James Gunn delivers the best MCU movie since ‘Endgame’ with ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’

I loved this movie. Absolutely loved it. PLUS: The writers’ strike continues, ‘Dune: Part Two’ gets its first trailer, and the new ‘Star Wars: Visions’ season is gorgeous.

Sean Gunn, Chris Pratt, Karen Gillan, Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. / Marvel Studios

Hey, it’s Friday. Thanks for wrapping up your week with Popculturology.

I saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on Thursday night. We’ll discuss that down below. (Spoiler alert: I loved it.) I will say that I’m old enough now where a 6:30 p.m. showing is so much more reasonable than how I saw Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania at 9 p.m. Nine o’clock at night!

The big news of the week has been the writers’ strike. Looking for a more fair cut of residuals during the streaming era, better job security in writers rooms and a guarantee that the studios won’t replace everyone with AI, the Writers Guild of America began the industry’s first work stoppage since the 2007-08 strike.

A huge thanks to Damion Schubert for a Bluesky invite. You can find me on there at @billkuchman.bsky.social. (No, I don’t have any invites to give out yet …)

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• Feature Presentation: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the best MCU movie since Avengers: Endgame

• Bonus Features: The writers’ strike continues, Star Wars: Visions is gorgeous

• The News: James Gunn discusses Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Superman project, Jason Reitman making an SNL movie, Kevin Costner bails on Yellowstone

• Trailer Watch: Dune: Part Two, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Gran Turismo

• Playlist: White House Plumbers

• What to Watch: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters

• Odds and Ends: A belated happy May the 4th

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Zoe Saldaña in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. / Marvel Studios

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the best MCU movie since Avengers: Endgame

I loved Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Absolutely loved it.

(I’m going to avoid spoilers here so everyone can read this and not have to worry about skipping past it.)

Here’s to James Gunn on this one. Not only is the Guardians trilogy the only MCU trilogy directed by one person all the way through, Vol. 3 is the best third movie of any MCU trilogy. (Yes, even better than Captain America: Civil War, which performed double duty as a mini-Avengers film and had to set up a ton of dynamics for the MCU leading up to Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.)

It’s baffling to think that there was any universe where Gunn didn’t get to direct this movie and didn’t get to close out the story he was telling. It totally makes sense that Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige insisted on using Gunn’s script even after Gunn had been fired by Disney.

I can’t imagine a third Guardians movie that isn’t this movie.

Years ago when Marvel Studios announced they were making a Guardians of the Galaxy movie, the concept seemed ridiculous. A movie with a talking raccoon? Now it’s 2023, and that talking raccoon is the heart of this movie.

Remember when there was the push to recognize Andy Serkis’ work in the Planet of the Apes movies with an Oscar? Well, I want that for Rocket. I’m not sure how that happens or who gets it, since bringing this character to life was a team effort between Gunn, the amazing special effects artists, Sean Gunn doing the motion-capture work and Bradley Cooper voicing the character.

At one point, the couple next to me in the theater was crying. I was on the verge of tears. I’ll probably watch Vol. 3 when it’s out on home media and have a cathartic cry at some point. (Cathartic cries are healthy, and you should all have them from time to time.)