The Cabin in the Woods - 4/5

This movie is a deconstruction of the pop horror genre, but also succeeds at being its own solid entry into the pop horror genre. All of the less palatable aspects of movies like this are significantly improved by having characters directly critique them, though not as satisfyingly as they could have. It’s a great return to ‘90s form and the horror movie genre would do well to head in this direction. And while it’s cleverly executed it stops just short of turning the whole premise on its head, as it was poised to do, but leaves just enough wiggle room for fan theorists to have some fun with it.

Content warning: lots of blood, brief female nudity

Closest comparison: It’s like The Last Action Hero for horror movies.

Setting: Horror
Plot: Sci-Fi
Tone: Comedy Horror

Avengers: Age of Ultron - 4/5

This movie is fantastic, but introduces too many metaphors to pay off by the end. Director Joss Whedon stated in an interview that he challenged himself to make it shorter than The Avengers (2012), and it shows. This movie tries to do more in less time, and although it does an incredible job with what it has, an extra 10-20 minutes could have made this a 5/5. That being said the action is dazzling, the concept is solid, and they even managed to squeeze in three new characters that went on to appear in other MCU movies. With so much crammed into one movie, it definitely improves with multiple viewings.

Closest comparison: It’s the troubled middle child of the Avengers franchise.

Setting: Super hero
Plot: Super hero
Tone: Super hero

The Avengers (2012) - 5/5

This movie does Character better than almost any other. Joss Whedon accomplished the almost insurmountable task of combining the six main characters and several side characters in a way that lets each of them shine unimpeded by the others. The brilliance of the one-on-one confrontations each main character gets with the villain that highlight the unique strengths they bring to the team cannot be overstated. It also contains one of the most dynamic and multi-faceted arguments ever put to film. It combined three existing character-based film franchises, reinvented a fourth, and added in two main characters to boot. And it did it so well that it became the gold standard by which all action films and all team-up films are measured.

Closest comparison: It’s the super hero team up movie that started them all

Setting: Super hero
Plot: War Spy
Tone: Action Adventure

Justice League - 3/5

This is actually being rather generous. It's really a 2.5 but I had to pick a direction. The fight scenes are ok but uninspired and the writing is really really bad, especially in the dialogue. Everything is oversexualized and the way it's edited shows Joss Whedon tried to minimize that aspect as much as possible when he took over directing in the last month or so of film production. On the plus side it's colorful and the Flash has some funny lines with good delivery. Mostly a dud, but not a dumpster fire like Batman v Superman.

Full disclosure, we saw this movie last week but accidentally missed the first 30 minutes and didn't realize it until we got out and it wasn't as late as it should have been. We re-watched it today and my opinion of it actually didn't change that much. If it were a made for TV movie or a 90's direct to video special I would have said it wasn't too bad. But as it's a $300 million blockbuster it's hard to imagine how nobody on the production team threw up the red flag before it was released.