Captain America: Civil War

When the U.N. cracks down on the “renegade” superheroes of the Avengers, one faction, led by Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), agrees that oversight is in order, while Captain America (Chris Evans) and others distrust government and stand up for individual super-freedom. Thus the stage is set for a showdown, with all the CGI mayhem $250 million can buy. Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeeley and directors Anthony and Joe Russo make a cheerful show of it, giving their gee-whiz comic book audience all they could wish for—and more. But that’s the problem—it’s still just 90 minutes worth of story stretched out to two-and-a-half hours. Still, lovers of the Marvel universe can never get too much, while the rest of us grumble about the Bach we could be listening to, the Tolstoy we could be reading. J.L.