Uhm... Yeah... That Was A Thing... - A Guardians of the Galaxy Movie Review

Intro

Alrighty... so... I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy last night. I'm gonna say right off the bat that my opinion of it is probably controversial in that I wasn't all that impressed. I don't know what it was, but Guardians of the Galaxy just didn't hit me the way any of the other Marvel movies had. I've been attempting to piece together why this is but... yeah... I haven't figured it out yet.

So there's my non-spoiler-y review. The rest of the review is a little oddly structured but it's what I started coming up with at 1 AM this morning so... deal with it.

SPOILER WARNING

The following content is filled with spoilers for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. If you haven't seen it and are spoiler-phobic, you should stop reading right now and go watch it. If anything, you'll be giving Marvel some more money... and also Disney... but whatever. At least go watch it.

Almost Instant Thoughts - 1 AMish

• Uhm... yeah... that was definitely a thing.
• It was a great ride, but forgive me if I'm not singing the usual post-Marvel-movie praises.
• Lord knows I'm all for the lived-in, grungy feeling of my sci-fi stuff, but would a couple of light bulbs have killed them?
• This is probably the Marvel movie I'll go back and watch only once, if only to try and figure out what I'm not getting about the apparent brilliance.
• I laughed at the funny lines, I teared up at one point, I found the post-credits scene funny. But other than that... I'm clearly underwhelmed. My memory of Guardians of the Galaxy at this point is of space ships and shrapnel... okay, and baby Groot dancing. That was adorable.

I didn't do this. Showed up in my Facebook feed.

Even Later Thoughts - Somewhere between 1 and 3 AMish

• Gamora's speech patterns are now reminding me of Kida from Atlantis.
• I think I would have been happier with more Star Lord dancing around being a dork than the space battles.
• Ronan... yeah... I'd rather have had a villain I actually cared about than one who was essentially a big block of nothing. It wasn't even interesting watching him fight... like watching Superman... which I don't because it's boring. (Yes, I know, hate on me for hating on Supes. Go ahead. I don't care.)

Over 12 Hours Later Thoughts

This is where the review gets to be less random... or at least out of bullet points.

I went and read someone else's review of Guardians. It was actually more of a discussion about Guardians vs Avengers... or something. Anyway, you can look at it HERE. Anyway, there's a lot of gushing in it about the quote-ability of Guardians. I gotta say, I didn't find this to be the case. I can barely remember any lines from the movie proper. Seriously, the only line that comes to mind at the moment is Rocket saying "Oh Yeah." when getting his gun in the prison... which was in the trailers so... I don't count it.

Yondu and his crew were pretty forgettable as far as I'm concerned. I thought Yondu's whistle arrow thing was cool but that was pretty much the extent of my interest. I'm honestly more interested in the throw-away line at the end about having been hired to deliver Quill to his father. When was that? Why didn't it happen? Who the hell is actually Quill's father? I'd pick up a comic book or Wiki that to find out but at the same time, I honestly don't care that much.

Maybe that's what it comes down to with me. I just don't care enough about the Guardians of the Galaxy characters to have enjoyed the movie so much. Well... that and the shit ton of space battles. I don't really like those. I'm more invested in the other Marvel movies because I'm more familiar with the characters outside the movies... even if it's pretty much hating them for one reason or another... *cough*Spiderman*cough*

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Guardians of the Galaxy was a great ride. It's a ride I won't rewatch a hundred and five times, but it was fun. I don't regret watching it. I don't regret actually paying for it (I have some free movie tickets coming in the mail and I was gonna wait for those but didn't). I will cherish my memories of watching Star Lord dance around like a dork using a weird critter for a microphone and of baby Groot dancing adorably. But overall, Guardians of the Galaxy fell sort of flat for me.

Love ya, Jessie

X-Men: First Class, Again... I Think... - repost

Originally Posted: September 12, 2011

I went and bought the X-Men: First Class DVD today. And then I watched it. This was my second time seeing it, and I still love it. All of it. I don't think any future viewings are going to be chopped up into my favorite scenes. Each scene is engaging in it's own right, as well as adding to the overall movie. The other X-Men movies... not so much. I tend to skip through the movies to the fun scenes.

Other than that, my day has been pretty much playing games on Neopets. They've got this thing called "Scores Galore" going on all weekend. This means that instead of being able to get Neopoints for three scores, you get Neopoints for five. I've been using the extra neopoints generated to buy items for my stamp album and my plushie collection.

Love ya, Jessie.

Fandom

Hello again. So sorry I haven't posted in over a month... comes from being distracted by other things. However, I had this little thing niggling at me at 1 AM, so I wrote it down and here it is:

So, I've had a few people scoff at me for liking certain things -- one of which was My Little Pony. Instead of just walking away from what was sure to turn into an online confrontation, I asked them if they'd ever seen an episode of the afforementioned My Little Pony. A couple of them answered in the negative. I've only ever had one person say they'd seen it and didn't get it.

     My next question was "Why not?" Okay, actually, I sent them something that essentially said "don't knock it till you've tried it." But I did eventually get around to discussing why they either hadn't seen it or why they're come to decide not to even try it.

     The answer, to my surprise, had to do with the fandom. Us Bronies are apparently too crazy or something. The reason this surprised me was my own experience with fandom. The Brony community is generally not made up of crazed individuals. In fact, a prevailing mantra we have is to love and tolerate.

I'm not saying there aren't those of us who aren't a bit crazed, but those are the minority.

     This then led to other discussions with other people about other things. One person I talked to had never read any of the Harry Potter books nor seen any of the movies. When I asked why this was, they cited fandom as the reason. Nothing specific about their personal tastes, just that fandom puts them off the entire thing. Not reading the books because they don't want to be associated with the fandom.

     As a memeber of multiple fandoms (including but not specifically limited to, My Little Pony, Harry Potter, Twilight, and Doctor Who) this citing of fandom as a reason not to get into things has me confused. I find pretty much all of the fandoms I'm in have such nice people as members. We're not like some exclusive club or anything. We're just people who like something and want to share and discuss it. There's a place for everyone. And yes, that includes the crazy contingent.

     But really, is that small minority what puts people off? Is the fanbase a valid reason not to give something a try? I don't get it. It's not like liking something means you have to actively participate in fandom. I generally don't.

     Okay, yes, I have written fanfiction in the past. I do draw ponies for people and post them to DeviantArt. But for the most part, my fan-participation badges only include listening to podcasts, listening to music, looking at art, and reading fanfiction. I'm a fairly passive fan. I don't even do all of those things for every fandom. Heck, some of my fandoms don't even have any of those.

     Personally, I don't feel like fandoms are represented in a good light by outsiders. Take the Bronies, for example. Boys, grown men, and grown women liking pastel colored ponies aimed at little girls. They're weird. There's something wrong with them. Right? Wrong. Bronies are just people who like this brilliantly animated, brilliantly written cartoon. We make wonderful art. We write some of the best music I've ever had the pleasure to listen to. Hell, we even contribute to charity. What is so wrong with that?

     The real answer is this: NOTHING.

     Society has these things they call "norms." "Norms" basically take people and shove them into ill-fitting boxes. If you don't fit in your box, you're automatically an outcast. But people don't fit into "norm" boxes and never have. If you think you do, you're wrong. We're all different and we all want to be accepted for who we are and what we like. That's where fandoms come in. We take a group of people who like something and we turn that group into a community. Everyone has a place. We share, we make friends, we have fun! That's what fandom is all about.

     So maybe you're afraid to get into something because of fandom. I encourage you not to be. There's a place for you, even if you choose not to participate. Try it anyway. Who knows, you might find something you like.