Movie Review - Guardians of the Galaxy

GTuck -

We have really slacked off on our movie and game reviews over the summer.  This has been the movie we have been looking forward to most, so I feel that I need to get off my lazy ass and write something about it. When I saw the first trailer for this movie, I knew I wanted to see it on opening night in IMAX 3D, and last night at 7:00 was that night.  The only thing that bugged me about this movie was the August 1st release date. I hated anticipating it as an end of summer release.  Not that summer is over, but it practically is at this point. Anyway, on to the movie.

It's awesome, that's all I have to say about it.  For an "origin" movie it's fantastic.  Not a lot of screwing around, it just gets in to the action and gets the crew together and we move on.  You don't have to sit through an hour of boring movie watching everyone develop, it's quick and to the point. There is a lot of great action, humor, and spaceships flying around.  Everything I need in a movie and more.  I want to see it at least one more time in the theater.  I give Guardians of the Galaxy a 10 out of 10.

GurleeGirrl -

I too had been anxiously anticipating the release of this movie.  After seeing the trailer about a hundred times, and the fact that every time Rocket would talk I would laugh, I knew this movie was for me.

As much as I love Chris Pratt, I really thought it was a gamble of a casting, as he really isn't huge in "Hollywood".  Let me say, if you weren't a fan before, after seeing this movie, there is no doubt in my mind you will be now.  He really is just extremely charismatic, played the dumb-hero to a tee, and provided ample comedic relief.  He was utterly perfect in my eyes (and not-so-hard on the eyes either).

Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Groot (Vin Diesel), Drax (Dave Bautista) and Gamora (Zoe Saldana) round out the major "Guardians" and all added their own touches to help make this one unforgettable origin movie.  I also have to mention the movie soundtrack.....awesome!

I laughed, I cried (of course) and actually clapped when the credits were rolling.

Be patient and sit through the credits, as there is an "after credit".  There is a Guardian of the Galaxy 2 slated for a 2017 release, and I'm not sure I can wait that long!

I will be seeing this movie several more times, and know that it will entertain me over and over.

My advice - see this movie in the theater and in IMAX if possible.

I give Guardians of the Galaxy a 10 out of 10.

Guardians of the Galaxy Official Trailer #2 (2014)

Guardians of the Galaxy looks so ridiculously good.  I can't wait to see this movie.

Movie Review - Rush

GTuck - 

Somehow we didn't see Rush in the theaters, even though we had talked about going to see it.  Scheduling must not have worked out and now I'm mad at myself for not seeing it on the big screen.  Although the Blu-ray looked great and sounded great on my home theater setup, it would have been even better to see it out at the theater.

Rush is a movie about a great sport rivalry that I didn't know anything about.  Probably because it took place before I was born and mostly in Europe.  That may have something to do with it and the fact that F1 racing isn't popular in the United States, but wow, did I love this movie.  The rivalry between John Hunt and Niki Lauder took place during the 70's, but the main rivalry and excitement from the movie was in 1976.  It was for the Grand Prix cup and it's an amazing rivalry to watch.

The movie is intense, I didn't know how it was going to play out which made it that much better.  These drivers really do risk their lives every time they race and I didn't know if either driver was going to survive.  If you haven't seen this movie yet, make sure you rent it.  It's a great movie even if you aren't into car racing.  I will give Rush a 10 out of 10.

GurleeGirrl - 

Three words for you - SEE THIS MOVIE.  No joke, it's definately one of my favorites of this past year.  Although I've never been a huge fan of racing, the movie didn't bore me.  Racing is a small part of the movie, it's mainly about the rivalry of the two drivers, and the development of their "friendship".  Both Chris Hemsworth (aka Thor) and Daniel Bruhl were spot on in their likenesses to John Hunt and Niki Lauder.  The racing scenes were pretty incredible and of course, not knowing the outcome, I was always nervous anticipating a crash. The movie starts fast and never slows down.  I recommend you see this movie ASAP if you haven't already.  It's one I'll for sure watch over and over.  I just regret not seeing this movie in the theater.  I give Rush a 9 out of 10.

Game Review - Ryse: Son of Rome

Ryse:  Son of Rome was an Xbox One launch title.  I didn't pick up an Xbox One at launch, just got one recently for the Titanfall Beta.  Of course I bought it right at the wrong time, since I could have gotten Titanfall for free if I had waited, but that's not what this review is about, it's about me getting to play Ryse and I really liked this game.  It's a lot of fun and I was surprised since a lot of the reviews are kind of luke warm for the game.  It's not incredibly long, my Xbox tells me it took me 5 hours.  I don't know if that includes the cut scenes, it seemed longer than that.  I would guess around 6 to 6 and a half hours.  So, it's kind of short, but it's very fun.  Any longer and you would get bored of the button mashing.

I like all the Roman history/mythology stuff.  I don't know how accurate any of it is, but I enjoyed the story of Ryse.  I wanted to watch the cut scenes and see it all play out and I was happy with the ending.  I hope there is a sequel and they make it a little longer and vary the game play a little bit more.  I would buy it.

I played one multi-player match last night.  It's not for me, it's co-op and it's just more beating people up.  Maybe after a break and playing with someone I know it would be a lot more fun.  I'm sending the game back to Gamefly today, so I will most likely never play it again.

I really liked Ryse:  Son of Rome.  It's graphics are great, it's extremely violent and looks like a Next Generation game to me.  I will give Ryse:  Son of Rome an 8 out of 10.

Non-Stop

GTuck -

I don't know what I was expecting, I guess I was in a way expecting an entertaining movie.  What I got was a mess that was actually pretty boring.  I guess Liam Neeson can do some wrong, which I would have thought was impossible.  I really didn't like this movie, if you're thinking about seeing it in the theater I would advise to just skipping it.  The action is fine I guess, but even that is lacking.  The acting is serviceable I suppose Liam Neeson and Juliane Moore are good, some of the other actors kind of suck though; I'm not going to go through the effort to find their names.  The story doesn't even make sense and when they finally do reveal what is going on and why you don't really care.  Even the movie poster is stupid.  I give Non-Stop a 3 out of 10.

GurleeGirrl -

I was pretty excited to see this movie, as I love me some Liam Neeson (doesn't everyone???), but I am sad to say, that excitement was extinguished pretty early on in this movie.  I agree with GTuck, this story wasn't all that exciting, and to make it worse, there wasn't a whole lot of action.  There were a few moments where I was like "really, OMG that did not just use that cheesy as hell line", but they did.  In a movie like this, which is supposed to be a action thriller, there is no reason to use cheesy one liners that do not even fit.  Just wrong.  Overall, was it the worst movie I've seen? No.  Do I recommend you run out and see it? No.  This is for sure one you can catch on cable, when you've run out of anything else to watch.  I give Non-Stop a 3 out of 10.

Game Review - Forza 5

Since picking up my Xbox One almost two weeks ago, I have only purchased one game.  Forza 5 is the one I decided on, I've owned every other Forza so I figured why not.  I normally play for a while and then get frustrated and quit.  I've probably played this one the most of all of them in a much shorter period of time.  I'm hooked on it, it's really a lot of fun and the graphics are amazing.  It's the first time I've actually used the view from the driver's seat and stuck to it, this makes it a lot more fun.  I normally go out to the third "person" type view so you can see the whole car, maybe that's why I always sucked.  I'm a lot better from the inside the cockpit view.  I just wish it was easier/cheaper to get new cars.  I just want to try them all and that will take a very long time, unless you want to buy them with real money, which I refuse to do.  After watching the movie Rush, I really wanted James Hunt's car from the movie, but in real world money it would cost $20 to get it.  Or I save up in game currency for a real long time, either way I don't have the car.  I just want to try it.

I really love the BBC Top Gear integration as well.  It's fun to hear Jeremy Clarkson getting excited about the cars while explaining why it's in which class.  It got me excited enough to track down some BBC Top Gear episodes to watch, luckily there are like 17 seasons to choose from on Netflix.

The sound in the game is amazing, I hauled up my huge speakers from the basement.  GurleeGirrl isn't super happy with this, but it's really fun to crank it up and listen to all the different cars while you are racing.  It really adds to the experience.

I haven't played any races online yet, I want to get pretty good before I get my butt kicked in some multi-player, but I am looking forward to it.

I have many more hours to put into Forza 5 and I'm looking forward to them.  The cars control great, the tracks are fun, the driveatars put a different twist on it and challenging your friends is also fun.  I like to see that I'm beating my friends' times on my Friendslist.  If you are playing Forza 5, add me so we can compare times.  I'm G Tuck on Xbox Live.

I will give Forza 5 a 9 out of 10.

Gaming And Movies Podcast: Episode 3

Join GTuck and GurleeGirrl as they discuss Gaming And Movies.  This week we talk about cribbage, Forza, Ryse, Rush, The Lego Movie, Nebraska, About Last Night and more.

I apologize for the poor audio quality, I screwed up the mic settings, I will get it fixed for next week.

iTunes Link