Oscar season has crushed my will for timely YNMS entries since everything 2014 is a "No, No, Maybe No" until March 3rd, you know? But let's catch up very briefly so that we don't start at a deficit once the Oscars wraps and a new film year is truly free to begin. After the jump we'll discuss the new trailers and other marketing blitz business regarding Guardians of the Galaxy...
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY - Marvel's post Avengers attempt at expanding its cinematic universe beyond Asgard even and into the deep recesses of space.
Yes
- Racoons are my favorite wild animals
- Bradley Cooper, who voices Rocket Racoon, is another favorite wild animal
- Pratt giving body ody ody
- Pratt with his comic instincts intact despite months of undoubtedly soul-withering workouts
- Djimon Hounsou's perfectly overemphatic "Who?" which is exactly my reaction, and Marvel knows it, so it was kind of a brilliant move. These are literally the first superhero movie characters I had never heard of before the movie-talk began. Apparently this particular iteration only began in 2008 or something which explains it. (Research reveals I had definitely heard of them -- albeit not this current team -- , since they crossed path with lots of characters I knew and loved over the years but somehow I'd forgotten all about them. I take it this team is more memorable? I hope?)
No
- Zoe Saldana is always welcome but if she does even one more weirdly colored alien it's going to start to feel like a conspiracy to hide her natural chocolate gorgeousity. If there is a red or a yellow or a violet killer alien coming up she obviously has First Right of Refusal. Zamora appears to be Neytiri with a green filter and without the dragon or hair sex powers (though the hair does get an orgiastic moment in the trailer so who knows.)
- Is it supposed to look as cheap as it does? Is it, like, self aware camp?
Maybe So
- I'm getting a distinct Hellboy vibe which might not be good for its box office prospects. Too much CGI nonsense appeals to a smaller fragment of the audience that general humans with superpowers stuff I think. I'd be worried for them a la Watchmen (another comic property that a lot of general moviegoers -- not I, I loved the comic -- weren't familiar with) but the comedy aspects could well save it. It doesn't look even 1/100th as serious about itself as Watchmen was.
All in all I'd be a Maybe So leaning No if it weren't for the gargantuan noise surrounding the movie (this is what everyone is so excited about? I'd happily take a Black Widow or a solo film instead). You?
They've also released a ton of mini commercials, one for each character like this one...
I loved Bradley Cooper so much in American Hustle that I need more of him immediately but this is not what I had in mind. I wish, as I often do, that animated voices sounded a little less like a movie star at a microphone and a little more like a character voice, you know? Like, 'Oh, so that's what a talking anglophone racoon would sound like!'
But clearly I am not the target audience. But that doesn't mean I don't appreciate a great tagline, like the one on the new poster.
