Week 21: Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy: No surprise, this is still really fun eight years later. I anticipated the big laughs (dancing baby Groot, "dance off bro!", "we're just like Kevin Bacon") and forgot about plenty of smaller laughs ("that was my favorite knife", "I'm taking orders from a hamster"). The action and drama and heroic turns and music are fine, but the point here is the comedy, and it works really well. My only real criticism is that the film feels hurried; with so many major characters and concepts to introduce, it has to rush sometimes, and there isn't enough emotional connection to justify the characters becoming BFFs by the end (plus some individual scenes felt rushed). But that's a minor complaint; the film is a smashing success otherwise. (8/10)

Miscellaneous thoughts:

* My favorite line in the movie has always been Ronan's "what are you doing?" when Star-Lord distracts him near the end. Ronan is a grand, theatrical, speechifying villain, but Star-Lord's behavior is so idiotic that it momentarily snaps him out of being a giant hammy actor and makes him say one sentence like a normal person.

* My second favorite line is the "100% a dick" exchange. That this movie gave us Oscar nominees Glenn Close and John C. Reilly reciting that dialogue is just a gift to the world.

* As they're waiting to meet the Collector, Star-Lord talks down Rocket from shooting the rest of the team by reminding him that they're about to earn "four billion units" together. That does not seem like the kind of thing one blurts out in a room full of unsavory characters who are all paying close attention on a pseudo-planet with no rules or regulations. Maybe in another draft of the screenplay that came back to haunt them and it was cut for time?

* Chris Pratt has been a punching bag online for the last few years, with James Gunn defending him just a few days ago in what became the latest episode of The Chris Pratt Sucks Show. To me, it's tiresome, partly because picking on Pratt because his church is supposedly anti-LGBT is lazy virtue-signalling. If you think bashing a Christian celebrity accomplishes anything for the LGBT community, go look up the definition of "slacktivism." People also bash him for his relationships, but he didn't cheat on his wife or leave her to marry someone else; one relationship was over before the next began. Personally, I just resent Pratt for being overexposed; there was a time a few years ago when he was everywhere, and there are limits to the charm of his man-child persona.

* I can't see Drax without thinking of a classic joke in The Onion.

What are your favorite moments or jokes in the movie?