It wasn't so long ago that some of us had tape decks in our cars, and the only way to get great tunes while cruising in those days was the "Mix-Tape." It was more or less like the first bipedal hominid in an ultimate evolution to the Cro Magnon near perfection that is the Cloud-enabled, mobile device disseminating Playlist.
The mix tape was an art form - it took time and it didn't always turn out perfect. Sometimes you even had to write out the songs you were thinking about on a piece of paper to keep track and then getting the music - that wasn't always so easy.
The Mix Tape takes center stage in this Summer's biggest hit - Marvel's The Guardians of the Galaxy. It helped inspire us to do our own 70's playlist here this week (of course we had the full power of the Internet working on our side so it's a bit longer than the tape highlighted in the movie).
For us, this movie came out of nowhere, yet easily surpassed ever other Marvel inspired movie we've seen thusfar except one (the original Hulk with Eric Bana). That's not to say that the other Marvel movies haven't been good, a number of them certainly have, but they just weren't in the same league as Guardians and we think we know why - the music. Oh, and it's funny too.
When we first saw the trailer for this - it looked well, pretty stupid (maybe it was the raccoon that threw us). It was one of those rare cases where the movie outshines the trailer. We heard about this one word of mouth. What a contrast this film is to all the gloom and doom floating around in all these other blockbusters - Dark this and Darkness that. Now, Guardians has some darkly disturbing villains - but it makes fun of them rather than reveling in their pathological pursuit of ultimate power or evil. The film builds around a core formula, which turns out to be pretty darn popular; it goes something like this:
The manner in which the mix tape became a central theme throughout the movie was clever and endearing at the same time. It gave the movie the excuse to break into song and to let loose with a consistent set of genre music. Even more remarkable is how the film even sets us up the sequel through a sneak peak at volume two of the Awesome mix tape. Genius...
This may not become a cult film but it certainly could. Chris Pratt does an incredible job of breaking out of his TV persona and almost instantly transforming himself into a megastar. Zoe Saladana is good in her role but it's almost like she is playing the same character in every film nowadays. Dave Batista as the muscle beach alien steals the show every chance he gets - his character is very fun to watch. We also liked former Pushing Daisies star Lee Pace as the super dark villain goof - although he's a lot better in is silicon valley TV series.
Copyright 2014 - Raving Reviews
The mix tape was an art form - it took time and it didn't always turn out perfect. Sometimes you even had to write out the songs you were thinking about on a piece of paper to keep track and then getting the music - that wasn't always so easy.
The good guys may be funny looking - wait - they're funny too...
The Mix Tape takes center stage in this Summer's biggest hit - Marvel's The Guardians of the Galaxy. It helped inspire us to do our own 70's playlist here this week (of course we had the full power of the Internet working on our side so it's a bit longer than the tape highlighted in the movie).
For us, this movie came out of nowhere, yet easily surpassed ever other Marvel inspired movie we've seen thusfar except one (the original Hulk with Eric Bana). That's not to say that the other Marvel movies haven't been good, a number of them certainly have, but they just weren't in the same league as Guardians and we think we know why - the music. Oh, and it's funny too.
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| Easily the most under-appreciated film of its time, Ang Lee's 2003 Hulk was perhaps too edgy to go really mainstream (especially with Nick Nolte's wonderful over the top performance as papa Hulk) |
- Build clever and sympathetic characters around the good guys
- Make them all underdogs (or Raccoons as the case may be)
- Have them use humor consistently throughout (sharp wit directed at the dark villains and each other)
- Make the villains over the top and fun (sort of)
- Pack in lot's of action - but not the non stop migraine-producing type of action seen in any Transformers film or even in Marvels the Avengers.
- Add music (mostly from the 1970's) and mix well.
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This little tape proved to be box office gold |
This is the actual mix tape (playlist) from the movie - it is mostly 70's music and quite good
It's not that we don't think that the plot itself isn't worth mentioning - well maybe it it isn't. It's been a couple of weeks and it is getting hard to remember. What has stayed with us are the jokes and silly touches like the dancing sapling (tree dude voiced by Vin Diesel). During the movie itself, we were entertained - it all fit and flowed together and made for a very good time. and in a crowded theater it's even better as a it becomes a group experience.This may not become a cult film but it certainly could. Chris Pratt does an incredible job of breaking out of his TV persona and almost instantly transforming himself into a megastar. Zoe Saladana is good in her role but it's almost like she is playing the same character in every film nowadays. Dave Batista as the muscle beach alien steals the show every chance he gets - his character is very fun to watch. We also liked former Pushing Daisies star Lee Pace as the super dark villain goof - although he's a lot better in is silicon valley TV series.
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Vin diesel is Groot - a character well-rooted in humor |
If you haven't already seen Guardians of the Galaxy, you owe it to yourselves to see it in the theater and get the full experience - and if you have already seen it - go see it again
Copyright 2014 - Raving Reviews
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