Last night I watched a double feature (at home):
Rocketman (1997)A hilarious live-action Disney film about an accident prone programmer who somehow manages to qualify for a manned mission to Mars, and the mishaps he experiences (and causes). This is an old favorite of mine which I hadn't seen since the early 2000's, but is a part of my every day life due to my frequent references I make to it. Almost every time I put my hands in hot water I'll quote, "It burns the flesh!" Or I can often be seen pointing at someone else and/or saying some variation of "It wasn't me! It was Julie!"
My wife hadn't seen the movie, and after one of my recent "it was Julie!" statements, she (once again) asked "Who is Julie?" and finally I decided it was time to show her. My wife is no great fan of Disney films, so I was worried she wouldn't like the movie. But she seemed to enjoy it and laugh through it. A few times throughout the movie she said, "That explains so much!" referring to the references I make to this film on a regular basis. The other nice thing about the movie is that other than a little bathroom humor (farts are funny) it's completely clean. Hard to find that these days! I'd recommend it.
Blast off for outrageously funny space travel in this screwball comedy that spins wildly out of control all the way to Mars! Though he's a wiz with computers, accident-prone astro-nut Fred Randall (Harland Williams) is the last guy on Earth you'd want on the first manned mission to Mars. But as bad luck and poor timing would have it, that's exactly what happens, and Fred undergoes rigorous, if not hilarious, training at NASA. After that it's t-minus a reality check as Fred blasts off with the rest of the space shuttle crew: a cocky, no-nonsense Commander, a sexy Mission Specialist, and a mischievous space chimp named Ulysses. From the dizzying preflight foolishness to the even loonier landing, ROCKETMAN is the out-of-this-world comedy that's more than go for launch ... it's go for laughs!
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)Though I'd heard very positive reviews from virtually everyone I know who has seen this movie, I wasn't sure how much I'd like it. My primary concern was that it would be too raunchy/inappropriate. But it turned out to be relatively clean for a PG-13 film, and all-in-all a fun action flick. There were a few times throughout the movie where I said/thought "Why are they doing that?" or "Why didn't they just do that in the first place?" but it was fun/ny enough to keep me entertained despite these glaring issues.
One thing it reminded me of was my overall dislike for comic book/graphic novel plots. After the recent slew of comic-based movies from Marvel I've often thought "Oh, Character X was interesting, I wonder what his/her story is," then I'd go to Wikipedia and read a summary of what is a very convoluted and ultimately stupid background of the character. But I guess that's a side effect of writing about the same character(s) for 40+ years.
That's the nice thing about something like
Watchmenw. It's a single story, so all the characters can exist in a way that makes sense (sort of) without resorting to convoluted cross-overs, retcons, alternate dimensions, or good/bad clones. I've found I have similar issues with television series. Watching them within a short period of time, you get a clearer picture of all of their flaws, plot holes, and the basic, repetitive patterns they follow. It works well when they drip-feed it to you over the course of weeks, months, and years, but sitting down to watch an entire season over the course of a few days on Netflix (or DVD/Blu-Ray, etc.) quickly reveals these issues.
But I digress.
I'd say Guardians of the Galaxy is worth a watch.
