A Double Dose of Guardians

Date: August 8, 2021

Music Video of the Day:

Interstellar News: Yesterday I did seven loads of laundry and we did a ton of cleaning up around the house. Today we did a lot of grocery shopping and I watched the first episode of Star Trek: Enterprise and I am officially exhausted (and confused by the intro music, though we’ll hit that up later). Today we focus on two of the most fun and ridiculous movies in the MCU.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

“I am Groot”: For a movie that starts off sad, it quickly becomes one that I laugh with A LOT. Quill is a total tool but he tries to be a mostly good guy. Gamora is on a mission but she finds the family she always needed and also is almost always the only grown up in the room (“I am going to die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy.”). Drax is utterly oblivious to how the world really works, and it makes for some very funny lines (“Nothing goes over my head…! My reflexes are too fast, I would catch it”). Rocket and Groot are both the muscle and comedic relief in wonderful ways, given that the latter can only say three words in different inflections and the other doesn’t know what a racoon is (“That is the most real, authentic, hysterical laugh of my entire life because THAT IS NOT A PLAN!”).

While this movie isn’t perfect, it’s totally so much fun and is a wonderful set up to both the second movie and to further along what’s happening in the rest of the universe as Thanos’ plan is becoming more clear. It’s interesting on this go around having watched this movie after “Captain Marvel” and seeing Ronan in a different light. I still love the thrill of watching the team control the Infinity stone at the end, especially because of the ridiculous dance off that totally only works in the movies and absolutely not in real life. I also love when Quill reads the letter his mom wrote him and you realize he didn’t give himself the “Star-Lord” nickname, so it’s totally cool now (looking at you “cut man”). The Ravagers and Nebula get so very little screen time, but they’ll make up for it next movie.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

“I’m Mary Poppins, y’all!”: The follow-up to our first movie of the evening definitely happens just a short while after its conclusion. We find out more about the Ravagers and how terrifying and awesome Yondu is. There are several scenes that go on for just a bit too long, but I still laugh at them because it’s still a mostly jovial movie. There are hard parts, like when the Ravagers are spaced or during Yondu’s funeral, but there are a lot of call backs to the first movie too. Mantis adds another layer of weird, strange, and innocence to the team while Nebula finally gets to show Gamora what was really on her mind all of these years. Ego has “bad guy” written all over him and he totally gets owned after crushing his son’s most precious memories and belongings. The gold aliens prove to help move the plot along, but they’re not really interesting. Watching baby Groot grow up is an absolutely pleasure and I’m so glad they have the scenes with him dancing, not understanding which button to push, and not knowing what Yondu’s fin looked like.

Either way, you won’t be disappointed in these two movies if you’re looking to laugh your butt off. We are Groot!

TA Out!