Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
GOTG2 was released during May of 2017. It’s supposed to take place a few months after the first movie, a first for the Marvel Universe. Usually, years tend to pass between the sequels. Anyway, we start out with the Guardians on the job. When things go wrong because of Rocket Raccoon, they end up running into Ego who’s revealed to be Peter Quill’s (Starlord) father. The group splits off with Peter, Gamora, Drax going to Ego’s planet. The others (Raccoon, Groot, and eventually Yondu) go on an adventure of their own and Nebula is along for the ride. The group ultimately regroups on Ego’s planet where major things get revealed.
Okay, Yondu. I actually like you now.
This was another nice entry into Marvel Cosmic. Whether it’s better than the first movie is up for debate but I do I think GOTG1 did a couple of things better than this one did. Then again, I can say the same about GOTG2 being better in some places. The story was pretty good. It tries to focus more on the characters this time around. I think I got a better idea with some of these characters than I did in the first movie. The stakes are also much greater than you’d think. There may be some pretty good humor, but we get some pretty good dramatic scenes here. Y’all know the one I’m talking about.
As usual, the Guardians were pretty cool. I can finally say that I liked the more humanoid Guardians like Gamora and Starlord this time around. Rocket Raccoon was still a hoot and Baby Groot was so adorable. Drax… well, I’ll get to him later. Yondu and Nebula were two characters I really latched on to here. As a villain, Ego was pretty awesome. It helped that we didn’t know what his role was at first and that Kurt Russell played him so well.
I liked that we got a better view of Marvel Cosmic in this one. While the first one hinted at stuff, this one just about goes all out. We get more obscure characters as well as a hint towards one who should have been around by now. The special effects were good as usual and the action scenes were pretty awesome. That final battle on Ego's planet was my favorite from the bunch. Also, the soundtrack was good as usual. You can never go wrong with ending the movie with Parliment's "Flashlight."
Ego: And here are the best pics of my pretty awesome beard. As you can tell, I made it good over the millennia.
There were some things I wasn't fan of, though. Most of it has to do with the comedy. While there were times where it it clicked, there were times where it didn't work for me. I also thought Drax was more or less wasted here since he was just the joke. I liked him better in the first movie where he seemed more balanced. Mantis, Ego's servant, was also okay. Other than those things and some other nitpicks, this was nice.
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Homecoming was released during July of 2017. Anyway, the movie takes place a couple of months after Civil War. Peter is doing his thing while trying to impress Tony Stark as well as his crush, Liz. Things start to get heavy when he encounters a group of advanced weapons dealers who are led by Batman—I mean, Adrian Toomes, aka The Vulture. Of course (it’s Spider-Man, y’all), Peter’s life gets difficult with trying to balance school, his personal life, and his super activities.
Now I know why I liked the school scenes. Also, Pete's got good taste.
“So,” I say with my sarcastically annoyed voice, “was this movie worth having Black Panther be held off for so long? Huh??” While Homecoming isn’t one of the best Marvel movies or even best Spidey movie, this was a nice treat. While it is the sixth Spider-Man movie, this was still a fresh take on the Wall-Crawler. When I heard that Spider-man was getting another revamp so soon after ASM2 was released, I wasn’t happy. While that movie wasn’t good, I felt we needed a break from Parker’s world. I was glad to be somewhat wrong.
Cameo time! Also, I really miss the suit from ASM2.
The story was pretty good for the most part. I thought Tom Holland was pretty good in the role of Peter/Spidey. I can’t say he’s my favorite live-action iteration yet, but he may be close. I thought the supporting cast was quite nice. They all did good jobs especially Zeyanda as Michelle. She really cracked me up with everything she said. I read that someone compared her to Helga from “Hey Arnold!” and I can see that. Of course, the Iron Man crew was good as usual and I was glad they didn’t get used too much. Also, a certain Avenger’s cameo were quite nice even though he was in that horrid mask.
The biggest surprise was Michael Keaton’s version of the Vulture. You can’t really go wrong with Keaton and I thought he was awesome here. His motives were clear and he just wasn’t a dude out to wreak havoc. He made a character who I thought was lame pretty cool. The look for Vulture was pretty awesome. If only I could say the same for Spidey’s costume, though. I liked it but when we pretty much got the perfect costume in ASM2, anything afterword would come up short. Most of the visual effects were pretty good and I thought the action was pretty nice for the most part.
Now, there were things I wasn’t a big fan of. I did think it was weird to tie Spidey so much into Iron Man’s world. I got the point, but it just felt weird. There were some comedy bits I wasn’t that big a fan of but I will say that the humor did work mostly. The story could also feel a bit derivative at times even though most of it was unique. I also thought the final fight scene wasn’t that good. If there was any place where the effects didn’t look as good, it was the plane fight. The fact that it was dark definitely didn’t help and this was something I noticed again when I rewatched it. I did like that Peter was in his non-Stark costume, though. Overall, Homecoming is a nice revamp and a nice date movie to boot.
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I'm cutting it off right here. Next time will be the last two movies that have been released from Marvel. As for me, I have to go get my eyes checked again. Yay. Anyway, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.
Funniest moment from the movie.
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