NO SPOILERS-ASSUMING YOU'VE SEEN INFINITY WAR #DontSpoilTheEndgame #ThanosDemandsYourSilence After 22 films starting with "Ironman", this cycle of the Marvel film universe comes to a spectacular, perfect close with AVENGERS ENDGAME. The world is in chaos after the events of last year's 'Avengers Infinity War", with half the world's population and half of our superhero stable faded into dust with a snap of Thanos' fingers. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) is stuck in space, Captain America (Chris Evans) is feeling defeated, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) are lost on their path and Thor (a terrific Chris Hemsworth, stealing the movie throughout) sits in a corner, silent. What I loved about the film is that I walked in with a theory on how they were going to fix the Thanos snap. I was sure I had it in hand. But directors Anthony and Joe Russo and their writers not only took my theory off the table in the first 30 minutes, they smashed it to pieces. I loved it. I had no idea where this action packed, multi-universe adventure was going but I didn't expect it to be so packed with laugh out loud moments and emotional wallops. These are filmmakers at the absolute peak of their game and everyone is all in. It's nice to see Jeremy Renner finally get his due as Hawkeye. His dark side is a very dangerous place to be. Having fun with time travel, the story basically serves up the ultimate Back to the Future homage with a hell of a lot more at stake. James Brolin is terrific as Thanos too, making the most of his screen time. Paul Rudd gets to show his dramatic skills with a more serious turn from Ant Man than we've seen in the past. Bradley Cooper nails every punch line as Rocket. What so many of the Marvel movies have got right is creating impossible superhero moments, rooted in real emotions, real people and real consequences. That continues in ENDGAME with the stakes higher than ever and the suspense building over a solid, fast-moving three hours. I'm so sick of everyone online bitching that the movie is 181 minutes long. When it moves this quickly, who cares? Just enjoy it! There are genuine moments of triumph that got the entire audience cheering and clapping as one. How often does THAT happen anymore at the movies? The last hour of the movie is flawless, topping Infinity War in scale and emotional payoff. It leaves you exhausted, happy and devastated at the same time. The filmmakers must have seen Star Trek VI too, because they copy that film's terrific final credits by allowing each member of the Avengers team to appear on screen as their signatures scroll out. It's the perfect moment to recognize each and their contribution to the incredibly successful franchise. Alan Silvestri's music score is omnipresent in all the right ways, with some HUGE payoff moments for fans. ENDGAME is the ultimate sendoff. Emotional, powerfully sad, hilarious, stuffed with fan references to the other 22 films, it's the biggest box office hit of all time with $350 million USA and $1.2 BILLION its first three days. It deserves every dollar. My expectations were very high and it exceeded every one. Thanks for the best film series of the past decade, Marvel. Keep 'em coming. ENDGAME blazes its way to an A+.

NO SPOILERS! In the opening moments of the new blockbuster AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, I noticed that the IO in Marvel Studios was now fashioned into a "10" denoting the tenth anniversary of the first Marvel film, "Ironman". How far we've come from that first, smaller but hugely entertaining movie. INFINITY WAR is a blast. A two and a half hour assault of superhero entertainment that's exciting, funny and surprisingly moving. The big bad of the Marvel universe has finally arrived in Thanos (well voiced and acted by Josh Brolin) whose crusade to save the universe is based on the most dramatic population culling since the 1972 cult sci-fi hit ZPG (look it up film nerds!). All of our favorite Marvel superheroes are reunited to battle Thanos and its a HUGE cast. The Civil War between Captain America (Chris Evans) and Ironman (Robert Downey Jr) is quickly cast aside as all the good guys realize the only chance they have against Thanos is to pull together. The power of the film is that you feel that they'll be consequences if they don't. Rather than another rote, loud, boring battle, we watch the pieces of the battle against Thanos's quest to collect all the Infinity Stones take place across the universe. Thor (Chris Hemsworth at his best) meets and pairs up with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Doctor Strange (the excellent Benedict Cumberbatch) and Tony Stark band their giant egos together. By the time we all end up in Wakanda for a battle to end all battles, the film feels more like "Lord of the Rings" in size, scale and emotional weight than a Marvel movie. It's fantastic. Balancing the real life and death consequences of this fight for the universe with plenty of laugh out loud moments, directors Anthony and Joe Russo continue their winning streak, making 150 minutes feel like less than two hours. Tom Holland's Spiderman is the heart of the movie. He's awesome, as is Tom Hiddleston as Loki. Brolin brings the most shades of madness to any villain in these movies in decades, which makes Thanos all the more terrifying. The last twenty minutes of the film are jaw dropping. I never saw the conclusion coming and it took me a minute to realize exactly what was happening. This is the "Empire Strikes Back" of the Avengers films, telling you half of a huge story and doing it brilliantly. Like that film, it leaves you satisfied but on the edge of your seat wanting more, a LOT more. I have a lot of questions, my Grandson had plenty of questions, mostly dealing with "what happened?" You know what buddy, I dont really know either, but I can't wait to find out. Don't let anyone tell you too much about INFINITY WAR, see it for yourself. It's about sacrifice and loyalty and the very existence of the universe. If that sounds pretty heavy....just wait until you see it. AVENGERS INFINITY WAR kicks off Summer Movie Season 2018 with a big bang, the biggest box office opening of all time and an A+. "More power, Rabbit!!!"

Following a perfect summer blockbuster like 2012's "The Avengers" is a tough task, but Joss Whedon and his team have done the near-impossible and topped that film with its sequel AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. The film opens in the middle of an action sequence as the entire Avengers teams descends on the last stronghold of Hydra to get back an alien weapon in the hands of the Nazi-like villains. The first fifteen minutes is an amazing action sequence that would have been the epic conclusion of any action film from years gone by, but our team of heroes is just getting started. When Tony Stark (perfect Richard Downey Jr) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo's best Hulk yet) team up to explore the capabilities of the weapon and use its advanced technology as the final piece of their world peace keeping technology, things go horrible wrong. Thor (Chris Hemsworth in his funniest and best Thor performance), Captain America (Chris Evans emerging as the moral center of the Avengers), Black Widow (excellent Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) all have important roles to play as the story unfolds. When Stark's peaceful system reinvents itself into an Ultron focused on the destruction of the human race, the Avengers find themselves battling a very different kind of enemy. The film gets so many things right. Casting James Spader as the voice of Ultron is perfect. As the robot goes from an emerging consciousness to a dangerous superpower, Spader manages to perfectly convey the petulance of a child and the sarcastic menace of a Bond villain. There is a strong streak of terrific humor throughout the film, from Captain America's intolerance of bad language to the heft of Thor's Hammer keeping you laughing between the massive action set pieces. And they ARE massive. Somehow Writer/Director Joss Whedon manages to create battles on a huge scale with personal stakes, so they never collapse under their own weight like those endless boring battles in the Transformers films. Whedon also cleverly dives deeper into the characters, giving the audience a much bigger stake in the consequences. This time, we see Hawkeye in much more depth. His personal life, his background and his acceptance of the fact that in the middle of these superheroes he's "just a guy shooting bow and arrows, it doesn't make any sense". It's that sense of humor that makes the film standout and enjoyable from its opening moments to its final post credits teaser. The nearly always present music score by Danny Elfman builds nicely off of the original themes by Brian Tyler. A huge supporting cast lends excellent support, with strong moments from Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury, Don Cheadle as War Machine, Hayley Atwell as Agent Carter and Anthony Mackie as The Falcon. Paul Bettany's role as Jarvis is expanded with great results and two new characters with powers are launched. Elizabeth Olson is menacing as The Scarlett Witch and Aaron Taylor-Johnson is the blindingly speedy Quicksilver. As Cobie Smulders summarizes in her role as Agent Hill (you Agents of Shield fans know who I'm talking about) "She's weird and he's fast". Luckily, by the end of the film, there's a lot more to the brother and sister than that fact. There's a lot more of EVERYTHING in Age of Ultron. More laughs, more action, more bad guys and more expectations. The final battle with an entire city lifting off the ground could have been confusing and repetitive. At the hands of this cast and these filmmakers, its a visual feast of action, music, drama and solid laughs. This is one helluva a way to kickoff the 2015 Summer Movie season. Age of Ultron gets an A+.

What an EXCELLENT way to kickoff the 2012 Summer movie season! THE AVENGERS is excellent from start to finish. I was really wondering if Joss Whedon could juggle all these characters and do them justice in one film, and he's exceeded expectations. Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark, IRONMAN is the hilarious core of the film, with Chris Evans in his second turn as CAPTAIN AMERICA (after last summer's great film of the same name) Mark Ruffalo as the screen's best HULK, Chris Hemsworth as THOR, Scarlett Johansson as the deadly BLACK WIDOW and Jeremy Renner as ARCHER form Marvel's THE AVENGERS. Non-stop action, excitement and fun light up the screen as this team first meets, becomes a very disfunctional family and then teams up to defend the Earth against a nasty bunch of invaders. Favorite bits: (no spoilers here) The Hulk's final battle with our main villain, almost any scene with Ruffalo as David Banner, the Galaga playing crew member, Ironman and Thor's battle in the woods and the entire last half hour New York City battle sequence. I thought I was well past being surprised by weaponry, a battleship or hardware, but consider me pleasantly surprised! The writing, special effects, direction, music and editing all come together here to create an excellent summer movie for the ages. The Avengers is clever, action filled fun and gets an A! Followed by AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON.

Mike Meyers hit comedy gold with 2002's AUSTIN POWERS in GOLDMEMBER. Oh man is this one funny movie, laugh out loud funny from beginning to end in our house. Mike Meyers is now (with great makeup and hilarious acting) Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, Fat Bastard AND Goldmember. Too many highlights to count, but some of our faves are Michael Caine's "There are only two things I can't stand, People who are intolerant of other cultures, and the Dutch!" Dr Evil and Mini Me's "Hard Knock Life", Young Austin and Evil, Austin and Mini Me's shadow play in the Dr's office, Beyonce in her film debut, "LOWER THE GLOBE!" "Shmoke and a Pancake? Bong and a Blintz?"hahahaha oh man, too many to name. GOLDMEMBER is Golden. It leaves us very hungry for a fourth Austin Powers movie. Never Say Never Mike Meyers! A shagadelic A.

When Mike Myers original Austin Powers film became a big hit, he followed up with an even better sequel, AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME. Hilarious from start to finish, its IMHO the best of the Powers trilogy. Dr Evil (Myers again riffing on Blofeld with a Lorne Michaels impression) creates a time machine that allows him to go back to the early 60's and steal Powers mojo, effectively shearing Sampson's hair and all his magic spy powers. It's a great set up that Myers and his big cast of regulars milk for all its worth. Myers adds Fat Bastard to his lineup, with a hilarious Scotch accent and the foulest hygiene in spy history for his rotund bad guy. Heather Graham is fun as Felicity Shagwell, Michael York is great as Basil Exposition and we add Verne Troyer as Mini Me and Rob Lowe as the younger version of Robert Wagner's Number Two, all with tons of laughs. Some favorite moments that are often quoted in our house: ________________ Number Two: Why not use your knowledge of the future to play the stock markets? We could make trillions. Dr. Evil: Why make a trillion when we could make... billions? Scott: A trillion's more than a billion, numbnuts. ____________________ Scott: If you've got a time machine, why don't you just go back and kill Austin Powers when he's sitting on the crapper or something? Dr. Evil: How about, no, Scott? Okay? _____________________ Dr. Evil: Ow! You shot me, you A-Hole. _____________________ [Austin picks up a boiling pot, with a stool sample from Fat Bastard inside] Austin: Cor! This coffee smells like shit! Basil: It is shit, Austin. Austin: Oh, good. Then it's not just me. [Drinks] Austin: [Smacks lips] It's a bit nutty. _____________________ I could watch this thing every three months and it makes me laugh just as hard every time. Great cast, clever funny dialogue and plenty of OO7 allusions to balance some tribute along with the hilarity. Myers has never been better than he is here. Let's hope he soon gets that long anticipated 4th Powers movie off the ground! THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME gets a fall-over-laughing A+. Followed in 2002 by Austin Powers: Goldmember.

I don't know when I've laughed harder of more often over the years than I have watching Mike Myers hilarious James Bond/sixties spy spoof AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY. Myers has said that he has very fond memories of watching the James Bond films with his Dad, as do I. Maybe that's why I connect so closely with his send up here, which is done lovingly and hilariously. Austin is a shagadelic British agent who is cryogenically frozen and dethawed to pursue his greatest villain, Dr. Evil, who is ("Oh lets just do what we always do...") holding the world ransom with a nuclear weapon. Closely echoing the plot of "Thunderball" and many aspects of "You Only Live Twice", Myers writes a screenplay so loaded with verbal puns, visual gags and hilarious set ups that it takes multiple views to catch them all. As Austin is thawed out in the 90's in all his sexist, womanizing, free love glory, laughs abound. Michael York is a great straight man as Austin's boss Basil Exposition. Elizabeth Hurley is gorgeous and fun as Vanessa Kensington, 90's agent and daughter of Austin's lover in the 60's and fellow agent Mrs. Kensignton (Mimi Rogers). Dr Evil is also played by Myers, adopting the Nehru jacket, eye scar and white cat from Donald Pleasance's "Live Twice" Blofeld. Robert Wagner, Seth Green, Mindy Sterling and Will Ferrell all provide a ton of laughs. The classic moments are numerous and still quoted around here often. Dr. Evil: Scott, I want you to meet daddy's nemesis, Austin Powers Scott Evil: What? Are you feeding him? Why don't you just kill him? Dr. Evil: I have an even better idea. I'm going to place him in an easily escapable situation involving an overly elaborate and exotic death. __________________ Austin Powers: Only two things scare me and one of them is nuclear war. Basil Exposition: What's the other? Austin Powers: Excuse me? Basil Exposition: What's the other thing that scares you? Austin Powers: Carnies. Circus folk. Nomads, you know. Smell like cabbage. Small hands. ________________ Basil Exposition: [after Austin punched Basil's mother and attempted to pull her hair out] You have a lot of explaining to do! Austin Powers: I'm sorry, Basil. I thought she was a man. Basil Exposition: Dammit, man! You're talking about my Mother! Austin Powers: Well, you have to admit, she is rather man-ish. Basil Exposition: [shocked] Austin! Austin Powers: Well, no offense, but if that is a woman it does look like she was beaten with an ugly stick! We watch AUSTIN at least once every couple years. We know every joke and every laugh, and it still slays us. Austin gets an A. Oh behave baby, yeah! Followed two years later by the hilarious AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME.

My all time favorite dramatic play on Broadway, AUGUST OSAGE COUNTY was three and a half hours long, brilliant, funny, harrowing, dramatic and exhausting. I saw it four times in the theatre and loved it every time. The writing is so perfect that it's like a masterclass in developing characters, natural dialogue and creating big laughs and gasps in the theatre. I'm not sure anything could equal that experience, but Letts has adapted his own play for the screen and Director John Wells (TV's "Shameless" and "The West Wing") has been handed a dream cast. Meryl Streep is terrific as family matriarch Violet Weston. Calling her family together to her home when her husband Bev Weston (Sam Shepard) goes missing, each of the Weston daughters arrives with their own baggage. Julia Roberts is terrific as Barbara Weston, the strongest daughter, able to battle the fierce Violet toe-to-toe. Violet is a pill popping mess, over medicated, under compassionate and ready to spew venomous remarks at anyone that crosses her path. Barbara is separated from her husband Bill (Ewan McGregor) but he travels with her, along with their teenage daughter Jean (Abagail Breslin). Daughter Karen (Juliette Lewis in her best performance in years) arrives from California in a Ferrari with her new flame, Steve (Dermot Mulroney). Violet's sister Mattie Fae (the amazing Margo Martindale) arrives with her husband Charlie (Chris Cooper-great) and their son Little Charles (Benedict Cumberbatch showing some amazing range) who is madly in love with the only Weston sister still at home with Violet, Ivy (Julianne Nicholson). Load all of these great actors and these sharply written characters into one hot, two story farmhouse and watch the fireworks fly. One of the best scenes in the film (and the play) is a nearly half hour lunch at the Weston home, immediately after a family funeral. As Violet goes into battle mode and declares that "it's time for some truth telling" the lunch escalates from verbal to physical confrontation in some of the sharpest writing of this or any year. There will be some that say watching a family this troubled cannot be entertainment. Others will say the cast overacts and shreds any nuance from the story. Maybe it's because I loved the play so much, but my only disappointment is that the movie is only 2 hours long and that's an hour and fifteen minutes of the play that's lost. The original version didn't have one wasted word, so it's shame the film isn't longer. The Weston family is profane, crude, bitter, hilarious, cruel and deeply troubled. There are moments here where you feel they couldn't possibly be any more twisted and then they find deeper depths of depravity and desperation to sink to before your eyes. If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea, run. If you love great writing and acting and very dark humor, don't miss this movie. It's a challenging and brilliant A.

1977 "horror thriller" AUDREY ROSE fails to deliver on either count, wondering aimlessly through two hours that lack scares and any acting talent, save Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins stars as Elliott Hoover, a quiet stranger who seems to always be lurking across the street from or nearby young Ivy Templeton. Ivy's parents, Janice and Bill (in dueling horrible performances from Marsha Mason and John Beck) go from concerned to baffled as Ivy starts to have horrible nightmares related to a fiery car crash. When Elliott tells them that his daughter died in a car crash and Ivy begins to answer to the name of his daughter, Audrey Rose, excitement ensues! Oh wait, did I say excitement? I should have said boredom. And substantial embarrassment for Mason, who would break out the same year in "The Goodbye Girl" but shows none of those skills here in a manic, BIG performance. Of course she is brilliant compared to the young actress that plays Ivy/Audrey, Susan Swift. She would build off this major film with roles in "Harper Valley PTA" and "Simon and Simon", hmmmm, they must have all seen this wreck. Hopkins rises above it all with a decent performance, easily the best thing in the film. Director Robert Wise must have been sleeping during filming, the man is capable of so much more. The ending is supposed to be tragic, I just found it a relief. Without a good fright in sight, Audrey Rose only scares up a D.

Every once in awhile a film comes along that's a triumph of sheer style over content. "John Wick" is a perfect example, as is its sequel. From the same director as Wick, David Leitch, the cold war action flick ATOMIC BLONDE is a terrific vehicle for Charlize Theron. After "Mad Max Fury Road", we know Theron can be an action star, but nothing can prepare you for her physicality on display here. Theron plays MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton, assigned to track down a fellow operative that's gone rogue as the Berlin Wall is about to fall. James McAvoy is the rogue agent, who may or may not still be on the MI6 books chasing a microfilm that gives up every agent in play on both sides of the wall. John Goodman is terrific as a CIA Boss, Toby Jones (Capote) is a perfectly slimy MI6 superior and Sofia Boutella (The Mummy) finally gets a great role as a young Italian agent who falls hard for Lorraine. Kicking off with fantastic use of David Bowie's "Putting Out The Fire With Gasoline" over titles that will remind film buffs of 80's flicks "Streets of Fire" and "Into the Night", the film slows a bit in its first 30 minutes, but once Lorraine is on assignment the film picks up pace and launches into the first of its jaw-dropping action scenes. All the action sequences rate a 10 out of 10. Theron escaping from a mob of bad guys using nothing but rope and the villains as counterweights is set to George Michael's "Father Figure" and the whole scene rocks. Lorraine's best scene is a long fight inside the stairwell and apartment rooms of a building from which she's trying to escape with a contact. The scene stands up beautifully to the Crazy 88's Kill Bill sequence and the train fight in "Spectre" as one of the most brutally staged battles in film history. Watch the camera work in this entire scene. It's amazing. From the moment the first bad guy attacks Theron, the camera weaves in and out of the action, between the foes, under flying fists and eventually into and out of cars as the stairwell battle continues into a street and a car chase. This twenty minute scene is an A+++. Its fantastic. It's one of the few times in cinema that the brutality and effect of the fight appears real, as do Lorraine's bruises by the end of the scene. Theron trained for months for the film and it shows. Spectacular. BUT....when the action wains, the spy story alternates between slow and confusing, before a very satisfying wrap up. Boutella and McAvoy are having a hell of a time, the 80's soundtrack with The Clash, Depeche Mode, Queen, New Order, Public Enemy and Falco is ever present and ultra cool. The visuals are amazing. When the credits rolled, I just wished that the film had been as good as Theron. Let's hope we see her back as this female Bond powerhouse in a film more worthy of her presence. Adult, profane, ultra-violent and exciting as hell, ATOMIC BLONDE is half of a great movie, but its lesser moments hold it back like Checkpoint Charlie. We'll give it a C+. But WOW those action scenes.....drop dead killer, just like Theron.

Director Michel Hazanavisius' "The Artist" is an interesting, sweet film, BUT..... This new, nearly 100% silent movie is a new spin on the "Star is Born" storyline with two people falling in love from a distance as one's star rises and the others fades. Leads Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo are very good, especially Dujardin as fading silent movie star George Valentin. The more I watched, the more I was drawn into the silent storytelling and power of the music and photography and the actors ability to make you feel so much without dialogue....BUT "Best Picture" nominee and 10 Oscar Nominations? Really? Hmm...this says more about the Weinstein's ability to lobby Academy Members (anyone remember "Shakespeare in Love" beating "Saving Private Ryan" for Best Picture....come on!) than it does about this quiet, little, well done movie. My other beef: how do you nominate Ludovic Bource for best music score, when the entire last ten minutes of score is actually Bernard Herrman's classic score from Hitchcock's "Vertigo"...movie music nerds everywhere call foul (consider me one of them). Best Picture? NO An enjoyable, creative movie with a GREAT performance by Dujardin? YES. I'll give the Artist a solid B.

A fascinating documentary about the music business, ARTIFACT takes a four year look at a legal dispute with some famous players and the broader state of the music industry. First, I have to say up front that I have some wonderful friends from EMI/Capitol Records, both past and current folks, so I was watching cringing half the time as the story unfolded. Oscar Award Winner Jared Leto's band Thirty Seconds to Mars was a group I had never followed and never heard even one of their songs. I was surprised how good some of their music is as it accompanied the story. My impression that the band was just an actor's vanity project was decidedly off base. Thirty Seconds is under contract to EMI and nine years into their agreement as the film unfolds. EMI/Virgin begins to push for a new album, the band pushes back, angry that they have never seen a dollar from their first two albums. Selling out stadium tours overseas and building an international following, the group is seeing zero dollars for their efforts. They are suddenly sued by EMI for $30 Million, a staggering sum that rocks them to their core. Cameras on hand to film the creation of their third album suddenly begin to capture what grows into an epic legal battle. As investment group TERRA FIRMA buys EMI, the lawyers take a nasty turn and both sides dig in. Jared Leto, his brother Shannon and third band member, guitarist Tomo Milicevic funnel all the conflict, negativity and anger into crafting their new album with famous producer Flood (U2, Depeche Mode). The music is good, the band members are charismatic, the lawyers are in turn hilarious and brutal and the film is never less than fascinating. Much of the former EMI senior staff are interviewed and most are in support of the band and their battle. It's a telling insight into an industry attempting to save itself (from an entire generation that doesn't pay for music) by clinging onto an antiquated business model that hasn't adapted to a digital world. You'll find yourself rooting for the good guys hanging on at EMI and the Leto brothers as they battle the corporation. The final facts over the closing moments are especially telling, especially juxtaposed over the huge, screaming crowds at several Thirty Seconds To Mars stadium shows. This is one interesting ARTIFACT indeed and it gets a pitch perfect B.