Movie Reviews up to Late April 2019

"Captive State" R
This dreary science fiction movie is part District 9 and part Robocop and a little Underworld, as aliens have taken over future Chicago and it's a metaphor for disregarding the poor. John Goodman plays a grizzled cop who's ward is an angry black youth fighting the aliens via a resistance. It wasn't a bad movie. It just wasn't in theaters very long because the confusing alien stuff really isn't the movie. It's really about 'The Man' oppressing a city.

"Disney's Dumbo" PG
This is the Tum Burton remake where he spends half the film making fun of carnival barkers, and the next Disneyland itself, but long before the park, and set in 1919, with a baby elephant than can fly somehow using his big ears. The cartoon made more sense. Not sure the movie needed to be a thing. Hal the cast sleep walked through it. Guess if you're curious, rent it later, but it's not half as charming or equally messed up as the cartoon.

"Marvel's Avengers: Endgame" PG 13
The bombastic follow up the Avengers Infinity War doesn't pull any punches, and immediately sets out to kick Thanos' butt, while then the heroes find out he already destroyed the magical infinity gems, or stones, and they have no way to go back and reverse the 'snap' that erased half of all senitent life. Six years later, Tony is married and has a kid, Banner is both Hulk and Smart Hulk, Hawkeye is Ronin, and Black Widow, Captain America, and only briefly, Captain Marvel, are all dreary, but then comes hope. Time travel. The Avengers figure they can travel back into time, steal the gems from history, and return to the future to beat Thanos before he can steal them. (Unlike the comic book versions, the Lady Death angle is not there). They manage to foul up three attempts, and must enlist the Ancient One to go back to a previous period and find the stones, ala Next Generation's Second Chances meets Yesterday's Enterprise meets Voyager, Endgame. Ah, Endgmae. And Back to the Future gets made fun of, only to kind of copy that too. Thing is, in the past, Thanos and Nebula trap their Nebula counterpart, and they find a way back to the future, where they start the war anew, and want to destroy it all, but the heroes have sent one of their back, and he sent for the Avengers, all of them, to snap their own glove with the stones, and assemble for a kick ass final battle! One of the best movies of the year so far.