IT CHAPTER 2 - Back Home in Derry

Short version: Yes, the movie really is nearly 3 hours long. No, It Chapter 2 is not as good as 2017's It. Yes, it's still worth seeing if you liked that film at all.

Longer version? Well, for one, I'm kinda shocked this works at all...

SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME - Out of the Multiverse

When I was a much younger film enthusiast, one of my fondest wishes was to see a big-screen adaptation of my beloved Spider-Man comics, complete with wacky powers and silly suits and go-for-broke pulp world-building, and now. . .we're on our 7th live-action web-head outing in 17 years.

And if they keep being as good as Far From Home, I say keep 'em coming.

TOY STORY 4 - Happy Trails

The Toy Story Trilogy is one of the rare perfect trifectas in film history. An original film that was a trail-blazer in animation, followed up by an unlikely sequel that began as a direct-to-video cash-in then wound up even better than the original, and capped a heartbreaking/warming finale that remains a high water mark for Pixar Animation's signature mixture of whimsy and quietly devastating emotion.

There was absolutely no need for a fourth film.

So, of course, Pixar went and made one anyway, and it's brilliant.

GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS - Matinee Majesty

As the most recent entry in the shared Toho "Monsterverse" franchise (also including 2014's Godzilla and 2017's Kong: Skull Island), King of the Monsters very obviously aims to be "The Avengers of Giant Monster Movies."

It's. . .not quite that good.

It does, however, handily manage being "The Independence Day of Giant Monster Movies," and I absolutely mean that as a compliment.

JOHN WICK CHAPTER 3 - CEREBELLUM

A funny thing has happened in the 5 years since the first John Wick found an audience by being a curious action throwback with a singular sense of style and unique world - a landscape that had for a decade been dominated by the quick cuts and shaky shots following the success of the Bourne franchise sat up and took notice of the brain child of Chad Stahelski, David Leitch, and Derek Kolstad. Here was a lean, focused beast of long shots, wide angles and deliberate and clear edits, like the action films of the '90s with a modern twist.

Since then, the filmmakers have had a knock-on effect on the biggest action films of Hollywood (directing second unit on Captain America: Civil War and taking over Deadpool 2 and the big-budget spinoff of the Fast & Furious series) and the film that started it all became a franchise that still distinguishes itself from its action brethren.

And with John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum, it's hard to imagine a higher peak.

AVENGERS: ENDGAME - All Good Things

Short answer: they did it.

Not only is this a worthy end of the line for some characters of the MARVEL Cinematic Universe and an immensely satisfying finale to the "Infinity Saga," but if this were the last film (at least for a while) to even bear the name "Avengers," it would almost feel right.

SHAZAM! - Simply Marvelous

It seems unreal that only 3 short years ago, DC couldn't seem to figure out how to launch an answer to the MARVEL Cinematic Universe with two of the biggest superheroes of all time. Now, after the DCEU that stumbled out the gate with Batman v Superman has morphed into something completely different in the wake of Wonder Woman and Aquaman's success, the comics titan has taken one of their more off-beat and weird properties and delivered what is somehow both a familiar throwback while also being singular in the genre and helping to carve out a new space in the superhero sandbox, while also completely re-contextualizing what "a DC movie" can be.