Here’s the best thing I can say about “The Avengers” (and no, I will NOT refer to it as “Marvel’s The Avengers,” because the branding is implicit):

It offers a couple of the biggest laughs in recent memory, including a slapstick gag worthy of Chuck Jones in his “Looney Tunes” heyday.

Thankfully, there are other nice things to say about “The Avengers,” a Marvel mash-up featuring a group of super-heroes who (almost) all have had their own movies. Don’t think of this as a sequel to the others; it’s its own thing unto itself. (More…)

Don’t trust the trailers for Anne Renton’s “The Perfect Family.”

They make it look like an irreverent, iconoclastic satire, one that attacks hypocrisy among the pious – like something from the Farrelly brothers or, perhaps, John Waters. Oh wait – Waters already made that movie with Turner and called it “Serial Mom.” And it was a lot more interesting than this alleged comedy.

In fact, “The Perfect Family” is dramatic – when it isn’t dull and obvious. (More…)