Escapist Podcast - Movies and TV: 013: Shocker, We Talk About Guardians of the Galaxy A LOT

Team Hollywood

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013: Shocker, We Talk About Guardians of the Galaxy A LOT

Guardians of the Galaxy just set box office records for an August release, which is awesome, since it's also a very good movie. Yay! So Bob "Moviebob" Chipman, Elizabeth Harper and Ross Lincoln decided to devote a podcast to it. Also, we talk about the latest Ghostbusters rumor, and briefly about a certain movie coming out this week that is not very good. But mostly, we gush about Guardians.

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Makabriel

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I think I know why the movie was underwhelming for me after this podcast. Like Bob said, they could create a films school class about this movie, it's so... rote? So by the numbers. It just didn't hit a "Man, that was cool" moment for me.

Was a very good movie, but actually the conversation about the music made me think a more about the movie than the movie itself.
 

madigan

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I loved the podcast this week; more so than usual, in fact, but one thing really stuck out for me that I really just had to comment on...

Ross, just what is your problem with Pink Floyd? Can't a person enjoy and appreciate 'We Don't Need No Education' or 'Amused to Death' in peace without someone acting like we're an affront to their musical sensibilities?



...



Just kidding, Ross, but I thought your Pink Floyd comment was a rather amusing outburst during this episode. ;)

Keep 'em coming, and I'm really looking forward to next week's "discussion" of a certain '80s and '90s nostalgia property!


P.S. Actually, I really do love 'Wish You Were Here', 'Time', and numerous other Pink Floyd songs, despite the faux trolling. Cheers!
 

vid87

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Makabriel said:
I think I know why the movie was underwhelming for me after this podcast. Like Bob said, they could create a films school class about this movie, it's so... rote? So by the numbers. It just didn't hit a "Man, that was cool" moment for me.

Was a very good movie, but actually the conversation about the music made me think a more about the movie than the movie itself.
I'm assuming you were looking for more of a punch in terms of theme or over-arching thought? If so I completely agree and part of me feels bad because it makes me sound like I hate fun or something - it was indeed very fun, but ultimately kind of inconsequential. I mean, Iron Man 3, dark as it was, also had its fun moments, but also crafted this kind of thematic message of war veterans being led to slaughter and US foreign policy being shit and stuff like that. This, as Bob also said, was a bit of retread of Avengers in that "friendship is magical."

Also, on the hypothetical business of skewing younger for an all-female Ghostbusters - you realize the main candidates are going to be culled from Nickelodeon, Disney, pop music industry, and Will Smith's brood, right? As in, a decision that has the potential to be far, far worse than an original cast sequel.
 

Kameburger

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Apr 7, 2012
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I had to stop half way through because I realized that I didn't want to spoil the movie for myself. I'm really looking forward to this though, and everyone's excitement really makes me breath a sigh of relief.
 

TheMemoman

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First of all: Yes, Broad City is amazing. You should all be watching it!

Second: How cool is it to laugh, and feel human emotions in a movie theater? While being dazzled by the amazing special effects and just overall top notch sound and light shows decorating a very endearing tale of redemption and begrudging bonding by those dimmed unacceptable by society! What a movie! Some people complain about the McGuffin plot, or that the structure was true-and-tried... as if recognizing the components immediately grant revoke privileges to dismiss the hard work of all craft-persons bringing their absolute A-Game to the film.

The dialogue was excellent, witty, sharp, informative, befitting every character and expanding the lore. The action set pieces were clear in execution and motivation, seamlessly woven with the exposition scenes, while moving forward the plot. The tonal shifts were masterfully handled. You cared for the characters, laughed with them, at them and felt their personal conflicts.

In a wacky, alien world, with weird names, different colors of races and species, everything made sense as the audience was lead through the movie with all the information on places, people and gadgets needed at every twist and turn. You could follow the plot, understand the jokes, know the laws and physical limits of this cinematic universe just like you'd do on your own reality. As if this was something to take for granted and no intelligent work went with the careful plotting of the artistic elements and economical resources to make this lovable work of art a real production; one that we get to watch and judge from comfy movie seats. I'm not saying it's perfect, but the core pros heavily outweigh the tangential cons. I had a fantastic time at the movies.

This is the service cinema was meant to provide. To escape, to wonder and dream, and ultimately care and feel in the world of infinite possibilities that movie magic can offer us. There's so much shit constantly being put on the screen. Just noise and designed-by-committee cash grabs. What a breath of fresh air this movie is. I'm not against teamwork and positive values, I'm not allergic to corniness. I much prefer it over the other Hollywood heroism palette consisting of dour, somber warmongering.
 

Kingjackl

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I love Bob's comic producer voice.

As much as I enjoyed 'Guardians of the Galaxy' (and I really did, I would happily see it again), I feel like the unanimous praise it's getting is going overboard. We had three film reviewers on this podcast, and all they could talk about was how exciting it was, how funny it was, how inspired the soundtrack is, etc. Which is nice, but I think that are flaws with the movie that warrant at least some discussion. Ronan, Nebula & Gramora are all pretty bland personality-wise, there's a massive tone inconsistency between the opening scene and the rest of it that doesn't quite fit, and the final space battle got a bit 'Star Wars-prequelly' at times, meaning a bit too overblown and hard to keep track of.

Sure, praise the good bits as much as you like, but I think people are still on the adrenaline high of seeing Rocket Raccoon on the big screen. Hopefully within a few weeks we'll start to see some more reserved viewpoints spring up.
 

madigan

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Kingjackl said:
As much as I enjoyed 'Guardians of the Galaxy' (and I really did, I would happily see it again), I feel like the unanimous praise it's getting is going overboard. We had three film reviewers on this podcast, and all they could talk about was how exciting it was, how funny it was, how inspired the soundtrack is, etc. Which is nice, but I think that are flaws with the movie that warrant at least some discussion. Ronan, Nebula & Gramora are all pretty bland personality-wise, there's a massive tone inconsistency between the opening scene and the rest of it that doesn't quite fit, and the final space battle got a bit 'Star Wars-prequelly' at times, meaning a bit too overblown and hard to keep track of.

Sure, praise the good bits as much as you like, but I think people are still on the adrenaline high of seeing Rocket Raccoon on the big screen. Hopefully within a few weeks we'll start to see some more reserved viewpoints spring up.
I've actually seen quite a bit of negative criticism about the specific points you mentioned from many other sources, but even those that point out these flaws still tend to admit that they liked the overall film. I saw one vid-review (I think it was Bennett the Sage's v-log, actually) in which he talked about how apparent the script/plot structure was, and how it felt like someone took a "how to construct an action/adventure script" checklist from a film school textbook and followed it point by point. But then you have to sit back and ask yourself why exactly that is a problem... If we know how to construct a solid plot, then why do we consider it a negative of a film to follow these known conventions? Is it because we want to see something outside of convention that still somehow manages to work? Perhaps, but I think this film was trying to do so many other less-common things that we don't normally get in "Hollywood Big-Studio Blockbusters" that someone felt they needed a very concrete, tried-and-true foundation for the movie to build the more interesting pieces upon.

And frankly, I'm totally cool with that. Yes, Ronan was boring. Yes, Gamora was underdeveloped compared to the rest of the Guardians. Yes, Nebula was underused (I actually think she was more developed than Gamora, even though she had a fraction of the screen time). Yes, there was an imbalance of tone created by the opening pre-credits scene.

But were any of those factors actually horrible, or even bad? I do not think so; I just think that by comparison to the rest of what was done so well with the film, that they stuck out. So, in the end yes, there is still plenty that could be improved upon in a film like Guardians, but it got so much basic stuff done right, and quite a number of things done excellently, that I cannot help but love this film. Very, VERY rarely do I ever walk out of a film with the feeling that I immediately want to watch it again (to name a few where this happened: Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction, The Big Lebowski, Cabin in the Woods), and to me that is one of the most telling signs that a film managed to do what it set out to do: to be just so damn entertaining that we want to experience what it gave us again and again.
 

Makabriel

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vid87 said:
I'm assuming you were looking for more of a punch in terms of theme or over-arching thought? If so I completely agree and part of me feels bad because it makes me sound like I hate fun or something - it was indeed very fun, but ultimately kind of inconsequential. I mean, Iron Man 3, dark as it was, also had its fun moments, but also crafted this kind of thematic message of war veterans being led to slaughter and US foreign policy being shit and stuff like that. This, as Bob also said, was a bit of retread of Avengers in that "friendship is magical."
Precisely. That pretty much covers it.
 

Spankable

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Have to say I lost a lot of respect for the team for there hatred of Watchmen. I think it one of the all time great comic book movies & Bob's review of it seemed to agree, but he let the rant stand. I guessing he's changed his mind or really need the pay check.

Well I agreed with them mostly on Guardians of the Galaxy & wonderful to hear it was such a success.
 

vid87

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Makabriel said:
vid87 said:
I'm assuming you were looking for more of a punch in terms of theme or over-arching thought? If so I completely agree and part of me feels bad because it makes me sound like I hate fun or something - it was indeed very fun, but ultimately kind of inconsequential. I mean, Iron Man 3, dark as it was, also had its fun moments, but also crafted this kind of thematic message of war veterans being led to slaughter and US foreign policy being shit and stuff like that. This, as Bob also said, was a bit of retread of Avengers in that "friendship is magical."
Precisely. That pretty much covers it.
I'm actually pretty glad I'm not the only who thinks that, especially most of my friends (and seemingly everyone in the world) unconditionally adore it - good for them, but I'm just not completely onboard.
 

KazNecro

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Spankable said:
Have to say I lost a lot of respect for the team for there hatred of Watchmen. I think it one of the all time great comic book movies & Bob's review of it seemed to agree, but he let the rant stand. I guessing he's changed his mind or really need the pay check.

Well I agreed with them mostly on Guardians of the Galaxy & wonderful to hear it was such a success.
I think part of it is that Ross can't reconcile the soundtrack with Watchmen. Other than "Hallelujah," I really didn't have a problem with the music.

And to provide a counter-point to Ross' argument against using "The Sounds of Silence" during the funeral scene, I think that was a bit of irony on the writer's part. As you recall in the title sequence, The Comedian assassinates JFK. Simon and Garfunkel wrote the song in response to that event, and I just think that its an ironic jab at The Comedian, who he himself is assassinated.
 

madwarper

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Speaking of Ghostbusters sequel... Did anyone watch the Godzilla cartoon that followed the '98 film? I didn't. But, I did happen to catch part of an episode while surfing the channels and it stuck with me all these years.
Anyway, as for the cast of Ghostbusters, Tara Strong reprising her role as Kylie, the leader of the Extreme Ghostbusters.
 

bdcjacko

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Jun 9, 2010
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I am reading to comments and all the negative ones seem to focus around "this movie followed the formula and succeeded, obviously it is crap." Those peope hate fun, and only want to complain.

Do you ***** when someone makes a cake from a recipe and then serves you the cake. After eating the cake do you say, "omg, this cake followed a recipe? How uninspired."

Seriously, fun action scifi following the formula is fine.
 

bdcjacko

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Jun 9, 2010
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One nitpick i do have about the movie is how Starlord calls Ronan a ***** right before blowing him up. Ronan is a *****, he is a jackass, douche, dickhead or a million other terms referring to his ruthless adherence to his code. ***** implies being waffling, weak spined, subservient or negatively feminant, which Ronan clearly isn't. Starlord knows the difference between being a dick and an ass, so he would know what being a ***** entails.

Hell the entire movie pokes light at the naunce of language, so that one flat note stuck out to me. But still a solid movie.