Movie Review: ****Guardians of the Galaxy Volumn 2 (2017)

Again our heroes team up to save the galaxy, this time from the father of Peter (Chris Pratt), Ego (Kurt Russell).  This movie has all our old beloved characters, Gamora (Zoe Saldana) the blue humanoid, Drax (Dave Bautista), the tattooed guardian, Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper)  the raccoon looking creature and Groot (voiced by Van Diesel).  In addition to Ego, we have two other new characters, an empath named Mantis (Pom Klementieff), and Gamora's sister, Nebula (Karen Gillan).  First our heroes are saved by Ego, and then betrayed by him, as he is hoping to use Peter to help him reshape the universe, destroying all life except himself and his son.  Seems pretty demented.  However, since Ego is an immortal, it makes his defeat pretty complicated.  Yondu (Michael Rooker) the individual who kidnapped Peter when he was young, and emotional abused him,  also plays an important part, that enables Peter to come to terms with his past, and understand what happened.  The two sisters finally come to an understanding, after trying to kill each other most of their lives.  Some of the funniest moments happen when the empath interprets the emotions of the others.
The think that makes this movie is the relationships between the characters.  there is platonic love, admiration, friendship and camaraderie.   In theaters now and good for a fun adventure.

Movie Review: ***^Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

This movie is really very fun.  Each of the characters has his own back story.  Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) was kidnapped just from earth after his mother passed away.  He was raised by smugglers and thieves. Gamora (Zoe Saldana) was orphaned.  She is green, and was raised by Ronan (Lee Pace), the psychopathic killer, and served him as an assassin.  Rocket, (Bradley Cooper) the talking raccoon came about because of illegal experimentation and manipulation.  Of course this manipulation was painful and left considerable scarring. Groot (Vin Diesel) is Rocket's partner.  He is a walking tree.  We really don't learn much of his background; but he is unique.  These four have a chance meeting which leads to their arrest and imprisonment.  Quill discovers an orb, which is high desired for its powers.  Gamora is sent to kill Quill and get the orb.  Rocket and Groot recognize Quill as someone with a bounty on his head, and they want to collect.
In prison they meet Drax (Dave Bautista) whose desire in life is to revenge the murders of his wife and daughter at the hands of Ronan.  He first takes his vengeance on Gamora, but is convinced Gamora may be used as bait to attract Ronan.  become a team, and work at breaking out together.  They even recover the orb, and Quill's cassette tape of Earth songs.  However Ronan is after them.
They get to the buyer who is going to make them rich, but Ronan intercepts the orb, and leaves them mangled and disheartened.  Ronan is set to use the orb to cause mass destruction.  The team find their better, heroic natures, and are after Ronan to keep him from destroying the world. 

Movie Review: **^Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

This is not a family movie.  However, it does who people with mental illness, and their relationships with their families, friends and community.  This includes interactions with police.  In many instances there is stigma from family and friends, "I hear you just got out of the nut house" kind of stuff, which in is subtle way puts others down.  There is even stigma between those with mental illness, "So my illness is worse than yours." kind of stuff.  It is interesting how we react to people with mental health issues, and whether or not we can be safe around them.
The story is intriguing.  I love triangle, with part of the triangle out side of the picture and protected by restraining order.  However, she is the focus of the attentions of our primary character, Pat (Bradley Cooper).  He meets another girl, Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) who challenges him to dance with her in a competition.  Robert De Niro plays Pat's father, who has many superstitions about sports, and spending the right amount of time with his son so as to create good luck.  When his father loses a bet on the Eagles, Tiffany manipulates the holder of the bet to make a double bet, including on on the dance performance.  The have to score a 5, not a winning mark, but a mark higher than expected.  This creates a funny scene with the dancing, and a great cheer for a mediocre mark.  This movie gives important social information with regards to living with mental illness.  People with mental illness deserve to find a silver lining.  Too much bad language to recommend this movie however.