Spoilers
Notes:
I heard someone comment that Endgame is like the final season/final few episodes of a TV show, and I agree completely. It seems like the popularity of the average-length film has been waning recently in favor of media that allows for longer engagement and more character-focused scenes. TV content fits that, of course, but so do the Marvel films. Now, episodic content has always been popular in all mediums, but modern film, because of the glories of the internet, has been one of the only times when the episodic has pushed out everything else. The MCU seems like a transitionary step toward a highly serialized cinema. A little while ago, I was quite worried about my beloved two-hour films dying off, but having watched miniseries like Big Little Lies, Making a Murderer, The Night Of, I’m not too worried. But as for the mainstream, I’m somewhat interested in seeing what Marvel continues on with, but I’m more interested in how these newly overruling desires of film consumers will continue to manifest themselves in the marketplace.
Captain Marvel is one of the worst characters put on film. She is air. There is nothing about her that makes her anything. She just weighs down the movie.
The composer Alan Silvestri pulls a lot of the weight here. He should be paid half of the gross. It’s not that I love the music, but the majority of the character beats come from the score (stemming from the fact that we don’t get to spend much time on any one character).
It makes me sad that there are going to be billions of people who have seen Endgame and not The Leftovers. Hawkeye is basically Nora Durst, but Coon’s performance... universes away from Renner’s.
I feel like Jon Favreau is the only actual adult here.
What am I supposed to feel when Ms. Vaginaegg cries? Potts limited character development in recent films and Paltrow’s infamy in the real world are not at all conducive to making me connect to her when Tony dies. Also, and I might be mistaken, they end that scene on a close-up of her and not Tony. Big mistake.
I wrote a long paragraph about the Marvel movies not growing up with their audience, but it ended up just being about the whole comedy/scope dilemma that most MCU films get themselves into.
I saw a bunch of articles before seeing the film about Endgame having the first openly gay character in the Marvel movies, and I expected, I don’t know, like Rhodey to be gay or something, but it was just one of the Russos doing a cameo; he just says “he” instead of “she” when talking about a date. Wow, really doing some crazy stuff there, guys.
My biggest laugh was when all the superhero women “accidentally” end up in the frame together.
Tilda Swinton’s two scenes were weird. She just gives into the Hulk? She’s like, “Oh wait, I’m an idiot, here’s the thing you wanted” and then gives him the thing. Her character is completely undercut. Everything with Dr. Strange feels very unresolved. Probably setting up for another film (that I won’t see).
I really appreciate the ending.
The only superhero movies I’m interested in into the foreseeable future are the Joker movie (only because it looks like they are doing something totally different; also, the sub-$100m budget intrigues me) and GOTG 3. I have some connection to those characters, and Gunn seems to know what he is doing. I would be down with the third one having Thor. His mommy/daddy issues go along with the primary thread of the GOTG movies.
I’m 99% sure this will pass Avatar, and I can’t imagine anything making more money than this in the next 10 years, at minimum. It got an A+ Cinemascore which indicates higher than a 3.0x multiplier, and the opening weekend has been insane. Everything has been lined up for years for this thing to do bonkers numbers, and no planned releases that I know of have that much momentum behind them. Maybe Avatar 2? (that’s sarcasm, by the way)
Okay, we’ve got to talk about the actual filmmaking at some point. I don’t know if the huge sensor that they shot Infinity War and Endgame with does them any favors (they shot both with an Alexa 65, I think). It’s not like they’re going to get a “medium format” look shooting digital with sterile, apochromatic lenses. Essentially, they just get a whole lot less depth of field, and I don’t know if that’s a good look for such a special effects heavy film. To me at least, it gives a “green screen look,” no matter how many digital elements are actually in the shot. It was a bit better in this than in Infinity War.
Something struck me during Iron Man’s final stand: this means to a great number of people what Twin Peaks: The Return means to me. “I am Iron Man” versus “I am the FBI.” Absolute, pure catharsis. Unadulterated catharsis. Other films have to worry about set-up, investment. Films like these have that taken care of already, and what is left is to work with expectations. The Last Jedi does so in the worst way possible. The Return and Endgame understand what they have and run with it.
Please watch The Leftovers. Please.