Robin Williams: The passing of a legend

Today, the world mourns the passing of Robin Williams, arguably, one of the greatest comedic personalities and actors of several generations. For many, he was known for his great dramatic roles, such as Adrian Cronauer in "Good Morning Vietnam", John Keating in "Dead Poets Society", Daniel Hillard in "Mrs. Doubtfire" and Sean Maguire in "Good Will Hunting". And for others, myself included, he was the voice of the Genie in "Aladdin". 

But he was so much more, to so many others. He was an inspiration for what it means to be good at being funny, to be really good. He was also an inspiration for those who pursue tireless dreams and should not give, because things start out rough. If they want to be good at something, they should pursue it, become better at it. And there is no better example then being good at pursuing a dream then Robin Williams. 

I could go on and on about his work in film, in stand up, in just being an all-around amazing human being. But mere words can not describe this towering figure, this giant of laughter. If you want to look for the means to describe who he was, look to his films, and the roles he played and the characters he brought to life. There is the means to describe who and what Robin Williams was. And do you know what my description of him is? Comedian, actor, genius, bringer of smiles and purveyor of good times. But now, the good times are over. Because the comedian has told his last joke, and the actor has taken his last bow. It's time to say so long folks, and have a good evening, drive safe, and keep smiling.

'Guardians of the Galaxy' Review

If there is one word I can use to sum up Marvel's latest film "Guardians of the Galaxy", it is quite simply, amazing. This movie did for me, what no other film has done in a long time. It made me laugh, made me cry, made me grip my seat arms with excitement and anticipation. James Gunn does an outstanding job taking a film with characters from the Marvel Universe that haven't seen the big screen before, and blending them and their worlds together in a film that takes drama, comedy and adventure and mix it together into one delicious cocktail of excellent.

One of the things that stood out for me right off the bat was the acting and casting. Chris Pratt takes his role as Star-Lord and really owns it, making the character brave, stupid, roguish and sometimes downright annoying. In short, to me, he is like a young Captain James T. Kirk (the womanizing aspect doesn't need explanation, its prevalent alright). Zoe Saldana fits the role of Gamora, taking the character's serious, yet caring nature and bringing it to life along with her fierce fighting skills. As for Dave Batista as Drax, well while he starts off somewhat awkward in the role, he gets progressively better throughout the film. And last but not least, we round out the hero cart with Bradley Cooper providing the voice of Rocket Raccoon and Vin Diesel providing the voice and motion casting of Groot. Both do amazing jobs, even if Groots dialogue is limited to three syllables. But Rocket, well, there are times I wanna punt the little guy like a furry football, and times when you want to hug him and hope he doesn't scratch off your face and ruin the nice moment.

Lee Pace stepping in as Kree terrorist Ronan the Accuser is a nice touch, but the character is at times rather one-sided. He does have his moments though, as does Karen Gillan as Nebula, one of the mad Titan Thano's adopted daughters. Oh, and did I mention Thanos shows up as well? Yes, the legendary villain finally gets screen time, with his voice and motion capture provided by actor Josh Brolin (I was extremely terrified and excited when this scene played out).

As for the CGI, special effects and visual appeal of the film, there is no shortage of that. Sets like the Xandarian prison The Kiln, the space outpost Knowhere and Ronan's ship 'The Dark Aster' are beautifully done and incredibly elaborate. But part of me was left lacking by the fact that while the Nova Corps home planet of Xandar is shown, there isn't much detail about the people of Xandar and the culture, merely that it is the object of Ronan's evil desires. But I can excuse this because the battle scenes are quite literally out of this world.

Overall, this movie is well worth all the wait. It holds up, and goes above and beyond what I had even expected. It is the most unique of the Marvel films thus far, because it literally opens the possibility of bringing more to the table as far as movies go, literally taking audiences among the stars to new worlds. I am giving the moving four out of four stars for amazing acting, sets, CGI, story and above all, for making a guy like me feel like a kid again. It takes a lot for a film to garner that kind of reaction from me, and 'Guardians of the Galaxy' does that in spades.