Marvel Cinematic Universe

[gaastra]

We have our new warriors. (plus great lakes avengers members.)

https://news.marvel.com/tv/63421/freefo ... -warriors/

[Ben]

Just sat with a big smile on my face for the entirety of Guardians Vol 2! Well, except for an unexpectedly well done emotional bit near the end.

Packed crowd who all enjoyed the movie and got big laughs, and a rare audience who sat right to the end to catch all the snippets laced throughout the credits.

If one was being cynical, you could say that a Mary Poppins gag was placed in there as a stealth move by Disney, for whom having Chris Pratt as Star Lord saying Poppins was "very cool" can be no bad thing at getting loads of Guardians-loving kids in the same mindset just before the new Poppins comes to theaters, but it's done in fun and was perhaps the biggest laugh at my screening.

As good if not better than the first, going against the majority of reviews here, epic, inventive and surprisingly complex, with top-notch Weta FX. In many ways, it's kind of a shame that the Avengers movies have to break into the trilogy next, because now the third film won't really follow on from this and, two films in, I'd really like to go on more adventures with just these guys and their new dynamic that's reached at the end of this one.

On the flipside, at least we get to spend more time with them come the Infinity movies. In the meantime, this is just great entertainment, pretty much of a family sense save for one or two language drops, including one very near the knuckle line near the end where one might think "I can't believe they're going there...ah, and they didn't, phew"!

Go see it!

[James]

Reminder to myself: come back and read this post in two days!

[Randall]

Go see it? Yes, sir! Great to hear your kind words. Marvel, it seems, can do (almost) no wrong these days.

[EricJ]

And as for the opening scene, I reiterate what I said in defense of "Xanadu" and "Electric Dreams":
There ARE no bad movies with Electric Light Orchestra on the soundtrack.

[James]

Saw it this past weekend. Extremely fun! They avoided a sequel pitfall in that they didn't just try to recreate all the best bits from the first movie. We got all new jokes and set pieces that didn't just call back to or ape the last. I think the first was better from a story standpoint. This one was a little lightweight in that department.

Random thoughts:

Love the beginning credits where we didn't get to actually see the fight scene except in the background.

Favorite scene was Yondu getting his new fin and wreaking havoc on the mutineers. The filmcraft (cinematography, music, blocking, etc.) in that segment with the arrow whizzing around, bodies falling like rain, and Yondu slow motion walking through it, was stunning and could not have been more perfect.

Drax didn't seem to have an issue with metaphors anymore. He also had a surprisingly large amount of the comic relief duties. Loved the bit with him and Mantis where he was serenely smiling and looking out into the distance remembering his family and Mantis touched him and was overcome with sadness.

Was worried the soundtrack wouldn't live up to the first but they nailed it.

Thought we maybe spent a little too long on Ego's planet with nothing happening.

I wish the story with the Sovereign had been a little more compelling. They seemed like a cool race to explore but came off by the end just a little too cartoony.

Loving these guys together. Hopefully we get a couple of more because this is probably the most pure fun series in the MCU.

[EricJ]

Saw it this past weekend. Extremely fun! They avoided a sequel pitfall in that they didn't just try to recreate all the best bits from the first movie. We got all new jokes and set pieces that didn't just call back to or ape the last. I think the first was better from a story standpoint. This one was a little lightweight in that department.

Although this one had an actual discernible non-generic villain, this time, which does perk things up a bit.

(And they even Easter-egged the "real" mean-planet Ego from the print comics.)

Random thoughts:

Favorite scene was Yondu getting his new fin and wreaking havoc on the mutineers. The filmcraft (cinematography, music, blocking, etc.) in that segment with the arrow whizzing around, bodies falling like rain, and Yondu slow motion walking through it, was stunning and could not have been more perfect.

And not to mention:

"I'm Mary Poppins, y'all!"

I wish the story with the Sovereign had been a little more compelling. They seemed like a cool race to explore but came off by the end just a little too cartoony.

Although those who didn't have to look up the Sovereigns on the Marvel Wiki

already know who "Adam" is.

[gaastra]

So we have a Deadpool cartoon coming out. That's three fox x-men shows out yet marvel owned all x-men tv rights. Hmm now what fantastic rights could fox have traded for the x-men tv rights?

If you saw the stan lee scene in gotg 2 you know what they traded!

[Dan]

If I recall correctly, Marvel has the animation rights to all their properties, so if they want to do a Deadpool animated series that's their call and Fox won't earn any money off of it unless they're onboard as the channel broadcasting it. The live-action TV shows are still under the same rights deals as those in control of the live-action films. The two live-action X-Men related TV shows are coming out through Fox channels, so it's clear Fox is doing whatever they can to hang on to the property.

[Dacey]

[Dan]

Had a big smile on my face after walking out of the theater. That was awesome.

I'll say this to those who were not prepared for what they witnessed in the film: If the next (Avengers) film follows a little more in the path of the source book "The Infinity Gauntlet", it's going to be brutal.

[Dacey]

I'm trying not to read anything about those comics (going to be hard to do so for a year, but I'll try), but from my understanding, these films are extremely loose adaptations. In any case, if anyone does want to talk about those comics here, maybe use "hide" for those posts? That would be nice.

But you were smiling? I spent the entire credits looking up at the ceiling, feeling dazed and dumbstruck.

I can't even imagine what it's like being a parent who took a little kid to this...

[Randall]

I'll find out myself this week!

I wish I had had time on the weekend to see it, but I was too busy seeing Jim Lee, Don Rosa, Jimmy Palmiotti & Amanda Connor, Irene Bedard, Jodi Benson, Paige O'Hara, Anthony Daniels, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Elijah Wood, Wil Wheaton, Lou Ferrigno, and so many more at the Calgary Expo. Awesome weekend, even sans Avengers.

But yeah, gotta get to Avengers with my boy SOON!!!

[Ben]

Name dropper.

I have pals over tonight for our regular movie night, but already have my ticket for Infinity War tomorrow evening. We’ve been putting off actually going out to the theater to see stuff now that we have such an awesome room of our own...but I weighed up that it won’t be until the Phase 3 boxset comes along before I eventually pick up these movies on disc, and that’s like a year and a half away, so I’m going to venture out and catch it now.

[Ben]

Wow.