Guardians of the Galaxy (2014 Marvel film)

I generally don't care about these sorts of movies, and I went in not really knowing anything about it. I was pleasantly surprised. Really fun movie.

 

Enjoyed the use of he songs right from the beginning. Enjoyed the whole Raiders of the lost ark / Star Wars / 80s sci fi vibe sendup / shoutout to, enjoyed the light humour and Brad Cooper as Rocket (Or Rocky???). Overall I thought it was a fun flick with a nice heart and I'm looking forward to the second one. Now that it's been a week or so I want to get the Blu Ray to rewatch.

I do agree though about the standards for films being lowered. Story is secondary to all the ancillary products a film company can get out of a film. I miss the really great films but then that is why I have a home theatre. I can always revisit Godfather or Kurosawa's Seven Samurai whenever I want.

This was just good fun and I think there is a place for that kind of film. Wouldn't that have been said 30 years ago when Star Wars was ripping through the box office? And yes, though I only saw Star Wars once, I appreciate the influence that film had on so many people. I'm just using it to parallel a similar genre film.

And really, that is one cool chunk of songs for those of us from that time frame. Come on, Cherry Bomb?

 

Certainly not better than the 5th but a goods kids film

 

Not surprising really that story and complex characterization has largely been abandoned by Hollywood as they are pandering to a global audience where Hollywood feels subtly would be lost...

 

Are you sure that it's not because of the domestic audience?

 

Nah, Hollywood started simplifying their films over a decade ago or more to make films easier to sell to countries like China and other foreign markets. It's been pretty well documented but that doesn't mean it also doesn't appeal to folks in the U.S. as well. If all you serve is McDonald's Defoe the mind, that's all you end up knowing because you've never tasted real food.

More complex characters and plots are often difficult to translate particularly if there's a cultural element that comes I to play as well.

 

Aaaaa, there's room in the world for restaurants that serve steak and restaurants that serve cheeseburgers. This is a cheeseburger movie -- nothing more than that -- but I think it's a really good cheeseburger movie. We don't always need deep plots and complex characters.

 

I assume most 'sci-fi'-comedies' have, in history, been expensive bombs... the two that come to mind (and.don't get me wrong... I love them BOTH) are "Buckaroo Banzi" & "Hitch-hicker's Guide To The Galaxy".
Is it anything like those movies?

 

No.

 

I saw it this afternoon with low expectations and it really surprised me as a really great summer movie.

 

The explosions and spaceships were nicely rendered, but I'm having a hard time getting past the still-working battery in his 26 year old walkman, and the astonishing durabilty of a drugstore cassette tape.

This movie could have been great, if not for the Disney laboratory crafted PG-13 patina of post-modern pop culture irony, and a lame soundtrack that didn't have the courage of its own convictions.

 

I have cassettes that I recorded that are over 30 years old and they still work fine, so I had no problem with that in terms of the movie's timeline.

John K.

 

Nah, I thought it was better than The Fifth Element. I found the character in Fifth played by Chris Tucker annoying. While a kid could watch Guardians, I felt it was funnier and more successful as a film.

 

He found a cache of perfectly stored batteries.

 

I can buy that Quill had access to alien technology that at least allowed the Walkman to still work, and still have a viable power source -- maybe a tiny nuclear reactor the size of an AA battery that could power it for 276 years -- but I'm with you on the cassette tape.

Oh, jesus, just let it go. The audience I was with roared with approval at the soundtrack, and I thought some of the songs were funny and clever. I've listened to the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" at least three more times since I saw the movie, and I still chuckle at Groot's dance moves.

This "lame soundtrack" has sold 109,000 copies as of last week and is the #1 album in America on Billboard right now:



http://www.billboard.com/articles/c...s-of-the-galaxy-soundtrack-no-1-billboard-200

 

It was a great movie and on top of that I viewed it at a drive-in theater this evening and that made it better.

 

I rest my case

 

I want to see this movie. Looks like a halfway decent episode of Firefly.

 

I thought the soundtrack was pretty safe and sterile for the most part, but I did like the unsafe inclusion of Moonage Daydream by Bowie.

Also, a dissenting opinion on the soundtrack

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat...ix_vol_1_soundtrack_is_a_mixtape_of_lies.html

 

Someone (I forget who) cleverly said that shows that people who buy CDs don't know how to make an iTunes playlist.

I enjoyed the movie and felt that the soundtrack added to the fun vibe, but have no desire to hear many of those songs out of that context.

 

I enjoyed it. Don't go to see many movies at the cinema and with this one I'm glad I did. Most I just wait for the DVD or Blu-Ray to rent them.

 

Just seen this and lots of fun... popcorn movie to be sure but a really good one.

Thought the soundtrack was uninspired too though.. very obvious choices and middle the road.. proved by it's chart position...

Great summer movie apart from that though..

 

Some of those songs are lame, but the movie used them brilliantly. The title sequence in particular, with Star Lord dancing on the abandoned planet as "Come and Get Your Love" leaps out of the speakers, is a magical cinematic moment. I also thought having J. C. Reilly embrace his wife and kid at the exact instant Tammi Terrell sings "my love is alive, no matter where you are, no matter how far" in the final montage was a subtle, cathartic little move.

 

Oh, I was quoting somebody else calling the songs lame, which is why I enclosed that phrase in quotes. I love most of those songs and have since the very day they came out. I agree, the use of the songs in the movie was fantastic. I like to think Michael Jackson would've been really happy with the use of "I Want You Back" in the film.

One of the meanest, nastiest, ugly reviews I've read this year... but it's only August. I wish to god Slate allowed comments on their reviews. This is yet another example of snide, snarky internet commentators trying desperately to stir up dissent by dispensing deliberately hostile reviews.

Still 92% from Critics and a whopping 95% from the audience on Rotten Tomatoes:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/guardians_of_the_galaxy/

That's closer to what I believe is the objective truth.

 

Since when was there such a thing as "objective truth" about art? There's no such thing as "truth" - objective or otherwise - about movie opinions...