Avengers: Endgame (2019) review

After big sulking mess Thanos (Josh Brolin) wipes out many of the Avengers (as well as a good chunk of civilization) with the Infinity Stones, the survivors - which include Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) and Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) - have to figure out how to reverse the devastation.  I predicted after watching Avengers: Infinity War that they'd have some writerly trick to 'fix it' and that's exactly what happened, and it's completely idiotic: Tony Stark invents Time Travel (sure ... why not) and then the characters go back into their own narratives from previous movies (ho-hum "nostalgia") ... and all this over a distended and oftentimes tedious three hour period of time.  It's exhausting for anyone but diehards (and there are a lot of those, based on the box office numbers) and cheap once you try to pick it apart on even its own 'level' ... although Fat Thor steals the show, and one of my favorite characters - generally known for his snappy commentary - gets "laid to rest."  Knowing how these things have gone, he'll probably be written back in no time (so dry those fake tears).