Brief thoughts on Booksmart.

We live in a world where proper comedy movies are becoming not only a rarity, but a disappointing return in investment. Despite the likes of Game Night, more often we find the comedy scene is dominated by those of Holmes and Watson, especially with former comedy icons branching into more serious output. But every so often, one does show real promise, and with coming of age films centered on young women making a comeback, why not combine the two for a sweet, but also genuinely hilarious romp? That's what we have in Booksmart, which I'm among the lucky few to see early.

Avengers: Endgame movie review (SPOILERS!)

It does feel like a thousand years ago, doesn't it? Since Marvel's once impossible idea for an ambitious crossover universe gradually became a beloved reality. And 11 years later, the first saga of that universe finally comes to an end. It's been a journey filled with emotional baggage, satisfying character growth, and a liiittle bit of punching. But part of the journey is the end, and the end may not always be happy.

That was certainly so in our last Avengers crossover, where Earth's mightiest heroes failed to stop the tirade of Thanos in the Infinity War, leading to cataclysmic losses. But they wouldn't be the Avengers if they didn't, y'know, avenge, and in the culmination of their epic 22-film journey, they're back for a gigantic, hilarious, exciting, and above all satisfying send-off, here in the Endgame.

But before getting into my thoughts...

SPOILER WARNING!: There's a lot I want to say about Endgame, but to do so will require me to drop potential and major spoilers, so for the purposes of this write-up, I won't even attempt to hold myself back. So if you haven't seen Endgame, stop reading and come back later.

So... I saw Avengers: Endgame. (No spoilers)

Here's the thing. Today, I fully expected to post a review with my full thoughts on Marvel's latest big Avengers crossover, the ten-years-in-the-making Endgame, that culminates their currently 22-movie long roster, and brings the Infinity Saga to a definitive end. But I won't. At least not today.

And it's not that I didn't have thoughts. I'm frankly worried that if I get going, you won't be able to get me to stop. But there's no adequate way for me to do that without dropping spoilers, even if they're the most seemingly insignificant ones. I also feel like I need to see it again in order to let my thoughts fully process. So I'll instead wait a week until most people have gotten a chance to see it, followed by my full, SPOILER HEAVY thoughts on the movie.

But if you really want to hear what I thought of it on first impressions, I'll give you a brief summary. First, you better be familiar with EVERY entry of the prior MCU, for even the most seemingly insignificant details yields surprising resonance and finality for this film. And believe me, it'll be worth it to get the incredible impact and emotional heft that this movie packs.

As the grand culmination of a long in-the-making saga, it is everything I hoped for it to be, and plenty I wasn't expecting it to be, but was pleasantly surprised by. It is exciting, emotionally powerful, incredibly fun, hilarious at times without upsetting the grim nature, and sends a number of its characters off with a perfect, satisfying note. Even at three hours, this feels like an absolute breeze, and thankfully gives each of the characters a healthy amount of time and equality in the main narrative, with the cast bringing their absolute A-game, some with their best work of the franchise thus far.

Incidentally, there is no post credits clip (quite appropriately I say), so you can leave as soon as the credits begin, but I'd suggest at least staying for the mid credits, which by themselves were emotionally stirring. Of course, it's only one small part of what makes this such a great time at the movies, and easily one of the finest outings of the MCU.

Penguins have the Teen Spirit to break The Curse of La Llorona.

This isn't sponsored, I promise, but I do genuinely love AMC's Stubs A-List program, allowing me to see up to 3 movies weekly on most of their available screens, spread across several days, or all on the same Saturday if I so wish. It's been a great help to me recently, and actually encourages me to break out of my usual wheelhouse, and check out movies I'd otherwise skip out on. That doesn't mean I actively go out of my way to watch everything (even for free, I have no desire to see Unplanned), but I love having those options available if I so choose.

But one con about the program? Being weary of your stamina. If choosing to watch all three films in one day, the amount of tonal whiplash can be rough on you. It's pretty jarring to go from Wonder Park straight into Climax. And this week was no different, in which I saw three wildly different movies appealing to very different audiences: Conjuring spin-off The Curse of La Llorona, Disneynature documentary Penguins, and debut director Max Minghella's Teen Spirit. Just for fun, I thought about reviewing all three simultaneously, to embody the utter tonal shifts in my viewing experience.

Brief thoughts on Missing Link.

Laika have quickly established themselves as the Pixar of stop-motion, branching out into stories of wildly different styles and genre with each film, but all held together by their unmistakable stamp of quality. They've excelled well in creating great family films, but even so, they've usually skewed towards a dark nature, often with a macabre vibe to them. Even the comparatively light Boxtrolls had an off-kilter sense of humor. Which is why it's surprising, pleasantly in fact, coming off the heels of Kubo and the Two Strings, for the studio to deliver a more mainstream appealing family film in Missing Link, becoming another thorough delight from the studio.

Hellboy movie review.

In 1993, artist and comic book writer Mike Mignola created the popular Hellboy character, the anti-hero son of the Devil, summoned to earth, and now spends his life fighting demons and monsters under the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. The character has gained a steady and passionate following since. Ten years after his solo series launching, he'd even garner an entertaining live-action film adaptation, headed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Ron Perlman, that was followed up in 2008 by its sequel The Golden Army, which managed to be even better.

But in the years following, as del Toro was entangled in his doomed enterprise on The Hobbit, and studio interference wormed its way to the front, it seemed unlikely that a third entry would follow. With both del Toro and Perlman stepping away, things shifted instead to an R-rated reboot, now with David Harbour playing the title character. But losing that original dynamic, what this new interpretation of Hellboy offers us loses that original spirit, and feels less like a rebirth, and more like an obligation.

Brief thoughts on Pet Sematary.

One of the darkest of Stephen King's novels, Pet Sematary has already been adapted to the screen before, the original Mary Lambert film (which I haven't seen) celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. But time has not been kind to that movie for many fans of King, and in the wake of King's recent golden age with It, it seemed a perfect candidate to resurrect. Maybe this time it'll work. Sometimes remade is better.

And I can definitively say "no," in this case it wasn't, because this new Pet Sematary is a cluster of wasted potential.