‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’: The fun is gone

Grotesque subplot ruins series’ last outing

By Derrick Bang Enterprise film critic Writer/director James Gunn

has stamped his portion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a sense of playful chaos that sets it apart from its numerous superhero colleagues.

But while some of that snarky atmosphere remains present, it’s blemished this time. The character roster has grown too large to grant proper attention to all concerned, and — more crucially — far too much time is spent with the helpless furry victims of vivisection gone horribly awry.

That latter subplot is necessitated by this third entry’s primary focus on Rocket, and the backstory that explains his biomechanical enhancements.

It’s a solid topic, and two or three brief flashbacks would have been sufficient. But spending great chunks of time as young Rocket befriends three similarly imprisoned but atrociously mutilated critters feels like audience abuse, and leaches the “fun” right outta this film.

The individual responsible for this horror is a longtime Marvel Comics villain dubbed the High Evolutionary, whose deplorable efforts in genetic manipulation date all the way back to a 1966 issue of “The Mighty Thor.” He’s played with malevolent fury here by Chukwudi Iwuji, and is genuinely scary.

But that’s getting ahead a bit. Events actually kick off with the explosive arrival of another familiar Marvel Comics character: golden-hued Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), a Supermangone-bad who flies into Knowhere spaceport, current base of operations for the Guardians, and damn near takes out the entire team.

They are, by way of reminder,

‘Guardians of the

PG-13, and too generlence, profanity and dramatic

Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter, Elizabeth Debicki, Sean Gunn

Available via: Movie theaters gung-ho Starlord, aka Peter Quill (Chris Pratt); the genetically enhanced Nebula (Karen Gillan), adopted daughter of the slain Thanos; the powerful but somewhat dim-bulb Drax (Dave Bautista); Mantis (Pom Klementieff), an empath able to sense and alter another’s emotions; and Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), the hyper-intelligent, tree-like organism.

Along with Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), who is critically injured during this initial, landscape-leveling battle with Warlock.

Worse yet, the team can’t revive their friend with standard med-tech, because that would activate a “kill switch” buried within Rocket’s cybernetic implants. Our heroes are able to partially identify the programming — the firmware has a signature — which prompts a mission to the Orgoscope: a gloppy, pulsating, organic space station where full data on all of the High Evolutionary’s thousands of experiments have been stored.

Turns out that Warlock is one of the High Evolutionary’s recent and much more successful “projects,” and was sent to snatch Rocket. The reason? Rocket proved much more successful than expected, emerging with an intellect superior to that of his maker … and a vengeful god can’t tolerate the thought of being outclassed by one of his creations. Ergo, the High Evolutionary wants to study Rocket’s brain. By removing it.

Peter is introduced at low ebb: still unable to process the love of his life — Gamora (Zoe Saldana) — having been killed, and then to witness her return as an alternate version of herself that never had said relationship. (This hiccup courtesy of the five-year “blip” and multiverse complexities that took place in “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame.”)

Worse yet, the mission to the Orgoscope requires assistance from the Ravagers — cue Sylvester Stallone’s brief return as Stakar Ogord — whose ranks include the I-don’t-know-anyof-you Gamora. That’s a tough pill for any guy to swallow, but it fuels this film’s most captivating character dynamic, as Pratt and Saldana angrily spar with each other.

Drax and Mantis have become

‘Newsies’ hits DMTC Main Stage

Enterprise staff

Davis Musical Theatre Company presents “Disney’s Newsies” (Underwritten by Suzy Goldschmidt, in honor of David Goldschmidt) through May 21 at the Jean Henderson Performing Arts Center (607 Pena Drive, No. 10 in Davis.

Based on the real-life Newsboy Strike of 1899, this new Disney musical tells the story of Jack Kelly, a rebellious newsboy who dreams of a life as an artist away from the big city.

After publishing giant Joseph Pulitzer raises newspaper prices at the newsboys’ expense, Kelly and his fellow newsies take action.

Kyle Jackson directs and choreographs, with musical direction by Boris Karpuk.

The cast features Kat Fio as Katherine Plumber and Paul Mollitt as Jack Kelly. Jojo Hale is Medda Larkin and Scott Minor is Joseph Pulitzer.

“Disney’s Newsies” plays on Fridays and Saturdays at

7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. April 28 through May 21. All performances are at the Jean Henderson Performing Arts Center, 607 Peña Drive in Davis. Tickets are $18 General, $16 Students & Seniors (55 and over) and $14 each for groups of 10 or more.

(There is a $2 facility fee per ticket on a purchase, cash, charge, phone, internet, or in person Purchase tickets at http://dmtc.org. For information, visit dmtc.org or call 530-756-3682.

Logos hosts 2nd Friday ArtAbout reception

Special to The Enterprise Logos Books will host an exhibit of silkscreen, digital prints and murals by Elyse Doyle-Martinez, “Homage to our Gente” through June 2 at 513 Second St. in downtown Davis.

Doyle-Martinez is an artist, educator and brown-issues adviser based in Woodland. After graduating from CSU Northridge with a bachelor’s degree in gender and women’s studies, with a focus on Chicano studies, she moved back to Woodland and found a vocation in education and youth advocacy.

She works on campuses with systemimpacted youths and their families to cultivate the next generation of brown leaders through healing, civic engagement and narrative change. Starting in 2018, she has worked at César Chávez Community School, Yolo County Juvenile Hall, and Cache Creek High School in Yolo County. something of a cranky couple; she softens his vicious edges, and constantly puts him down, but ferociously objects if anybody else does the same. He’s bemused by her behavior, but finds it comforting. Bautista and Klementieff have fun with their sniping.

Meet the artist at her 2nd Friday ArtAbout reception on May 12 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Light refreshments will be available.

Public receptions for local artists will also be held at various venues on that same evening in conjunction with the Davis Downtown 2nd Friday ArtAbout. You can see more details and a map of venues at facebook.com/davisartabout or https:// theartery.net/2nd-friday-artabout.

Poulter plays Warlock as an intriguing mystery: simpleminded and emotionally underdeveloped, with the curiosity of a child; watching him evolve here is intriguing.

Unfortunately, Gunn and his co-writers don’t do much with Nebula; Gillan is little more than a sullen weapon who seems annoyed by having to help in any given situation. Back in Knowhere, Sean Gunn’s Kraglin is given even shorter shrift, as he attempts to master the lethal, sound-sensitive yaka arrow left to him by deceased mentor Yondu Udonta.

Finally, making Groot a “guy in a suit” at times — rather than a wholly CGI creation — is a major mistake.

Everything ultimately leads to an all-stops-out confrontation with the High Evolutionary, who has established his current laboratory on Counter-Earth, a planet wholly populated by the villain’s next-gen “humanimals,” evolutionarily accelerated to be free of the human failings that create so much trouble on our Earth. (Uh-huh. He wishes…)

As has become de rigueur in all MCU films, the third-act climax is an explosive, overly long melee that once again relies on character powers that are as randomly strong — or weak — as a given scene demands. Credit where due, though: Gunn and his co-writers maintain momentum, suspense and humor during this all-outs skirmish.

Even so, this is the most grotesquely violent and longest of the trilogy, at 150 minutes: another reason it’s inferior to its predecessors. Like too many recent superhero films, this one suffers from self-indulgent bloat. All concerned really need to stop that.

— Read more of Derrick Bang’s film criticism at http:// derrickbang.blogspot.com. Comment on this review at www. davisenterprise.com.

All-female 1970s rock band reunites for documentary

Special to The Enterprise

SACRAMENTO — The acclaimed documentary

“Fanny: The Right to Rock” will premiere on PBS KVIE on May 22 at 9 p.m., with streaming on kvie.org and on the PBS App on the same date. The film, directed by Bobbi Jo Hart and winner of the Hot Docs Audience Choice Award, chronicles the life and revival of this groundbreaking allfemale rock band in 1970s America, revealing the fascinating untold story of a phenomenal band that were dubbed the “female Beatles.”

Sometime in the late 1960s, in sunny Sacramento, two Filipina American sisters got together with other teenage girls to play music. Little did they know their garage band would evolve into the legendary rock group Fanny, the first allwomen band to release an LP with a major record label (Warner/Reprise with Grammy-winning producer Richard Perry).

Yet, despite releasing five critically acclaimed albums over five years, touring with famed bands from Slade to Chicago and amassing a dedicated fan base of music legends including David Bowie, Fanny’s groundbreaking impact in music was written out of history … until now.

Leading up to the May 22 premiere, a series of special events with Fanny will be taking place across California. The highlight event will feature the reunion of Fanny bandmates at the famed Whisky A Go-Go nightclub on Sunset Strip in Los Angeles for a 50th Anniversary concert on May 17. Special guests will join bandmates June

Millington, Jean Millington (a Davis resident), Brie Darling, Alice de Buhr and Patti Quatro on stage on this special night. The 50th anniversary concert at Whisky A Go-Go is made possible in part with support from AARP.

The lead-up festivities will culminate in a Homecoming Screening Party and Performance at Sacramento’s Crest Theatre on May 22. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. with the screening beginning at 6:30 p.m. Following the screening, Fanny bandmates will take the stage for a live performance. Free tickets are required and available at kvie.org/ fanny. Space is limited.

With incredible archival footage of the band’s rocking past intercut with its next chapter releasing a new LP today, the film includes interviews with a large cadre of music icons, including Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott, Bonnie Raitt, The Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine, Todd Rundgren, The Runaways’ Cherie Currie, Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian, The B-52s’ Kate Pierson, Charles Neville, and David Bowie guitarist and bassist Earl Slick and Gail Ann Dorsey.

Fighting early barriers of race, gender, and sexuality in the music industry, and now ageism, the incredible women of Fanny are ready to claim their hallowed place in the halls of rock ’n’ roll fame.

Dennis Harvey of Variety hailed the film in his review writing: “Fanny: The Right to Rock remains thoroughly engaging thanks to the demonstrable talent and brassy forthrightness of its central personalities. There’s no whiff of ‘nostalgia act’ to their current music — these women are born rock lifers who clearly never stopped evolving creatively, even if the hoped-for commercial rewards never quite arrived.

“I am honored to celebrate the untold story of Fanny’s vital — yet buried — contributions to rock ’n’ roll with the public. Just like Sister Rosetta Tharpe inspired Elvis, Fanny shattered the glass ceiling of the genre to lay crucial groundwork for future bands of women to succeed, from The Runaways to The Go Go’s, and continue to do so today! Fanny deserves to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2024.”