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Topic: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Sam Graham
AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues.

Posts: 1431
From: Waukee, IA
Registered: Dec 2004

posted 08-03-2014 08:46 PM

CINEMA: 13th Avenue Warren, Wichita, KS
AUDITORIUM: 14
PRESENTATION: Dolby Digital Cinema (2D)/THX
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None [Cool]

RATING: Three stars (out of four)

THE PLOT: A woman with a young son selfishly dies of cancer. Wackiness ensues.

Our hero is a dead-on low rent Han Solo knockoff in the spirit of campy low budget 80's Han Solo knockoff characters in a movie that is the spirit of campy low budget 80's Star Wars knockoff movies. Why this needed a $170 million budget I'll never know.

Probably for the music rights, mostly.

Anyway, it was a shit ton of fun, so...

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 08-03-2014 11:17 PM

Kinda reminded me of the classic 1980 "Star Wars" knockoff, yet really really hammered on Akira Kurosawa's classic "Seven Samurai."

The New World release of Roger Corman's

"Battle Beyond the Stars."

The fun and silliness continues ...

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Buck Wilson
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 894
From: St. Joseph MO, USA
Registered: Sep 2010

posted 08-04-2014 01:22 AM

LOVED IT. Seemed the rest of the audience did too.

This movie has people coming back to see it again and again like very few movies do at the theater I work at.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 08-04-2014 11:30 AM

I liked it as well. There were A LOT of ways it reminded me of the original Star Wars movie but in a good way. Unlike a lot of movies of this type, it had interesting dialogue and good humor -- it was kind of like "The Avengers" in that respect. And it had a heart, which many of these films don't.

We watched the 2-D version but from the way things looked, I'd expect the 3-D would be good.

The only complaint I had was there were too many characters to keep track of. I felt lost a time or two, and felt they could have simplified it a bit and made it a bit shorter. But these were minor quibbles. Overall, very entertaining and a worthy addition to the Marvelverse.

4 out of 5 for me.

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Steve Moore
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 211
From: Leeds, West Yorks, UK
Registered: Apr 2008

posted 08-04-2014 03:07 PM

Sam Graham's reviews of films always make me chuckle!
I will see for myself when we get it, this coming Friday at my local establishment

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Connor Wilson
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 190
From: Sterling, VA, USA
Registered: Jan 2011

posted 08-04-2014 04:40 PM

Alamo Drafthouse One Loudoun, Ashburn, VA
August 4th, 12:30pm show
Theater #3
Presented in Sony 4K, Linear PCM 7.1
Issues: None.

I liked how this was a diversion from the traditional MCU movies and we got to see relatively unknown characters. I know Rocket from Marvel vs. Capcom 3, but that's about it. Emmet Brickowski's potrayal of Peter Quill was great, Zoe Saldana seems to be stuck in science fiction, and possibly she'll be remembered for playing kooky aliens and the black chick in Star Trek. Bradley Cooper's Rocket stole the show in a way no snowman voiced by Josh Gad can.

For a phase two Marvel movie, the sound mix was great. After 2013's half-baked mixes for Iron Man 3 and Thor 2, and after seeing Captain America 2 at an unimpressive auditorium, I was wondering how improved it can be if I watched it again in Dolby Atmos.

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Mark Ogden
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 943
From: Little Falls, N.J.
Registered: Jun 99

posted 08-04-2014 06:30 PM

In 3D and "RPX" at the Regal Stadium 12, Nanuet, NY

Pretty much a complete success, as far as I could see. Keeping characters straight was a little dicey, but as far as story, inventiveness, characterization and pure spectacle was concerned, the forthcoming Star Wars movie will have a hard time topping it.

Be sure to stay until the very end of the credits for a special appearance by one of the most beloved characters in all of filmdom. [Wink]

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Terry Lynn-Stevens
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1081
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2012

posted 08-05-2014 12:52 AM

This movie was great. Reminded me very much of an 80's type movie. The characters were great and this movie was funny. I saw it on a Monday night late show to a sold out show that applauded at the end of the film.

I also thought the expanding aspect ratio for the action scenes really worked for this movie as well. The soundtrack was great (this is the rare occasion that I might want to pick up the CD soundtrack). This movie also had the perfect timing for the release and word of mouth is what made me see it so early in the run.

Overall a great time out at the movies.

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 08-05-2014 07:02 PM

One of the rare ones that can be easily watched in 3D and one forgetting that you have glasses on.

-Monte

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Lyle Romer
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1400
From: Davie, FL, USA
Registered: May 2002

posted 08-06-2014 06:38 PM

I would say this movie was ridiculously entertaining. It didn't take itself too seriously like a lot of the comic book adaptations.

It wasn't a "good" movie in the normal sense but it was a fun movie. It might have been ever so slightly too long but it was a perfect summer popcorn movie.

I'd probably say 3 out of 5 stars

quote: Connor Wilson
I was wondering how improved it can be if I watched it again in Dolby Atmos

I haven't seen that many movies in Atmos but this was the best mix I've personally heard. There was a lot of pinpoint surround effects especially during battle sequences and there was noticeable use of the ceiling speakers. One thing that stood out as kind of cool was during one of the mix tape songs, the drums were located in the right rear corner of the auditorium.

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 08-07-2014 07:41 PM

Loved it. Tons of fun.

quote: Sam Graham
Our hero is a dead-on low rent Han Solo knockoff in the spirit of campy low budget 80's Han Solo knockoff characters in a movie that is the spirit of campy low budget 80's Star Wars knockoff movies. Why this needed a $170 million budget I'll never know.

Maybe it is an expensive upgrade of a "Star Wars" knock-off. Maybe it isn't. That's debatable. Even so, STAR WARS was an expensive upgrade of older stuff. (As was RAIDERS.) So I wouldn't hold that against GOTG.

But while we are on the subject of STAR WARS knock-offs, I'd argue that the Special Editions and the Prequels are truly the expensive, unnecessary, unwelcome and unappreciated knock-offs. Much more egregious than GOTG!

quote: Monte L Fullmer
One of the rare ones that can be easily watched in 3D and one forgetting that you have glasses on.

Agreed!

quote: Lyle Romer
I haven't seen that many movies in Atmos but this was the best mix I've personally heard. There was a lot of pinpoint surround effects especially during battle sequences and there was noticeable use of the ceiling speakers. One thing that stood out as kind of cool was during one of the mix tape songs, the drums were located in the right rear corner of the auditorium.

Sounds horribly distracting!

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Stu Jamieson
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 524
From: Buccan, Qld, Australia
Registered: Jan 2008

posted 08-09-2014 08:30 AM

The latest entrant from Marvel Studios is a fairly typical affair in the plot department - stop the bad guy from obtaining the McGuffin which would enable him to enslave the universe blah blah blah with the fully expected showdown finale in which the good guys naturally, narrowly win (sorry for spoiling the ending).

Where the film hits it's stride, though, is in the painting of it's characters - which are a marvellous, dysfunctional and irreverent bunch of varying galactic species with individual agendas converging on a common goal of claiming the reward on a valuable artefact....... oh, and maybe saving the galaxy.

Bradley Cooper is wonderful as the feral, sentient racoon, Rocket. And Chris Pratt's Peter Quill (AKA Starlord) is a good, funny, charismatic hero. Vin Diesel is mostly MIA as the tree creature, Groot, and Zoe Saldana provides some jade eye candy and sass as the honourable assassin, Gamora. And it also has John C. Reilly and Glen Close in perfunctory supporting roles.

With such a great eclectic gaggle of characters it's a shame they don't have something more interesting to do but it sure is fun watching them do it. But, sadly, when the action ramps up, the character interactions ramp down and the film is far less interesting. If it were closer to 90 mins it would be all the better for it as the meagre plot creaks a little under it's given 120 min running time.

But, on the whole, this is a very entertaining movie with a great set of characters and will possibly become a more interesting story when it meshes with The Avengers in a future project.

7.5 out of 10

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Connor Wilson
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 190
From: Sterling, VA, USA
Registered: Jan 2011

posted 08-09-2014 09:05 PM

SECOND VIEWING

Angelika Film Center Mosaic, Fairfax, VA
August 9th, 4:45pm show
Theater #2
Presented in Barco 4K, Dolby 3D, Linear PCM 7.1
Issues: audible HVAC

So I saw this again... In 3D this time. It was close to being a rainy August afternoon so why not? The 3D in Captain America: The Winter Soldier was a mess, but I am happy to report GotG is breathtaking in 3D. Perhaps I was more so impressed because this was the first film I saw in the Dolby 3D system. Sayonara, RealD! Colors pop and depth was realistic. I did not notice any major loss of contrast like RealD does at times. Reds really stuck out for some reason, like the eyes of "Star-Lord's" mask. It was this odd red and I couldn't explain it. Overall, I was pleasantly thrilled with Guardians in 3D.

At this moment in time, Dolby 3D is now my preferred 3D format.

Sound system was not as powerful as Alamo and the HVAC made things worse. The volume was quieter than Alamo.

quote: Lyle Romer
I haven't seen that many movies in Atmos but this was the best mix I've personally heard. There was a lot of pinpoint surround effects especially during battle sequences and there was noticeable use of the ceiling speakers. One thing that stood out as kind of cool was during one of the mix tape songs, the drums were located in the right rear corner of the auditorium.

Having heard the 7.1 mix twice, nothing like you mentioned was replicated. As you know, the right rear corner is an independent zone in 7.1, so I figured something like that could be replicated. The closet thing I heard was the drums in "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" set in the front right, slightly panned to the right wall. This briefly happened for a verse, but the drums spread once the chorus hit.

I know you heard it in Atmos, but that leaves me wondering if a different mix was prepared for Atmos. Normally, I thought the Atmos mix was the master, then it was folded down to 7.1 for more theaters, and 5.1 for all theaters. Can anyone confirm this? If so, what song was it?

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Geoff Jones
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 579
From: Broomfield, CO, USA
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 08-09-2014 09:15 PM

I saw both Raiders of the Lost Ark and Guardians of the Galaxy in the theatre last week with my daughters (6 & 10).

I thought Raiders was a blast and GotG was meh. All style and no substance.

At first I thought maybe it was because I'm getting to be an old fart, but my daughters had the same reaction (about the films, not about dad being a fart. But yeah, they would probably agree with that too).

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Terry Monohan
Master Film Handler

Posts: 379
From: San Francisco CA USA
Registered: May 2014

posted 08-10-2014 11:13 AM

Another movie shot in 2-D and converted to save money to phony 3-D. Saw It on the small IMAX screen at the AMC Van Ness Theatre in San Francisco CA. Not much 3-D action coming out at you, looked like they had two projectors going and It looked bright. I liked the change of scope to flat so It filled the full screen top to bottom at times. A new theatre manager 'Joe' has come into this AMC house in SF. He is from the East Coast and remembers D-150 and all the nice 70mm type roadshow theatre he went to as a kid. I told him about Dolby Atmos they have in cinema #10 and they never advertise It or run very many movies in that system. I think he will change this. I told him to order some Dolby Atmos posters and banners to put up in the lobby. AMC won't advertise in the newspapers in SF so It's hard to find out any information on the sound system used. Dolby is in SF and they do a lousy job promoting this new sound theatre system.

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