Cam

this is like a shitty poorly written wattpad fanfiction brought to life. in fact, the descendants novel series i read as a kid is so much better than whatever this was. there is exactly one tolerable song in the entire movie, which makes me wonder how they fell so incredibly far from the original trilogy (especially since the 2nd movie was the soundtrack of my childhood). for the love of god please stop making these

the marvels is a genuinely solid mcu film that’s actually funny and anchored by fantastic characters. but honestly, rewatching it just highlights everything wrong with marvel’s current trajectory, especially after recent events.  this movie is a glaring reminder that marvel is currently spending hundreds of millions of dollars to undo the definitive decade-in-the-making ending they built in 2019, all for cheap nostalgia bait. the original plan was clearly to pass the baton to newer characters and let them lead the universe. but because the writers couldn’t put in the actual effort to develop them properly, giving characters like carol danvers and sam wilson absolute scraps to work with, they panicked when audiences pushed back. now instead of fixing the writing, they’re retreating to tired old gimmicks. carol and sam were supposed to be the face of this saga and yet here we are.  the disrespect to carol's character in particular is exhaustinggg. the movie ends with her living on earth, in louisiana (literally where sam wilson is from), trying to find a way to pull monica back from the x-men universe. so i really wonder how they’re going to justify their absence in doomsday. we also see she has a close relationship with valkyrie (👀) so there’s no way thor couldn't get ahold of her. yet the second a major threat appears on earth who do they drag out? the retired old ass steve rogers with his botched botox  despite some sloppy cgi here and there, the core of this film works incredibly well because of the dynamic these 3 share. i loved loved loved the familial bond between monica and carol and kamala geeking over working with captain marvel was so adorable. and the humor actually lands; the whole sequence with the kittens, nick fury, and kamala’s family dealing with absolute chaos in space was so fucking funny. it isn't a flawless cinematic masterpiece but anyone who thinks this is somehow below the current mcu standard just hates women i’m sorry.  just 2 more avengers films until this mess of a universe gets a soft reboot and hopefully we can finally be free from the nostalgia slop

a cute & fun introduction to ms. marvel! kamala is absolutely adorable and i love how she’s just a massive fangirl of captain marvel 😭 the mixed-media visual style they used was so creative, appealing, and gave the show so much personality it’s also really cool to see marvel pull off representation like this. it didn’t feel watered down or whitewashed at all. i enjoyed the mother/daughter dynamics and seeing them explore that generational trauma until they kinda healed from it by the end. the pacing definitely took a hit in the middle. episodes 4 and 5 kinda dragged and some of the scenes honestly felt like filler. the jokes were overall a bit corny throughout but i did laugh a few times. still shocked at them making her a mutant lmfao. i honestly hate when they retcon established comic lore like that, it’s giving wanda and pietro all over again (they will always be mutants to me idgaf). it makes me wonder if they’re going to have her join the x-men once they finally bring them into the mcu

i’m rewatching this mainly for yelena, but it just reminded me of how good the whole thing actually is. they finally did clint justice by giving him more depth and made me as a viewer actually care about him and the toll his past has taken on him. his dynamic with kate is so good and it’s genuinely fun to see them have this relationship because we didn’t really get to see this with the other young avengers who aren’t relatives, except for peter with tony (and maybe kamala and carol). this might be one of my favorite mentor and protégée dynamics in the mcu. kate bishop is an amazing character, she’s just so fun and relatable. the way the show showed off the creativity with all the trick arrows was really cool too and they looked sick shooting them. the action was just very inventive.  my absolute favorite part is how this show honored natasha more than the rest of the mcu did. after endgame it felt like everyone was acting like tony was the only one that sacrificed himself and nat got completely sidelined. hawkeye actually dealt with her death. yelena's final scene with clint made me cry so hard. they are both just so ridden with grief over losing her and that whole confrontation felt so raw. kingpin’s return in this felt a bit silly tho. he didn't feel quite as menacing as he used to be and he was only there for his ass to get beat. maya's storyline wrapped up a bit too fast just to set up her spinoff that many (including me) did not watch.