Here’s What The Southeastern Film Critics Honored!

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Oscar precursor race — which started out with Boyhood and Birdman basically winning everything — has gotten a little bit more interesting over the past week or so. Other movies have been picking up awards. For instance, Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel!

On December 22nd, the Southeastern Film Critics named their picks for the best of 2014. And here are the winners!

Top Ten
1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Boyhood
3. Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
4. Whiplash
5. The Imitation Game
6. Gone Girl
7. Snowpiercer
8. Nightcrawler
9. Foxcatcher
10. The Theory of Everything

Best Actor
1. Michael Keaton, Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
2. Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

Best Actress
1. Julianne Moore, Still Alice
2. Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Best Supporting Actor
1. J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
2. Edward Norton, Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Best Supporting Actress
1. Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
2. Tilda Swinton, Snowpiercer

Best Ensemble
1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Best Director
1. Richard Linklater, Boyhood
2. Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Original Screenplay
1. The Grand Budapest Hotel: Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness
2. Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance): Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo

Best Adapted Screenplay
1. Gone Girl: Gillian Flynn
2. Wild: Nick Hornby

Best Documentary
1. Life Itself
2. CitizenFour

Best Foreign Language Film
1. Force Majeure
2. Ida

Best Animated Film
1. The Lego Movie
2. Big Hero 6

Best Cinematography
1. Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance): Emmanuel Lubezki
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel: Robert Yeoman

The Gene Wyatt Award for the Film that Best Evokes the Spirit of the South
1. Selma

Scenes I Love: An Officer and a Gentleman

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Arleigh

The latest “Scenes I Love” comes courtesy of An Officer and a Gentleman.

This ending sequence to the film has become an iconic scene when one talks about some of the best romantic scenes in film. The film itself was your modern take on the age-old two people from the wrong-sides of the track falling for each other.

The ending scene made the film memorable in the end. It helped that the song written and composed for the film, “Up Where We Belong,” and sung as a duet by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes became as big of a hit as the film itself.

You know that a scene has become a cultural mainstay when The Simpsons did a parody of it which ended up being just as memorable as the original.

Up Where We Belong

Who knows what tomorrow brings
in a world few hearts survive
All I know is the way I feel
when it’s real I keep it alive the road is long
There are mountains in our way
but we climb the stairway every day

Love lifts us up where we belong
where the eagles cry on a mountain high
love lifts us up where we belong
far from the world below up where the clear winds blow

Some hang on to used to be
live their lives looking behind
All we have is here and now
all our lives out there to find
The road is long and there are moutains in our way
but we climb the stairway every day

Love lifts us up where we belong
where the eagles cry on a mountain high
love lifts us up where we belong
far from the world we know
where the clear wind blows

Time goes by no time cry
life’s you and I alive

Love lifts us up where we belong
where the eagles cry on a mountain high
love lifts us up where we belong
far from the world we know
where the clear winds blow

Love lifts us up where we belong
far from the world we know
where the clear winds blow

Love lifts us up where we belong
where the eagles cry on a mountain high

Song of the Day: You Are So Beautiful (R.I.P. Joe Cocker)

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Arleigh

A rock legend passed away today. Joe Cocker had one of those very unique voices which most everyone recognized. A blues and soul rock singer who performed with some of the rock legends of the 60’s and 70’s, he would become a mainstream hit with songs such as “Up Where We Belong” and his covers of Beatles songs.

It was in 1975, covering a ballad written and composed by Billy Preston, Bruce Fisher and Dennis Wilson that he truly burst into the mainstream scene. The song was “You Are So Beautiful” and while the album it was a part of never truly took off the single itself reached No. 5 on the Billboards chart of that year.

Cocker’s version was much slower in tempo than the original song and this worked well in concert with his gritty, bluesy voice where each word and lyric felt full of emotion that blues and soul singers have become well-known for.

Joe Cocker might have faded away from the mainstream consciousness after the 80’s but rock and blues aficionados always remembered and admired him right down to his last days.

Time for the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame to heed the words of Billy Joel and induct the man in it’s hallowed halls. He’s more than earned it.

You Are So Beautiful

You are so beautiful to me
You are so beautiful to me
Can’t you see
Your everything I hoped for
Your everything I need
You are so beautiful to me

Such joy and happiness you bring
Such joy and happiness you bring
Like a dream
A guiding light that shines in the night
Heavens gift to me
You are so beautiful to me

“The Multiversity : Thunderworld Adventures” #1 — Grant Morrison’s Love Letter To C.C. Beck

Posted on December 21, 2014 by Ryan C. (fourcolorapocalypse)

If there’s one criticism that’s been leveled at Grant Morrison — and British comics writers in general — over the years, it’s that their work, while admittedly literate and intelligent, is often too “dark” or “cynical.” I guess sometimes it does apply — I mean, The Invisibles and The Filth , to name just a couple of standout Morrison projects, weren’t exactly light-hearted, happy-go-lucky affairs, were they?

And yet — even those two comics, bleak and nihilistic as they could often be, ultimately had optimistic endings, didn’t they? And books like Animal Man and All-Star Superman were flat-out celebrations of the type of comic book storytelling that the “British invasion” of the 1980s supposedly put an end to (as a side note, Alan Moore gets called out onto the carpet for the “darkness” of his work a lot, as well, yet the same guy who gave us From Hell also gave us the most majestic tribute to the Superman of old ever conceived with his downright mythic run on Supreme and years earlier gave us arguably the single-greatest Superman story of all, “Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow? ” — hell, even Watchmen had a more optimistic conclusion than most folks give it credit for). All in all, then, when it comes to Morrison’s career arc, it’s probably more fair to say that even when things do get “dark” and/or “dystopian” (anybody reading Annihilator right now? You really should be), it’s usually only a matter of time until we get to the light.

That’s why I was a bit confused over some of the hand-wringing that was going on prior to his much-anticipated Captain Marvel (or Shazam!, if you must) story for The Multiversity. People were openly questioning whether or not his “style” would be the right fit for the character. Whether or not he could “do it justice.” Whether or not he could “bring back that 1950s-style magic and innocence.”

Well, The Multiversity : Thunderworld Adventures #1 came out last Wednesday, and it’s fair to say that all those concerns have been silenced in the days since, because this is probably the most heartfelt, endearing, spot-on adventure for The Big Red Cheese since C.C. Beck chronicled his exploits for Fawcett publications. No hyperbole, no bullshit — everything you were hoping this issue would be, it is.

Off we go, then, to Earth-5, which is apparently where Captain Marvel (and I bet we don’t see him referred to by that name anytime again too soon) as he ought to be — instead of the angst-ridden, more “realistic” version of him we’ve been subjected to in the “New 52” universe — still exists, along with the rest of the Marvel family, and still does battle with the likes of Black Adam, Mr. Mind, The Monster Society Of Evil, and the villain of this story, Dr. Sivana, who has created a doppleganger “Sivana Family” and added an eighth day to the week, thanks to time and power siphoned away from other realities in the Multiverse.

That “cynicism” people were fretting about? It’s nowhere to be found here, as this is pure Beck-style storytelling all the way : imaginative, character-driven, idealistic, and action-packed. Heck, Morrison even gets the little touches right, such as when he gives us the first appearance in forever and a day of the non-super-powered Uncle Marvel, and continues the tradition of him pretending to have powers and everybody else knowing he doesn’t but humoring him anyway. There’s not a note missed, not a beat skipped. This is a majestic old-school comic book adventure that doesn’t even feel so much like an homage as it does a direct continuation of a story abandoned over 50 years ago (you know, when DC sued Fawcett right out of business for their flagship character’s “similarity” to Superman — then bought up his rights for a pittance).

It may flirt with overkill sometimes, I suppose, but even after two readings I remain more than happy to put that tiny concern aside, simply because there’s nothing in the least bit “post-ironic” — much less ironic — about what Morrison is doing here. Every page, every panel, every word bubble — it’s all coming from the heart, without any sort of “knowing wink at the audience” to be had. Much as I liked All-Star Superman, it still had elements of a 12-part funeral dirge to it, a “last story of this type that’s ever going to be told” vibe. There’s none of that on display here, even if we probably won’t see a comic quite like this one — at least from DC — again in our lifetimes.

It also represents a 180-degree turn from the more nihilistic — but every bit as well-executed — tone taken with this series’ last “one-shot” issue, the magnificently rich and complex Pax Americana, yet while the two stories couldn’t be further apart in terms of style, this one is just as compelling that modern masterwork despite being infinitely “simpler” and more straightforward. The two issues coming out back-to-back as they have certainly highlights the diversity of Morrison’s writing ability, of course, but also the diversity inherent in The Multiversity project itself — a series where, truly, any story can be told in any given month. We hear that said — usually in hype generated by the publishers — about lots of comics, I suppose, but in this case, it’s proving to be absolutely true, and while Thunderworld Adventures does, in fact, make a few more concessions to the overall narrative connecting all of these disparate books than Pax Americana did, rest assured that it can still be read as a “stand-alone” story just fine.

About the only concession made here to the kind of “mind-fuckery” our guy Grant likes to engage in is a trippy double-page splash (one that’s so awesome to behold that I can’t bring myself to “spoil” it by including a preview image here, sorry) that doesn’t make much rational “sense” but certainly fits in with the overall tone of the proceedings very nicely indeed. Apart from that, though, all else in the world of Billy Batson and his magically-powered alter ego is more or less exactly as you remembered — maybe even better,

Speaking of the art — Cameron Stewart, who provides both pencils and inks for this issue, is a guy I’ve never considered to be anything other than a competent journeyman artist, providing good, but hardly memorable, work for a number of titles over the years, including several projects with Morrison like Seaguy and Batman And Robin (he’s currently the regular penciler on DC’s recently-revamped Batgirl monthly series), but damn if this isn’t the comic he was born to draw. Just look at that panel reproduced above showing a car smashing into Captain Marvel for a prime example of the dynamic and impactful sensibility he brings to the table here. I get the feeling that he spent several months working on this book, and if he didn’t — well, shit, then I guess I’m even more impressed, because none of the trademarks of a “rush job” are apparent here in any way. This is bold, breathtaking stuff that has me reconsidering his entire body of work in a whole new light. You might even say that he’s unleashed his inner super-hero here.

And the colors — man oh man, the colors! It’s hard to believe this is the same Nathan Fairbairn who gave us the more muted tones of Pax Americana as everything here is bright, vibrant, eye-catching, and just plain sunny. Earth-5 literally looks like a place where it never rains. Just have a look at the triumphant panel the story ends on here and you’ll see exactly what I mean —

That, right there, is why most of us who fell in love with the comics medium as kids did so, isn’t it? Even if these characters were a bit “before our time” for most of us, it was the spirit of idealistic adventure that drew us in and that we all wish we’d see more of these days. In my headline for this review I called Thunderworld Adventures Morrison’s “love letter to C.C. Beck” (it’s worth noting that Alan Moore has pointed to Beck as being his primary storytelling influence on Supreme, as well), and while that’s undoubtedly true, there’s actually more to it than that — it’s a love letter to youth, optimism, idealism, and a kind of non-ironic goodness that’s in far too short a supply both in modern comics and , crucially, modern life. It’s a celebration of all that we can be, and sometimes are — when we’re willing to be the heroes of our own adventures.

The Stuff You Find On Netflix: Rumors of Wars (dir by Paul Tomborello)

Posted on December 20, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

You can sometimes find the strangest stuff of Netflix. And, if you’re like me and you try to review every single thing that you see, you can end up reviewing the strange stuff that you end up watching on Netflix.

For example: Rumors of Wars.

According to the imdb, Rumors of Wars had a theatrical release in May of this year but I had never heard of it until I happened to come across it on Netflix. Earlier this week, I did a search on “2014 films,” and my natural hope was that the search would return results like The Grand Budapest Hotel and maybe a James Franco film or two.

Instead, I got Rumors of Wars.

Rumors of Wars is one of the many dystopian films that have come out this year. For whatever reason, a lot of filmmakers have shared this vision of the future this year and none of them seem to be very optimistic.

In Rumors of Wars, the future is represented by bombed out cities, black-clad soldiers, and frightened refugees being rounded up and shot. The soldiers work for a man named Zurn and they’re quick to say that their mission is to “unify the world in peace and harmony.” When one refugee is spotted to be wearing a cross, a soldier sneers, “The only thing this symbolizes is your primitive thinking!” Another refugee, when confronted by the approaching soldiers, says, “Time to join the one world government!”

Can you guess where this is going?

While the rest of the soldiers are busy burning books and watching a hologram of a blonde with big boobs telling them to keep fighting for the glory of Zurn, Shaw (Ben Davies) secretly reads a diary that he came across during an earlier refugee roundup.

The diary was written, in the days before the one world government, by a college student named Roxy (Jennifer Cooper). Roxy writes about how, following a series of terrorist attacks that the film suggests were all “false flag” operations, the government decrees that everyone should have a microchip inserted into their hand. The microchip will allow the government to both regulate what people eat and keep track of all of America’s gun owners. However, since the microchip also allows people to get discounts on otherwise expensive commodities like food and gasoline, the populace willingly gives up their freedom.

The microchips, incidentally, are made by the Zurn Corporation. And who is in charge of the Zurn Corporation? Mr. Zurn, of course!

And, of course, Mr. Zurn is played by Eric Roberts.

Now, Eric Roberts is only on-screen for about two minutes but he makes the best of those two minutes. Seriously, Roberts gives a performance that is so manic and so over-the-top and so extremely weird that it might be the best performance of his career. Certainly, it livens up the movie.

(Of course, it helps that Roberts spends the length of his screen time telling a weird story about picking up a calf.)

Anyway, the film alternates between Roxy in the near future and Shaw in the far future and, for an independent, low-budget, right-wing, evangelical movie, it’s actually surprisingly competent. This is nothing like Left Behind. Rumors of Wars can actually pass for a real movie.

Now, I know what you’re asking — just how preachy does this movie get? By the standards of the genre, it’s actually less preachy than most but still preachy enough that it’ll probably annoy militant nonbelievers. (As for us casual skeptics, it all depends on just how casual you really are.) In my case, I was able to tolerate the film’s preachy moments because I appreciated all of the anti-government propaganda and the over-the-top atmosphere of paranoia.

So, that was the latest strange thing that I saw on Netflix. Rumors of Wars. Was it great? No. But it wasn’t terrible and that’s probably the biggest shock of all.

AMV of the Day: Sweet Dreams

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Arleigh

It’s that time of the year when we should all be celebrating peace and love (and lots of presents and alcoholic festive drinks) yet the world of late has turned meaner, sadder and just plain not-fun. People really just need to chill and let the holidays move them.

This latest “AMV of the Day” is just plain fun and smile-inducing. No leaked emails here. No threats that lead to censorships. Not even a cynical pixel to be found.

So, let us just sit back and watch some Hall & Oates (never thought I’d say that in this day and age) inspired anime music video.

Anime: Angel Beats, Bakemonogatari, Black Lagoon, Carnival Phantasm, Eden of the East, Eden of the East: Paradise Lost, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Neon Genesis Evangelion 2.22 – You Can [Not] Advance, Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Song: “You Make My Dreams” by Hall & Oates

Creator: Alexmichur00 & Dragontamer5788

Past AMVs of the Day

Film Review: Whitey: The United States of America vs. James J. Bulger (dir by Joe Berlinger)

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

When I was younger, my family used to frequently visit relatives in Arkansas. (Except, of course, when we were actually living in Arkansas but that’s another story…) Any time that we were driving to Arkansas for a visit, we would always stop at this little park in Oklahoma. We’d eat lunch and then I’d run into the rest stop and I’d look at this big aquarium that was full of gold fish. And then after looking at the aquarium, I’d run over to the corner where they had all of the latest wanted posters and I’d look at who the FBI was searching for that year.

What always fascinated me was that, while there were always new faces posted in that corner, there were also posters that stayed up there for years. And, in my own weird little way, seeing those posters became something of a ritual that I always looked forward to. What fascinated me was reading about how each of these dangerous fugitives could be identified. One guy, for instance, was described as being a fancy dresser and a big tipper and, since I had heard horror stories about being a waitress from several of my relatives, I wondered how bad the guy could be if he was a big tipper. I was always interested to see who was thought to be in Mexico and who may have escaped up to Canada and I’ll admit that there was a part of me that always wondered if maybe they could be in Oklahoma, eating at that very park!

From the first time I saw James J. Bulger’s poster in the corner, it made an impression on me. First off, there was his picture, which made him look like an assistant principal. Then there was his long list of aliases. (Even back then, I was obsessed with lists and names.)

And finally, there were all of his identifying details.

For instance, the poster told me that he was fluent in several languages. The poster said that he had recently been sighted in Europe, which I often fantasized about visiting. It said that he was traveling with his girlfriend and that both of them loved animals….

Loved animals!?

I loved animals!

And, of course, then I would notice that this cultured and multilingual animal lover was wanted for 19 counts of murder, drug trafficking, extortion, and a whole lot of other things. The list of crimes told me that this James “Whitey” Bulger was not a good man but the identifying traits suggested something else.

(Another reason that Whitey made an impression on me is that he looked a lot less scary than Osama Bin Laden, who — the last few times we stopped at that rest stop — had invaded the corner…)

So, that was my first impression of Whitey Bulger.

My second impression came about a few years later when I read that the demonic gangster played by Jack Nicholson in The Departed was reportedly based on Bulger. I’m not sure if the real life Bulger used to carry around someone else’s severed hand but still…

And finally, my third impression came from the documentary that I watched last night on Netflix, Whitey: The United States of America vs. James J. Bulger. After spending 12 years in that corner, Bulger was eventually arrested in Florida and returned to his hometown of Boston, where he was put on trial for all of the crimes that had been listed at the top of that wanted poster. Veteran documentarian Joe Berlinger was in Boston for the trial, interviewing Bulger’s defense attorneys, a guy who calmly talked about a number of murders that he committed with Bulger, and the relatives of several of Bulger’s victims. Bulger himself even got a few words in, calling up his defense attorneys from jail and doing his best to present himself as being a gangster with a code of honor.

Indeed, from the start of the trial, Bulger’s main concern seems to be with convincing people that he had a code of honor. He has no hesitation about admitting to being guilty of most of the charges against him. What upsets him is that people are saying that he was a FBI informant and that’s why, for so long, he was able to avoid going to jail despite committing crimes in broad daylight. Bulger’s argument is that the Boston FBI fabricated evidence of him being an informant in order to cover up the fact that he was paying all of them off.

(Bulger also suggests that he was given blanket immunity by a special prosecutor in return for saving the prosecutor’s life.)

It’s an interesting suggestion. (Since the FBI refused to interviewed for the documentary, we only get Bulger’s side of the story.) However, regardless of whether or not you believe Bulger’s claims, the documentary makes clear that — whether they were on his payroll or using him as an informant — the FBI essentially allowed Bulger to spend several years doing anything and killing anyone that he wanted. By the end of the film, you can understand why the families of Bulger’s victims are often just as angry at law enforcement as they are at Bulger.

Whitey is a good documentary and it’s currently available on Netflix. If you’re into true crime, like I am, you’ll enjoy it. At the very least, I’m thankful that this documentary shined a little bit of light on that corner.

The Joy Of Under the Electric Sky

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

There’s a moment in the documentary Under the Electric Sky that moved me beyond belief.

For the first 90 minutes of the film, we’ve followed different people as they experience the 2013 Electric Daisy Carnival. Some of them are sweet, some of them are oafish, some of them are people that I would want to hang out with, and some of them I definitely would go out of my way to avoid. The one thing that they have in common is that they love EDM and that love has brought them to Las Vegas.

One of the more likable of them is a young, wheelchair bound man named Jose. Up until this point, we’ve seen Jose wheeling his way through the crowd, having a good time but still frustrated by the fact that he can’t see the stage from his wheelchair. And then, while Hardwell is performing on stage, a group of strangers lift up Jose’s wheelchair, literally holding him on their shoulders so that he can see the stage.

And you know what? I fully realize that this could have been arranged beforehand. I understand that someone involved in production could have asked those people to lift up Jose because he or she knew it would make a perfect film moment. But I don’t care. It’s such a wonderful moment and it perfectly encapsulated everything that I love about the EDM scene. It’s a moment that brought tears to my eyes when I saw it and it’s still bringing tears to my eyes as I write about it.

As far as the rest of Under the Electric Sky is concerned, if you’re into EDM, you’ll enjoy it. And if you’re one of those people who doesn’t get EDM — well, sucks to be you, doesn’t it?

Admittedly, the film was produced by the same people who put on the EDC and, at its weakest, it felt like a mix between an infomercial and an A&E reality show. But at its frequent best — like in the moment described above and in the brief moments where artists like Avicii, Armin Van Buuren, and Above & Beyond open up to the camera — it’s a wonderful and heartfelt tribute to one of the most loving and misunderstood subcultures in the world. At it’s best, Under the Electric Sky is a blast of pure musical joy and, with the world the way it is right now, we could all use a little joy.

Under the Electric Sky is currently available on Netflix and yes, I recommend it.

Trailer: American Sniper (2nd Official)

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Arleigh

Talking to empty chairs aside, Clint Eastwood still goes down as one of the greatest living American filmmakers. This doesn’t dismiss the current slump he has been in the past couple years (Jersey Boys, Hereafter, J. Edgar just to name a few). This 2014 holiday season he’s set to release his latest film: American Sniper.

The film is an adaptation of the best-selling autobiography of the same name by former Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle. Steven Spielberg was initially attached to direct the film, but bowed soon after. In comes Clint Eastwood to take up the director’s chair with Bradley Cooper starring as Chris Kyle (also producer on the film).

The film has already made it’s premiere at the AFI Fest with a limited release on Christmas Day 2014.

American Sniper will have a general release date of January 16, 2015.

For Your Consideration #10: Guardians of the Galaxy (dir by James Gunn)

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

As of right now, as far as I’m concerned, Guardians of the Galaxy is the best film of 2014.

Now please understand, I live in fly-over country and that means that there’s still quite a few films that I need to see. Next week and through the new year, I plan to see Foxcatcher, Inherent Vice, Into the Woods, Wild, and quite a few other films. And any one of those films could, potentially, become my new favorite of 2014.

But, as of right now, Guardians of the Galaxy is my favorite.

Of course, Guardians of the Galaxy is not the type of film that will ever get a major Oscar nomination. It’s unfairly dismissed as being pure entertainment or just a summer blockbuster. A few critics group have been nice enough to mention it but, for the most part, Guardians of the Galaxy is not the type of film that’s going to be given serious consideration for the big awards.

Except, of course, by me.

Below are ten reasons why I think Guardians of the Galaxy deserves serious consideration:

1) Never underestimate the importance of escapism.

Usually, when a film is described as being “escapist entertainment,” it’s a back-handed compliment. The implication is that the film may be entertaining but it has nothing to do with real world issues and therefore, it’s not as important as other films. We’re allowed to enjoy it but we’re supposed to feel guilty about it.

But you know what?

Sometimes, we need to be able to escape. That was certainly true this year. 2014 will not be remembered as a great year for humanity. From January to December, it’s been an endless parade of cruelty and intolerance. And no, we should never pretend that we live in a perfect world. We need to be aware of what’s happening outside of our own little corner of the world.

But that doesn’t mean that we haven’t earned the right to escape for 122 minutes. In fact, I would argue that 122 minutes of pure entertainment is something that we need to make time for if we are going to remain strong enough to face and perhaps change the realities of the world.

In short, when I walked out of the theater after watching Guardians of the Galaxy, I felt better than when I had first taken my seat. I felt happy. I felt enthusiastic. I felt ready to face this fucked up world of ours.

There is a place for pure, unadulterated escapism in cinema.

Not every film has to be a somber, self-important mess like Man of Steel.

Thank God.

2) The unappreciated subtext of Ronan

However, Guardians of the Galaxy is not pure escapism. Much as in this case of The Purge Anarchy and Capt. America: The Winter Soldier, there is a deeper subtext to the film. You just have to be willing to look for it.

One of the more frequent complaints about Guardians of the Galaxy is that the villain, Ronan (Lee Pace), isn’t particularly interesting and it is true that, when compared to Tom Hiddleston’s Loki or Iron Man’s villains, Ronan does seem to be a bit bland. His goals and his motivation are pretty simple. He destroys stuff and he kills people. Why? Because he’s the bad guy.

But, let’s take a closer look at Ronan. Ronan is a fanatic who believes that only his way is the correct way and only his beliefs are pure. Anyone who has different beliefs must be unpure and therefore, if they don’t agree to convert to his way of believing, Ronan is justified in destroying them.

Does that sound familiar to anyone?

For all the complaints that Ronan was a one-dimensional villain, the same can be said of Joseph Kony, Kim Jong-un, and Jihadi John, and Fred Phelps. The same can be said about a lot of evil people but that does not make them any less evil or dangerous. Ronan may be a simple villain but he’s also the type of villain that we can find all over the world.

The one thing that all Ronan-style fanatics have in common is a complete lack of imagination and humor. When Peter Quill stood up to Ronan by dancing, it was more than just a crowd-pleasing scene in a big action movie. It was a call-to-arms to not allow ourselves to be held hostage by the Ronans of the world. It was a plea to not let the fanatics among us steal our imagination and our right to find joy in our own individual way.

In short, it was a lesson that the entire world needs to learn.

3) I Am Groot

Yes, yes, I know. At this point, we’ve all had to listen to hundreds of friends, relatives, and strangers who have gotten it into their heads that they can perfectly imitate Vin Diesel saying, “I am Groot.” But, seriously — there’s a reason why everyone fell in love with that catch phrase and that’s because both Diesel and the film do more with those three words that most actors can do with a four-page monologue.

And if you didn’t tear up when you heard, “We are Groot,” then I’m sorry. You may be too cynical for your own good.

4) Introducing … James Gunn!

If you’ve read my review of Super or Arleigh’s review of Slither, then you know that James Gunn has long been a favorite of ours. One of the joys of the success of Guardians of the Galaxy has been watching him become a favorite of everyone else as well. And he deserves every bit of that success. Working within the confines of the summer blockbuster genre, Gunn has created a film that works as both a superior action movie and as a quirky comedy. With Guardians, James Gunn proved that it is possible to make a mainstream film without selling out your own individual style.

5) Introducing … Chris Pratt!

Even before he played Peter Quill, Chris Pratt was one of those actors who I have always been happy to see on screen. He just has such a naturally likable presence. But nothing he had done previously had prepared me for the pure joi de vivre that he brought to the role of Peter Quill. Whether he was trying to convince people to call him Star-Lord or hilariously attempting to “rally the troops” or daring Ronan to a dance-off, Chris Pratt was a joy to watch. If nothing else, Guardians of the Galaxy is the film that proves that Chris Pratt is a star (perhaps even a Star-Lord).

6) And let’s not forget Michael Rooker and Benicio Del Toro

Michael Rooker and Benicio Del Toro are both such quirky and unpredictable actors that I’m always happy to see either one of them on screen. Having both of them in one movie is even better. Rooker is perhaps the only actor alive who could not only be believable as a blue-skinned alien with an Alabama accent but who could also make that character into one of the most compelling in the film. As for Del Toro, I know that his defiantly eccentric performance was controversial but personally, I loved the strange energy he brought to all of his scenes.

7) And …. everyone else!

One thing that I really loved about Guardians of the Galaxy is that there were no wasted roles. Every character — from Peter to Zoe Saldana’s Gamora to John C. Reilly’s upright military guy to the people who only had a line or two — felt real. For a lot of viewers (including me), Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) was an easy favorite.

However, if I had to pick a best performance, I’d go with Dave Bautista as Drax. Bautista did so much with so little. As written, Drax is a physical dynamo with a need for revenge and absolutely no sense of humor. That’s a pretty standard character for a film like this. However, Bautista did so much with that character that poor, literal-minded Drax ultimately became one of the most intriguing characters in the film. My favorite Drax moment came when, in response to hearing that everything goes over his head, he explained that nothing could go over his head because he would reach up and grab it.

8) That soundtrack

I have to admit that I didn’t care as much for Interstellar as some people did. One of my big problems with the film came down to Hans Zimmer’s score. It was so loud and overbearing that I actually found myself covering my ears. But what really bothered me was how unnecessary it was. Whenever Matthew McConaughey or Anne Hathaway made a profound statement or the spaceship started to shake, the music would suddenly blast in my ear. It was like having Hans Zimmer in my head, repeatedly shouting, “IMPORTANT! IMPORTANT! EXCITING! EXCITING!”

BLEH!

And it made me appreciate how much I loved the soundtrack of Guardians of the Galaxy. By using songs that you would never expect to see in a science fiction epic, that soundtrack both mocked the genre’s natural tendency towards self-importance and also forced us to take another look at familiar scenes. From the minute Peter started dancing to Come and Get Your Love, I knew that I was watching a special movie.

9) The Prison Break

From planning to execution, this was without a doubt one of the best action sequences of the year. From Rocket laying out his overly complicated plan while Groot tries a much simpler method in the background to Peter asking for the guy’s leg to the use of The Pina Colada Song, this was a perfect scene.

10) And finally … Dancing Groot!