Avengers: Endgame Review

First things first – an obligatory spoiler warning.  If you’re one of the few people left who has not yet seen Endgame and wants to, read no further unless you want to be preemptively let in on some major plot points.

Captain America always looks like a bird just flew away with his hot dog.

We’re in the Endgame now.  So said Dr. Strange – a man that we now know the Ancient One had assumed to be “the best of us” – at the end of last year’s Infinity War.  In what has surely been one of the most anticipated movies of the past God knows how many years, the Russo brothers have delivered another showstopping experience to the MCU’s countless fans (with more of their customary Community cameos to boot), and in spite of the fact that I waited a few days too long to see it and got spoiled by freaking LeSean McCoy on Twitter, I loved it 3000.  Indeed, I don’t have much to say here in the way of actual critique, nor do I have really anything at all to say in the way of theories as to how the time-travel in Endgame worked (seriously, guys, it’s just a MacGuffin, and shouldn’t be taken too seriously – Endgame itself even saw fit to poke some fun at it, and explained it what I thought was the appropriate amount), but I still think it’s worth talking about why Endgame is great, and why it’s still shattering box office records and recording high Rotten Tomatoes reviews as you read this.

Steve Rogers is looking as beefed-up as ever, which makes sense – he probably has an easier time getting machines at the gym with half of the population dusted.

The list of “goods” here is just too long to enumerate, and that starts with the ensemble cast, which at this point is large enough to populate a small country.  All of the performances are great, and range from the clearly-having-a-blast type (Mark Ruffalo and Paul Rudd come to mind here) to the actually-tearjerking type (Robert Downey Jr., of course, and also Tom Holland in his brief few moments).  Either way, they all certainly accomplish enough to keep a movie like Endgame – which, in spite of its increased emotional range, is still a comic book movie – afloat.  Endgame uses this cast effectively with smart writing that employs the typical dose of MCU quippy humor while taking its audience on a surprisingly twisty journey that leaves anyone who has seen the film’s many trailers and feeling like they know what to expect (me) confused after the first twenty or so minutes of Endgame‘s three-plus hours.  The time-travel mechanic, while littered with plot holes and seeming inconsistencies that have the internet teeming with explanatory videos and articles, is well-crafted in its ability to give audiences the opportunity to revisit some of the MCU’s best and most iconic moments over the past 11 years along with the characters they’ve grown to love, and in this respect Endgame is a master class in fan service.

The tenuous detente between Captain America and Iron Man was one of the more fun interpersonal elements to watch in Endgame.

Along the way, you’ll also find a lot more emotional content than Infinity War (or any other MCU movie to date, for that matter) ever had, which makes some amount of sense and is large amounts of predictable given where last year’s blockbuster left us, but is still overall well-executed.  While a lot of this content is found in the expected places and isolated within the film’s exposition and denouement (our heroes coping with the Snap, and of course where they end up at Endgame‘s conclusion), some of it comes in the midst of the Avengers’ fight to bring back all that was lost – Black Widow and Hawkeye’s battle for sacrifice on Vormir comes to mind, as does Thor’s reunion with his now-deceased mother, who really takes the idea of time travel in stride.  For me, and given my undying love for Iron Man, Endgame‘s most poignant moments usually involved him, and given his newfound family-man archetype and his continued treatment of the dusted Peter Parker as something of a surrogate son, these poignant moments were in no short supply.  Of course, a lot of this emotion is also propelled into the audience’s heart at hypersonic speeds by Alan Silvestri‘s outstanding score, which on top of mixing themes from his previous MCU exploits (he provided the work for Infinity War, and way back when, Captain America: The First Avenger), also provides the perfect soundtrack for the film’s triumphant reunion of all of the MCU’s countless heroes to take down Thanos once and for all (seriously, Portals is amazing).

Avengers!  Assemble!

Which brings me to the film’s final hour, and wow, what an hour it was.  This is where the movie really takes off and produces its “Holy shit, I am literally on the edge of my seat and shaking with joy” moments, from the aforementioned portal moment to the revelation that Captain America is indeed capable of wielding Mjolnir, as teased in Age of Ultron.  The final battle, in all its chaotic glory, serves as the ultimate payoff for those that have been with Marvel Studios through any portion of its 11 years of filmmaking, and also serves as a reward for anyone that’s capable of suspending their disbelief at the theater door – and also going three hours without using the restroom.  This battle’s end, while seemingly avoidable according to some, completes the so-called Infinity Saga the same way that it began – with Tony Stark getting the last word, as always, and proclaiming his mantle as Iron Man.  This end – while in reality followed by twenty minutes or so of wrap-up that also finds Captain America’s passing of the torch to Falcon to be the end of his character’s arc – is a beautiful one, and the beginnings that come along with it (who’s hyped for Asgardians of the Galaxy?) aren’t bad either.  If there’s one effective way to expand an already massive cinematic universe, it’s to follow the lead of your comic book source material and create a multiverse with assumedly infinite and independent timelines.

We’ll miss you, Tony.

Avengers: Endgame is not a perfect movie – not by any stretch of the imagination, in fact -but it does show just how much movie a single movie can give you, and also how much an estimated $356 million can buy (and subsequently recoup in a mind-blowing single weekend).  In spite of recent reports, I think it’s unlikely to garner much awards consideration (except, perhaps, for Silvestri, whose main competition at this point I expect to lie in December), and while it’s largely exempt from a number of the problems I listed in my recent Captain Marvel review due to its uncharacteristically high multi-movie stakes, it still signals a potential jumping-off point for people who may want out of the taxing continued commitment to the churning money machine.  But given its mammoth scale, along with the long list of tasks it has to accomplish as the capstone of a 22-film saga, it gets the job done and then some, and features countless moments and shots that are among the MCU’s most thrilling and most emotionally charged.  If you consider yourself of a fan of Marvel’s work thus far, it’s virtually impossible that you’ll be leaving the theater disappointed.  It’s definitely hard to imagine a continued MCU reaching a peak of this sort again, but if Kevin Feige and Co. have proven anything to us thus far, it’s that they’ll do whatever it takes to get their audience atop another one.

Dissecting the Avengers: Endgame Trailer

Irony abounds.  A mere week after ripping into Captain Marvel a bit for being “too Marvel,” I’m back to talk about, well, Marvel.  Better yet, I’m not even here to review a movie, I’m here to review a trailer.  However that may make you feel, if you’ve been living under a rock for the past few days, or have in some other miraculous way avoided seeing or hearing much about the second Avengers: Endgame trailer, which dropped on Thursday of last week, here it is:

Now that you’ve assumedly watched it, I’m going to roll out a mixture of predictions, hot takes, and general nerd tidbits for your reading pleasure.  Cut me some slack – it was a slow movie week.

Tony Stark was edited into that epic white-suit-walking shot.  This is the main thing I showed up to say, so I’m leading with it.  Any of the multitudes of YouTube commenters who are apparently thrilled to see that Tony manages to escape that ship lost in space clearly didn’t learn anything from the Infinity War theatrical trailer, which shows the Hulk in all of his Hulk-ness tearing it up in Wakanda – something we now know didn’t happen in the movie.  I’m as big an Iron Man fan as there can be, but given his brush with death at the end of his fight with Thanos in the last film, he’s operating on borrowed time at this point, and although a lonely death in space is hardly an extravagant one for the man who kicked off the MCU, it may be his time and place.  As for Nebula, it’s a little less clear what her lost-in-space fortunes are, given that I’m not really sure what her oxygen needs are.

Goodbye Tony, it’s been nice, hope you find your, paradise.

Another point to this end: the internet was positively abuzz when the teaser trailer for Endgame dropped and people were noticing conspicuous gaps in the walking groups of heroes.  While most at the time suspected that these gaps were meant for the yet-to-be-revealed Captain Marvel, now Marvel is leading us to believe that at least one of those gaps was meant for Tony.  I’m not buying it, and furthermore I think the original prediction was right: Captain Marvel will take Tony’s place in this shot.

Black Widow shooting at a target in preparation for a fight with (assumedly) Thanos is pretty ridiculous/funny.  I like Black Widow, and I wish her standalone movie would finally happen, but you have to admit it’s a little comical to see her surrounded by demi-gods and superhumans showcasing her seeming primary ability as “aim that’s not quite as good as Hawkeye’s, or even Hawkeye’s daughter based on the beginning of the trailer.”  Which brings me to my next point…

What will finally take Thanos down, you ask?  A 9mm.

Hawkeye’s hair is clear indication that the Snap threw him into a complete mental breakdown.  Clint Barton’s curious absence in Infinity War has been made up for with two trailers that lay out his state of being pretty clearly: he’s living happily on that farm from Age of Ultron with his family after taking a deal after the events of Civil War (my God, so many movies), when suddenly the Snap happens, assumedly vaporizing his family or most of it (this is how I expect Endgame to start), and he essentially loses himself and becomes the significantly darker-seeming assassin Ronin.  What’s also clear is that either his original barber was also a victim of the Snap, or he’s using his hair as his primary grieving mechanism, or both.  Either way, it’s bad, and while Black Widow’s continual hairstyle decline that started with Infinity War is, well, continuing, MoHawkeye takes the cake here for worst ‘do.

Black Widow sports like 4 different hairstyles in this trailer, and Hawkeye also has a few different styles, further suggesting a time travel mechanic being involved in the plot.

By the end of Endgame, Captain Marvel will be the new Captain America: i.e., the new leader of the next generation of Avengers.  This isn’t a super bold prediction.  Sure, Bucky Barnes may become the new Captain America in terms of taking on the title (based on the character’s comic-book arc), but Carol Danvers has much more of a chance of inheriting Steve Rogers’ role as team leader, based both on her seemingly infinite powers (I talked about this a bit here) and her leadership resume (leading the Skrulls in their attempt to escape a lifelong Kree war and find a new home seems like a pretty strong bullet point).  I mean, the name “Avengers” is also based on her Air Force callsign, as we now know.  How much more storybook could it get?

Pre-RIP to the Thor-Carol friendship.

Will Tony’s vision from Age of Ultron come true?  This is something I’ve admittedly been thinking about since well before this trailer dropped, and even well before the Infinity War began.  You’ll recall – well, maybe you will, I don’t know – that at the beginning of Age of Ultron, Scarlet Witch (now a good guy, and one of many lost in the Snap) shows Tony Stark a vision that seemed to predict a dark future in which the current cast of Avengers (Steve Rogers, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye) all die:

Sure, Captain America’s “you could have saved us” line is pretty hammy, but it’s the imagery that sticks with me here: Captain America’s broken shield, the callbacks to the initial invasion of New York City from the first Avengers film (an invasion, you’ll recall, that was orchestrated by Thanos in conjunction with Loki), and so on and so forth.  At the time, this was thought to be a false vision, and furthermore a prediction that wouldn’t extend beyond the events of AoU.  What I’m wondering now is if this vision was indeed the prophecy it claimed to be, foreshadowing the deaths of these characters at the conclusion of Endgame.  I’m not necessarily expecting a shot-for-shot recreation of this motif, especially considering how different Thor and Black Widow look, but it would definitely be a cool way to wink at the MCU fans who remember this moment from Ultron.

The teaser trailer for Endgame was better.  I have no sense of the hotness of this take, but I’ll start by saying that I think both trailers were great.  People may grumble about this most recent one’s gratuitous use of archival footage, but I think it was a clever way to remind us of how far these characters have come while also avoiding creation of a trailer that reveals too much about what may be one of the most anticipated films in the past few years not containing “Star Wars” in its title.  I simply think that the high points in this trailer failed to match that of the teaser, and this one’s highest point (honestly might be the Thor-Carol shtick at the end – it’s a crime that Marvel is only going to give us one film’s worth of a clearly fun dynamic) wasn’t as explosive as a few of the moments in the teaser (Ant-Man and Hawkeye’s respective long-awaited returns, namely).

10 years ago, it all began.

Only a month or so to go now until we get to watch a bunch of these folks die.  Either way, we can apparently rest assured that Peter Parker will be back safe and sound in time for Far from Home.

My Time With Moviepass – A Retrospective

As I mentioned at the tail end of last week’s post, my time with Moviepass has unfortunately and finally drawn to a close with the removal of the only theater near me that supports E-Ticketing.  Given that the service has funded what has to be the lion’s share of hot (and cold) takes I’ve dropped on here, I want to take this week to dole out some high-school-yearbook-style superlatives to the 30 films I have listed in the app’s history.  If you want, you can also consider this a year in review, since I’ve had Moviepass for about 14 months now, but I make no claims about the exhaustiveness of my moviegoing over that span.  First, some statistics:

Total Movies Seen: 30 (I think – I swear I also saw Justice League using Moviepass, but it doesn’t show up in my history.  Given my Justice League experience, though, that’s probably for the best).

2018 Best Picture Nominees Seen: 3 (Lady Bird, The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

2018 Oscar-Nominated Pictures Seen: 6 (I, Tonya, The Disaster Artist, and all of the 2018 Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts, in addition to the three films above).

Comic-Book Movies Seen: 5 (Wonder Woman, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Deadpool 2)

Horror Movies Seen: 3 (IT, Hereditary, A Quiet Place)

Comedies Seen: 2 (Game Night, Blockers)

Action Movies Seen: 3 (American Assassin, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Skyscraper)

Heist Movies Seen: 2 (Logan Lucky, Ocean’s 8).

Animated Movies Seen: 1 (Incredibles 2).

Remakes/Sequels/Franchise Films Seen: 12 (too many to list)

Documentaries: 1 (Won’t You Be My Neighbor – I really wish this number were higher).

Movies in Which Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson Fights a Skyscraper: 1 (Skyscraper).

Obviously, there are also a number of other movies that I saw that don’t really fit into any of these categories.  And now, a few superlatives:

Strongest Movie Month: It looks like there were two months during which I saw 4 movies: September 2017 (Wonder Woman, IT, American Assassin, Kingsman: The Golden Circle) and April 2018 (Love, Simon, A Quiet Place, Blockers, Avengers: Infinity War).  Timewise, the September boom was likely more a function of my newfound love for the service than anything else, and furthermore, American Assassin was very not great, whereas April 2018 had a couple of pleasant surprises (Love, Simon, Blockers) in addition to some of the year’s harder hitters (A Quiet Place, Avengers), so it’s gotta be April 2018 here.

April of this year was a great month for movies.

Weakest Movie Month: Numerically, this was a four-way tie between October 2017 (Boo! A Madea Halloween, which I only reserved a ticket for to see if the app was still working – I think the service was on the fritz in some way around this time), March 2018 (Game Night), August 2018 (BlacKkKlansman) and September 2018 (Searching).  I’m not counting August 2017, during which I only saw Logan Lucky, considering that I didn’t even have Moviepass for that whole month.  Either way, the clear winner of Weakest Movie Month has to be October 2017.

Maybe the creepiest character in any of the movies I’ve seen with Moviepass, and that includes the multiple horror movies in the mix.

Last Movie Seen: With a title that perhaps signals the rough fortunes ahead for me and Moviepass: Bad Times at the El Royale has this honor.

Take notes: if you’re stuck outside in the rain, at least you can look cool while getting soaked.

First Movie: Not really due to anything other than luck (pun intended), Logan Lucky was the film that kicked off my passionate Moviepass romance.  It was pretty good, if not strongly derivative of the Ocean’s franchise.

“I am in-car-cer-a-ted.”

Worst Movie: I’m not gonna give this to Boo! A Madea Halloween, given that I didn’t actually see it and that doesn’t seem fair.  I’m also too lazy to look up which of these movies has the worst Rotten Tomatoes score, but I also don’t really think I need to do that.  American Assassin takes this one by a healthy margin.

This poor guy – his franchise never had a chance.

Best Movie: This is a much more difficult choice.  I’m not gonna go with The Shape of Water, because I’m not a joiner, and frankly I think it’s an overrated movie as it is.  Flying in the face of serious film critics everywhere, I’m gonna go with Avengers: Infinity War instead, simply because it sticks out as the most enjoyable filmgoing experience on this list.  It’s a cinematic achievement in little more than cramming a billion characters into a movie and creating some truly bananas special effects, but it certainly lived up to the massive amounts of hype surrounding it, and had a truly jaw-dropping ending.

Three of Earth’s mightiest heroes – and Wong.

Most Unique Movie:  This is also a tight race.  Searching and A Quiet Place are the two clear finalists, but I think I’ll have to go with A Quiet Place for nerdy aspiring screenwriter reasons.

Sorry, guy.  If it makes you feel any better, your movie was probably the more impressive technical achievement.

Most Surprising Movie: In this category, the movies that stick out are Blockers, Game Night, and Won’t You Be My Neighbor, probably because they’re all films in genres that I don’t typically seek out or enjoy, but I think Won’t You Be My Neighbor takes it in the end.  Sorry, comedies – I’m not willing to cross Mr. Rogers.

Fred Rogers and his main man Daniel.

Most Underwhelming Movie: This is this post’s hot take, and I’ve nestled it at the end for those brave enough to find it.  They’re far from the worst on the list, but I have to say that I expected so much more from both The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri.  If I have to bestow this honor to only one of these films, I’d go with Shape, because the acting showcased in Three Billboards is downright incredible, but I think I overhyped both of these movies too much.  In other words, it’s my fault.

One of the many blue-green saturated shots from The Shape of Water.  Admittedly, the film’s sometimes out-of-control use of color was probably my single favorite thing about it.

For those out there doing the math, 30 movies over 14 months is a little over two a month, and given that the service cost me $9.99 a month over the duration of that time, yeah, I definitely took Moviepass for a spin financially.  The business model still makes absolutely no sense to me, but I hope somebody figures out something similarly priced (but in some way economically viable) soon.

Time to change the blog’s sidebar!

Avengers: Infinity War Review

***WARNING – MAJOR SPOILERS WITHIN***

At one point I had planned to write my review of Avengers: Infinity War without including any spoilers.  That point was decidedly before I saw the absurd and unbelievable ending, in which Marvel does the unthinkable and shatters the expectations many – myself included – had both before and throughout the film’s events about who would survive and who wouldn’t.

Ironically, the Hulk is never spotted on Earth, so this image (taken from the trailer) is pretty disingenuous.

But outside of the gonzo ending, Avengers: Infinity War is in most respects exactly what you’d expect, and if you’re showing up at the theater to watch it, it’s exactly what you want: non-stop breathless action scenes punctuated by bananas CGI-fueled setpieces, featuring about a billion characters who only have enough dialogue to toss in a couple of zippy one-liners dripping with wit here and there.  While I’m not out to disparage the cast, who have all clearly done what’s been asked of them (and in some cases, done more), it’s a pretty easy gig for them.  They’ve all (far too many to waste time naming) played these characters, and now the goal is to just mush them all together, and their biggest job is simply to show up.  They all certainly do, some more briefly than others, but at the end of the day, it’s undeniably satisfying to see the Avengers working together with the Guardians of the Galaxy, regardless of any sort of acting prowess or lack thereof.

Another image from the trailer.  Not gonna lie, I’m still a little mad at Star-Lord, as this is mostly his fault.

The story of Infinity War is exactly fine in my book.  It doesn’t make a whole lot of groundbreaking choices, but it plods at a reasonable pace, with the plot being moved along primarily by the critical mistakes of a choice few protagonists (looking at you, Star Lord, you colossal buffoon).  We maintain the split-crew configuration featured in Captain America: Civil War, with Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man, Drax, Star-Lord, and Mantis protecting the Time Stone and fighting Thanos on Titan, while Steve Rogers (formerly Captain America, now possible Nomad), Bucky Barnes (formerly the Winter Soldier, now possibly White Wolf), Black Panther, Black Widow, War Machine, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, and the Hulk fight Thanos’ minions and protect Vision and the Mind Stone in Wakanda.  There are also a number of floaters amongst multiple crews, namely Thor, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Gamora, and Nebula.  Omnipresent and in the midst of all the hubbub, though, is Thanos, the supposedly mega-powerful supervillain we’ve been teased with for literal years in post-credits scenes galore.  As a Marvel antagonist, he certainly doesn’t disappoint, keeping the MCU’s bad-guy hot streak going with a decently convincing motivation and a frightening amount of sheer power, displayed especially at the end of the film.  The good guys may have finally met their match with this one.

Thanos – basically a purple Josh Brolin with gigantic arms/hands and a really weird chin.  Menacing.

In any case, what results from all the noise is a film that’s doubtlessly worthy of the ten-year buildup and the estimated $320 million price tag, even without considering the jaw-dropping ending.  It embodies a culmination of a generational phenomenon that’s similar to the final Harry Potter movie, and its scope is (dare I say) similar to Justice League, given that at one point you have Spider-Man (a relatively grounded MCU member) fighting alien creatures in deep space and on Titan, and that’s just one example.  The difference, though, is that Marvel has taken the time and done the due diligence to build each character up before mashing them together and dropping them into such an earth-shattering scenario, and by virtue of both that and its much lighter tone, it clearly succeeds in places Justice League didn’t.  What I will say, though, is that Infinity War did leave me slightly longing for a more grounded and traditional Marvel adventure without so many faces to keep track of.  Maybe it’s silly to give the MCU credit for making me want to see even more of their future comparatively more subdued movies, so I won’t.  With that said, if that was indeed their backwards plan…it worked.

Spider-Man (Iron Spider) in space!

The good news – we won’t have long to wait to figure out what happened to all the folks lost in The Snappening, as the yet-untitled Avengers 4 is set to drop on May 3rd, 2019.  In the meantime, we have Ant-Man and The Wasp coming later this summer (perhaps Marvel’s cruelest joke of all is using Infinity War to dramatically increase my minuscule interest in seeing that seemingly already-played-out hero story; now I need to see where he lands in all the chaos), and then in March of 2019 we have Captain Marvel, which is apparently poised to take place in the 90’s and assumedly set the stage properly for a character who is evidently – according to Nick Fury and Maria Hill’s brief post-credits stinger – supposed to swoop in and save everyone.  While there are a number of rumors swirling about Avengers 4 (including but not limited to talk of time travel, Soulworld, and the Quantum Realm), we’ll just have to wait and see how the surviving heroes can manage to undo what’s been done.

Oh you know, just a talking raccoon, a sentient tree, and a one-eyed demi-god on their way to attempt to reignite a neutron star to forge an all-powerful axe.  Welcome to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Because let’s face it – those who are “dead” aren’t truly gone.  More specifically, while Gamora and Loki are likely out of the picture for good, all who kicked the bucket by quietly turning to dust in Infinity War‘s last five minutes I’d say are all extremely likely to return, especially Marvel’s new poster boys King T’Challa and Spiderman (who, among others, already have future solo installments confirmed).  This theory is heavily bolstered by Dr. Strange’s telling Tony Stark that “there was no other way” before fading into whatever shadow realm all of those characters entered.  Having used the Eye of Agamotto (read: the Time Stone) to view just over 14 million conflict scenarios with Thanos, and having only found one possible future to be victorious for the good guys, the assumption is that Dr. Strange knew what he was doing when he gave up the Time Stone to Thanos to spare Iron Man’s life – something he had expressly proclaimed earlier in film that he would never do.  All of this boils down to a few strong suggestions:

1.) Tony Stark needed to survive for the Avengers and Co. to succeed in defeating Thanos, and therefore he’ll play an instrumental (and perhaps final) role in Avengers 4.

2.) As a corollary to Suggestion 1, Dr. Strange’s vision of the future must have shown that our heroes must first lose a battle before they can win the war.

3.) Thanos is super screwed, though it’s unclear how.  Captain Marvel must be pretty dang powerful.

Lots of combined brainpower here.  And Wong.

If I were to lay money down on who I thought would survive Avengers 4 (and/or return from the shadow realm, as I’ve been calling it), I’d bet on pretty much everyone who departed at the end of Infinity War, along with a chosen few of the people left behind (namely Black Widow, who is slated for her own film).  I still see Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor as most likely to shuffle off their mortal coils – due to both contracts and character arcs – but Marvel has taken my presuppositions regarding the Infinity War and subverted them beautifully (they really toyed with me with Iron Man in particular, basically killing him in the manner we all expected and then saving him at the last second), so at this point I’d say anything is still on the table.  We’ll see soon enough.

Check out Avengers: Infinity War (currently in theaters literally everywhere) if you haven’t already, though if you’ve read to this point and haven’t yet seen it, you’ve been hella spoiled.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.