Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

    For as long as I can remember I have loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. My first exposure to them was through renting the VHS videos that I would find in my local King Soopers. I loved everything about it, the premise, the characters, the action, the villains, the humor, I loved being a turtle fan.

   But it wasn't until I was around seven that my older step-brother showed me the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, and it blew my tiny mind. The turtles were in live action, there was swearing, there was Casey Jones, there was Shredder and Splinter and the action was sweet. It was everything a seven year old turtle fan could want and it's one of my favorite memories I have of watching a movie and one of the best memories I have of watching something with my older step-brother.

   


    So when I heard that a brand new turtles film was in development, I got pumped! And then over the months the pumped feeling went from "I'm so excited" to " This could work I think" to "Okay I'm not sure" to "Can it at least not suck too bad?".

    Yes I am one of those people who has been dreading the arrival of this film. From Transformers director Michael Bay producing the project, to hack movie maker Jonathan Liebesman directing it, to plastic actress Megan Fox starring in it, to the design of the Turtles looking absolutely awkward and ugly, I was going into the film with the lowest of low expectations. And while the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film is not that bad, as a whole it is still a horribly wasted opportunity.

Guardians of the Galaxy

      If anyone were to come up to me years ago after the first Iron Man movie and asked me what Marvel properties were going to be made into mega blockbuster films, Guardians of the Galaxy probably wouldn't have been anywhere near the top top of that list. Indeed the idea of a Guardians of the Galaxy movie sounds ludicrous in the first place. A movie set in the Marvel cosmic universe starring a band of obscure C and D list characters that is deeply steeped in Marvel history, artifacts and lore. That is the kind of crazy talk that would usually only get brought up if someone was looking to lose their job. But here we are, August of 2014 and a full blown Guardians of the Galaxy movie has been made and put in theaters for all to see. But how is it? While the film can fumble on occasion, it's an incredibly enjoyable film that is both one of Marvels best and one of the best films of the summer.