The Critical Corner

It’s always special when you get this feeling. This feeling we may have witnessed history. History where we will tell our kids and grandkids what it was like to live it, how old we were when it happened, and where we were when we experienced it. This is the feeling I was left as soon as the credits finished rolling for Avengers: Endgame. Make no mistake, what the Russo brothers, executive producer Kevin Feige and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely were able to accomplish with Avengers: Endgame is a miracle unto itself. Not only were they able to live up to the promise of what last year’s Avengers: Infinity War provided, but they also managed to tie up an overarching narrative that started all the way back in 2008’s Iron Man and pay homage to many of the movies that came along the way. Can you find nitpicks in this three-hour endeavor? Absolutely. Does it take away from the achievement? Not in the slightest. Originally conceived as ...

I can’t think of another movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that is releasing with both high anticipation and with hyperbolic controversy like Captain Marvel . But this is what happens when you promote your movie as part of a “feminist movement” and you have people misconstrue actress Brie Larson’s criticism towards a male dominated press junket. But amidst all the controversies casting a pall on the release of this movie, how is the movie itself? Captain Marvel is a traditional origin story in the mold of the Phase 1 slate of the MCU. Taking a few cues from the original Iron Man and the original Thor , Captain Marvel is a surprisingly lean, low key affair despite its mostly intergalactic background. After a third slate of movies in the MCU that have seen Marvel Studios experiment a little bit with the way they have done their movies, it is both refreshing and a little jarring seeing a movie follow on the old mold from almost a decade ago. If anything, t...