Transcript
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Speaker: Once Sire moves us to the new world, we're gonna need names. I mean, 8 -9 -Q -1 -2, it's not really a name. So, I would like my name to be... Lila. Lila. Lila. Lila. That's a pretty name, Lila. Thank you.
Speaker: I think my name shall be teams.
Speaker: because although we all do have them, mine are definitely the most prominent. Teeths. Teeths. Lila. Teeths. We be called floor because me is lying on floor. You're lying on a floor, so your name is Floor? Yes. Floor. What about you, friend?
Speaker: Someday, I'm gonna make great machines that fly. And me and my friends are gonna go flying together into the forever and beautiful sky. Lila, and Tiefs, and Flora, and me. Rocket. Rocket. It really is good to have friends. Yeah. I always forget.
Speaker: Welcome to the Superhero Cinephiles podcast. I'm your host, Perry Constantine. Welcoming back, one of my favorite returning guests, the Star Wars writing motherfucker himself, Mr. Adam Lance Garcia. How you doing today? Always happy to be here, Perry. That's the best intro I've gotten in a very long time. The Star Wars writing motherfucker. That's actually what it says in my business card. That's what I have. I have to upload that now. Just put it on my bios and on Twitter. And if I ever get blue sky, I'll just put that there.
Speaker: Um, yeah, perfect intro. Perfect. No notes. I was, I was thinking about, you know, cause veggie on a bunch of times, there's no neat reason to reintroduce you to everybody. And I, but I figured should find something a little bit more unique to say. I'm like, I should, I should plug the fact that he's writing the star Wars. Cause I know that's what he loves so much. So.
Speaker: Well, yeah, it's what I love so much. But it's always interesting, especially, you know, you and I came up in this this writing industry together. And I think it's like, it's weird. I mean, especially you and I are still doing this. And so many, so many folks aren't. It's a weird, it's a weird dream come true. But today, we're going to be talking about Guardians of the Galaxy, volume three, still in theaters at the time we're recording. I'm actually pushing this, this episode ahead of a bunch of others that have already been recorded. So
Speaker: Just fair warning before we get too deep in this episode, there will be spoilers in here. So if you have not seen the movie, yeah. If you have not seen this movie and you don't wanna be spoiled, stop right now, go to the theater, watch the fucking movie, you will not regret it, and then come back and listen to us gush about it for the next hour or so. But before we do that, what's going on? Anything, it's interesting you lately, anything grabbing your attention?
Speaker: Well, I mean right now I'm still working on my my last and quotations Green Llama novel that has been the being in my existence for and the pleasure of my existence for the last Almost six. Oh my god, I even know how many years at this point. I I I I'm in the final act I'm actually in the final act for the first time in a very long time But there's still so much to write and we were before we were recording I mentioned like this first draft could be like
Speaker: 600 pages long. I know it's going to be edited down. It's very timey -wimey. It's very weird. But I think it's coming together. And I'm really happy with the way it's coming together. But I'm at a point in my life where I'm just like, I think I would have obsessed about every single line as I went. And now I'm very much in a place of just get a draft done and you can perfect it later. So that's what's something that's, that's been, that was like my week.
Speaker: And oh yeah, something that's been an MC related thing this came out I think what like last week. Yeah, last week, or two weeks ago, time has no meaning it's an illusion. I did a video with Elizabeth Olsen, in which he talked about Wanda vision, and I'm still like
Speaker: thinking about that video, just where she's like, yeah, the writers of Multiverse of Madness didn't read C1 division. And you're like, yep, I totally could tell. So it was an interesting thing. And what else am I doing? I don't know. I'm reading a lot of Star Wars research now, which is a cool thing to say. I'm playing Star Wars Jedi Survivor. That's a fun game. Yeah, I really want to play Zelda, but I have to finish the last Zelda before I play this Zelda.
Speaker: Yeah, that was the thing that's going on in my life. Perry, where are you up to? I am just busy as fuck. I've got two kids. Every time I want to sit down and play video games, it's just like I start up the PS4 because I haven't gotten the PS5 yet. Although I was looking at the figuring out because I found out all the stuff is backwards compatible, all the downloads and stuff. I'm like, okay, so I could...
Speaker: I could sell my PS4 because now they got the PS5s on sale for like, you know, 400 bucks or so. So I'm like, then we could sell the PS4, get a decent amount of money for that and then buy the PS5 and it's only going to cost me like, you know, half as much or something like that.
Speaker: But I got all these games on PS4 that I still haven't played. And every time I started up, it's like, you have to update your system. So it's like, all right, wait like 15, 20 minutes for it to update. And then after it updates, then it's my daughter comes in, she needs something. It's like, so it's like, and then and I've got like, I'm like, I've got
Speaker: half an hour to play and then it's like waiting for updates and all this stuff and it's like okay now I've got 10 minutes to play and it's like these games now they're just so big and sprawling it's like I don't know what to do now I don't have enough time to really get into this at all so I envy being able to have time to play video games
Speaker: I mean, I'm probably gonna die alone and sad, so there's that. It is a trade -off. I will say though, it's funny because I'm not the most avid gamer in the world, but I've
Speaker: Weirdly, it sounds weird to say, but I've tried to make the effort to sit down and play more video games just because I'm like, I have a PlayStation 5, I have a Switch. I'm always like, they're there. I mean, the PlayStation 5 was mostly so I could have a 4K player with a 4K TV because why not?
Speaker: but then it's like I have all these games some that I've gotten for free for work because my day job is dumb and they're just like do you want to go play God of War and I'm like alright I guess that's that's a humble brag ignore me and then and then like but then like I want to play these games and it's just like you know
Speaker: I realize I'm very bad at video games. I have friends who got the new Star Wars Jedi Survivor game and they fucking beat it already. It came out two weeks ago. They played it like three days. I don't know. I'm probably going to be doing this for the next six months of my life.
Speaker: And it's like this is me sitting there for like two hours at a time being like, all right, I'm sitting beside the time to play this video game and just dying and dying and dying and dying. And my girlfriend's like, why don't I ever, I mentioned this to my girlfriend and she's like, in the 11 years we've been together, she's like, I've never seen you play a video game because I'm like,
Speaker: If I'm going to choose to do something with you in the room, it's not going to play a video game. And so when she's a traveling nurse, so she comes home and I'm like, I want to sit in bed and read with you or just watch a movie with you. I want to do some communal. But I get like she's like, oh, but I could lay in like your lap sleeping while you play a video game. Like, but then I'll rage quit. And you don't want to see that. My wife actually she likes it because she she bought a switch and
Speaker: She was really into it at first and then she actually gave it to her nephew before I could finish Ultimate Alliance 3, unfortunately. And then she's like, yeah, I like video games. I like watching other people. She's like, I like watching you play video games, but I don't really get into it as much myself. Yeah.
Speaker: And I've got the VR stuff too, but I can't use it because every time I put it on, like I got the, I got Helena always wanting to play with the chords and everything. And just like, I can't, I gotta wait until they get older until they fall asleep or unless my wife takes them out to her sister's place or something.
Speaker: Yeah, I can't ever I mean, it's weird because like, there is like, I have a friend to come over. I'm like, Do you want to play the police just in five or something? Like, I want to watch you watch it. I'm like, that sounds like the most boring thing. I know. And let me know if it's your wife, obviously, because I'm the same exact way as you. Like I see all these videos and people say like, Oh, yeah, I watched the playthroughs on YouTube. And I'm just like, Why? I don't get it. I don't get it.
Speaker: Like I would understand if it's like how to like, I would watch it to like, Oh, how they did that. Like, cause I'm stuck on a, like, uh, like this one boss and I can't beat the boss. Um, how do I defeat them? But like, yeah, I mean, again, like this is not disparaging in any way because like,
Speaker: I mean, Twitch is a massive growing community. And there are people who really legitimately get enjoyment out of watching people play video games. But for me, it's like someone's saying, it's like sports. It's like I'm not a big sports fan. So it's like, they're like, I love watching sports. I'm like, you know, I could do anything. I could do anything besides what I'd rather play the sport. I'd rather play the video game than watch the thing.
Speaker: I think that's like, you know, I'd rather be an act if I'm going to be if this thing is meant to be an act of participation. I want to be an active participant. Again, this is not disparaging. This is personal taste. Yeah. But like, yeah, I can't.
Speaker: Even though even the walkthrough videos man, like whenever I get stuck on something a game, I miss strategy guides. Like I miss when they were just like, you just look it up online. It's like, here's how to do it. Just okay. It takes me five seconds to read this. Instead. I got to find a video scrub through the video. It's like, Oh, here's this one part I need. All right. Yeah. It would have been so much better. Like just yeah. Now I just do like, you know, like I'm like,
Speaker: I finished this one game called Deathloop, which is really good. It's like a time loop game. And it's just like Deathloop, blink, blink, blink, solve. And it's like I get a little article. I'm like, OK, great. OK, now I understand. Yeah, like it's I'd rather I'd rather again, I'd just rather do it myself again here. This is not just not saying you're wrong for liking and watching video games. I just don't know. Yeah. And you confuse me.
Speaker: same here. Yeah, I although on that note, I did, because I'd read the latest in just one of the injustice to the third volume. And it was one of the many, many books on my Kindle that I have to that I have to make time to read. And after reading that, I'm like, you know what, I kind of want to give the game another try again. And it's just like,
Speaker: that game just like I don't get how people can do all these combos and shit like I don't get it I can't do it I can't do it I gave up on it I know we're all yeah it's like they're like like XYZ like I mean yeah and this is also like one of those things where I think it's a unique thing where I would
Speaker: I would almost be okay reading that story and I'll watch the cinematics on that then I would actually play the game because I'm not a big like I want to have an immersive experience like a fighting game while those were like very big when you and I were growing up and they still are obviously but like I don't have I don't get as invested in it as much as because I'm not good at all of the
Speaker: the coding and the combinations, it's just very frustrating for me. So I'd rather watch the cinematics on Injustice, which probably, then I would actually play it. So that's where I'm a hypocrite. So there you go.
Speaker: No, I mean, watching the cinematics is one thing because in Justice, you know, the the tired trope of, you know, evil Superman aside, it's actually pretty damn good story like that comic book that Tom Taylor did. That was that was solid stuff. So because it's basically like he like the Joker kills Lois Lane by making by making Superman think like like hypnotizing him sort of essentially.
Speaker: And then causing the destruction of Tropus or something with that effect. Yeah. And like Lois Lane is like pregnant with his child and she's like, he goes all batshit and then they get the Batman from our universe to help
Speaker: like defeat the Batman, defeat the Superman of that universe because like the heroes are divided, right? They bring the Superman of our universe to go in and fight the Superman of their universe. That's the plot of the first game. The comic is just everything that comes before that. It's like five years. Gotcha. It's like five years of what happens before the game. And the comic ends with just like they're going to go get the Justice League of the other universe to bring them in to take care of things.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, it's a it's a good read. It's especially the first few like it as it gets on it, you can see like, okay, you're kind of dragging this story out as long as you can help to really capitalize it. But especially those first few volumes, they're really solid. And injustice to from what I started reading, like I said, I just finished the third book. It's pretty solid, too. Nice. Yeah, I have to I'm so far behind the comics, man. I'm
Speaker: So I have to, I actually, I have to go, they're just reminding me, I have to go to the comic store to pick up some comics. And I know they're there and they're sitting there and they're waiting for me getting angry. I, yeah, so that's, I think that's what's happening this week. Oh yeah, no, I'll just go on Wednesday. Fuck it. Okay, nevermind.
Speaker: Okay. All right. Ah, well, let's jump into it. Let's talk about why we're jumping to it. Let's get away from the galaxy. Cardioms the galaxy. Volumes are because I do not want to talk about like, like, I need to go buy comics and this is what the people are listening for. So what's Adam doing on Wednesday? Okay. And by the time this comes out, Wednesday will be long past.
Speaker: Yeah. No, they'll know I've gotten the comics. They'll know you've gotten the comics. Yeah. Let's talk about something that we all really enjoyed. Before we dive too much in the movie, what's your history both with Guardians of the Galaxy? Because I know we've talked many times before. We came out to talk about the Suicide Squad. We talked about Peacemaker. We know you're a James Gunn fan. What's your history with Guardians of the Galaxy?
Speaker: I've loved it since day one. I had some frustration, initial frustration with it when it was basically like very similar to one of my favorite TV shows, Farscape. And James Gunn said like, oh, yeah, totally. Like he's actually come out like, yeah, I love Farscape. It's a total influence. And like he cast Ben Browder, the lead of Farscape in the second one as one of the
Speaker: Oh, Sovereign, okay. Sovereign, he's the assistant in that. So setting aside that, my initial frustration, I've loved every single installment of them. I loved the first one, I loved the second one, I had argued the second one's better than the first one, which I know I'm probably the minority on that one. Nope, I'm right here with you. Yeah, I mean, it's also the one film series that my girlfriend and I both unequivocally love.
Speaker: And when it's like, she loved the first one, but she like just is enamored by the second. And one of the weirder, more like, I would sometimes tell like good and bad, like pop culture news whenever she found out it was gonna be bad, she'd get really upset. She's like, why did you tell me? Don't tell me these things now, I'm sad. So I kept the story of what happened to James Gunn,
Speaker: where some alt -right trolls brought up some old Twitter threads of his where he was trying to be edgy and off color and got him fired. I kept that news from her for the very for a very, very long time. So we're driving back from visiting my parents and my girlfriend says, oh, nothing. Like, when am I getting Guardians of the Galaxy? Volume three. So I reach over and I turned off the radio and I'm like, honey, we have to talk.
Speaker: And I told her what happened. She was really sad. I mean, I think it was I think it's bullshit. I think the whole thing that happened with James Gunn in volume with him getting fired was bullshit. Weirdly, I think it was the best thing that ever could have happened because of where he is now. All the things he's done and then getting volume three to still be the version that he wrote, the version of his vision.
Speaker: is just, it's great. I love this series. I argue it is the best trilogy of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I think it also shows trilogy plus because you have the holiday special and you have to sort of incorporate Infinity War and game into that arc. But I think
Speaker: This trilogy plus, especially the things that are written and directed by James Gunn, are the best Marvel films, the best Marvel trilogy. And I think it both highlights all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's strengths, while also highlighting
Speaker: all the MCU's weaknesses, which we'll discuss more in detail. Things that you and I probably won't agree on, but we've talked about this in detail over the last God knows how long. So yeah, my history of the Guardians of the Galaxy is just unbridled love and that
Speaker: We got the third volume and that it is so goddamn beautiful and is makes me so freaking happy. What about the comics? We were your reader, the not. I mean, vaguely as kid, I remember I remember like there's that one guy with the the Captain America shield. I remember that major victory. Major victory. I remember that. And I remember like sort of Yondu, sort of the visuals of him, but like,
Speaker: In terms of like specifics, I couldn't tell you. I mean, I just remember like having the comics and I remember the covers, but I don't remember ever reading the stories in any detail. And I think I made your victory or Captain Victory. I liked that because I just like Captain America. And that's what I gravitated towards. But I really never, I never, I would never say that I was a dedicated reader.
Speaker: Yeah. I would be lying. Yeah. I was aware of the Guardians in the comics when I was a kid because I had the 92 Marvel trading cards. My brother had a whole set he gave to me. Who didn't? Yeah. And they had all the team cards. And one of them was the Guardians of the Galaxy. So I remembered them from that. And that was basically the most familiarity I had with them. And like you, I'm like, oh, that guy's got Captain America's shield. That's cool. Yeah. And then later finding out that he's actually
Speaker: There's this weird timey -wimey stuff where he, in his past self, he stopped him from going into this chamber -type thing, and so then he becomes justice in the New Warriors and the Avengers. It's the same guy. I did not know that. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, same guy. And then in the, was it the early aughts, I think it was, when they did the, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning did the Guardians of the Galaxy series that spun out of,
Speaker: annihilation. I've never been a cosmic marvel guy, like I read Peter David's Captain Marvel and dug that but that was probably like the most familiarity I ever had with anything cosmic marvel outside of whatever would pop up in Avengers or X -Men. So I was never a big cosmic marvel guy but
Speaker: I thought the idea of Rocket Raccoon was pretty cool. And then I saw when they relaunched Guardians of the Galaxy, and they had it, it was a modern day, because the original Guardians was in the future. And the modern day Guardians of the Galaxy, they had Rocket Raccoon in there. And I'm just like, oh, that's cool. And I started reading. I'm like, this guy's really awesome. This guy is just what I thought he would be. He's really badass. And then when they said they're going to do the movie,
Speaker: At first, I'm like, and they said it was going to be based on the admin and landing version. My first thought was, I want to know what your take on when they first announced this too.
Speaker: They just hit it big with Avengers. And then Kevin Feige comes out and he's like, our next big team we're doing. And I'm just like, oh, here it comes. It's not going to be Fantastic Four. Is it going to be Defenders then? Because they got Doctor Strange. They got the Hulk. Is it going to be Defenders? And I'm a big Defenders guy. I'm like, it's probably going to be Defenders. And he's like, Guardians of the Galaxy. I'm like, record scratch. What?
Speaker: And then I saw the first concept art, and it was like, you know, the five characters. You had Star -Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Brute. And when I saw Rocket, I'm like, no way. They're not gonna do Rocket, Raccoon. Are you kidding me? That's just a...
Speaker: this is just very early concept arc that's gonna change and then it came out and I'm like holy shit they actually fucking did it they gave us a gun toting raccoon I fucking love it and they got Bradley Cooper who was like the a huge star at the time to voice him and I'm just like
Speaker: What? This is insane. So I was totally on board for it right from the start. And everybody thought it was going to flop. That's why I loved the time. Everybody was like, this is going to be Marvel's first flop. And nope, complete opposite.
Speaker: I remember like, and I think you and I talked about this on Facebook at the time, but I remember very vividly the sort of dichotomy between DC like saying like, well, we really can't do something like Martian Manhunter that's too weird. And then Marvel's like, here's a fucking talking raccoon.
Speaker: entry. No, this is bad. DC was afraid like Wonder Woman wouldn't work. Yeah. Yeah. And I think I really like I really liked the, again, I think that going back to my earlier statement, I think the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy shows, like the best parts and also
Speaker: But by avoiding them, like the worst parts of the MC, the best parts are like, well, just like, you know what, these are comic book movies. Like, let's make these characters like this. We have a talk where cool. We'll just go for it. Just just just say yes to what is there. Say yes to like, oh, you we have a talking tree that just only says three words. I am Groot.
Speaker: we'll just, we go 110 % behind that. So I think that's like, to my mind, that's always the strongest aspect of the MCU has always been just looking in the comics, distilling it down to what works about those comics, and being unapologetic about
Speaker: those comic aspects. I mean, obviously, there's a bit of that sort of weed and thing that sort of became baked into it of like kind of making fun of the comics in some ways, which is, you know, I think has a bit of a bit of diminishing returns in some respects, but also same time, like, made it a little bit more palatable to more like regular fans. But I don't think that was ever the case in the Guardians films. Like, there's obviously a lot of humor and a lot of like making
Speaker: you know, fun of these other these characters, but it never felt like at expense of like winking and nudging at the audience. It's more like these characters reacting off of each other. So I think they did a really good job. Again, I think with the Guardians of Galaxy Volume One is a good example of like the Marvel Cinematic Universe just yes, ending everything from the comics and being unapologetic about it. And I think
Speaker: by going full throttle on those basic concepts of a talking raccoon, a talking tree, like all these really weird things. It makes it stand out, but I also think it was what still, and I saw a review about this volume for volume three, but like why Guardians works so well in a way that like,
Speaker: You know, you can debate about superhero fatigue. But I think what's interesting with the Guardians of the Galaxy films, it never feels like superhero stories, it feels like a space adventure story. That's like the fact that they lead with that, that it also happens to be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a plus.
Speaker: And I think again, I can go to more depth, but I think that also shows why it's the best and also shows what the worst of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is where it's but I can talk about it. I know I'm here. Let me talk about it now. But basically, it's like what I think is interesting and I with the Guardians of Galaxy films in this one respect is that
Speaker: It sets itself in the MCU in every single aspect. It uses Thanos, it uses the run of the accuser. You know, it ties - Infinity Stones works in. Infinity Stones, exactly. You know, it takes into account all the events of Infinity War and Endgame and Volume 3. It says it's set in the MCU.
Speaker: But you don't need to know anything about the MCU to enjoy this movie. The only ones you like, the only things that you need to really know about is like what happened to Gamora, which is like, honestly, that's like the one thing and it's handled fairly well in volume three. But like everything else is just using the MCU as backdrop. And I think what has happened a lot to the MCU
Speaker: And I think a lot of the trilogies is that they became too reliant upon the MCU to tell a story. And I think that while I think in the short term, that was very exciting. Like, I think with the big asterisk on Iron Man 3, which is another conversation. But you look at Captain America, the Captain America trilogy, the Spiderman trilogy.
Speaker: the Thor now quadrilogy, and the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. You look at Spider -Man, Captain America, and Thor for example. Let's just use Captain America for example. Like the third film in the Captain America trilogy, while I really like Civil War, is an Avengers film. It is an Avengers film with like the spine of Captain America, right? But
Speaker: a lot of these story beats, a lot of the elements that you have to know about aren't in the Captain America movies. Like, who are these characters in relation to Captain America?
Speaker: you have to watch the Avengers films to sort of understand who these characters are. It really feels, it's more of a five film series than it is a three film series. With Thor Ragnarok, as much fun as that is, we don't know who Hulk is in relation to Thor if you only watch the first two movies. You watch two and three and like, if someone just sat down like, here's the Thor trilogy and you never see any of the Avengers films,
Speaker: Who the fuck is Hulk? And then Spider -Man No Way Home, I think, again, a film I enjoy, I want to be very clear on this, is that a film, it is...
Speaker: 90 % of that film has nothing to do with Tom Holland and his villains and his spy. Yes, it's part of his journey, but so many of the villains, the characters that come into that movie are from other versions of the franchise. Completing arcs that we, if you just sat down and said to someone, here's the Spider -Man homecoming trilogy. Even then,
Speaker: Who's Iron Man? Iron Man kind of works in the first one, but then like the second one. Then you've got the death of Iron Man and everything like that. Everything.
Speaker: Where does anything like, just by itself, it doesn't make any sense. And then the third film is just like all this stuff from the multiverse, which again, I really enjoy. But I don't think that film does a good enough job of explaining who these characters are in relation to it versus like Spider -Verse. But then you look at the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy where it uses the MCU as a backdrop. And again, with a notable exception of Gamora, which I feel like Gunn was kind of forced to deal with,
Speaker: So much of the story like you don't have to really watch Avengers Infinity War and in -game to understand this narrative like you could for the most part just watch Guardians of the Galaxy volume 1 volume 2 the holiday special and volume 3 and That story all works. I mean you could even
Speaker: you could even leave out the holiday special too in some ways because the only really big thing there is the fact that they bought nowhere and and Mantis reveals that she's Peter's sister and even that you could kind of they mentioned that very quickly right and you could just and if you've only watched two and then you go straight to three you'd be like oh okay I guess that was something that was in though I missed in the second one or it came up after the fact or something like that
Speaker: or is implied by the second run. So it's like, yeah, it's so, you know, I feel like I, and again, the, with the asterisks on Gamora, I feel like just, yeah, it's just, it's so refreshing to get an MCU trilogy that operates as a trilogy that actually is self contained in, in like, I'm going to say like,
Speaker: 80%. It is 80 % self contained. And that's really, really, really, really nice. The fact that like, but then on top of that, the fact that like, every single character in volume three gets just beautiful arc that like it's all it uses rocket raccoon as the emotional spine of the story. It's just man, what a masterclass of storytelling.
Speaker: I mean, is it perfect? No, but I don't care. Like, almost like the flaws are like endearing in its way. But yeah, I'm sorry, I'm ranting. No, no, that I'm like, 98 % with you on most of that stuff. Like I got the big the one big thing is like the interconnectivity obviously doesn't bother me as much as it bothers you. I'm totally on board for all that. But but at the same time, you make that is a very accurate point. I'd also quibble I think
Speaker: I think Thor Ragnarok actually gives you enough of what you need to know about Hulk to watch it, so I'd quibble on that part, but otherwise your point's well taken. If you do want that self -contained thing, you're right. Guardians of the Galaxy is the trilogy that does the best job of
Speaker: setting it in the MCU, making it clear it's set in the MCU, but at the same time, not being beholden to the event of the MCU. In a way that Shazam did kind of the same thing with the DC stuff, right? It's clearly set in the DCEU, but it's not beholden to, or even the Suicide Squad, right? Clearly set in that universe, clearly a sequel to Suicide Squad, but if you didn't watch Suicide Squad,
Speaker: First off, congratulations, you're a better person than I am. You make better life decisions than me.
Speaker: But even so, you would not be lost. It gives you everything you need to know in both those movies. It fits into those universes without requiring you to do any additional homework on it. You're absolutely right on those points. Yeah, and I don't disagree. I don't dislike the interconnectivity. But I feel like I just, I guess maybe it's because so much of the MCU has become reliant upon that interconnectivity.
Speaker: Um, that they've lost sight of being able to tell a standalone story. Do you want to like, Oh, here's another good example in quantum media. Another is a cap or recently happened with those first two films. Um, I really enjoy because I love again, there's that small scale, um, that uses the MCU as a backdrop.
Speaker: and that's a lot of fun. And then the third film, you know, Quantum Mania, almost has nothing to do with the first two films. And then it's all about setting up a villain that we already met in another movie, in a TV show. You know, and it becomes less about this character and this journey and ending this story and more about the next thing. So I think that's more my point. I think it's like, I don't,
Speaker: dislike the interconnectivity. I think when I go to say like it shows what isn't working necessarily for me with the MCU is that I think a lot of the films today have forgotten how to tell standalone narratives. And I think that's something that Gunn is really good at. I think to your point, like the Suicide Squad
Speaker: you don't need to see Man of Steel or Batman versus Superman and Suicide Squad and the Justice League to understand anything that's happening in that narrative. In the same way that like, you kind of don't even need to see that. Like the fact that the volume three
Speaker: works on its own as a standalone narrative assessment. I think it works so much better because you are invested in these characters for two to three films. And that's a different conversation. But it's a standalone story. The story is this character gets hurt and these characters, his friends have to go try and save him. And they save him. And in doing so, they save each other.
Speaker: And I don't think really any MCU film has been really capable of doing that in a really long time. And again, that's not necessarily a negative on internet connectivity. I think there's a lot of benefit to interconnectivity. As I say, as a Star Wars fan and a Star Wars writer, like there is something to be said about like setting these stories in
Speaker: larger universes and using that universe to propel your story forward. I would argue with, I think Shamsi did a pretty good job of also doing that too. The third act problems aside, it wasn't, and the post credit scene obviously was very much tied to the MCU, but the rest of that movie, it had this tangential connection to Iron Man 3, but it wasn't
Speaker: as overly connected to it like the whole point about you know the biggest thing about that was the trevor slattery character and that yeah i would kind of liken to being like the gamora thing and in guardians of the galaxy volume three if you know it it definitely helps it if you don't know it he's just a wacky side character that pops in
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I could see that. But I mean, but also Shang -Chi remember, that's like the first of the like, you know, yeah, I feel like the first of every trilogy that they do or seriously do is relatively self contained. You know, but then by the third, it just like it becomes a mess. I think what's also really interesting is the
Speaker: I mean, the Guardians of Galaxy Volume 3 is the only series that's written and directed by one person.
Speaker: I mean, I'm sure there's been rewrites. I'm sure there's like some script doctors as always. Right. But like, even though John Watts did all Spider -Man films, and even though Peyton Reed did all the Ant -Man films, they all had very different writers throughout. Right. You know, and they had, I mean, and again, it's, you know, Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy being one person, writing and directing is very, very rare. Not even the original Star Wars trilogy had the same writers. Right.
Speaker: You know, so like it's like understand it's it's incredibly rare what happened. But like, you know, I think it's interesting, like with Thor Iron Man. Yeah, you had several different directors, Favreau for the first two and Iron Man and Shane Black. Total whiplashes someone I like Iron Man three and
Speaker: but it's a very different movie than the first two films. Same thing with Thor. You have three different directors, and we'll talk about what TV comes in, and it's a completely different movie than the previous movies. Like, stylistically, the same characters are there, yeah, but it's different, where with Guardians, there's that singular voice throughout. And I think it's also really refreshing that
Speaker: All three films feel like a James Gunn movie in a way that I don't really think, you know, I don't know what a John Watts movie looks like. I don't really know what a Peyton Reed movie looks like, but I do know what a James Gunn movie looks like. I know what a James Gunn movie feels like, and that's prevalent throughout.
Speaker: I thought it would be interesting what happens when Black Panther 3 comes out because I know you had issues with the Namor stuff in Wakanda Forever, but even that aside, it was still pretty self -contained to the Black Panther stuff. It didn't really address a whole lot of stuff that was happening in the larger MCU.
Speaker: And the first Black Panther, you know, arguably had some of that because they had the stuff with Civil War and claw and all that kind of stuff, but which kind of served as a more of a place setting for the first one. But so I think and that, too, it looks like it'll be the same director all throughout. So I think if anything is going to be a contender for having that same kind of self -contained field, probably be the Black Panther trilogy when we get to the third movie. So it'll be interesting to see how that plays out when they get there. I mean, at Ironheart, too. But again, she was introduced in Wakanda forever. She wasn't brought in from something else.
Speaker: I mean, look, I'm going to be biased. I really hope Ironheart is great. Like my my former classmate is the shareholder on that. So I really want that to that to that to succeed. You know, Chinaka Hodge is a really talented writer and I really hope that works. Just like I really like I, you know, I wanted what if to work because like I have an inherent bias. Ashley Bradley was the shareholder on that.
Speaker: So again, it's always weird, especially now that we're at a point in our lives where I actually know the people who are doing this. And not just like, oh, I let them through work. I actually have known these people for decades. So I do have some inherent biases on some of these MCU films and projects. But yeah, I worry that
Speaker: I worry that they're not seeing the forest for the trees because there's so like the big event, the big thing, whatever's coming next that they forget like to tell a story that means something. And that's why I love Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3. It's like you could tell Gunn was saying something. I will not
Speaker: I won't hesitate to say that I haven't had this in a long time. I was physically sobbing at the end of this movie.
Speaker: I knew it was coming, I could feel it, but I literally had my hand over my mouth, just crying hysterically and sobbing. I haven't had that experience in a Marvel film in a very, like even when everyone fucking died in the end of it anymore, I didn't give a shit. But like in the Guardians of Valium 3, he goes to see his grandfather, I'm crying like a baby, just sobbing. And then Drax is dancing and I'm still crying, it's just,
Speaker: Yeah. I haven't had anything like that in a very, very long time with the Marvel film or just the movie in general. Yeah. So I was a little bit nervous going into this movie actually, because there were some early reviews that came out and said like, oh, Guardians of the Galaxy volume three continues Marvel's phase four problem or whatever. It was one of their articles. I just read the headline. I didn't read it because I don't want any spoilers.
Speaker: I haven't gone back to find it since but so I saw that that pop up on newsfeed somewhere and then I had heard the the soundtrack on Spotify and like the first two soundtracks for for one and two I'm just like man these fucking bangers like especially the first one is just like got an amazing selection of songs and the second one the selection is not as good but when I saw the movie I'm just like oh my god I this is amazing how we worked in this music into it
Speaker: Yeah. And I listened to the soundtrack for this one. And yeah, there's some bangers on there. But a lot of people are probably going to wonder what the hell is wrong with me. But I've never gotten the Radiohead appeal. So when I heard the Radiohead song on there, I'm just like, eh. And some of the other ones. So it didn't give me that same wow factor the other two had. So I was starting to get a little bit.
Speaker: It's been a while since he worked on one of these. He's really into the DC stuff now. Maybe he's just kind of like, I wonder if he's kind of phoning it in on this one based on those early reviews. Then I went and saw it. I was nervous too because my son woke up several times. He would only let me get like four hours of sleep the night before. I'm going to see it first thing in the morning. I'm just like, fuck. I hope I don't fall asleep.
Speaker: I was riveted the whole time. I was like right there on the edge of my seat and just like not even, my eyelids did not move once. And just like I was totally invested right from the start. Yeah. And now there were a few things, a few minor things that I had here. One thing is I don't think this was the story Gunn originally had in mind, at least not completely because, or I'm not sure, or exactly, cause I'm not sure the Adam Warlock stuff that it feels like it's,
Speaker: leftover from something else or there was a diff - I've got nothing to back this up but my theory is that he introduced Adam Warlock at the end of volume two in the anticipation that Adam Warlock was going to be a factor in the Infinity War and endgame stuff because, and I do remember too in Infinity War there's that end scene where Thanos, he does the snap and then he's in this
Speaker: you know, these in the Soul Gem basically, right? It's got this orange tint to it. He sees Gamora and she asked him what it cost him and he said everything and all that. And I'm just like, at the end of Infinity War, I'm just like, and in comics, Adam Warlock's very connected to the Soul Gem, like, oh, okay. So Adam Warlock's gonna be connected to the Soul Gem, that's gonna be how they, and then they did something completely different, which I'm fine with, but it was just, when we got to this movie, the Adam Warlock part of it felt
Speaker: it didn't feel as integrated
Speaker: I don't know if he intended it. I know there was a version where like Gamora was going to leave or die in volume two, but he was he was talked down from doing that because apparently Zoe Saldana wanted to leave not from the role, but she's like, I just she had like signed on for a certain amount of films and and they convinced her and gotten to keep her alive.
Speaker: So I mean, as with any story, I'm sure it evolved over time. I wouldn't be surprised if like Adam Warlock was supposed to be a part of the Infinity War, but they decided not to use him. I again, I wouldn't I would not be surprised. I mean, the fact that like Thor joined the Garden of the Galaxy, which again is something that I actually really liked as like I think it's one of the biggest mistakes Infinity War made was having him like
Speaker: interact with the Guardians and then like immediately leaving him like, this is an interesting dynamic or we're just going to ignore it. OK. And then but like then him saying like, yeah, I had no I would there's no way I'm going to have Thor in my movie. Like he's like this. I just he's not in there. So they had the right him out of in Thor Love and Thunder. And again, it's always really feels really weird because I think there is a really interesting dynamic with Thor in there. And I think
Speaker: I would have liked to have seen Thor be a part of the Guardians of the Galaxy but then I think I felt like that basically up until Thor Love and Thunder when I'm like, this is not what I wanted. You had something but you're not.
Speaker: And then seeing Guardians of the Galaxy volume three, I'm like, oh, this is thank God. Thank God he's not here. Like, I don't want to be here. Like, yes, I belong here. I wonder how much of the Thor stuff being part of the Guardians came about during that period. It was an edit. It was an edit that. OK, yeah. So that's that's. Yeah, James kind of said like it wasn't a part of the initial plan that he was going to stay.
Speaker: with the Guardians. It wasn't until the the edit we're editing the movie together that decided to have him go off with the Guardians. Okay. Yeah. But that goes into a large that larger conversation where like that sometimes like even including Thor with the Guardians in the first place I do want I was wondering what I was gonna say is I wonder how much of that came about during that period when Gunn was fired from Marvel and how much they're like okay well
Speaker: This way, maybe we bring Thor and the Guardians together. Maybe we get Taika to do Guardians 3 or something like that. That's something I'd be curious to see when the behind the scenes story gets completely told about all this. Yeah. There's a book coming out written by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzalez, and the third person I can't remember.
Speaker: called MCU that's all about like the behind the scenes story of it and Joanna's an old colleague of mine. Dave is another old classmate. You know, they're really good reporters. I think it's going to probably shed some light on those things. I mean,
Speaker: I am curious about like, you know, like, look, we know that's Feige, like as many issues I have with like, the MC and Feige, like everything I've heard about Feige is a human being is like, he is a really good guy. Like he is, he doesn't drink, he doesn't swear, which is nuts. But like, he is
Speaker: legitimately like he basically put like Guardians of the Galaxy volume three on ice. So that way, like he could get a gun back. And he was like the biggest proponent of gun coming back. So I think it's I think I think it also shows like everyone, every what I find really interesting.
Speaker: I was thinking about this today because I knew it was going to come on that some of the most like divisive directors you could think of from James Gunn to Ryan Johnson to Zack Snyder. Everyone who works with them is like, I would work with that person in a second and like like you have like these like fan base like this video that I have coming out soon with Michael Shannon. And he was in Man of Steel. And that's going to be interesting because he's like, you know,
Speaker: He actually really likes Man of Steel. He talked about it very positively. And then how much he likes working with Zack Snyder. And then he was in Knives Out, and he's like, how much he likes working with Ryan Johnson. It's going to either divide the fandoms more, or they're going to be like, wow, we have so much in common. But yeah, I think everyone liked working with James Gunn.
Speaker: And that's why they fought for him to come back. I'm so glad they did because again, I feel like we're talking about a lot of different things.
Speaker: But I feel like let's not lose out of the fact that this is just a really good fucking movie. I do want to make one more point, and then I want to really dive into the movie discussion. But I do think it's funny that these right -ring twirls, they're like, let's destroy James Gunn. And the only way that you get James Gunn running DC is by him getting fired from Marvel and then DC being like, hey, you want to do a DC movie?
Speaker: And then he gets hired back by Marvel to finish up the Guardians trilogy. And then he gets in charge of running DC and the Snyder cult's heads fucking explode. I love it. I love it. I think it's really interesting. And I think it says it's, I think, I could be wrong. I'm wrong about many things, but I think it is a good, it's indicative of the culture war and where things really stand. You know, that like there are these people
Speaker: who took Umbridge with things that, you know, were even gun apologize for before they became public again, that they tried to cancel something. And by like, by in doing so actually shows that no, you know, we rather this progressive voice be heard. And, you know, you only made them stronger. I love the fact that, like,
Speaker: out of the worst, of all outcomes, this is the best one. Because there was a version of this where,
Speaker: He was supposed to be in charge of sort of the cosmic side of the universe. That was the plan before he got fired. He's going to volume three and then he was going to oversee the cosmic universe. And that would have been cool. But I feel honestly, I feel like this is the best outcome where it's like I get my Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy that I love and I will cherish. And it is perfect in his mind. And then I'm going to get a Superman movie directed
Speaker: written by James Gunn. And everything I've heard about that movie, it sounds exciting, and everything about the DCU that he's creating sounds new and different, and like, like, legitimately not trying to be the next Marvel, but trying to be its own thing. And just everything about everything we're getting is because they're alt -right trolls,
Speaker: you know, fucked around and found out. Yeah, it's fucking great. It's about this movie, too. Like, there's one of the things that I thought that really spoke a lot to me personally was the the Gamora and Quill storyline, because, you know, I've been in that situation where gun was given the situation where your ex where your girlfriend died and came back from the dead. And then not that situation I would say he's given this. Well, you know, I mean, that's happened to some of us, you know,
Speaker: But he's given the situation where Gomorrah dies and then she comes back and she has no memory of her past.
Speaker: And I went into this with the expectation that, oh, well, maybe they'll find a way to give her her memory back in some way. Or because there's a whole thing with, at the end of Endgame, where he's searching for Gamora on the screen. And the trailer, this is also one of the things that got me a little bit nervous about the trailer. Because in that trailer, there's that scene where he's talking with Gamora, and he's saying she comes back, and she's a total dick.
Speaker: And then Gamora says, like, I don't know who you fell in love with, but it sounds more like Nebula. And then they're like, and then he gets kind of nervous around Nebula. It's like, no, no, no, no, no. And he has that little look. And she's like, knock it off. And I'm just like, oh, God, I hope, I hope Gunn is not going to force Nebula and Pete together. And at the beginning of Guardians 3, there's that little scene when he puts, when she puts him to bed, I'm just like, oh, God, I hope they're not going to do this. Fortunately, they didn't go down that route.
Speaker: But it was a concern of mine. And instead what we got was this story that is a metaphor for falling out of love with someone. And this whole idea of how it doesn't have to be a bad thing. And I've been in that situation. I've been married. I got married once before. We got divorced.
Speaker: It ended fine. Like it was not like some big acrimonious thing. It's not something where it's like, if we see each other, like we're gonna, you know, we're gonna freak out and lose our shit. And like, you know, when my kids were born, she sent me a message to congratulate me. And you know, when her daughter got engaged, I sent her a message to congratulate her. And it's just like, it's fine. You could have a relationship end and be okay with it. And I thought where that,
Speaker: Addressing that going through all Peters emotions through all that with all the anger and the depression and I'm like, I think that's that was me that was me like five years ago and to see that play out on the big screen and then get to the point at the end where He's just like yet. You're not her but you're not too bad yourself. Like I'm just like I
Speaker: That's exactly what it is, right? It's not the same person you fell in love with, but it doesn't mean that they're a bad person now. I thought that was beautifully handled, beautifully executed. I also think what's great about that story was just I saw someone say this and I wish I remember who wrote it, but like in the hands of a lesser writer or a lesser director, they would have gotten them back together that they would have really like it would have been like, oh, it's like star -crossed lovers. They have to fall in love. And I think
Speaker: that is the opposite. It would have been they would have still been very acrimonious towards each other the whole time, too. Yeah, I feel like there was like a version of this where I like I wanted them to get together because I really I liked their relationship, especially in the first two stories. But I think it's one of those I think it shows how mature a writer
Speaker: gun is. I don't know obviously when it was decided that Gamora was going to die and that it was going to be reset and all these different things. Whereas like here you have Gamora, she is Gamora, but she's an older version of Gamora. She doesn't have the memories. And again, I think a younger writer would have been or more novice or more less skilled writer would have like, well, they have to get back together because
Speaker: love conquers all and instead he told a nuanced story to your point about like falling out of love uh it is a lot more complex it is a lot more but it is uh says so much more about who peter is and how he grows and having having them fall out of love in quotes like allowing him to go off and have
Speaker: like find out who he is outside of relationships. And then having her have her own sort of family, a newfound family, having all of that just, it's such a clever choice. But then still having Nebula, like not be in a relationship, but like have Nebula,
Speaker: have her own character growth. Like, I love the fact that she's the heavy in the first movie. And by the time she ends at the end of the third, she's like, like, she's like, I'm going to give these children a life they never could have I never could have had. That is tremendous growth. And it is, I mean, again, it kind of cuts through with Avengers, and I think
Speaker: Infinity War and Endgame and it helps the gun help to write those scenes. But it's just it's such an interesting character arc. All the all the characters just have these amazing arcs. And I it is so unparalleled that like you can actually see like all the characters in volume one.
Speaker: being completely different places at the end of volume three, and it all feel natural. I don't think I, that's the thing, I really don't see that in other Marvel films in that way. I mean, you could sort of argue Iron Man kind of goes from like, I'm not gonna sacrifice myself to, I'm gonna sacrifice myself. But it's, that's like a flip of a coin sort of growth. Whereas I think,
Speaker: the changes that they come to are gradual and they make sense. Like the fact that Drax dances at the end is such a beautiful choice, because it's also like, because it's like only fools dance. That's what he says in the first movie, right? Like I saw my wife and she was still in the second movie. Yeah, in the second movie. Yeah. And this movie, it was like,
Speaker: realizing like, no, I want to be like, I'm gonna do the one thing that I've always want, I lost, which was be a father. And then
Speaker: So he's going to dance to make the kids happy. And that's a through line that we pick up on in that. That's a point that gets introduced in the first movie and and the way it ends in the first movie. Right. There's that. And you think they're going down the comic book route where, yeah, Drax, the Destroyer, he wants to destroy Thanos for taking everything from him. And you think that's the route they're going to go on. And then in the second movie, it starts to turn and then you see the relationship he has.
Speaker: Yeah, like that. And then when we get to the second movie, we see how how he is with Mantis and that whole aspect. And when he says like, you remind me of my daughter, and I'm just like, and I didn't see it that, but then when we get to the third movie, and we see how he is with the with the kids there, and then
Speaker: At the end, when Nebula voices it, she says, you're not a destroyer, you're a dad. I almost fucking lost it when I saw that. I'm just like, oh, that's the growth, right? He went from wanting revenge for losing that opportunity to be a dad. And then he gets to the point where he realizes what he really wants is to just keep being a dad. And that was beautifully told.
Speaker: Yeah and like even like the I already mentioned like him Quill returning to his grandfather like him saying like why do I want to go back to Earth where like my mom died and or just being dismissive of it in the first movie to being like oh I need to find the family that I actually have so I can figure out who I am. You have Mantis even being like I've spent all my life
Speaker: and doing what it is everyone else wants me to do. I need to figure out what it is that I wanna do. And then you have Rocket Raccoon just, I mean, we can talk for hours about what they do with Rocket, but like him just basically pushing everyone away and understanding why he pushes everyone away to then becoming someone who's like, I'm going to bring everyone in now. And then the I Am Group moment at the end is just,
Speaker: It took me surprise when he says, I love you guys. I'm like, what the fuck? Holy crap. And then I realized, oh, because we understand him now, part of the family. And I love that. Just again, I think there's so much thought and purpose put into every single frame. I was listening to a really good interview. It's like this guy, David Chen. And it was on the Slash Film podcast. I don't know who the other.
Speaker: Uh, a person was, but they talked a lot about how, uh, it was actually two other people. I'm like, I'm, I'm forcing him to remember their names. Um, but. You could really tell that there was so much thought put into the world building, the character arcs in a way that I feel like a lot of the other MCU films haven't really done. And I think that's what we've talked about this before. I'm not sure we've done it on the podcast or if we just talked about online.
Speaker: offline. But again, to use sort of the what happened with like WandaVision and Multiverse of Madness, where they don't necessarily like left hands not talk to the right hand, you know, there, there's this whole storyline about how about Wanda doing this whole thing and learning and trying and growing, and then her doing the exact same storyline in, in Multiverse of Madness, so much of what Marvel has done recently has been
Speaker: remaking, redoing the stories that they're doing literally during production. You know, there's a good example is She -Hulk, the penultimate episode was re -edited into the premiere episode.
Speaker: it during edit. You know, there have been major plot lines that were changed in Falcon the Winter Soldier. Literally like whole plot lines completely excised during production. Miss Marvel is show that I again have some bias on a because my friend Ashley worked on it from what if and helped rewrite it. But and also you can see my apartment in some of the aerial shots.
Speaker: You know, I'm not saying which shot because I don't want you to find out where I live, but it takes place in Jersey City and I live in Jersey City. So, yeah, you could see my apartment. I am Canada and Marvel. That's what I'm saying. But like that show was dramatically changed during the production, dramatically changed during the production.
Speaker: And I think what is so nice and like, even like, you know, with a quantum media, like it's, there's, they were talking about quantum media in relation to like, it's just the, there's cool looking imagery and stuff on the background, very alien stuff. You know, and that's fine, but you don't have this sort of sense of like, oh, there's a purpose for this. There's a reason why this is here. Whereas I think with everything that happens in Guardians of the Galaxy,
Speaker: You know, let's just say volume three for now, but like, you know, the, the grown biological planet, that's such a fascinating decision. Uh, and the way it's designed, the way it's built, it's all like, it's also well thought out. Like all the locations are, are very deliberate. Um.
Speaker: Yeah, it's just it's like the hallway scene like. Oh, that whole scene was beautiful. That was beautifully shot. Perfectly executed. Yeah. And it's just like, but it like you get like a sense of like everything. It has its purpose. Everything has its meaning. And it's just a. It's just it's so refreshing to have. This is true of like any franchise these days, but like to to have someone behind the camera with such a singular voice and such a singular aspect that like
Speaker: it all builds upon each other to create something very special. Yeah. One of the things too about all of that, and going back to what you said about Nebula, I thought it was really interesting how, because I was, again, I'm not a big cosmic Marvel guy, so I didn't really care much about Nebula in the comics. Yeah. Same thing with a lot of these characters.
Speaker: I think the only ones that feel the most like they are in the comics are probably Rocket and Groot, but everyone else feels very different from what they are in the comic books. And normally I would have some pushback on that and be like, oh, I prefer the comic. But the way Gunn does it and the way he executes these characters here, I vastly prefer these versions of it to the comic versions. What he does with Nebula is he makes her such a brilliant, well -rounded character. It's all about how she goes from
Speaker: you know someone who's trying so desperately to get her father's approval because she just keeps losing and she keeps getting it like she's a battered child who just wants to be loved and just like that comes I got how they pull that all together and Karen Gillen is just like there's so many MVPs in this franchise but she's definitely one of them like
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, like I was a Karen Gillan fan because of Dr. Who. Like I like I I love her in general. I think she's great. And I have not insignificant crush on her. But at the same time, like a lot of that is because of Dr. Who. But I think what's interesting, what I keep on thinking about with this film is
Speaker: how much I actually like Chris Pratt in this movie. I was gonna talk about the Chris Pratt thing. And I just want to get this out of the way first while it's in my head. But this is something that's been bugging me for a while is I am so done with progressive Twitter's hate of Chris Pratt.
Speaker: It's okay. My daughter just knocked over. It's okay. It's okay. They're all plastic, baby. It's okay. They're not glass. But I am so done with the progressive Twitter's hatred of Chris Pratt. And all of it seems very much like we have to find a reason to hate him. A lot of it just seems like it's reaching.
Speaker: He's a Christian guy who maybe has been to a church that maybe has said some stuff, but he's never done anything that I can see in his personal life. I just think it's ridiculous. Yeah, I mean, I think that is fair. And I think my issue with Chris Pratt is, and the point I was trying to make is that I think Chris Pratt is one of those actors that, in the hands of a really good director like James Gunn,
Speaker: can actually do a lot with the material. He's a very funny guy. I love him in Parks and Rec. I think the Guardians of the Galaxy films has shown his...
Speaker: helped him kind of figure out his trademark, but also given him a lot of range. And I think what's happened is with like the Colin Trevorrow overall, with Jurassic World, and some of the other films he's done, you know, I feel like a lot of things I've seen him in haven't had the sort of nuance that he has in Guardians of Galaxy. And I think it's what I keep on thinking about when it comes to Chris Pratt, even Karen Gillan again, who I think is great.
Speaker: Um, but just the whole cast in general, it's like you have the right director with the right, like the right script. You can get a lot out of, uh, of, of actors who under lesser directors, lesser writers will produce mediocre stuff. I think my biggest criticism of Chris Pratt has been is that outside of parks and rec and outside of gardens, the galaxy, he's been fine. You know, I think he is.
Speaker: he has banked himself as like, you know, I think there's always like, there's a, as like, there's always a sort of, here's our like handsome white guy who is the next big thing and they just peter out instantly. There was Sam Worthington as the example I always go to, like he was going to be the next big thing. He was an attack of the titans or a class of titans.
Speaker: Flash the Titans and then he was in the Terminator film and now like I don't know what he's in. And I think Chris Patt became sort of like the next big like action hero guy because of Guardians of Galaxy. And he has proven to be successful in it. But I don't think there's any single film that he's done that matches the quality of his performance. Yeah.
Speaker: like in Guardians. I think, yeah, and like, and Gunn was saying this, like, you know, hit with the exception of Zoe Saldana, who is great in everything. You know, you think about like all the amazing movie that she's in, like, she's in literally like every version of like the best franchises. Like, I don't I don't love Avatar by any stretch of the imagination, but she's in that movie. She's the most successful series of all time. She's in Guardians of the Galaxy.
Speaker: She's in the Avengers movies and she's also in like some really great Star Trek films. She's great. But then like, you know, I know a lot of people don't, don't care for, but I thought she was actually really good in the Netflix's version of Rosemary's baby too. If you ever saw that. I haven't seen that. So I can't, I cannot comment, but I thought it was actually pretty good. It's not, I mean, it's not the original, right? It's not never going to be, but I thought it was actually a pretty interesting update of that story.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, again, I'm gonna take your word on it. But I also think like, for example, like one of my favorite, like even Mantis is one of those where I think she would, again, in the wrong hands with the wrong casting could have been really one note. You know, and then you have like the guy, I can't remember his name at the moment, who plays the High Evolutionary. Oh yeah, I was wondering.
Speaker: Yeah, I got to look up his name too. But yeah, keep going. Keep going. Because his because he's I mean, he's amazing in peacemaker and he's amazing in this. And even like, just so I'm probably going to mispronounce this, but Chukwudi Iwuji. Yeah, he's he's just phenomenal. It's just, again, I think it's it's Garden of the Galaxy volume. Again, even like Will Porter as as Adam Warlock, where I think
Speaker: under the wrong director, I think that would have been really like his character has taken the character could have been really grating, but he's a lot of fun in this movie. Like, even though he's like, to your point earlier, it's like, maybe he's a little, he's kind of a heavy and it's kind of a joke and he's not really like integrated into the movie as much as he could have been. He is so much fun. He's so much fun in this movie because you have the right director and the right writer with the right talent.
Speaker: Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, to that point as well, I mean, even Vin Diesel, right? Well, just as three lines. I'd argue that he gives a better, he gives stronger performances in these three movies, just saying those three lines over and over again, then he gives an all, you know, 10 of the Fast and Furious movies. I mean, as someone who has only seen, I think one and a half Fast and Furious movies. I saw the first one.
Speaker: I think I saw scenes from the second one on TV. I think I saw scenes from the third one. I definitely saw Hobbs and Shaw for work.
Speaker: And I have literally no desire to be, those movies look terrible to me. I look at those movies and I - They are unbelievably stupid, but also fun. At least up until like nine, nine I did not care for because that was when they lost Dwayne Johnson. And once he was gone, they lost something with that too. But like five, six, seven, eight,
Speaker: They're stupid. They're incredibly fucking stupid. But they're incredibly fun too. I've heard that like, like, yeah, like the fifth one is where it gets like really good. But also that's like, for me, that's like, that means I have to watch three, two. Nope. I never watched. I never watched three and four. Nope, nope, nope. I've only watched the first two. Never watched three and four. And I was never lost once.
Speaker: And I, but at the same time, I'm just like, again, I'm a completionist. So, and just like, I don't want to have to watch five movies to get to the word. It's good. And then it's, but it's always like the fifth one's amazing. And then like, it's becomes a series of diminishing returns again. And it's just like, I don't, I don't got time for that. And I just like the word they were like, I'm all, I, I, I fully support series evolving and changing over time. I think it's a fascinating,
Speaker: And it's a very unique thing that with literature of both cinematic and, you know, televised and actual literature and comics where you have to see things change dramatically doesn't always happen. But I think it's always it's fascinating to see, like,
Speaker: you see the things start. And I think it's the unintentional evolution that's always interesting. It starts here, and then it becomes something really wacky. And you have a completely different cast, but the show is going on for four or five more years. That's fascinating. But the evolution of the Fast and the Furious films just confused the fuck out of me. It's just like, OK, they started with DVD players.
Speaker: Like why are they in space? I don't understand. I don't wanna understand. That's, I just, I don't wanna understand. I mean, honestly, for me, like I view that franchise and I say it starts with five because the other ones don't matter. And it's just like, it's completely, it's like, it is like five is a reboot of the entire series. And it's just like, let's read this in the most coped out way possible. And it's stupid fun. It's ridiculous, but it is a lot of fun. I will give it that.
Speaker: But yeah, all right. Yeah. So I want to talk a little bit about the high evolutionary because I thought, you know, it was he was just he was incredible in this. Like I, again, not a big high evolutionary guy in the comics. But from what I know about the character, I thought he had done a pretty good job capturing him. And just like the way he.
Speaker: It was and just like that ending with him and where you find out why his face looks all stretched out of ways got that Robocop looking face And then you see what rocket had done to him and they actually fucking showed it I'm just like oh this is This is pretty damn awesome
Speaker: Yeah, I also like, I mean, I'm gonna double back, but like, we haven't talked about Lila, Tief, and Floor. I mean, that, I, and again, I think this is a larger issue. Like, the CGI in this movie is amazing. It looks, I mean, you can tell the gun put a lot of thought into the CGI.
Speaker: in the performances, but that storyline, I mean, you know what's coming. You know they're not gonna make it, because they're not in the story. But they do such a great job of making you care about them. It's heartbreaking. I think I'm sadder. I kind of knew Lila was gonna die, but the moment that Tief and Flora died, I'm like, ugh, not them. They're the most innocent things in the entire world.
Speaker: And it made, it showed how monstrous the high -level evolutionary was. And just, it was just heartbreaking. Like, I mean, I got so invested in what I knew to be completely CGI characters. And in a way that I haven't felt invested in actual human beings.
Speaker: You know, in the MCU in a very, very long time. This is what annoys me when people are always bad -mouthing CGI. Yes, CGI can be used bad, but CGI in itself is not bad. And I think this movie proves that you can use CGI as a very effective tool to create very engaging characters. It's not that it has to be practical or nothing. Practical is fine, but it's not...
Speaker: They did such an amazing job with the CGI in this. And I was weeping at that scene when Lila dies, and then when you see Tiefs and Flora dead. And yeah, right there with you. And Gunn is one of those directors who knows how to use CGI and how to use it effectively. I think, yeah, I think there's a Tava Siri who is an ILM
Speaker: I am kind of worse than I am. I forget exactly what his job title is. But like so much of it is like what makes a story work a CGI work is making sure that the the shot design is there, like the composition is there. Like it's all well thought out. And it gun knows like he's like, I'm I'm going to have these CGI characters
Speaker: So I'm going to plan for it. He's going to use that tool as effectively as possible. And I think way too many directors, and Marvel in general, has relied on like, well, we can do anything in CGI, so let's do it. So that's why I like, but they keep on changing their mind. And that's why you have less than stellar looking VFX, whereas Gunn,
Speaker: knows what he wants to use, and he's going to use it as effectively as possible. So he can shoot something that's completely on the green screen. It's like some footage I saw of Karen Gillan writing a thing. And she's on a blue screen, on a blue thing. But the finished product looks great. It looks seamless. Because he actually knew what he wanted from that shot. And he didn't change his mind last minute.
Speaker: you know, yeah, it's just again, I it's evidence of someone who knew what they wanted to do and what they wanted to say. And at every point, from the VFX to the actors to just the way the shots are framed, Gunn knew what he wanted to use the film to say. Yeah, exactly. Also,
Speaker: talking about, and then, you know, obviously talking about Rocket in this too. I mean, fairly recently, Gunn had said that Rocket's actually the main character of the series, not Will. And then, and I'd never thought about it that way, but then I was thinking about it, going back, I'm like, actually, yeah, that does make a lot of sense. If you look at this as Rocket's journey. And then I love that scene when he has that vision of Lila and she says to him, you've been the main character all along.
Speaker: Yeah, it's been your story all along. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I fucking lost it at that. It's a it's. Yeah, it's interesting because it's like it all tracks like I think you can sort of almost like I would argue that they're co -protagonist. Yeah. But I mean, obviously, but like, yeah, like there's a great scene in volume two where Jan just is like,
Speaker: because you're me like it's just like what he's loved that. Yeah, and you're in it. I think that that scene is funny as you look at that scene now and he's like you push you push everyone because like eat like you're worried that it's like it you get that hurt inside you that you'll feel it again. That is
Speaker: That is such a like now that you know what the hurt was, you're like, oh, man. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. That's a dead on thing. And again, that's just the cohesion of this this trilogy. Yeah. And just Bradley Cooper. I mean, I was I love the fact that he was cast as Rocket to begin with when they announced that he was going to be the voice. I'm like, because I didn't know outside of
Speaker: Zoe Saldana and obviously Vin Diesel. I didn't know any of the actors I hadn't been familiar with any of them when they when they announced the cast the first Guardians But when they announced Bradley Cooper as Rocket, I'm like, oh wow, that's pretty that'll be interesting because I I dig Bradley Cooper I've dug him in in the hangover stuff in I like the a team I know a lot of people hate that movie But I thought it was a lot of fun and I thought he was great in that movie I liked him in Limitless and you know so many other stuff I've seen him in so I'm just like, oh, yeah, this is gonna be awesome And then when I saw the movie
Speaker: I could not recognize his voice at all. So much so that every time I watch one of these movies, I just double check, wait, is it still Bradley Cooper doing that voice? Because it does not sound like him. And then. Yeah, he did all the present day stuff. He did the young was the young rocket. It was Sean Gunn. And there was the child to someone else. OK, OK.
Speaker: and yeah and he just he knocked it out of the park like his his performance in these in all in all these movies and also in the in the Avengers movies just been i mean seriously rocket hands down my favorite character of the guardians he was going into it and he still remains my favorite of all of them and just like the the character growth and when he goes into the
Speaker: the animal pen at the end, he sees the raccoon sign on it. And then he, when he announces his name, and he says, I'm Rocket raccoon. And I'm just like, Yeah, finally, like, and I wasn't against him, like, making fun of the fact that he's like, Don't call me raccoon. I thought it was a funny little joke in joke, because that's his name in the comics. But to see that at the end there, and, and, and we also see like, even his love of music, we see where it comes from. Yes. Because, you know, we're,
Speaker: were left thinking in the entire time like oh well he got that from peter obviously but then we see in this movie he's like no no he had this in him from the beginning and it's just yeah it it was it i i'm running out of things to say like i'm getting speechless but it was just it was such a beautiful journey for that character and i love too that this is something i'd see a lot of people
Speaker: and getting talk, speculating about, and some people even after seeing it, like being upset about the fact that no one dies. And I don't know about you, but I think the whole, it's the last movie, we have to kill a bunch of character, is the laziest fucking trope ever. It's so fucking true. Yeah, you see that as I've killed off a lot of characters in my - I mean, I have too, but at the same point, when it's done just because it's the last one, it's so fucking lazy.
Speaker: Yeah, because with the llama, I do kill off a lot of characters. But I also, since I'm playing with time, I am bringing some back in different ways. So it's interesting. But I don't want to go down that rabbit hole, because I could talk about it for a while. But I think, yeah, what is really refreshing about Gunn's decision not to kill anyone off
Speaker: Again, it's that maturity. It's just, I'm going to tell a story about these characters and having them grow and experience a kind of loss, a heartbreaking loss, which is like the loss of this family unit, this loss of this, like this relationship, the loss of friends that helped define you. And
Speaker: but still like come out of it like knowing like they're, they're, they're going to be okay. That was, I felt that was such a braver choice than, you know, like, Oh, we're going to kill off, you know, Drax, you know, because
Speaker: You know, and it was and he teased us. He teased us. Right. Because with that scene with with Quill at the end there, I'm just like, oh, fuck, here it comes. Here it comes. We got to have it. And it felt like I'm like, if they kill him off this way, it's going to be so fucking lazy. And I hate this dead scene. And then and I I could argue like that that scene felt a little bit forced when, you know, warlock comes out of nowhere and saves him. But at the same time, I'm still glad he I still prefer that than killing him off. Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Totally. Well, also, let's talk about the new team at the end that forms in the wake of this. Well, first of all, before that, one thing about Gamora too, because I know a lot of fans of Cosmic Marvel have said that Gamora, out of all the characters like Gamora, is probably the least like she is in the comics.
Speaker: And I can get that, but I think what was kind of funny here is by the end of it, it kind of feels like she's her comics counterpart now. She feels more like she is in the comics in this movie than she than she has before, because now she really does feel like the most dangerous woman in the galaxy. Yeah, I am. I'm not familiar with her on the comics. I really can't comment on that. But I do. I think with Gamora, it's again, I think it's a really
Speaker: clever choice to, she goes through significant growth in this movie, where you could sort of see her go from this other version of Gamora to be someone that's similar to but distinct from the Gamora that we came to know and love. I mean, the fact that she can understand Groot at the end is indicative of that. Yeah. I think it's, it is
Speaker: But then she's still like, yes, I'm part of this family, but I have a family of my own. That is, I don't know. It's funny because I talked to my girlfriend in the morning after I saw it, and then I talked to her again a couple of days later. I'm like, I don't think I explained myself, because she's a night nurse, so we talk in the morning. And I'm like, no, you don't understand. Not only was I weeping, but it does all these things that are so,
Speaker: unique and it makes sense. And I didn't I don't want to spoil anything to her, even if she doesn't care about spoilers, but I do. And I'm like, what they do with Peter and Gamora is not the story that I expected, but it's the right story to be told. Yeah. It's just, yeah, I I. Again, I don't I can't speak to the comic version of it all, but I think it's a really clever choice to make her
Speaker: you know, have this realization of what makes the Guardian so special and allow her then to kind of move on to the next phase of her life. There's always a lot is done. She's not coming back. Neither is Dave Bautista.
Speaker: who is just so good. Like Dave Bautista is easily the best wrestler turned actor, then it's John Cena. Well, like we were talking about when we talked about Peacemakers, when we get a wrestler transitioning into actor,
Speaker: you might get lucky and it might be a Dwayne Johnson type where he's fun to watch, but he's not, doesn't have all that much range. But most of the time, it's probably more like you're gonna get a Hulk Hogan. And then we get Dave Pautista and we get John Cena and it's like, they're just fucking incredible actors. Yeah. And I think it's interesting because like the Rock had range and then he realized what was safe and what would get him money. And then he realized that he can't,
Speaker: reshape the DC. The balance of power did not shift. But it did. That's the thing. What a bad move on his part. Yeah. Yeah. I feel bad for Henry.
Speaker: I mean, Henry Cavill, he'll be fine. I think it's yeah, I feel bad. He was used as a pawn in a game that like, it was unfair. I feel like based on everything I'm hearing what Gunn wants to do with Superman Legacy, I think if Henry Cavill been cast, like if like if Gunn had been in charge when Cavill was cast, we would get that movie with Cavill. But
Speaker: Yeah, you know, it did it. I'm making expressions like anyway, it's not a podcast. You know, I think it was this just he was used as a pawn because The Rock and he have the same PR rep and they're trying to get control of the universe and did network out.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. So what do you think of the new team at the end? Like, I thought it was a smart choice for Rocket to finally be the leader of the team here. Because that's the perfect end to his growth, right? Because he goes from this, like, even though he had Groot, he was still basically a loner, and then to accepting that he's part of the family to now becoming the leader of the team. I thought it was a perfect way to end on that character's note.
Speaker: Yeah, and I also like that Adam Warlocks remember the team because that kind of like they even say like everyone deserves a second chance. You know, that is it. We see that happen with Nebula, Gamora.
Speaker: Um, every character has Yondu. Um, and so having him be a part of it, like, yeah, that felt right. Um, it also was nice seeing, um, Sean Gunn's character, his name I'm blanking on right now. It's midnight. Oh, no, no, crack on, crack on. Sorry. I was not.
Speaker: That was cute, Cosmo. I'm like, they never called me a bad dog. I was so glad because we got the tease of Cosmo in the first movie, and then we didn't see her again. And then we saw her, and then she popped up in a holiday special. I'm like, oh, yes. And then when I'm going to the theater, I look at the poster, and they've got Cosmo on the poster. I'm like, Cosmo's going to be in this movie. She didn't have a big role, but I love that she did have some role in it. And I do like that she's a member of the team now going forward.
Speaker: Um, and also bringing in Fylavel. I thought that was an interesting choice, too. Yeah, I have no idea who she is beyond this movie, so I have she's she's Marvell's daughter. OK, yeah, I think it's personally, I think it's like it's just nice. I think it's a nice change. I think it's like, again, it's I like the fact that it's a very unique and distinct team. Yeah, yeah. And and we get still and still rocking and group as like the core of the team. I like that, too.
Speaker: Yes, exactly. Oh, what else I want to say about it? Oh, Nathan Fillion's role. He, goddamn, he had me. I think he was probably the laugh out loudest part of this movie was me watching Nathan Fillion up until Drax throws the ball at the girl. Yeah, I also like he's like, I have one of those. It's like, I thought you meant something else. It's so good. Oh, God, I mean, Fillion.
Speaker: What a guy. I don't know. I'm glad that he got a little bit bigger of a part, because we had him in that small voice part in the first one. And then he's just the cameo of Simon Williams on the poster in the second one, which now we know is going to be a different Simon Williams, because we're getting a different guy playing him in the TV show. But I'm so glad we got to see a little bit of Nathan Filly in this. That was so much fun for me.
Speaker: Yeah, I think that what do you think about the ending with with the legendary Star -Lord will return? I mean, I that kind of bummed me out because I really I think it was like I really like the
Speaker: I liked the beat with him and his grandfather and this very mundane, let's just like, like just drinking, like eating cereal and like slurping up the milk and just having like, you know, just like, I'll go like, just a very, very mundane, like I'll go and move along because it feels weird.
Speaker: I liked it a lot. The legendary Starla return, it felt both ironic because of the the context. But I think ultimately it did kind of bum me out where I just kind of wanted just to fade to black. I don't don't it was like the one like the please don't tease me. I don't need I don't like I'm so happy right now. I'm not looking forward to the next thing. Like again, and I say this is someone
Speaker: who loves Doctor Who, who loves all these ongoing things and Star Wars and things like that. But there's something we said about endings. The things that I loved about what I like about the sequel trilogy from Star Wars is like, oh, the characters die or have actual endings. That's really nice. I kind of want to see more of that. The universe can continue, but it's nice seeing these characters get their curtain call.
Speaker: Um, and I think that was the thing that so what it's like, oh, legendary starless, which I'm like, don't please just give a curtain call. Like he can show up later. Don't don't fucking stop it. Because as far as I know, Chris Pratt hasn't said anything about coming back for any other movies. So I felt like that was done ironically.
Speaker: I could see that. This is Gunn's last film. He said he's not doing another Guardians film. I don't see Pratt coming back to do another one without Gunn. I feel like it was really intended to be ironic, which is why I thought it was funny.
Speaker: If anything, I think it'd be funny to do like remember when they did the whole team Thor stuff with him in the with his Australian roommate. If we saw some like, you know, do some like, you know, Disney plus shorts or something like that with like Star Lord doing mundane shit on Earth, I think would be funny. That would be fun. Yeah, but like, yeah, I
Speaker: I just I really I it's weird like as much as I want more stories with these characters like I don't want more story like I like that I you know again I like that I have like this perfect little trilogy plus that I can hold in my arms and you know it's like I was I was listening to like Kristen Ritter talking about the don't trust to be in apartment 23 the other day and such an amazing show it's such an amazing show it's two seasons and never got bad
Speaker: is something we said about shows that just never got bad. They ended and it's heartbreaking, but they never got bad.
Speaker: I think I loved the CW, but I can't remember the last time I watched The Flash. And apparently it's ending now, but it's season 10. Yeah, it's season nine. I haven't seen any of this season, but season seven and eight were a slog for me to get through. Yeah. I think I dropped off season four or five. But anyway, now we're transitioning and my daughter's getting fussy. She wants to go out, so she probably glows up here. But yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, this movie was just so final thing I want to talk about. Like, obviously, I think we're both in agreement that probably the best trilogy of the MCU. Yes. I mean, I would argue. No, I think I'd probably say that probably. Yeah. Cap comes close to giving a run for its money, but it's really this one is consistently the best all throughout, I think the most definitely the most consistent trilogy. But
Speaker: Of those three movies, do you have a favorite, the three Guardians films? I really don't. I have to rewatch them. They sort of all sort of form like an amorphous blob in my mind and I see it in the best way possible. I think it's maybe the first one's probably still the best because I think it was such a breath of fresh air. No, no, no, no. What am I saying? Because I love Second Volume more.
Speaker: I yeah, they all kind of blurted my mind and I mean this in the best way possible because I think the first ones are really great sort of introductory story. And it's all like this huge massive like what I felt like to watch the stars for the first time, which is what Gunn wanted to do. What I really liked about the second one
Speaker: was what if we, instead of trying to like up the stakes, what if we made something smaller and told us a really intimate story about this family? And there's a lot of heart in that movie and I love that. Very cathartic at the end when Yondu dies, beautiful. And then this one I think is that really interesting merger of the three where you have a very heartfelt storyline about this found family with literal like,
Speaker: galactic stakes but like very large stakes kind of interweaved together. Yeah, I think it's it's kind of I don't know if I can say which one's my favorite yet I would need to rewash it but also I think like as a trilogy it's just increasing returns and I'm just yeah. Yeah, I think I'm kind of the same boat. I think
Speaker: And again, I'd have to rewatch them to feel it. It might just be the that euphoric feeling after you watch a movie for the first time. So yeah, like I my personal thing is after I watch a movie the first time, I usually have two reactions to two gut reactions. It's either like, oh, my God, that was amazing. Or, eh, I didn't really like that that much. It's it's very odd. And then I have to watch it again to kind of form a more
Speaker: you know, complete opinion of it. But this one at the moment, I think I'm kind of leaning towards this one.
Speaker: And there's some bias in that with the personal aspects, how it relates to my own life. There's the bias of Rocket being my favorite character in it. So there's just so much in it I love. But at the same time too, like two was the one that was the last movie my dad and I saw in the theater together. So that's very, that's very important to me for that reason. And like to tie that in with the whole theme of fatherhood, which is like the perfect, I can't think of a more perfect final movie I would want to watch with my dad.
Speaker: But yeah, it but it's it's just it's been consistently a good trilogy and it's just like each movie Finds a way to do something different right to something you kind of mentioned earlier, right? The whole idea of like Iron Man going from this character journey being very selfish and then to becoming self -sacrificing It's a character journey. He goes on a few times in the MCU. Yeah Yeah, and yeah, and yeah
Speaker: I don't mind that. I don't mind that. Obviously you've got some thoughts on that. But what I think was really cool about this is that Gunn found a way to tell new stories with these characters while still keeping them true to those characters. And not new stories in like the Stanley illusion of change way, but new stories in that they grew significantly in each one of these movies. And I thought that,
Speaker: That's a rare town. And I'm not saying this as a point of criticism because it's very fucking hard to do. It's very hard to do. I'm in awe of his craftsmanship and being able to do that. So yeah, it's hard to pick a favorite, but I think I am kind of slightly leaning towards three at the moment.
Speaker: I can see that. Yeah, I think to that point, I think is so refreshing to see an MCU character that doesn't sort of have the same arc over and over again. It is really nice. Like, I mean, it's weird, like the one character that kind of like a slight reset. It's like you can kind of see an Avengers Infinity War that like quills a little bit of like a step back from volume two. You're like, oh, yes.
Speaker: Because Gunn didn't write and direct that movie. Right, yeah. But anyway, Adam, tell people where they can find your stuff. Well, you can find me basically on every social media that is currently existing and probably will exist at Adam Lance Garcia. That's all one word. And you can find my first Star Wars story coming out in Star Wars from a certain point of view, Return of the Jedi. It's publishing August 29.
Speaker: in the United States and probably around the world. Yeah, it's gonna be a good one. Awesome. I'm pretty proud of it. Okay, we'll have a link to the pre -order in the show notes, just like last time when you were on for Green Hornet. So definitely check that out along with the other stuff. Adam, thanks again for coming on. I'm so glad we got to talk about Guardians of the Galaxy 3. We talked about a bunch of gun stuff, but we hadn't had you on an episode to talk about any of the Guardians related stuff. So I'm glad we were able to get you on for this.
Speaker: Always a pleasure, my friend. OK, so that does it for this episode of Superhero Cinephiles. Superherocinephiles .com is the website, SuperCinemapod on Twitter and Instagram. And remember, you subscribe to our Patreon for as little as $1 a month. You get these episodes a week in advance, no ads, plus also access to the Superhero Cinephiles Book Club podcast, where once a month we talk about comic books, graphic novels, all that fun stuff. Thanks for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
Speaker: If you enjoy the Superhero Cinephiles, then you'll also love my companion podcast, the Superhero Cinephiles Book Club. All my Patreon subscribers get access to this exclusive podcast where I review superhero comics and graphic novels. Not sure what comics you want to read next or what you should dive into? I've got you covered on that. I'll be doing reviews, recommendations, and also talking to you about useful entry points if you're interested in reading some comics but don't know where you should start.
Speaker: Plus, you'll get access to all episodes of the main show a week before everyone else. On all of this, for as little as just a dollar a month, all you have to do is go to patreon .com slash supercinemahot and you can sign up at any subscription amount to get started. Thanks so much for your support, and please don't forget to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker: Thank you for listening. And as always, good night. Good evening. God bless.
