Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

[00:00:02] This is a Bramble Jam Podcast. Hi, I'm Bran and I love raccoons. Hi, I'm Ryan and I love raccoons. I'm Dan and release the Drak spinoff, you cowards, and this is the Deck The Hallmark Podcast.

[00:00:40] Fresh from RangerCon. MorphinCon. MorphinCon. It's not that either, what is it? Power Morphicon. Power Morphicon. Yeah, Bran nailed it. Morphicon. Morphicon. Morphicon. I think they wanted it to be RangerCon, but there is a RangerCon. Also, there's a bunch of other types of Rangers. Park Rangers, Texas Rangers, a lot of Rangers. Dude, the Park RangerCon is nuts. Oh my God. Walker, Texas RangerCon is wild. Crazy. People just start fighting. All these Chuck Norris lookalikes in there. Yeah.

[00:01:08] Have you guys ever gone down the rabbit hole of those crazy Walker, Texas Ranger clips? They're insane. The only one that I'll go out of my way of watching is the one with the Sixth Sense Kid. Harry Joel Osment. Well, yeah. What he says, Walker told me I have AIDS. He told me I have AIDS. Sorry. An all-time. Unreal. An all-time. I remember watching that show, which- It's Little Mystery U. I think came on after Early Edition for a brief moment. I could be wrong there. What? Double feature. So I want a double feature. True.

[00:01:38] But that show, I remember thinking that was normal. That was just normal America. Yeah. Yeah. There's a great one where you're just looking at somebody by a pond, then all of a sudden just a big paddling oar enters frame and knocks them in the face. What a show. What a show. How was your weekends? It was incredible. Yeah. It was awesome. Genuinely, I couldn't have drafted up a better bachelor party. Dan, I watched from afar. We did. We did.

[00:02:08] We went out there. Yeah, we did. We went to Anaheim. We just, we had the binoculars on. That's right. Yep. You guys must have been sweating. Hey, early edition, Saturdays on CBS, early editions at 8, Walker, Texas Ranger at 9. Walker was a Saturday night show? Yeah. Saturday night used to be a TV slot that mattered. I know that that's before you guys knew much of how to do anything. That was like 95, 96. You guys were all really small, tiny, tiny babies. But I just, Saturday night and Friday night were big. They were big time.

[00:02:37] Well, Friday night, no, absolutely. I mean, I think we should bring that back. That was before you guys knew how to do anything. I was going to say knew how to read or write, but there's a chance at 5, you could have known some of that. I feel like Saturday afternoon used to be big. I still don't. We should bring that back. We should bring back big time Saturday afternoon television. Saturday night, Friday night. But that's before you could watch more than one football game. So the problem was, like now you can watch every football game. So of course, nobody's going to try to put new television on Saturday night. They should just play old Walker episodes in the Saturday night time slot.

[00:03:05] Or early edition episodes. Football basically being every night of the week has really ruined TV. It's stupid. The opening NFL game is a Wednesday this year. It's a Wednesday. What are we doing? Stop it. We're doing Wednesday. I don't want football on my Wednesdays. Sorry. Wow. Sorry, not sorry. Not my Wednesdays. Dude, I don't need it. I don't need it. It's every Monday, every Thursday, every Sunday. And all day Saturday for college. Yeah. It's too much. It's a lot.

[00:03:35] It's a lot. But yeah, no. It was great. Christmas Day is not sacred anymore. I just don't want to dilute my red zone. You know what I mean? Like, I went there to be eight games to nine games in that first window at one o'clock. You don't want to dilute it. You want a vivid red. That's right. That's right. Yeah, I want it to be. They didn't catch everything. They got to show you touchdowns that they missed. That's what I want. And if we keep doing all these days, it's going to be like, all right, we got five games in the early window and two in the late window. And I'm going to. Why? Why have it? Yeah, we need that. We need to beef up.

[00:04:05] Thank you. You get it. Beef up the late window. We've all been saying it. How are you feeling about your squad this year? Oh, not good. Oh, they're going to be bad. Not as bad as the Dolphins. I bet you they would wax the Dolphins. Yeah, I think the Dolphins will have the first pick. But I mean, I'm hoping. I mean, like, listen, we don't need to get into the Sean Watson of it all. But I hope I'm actively, at least right now, rooting for the Browns to be very bad to end this nightmare. And it is a bold move to still throw out the guy, the crowd boots. Like, just be like, you know what?

[00:04:35] Yeah. He's our guy. You're paying him tens of millions of dollars. That's Dan's boy from Clemson. God, I don't do it. He is the best quarterback to ever play at Clemson. He was amazing at Clemson. But no, he's not my guy. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know. But I'm excited for football. I'm excited for football. But yeah, I mean, it's a raucous month here. We just, you know, went hard at the bachelor party. That's the early review. You went hard, but you guys have some, like, tea?

[00:05:05] Or, like, I know you don't drink. I mean, those guys, my two groomsmen do drink. They didn't, I mean, they might have had, like, a beer with dinner. But yeah, no, I mean, I don't think they didn't, like, drink. It's like, I don't think, like, Morphicon is like a, let's get plastered and head to the Green Ranger's table. Tailgate outside of Morphicon. Yeah. Yeah. I got to say, Morphicon, well-run event. Doors at 10. Everyone was in the door by 10.05. Wow. And it was not like there weren't any people. Like, I mean, just like, they were on it. I had my doubts, but they crushed. Good for them. That's a lot of money, but maybe we talk about that another day. Another day. You got to. It's your bachelor party.

[00:05:35] It's Morphicon. It's dreams coming true, Ryguy. If you're going to spend money, there's the time to spend it. Thank you. I appreciate that. I did pretty well at Disney. I only bought a couple things at Disney, so I feel like that all even. Wow. You got them close by? I got, look at this thing. I got, this, I needed water at the park. Look at this cute little canister. That's a cute canister. Yeah, it says Disneyland on it. That's a cute canister. What'd that cost you? 30? That was, I think, 30, yeah. Are you serious? I think it was 20 or 30. Look at this. That screams Ryguy right there.

[00:06:05] That's an oversized boy. Oversized boy. I went large on these. What's he doing there? He's emptying out a bag of trick-or-treat candy. Yeah, like, I'm not a big Halloween guy, Brad. I'm like, you know, let's get to November 1st. Am I right? Yeah. But I liked this. Yeah. I liked this. And then I bought an X-Men backpack. Oh, actually, I do. I can show you that. But then I, basically, I also got that. Oh, wow. You said a couple things, and you're about to break out a backpack for number four. That is a great shirt. Great shirt. Thank you. That was, for those listening, that was Aladdin. It was the genie.

[00:06:35] That was a genie. That's right. I'm sorry. This was only 50 bucks. It's like, what do you call this? Oh, a shoulder bag. A shoulder bag. But it was, I forgot a backpack, so I literally needed something for the parks. What is that theme? What is this? This is X-Men. Yeah. This is X-Men. So, how much were the shirts? I think like $35 each. Oh, the shirts were as much as that tiny little cup? The cup's the only one that I think you got ripped off on. $30.

[00:07:01] So, the thing is, I knew I was going to buy the X-Men thing, and then the water holders on the backpack were a little narrower than I'd like. So, you got to have it. So, I said, you know. So, you got to have it. That's all there is to it. To me, this is pretty practical. I can use this in daily life somehow. Yeah, but it's also small. I feel like I'd be filling it up all the time. I feel like. I was. I was dehydrated terribly. But, like, you know. Out the door, $135, not including food for a day at Disneyland? That's not bad.

[00:07:27] Yeah, and my Alyssa was very, very nice and surprised us with our big dinner one night, and then my groomsmen covered dinner at Goofy's Kitchen the next time. Yeah, it was your bachelor. You were crushing it. That was great. Yeah, I mean, so. I mean, granted, Morphicon was expensive. But, no, we had a great. And then, hey, shout-outs real quick, because I don't want to forget. Can we do the shout-outs? Can we do the shout-outs? Let's do the shout-outs, right, guys? Real quick. I know people are like, oh, man, I'm missing what we do the other week, t-shirt talk. Yeah.

[00:07:56] People are like, oh, I'm clamoring for t-shirt. Shout-out to A.T. Shire, who basically gifted me a Sega Saturn. Gave it to me for the cost of shipping three games, four games, I think, a controller. That dude rules. That dude does rule. Shout-out A.T. Shire. Yeah. No question. Producer of Who What When? Also producer of Bramble Fest, paid with sword.

[00:08:20] So if you factor in what I saved on the Saturn, what I saved on the meals, I actually think it basically all even does. You actually made money. It's my least favorite kind of math. I think I made money. You made money. Do you know how I bought a bunch of stuff I didn't need? Well, if you factor in I got this thing I didn't need for free, I mean, it's basically all free. Hey, did you know? I think this will arrive before Alyssa listens to this days from now. Do you know that Disney, they give you the postage?

[00:08:49] They send out the postcards for you? I didn't know that. The mailbox is at the hotels. It's actually like a really lovely thing. That's cool. That's cool. That's a fun little. Disney has a lot of little touches like that. Like, I'm more of a universal guy than a Disney guy, but Disney has some touches like that that are great. Oh, I know it. Oh, don't I know it? Yeah. You want to talk about Guardians 3? Yeah, let's talk about it. I guess we could, you know. Let's talk Guardians 3. I feel like I'm going to sneeze at some point. Thank you for that update. Just do it during the thing.

[00:09:22] Of Disneyland, premiered April 22, 2023, Disneyland Paris. Disneyland Paris. Disneyland Paris. Paris is always a good idea. Right. And then everywhere else, May 5, 2023. So a couple weeks earlier there for the Disneyland Paris. And it went a little something like this. The Guardians of the Galaxy have settled into their new headquarters on Nowhere, but their peace does not last long because Adam Warlock, who is a powerful warrior created by the sovereign high priestess,

[00:09:52] Shut out. Shut out. Attacks the Guardians in an attempt to get revenge for them stealing from her, if you recall. He critically injures Rocket before Nebula is able to stab him in return. Unfortunately, the Guardians discover that they can't save Rocket because Orgo Corp, the organization that experimented on him back in the day, implanted a kill switch on him. That's tough.

[00:10:21] So with Rocket's life hanging in the balance, the Guardians set off to see if they can find the override code that could save his life. As Rocket is lying there dying, lifeless, basically, we learn a tragic backstory of how he became the Rocket that we know and, for the most part, love. As a baby raccoon, Rocket was captured and experimented on by the High Evolutionary, the leader of Orgo Corp.

[00:10:47] The High Evolutionary is basically obsessed with creating a perfect society by genetically modifying animals into intelligent humanoid creatures. Let's call them humanimals. Rocket proves to be unusually intelligent compared to all the other ones, and the High Evolutionary uses his ideas to improve future generations of human animals.

[00:11:11] But instead of being proud of Rocket, the High Evolutionary ends up becoming jealous of Rocket and is concerned that he's going to be able to solve problems that he can't. So he decides to remove Rocket's brain and destroy the rest of his human animals' friends. Yep. You got it.

[00:11:32] Rocket attacks him in a rage and takes down his baddies that are helping him out and escapes in a spaceship, eventually becoming the Rocket that we know today. Got it? Good. Back in the present, the Guardians enlist the help of an alternate version of Gamora, who is now a member of the Ravagers.

[00:11:53] Together, they break into Orgo Corp and they steal Rocket's file, only to discover that Thiel, one of High Evolutionary's advisors, has taken the override code. Off to Counter-Earth they go to confront the High Evolutionary, and the Guardians quickly discover just how dangerous the High Evolutionary really is because he's planning to destroy this entire planet.

[00:12:18] They capture Thiel and get the code to shut down Rocket's kill switch, but Rocket's heart stops in the process, sending him to a near-death experience where he sees all the human animals, his friends again, and they tell him that his time is not over and Peter Quill restarts his heart. There's also a group of kids at the Guardians rescue because it's just what we do in superhero movies now. And Rocket also discovers a group of imprisoned animals on the ship.

[00:12:47] The High Evolutionary confronts him, and the Guardians defeat him, but Rocket chooses not to kill him. The Guardians help the animals and children escape to nowhere. Peter Quill nearly dies while trying to make it back, but Adam Warlock ends up saving him after Groot had saved him from the destruction of the ship. With the mission now over, Peter decides it's time to leave the Guardians.

[00:13:14] He names Rocket the new captain before returning to Earth and reuniting with his grandpapa. Rocket is now the lead, and a new team of Guardians are ready to guard the galaxy. And that, my friends, was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. We did it. We did do it. Let's take a break. You didn't sneeze, dude. I know a sneeze watch was just a lie. I ended up having more of a throat issue. Okay, great. So.

[00:13:45] Got it. What a tangled web we weave. I tell you what, human beings' bodies are nuts. Let's take a break. We'll come back. We'll break this movie down here on Deck the Hallmark. Hello, everybody. Welcome back. We're talking Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. We are getting closer and closer by the week to being all caught up.

[00:14:14] We're getting there, folks. That's right. Yeah, mid to late October. We'll be all caught up. That's right. Ready for doomsday. All right. Let's talk Guardians 3 shower and start with the hot take. It's where we share exactly how we felt about this movie. We do not hold back. I will start with you, Rye Guy. Rye Guy. Guardians Vol. 3. Volume. Whee! Whee! Or volume. Gee, that wasn't great. Gee whiz. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:14:42] So I saw this at Disneyland Paris at the premiere. Wow. Wow. Good for you, dude. Thanks, man. I was like, wee wee. So I was like, volume wee wee. So I saw this in theaters. I really liked it, but thought my initial impression was that I thought it was a tad too long and that there was, from my recollection of it, that there was a brief lull in the second hour in the weird neighborhood. That was my memory of it.

[00:15:10] I also wasn't sure, this is obviously before I knew we were doing this exercise, I'd ever rewatch it because the Rocket stuff, although excellent. It's so tough. It's a really tough watch. Um, it's also, is it, let's just start there. Is it emotionally manipulative? Absolutely. 100%. Um, but sign me up for that stuff nine times out of 10, as long as it's good. Right. Um, I, upon rewatch hadn't watched this since Disneyland Paris. Um, I have this ninth overall.

[00:15:39] Holy moly. I, I really, really liked it. I would say it's a very forgettable villain and we're by and large playing the hits, but I think like, you know, guns, uh, you know, guardians of the galaxy for yeah. What in the world? I have to like six, six, you said a bunch of stuff that I would think would at least keep it from being in the top 10. Yeah, I have. So I have guard.

[00:16:04] So interestingly, I have guardians one sixth, this one ninth and then guardians two. I still have next to last. Wow. So a real, a real interesting, uh, you know, average score there. Um, I think this movie's sole and primary goal was to, uh, in a, in a, uh, cinematic universe that is always looking to do the next thing. And at this point where we are is having, has no idea what the next thing is.

[00:16:33] James Jones already jumped to DC. Yeah. He's already gone. Um, I don't remember where we are in the Jonathan major saga at this point, but like things are changing rapidly. Honestly, all of these post credit scenes for the last four or five weeks have meant absolutely nothing. Uh, like, even though we didn't know that at the time, like this movies was like, people enjoy these characters. People have enjoyed these movies, even if we didn't enjoy the second one. Um, and we're going to, we're going to wrap this thing up. That's really the sole reason why we're here.

[00:17:01] And that really worked for me. All of the jokes landed. Um, like I said, the rocket stuff, who's always been one of my favorite characters. Um, again, although definitely, you know, intentionally pulling at us with all of these sad animal faces who have been disfigured and, and dismembered. It all really works. It's an incredible performance from a CGI raccoon. Uh, like, uh, put it on the box. Yeah.

[00:17:30] Um, it's interesting that this is another movie from this phase that I have ranked pretty high, but like, again, it has nothing. Dan, you said this about a movie a couple of weeks ago. I think it was, oh, it was Black Panther. Yeah. This has nothing to do with the larger continuity. It's the best thing about this movie is, is it does not care about the Avengers timeline at all. And what specifically works for this, where we all liked that Black Panther didn't do that. We all were like, wow, it's kind of odd that this is right before infinity war.

[00:17:57] It's like, it was almost strange where this works in this movie's favor. This has, thank God, this has nothing to do with the Kang storyline. The Kang storyline no longer exists, right? Like they made a standalone thing. They got lucky with that sense. I like Quill and Gamora not getting together out of all the multiverse people from the past stuff. I think this one has worked the best so far. The ending of the film is absolutely sublime. Um, I, I was surprised I had it this high myself, but I really, really liked it.

[00:18:26] Maybe throughout the course of this, it ends up moving down a slot or two. There's a movie, a couple of movies coming up that I know I at least like. We'll see where those land, but I was very, very impressed with this. Uh, ninth overall. I gotta be honest before you even give your hot take. And knowing this is a movie that I don't think any of us are going to have in our bottom four or five. I'm, I think the discrepancy might be pretty wide. Might be the widest considering it's not a top five, bottom five movie for this movie. Ninth was shocking to me.

[00:18:56] That was the shocking bit is I can't imagine there were only being eight Marvel movies better than this, but yeah. I also real quick brand new service for point of reference. I have, I have no way home one above this and then Ragnarok, which is a movie that I love and I'm like a real stand for. I, I moved to 10th. So I liked this movie. More than Ragnarok. Yeah. A lot of people have that in the Pantheon. So maybe that changes. I'll sit with it. I'll pray about it. All right. But, uh, for now, ninth overall. Okay. Oh, well, I was not as low on, uh, uh, Guardians volume two.

[00:19:25] I believe that compared to both of you, you have it. Yeah. You have the lowest of the three of us. Next to last. And you know what? At this point, like I've, I've forgotten a lot about it. I have it at 27. Okay. I have it at 20, 24. Now. So it's not, Guardians two is not my bottom five. I think Guardians two means well. I just thought it was a mess. It's a mess and it's not good at all, but it does mean well. Like I like what he's trying to do, even though it doesn't work at all. That always means well. James Gunn. Yes. Like, you know.

[00:19:56] Yeah. Yeah. There's no doubt about that. He is an earnest individual. Yeah. Yeah. I do think that this movie is, uh, really dependent on how much you care about this raccoon. Yeah. Uh, you, right guy, you love rocket. I love rocket. And it's not that I don't like rocket. It's just that I never think about rocket. Yep. You know what I mean? Hard. Like, so a lot of, a lot of superheroes I'll think about. Just casually?

[00:20:26] Just on a day-to-day basis. Wow. I can't say that I think of a superhero on a day-to-day basis. You're thinking about Superman more than once a week? Yeah. If there's a bird or a plane. Look up in the air. I do that bit, I think, every time. Every time you see a bird or a plane. Ten? When I see a spider, I'm like, oh, what if it, what if I got bit by that? What if I got bit by that? It was that spider radio action. When I called you yesterday and you were making that chicken. Yeah. You were thinking about Superman somewhere in the midst of that?

[00:20:55] No, that doesn't involve a bird or a, oh, I guess it does involve a bird. That's interesting. See what I'm saying there? All that to say, I never think about rockets. And so the rocket stuff just doesn't do anything for me. That would hurt the movie for you. Yeah, it's the whole movie. I know. And so, but I will say the rest of the Guardians stuff, they still work. They're still funny.

[00:21:25] And so, and then obviously the ending of this movie is the perfect ending of a Guardians movie. It is needle drop. It is giving you feels. It's doing all of it. Characters can hear the song. Yes. So it works, right? But then we're just, I'm just left with a large chunk of a storyline that I don't really care about. But I will say I still like it overall more than volume two, which I had at 24, but I only have it one tick higher. I have it at 23.

[00:21:54] I got those two movies kind of together in a, I think another hurdle that I have with this movie is I just don't know why it exists. That's right. You know? Because of contracts. That's why it exists. James Gunn just decided he had to do one more. He was going to go on his own terms and make it weird, make it silly. And I guess if you do really love, if Rocket is one of your, like people do love Rocket. And so I think this did work for people that love Rocket.

[00:22:18] But, you know, I, I, and I see a lot of raccoons still don't think about Rocket. Yeah. So, you know, do it. That's good insight. Yeah. Thank you. Do it that way. Great insight. You were learning a lot, man. Do it that way. You guys don't do the Superman bit when you see a plane in the air? Haven't since I was probably 12. Yeah. Yeah. Only when I'm making chickens. Oh, yeah. Interesting. All right, Dan. Yeah. So I want to be very clear. A couple of things I do like.

[00:22:47] Number one, this movie is in its own universe, its own world, and it doesn't play by any rules of the Avengers. It doesn't care. And that's kind of when James Gunn is, when he's the most punk rock is when he's getting to do this. Right. Also, this movie's ending is great. And not just Florence and the Machines dance party. I think that's great. But there's also a few set pieces in the last 20 minutes of this movie that are pretty spectacular. I say all that to say Rocket meant a great deal to Ryguy, and that's why he has this movie in his top 10.

[00:23:17] He is completely ambivalent about Rocket. I think Rocket is fine as a character. What they do to Rocket in this movie and what they ask me to sit through and care about is bad. Like, I am actively against it. Like, I am someone that is such a big animal person and such a big rescue dog person that the idea that I now am supposed to care about a tertiary character from the Marvel Cinematic

[00:23:46] Universe that was an experimented on Raccoon, and we just watch him and others like him get abused. And it feels very indulgent, very manipulative, very over the top. Too much. Like, why am I watching a Guardians movie and going, I don't know if my 10-year-old son is ready for this. We've missed it. We've missed the boat entirely.

[00:24:09] If an hour and 20 minutes of your two and a half hour movie is what if we show you just how much the raccoon got tortured? Have they done that with any superhero movie? Like, any of them. Like, in The Dark Knight, the amount of times that Bane kicks Batman's butt is limited, right? Like, what is the... Name me another superhero comic book movie where the majority of the runtime is we torture the hero.

[00:24:39] So, that is already a bridge too far. Then you make it an animal, right? With a furry face. And you ask me to really dig deep to care for this thing while Bradley Cooper is trying to earnestly win an Oscar voicing a gun shooting talking raccoon. We've lost it. And if it worked for you, great. It made me really angry. There are so many ways to spend my time. This is not how I want to spend it.

[00:25:09] I found it overly indulgent, overwrought, and super duper manipulative. And I didn't like it at all. Now, the effects of Rocket have never looked better. There is that to say. The soundtrack of these movies continue to be excellent. And the end... Like, when I saw this in the theater, I left on such a high from the ending. Because you're right, Rye Guy. Like, to actually end a series, I think, isn't something that is completely foreign to Marvel.

[00:25:38] They really just ended a series. They ended it. They showed you. They did an epilogue. They did everything they needed to do for you to never see these characters again. And I applaud... Now, yeah, of course that... Well, see. I applaud James Gunn for going, I'm going to make an ending to my trilogy. The vehicle of us torturing a superhero who happens to be a raccoon for the majority of this movie. And the other thing, I told Brandon this before we started. James Gunn always has a message in his movies.

[00:26:07] He's always sticking up for the little guy. He's always talking about how society is better when everyone is lifted up and the powerful person stops using people for spare parts. Which is, like, ego as a man in the second movie. This movie. Superman. All of his movies have a message. And there's something about watching this guy direct that I either completely buy in and love it. Or I'm like, buddy, there's got to be a better way.

[00:26:31] And this one, to me, what's weird is I probably appreciate Guardians 2 and what it's trying more than I enjoy Guardians 3. Having said that, Guardians 3 is undeniably a better movie than 2, even though it wasn't for me. But not much better. I have Guardians 2 at 27. I have Guardians 3 at 25. So, Brandon has it at 23. I have it at 25. Raga's got it at 9. That's a leap.

[00:26:59] That's 15 spots. It'll be interesting after this to average our list and see what we got. I agree. And again, this might move. I wouldn't say I ride for this movie, right? I was surprised it was this high. But I would be lying if I didn't say that. Well, I will say, if you're somebody like I think a lot of people, and I think this is totally fair, it was me leaving the theater. The end of this movie is incredibly strong. It really is. It's not like, I'm not throwing it a bone because I've been mean to the movie.

[00:27:27] It really is a phenomenal Guardians of the Galaxy. I think it's impossible not to love the end of this movie. And the both end credit scenes are great. You know, you reunited with Grandpa, Florence and the Machine's dance party, bringing back the first song, Hooked on a Feeling or whatever it was, again with Rocket and the new team. It all works.

[00:27:50] There's like 20 minutes of this movie at the end that almost makes you forget that you went through Saving Private Ryan Marvel edition to get there. And it's like, we don't need to. Like if I watch Saving Private Ryan or Schindler's List or 12 Years a Slave, I sit with the weight of those movies and go, man, our country really went through a lot. In this movie, I shouldn't be doing that. I shouldn't be going, man, Rocket really, the talking raccoon really did struggle for his friends.

[00:28:20] Get out of here. Stop it. I got, listen, I got better feels to feel than this. But the last 20 minutes, I was really strong. Let's get to our feels. Quill's things that gave us feels in this. Maybe I'll start with you, right guy? Yeah. I mean, obviously for me, the Rocket stuff is obvious, even though I hear. No, but I hear everything. I think it's fair. If it works, it works. Right guy. No, but like when, you know, when he's wailing after his friends are viciously murdered. Oh my God. Yeah.

[00:28:45] Like, you know, like, and it's really nice when he sees his friends and Quill saves him. But the two I want to highlight, I would say the, you know, the third act starting with that no sleep till Brooklyn. Come on. Incredible. Incredible. Like, it's one of my favorite things in all of the MCU, I think. Like, I mean, it's absolutely. Yeah. I didn't remember it. Like, they obviously did not do that in one take, but they make you think they, like, it's just a continuous shot. It's awesome. That's mine too. That's mine.

[00:29:15] I want to talk about that before. Go ahead. Yeah. No, I was going to say, like, obvious dog days are over is great. But hyper specifically, once Batista just starts putting his hands up in the air and dancing. I can't imagine anyone, like, that moment stuck with me all these years later. Yeah. Like, when I think about this movie, I just, I was like in the theater. I'm like, wow, they really, that just really got me. I'm getting goosebumps right now talking about it. So, but yeah, no sleep till Brooklyn is incredible. I, so I have a, I have one son who is a BC boys fan right now. He loves, he wants to listen to BC boys all the time. He's a beastie boy.

[00:29:45] No sleep till Brooklyn's over four minutes long. That is not a short song. And they play that song start to finish. And it is perfectly choreographed. What a scene. What, what a time to be alive. Really impressive. It's a shame the movie was two hours long already at that point, because, oh my goodness, if you can save a movie single handedly with an action set piece, James Gunn tried. That set piece is crazy good. It's, it's, you're right. It's one of the best things in the MCU.

[00:30:14] And, you know, I said release the Drax, the Drax spinoff, you cowards. I said that because Drax has become unbearable to me. Like I, like his in, in Guardians of the Galaxy 1, so funny, so serious, so funny. Both, hold both with open hands. He works as a destroyer. He works as a serious person. He works as an earnest person. Drax, the dummy pratfall Steve Urkel of Guardians of the Galaxy. I hate it. Hate it, hate it, hate it. And so, but when he starts dancing, great. A great moment.

[00:30:45] Yeah. Drax doesn't usually work for me, but. When he throws the ball at the kid. No. Oh, okay. I found the bit of him wanting to lay on the couch very funny. Yeah. What else are you supposed to do with that? I thought it was so funny. And, man, Peter just like be like, no, it's not what it's for. I thought it was so funny. It was so dumb.

[00:31:10] It was so, that'll, and then, and then Peter drawing the, drawing the picture of, what's his name? And it's such a bad drawing. It's a bad picture. But everybody's like, this is so amazing. This is so great. Drax's like, can I have it? Yeah. I don't know when. And then when they go and they're trying to open the car door and he's trying to explain it to her. And then she finally does do it right as he's yelling, open the African door. Yeah. Best use of one F word in a Marvel movie. Aside from if we're counting Wolverine. Oh, that's not Marvel.

[00:31:38] Wolverine showing up for a cameo in first class. X-Men's first class. Yeah. I don't know if you remember that scene. Yes. Where they go in to recruit him. My kids repeat it. You should watch. I should record it. It's phenomenal. But that is. That whole scene made me laugh a lot. And I was reminded why I do like why I love these characters. Because when they're when they're clicking, they're clicking. When Gamora's sitting up there and the car is just driving all over the place. It's great. Funny bit. It's great. Funny bit. Yeah. Mine was no sleep till work. All right. Let's take a break. We'll come back.

[00:32:08] We'll get to the way what and the what a Marvel. Here on. Back to the Hallmark. I'm just kind of wondering how you guys are. Great, man. You guys ever think about superheroes? Not like you do. Clearly. Only when baking. Yeah. Well, I mean, my kids will bring them up and I'll think about them then. Okay. That might be every day, actually. Right now. There you go. Let's get to the way what.

[00:32:38] So we're talking about what in this movie made us go away what. I'll start with you, right guy? It's just such a nothing part for Stallone in these two movies. Oh, my God. Yeah. Like, which isn't like, I mean, him and James Gunn are friends. Like, he did the Suicide Squad with him. But it just seems like if you're going to put Sylvester Stallone. And it's one of those things. It's like, I guess we could. The multiverse is a thing. But like, we can't do it again. Like, this was what he. Like, Denzel Washington is going to be a pivotal character in Black Panther 3, which is going to be awesome. Heck yeah.

[00:33:08] Like, and Sylvester Stallone is just like in two Guardians movies for five minutes each. Like, in an inconsequential character at that. Yeah. It just seems like we could have done something else with him. Yeah, he gives his brother more screen time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I counted. Could maybe missed one. I counted eight I am Groots in this movie. Easiest paycheck of Vin Diesel's career. I mean. Like, I think the I am Groots per capita in the other two movies was at least in double digits. Like.

[00:33:36] Eight is not a lot at all. It's a 150 minute movie. He did sound the most Vin Diesel in this. He did. Well, at the end, they just let him say, I love you guys. Yeah. And it just looked like he was Dominic Toretto. Yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah. Family. But good for that guy, man. I wish Nathan Thillion could get a serious role in one of these superhero movies. Like, even his Green Lantern in Superman is like a bit of a joke. And like, I've seen this guy do serious stuff. No, he's great. I love him playing wacky characters. Yeah.

[00:34:05] But like, like, he's like, I've seen him do like really good serious stuff. I think he could still at his age, he's still in, he's still jacked. Oh. What in the world? Wowzers. I'm really tired. I'm really tired. That's the first time ever. That's the first time ever. I'm really tired. Oh my God. The best way to edit it, Brad, is just to bleep it so people can still hear. I'm sorry.

[00:34:32] This guy has to get out his pen to write a timestamp, dude. What's the time code on that? We haven't done that since the last administration. That's the first time I've done a jacked at Bramblefest. Man, and then you doubled down with like a mistake and you were an S-word. I had to wake up really early for my liking today. It wasn't because of this. Wow. Wow. Didn't get a lot of sleep. Man. That's on me. That's on me. I apologize to all the kids. He's jacked is what you're trying to say. He's jacked. Dude's huge. Yeah.

[00:35:00] And I can't believe this movie saw the floating princess Leia backlash and said, let's do that with Quill in the third act. Yeah. I will say this. The reason that makes me so upset is a great way. What is this? The Guardians of the Galaxy has routinely killed characters in their series. They're not afraid to actually kill characters. And so I think that would have almost saved the movie if we killed one of the Guardians.

[00:35:30] I know that sounds terrible, but like if they had killed one of them, I know that it's tough to pick one. I get it. And I know that, you know, Chris Pratt's not going to get killed, although it would have been a great ending. I think that was the thing. I think Gamora's already died. Yeah, they brought her back, which is so stupid. What's one more? Kill her again. But I love, like if he had just died out there, the movie kind of like, all movie you've been watching a lot of cruel things happen.

[00:35:57] And to have some actual loss would have maybe really hit the point home. And they do everything but kill him, basically. Yeah. Yeah. And then last one, I don't know how these new Guardians are going to do. I feel like it's a big step down. Out of shape. I feel like it's like rockets like LeBron with the 2007 caps. Like, I mean, like, it's not going to go well. Well, the one dude is pretty much indestructible.

[00:36:22] The Will Poulter's character, the gold guy, who's one of the worst dumb characters ever in Marvel. He's great. I love Will Poulter. But he's at least indestructible. Like, you can't kill him. So he'll be good. But he's in the way back. Yeah, the rest of that roster is Kirk from Gilmore Girls. I mean, it's not exactly the A team, you know? So I have my doubts, Bran, but I hope Rocket makes it out okay. Yeah, no, I had that same one. I also just had Humanimals is the best we could come up with.

[00:36:52] Yeah. How long did that take him? I mean, I don't know what else you do. Humanals. Humanals. Humanals sounds better. Humanals. Yeah. That, it just felt like your ass last second, and you're like, ah, humanals. Humanals. Go with Humanimals. Just put it in now. We'll fix it later. Yeah, we'll fix it. Just a placeholder. Yeah. So we'll just do a placeholder. This guy who has this, like, big vision of what he wants everything to look like,

[00:37:20] and he's doing these things, these crazy, crazy experiments on these animals. Humanals. Humanals. That's all I got. That's all I got. Dana? Yeah, so in Thor Love and Thunder, Thor is traveling around with the Guardians, kicking butt and taking names. Yeah. And Star-Lord seems, I mean, Chris Pratt seems to be phoning it in, but he seems fine. And in this movie, he's drinking himself into a stupor because of the death of Gamora. What happened there? Great point. What happened there? How did he go?

[00:37:50] That seems to not be the stages of grief in the correct order. He seems to be getting worse. So I get that James Gunn didn't give a, as Ryan would say, an F about the MCU timeline, but to have him revert to a previous stage of grief immediately takes you out of it if you're watching them like we're watching them here for Marvel Mondays, which is one a week. I immediately clocked in and went, that isn't where he would be in the process at all.

[00:38:19] So that's tough. How many cassettes does Star-Lord have? Because he has now listened to more songs on his Walkman than one cassette can hold. As someone that did listen to cassette tapes until about 1998, until about 14 or 15 years old, there's only a limited amount of tape in a cassette. And he does not have enough room on his mixtape for all of these songs. Well, isn't he on the Zune by now? Doesn't he have the Zune? He has an MP3 player. Right. I think you're right.

[00:38:49] Does he? Okay. Then great. I'll take it back. I thought he just had his mixtape. Someone gave it to him, right? Right. I believe he gets it in Guardians 2. Oh, great. Can we take it off the books? We got to edit it already. You want me to edit that out? No, you can keep it in. I don't care. Okay. I'll make it louder actually. Last but not least, I know every action movie since the dawn of time. We'll tell you there's a minute left before the bomb explodes and then give you 20 minutes of movie. And I'm fine with that. In this movie, when they go back on the ship,

[00:39:18] several people over com say, you got to get out of there quick. The ship's about to explode. And that's before No Sleep Till Brooklyn happens. So I want to be very clear. No Sleep Till Brooklyn happens. Then Rocket goes in and finds all the animals. All of that. And then we're not leaving them behind. There is like 30 minutes of the ship is about to explode. You got to get out of there, man. And it is a lot.

[00:39:47] Like when the ship finally explodes, I was like, I forgot the ship was going down. I forgot it was going down. Got to be honest. That was so long ago. I forgot that we were up against the clock. I forgot. I thought we had all the time in the world. So that was not really well edited. That's all I got. It's time for what a marvel. It's the questions that we have and the friends we've made along the way. Right, guy? I wonder if we see Star-Lord again. It says he'll return. I know. But he hasn't been mentioned for Doomsday at all.

[00:40:16] Maybe he said he would only come back if James Gunn was involved. Didn't he? Right. So I mean, Where does it say that he'll return? At the end of the movie. Did you watch the last credit? No, I didn't. The last scene. He gets a very stylized will return. Like it's a fancy graphic and everything. He is eating with his grandfather cereal. Right. And he's arguing about why he has to cut the grass. Right. It's pretty funny like that. Very nice. It's a very fun way to end the trilogy. And it fades to white. Oh. And then in black letters, in the stylized font, it says Star-Lord will return. And so, I mean,

[00:40:45] maybe we'll see him at some point. Not even because the Guardians wouldn't come back. I kind of feel like with where the MCU is going, I don't really see Chris Pratt fitting in. But like, you know, just curious. So, and if he doesn't, yet another post-credit scene that will mean, or at least post-credit text. Yeah. Brand, that will mean nothing. I would be thrilled to not see any, I know that, I can't believe I'm saying this, because after the first Guardians of the Galaxy, I just thought it was like the best. I would be thrilled to not see any Guardians of the Galaxy

[00:41:14] in any Marvel's movie moving forward. Marvel movie moving forward. I'm fine. We did it. These are sideshow characters. The first movie perfectly did the best that they could do, building characters, making you feel, and also showing you how a ragtag gang can come together to help save the galaxy. Awesome. I'm good. All set here. No more Guardians for Dan. Thank you. Okay. There you go. I'm fine with that too. It is one of Marvel's biggest accomplishments. These were not comic characters that anybody knew.

[00:41:43] Like everyone always says that about Iron Man, but Iron Man had cartoons. People knew the name. Grounded in there too. But yeah, but yeah. So like, you know, call it a day. I'm cool. As much as I love Rocket, I don't need to see him in the, the C squad, you know, running amok, Fran. Great point. I kind of want to know when it comes to the needle drops, particularly in the Guardians movies, like at what point in the process do they decide on the songs? Cause like no sleep till broken. It almost, it was so good that it almost seemed to,

[00:42:13] they work backwards with it. It does seem like sometimes he picks the soundtrack and he makes the movie. Like Jackie Chan and stunts, you know? Yeah. So it's like, I wonder like, like even the ending with the, with the Florence and machine, like I'm like, like when did that come to be in the process of making this movie? Like at what point were they like, let's, let's do Florence. Yeah. That's a great question. It's such a big part of this franchise in particular is the music. And like without some of these songs that are perfect choices,

[00:42:42] it doesn't quite work. So I imagine they put a lot of thought into it, but I don't know when it happened. That's a great one. I would love to ask James Gunn, although I'm sure the answer is no. If there was ever a song he wanted, that the artist told him no, or that the, the Disney said, we're just not paying for it. Wow. Like, is there a song that he wanted? He didn't get great question. I would assume the answer is no. I would assume. I heard he really wanted doggy go home and they said, but that was us. We, we were counsel,

[00:43:13] I believe for doggy go home. And we were like, it was not the right. You got to meet our number. Yeah. Yeah. And it was just, whatever does that even fit in? No, no, no, week. The Marvels? I think it's the Marvels next week. I think that's correct. So we're looking forward to that. And then we've got like five more left after that or something like that. Wow. Home stretch. What do you know? Crazy. That F-bomb was just getting everybody ready for Deadpool and Wolverine. Right. It was embracing everybody. Yeah.

[00:43:42] Buckle up, everybody. no kidding. Deadpool versus Wolverine. You should have an explicit tag on that one, for sure. All right, until next time, I'm going to be the first to wish you a Merry Christmas. Deck the Hallmark is a Bramble Jam podcast produced by Brandon Gray. And yeah, that Greenville, South Carolina. For more information on the show, you can go to deck the hallmark.com. Find us on the socials at deck the hallmark and leave us a five-star rating review on Apple podcast, if you please. And then head on over to Bramble Jam. Plus, you're going to find the best corner of the internet, become a double deck or get ad-free podcasting,

[00:44:11] live video watch alongs with chats and movie chats as well. That's Bramble Jam plus.com. You're about to hear some ads that help keep the lights on here in the old studio. Thanks for listening or don't listen. It's really up to you at this point. It's at the end of the show. I mean, you're listening to me. Hi, but here they come. I promise they're coming. Yep. Here they are. Happy day.