Captain Marvel (2019)

We watched Captain Marvel together and spent an hour talking about questioning authority afterward. That kind of conversation doesn't happen often. The film gives you something real to think about together.

I liked Captain Marvel when I first saw it, but the second viewing is where it clicked. Once you notice how Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck plants every detail early on, the whole film transforms. Layers everywhere.

Captain Marvel commits to a conclusion that not everyone will appreciate. I found it perfectly right — it refuses easy comfort. If you want tidy resolution you may be frustrated. If you want truth, it delivers.

Some elements of Captain Marvel show their age, but the core of it — female power, young Nick Fury — hasn't diminished at all. Films this good age better than almost anything else.

Captain Marvel builds so carefully to its conclusion that when it arrives you feel genuinely moved. The female power thread pays off in a way that's earned rather than manipulative. Couldn't sleep afterward.

Captain Marvel has been praised so heavily that no film could live up completely. It's an excellent film — Goose the Flerken is genuinely remarkable — but it's not the untouchable masterpiece some claim.

The music in Captain Marvel is so deeply married to the images that you almost can't separate them. It stays in your head days later and when you hear it again the emotions return immediately.

I usually avoid this kind of film but gave Captain Marvel a chance after constant recommendations. Completely converted. Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck transcends genre entirely. It works as pure human drama first.

Captain Marvel deals with female power in a way that's genuinely uncomfortable at times. But that discomfort is the point. Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck never lets you look away, and the film is better for it.

Everyone told me to watch Captain Marvel for years. Finally did and instantly understood why. Brie Larson's confident performance is immediately apparent. Now I'm recommending it just as loudly to everyone else.