Now I want start off by saying that I am by no means a stone-hearted cynical guy. I love all kinds of films, from critically acclaimed Oscar winners to gory horrors, to schlocky rom-coms and slow-burning thrillers, I can appreciate any genre and am not a movie snob. Perhaps then, that is why I was so disappointed by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. I expected to love this, as I did the first one, but instead I was left utterly dissatisfied. This film was about 25 minutes too long for starters, which made the barrage of “Uh, he’s behind me isn’t he?” style jokes all the more exhausting, and the villains and side characters were utterly forgettable – here’s another genocidal maniac who thinks he’s doing good for the world, because we’ve never seen one of those before. What was awesome in the film was the brilliant team fight sequences, but there were literally two of them in the whole movie. Then comes the topic of Rocket’s supposedly heart-wrenching backstory. How can we make people instantly sad without creating any meaningful story? I know! Let’s have cute animals getting tested on – I’m sorry but it just felt cheap. I mean come on, they literally had a “it’s not your time to join us” heaven scene! The whole movie just felt so lazy, which is why it is so shocking that it has a 4.2 on Letterboxd.
Controversially, I feel that The Shawshank Redemption (1994) is criminally overrated (excuse the pun) and should not be #1 at the top of IMDB’s Top 250 Movies list. Although it is undoubtedly a great film, it seems to lack certain qualities that I would expect in such a highly rated flick; its mundane and mild manner makes the film feel a lot longer than it is; almost like our very own prison sentence. It is arguably not director Frank Darabont’s best Stephen King adaptation either, with The Green Mile (1999) an equally compelling and gut wrenching prison flick. When I watch a film, I love to feel emotion and really get into the story and the characters alike, however, upon watching The Shawshank Redemption it is hard to find anything that truly makes me feel like that (yes, Brookes makes me cry but that's it). I truly think it is a great film that has and will continue to stand the test of time, but placing it above films such as The Godfather (1972) and Schindler’s List (1993) seems slightly shocking.
Iron Man (2008) introduced the audience to Nick Fury in it's post credit scene and kicked off a trend of post-credit scenes * teasing audiences about future films. At first it was fun waiting through the credits to watch Marvel tease the next film or reference characters such as Howard the Duck. But now everyone is hopping on the bandwagon. I never wait through credits at the cinema anymore, usually dashing off for a wee straight away. Look I get it, post-credits scenes are fun and sets up sequels but does every single film need a post-credits scene? Absolutely not. Tell me why Super Mario Bros had one. Why could those last thirty seconds just be added to the end of the film? Yes, it might be a way of getting audiences to watch credits and acknowledge all the names of individuals who made the film, but who doesn't just skip the credits at home. Also, those poor cinema workers waiting for people to leave so they can clean up. I'm so over post-credit scenes.
* I do acknowledge that the Pirates of the Caribbean films had post-credits scenes, predating the MCU.