Tag: Maria Bakalova

Cinema Dispatch: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and all the images you see in this review are owned by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Directed by James Gunn

It shouldn’t have taken us this long to get here as the last Guardians movie came out in 2017, but with James Gunn’s erroneous firing and the subsequent pandemic (one that’s still going on by the way), we’re rather lucky to have gotten this film at all. Oh sure, we would have gotten some sort of Guardians movie either way as Disney has invested a lot in this franchise, but to have everything fall back into place after all the shakeups seems almost too good to be true. With such a big story behind the camera, however, it does put added pressure on James Gunn and crew to deliver a proper capstone to this series which is easier said than done. Can they give us one last fantastic ride with the beloved Guardians, or was all the drama behind the scenes ultimately for a mediocre conclusion? Let’s find out!!

A lot has happened since Thanos snapped have the world and The Avengers snapped them all back, but The Guardians of the Galaxy are trucking along as best they can. Their new base of operations is thriving with a community of what I can only assume are outcasts and bounty hunters, and they’ve had at least one confirmed concert by Kevin Bacon. Still, Peter “Star Lord” Quill (Chris Pratt) is still struggling after the loss and confusing return of Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), and the rest of the Guardians have to pick up the slack with Rocket (Bradley Cooper) taking charge. Not exactly a perfect situation but one that they are dealing with, at least until Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) bursts in, kicks everyone’s butt, and nearly kills Rocket before getting booted back into outer space. With Rocket in critical condition, Peter along with Nebula, Mantis, Drax, and Groot (Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, and Vin Diesel) have to uncover Rocket’s past and his unique biology if they have any hopes of healing him, and in order to do this they will need the help of the Ravagers who have recruited Gamora in the time since she arrived to this dimension during the events of Endgame. It won’t be easy however as Rocket’s creator, The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), gets wind that Rocket has been found and is hell-bent on taking what he believes to be his and will destroy anything in his path to get it. Can the Guardians outwit this evil scientist and work together as a team, even with the awkwardness between Peter and Gamora? What role did the High Evolutionary play in Rocket’s past, and what could that mean for this final adventure? Oh hey, is it finally a Guardians movie that doesn’t focus on Peter? Sounds like a nice change of pace to me!

“See? Wait long enough and you finally get the spotlight!”     “I am Groot?”     “No, it doesn’t come with a pay raise.”
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Cinema Dispatch: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm and all the images you see in this review are owned by Amazon Studios

Directed by Jason Woliner

Remember when Borat was a thing?  I mean EVERYTHING feels longer ago these days, but that movie was a genuine phenomenon for a while there and launched Sacha Baron Cohen into stardom.  Fourteen years later, he finally returns to the character and gives us the sequel that… well we REALLY haven’t been waiting for since Bruno was kind of the sequel already, but perhaps the sequel that we NEED right now considering everything that’s going on in the world.  Will this movie be VERY NICE like the first one, or will it get old faster than when everyone was doing Borat impressions?  Let’s find out!!

Fourteen years after the first film came out, we find Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen) imprisoned in his country of Kazakhstan for bringing shame and ridicule to its people after being part of such a silly movie.  His chance at redemption comes however when the Kazakhstani government decides to send a gift to the Great Leader Donald Trump and gives Borat the opportunity to deliver it to his best buddy Michael Pence while recording his journey.  With his gray suit, well-trimmed mustache, and a heart full of dreams, he heads to America to await the President’s gift and then deliver it to DC.  However, things go awry when the box arrives and inside he finds NOT Kazakhastan’s prized monkey named Johnny to gift to The Donald, but instead his daughter Tutar (Maria Bakalova) and a bunch of monkey bones.  It seems that she wanted to join him on his journey and also got very hungry during the trip, so now Borat must find some other way to appease the Orange Leader.  Upon realizing that the Cheeto in Chief likes young women, he decides to clean Tutar up and give her as a gift so she can become a princess like Melania Trump which Tutar is all for considering the alternative is to live her life in a cage; as is the Kazakhstani custom for women who are not married yet, and at fifteen years old she’s already over the hill!  Will Borat make good on his promise to deliver his daughter to Mike Pence so his country can finally stop being the laughingstock of the world?  What will Tutar learn about herself now that she’s in the land of the free and the home of the Whopper?  Just how many douchebags did he beat off with a stick to get the shots he needed!?

“WAIT! YOU STILL NEED TO HEAR ABOUT ‘MY WIFE’!!”
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