Avengers: Endgame

For the first time, Marvel has made a solid comic book drama with existential overtones instead of a flat CGI fest about the destruction of the world, and everyone's completely stoked. Easily watchable, character-driven, with a delightfully sentimental finale. The catharsis of Captain America's character outweighs the others, though it's hard to say whether intentionally or not, while the time travel with all its paradoxes – equals an annoying pile of bullshit, as usual. (05/11/2019)

On the one hand, I'm glad the Russos broke the sequel rule of "cram more in than last time" and went a different route. But the truth is that this path is going more towards comic book fans than people who have no idea what Ant-Man's real name is... but they're not going to the cinema anyway, so what? Endgame manages to shock a few times in the first ten minutes, only to evolve in a direction that the trailers practically didn't even hint at. The directing duo conceived the whole thing in a much more intimate fashion this time around, relying heavily on fan service and clearly wanting to give each of the superhero veterans plenty of space. The humour is not absent this time either, but it's nice that the heroes are still aware that they screwed up last time and everyone has to deal with it in their own way. This more intimate mode suits the Avengers and makes things happen that even the most optimistic fans probably didn't hope for. Ironically, though, it's also the biggest problem, because it doesn't really start to get spectacular until the end. In sheer magnificence, Infinity War probably trumps Endgame, but I still felt like the whole thing could have come a little sooner. I enjoyed it a little more last time, but I can't imagine putting Infinity War on in a few years and saying I don't give a shit about Endgame. All in all, it works practically perfectly. And as a farewell to an era of cinema, more than worthy as well. (04/27/2019)

I'm not a big fan of comic book CGI coloring books, but I have to capitulate here. Especially thanks to the middle section, when it clicks together beautifully like a sophisticated jigsaw puzzle that recalls all the previous Marvel movies, and the film rolls out such incredible fan service that it's almost admirable. That and the last nostalgic quarter of an hour will actually show how the suits from Marvel have it perfectly thought out in advance, even ten or fifteen years in advance. A perfectly tuned machine that is unparalleled in today's film studio constellation. Kevin Feige is a stud. (05/06/2019)

The culmination of the year's and indeed the century's cinematic event (the last time Harry Potter ended this way), the film lived up to its hype and delivered a perfect farewell to filmmaking so mature that I'm not afraid to call the Russo brothers a directorial powerhouse alongside Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino. With trailers that give almost nothing away, you will be surprised, shocked and emotionally wrung to the max for two and a half hours. Even though the film feels more like a heart-pounding drama for two hours (the action proper doesn't until the end), it doesn't matter at all because story-wise the film offers a lot. The time travel in particular presented in a very creative and entertaining way. The Hulk along with Thor take care of the humour, and the emotions work very well, too, at least three scenes had me in tears. Once the epic finale starts, I was absolutely buried in my seat, enjoying the ecstasy with orgasm so much that I still had trouble getting up ten minutes after it was over and I was also half paralyzed to the point of having trouble picking up my drink. Yeah I can't even remember such an experience I took away from the cinema. I can't imagine kids having fun with this movie. 100%. (04/30/2019)

Years ago, Marvel films were all the same for me. It is unbelievable how much the whole Marvel universe evolved, and I’ve gradually grown fond of even the characters I originally disliked. The climax came with this installment of Avengers, which I consider worthy of the walk of fame for films in Hollywood Boulevard. This is the ultimate filmmaking epic. For ten years the American filmmakers shower you with comic-book-based movies, just so everything connects into one endlessly awesome final battle against Thanos, probably the scariest adversary of comic book heroes ever. His goal is not to create evil, but to establish neutrality and the worst thing is that he has some solid arguments and fully believes in them. I had so much respect for this guy. I have also enjoyed the three hours long experience that had a good premise and message, entertained me and most of all, it gave enough space to every hero, which deserves applause. To put together all of this must have taken an enormous amount of work and I am happy I can award it today with the ultimate five stars. I could try to find some faults with it, but why would I do it? It was awesome! (05/09/2019)