Volume 3 of Guardians of the Galaxy shares the franchise’s penchant for fantastic visuals highlighting imaginative new worlds with recognisable rock songs to help create momentum. It also features characters that are written well within the lines. This gives things a comforting familiarity but one open for a slight expansion of backstory. This time the highlights are the details about Rocket’s (Bradley Cooper) origin story.

As with all the MCU’s big-budget productions, the film looks spectacular and tries its best to successfully mix comedy with cosmic peril. There are some clunky moments in the script that fly by without doing much damage and others that register real emotional connection. The underlining theme of the power of friendship is never far from the surface.

Recreating the freshness of the first edition would have been near impossible as the second edition showed but round three redeems itself quite nicely and brings things to a satisfactory close. It might not win many new converts but those invested in what has come before will find much to like in this final chapter.
Rob Hudson
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Peter Quill, still reeling from the loss of Gamora, must rally his team around him to defend the universe along with protecting one of their own.

A mission that, if not completed successfully, could quite possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them.

James Gunn writes and directs “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” which stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, featuring Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter and Maria Bakalova.

Kevin Feige is the producer and Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Nikolas Korda, Simon Hatt and Sara Smith serve as executive producers.
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We follow the life of Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) a drifter who finds a purpose at the feet of Pete (David Strathairn), a grifter running the psychic medium scam at a traveling carnival with his partner Zeena the Seer (Toni Collette). Stanton learns the trade and sees himself as capable of more and aggressively makes those ambitions come to fruition.

The story is told in two distinct parts and part two features Cate Blanchett as the sultry Dr. Lilith Ritter. The two develop a working relationship and Stanton ups his game to pull the long con on the uber-rich. It’s these (mis)adventures that ramp things up and provide the last reel with its twists and turns.

Making more than a few comments on the vanity and naiveté of the superrich as well as how people’s beliefs can be swayed by grief and a convincing con, Nightmare Alley has a valid point behind its hyper-stylised noir look. Perhaps more convincing visually than story-wise, del Toro still creates an intriguing world that is easy to get lost in.

Rob Hudson
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Experiencing life in Southern California in the seventies and actually visiting many Licorice Pizza record stores and also owning a waterbed, this film and Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood have been an interesting experience in nostalgia. While Q.T.’s take was more visual and grand, Anderson’s focus is more character-driven and less extravagant.

The inhabitants of this world are not superheroes (well maybe Bradley Cooper’s take on Jon Peters might qualify) but normal folk just trying to find their way in an ever-changing landscape. It’s particularly emotional watching Cooper Hoffman act as his father feels very present in almost all his actions. Alana Haim is also very effective as the gawky coming of age Alana.

Licorice Pizza feels like a very personal statement from Paul Thomas Anderson and as such fits nicely in the film universe he has created thus far with films like Boogie Nights and There Will Be Blood. His art and action seem on the subtle side this time but the underlining truth feels universal. Ultimately it should become a valued addition to his oeuvre.
Rob Hudson
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Written and Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the film tracks the treacherous navigation of first love.

Licorice Pizza will be released in Australian Cinemas this Boxing Day!
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With the virtuous Molly (Rooney Mara) loyally by his side, Stanton plots to con a dangerous tycoon (Richard Jenkins) with the aid of a mysterious psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett) who might be his most formidable opponent yet.

Driected by Guillermo del Toro and starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenburgen, David Strathairn, Nightmare Alley will be released in Australian cinemas January 20, 2022!
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Directed by Guillermo del Toro, Nightmare Alley stars Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenburgen, David Strathairn and will be released in Australian cineas January 20, 2022!
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Clint Eastwood’s take on Navy Seal Chris Kyle’s (Bradley Cooper) autobiography certainly sets a scene of dread and foreboding as we follow Kyle and his descent into the war in Iraq.

Kyle is a good old boy from Texas, a former competitive cowboy and a very proficient marksman. His entry into the service is spurred on by the events of 9/11 and his upbringing with a very strong and opinionated father. This background is revealed is very broad strokes and lacks the nuance to really allow the viewer to relate to his on-screen character.

Once in the war zone, Kyle’s alpha male persona, the bleached out backdrop of the desert and the relentless graphic slaughter present such a one-dimensional portrait, it becomes difficult to connect with the film. His distance from his wife (played by Sienna Miller) and the obvious love she has for him also forms a very one-dimensional view. It’s not really until after his active service years that we see Kyle as anything other than a killing machine.

Being completely unaware of Chris Kyle’s real life story made the sting in the tail at the end of the film just that much more of a downer. Eastwood’s directorial style has always been to step out of the way of cinematic flourishes and let the main proponent’s actions define the story. Unfortunately, this time out that leaves the viewer with too much carnage and not enough characterisation.

Rob Hudson
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And all this for a superhero team that not many people know, and the first Marvel film not to feature one of the Silver Age group of characters created by Stan Lee.

The Guardians are a bunch of undesirables who find themselves fighting together to prevent one of the Infinity Stones from reaching Thanos. If that all sounds a little crazy, then welcome to the Marvel Universe (not just Earth, or Asgard, or wherever it is that Agent Coulson buys his suits) where universe destroying gems and intergalactic, death obsessed super villains are the norm. The preposterous synopsis hides an entertaining film.

The Guardians are in the vein of Blake’s 7 or, for the people born after the 70’s boom of more realist and thoroughly depressing science fiction or even the crew of Serenity, except they are substantially less human. Chris Pratt is Star-Lord (possibly human, maybe more), Zoe Saldana is the green Gamora (known in the comics as ‘the deadliest woman in the whole galaxy’), professional wrestler Dave Bautista is Drax the Destroyer (more than just muscle), Bradley Cooper lends his voice to Rocket (a gun toting raccoon), and the wooden acting of Vin Diesel is put to good use as he voices an anthropomorphic tree called Groot (Vin’s never been better). The big bad, Thanos (Josh Brolin moving from DC to Marvel), is seen little, leaving his minions Lee Pace (as Ronan, the least interesting aspect of the film) and Karen Gillan (as the slightly more interesting Nebula) to do the dirty work. Better villainy comes from Michael Rooker (doing what he does best as Yondu Udonta).

Director and co-writer James Gunn has a history in irreverent comedy. His early work includes Tromeo and Juliet (for the legendary Troma Entertainment) and The Specials (who as a team of less than exemplary superheroes, not the band, may have been something of a dry-run for this film). He also wrote the Scooby Doo movies, but don’t hold that against him, and that experience has helped him create a PG film from a comic that is generally anything but.

The questions I have already seen on social media include “Is it better than Star Wars” and “Is it better than The Avengers”. The answer, quite obviously, rather depends how much you like those films. Like the two films in question, Guardians has brilliant dialogue and interplay between characters hesitantly working together, coupled with enough action scenes to satisfy the teenage boy in all of us. See the film for yourself and decide which is better. I am certainly looking forward to seeing Guardians again, at my earliest convenience, and that is the best recommendation I can give it.

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The always-outstanding British actor Christian Bale lays to rest the man in black for the new man in fat. His visual transformation is just one element of his transcendent performance. He has to act his butt off just to transcend that hairdo of his. Jennifer Lawrence adds to her building resume of great performances as Bale’s on screen wife who is both hilarious and clueless.
Bradley Cooper’s manic drug fuelled performance is also outstanding. Now no discussion of great roles in this film would be complete without discussing the part the wardrobe plays in this film. The seventies hair and fashion defies gravity and the specter of soft-core porn with some wicked comb overs, hair curlers and well placed double sided adhesive tape.

Thankfully the saying ‘if you remember the seventies, you weren’t actually alive in the seventies’ is proven untrue as both the director and actors get the nuances just right. See this film for the humour and spectacle, remember it for the human pathos and misguided sense of right and wrong.

Rob Hudson
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