Hercules

All Hercules ever wanted was to be home with his wife and son. He didn't care about fame or fortune, or whether he really was the son of the Greek god Zeus. He just wanted to be left alone. That's kind of hard to do, however, when you have Hera - a Greek goddess and wife of Zeus - pining for your death due to jealousy. As such, Hercules is sent on 12 trials, or labors to win the trust of Hera. Hercules triumphs in his quests, and wins his freedom. That all changes when years later Hercules is drugged and his family is murdered in cold blood before him. Reduced to little more than a shell of the legend he once was, he sets out as a mercenary, and along the way meets several people who become his closest allies. Soon Hercules is approached by a princess who begs him to come help her father end a war with an invading army led by a man who is said to be a sorcerer. Hercules reluctantly agrees, but not until the princess offers him enough gold to finally retire and hopefully live the rest of his life in peace.

At first glance Hercules looks like yet another banal "sword and sandal" epic that has been done time and time again - especially in 2014, with 300: Rise of an Empire, The Legend of Hercules, Pompeii, and now Hercules. To be quite honest, Hercules doesn't amount to anything terribly special, but it does manage to be an entertaining summer popcorn flick. Well, more entertaining than the previous Hercules film released earlier this year, The Legend of Hercules. This time, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson steps into the titular role, and actually does it pretty well. I feel like he has improved quite a bit over the course of his film career. This is one of those times where I wish the movie as a whole was as great as the lead actor, however. While it was entertaining, it lacked in the acting and overall story departments. If you're looking for something to spend a few hours watching, you could do a lot worse than Hercules. Personally, I think Hercules is good for either a dollar movie night or a video-on-demand rental.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Peter Quill has never been the 'hero' type. Oh sure, he acts like a big shot around the ladies, but it's really all for show. Ever since he was abducted from Earth as a young boy by a renegade intergalactic pirate by the name of Yondu (who by the way, would argue that he 'saved' Quill), Quill's been walking the fine line between good and bad - though more often than not getting into trouble. 26 years after his abduction from Earth, Quill is a treasure hunter on a quest to recover a mysterious orb for a client. Along the way he runs into two bounty hunters hired to capture him named Rocket Racoon and Groot, as well as an angry human-turned-killing-machine named Drax the Destroyer bent on revenge against a Kree warrior named Ronan the Accuser who killed his family. Also on the hunt for the orb is Gamora, the adopted daughter of Thanos the Mad Titan. When each of these five people meet up, they realize that the orb everyone seems to be going after is actually a dangerous weapon which could destroy entire planets if Thanos or Ronan ever possessed it. They then band together to keep the orb away from both Thanos and Ronan and hopefully save the galaxy.

Guardians of the Galaxy opens the door wide open to (sorry, had to say it) new frontiers as it is the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to travel into the far reaches of space instead of staying grounded on Earth. Guardians is being widely regarded as one of the best, if not the best Marvel film to date; and for once, I think I might actually agree. It has everything that has made the Cinematic Universe a success: a mix of action, comedy, with a bit of more tragic moments; and it amps it up tenfold. Thankfully, it didn't end up being as bad as Thor: The Dark World, or Iron Man 3. Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax, Vin Diesel as the sentient tree Groot, and Bradley Cooper as Rocket Racoon have great chemistry onscreen that is fun to watch as the story progresses. I loved Rocket's sarcastic humor, and Drax's inability to comprehend metaphors. With Groot, who in the film is a sentient tree that is only able to say "I am Groot!", he manages to become one of my favorite characters. Groot is someone who can be terrifying when in the heat of battle, yet at the same time be a gentle giant of sorts. Guardians of the Galaxy is a story that even people who have never heard of the comic book before (like me) will enjoy.

Even though Guardians is a near-perfect film, it's not without its problems. Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser felt massively underused, despite him completely owning the scenes he is in. There were times that it also felt a bit rushed, but not enough to ruin the story. In the beginning, the soundtrack threw me off, because it ended up being made of mostly '80's classic songs and this is a Marvel sci-fi action type of film. Then again, I do have to say that by the time the end credits were rolling I was humming along with the songs and it ended up working with the overall feel of Guardians of the Galaxy.

In the end, Guardians of the Galaxy is an instant hit that for me is one of the top three films so far of 2014 (the other two being Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Captain America: The Winter Soldier). Even though the year is only half way finished, it's going to be kind of hard to top the films released in the first half of the year, including Guardians of the Galaxy.