Marvel Cinematic Universe

[Reply #80 on:]

I just saw Guardians of the Galaxy 3, and I thought it was excellent! James Gunn delivered a truly remarkable and emotional movie here. The MCU has been a real mixed bag since Endgame, so I'm very happy they managed to close the trilogy on a high note.

I wasn't a real fan of how they handled Adam Warlock, but I do enjoy the weird "I'm a super-villain because my mum will take away my PlayStation if I stop" vibe. I think I just expected something more like how he was done in the recent GOTG game (which is also good, by the way).


Mild spoilers below...


The best scene in my opinion, other than the beautiful single-shot action sequence at the climax, was Rocket finding the baby raccoons. No words, but very very powerful! Good shit right there. Now that Gunn is running the show over at DC, things should start improving there.

[Reply #81 on:]

Rocket Raccoon is running the show over at DC now?  I don't understand how that's even possible, but I'm glad to hear it.  I'm sure he'll do a fantastic job.

[Reply #82 on:]

Haha whoops. I need to proof-read my posts.

I think I accidentally deleted a James Gunn-themed sentence near the end.

[Reply #83 on:]

Lol I mean, Gunn has gone on record many, many times to talk about how Rocket is his most personal character and one he identifies most closely with, so in a way that’s basically correct.

[Reply #84 on:]

Secret Invasion was really bad. Not only that, but a huge waste of a great premise. Why wasn't this an Avengers movie instead of... whatever the hell we got here?

[Reply #85 on:]

I'm honestly not sure where I got up to with discussing the MCU on here, so here's a catch up post covering all of it:

Iron Man
Great opening film. Wonderful character work.
8/10

The Incredible Hulk
A really under-rated movie, frankly. I've always loved it.
8/10

Iron Man 2
Totally shits the bed.
5/10

Thor
Competent, solid, a lot of promise.
7/10

Captain America: The First Avenger
Absolutely love this one. It's so full of imaginative, fun details and steampunk nonsense.
8/10

The Avengers
The fact that this works at all is incredible. The fact that it's great is mindblowing.
9/10

Iron Man Three
Solid if underwhelming waste of potential.
7/10

Thor: The Dark World
Medicore.
6/10

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
A brilliant new genre-riff within the MCU that somehow builds on the previous film in a way that blows it wide open while feeling organic.
8/10

Guardians of the Galaxy
A decent but incredibly over-rated film. The most superficially weird, playing-it-safe blockbuster you could imagine, but one of them's a tree so people think it's an avante garde masterpiece.
7/10

Avengers: Age of Ultron
A mess with serious problems but it's so fun watching these characters interact that it's difficult to care too much.
8/10

Ant-Man
A brilliant fun, inventive heist movie that retains enough of Edgar Wright's pre-production work to basically just be one of his movies.
8/10

Captain America: Civil War
A surprisingly nuanced character piece and basically gives us all the joys of an Avengers movie without actually being one.
8/10

Doctor Strange
Doesn't ever reach its full potential but great, solid fun and an injection of a fresh new element within the MCU too.
8/10

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2
What I actually wanted from a Guardians of the Galaxy movie from James Gunn -- weird and offbeat. Some great emotional notes (by MCU standards), actually fairly funny, extremely reminiscent of "A Bicyclops Built for Two"
8/10

Spider-Man: Homecoming
Just about the best possible second Spider-Man reboot we could have hoped for. Does plenty to shake up the character and make him fresh for the MCU. Works as a fantastic movie in its own right.
8/10

Thor: Ragnarok
They finally figure Thor out and make it work. Funny, a little bit of subtext, cool as hell. Top tier MCU.
9/10

Black Panther
Incredible production design and music. A richly drawn world and characters. Again, a fair bit of nuance for the MCU. Really great stuff.
8/10

Avengers: Infinity War
The MCU's masterpiece. The mechanics of this screenplay are utterly beautiful and I say this as a writer. In fact, it's an incredibly well directed film too. Works on just about every level and it's firing on all cylinders as it does it.
10/10

Ant-Man and the Wasp
Completely vindicates my notion that Edgar Wright's prep-work was left behind for Peyton Reed to use on the first movie because this felt like it was directed by a guy who makes mediocre romcoms. It's fine. The action sucks. It should have been better.
7/10

Captain Marvel
Great fun. Samuel L. Jackson steals the show. Funny, good action, great soundtrack, amazing de-aging effects.
8/10

Avengers: Endgame
A huge letdown coming off of Infinity War because, unlike that movie, this one is very messy. That said, it's still astonishing that they pulled a finale off that features this amount of lore and characters and actually holds together at all. A satisfying ending and a joy in spite of itself.
8/10

Spider-Man: Far from Home
A great, little Spider-Man movie that feels a bit hindered by being part of something bigger and not really doing much with it.
8/10

Black Widow
The worst movie in the entire MCU. Why were people stupid enough to think Black Widow could carry her own movie? And if you're going to do it, why make is such an inconsequential little slice of nothing like this?

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
An exciting injection of new elements and ideas into the MCU -- one that leaves you more excited to see how they use the character in the future than satisfied with the actual film, itself, which is fairly by the numbers and lacking but more or less works.
7/10

Eternals
Interesting. A swing and a miss.
5/10

Spider-Man: No Way Home
Insane that they pulled this off to the extent that they did. More than the nostalgia bait on the surface. Works as a solid Spider-Man movie in its own right. Pure cinematic joy and catharsis for those invested in those previous Spidey franchises that were killed dead in their tracks.
9/10

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
A total mess but every single element making up that mess is so much fun. Shame it wasn't more than this given Raimi at the helm, but he did well to pull it together given the production issues.
8/10

Thor: Love and Thunder
A huge step down in quality from the last. I'm fine with Thor being straight up comedy. This feels like a weak episode of a sitcom but one where I'm so comfortable with those characters and that world that I enjoy it anyway.
8/10 (but I'm 90% sure I'll drop that when I finally get round to a rewatch)

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
I actually loved this film. It was an amazing job of turning a bad situation into something powerful and meaningful. It was a true artistic expression in a way that the MCU rarely is. It contains a great deal of nuance. I had a blast with it.
8/10

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Not nearly as bad as its reputation would have you believe. A solid, enjoyable little slice of nothing. Should have been more than it is. Peyton Reed only further cements himself as a director who the MCU should stop hiring.
7/10

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3
A wonderful send-off for these characters that doesn't take any easy options and is all the richer for it.
8/10

Overall, I think the MCU is in serious trouble at the moment and I hope they're able to pull their shit together.

[Reply #86 on:]

As for TV...

WandaVision
Fantastic. Peaks in the middle but that's OK. A true TV series in that you couldn't make this in any other format and have it work as well as it does. A love-letter to old sitcoms that really nailed what it was doing, too.
8/10

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Awful. Just awful. Everything wrong with modern TV drama. Horrific actors from everyone who isn't a previously-established MCU star (or evil Captain America / Julia Louise Dreyfuss). They bragged about it being a six-hour movie -- yeah, it feels like a bland, overlong movie script that's been arbitrarily chopped into chunks with no regard for form or structure. Shit.
5/10

Loki
Far from perfect but great overall (except for that one Doctor-Who-feeling episode in the middle).
8/10

What If...?
Largely pointless and utterly hideous animation (what a shame) but good fun.
7/10

Hawkeye
Surprisingly good to say it's a show about the worst MCU character of all.
7/10

Moon Knight
The most mediocre load of nothing imaginable.
6/10

Ms. Marvel
Starts REALLY well but it's just downhill from there. Solid but also feels largely pointless.
7/10

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
Great fun. Wish it had been funnier and a little bit better thought-through, but I really enjoyed what was here.
8/10

Secret Invasion
An insane waste of a staggering budget. Nothing remotely worthwhile. Boring. Pointless. A couple of watchable moments in the mix, though.
6/10

[Reply #87 on:]

That's an interesting rating system that you're using.  Just how bad would something have to be to rate less than 5?

[Reply #88 on:]

As bad as a DC movie.

[Reply #89 on:]

Overall, I think the MCU is in serious trouble at the moment and I hope they're able to pull their shit together.

I wasn't expecting that after you rated most of phase four at least 8/10.

I get it though. There really hasn't been any hook. It's just been meandering about with very little focus.

Black Widow
The worst movie in the entire MCU. Why were people stupid enough to think Black Widow could carry her own movie? And if you're going to do it, why make is such an inconsequential little slice of nothing like this?

Black Widow wasn't a good movie but there's absolutely no reason they've couldn't have made it work. A "boring" character is only as boring as the script makes them, and Scarlet Johansson is a fine actress. And honestly, it started okay. It just turned into nonsense by the end.

Florence Pugh was the highlight of that movie.

[Reply #90 on:]

Yeah, that's exactly it. I've largely enjoyed phase 4, but I've enjoyed it considerably less than phases 1-3, almost every movie has felt like a disappointment in that expectations were for better than what we got, and it feels like they're just treading water at this point. There's no sense of a coherent bigger picture anymore. With the exception of Spider-Man: No Way Home and Black Panther 2, the movies I have really enjoyed have felt messy and I've largely enjoyed them in spite of themselves. I suspect when I finally get round to a repeat viewing, my enjoyment won't hold up so well (whereas I've watched everything in phases 1-3 at least twice at this point, so my opinions there are fairly locked in).

It's like I'm largely enjoying season 8 of Futurama on an episode-by-episode basis, but so far there's not been a single standout episode that's really justified the show's return for me. If I don't end up giving a single episode a higher score than an 8/10, I might end up viewing season 8 as the weakest one of the show, but that's not to say that I hate it or anything.

You're absolutely right that Black Widow could have worked in the right hands. Her scenes in the first Avengers were largely a joy. But she's definitely not a character that screams out for her own solo film to me. I don't think there's much depth or personality there. She's just a cipher for Scarlett Johansson.

[Reply #91 on:]

I like your barebones list of short reviews. I'll steal that format, bearing in mind I haven't seen most of these in years. Generally I dislike numerical scores... but today I'll let it slide.

Iron Man
A very solid opening that laid the foundation for the entire MCU. However, I would say that it is been greatly surpassed by subsequent movies.
8/10

The Incredible Hulk
One of the movies of all time.
5/10

Iron Man 2
Decent but disappointing. The plot isn't great but the cast makes it worthwhile. Trading Terrance Howard for Don Cheadle was a big upgrade.
6/10

Thor
Competently made in most technical aspects, but it commits the biggest sin a movie possibly can: it's incredibly boring.
5/10

Captain America: The First Avenger
A fine movie with solid acting, writing and direction. Not the best, but not the worst.
7/10

The Avengers
This is where things really kick into gear, and The Avengers firmly proved that the entire concept of the MCU was viable.
9/10

Iron Man 3
Contrary to popular opinion I find it quite charming, and the twist was pretty clever. However, the actual main villain was dumb.
7/10

Thor: The Dark World
Speaking of bad villains, this might be the worst one in the franchise. Thankfully it's at least more entertaining than Thor 1.
6/10

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
A very well-written, exciting action movie. I feel like it might be a bit overrated, but I can't complain too much because it's great regardless.
8/10

Guardians of the Galaxy
Proof that there's no lower limit on the obscurity of Marvel superheroes that can make a good movie. Highly entertaining and oozing with style.
9/10

Avengers: Age of Ultron
Kind of all over the place, and nowhere near as good as the first, but still, an handful of great scenes make it worthwhile. Ultron feels wasted as a villain, unfortunately.
7/10

Ant-Man
Very fun and charming. Not exactly a stand-out but Paul Rudd probably broke his back carrying it so hard.
8/10

Captain America: Civil War
Creates a conflict between the heroes that feels natural, and despite the presence of so many Avengers, nobody upstages Captain America in his own movie. Some genuinely good drama and a unique villain. I know this movie is well-regarded, but I still feel like it's underrated.
9/10

Doctor Strange
A fairly ordinary, milquetoast origin story. The resolution to the climax was very creative, however.
6/10

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2
A completely different vibe to the first movie that totally works, and delivers a touching story on all fronts. The aesthetics are beautiful.
8/10

Spider-Man: Homecoming
Doesn't re-tread too much ground from previous iterations of the character, but as a result lacks some of the more iconic Spider-Man motifs. Tom Holland fucking nails it as Peter Parker, however, so that more than makes up for it. Also, Vulture is awesome.
7/10

Thor: Ragnarok
Easily the best Thor movie. Besides the GOTG trilogy, it's the only one where it feels like the director leaves a true footprint in the final product.
9/10

Black Panther
Meh. The plot is kind of dumb but it has its moments. Most of the main cast is very good.
6/10

Avengers: Infinity War
Peak MCU. Very high stakes, wonderful direction and the ultimate crossover movie. I doubt it will ever be topped, to be honest.
10/10

Ant-Man and the Wasp
Feels very safe and by-the-books. Not amazing, but doesn't really suffer from any serious issues.
7/10

Captain Marvel
Pretty good. The 90s setting gives it a bit of personality, but good grief, the Kree are such uninteresting villains.
7/10

Avengers: Endgame
An extremely satisfying end to the main MCU story. Also manages to somehow stay concise despite the ridiculous number of characters. As a bonus, the time travel mechanics are fairly straightforward, as well.
9/10

Spider-Man: Far from Home
Cool.
7/10

Black Widow
Should have been made after Civil War. It starts off pretty good, by giving off Jason Bourne vibes. But by the end those vibes turn into that of Austin Powers. The secondary characters a great, at least.
6/10

Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
The action in the first two-thirds is amazing, but they stopped trying in the third act and instead delivered a dull CGI mess. Still, the villain is pretty well-written. Not too bad, overall.
7/10

The Eternals
Way too many new characters to try and introduce all at once. My memory is a bit fuzzy on this one too be honest, but it's not awful. The action, especially with the speedy girl, is sweet.
6/10

Spider-Man: No Way Home
The best of the three. I have some issues with the writing, particularly on how they made Doctor Strange an idiot, but despite that it's a delight. I also happen to disagree with the notion that fan-service and good writing are mutually exclusive, which is a popular complaint. Are the writers supposed to go "Nah, fuck the fans. Let's give them something boring"?
8/10

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Very entertaining and suspenseful, and I think it retroactively improves the ending of WandaVision by doubling down on making her evil. Honestly, this one is underrated.
8/10

Thor: Love and Thunder
Not good. Feels like a lot was edited out, and there's a whole lot of tonal whiplash between "goofy characters make bad jokes" and "Jane has cancer".
5/10

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Boooo. They should have recast T'Challa because Letitia Wright is a mediocre actress. A shame, since re-imagining Namor to be Mayan-themed was actually pretty cool.
6/10

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Haven't actually seen it yet.
10/10, best movie of all time, I assume.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3
Amazing. Incredibly heartfelt without being obnoxious and it doesn't take the easy way out with some of the plot points.
9/10

Moving onto TV...

WandaVision
A very interesting and creative story that makes great use of the TV format. The ending wasn't spectacular, but as I said above, I feel as though Multiverse of Madness made it more tolerable.
8/10

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Has its moments but it's very skippable. The B-plot with the wannabe Captain America was wonderful, but the main plot with the flag-smashers was a total joke.
6/10

Loki
Fairly consistently good throughout. A bit overrated, however.
7/10

What If...?
A handful of good episodes but most of them are utter garbage.
4/10

Hawkeye
By far the best of the Disney+ shows. The dynamic between the two Hawkeyes is perfect, and Yelena's involvement made it even better. Despite the fact that she's not in it, it also gives Black Widow the true send-off she didn't really get in Endgame.
9/10

Moon Knight
Oscar Issac is wonderful in the lead role but the entire thing feels like a swing and a miss.
6/10

Ms Marvel
The first two episodes are an absolute delight, oozing with a Scott Pilgrim-esque personality. Somehow it shat the bed after that, though. Seriously, I have no idea what happened. Gotta be some behind-the-scenes drama. The lead actress is perfect, so it's at least got that.
7/10

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
I very much appreciate the effort to do something different in the MCU. Not perfect, though. The ending was stupid. The Daredevil episode was awesome, though!
7/10

Secret Invasion
The first piece of MCU media that is truly awful. A countless amount of contrivances, plot-holes and all-round bullshit. Not only that, but a huge waste of a premise. Why wasn't this an Avengers movie?
3/10

[Reply #92 on:]

Which XMen movie(s) does the Beetlejuice sequel fall into?

[Reply #93 on:]

I got around to seeing Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. It's not good. In fact, it's quite shit. Time to put my (r)ants into words.

Spoiler tagging everything:

Show spoiler

-The entire premise is questionable. Having huge civilisations live in the quantum realm completely removes the low-key terrifying extradimensional mystery surrounding it.

-The plot constantly falls victim to the trope of "conflict happening because of characters not communicating properly"

-Cassie has apparently been studying the quantum realm during the five-year time skip and is now an expert. Like... how? The only people who knew anything about the quantum realm were gone at that point, and she was like, 10 years old.

-The ants were such a fucking terrible deus ex machina. First of all, when they show up to rescue Hank, the "show, don't tell" rule of writing is thrown out the window, with Hank being all "Oh, thanks to time dilation they've lived a thousand years and are now super ants! Isn't that cool!" Completely out of nowhere. This also means that when they show up to defeat Kang it feels incredibly unearned.

-Speaking of unearned, M.O.D.O.K's out-of-the-blue character development derived from Cassie saying "Don't be a dick" (which wasn't funny in the first place) was stupid. At no point prior to that "redemption" did they show him second-guessing Kang. Possibly an unpopular opinion, but I actually didn't mind his character design. Sure, he looked very uncanny... but that's exactly how a gigantic head should look. M.O.D.O.K should always be a joke character. Always.

-Scott, Cassie and Hope could have easily just turned big and wrecked shit at any point, but decided to wait until the climax. Why weren't their suits confiscated when they were imprisoned? There was literally nothing stopping Scott from fucking up the entire building.

-The "humour" was simply unfunny. The blob that loves holes was the worst offender.

-Rare for the MCU, but all the performances felt phoned-in, especially Michael Douglas.

-There was no scene where William Jackson Harper called out for Janet, and she was suddenly standing right next to him.

-I just can't comprehend Kang being the next big bad based on what we saw here. Maybe it's because his acting was mediocre (seriously, recast him. Nobody will give a shit). Maybe it's because they didn't actually showcase his multiversal bullshittery.

-Okay, I'll give one positive note. The scene with hundreds of Scotts building a Scott mountain was quite neat from a visual perspective. The movie needed more stuff like that.

[Reply #94 on:]

Well, I watched The Marvels and it's bad.

Not quite the worst thing the MCU has ever put out but definitely up there.

And remarkably might be the most bored Samuel L. Jackson has ever looked to be in a movie.

[Reply #95 on:]

And remarkably might be the most bored Samuel L. Jackson has ever looked to be in a movie.

Then you ain't seen Spiral...

[Reply #96 on:]

No way, man! Sammy J. was having great fun in Spiral.

[Reply #97 on:]

Well, I watched The Marvels and it's bad.

As somebody who found the film thoroughly enjoyable and engaging, I'd be interested to know some of the details as to why. What did you dislike, and why did you dislike it? I've seen a lot of people saying that it's not a good movie, but I can't find any actual reasoning.

I loved the chemistry between the three leads, the fact that they made Captain Marvel a little more fully dimensioned by showing that she's got weaknesses that can be attacked, showing that neither she nor Photon are entirely internally confident - just like real people.

Giving us a hint of what may have passed between Valkyrie and Captain Marvel was a fun bonus for those paying attention, and fleshed out both of those characters a little further. And the planet where people communicate only (and often spontaneously) through song needs its own movie to fully explore. The McGuffin of the spare super-bangle and the technobabble accompanying the hyperspace hexagon highway stuff was pretty lame.

But it's the background radiation for the antics that we saw, and those were a pretty decent showing for a popcorn flick. Plenty of fight scenes, lots of flashy comic book set pieces, the dialogue wasn't anything I could find specific complaints with... ...and there were so many kittens.

It wasn't up there with the best, but I get the feeling that this should be solidly in the middle of the pack for most people. And yet, there are so many folks saying "well that was terrible", seemingly without being able to point to why it was.

So, I'd really like to know. What's actually wrong with it? It was (to my mind) a decent addition to the MCU that gave some depth to established characters and showed hints of the direction that things are moving within the MCU - sure, it didn't give us any tantalizing glimpses of a bigger bad, but it did resolve some loose threads, set up a couple more, and what we got in the post-credits wasn't anything to be sneezed at. Unless you have a blue fur allergy, I guess.

As an aside, Samuel L. Jackson's whole thing in the first two Star Wars prequels was looking bored. And he looked entirely bored for most of his screentime in Jurassic Park. He says "Dammit" and looks briefly animated when he can't guess Nedry's magic word, but his whole role there is "old, bored, tired, engineer who's only there for the overtime and probably looked bored even whilst being eaten".

SLJ's performance in The Marvels was more like "unflappable former secret agent turned planetary defense wonk who can deal with crisis calmly but you know he's going to beat the fucking shit out of an old refrigerator later as his coping mechanism".

I thought he looked and sounded bored with his role through most of Secret Invasion, personally.

[Reply #98 on:]

I don't plan on watching The Marvels until it hits Disney+ but I have a very hard time believing SLJ could be worse than how he was used in Secret Invasion.

As for the Star Wars prequels, they're just weird. Somehow Lucas got shitty performances out of not just SLJ, but quite a few very talented actors.

[Reply #99 on:]

I'd just like to add to the conversation that I, too, really enjoyed The Marvels. I went in with extremely low expectations because of all the hate it's been getting on the web plus the general state of the MCU has been appalling lately (outside of rare gems like Guardians 3 and Loki), and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.

It's no masterpiece and it does have problems, but it's a nice middle-of-the-road Marvel movie. I agree with the sentiment that if this was released pre-Endgame, people would be much less harsh on it.

I still think Quantumania and Secret Invasion are the absolute lowest the MCU has ever gotten, with Age of Ultron not far behind (or maybe in this case, ahead of?) those two (sorry).

[Reply #100 on:]

As somebody who found the film thoroughly enjoyable and engaging, I'd be interested to know some of the details as to why. What did you dislike, and why did you dislike it? I've seen a lot of people saying that it's not a good movie, but I can't find any actual reasoning.

The thing was a total mess. It was caught between two modes: incomprehensible action movie bullshit and disparate, underdeveloped comedy sketches that wouldn't pass muster on a bad SNL.

Some of the cast are trying but, as I said, SLJ absolutely was not. Many of these characters just straight-up suck. Monica Rambeau sucks. She's never been interesting and this did nothing to change my mind about that. She has the same powers as Captain Marvel because she walked through a magic wall? What? And, yes, I have seen WandaVision. It made absolutely no sense there either -- it was the worst part of the series, in fact. A total tangent with nothing to add except setting up this movie. Ms. Marvel was a lone bright spot but that Avengers riff at the end setting up the Young Avengers was embarrassing.

I actually thought the actor playing the main villain was doing an admirable job with the material she was given but it wasn't enough to save things. That's quite possibly the worst villain an MCU movie has ever had. Just some utterly, utterly bland, boring, two-dimensional idiot.

As for Captain Marvel, herself, I still feel like we have absolutely no idea who she actually is. That was fine in the first movie seeing as even she didn't know. They got away with it in Endgame because she might as well not be in that movie. This was where we should have learned something about her... but instead she takes a backseat to Ms. Marvel in order to just sort of... exist? There's nothing to her. It's a waste.

The editing was horrendous -- like truly some of the worst I've seen in a Hollywood blockbuster.

Every interesting idea the film has is immediately buried by aggressive corporate synergy and a seeming lack of faith in the project at large. That musical planet sequence for example. It's just a horrific, awkward, unfunny sequence that kind of half does a premise -- in a way that makes zero sense I might add. You're telling me these aliens are so dumb that they speak English but can only understand it when it's sung? Let's compare and contrast to Captain America: The First Avenger in which they decided to do an old-school musical number and hired Alan Fucking Menken to write it. I LOVE musicals for the record. I am the sort of person that sequence was for. In fact when I heard about it in the movie's pre-production, it made me excited to see this film. It's just so half-assed and barely works.

Or let's take the sequence where the cats eat everyone for example. The "Memory" needle-drop is the sort of thing that was probably when someone came up with it at 4 AM and then no one caught it. Nothing about that sequence makes any sense whatsoever. The cats are eating everyone in order to save them? OK, sure. Fine. I can go with that. So why is everyone running away like it's a horror movie? Like they're terrified to be eaten? It doesn't make any sense whatsoever. They should be queuing up. They're professionals who understand this plan, right? And if they don't understand the plan, why the fuck not? Why did nobody explain it to them before having them all be eaten alive? It's a perfect example of how the movie doesn't adhere to any sort of basic internal logic. It's just a load of random shit that happens and then the X-Men turn up because they figured they had to jingle some keys for us at the end to keep us interested.

And then like... is Captain Marvel an idiot? She reignites that sun at the end of the movie because she's just like "Oh yeah I guess I should have fixed that in the first place. Good point". So this entire planet full of people hate her... and quite rightly so... and she just sort of left them to live in squalor because she didn't think to start the sun up again? What the hell is that?

It just felt like it had pretty much the worst possible execution of almost every idea it contained -- and the ideas it contained weren't exactly exciting to begin with.

[Reply #101 on:]

Thanks. I genuinely appreciate you setting some of your thoughts out, even though I disagree with a lot of that. I feel like now I understand a little more as to why people who didn't like it didn't like it.

And I can honestly say that I feel like maybe it'll grow on you if you watch it again.

Not a guarantee though.

[Reply #102 on:]

I almost certainly will do some sort of big MCU rewatch at some point (probably ahead of Secret Wars) so we'll see!

[Reply #103 on:]

Hello PEEL. I watched season 2 of "What If?" and it was pretty much hot garbage.

Let's see...

Nebula joining Nova Corps? Happy Hogan drinking Hulk juice? Literally who gives a shit. These aren't interesting deviations from the MCU canon. What's even less interesting is an episode slot being wasted on a completely new character (Kahhori) in a completely new setting. What's triple less interesting is said character being awful and having no arc whatsoever, while still processing to save the day. I hate this term... but "Mary Sue" is exactly what she is.

There's also a bunch of lame episodes that are pretty much the writers sticking all their favourite action figures in a blender to make a cameo paste. Except this cameo paste isn't fun or cool; it's forced and unearned. What's so fucking special about Captain Carter? We've seen enough of her. She was a the main character of three episodes this season. Three!

Now, there were two episodes that I enjoyed, so it wasn't all for nothing. There's an episode with the Avengers being formed in 1988 which was a lot of fun, because it was restrained and didn't go too overboard with cameos. The sequence of events were logical and satisfying within the context of the MCU timeline, and showcased the potential of one small decision having a huge ripple effect.

The other one I liked was one with Hela. It wasn't high art or anything but it was good fun and didn't cram too much into 30 minutes. Also, Cate Blanchett's voice makes everything better.

Rant over! Season 2 of Loki is apparently good, so I'll make sure I get around to finishing that ASAP to help me forget this.

[Reply #104 on:]

Let me know if they ever get around to making an episode where Conan the Barbarian time travels to the future (i.e. the 1980s) and battles Captain America in a museum or something.

[Reply #105 on:]

I got around to seeing The Marvels.

I'm with tnuc and Danny on this one. It was pretty good. Very far from great, but astoundingly better than Quantumania and Secret Invasion.

Kamala/ Ms. Marvel is the one holding the entire thing together. She is an excellent character, and the actress really sells the smitten fangirl archetype. I wasn't doubting this outcome for a second, because she was awesome in her titular series as well. Brie Larson was also great, and had a much more nuanced performance than her first movie. I wasn't really a fan of Monica to be honest; she was the weakest character in WandaVision and she was kind of dumb.

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Why not close the giant wormhole from the other side?

There was a few funny moments. When they arrived on the singing planet, I was immediately worried it would wear thin ridiculously fast. But then after a short song the main guy starts talking English, with "Oh, he's bilingual" being the reason.

Sadly, the villain was crap. Her motives were fine, and made sense, but I really struggled to give a shit about anything that was happening when she was on screen. Also, her abilities seem kind of vague? Her bracelet thing somehow absorbs the energy of the protagonists but they seem to be specifically targeting the bracelet for some reason. Go for some headshots, ladies!

She's never been interesting and this did nothing to change my mind about that. She has the same powers as Captain Marvel because she walked through a magic wall? What?

I don't think she has the same powers as Captain Marvel; she does some phasing-through-matter trickery a few times, like that of Kitty Pryde and Vision. Although that doesn't explain the random flight and energy blasts.

Or let's take the sequence where the cats eat everyone for example. The "Memory" needle-drop is the sort of thing that was probably when someone came up with it at 4 AM and then no one caught it. Nothing about that sequence makes any sense whatsoever. The cats are eating everyone in order to save them? OK, sure. Fine. I can go with that. So why is everyone running away like it's a horror movie? Like they're terrified to be eaten? It doesn't make any sense whatsoever. They should be queuing up. They're professionals who understand this plan, right? And if they don't understand the plan, why the fuck not? Why did nobody explain it to them before having them all be eaten alive? It's a perfect example of how the movie doesn't adhere to any sort of basic internal logic.

I think you might be overthinking it. Even the most level-headed professional would have doubts about the safety of being eaten by a tentacle-mouthed kitten. And most of the crew and probably never heard of a flerkin, much less seen one. To me, the chaos of that scene makes sense.

As for the cameos...

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Very happy that Kate Bishop is finally making a return, because she was the best part of the best Disney+ show. I hope that people breaking into her apartment and waiting for her becomes a running joke.

Not as keen about Beast appearing, given that it's the X-Men 3 version. I was really hoping the MCU wouldn't touch that series since the continuity is so fucked. Still, the version of Professor X that appeared in Doctor Strange 2 was clearly not the same, so I guess we'll see. However, the new Deadpool trailer looks like they are indeed finding a way to merge the timelines somehow.

Anyway, The Marvels is maybe like, a 6-7/10 or something. I enjoyed it but I'm sure I'll barely remember it in a month.