Guardians of the Galaxy!
Aug. 27th, 2014 03:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silverflight8I was originally not going to see this film, but a friend texted me to ask if I wanted to see it, so I thought why not? I'm so glad I didn't look up spoilers now!
I loved all the humorous parts. ALL of it. I love the way the music works against the rest of the setting--how it opens with Quill showing up on this scary stony wasteland with that red-eyed mask on, and then the upbeat music comes in, and he starts dancing.
All the funny/sarcastic parts, I loved. Especially Rocket, who kind of voiced what I felt during a lot of the scenes.
The visuals! The spaceships and space part were some of the best parts. I loved Knowhere, inside a massive skull (and it must be massive to keep an atmosphere in it...?) There's the first planet which is a waste, then Xandar which is built-over and green, and of course the planet/moons where the Other apparently stays. I also really liked Peter's spaceship. It kind of has the same gritty, lived-in look that Star Wars original trilogy has.
But like the thing that really bugged me was all the emotional, drama parts. Argh, I hated them and squirmed when they came up. Which isn't to say they worked; I cried not five minutes into the movie, because parent sadness is my personal instant waterworks (IDK), but I was crying and feeling ridiculous and manipulated because c'mon, mother dies of cancer plotline? Really? Can't you think of something, anything less emotionally manipulative? Fortunately then Peter immediately got abducted by aliens, which was much more interesting. Then there is the part where Peter convinces all the others to stop Ronan, and that was just second-hand embarrassment all the way through. Thank god for Rocket. He was perfect.
Speaking of Rocket, I also liked the one scene where he yelled at Drax about his pain. That one's been building up for awhile.
The part where Gamora is floating out in space and so is Peter was such an awesome shot. It reminded me of the famous photo from the Vancouver 2011 Stanley Cup riots where there's this couple silhouetted kissing, and there's a foreground of riot police and smokey fumes in the background probably from tear gas and the like--that shot was like a space version. I found a picture. Actually, visually I really enjoyed the whole film. The CGI they did for Rocket was pin-sharp, his fur was perfect. The space setting gave them a lot of opportunities to really vary the background and also use dramatic space-galaxy backgrounds and that made some really cool scenes. The scene where Peter tells Gamora about Footloose comes to mind. And the one where Groot conjures the firefly lights! Aww.
I am desperate to know--did Groot die? Is that still Groot in the plant pot, or is it like a child/clone...? Please say it's the former. My friend thinks it was the latter, and that makes me very sad :(
(Groot gave the little girl a flower he made! AWWW!)
Things that REALLY distracted me: during all the Xandar scenes, the president/representative of the planet, oh god every time I saw her I thought she's got eyeliner all the way around her eyes. I think it's because it was dark and she's blonde. The casting of Karen Gillan, because I saw the pictures from SDCC (or one of the big comic cons) and it was so distracting, the shaved head. IDK!
Spaceship battles in outer space! That was so fun. Starfighter pilots! I also liked the tech with the spacefighters able to spin a web of energy (a really big web) to keep out Ronan's ship.
Rocket SOLD IT. And okay, the stealing-a-leg was hilarious. I love the partnership between Groot and Rocket, and how it, er, occasionally falls apart (Groot quietly removing the battery as Rocket explains the thing to Gamora and Peter hahahaha).
Again the four men, one woman thing. Please. I never really got the female representation thing until I started watching movies/TV (and I still don't watch a lot) but the contrast is kind of stark. I've never had problems finding books with a lot of women in it, a lot of female writers, focus on women, that still catered to my likings in sf/f. This instead is really irritating.
Ronan's voice legitimately evil sounding, utterly self-confident. I am less convinced by Peter's rousing speech--honestly I am the wrong person for rousing speeches, I didn't much like Steve's in CA:TWS either--but Ronan himself was more convincing to me than the Other.
I don't know. I enjoyed it, I really did, but I keep feeling that a lot of the movie is the throwing of awesome ideas strung together with legitimately charming/charismatic cast, but a lot of it was undeveloped, so the serious parts fell flat. Hopefully, though, this means the fandom takes off. What I really want right now is art.
I loved all the humorous parts. ALL of it. I love the way the music works against the rest of the setting--how it opens with Quill showing up on this scary stony wasteland with that red-eyed mask on, and then the upbeat music comes in, and he starts dancing.
All the funny/sarcastic parts, I loved. Especially Rocket, who kind of voiced what I felt during a lot of the scenes.
The visuals! The spaceships and space part were some of the best parts. I loved Knowhere, inside a massive skull (and it must be massive to keep an atmosphere in it...?) There's the first planet which is a waste, then Xandar which is built-over and green, and of course the planet/moons where the Other apparently stays. I also really liked Peter's spaceship. It kind of has the same gritty, lived-in look that Star Wars original trilogy has.
But like the thing that really bugged me was all the emotional, drama parts. Argh, I hated them and squirmed when they came up. Which isn't to say they worked; I cried not five minutes into the movie, because parent sadness is my personal instant waterworks (IDK), but I was crying and feeling ridiculous and manipulated because c'mon, mother dies of cancer plotline? Really? Can't you think of something, anything less emotionally manipulative? Fortunately then Peter immediately got abducted by aliens, which was much more interesting. Then there is the part where Peter convinces all the others to stop Ronan, and that was just second-hand embarrassment all the way through. Thank god for Rocket. He was perfect.
Speaking of Rocket, I also liked the one scene where he yelled at Drax about his pain. That one's been building up for awhile.
The part where Gamora is floating out in space and so is Peter was such an awesome shot. It reminded me of the famous photo from the Vancouver 2011 Stanley Cup riots where there's this couple silhouetted kissing, and there's a foreground of riot police and smokey fumes in the background probably from tear gas and the like--that shot was like a space version. I found a picture. Actually, visually I really enjoyed the whole film. The CGI they did for Rocket was pin-sharp, his fur was perfect. The space setting gave them a lot of opportunities to really vary the background and also use dramatic space-galaxy backgrounds and that made some really cool scenes. The scene where Peter tells Gamora about Footloose comes to mind. And the one where Groot conjures the firefly lights! Aww.
I am desperate to know--did Groot die? Is that still Groot in the plant pot, or is it like a child/clone...? Please say it's the former. My friend thinks it was the latter, and that makes me very sad :(
(Groot gave the little girl a flower he made! AWWW!)
Things that REALLY distracted me: during all the Xandar scenes, the president/representative of the planet, oh god every time I saw her I thought she's got eyeliner all the way around her eyes. I think it's because it was dark and she's blonde. The casting of Karen Gillan, because I saw the pictures from SDCC (or one of the big comic cons) and it was so distracting, the shaved head. IDK!
Spaceship battles in outer space! That was so fun. Starfighter pilots! I also liked the tech with the spacefighters able to spin a web of energy (a really big web) to keep out Ronan's ship.
Rocket SOLD IT. And okay, the stealing-a-leg was hilarious. I love the partnership between Groot and Rocket, and how it, er, occasionally falls apart (Groot quietly removing the battery as Rocket explains the thing to Gamora and Peter hahahaha).
Again the four men, one woman thing. Please. I never really got the female representation thing until I started watching movies/TV (and I still don't watch a lot) but the contrast is kind of stark. I've never had problems finding books with a lot of women in it, a lot of female writers, focus on women, that still catered to my likings in sf/f. This instead is really irritating.
Ronan's voice legitimately evil sounding, utterly self-confident. I am less convinced by Peter's rousing speech--honestly I am the wrong person for rousing speeches, I didn't much like Steve's in CA:TWS either--but Ronan himself was more convincing to me than the Other.
I don't know. I enjoyed it, I really did, but I keep feeling that a lot of the movie is the throwing of awesome ideas strung together with legitimately charming/charismatic cast, but a lot of it was undeveloped, so the serious parts fell flat. Hopefully, though, this means the fandom takes off. What I really want right now is art.
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no subject
Date: Sep. 2nd, 2014 06:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 3rd, 2014 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Aug. 27th, 2014 07:29 am (UTC)i think the thing that worked most for me was how the movie was all action/adventure/comedy fun, but there was all this darker violence and tragedy just pulsing underneath - it makes for surprising... not depth, precisely, but three-dimensional space. one doesn't have to access it, but it's always there.
no subject
Date: Aug. 29th, 2014 06:48 pm (UTC)Yeah, I think the movie skated just above some really dark stuff. Apocalyptic scenarios are common but what stuck out to me was scenes with Yondu, how he seems to balance on the edge between false cheer and ready to kill. (Then the ending with him laughing at the Infinity Stone changed that though). The whole Thanos thing is building too, and the whole Collector slowly acquiring more pieces. (Though I loved seeing the dog. I actually thought it was Laika herself or I guess a descendant [yikes she went up in 1957, that's more than half a century].)
no subject
Date: Aug. 29th, 2014 06:53 pm (UTC)i'm pretty sure tumblr just doesn't let you browse until you make an account, though :(
i've kind of twigged on yondu being not quite the dread pirate he presents himself as when he went like, i'm totally going to kill you, peter! right this second! absolutely killing you now! ...unless you want me as backup against one of the most dangerous dudes in galaxy, on a flimsy pretext. okay then.
i was also sure the dog is laika! but no, it's some kind of reference comics dog. and man, i'm so disappointed that collector made it because a) poor karina, and b) this dude is the creepiest in the whole franchise.
no subject
Date: Aug. 29th, 2014 06:57 pm (UTC)http://egelantier.tumblr.com/post/95149899153/zzigae-i-am-groot
http://egelantier.tumblr.com/post/95097057773/paticmak-walkman-adventures-in-the-galaxy
http://egelantier.tumblr.com/post/95081089324/wetrilo-well-i-am-groot
http://egelantier.tumblr.com/post/95000000322/starfuckery-now-hrmmm-dont-be-hasty
no subject
Date: Aug. 29th, 2014 09:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Aug. 29th, 2014 09:10 pm (UTC)Hm, true--definitely if he was as serious as he tried to seem, Peter would be dead. I think that part got overridden by the one scene where Yondu crashes and he's surrounded, and the people around him obviously think he's outmatched, and then he uses that whistling arrow of his and kills them all within about ten second. In that moment I understood why Peter looked so nervous.
According to wikipedia (my only source for these, alas) says Cosmo is supposed to inspired by Laika so I'm just going to pretend she's Laika only in the slightly-different Marvel universe.
no subject
Date: Aug. 27th, 2014 09:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Aug. 28th, 2014 12:32 am (UTC)Oh, I'm glad to hear that.
no subject
Date: Aug. 27th, 2014 01:45 pm (UTC)Which isn't to say they worked; I cried not five minutes into the movie, because parent sadness is my personal instant waterworks (IDK), but I was crying and feeling ridiculous and manipulated because c'mon, mother dies of cancer plotline? Really? Can't you think of something, anything less emotionally manipulative?
Oh, yeah. HATED that part, because I'm sensitive when it comes to mothers dying (one of my personal biggest fears). Can't imagine what it must have been like for somebody who actually had lost or almost lost a loved one to cancer. Thank goodness they had the fun scenes right after it with Starlord singing to music with wamp rats. :D
I assumed it was, indeed, the same Groot, but I might be wrong. Space plants should be able to re-grow themselves, right? :D
no subject
Date: Aug. 29th, 2014 09:46 pm (UTC)That was one of the best parts for me--having the music completely change the mood of the scenes!
Oh, good. I want to see Groot be his old self in the next movie. And yes! He can walk, he can pull matter out of nowhere to make himself bigger, he can totally recover.
no subject
Date: Aug. 27th, 2014 08:27 pm (UTC)Glad you liked the movie, though!
no subject
Date: Aug. 29th, 2014 10:04 pm (UTC):)