Guardians of the Galaxy
dir. James Gunn (2014)
Fast and fun space opera that refuses to take itself (or the genre) too seriously. Some of the action scenes are more CGI slapdash than epic, but the designs and costuming are impressive and the characters are dosed up with oddball panache.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
dir. James Gunn (2017)
Guardians manages to send up the superhero and space opera genres while still plying its trade within those realms (and benefiting from the associated conventions). The humour is patchy, all too often telegraphed yet proving very funny when out of the blue.