This was a Fun movie, and a very funny one, too. Until the end, I wasn't sure if it was a good one. Hell, it is good. The first was well-made and profoundly clever in its use of nostalgia as part of its storytelling soul rather than just appearances, but the sequel has a more perfect magic: emotional honesty.

It's about a team of famous yet bickering mercenaries and their unseemly associates, all outmaneuvering enemies and gravitating toward epic destinies that turn out to be mirages obscuring the smaller truths of family. I suspect this will make older viewers like it more, but younger ones like it less, because they don't sleep with the sort of well-settled emotional tangles that the movie vicariously unravels.

I don't really feel like more should be said, frankly, than that. It's a light show, lacking any suggestion of physical threat or danger, yet it wields its human weaponry so well. Read the rest

Cold glass sculptor Jack Storms explains how he makes his gorgeous pieces, including one that became a cube prop in the Guardians of the Galaxy film. Read the rest

Zack Giallongo is an illustrator and comics artist. His graphic novel Broxo is full of adventure, and his original comic Ewoks: Shadow of Endor is a must-read for Star Wars fans. He's also done an issue of Adventure Time and illustrated the comic version of Ian Lender's The Stratford Zoo Midnight Review does MacBeth. Here's a sampling of some of his sketches.

#broxo

A photo posted by Zack Giallongo (@zackules) on Nov 11, 2014 at 8:08pm PST

A kid wanted "realistic Groot".

A photo posted by Zack Giallongo (@zackules) on Aug 8, 2014 at 10:07am PDT

GASP

A photo posted by Zack Giallongo (@zackules) on Nov 11, 2014 at 8:48am PST

Thinking of throwing some color on this.

A photo posted by Zack Giallongo (@zackules) on Jul 7, 2014 at 9:47am PDT

Murder She Comicked

A photo posted by Zack Giallongo (@zackules) on Mar 3, 2014 at 6:32pm PDT

Minotaur #inktober

A photo posted by Zack Giallongo (@zackules) on Oct 10, 2014 at 3:35pm PDT

Tell 'em Large Marge sentcha! #peewee #inktober #largemargesentme

A photo posted by Zack Giallongo (@zackules) on Oct 10, 2014 at 7:07pm PDT

A photo posted by Zack Giallongo (@zackules) on Aug 8, 2014 at 10:38am PDT

I got boids on the brain.

A photo posted by Zack Giallongo (@zackules) on Apr 4, 2014 at 1:12pm PDT

Cowboy Curtis was my favorite.

A photo posted by Zack Giallongo (@zackules) on Nov 11, 2014 at 5:43pm PST

Yay! Boston Comic con!

A photo posted by Zack Giallongo (@zackules) on Aug 8, 2014 at 10:57am PDT

MeCAF commission for a super fan!

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Grant Gould is probably most well known for his Star Wars trading card art and illustrating two Star Wars books, Draw Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Draw Star Wars: Rebels. He's also the creator of the original comic series Wolves of Odin and has done awesome art from just about every fantasy and scifi series out there (and even some pop culture characters too). Read the rest

This is the single most amazing Christmas tree idea I have even seen. It had to be done and Wolfen Moondaughter was the one to do it. See more on her Flickr page. Happy Holidays to all! Read the rest

Ever since Marvel announced that one of its next film ventures was The Guardians of the Galaxy, not much discussion has taken place about who might join the cast. But now, Michael Rooker (who is returning to The Walking Dead next season) is throwing his hat in the ring -- to play Rocket Raccoon! A friend of Guardians director James Gunn, Rooker might just be interested in providing his perfect, grisly voice for the (most likely) CG-animated character. Why? He told MovieWeb:

I love raccoons. Raccoons are my friends!

But really:

I would be very honored and pleased to work with James Gunn again... Whether it will happen or not, I don’t know... Write this up. Tweet the fuck out of it. If the fans want me as Rocket Raccoon, Marvel will listen to you guys, I think, sometimes... Perhaps I will be lucky and blessed enough to go in there, and go at it with Mr. Gunn again, who knows?

Okay! So, he's more eager to work with Gunn than he is to be Rocket Raccoon (he says he hasn't "done much research on it at all yet"). But he's totally committed to taking the Betty White-social media route, and that makes him one thing for sure: an efficient campaigner.

Photo credit: AMC

Which Legendary Character Actor Has the Crazy Eyes and Wants To Be This Pint-Sized Bad@ss, Rocket Raccoon? [Pajiba] Read the rest

On July 14, during the Marvel panel at Comic Con, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige revealed that the studio's second big movie for 2014 (following Iron Man 3) was going to be Guardians of the Galaxy, and that one of the characters would be Rocket Raccoon. A couple of weeks before that, in late June, Latino Review caught wind of this information and started reporting on it.

Now, Marvel is purportedly saying that this leak was unauthorized and they want to know who did it and no one gets hurt. Latino Review reports receiving a very passive-aggressive email on the matter, and replying with a challenge: "Maybe send us a more realistically written form letter and we'll start to care."

Send from an "independent security consultant" who claims to have worked for Marvel since 1982, it accuses the editors of Latino Review of disseminating "confidential, non-public information concerning Iron Man 3 and Guardians of the Galaxy." Judge for yourself. Read the rest

While the DC filmmaking universe languishes and prepares to go into hibernation after Man of Steel is released next year, Marvel is doubling down on every movie it's made already. Can you really blame them? I mean, they're kind of on a roll here. Marvel execs -- such as Kevin Feige -- might also might be convincing themselves that S.H.I.E.L.D. is real and they are S.H.I.E.L.D., what with their official announcement at Comic-Con of "Phase Two." No, really, Marvel's slate of sequels is being referred to as "Phase Two," as if it was a second wave of Chitauri arriving on Earth. I just hope that Phase Two includes a certain cellist-dating S.H.I.E.L.D. agent... Read the rest