Way OT - Guardians of the Galaxy - Vol. 3 (no spoilers)
Mates,
I am as old as some minerals but took youngest daughter to Guardian of the Galaxy Vol 3. last weekend when I was downstate. While admittedly it isn't Shakespeare, it was pretty enjoyable. It is rare that I have seen a 'new' movie. I thought that while the plot wandered in the early parts of the movie, they did a great job with some over-arching themes and tying the plot together in the end an landing the plane, so to speak, of the end of that movie series.
Anyone seen it? Any plans to do so? Without ruining the movie for our Mgoblog-brothers and Mgoblog-sisters, what were your thoughts?
Just out of trial,
XM
I'm probably one of the few people who liked GOTG 2 better than the first movie. The plot wasn't as good, but the character development was much better. Yondu's funeral set to Cat Steven's song is far more moving than, say, Tony Stark's at the end of Endgame *
* Oops, Spoiler Alert!
2 was better on the 2nd watch. The first watch, I was a little disappointed, but when I watched it again knowing what to expect, I liked it a lot more.
I probably won't have the opportunity to see it, but I've heard good things about. One friend thinks it's the best of the 3 movies.
I loved it. Villain was a bit theatrical, but otherwise another great movie by James Gunn. Tons of character development, particularly for mantis and rocket racoon.
Even Nebula. My favorite.
Might be the only MCU property I'm still interested in. And it's mostly because of the humor and soundtrack. Almost every other MCU film feels like it was created through data, polls and focus groups.
As far as I'm concerned, the MCU is done, and it finished with Endgame. Any Marvel movies beyond, I view as standalones, and they should be few and far in between.
That said, my wife and I watched GotG 3 last week. It is a great and emotional movie! The Guardians movies capture the "band of misfits" concept better than any other movie in a decade or more so I'll always gladly watch them in action.
My 17 year old son and I did have water in eyes during parts of the Vol 3.
And the fact that the "band of misfits" include a sentient tree, 2 lithe and tough ET women, an Earthling with good taste in music, and a tough as nails ET male. That is one heck of a diverse band of misfits. The way that they come from different worlds (literally and figuratively) but manage to unite, that to me is probably one of the best aspects of the trilogy.
At this time it seems to me the only way to get more diverse would be to add a talking refrigerator.
Not related to the movie, but we took a trip to Disney over spring break this year, and the GotG ride at Epcot is pretty spectacular!
I don’t know but the ride at Epcot is awesome.
Haven't seen the new one, but the prior Guardians movies were solid action-comedy flicks.
Recently saw the new D&D movie which clearly took some pages from the Guardians / MCU playbook and was a highly enjoyable action-comedy as well.
That is exactly how I described Honor Among Thieves to people. Guardians of the Galaxy vibe. My son and I enjoyed that movie too.
Loved the new D&D movie, they really nailed the feeling of a campaign and all the associated party fuckery.
tons of fun and the kids liked it too.
It was an enjoyable way to pass 2.5 hours.
Island of Dr. Moreau + Guardians of the Galaxy.
Definitely used everything that they could do in a PG-13 setting.
Best part for me: Drax explaining metaphor, simile and analogy.
My 17 year old son and I loved it.
Yea i enjoyed it, better than anything since endgame. the sony spidermans are good too.
Gamora was useless in the film, they could have trimmed it a bit and kept most of the important beats.
I interpreted a certain scene, you'll know it if you've seen it, as James Gunn passive aggressively yelling at the Russo Brothers and the studio for messing with his trilogy plans by what happened to Gamora in Infinity War.
It really seems like the MCU has taken a slow but steady nosedive since Endgame. I know there have been a few good nuggets here and there. For example, I really liked No Way Home, but I'm not sure how much of that is due to the nostalgia of seeing Tobey, Defoe and Molina again, or it being a genuinely good movie. Loki, however, was good on its own merits, and I'll watch the second season of that.
That said, with what we have watched, it's felt like Endgame was the completion of a massive 60-70 hour critically acclaimed video-game, and then these new movies / tv shows are mop-up duty on remaining but mostly un-related side-quests that you didn't finish the first time around. Some are good and enjoyable, some you get to the end of and wonder "why did I waste the last two hours going through that?"
We didn't even finish Black Widow. We just got 40 minutes into the movie, got bored, turn it off and haven't picked it up since. Same with the last Dr. Strange movie. Saw it in the theaters, got out of the movie, and I was genuinely bored through 80-90% of it.
I know they are trying to set things up for the next big baddie with Kang, but I don't see how you can realistically let that universe be carried by mostly C to B level heroes. Let's call She Hulk, Moon Knight, female Hawkeye and Ant Man what they are, folks. The X Men seem like they are still quite a ways off from being introduced, even if you count Deadpool 3, which isn't coming for another year and a half (and with the writers strike, could be even longer now).
I guess they could bring in Iron Man and Captain America variants from other universes, but it sure seems like that would go in direct conflict with what they're trying to do with Sam Wilson and Ironheart.
Xmen seems like their last best hope, but they have to cast it really well and have a good story planned out, possibly away from the current crop of MCU nobodies.
Everything post endgame has been terrible except sony spiderman and those were self-contained-ish.
They really need a good reset without all the diversity quota heroes who are totally uninspiring rn.
I don’t mind them introducing these other lesser known characters just to change some things up, or to tell different stories, but you can’t realistically ask said characters to carry the entire franchise.
As you pointed out, it is blatantly obvious why Disney is doing this. Filling some completely unnecessary and ridiculous D&I quota. It’s their movies and their business, but let’s see how your next Avengers movie turns out when the team is led by freaking She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel.
Your audience and their level of interest shrinks considerably.
Multiverse Strange movie, agree a little crazy. Makes more sense if you watch Wandavision first on Disney+.
I did them in the wrong order. Not saying Multiverse would get that much better for me, but I understand.
The first one was good. Bradley Cooper was funny. The second one was hollow. It sounds like the third is somewhere between them.
Maybe in action sequences.
Def more emotional than first and second. Less comedic too.
Better writing than No Way Home. Of course that was popular in part (for me too) due to all the super heroes and villains.
These crappy superhero movies have largely ruined the Hollywood system. If there's no franchising opportunity, studios are largely unwilling to finance a film. And these are movies for children that for some reason adults watch.
I just watched the GOTG Holiday Special; what a fantastical cinematic adventure.
Probably my favorite Marvel nugget to date.
I’m watching “Air”. This is a really good movie. Hit me right in the 80’s nostalgia bone.
The movie’s commitment refusal to show the actor who plays MJ face is remarkable.
I go to the movies 1-2 times per week and see almost every new release. However, I dodge Marvel movies. I used to see those too, but I just can't stand them.
Some recent really good movies are "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret," "Air," and "Somewhere in Queens." I highly recommend checking these out! I'm super stoked for "No Hard Feelings." It's been a while since we've gotten a solid R Rated comedy out of Hollywood; I'm really hoping this is good and re introduces the trend.
I thought Renfield was really fun, too.
"Fun" is a good way to describe Renfield. It wasn't anything too special, but I definitely enjoyed it.
I’m going to see it in an hour with the wife and “kids” - they are 22 and 19.
We plan a family trip to watch it this weekend. The soundtracks from 1 & 2 were great.
Don't be a SpaceHog. Save some music for us.