Avengers: Age of Ultron

The movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are designed to be self-perpetuating sequel machines, soulless products whose only purpose is to set up the next several films in a never ending series of sequel machines. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Marvel “solo” movies like Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier conquer the global box office, and the Avengers movies serve as de facto victory laps/bro-outs. That's a solid formula, for printing money and hypnotizing a generation of helpless youth into believing that these films count as entertainment if nothing else, and Avengers: Age of Ultron doesn't deviate from the formula for a second. Writer-director Joss Whedon is pretty much locked into an overarching storyline and a bland house style here, so instead of bucking the system, he dutifully serves up more of the same bubble-brained gibberish and wanton destruction. D.B.