Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Yep. Very satisfying, no fluff despite its length. Could not have been more happy with the whole story arc.

Can we get Kevin Feige in charge of Star Wars, too?

I was surprisingly disappointed, even though I loved all the other Russo Brothers movies. It’s heavy-handed, slow, and yet feels rushed in parts, particularly the action scenes. Some great moments, of course, but it puts too much emphasis on trying to be an ending for more than just this story. There are also a few scenes that are so hammy that they weaken the drama of the related context.

I was going to state that it was largely predictable, but after more consideration I don’t think that’s really true. Like its predecessor, Endgame is an unusual movie that takes risks, both in structure and in terms of fulfilling (and at times exceeding) expectations while frustrating some desires.

Definitely some surprisingly heavy emphasis on some characters, and less than I expected on others - everyone doesn’t get as much consideration as in Infinity War, despite the culled cast. And the characters with larger roles rose to the occasion well. I did like the way so much depended upon individual character actions at various points, but that also led to a plot that feels more contrived than other Russo films and likely wouldn’t withstand much dissection, which I’m sure it’ll get in the spoiler thread.

But still a landmark achievement that seemed impossible to comic fans like myself just a short while ago.

Agree on the first point, not on the 2nd. One big improvement locally is you can know buy beer at concessions - taking a large can of Stella in with me is a much more civilized viewing environment. But I was super-disappointed with the viewing experience, even though the crowd was respectful and enthusiastic:

  • post-processed 3D is fucking terrible and I can’t believe it still exists while far superior home OLED 3D does not. Post-processed 3D just makes the screen darker and adds no meaningful “3D effects”. I was rewatching Captain America: First Avenger and Winter Soldier at home, on a 3D capable OLED, and it’s just a much more enjoyable experience. Even though the 3D is post-processed, you at least get recognizable 3D effects (and as a result, I prefer 3D blurays to 4k, even though they’re dying fast and rarely available in North America).

  • I saw the movie at “theatre 1” at arguably one of Toronto’s best (certainly most popular) theatres - the screen was far too dim, there was no air conditioning (and, as a result, air circulation), the top 1/5th of the screen was noticeably dimmer than the rest of the screen, and it’s increasingly absurd how much pre-show filler there is after the scheduled start time other than trailers – close to 10 minutes of crappy commercials, followed by 6-8 minutes of trailers.

I’m old enough to remember when the first commercials appeared at movie theatres here, which was only about 20 years ago, and until the past year or so those commercials were still relatively brief compared to the trailers - now that ratio has been substantially reversed, with commercials dominating and trailers, if anything, being fewer in number.

Price of my entertainment choices doesn’t often factor into my purchasing decisions (one of the only luxuries of age), but the price ratio of attending a theatre vs. just waiting for a while has gotten goofy. You can get a 4k blu-ray 3-4 months after theatrical relase for $25, or a normal blu-ray for even less - and the viewing experience is often, if not almost always, actually better and more comfortable at home if you have a high-end home set-up – and even if you don’t like physical media or the space its storage mandates, you can just chuck or resell or donate them at some point after viewing, and still spend 2-3x less (and have the option to have the movie handy forever). Or just wait until it comes on payTV or streaming services a few months after that, for free.

It is bizarre to me that I used to go to the movies 100+ times a year, and now it’s under a handful -last year was an all-time low - this year I’ll go to the Marvel movies to avoid spoilers, Godzilla, and Star Wars, at least – but I now go as a defensive tactic since it’s otherwise very difficult to avoid spoilers on social media, rather than because it’s the best way to experience a film.

Never heard of this site or this reviewer, but he’s somehow written the exact review that I would have written for Avengers Endgame (no spoilers are contained, of course): http://battleshippretension.com/avengers-endgame-make-it-snappy-by-david-bax/

That was satisfying for sure even if a little imperfect. It’s been a great journey.

I wanted to see it last night but there were no seats available. About 10 different showing at each of the 2 nearest cinemas and not pairs of seats available.

Am trying to set it up for Sunday instead.

Oddly enough, I don’t mind paying elevated ticket costs, e.g. £20 for a single 3d ticket.

It’s an event!!

So in the end we watched Infinity War.

Which made me think maybe there won’t be the expected time travelling shenanigans or an un snapping, and instead it’ll be a good old fashioned revenge movie.

I wish!!

I’m enjoying thinking about it.

Found one seat left at the 8 AM showing in the Dolby theater tomorrow w/ the nice recliners. Well, there were other seats, but they were all in the first three rows. This one seat was the only ‘acceptable’ seat left.

Earliest I’ve ever paid to see a movie. But at least it’s not the 4 AM showing on Sunday morning. I can’t even believe that’s a thing.

Go to Google.
Type “Thanos”
Click the image of his glove.

No spoilers of course:

My brother and I drove an hour through the country side to catch a 10:30 PM showing in 3d.

It lives up to the hype.

That being said, if you have no familiarity with the MCU or characters, and especially the previous Avengers film, then I expect much impact will be lost.

It felt much shorter than 3 hours.

I usually only go to theater when no one else will be there but the crowd (mostly) didn’t detract from the experience. My minor annoyances were due to my own idiosyncrasies more than anything else.

There was a girl/young woman (a few years one side or another of 20) a row back who was crying with a few sobs for the last 10 minutes. Refer to previous statement regarding being invested in the characters - for the last 11 years she grew up knowing these characters. That’s half of her life! I’ll cut some slack.

I thought the 3d effects were good; my theater showed none of the issue @Desslock mentioned earlier. It’d be better filmed in 3d instead of post-processing but it is what it is. At least it’s not treated as a gimmick to poke you in the eye anymore; it’s handled like a window looking into another world instead of invading our world.

My main concern is we may have reached Peak Comic Film and it’s all down hill from here. It’s possible there’ll be individual movies which are better but how often do we get something that builds up for 11 years and somehow doesn’t fizzle?

Fantastic.

Way cool.

I’m thinking the MCU will never feel the same again, everything following will feel like a weaker shadow of what came before. Even if they maintain their quality, which will be pretty tough over the long haul.

It’s very possible that it will be so, because there have to be some people who have to be burnt out after 11 years of creating this. But I certainly hope not, and - IMO - there’s no reason why it needs to be like that. They still have a formidable slate of characters from phase 3 that people are invested in, and they’ve just gotten ownership of some of their most iconic super-heroes and villains. The X-Men alone are enough for an entire cinematic universe of their own (as they’ve already demonstrated), and villains/threats like Doctor Doom and Galactus are more than interesting enough to drive their own 10-year arcs. Excelsior, as the late Stan Lee would have said.

Not to mention alternate reality/multicultural/gender-bending/aged/de-aged/evil/palette swapped versions. It’s a solved comic book problem.

They can always build up over another eleven years to the next big event.

(It’s going to be Secret Wars).

Wow Endgame is coming in with an estimated $156 million Friday(Force Awakens did $119 million). It’s estimated to hit $345 million for the weekend, destroying the Force Awakens record.

Not surprised. 8 AM showing this morning was pretty full, and I’ve never seen a movie with an 8 AM show before - much less the one they had at 4 AM this morning, and will have again tomorrow morning as well.

Is the general consensus 2D or 3D? (IMAX isn’t an option, sadly)

No 3D for me, ever. It never adds enough value to make up for all the downsides: screen too dark, glasses blurry and annoying, expensive, etc…

Also, Endgame has a lot of already dark shots. Enough that I noticed it, anyway. I think 3D would just make those way worse.