Tag: James Gunn
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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Notes on the End of an Era
I fully anticipate that was the last time I’ll enjoy myself at a Marvel theatrical screening. I don’t know that for sure—I found a handful of Phase Four / Five movies somewhere between enjoyable and great (Spider-Man: Far From Home)—but there’s been something off-kilter post-Avengers: Endgame (2019) that the third and (if God is real) final Guardians…
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The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special Flexes Marvel’s Potential
If the DCU’s new “Kevin Feige” approaches his new role as co-CEO with as much heart, joy, and originality as he does with his The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special—at the precise moment in which Marvel appears to be losing some steam—then Hollywood might have a new champion of the comic book movie. MCU director…
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Slither and the Arrival of James Gunn
James Gunn was my first favorite director. And while I know this statement is likely a testament to both my young age and not falling in love with cinema until my late teens, in many ways, I’m glad it took me so long: Gunn’s a perfect first-favorite filmmaker—and Slither (2006), his slimy high-quality B-movie about alien world-eating…
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A Personal, Indefatigable Superhero Outing
The Suicide Squad feels like the twilight of the age of superhero movies, making way for a new form of megablockbuster to exchange places. And if it turns out to be the final moment of light for the genre, it was one of the most unique and indefatigable outings it ever had. A soft reboot…
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The Movie that Did it for Me: “Guardians of the Galaxy”
“What movie made you realize there is something more than what’s on the surface?” For me, the answer is Guardians of the Galaxy. Reading the introduction to Emily Nussbaum’s new book I Like to Watch, she, a Pulitzer Prize winning television critic for The New Yorker, reveals that she ended her Ph.d literature program to…
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Reflections on the James Gunn Scenario
James Gunn is one of the only public figures to largely survive ‘being canceled.’ Gunn, the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy series, was fired by Disney in 2018 for a series of bad-faith tweets from a decade prior. His misguided humor led him to make jokes about rape, child abuse, and pedophila —…
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“Guardians of the Galaxy V2” and the Male Gaze
This piece was originally published on So Anyways: Movies. I love Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, and while I still believe the movie contains an overall beneficial ethic, I wanted to take this time to address an issue that bothers me every time I rewatch it on a rainy or sick day: in Guardians,…
The Transcendent Cinema 