Avengers: Endgame

Going in: I hope it'll be amazing. I expect it will do very well and be very entertaining. I went on 4/30 with the whole family.

Popcorn: 9/10. This was all over the place emotionally - it was fun, sad, intense, and any other type of movie going experience you can think. I mentioned during the Shazam! review that the third act was very satisfying. This was more. It was thoroughly enjoyable.

Art: 9/10. Well acted, superb music, and a well-engaging story. There's not a whole lot of bad in this movie - maybe I'd go as far as to say there wasn't any bad, just some minor points of mediocrity.

Acting: 5/6. This was well acted and plenty of room for people to breathe. No big standouts but it was still thoroughly enjoyable.

Music: 3/4. Alan Silvestri made the most out of this movie and built wherever he could. There were a few moments that the music really supported the story.

Filming: 4/4. Some absolutely gorgeous shots without a whole lot of fancy trickery. There were some tracking shots that were done in an interesting way.

Art Dept: 4/4. No complaints here. The CGI was done well. Hair & Makeup had some obvious and interesting things to do. Most of the set pieces didn't stand out.

Editing: 3/4. No worries or concerns here.

Story: 8/8. This was an incredible story. All the things I look for were present - except for one little coincidence that set the adventure off and running. It was obvious, but you get one free one and they didn't do anything else egregious. All the characters acted believably, it wasn't a forced victory, and just good storytelling all around. Even for a Tuesday crowd, there was a lot of clapping and cheering. The film was about fixing mistakes and to what length do you go. Everything surrounded that. Loved it.

Directing: 6/6. Absolutely loved it. It was consistent and everything clicked.

Production: 4/4. This was a fitting end to the franchise. I know there are a lot of other movies in the works but the main storyline that we've been following for the past 10 years was well done.

Orthodox thoughts (major spoilers):

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The major theme here was about fixing your mistakes and dealing with the failures of making them. Iron Man had moved on but still had that guilt to deal with. Cap couldn't really move forward. Hawkeye was just a mess. And Black Widow. Thor was to the point of being funny.

I grew up within Protestantism that your failures are what separated you from God, that belief in Christ magically made them go away. You run into the reality that it doesn't exactly work that way. Jesus isn't some magical phrase you speak. That isn't to say that some intense, life-changing things can't happen. But as a principle, if you take it as face value, it's incomplete.

Within Orthodoxy, you have to deal with your past. It's forgiven, but there's work to be done, relationships to be repaired. And the hard work generally sucks. But in a way, I'm comforted by that. Yes, there's Divine forgiveness, but also a recognition that straightening your life out takes work. It's not a fire and forget moment in time.