#cg!starlord

[softspace-fics]

Hi, absolutely no pressure to write anything, but would you be willing to write an agere fic/ oneshot ft. Caregiver Quill from the MCU with a little reader, preferably his daughter/kid if you wanna keep it gender neutral. Maybe something about him comforting them after they have a bad dream about him going away again post Infinity War, making them a bottle and/or rocking them with comforting words? Maybe reader is between 2-4? Aaa unsure if this is good or not, could you tag @quillcore in it so I don’t miss it if you do? Again absolutely no pressure!! Its just so hard to find content about my dad :’) thank you in advance if you do,,

Never gone.

A/N - Yes!! I love Quill! I suck with dialog because I'm not super used to writing it, but I tried! Also, Im not sure what preferred caregiver name or nickname you wanted but I did my best ^.^

Masterlist - All my work!

Warnings ⚠️: Mentions of death, yelling, panic attack, carrying, fluff, use of fem pronouns and nicknames, side characters of Steve Rogers and Tony Stark.

Papa!Peter Quill x Little!Fem reader

_______

"We don't know if he's going to be back pumpkin. We aren't even sure what happened. You'll have to stay here in the tower until everything finally settles" Steve calmly reminds you, after you ask for your papa for the millionth time.

Your papa had gone missing almost 6 months ago, and all uncle steve could tell you was that he just.. poofed?

"It doesn't matter anymore Steve. They aren't coming back. Lying to the kid won't help!" Tonys booming voice suddenly came through the closed door that him and Steve were currently in.

"She doesnt understand what's going on. I refuse to-" Steves voice suddenly went too quiet to hear.

You slowly crawl to the door, sitting right by it, trying to hear through the solid wood.

"For all we know they could be dead. Giving her false hope will end up causing more problems when she eventually find out." Tony's stern voice pierced your ears as much as it did your heart.

"Papa dead?" You slowly whisper out, your breath getting stuck in your throat as tears brimmed in your eyes.

Steve stormed out to the living room, and immediately saw the tears streaming down your face and crouched in front of you, worry that you overheard, coursing through his veins.

"Hey hey, Y/N, what's wrong?"

"Dead? He dead?" You look at Steve with nothing but agony and fear, your voice strained.

His look of disappointment and his eyes filling with fear of your reaction tells you everything you need.

"Nonono not Papa! Papa! No! No-"

"Sweetheart!" Quills gentle yet firm voice shakes you out of your awful dream. You look around your surroundings before throwing your arms around your papa, sobbing.

"Shh, shh. It's okay, it's all over. I'm alive. Your safe." Quill gently runs his hands through your hair, softly rocking you, helping you to get through another nightmare.

The day you found out he had been blipped, was the day your world fell apart. After finally getting him back a year ago, you still havent recovered from the 5 years without him.

Quill gently picks you up, walking around your apartment, whispering gentle praises and comforting words.

When you finally peak out of his neck, your face swollen and puffy from crying, your eyes full of fear and worry. Worry that you could be imaginating his smell, that everything you see could be a lie.

"Sweetheart, i'm back, permanently. Theres nothing that could take me from you ever again." Your papa gently reassures you.

When he came back and they defeated Thanos (Or the big bad purple guy), he stepped away from being a fighter, and part of the squad that would go on missions. He would still help from on base, but he would spend most of his time with you.

Quill softly bounces you as he walks to the kitchen, grabbing a bottle, and quickly heating it up to your favorite temp.

Its around the time the bottles in your lips and his soft singing fills your ears that you realize this isnt a dream. Your able to comprehend that your papa wasnt dead. He was still here to love you even if that meant that when you thought he was gone, he had to remind you he would always come back for you.

He walks around the living room calming you downa s you finish off your bottle, and the sun starts to peak through the blinds.

Quill softly sets the now empty bottle down on the coffee table and walks back to his room, holding you closely to his chest.

He lays down with you in his arms, softly kissing your nose, and telling you a story of his time in the guardians. How your uncle rocket was just the silliest friend, even if your Papa got annoyed by the little trash panda at times.

"Papa?" You tiredly ask.

"Yes, Sweetheart?" He softly replies.

"No gone?"

"No gorgeous. Papas not gone. Never gone from you."

______

Tags:

@quillcore

[homiu-l]

btw Clover Games (aka Lord of Heroes) is doing a new donation campaign with Médecins Sans Frontières rn

I haven't talk much about LoH recently.. but If you prefer mobile games with well-written storylines and characters, give this game a try!

Invite Code: LOH21701997636

There is also a huge resource coupon drop from CG for the 3rd anniversary celebration, which makes it a good timing to join the game:

LOH77LUCKY

STARLORDS

HAPPY3RDANV

LOHEXPGIFT

[praphit]

Thor: Love, Death, and Beach Volleyball

Gather round, everyone! I'm going to share with y'all a tale of adventure, love, faith, and vengeance.

Our story begins with a god named Rapu. I'm not sure what kind of powers Rapu possesses. He seemed to have created small plant-like creatures  to adore him, tell him how awesome everything he does is, laugh at his jokes, cook and clean for him... and he was probably banging them - so... they're like groupies, which makes him like a diva.

While I don't know how to rank his power levels (he's mentioned as not being that powerful) I do know that he was powerful enough to kill an intruder who wielded a murderous item called "The Necrosword" (a sword that can kill gods). Someone apparently did not like something that Rapu had done or said, so for his own ego's sake, he did away with this nuisance - kinda a diva would.

Rapu and his plant-based groupies were celebrating the Diva god's triumph, when in walks Gorr (played by Christian Bale).

Gorr had been a faithful worshipper of Rapu. He had posters of him all around the walls of his home. He had all of his records, and memorized all of his lyrics. He went to every show to get his worship on, but him and the rest of the worshipers (including his daughter) fell on hard times. He believed in Rapu to save them (that's kinda on him though, right?? Know your god. I mean, if i were to faithfully serve Loki, god of mischief and trickery, 

and it turns out that Loki is actually a lying piece of shit.... that's kinda on me).

Not only had Rapu not had any intentions of saving them, but Gorr, his daughter, and his people were a joke to him.

Turns out Gorr's daughter, whom Rapu could have saved, died. And Rapu laughs in Gorr's face.

Rapu was like "Hey, thems the breaks."

Apparently, the weapons of space (and the realms of the gods) are kind of alive, and this Necrosword was no different. It sensed Gorr's hurt, and called out to him, and just like that -  Marvel's new batch of merch was produced.

Gorr the God Butcher!

In one scene, Gorr goes from pure-hearted worshiper of the diva god to a racist intergalactic serial killer. His goal is to destroy (and butcher, i suppose) ALL gods. They all must be bad!

This is a problem.

BUT, with problems, come heroes:

We've got Thor (Chris Hemsworth)

, the muscle and the looks.

Just look at him - the god of turning you on

Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), 

the heart  of the team and all sober... ish, apparently... well, she def drinks a lot less here than she used to.... and I don't like it. She was mainly defined by her alcoholism in Thor 3. If an alcoholic isn't drinking, who are they?  It's like if Kanye West all of a sudden quit rapping about getting money and booty, and started making gospel music, and having "Sunday Services". What the hell, right?? Who are you??

That being said, go A. A. :)

Jane Foster (the great Natalie Portman), 

the brains and somehow holds the power of Thor now.

And Korg, the comic relief.

They must band together to stop Gorr the Racist 

(some of y'all might be saying "Praphit, quit calling him racist. They're gods after all, and a lot of these gods that I've seen are shitty. They look suspicious. I don’t like their music, and honestly, I wouldn't want my children anywhere near them." 

Hmmm, y'all who are thinking that.... I've got my eye on you).

As I was saying, Gorr the racist god butcher was out there playing his own version of Pokemon ' "Gotta Kill'em all!"

There were many CG battles:

Aliens, shadow creatures, Russell Crowe.

  He was playing Zeus, so not just Russell Crowe; although that would have been pretty cool - Team Thor, battling Russell Crowe as he plays himself.

They tried to stab Gorr, reason with Gorr, shame Gorr, they even tried to cancel Gorr. But, someone comfortable with being called Gorr the racist god butcher, doesn't care about cancellation.

Cuz you see, it's not just about revenge, but it's about love.

There's a lot of love in the air:

Thor and Jane Foster, Thor and Stormbreaker (his axe), Thor and Mjolnir (his hammer), Thor and Starlord (his bromance)

- Thor has a lot of love to give. It’s hard being this hot.

(... "turning you on": )

But, also Gorr and his daughter. This is no simple villain, who just needs a spanking. 

This is no crazed villain, who just wants to watch the world burn. 

This is a father who deeply loved his daughter, and that was taken away. And the god he believed in let him down.

When you've played as many psychopaths as Christian Bale has, and your love is snatched away, and some demonic swords calls out to you like a mistress in the night, while your wife is away, and definitely has Hepatitis B... then how can you NOT go on a murderous, racist rampage??

A lot of battles! A lot of love!  A lot of fun!

Then a lot of death and sadness!

Back to love! and Space Traveling quirkiness!

Then, back to darkness, sickness, and death!

More love! and power! and Thorness!

Annnnnd back to... you get the point, and then this exciting ride crash lands into an ending of "what?"

The root flaw in the movie is that there's not enough time to do what they're trying to do. There's a lot of story to tell (especially about Gorr). It doesn't feel rushed , but more like some pertinent details are taken out. Some of the comedic edits are awkward, cuz you've gotta hurry up and get back to the genocide. And some of the thrills are deluded by down right silliness.

It's the opposite of the new Avatar that’s coming - about to tell us a long story (sequel) that we did not ask for.

"Thor: Love and Thunder" is a story that Marvel fans really want to hear, but all of the cuts and edits make it lesser than it could have been.

Grade: B-

Don't get the wrong idea, I really enjoyed this movie! I've heard some of the critics, and I believe that those critics are being kinda spoiled here. It's fun! Would I watch it again?? - absolutely!

Did it need to be made? - meh.

Great actors in this though:

Bale, Portman (two of my favs)... even Thompson and Hemsworth in their own lanes are really good. And frickin Russell Crowe! Think about all of that talent on one project!

Let's say someone created a time machine for you to go back and meet the greatest minds  and talents the world has known:

You get Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr, Socrates, Sojourner Truth, Prince, George Carlin, Joplin, Marley, Betty White, Ronald McDonald etc etc

- and all you do with them is play beach volleyball, and send them back to their times.

You had a fun experience playing beach volleyball with them! You'll remember it for years to come, but... in retrospect, you think to yourself "Should I have done more?"

[blogcgpyro-blog]

Starlord Fanart challenge #onehouralldays CG Pyro

Model #002 for the challenge #OneHourAllDays "#Starlord" HD JPG/NSFW/SFW/VIDEO TUTORIALS/OBJ; will be available via my Patreon. www.patreon.com/cgpyro I'll be uploading a character every day #cgpyro #zbrush #batmanfanart #challenge #marvelfanart #fanart #artstation #ArtStationHQ

------------- 👊 Follow @cg.pyro (instagram) For More Post & Tag Your Friends 👍 https://www.instagram.com/cg.pyro/ -------------

#digitalartists #workshop #comics #videogames #charactercreation #digitalsculpt #cgsociety #cg3dankfun #devianart

[bridgertonlife]

End Game Q&A from Russo Brothers in China

Q: Why Ironman has to be the one to do the final snap, couldn't the people like Thor, Starlord or Captain Marvel whom all previously have handled the power of Infinity Stones done it instead?

A: Thor in this movie couldn't do it, only Hulk was strong enough to do the snap without dying. We are still not sure whether Captain Marvel can also withstand all the power of Infinity Stones at once. The reason we choose to let Ironman do it in the end was because he was the closest one to Thanos at the time. In all the futures Doctor Strange foresee, Ironman was the only one who could get close to Thanos and do the snap. People usually think the death of a hero is a horrible tragedy. But we think this is different. When his death was able to bring back hope, to save half of the universe, then his death was powerful and meaningful. We shouldn't feel too sad or anger about it.

Q: Peggy Carter was probably already married and in her mid 40s in 1970, in that case what year was it that Captain America went back to dance with her?

A:We can't answer it for now, this is a story that happened in an alternate reality. Maybe it will be revealed in the future.

Q: Did Captain America's action at the end affect the timeline? Does that mean there was a time where two CA existed in a same universe?

A: To me, CA's action in the end wasn't the fact he wanted to change anything, it's more like me has made a choice. He chose to go back to past and lived with the one he loved for the rest of his life. The time travel in this movie created an alternate reality. He lived a completely different life in that world. We don't know how exactly his life turned out, but I'd like to believe he still helped many others when they were needed in that world. Yes, there were two CA in that reality, it's just like what Hulk said, what happened in the past has already happened. If you go back to past, you simply created a new reality. The characters in this movie created new timeline when they went back to the past, but it had no effect to the prime universe. What happened in the past 22 movies was still canon.

Q: In both IW and EG, the heroes tried their back to take the glove away from Thanos, so why didn't Doctor Strange just cut off Thanos' hand with his ability?

A: Thanos' skin is almost impenetrable, we don't know whether Doctor Strange had the capability to do it. If he failed to cut it on time, Thanos would still able to do the snap. Doctor Strange realized this issue during his millions test runs.

Q: Why did you make Thor fat? Did Chris also become fat for the roll or it was done throug CG?

A: It was mostly CGed. Thor suffered more loss than anyone else, he has been living in constant pain and regret.

Q: Was old Cap played Evans using make up? Or it was also post production CG?

A: 95%CG, 5% make up. But the voice was 100% Evans, no modification for that.

Q: Can you get the soul your sacrficed for the Soul Stone back when you return it?

A: No, the process is irreversible. Even if you have returned it to its original location, you wouldn't be able to get the person back. In fact, it's not really returning the stone, more like put it back properly. The tribute soul for the soul stone will forever be sealed in that place, therefore Black Widow is gone forever.

Q: How would Cap react when he encounter Red Skull when he returned the stone?

A: Red Skull would probably put the soul stone back to its location, and wait for the next unfortunate stone seeker to make sacrifice. Cap and Red Skull probably won't fight. It's because it's his mission to return the stone to its original place. The Red Skull is also no longer the same Red Skull from FA. He is more like a ghost, you could almost say he's a completely different entity now. He only exist to guard the stone, his past conscious may or may not exist anymore.

Q: In IW, Thanos used the time stone to reverse the time so he could the already dead Vision, and it didn't cause any time parallax. Why did no one use time stone to save Ironman's life in EG?

A: It's because even if you save Ironman, it will still not change the fact that Thanos will eventually win the war. Among the 14million possibilities that Doctor Strange has seen, Ironman's sacrifice is a must for that one win scenario.

Q: How did Thanos bring his army to the future?

A: There is a guy called Maw in his army, he was a great wizard. Thanos himself was a brilliant genius as well. Those two easily reverse engineered and mass produced Pym Particles.

Q: What about those people who got dusted? What did those five years mean to them? Why didn't they grow older when undusted?

A: Yes, those people whom was lucky to survive the snap are 5 years older than the people who just got back. The reason Spider Man saw his friend again in high school at the end was simply because his friends was unfortunately also dusted like Spider Man was. Of course, there are people in his grade whom didn't die and they are probably already in colleges by now. To those dusted people, they had no conscious in these past 5 years. They didn't know what happened. It's as if they had just woke up from a long sleep. The only one who was aware about how many years has passed was Doctor Strange, because he has already seen that when he was time mediating on Titan. Parker's reunion with Nat was a touching moment. There are also people whom indeed moved on but suddenly was reunited with their lost ones. Yeah it's kind a complicated world now.

Q: What if the mouse didn't press the button to turn on the quantum machine, wouldn't that stop EG from happening? Isn't this a bit too much a coincidence?

A: Yes, the MOUSE SAVED UNIVERSE. Among the many realities in those 14millions possible futures Doctor Strange foresee, the mouse failed to press button and thus the heroes failed in those futures.

Q: EG's plot, is it a parallel universe or a closed time loop?

A: Nope, not a time loop. Both Ancinet One and Hulk were right. You can't change the future by simply going back to past. But it's possible to create a different alternate future. It's not butterfly effect. Every decision you made in the past could potentially create a new timeline. For example, the old Cap at the end movie, he lived his married life in a different universe from the main one. He had to make another jump back to the main universe at the end to give the shield to Sam.

Q: There were some metal smashing sound when the movie ended. Was that easter egg? or just a tribute to Ironman, or maybe an implication that Ironman will return?

A: It was our way to say goodbye to him.

Q: Why there was no Ironman's body in his funeral, only his arc reactor? And is there any secret messages for bring back that kid from Ironman3?

A: We just feel that he should participate in Ironman's funeral. As for whether he will appear again in future, who knows.

Q: Why didn't Black Widow get a funeral as well?

A: Did you forget when the heroes where mourning for her after when they returned from past? Maybe her funeral happened off screen. Maybe it will be shown in future installment, because there are still tons of stories in MCU that are waiting to be tell.

Source: https://ent.qq.com/a/20190429/007983.htm . Would be nice if someone can double check the translation

Thanks to anon from 4chan. http://boards.4channel.org/co/thread/107288171

¡¡¡¡¡¡PLOT HOLES EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!! The answers to all the questions are: 

1 - Because, US, the Russo bros. say so.

2 - It was CONVENIENT for our plot (yay same as in CIVIL WAR).

(The MOUSE SAVED THE UNIVERSE is my absolute favourite, because it means there’s a lot of realities where that mouse was killed off, just died, never plugged that engine... Whatever, and that means Tony, Pepper and Morgan lived their happy lives to a full, because Tony was never required for the Avengers Timetravel Shitshow, sorry Scott, rot forever in the quantum realm, I don’t care).

WOW, worst Marvel movie EVER.

I hate those four assholes, the writers and the directors. Fuck them 3000.

[mensunohk]

羅素兄弟有問必答 親自解答《終局》謎題

話說當編輯在《終局之戰》上映的週末過後終於忍不了手，寫了一些有關於劇情的疑問，對於心水清又熱愛MCU的你而言當然在重刷重刷又重刷的過程中對整部電影劇情而產生的疑問了解得一清二楚，但是當羅素兄弟在訪問中詳細講述電影佈局的時候，除了為不明所以者傳道解憂外，更可以給死忠們對答案。 都說得如此明顯，相信你都應該清楚了解且明白下文絕對含有劇透的成份。還未入場的你，小心唷。

但先旨聲明，這個訪問是來自內地的媒體，而外地其他媒體亦暫未見轉載。在號稱只有騙子最真的國度中，到底訪問的真偽是如何，實在暫時不得而知，所以即使下文有著詳盡答案也好，編輯建議不要盡信，等待之後有更多資訊才再作查證。若果一不小心真的是誤中副車，請與編輯同呼下列字句。

這篇刊登於內地網媒《貴圈》中的人物訪問聲稱是《終局之戰》後導演羅素兄弟首個接受的訪問，訪問內容中除了羅素兄弟談及對戲中人物如鐵甲奇俠等人犧牲的感想以外，更有他們親自解釋劇中部份引起觀眾討論的情節。而下文將由編輯精選內容再以更易明的語言去說明。

About Timeline…

關於《終局之戰》，最大的疑問莫過於是有關於時空穿梭的問題。雖然變型俠醫與古一在電影中已經不厭其煩的解釋過整個時空穿梭的意義與原理，但是一眾狂熱粉絲的爭論點，卻在於《終局之戰》的三小時內發生的故事是否發生在同一時間線之內。但是在羅素兄弟的解釋下，卻再一次印證變型俠醫戲中的理論，故事中其實有多條時間線，所以你會看見Nebula「自殺」後本人相安無事的片段，而大家在戲中看見的Gamora亦是由另一時空而來，所以才會有不認識Starlord並攻擊他的一幕。

Two Captain One Universe?

承上題，美國隊長在電影最後以老人的身份回到了眾人面前，除了把象徵性的盾牌交給Falcon之外，更交代他與最愛Peggy Carter共渡餘生。而根據導演解釋，老隊長是生活於另一時空之內。至於他另一邊的生活，羅素兄弟都表示不知情，包括為甚麼在1970本應已屆半百的Peggy Carter可以保持年輕與退隱隊長共舞？他們表示不知情，但卻願意相信那個隊長在另一時空繼續的行俠仗義。完全看不懂上面一切的你只需理解，隊長只有一個，他只是在2023年的世界消失數秒，並在另一邊的時空活了數十年，並在最後回到此時間線交代接班問題而已。清楚？

老隊長靠化妝？

至於在老隊長的妝容方面，羅素兄弟表示只有5%是靠化妝，其餘都是CG的努力。但是在聲音方面，卻完全是Chris Evans自己的努力。至於雷神方面，亦是結合CG與化妝的成果，才能令事件變得完美。

And Why Ironman？

原因無他，全因在奇異博士在看過逾1億4千萬的可能性，只看到這個獲勝的可能，而這個可能性中，就只有Ironman與無限手套最接近並能夠奪取，而大家最愛的Marvel隊長亦未必能夠承受寶石力量，所以在種種可能性交雜之下，就成就了這個一億四千萬六百零五中唯一一個得勝的結局。

靈魂寶石 不設退貨？

而大家關心的還石問題，羅素兄弟亦清楚表示美國隊長在歸還寶石的過程中只是把石頭放回原位，所以作用寶石代價的黑寡婦亦不能復活，永遠留在同一處。至於黑寡婦的葬禮，導演兩人只表示是電影中未有提及，但復仇者眾人依然未有忘記她的。

Pym Particles放題 在電影中，2014年的Nebula只有從2023年Nebula身上奪取的一瓶Pym Particles，但是在Thanos本人以及其智囊Ebony Maw的努力下成功複製了大量Pym Particles，令Thanos大軍也能超時空前來與復仇者決戰。

最後一點有關於蜘蛛俠Peter Parker的同學，他的同班同學其實都一概在Thanos彈指下全部消失，包括好友Ned等人。而對於在5年後復活的人而言，消失的5年就只如睡覺一樣。但對於在5年間經已向前走，有如導演之一的Joe Russo在戲中客串的同性戀者等人卻是難關，但這些都已經超出電影討論範圍了。

men’s uno Hong Kong ►► Facebook@mensuno ►► Instagram@mensunohk ►► men’s uno

[goron-king-darunia]

Annon-Guy: The Super Mario Bros. Movie Teaser Trailer.

Starring Chris Pratt (Star-Lord) as Mario and Jack Black (Po) as Bowser.

GKD here! Jack Back is a treasure but I'm kind of tired of Chris Pratt getting cast as EVERYTHING. He was fine as Starlord. Not sure how I feel about him being cast for everything else since then. I get it. He's a big name lots of people will recognize, and ultimately it's the parents that choose movies so drawing in parents with big names helps. And I get that they weren't trying to do the whole "Walking Italian Stereotype" with the heavy accent but... given how little Mario talks in the games, what little we DO hear is always that squeaky little "Ha! Wah! Wahoo! Yippee! Okie Dokie! Let's-a go!" That's iconic, for better or for worse. The only other accent I really associate with Mario is thanks to a childhood of the Super Mario Brother's Super Show. Lou Albano's thick Brooklyn accent and wild hair are, like, the only alternative to the dopey, squeaky, cartoony Italian of the games' Marios. Hell, that's what made that whole meme that came and went like a flash in a pan WORK. From what little I heard, Chris Pratt isn't absolutely abyssmal as Mario, but he barely speaks in the trailer, and I'm honestly expecting mediocrity so the mediocre bit I got wasn't exactly unexpected. I think the movie has a chance at being passable, and I'll probably give it a watch when I have time. But I'm honestly just kind of bitter about the whole "Put celebrities that don't really fit the roles into movies instead of casting new talent that fits better or paying more for someone who both fits the role AND is famous. I saw someone did a photoshop edit of Tom Holland as Link for a hypothetical live action Zelda film and I cringed. The idea that we don't have to cast real actors anymore or seek out new talent when we can just hire the biggest names for voice work or CG on whatever features we need for the actor and cast whoever's popular really kills me. It means there's never any new talent so the same 5 people can just phone in every performance because they're so famous that it doesn't matter if they're good for the role or not, they're just guaranteed work through their name recognition. It means getting dated CG that's going to look bad in 5 years where it's very obvious someone's worn a face rig for the whole movie so they could put someone else's features on or where they had to digitally erase something because the actor got an injury and the film was on a time crunch so they sent the final footage to the CG team on the last day before release and went "Hey, Famous McGee has a 3 inch scar across his cheek in this shot and makeup didn't cover it enough, can you go in frame by frame and photoshop that out? And also change the lighting and do 12 other edits to the footage? We won't give you a raise ever and no benefits okay thanks bye!" Like, it's entirely possible that I'm just very bitter and old, but I honestly hate the way the film industry is going. Same 10 actors in everything, jukebox musicals or generic tracks, pile all the work on the CG people because they're the only ones without a union and can't negotiate for better labor conditions that would put them on par with practical effects and makeup teams which they're largely being used to replace for cheap. Actors who can't sing getting autotuned instead of dubbed because "people would notice that's not their voice because they've been in every movie for the last century." Honestly, I don't blame Chris Pratt for taking the role or Illumination for hiring him. That's just business. I blame the capitalist monster and the ever increasing demand for profit that pushes out creativity and risky decisions necessary for art in favor of "safe" business decisions that mathematically guarantee making returns on investment and generating profit. We have, what, 5 big studios that own everything in the world of animation right now? They're all pretty cushy on their piles of money to the point that if any competition shows up to challenge them, they can just sue them out of existence or buy them up. (Disney is the biggest example but others have done it too.) Honestly, Pixar is one of the last good studios and even that's iffy. They're largely allowed to do whatever because they're the Stephen King of animation. Given enough time and money, they'll make good stuff every time. But even then that's kind of shaky ground now because they're under The Mouse so they've honestly been tasked with playing things safe most of the time and just BARELY putting anything worthwhile in movies anymore. IDK, I'm sure it's partly nostalgia goggles, but honestly I do think it's primarily that animation isn't treated as art anymore. It's just a "genre of movie" to corporate executives, and all they want is quippy humor and flashy colors to get kids in seats so they can make back all the pennies they gave to the CG team to make the movie passable. They don't care if the movies are good, they care if they can get people to pay for a ticket. And big names sell tickets. And I kind of hate that. (Jack Black gets a pass because he's a genuinely funny guy and clearly put charisma into his role.) Also Toad made me cringe because like. Yeah. That's just how humor in movies is done now, huh? Gotta have at least one loud "joke" for the trailer that doesn't actually say anything about the world or the plot so we can clip it out of context and really sell people on the fact that this movie is supposed to be "funny." IDK, maybe it's deliberately bad marketing. But it still makes me cringe.

[nyanyareviews]

Meows and Growls: Black Panther (2018)

Usually, when I do these types of reviews, I do some kind of cute intro about how Black Panther is breathtaking, how it’s the 18th installment in the MCU, has a rotten tomato score of 97%, and how it’s made $242 Million on opening weekend in the US alone, but today I wanted to do it a little bit differently.

Before, I get into it, I just wanted to give a quick heads up for anyone who hasn’t seen the movie or trailers. Eric Killmonger (played by Michael B Jorden) has marks on his upper body. They represent how many kills he’s made in his life. However, they can be a bit off putting for someone who suffers from trypophobia (speaking from experience).  Trypophobia – for those who don’t know – is a reaction (anxious, fearful, panic, etc) to seeing patterns, usually of holes or bumps. I’m not sure if his look is enough to send anyone into a panic attack, but I found my skin crawling at certain points. Just wanted to put that out there. Also, there are two end credit scenes – this should go without saying, but when I saw it the second time, I was amazed at home many people left before the first scene came up. With that being said, let’s get to it!

Black Panther picks up right where Civil War left off. T’Challa has returned to his country of Wakanda to mourn the lost of the previous king/ his father T’Chaka and to perform the ceremony that will officially make him the new King and the new Black Panther. For those who forgot, the mantle of Black Panther is handed down from King to King of Wakanda. During this time two villains begin to plan their attack on Wakanda; Klaw -who we first meet in Age of Ultron as the man responsible for stealing vibrianium from the country- and newcomer Eric Killmonger – who believes he can use Wakanda’s technology to rule the world (that is me severely downplaying his motives, but I can’t share too much without spoilers.)

This is usually the part where start discussing the meows and growls of the movie, but to be honest, I was floored by it’s near perfection. It was actress Angelia Basset who said it best: “[It’s a] beautiful blend of tradition and the future.” For starters, the CG was beautifully done. Technology like the ships and many of the weapons used feel normal – they don’t just scream items made on computers. Smaller, everyday items such as the beads don’t feel out of place in today’s world. They feel like the next step to a smartwatch. The fight scene – which Wallace is usually a stickler for – were amazing. The challenge scenes were well done; the way the camera followed certain hits gave them more depth. They set the tone, pace, and emotional impact of each battle. They even took the character’s builds, abilities, and time into account, making them feel like actual fights.

The characters were well rounded and – to my surprise – had clear understanding of consequences to their actions both on personal and global scales. Most Marvel movies, I’ve found, don’t understand what the ramifications of their actions until it’s literally in front of them (i.e Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver helping Ultron, Starlord learning to control his powers to help Ego, Tony Stark building Ultron, Tony Stark trying to make everyone sign the Accords – pretty much anything Stark does), but the moment T’Challa meets Eric, he knows who he is and what needs to be done to stop him. Everyone is immediately aware that he’s a threat. Not to mention the strong female characters. I would say side characters, but because they’re all so strong, engaging and – for lack of a better word – unique, it feels wrong to just label them as “side characters.”  

Side note, Eric Killmonger is probably the best villain I’ve seen in any superhero movie in a long while. He’s flushed out, well worked, and – to be completely honest – you can’t help but feel something for him. The mark of a great villain is being able to sympathize with them. And, you have no problems doing that, despite his actions. I’ll even admit that he had me crying at one point.

The only real problem I have with this movie has nothing to do with the  Since the movie’s announcement there has been two sides to the racial conflict. I cannot begin to register those that think this movie is racist for having an all African American cast – it reminded me of when NBC put on a live version of The Wiz (ask about that). But, there were those who believe that only people of color should be allowed to watch Black Panther. And, it is honestly the most mind-boggling thing I’ve ever heard. Just because two non POC created the original comics, doesn’t make it any less black. Just because the studio isn’t African American owned, doesn’t stop Black Panther from being deep and moving or stop it from showing the beauty of Afrofuturism. When you let these things stand in the way of seeing a movie of this caliber; you reduce our chances of getting anymore like it to the mainstream. If you are a true comic book fan, you’ll see this movie, you’ll welcome anyone who wants to see this movie, and you will make sure that it continues to do great because it’s just a good movie!

Also, Shuri (T’Challa’s little sister) makes a reference to a dead meme, and it feels a bit forced. It honestly could’ve been left out of the movie all together, but that’s just a small thing.

Overall, I cannot stop gushing about Black Panther. In honesty, I might rewrite this whole thing just to get more indepth with T’Challa’s character, the relationships between his father, how loyal the Dora Milaje are, going more indepth on the female characters like Okoye and Nakia – there is just so much to look into for this movie. And, hopefully, we will get to see more of Wakanda very soon.

[dinoblip]

i found guardians of the galaxy vol 2 a bit shit

I saw it a little less than a week ago and I’m still disappointed.

I prefer to think of this post more of an “analysis” than a rant but itll probably be more the latter.

also these are all just opinions, if you liked it thats fine.

(spoilers ahead)

1. the writing

i mean i wasnt expecting it to be a masterpiece, hardly any sequels are, but the humour of the first film was 100% tied to the clever screen writing. 

and here it felt like the writer was hamfistedly trying SO GODDAMN HARD to be funny and it never really seemed to land except in 1 or 2 scenes (the groot button scene and the scene where groot is explaining why he doesnt like hats).

This might just be my dumb sense of humour here, i know plenty of people who did find it funny but so many lines just left me cold or rolling my eyes.

An example is this fruit gag and the set-up is okay. 

One of the first things nebula says in the film that she wants a piece of fruit which she is then denied because it isn’t ripe yet. This is fine, its humorous because of the casual tone of the question and the somewhat overly stern and ridiculous answer, the outright denial perhaps being because gamora doesnt want to be charitable to her sister at all. It works. 

Then it gets reestablished: theyre now fighting people and the fruit is on the ground in the fray and nebula is still a prisoner. Now she asks Drax for the fruit and Drax yells over his gun “no its still not ripe”. This doesnt work quite as well cause it doesnt make quite as much logical sense and its basically the same conversation as before. So its not funny here.

Then the pay-off doesnt work because its too hamfisted. There is a reveal that nebula has managed to escape and now has a gun in one hand and the fruit in the other. That alone would have been a good pay-off because theres a sense of misplaced priorities, maybe simply because she kept getting denied it she went out of her way to bring it with her. I chuckled at that.

But then the script makes her triumphantly take a bite out of it, spit it out dramatically as if its disgusting and then explain “it wasnt ripe”. And they film it as if thats the punchline. It was too hammy to be funny, it seemed like such a waste of an opportunity. 

Like they could have made it more understated like they could have stretched it out a little. Here’s an idea for what they could have done instead. Shes quite a proud character so her taking a bite in triumph fits her character fine but once she takes a bite, she smiles for a bit that sorta slowly turns into a bit of a grimace but continues chewing determinedly, her face a picture of disgust. that could be the end of the scene or it could continue by then having a ravager break the silence to ask if shes alright. she sorta manages to swallow it down but when she next talks her voice could be a bit claggy and constantly sounding like shes on the verge of coughing which would undermine her authority over the situation. 

This is one of the few times they attempt a recurring joke and it doesnt work at all (off the top of my head i cant even remember one other one and the first film had so many). Other examples of failed jokes include pretty much all lines said by Drax who only seems to laugh manically and insult Mantis and nothing else including one which doesnt even work within his character (this one: mantis is watching all the raider funeral fireworks and she says that theyre beautiful and drax is staring at her and says “yes, beautiful” pause “on the inside” ITS ESTABLISHED OVER AND OVER THAT HE IS LITERAL MINDED SO WHY IS HE SAYING THAT). And I would also say that alot of the jokes with Groot aren’t very good either and neither is his character in this film but dont worry I’m gonna justify that in a second. I plan on giving him an entire fucking section.

So not only did the jokes not work but even the normal conversations felt stilted. And so often it almost looked like the actors werent sure of how they were meant to say lines in a way that would sound natural. Peter Quill wasn’t sounding like Peter Quill all of a sudden, Gamora didnt feel like Gamora.

It made for a confusing experience. I kept having to question myself for not laughing at a joke or feeling emotionally invested in what was happening. i ended up asking myself alot “this is a guardians of the galaxy film, why arent i having fun?”

2. the story

I freaking loved where they went with the character development of yandu and nebula (she and gamora are my favs) but it made me realise how mindless the main story is. The only thing i found exciting about the main storyline was yandu’s backstory and then his redemption AND THEN THEY KILLED HIM. SO WHATEVER. NEVERMIND. Just so they could have a tearjerker ending.

anyway back on track, the main storyline, starlord’s was pretty standard and you could see the fact that starlord’s dad is evil from the beginning, mainly cause he’s shown to be too cool and flawless at first which is a big warning sign. It was more just boring than anything else. Though the cg for Ego rematerialising in really disgusting ways was amazing. But thats hardly a substitute really.

It’s just: chris pratt goes to find father -> turns out his dads a planet therefore chris pratt is Special™ -> oh no his dads bad what a shocker and he’s wanting galactic domination -> now they gotta fight and they do.

Everything else (which is alot by the way, there is so much “everything else”) is basically unrelated except yandu’s story but even then he has this mutiny happening on his ship for a bunch of the film which has nothing to do with most things. And then after a bloodbath he ends up flying his own ship again so none of that mattered and any consequences of killing an entire crew (that you would guess would be around for some reason like, i don’t know, maintaining the ship so it can fly places) simply do not exist. And then after that up til the Big Fight, yandu, yandu’s right-hand man (cant remember his name) and rocket scream into the camera for a while while they warp through apparently too many warp points or something. cause it seems like they had to fill up 3 minutes.

Meanwhile Chris Pratt and gamora have romantic tension or something while he tries to come onto her and stuff and she isn’t into it and then her development is her coming round to him? She doesnt have any other story except being attacked by nebula sometimes and not doing anything in the Big Fight for some reason????? She and nebula fall off a ledge which they cling to for most of the fight while mantis does her mind-fuckery til she gets knocked out and then the dudes take care of it.

Rocket’s character development is mainly yandu telling him not to push people away and that he knows what its like to be in rocket’s shoes yadda yadda. so that gives rocket some time to be angsty cause they need to fill there angst quota somewhere.

like i said i did like nebula’s character development and her backstory but it wasnt really relevant either. it did flesh her out as a character tho.

my main issue with the story was there was an emphasis on these character subplots which ususally I’m all for. But if there was a main plotline which actually tied it all together then it would have worked. It was all well themeatically of having all these characters choosing their families over their bloodties. But having all these subplots almost occur in a vaccum away from all the other subplots AND the main storyline, makes for a really slowww film. in which once a scene ends, more often than not, you have to ask yourself “and what was the point of that”.

And also once you start giving fleshed out character development for the sake of fleshed out character development and not for the overall plot, it makes the fact that some character’s weren’t given this treatment all the more apparent.

Like Drax, in the first film he was a very well developed character. But as i said earlier, literally all he does in GotG2 is laugh alot and tell mantis she’s ugly.

and then there’s groot’s character develop- HA NO

3. GROOT

there is no character development for groot because groot has no character.

groot has ceased to exist and a vacuous void has been been put in his place. that is the only explanation i can come up with for the way he is depicted: he died at the end of the last film, his consciousness vacated his body and then when he was being regrown, no consciousness was left to get put into it.

look

i really dont like being pandered to and here marvel was clearly pandering to anyone who thought little stick groot dancing at the end of the first film was adorable. and i did, obviously. who didnt? but when you try to replace character and motivation with cute, it wont work.

he is dancing and when he’s not dancing he’s misunderstanding information or being near useless in battles. All while he has that creepy vacant smile is on his face.

the camera freaking loves this idiot. to the point that the title sequence just has him dancing to mr blue sky while looking straight into the fucking camera, WHILE A WHOLE FIGHT IS HAPPENING AROUND HIM THAT I WOULD MUCH RATHER SEE.

for one thing, its an injustice to mr blue sky. that shits my jam.

for another thing, there is no music playing within the scene, its non-diegetic. so why’s he dancing?????

in the first film it makes sense cause not only cause the music matters to starlord but also cause it is happening in the scene, he’s listening to it on his headphones and it goes away when he takes them off. it also serves for conveying his character. and also the cinematography is great:the sweeping camera moves and visual gags really make you excited for the film to come.

Here, not only does it not make sense for him to be dancing as there’s no music, it also doesnt make sense for him to be dancing in the middle of a battle or dancing for a camera that he knows the presence off (this aint no 4th wall breaker or it shouldnt be). also the cinematography sucks cause hes too fucking small now so if you go for a wide shot you cant see the fucker. and also youd get distracted from his dancing because of all the action thats happening and WE CANT HAVE THAT. And the animation is good (i mean of course its good its fucking marvel) but they went so out of their way to kid-ify him that his arms and legs are really quite small compared to his head. Which would be fine, but with a dance-number, big arm and leg movements feel very small and don’t match the big music. I really felt a disconnect between what i was seeing and the music i was hearing. it didnt fit (while in the first film it so totally did).

the biggest issue i have with it is that it prioritises the wrong character. it prioritises groot when groot doesnt even have a semblence of a story. he does 2 things in the whole film: unlock a cage and carry a bomb for a little bit (because they realised that he wasnt doing anything so they threw him a bone).

then youve got the other characters getting introduced by telling him off for dancing. which is fair enough but it introduces them as sticks in the mud which is a weird way to introduce the main characters of a Fun Quirky Comedy film. 

like i watched this opening and not only got annoyed at how long it felt but i also genuinely thought “oh i guess this is a groot film”. 

I cannot even begin to explain how much could have gone wrong for me to think that.

I kinda hope the 3rd film (which you can bet your ass Marvel is making right now) is better or at least maybe not as rushed cause i did love the first film and it would be a shame for it to get chewed up in the haste to make make as much money off it as possible before it becomes irrelevant.

C’mon James Gunn. you’re better than this. Sometimes.

P.S. the gold people lol

[deadshields]

I’m not the most well versed but...

Colossus: LG            Shuri: LN             Odin: LE

  Captain: NG       Michelle: TN   Spiderman: NE

  Starlord: CG   Negasonic: CN            Stark: CE

choose your fighter

[emeraldspiral]

Just got back from GotG Vol. 2. I think I liked it better than the first. The first was a lot of fun but the story was really paint by numbers with generic lame Marvel bad guy number 254 who barely interacts with the heroes enough to build up any kind of rivalry and doesn’t like, symbolize the antithesis of their values or the issues they must overcome to defeat him or anything so it’s not that satisfying to see him go down. Vol. 2 has some slow moments in the middle and the guardians spend a lot of time split up so we don’t get as much fun interplay, but there’s still a lot of humor and character development and a cohesive story about family with real pathos to it. There were a couple of jokes that were duds, the CG was pretty fake looking, and there’s one scene with Starlord and his dad that was so fucking corny I couldn’t tell whether it was supposed to be a joke. If it was, it didn’t really match the style of the rest of the film’s humor. I kept waiting for the punchline where somebody interrupts or points out how fucking goofy it is and it never comes.

Although I did like the rest of the movie, I don’t think it ever really gets better than the first scene with the guardians. It was just that damn good.

In the previous movie I think Rocket and Groot were the fan favorites, and they were mine as well. I don’t think they were as good in Vol. 2, but I think I actually like Mantis and Drax even more in this film. They were a potent combination of hysterical and heart-warming.

[praphit]

Spider-Man II: Guilt or Kisses?

Spider-Man! Hot damn he’s far from home!

Back in the day, I was into two comic books - it was all about “The X-Men” and “SPIDER-MAN”! I was hyped when they first brought Spidey to theatres; even more so, when they finally got Spidey right in Tom Holland; when they finally got his age right

but... careful what you hope for, I suppose. I liked the last Spider-man movie, but I was like "You know, kids aren't that interesting." They're not! It's not they're fault, they simply haven't lived yet. No real drama. Well, they have drama, but it's not the same as adult drama!  Teen drama is more:

"Oh no, that bitch is wearing the same dress as I am!" or "Why is my girlfriend liking photos on IG of her ex?" "Son of a biscuit eater! My phone is broken! My life is LITERALLY over!" or "I'm such a loser, I'm going to fail this test!"

And yes, you are a loser, and you ARE going to fail that test, but that's not real drama!

Adult drama is more:

Did that brotha really just stage a hate crime?

or 

"What? Bribery? What does that word even mean?"

(”... you gotta get me outta here.”

"Soooo, I was trapped alone with Louis CK, annnnnd..." 

or "Oh Lawd! They made Ariel black! This country has gone to shit!"

See?? - real drama. Some teens have real drama, but quickly become great at suppressing it. Thank God for avoidance behavior and clueless parents, am I right??

My boy Spidey needed some real life experiences, and running off to Paris with Jake, Sam L, and Zendaya is just what he needed to grow up! - or... suppress things further.

A lot has gone down since we last saw Peter Parker (or lil PP, as the young hip-hop loving nerds call him). Endgame - I mean he blackedout (Thanosed), woke up to a massive battle, and then saw his mentor be martyred before his eyes; that's at least three sessions of therapy.

Aunt May is way too hot 

 -so all the men (and some ambitious boys) are always coming around to try and get with her (more therapy).

Plus, everyone wants him to be the next Tony Stark! He's frickin 16! Forget building a new Avengers to protect the world - What 16 year old would you willingly put in charge of your life?

He had to get away! And a school trip to Europe is the way to go!

Do kids go on trips like that in school now? When I was in school the most adventurous place we went to was to the zoo. And we didn't even go during the regular season. We went when all of the animals were hibernating. 

We pretty much had to imagine what the animals might have been doing if our school wasn't poor.

Though, every now and then, we'd find a homeless person locked in there. So, that was fun.

EUROPE, BABY! That's what I'm talking about!

Plus, there's the bonus of Zendaya!

She is excellent as MJ. They've got a whole romcom thing going on. It's cute to see those two as well as other strange teen couples get together. Seriously, though, everybody on this trip is extremely socially awkward. It's like they took all the kids from their school who are on the spectrum and sent them to Europe with two idiot teachers - something sinister may be going on there.

As seen in the trailer, Nick Fury eventually ruins the romcom fun with a mission for Peter. 

I love that pic:) Reminds me of my daddy when he didn’t like what he saw on my report card. Good times.

But, Lil PP is like "Damn that! I'm going all in on getting some of those Zendaya kisses!" Nick Fury does a good job of laying on the guilt though, and so this becomes the fork of the movie -

Option A - Sam L: "Parker! Quit being a bitch and save the world as Spider-man! Ya sticky, bug-eyed, motha bleepa!"

Option B -   Peter’s reply: "... but I'm horny as hell.”

Tony Stark learned that he could have it all!  - the calling, the glory, the women, and the booze. 

But, I guess Peter will learn that later down the road.

Jake Gyllenhaal (Mysterio) kinda plays as Peter's enabling older brother; it's kinda touching, in a way - 

He lays on the brotherly advice:

a) "Peter! Bleep responsibility! A wise man once said "With great white privelege comes more opportunities to do what YOU want."

b) "Go have fun! Get the girl! Follow your loins! Isn't that what that cereal-eating bird once said?

... or was that Bill Cosby? 

Whatever. Go forth!"

I really enjoyed this movie! There's a lot I can't get into without spoiling anything, but there's so much they do here, and they do it well. My only issue is that there's more that they could have done in certain respects . 

It's partly a comedy, but it could have been funnier if they had given certain characters more to do, especially the teachers being that one of them is JB Smoove (natural funny man). I wouldn't have cared except they were trying to make them funny, and failing for the most part.

The superhero action is really good, but there's not enough of it. I wanted so much more of what Spidey is capable of.

The cg stuff they do with Mysterio is the most visual stimulating thing that they do in the film, but there's some cheesiness concerning some of Mysterio's story later in the film.

And if you're looking for any hashing out of Endgame emotions, you won't get too much of that here. I'm not sure where they'll do it either - “Guardians” is a comedy. “Ant-Man” is a comedy. And Captain Marvel... did it seem like she even cared in "Endgame"? She was at Tony’s funeral looking at her watch.

This is all small stuff though! I enjoyed the film!

Grade: B+ (btw - two stingers at the end, both are MUST SEE)

It's going to be fun watching to see how they rebuild the Avengers with Spider-man; assuming that they do that is. Maybe Spidey will find his avoidance behavior of choice in MJ's kisses. They might have to slap the mantle on Starlord instead...

(Ch’mon) ... imagine that.

[weekendwarriorblog]

ED’s Very Important SPOILERIFIC Thoughts on “Avengers: Infinity War”

Okay, fine. You talked me into it. And by you, I mean the voices in my head, because I honestly don’t think anyone cares what I think, unlike 90% of the people writing about movies right now. Not only that, but I’m going to let you know right now in case you skipped the title that this is a SPOILER-FILLED review, because I’m going to talk about the things I liked and didn’t like about the movie and that will involve SPOILERS.  If you’re someone who is afraid of spoilers and have avoided all reviews before seeing Avengers: Infinity War, here’s a concept for you: GO SEE THE MOVIE FIRST!! No, seriously, I’m not just doing this for the clicks and to get attention unlike that other 90%. I’m just doing this to document my thoughts on the movie to have them documented, nothing more nor less. (And unlike many of the people who wrote early reviews, I’m not beholden to Disney or Marvel in the slightest at this point. I am only beholden to David Jaffe who invited me to see this with him in IMAX 3D last night and even bought my ticket… thanks, David!)

WHAT I LIKED:

Josh Brolin as Thanos

So good.  People can rave all they want about Brolin’s performance in the movie but if they haven’t read many of Thanos’ comic appearances, they won’t realize how genius a move it was to cast him as Thanos. Brolin has the presence and bravado to pull this character off even if he isn’t 8-feet tall in real life. It’s obvious that he was on set (probably standing on a box) so that he could interact with the other characters, because you can see them reacting to what he brings even without the CG that turns him into Thanos. I think making Thanos as big a menace as he needs to be is going to be one of my biggest takeaways from Infinity War, and it’s what differentiates itself from Civil War, which was greatly lacking a real super-villain. (Sorry, but I’m not about superheroes fighting. If they’re such heroes, they should learn to talk about their problems and work them out in a civilized manner.) Either way… Bravo to Brolin.

Chris Hemsworth’s Thor is the best part of the MCU. Period.

You know what? I can understand why Captain America and Iron Man might be more popular characters than Thor, because for whatever reason, they’re more relatable than a Norse God. I guess you’re all billionaire inventors and scrawny ‘40s guys with super strength? No, the reason Chris Hemsworth is so good as Thor is because it’s the character that has had the most complex and developed story arc across three movies. Sure, you can say that Captain America has been changed by Civil War. (He has the beard to prove it!) But if you remember the young then-unknown Hemsworth’s first appearance in Thor, being kind of a goofy and naïve guy always cracking jokes, but also having to hold his own against Oscar winners like Natalie Portman and Sir Anthony Hopkins… and then look at him now, post-Thor: Ragnarokand after the opening scenes. The cockiness is gone, he has a new-found angst and anger that we haven’t seen from him. Following his journey through Infinity War from having to abandon Asgard to Ragnarok, to seeing his brother and friend killed by Thanos and the

The Black Order is Pretty Cool

I have to admit that I was not as familiar with these characters as I should be as they were introduced in a crossover series I never read, or at least that I didn’t remember. They were used really well in Infinity Warto set-up for the arrival of Thanos. It reminded me a bit of a video game where you have to take on a bunch of lesser bosses before the final boss, and that worked magnificently partially because you had great actors like Carrie Coon and the very-underrated Terry Notary in the roles, enhancing their on-set performances with CG.

I’m pretty sure James Gunn must have helped writing the Guardians of the Galaxy

You can’t discount the work of the writers on these MCU movies, and Gunn has created such a unique vision and feel for his two Guardians of the Galaxy movies that it was amazing how consistent those particular characters were in Infinity War. Not only that, but there were some real character developments from the characters, as the “meet cute” romances between Starlord-Gamora and Mantis-Drax were explored even more in this movie. I don’t know if Guardians of the Galaxy3will continue on from events in Infinity War– it probably will have to, right? But what the movie did in terms of creating interesting developments for the Guardians far outweighs any effect the movie might have on others.

The CG and Visual FX were more transparent and fluid than usual

There have been too many movies that looked very CG, including Black Panther, and being able to watch the FX work in Infinity War in IMAX 3D, where flaws would be a lot more noticeable, and not be distracted by it…. That’s another one of the things that I greatly respect the Russos for. They upped the ante on the airport fight scene in Civil Warto create that final battle sequence that mixed some of the most popular Marvel heroes with all sorts of creatures, and that battle scene is maybe second to the one in the original Avengerswhen they took on the invading Chitauri. (But if you think how great that movie and scene is, there is no way that you can say that Infinity Wareven compares.)

Mark Ruffalo isn’t getting nearly enough credit for his role in “Infinity War”

As a counter to not seeing as much Hulk as most would like (see below), Ruffalo’s Dr. Bruce Banner has been the unlikely glue to hold and bring the team together. He stayed out of the Civil War, so there’s no underlying grudge against either Cap or Tony Stark, and that allowed him to go from one situation to the next to help bring the Avengers together, much like Samuel L. Jackson did originally.  As much as I wanted to see more Hulk, I have to give Ruffalo a lot of credit for his part in the story – after all, he does have three Oscar nominations for supporting roles… but I also think it’s time to give Ruffalo more leading roles now that he’s found a new fanbase thanks to Marvel Studios.

WHAT I DIDN”T LIKE:

By its very nature, the movie felt somewhat disjointed

There were so many characters on so many different planets that it really became hard to keep track of whom was where doing what. This was bound to happen, and for the most part, the Russos did a good job swiching between storylines, but I definitely reached a point where I wasn’t sure what was happening. (Like that whole bit involving Peter Dinklage -- one of the best known dwarf actors playing the MCU’s biggest dwarf --  trying to get the forge relit so that he could forge a new hammer for Thor. That eventually paid off but I was lost for a while there.)

Few characters other than maybe Thor, Thanos and Banner got more than a few “moments”

This was also bound to happen because of the number of characters. Sure, all of the Guardians and most of the previous Avengers and Spider-Man were all in the movie, but many of them, including Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, only were given “moments” rather than having any sort of character arc.  They were fun moments for sure, but just that… moments. And once they were over, it was onto the next one.

Hulk in particular was underplayed

It was kind of fun to see Hulk face-off with Thanos in the first ten minutes of the movie but then once he reverted back to Ruffalo’s Dr. Bruce Banner, that’s all he was for the rest of the movie. Sure, he got put into some Hulkbuster armor that basically made him a Mecha-Hulk, but it’s not the same thing. I have to imagine that he’ll Hulk out in the continuation, because they’ll need that with a much smaller group in play. Hulk was the best part of The Avengersand a big component to Thor: Ragnarokbeing so good, and if Marvel isn’t going to do another Hulk solo movie (because why would they?), they need to use the Hulk in instances like this rather than putting him in glorified Iron Man armor.

Was that the Red Skull?

I love the comic character and Hugo Weaving’s portrayal in Captain America: The First Avenger, and when the keeper of the Soul Stone unmasked and there was a big “Ooohhh” and applause in the audience last night, I was more like, “IS that the Red Skull?” It didn’t look like him and didn’t sound like the unmistakable Hugo Weaving. (Even if you don’t remember him from Captain America: The First Avenger, how can you forget him as Mr. Smith in the Matrixmovies?)

I’m not really sold on the Iron Spider costume

I thought it was a lame gimmick when introduced in the comics during the Civil War comics, and it’s just as much a gimmick for Infinity War. This costume appeared in just a few issues of the comics and ever since, creators keep bringing it back to make it a thing. It’s almost as if the MCU is continuing to push more recent storylines just to help sell comics. Shocking, huh? That said, I did like the Iron Spider costume MORE due to the way it was used in Infinity War.

I kinda missed Hawkeye AND Ant-Man

Maybe more the former than the latter, because Hawkeye really hasn’t had much to do sine the first Avengers movie. He hasn’t had three solo movies, and he kind of became domesticated in Age of Ultron. (I can’t even remember if he was in Civil War. He was, wasn’t he?) Hopefully, both will have more to do in Avengers 4.  And of course, they’ll probably be joined by Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel, so that should be cool. I’m not completely sold on Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man just yet… I’m not even sure if I’ll see Ant-Man and the Wasp, at least not until well into its run, but he was kind of awesome in Civil War.

I feel like the glean of these MCU movies is starting to dull

On a larger level, I feel that the people at Marvel Studios have gotten too comfortable with what they do well, and because of that, it feels like they’re becoming somewhat formulaic, at least in terms of characters like Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy and now Spider-Man, who are just there to provide quips amidst the action. When you have a movie where the stakes are this high, even their confidence needs to be tested and the fact they’re still making jokes just proves one thing about the MCU and Marvel Studios and also Disney: their ego and conceit due to their overwhelming success is on the verge of narcissism. We’ve seen it so many times over the course of time: People get famous or successful and people change. Trump was an annoying realtor turned reality star before he became President—after becoming President, he’s become an insufferable egomaniac who thinks he can do and say anything. The current Marvel Studios is basically Trump. You can deny it all you want, but they’ve gotten to the point where they’ll hold a junket without showing “journalists” the movie first and they’ll show up and do interviews anyway, partially because they’re excited to talk about the movie but more because they know what kind of clickbait ANY article involving the MCU is. I hate to say this, because it might be attributed to our President, but it is very, very SAD.

THE ENDING:

(I did warn you that this was going to be spoiler-filled and that will include the cliffhanger ending.)

So Thanos gets all the Infinity Stones and the Infinity Gauntlet, and what does he do with it? He wipes out most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe including some of the most popular characters leaving a handful of characters to pick up the pieces and/or fix things. I’ve heard that people were in tears when they saw this ending because it meant that all their favorite heroes were dead, and obviously these people (which includes many kids) probably haven’t read many comic books, because this sort of thing has happened many times in the Marvel Comics, including Infinity Gauntlet, the original comic by Jim Starlin and George Perez that inspired the movie and what it meant for the MCU.  Anyone who reads comics also knows that no one, I repeat NO ONE stays dead.  EVER. Barry Allen’s Flash? Nope, he’s back. Superman? Hal Jordan? Nope, nope….  Hawkeye (who Bendis angered fans of when he killed in a similar Avengers crossover)? Nope. Death in comics and entertainment in general is NOT REAL LIFE. There is always a way to bring people back… even John Goodman on Roseanne! (And I know that without even having watched the show.) If you seriously think that Marvel/Disney are going to throw away their cash cows and allow the movie to kill off so much moneymaking potential, then you also don’t know Marvel under the Evil Empire. But it’s very deceptive to make a big deal about this movie not being Infinity War Part 1when it’s TOTALLY Infinity War Part 1, regardless of what they call the next Avengers movie. They clearly learned a lesson from movies like The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 and others that split a story into two or three chapters, and they did that by making an incomplete movie with a cliffhanger ending that demands that moviegoers will be back for the next movie to see what happens. Well played, Evil Empire. (Infinity Waralso had one of the BEST after-credits sequences so far, one that was so good that it should have been made part of the cliffhanger ending, although it’s intended more to tease next year’s Captain Marvel, first and foremost.)

A lot of people have mentioned next year’s sequel to Spider-Man: Homecomingas proof that Spider-Man survives, but that could happen during a different timeline either before or (more likely) after the events of Infinity War.  Remember, the Avengers movies are meant to be like the Avengers comics – separate from the individual characters movies, even though, obviously, this one continues directly from Thor: Ragnarok.

Overall, I’d give Avengers: Infinity Wara 7.5/10 rating which is better than good, but not great. Definitely better than Avengers: Age of Ultron, but not quite on par with the first Avengers movie where everything was still shiny and new and therefore, I was less cynical. After seeing Infinity War, I wasn’t sure if I’d see it again but after thinking about it a bit longer, I do feel I could get more out of a second viewing so maybe I’ll see it again sometime later in May.

[eduardocalvet]

Avengers Infinity War Retro Trailer from IDEOgraph on Vimeo.

You are welcome to watch the retro version of Avengers Infinity War. The Avengers and their Super Hero allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.

Burt Reynolds as Iron Man Reb Brown as Captain America Peter Hooten as Dr. Strange Nicholas Hammond as Spider-man Julius Carry as Black Panther Max von Sydow as Thanos Lou Ferrigno as Hulk David Hasselhoff as Nick Fury Jean-Claude Van Damme as Winter Soldier Eric Allan Kramer as Thor Eddie Murphy as Falcon Brent Spiner as Vision Leonora Ruffo as Black Widow Jessica Walter as Scarlet Witch Chuck Norris as Punisher Black Kamen Rider as Ant Man Ed Gale as Howard the Duck Dennis Quaid as Starlord Louis Gossett Jr as Drax Susan Oliver as Gamora Dick Durock as Groot Alf as Rocket Racoon Alex Hyde-White as Dr. Reed Richards Jay Underwood as Johnny Storm Rebecca Staab as Susan Storm Carl Ciarfalio as Thing

This work uses excerpts from:

- Captain America (1979) - The Amazon Spider-man (1977) - Spider-man: The Dragon’s Challenge (1979) - The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988) - The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989) - Exo-man (1977) - The Fantastic Four (1994) - Universal Soldier (1992) - Dr Strange (1978) - Star Trek TV Series (1966) - Kamen Rider Black (1987) - Enemy Mine (1985) - Nick Fury: Agent of Shield (1998) - Starpilot (1966) - Swamp Thing (1982) - Flash Gordon (1980) - Alf TV Series (1986) - Black Crystal (1982) - The Last Starfighter (1984) - Howard the Duck (1986) - The Golden Child (1986) - The Last Dragon (1985) - Malone (1987) - Masters of the Universe (1987) - Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)

Darth Blender team: Producer - Felipe Haurelhuk Screenplay - Eduardo Calvet Editor - Christiani Buffoni Subtitles & Social Media - Fabrício Carvalho Locution - Rubens Macedo Sound Design - Tony Pereira CG & VFX - Alexandre Perrotta

Você está convidado a assistir a versão retro do Avengers Infinity War. Os Avengers e seus super-heróis aliados estão dispostos a sacrificar tudo na tentativa de derrotar o poderoso Thanos antes que sua nevasca de devastação e ruína acabem com o universo.

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PS: This video is for recreational purposes only. We do not intend to sell or profit with any material which rights do not belong to us. Once we do not own the movie's rights, we will never promote it commercially.

PS: Esse vídeo é apenas recreativo. Nós não pretendemos vender ou monetizar qualquer material cujo os direitos não nos pertencem. Por nós não termos os diretos dos filmes em questão, nós nunca iremos comercializar esse material.

[daleisgreat]

Guardians of the Galaxy

We are mere weeks away from the release of the latest Marvel Studios film, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, so naturally it felt right to pull 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy (trailer out of the backlog box. I specifically remember thinking that this was going to be the first full-on flop from Marvel Studios. The comic it was based on was around off and on over the years but I never considered it a top-tier book from Marvel by any means and could not name a single character by the time the film arrived. GotG was certainly going to be the first Marvel film to focus on a character that was not in the upper-echelon of Marvel Heroes such as Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk and Thor. I also despised the original trailer for the first film. For whatever reason it played before nearly every film I caught at the theater for several months before the movie hit. The preview gave me all the wrong vibes that this was going to be full of bad jokes from a bunch of unknown heroes in the cosmic branch of the Marvel Universe that will go right over my head. I could not have been happier to be so wrong.

GotG centers around one Peter Quill aka Starlord (Chris Pratt). The film starts off with him as a young child at his mother’s deathbed, when all of a sudden a mysterious spaceship abducts him and the film immediately jumps a couple decades ahead where Quill is now a ‘junker’ (futuristic treasure hunter?) residing in a intergalactic community somewhere in another universe. A routine quest for a mysterious orb goes haywire and lands Quill in prison. It is here where Starlord teams up with some unlikely allies. His new comrades consist of Gamura (Zoe Saldana), Rocket the raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper), the monstrous brute Drax (David Bautista) and a full sized animated tree capable of speaking only five words Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel). Ronan (Lee Pace) is GotG’s lead villain. He is a lieutenant of the high and mighty Thanos, but breaks off from him after he finds a new source of power. Minus Groot, Marvel did a tremendous job with the casting. I will give props to Quill for this being his big motion picture breakout performance after several years on the ensemble mockumentary TV series, Parks & Rec. Saladana proved she is already capable of sci-fi greatness in the latest line of Star Trek films and went on to double down on that expertise in another sci-fi franchise. Bautista went above and beyond what anyone expected out of a pro-wrestler. Bradley Cooper shows all kinds of range with his voicing of Rocket, but Marvel could have saved a good chunk of money on the budget by having anyone voice Groot. Vin probably commanded a high dollar since he is in the midst of riding the success of the Fast & Furious money train. Watching the GotG unwillingly come together to break out of prison in a fantastic scene and transition into a well-oiled machine by the time they take on Ronan in the final act is simply an awesome experience. Part of the reason on how they got there is a stunning job in the CG department. GotG got nominated for two technical Oscars for Best Visual Effects & Best Costume Design. After witnessing a few of its dazzling-yet-intense spaceship duels and watching the behind-the-scenes feature on the multi-hour process of what Saladana and Bautista had to go through in makeup justifies the film as being a Oscar contender in those departments.

What also helped round off this sublime audio/visual package is a five star soundtrack consisting primarily of 1970s pop hits such as “I Want You Back,” “Hooked on a Feeling,” and “Cherry Bomb.” Director James Gunn stated in the commentary for the film that Disney got every single song he requested approved for the soundtrack, and I am presuming Gunn must have spent a great deal timing when each and every song would kick in at just the right moment to add that extra dose of impact. A couple of my favorite examples of this are when the Guardians are planning their final assault on Ronan to “Cherry Bomb” and the opening title screen where Quill is dancing away to “Come and Get Your Love.” I remember being super giddy the day Google generously released the soundtrack for free on its Play Store and it has been in a consistent rotation in my running playlists ever since. There is only one noteworthy qualm I have with GotG and it is the fact that it is too lighthearted. Do not get me wrong, nearly all the jokes and zingers in here are clever and witty and each character has several standout lines/moments in the film that cracked me up. That there is the problem however! Unlike other past Marvel films that know when to cut back and get serious, this one never lets up on the jokes, so the few times that GotG attempts to have a pivotal, meaningful moment in the movie I found myself waiting for the surprise gag to come from out of nowhere to steal the scene, and in a couple of those moments that is exactly what happened. Again, that qualm is not a deal-breaker by any means and when you are dealing with a talking raccoon and tree as two of your main actors, I could see why Marvel felt like they had to dial up the jokes to help the audience suspend their disbelief. They just dialed it up a bit too much.

There are a few extras on the BluRay you can easily cruise through in no time, but are worth consuming. There are four minutes of deleted scenes with or without commentary from James Gunn. If you have watched past Marvel films on video, you know they have some of the best produced gag reels out there, and GotG does not disappoint with a killer array of bloopers that culminates with a spectacular dance-off you have to see to believe. Intergalactic Visual FX is a seven minute look at the costume and makeup design that made me get sympathetic for what Saldana and Bautista had to go through every day on set. Guide to the Galaxy is a 21 minute all-encompassing behind-the-scenes look at the film hosted by Gunn where he explains the world lore, interviews the cast and goes into what it took to pull off the huge final battle scene. Finally Gunn goes solo for a commentary track on the film, and it is a decent solo commentary where he has a lot of notes filling everyone in on the backstory of the universe from the comics and a lot of recollections about the casting for the film. Guardians of the Galaxy made me feel like a fool for doubting it as it went on to be both a critical and commercial success. It is one of several movies I have seen in the theater twice. If you somehow had my original premonitions on this film being a flop and avoided it because it featured a lot of characters you were unfamiliar with then go ahead and put those reservations to the side and watch this immediately so you can be ready for the sequel in a few weeks. I recommend watching it solo so you can avoid others judging you as you jam out and get your dance on to the songs throughout the film! Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Creed Dirty Work Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Hercules: Reborn Hitman Ink Interstellar Jobs Man of Steel Marine 3 & 4 Mortal Kombat The Replacements Rocky I-VII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Take Me Home Tonight TMNT The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Wild The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Days of Future Past