also, how important is it that I haven't watched the holiday special yet >.> (been spoiled pretty heavily, but it just looks so cringe, and also the Bucky's arm shit)
Not at all important. I’ve watched it, it is cringe, and the only thing from it you need to know is about Mantis and Quill being siblings, which you probably do
As for ranking, I’d say it’s the most intense by far, with the most character exploration, and Quill barely made me want to die at all, but I feel like “best” is subjective given the change in tone from the first two
lighthearted shenanigans with a generous dose of found family? the best is the first movie. exploration of what family even means with some deeper character exploration? you want the second. small stakes being the biggest stakes in the world, enough so that there's some much darker stuff going on than in the first two? three's your guy
also with regards to Quill, he really only makes me want to die in the... non-GotG movies. like Infinity War and Thor Love and Thunder. in the main movies he walks the line of being okay, for me
wow, okay, disagree with ten out of ten unless your standards are real fuckin low. compared to movies released in the last couple years that i've seen, it's a 6.5; in the MCU as a whole i'll give it an eight, which does put it in a pretty elite spot bc there aren't many that get higher than a six, especially not lately
there's a ton of good stuff in it, i'll give him that, and the soundtrack is a banger like always (except for one choice where the song is precisely the opposite of what's onscreen, like, did they hear the lyrics at all), but there's also the usual MCU issue of being 45 min too long with some scenes that could have been dropped,
huge spoilers below, click at your own peril