Just got back into the states yesterday. Will go see today. Looks like it is going over well at the box office...

http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2014&p=.htm

I usually hit matinee movies because they are cheap and often no more than 2 dozen others in the theater. Went to the closer movie house that has awesome leather reclining seats and good sound. Sadly, it was sold out (except for the front row, they now do reserved seating). This was a 10:40AM showing.

WTF?!?!

A sold out showing before noon of a movie that's been out for 3 weeks?! Again, WTF?! Ended up seeing it in IMAX 3D (or what passes for IMAX outside of museums these days).

Movie was awesome. Absolutely loved it. Easily top 3 of all Marvel movies IMO. Arguably #1 for me, based on the fact that I love space based stories. The cosmic stories are more fun for me, so I easily enjoyed this movie over the others. Admittedly, CA2 was the more polished movie, but GotG was the most fun for me. I will likely see this again. In 2D this time. Super high expectations for GotG2.

Only thing I didn't like was Pace's portrayal of Ronan. Was very flat to me.

Anyone recognize Nathan Fillion? I didn't. Had to look it up.

I didn't mind Ronan. My biggest problem with the movie is Merle.

Also, this might explain why it's sold out:

http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2014&p=.htm

It's going to easily pass Captain America 2, I would think.

Absolutely. He took me out of the moment every time he and his so-out-of-place southern drawl showed up.

I really don't mind the southern drawl. It is associated with being out of your element, dirty, children of the corn-ish. I don't feel that way, at all. But it happens all the time in movies. Want the audience to feel unsettled? Throw some scuzzy mother****er out there with a drawl.

Happens all the time in cinema. I'm not sure why people are bitching now.

I didn't mind Rooker as much as I expected to. Seemed like Gunn wrapped the Yondu character around the accent. Don't get me wrong, I could have done without the drawl, but at least the acting was appropriate for the character. And Rooker fits the stereotype you'd think of for the role. I stopped watching Walking Dead awhile back, so that probably helped too.

Ronan on the other hand, was just stiff. He also seemed rather effeminate. Not sure how to explain it. Kind of sad though, that they seemed to turn Ronan into a throw away plot device as a means to introduce Thanos. Can't wait for Thanos, but as disappointed as I was in Pace, I still love Ronan.

I assume that Ronan isn't DEAD dead, right? I mean, he plays a pretty big role in the galactic scope of the Marvel Universe....

I can't imagine permanently. How many characters have actually died in Marvel? 1? 2? Though I do think Marvel needs to get a few more stories out before introducing the fact that nobody ever dies.

Ronan is normally a good guy in the comics as well so they went pretty far outside of his character in the comics. In the comics he is extremely ideological, but not genocidal. I just read War of Kings and he is pretty central in that with the Kree/Inhumans fighting the Shi'Ar.

On a side note, for those that enjoy reading comics, Marvel Unlimited is a really good deal. It's like around $70 per year but you have online access to a shitload of comics, and quite a bit of recent stuff. So if you are like me and have a ton of catching up to do, it's not a bad deal.

They kill plenty of people off.


They just bring them back nearly every time. Which cheapens the whole story and lessens any character death from then on...

Thanos dies like every 15 minutes it seems like. But his story is all about wanting to die but Death not wanting to give him what he wants. So each time he comes back he is even more maniacal in trying to impress Death so she will actually let him die.

Well, that was pretty damn quick...

http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2014&p=.htm

<table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="1" bgcolor="#ffffff"><tbody><tr bgcolor="#dcdcdc"><td align="center">Rank</td><td align="center">Movie Title (click to view)</td><td align="center">Studio
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr><td>
</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td colspan="2" align="center">Total Gross / Theaters</td><td colspan="2" align="center">Opening / Theaters</td><td align="center">Open</td><td align="center">Close</td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td align="center">1</td><td>Guardians of the Galaxy</td><td>BV</td><td align="right">$262,142,000</td><td align="right">4,088</td><td align="right">$94,320,883</td><td align="right">4,080</td><td align="right">8/1</td><td align="right">-</td></tr><tr bgcolor="#f4f4ff"><td align="center">2</td><td>Captain America: The Winter Soldier</td><td>BV</td><td align="right">$259,766,572</td><td align="right">3,938</td><td align="right">$95,023,721</td><td align="right">3,938</td><td align="right">4/4</td><td align="right">8/21</td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td align="center">3</td><td>The LEGO Movie</td><td>WB</td><td align="right">$257,750,402</td><td align="right">3,890</td><td align="right">$69,050,279</td><td align="right">3,775</td><td align="right">2/7</td><td align="right">-</td></tr><tr bgcolor="#f4f4ff"><td align="center">4</td><td>Transformers: Age of Extinction</td><td>Par.</td><td align="right">$243,950,966</td><td align="right">4,233</td><td align="right">$100,038,390</td><td align="right">4,233</td><td align="right">6/27</td><td align="right">-</td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td align="center">5</td><td>Maleficent</td><td>BV</td><td align="right">$237,841,302</td><td align="right">3,948</td><td align="right">$69,431,298</td><td align="right">3,948</td><td align="right">5/30</td><td align="right">-</td></tr><tr bgcolor="#f4f4ff"><td align="center">6</td><td>X-Men: Days of Future Past</td><td>Fox</td><td align="right">$232,814,528</td><td align="right">4,001</td><td align="right">$90,823,660</td><td align="right">3,996</td><td align="right">5/23</td><td align="right">-</td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td align="center">7</td><td>Dawn of the Planet of the Apes</td><td>Fox</td><td align="right">$204,419,991</td><td align="right">3,969</td><td align="right">$72,611,427</td><td align="right">3,967</td><td align="right">7/11</td><td align="right">-</td></tr><tr bgcolor="#f4f4ff"><td align="center">8</td><td>The Amazing Spider-Man 2</td><td>Sony</td><td align="right">$202,853,933</td><td align="right">4,324</td><td align="right">$91,608,337</td><td align="right">4,324</td><td align="right">5/2</td><td align="right">8/17</td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td align="center">9</td><td>Godzilla (2014)</td><td>WB</td><td align="right">$200,672,193</td><td align="right">3,952</td><td align="right">$93,188,384</td><td align="right">3,952</td><td align="right">5/16</td><td align="right">-</td></tr><tr bgcolor="#f4f4ff"><td align="center">10</td><td>22 Jump Street</td><td>Sony</td><td align="right">$190,267,743</td><td align="right">3,426</td><td align="right">$57,071,445</td><td align="right">3,306</td><td align="right">6/13</td><td align="right">-</td></tr></tbody></table>

Pratt is dominating.

Pretty cool. At least the top 3 highest grossing movies of the year are legitimately great movies.