Tag: Guardians of the Galaxy

The 300s Marvel Cinematic Rewind Presents: Phase Three

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11 years. It’s been more than a decade since Tony Stark “built this in a cave with a box of scraps.” Avengers: Endgame is officially in theaters and I’ve been hiding from Twitter for the past week, minus a few ribbings at the expense of Mr. John Tavares and the Toronto Chokealeafs. Endgame is the culmination of everything in the MCU, a definitive end for many of the characters we’ve been watching since the days of George W.

As a final installment of the The 300s Marvel Cinematic Rewind, we wanted to touch base on the films of Phase Three that we haven’t covered yet, which also now apparently ends with Spider-Man: Far From Home. (Make up your mind, Kevin Feige!) So let’s get into it.

Dr. Strange

Giorgio: To be honest, Dr. Strange did nothing for me. I love Cumberbatch, but this film to me just seemed too much of a Christopher Nolan knockoff. The film is almost a literal combination of Batman Begins and Inception. One of these was good enough for me. 5/10

Red: This movie was a trip and one I did not expect to enjoy. I punted on it for so long that I actually ended up watching it for the first time on Netflix. I have to admit though I really enjoyed it. As Kyle mentions above it pretty much is like someone threw the scripts of Batman Begins and Inception together, but I loved both of those movies so it was right up my alley. Cumberbatch is excellent as the smarmy Dr. Strange and a really solid addition to the Avengers. 7/10

Guardians of the Galaxy 2

Giorgio: I liked it, but wasn’t nearly as good as the original. It was also really depressing. I’ll take as much Rocket as possible though. Bradley Cooper is an actor’s actor. 7/10

Red: I know Kyle is a bigger Guardians fan than I am, but I just could not get into GOTG2. The music as always was excellent (like the opening scene featuring Mr. Blue Sky), Rocket steals just about every scene he’s in, but I hated the “Ego is a planet” storyline and I’m a big Kurt Russell guy. But with all the aforementioned factors propping it up, this is still an entertaining flick. 7/10

Spider-Man: Homecoming

Giorgio: This movie was incredible. First Spider-Man I’ve liked since probably the original with MTV Best Kiss Winner Tobey Maguire. Tom Holland is a perfect Peter Parker, and the film does a great job of not taking itself too seriously. Shoutout to Michael Keaton as Vulture, essentially playing Birdman twice within the span of a few years. 8/10. Also, Aunt May 10 out of 10.

Red: Kyle described it in the best way possible; Tom Holland is a perfect Peter Parker. Michael Keaton was a kickass villain in a truly surprising twist and a legitimately frightening Vulture. Oh and Aunt May is a rocket. 9/10

Thor: Ragnarok

Giorgio: Possibly my favorite film of Phase Three. After two boring as hell solo films, Ragnarok takes a completely new approach to a stale franchise and gives it new life. It was hilarious, weird, and charming all at the same time. Tessa Thompson is a pleasure to watch on screen. Oh, and Jeff Goldblum. Horniest/smoothest man in Hollywood. 9.5/10

Red: This was one of the best comic book movies ever because it not only had top notch popcorn flick action, but it also was very self aware in how ridiculous it was (i.e. the opening scene/rock montage). Ragnarok also managed to work in Hulk perfectly without Marvel having to go out on a limb on ANOTHER Hulk standalone movie, despite how many people wanted a true Planet Hulk movie. I’ve always been partial to Thor despite it not being the strongest MCU trilogy (neither is Iron Man), but Thor 3 kicks all the asses and sets us up nicely for Infinity War, which starts minutes after Ragnarok ends. 9/10 

Black Panther

Giorgio: Had zero idea what to expect, but came out really enjoying it. Great cast, great story. Michael B. Jordan is one of the best actors currently working. Also made over a billion dollars, so no surprises how universally liked this movie is. 9/10

Red: Same as Kyle I had zero idea what to expect out of this movie. Chadwick Boseman was pretty badass in Civil War so I knew they had a shot, but Michael B. Jordan stole the goddamn show as, in my opinion, the best villain in the MCU. 8.5/10

Avengers: Infinity War

Giorgio: For a film that has about 50 main characters, they did a great job not making the plot stroke-inducing to follow. Thanos finally shows his ass after a decade of sending his minions to inevitably just do it himself. We get a great Peter Dinklage cameo, always a pleasure to see him. It was great to finally see the beginning of the end. 8/10

Red: Bravo! Bravo! One of the few movies I made sure to see opening weekend because you have about a day before Twitter eggs ruin the movie for you and about a week before Yahoo just straight up starts posting spoilers in the headlines. As Kyle said this movie did an incredible job balancing dozens and dozens of characters that you legitimately cared about as the world building of Kevin Feige really started to pay dividends. This movie could have been 4 hours long and I wouldn’t have moved an inch. 9/10

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Giorgio: Fuck this movie. 2/10

Red: Very forgettable. All I remember is the villain that can phase through walls, yet is slowly dying. Also, if we’re being  honest I’ve always disliked Evangeline Lilly for how she cucked Jack on LOST, but I admit thats not exactly fair. Paul Rudd is a treat to watch per usual and the movie introduces the Quantum Realm which I think we all expect to be one of the keys to Endgame. So decent movie, but very forgettable. 6/10

Giorgio: I….never saw this movie. Guilty as charged. I’m sure it was swell though, right? Nothing like shoehorning in a last minute character a month before the grand finale. At least I heard there’s an orange cat in it named Goose. Rating N/A

Red: Unlike Kyle, I paid 14 of my hard earned Schrute Bucks to go see this last weekend because I didn’t want to be completely lost when a Deus Ex Machina write in comes out of nowhere to save the day in Endgame. While I was less than excited going into this move (I just got a very Green Lantern vibe with the fighter pilot turned super hero with bad CGI), it wasn’t bad. Nothing great, nothing terrible. A de-aged Samuel L. Jackson (good CGI) carries the movie, but Jude Law is a great character/foil in Capt. Marvel. Some hamhanded naming conventions (Mar-Vel? Really?) and the lazy explanation for where Poochie, er I mean Captan Marvel, has been for the past 20 years leads to an OK, but highly skippable cinema experience. 6.5/10

Now I just need to make it to Sunday afternoon without someone spoiling Endgame for me. Do what I did kids, mute anything and everything related to Avengers on Twitter and stay off the news sites. We’re in the endgame now…

The 300s Marvel Cinematic Rewind Presents: Guardians of the Galaxy

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Very rarely does something just appear out of the ethos the way Guardians of the Galaxy did back in 2014. Before the Marvel Cinematic Universe really took off, I had major doubts that Iron Man could work as a film. At the time, it felt like we were reaching too far into the barrel and pulling out heroes that didn’t warrant their own movie. I mean, before knowing what we know now, the casting of Robert Downey Jr. and seeing the finished product, who the hell out there was clamoring for an Iron Man movie? I never in a million years thought we’d get beyond that surface level of superheroes, i.e. Superman, Batman, Spider-Man. Fast forward six years to the release of Guardians, which in my opinion was the exact moment comic book movies showed us what they could be if given the time and space to flourish.

Please take a look below if you’d like a bit of a refresher on the brilliance that is Guardians of the Galaxy.

So now that you’re caught up, where do I begin?

It is so rare for a virtually unheard of IP to come out of nowhere and become such a hit in pop culture. Guardians of the Galaxy did exactly that in the summer of 2014. I remember reading online years before it was released that Marvel was planning on bringing some of their lesser known heroes to the big screen. When Guardians was announced, I did some research into it because frankly I had no clue what it was even about. I remember seeing things that said the ensemble featured a talking Raccoon, a gigantic tree that only said it’s own name, and a human by the name of Peter Quill. Needless to say, I thought this movie was going to tank. “There’s absolutely no way this thing could work!” “They are getting so unbelievably desperate.” For those keeping score at home, I was completely wrong once again.

Guardians of the Galaxy felt immediate. It’s the first movie set in space since probably Star Wars where the world felt lived in and already established. The roles were brilliantly cast. I never suspected Chris Pratt could be a leading man and yet here we are several years removed and he’s one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Rocket Raccoon and Groot went from “sounds horrible on paper” to being plastered on every toy, action figure, and coffee mug inside your local Target. And how about that damn soundtrack? James Gunn took some of the best songs from the 70s and 80s and made them the backbone of a film set in a far off galaxy and they somehow all work perfectly. The soundtrack naturally shot to #1 on the Billboard charts for several weeks.

Guardians of the Galaxy was the first movie to come along in the MCU that made me completely forget about the MCU. I suddenly stopped caring about what The Avengers were up to and wanted to see the continuing adventures of Star-lord and Company. Don’t get me wrong, I love The Avengers, but Guardians showcased exactly what comic book movies could do if they tried something different. To this day it sits in my top three in the MCU.

Final rating: 9.5 out of 10

BREAKING: Warner Bros. Chooses James Gunn to Write and Direct Next Suicide Squad Film

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WOW! Talk about coming out of nowhere. And talk about a huge “EFF YOU” to your former employer.

A little over a month ago, we touched upon the James Gunn-Guardians of the Galaxy drama and what it could mean for the Marvel Cinematic Universe going forward. Now, the very same man who was shunned by one comic-book-movie megaverse is being looked at as a savior for the other one.

At this point, details are still few and far between, but as relayed by CinemaBlend it appears as though Gunn is going to be the guy to write and/or direct the next Suicide Squad movie.

Apparently, Gunn will take a different approach to the movie than what we saw in the first one. With the mixed reviews Suicide Squad received, that’s probably not such a bad idea. (I didn’t think it was terrible, per se, but it was definitely disappointing.) Exactly what this new approach entails, only time will tell, but some believe it may be a new take on the story entirely, basically giving Gunn carte blanche.

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How about we start by getting rid of Leto? PLEASE??!!

Some may be perturbed that Warner Bros. could so easily dismiss something that another industry giant saw as inexcusable. But no matter how you feel, it’s an extremely bold move from a studio that has shown in recent months that it’s not afraid to shake things up and go for the gold.

Does this mean Dave Bautista is now definitely out as Drax in the MCU, as he said he would be if Gunn didn’t return? Will the DCEU – or whichever of the still-to-be-determined multiverses Warner Bros. is trying to push – finally have a movie that rivals something in the MCU? Will a bunch of social-media warriors rise up and force Warner Bros. to reconsider?

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Your move, Dave. Whatcha gonna do?

SO MANY EXCITING THINGS COULD HAPPEN.

As I’ve said before, the jury’s out on who Gunn might be as a man, but there’s no doubt that the guy is a helluva movie-maker.

Grab your popcorn, folks. This could be a good one.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Production Put on Ice; Is Marvel’s Future in Trouble?

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Esquire – In the wake of the Mike Cernovich-engineered firing of Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, production has halted on the third film in the series. Preproduction crewmembers were let go and instructed to seek new work, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

One person characterized the production hold as temporary and more of a “regrouping” as Marvel and Disney look for a filmmaker to take on the third installment of a franchise that has grossed over $1.6 billion and made stars out of Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista and Zoe Saldana. “The timeline has been pushed out,” says a source. Disney never set a release date for Guardians 3.

OK, I think everyone just needs to stay the hell off Twitter. (And, as evidenced by Red’s most recent piece about J.D. Martinez, maybe Instagram, too.)

For those who aren’t up to speed: At the end of July, James Gunn, director and co-writer of the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies, was fired by Disney (which owns Marvel Entertainment) after a series of offensive tweets from his Twitter account, which were posted a decade ago, were discovered by The Daily Caller.

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Upon first hearing the news, many people were outraged that Gunn would be punished for something he wrote almost 10 years ago. And before actually reading what he wrote, I’ll admit I was in that camp, too.

To be entirely honest, though, I’m now kind of on Disney’s side, as the things he said were just gross and not even remotely funny. (You can find the actual tweets by doing a simple Google search.) Gunn’s “apology” basically said that while he was sorry, he was simply trying to be a “provocateur” and make a name for himself through crass humor. Maybe, just maybe, that excuse could have worked for a 20-year-old avant-garde comedian, but dude you were like 42 at the time and made multiple references to violating young boys. The fuck?

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The star-studded cast of the franchise made an effort to save Gunn about a week later via an “open letter” to fans, stating that while they were “not here to defend” the offensive material Gunn was still a good guy and deserves his job back. But it was to no avail, as Disney pretty much immediately stated they’re most likely not bringing him back.

But I’m not here to debate the character of James Gunn. I’m here to discuss the fact that news broke this week that the third installment of the Guardians franchise is now on hold until further notice and what that means for the MCU going forward.

First and foremost, the Guardians movies are the friggin’ balls. Whether you’re a casual comic-book movie fan or a die-hard Marvel nerd, each of the first two movies were an extremely fun and fun-ny experience for pretty much everyone. In fact, they were two of the MCU’s biggest hits ever, with both Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 sitting comfortably within the top 10 in terms of the studio’s highest-grossing films of all time (h/t Entertainment Weekly).

The films provided a nice little career bump to already moderate-to-mega stars like Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Chris Pratt, and Zoe Saldana. Even more importantly, they introduced us to the wonders of Dave Bautista as an actor. (If you don’t agree that Drax is the best character in the series, and quite possibly the entire MCU overall, we might have problems. The guy is a freakin’ gem.) And above all, it provided the MCU with a nice boost in the middle of what was, in my opinion, a bit of a lackluster Phase 2.

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Seriously, he’s the best.

And that relates exactly to my next point: If Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is tabled for too long, or if a suitable replacement isn’t found for Gunn, what else does Marvel have in the arsenal for the long-term?

OK, sure, quite possibly the most important movie Marvel will ever make comes out next year, when we finally get to see the second part of the Infinity War story line. And, yes, Black Panther, which came out at the beginning of 2018, has technically been it’s most successful movie to date. Also, Spider-Man: Homecoming was pretty solid, too.

OK FINE. But what’s next?

Captain Marvel, starring Academy-award winning actress Brie Larson, definitely has some potential, and I’m actually pretty excited to see it next March. We also already know that Spider-Man: Far From Home is scheduled for a 2019 release as well. But after that it’s a bunch of “maybes” and “well, I guess we could do another Doctor Strange” chatter. (Please don’t, Marvel.)

The route most people are expecting Marvel to take would be to continue pumping everything into the Black Panther franchise, which seems like a pretty obvious move. I was a big fan of T’Challa and crew (especially Okoye, who is an absolute BEAST and has already become one of my favorite MCU characters), and I totally get it.

BUT let’s also not forget that sometimes when movies run too hot the first time around, oftentimes their respective sequels just can’t live up to the hype. The very same can be said for Spider-Man, but at least Marvel knows he has a much larger and more seasoned fan-base from which to draw a crowd.

A Black Widow movie has also been rumored, which could be cool. But after that nobody seems to know what Marvel plans to do after the Avengers finally hang ’em up for good.

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Will Natasha finally get her own solo movie?

To be fair, regardless of what happens down the line Marvel has had a pretty impressive run since their first foray into the movie industry back in 2008 with Iron Man. Very few studios, if any, can claim to have had as much success as the MCU has had over an entire lifetime, let alone its first decade. And if the MCU ultimately begins to fade into obscurity in the mid-2020s, I don’t think Feige & Co. should necessarily go home hanging their heads.

However, it will be interesting to see how they handle the situation with the Guardians franchise going forward as well as how they plan to keep the entire studio chugging along in the future. With a still-pretty-peeved cast – as evidenced by Bautista’s threat to ask Disney to release him from his contract if they don’t use Gunn’s script for the third movie – let’s hope it doesn’t get too difficult.

For now, we’ll all just need to continue to sit back and enjoy the ride for as long as we possibly can.