#<- movie i didn't watch because i was done with the MCU at this point but i know of it.

[meirimerens]

Meiri would it please the new LoZ fan (you) ((I know you are technically not a new fan but for the purposes of this you are)) to know that I have had a Breath of the Wild but Princess Zelda is the protagonist longfic in the works for like. Looks at my discord/google docs history. 2 years now? Does this spark joy?

i will keep it 100 the fact that i have literally not interacted with any BOTW stuff (i Know the two games are related & totk was announced as a direct sequel Before Getting Into The Timeline(s) Splitting Lore) makes it so i have 0 attachment to the game and you could be telling me you're writing something about like. the Minish Cap. and it'd do the same. however and frankly i #respect anyone who gives (or try to give) zelda the actual protagonism she DESERVEEEEES. it's been Literally almost 40 years. i've seen with my eyes they're Allegedly making her the protag of the next one and while i find the style very cutes i'm somewhat grumpy that she wasn't given the opportunity that Link has had of being #dark... and #mysterious... but equally #silly... it kinda feels to fit in the media constance of giving female characters the short end of the stick when it's time to tell their stories and decades of their male counterparts having been explored en long en large et en travers but... we shall see and maybe more will come... in my mind's eye it could be so easy to make her playable in a BOTW or TOTK DLC so... respect!!!!! to our brave writing troops and our longfic soldiers. onwards!!!!!! o7

[avelera]

I know it's been a while since it came out but when thing I really appreciated about Deadpool & Wolverine is that it and the rest of the Deadpool franchise really understood what fans want in a way that MCU movies have otherwise failed to grasp for a rather bafflingly long period of time which is this:

Happy Endings.

That might sound silly or childish (I can hear Deadpool's snort at the rude definition of happy endings in my ear even as I write this) but seriously, when was the last time a Marvel movie or show just gave us an unequivocal happy ending without any ambiguity?

For so long, Marvel has been feeling the need to provide some sort of hook, to set up that "not all is well" in order to keep people coming back for the next film.

But the thing is, I watched Deadpool 1, and Deadpool 2, and I came back for Deadpool & Wolverine even though technically all three ended with a happy ending. All three ended with the hero getting what they wanted, and the age-old reassertion of domesticity that is considered so cliche in so many happy endings (ie, everyone went home with their heterosexual partner and lived happily ever after in their white picket fence after the adventure was over).

What I actually loved, nay, even adored about Deadpool 2 was that it took the time to (spoilers) bring Vanessa back to life. It was in the credits, sure. But Wade/Vanessa is hands down my favorite het ship in the entire extended Marvel universe because they actually feel like they're in love, not just that they're falling in love or might have the chance to be in love someday (like Steve/Peggy) but that they actually have been in a long term relationship and they don't just love but actually like each other too, and they have what it takes to go the distance or, continue to be friends if they part ways as lovers. Like. MCU is so bad at het romance you guys, it's insane, but Wade/Vanessa actually feel like a real loving couple so even if I ship him with Logan too, I love how Wade/Vanessa was handled. I still get choked up about the whole Calendar Girl sequence and I was devastated in the second movie when she died.

And that's why it's so important to me that they brought her back. They didn't just leave it on "the girlfriend got fridged and while the hero still mourns her, he has grown stronger through the trials he suffered in the aftermath, etc etc." No, they understood she's a beloved character too, and it's a fantasy movie, and part of the fantasy is, yes, in the credits using the awesome magical powers at our disposal, we took an extra 10 seconds to make sure you know, as a fan, that everyone was ok in the end. Everyone got to live happily ever after, we brought back people who died, everything got to be ok.

The MCU hasn't done that in ages! WandaVision ends with Wanda losing everything, it's beautiful and devastating but it's also gut-wrenching and unsatisfying, especially after Multiverse of Madness. Winter Soldier ends with saving the world, sure, but the hero doesn't get everything back because we need to hook into the next movie, so Bucky needs to still be on the run and not reunited with Steve. Even Endgame, the end of the whole damn arc, ends with beloved characters (at least at the point of writing this) being dead and staying dead even though we have literal universe altering time magic at our disposal to, theoretically, bring them back and let everyone end on a happy note where they got everything they wanted.

Look, I get it, an all-around happy ending where everything is nicely tied up and everyone is alive and got their loved ones back can feel a bit childish. But throughout the MCU it has felt just so relentlessly withholding that no one gets this unequivocal, unambiguous happy ending in ages. It's like in their rush to hook you to the next movie, they completely forgot that part of the reward for the audience in watching these heroes go on these adventures is the hero getting what they want in the end, and not just getting strung along to the next adventure.

Deadpool understands that. Heck, it understands that you can give the all-around happy ending and still have problems that emerge down the line. Deadpool 2 ends happily but Wade still has problems that emerge in Deadpool & Wolverine, part of them are the outcomes of getting what he wanted that had unexpected consequences but don't diminish getting what he wanted after Deadpool 2. He wanted the white picket fence happy ending, sure, but as a result his life got dissatisfying and his relationship fell apart in a completely normal, human way. That doesn't actually diminish Deadpool 2 and saving Vanessa, btw, because bringing her back to life means life will go on and sometimes life just happens that way. Bringing her back means she has the chance to go on living and sometimes that means making decisions that aren't all about Wade. That's a good thing.

And likewise, Deadpool & Wolverine might get another sequel. I'm actually fine if it does! I'm fine if another villain just pops out of nowhere to interrupt their peace and quiet.

But here's the thing it will be interrupting their hard-won happy ending. They got the happy ending. We got to see Deadpool save his world of 9 people and add Worst Universe Logan to it. We got to see Logan from the Worst Universe find a loving family, even if he didn't get the original one back. We got to see everyone in peace and at rest having got what they wanted and what they needed. We got to see characters we love be happy.

Deadpool as a franchise understands that. It understands that we love these characters and, at some point, we want to see them happy after their trials and tribulations are over. I wish the MCU would remember that more often in its other stories, that not everything needs to end on a hook. Sometimes it can end with happily ever after and that still doesn't mean the story is over forever. Maybe it's just for now, but whether or not the story continues, Deadpool understood we on some level want to see our beloved characters left behind in a good place.

[milehighmegs]

On the Subject of Fandoms: A Love Letter

So, I'm old. Well, oldER. I haven't entered the twilight of my years by any stretch, but once I entered that midlife wistful state of nostalgia, I knew that I had very likely reached the point at which it would be more past than future. And ya know, that's ok. I made peace with my mortality long ago. I don't fear death, I fear not living before I die.

So what's that got to do with fandoms? you may be asking. Fair enough. Here's what it's got to do with fandoms:

Before it was even a term, before I could do multiplication or write my name in cursive (I told you I'm old), I was part of a fandom and didn't even know it. My parents watched 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' when it was still on primetime; we even recorded the final episode on VHS and had it for years. (I told you, I'M OLD.) It was so incredibly formative for me that it's become part of my identity, part of my moral & ethical code, part of my personality. Is that ridiculous? Dramatic? Maybe even a bit of hubris? Perhaps. But it's true, nonetheless.

I've since joined other fandoms, of movie franchises (namely the MCU), TV shows (like Good Omens), and musicians (I'm a die-hard metalhead) over the course of my life, each of them creating/inhabiting a different part of what makes me ME. Though I've always remained the same basic person at my core (a decent one at least if not a good one, I hope), being a part of these fandoms has shaped the foundations of how I live my life, and how I've LIVED my life.

Being on the proverbial back nine of my earthly existence, looking back at what's come before, at how far I've come and all the things I've fucked up or gotten right, questioned, accepted, regretted, cherished... so much of that is filled with moments like, 'what would Captain Picard do? How would the Avengers handle this? Which Slipknot song would be most comforting right now?' With the explosion of semi-social media sites (like tumblr here, and its gateway drug, Pinterest), I've been able to dive even deeper into the fandom. The fic, the art, the theories & analyses... it turns my appreciation for all these things I love to 11. But it wouldn't be possible without the most critical element: the fans.

Because people have such a love for, and identify so strongly with the stories & characters of their respective fandoms, they go deep into hidden meanings, major themes, & what they imagine these stories would be like if they were able to direct the action. More than anything, what I love about fanfic/fanart is that while yes, we're creating what we want for the characters, it's more a reflection of what we want for ourselves, both in the same situation as the characters and in life in general. For example, I see SO MUCH art/fic of Crowley & Aziraphale being open & free in showing their love for each other. I see so many stories of them making up and living happily ever after. The art ranges from sweet & adorable to... ah... adult-themed, but the vast majority of the latter is passionate, tender, & clearly loving; rarely is it straight-up raunchy. Smutty? Totally. Raunchy? Not so much. And why? Because we know these two are IN LURVE, not just in lust. And we want what they (clearly) have, even if they can't admit it to one another. We, the fans, can live vicariously through these characters and these worlds, and there we can find what we're looking for.

I've had a rollercoaster of a life, emotionally speaking, especially in matters of romantic love, and much of that hasn't been pleasant. I've done so much soul-searching, shadow work, self-care and all that whathaveyou, but none of it- NONE of it- has come anywhere near to being as insightful as the fan-based art & analyses of the relationship between Crowley & Zira. I have spent the vast majority of the last week thinking about it, writing about it, going over & over how it applies to my life & experiences, and I gotta say... none of it would be possible without the remarkable Good Omens fandom. So seriously, thank you. THANK YOU. You've helped to make me a better person. You've helped to make me look back on my life, smile, and turn around... to look forward to what comes next.

Keep up the incredible work, creators. You never know whose life you could be saving.

[dayscapism]

My Thoughts on the Percy Jackson TV Show (was not a fan):

Months have passed but, I guess I like to throw wood to embers to make fires again. Honestly, I would have abandoned it after episode 3 if it weren't one of my favourite book series ever and I wanted so bad to be hopeful and pleasantly surprised.

I don't think it's a terrible adaptation, but I think it's boring, badly edited, with character inconsistencies, has first-draft-level writing and just missed potential. I'm happy it's been working for so many others, but I've also seen a lot of people being so reluctant to negatively criticise anything about it. Which is weird, it makes me feel like we're watching two different shows and I'm the problem (am I the drama? perhaps. I don't care.)

It's not been an easy time to watch for me; it's a sustained, painful, physical effort to pay attention to this show, especially during dialogue scenes. Like how do you make a show about a bunch of ADHD kids and make it so NOT ADHD-friendly to watch?? (The writers and editors should watch EEAAO, that's how an ADHD brain approaches visual media). The pacing, the terrible exposition, it's the static and uninteresting camera work, the lack of a campy hyping music/soundtrack, the lack of stylization, the lazy editing, the actors stopping to chat in a static shot every other minute, no running during urgent situations, etc. Nothing is engaging! It's such a boring show! There's always exactly 1 thing happening on screen and nothing else around it, no hidden meanings, no mystery, nothing that could be layered storytelling, which is such an important thing in a TV show where you only have 8 episodes to tell your story! Spekaing of, ADHD and dyslexia don't seem to be shown or discussed again after it's mentioned that Percy has it in episodes 1-2. I was hoping for bolder representation with that. (Why didn't they include the little dialogue where neither Percy of Annabeth can figure out the sign at the emporium because of dyslexia, and Grover has to tell them? These little moments count so much for representation of this kind!)

The dialogue paired with the pacing/humour is not landing. It truly feels unpolished, like a first draft. Like technically it serves its purpose, but it's an ineffective, unengaging manner to write a tv script. They should have done more flashbacks too, to give context and exposition. But instead, everything is given to us like you would in a book. (And this is coming from someone who read the books years ago so I NEED this exposition because I don't remember a lot of details, but the exposition isn't even helpful and the writing doesn't keep me engaged enough for me to even pay attention to the exposition!) The actors are doing the best with the material they have, they're all really precious, but this writing and directing is hurting their acting so bad. The dialogue and scenes are so awkward, which hurts the chemistry between the characters too (I expand on my issues with the characters later).

A lot of the tone and pacing issues could just be a book-to-tv adaptation thing because we're no longer in Percy's head with his funny sarcastic remarks and long paragraphs that can give us context. But then why didn't they include narration? Why didn't they keep it up after the intro in episode 1?? Why did they even include that bit if they weren't going to keep it up?? We have 4th-wall narration in lots of things these days (from the top of my head, Fleabag and Deadpool), usually done for comedic and style effect. This would help so much with the pacing and tone! the lost potential is so frustrating. Many movies/shows don't need narration; this one could have benefitted so much from it.

The show is not funny whatsoever when the books are hilarious. At no point did I laugh out loud here. Such a crime. I hate to be one of THOSE but the movies at least got the unserious and funny beats right. Like why is the music in this show just an epic forgettable MCU-like soundtrack but with a serious tone? Why didn't they include modern or campy songs? They should have taken clues from the Umbrella Academy's first seasons. And they could have included Greek music in it too! How cool would that have been? It's not a bad soundtrack by any means, but if nothing else is used in a very strange manner in some scenes because it sometimes cuts the action or doesn't match the energy or vibe of the scenes. The visuals and settings are pretty good, I admit, but these are underserviced by the entire production's lack of style and music and tone are a big part of that.

Some people have said the action scenes are bad, but I feel the problem is there's no sense of urgency, of danger (no layered storytelling here either). The fights with the monsters are okay, great even, the problem is this lack of excitement. The problem is the setups to the action: the lack of tension and then rushed resolutions. For example, they dragged the scenes with Medusa and Equidna talking that it lost all suspense. Equidna literally says instead of just jumping to it, showing what she would do to them kids. (Ok the chimera is cool tho, looks really cool. I want it as a pet 😊 And the editing when Percy falls from the arch is pretty cool too, rare exception.)

But most feels so underwhelming. These kids should also be running everywhere, not calmy walking (bad directing!) This makes the monsters not feel as menacing, because they always have time for a calm exposition break long conversations in the middle of what are supposed to be life-or-death encounters with ancient Greek monsters. And mind you, these pauses for conversation aren't even layered, they're often shot with a static camera, with dull dialogue no 12 yo would speak. They could be having these conversations while running, while hiding, while doing something else! Mix dialogue and action! Layered storytelling, it's about themes and characters but also about how you present the scenes themselves.

An adjacent problem is also that the actualization of the myths for a modern audience is a bit surface-level (like with Medusa). They could have done so much more here.

Now, issues with characterization:

Characters can really make or break a story. Here we have a lot of character inconsistencies, or rather, a lack of definition of the characters. It's not about the show being exactly accurate to the book here, it's the show wasting perfectly good character and plot moments from the show, while not being true to tone and to the core of the characters. Change in adaptations can be good, to consolidate or make things clearer and work for the new medium, but they character work here was very ineffective and inefficient.

Percy is supposed to be cunning, smart but not knowledgeable about the Greek world. The show has this being reversed many times.

Grover is perceptive and has more life experience but he is reduced to nothing here. Like I'm wondering why is he even here?

And Annabeth... Oh. Annabeth is a hard character to portray and write, tbh, it's easy to make her unlikable and straightforward, can very easily come off as annoying, pedantic perhaps, though I am all for unlikeable female heroines. But this is such a baffling iteration of her character. She comes off as a stalker in the first episodes, then she's mean and bossy yet she doesn't seem to actually plan or have good strategies (all is deferred to Percy really), then she sort of uses "the power of friendship" to resolve things but never her growing wisdom. Yes, she could be weird and caring and smart but they didn't nail any of those traits either. They striped her of any complexity. But my biggest gripe is that they didn't make Annabeth nerdy enough! Annabeth sure recalls a lot of facts during the show to look smart I suppose, but she rarely gets to problem solve or truly nerd out neurodivergent kid style, which I think is a huge missed opportunity.

An example, which might be very niche but it shows my issue with her characterization and I have to talk about it cause I'm a physics nerd (literally, it's my major), the part in the ST Louis Arch in episode 4 where she tells Percy and Grover stuff about the construction is so... basic. Like she just read it out of a tourist pamphlet or something. She just says how tall and wide the arch is and that it's symmetrical. That's it. Right...

Why didn't she mention what type of arch it is?? (A catenary arch, more specifically one that follows a weighted catenary curve. It isn't just held by "symmetry" it's tension! It's cool math!) Maybe she even mentions that it's a hyperbolic function and Percy and Grover can be like omg what are you even talking about, and she keeps going on and on about calculus and architecture, like a neurodivergent kid would about their interests. I mean, sure she's like 12, but she's supposed to be like a gifted kid, daughter of Athena, right? She probably knows some of the science and engineering behind the arch. Missed opportunity. Or maybe it's just that I see so much of myself in Annabeth and it hits too close when they can't make her justice. Idk. Like having a true nerdy, brilliant, neurodivergent, bossy but caring, black Annabeth would have been amazing. I guess the world wasn't ready for that.

This was episode 4 and the episodes are NOT getting better...

Also, Annabeth and Percy get sincere with each other really quickly after like 1 day of knowing each other, no layered storytelling or emotional reactions to them baring their deepest fears and darkest backstories either. (Poor kids are doing their best with mediocre adaptation, though Walker is carrying the show at this point, tbh.)

Annabeth and Luke's relationship also suffers a lot from telling and no showing. Why don't we have flashbacks?? Such a missed opportunity for a show. As a rule, showing isn't superior to telling, but these two techniques need to be balanced in the writing, they can be combined too to serve the story during a specific scene or passage. In this case, telling was the wrong way.

For Luke, if they want his arc to have the emotional hit it has in the book, they really needed to build his character more and give him more screen time! Which could have been done with flashbacks. Because with Annabeth's stoic acting, too, we don't really get the emotional reactions appropriate to the events she recounts. So how are we going to feel with the betrayal since the relationship hasn't been built strongly so far? Nothing. We'll feel nothing.

Annabeth's actress is doing her best with what she's given she portrays her like she's in a Disney Channel kids sitcom from the 90s, deadpan but snarky, which is not a flavour of acting that helps this adaptation. This might be a larger directing issue, though, because Percy barely reacts when he sees his mother "die" in front of him.

Anyway, Flashbacks and narration could have saved this series alone, tbh. We don't even know how Thalia looks like! How are we gonna know it's her at the end of the book with the fleece reveal??

Ok, disclaimer, I didn't finish the show. I got distracted and bored and couldn't be bothered. I think I stopped after the Underworld episode (episode 7 I think.) I couldn't be bothered to watch the finale even with Toby Stephens in it. That's how enthusiastic I am about this.

Also a bit of a nitpick but why isn't it explained why are Percy and Sally are stuck with Gabe in the first place? About his scent? Why is the abuse so... sanitized too? Like yeah, we could have a more psychological and verbal form of abuse situation, of course, but we also didn't get that? Gabe was just unpleasant and a bit of a jerk, pathetic, but that was basically all. Also, no explanation for the blue food?? When it's such insight into Percy's relationship with his mom?? So much EXPOSITION in this series yet they missed many of the important parts!

Disney watered down Sally too. They really did. Her makeup is nice though.

So... yeah, they could be doing so much more with all the characters.

Concluding thoughts:

I don't hate the show (the visuals are great and Walker Scobell's acting is amazing, such a young talent!), but every time I finish watching an episode, I'm just bored and underwhelmed and wished I had done something else with my time.

I know it's frustrating that in previous decades usually had 20+ episodes, plus season 1 and 2 being shot side by side so we didn't even have to wait and fear of cancellation after so little; shows really don't have to be perfect from season 1, they need room to grow, but they have to have SOMETHING to pull the viewer in from the beginning, to make them stay. Anything! This show is giving me nothing to work with. I do hope the show gets better in season 2, and I understand that the 8-episode-season model is a constraint for writers, but I still think it could have done much better with the resources it did have.

For example, Black Sails had an infamous first season, but then it grew to be what imo is the best show ever put to TV. And yes, it took a while for it to find its perfect footing, but it was like a delicious cake that maybe has some bad frosting but the foundation is there, it just needs polishing and a few changes. But this PJO show doesn't live up to its potential and it's just so frustrating because I wanted to love this show so much but I'm finding it difficult to think of anything that I truly loved about it other than Walker Scobell's acting and course Toby Stephens (but I already love him from his previous work so it hardly counts).

Honestly, I'm a little bit tired of discourse going around saying that critiquing a show from season 1 is not acceptable because the show hasn't finished growing and we want a second season, we don't want the criticism to affect a season 2. But this is irrelevant and that's not how media criticism works. People can get very on board with good shoes from 1 season alone. That's no excuse. There are genuinely good book adaptations out there that make changes for the better and get a good foothold from the get-go! Look at Lockwood & Co, OPLA or Anne with an E. It can totally be done. The criticisms we have are precisely because we love the books, because we wanted this adaptation to succeed, because we wanted to love it, but it disappointed us. And we are allowed to voice that, as long as is done in good faith.

I'm happy this show got renewed because of the fans who enjoyed it, love the Percy Jackson series, it is truly dear to my heart, but would I be sad if the show was cancelled? Honestly, no. I couldn't care less what happens to this show at this point. Why should I? I was given no reason to care, aside from my already existing love for the books. I'm not intrigued about how they're going to adapt book 2, I didn't connect with the characters, I wasn't having fun. Nothing. And sure, I want young kids to be introduced to Percy Jackson, great if it's through this show, I want younger generations to love this series too, but I don't know any gen alpha who would enjoy such a show. (Hell, I really wanted my audience-age-appropriate niece to love it, but she couldn't care less about it and jeez, I wonder why...) Kids deserve better shows than this.

Will I watch season 2? Idk. Maybe? I can put it in the background while doing something else perhaps. I do hope they improve stuff but I don't have my hopes up. Will I watch episode 8? No. Life's too short. I already read the books so why bother (hehe)

[thecollectivefixation]

Deadpool and Wolverine thoughts

OH MY GOD.

This movie was so good that it brought me back from the dead. HELLO?

As always this post will contain spoilers.

plot - themes of purpose and belonging and finding their place in the universe

Let's start with how Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy tackled the whole phase 3 multiverse MCU and adding Deadpool into it. They did it so well omg. In Loki and current Marvel there's a focus on "the scared timeline" (also known as Earth-616) and how important it is. However, Deadpool is no longer in Earth-616 he's in Earth-10005. And when Deadpool is faced with his whole reality dying because the anchor (Earth-10005 Logan) has died he fights for his timeline to live. I really like this idea because it brings light towards the these timelines are just as important as the scared timeline even if their importance (the anchor) dies off. So he grabs a Wolverine who is hated by his own timeline and is assumed to not be his reality's anchor because he wasn't the hero he was meant to be. (I'm also assuming that each reality has a different anchor such as Iron Man being Earth 616's anchor because since he's died everything has gone to shit). And since it was stated by Paradox that bringing a another Wolverine won't replace the anchor i believe that Earth 10005's new anchor is the friendship and bond between Deadpool and Wolverine. How their character's developed and learned, together they are now intertwined.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

In his universe he failed his team. He convinced everyone that he was meant to be alone, that he didn't want to apart of a team. He closed himself off from friendships and trust in a team and that caused the death of the X-men team, he couldn't save them. Then he want on a killing spree thus sullying the X-man and Wolverine name. He questioned his self-worth and struggled with survivor's guilt.

When we meet him he was at his lowest low. Deadpool teams up with him and you could see the flabbagasted look on that man's face when he gets told that Deadpool's Logan is the most important being of his reality. He teams up with Deadpool on the "educated wish" of him being able to get sent back in time before his reality's events because its clear he struggled with a lot of guilt and regret and he is not proud of who he is. He ran away and his decision to run away haunts him.

Throughout the movie you can see him grow and start trusting Deadpool. Another turning point was when the outcast group and Deadpool plans to take down cassanova and get her to send them home. He think they are stupid for going onto that mission because they are going to get themselves killed. However, after a talk with X-23 he realised that in each reality Wolverine has impacted people and people put their faith in him. He realises that he has a second chance of helping and saving the people who trust him and wants to team up with him. He's determined to help Deadpool save his 9 most important people of his life.

At the end when Deadpool locks in out and Deadpool plans on scarificng himself, he doesn't run. He doesn't run because he wants to make this right. He won't waste this second chance and if he's going down he's going down trying to save Deadpool's whole world (nine people) because he trusts Wade and he couldn't save his whole world (the x-men). He actively puts all his strength into breaking down that door. After when the TVA says that they won't send him back into his past to fix his mistakes he understands that without those experiences he wouldn't have done what he did. He's proud of who he's growing to be.

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Now before this movie I never was a big fan of the fantastic four or the X-men. In fact this movie has caused me to start watching the X-men movies and ofc I' loving it. So watching the movie I was a bit confused about who all these characters are and started to research after watching the movie. It's really great how Ryan and Shawn brought these characters back that have either been forgotten or recasted. Chris Evan says that he loved playing Johnny Storm again. Bringing Gambit into the movie when his character originally got cancelled was also amazing. Because in the MCU theres this big focus on the main characters that we don't see a lot of the hidden heros of the MCU. Even references towards characters like Moon Knight with the Cup Cake truck made me very happy because I love Moon Knight.

Anyway overall I loved this movie and have many more thoughts on it.

I'll make a post talking about Deadpool character arc if you want lol

(also if i got anything wrong because I'm very new to the X-men universe and haven't really edited this post well. Please comment lol. And please also comment your thoughts because I want to know.)

-Bookworm

[the-masked-reviewer]

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) Review

potential spoilers ahead...

This movie was very fun and continues Deadpool's humor extremely well. The story fits both the other Deadpool movies and where the main MCU (616) is headed (at least I think, let's be honest that direction is a bit obscured, if it even exists). The movie is chalk full of references and cameos, all of which are super fun and well done. I'm sure that and the amazing soundtrack is all most people are going to be talking about for a while. So all I'm saying is its all great. It was really awesome to see Jackman back as Logan and seeming like he was having fun being back. As for the CGI all I really have to say about it is that the whole time Jackman has the Wolverine mask on he looks like a computer model.For a casual superhero fan, there's probably more homework watching for this movie than would be preferred (none of which I actually did going in, but I'm anything but casual about superheroes), however, in comparison to the mainline Marvel products, this is practically nothing, which definitely works in its favor.I went into the movie knowing it would be good and still left both surprised and impressed at how good it was. I want to be able to point at this movie and say it's a positive sign for upcoming Marvel things. But I wouldn't be able to say it confidently because, despite the TVA being here and being such a huge part of the story, Deadpool (and the X-Men) and still their own separate universes, apart and away from mainline Marvel. It is definitely a positive for Deadpool and hopeful even the X-Men (as long as Disney leaves them where they are and stops trying to insert them where they don't belong to boost interest). I have even less confidence in mainline Marvel given the latest announcement of RDJ coming back as doctor doom. I'm not saying I think he can't play Doom, I actually think he'd be a brilliant Doom IF he didn't play essentially the main character to the entire series for 12 years. Bringing RDJ back is just Disney trying to go back to the era of marvel that was actually good (which can't happen, it's gone, that's just unfortunately how time works) and trying to get people to come to the movie just to see Downey. I've been trying to figure out how I really feel about the announcement, and I'm still not really sure but I do know the decision was motivated by Disney's greed and not by a love for the stories they are telling.

[alexanderwales]

Movie Review: Venom: The Last Dance

Just got done watching Venom: The Last Dance, and I don't remember the previous two movies being that bad. I mean they weren't good movies, but they had their own charm, and were, in my opinion, worth watching. They had fun with it.

This one just sucked. There were a few laughs, Venom is good for a gag, but ...

Alright, screenwriting 101, you've gotta save that cat, right? So they start the movie off with just undoing all the stuff that was supposed to put him in the MCU, and he's right back where he was at the end of the last movie. They want to give you something to root for, I guess, so Eddie goes to a dog-fighting operation and kills some guys there.

This is bad. It has no relation to the rest of the plot. It does nothing to characterize our protagonist in an interesting way. It sets up no stakes. It tells us nothing new. You could cut this entire scene from the movie and it wouldn't make virtually any difference. This is what people hate about save the cat, it's a misapplication of principles.

The movie is full of stuff like this. It's bafflingly bad. They set up so much stuff that is just never paid off. They set up Knull and then don't use him in the slightest, just his goons. Where's the big final battle? There is this whole thing with Juno Temple's character that takes up a considerable amount of screentime, amounts to absolutely nothing. What's the point?

This movie made me want to do a CinemaSins breakdown of everything that was awful about it, and I hate CinemaSins.

But Eddie steals a tuxedo from a guy for a single scene because they wanted him in a tuxedo, then he bumps into a woman from the first movie who is visiting Las Vegas from San Francisco, then there's a dance number where he transforms in spite of telling us they can be tracked, which leads the monsters right to him, and this is all like five minutes of nonstop bad writing.

Normally I would say that this is the Hollywood system just shitting things up, but Kelly Marcel has the sole writing credit, and was also the director, so that's where the buck stops. I really want to watch Changeling, which she's the showrunner on, to see whether it's as shit as this (though that's an adaptation). She was a screenwriter on the other two movies, but this was her first solo writing credit, so maybe that was it. Maybe some stuff happened during filming, maybe wearing that many hats didn't go well, maybe she was phoning it in. I don't know, it's just such godawful writing that it makes me angry.

I'm really struggling to think of a worse movie. I think I genuinely liked Madame Webb better than this.

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

What are your favourite moments of Steve Rogers in the MCU?

Oh, so many! I'm going to only mention a few because if I mention them all.... you'd get the longest ask in Tumblr history 😜

This is the moment he became my favourite Avenger:

I joined the MCU with AoU in 2015 so I watched the previous movies out of order. When I saw this scene I remember thinking "Yep, I'm sorry Thor but you're 2nd now, this guy is my #1 Avenger from now on!" 😂

In TFA, most people will point out the "I don't like bullies, I don't care where they're from" and don't get me wrong, I love that line. But I would choose the dialogue that happens right before that one:

Steve: "Where are you from?" Erskine: "Queens. 73rd Street and Utopia Parkway. Before that, Germany. This troubles you?" Steve: "No."

It's a small thing but I can't imagine many people being so accepting of German citizens at the time, and the fact that Steve didn't mind at all proved he was a smart man, way before he got that serum.

Another is in AoU:

Dunno, it's a kind of self-awareness that I really like about him.

Do deleted scenes count?

I love this one because he doesn't get mad even though he's the exact opposite of a fascist. He takes off the helmet and focuses on helping people who probably hate him or (what they think) he represents. He doesn't do it for himself nor does he try to get any recognition or anything, hell if he could have taken off his suit right then and there he would have done it. He just went to Sokovia to help, that's all that mattered to him. And if the people he was saving hated him... so what?

This glorious moment...

How can anyone not love this man? What is not to love?!! No, really.

I love this part in AoU because he knows he can lift it but he's pretending not to and that means 1) he's the sweetest thing alive, 2) he wants to prove himself to himself, he doesn't need other people's approval, 3) he doesn't want to rule Asgard just in case that whole thing was real and he got in a lot of trouble for lifting a freaking magic hammer.

(Also, I love him in that blue shirt. That blue shirt gives me life.)

These two brutes (affectionately for Thor, not so much for Stark) going at it like kids until Steve shows up and stops it. This is fresh-from-the-ice Steve who has found out recently that aliens are on Earth, but he's acting like a mature man who can manage to use his brain instead of turning to violence for no reason (and some people claim all he does is punch his way out of things... my my).

And yes, I left CW for last. You know why, I'm sure. But still, he's got great scenes in that one too:

God, I love that line.

This dialogue should have been longer but he's being a big bro to Wanda, he cares for his teammates and he's talking about how he sees his work. If only CW was a Cap movie...

And this. Not only do I like that he's reading the Accords, but this panel proves he's not against accountability.

Anyway, there are many more but this got long enough! Now I miss Steve even more. More blue shirt? Hell, yeah.

I love him.

[rickktish]

Some unsolicited unpopular marvel opinions:

Loki was 100% responsible for destroying every bit of trust Thor ever had in him and if the fandom could get over making Loki their uwu baby they'd be able to recognize that Thor deserved better. Loki gets no rights for having daddy issues, actually; by the time you’re an adult, you are responsible for your own shitty behavior.

Tony was actually, genuinely wrong to support the Accords and the weight of his teammates' "betrayal" should not in fact be more highly valued than the actually immoral choice he was supporting

honestly maybe the entire fandom just has a betrayal kink? like i know we all grew up when those horrendous "all their friends betrayed them and now they've gone and found new friends in a crossover universe who are better in every way" fics were so popular on fanfiction.net but like. those weren't good fics. and their revenge plots weren't satisfying. and also they were always out of character. and just because you saw a chance to fulfill all your betrayal drama fantasies because of how many people sided with Cap doesn't make Tony's choice the right one, it just means you weren't paying attention to the political intrigue because you cared more about "oh no! Tony's parents were killed by a guy who's inevitably going to get a "redemption" arc (insofar as you need redemption after being brainwashed???) and Awful Steve cares more about his best friend from the War than Tony's Feelings! How Dare Awful Steve do that?"

Hawkeye's life is (on the comics side of things, which I know many of us draw on when we need to flesh things out) canonically sadder than Tony Stark's and none of y'all were ready to deal with that, so you had to make your uwu baby's life harder to make him more important. Which is fine, I do it when I'm in the mood to write sadfic too, but like. Clint was right there. He already existed. You didn't need to give his backstory to Tony so many times.

Also Thor's life (in mcu canon, right there, in front of your face) is canonically sadder than Tony Stark's and y'all completely ignore him so. You're missing out focusing on the ambiguous daddy issues instead of the victim of both parental and sibling abuse who watched his entire culture be destroyed. Just saying.

on the one hand, sibling fics are fun. on the other hand, anyone tagging "loki is a good sibling" needs to acknowledge that they're writing a wholeass au which does not exist after the first Thor movie. Loki is explicitly and intentionally written as a bad sibling in every movie. To be fair, Thor is explicitly and intentionally written as an infuriating sibling, but that doesn't change the fact that Loki is worse.

Loki got a redemption arc because he was popular, not because he had good or meaningful points or because he was "always supposed to be redeemed." I just need you to know that.

It's nice that Tony got to have a Moment at the end of End Game, but he didn't deserve it. Both in the "he wasn't good enough to earn that kind of moment" and "he didn't acknowledge anything he had done that was bad enough to deserve that kind of end" kind of way. Both are simultaneously true. There are generally three types of arcs that end in a heroic sacrifice, and they are the Mentor, the Paragon, and the Redeemed. Tony was an insufficient mentor to Spider-man to achieve Heroic Sacrifice levels, Captain America was the Paragon, and Loki would have been the Redeemed except that Thanos killed him in the last movie. Tony Stark was, unfortunately, a Mid arc at best, and did not earn the kind of payoff necessary to have gotten the heroic sacrifice.

[anotheruserwithnoname]

Some thoughts on Daredevil & Wolverine

On Sunday I went to a matinee screening of Daredevil & Wolverine - the first time I'd seen a film in a cinema since MEGAN back in early 2023. The tl;dr is that I loved it, and I had some general thoughts. By necessity I have to go full spoiler so here's the spoiler break (and if by chance you don't see a break, now's your warning to run away screaming in terror).

I wasn't a fan of the first Deadpool movie. I felt it was a bit pretentious and "R-rated for the sake of being R-rated" rather than telling a good story that happened to hit R (these were my initial thoughts and except for the R-rating part I felt similarly about the first Avatar). As a result I've never actually seen Deadpool 2 (or its PG-13 edit, Once Upon a Deadpool), but I liked Deadpool 3 a lot. It didn't feel pretentious and it had heart which i wasn't really expecting. It had somewhat of the same vibe as Free Guy, which is a good thing. (And just to complete a thought from earlier, I found myself greatly enjoying Avatar 2).

My only concern (though it isn't hurting the box office any) is in some respects the film hits on one of the biggest criticisms of the MCU and other franchises: it is NOT a jumping on point for anything. You need to have at least a passing familiarity with the past Deadpool films, the X-Men films, the MCU films, at least one of the TV series, AND several of the non-Disney/Sony franchises (Blade and the Affleck Daredevil/Elektra, the Fantastic Four films of the mid-2000s) in order to get some of the jokes and for some of the moments to resonate. There are two characters who play key roles in the final act of the film who have absolute no relevance to anyone who hasn't seen Deadpool 2 (like me) and the Loki TV series. The return of X-23 might have also meant a bit more had I seen the Logan movie, as opposed to Elektra and Blade's return, as I had.

BUT - all credit to the writers - while there is a level of "continuity lockout", it's not enough to damage the film. And when I did see a moment related to a film I knew (I somehow managed to avoid being spoiled about Chris Evans reprising Human Torch), it hit a bullseye.

I'm going to have to watch the film at least once more because a few references landed when I was thinking back on the film hours later (like Deadpool joking about getting a boner watching Gossip Girl, which wasn't a random pop culture reference - his wife, Blake Lively starred in it.)

Speaking of, I loved the way Ryan Reynolds had Blake and his kids play some of the Deadpool variants (though I was disappointed to learn Blake only did the voice of Lady Deadpool). Nathan Fillion is also in there somewhere, making this the 3rd time I think that he's done a cameo in an MCU film. Reading the cast credits is a must (yes, that IS Henry Cavill as a Wolverine. I wonder if he was ever considered for the part? He plays a somewhat super-powered Wolverine too. Super, get it? LOL)

Jennifer Garner was already over 50 when she reprised Elektra and looks amazing. She could do an Elektra film now (or an Alias revival) if she wanted to.

Hugh Jackman has aged well into the role of Wolverine. I hope we get to see another one with him (now paired with X-23, played by Dafne Keen, a rising star who I know from the His Dark Materials TV series in which she co-starred, coincidentally, with James McAvoy of X-Men fame).

Channing Tatum as Gambit was a real surprise. The point about him appearing is that film starring him as Gambit (an X-Men spinoff) was planned but cancelled, so he finally gets the chance. Although played mostly for laughs (and reminiscent of Tatum's cameo in Reynold's Free Guy), he kicks ass. If a Gambit movie isn't announced down the line I'll be surprised.

Similarly, Wesley Snipes makes a strong case (no disrespect intended to Mahershala Ali) for continuing to play Blade. He even says this in the movie!

It is no secret that recent Marvel movies have been controversial and not universally loved by a long shot. D&W does not shy away from this - which may make some people uncomfortable, but at the same time respect to Disney for allowing it. I'm surprised there was no dig at Star Wars' expense, though; I guess Disney only allowed the biting-the-hand humour to go so far.

There is a female counterpart to Charles Xavier in this film. Played by Emma Corrie, Cassandra Nova is one of the best villains the MCU has had for a while. Much like Sylvie, the female version of Loki in the TV series, I appreciated that they didn't just make Cassandra a copy of Charles but made her a unique character. I wasn't aware she originated in the comics until after I saw the film. Too bad they killed her off. Or did they?

Kudos for making D&W the first-ever MCU film to reference Saskatoon (though maybe not in the sense the city would like! LOL). There were a few other Canadian references in the movie - the CN Tower makes a notable cameo on The Void. Which, if you've ever been to Toronto ... (I'll leave that joke there LOL)

The dog. Nothing else need be said. Part of me hopes Ryan Reynolds saw her up for adoption and wrote the entire Dogpool subplot just to get her in the movie.

The closing credits, aside from having one of the best stingers of all time, also includes a retrospective video of the non-MCU movies with behind the scenes and interviews. It's in keeping with the fourth-wall-breaking concept of Deadpool and at the same time it's a touching tribute to the older films, including some that were under-appreciated by audiences at the time.

I do have one major criticism (and this is legit the only part of the movie I did NOT like): considering the film is in part a sequel to Loki, and the fact so many MCU characters are referenced, including a cameo (using manipulated stock footage) of Chris Hemsworth as Thor, it actually makes zero sense that the film did not have an appearance in some form by either Tom Hiddleston as Loki or by one of the other Loki variants (Sylvie, Richard Grant's version, or even a new one). Instead we have an appearance by one of the agents from the series and one name drop of the Loki TV series itself (which means Reynolds & Co. would have been aware of the Loki variants including the quite-popular Classic Loki played by Grant). Also, it's unclear if it takes place before or after the events of Loki the series. I think it was a lost opportunity (maybe there's a deleted scene). But as criticisms go, that's still pretty minor.

The gag reel on this is going to be glorious.

[cloudbellsv3]

Almost just blocked someone who didn't really deserve it. I just didn't like their Steve characterization for a second but that's how the cookie crumbles or...something.

Speaking of this, when people try to write Steve being a jackass, I think they often miss the mark by a longshot. And I think this is because MCU Steve doesn't really have a reference point. We don't have a clear understanding of what it would take for Steve to just be, well, mean without reason (even with reason he doesn't really take the chance, but that's a different post lol). And the things that make him snap are usually catastrophic events that aren't really happening in a lot of fics that aim for Steve having an asshole moment. So having him be a grade A asshole over something minor always reads off, no matter how ticked off he already is.

*The grating voice of someone who watched AV1 on mute* "But what about when he was being a total dick to Tony UNPROVOKED in the first Avengers movie?!" Shut up. "WHAT ABOUT CACW?!" I WILL--[CAR CRASH] AND THEN I'LL [SIRENS] TO WHERE YOU'LL NEVER HAVE AN OPINION EVER AGAIN!

I've actually read some people write MCU Steve with noticeable anger problems and they do it really well, so I am calm with the knowledge that it can be done.

[lokisprettygirl]

Okay I finally watched the episode and I have several feelings so here we go...

If you haven't watched the show, stop reading. (Though I hope you have blocked the spoilers tag, if not it's your own fault..don't come at me)

Am I dying every second thinking about him being alone there for eternity? Obviously 😭

But am i stupid or delusional enough to think he won't make a comeback in the next Avengers movie? No.

I don't think those people can fight kang without loki, they would at some point need his help because he's literally the most powerful god out there now.

Coming back to the episode there's not much I cared about, I probably wouldn't have blinked if ob, b15 or Casey would have died..didn't care about them at all if I was being honest and it's not the character's fault.

As much I hated the ship (because god forbid two male characters are friends in any show these days because they have to be lovers otherwise it's homophobia.. remember when bromance existed? Good times)

Mobius had a good character development that began in season 5 and continued this season unlike Sylvie who started as such a badly written selfish character that the only way they could have fixed it this season was to completely sideline her, which thankfully they did. The smirk and smile at the end even knowing that she may never get to see Loki again? (Yeah just die already).

Hopefully I'll never have to see her again.

Coming back to Loki (my precious baby love) i know his arc ended on a bittersweet note (that smile at the end just warmed my heart like never before) and it's more bitter for me than sweet because I can't handle the thought of him being so lonely because this is not what he wanted or deserved but then I think about Loki who died via strangulation and I'm like fuck everything, this is definitely much better than that ending.

Personally I think with time he's going to grow and learn to control this new power (or he could just clone himself and use him in a way? Idk Marvel can do anything) but I can feel it in my bones that this is not the end of him (unless ofcourse Tom is done with him and won't return for future projects)

That being said, Loki is alive and sure he is alone at the moment but he's a hero now, he has more than redeemed himself and he can finally forgive himself for everything that he didn't do right, perhaps this is what he needed to find that sense of purpose he has been looking for all his life. Hopefully he'd see himself as the god that he always was.

A man that was always ridiculed for his selfishness and narcissism chose to save the multiverse by sacrificing his freedom, by giving up his own free will. He chose everything he didn't want, a throne and what seemed like eternal solitude (but hopefully not)..a man of actions indeed. His arc reminds me of Tony in a way and that's beautiful.

Wherever you go, it's just death, destruction, the literal ends of worlds!

Uhhhhhuh? Look what my boy just did for the whole fucking multiverse.

I'm just trying to see the silver lining here that he's alive and he's the moment..he's everything, he literally became the most powerful being to ever exist in mcu and that gives me hope for him…he'd come back. Kang's arc started with him and they'd need him when the time comes. If not I got my fanfiction powers 🤣 (He deserves to find the sort of love that would stay by his side even if he's all that person would ever get)

Thank God they changed the writers this season and fixed somewhat of the mess they had made of this majestic, ethereal god last time.

Overall yeah my heart is breaking for him but look at him..he's the moment, he's the king of the multiverse, he's everything.

[cptn-merica]

thoughts on peggy carter

i think my biggest issue with peggy carter is marvel is trying to push agendas and pander to audiences as a cop out for formulating a dynamic character. it's obvious she's supposed to be a feminist icon. that's totally cool. i appreciated that as a kid, since i was sick of women being portrayed as weak. the way i see it, peggy suffers from weak portrayal, not portrayal that she's weak.

--

before the peggy fans comment/reblog, "omg not another stucky blog posting peggy hate. leave her alone!!" i don't hate peggy, I just want a clearer picture of who she is. i enjoyed her in the mcu but i wish marvel would've given her justice within the writing. this isn't hate for hayley atwell either. she did really good in her acting, enough so i watched more movies with her in it intentionally.

--

peggy always read to me as a half-developed side character -- no matter if she's the main character. my one of my biggest complaints is that she seems to have little to no motive. motive is what drives people and your main character having consistently unclear motives is sloppy writing.

helping steve? sure, she's his commanding officer and she seemed to like him.

"win the war"? well sure, that was a lot of other people's motives in ww2. why did she even join the war anyways? what convinced her to sign up? she didn't have to, she could've done other work. what was so compelling about the war to her?

for the what if episode: why'd she choose to take the super serum?

my point here is: there are too many points where one questions why she did ___ that could have been better defined (esp in the what if series).

--

marvel can make her much more interesting (and to me appealing) character by not putting her in comparison to steve. they would be forced to solidify her character instead of wimping out and saying "well she's the love interest." I'm not saying that she can't have both a relationship and be a strong woman - many women have/are both. however, when your entire personality depends on your relationship to one person, it's not very healthy or wise.

the concept of marvel pushing for steve and peggy's relationship is fine, that's how romance novels are made. but the lax follow-through on character development removes my interest for the ship. how good romance novels bring interest to each character is by establishing them. they also used peggy as way to pander for chris evans himself - she was an easy way to get steve rogers out of upcoming plot lines. (side note: chris evans is totally justified in not wanting to work for marvel anymore, they just should've handled his character's ending less sloppily)

as for the ship - i would see more value in the steve x peggy ship if i could tell what type of person peggy is. especially when you take away steve. i see value and interest in steve and bucky because, even though bucky was made as a sidekick to steve, he has a strong character. would i want to see him even more fleshed out? yeah, ofc. would i say he's more fleshed out than peggy? yes, because in one movie you can tell who bucky is and why he's doing things. i see why people ship steve and peggy, and I see why people ship steve and bucky. both stances are valid.

i haven't seen it yet nor i do know if i will watch it due to personal time and budget constraints, but i hope that the agent carter series strengthens her character.

ultimately, peggy is the victim of poor and sexist writing.

(note:: this is my personal opinion & analysis, based on the first two cap movies and the what if series. im not speaking for anyone but myself. if you feel like her character is rich enough and you're satisfied by her portrayals, that's great, I just wanted to share my stance. again, i don't hate peggy, I just want a clearer picture of who she is and why she does what she does)

[hollowsart]

okay so, I was scrolling through the Quentin Beck tag (since the Mysterio tag is full of porn bots), and you kept coming up-

basically, I agree with you on that the MCU Mysterio isn't that great, however I actually kinda like the philosophy behind it-

At his core, Mysterio was always about trickery, and amazing practical effects. Hell, in my opinion, he's almost on par with Spider Man-

Because think about it. Not only was he able to create a spray to neutralize the Web Slinger's WEBS, he also made a fool of him for a good while too-

Not only that, he was smart enough to use his knowledge to create a convincing enough facsimile that the entirety of new York thought that Spider Man had turned evil-

Granted, he wasn't able to make the real web fluid, but that's just because he didn't go into chemistry, he went into practical effects-

One of my favorite of his comics is the one where he made an alien invasion SO CONVINCING, THE AVENGERS THEMSELVES WERE OVERWHELMED. That's amazing, for who's essentially a regular-ass guy-

Now, what do we do with someone who's based around practical effects, but where technology is vastly outpacing it? Well, we give him technology!

And I think the core of Mysterio's character is still in the movie. I don't think he'd expose Spiderman, but with the drones? Rigging everything up? Taunting spiderman, torturing him, even to the point of making him walk in front of a train? That scene was AMAZING, and genuinely difficult to watch for me-

I must reiterate that I have never watched FFH so I do not know most of what you're saying right now dnsbdvsjfmns

Mysterio has always used technology, tho. Even way back in the early comics he's used technology. He's got things in his eye clasps that act as a secondary filter to Spiderman's spidey sense.

The hallucinogens and other gases/smokes he's used + the spray to dissolve Spiderman's webs would also imply he knows at least enough chemistry to create such things. He just focuses more on his prime abilities and knowledge of practical and special effects to do most everything else.

Not to mention his multiple uses of androids/robots, holograms, smoke machines.. etc. You can't make special and practical effects without a bit of technology.

However, CGI/computer based effects/filters are something he can't use unless he wanted to make a fake and convincing video for the media or someone for any number of reasons. I feel he would only use CGI if desperate and has no other options. He is much more determined to use practical and special effects and other physical things to get the job done how he wants it.

CGI would feel very cheap when it's more impressive that he was capable of all these feats using practical and special effects overall.

He really is on par with Spiderman. Even tho Spiderman pulls his punches, Mysterio is still able to hold his own long enough in a fight. (Sure, he may have a special tricked out suit with padding and other things for stunt work and protecting himself, but it's still impressive he's able to hold out as long as he does sometimes)

The fact that he isn't so cowardly to hide and have another one of his illusions (mannequin, robot, hologram, etc) take his place when fighting Spiderman in most cases is something I appreciate, too.

[gildatheplant]

Review Time!!! Thor the Dark World

OK so I finally caved and got Disney + because I was feeling nostalgic for the MCU, and especially two of my all time superhero faves Loki and Thor.

Despite my love for these two characters I've felt pretty burned out of the superhero genre the last couple years. Combined with not having access to Disney + when the Loki series first came out and hearing mixed reviews for both it and Thor: Love and Thunder, I didn't really feel inspired to check them out.

A month or so ago something (probably a post floating onto my tumblr feed) inspired me to finally check out Loki and figure out how to get Disney +. While I have things I love about the show, and things I thought could've been done much better, it made me feel seriously nostalgic for the Thor films....which led me to a rewatch of Thor the Dark World aka the only Thor film I had watched only once.

And after rewatching it...I gotta say it gets a bad wrap. Does it have issues? Yes, yes it definitely does. But overall, it's not nearly as bad as a lot of fans make it out to be. Not one of Marvel's top films by any stretch, but also nowhere near as bad as some of Marvel's later films.

The Bad: Honestly, I only have two major beefs with this film- its shifts in tone and its villain. Marvel is pretty famous for blending action, drama, and comedy in its superhero films with varying results. The first Iron Man and The Avengers balanced these elements almost perfectly. The Dark World...does not. Much of the comedy feels forced, and it's made even worse by moments of severe mood whiplash. The most glaring example is the shift from Frigga's heartbreaking and beautiful funeral to Dr. Selvig running around with no pants on. Such a sharp change in tone can leave audiences feeling frustrated and annoyed at the sudden emotional shift. The sharp tone changes are also tied strongly to the Asgardian storylines vs. the Earth storylines- with the Asgardian tone feeling more serious and heartfelt, while the Earth tone mostly feels too silly.

As for the villains I actually really liked the overall design of the dark Elves. Their wide eyed, blank white masks were effectively creepy and gave them a completely different vibe than the type of elves moviegoers are used to seeing. Malekith and Kursed were done dirty though. I remember reading at the time that the actors themselves were angry about how much of their portrayals were left on the cutting room floor, which is a real shame because Christopher Eccleston can play great villains. It's a shame we're never going to get a director's cut because I'd be curious to see how much that could improve the film's villain issue. We spend so little time with them that it's hard to feel anything really for them.

The Good: As I said, I actually think this film gets a bad wrap. While it has its lows, it also has its highs. My favourite aspect, of course, were the character arcs for Thor and Loki. This movie is the first to really show Thor as the strategist and leader he needs to be to be a king. It also shows how much he's grown since his first film- prioritizing the safety of his people over battle and glory. Chris Hemsworth gives a great performance that highlights Thor's growing maturity, compassion, and charm.

Despite Loki not having a lot of screentime, every time he is onscreen, it adds something to his character AND the characters around him. We see Loki argue with his father about the value of mortal lives, where it seems like Odin has far more respect for them...until we're later shown through Odin's dismissive and almost cruel treatment of Jane that Loki likely learned his viewpoint on them from his father. Loki also mirrors Odin's words to Thor about Jane, with both of them pointing out he should give up on her because of her short lifespan. Interestingly, it is Loki, not Odin, that shows Jane the most compassion in the end- he shields her from harm with his own body then pushes her to safety when she is shot at. As much as Loki's words may resemble his father's, his actions demonstrate his closeness to his mother.

As good as Thor and Loki are, they are best when they are onscreen together, and this film really highlights that. As vicious as their arguments get, from Thor declaring he has lost all hope for Loki and will not hesitate to kill him to Loki brutally pointing out how Jane is going to die long before Thor, there's still a strong brotherly bond between them. The way that no matter how angry they get with each other, they can't help teasing, joking and, ultimately, having each other's backs. It's telling that the kindest words Odin says to Thor in this film were actually said by Loki in disguise.

Pretty much everything to do with Queen Frigga is fantastic. Her heartbreaking conversation with Loki in the prison, her fierce protectiveness of Jane, her use of magic that so resembles Loki's, the way she was totally kicking Malekith's ass, the beauty and tragedy of her funeral.

Heimdall, the Warriors Three, and Sif have relatively small roles, but they make the most of them. Heimdall's taking down of the elves' ship is great, but what I love most is that he acts as both loyal subject and mentor to Thor. Sif is given an element of tragedy in the film as it becomes clear that she is in love with Thor but he only loves her as a friend. It makes her continued loyalty and friendship to him seem all the more noble.

Lastly, this film has one of my favourite cameos in any MCU movie with Chris Hemsworth playing Loki playing Captain America. Honestly, I like it more than Hugh Jackman's cameo in X-Men First Class, and that one was tough to beat.

[imperiuswrecked]

If you're in the mood to hate-watch-and-then-cathartically-destroy something, I'd recommend the YouTube video "Wakanda Forever: It's a Mess" by The Critical Drinker (🤢). Man really had the nerve to call Namor the worst MCU villain 💀 And it has 2.9 mil views and 128k likes! Wtf is wrong with people, smh

Lmao, The Critical Drinker's voice is extremely annoying and they are also very wrong. Like, the fact that both Black Panther and BP:WF are the only movies to get oscars/noms, and is very popular with fans and both movies are good superhero movies. Just because it's not some superhero movie curated to their tastes doesn't make it any less good. They just have bad taste, the opening line of "I thought the herb granted them permanent power" or whatever goes to show they didn't even bother to understand the rules and basics of the Herb and the Black Panther's world, and how that could be taken away from them. This is like if someone goes "omg I cant believe there is a man who can fly and shoot laser beams out of his eyes but a stupid green rock called kryptonite can hurt them and make them lose their powers". Like at some point you just have to understand that people do not want to suspend disbelief and actually engage with the characters and their world, they just want to criticize it because it's not something they liked.

And this is an issue when it comes to superhero stuff ALOT and to some extent fantasy works in general but not sci-fi, where people go "well why couldn't the hobbits fly to Mount Doom and destroy the ring" and they don't care to engage with the material/understand stuff or suspend their disbelief, and the reason I say it doesn't apply to sci-fi is bc sci-fi stories all have that pseudo science/answers that makes it less unbelievable than like giant eagles, or underwater people with feathers on their ankles. Superhero media really gets the worst of this "well why couldn't they---" because the superhero genre itself is usually rooted in lots of real world settings/comparisons. Them hating on Namor is ridicolus because I have lurked around and read comments from every type of fan and you know all those older Namor fans from like the early Marvel years who have been fans of his character for decades? I literally came across comments from them saying "even though they changed his backstory it's still the same character from the comics and it stayed true to his character" and this is what I have been saying since I saw the movie. lol. Some random youtuber farming for hate likes's opinion means nothing.

I'm not gonna watch this video again but I remember not being impressed with anything they said. They're takes are ice cold and stupid and ignorant of the movies/characters so why would I want to waste time again listening to them.

It was just really funny they were like trying to be "cool" and critique the plan: "their killer strategy to defeat namor was to lock him in a room with heaters and dry him out" and I was like LMAO. BUDDY. THAT IS EXACTLY THE MOST SUREFIRE WHY TO DEFEAT/WEAKEN NAMOR, it's LITERALLY in the comics, its been a thing for decades!!

Anyways I don't take any of those types of hate videos seriously. Namor was done really well in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever thanks to the actors, crew, and director.