Special: Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2/Beauty And The Beast/Get Out Mini-Reviews

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2:

Synopsis: Set to the all-new sonic backdrop of Awesome Mixtape #2, Marvel Studios' "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" continues the team's adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mystery of Peter Quill's true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes' aid as the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand.

My thoughts: Just as fun as the first installment, Guardians ups it's drama and comedy chops in volume 2 without losing the heart and soul of what made the first so great, though admittedly the soundtrack to "Vol. 2" is lacking in comparison to the first though that could be only because they used all the good late 70's, early 80's pop music in the first.

Final verdict: 5 angry baby trees out of 5.

Beauty And The Beast:

Synopsis: Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" is a live-action re-telling of the studio's animated classic which refashions the classic characters from the tale as old as time for a contemporary audience, staying true to the original music while updating the score with several new songs. "Beauty and the Beast" is the fantastic journey of Belle, a bright, beautiful and independent young woman who is taken prisoner by a beast in his castle. Despite her fears, she befriends the castle's enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the Beast's hideous exterior and realize the kind heart and soul of the true Prince within. The film stars: Emma Watson as Belle; Dan Stevens as the Beast; Luke Evans as Gaston, the handsome, but shallow villager who woos Belle.

My thoughts: Not a huge fan of the original, this is basically a carbon copy of it but with more songs. Not a fan of the songs. By the time the last 30 minutes rolls around and I start to get interested, another song comes on and I'm reminded of the films first 2 acts.

Final verdict: 3 sing-a-longs out of 5.

Get Out:

Synopsis: Now that Chris and his girlfriend, Rose, have reached the meet-the-parents milestone of dating, she invites him for a weekend getaway upstate with Missy and Dean. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he could have never imagined.

My thoughts: What can I say about "Get Out" that hasn't already been said? It's complex, it's intriguing, it's underlying theme is obvious without beating you over the head with the message and is deserving of all the praise it's getting... Also fuck Armond White, dude's a piece of feces.

Final verdict: 4 scenes of racial unrest out of 5

Special: DC Comics Films Dream Casting Part 1 - Suicide Squad

In case you missed it earlier this week, Warner Bros officially announced their plans for the DC Comics cinematic universe that began with 2013's Man Of Steel and continues with at least 10 more films including the previously announced Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice (click HERE for more info) and although some casting announcements have been made it's time to dreamcast the other 9 films. In This first part we tackle the next DCCU movie after Batman V Superman... 2016's Suicide Squad.

Rumour is Warner's is circling 4 A-list actors for this film, Will Smith, Tom Hardy and Ryan Gosling have been among those rumoured, but here's my choices:

Deadshot: As much as I like Gosling as an actor, Hardy is the perfect choice to become leader of the Suicide Squad. Plus Gosling did say he wouldn't do a superhero movie and that Drive would be his version of one.

Harley Quinn: I would love to get a young Helena Bonham Carter in this role, but since she's too aged we'll go with one of her Harry Potter student's with Emma Watson. She's elegant enough to pull of the psychiatrist role and crazy enough to play Harley. If she can nail the voice, there is no one better.

Captain Cold: Okay I'm cheating a little bit here because of my Percy Jackson fandom, but David Ayer is directing Suicide Squad and his current film Fury, stars Logan Lerman and I'd loved to see him lead a younger team of Rogues, though I'm sure they'll go older and Boomerang is likely ticketed for Suicide Squad I can dream.

Killer Frost: Emily Browning... No questions here. Snyder loves her and her career's on a downturn currently. She'd kill to be frost (see what I did there) and she'd do a great job.

Black Spider: The fact that Smith is being circled leads me to think there must be at least one African-American member, though I don't think Smith fits with my younger squad, I'd like to say Michael B. Jordan but he's likely tied up with Fantastic Four so I will again go with a Percy Jackson connection and cast Brandon T. Jackson as Black Spider while also being the comedic relief.

Amanda Waller: Finally, what's the Suicide Squad without it's fearless leader that stuck bombs in all their necks? I'm thinking they'll go with a sexy New 52 version of Waller so I'm thinking Halle Berry would work.

Villain; They could go anyway with this. Part of me thinks they should use a lesser Batman villain (Victor Zsasz?) but on that same note does Zsasz (I think Jude Law would be awesome as him BTW) warrant having the Suicide Squad come after him. Which is why I believe they'll go with a mob type villain, either headed by Falcone, Penguin or my personal pick Black Mask. The obvious pick is Hugo Weaving, but he may want to get away from masked villains/vigilantes so I'm going with Guy Pearce or Ralph Fiennes, both are European but both are bat-shit crazy! I also wouldn't hate Tim Roth.