A Marvel Tribute

I revisited my Endgame review to see just how much detail I went into before I go into more... 

I'd been meaning to do this post for a long time, but now feels like the right time.

Before going any further, this goes into #EndgameSpoilers... so if you hadn't seen the movie yet or don't want to hear how it ends, I'd suggest leaving this page immediately...

...also I go into a LOT of other topics and I meander quite a bit, so just be warned... and I apologize in advance if a lot of it is trivial and about things not relevant to this topic... in the end, they're all relevant to me and I'm the one writing this. 

...Ok, for those still here... this is where the post really starts... 

Man, these words are difficult to say and I'd had 5 months to think about them... 

The entire Marvel franchise that started with Iron-Man ended with him making the sacrificial move and dying in the end... 
It's been hard just holding onto this without talking about it so I don't spoil the movie for people... but it's almost like losing someone, but you can't talk about it because their death was part of a conspiracy. Or your vampire boyfriend left, but you can't talk about why you're sad about him leaving without revealing he's a vampire.

This sounds really silly, but I'm still having a really hard time with it. It's ironic that I'd spent the last couple of years almost wanting this scenario to play out because I want Robert Downey Jr. to start doing other things. Being part of Marvel kinda limits his options to do other projects. Plus, the dude needs to win an Oscar. He's not going to earn one playing Tony Stark. Wouldn't it be hilarious if he (and Stan Lee- posthumously of course) actually got an Honorary Oscar for launching this franchise that revolutionized the movie industry? Although they might need to give an Honorary Oscar to George Lucas first because he launched Star Wars and that was a game-changer too. 

Point is he needs to win an Oscar because he's an amazing actor that has been passed over a lot because of his past difficulties. He lost to Al Pacino, who got the Oscar for "Scent of a Woman" to make up for past snubs. And he lost to Heath Ledger because... well, Heath Ledger died... I mean, that role in Tropic Thunder can't be gotten away with in today's politically correct world (kinda funny that I'm writing this now after Justin Trudeau got in trouble for photos in blackface from 20 years ago...) but I'm still bitter as heck that Heath Ledger only got the Oscar buzz because he died making The Dark Knight. Granted, he was the only good part about that movie... yeah, I hated The Dark Knight, sue me... it's too long and adding Two-Face felt like an afterthought because they didn't know how to end the movie otherwise. 

Back to the topic at hand... Watchmojo (a YouTube channel I enjoy a little too much) posted a new video titled top 10 most heroic deaths in movies. Tony Stark from his final "I am Iron-Man" moment was the thumbnail... I haven't watched it yet because I don't know if I'm ready for it yet. There was also a video about "heroes who created the villain"... #10 was from the new Spider-Man and I immediately freaked out and skipped ahead...

I haven't seen the new Spider-Man movie. I thought I'd be in a hurry to do so, but I'm not. It came out 2 months ago and they actually used it as a cross-promotion with United for the safety lecture. (It's really cool). But judging from the trailers, this movie is about Peter Parker struggling with the loss of his mentor and maybe wanting to give up the superhero gig entirely. I'm not ready for that yet... 

This is where the difficult part comes in... I'd seen a couple of Watchmojo lists relating to Marvel, one with 10 awesome things RDJ did outside of Marvel, and watched Doctor Strange as I said I would at the end of my Endgame post... 

but I haven't been able to see any of his movies since this one.

Leading up to Endgame, I rewatched Iron-Man, Avengers, Avengers 2, Civil War, and EndGame... I spent so much time with Tony that I was kinda getting sick of him, but it might be my own fault for binging movies the months leading up to it...

But it almost feels like a part of me died when he did in the movie because it felt like he really did. That death scene was hard to watch- especially because movies always fake you out when someone dies. Heck, they did that in the first Avengers movie, but I was more freaked out that Loki was going to control him with his scepter than him not making it back from space. But part of me was kinda thinking he'd make it back... he went through SO MUCH through these movies, it's amazing he made it this far. 

But as much as I get it in the grand scheme of things, I'm still kinda upset about it. I'm mad at Steve Rogers because he decided he had to fix everything when Tony got his happy ending. He just couldn't let things go... he never can... that's part of his character. He and Tony seem to have that in common, not being able to leave things alone. 

Maybe the weirdest part about all this... I think about RDJ and almost feel like he died when his character did and it's hard to remind myself he's still alive- cuz that pain is still there.

Meanwhile, Prince died in real life and I'd spent the last 3 years trying to think about him as if he's still here... because it's hard to reconcile the fact he isn't anymore. The moment I got the news, I let myself be shocked and sad for 2 minutes. Then "1999" starts playing and I told myself I wouldn't waste my time mourning and instead celebrating him. 

In other words, I have things completely screwed up and backwards in my mind... 

And I don't know if I'll be cured of this weird state of mind until his next movie comes out... that Doctor Dolittle remake (which is most likely not going to be very good because it's a REMAKE and the month it's being released is usually when the box office bombs come out) won't be out until January. 

The Voyage of Dr. Dolittle will be out January 17 2020... I immediately looked him up after this movie to see when his next movie was so I could get out of this weird funk, but it hasn't happened. I still have 4 months left, although I have my suspicions the rest of this year is going to be fly by in a blink. I can't believe it's September already and my mind is already looking forward to things in October. Like pumpkin spice season... 

I just feel like if I see him doing something in present tense, I'll snap back to normal. 

Also, they're doing a Black Widow movie FINALLY... and he's rumored to be in the cast... that could really screw things up, as much as I'd like it to be true. Meanwhile, Jeremy Renner isn't listed at all, which he SHOULD BE... I mean, hello, the two of them have history together. He's shooting, meanwhile, a Hawkeye TV series that I think will be Netflix exclusive... 

I don't have Netflix cuz we're not cool enough to have Netflix, but even then... I don't want to be part of that binge-watching culture because I barely have time for all the shows I do want to watch. I tried to keep up with all of them for a couple years until I just burnt out. 

Hopefully it'll give a DVD release of the individual seasons. They did put out John Krasinski's Jack Ryan series on DVD (which I've wanted to see for ages cuz I swear a weird dream I had was inspired by seeing trailers of it). 

...looked it up. It's Disney+... I just don't want to pay a subscription for streaming just to watch one show... I don't even stream my music. I buy CD's so I only have to pay for them once... 

This post is just all over the place, isn't it?

Another funny thing... my first glimpse of RDJ was trailers for Tropic Thunder and I felt like I had to see the movie to figure out what the hell his character was ("I'm a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude")... that one line was so hilarious and nonsensical I had to find out what was going on. I loved his performance, thought it should have won an Oscar (seriously... I'm never letting that go). So from an acting perspective, I wanted to start keeping tabs on him. Next was Sherlock Holmes and that was a fun watch too. And he won a Golden Globe for that. I never saw that show before, but I gave it a shot on a whim and I saw THAT. Awesome... but why no Oscar nomination? 

The nominations were George Clooney, Jeremy Renner, Jeff Bridges (who won the drama cat. at the Globes), Colin Firth and Morgan Freeman... granted, that's a lot of star power, but STILL... in 2010, I went to the movies to see him three times... Iron-Man 2, Due Date and Sherlock Holmes was actually January... I saw 23 movies that year... 

Then 2011... it kinda became the year that RDJ owned... and it all started with Less Than Zero. I love 80's pop culture so much and my knowledge of music and movies from that time is pretty vast, although I don't know everything... but it's funny how some things from that decade returned to my conscience years after they first caught my attention... my first encounters with Prince were 20 years ago when we watched the 1999 video and I saw bits of Purple Rain a couple years after that... he returns in 2006-7, makes multiple appearances I saw through multiple circumstances... I became a hardcore fan who had to know everything about him in 2007 and the rest is history. He became a huge part of my life and still is. 

With Less Than Zero, I'd wanted to see it since seeing the music video by The Bangles. It was on a VHS tape full of old MTV videos (1999 was on there as well) and I liked it so much I fast-forwarded to it multiple times. I liked all three of those Bangles videos (Walk like an Egyptian and Manic Monday-- didn't know at the time Prince wrote that one-- were the other two). One time, I watched this video twice in a row. It was very spooky and haunting and because it was from an 80's movie, I wanted to see this movie. 

I had no idea he was going to be in it... I didn't know anything about him except Sherlock Holmes and that Golden Globe and him being Iron-Man... 

February became a defining month for me over the past several years. Whatever defined that year for me, I saw that month. Prince at the SuperBowl (I started my fandom officially the next day- 2/5/2007), RDJ in Less than Zero (2/4/2011), Evgeni Plushenko at the Sochi Olympics (2/13/2014- his previous performance 4 days earlier wanted me to see what he'd do next... that injury that led to him withdrawing was the 13th... doesn't have to be a Friday to be unlucky)

Admittedly, Less than Zero wasn't a great movie. I found it uncomfortable to watch for a number of reasons. A couple had to do with sex scenes. One might ask- you like Prince and that bothers you?... when it's done from an artistic perspective, it's easier for me to digest. But when it's more intense and in your face, it's more difficult. But over time, I became more comfortable in this realm as well... provided the sex scene works in the scheme of the story... 

I also had my issues with the storyline because it's just a bit out there. My mom, whenever movies come up that have to do with either drugs or prostitution- American Gigolo is another, but I hadn't seen that one. Not sure if I ever will, beyond the opening scene where "Call Me" plays... she says that these movies are strange or bizarre or something along those lines. As if they're not normal. 

Less Than Zero shows a dark side of the youth culture in LA in the 80's... when you're addicted to drugs and your drug dealer keeps you hooked because you owe them money. 

I'd watched the movie twice... but only once all the way through. The second time, I watched up until the father-son reconciliation scene. And I couldn't continue after that. 

Also, this movie is why I hate James Spader, or at least I used to. (I don't love the guy, but I don't hold this crazy grudge against him anymore... not since seeing Ultron, funny enough... I hated the casting, but he was really good in the role and Tony almost deserved retribution for creating him). Because he played a really bad bad guy and I still blame him for the fact Julian dies at the end. There's a lot of talk about addicts and how they create their own hell and they should take the blame for their own actions. Sure, Julian owed him money, but he didn't have to be so sadistic about keeping him hooked, forcing him into prostitution to resolve his debts. 

Crazy thing is in the book, Julian doesn't die at the end. And a sequel was written, Imperial Bedrooms, where the characters actually see Less than Zero the movie and Julian is dumbstruck that they killed him off... I think he does eventually get killed off in that book as well. I don't plan on reading it. 

I just remember seeing the movie, being up past midnight to watch the whole thing. The movie ended with Roy Orbison "Fade Away" playing through the credits. I stayed for the credits cuz I couldn't move. I was so numb afterwards about what happened. 

The next day, I did my research, went DEEP into RDJ's past, found out about the drug issues and the fact doing this movie might have made matters worse instead of being a cautionary tale (I know all those drug education classes in school made me want to steer clear of anything addicting... I consume alcohol, but not to any detriment). Ultimately what I wanted to accomplish was learn everything I could so his past being revisited wouldn't hurt me or deter me. I also researched all of his movies- a) to see if they were any good or had something of interest and b) if he dies in the end.

So all of this fangirling really started with being messed up about his character dying in a movie... and again, I'm messed up because his character died in a movie. A death I was prepared to experience, but it's still hard. 

Just to knock myself back to reality for a second- I do follow him on Twitter, but he hasn't posted in a couple weeks. Sadly, his last post was him saying his Instagram got hacked... seriously, is nothing sacred anymore? The guy does a lot of great charity work and that's interfering with that.

Also, I will add, I got approached twice by spoofed accounts on Facebook via Messenger. One of them, I talked to for a while, but when he started saying how pretty I was or maybe asking why I was single... I started to get suspicious and blocked him. Last I checked, he's happily married with Susan (their 14th anniversary is coming up soon) and they have two children together. I'd have heard something if there was trouble in paradise. Also, she said she'd kill him if he ever stepped out of line. I have a fear of being eternally single, but I'm not that desperate to change that. Especially if it involves someone stealing someone else's good name to boost their own chances... the dude might have been a serial killer for all I know... 

He also tweeted an article about John Lithgow joining the Perry Mason limited series cast... still no release date on that... I'm still pissed that RDJ isn't playing the title role. (I started watching the series and even got a boxset so I'd know what to expect... it's a really cool series). When interviewed about it before Sherlock 2, he said he'd play him. And playing Tony Stark made it impossible for him to do that, so he had to step down to just producing.

Yeah, I will miss this character, but being stuck playing him for so long pisses me off because he missed out on a lot of opportunities. Opportunities he wouldn't have gotten without this role. 

Following his biography, from what I remember... Ally McBeal was his latest great gig where he really had everything together... except he didn't and his character was written out of the show. That still kills me... I own the boxset from Season 4, but I never watched that last episode again. That was 2001. 

After rehab, his first role was The Singing Detective where Mel Gibson paid the insurance to cast him. That's why RDJ wanted to pay it forward and get Mel Gibson back into the industry after a few incidents of his own. How much he succeeded... well, the guy is getting work, but nothing as impressive as the days of Lethal Weapon. (He was supposed to be in the 2nd Hangover movie, but was fired because Zack Galifianakis didn't like him... makes me wonder if RDJ still talks to Zack after that incident-- the two of them hit it off while doing "Due Date"). Then he did Gothika where he got to play the straight character for once and that's where he met Susan and fell head over heels. 

Meeting her turned his life around and it's been going well ever since. 

The fact he got cast as Tony Stark put him back into the spotlight in a good way. He probably wouldn't have gotten cast as Sherlock Holmes if that didn't happen, although I think Guy Ritchie had been a fan previous to that anyway. I mean, the guy played Charlie Chaplin for crying out loud AND almost won an Oscar for it. Probably the only good thing about that movie-- it wasn't terrible, but James Woods' scene kinda ruined it for me. He played a lawyer that got Charlie in trouble, saying that a DNA test that proved he didn't father a child was insufficient evidence and he was forced to pay child support the rest of his life. Plus, it focused a little too much on his relationships and less about his artistic process.

The addiction part of his past has been in the rearview mirror for so long, I don't recall it all the time. And that's the way it should be. You can only hold someone accountable for their past mistakes for so long. But when they really turn their lives around, let them live that and leave the rest alone. (If I really had time to think about this, I'm sure I'll find some instance or some person that'll make me a complete hypocrite... everyone is human, but if it involves someone I care about, I always aim to stay positive).

It's also strange that we lost Prince to something drug-related when that really wasn't on anyone's radar. Some people have come out after the fact, saying that there were flickers of things that could feed that narrative and maybe they should have acted sooner. Probably wouldn't have changed anything, though. He was a very private person and didn't want to do anything that would compromise his reputation. I think the only thing that could have changed things is if he had proper hip surgery that rid him of the pain permanently. Instead, due to religious restrictions, he didn't undergo the full process and had to stay medicated to go about whatever normal life was for him.

The same situation applies: I don't let that color my view of him. Is he partially responsible? He's only human. But I refuse to be one of those people who hate on addicts, saying that their deaths are their own fault. And while that may be true, I don't equate "drug addict" with him because that paints a very negative picture. And he's so much more than that and I'll remember him for the other 99% of what he is. (Well, maybe 98%- accounting for things that came out in Mayte's book and how he chose his newfound religious beliefs over their marriage... I spent at least a week mad at him over how all of that played out and I generally don't get mad at him all that much)

But it'll be one of those crazy things... losing at Prince at 57... meanwhile, so many other people with past drug issues are still around. Keith Richards, one of the most infamous drug addicts in the history of music, is over 70. 

And Robert Downey Jr. - with more second chances under his belt than most normal people get... he went to rehab at least three times before getting everything together. 

I'm not super experienced in this area, but to me, he had more of a conscience than most drug addicts do. He sincerely struggled it. He knew he had problems, but it was almost like he couldn't help himself. There's a courtroom scene that makes all of the biographies with a line that goes something like "It's like having a gun in my mouth and I like the taste of the metal"

He used to laugh it off and even think about it from a philosophical point of view. He did an interview with Charlie Rose (sadly someone whose career got ruined by harassment claims- not dismissing that these things happened- but he was a GREAT interviewer) where he talked about The Singing Detective and how he'd been able to stay clean and books he'd been reading that inspired him. Namedropping Campbell and Moyers. Charlie Rose threw in Tuesday's with Morrie (I read that one... interesting read, but I don't remember anything about it now). I wrote down a few quotes from that interview:

"It serves a part of your soul to blow it all up, because if you survive it, you realize there are outside forces you may never understand, that have your back... and they're fairly forgiving"

and he likes this one about optimism vs. pessimism because it came up in a few interviews.

"The optimist believes the future is uncertain, but the pessimist is always right and doesn't care. I think it's my duty to be the optimist, but the pessimist clearly has more information"

Man... this takes me back... 

2011 was a difficult year for me personally and having Robert as a distraction helped me get through it. But the distraction only helped for so long. The fact was I was unemployed and couldn't get hired after losing my last job due to being a poor communicator. 

Actually, today is the 9th anniversary of being fired from that job. I was thinking about another anniversary that had to do with today, but that was an album release from a year ago... I'd been at my current job since 2014, a temp position that became full time in 2016... anyone who's been paying attention could piece together some other things that coincided with those years... something bad happened involving people I care about, but in my own life, something really good happened. 

And for anyone curious, I've gotten a lot better at communicating and asking for help at work. Funny thing (so many funny ironic things in this post) is that one of my responsibilities has been including receptionist coverage. Talking to people makes me nervous, that's always been true, but as terrifying as it is, being thrown into that role made me better at it. The responsibility is heavy, so I don't like doing it all the time, but I'll step up to the plate when needed to do so. I said at one time or another, but as scary as it is to do, it's one of the most rewarding things I've done in my life. 

It's strange to look back on the 2011 version of myself that felt useless and hopeless... I still get down on myself about a lot of things, almost like I'm waiting for everything to come crashing down because it did once in spectacular fashion. Strange that I find salvation or at least relief from the negativity in my head from someone who dealt with more difficulty in their life than I'd ever understand. 

I wrote a lot of fiction at the time to sort through my feelings, but no resolution was ever reached that helped me get back on my feet. 

In 2014, this job (which I applied for years ago, but didn't get) came back to me like a boomerang when I needed it most... and it's given me a lot of great things. Not just health insurance or a steady paycheck, but I really do enjoy what I do. Not all of my coworkers are nearly this optimistic about it, but I pour myself into it to make up for everything else. And I am good at what I do. Being an almost A student in college was great, but nothing compared to make an impact in the real world. Even if it's a small impact. 

Yikes... God forbid I have to write a tribute post for Robert Downey Jr. in the next 10 years because he passed away for real... but when that times comes, I left myself so little material left to work with without repeating myself. I'd said everything about what he'd meant to me.

I guess I could just go into his best movie roles and why... 

I'll for sure tag him on Twitter when I share this post, but I highly doubt he'd read it... but it'd be crazy if he did and actually appreciated it, rather than thinking I was an overzealous fanatic. 

To me, he is so much more than Tony Stark... it's sad not to have that part of him anymore. But it's sadder that I have all these movies that I'm not sure if I'll be able to watch them... maybe not ever again... but it'd be like giving up "Little Red Corvette" because that song was on the radio when I found out the news about Prince... I'd worked through that and enough time has passed where I hear that song and it doesn't make me sad anymore. 

Maybe I will rewatch that first SpiderMan movie again... I'd meant to do it with subtitles so I could understand what is going on during those first 10 minutes... 

but first, I should watch that Watchmojo video about heroic movie deaths... just to see if I'm ready for it... 

I really hope I said everything I meant to in this post. And that my points came across with the best of intentions... instead of me being taken to task over any of the random opinions I spouted... 

I guess this is just something I've wanted to say for a while and this was my chance to get it all out so I can move forward. 

Also, if you made to the end, congratulations. I hope you enjoyed my musings, opposed to demanding for that hour of your life back that you spent reading this novel of a post. 

Theatrical Review: Avengers- Endgame

Date: Sunday April 28, 2019
Location: Cinemark Theater at Stroud Mall
Time: 12 noon
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)

Directors: Anthony and Joe Russo

Cast:
(oh god... so many...)

Tony Stark/Iron-Man- Robert Downey Jr. 
Steve Rogers/Captain America- Chris Evans
Thor- Chris Hemsworth
Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow- Scarlet Johansson
Clint Barton/Hawkeye- Jeremy Renner
Bruce Banner/The Hulk- Mark Ruffalo
Rocket- Bradley Cooper
Pepper Potts- Gwyneth Paltrow
Rodey/War Machine- Don Cheadle
Scott Lang/Ant-Man- Paul Rudd
Nebula- Karen Gillan
Thanos- Josh Brolin
Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel- Brie Larson
Peter Parker/Spider-man- Tom Holland
Doctor Stephen Strange- Benedict Cumberbatch
Peter Quill/Star-Lord- Chris Pratt
Gamora- Zoe Saldana
Groot- Vin Disel
Drax- Dave Bautista
Mantis- Pom Klementieff
T'Challa/Black Panther- Chadewick Bosman
Sam Wilson/Falcon- Anthony Mackie
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier- Sebastian Stan
Okoye- Danai Gurira

...if I forgot ANYONE, I'm really sorry... it's a lot to remember... 

Duration: 181 minutes (+ 7 minutes)... ok, the last LOTR movie was 3 hours and 21 minutes... so this movie wasn't nearly as long as that, but it came close... 

Opening Commentary
I was actually trying to hold off on doing this as long as I could... but considering I had a dream last night where I attempt to tell one of these people how great they were in these movies, the time is about right to do it... admittedly, it's been a weird past couple of weeks and I'd been in a weird state of mourning between a lot of different things in my work life and personal life and this movie added a bit on a top of that... 
However, I will try my best to go into this movie without spoiling anything... as much as there are some things I really do want to go into, that will be a separate post. It's something that will need to be done... after all, I did invest a lot of time and money into keeping up with these movies since 2010. It's a big investment monetarily as well as emotionally. And above all else, it's difficult saying goodbye. I will still see Marvel movies (I'm already looking at Spider-Man for sure), just not every single one. It'll be all about the characters involved. 

As for seeing the movie itself... I feel kinda lucky I got there that first weekend. Granted, this theater is has a couple dozen movie houses, so they're able to show it on multiple screens. But the fact the first 2 shows were sold out and we had to wait to see the 12 noon showing, yeah, that tells you all you need to know. 
We went into the theater and literally sat there for 90 minutes waiting for it. The one big negative I take away from this... they are pumping music through the speakers so it's not completely quiet, but it's the same program played on a loop... at least 5-6 songs they played several times... they do this "Noovie" thing before even showing commercials and trailers and that didn't even come on until T-15 minutes. It's just a pet peeve of mine to have things repeated. Come the third time, I just put on my iPod. I got through Side A of "Abbey Road" before the screen turned on-- it was a good way to kill time for sure. 

Trailers... yeah roughly 17 minutes of trailers on top of an already long movie... at least we did bathroom breaks before all this cuz there was no point in the movie where I could have left and come back without missing anything

"21 bridges"- not only written/directed by the Russo brothers, but it stars Black Panther himself, Chadewick Bosman. Kudos for them putting this guy into position to make more great movies. I just hope this was a good movie. Supposedly, this is about trying to hunt down a cop killer and they have to close the 21 bridges leading in and out of the city to do so. It's also very current and topical and if it's well-received, will stir up some good conversation. 

"Hobbs and Shaw"- I already voiced my opinion on the Fast & Furious series... pass!!

"Godzilla: King of the monsters"- my dad loves Godzilla movies, so he'll probably want to see this one. Supposedly 17+ monsters have risen and are threatening mankind and they want to bring Godzilla to take care of them. Particularly the alpha. All the while, they're playing some version of "Somewhere over the rainbow"... don't know why, but it got me a little choked up. Somewhat of a weird music choice, but this haunting rendition oddly worked...

"Dark Phoenix"- the more I see trailers for this, the more I think I might be interested in seeing it... Jean Grey has always been a tortured character and it really goes all in.

"Men in Black: International"- yeah, I don't think this necessarily needed a remake. And another nod to Marvel- it has Thor and Valkyrie (Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson) teamed up as H & M... it did have some funny jokes, though... 

"Lion King"- first time I'm seeing a proper trailer for this... it looks AMAZING... wow, this is gonna be a great year for Disney movies

"Star Wars- the Rise of Skywalker"- this was a teaser trailer really... but considering how the Last Jedi ended, the title confuses me a bit... unless it turns out that Kylo Ren lied and Rae  really is related to someone we knew from the original trilogy. 
The other night, I saw Return of the Jedi for the first time since Luke came back in the previous movie... it was a little strange... also the fact Luke's Jedi powers seemed to have grown exponentially between episodes V and VI... 

The Main Event
Again, as spoiler free as I can manage... but I'll give the basic details...

We catch up with the Avengers remaining immediately following the events of Infinity War. And some of them got a rawer detail than others about the people that were lost... I just had to say "that's not fair!"... 
As shown in the trailers, Captain Marvel joins them and those remaining get to finally rectify the way the previous movie ended... my only question was... why couldn't they have just added these 10 minutes to the end of the previous movie? Maybe the ending of the previous movie wouldn't have been as somber... 

Then we catch up with everyone left 5 years later... you see those words come up and I'm thinking "whoa"... it kinda knocks the wind out of you.

However, despite all the time that has passed, a sentiment remains about fixing things. And this is brought into motion because Ant-Man comes back after being MIA... I did not see the most recent Ant-Man movie, so I was completely lost about the events that transpired. (yeah, I'd seen all of the movies but this one and it wound up being the most crucial detail... go figure!)
And the solution is... wait for it... TIME TRAVEL... 
pretty much every pop culture reference is made in relation to this and I cheered when "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" was among them. Love that movie. 

One fascinating turn of events... Tony Stark's role in all this... back with the Ultron saga, he was the one who wanted to "build a suit of armor around the world" and everyone thought he was crazy... he's the only one who isn't really into this because he'd actually moved on and found his happy ending. But Captain America, who still never got over losing his past (after being defrosted and after these 5 years), is the one pushing for this chance at fixing things. It's almost like Civil War all over again where both of them take different sides on an issue and it's because Tony wavers in his position that the events follow as they do. 
Ultimately what we get from all this... those who have followed these characters after all this time know and understand why they decide to take the actions that they do... and actually, that's the theme for the entire movie. 

CGI comes into play a lot in these movies, but they really upped their game with physical transformations whether it's Tony being emaciated after being stuck in space for 21 days or what happens to Thor 5 years later (why they did that- I think it was strictly comic relief and Tony getting to finally use that Big Lebowski reference he'd been saving... I remember RDJ being on the red carpet, talking about how Jeff Bridges is "The Dude" and his son Indio had no idea what he was talking about)... it also made me think whether Thor and Aqua-Man have more similiarities than I realized. I got a very similar vibe and I'd only seen Aqua-Man in the Justice League movie. 

So with this movie... not going into great detail... 
I actually looked at my phone 3 times throughout the movie to try to gauge time stamps and I think I managed to get each hour perfectly. 

Hour 1- finishing off the previous movie, catching up with the characters, establishing where they are and getting the plan together
Hour 2- Time travel and putting those plans into action
Hour 3- the final epic battle with ALL the characters and the epilogue 

In this respect, the three hours really didn't feel that long at all. At least not to me. 

Much of this movie is fan service- it rewards the fans who saw all the movies because we get to revisit moments from previous films. And the dialogue makes dozens of references to previous movies. I think YouTube had a video that showed all 300+ Easter Eggs in this movie that harkened back to the previous ones. 
And all things considered, I got nearly all of the references and it felt empowering. Almost like following a book series and it's transitioned to the big screen and I get things that other people don't because I read the books. (Also a double-edged sword because I'm upset when things from the books are omitted or completely changed). 

These characters (and the actors playing them) are so well established that none of their actions are surprising at the end of the day. 
I liked how they focused more on Nat and Hawkeye's friendship. Instead of getting a few hints in the first few Avengers movie, they really get a lot of screen time together. I'm still hoping that they shoot a prequel where they really show what happens in Budapest. I just know they were both there and they "remember it very differently." There's so much call for a Black Widow movie, but why not have a movie with the both of them, their different bios and how their paths inevitably cross. Plus, as much as I wanted them to be romantically involved, they're not and it'd be good to see a movie with a male and female working together and it doesn't have that romance. Because romance more often than not ruins these things- particularly in TV shows. Castle and Blindspot are among several that went down or lost viewership because of that.

Of course the time travel thing isn't completely foolproof and one extra stop needs to be taken by Tony and Steve... where they go, I really had no clue about, but it was a really special scene for both of their characters. (This is also where Stan Lee makes his cameo).

One moment that happened made me think about "Heart and Souls" where RDJ makes a comment "It's been an emotional time for us all"... in the movie, he's the "corporeal being" that 4 departed souls use to complete unfinished business. The emotional exchange that happens makes sense for that particular person, but with him conveying the action, it's more than a little bizarre. Especially he had encountered this character a number of times throughout the movie and he happens to be connected to someone's unfinished business. 

The final battle is pretty insane... all the battles really are and they all get to a point where the actions more or less blur together... but like with the previous movie, it's absolutely painful how difficult Thanos is to kill... every single split second is crucial. And Doctor Strange mentioned how it was 1 chance out of 7 billion (it was some huge number- I forgot exactly what that they can win)... he wasn't kidding. 

I also got to thinking about Harry Potter and how that movie ended... and Snape's comment to Dumbledore when he reveals that Harry must face Voldemort when he's at his weakest... saying with sarcasm how he was raised as a lamb for slaughter.
It made me also wonder if certain characters were entrusted with the full truth of what would happen with this movie or these movies, just like J.K. Rowling told Snape what happened with his character. Apparently, that was true for at least one person. 

Yeah, everything in this movie happens exactly as it is meant to. Even how it ends and who makes it and who doesn't. I accept that there was a reason for all of it. I even said at the end of my post on Infinity War that I'd be ok with things ending a certain way... 
but it is nice to see character arcs finishing as well as small hints of future movies. 
There are no post-credits scenes. But it's just as well.
I'd like more Marvel movies... I just don't want all of them to build to a massive climax like this again. Not because it's emotionally taxing, but it's just a massive committment and I'm ready to move on. 

I revisited a bunch of the movies leading up to this... admittedly, I started getting sick of them... but after this, I was happy with the conclusion, but it's very bittersweet at the end of the day. 
It'll be a while before I watch anymore. But I know I at least have to rewatch Spiderman before the new movie comes out (plus I need subtitles to catch EVERYTHING going on- those first 10 minutes were going so fast, it gave me a headache) and Doctor Strange (cuz I got it for Christmas and still haven't watched it- I saw it in the theater ages ago and it's time to revisit that)

Grade: A
(pretty close to perfect, but I can't quite give it an A+... even if its length is justified, it's still an unnecessarily long movie)

Theatrical Review: Captain Marvel

Date: Saturday March 16 2019
Location: Cinemark Theater at Stroud Mall
Time: 11am
Party: 2 (my mom and I)

Writers/Directors: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (and 4 other writers)
Composer: Pinar Toprak

Cast:
Carol DanVERS/Captain Marvel- Brie Larson
Nick Fury- Samuel L Jackson
Phil Couslon- Clark Gregg
Talos/Keller- Ben Mendelsohn
Yon-Rogg- Jude Law
Dr. Wendy Lawson- Annette Benning
Maria Rambeau- Lashana Lynch

Duration: 123 minutes (+8 trailers)

Write-up:

Opening Comments
So at the end of the last Avengers movie, Nick Fury calls for reinforcements after disaster strikes... this was who he was calling. Now I kinda wonder how he was so sure she wasn't going to be among those people that disintegrated at the end of that movie...

Anyway, this movie broke a lot of records and of course I had to find out the next puzzle piece before the final Avengers movie comes out next month. The hype was more than warranted for sure and it was another of those great audience experiences where everyone was into the movie from start to finish. It's one of those reasons why I hope movie theaters never go under because everyone would rather stay home and watch Netflix. (We're not cool enough to have Netflix, but even then, I'm glad we don't because I have little time as it is to get everything done. Even when I'm not on Twitter or Facebook for Lent... so I'm writing this at least a month before I actually can post it).

Trailers
There were 8... funny thing was it had me thinking... there's not that many movies I want to see this year... then one of the trailers comes up and I realize... almost everything I want to see this year is owned by Disney... every Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars movie is owned by them. And just when I was having this realization, a few days later Disney bought Fox... yeah, Disney owns everything... but I like their stuff, so I can't complain too much.

"Hobbs & Shaw"- OMG, do we NEED another Fast & Furious movie? This one is about Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham and how their characters have to work together to defeat the bad guy played by Idris Elba (I think he said his character's name IS BadGuy... ugh, they really have run out of ideas, haven't they?)

"Long Shot"- it's by the same people who did "Knocked Up" starring Seth Rogen and Charlize Thereon. She's trying to become the first female president. He's a reporter and they apparently were friends from way back when and end up messing around. I don't know which part gives me more ick... these two actors getting together in a movie or this is obviously Hollywood trying to rewrite (and taking the piss out of) the 2016 election. It's been almost 3 years- LET IT GO!!

"Shazam"- ugh, not another trailer for this stupid third-tier superhero movie... 

"Spider-Man: Far From Home"- I'm guessing that this is taking place after the last Avengers movie, so everything is ok now? Supposedly he's going on a class trip to Europe and wants to be normal, but Tony Stark's bodyguard/chauffer Happy Hogan and Nick Fury are looking after him or need him to fight crime. 

"Rocket Man"- After "Bohemian Rhaposdy" was such a hit, why the heck not? Beside, this looks amazing. AND it's not owned by Disney. It's also a little weird because Elton John is still alive. Don't they usually do these biopics after famous musicians have long passed away? 

"Dark Phoenix"- another X-Men movie, but this revolves around Jean Gray and has Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender back as the young cast of the X-Men... this looks like it's going to be quite dark, but it looks like it'll be well done. The only X-Men movie I'd ever seen in a theater was the Wolverine Origin movie. I also thought about how long it's been since I'd seen the original X-Men movie and just how far that franchise has come. 

"Frozen II"- it's the 2 minute teaser trailer that came online a while ago, but it's the first time I'm watching it... I don't know what the heck to make of any of it, but I am SUPER STOKED for it. OMG!

"Dumbo"- ok, this movie is about to come out... I think we can stop with the trailers now... I don't really have any interest in it. (Speaking of it, though, I'd been watching my fair share of MsMojo videos on YouTube doing top 10 lists... one talked about characters that acted like bad guys, but they weren't cast as the villains. One of them were the other elephants in Dumbo that made fun of his ears. Even when Jumbo was taken away, they were still ostracizing him... that movie is just so messed and depressing and I didn't even get to the Pink Elephant parade. But I also thought about a recent show I saw on Animal Planet or something where they said Asian elephants have ears like Asia and African Elephants have ears shaped like Africa... All of the elephants at the circus have small ears, but Dumbo has big ears. I wonder if that's implying that his dad was an African elephant and they were mean to him because he's... well, I think the term is bastard... I'm thinking about this too much and I'm not even into the main attraction yet)... I'd just have rather seen an Aladdin or Lion King trailer cuz I hadn't seen them as much. Not yet anyway. 

The Main Event
Well, before the actual movie starts, there's a really cool tribute to Stan Lee. I won't give it away :P but at the end, I wooted to myself, my mom started to cheer and then the rest of the audience joined us. It was a really cool moment. He deserves it. The reason why we're all here in this theater seeing all these movies. 

I'll be honest-- I was LOST for the first 30 minutes of the movie. Vers (as she's known on the Kree home planet) is training to be strong enough to join in a mission with her mentor, played by Jude Law. And he keeps telling her about keeping her emotions in check. Their mission is to take out this other race of aliens that are shapeshifters and taking over other planets. But she keeps having flashbacks that are garbled and it makes as much sense to her as it does to the rest of us.

Then she lands on Earth and things start to fall into place when we breach familiar territory. 
For starters, it's 1995 and she crash lands into a Blockbuster. Ah... those were the good old days. I was 9 in 1995 and a lot of the references I grew up around, so that was really cool. Also they had a lot of music from the 90's, so that was a nice touch too. I didn't think the 90's would ever be a period worthy of nostaglia for people. But then again, I grew up in the 90's. The only things I'm kinda nostaglic about are music and Disney movies. To me, the 80's are the coolest time period, but the people who were adults then say it wasn't that great. It's an ongoing cycle. "Midnight in Paris" goes really deep into it. 

We meet Nick Fury before the eye patch. And Agent Coulson is on his first day on the job. And they're trying to figure out where she came from and who she is. 
We do eventually find out who she is and that she was originally from Earth and had been missing for 6 years... it becomes clear after a while where this is one of those movies where everything you think is true is not and vice versa. 
Jude Law has been playing more bad guys lately, it feels like... and I had this really weird feeling about him. I think even during the trailers. And then there's a point where he's talking to Ronan on telecom... he was the bad guy in "Guardians of the Galaxy" so right there, that was a major clue. 

It's kinda funny seeing Nick Fury in this capacity. Apparently, Captain Marvel was his first ever encounter with someone who'd come from another planet. I don't know what the heck S.H.I.E.L.D. was doing before they were defending against aliens and rogue superheros... but apparently they got a new purpose after the events of this movie. 

Once all the pieces came together and Vers found out she was really Carol Danvers and she was one of the first female pilots in the US Air Force... the movie just became awesome. Kinda like being nearsighted and suddenly you get glasses and you're able to see everything clearly. 
There's a lot of talk about girl power in this movie and it's definitely well thought out. There's been more focus on that lately in the entertainment business and beyond that. I feel like some of it comes off as pandering, supporting it just because it's "the thing" to do right now. Kinda like pushing for diversity just for the sake of having diversity. The ultimate lesson learned is that you're not strong because of what others have given or taught you. Strength comes from within. And Jude Law gets his butt handed to him in the most epic way possible... I like the guy a lot, but in this movie, he kinda deserved it. 
And her best friend, Maria, she's a bad ass too. And her daughter Monica, precocious because why the heck not- all kids in these movies seem to be, is super adorable. 

With the Kree world, they have something called the Supreme Intelligence that's practically their god and it takes a different form depending on the person. Based on who that person admires the most. It's an interesting idea... but it's scary as hell when you think of the implications of that... manipulating people and taking away their free will

Also, there's a scene-stealing cat named Goose... keep on a eye on that cat... super cute, but full of surprises. 
Also, the Tesseract comes into play too. No Infinity Stone has gotten more screen time than that thing. It was in "Thor," Loki stole it to wreck havoc in the first Avengers movie, Red Skull was trying to use it for world domination in the first Captain America movie... I'm still trying to figure out how the heck it came back to Earth... I thought it was underwater with Captain America until he was rescued in 2012... there are so many of these movies I can't keep timelines straight. 
(Taking time to look into it after rewatching the movies... it was fished up before finding Captain America... and whatever Loki used in "Thor," it wasn't the Tesseract, it was an artifact that belonged to the Frost Giants... but Erik Selvig was brought into S.H.I.E.L.D. to experiment with it)

And yes, there are two post credits scenes. One connects to the last Avengers movie and the last one has to do with the cat. 

Grade: A- (if I caught split the movie in half, I'd give the first half of the movie a B- or even a C because it was that confusing... but I think this is a good score to round everything out)