Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 24

 

Artoo unit squawks

As Santa presents a carrot

Drax and Neville sigh 

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 23

 

Santa Gonk says "Gonk!"

As the train whistles to stop

Sleigh wants silent night

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 22

 

Wind whistles through the

Cave entrance, making gargoyle

Wings flutter softly

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 21

A watchful owl hoots
Lightsaber ignition sends
Spinning top awry
 

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 20

A winter idyll
Crackling fire roasts marshmallows
Laser tower hums
 

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 19

 

Thumping through snowdrifts
Waves crash on freezing creek; a
Whisper: "I am Groot..?"

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 18

 

Severus Snape sighs

Weaponized Christmas and a

Rocking horse winner

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 17

 

O Christmas tree a

Snowtrooper prepares to fight

Fountain's guardian

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 16

 

Macabre tableau

Christmas morning horror with

Stereo carols

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 15

Interceptor shriek
Annoys neon-haired wizard
Scarecrow and cane mute
 

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 14

Benetar's wail drowns
Out B-Wing scream; lantern flames
Flicker near portal
 

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 13

 

As Mantis rocks hard
Sweet guitar licks cause waves and
Crack ears, eggs, and time

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 12

Shrieks of terror as

Vader and Voldemort team

To ruin Xmas

 

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 10

 

Broompunk Christmas songs

Blue flames and vaporators

It's cacophany

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 9

 

Birdsong stopped short by

Robot, wizard, and cyborg

Nervous chirps follow

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 8

 

Shadowy ghosts lurk
In the whispering branches
A feast endangered

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 7

 

Deafening silence
An empty living room waits
For absent Santa

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 6

 

Cookies don't appease
Sobbing ghosts of Christmas Now
So feed the spaceship

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 5

 

The train whistle howls

Warning the hissing snake to

Avoid Rocket and Robot

Caught Off Guardian, Vol. 2

I was prepared to hate Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, given my reaction to the original. But I found myself quite entertained, perhaps because this time around it felt like the movie wasn't trying quite so hard to win me over with madcap antics and quirky characters. The things I liked about the first film (Dave Bautista as Drax, the attempt to build a fleshed-out Marvel Universe beyond Earth) are amplified here, and the things I didn't like (Rocket, a forehead-slapping climax, and moments of catharsis I thought were unearned) are somewhat toned down. And the Kurt Russel/Ego the Living Planet plot actually works both as a credible antagonist and a source of thematic resonance. And again, for whatever reason, I found the throwback soundtrack engaging instead of annoying.

I can't put my finger on exactly why I prefer Vol. 2 to Vol. 1, except perhaps to say that this film had a quality of sincerity I feel the original lacked - and it actually improves Peter Quill's backstory retroactively, making the first film a bit more palatable in my eyes.

I wouldn't have thought it possible, but I'm actually looking forward to Vol. 3.

Young CGI Kurt Russell was pretty creepy, though.