[Movies] Guardians of the Galaxy

Terrik

Terrik

My first act upon returning to the US was to see this movie. It's not coming out for another week or so in China so I didn't get to see it there either. This movie rocked. Jet-lagged or not, I couldn't get bored with this movie. It's such a ridiculous concept for a movie, but it worked so well. I liked the action, it was hilarious and I'll probably see it again. Well done, Marvel.
 
Charlie Don't Surf

Charlie Don't Surf

Terrik said:
It's such a ridiculous concept for a movie,
Click to expand...
it's literally one of the oldest concepts for movies that exists. a white male manchild learns to grow up and be an adult instead of in arrested development with the help of his diverse new best friends that have to somehow learn to work as a team despite their differences to save the world (galaxy) ((universe))[DOUBLEPOST=1408106414,1408106234][/DOUBLEPOST]
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

Charlie Don't Surf said:
it's literally one of the oldest concepts for movies that exists. a white male manchild learns to grow up and be an adult instead of in arrested development with the help of his diverse new best friends that have to somehow learn to work as a team despite their differences to save the world (galaxy) ((universe))[DOUBLEPOST=1408106414,1408106234][/DOUBLEPOST]
Click to expand...
How many of those stories include a talking raccoon and tree, though?
 
Charlie Don't Surf

Charlie Don't Surf

I didn't say it didn't hang some really unique and fun touches on to the concept. And also just saying again, I LIKED GUARDIANS. I just bristle when people roll up saying "oh my god it is the best comic movie and reinvented" (not you Terrik)
 
Terrik

Terrik

It's ok, I suck at movie analysis anyhow. Check back later when I tell you how 'cool' planet of the apes is later after I see it tonight. :p
 
Zappit

Zappit

Staff member
Finally saw it yesterday. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Groot was fantastic throughout the whole film. He and Rocket is going to be shipped hard online. (Sigh.) The very last confrontation with Ronan was a bit lame, with the song-and-dance distraction actually working. You got the sense that Ronan would be too single-minded and focused to fall for that, especially once he basically had a guaranteed shot to destroy Xandar.

Also, at times, Bradley Cooper sounded a lot like Jason Alexander with a bit more gravel. It was some of the higher pitched moments, but I thought I heard a little George Costanza in there.
 
Covar

Covar

It's such a WTF move that I can totally believe that Ronan had to pause and go "WTF?" What cracks me up the most though is how hurt and upset he sounds having had his big bad monologue interrupted.

The movie had just the right amount of self-awareness.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Covar said:
The movie had just the right amount of self-awareness.
Click to expand...
"I'm standing up, you happy now? We're all standing up now. Bunch of jackasses..."

Also, Rhonin's flat "... what are you doing?" was perfect. He thought himself invincible at that point, and expected the world to completely cower around him. So that Quill would start a dance off, he just couldn't fathom it.
 
Celt Z

Celt Z

Ravenpoe said:
"I'm standing up, you happy now? We're all standing up now. Bunch of jackasses..."

Also, Rhonin's flat "... what are you doing?" was perfect. He thought himself invincible at that point, and expected the world to completely cower around him. So that Quill would start a dance off, he just couldn't fathom it.
Click to expand...
This is why I really liked the movie. No, it didn't reinvent the wheel, but it took action/superhero movie tropes like above and turned them into moments of self-aware silliness. Most of the Marvel movies make sure to have some self-referential humor, I think Guardians is one of the few you can just be silly with and not feel out of place. You can be snarky with Stark and Dad-jokes with Capt, but not really silly.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Some scenes worked because the characters ruined them. They're moment-ruiners. Any time something dramatic or romantic or cliche was about to happen, they ruined the moment. Which made it great.[DOUBLEPOST=1408139324,1408139227][/DOUBLEPOST]
Terrik said:
It's ok, I suck at movie analysis anyhow. Check back later when I tell you how 'cool' planet of the apes is later after I see it tonight. :p
Click to expand...
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is excellent.
 
ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

Zero Esc said:
Some scenes worked because the characters ruined them. They're moment-ruiners. Any time something dramatic or romantic or cliche was about to happen, they ruined the moment. Which made it great.
Click to expand...
The whole theater I was in cracked up when Drax shot Nebula with the bazooka as she was trying to monologue.
 
IronBrig4

IronBrig4

I think Ronan was bewildered during the dance-off because he comes from a dour, stoic upbringing. The Kree aren't exactly a fun-loving race and Ronan in particular has a stick up his butt.
 
Terrik

Terrik

Zero Esc said:
Some scenes worked because the characters ruined them. They're moment-ruiners. Any time something dramatic or romantic or cliche was about to happen, they ruined the moment. Which made it great.[DOUBLEPOST=1408139324,1408139227][/DOUBLEPOST]

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is excellent.
Click to expand...
Oh goodness, yes it was.
 
fade

fade

Staff member
You can distill any story down to an archetypal skeleton. Since when do we judge the uniqueness of anything by its skeleton?
 
ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

fade said:
You can distill any story down to an archetypal skeleton. Since when do we judge the uniqueness of anything by its skeleton?
Click to expand...
If you take it far enough, 99% of all storytelling boils down to what is called the "narrative arc". You start with exposition to introduce the characters and events. You move to the rising action, in which the tension increases towards the climax, often through a conflict and/or a reversal (like how the bad guy almost always gets the thing the good guys are trying to keep away from him in every movie ever so that they have a reason to try and get it back).

Then comes the climax from which all the rising actions converge to the penultimate moment, after which you have the lowering action, and finally the resolution, which finishes the arc.

Nearly every movie has this in some form, from romance to action to drama. It always follows that base formula, only told in different ways. I have seen only three movies that have attempted to break that mold, and almost none of them have been successful.
 
Charlie Don't Surf

Charlie Don't Surf

Yes, every movie mostly has a narrative arc/skeleton. But you can't deny most of the Marvel/MCU movies have the same... dumb analogy continuing.... guts, blood filled out, with only different skins on top. I might go as far to say even the same skin, just different clothing and makeup.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

The Incredible Hulk: Guy who is a problem because he turns into other guy (see what I did there?) tries to find a way to stop being problem and ends up stopping other people's problem by the guy who wanted to stop him.

Iron Man: Guy who is a problem ends up getting a problem from another guy who has a problem with him, then helps other people with their problems, and then ends up stopping the guy who gave him a problem.

Iron Man 2: Guy who is still a problem encounters another guy who has a problem with him, then is told he can't help other people with their problems, and then ends up stopping the guy who gave him a problem.

Thor: Guy who is a problem ends up causing problems and leaves, thus allowing another guy to cause problems, which he then has to come back and solve those problems.

Captain America: Guy with a problem becomes a guy who can help other people with their problems, and ends up stopping a guy who gave them problems.

The Avengers: Several guys with problems put their problems aside and end up stopping a guy who gave them a problem.

Iron Man 3: Guy who is a problem causes another guy to become a problem, who then causes problems for the first guy + other people, and then first guy ends up stopping the guy who gave him a problem.

Thor 2: Guy with no problems helps people with their problems, allies with a guy who has a problem, and ends up stopping the guy who was going to know what you did in the dark-dark and that was a problem.

Captain America 2: Guy with problems sees bigger problems happening for others and has to convince others to help stop the guys who are giving them problems.

Guardians of the Galaxy:
Five people with problems cause more problems, but encounter a guy causing even bigger problems for others and convince others to help them stop the guy who gave them a problem.

I mean, if you break it down that far, then yeah, it's pretty similar. The more details you add to actually describe the movie, the more they differentiate.

If I had to analyze, I'd say the Iron Man films are most similar to each other, but I think everyone already knew that. Other than that, the other sequels seem to be where you see them differentiate. For example, Thor 2, Iron Man 2, and Captain America 2 do not have the same skeleton.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

I don't know what's going on. One of the movies wrecked your ship? Was it Steve/Tony? Or Bruce/Tony?



Probably Natasha/Pepper. If so, I'm sure there are still fanfics out there. :p

I did not go into doing that to prove Charlie's point, but the Iron Man stuff really is similar now that I've thought about it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top