Second ‘Guardians’ is not quite great, but very Groot
By Steve CrumIt’s James Gunn’s fault—that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is such a fun, far-out space trip. As both screenwriter and director, Gunn has fashioned a highly successful franchise from a Marvel comic book series that began in 1969. His 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy was a mega box office hit, and Vol 2 will likely top it. (Vol. 3 is already planned.)
This second volume is pretty terrific, a must-see. It suffers a bit from being a sequel in that characters are already firmly defined. (The revelation of their personas was a plus in the previous film.) In this second movie, the surprise factor of the first is mostly missing, save for Groot’s younger incarnation. That said, there are plenty of new characters and adventures that satisfy.
For those who might be new to this block of the Marvel universe, Guardians’ central character is Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) aka The Star-Lord, a half-human, half-Celestial. He leads a crew of mixed aliens that include a talking raccoon (Rocket, voiced by Bradley Cooper); the 20-something, human looking, green-skinned Gamora (Zoe Saldana); Drax the Destroyer, a muscle bound brute with insulting humor (Dave Bautista); and Baby Groot (called merely Groot in the first flick), a tree-like humanoid (voiced by Vin Diesel). Baby Groot measures about a foot high. Ah yes, the cycle of plants.
Just accept that these five beings are on a continual, united quest to protect the universe…er, the galaxy from harm. In the process, expect Looney Tunes zaniness. Go from there.
The story opens in flashback to a Missouri town in 1980, and we are introduced to a young (digitalized) Kurt Russell as he courts the Star-Lord’s future mother. So Russell, called Ego, is also Peter’s dad. Flash forward to an unknown planet with an ensuing battle between the Guardians and a humongous, tentacled killer creature. From this point, the primary comedy relief is the adorable Baby Groot who, like a true toddler, tends to aimlessly wander during the mayhem. Throughout the film, Rocket tries to teach him basic survival, which leads to even more cute, funny sequences. Groot’s only comment, ever, is “I am Groot.” That phrase, having multiple interpretations, is a running gag lasting through the end credits. Speaking of such, be sure to stay until they shut off the theatre lights. Multiple scenes have been added. 
Our Guardian heroes encounter dozens of wild, colorful, wicked, and vengeful types. Expect Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker), a blue-skinned pirate featured in the first Guardians installment. He’s the one with the deadly arrow. His part has been extended and expanded. Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) is High Priestess of the Sovereigns, a race of gold-covered beings. Karen Gillan’s Nebula is the robotic looking, adopted sister of Gamora. However, most of the plot centers on Ego and Peter, a cataclysmic father and son relationship.
Incidentally, casting Chris Pratt as the lead is genius. His brilliant, arrested development, man-child Andy Dwyer in TV’s Parks and Recreation seems to be a close cousin of the more savvy and responsible Peter Quill. Both are free spirited and unconventional.
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PS: Look for a fast cameo by David Hasselhoff, and an extended cameo by Sylvester Stallone. Leave us not forget Stan Lee.
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GRADE on an A-F Scale: B+
Remembering HANS CONRIED…50 years ago
By Steve Crum
A belated birthday note to the late Hans Conried, who was born April 15. The great character actor, mainly comic character actor, is well known for his work on The Danny Thomas Show, Fractured Flickers, his voice work on Jay Ward’s animated classics, and various movies and TV shows.In 1967, I was fortunate to see him live on the Kansas State Teachers College stage (Albert Taylor Hall) in the light comedy, Absence of a Cello. Ruth McDevitt and Florida Friebus (the mom on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis) co-starred. He toured with Absence after its Broadway run. What a wonderful, hilarious evening at the theatre.
Conried died of a massive heart attack on Jan. 5, 1982 at the relatively young age of 64.
Long lived the king of insult laughs: DON RICKLES
By Steve Crum
Honoring the memory of 90 year-old Don Rickles, who passed away yesterday, April 6, enjoy this smattering of unique moments in his comedic (and sometimes dramatic–via Run Silent, Run Deep) showbiz career.
Due to ever increasing “political correctness” (damn, I hate that phrase), insult comedy has died with Rickles. Mr. Warmth made funny insults an art unto himself.
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A familiar scene for Johnny Carson and The Tonight Show fans, this 1968 photo was taken the hilarious time Don Rickles interrupted a shtick featuring Carson and some Japanese young ladies massaging him. Johnny soon pushed Don into a bathtub.Mr. Warmth interacts with The Beatles at a function in 1964. Well, TWO of The Beatles: Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
Don Rickles is probably doing his comedy insult bit with Clark Gable during a break in filming Run Silent, Run Deep (1958). Gable starred, along with Burt Lancaster, and Rickles gave a fine performance in support.
Rickles made the cover of this September 1971 Jimmy Olsen comic book, flanked by a couple of superheroes, including Superman. Rickles is featured within the book as well…in drawn form.
Guest host Frank Sinatra does his best to control Don Rickles during a 1977 The Tonight Show.
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Peacefully rest, you hockey puck of hockey pucks. #
Holocaust tale ‘The Zookeeper’s Wife’ exudes hope among tears
By Steve CrumEmotionally wrenching in many ways, The Zookeeper’s Wife succeeds as a fact-based story of love and perseverance. It echoes Schindler’s List, although not nearly so graphic, in depictions of Nazi atrocities against the Jews. The zoo setting is the difference here, so be prepared for one particular sequence involving Nazi soldiers rifling and machine gunning zoo animals. It is a stomach turning minute.
Knowing that the film involves Nazis taking over a zoo during WWII, and not having read Diane Ackerman’s non-fiction best seller of the same name, I had misguided expectations. Over 50 years ago, I had seen Hannibal Brooks, the 1969 Oliver Reed-starring movie about a Nazi-run Munich zoo. British POW “Hannibal” kidnaps an Asian elephant to protect the creature from Allied bombing of that zoo. Compelling as Hannibal Brooks might sound, rest assured that The Zookeeper’s Wife has little in common.
Directed by Niki Caro (Whale Rider; North Country) and adapted by Angela Workman, The Zookeeper’s Wife recounts the keepers of Poland’s Warsaw Zoo, which still exists, in dealing with the German invasion on Sept. 1, 1939 and its extended aftermath. The story encompasses the city of Warsaw as well, particularly the persecution and containment of Jews in the so-called Warsaw Ghetto. (By the way, most of the filming was in Prague.) 
The film opens weeks before the invasion wherein zookeeper Jan Żabiński (Johan Heldenbergh) and his wife Antonina (Jessica Chastain) are hosting a cocktail party on zoo grounds with friends and colleagues. Among the group is Lutz Heck (Daniel Brühl), a German zoologist. Soon after the invasion, Heck shows up at the zoo’s gate, sporting his Nazi SS uniform. He has become an oppressive foe. (Remember how the young Rolfe turned Nazi in The Sound of Music?) To make matters worse, Heck lusts for—yep—the zookeeper’s wife. 
It is Antonina, in fact, who is the central character of the story. It is she who we first see bicycling on the zoo grounds with one of her many pets, a baby dromedary, freely galloping along in back of her. It is Antonina who we see tenderly help a frantic mother elephant care for its newborn. It is also Antonina who, along with her husband, devises a scheme to rescue hundreds of Jews from the ghetto. In the secretive process, she must also keep her ex-friend Nazi at sexual bay. It is a daunting task fraught with risk. 
Chastain’s acting is impressive, as are Heldenbergh’s, Brühl’s, and Shira Haas as the suffering Jewish teen, Urszula.
Running six minutes over two hours, The Zookeeper’s Wife is a tearful reminder of the Holocaust and one’s will to survive.
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GRADE on an A-F Scale: B
Worth 1,000 Words: BONITA GRANVILLE ON THE WARNER BROTHERS LOT
By Steve CrumEleven year-old Bonita Granville autographs the Warner Brothers jalopy in 1933, a studio tradition at that time. Bonita played teen detective Nancy Drew in four Warner movies, 1938-39. Her co-star was Frankie Thomas (later TV’s Tom Corbett, Space Cadet). Over coffee with Frankie several years ago, he shared a story about Granville as Nancy Drew: “Bonita was forced to literally tape down her breasts to be Nancy Drew, even though Bonita was only 15 years old when the series began in 1938. Otherwise it would’ve added 10 years to her appearance.” Call it a restraining order.
By the way, Bonita Granville was Oscar nominated for These Three in 1936.