Tag: Iron Man

Movie Review: AVENGERS: ENDGAME – impressive, emotional end to the Avengers saga, but where can the studio possibly go from here?

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Movie Reviews1 Comment

Just about a year after Avengers: Infinity War was released, the second part of the story, Avengers: Endgame has descended upon the Earth, much like the kind of invading alien force audiences are all too familiar with, ironically, because of movies just like this.  I write this on Saturday, April 7 – opening weekend – and the movie is projected to have an opening weekend gross in excess of $1 billion, and that’s in addition to other cinematic records it is crushing.  Of course, the age-old question asks: is it any good?  My reaction is similar to that of Infinity War: it’s really good, and I really liked it, but it doesn’t get 5 stars, and left me with questions about the future of the entire Marvel franchise.

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Movie Review: AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR – a technically impressive achievement, but I didn’t quite love it.

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Movie Reviews1 Comment

So the headline describes this movie perfectly for me.  Marvel’s 19th movie in its cinematic franchise is a hugely impressive piece of movie making, given the sheer scope.  I’m not just referring to the visuals, since this is generally the part of a CGI fest I find the least impressive.  No, the technical aspect I’m talking about are all the behind-the camera stuff, from script to production and everything in between (the legal department must have worked overtime for weeks on just the contracts).  Avengers: Infinity War is finally the main event that the franchise has been building toward since 2012’s Avengers, arguably 2011’s Captain America.

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Movie Review: CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Movie Reviews4 Comments

Civil War

Captain America: Civil War bears almost no resemblance to the comic book by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven from about 10 years ago, and when I heard about a cinematic attempt to do even a light adaptation of the book, I was dubious. On one hand, the Russos did tremendous work with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and that movie had almost nothing to do with any of those arcs either, but then I heard the increasing cast count for this one, and got more than just a little wary. The sign that a superhero movie like this is going to hit the skids is when the cast begins to overwhelm the archplot – but when you are ostensibly making even a light adaptation of a character-dense, universe-changing plot like Civil War, you can’t avoid a giant cast. Continue reading “Movie Review: CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR” →

Movie Review: AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON – underthought and full of generic action. Time for Whedon to exit the franchise.

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Age of Ultron

Opening weekend, Avengers: Age of Ultron. The theater was predictably packed, but me and my two fellow movie patrons got decent seats so my judgement of the movie wasn’t prejudiced by a shitty viewing experience.

Okay, so how was it? As I write, the movie is sitting at over $600M global box office, but is that ever a real judge of quality? In most cases, never. I’ll be completely honest, I didn’t love it it, never came close. Continue reading “Movie Review: AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON – underthought and full of generic action. Time for Whedon to exit the franchise.” →