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
Dang it, I didn't even know this movie was in the making, I could have been surprised when I saw it but you spoiled it for me :)
A spoiler to a Marvel Movie? That's rich. I guess it would be a spoiler for someone who had never seen any other Marvel movie, rinse and repeat. It's a sad era for cinema where CGI and quip humor are the only ingredients, rather than plot and acting.
If you don't like comic book movies or popcorn flicks, I totally understand. That said, there are a plenty of other movies that come out all the time of any genre that you can watch instead. I think the commercial success of blockbuster movies says less about the state of this era of cinema than you've imagined.
I'm on the fence. While I've enjoyed most of the superhero movies I've watched in recent years, I'm very picky about what I watch. I do feel there's just too many at this point, and the money and energy that goes into making some of the Marvel movies would be better spent making something else. Anything else.
At the same time, I'll probably watch this one. The first one was a pleasant surprise to me (I'd somehow managed to miss the hype), although I haven't gotten around to the second one.
I've watched all the Marvel Movies - most of them in the theater and then watched them in time-line order (i.e. Captain Marvel was early in the timeline). They are enjoyable and predictable, but it does for me what I want - veg and laugh for a couple of hours.
I remember walking out of the first Lord of the Rings movie and saying to my son "that's it? ...no ending?" and he reminded me that there were three books. I enjoyed it but was left hanging and waiting for the next one. I like how the Marvel movies had teaser trailers embedded in the credits.
They are simple and dumb and predictable and make my eyes roll and I love them anyway. Even the bad ones. I enjoyed Morbius more than most things i find on streaming. I'm never disappointed when the movie of the night is a comic book movie.
This is exactly my argument. It's not so much that I dislike superhero movies as a genre (though I do, with a few rare exceptions), it's that they suck the all the funding and green lights from potentially better written, better acted movies which will never be made.
Yes, I don't like them, and would never watch them. Unfortunately, I have 4 kids, 2 of whom are still too young to watch The Big Lebowski, Blade Runner, or Mulholland Drive.
Also, if you go back and watch "Blockbusters" from, let's say the 80's, there is a very different constitution to those movies. They are not laden with 6-8 15-minute action scenes because those scenes were too expensive. They had more focus on dialogue, costumes, setting. A lot of those elements are now just done with computer, and are cheap, and thus attractive to producers. What it's led to is "blockbusters" (i.e. high-budget, mass-consumption movies) which are essentially mosaics of long, video-game-like action scenes, interspersed with lazy character development that lacks intimacy, and are instead overly reliant on verbal expositions of the plot from shallow, comedy-quipping characters like Robert Downey Jr. or Chris Pratt.
So what did you watch while in Havana? Besides the donkey show...
BB, I understand your position and if you don't want to watch them, I understand. They have become quite formulaic. But to understand your position regarding "lazy character development that lacks intimacy, and are instead overly reliant on verbal expositions of the plot from shallow, comedy-quipping characters" and a reminiscent look back to the '80's, I have to ask how you responded to "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" or "Pee Wee Herman's Great Adventure" or "Dumb and Dumber"? All would be guilty of the same sins but developed quite a following.
I'm with you BB. Hard pass for me on the comic book movies, especially at this point with the complete over-saturation. I have Tár on blu-ray waiting for me to get through with grading: really looking forward to seeing that. To each his/her own though. Enjoy!
clarence, if we hadn't been blessed with a bunch of kids i would probably be in the same boat as you. however, understanding you're not going to see casablanca/godfather/gladiator drama or classics, a number of them are pretty entertaining. think of it like going to a high school football game: the players won't be as big and fast and the play calling will be dumbed-down, but you can still have a whale of time at the game.
Tar, like almost everything Kate Blanchett touches, is incredible. So natural and seamless in the way it addresses some of today's most important social issues. Shows how a camera can just sit still and capture the combination of incredible acting and writing, without a bunch of tech frosting over a lack of creativity.
Did you know Cate Blanchett was in Thor: Ragnarok?
More Brie? Kerfuffle.
I'm waiting for Shakespeare's version.
I'm watching Empire Records with my wife because she's never seen it.
It was better when I was 15
Liv Tyler is all I remember about it. Oh my stars and garters...
So absolutely wowza in that movie.
Haven’t seen it but IMO, the only guardians are Barf and Lonestar with help from The Schwartz
Glad that Spacehog In the Meantime is making a comeback
I laughed my ass off when I saw Spaceballs in the theater. We saw one movie and hated it. Bought some popcorn and "multiplexed" into another screen to see what Mel Brooks cooked up.
I still laugh when I think of Dark Helmet smashing into a wall when the ship hits the breaks. Even funnier when they watch the already released movie to see how it ends - and watch the helmet smashing again!
Thanks for the spoiler alerts.
You hit the nail on the head mentioning overarching themes. The one that I found most poignant was how all people are capable of providing incredible value, it might just not be what someone else thinks of as important.
Enjoyed it. Did well with Rocket’s origin and man was it sad.
Saw it last weekend in 3D with the kids. Without going into details, a quick word of warning to consider holding off on this one if anybody in your party is particularly sensitive to animal violence (digital or not) like my daughter is. She also can’t stand any movie where a dog dies…people dying she’s fine with 😆. Rocket’s story is a rough one and had her in tears to the point where she just kept her head down the rest of the movie. She loved the first two Guardian movies, but hated Vol.3 for this sole reason. From my POV an entertaining flick, better than most Marvel movies, but not as good as the first two.
When Independence Day came out there was some controversy over the audience expressing relief/cheering that the dog made it to safety (when LA was being blown up) even though thousands and thousands of people were killed.
check out www.doesthedogdie.com for spoilers on all sorts of topics.
It is fascinating to me to hear about reactions to screen deaths of animals. The classic was in the Michael Douglas movie War Between the Roses where screening reaction resulted in a modification to the movie. Douglas' character accidently runs over the wife's cat, and everyone was OK with that. Then the wife serves him a pate' ostensibly made from his dog with the classic line "he was a good dog, good to the last bite, woof, woof!". The reaction to that was so negative that they added a scene of the dog hiding under a bush outside reacting to his scream of anguish, to re-assure hte audience that the dog was not served up as dinner. That made it again, OK. Our culture is so weird that predicting what will and won't work is a minefield
I haven’t seen it yet, but if they tapped into the the emotional potential that Rocket established in the second movie, it should be a great movie. The scenes between him and Yondu had depth and heart. Movies can do that to you, make you feel human attachment to a talking sociopathic raccoon and a blue guy with something on his head
I'll watch it but probably won't catch it in the theater. My nephew likes that series and it's kind of grown on me.
One of my favorite scenes
You have a favorite scene and haven’t seen the movie yet?
Favorite scene from the previous ones. This is from vol. 2
I just can’t do the superhero/Marvel stuff anymore. I hung in there for a long time with it and enjoyed most but then I was watched the most recent Dr. Strange like a year ago and I felt absolutely nothing. It was like I was staring through the movie and not even taking input. I was done.
The new movies starting with the Doctor Strange sequel up through the new Ant Man have been average at best. The new Guardians was much better.
I was with you, but I also have a subscription to the local movie theaters, so I went.
This is a good one. Felt much more like a pre-End Game Marvel
I loved the first two installments and plan to catch volume three this weekend with my nephews. One person who will not be joining us is my 81-year-old father, who walked out of a family viewing of GotG2 halfway through declaring it the worst movie he'd ever seen. That proclimation formally dethroned Strange Brew, which he ditched after five minutes some four decades ago.
hesitant to say your dear father is a 'hoser' but walking out of strange brew is near heresy.
never saw GotG2, but quickly looked it up on google and no problem tracking with vol 3.
Hoser is appropriate in this instance. Alas, he couldn't get past the "fleshy-headed mutant" sci-fi film at the beginning to see the true value of Bob and Doug. (By the by, Elsinore Beer T-shirts make great gifts; my brother loves his.)
To give my father a redemption arc, he impressed the hell out us during a holiday viewing of The Cutting Edge by pointing out that Moria Kelly’s s snooty boyfriend was John Kinsella in Field of Dreams.
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me….A Beer!
Son and his buddy saw it Tuesday and I’ll likely just watch it when it comes out on Disney+ but have enjoyed the series and was not a comic book kid but 80% of the marvel stuff has been pretty good.
Not looking for Shakespeare here if I want that I’ll go see my nephew on Broadway.
Maybe he knows my son, recently on Broadway.
What show's your nephew in? Currently, the only Shakespeare-related shows on B'way are & Juliet (alternative take on Romeo & Juiliet) and Fat Ham (Hamlet turned into a comedy of Black folks at a barbecue in North Carolina).
User name checks out.
(Always wanted to post that.)
We're separated in age by a score...but I think I'd get along with your dad. At least with respect to his film choices.
He'd love it. But there's one final test to pass: Do you enjoy chick flicks?
The correct answer is: "And how! That Sandra Bullock is a sweetheart!"
To give him fair due, I hold the same views on the matter.
Does your dad also think that John Wayne is a good actor?
Not sure. My (unsolicited) opinion is John Wayne is great at playing John Wayne and I enjoy that character very much. Donovan's Reef is a personal favorite.
Yeah I really liked it. The last 3 or 4 Marvel movies have been weak but this one was well done. It is still a little difficult for me to watch the new Marvel movies by myself. My late wife and I saw the original Avengers in the theater in 2012 and saw every Marvel movie in the theater after that up through Spider-Man: No Way Home. It wasn’t the same but the new Guardians movie made me smile because I know she would have liked this one.
Definitely the best Marvel movie in... a while.
They'll be sad to see James Gunn go.
I definitely plan to see it. The earlier ones were my late wife's favorites of the Marvel movies... fun and entertaining.
Loved GOTG 1
Liked GOTG 2
Thought GOTG 3 was average at best, but still worth seeing