You’d expect a film grandiosely titled Endgame to feel more final than this fourth Avengers film ever quite does. It’s no spoiler to say that upcoming Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel and Black Panther films each confirm survival both of the titular characters and, indeed, the Marvel Cinematic Universe itself. Finality does pervade some elements of Endgame – you may well predict which characters are meeting theirs – but this is as much a celebration of a decade that has changed cinema forever as it is the closing chapter.
Imagine Lady Bird had been shot in the documentarian vogue of Larry Clark’s Kids and was even less concerned with actual plotting. That’s mid90s, loosely speaking, the directorial debut of Wolf of Wall Street star Jonah Hill. With its genuinely joyful era specific soundtrack, Super 16 grain, Academy ratio and abundance of contemporary props, this is gentle nostalgia and transience in one. Very little happens but it does so with a winning ear for naturalism.
Fans of Walt Disney’s animated original Dumbo have already seen an elephant fly, back in 1941. What more can a modern update bring to the big top? In the hands of Tim Burton – back on enchanting form after a duo of duds – the answer is a well considered story expansion and consistently gorgeous visuals. Disney’s digital Dumbo is every bit as adorable as one could hope and twice as empathetic. With the whole film apparently occurring either at dawn or dusk, this is hardly remarkable stuff but gosh it’s nice.
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