Blast Off Weekend: Stars Wars Day & Guardians of the Galaxy Double Feature

Space opera fans had much to celebrate as Thursday was May the Fourth Be With You and Friday was Revenge of the Fifth. At the office I had the films playing in random order, themed menu items and restrooms were decorated with Luke, Leia, Finn and Rey. We watched The Force Awakens at home and picked up a Poe Dameron figure on sale at the local Disney store. Now I have the hankering to watch Ex Machina... The Han Solo movie is currently in production and Episode VIII: The Last Jedi hits theaters in December.

Thursday also saw the summer movie season take off with the release of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2. We ended up taking in a double feature at the nearby Arclight Cinema. Part one still plays quite well as an entertaining, space trotting thrill ride even if it doesn't hold up to much deep thinking or scrutiny. Written and directed by James Gunn, Volume 2 starts off with a big and funny action sequence but surprisingly goes into character depth mode with Chris Pratt's Star-Lord being found by his dad (KURT RUSSELL), Zoe Saldana's Gamora tries to reconcile with sister who tried to kill her last movie Nebula (Karen Gillan), Dave Bautista makes a would be lady friend then Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Yondu (Michael Rooker) bicker because they're afraid to lose their adopted families. While things seemed to move quickly, the character beats and humor work but it felt like nothing really happened. Kurt Russell is great as the manifestation of an entire planet but badass assassin Gamora gets little to do. Sylvester Stallone shows up in a small role opposite Rooker for a nice Cliffhanger reunion even if we don't get a Tango & Cash or Tombstone one. All in I probably liked the film an extra 20% because of Russell and Stallone.

It was great to see Russell doing so much press for the flick and Stallone did his fair share as well. Russell and long time partner Goldie Hawn were honored with Stars on the Walk of Fame this week as Hawn has Snatched with Amy Schumer opening next week. Since taking a bit of a hiatus from filmmaking in 2006 to make wine, it's been awesome to see Russell return with Quentin Tarantino, Peter Berg, the Fast and Furious movies and now Marvel. Located past the Pantages theater, we checked out the shiny new stars and did the Tango & Cash high five over them. Now we just need Jean-Claude Van Damme to work with Spielberg, Nolan, Marvel or DC to get his honor.

Match Up Monday: D-Box VS 4DX

On Saturday I learned that D-Box and 4DX are not the same thing. We'd seen Guardians in the Galaxy and Gravity in 4DX at L.A. Live Downtown and enjoyed the immersive/roller coaster ride experience. Howard Hughes Cinemark was offering Star Wars in D-Box so I grabbed tix for our second viewing. While buying it looked like there were only two rows of seats but strangely angled away from the screen. Lo and behold we walked into a regular sized movie theater but with two rows of D-Box seats in the front. I felt I had been had and immediately wondered if any 4DX shows would be available downtown...

But let's back up. What is this 4D crap anyway? 3D is a scam we all know, you lose color palette immediately when donning the glasses and there's really not much noticeable depth on most titles. Filmmakers claim old school staples like hurling objects towards you are gimmicks so it's supposed to make you feel like you're in the film. What a load of crap. When I can see the person in front of me, the edges of the screen, there's no way this can be immersive. So adding some blades of grass in the foreground or enhanced drops of rain does f*ck all for the film. Maybe if I had on some VR goggles then I could say yes, this is totally immersive as everywhere I look, I'm in the film. But you don't need to go to a theater for that.

With D-Box, the seats move, rumble and shake with the action synchronized with what's happening onscreen. Imagine sitting on Disneyland's Star Tours for two hours basically but with less range of motion. You can adjust the level of rumble and a night time showing of Star Wars: The Force Awakens will set you back $23.00 at the Howard Hughes Cinemark. Meanwhile, downtown houses America's first 4DX theater where you have I believe eight extra sensations to put you a little more into the flick. The seats move, rumble and shake, then tilt forward and backward while you get effects like wind, bubbles, fog, scent and flashing lights to really put you into the action. A movie like Guardians was perfect for the platform as you got splashed with water when Star Lord danced across puddles, the seat vibrated by your head when shots were being fired, you dipped left and right during space ship chases and bubbles floated from the ceiling during Groot's bio-luminescent scene vault/fall scene. An 8:30 PM screening of Star Wars at Regal's L.A. Live theater will set you back $27.50. It's a hefty price tag but enhances the film that much more, truly an experience designed for all of these big budget action spectacles in this age of comic books and otherworldly adventures.

Winner: 4DX via more immersive effects and not just being a glorified massage chair gone haywire.

Gotta See(& Hear)! Laser Guardians @ Pacific Science Center

With Stan Lee's screening of The Avengers sold out, we found another fun Marvel evening event to partake in, a laser light show set to the soundtrack of this past summer's gargantuan hit, Guardians of the Galaxy. Taking place at the Pacific Science Center next to the Space Needle, the Laser Dome is credited as the largest and longest operated laser theater in the world. There was a line around the building but we got seats easy enough as many chose to just lie back on the floor and gaze. Our artists of the evening explained that the effects were done live, how that is, I have no clue.

With a puff of smoke and a dim of the lights, 45 minutes worth of colors, lights, swirls, squares, beams and animated space men, women, aliens and planets accompanied the hit soundtrack, Awesome Mix Tape Vol. 1 from the flick. The rocking, funky and weird rumblings of Blue Swede, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, The Runaways and Marvin Gaye among others made for an interesting listening party. Each song had a different laser motif going from patterns and moving parts to actual minimalist animation with a Powder Puff Girl looking character to a rocketship to the Earth passing the moon. One towards the end with straight lines to make triangles reminded me of Aliens when they cut down the door, scan the interior and find Ripley inside.

Located within walking distance of the Space Needle and Key Arena, the Pacific Science Center also had a Pompeii exhibit going on and the courtyard outside the laser dome was home to some cool dinosaur statues and the fins of killer whales coming at you in the beautiful clear water garden. Apparently they do these laser light shows pretty often so locals should definitely check it out. I could only think that this would go really well with the synth-rock 80's epic-ness of The Transformers: The Movie soundtrack cause you got The Touch if you Dare!

Summer Cinema: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Arriving 7 years after their last theatrical outing and nearly 25 since their first onscreen adaptation, Paramount's reported $125 million dollar update of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hits screens this weekend to challenge box office breaking Guardians of the Galaxy.  While it won't scale the financial heights of Marvel's sci-fi action flick, Turtles is looking to clean up $40 million bucks worth of ninjitsu fighting, pizza loving, heroes in a half shell nostalgia.  Since being announced, the new TMNT film has faced an uphill battle against naysaying fanboys who would boycott the project based on producer Michael Bay and leading lady Megan Fox's involvement alone.  I myself love Bay's work from Bad Boys to The Rock to Armageddon, parts of Bad Boys II and of course 2013's greatest film, Pain & Gain.  His Transformers films might be bloated examples but the dude knows how to make shit look good, casts familiar faces and delivers awe inspiring destruction and Bay-hem that's hard to top.  I'm pretty indifferent to Megan Fox, I don't think she's any better or worse an actress than whichever would be starlet Hollywood publicists try to push on the public. 

The production encountered an early online brouhaha with rumors of the turtles being aliens which is actually derived from the comic books (created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird) since it was revealed the mutagenic ooze came from beyond our planet.  The first images from the design stage had the turtles looking more realistic with angled features and nearly grotesque appearances, far from the cute and cuddly rounded faces of 1990's Jim Henson Creature Shop creations.  Casting wise, joining Fox as reporter April O'Neil would be funny guy Will Arnett as cameraman Vernon, Whoopi Goldberg (?!) as their boss and Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer regular William Fichtner as businessman and scientist Eric Sacks.  The turtles themselves would be played by actors utilizing performance capture and CGI.  In modern day New York City, paramilitary group The Foot Clan terrorizes the population via an unchallenged crime spree.  Wanna be reporter April O'Neil catches them in the act stealing stuff down at the docks but being stopped by a mysterious vigilante who leaves a Japanese symbol graffiti tag as a calling card that nobody notices except for her.  The Foot Clan then take hostages in a subway station to draw the vigilante out for a confrontation and are soundly thumped by what turns out to be 4 mysterious fighters.  Of course, those four are our Ninja Turtles.  This go around, April O'Neil's history is intertwined with the Turtles thus giving them a quick connection and convenient story beats.  After that it's action scene on top of action scene mixed with brotherly banter as the Turtles face off against the formidable new age Shredder whose oversized suit is like the scary offspring of Iron Man, Megatron and a Swiss Army knife.

Not expecting much, I was surprised at how at easily digestible and enjoyable Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was.  It's slick, fun and extremely fast paced with many laughs and lots and lots of action.  Director Jonathan Liebesman had previously given us the light and entertaining Wrath of the Titans, a flick that you enjoy watching and then don't think much about after.  With TMNT, once the movie gets going, it's set piece into set piece into final showdown so we're talking shadowy fisticuffs, lots of jump spinning multiple kicks, machine gun fire, hands behind your back karate, a downhill Hummer and big rig chase scene in the snow, magnetic knife launching, toppling buildings and a whole lot more set to a big, exciting score by Brian Tyler.  Oh yeah and there's pizza of course, courtesy of Pizza Hut in 2014 versus Domino's in 1990.  The Turtles look a little funny with their noses, nostrils and inhuman size but it works to give them each distinctive looks and personality.  You know you're watching a computer generated image but it's not like watching a cartoon.  The subjects of genetic experimentation by way of alien world ooze, the half shells grow up in the sewer watching television and absorbing popular culture.  The Turtles are quick witted, wise cracking and reference spewing along with their kind of lame explanation of acquiring ninja skills.  If you'll remember from the first film, Splinter watches his master Hamato Yoshi practice ninjitsu from his cage and hilariously mimics the movements.  In this version, there is no Hamato Yoshi and the crew is self taught.  Splinter is badass here though, a physical force who punishes the young Turtles with hours long physical and mental tests, has a nimble, whip like tail and knuckles up and throws down when the occasion arises. 

Moving so quickly, there isn't much time to dwell on rich character development but you get enough sense of the Turtles, April, Splinter and Sacks that you're not exactly clamoring for more.  Leo is still the calm/serious leader, Donatello the gadget guy, Raphael the insecure/macho one with Michelangelo bringing up goofball/stoner dude duties. They're all painted in broad strokes which suits the story just fine.  I was actually surprised at the economy of the script by Josh Applebaum, Andre Nemec and Evan Daugherty as everything is tied up pretty cleanly without being overly complicated or diluted.  Sure some of Fichtner's dialog is generic and delivered laughably while Megan Fox exclaiming "Shredder!" had the theater howling from it's awkward, shrieking delivery.  All in all, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles might not have the heart and charm of the original film but still delivers an enjoyable 100 minutes with enough laughs and flash for 13 and 30 year olds.  Plus, the end credits of splash pages and rap jam Shell Shocked bumping made you want to get up and do some Ninja Rap style dancing.

Interestingly enough, Paramount now holds the rights to 80's cartoon classics G.I. Joe, Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  I wonder if they'll do a Marvel/DC style universe team up...

Summer Cinema: Guardians of the Galaxy in 4DX

Marvel's latest cinematic offering, Guardians of the Galaxy, hit theaters on a wave of positive responses and a record shattering August weekend take of $94 million.  That puts it $25 million movie going dollars ahead of August's former record holder, 2007's The Bourne Ultimatum which brought in $69 million in it's first 3 days.  The story of a ragtag band of space outlaws human and extra terrestrial fighting a power and revenge mad alien terrorist, Guardians isn't exactly a household name like fellow Marvel properties Iron Man, Captain America or Thor.  That might have been a tough sell on paper but for a flick, it was great news as there's no decades deep backlog of characters and story arcs to consider to give the iconic solo hero their due.  Instead, Guardians looked like a big, fun and crazy space adventure full of flying ships, laser blasts, explosions, wise cracks, crazy looking creatures and a talking raccoon.  And for 2 hours, that's exactly what you got.

While Marvel was my brand as a kid and Captain America my favorite comic, the 1969 introduced Guardians just passed me by.  Aliens in the Marvel universe to me were the Roman-esque military clean Kree, the shape shifting Krulls then the shiny metal outfitted and feathers for hair Shi'ar.  So going in I had no preconceived notions from comic book appearances to go on and more or less trusted the casting, director and trailers.  On Earth in the 1980's, young Peter Quill has just suffered a terrible tragedy but before he can grieve is abducted by a space ship.  Cut to 26 years later (now played by Chris Pratt) and the self proclaimed "Star Lord" is Han Solo and Indiana Jones'ing his way across the galaxy stealing random stuff and working with a group of thieves known as Ravangers, led by blue skinned and color changing Mohawk equipped Yondu (Michael Rooker).  When a mysterious orb brings all kinds of bad luck on Quill, he ends up fighting with then teaming up with the motley crew of living weapon and assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Rocket (a walking, talking raccoon voiced by Bradley Cooper), his tree creature buddy and muscle Groot (Vin Diesel) and the mountain of muscle Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista).  Kree warmonger Ronan (Lee Pace) and his bald and blue sidekick Nebula (Karen Gillan) track the thrown together outfit in search of the orb which of course is revealed to be a powerful weapon that the Guardians can't let be unleashed on innocents.  70's mix-tape soundtrack, blue/red/green skinned aliens, fist fights, space chases, Judge Dredd style helmets, surprisingly not boring exposition, I Come In Peace/Mortal Kombat style projectiles, Infinity Gauntlet (although I disagree with calling him Thaa-nos instead of Thay-nos) build up and adopted family shenanigans ensues.

Directed and Co-Written by Slither's James Gunn with a screenplay assist from 1st time produced writer Nicole Perlman, Guardians is a fun ride with enough heart and character development to make it one of Marvel's most enjoyable efforts.  It doesn't try to get too deep and is satisfied with providing an overall crowd pleasing experience with lots of laughs and action.  While Marvel will never give us a film on par with Chris Nolan's dark, detailed and dramatic The Dark Knight due to it's obligation to connect the cinematic universe and provide Disney with family friendly fodder, Guardians stands as a polished and exciting entry into the canon.  Newly minted movie star Chris Pratt comes off likeable and capable without aping Harrison Ford but instead reminded me of Kurt Russell, a leading man of action who wasn't afraid to laugh at himself and have a good time.  Zoe Saldana follows Avatar, Star Trek, The Losers and Colombiana with another fierce and physical performance as Gamora while WWE superstar turned actor Dave Baustita gets to mix his formidable physique with comic timing as the literal speaking yet kind of dim Drax.  In a role you probably wouldn't have guessed if the credits didn't tell you, The Hangover and The A-Team's Bradley Cooper voices Rocket as irritable, angry and hilarious all at the same time with near overdone delivery.  Tree dude Groot only speaks 3 words and harkening back to The Iron Giant, Vin Diesel makes the most of the dialog as the only non-mammal of the team displays the most heart.

I actually ended up seeing this twice over the weekend, first in 2D then in 4DX.  2D at the former Rave now Cinemark at Howard Hughes was oddly lackluster as the colors didn't seem to pop and the sound seemed to be coming in all at one level.  I'm not one for super loud movies (McG, looking at you with your high treble, ear bleeding mixes) but when explosions have the same impact as dialog, you know something is wrong.  Today, it was time for something new, 4DX.  What the heck is that?  Another gimmick on top of the mostly BS 3D we've had shoved down our throat?  Yes and no.  The Regal Cinema at L.A. Live in downtown is home to the first 4DX theater in the states from Korean powerhouse CJ.  I believe Transformers 4 was the first flick to utilize 4DX where you're immersed in the movie with motion control seats and rain/mist/smoke/scent/wind effects synced up to the film.  Basically I figured it would be like the Star Tours ride at Disneyland but only for 2 hours.  With a premium upcharge in the $25 range, 4DX was pretty cool and worth the money.  I can't say I'd do it for every movie (Dawn of the Apes was the last title converted which seems like a waste because jack and shit happens) but for a big summer spectacle that includes flying space ships, fights and shootouts, Guardians seemed like the perfect film to try out the experience.  First off the picture was beautiful and the sound top notch.  It's a smaller theater with less seats which for some reason felt narrower to me.  Before the movie started, a quick chase trailer/demo played giving the audience a taste of what was to come as our seats shifted around as cars screeched around corners, etc.

Overall, 4DX was a fun time.  Your seat moves with the action so you're leaning left and right, up and down as numerous vessels fly around you.  It rumbles when those same ships crashed then vibrated when you're being shot at.  Fog filled the room momentarily after explosions.  Laser blasts "graze" your head in the form of puffs of air on the back of your seat while water sprays you from the front or ceiling depending on rainy or falling into a lake conditions.  You could actually turn the water feature off with a simple click on a button on your seat.  During one whimsical scene, bubbles dropped down from the ceiling to laughs and applause.  I felt like I was sitting up pretty straight but towards the end of the flick my lower back and tailbone started to get a little sore from either slouching or the constant rumbling.  With the added physical elements, you really paid more attention to the movie and it made you more invested in what you were watching so Guardians was much more enjoyable the 2nd time around than the 1st and that's in part to the 4DX experience and the fact that it's fun flick.

“I didn't have time to work out the minutiae of the plan!”