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Peter Quill a.k.a. Star-Lord ( Chris Pratt ) comes into possession of a mysterious orb that the ruthless Ronan the Accuser ( Lee Pace )...

Peter Quill a.k.a. Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) comes into possession of a mysterious orb that the ruthless Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) is seeking out. A bounty is placed on Quill, resulting in him crossing paths with Gamora (Zoe Saldana) an assassin, Drax (Dave Bautista) a brute, Groot (Vin Diesel) a walking tree and Rocket (Bradley Cooper) a talking raccoon. Their adventures together strengthen the bonds amongst them and they go on to form the most bizarre team, Guardians of the Galaxy.

Watched it in 3D, the movie is a hyper-diverting adventurer amalgamated with slick action set pieces, legit humor and emotion and spectacular visual impact, the chemistry among its quintet coterie is potently pleasing, the comic timing is on the nose, and the most euphonious trait is its 70s-retro soundtrack, which is a killing nostrum to identify itself among Marvel's other imposing juggernauts.

The movie is at the top of its game when the 5 gather together, bickering and jesting, they never take this saving-the-universe deal too serious, unless things deteriorate into the moment when self-sacrifice is exigently needed, surprisingly Rocket and Groot are granted much more humanity than their human-shaped comrades. Even in the crucial showdown scenes, when Starlord and Ronan stand face to face, a playful stunt conveniently eases audience from the edge of the seat, if the characters themselves don't engage in the plot, why should we the rubbernecks?

There's real emotional depth to the members of Guardians of the Galaxy. Examples being towards the end of the film where I got really teary-eyed at Groot as he attempts makes a tree barrier around the other guardians, causing him to explode into bits of tree and ultimately die. However, he is re spawned when Rocket place one of his twigs in a pot and Groot comes back as a baby.

Chris Pratt is by far one of Marvel's best casting choices since Robert Downey Jr. as 'Iron Man', even beyond this the other acting bodies were cast perfectly. Zoe Saldana was satisfactory as Gamora; she conserves an intriguing backstory that will shape the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After her family was killed by Thanos when she was a young girl, she was tortured and raised as an assassin, only to rebel against him when she learned of his plans to destroy an entire planet. Dave Bautista supplies reasonable and miscellaneous rage feelings as the vengeful Drax The Destroyer. However the most satisfying character arcs in my personal opinion was Groot and Rocket Racoon in particular. These duos have been the main concern on the building of this movie, but they tried to make them look bad-ass and surprisingly affecting on how they become as what they become right now. The visual effects are utterly stunning and the battle scenes are epic, 'Guardians' is a truly amazing and thrilling superhero flick full of visual splendour.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who is looking for action, compelling characters, a great story, lovable characters, or even a laugh. There are moments of darker and more inappropriate humor that older audiences will appreciate and that younger audiences won't even notice.

From there we meet April O'Neil ( Megan Fox ) who's trying to get a story about the evil foot clan that have been terrorizing t...

From there we meet April O'Neil (Megan Fox) who's trying to get a story about the evil foot clan that have been terrorizing the city. She then witnesses the turtles stop them and follows them to get evidence of their existence. The turtles stop her and return to their master who says they need April's help. I won't spoil why. From there they must work together and stop Shredder from releasing a toxin on the city.

I went into this movie ready to join every other fan out there claiming the new Shrek-turtles were going to be terrible. 'Michael Bay is ruining them! He's making them big-boobied-alien-explosions! Megan Fox is April!' Well, I came out of this movie pleasantly surprised. All I wanted was for the Turtles to be themselves... and I got that. Donatello got shafted a bit, but otherwise they behaved how I expect them to in a two-hour reboot flick. This movie had plenty of laughs provided through dialogue with the turtles (especially Mikey). They should show a little bit more of O'Neil's channel 6 boss whom didn't believe her at first, like talk more about it. I believe that would be better

The only real weakness this movie has is the villain. Shredder is extremely shallow, and that was disappointing. A good movie with heroes and villains needs a good villain, and this film had a mecha-samurai suit that wrecked crap... not a villain. However... what this movie does have are some lean, mean, turtle machines.

Megan Fox is hot, but nothing special from her acting. We also have Will Arnett as a camera man who I guess is supposed to be the comic relief in this movie but literally does not have one funny joke in the whole thing even though you can feel you're supposed to be laughing but I didn't even smirk.The rest of the human cast is fine.

In the end, this movie was fun and I enjoyed the movie and the entire audience was always laughing and even clapped after the elevator scene! I think if you're a turtle fan you'll like this movie!!

Sad, sad news today. While rumors about this have been circulating for months already, this weekend General Manager Suzuki Toshio confi...

Sad, sad news today.

While rumors about this have been circulating for months already, this weekend General Manager Suzuki Toshio confirmed on Japanese television that Studio Ghibli will, for the time being, stop its production of animated feature films.

According to French animation site Catsuka, this doesn't mean the end of the studio itself: its short film department for music videos, advertisements and such, will continue. A skeleton crew will be kept for Miyazaki Hayao-related projects, although this doesn't mean the man himself will reverse his retirement, or that a new feature is forthcoming.

People were wondering what the famous studio would do, now that both its founding fathers are currently out of the business. Miyazaki Hayao retired last year after finishing The Wind Rises, and Takahata Isao has no plans for a new film.

Studio Ghibli was founded in 1985 after the success of Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, with Laputa: Castle in the Sky being its first film. Since then, the studio has produced a fantastic string of animation masterpieces, and even became a financial powerhouse in the industry with blockbuster successes like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.

But the studio has had no luck in fostering new talent to replace Miyazaki and Takahata. Promising newcomers who were 'groomed' as follow-ups died, or left the company. And with animation being a costly affair, without the financial security attached to its two most famous directors, Studio Ghibli could not continue in its current form.

It's last film, When Marnie Was There, premiered two weeks ago in Japan with a decent but disappointing box office, just like its previous release The Tale of Princess Kaguya. With the studio effectively in hibernation, hopefully we will see it wake up again sometime in the future.

UPDATE: Since news first broke earlier today, more accurate translations of Suzuki Toshio's comments have now surfaced. The veteran Studio Ghibli producer talked about "big changes in all aspects of our operations" which could include a "short break" by the production department. These types of reshuffles and creative hiatuses are apparently not uncommon in Japanese animation companies, but the retirement of Mayazaki Hayao and the relatively lacklutre performance of its last two films means some kind of rethink is definitely in order. Credit to Mark Schilling at Variety for the update.