Guardians of The Galaxy (2014)

[ACCA]

I didn't know what to fully expect for this film, but I decided to watch it based on the apparently good word of mouth this is receiving. This ended up totally surprising my expectations in several ways.

 

I'll start with the mostly expected parts first.

 

The film was light-hearted, which I did expect. The visuals were good, as expected, but nothing exceptional or extraordinary. I didn't like though some of the slow motion shots, they just came off as lame in their execution. The plot was fairly generic, and Ronan as the main villain was very mediocre and uninspiring, both of which I did somewhat expect. Ronan's character design was somewhat cool though.

 

Now here's what really took me by surprise with this film. I expected the comedy to be light-hearted but forgettable, boy was I wrong. The comedy ended up being very refreshing and genuinely funny. Hats off to everyone who worked on the film for that. Although I have a bit of an issue in terms of having so much comedy in a film that has so much at stake, that's a totally separate discussion that I don't want to get into. In the context of the film's light-hearted tone though, the comedy worked great. The dancing scenes at the beginning and end of the film really took me by surprise, but they were brilliant in their comedy. Groot was brilliant.

 

Also the interaction between the cast was solid, better than I would have expected. It didn't feel forced or lame for the most part.

 

Last but not least, here's what surprised me most, and also what hooked me the MOST on this film; the soundtrack. What a BRILLIANT soundtrack, absolutely brilliant! This is obviously subjective, but being a big fan of the 70s and 80s, including a lot of the music from that era, the soundtrack definitely hooked me. Combined with some of the comedic elements, I thought the execution of comedy and music was exceptional.

 

So what would have been an otherwise generic Marvel film for myself, ended up pleasantly surprising me with it's refreshing comedy and amazing soundtrack. As a film it's certainly not as good as Winter Soldier personally, but I would definitely re-watch it for the comedy and the soundtrack.

 

Overall this gets a B+ from me, very close to an A-.

Edited August 17, 2014 by ACCA

[FilmBuff]

The kid was fucking fine. He did a serviceable job.

[JohnnY]

so here we go

 

there's this strong bad guy who's really really greedy and wants to dominate the whole world galaxy universe (???) and he needs an incredibly unexplainable (because before creation something was divided in 6 parts apparently) powerful jewel who will instantly make you so strong that you will be able to kill people just by waving your hands at them. then our heroes will do everything to stop this bad guy including fighting a lot during a third act full of fast-paced action and loads of different camera angles one of the good guys will even die and the movie will get emotional for a bit but in the end he's actually alive because we're talking about Marvel and YAAAY EVERYTHING WORKED THE UNIVERSE IS SAFE weirdly similar to avengers

 

But the funny moments actually worked this time, the jokes were creative.

 

60/100

Edited August 19, 2014 by JohnnY

[The Panda]

Well to be honest, Im an asshole but I'm not a 100% a dick.

 

80% of people on this forums opinions don't mean much to me anymore. I mean Im sorry but when I see  8 A+'s in a row for this movie your telling me that you haven't "thought" about this movie to much.

 

I mean, you can like it or love it. But Do you guys all think its equally as good as films like Star Wars? Aliens? Jaws? The Godfather? because when you say A+ or 95/96/97 to me thats what Im reading. Plus I know if we sat face to face and had a coffee while discussing movies I'm sure 90% of you would say you really liked GOTG but its not quite Star Wars…. So I don't understand when I see Star Wars like grades.  

 

If Empire Strikes back is a 98 to you but you give this a 97 yet mention the villain is a little  weak, the plot to a little generic, the pacing isn't as good, the score is not close to Star Wars… Why our your guys grades so close then?

 

Food for thought.

 

My review to come later.

 

PS. I LOVE ALL OF YOU, Don't hate. 

 

When I grade movies I don't think of them like that, I grade it for what the movie is and what it's trying to accomplish and did it accomplish its goals for me (or did it exceed them).

 

If I give a movie a 5/5 or an A+ that doesn't mean I think it's up there as one of the best movies of all time, I very well could think that, but I am using grades I gave other movies to grade the movie I am grading, I am grading it against itself.  I gave an A+ to Guardians because it was the most entertaining film of the year for me, touched me with some basic but also meaningful heart, and was my favorite theater experience of the year.  I also thought it lacked any real major flaws or complaints from me, objectively it was a strong movie.

 

I also gave Boyhood a 5/5 or A+ but for completely different reasons, and just because I gave Boyhood a 5/5 also does not mean it as a film is equal to Guardians of the Galaxy.  It simply means Boyhood set a new bar for the type of movie it was, it surpassed any and all expectations, and was able to hit me at some sort of personal level while still being an objectively fantastic film.

 

I think it's pointless to have a true rubric for grading movies because if you are going to grade them you do it independent from each other.  It's like if you were in an English class and a professor refuses to give anyone's essay an A because their essay will never measure up to the artistic work of Charles Dickens.  

 

Simply put, I grade things in context.

[CaptainJackSparrow]

Didn't like how the main character kicked alien rats...against animal cruelty. Even if it's just a movie.

[The Panda]

Didn't like how the main character kicked alien rats...against animal cruelty. Even if it's just a movie.

 

I'm sorry not every movie character is a human/animal rights activist who has the morality of Gandhi.

[Jessie]

My brother just said to me he watched one of the worst films he'd ever seen at the cinema yesterday. I said "what's that?" To which he replied, "that galaxy film". After some research, it turns out when a child hits 29 ýears old, you can't get someone else to adopt him, what a shame.

Edited August 22, 2014 by jessie

[CaptainJackSparrow]

Is Guardians the most overrated film of the year in the US?

[RobinHood26]

B- (82)

[Mulder]

Is Guardians the most overrated film of the year in the US?

I agree with this.

[Jessie]

Every box office winner is always deemed 'overrated'

[Mulder]

Every box office winner is always deemed 'overrated'

Because they often are or were. 

[dashrendar44]

Every box office winner is always deemed 'overrated'

 

Fanboys are so predictable:

 

1) *GOTG does gangbusters: "OMG, WHAT AN OVERRATED FLICK! SERIOUSLY, WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT IT, SAME MARVEL CRAP MEH!BLAH!"

 

 

2) *GOTG flops, it would already be a cult classic and fanboys would whine 24/7 "OHMYGAD WHAT'S WRONG WITH DUMBASS AUDIENCE FO SHAME!!!!GA SUCKED FOR NOT LIKING THIS ABSOLUTE UNDERRATED BRILLIANT GEM OF UNABASHED GEEKY DREAM!!!".

 

If Serenity, John Carter, Speed Racer and Scott Pilgrim (aka 4 flops fanboys hold so dearly in their geeky hearts like misunderstood underrated masterpieces of high concept cinema "GA has woefully ignored due to its staggering ignorance and stupidity")  had done GOTG's numbers, they would also be panned like overrated mainstream products (that they are being produced by major studios).

Edited August 28, 2014 by dashrendar44

[RobinHood26]

When I grade movies I don't think of them like that, I grade it for what the movie is and what it's trying to accomplish and did it accomplish its goals for me (or did it exceed them).If I give a movie a 5/5 or an A+ that doesn't mean I think it's up there as one of the best movies of all time, I very well could think that, but I am using grades I gave other movies to grade the movie I am grading, I am grading it against itself. I gave an A+ to Guardians because it was the most entertaining film of the year for me, touched me with some basic but also meaningful heart, and was my favorite theater experience of the year. I also thought it lacked any real major flaws or complaints from me, objectively it was a strong movie.I also gave Boyhood a 5/5 or A+ but for completely different reasons, and just because I gave Boyhood a 5/5 also does not mean it as a film is equal to Guardians of the Galaxy. It simply means Boyhood set a new bar for the type of movie it was, it surpassed any and all expectations, and was able to hit me at some sort of personal level while still being an objectively fantastic film.I think it's pointless to have a true rubric for grading movies because if you are going to grade them you do it independent from each other. It's like if you were in an English class and a professor refuses to give anyone's essay an A because their essay will never measure up to the artistic work of Charles Dickens. Simply put, I grade things in context.

How you grade movies is up to you of courseIf it's an A it's an A. I agree Transformers isn't graded on the same scale as boyhood every movie has it's own goals but an A is still an A.It's obvious I spend enough time thinking about movies and grades the last thing you need to is explain to me grading movie for what they are. You completely missed the point of my post. Random exapmle actually, I was hanging out withe this girl who said she LOVED Sex Tape, off the bat she said it was an A probably.... Because to most people that's all they want to know. 1 sentence and we discused a movie. Inteasd I questioned her about it and 5 minutes later she gave it a B-. She started vocalizing out loud what she liked and didn't naming other Diaz movies and other Siegal movies. She started naming similar movies with same cast and comparing them more. It hit her, they can't be the same, this can't be an A if I like those 5 other movies better. Doesn't mean her enjoyment level isn't high. B- is still a thumbs up still enjoyable.It's a hard thing to explain not in person. My point is people just don't think about shit to much. Grades are personal of course. Who may I to say if you liked a movie or not. But if you straight up say I like this movie less than this one this one and this one how could it earn the same score? In your head hey maybe different but a number or grade should reflect how you feel so if I never meet you I understand your thoughts.If you tell me ESB is an A to you and then GOTG is an A, In my head I think his guy likes GOTG as much as Empire... Interesting.Now if you tell me ESB is an A and GOTG is an A- now we are somewhere. Now I think to myself ok Guardians is really good, he loved it but I shouldn't expect it to be quite as good as Empire.I give Empire a 100, while I give Jedi a 94.... I enjoy watching Jedi just as much but the scores are different. Idk I'm at work my thoughts are all over the place, see what you did now haha Edited August 28, 2014 by Jay Hollywood

[Mulder]

Fanboys are so predictable:

 

1) *GOTG does gangbusters: "OMG, WHAT AN OVERRATED FLICK! SERIOUSLY, WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT IT, SAME MARVEL CRAP MEH!BLAH!"

 

 

2) *GOTG flops, it would already be a cult classic and fanboys would whine 24/7 "OHMYGAD WHAT'S WRONG WITH DUMBASS AUDIENCE FO SHAME!!!!GA SUCKED FOR NOT LIKING THIS ABSOLUTE UNDERRATED BRILLIANT GEM OF UNABASHED GEEKY DREAM!!!".

 

If Serenity, John Carter, Speed Racer and Scott Pilgrim (aka 4 flops fanboys hold so dearly in their geeky hearts like misunderstood underrated masterpieces of high concept cinema "GA has woefully ignored due to its staggering ignorance and stupidity")  had done GOTG's numbers, they would also be panned like overrated mainstream products (that they are being produced by major studios).

When the hell has John Carter been praised? 

[dashrendar44]

When the hell has John Carter been praised? 

 

John Carter is now an online fanboys darling. i lurk on a lot of movie geeks forums and I saw an awful lot of people deeming it as an underrated Star Wars-like movie in terms of quality that deserved better critical and audience reception (because GA is so stoopid, they didn't "get it" and marketing failed it so bad) claiming it's better than Avatar and should have been the other way around in terms of BO. Even before and after release there was an online petition made by John Carter fanboys to get a sequel made, they're still waiting...(LOL)

Edited August 28, 2014 by dashrendar44

[Jessie]

John Carter is now an online fanboys darling. i lurk on a lot of movie geeks forums and I saw an awful lot of people deeming it as an underrated Star Wars-like movie in terms of quality that deserved better critical and audience reception (because GA is so stoopid, they didn't "get it" and marketing failed it so bad) claiming it's better than Avatar and should have been the other way around in terms of BO. Even before and after release there was an online petition made by John Carter fanboys to get a sequel made, they're still waiting...(LOL)

I liked John carter. Lol

[RobinHood26]

John Carter is now an online fanboys darling. i lurk on a lot of movie geeks forums and I saw an awful lot of people deeming it as an underrated Star Wars-like movie in terms of quality that deserved better critical and audience reception (because GA is so stoopid, they didn't "get it" and marketing failed it so bad) claiming it's better than Avatar and should have been the other way around in terms of BO. Even before and after release there was an online petition made by John Carter fanboys to get a sequel made, they're still waiting...(LOL)

I like John Carter as much as I like GOTG

[Jessie]

Fanboys are so predictable: 1) *GOTG does gangbusters: "OMG, WHAT AN OVERRATED FLICK! SERIOUSLY, WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT IT, SAME MARVEL CRAP MEH!BLAH!" 2) *GOTG flops, it would already be a cult classic and fanboys would whine 24/7 "OHMYGAD WHAT'S WRONG WITH DUMBASS AUDIENCE FO SHAME!!!!GA SUCKED FOR NOT LIKING THIS ABSOLUTE UNDERRATED BRILLIANT GEM OF UNABASHED GEEKY DREAM!!!".  If Serenity, John Carter, Speed Racer and Scott Pilgrim (aka 4 flops fanboys hold so dearly in their geeky hearts like misunderstood underrated masterpieces of high concept cinema "GA has woefully ignored due to its staggering ignorance and stupidity")  had done GOTG's numbers, they would also be panned like overrated mainstream products (that they are being produced by major studios).

This is so true. Just look at every film that's become the highest grossing by of its year..2014 - GOTG, it's now being classed as overrated 2013 - Frozen/IM3 both apparently overrated2012 - Avengers, apparently overrated 2011 - HP8, to be fair, this is an exception giving the fact it was a series ender, it served it audience well.2010 - Toy Story 3 - well it is overrated :p2009 - Avatar, always called overrated simply because of its massive gross.2008 - TDK, it's been called overrated 2007 - Transformers, yeah it wasn't the biggest film of the year but it was the most crowd pleasing film, and is deemed overrated. 2006 - DMC, so say overrated2005 - ROTS, so say overrated 2004 - Shrek 2, deemed overrated 2003 - ROTK, ive heard many people call this overrated2002 - Spiderman, so say overrated2001 - HP1, it's so called one of the worst of the bunch 2000 - Grinch, okay bad exampleSo there you have it, most successful films are overrated, especially when they top their year.

[Dark Jedi Master 007]

This is so true. Just look at every film that's become the highest grossing by of its year..2014 - GOTG, it's now being classed as overrated2013 - Frozen/IM3 both apparently overrated2012 - Avengers, apparently overrated2011 - HP8, to be fair, this is an exception giving the fact it was a series ender, it served it audience well.2010 - Toy Story 3 - well it is overrated :P2009 - Avatar, always called overrated simply because of its massive gross.2008 - TDK, it's been called overrated2007 - Transformers, yeah it wasn't the biggest film of the year but it was the most crowd pleasing film, and is deemed overrated.2006 - DMC, so say overrated2005 - ROTS, so say overrated2004 - Shrek 2, deemed overrated2003 - ROTK, ive heard many people call this overrated2002 - Spiderman, so say overrated2001 - HP1, it's so called one of the worst of the bunch2000 - Grinch, okay bad exampleSo there you have it, most successful films are overrated, especially when they top their year.

I don't really see your point. If a movie is seen by more people, then there is bound to be a ton of people who dislike it (even if they are in the minority). And that large minority will obviously start calling a film overrated because they see a majority that loves the film. And their reaction will gain attention because they happen to be so large. But in the end, the general consensus on a film will remain mostly positive because there are still so many people who love whatever film is being deemed overrated. For every 10 people who call TDK overrated, 50 people defend it. For every 10 people who call The Avengers overrated (which includes me), 50 people call it the best superhero film of All-Time. My entire point is that it's only natural to expect a big blockbuster to garner both acclaim and a bunch of people who find it overrated. It's bound to happen because so many people are watching the film, and everyone has a different reaction. But in the end, the people who find a blockbuster overrated are not wrong (that can only be determined after they explain their opinions) and they don't really hurt anyone, so I don't see why we are talking about them.