Endgame reminded me very strongly of Return of the King. (That’s actually been my spoiler-free review for friends who asked how it was). It’s fully committed to its world and characters and has full expectation that the audience feels the same. And it’s not at all ashamed to get cheesy and manipulative when it’s appro…

This is too dark for a marvel film, but I wanted the soul stone scene to end with Natasha pushing Clint off the cliff. (I don’t think “the other person jumps while you try to stop them” really counts as a sacrifice.)

I love that they took so much time at the start of the film to show the impact of the snap. That was a really touching moment. 

Avclub film reviewers collectively review *every* film that gets a wide release (and many that don’t). From arthouse fare, to foreign films, to big blockbusters. Even those weird evangelical religious films that exist to cater to the bible belt.

Right or wrong, the oscars do matter - they make a big difference in how much money smaller films earn. Often “oscar bait” films can only turn a profit if they get nominated.

I don’t know, I feel like allowing English-language films would invite gaming the category. Lots of films are international productions these days, whatever rules they apply it wouldn’t be too hard to shuffle money around to get your low-budget oscar bait to qualify.

It’s kind of weird to hear that a film is taking the “American Idol” self-myth seriously, in 2019. Do they make any attempt to grapple with the fact that these singing competitions rarely lead to actual stardom, or that where you place in the competition doesn’t matter? There’s only been a handful of people who turned…

Because you’re 14 and they’re Real Artists who make Serious Music, of course.

The 21 Jump Street film did this well I think - the adults try their best to act like teens, but they get tripped up because teen culture has changed since they were young. So instead of highlighting the difference between kids and adults, the comedy comes from the difference between generations.

But I think that gets…

I think it would be fitting if Endgame didn’t have any after-credits stingers. Stingers serve to tie the films together, and this is the end - there’s nothing to tie it to. Well, except for the next million MCU films they’re making, but still - it’s *an* end at least.

Even the ones that did go to the ER, I’d bet it often got written down in their paperwork as “panic attack” or whatever, with the cause left unstated.

It would be really cool to see a jukebox musical starring the artist herself. 

I think he originally conceived it as a logical plan, and then as the years went by it turned into a religious crusade, at which point the logic doesn’t matter anymore.

The poster also looks like Dumbo is flying out of the Japanese war flag...

I can’t understand how you’re expected to ride on the street with these. They’re slow and it’s far too easy to wipe out. The whole point of scooters is to ride them on the sidewalk, otherwise why aren’t you on a bike?

My impression is that there are two types of cosplay:
Group A) People of both genders who dress up because it’s fun to pretend to be a character they like
Group B) Attractive women who dress up because men like to see attractive women dressed as characters

Obviously there’s overlap - I’ve sure most people in Group B do…

This is a weird premise for a novel, because all-girls and all-boys boarding schools actually exist, and it wasn’t long ago that they were really common. Obviously hiding the whole existence of the other gender is more extreme, but... is it really that different, in practice?

It’s not about America at all. The US only makes up ~30% of the profit for a typical superhero film. There are still plenty of countries in the world that are happy to ban films starring gay characters, the big one being China. That’s why you see gay characters all the time on TV, but rarely in big budget movies.

I think a lot of it is genuine ignorance. Everyone knows that paper and plastic can generally be recycled, but the details are complicated and vary a lot place-to-place. And when is it better to toss something out if cleaning it isn’t an option (eg food courts in the mall, where there are recycling containers for…

I’ve been making soft-boiled eggs like this for a long time, though I’ve never done the brine bath. The problem I always run into is that the yolk is never in the center of the egg, so I end up with part of the yolk over-cooked and part of the white under-cooked. Does anyone know a way to avoid that?