Guardians of the Galaxy

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Is ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ The Best Marvel Movie Ever?
It’s Groot. It’s very, very Groot.

by Josh Wigler

http://www.mtv.com/news/1873429/guardians-of-the-galaxy-early-reviews/

In a matter of weeks, “Guardians of the Galaxy” will be available for all the world to see. But some lucky people have already visited Marvel’s cosmos — and if you’re not jealous yet, you’re about to be.

Based on scattered Twitter reactions from those who attended the “Guardians of the Galaxy” press screening over the weekend, Marvel’s new movie is a huge hit. Some critics have gone so far as to call it Marvel’s best yet, even topping this year’s hugely successful and well-reviewed “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”

Read on for a selection of tweets from the lucky few who just visited Marvel’s “Galaxy.”

Kevin McCarthy ‏@KevinMcCarthyTV 26m
Wow @Guardians was absolutely awesome! Epic action, hilarious & emotionally engaging! Beautiful visuals! Congrats @JamesGunn! #NerdTears

Matt McDaniel ‏@themattmcd 9m
#GuardiansOfTheGalaxy had to be in my top 3 talking raccoon/tree creature movies ever. It is nutty, eye-grabbing fun. @JamesGunn delivers.
–From YahooMovies.

“Guardians of the Galaxy” opens on August 1.

MORE OF THE SAME.

Charlie N Andy ‏@HowToBeADad 30s Seriously. I’ve never seen anything like @Guardians before. #GuardiansPremiere

Guardians of the Galaxy Review: Super Sounds of the 70s

James Gunn’s superhero space opera is an old story with a fresh new vibe.

July 25th, 2014 William Bibbiani

http://www.craveonline.com/film/reviews/731209

It doesn’t take long for the new Marvel Studios movie to take us to a desolate wasteland in the far reaches out of outer space and turn into a one-man musical performance of a 1974 pop hit. That’s Guardian of the Galaxy for you: an ecstatic celebration of all the conventional sci-fi tropes, told in a completely unconventional way. It’s full of unforgettable characters and unforgettable dick jokes. It’s Star Wars as told by a lovable a-hole.

And a talented a-hole: Guardians of the Galaxy was directed and co-written by James Gunn, who cut his teeth writing the indie pukefest Tromeo & Juliet and went on give us the kindhearted superhero satire The Specials and the mean-hearted superhero satire Super. In between he contributed to scripts for such formulaic genre flicks as Scooby-Doo and 13 Ghosts. He’s developed a singular storytelling style through experience in the mainstream, the outré, the classical and the nerdy, and he’s combined all of these elements into a single blockbuster experience that plays the same game as all of its brainless competitors but does so with grace and wit and, again, some great dick jokes.

That’s the precise and eclectic résumé necessary to bring Guardians of the Galaxy to the big screen, since unlike Marvel’s Golden and Silver Age creations – which were dramatically satisfying and mostly obvious metaphors (“Can’t control your rage? You’re kind of a hulk!”) – the middle years of the publisher’s sprawling comic book universe were full of a lot of attention-grabbing nonsense. There’s a talking raccoon – with an attitude – voiced by Bradley Cooper. There’s a sentient superarboreal tree voiced by Vin Diesel. Iron Man they are not. If anything, they seem one step removed from fast food mascots.

But that’s what makes Guardians of the Galaxy so great. Our emotional connection to these characters stems not from their universality, but from their distinctiveness. Dave Bautista plays a green-skinned tattooed convict on a mission to avenge his family, but who runs into constant problems because his species doesn’t understand metaphors. And Chris Pratt was abducted as a small child and taken to outer space, where he lives a life of adventurous escapism while still clinging to a mix tape of 1970s tunes that his Mom gave him. Tied to the past without ever technically looking backwards. His attitude is a little Han Solo, but he’s driven by something way more immature.

Along with a repentant assassin played by Zoe Saldana, these selfish jerks find themselves thrust together by a combination of fate and pointless circumstance. They’re in possession of a mysterious orb that could very well destroy the universe. A political dissident named Ronan the Accuser, played by Lee Pace, wants the orb, but our “heroes” want to sell it; or, if that fails, to turn heroic for no other reason than to save their own asses.

The plot is as perfunctory as any typical summer release. There’s a ragtag team of misfits, a MacGuffin everybody wants and a whole bunch of big explosions at the beginning, middle and end. But Guardians of the Galaxy feels special because this course of events brings some wonderfully unique characters together into something more than the sum of their parts. The outcome of the adventure may be inevitable but the connections they make to one another are not, any bond formed between these snarky, cynical jerks has to be earned. Through a combination of witty dialogue, carefully balanced structure and – most importantly – a highly developed sense of fun (remember fun? it’s so much fun), James Gunn succeeds at turning a relatively familiar and kinda dumb story into an impressively emotional and satisfying journey. The details are superb. The grand sweep is merely simple enough to keep the details from being overwhelming.

With a kickin’ soundtrack that may at first seem random, but gradually reveals itself as one of the most important parts of the movie, Guardians of the Galaxy bursts out of the typical Marvel mold and into exciting and bold new territory. The unexpected, the eccentric and a very welcome sense of joy are experienced in practically every scene, but they’re grounded in smart, winking humanity… even from the rodents and plants. It’s a spectacularly entertaining space opera and a guffaw-worthy comedy. It’s a thoroughly pleasing ensemble piece with a great cast, amazing visual effects and exciting action. It’s certainly one of Marvel’s best movies, and quite possibly their most fun. .

Saw it. Went with Margo the Spouse and 1 daughter plus our kind of adoptive daughter. (Dani is my daughter’s friend. Her single disabled bipolar mom threw her out of the house a few years ago before Dani finished high school, so we took her in. She has her own apartment now but is family.)

The 3 girls LOVED it. Just loved it. And Margo didn’t think she would.

I really liked it. It really is done well and is a lot of fun.

nittany ram wrote:

My wife and I saw it too. We both really liked it. I would say it is among the best marvel films I’ve seen. For me, Avengers is still tops but I would rank GotG just beneath it.

I have a minor goof moment to mention though. Remember when Quill is trying to talk Drax out of killing Gamora, and when he says you can kill Ronan, he runs his finger across his throat in the famous “execution” gesture, and Drax doesn’t get it because his species doesn’t get metaphors.

But! Earlier in the same monologue, Quill tells Drax that Gamorra’s violence didn’t bother him, and lists the women who have assaulted him. He points to one scar and says “see that? I got that from a smoking hot Rayjack girl who stabbed me with a fork.”

Well…how does Drax know what “smoking hot” means? It’s a metaphor.

Granted, I don’t think it brings the whole film down…….

==

nittany ram wrote:

But! Earlier in the same monologue, Quill tells Drax that Gamorra’s violence didn’t bother him, and lists the women who have assaulted him. He points to one scar and says “see that? I got that from a smoking hot Rayjack girl who stabbed me with a fork.”

Hmm, very observant of you. Perhaps Drax just took what he said at face value and therefore thought that Quill was stabbed by a woman whose temperature was so high she was smoking.

I’m just having fun with these things. Another little observation– we know that Ronan is out on his own as a wild card bringing his peoples’s “REAL” justice to a race who he believes deserves it. He doesn’t believe in the treaty. So a quick thought…how did his intended target race fight the Kree to a standstill for generations, as Ronan says they did, and come out of that with no frontline battleship type space cruisers to oppose HIS?

Cause it’s like…”Ronan’s coming, oh oh Ronan’s coming.” Hey. People in Charge. You just fought his entire race for generations. He’s just got one ship.

Honest, thinking up these things doesn’t subtract from the movie for me.

I think the entire ensemble of 5 “guardians” just NAILS it.

Ronan, the rogue Accuser of the Kree Empire Accuser Corps, defies the treaty ending generations of war and instead serves a purer form of ancient Kree justice by bringing a holocaust of blood to his people’s old enemy. He will do this by obtaining a source of power few but those like him can safely wield.

Hey Ronan man you go dude soak em in blood bro