stallone and Elizabeth Debicki. Bigger roles for Karen Gillan and Michael Rooker are also welcome.
In terms of material, it's brimming with Easter eggs, and hints at what's to come in the future - Adam Warlock, the original Guardians roster, The Watchers, Celestials - it has some truly wonderful moments for fans of the comics.
The plot is fun enough, and all leads to the subject of family and parenthood. It has some touching scenes amongst all the space battles. My main issue is with the comedy - the jokes and quips in Vol. 2 are absolutely relentless. Where as the first movie, and plenty of other MCU entries, manage to strike a fine balance in the more comedic side of things, Vol. 2 just throws everything and the kitchen sink at the script hoping that something will stick the landing, and there are plenty of funny lines here, but there's an equal amount of jokes that miss the mark. It becomes a little tiresome, and is the exact same issue I had with Deadpool 2!
However, despite its flaws, Vol. 2 is still a lot of fun, and another decent entry into the cosmic MCU canon, and it's moving closing scene, set to Cat Stevens "Father & Son" is one of my favourites in the entire franchise. Also, Baby Groot.