Let me begin by saying that I am truly committed to being spoiler-free in this review. And not just for big reveals and plot details; Avengers: Endgame is so full of delightful surprises and tiny servings of fan service that I hope everyone gets a chance to experience it the way I did. That doesn't mean you have to avoid all the trailers after the second one and the tv spots and clips and featurettes, but I did, and it was quite the experience. I mean, obviously, I loved it, so I suppose you could stop reading right now.
And maybe you might as well, because keeping that cone of silence intact makes reviewing the film pretty tough, I gotta say. So why don't I tell you, in the most general terms, what the film is like, and what I liked about it.
Avengers: Endgame is like saving all the capsules from a dozen Kinder Eggs and opening them all up onto the table. You've saved them for a while, but now it is all right there in front of you. It's not always coherent, mixing characters and settings and tones and such the way it does. There is a period of confusion where the puzzle pieces get mixed up with figurines and the parts from the toy cars with the immensely satisfying little flywheel in them, but when everything is sorted out, it is both immensely satisfying and enjoyable, even if you like one item more than the other.
The film is bookended by a tremendous amount of emotional content, and the second act has its fair share as well. Hearing starved, beaten, half-dead Tony Stark confess "I lost the kid," was heartbreaking. Yes, there is mortality in this film as well, some of it more surprising than others.
I had tears on my face several times over the three-hour runtime -some of sadness, some of sheer fannish joy, and many from laughter. There were four or five moments of unprompted applause from the packed house I saw it with, one in response to two words of dialogue.
Despite being the capstone of a 22-film multimedia blockbuster extravaganza, Endgame still feels like a gutsy and honest film throughout, peppered with both the humour and gravitas that the Russo brothers have imbued their MCU films with since The Winter Soldier.
I did not expect Mark Ruffalo's Hulk to be the funniest character of the first act, nor for the impact of The Snapture to affect title characters as profoundly as it does.
In a lot of ways, it is a movie about consequences. My biggest fear going in was that whatever plan arrived at to deal with Thanos' villainy would undo all of the past, Dallas season 9-style, and give Phase 4 a clean slate, and this did not come to pass. Like I said: ballsy.
Someone tomorrow is going to ask me about Endgame, and how it was, but not to spoil it, and here is what I will say. I will ask them their three favourite moments from the Marvel movies thus far, and after they tell me (and even if they don't), I will tell them, "get ready to revise that list, because all three of mine were in Endgame."
From the time of the first Avengers movie, I said it was impossible to tie together a shared cinematic universe this large, with this many stars and characters and plot points, but I've been delighted to have been proved wrong again and again. And now the Russo Brothers and studio head Kevin Feige have done it: wrapped up a ten-year, 22-movie epic in a way that feels honest and epic, and has been pleasing to old fanboys like me, and to others like my girls who didn't know who half these people were going into them.
As unlikely as it might seem by looking at her, Audrey turned 50 this past weekend. When we pressed her for a party theme a couple of months back, she kept coming back to "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," which essentially meant an 80s theme. When I pointed out that this was also the theme of her 40th birthday a decade back, her reply was "So?"
So the 80s it was!
Both of her sisters made it out from Guelph and Rocky Mountain House, as well as two nieces and our nephew and nephew-in-law. Jenna has become an extremely proficient makeup artist and graciously offered to apply period eyeshadow and all the trimmings to anyone who wanted it, while Glory and her cousin Kara-Lynn were only too willing to assist with elevating everyone's hair. On Saturday afternoon, our kitchen went full salon in a frenzy of brushing, teasing, hair spraying and makeup applying.
Everyone turned out magnificently, I have to say, and they took advantage of the brief lull before guests arrive to take some pictures with the photo booth props we'd ordered for the occasion.
Kara-Lynn re-purposed Betty's grad dress from the period, while the cyclical nature of fashion meant that Glory found a vintage Kodak top at Forever 21.
Amazon provided shirts for Audrey and her sister Vera (and me too).
People started to show up a little after 4:00, and we got some of the new arrivals in on the goofy photo action as well.
Most people headed downstairs where the majority of libations and snacks were and checked out the 11-hour playlist of 80s music videos I'd curated on YouTube...
...but a few people remained upstairs to enjoy the bright sunlight and warm spring day.
Tara is a master elixir fixer and set up a few rounds of shooters including B-52s, Grand Exits and a new concoction Pete christened as simply "Deeelightful"!
And of course there was cake...
But the biggest emotional moment came when Audrey's son Bryce and his wife Sarah gave Audrey her card...
... to let her know that the baby boy they are expecting in July will have the same name that Audrey gave Bryce at birth, prior to his adoption by a wonderful family.
There is a lot more to Audrey's affection for the 80s than just nostalgia and funky fashions - it's the decade where she really established who she was, and I feel awfully privileged to have been there when she did, and to still be a part of her life, and to enjoy all of her families and friends too.
Happy birthday Audrey; don't stop having fun, and thanks for bringing so many of us along with you!
There's a lot of things in my life I am grateful for, most of which are blessings that came my way due to luck, grace or providence as opposed to machinations on my part. I am particularly thankful for the relationship shared between my two daughters. These two amazing young ladies could not be more different in some ways, and yet they remain close confidants with one another.
Two unrelated vignettes that offer glimpses into how my offspring interact with the world:
A few years back, Glory saved enough of her own money to pay for half of the digital SLR camera she wanted. Since then she has taken some photography classes in high school but she is more interested in landscapes than the portraiture they tend to focus on. She is going on a biology field trip to the Bamfield Marines Sciences Centre on Vancouver Island at month-end and isn't even bringing her good camera because of the room it takes (and fear of water damage).
She remains fascinated by vintage cameras though, something Audrey and I have encouraged in gifts we have found in antique shops in our travels and one from a lovely neighbour. Knowing myself at that age, I steeled myself for the possibility of these old devices disappearing into a drawer until she rediscovered them at an older age (and possibly in her own living space). After all, what teenager is interested in antiques?
On the contrary though; she has practically enshrined them on a shelf in her room.
In case you were wondering, they are a Kodak Jiffy II bellows camera from the 1940s, an Imperial Deluxe twin-lens reflex camera (1950s), and a Mercury II with a rotary shutter from the mid-40s. I also love the flashbulb garland she's strung around them!
Despite the frustrations that modern technology in general and the interwebs, in particular, can often hold for my wife, she has proven adept at determining the provenance of items such as these and even managed to track down PDFs of original owner's manuals for some of them. I doubt she will ever recondition them enough to take pictures with them, but the obvious veneration she holds for these nostalgic cameras is a pleasant surprise.
Fenya's story changes the perspective from how one sees images to the image one is seen as. Wait, that's terrible English - let me start over.
Our eldest is wrapping up her second year of university and is looking at taking an internship next year before continuing her studies. She sent out a considerable stack of resumes and received four interview invitations in fairly rapid succession, which was obviously highly encouraging.
Despite the fact that my last "cold" interview was over a decade ago, she asked my help in preparing for some of them, which I found highly flattering. In particular, she had received a fair bit of background material from the Office of the Student Ombuds at the University of Alberta, and we spent a pretty solid evening looking at it and discussing it, as well as the case study they had provided. It was pretty heavy stuff, and I guess the preparation helped, as she not only got the gig but the longer term of the two positions being offered.
It turns out that one of her colleagues from the Peer Support Centre had done the exact same internship and said it was the highlight of her undergrad years. Better still, she told Fenya she would be a fantastic fit for the job but warned her that she would need to take steps to present herself as a working professional and not as a fellow student. "Even more so," she underscored, "because you look so young too."
Fenya had already grabbed some office wear from V.V. Boutique prior to the interview and could supplement that once she got a couple of paycheques under her belt, but her bookbag presented a problem. Nothing says "student" quite like a backpack stuffed with papers and a lunch sack, so she was advised to get either a briefcase or business-lookin' tote of some kind before starting on May 1.
Before she could even determine if V.V. could come through again, one of the people she had gone to China with last year came through for her. Having overheard her lament regarding business-style totewear, he related how he had received one free with a Chapters purchase that was a tad too effeminate for his own use, but which she was welcome to. She picked it up today while studying for finals on campus.
I remember using a briefcase I had inherited from my dad on my first few summer office jobs during university, but they are now not only a bit worse for wear, but also woefully out of style. I'm glad Fenya was able to procure one from a friend, and on a student-friendly budget, too (i.e. free to a good home). One less thing to worry about as she wraps up her exams and prepares for a year on the job in a challenging but intriguing position!
Every time I share something featuring the girls on Instagram, I can count on a couple of my coworkers telling me how beautiful they are. Which, you know, fair enough, and I haven't yet seen the need to purchase a shotgun or menacing piece of vintage cutlery to hang over the door or anything. It's gratifying and I do always try to be gracious, but on the inside I am always thinking, man, that isn't even the third or fourth coolest thing about them! Whtether looking at the past or at their own futures, I continue to be amazed by their perception.
Culturally, I think we spend a lot of time anticipating movies. Gone, at least for the most part, are the days when a fan would be surprised when they saw a trailer (in the theatre!) adapting a book or other property for the silver screen. Word leaks out now the moment a movie enters pre-production, and sometimes even earlier.
For instance, I've been waiting for Shane Black's movie version of pulp hero Doc Savage since before 2013 (stalled now despite signing Dwayne Johnson as the lead). Should the movie ever actually come to pass, I'm not sure it can live up to a decade or more of anticipation.
Even before the frenzy of ticket purchases, virtual line-ups and server crashes that heralded the pre-sales for Avengers: Endgame, I had described it as the most anticipated movie of my lifetime. And that's coming from someone who cut school with his mates to go and see Return of the Jedi at a matinee the day that it opened!
That third Star Wars movie was wrapping up the most successful movie franchise in history at that point, a trilogy that had begun six years earlier. The first in the series had redefined the term "blockbuster," and I remember newspaper ads proclaiming it had been "Held over - 27th Hit Week!"
The movie business has changed a lot since that day - hell, so has the way we consume movies for that matter - but somehow anticipation remains, despite the fact that we can watch the movie at home within six months of it opening in the theatre. In fact, in light of all the furor, it might even be accurate to say that anticipation has even increased. And why not?
Endgame will be wrapping up the Marvel Cinematic Universe's much less cohesive but no less interconnected set of films spanning 11 years and an astonishing 22 movies. The closest analogy is probably the EON company's James Bond series. I mean, until you consider that when Bond 25 is released in April of 2020, there will be more MCU movies out by the end of that summer.
I've been a big fan of the MCU since the first Iron Man back in 2008, and although some of the movies have been better than others, I have never come away disappointed. That and my, uh, passing familiarity with the source material, coupled with my meta-knowledge that these actors aren't getting any younger and many of them are at the end of their contracts and possibly hankering for a juicy death scene to cement themselves in the role, means that yes, I have never anticipated a movie more than Endgame. Ever.
Worse still, I will be at the Calgary Comic Expo on the opening weekend, making it imperative to see it on Thursday night, lest I be walking around Spoilerpalooza with my hands pressed against my ears. It's hard enough to maintain reasonable expectations while avoiding spoilers; the latter has been pretty difficult, given the fanosphere's tendency to scour every bit of leaked footage, set report and toy advertisement like theologians poring over the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Luckily I had set a reminder on my phone to purchase tickets last Tuesday. When I blearily perceived it shortly after waking up, I thought I should take a look in case ticket sales had begun. A few minutes later, I saw that the theatre was already half sold out, but still managed to get four tickets on the left aisle despite the terrifying sluggishness of the process. By the time I got to work, news outlets on both sides of the Atlantic were reporting on the crashes, delays, and massive fan dissatisfaction.
So, hey; let's talk about that new Rammstein video.
A decade after their last album, Liebe ist für alle da, the German industrial goth rockers finally have a new, if titleless, album scheduled for release on May 17. Last week they released a thirty-second clip of the video for their first single, Deutschland, that depicted members of the band standing beneath a gallows, their heads in nooses, in the uniforms of WWII concentration camp prisoners.
On Thursday the full video premiered, garnering 350,000 views almost before it finished streaming - three days later it has almost reached 18 million. It depicts the more violent moments of German history in a graphic enough fashion that it is treated as age-restricted material. It opens with Roman legionnaires fighting Gauls, highlights armoured knights of the middle ages and into the modern era with both world wars, the era of the Communist East and the Bader-Meinhof gang before delving into the future onboard a spaceship.
Deutschland is one of the most impressive music videos ever produced, and I'm not saying that as a fan of the band; I'm saying it as a fan of the medium I've adored for three-and-a-half-decades. Yes, it is graphic, and yes, it is provocative, but it is also insightful, thought-provoking and genuine. Brilliantly shot by director Specter Berlin (and I don't care if that is a fake name, it is boss), this video boasts costumes, sets and cinematography the equal of just about anything Hollywood produced last year.
But everyone is talking about the indignation instead.
Everyone from the BBC to Canada's own Global News is posting headlines like"German rock band causes outrage with Nazi imagery." I mean, how often does the Israeli Foreign Ministry feel the need to release a statement about a rock music video?
“This Rammstein clip, using the Holocaust for advertisement purposes, is shameful and uncalled for,” ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon tweeted. “We join the many voices calling for its immediate removal.”
Sigh.
Now, this is actually beginning to wind me up a bit, despite my best efforts to remain bemused, but I just want to bring up a few salient points here in case someone in your proximity starts clutching their pearls about it or tries talking smack about a video they probably haven't even watched.
1) The band are loving this
Rammstein are clearly believers in Oscar Wilde's maxim that the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. They do not shy away from controversy, they wade into it, presumably while wearing terrifying or ridiculous headgear and no pants. The lead video for their previous album was a full-on porno, released on an adults-only website and featuring Oscar-worthy editing of the band and their body doubles.
If there weren't high-fives going around the Universal Music offices in Berlin on Friday, I'd be shocked and disappointed. As far as the band's concerns over this alleged outrage, I think this magazine cover probably says it best: "25 years. Zero f*cks."
2) You did not-zee this coming
For 25 years now people have asked if the loud scary German band are Nazis, and for 25 years they've refuted it, most notably in the song Links 2 3 4, which stresses in every chorus that "my heart beats left." Since the band appear as both prisoners and their Nazi captors in this video, we've been spared this tired argument, at least for the time being.
3) No glorification here
Deutschland's video is an intriguing examination of Germany's history and its often violent past, and the mixed feelings the band (and many others, I'm certain) have about their homeland. I don't know how you could possibly do that and not include a reference to the Holocaust. I think the approach they take is sensible and balanced: the band plays the roles of both the prisoners and their SS captors, who are joined by their country's female personification Germania (actress Ruby Commey).
I think it is also worth noting that the four prisoners all have different insignia on their prison garb, of which I only recognize three: the yellow Star of David worn by Jews, the pink triangle identifying gay men, and the yellow and red triangles signifying a Jewish political prisoner. I'm not sure what Flake is wearing, but it appears distinct from the others. Since none of the band are either Jewish or gay, I can only presume they are making an intentional statement about how comprehensive the Nazi persecution was.
And hey, how satisfying is it when the tables get turned on the captors in the end, right? Hardly a glorious end for that lot.
4) Art vs. commerce, round 7,213,859
Regardless of whether Rammstein are endorsing National Socialism or not (and let's be clear: they aren't) or boosting fascism (again: no), there are those who resent the fact that the band are using shock tactics to (gasp) sell records!
Well, of course they are (see 1) above if you've forgotten), but I don't think they are doing so crassly or irresponsibly. I think it would be nice if Rammstein's critics considered at least the possibility that these record-sellers are also actually artists. In fact, they have as much right to the title of "recording artists" as any of the other sell-outs out there.
Can an artist explore dark topics and disturbing themes with honesty and candor but also turn a buck or two in the process? One likes to hope so; like Don Barzini says in The Godfather, "after all, we are not communists."
5) Wait, so you're all right with the other stuff they've sung about then?
Frankly, anyone waiting until now to be offended by Rammstein really has not been paying attention. Their past songs and videos have incorporated themes of murder, rape, incest, arson, terrorism, pyromania, necrophilia, substance abuse and cannibalism. In all honesty, their lyrics tend to run a fairly narrow band between horrifying and banal, which is why I only rarely look up the translations to their songs anymore. Deutschland is a bit of a stand-out though:
[Strophe 2] I (You have, you have, you have, you have) I never want to leave you (You cry, you cry, you cry, you cry) One can love you (You love, you love, you love, you love) And want to hate you (You hate, you hate, you hate, you hate) Presumptuous, superior Take over, hand over/puke Surprise, assault Germany, Germany over all
[Chorus] Germany – my heart in flames Want to love and condemn you Germany – your breath cold So young, and yet so old Germany – your love Is boon and bane Germany – my love I can't give youGermany! Germany!
6) Is the offence taken in itself offensive?
Here's the part I can't laugh about: the idea that artists can't depict a tragic moment in history for the purpose of exploring it in whatever medium while at the same time real-life Nazism is on the upswing is completely stultifying to me.
White nationalism and white supremacy are on the rise across Europe and North America alike, national socialist and racist iconography are popping up more and more often, and hate crimes are increasing at a rate not seen in years. But no, let's get our collective panties in a bunch because in the course of depicting nine different eras of violent European history, four members of a band willingly dressed up as oppressed minorities and pretended to be hung by two other bandmates, while the personification of Germany overseeing the whole thing was portrayed by a woman of colour. Really?
I am willing to concede the point that effectively putting the extermination of six million humans on par with the comparatively minor impacts of the Red Army Faction is a questionable decision, but good grief -give your heads a shake and get your priorities in order, folks.
Now, I fully understand that Rammstein is not a band for everyone, but if you don't mind your music with a little hardness and your rock videos with enough edge to potentially cut yourself on, by all means, check out the video for Deutschland - it has depth for days. So much so, in fact, that there have already been some intriguing articles attempting to unpack all the imagery and meaning, such as this one from All Things Loud that is packed with historical insights, this one by an Oxford professor, or Deutsches Welt's inquiry: "Rammstein video furore: Far-right clickbait or anti-fascist art?"
In the meantime, please let me know when the making-of video for Deutschland is released. I'm going to go get my pre-order in for the new album and then start praying for tour dates within driving distance.
I think we all have a hunger for tradition, for familiar patterns that remind us of good things in the world as well as the challenges we often face. It's hard to believe that, by my estimation, yesterday was Pete's 17th Geekquinox dinner. Pete had his first seasonal soiree in 2011, added a strong theme (Game of Thrones) to the second, and since then his dinner parties have become not one but two of the most anticipated events of the year for most of us.
(I should note that I was also a bit surprised to see that March 19 was the tenth anniversary of my first post to Confessions of a Middle-Aged Adolescent! Time flies when you're having...well, whatever it is this is.)
Pete has let us know earlier in the month that the theme this time around would be cheese, which filled me with a sharp combination of both eager anticipation and wariness. Even taken over several hours, could a cheese-centric meal be safely enjoyed?
The answer appears to be an emphatic "yes," at least, so far!
The first challenge was finding something thematically appropriate to wear, something I enjoy but which Audrey excels at. I settled with wearing an orange t-shirt with a cheesy sentiment on it, but she went one step further. She found a creamy yellow tee at Value Village and got Glory's help designing some iron-on accoutrements.
Pete's shirt was cheesy in its own way charmingly cheesy in its own way, so it made sense to get a photo of them together.
The menu advised us that we would be enjoying six different cheese-based selections, each accompanied by a counterpoint to round out the meal (and provide an opportunity for both a delicious steak and creative libation). The cheese plate was set out shortly after Audrey and I arrived and featured an assortment that Pete had smoked on his Big Green Egg.
I was astonished at how much smoke flavour a soft cheese like Camembert could contain, even if a flare-up had caused it to lose much of its shape. My favourite though had to be the garlic Havarti, which balanced out the two types of aromatics without sacrificing either of them. Aged cheddar and two types of blue cheese including a Stilton rounded out the field.
A brie baked in pastry with apple pear compote with was the next course. Sweet and savoury in equal measure, this could have easily been served as a dessert, but it worked immensely well as an appetizer.
Of course, you want to follow up something rich like that with a mouthful that is tart and refreshing. Enter the evening's bespoke beverage, a vodka-based lime-basil cocktail that was not too acidic for Audrey and went down far too easily. Garnished with a fresh basil leaf and served in an elegant Kolsch glass, it was almost as refreshing to look at as to taste.
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These delightful tipples were followed in short order by two plates of Greek pastry pinwheels interlaced with feta cheese, peppers, olives and Greek spice.
Served fresh from the oven, they were the perfect consistency, the soft, warm dough providing just enough structure to keep the cheese filling intact until it dissolved on your palate. Creamy, spicy, and with just a hint of saltiness, these were one of my favourite dishes of the night. Plus, you know, just look at them - they're delightful!
The next course took a brief respite from cheese with a fascinating salad-style course; lemon vinegar mushrooms with garlic steak spice. I only had a mouthful of these though, as I became distracted by engaging conversation after sampling them, and by the time I wandered back for a proper serving, they had all vanished! My inner hobbit was a bit disappointed to miss out on such a creative mushroom dish, but I bore no ill will.
Next up were the pull-apart garlic knots, generously topped with parmesan cheese and accompanied with a marinara sauce for dipping. Probably the simplest dish of the night, but no less delicious than the rest.
Cheese moved from garnishing to center stage with the next course, gnocchi made from ricotta cheese and served with a delicious and creamy scratch-made pesto sauce. I'm mad for gnocchi under just about any circumstance you can imagine, so having these tender dumplings wrapped around a soft mild cottage-type cheese made them a real winner with me. The pesto was likewise brilliant, and I saw a few people running their fingers along the edge or their bowl to savour as much of the sauce as possible.
It's pretty much a Geekquinox tradition to get to the main course after the witching hour, and tonight was no exception. Pete plated up delicious ribeye steaks, generously seasoned, cooked to a turn and bearing hints of smoke from the Egg. Beside each was a croque monsieur-style Hasselback potato with Havarti and ham stuffed in between each slice. Folks, meat and taters probably does not get any better than this.
There was a brief respite for our host while the plates were cleared away, but before long he was back in the kitchen supervising the assembly of dessert: a maple sugar angel food cake schmeared with generous amounts of cream cheese icing and topped with lemon Chantilly cream. The cake was amazing, moist and dense without being cloying, with discernible maple in every single bite. The sweetness of the icing coupled with the tart whipped cream made this both a decadent and nuanced finish to another brilliant meal by a gifted cook and exemplary host.
