There's Something About "Guardians of the Galaxy" ...

... that merits most if not all of a post, instead of simply a paragraph. So on A.G. 17, 1615 local time (that's Sunday August 18, since Guardians of the Galaxy -- hereafter known as Guardians -- premiered on the first of the month), Jeffrey and I finally saw this movie at our local Carmike Cinema - but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I knew there was no way on earth we would get in to see Guardians on opening weekend, so I held off and had put a buzz in Martha's ear about all of us going to see the movie when we were all able to. Got my surprise that Friday (A.G. 15) when she called me at work and asked me to get us some Sunday tickets. Sarah who originally wanted to go to Guardians as well decided against it, so while Martha and Sarah were watching Step Up All In, Jeffrey and I took in Guardians ... good thing I got 4 pm tickets too, for there was a sign on the ticket window that said the earliest 1 pm showing of the movie had been sold out! Marvel Comics tend to do that on opening weekends, but more than two weeks in? We've got something good here, and the sequel has already been announced for July 2017!

Jeffrey of course would not remember the original version, set in the 30th century and comprised of Vance Astro, an Earth astronaut who spent a thousand years in hibernation and sole survivors of various Earth colonies in our system adapted to survive in those environments (Mercury's, Jupiter's, and Pluto's respectively) along with an Alpha Centaurian hunter - Yondu, see below - and an Arcturan brother/sister/hawk-god incarnation hybrid. But if you're a long time reader of Marvel Comics, you do get a few reader nods, like the woman Bereet who wakes up in the hold of Star-Lord's ship (Bereet's a Krylorian who filmed the early adventures of the Hulk and showed them on her home planet and won seven Droolies, the equivalent of our Oscar), the planet Xandar (evidently before it blew, or it never did, into four pieces as in the comics) and Yondu, who within the movie raised Star-Lord after beaming him off Earth as a kid in 1988, has that arrow he can control with his whistle.

Agree or disagree, I still think Yondu sending that arrow through about two dozen of Ronan's troops and them all falling on cue was the coolest thing in the film! Of course the newbies - and me too, I admit - will be super fans of the new team even if they won't ever pick up a comic book, no harm no foul. The aforementioned orphan from Earth, Star-Lord ... the last survivor of her race and professional assassin, Gamora ... a giant of a man literal in so many ways who wants revenge on principal villain Ronan for killing his wife and daughter, Drax ... a genetically spliced and diced mammal turned mercenary, Rocket Raccoon ... and his companion, the walking tree "I am" Groot. Contrary to some reviews, it's not quite the Star Wars of our generation, nor should it aspire to be (the fan boards I've seen alternate between eager anticipation and utter dread at what will happen when Episode VII hits theatres next December). It's a fun and thoughtful getaway for a few hours.

By and large, that's all I ask of a movie -- and if someone says something that sets my thought processes churning (which happens quite a bit in the popcorn flicks) I'm all the more for it. So days after Jeffrey and I came out a theater nearly packed and Martha and Sarah came out of a theater with single-digit population (no offense to the Step Up franchise, which now on its fifth film has done remarkably well with a moderate budget), the kids have started to figure out that there is more to life in the mornings than electronics. This morning in fact Jeffrey asked me if we could play a board game after breakfast, which I'd have gladly done after all of us save Martha slept in the longest I think I've slept uninterrupted in years. But then Sarah shouts out she wants to go to Minot Public Library and Jeffrey agrees with her. So we go and each check out two books; I didn't prompt this at all, and I asked them on the way from the library to Grandma's for the day "isn't this better that spending your mornings tap, tap, tapping away on computers"?

Jeffrey answered, "Kinda."

And I'll go with that, David