But first - I owe you quiz answers. You thought I forgot, huh? So anyway, if you took the language quiz, here are the correct responses.
1. A, Ayudar means "to help"
2. C, Un, deux, trois is one, two, three in French
3. B, inu is the Japanese word for "dog"
4. A, "to sprint" means to run
5. C, Tori actually means "bird" in Japanese
6. D, Schmetterling means "butterfly" in German
7. B, luminescent means something is bright and glowing
8. C, Yo tengo los zapatos nuevos is "I have new shoes" in Spanish
9. A, spasibo means "thank you" in Russian
10. D, kokoro means "heart" in Japanese
So there you go. I hope you guys did well, and I hoped I helped you learn something. I love languages. I know lots of random stuff in several but I'm only fully fluent in English, and I'd love to learn others. Do you speak any other languages? I'd love to learn a few words and phrases from you in the comments, so drop by any time.
Now, on to our movie review. I will give you a spoiler warning now though, because I'm sure some of you haven't seen the full feature yet. If you don't mind spoilers, or you have seen the movie already, then please continue reading!
Taking a break from the over-hyped Avengers franchise, Marvel brought to life one of their lesser-known hero teams. Though perhaps "hero" isn't the right word. The Guardians are actually a group brought together by circumstance which includes a half-human thief, a genetically modified raccoon, and three alien races - a large male warrior, a humanoid tree entity, and the daughter of the most powerful and evil alien currently roaming the universe. They are, in that same order, Peter Quill aka "Star-Lord", Rocket, Drax, Groot, and Gamora.
According the comics, the ones my friends and I have currently, Peter is the son of an Earth woman and an actual Star-Lord, another alien race; Rocket is the product of experimentation gone wrong; Groot is Rocket's companion and partner in crime, and can say nothing except "I am Groot"; Drax comes from a race of fighters; and Gamora was raised by Thanos to be the strongest and most ruthless woman alive. |
The movie sticks to these stories fairly closely. Drax is given a family that was killed by the movie's main villain, Ronan, in order to bring him onto the team, but the others are pretty true to the original.
However, the storyline of the movie does not follow the storyline of the books. You can tell pretty quickly that it's going to be different due to the fact that Peter's mother dies from cancer instead of a Brotherhood attack, and he is picked up by raiders and raised to be a thief.
Now we meet adult Peter stealing an orb, which he decides to keep and sell on his own, double-crossing his raider family. However, Ronan is a Kree fanatic who promised Thanos the orb in return for the destruction of his enemy planet/race. He sends Gamora to kill Peter and take it. And since Peter screwed the raiders over, they put a bounty on him, which Rocket and Groot, freshly escaped from prison, are out to claim. The confrontation between these four lands them in a new jail, where we meet Drax, and Gamora reveals her hatred of her father and her plan to take the orb somewhere where he and Ronan cannot get it.
With the team assembled, the movie is now about outrunning enemies and keeping the orb and the Nova (main government and the planet Ronan hates) safe. There are some great fights, spaceship chases, witty one-liners, and fantastic music. Seriously. If you don't buy the movie, at least buy the soundtrack.
Personally, I loved it. No, it wasn't identical to the story I read, but it was still a really good story. Rocket is still my favorite character and Bradley Cooper did an amazing job playing him. Vin Diesel as Groot was great casting as well, and Peter as a character was everything he should have been. However, I was a bit disappointed in Gamora. It wasn't that the actress was bad, or didn't look right; it was more about the personality traits she was given in the movie. Gamora, as I know her, is not meant to be funny, she does not show compassion, and she is never open about her emotions or thoughts. So the fact that you see all these things in the movie takes away from the character. For me, anyway. I was pleasantly surprised by Drax though. He always seemed to me to be very like Gamora in the books, but in the movie he can be off the wall and hilarious, sometimes without meaning to be, and I thought it was a great change, honestly.
So, I would definitely recommend this to anyone who has read the comics, as well as any Marvel or comic book fans in general. I think most nerds will really enjoy this movie and its mix of action, comedy, and sci-fi. I plan on taking my roommate to see it this weekend (last Sunday only Liz and I got to go) and I'm super excited to see it again. Not only do I get to repeat my favorite parts, I get to notice new things. And I get to share something I love with my best friend.
Hope you guys enjoyed my review, and the movie itself, if you've seen it. If not, you should really go. If you liked my take on it, you will like the real thing even better. So until the next review, or quiz, or whatever I end up posting here, thanks for reading and I'll see you again soon!