Avengers: Infinity War - Part 1

** INFINITE SPOILERS!! **

More of a prelude of things to come than an actual movie. It’s so crowded that most of the characters only get cursory appearances. Often there will be four or five super-people in the frame at the same time, as one character doles out ominous exposition. The other super-people in the scene don’t seem to be listening and look bored. The Russos neglect to block the scenes, maybe because none of the actors were there at the same time and they were all superimposed together in post? That being said, there are a couple of pairings filmmakers spend a little more time on: Vision and Scarlet Witch, which could have been a whole movie by itself, and Gamora and Thanos, a nicely-expanded backstory for Zoe Saldana. Again and again, the biggest problem with these superhero movies is there’s no suspense because you know there’s sequels and franchises coming. And the thrill of cg just isn’t enough anymore. So if you can’t have any death, where else do you find conflict? Love, maybe?

A Quiet Place

** SPOILERS AHEAD **

More of a series of sequences than a whole movie. The sequences are suspenseful but the big picture is lacking. Efforts to play with story structure by eliminating the intro and the climax are valiant but gimmicky. Who are the aliens? What do they want? Who else is building signal fires at night? There’s no context. No sense of a larger world. That being said, a hugely successful debut for John Kraszinski, who made a lot of money for somebody, and now he’ll get to do what he wants.