The problem is when there are MCU installments that aren’t as fun as what you’re citing. My wife and I still haven’t finished Eternals, for instance, and it’d be a lot easier to get through if I knew it was “meaningful.”

(I don’t think Eternals is bad in the ways that Thor 2 and Iron Man 2 are bad, but lordy, is it…

This phase has screamed of a lot of post-Endgame accounting. Like Feige was clearing out the remaining things he had on post-it notes stuck on his whiteboard. Things like “We promised Scarlet a movie, guess we can just make it a prequel,” “The Inhumans really crapped out on us...maybe the Eternals? They’re pretty much…

Season 4 has been such a delight. S2 seemed like the Duffers never expected a renewal. S3 was perfectly good. S4 is just everything firing on all cylinders, and the Duffers doing so with plenty of confidence. It’s been great.

“decided to just go in a bunch of different directions to see what hit and what missed”

I’m extremely skeptical that this will ever look coherent.

What were the stories they told in those properties exactly?

I mean, that’s kind of the issue though - “Pick a lane”.

It used to be these “phases” were made up of movies that were spaced out over six months or so, with some ancillary content thrown in from time to time. Now, I’m expected to commit to 12-20 hours of tv series in between the films in order to keep up. I mean, I guess Moon Knight was “okay,” but it was no WandaVision. I…

Yah, there are a lot of balls in the air but it’s unclear how connected they are or where it’s going..

“and shang chi was as much a direct sequel to iron man 3 as it was it’s own thing”

Being in the middle of a rewatch I can confirm that S2 comes off better. It’s the weakest of the seasons but it’s an easy rewatch. Th show is just a plain old good show so even an off season is still good tv.

The thing is that right now it feels like the worst of both worlds: individual stories are getting sucked up into the Grand MCU Arc... but the Grand MCU Arc is currently a bit of a mess. The episodic bits are still suffering from the serialization, but the serial story being told isn’t particularly good.

I saw it! THOUGHTS and SPOILERS below:

It still blows my mind that no only did we get connected Marvel movies that they led up to as crazy shit as doing a version of fucking Infinity Gauntlet and that THANOS became a household name.  We live in crazy times

I think the Eternals are going to go the planet of the “Let us never speak of this again” 

“Casual” fans had no idea who Thanos was in 2012 either.

The thing with other “legacyquels” is that they’re usually live action films. Seeing Harrison Ford play Han Solo for the first time in decades is nostalgic in a way that seeing an animated Obi-Wan in Rebels isn’t. There is no nostalgia for Toy Story - and the other sequels of the franchise never really depended on that…

This is not a spoiler, but the same sex couple in this movie is such a small thing. I barely even tracked it. It’s more of a “oh, nice.” kinda thing. It’s sweetly done but like all pixar romances, the movie doesn’t harp on it or anything

Buzz’s dim obliviousness works when he’s forced into situations with other characters because they all think he’s nuts. He’s also a chaos agent without even knowing it. If this film leaned into that element it might make sense, but in this story’s context I guess he had to be a true space hero. I agree with the…

Yep, this. Dude used to be funny. He ain’t funny to me any longer. ::shrug::