Since my Disney+ subscription ends on the 15th, I've been speeding up my MCU viewing. Friday I watched Guardians of the Galaxy and Saturday I watched Age of Ultron. Like most of the MCU movies, which I've been watching in order of release, it was only the second time I'd seen them and both of them were better than I remembered.
Also, anyone else notice the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie begins with the protagonist alone, dancing and kicking ass to a pop song, and ends with the heroes triumphing by joining hands to contain the tremendous energy of the deus ex machina--just like Deadpool and Wolverine? The dancing is not so meta in Guardians of the Galaxy of course and the comedy comes from the fact that we, as an audience, are not sure how much this guy is a doofus or just so beyond the level of threat posed by this strange planet. It has a bigger impact than Deadpool's fourth wall breaking because of it. I remember not liking the end of Guardians of the Galaxy originally. I'm still not terribly fond of this terrific menace being stopped by the power of friendship. But I was enjoying how well James Gunn established these characters and their dynamics so I didn't get too impatient with it. It helped that I knew it was coming.
Gamora's so much sexier and more feminine in the first film! She even wears a skirt. Alas, for times gone by.
Age of Ultron was not necessarily better than I remembered so much as better than I got used to accepting it as being. Everyone has been so down on it for so long I guess I drank a little of that Kool-Aid. But in some ways I think it's better than the first Avengers. I liked the conflict between Tony and Steve, how Tony fully believes we need powerful defenses to stop the unknown from space, and how Cap thinks all decisions should be reached by the team together, implying Tony shouldn't be left to his own devices. I like the line Cap has later while they're chopping wood, about how badly it's gone every time someone's tried to stop a war before it starts. All the same, I think Tony's clearly in the right, especially since "Trying to stop a war before it starts" is too broad a statement. Would it really have been safe for one superpower to just give up the arms race?
And I happen to enjoy Joss Whedon's cutesy clever lines. I like Ultron's line, "Keep your friends rich, keep your enemies rich, and then see which is which." I also liked how it gave away that his subconscious was still influenced by Tony Stark, whom he was unwittingly quoting.
It's still hard to believe Joss Whedon is exiled from Hollywood. For my money, his Avengers movies are a lot better than the Russo brothers'. But Disney can't even consider bringing him back I guess. I wonder if it was in any way loyalty to Whedon that James Spader didn't come back to voice Ultron in Multiverse of Madness. Spader's performance as Ultron is great, especially as his vocal mannerisms are similar to Robert Downey Jr.'s. Maybe because they both came out of those '80s Brat Pack films.
I wonder what the story was behind the score for Age of Ultron. It reuses Alan Silvestri's Avengers theme from the first film but the credited composers are Brian Tyler and Danny Elfman. That's a lot of chefs in the kitchen.
X Sonnet #1870
Concealing arms was never wise for feet.
Amounting not to fists, the rings persuade.
Enthralling shows deserve a mighty feat.
Contrary birds a chaos ghost dissuade.
Beginning dances drop the spool of thought.
Derangement wears a bonny bow for sport.
Conditioned cats could claw a flower cot.
Around the world, we crave a little mort.
Forgotten metals build a house for gum.
Returning snacks invite the tender tooth.
Progressive nights improve for mixing rum.
Denial makes a wafer cake of truth.
Proportion lies about the state of peaks.
Acknowledged crimes were really artful leaks.
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