Captain Marvel (2019)

I’ll say what everybody at the watch party was thinking: the cat is the best character in Captain Marvel. Goose gets more laughs and more personality than the hero, which is a problem when the hero shoots light out of her fists. Brie Larson is stuck playing a woman with no memory, so the script keeps her at arm’s length for most of the movie, and the memory puzzle makes the first act feel like a slideshow with the sound off. Then a young Nick Fury shows up, digitally de-aged and genuinely fun, and the whole thing wakes up into a buddy cop comedy. Ben Mendelsohn as Talos is a treat. The nineties needle drops land like a radio stuck on one station. It still made $1.13 billion worldwide. A 5.2 because the cat and Fury carry a movie that should be carrying them. $1,492 says you spend the whole runtime waiting for the cat to come back on screen.

What works: Samuel L. Jackson’s young Nick Fury and Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos are a blast, and Goose the cat steals every scene.

What doesn’t: The memory puzzle keeps Carol at arm’s length for most of the runtime, so the hero ends up being the least interesting person in her own movie.

Who it’s for: Marvel completists, cat people and anyone who misses walking the aisles of a video rental store.