#the grand adventures of cass and becks

[the-shared-brain-in-retrograde]

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

(Or What If... Tony Stark was a Con Artist?)

A joint review...

We met last night for a preliminary discussion and things took quite the turn. Namely the Shared Brain is very much split on this film, and maybe not in the way you would think. We also had a heated argument about Tennis (which @cassandrafey cares a great deal about, and @becksxoxo does not, even though she is the only professional player of the two) and then we got into Cass' inner horse girl (inspired by the My Friend Flicka mention, a horse phenomenon that Becks as a normal person had no reference to whatsoever and has had to google and is chuckling scornfully as Cass tries to defend herself and her interests), which is a place we wouldn't recommend, and Colin Farrell was involved, we shan't repeat it for your sanity and for our own.

But on to the film...

The big surprise of the evening was how much @becksxoxo loves this film, and how indifferent @cassandrafey was to it. It's as though we have watched two very different movies, which I don't think has happened since The First Avenger.

@becksxoxo: Another film Cass is very wrong about...

@cassandrafey: I could say some things here since I have control of the proofread and edit, but I won’t cos I think someone can dish it but not take it…

So as in Captain America: The First Avenger we shall start the review with all the bits we did enjoy together.

Firstly, that little girl's acting at the start was very good. We were both very worried this film was going to take a dark turn very early on, and other than a threatened smack round the face for lil Harmony, it did not. That screaming was brilliant. Good work child. We also have both agreed we do not wish to attend a fair in Indiana in the past, due to both the worry of clowns and the hideous colour scheme.

The narrating and the narrator of the film were also a brilliant touch. Becks really enjoyed the chaotic ramblings of Harry as he flitted back and forth from the various backstories to the current plot, the re-winds, the artistic pauses. It felt very comforting for some reason. It was also one of the many clever ways that they intertwined the pulp crime style of the books that inspired the plot into the plot itself. Also it's nice just listening to RDJ's voice sometimes isn't it, in a none bossing people around sort of way (the way @becksxoxo enjoys him most - a little bit submissive 😉 - she will discuss this again a bit later, you'll be glad to know.)

The flashbacks were a fun way to get to know our protagonists, although is it lazy storytelling? Who knows? Not us. We do not think that Harry makes a very good burglar in practise. He clearly is very good at the thieving things, but he seems very conflicted about the whole thing. Who's looking in the discount bin when you're robbing a place? Someone who doesn't feel comfortable with that he's doing. And he was so devastated when his partner got shot, that breakdown in the audition was so very sad. The neighbourhood watch is quite extreme in New York... We really think that the criminal lifestyle just isn't for him, but then that wouldn't have made a very good film would it. Also, pull your hat down Harry, you look like a gnome.

Harmony's backstory is even sadder still, such a dark and distressing early life that she escapes from using fiction and a single way ticket out of the shit hole town she grew up in. The darkness in Harmony's life winds its way through the whole plot and its truly terrible, but never fully gets addressed, at times even joked about, that only broken girls make it to Hollywood. It’s hard to know if not addressing it is a choice made by the characters as a way of coping, or if it’s just a bad writing choice that stops the characters and story from becoming whole. It's something we're split on ourselves.

We think we'd like to go to a Hollywood party, but we're not sure we'd be invited. @cassandrafey would definitely like to hangout with Harmony, hidden away reading pulp books. I guess that leaves @becksxoxo looking a bit lost, getting drunk, and making up shit stories to strangers with Harry. What a night.

Cass would also like it to be known we are treated to her favourite line in the film here (and as it turns out her favourite part of the film as a whole):

B-Movie Actress: So what do you do?

Harry Lockhart: I'm retired, I invented dice as a kid.

Harry does try to be a good person. He does try to stop that pervert harassing Harmony, and he does try to fight him, but he doesn't really achieve any of these things fully. Becks got in a little Cap reference during the fight in her notes that pleased Cass no end, you'll all be happy to know. "You just had to get him in somewhere, didn't you?" she hissed. It's not Becks' fault that RDJ just gets beat on a lot...

It's also at the party we're introduced to Perry, who Cass was suspicious of the whole damn film, but Becks loves with her whole heart. Perry the PI - Becks suggested we should be private detectives, but Cass quickly shut it down. So that's another stream of income lost to us.

We will address here that the homophobia and 'gay jokes' in this film were not it. We know it was the past, but it has not aged well and did leave you feeling very awkward. It wasn't fun, and it really took you out of the film each time with quite a start. Honestly, we hate it.

Now on to boobs. @cassandrafey says she would let RDJ touch her tits if it was to remove a spider, @becksxoxo countered that she wouldn't mind if the spider wasn't involved either. Giggling ensued. The spider situation was horrible, and the thought of a massive spider climbing around on you is the worst and its was a big fat no from both of us. There was a lot of breasts just out and about in this film, and for the most part I think it was just to show that Harry was a good person for trying to not look at them, although he did usually get a peek in.

He also pissed on a dead woman, so we don't know why Becks loved him so much, but she did. He is definitely a man, written by a man, trying to show women that not all men are bad people. Becks is now have a slow worry about internalised misogyny... She's trying to defend herself now, but words are hard, and sometimes you're allowed to love the problematic fictional people, right Cassandra? (Cass here, as the authority on living problematic fictional people, can confirm that it’s a perfectly normal thing to succumb to). She does think she loves Perry more though.

Perry. Perry, Perry, Perry. We agree that Perry is very competent, and in control, but that has incited very different feelings from both of us. Abject delight and love from @becksxoxo and utter distrust and grave suspicion from @cassandrafey. Cass has also just said that she missed something at the start of this film that may have made her misjudge Perry, but instead of finding out more about this she went in feet first, 'doesn't that man have a large head, isn't he suspicious', and then just ran with it for the rest of the film. Becks on the other hand just loved him. She loved how good he was at his job, how he bossed Harry around and showed him how much of an idiot he was.

Perry: Look up idiot in the dictionary and you know what you'll find?

Harry Lockhart: A... picture of my face?

Perry: No! The definition of the word idiot which you fucking are!

In fact, he was just generally very quotable, and if Cass brings up his giant head again, Becks will use her giant head to put a stop to it.

Cass should be more grateful, because it is also Perry that brings up Colin Farrell in the first place. The Colin Farrell reference also brought up two very different reactions from the Shared Brain. One of us was confused that RDJ and ol' Colin were contemporaries, and the other half was ready to put on half a pantomime horse costume and some lingerie and get to it, if you know what I mean (none of us know what she means, we really went down a tangent that even for us may have been a step too far...)

@cassandrafey: He's just right handsome, I'm just very fond of him.

@becksxoxo: Are you? You should mention it more. Ooooooooh the moral high ground, I haven't been up here in a long time...

@cassandrafey: Am I morally wrong for saying he's handsome?

@becksxoxo: I mean I was really referring to the horse and knickers situation, but...

@cassandrafey: Oh, I forgot about that.

@becksxoxo: [wheezes]

@cassandrafey: Take advantage of this, because it’s not something I say often, but I think we should stop. We've talked about Colin Farrell too much for a film he doesn't appear in.

So back to the actors at hand. Becks has never experienced Val Kilmer before, but she's enjoyed it. (Cass pointed out he was once Batman, but Becks says she doesn’t know who that is…) He was very funny, and he really dominated Harry at times, and that was nice to see...

We should probably mention the crimes and that, which to be honest we sort of got confused by. We think Becks kept up more than Cass, but we were definitely lost at times, and so were the characters. It did get a bit messy, and we did take umbrage with Harry asking us if we had guessed the twist, when we felt it was unguessable.

I guess SPOILER ALERT:

Is it a known fact that people in mental hospitals don't wear underwear? Perhaps we're perverts but we think there might be other instances where people don't wear underwear to go about their business. It seems a part of the plot that came as a surprise quite late on in the film for us. Although I guess it was another point to show Harry wasn't a pervert for being so bothered to check the state of undress of these ladies.

Two more quick points we really enjoyed:

Frying Pan and Mr Mustard. One of our friends once told us she likes to listen to us talk, but she doesn't understand a damn thing we are on about. So we really got Frying Pan and Mr Mustard on a very deep and meaningful level. We have no real idea of their point in the film, or really what they were on about either, but we enjoyed it and we felt represented.

The electrocution of the Harry's balls. It was at this point in the film that Cass was checking her watch to see how long there was left, but Becks was *cackling* with laughter, and desire to also electrocute a man's balls. We did both enjoy Perry's tiny penis gun, although Cass' train of thought had really left the film by this point as she began thinking of tiny bullets and their effectiveness.

We were both very worried that we were in for a sad ending. All of them just lying there, covered in blood, but even as Harry joked they really did turn it around. When Perry wheeled himself in Becks made such a noise. And then the outro to boot, a thousand chef's kisses. Cass really got in her head that they were married, and Becks just wanted more, and would quite happily watch her two new favourites solving crimes and having the good bants.

Cass gave this film 2 stars. The same rating she gave the Eternals. Take that as you will. Less even than The First Avenger. IRL we're starting to have an argument about Steve Rogers. But we shall stop. Becks on other hand has given it 4 stars, and was even contemplating 4.5 but calmed herself down.

We're both a bit startled by our own reactions to this film. Who knew Robert Downey Jr could be so polarising?

[becksxoxo]

Such a thin line @the-shared-brain-in-retrograde @cassandrafey 😘😘😘😘

i, personally, love to straddle that fine line between “fandom blog” and “record of complete psychological breakdown”

[cassandrafey]

I do sometimes think it’s a good job that me and @becbeclove don’t always share the exact same obsessions because when we do, oh boy, do things go off the deep end pretty fast.

[the-shared-brain-in-retrograde]

Beef rage.

[becksxoxo]

Whose the creepy possessive one now @cassandrafey? Perhaps if you sent me more aggressive Steve Rogers content I wouldn't have to go to other people. Perhaps if you weren't so terrible mean about him...

[becksxoxo]

@cassandrafey shall we go? You get the flask and I'll pack up the car.

Fall feelings 🍁

[cassandrafey]

Pass the happy along! When you get this, reply with 5 things that make you happy and then send to the last 10 people in your activity!! 💗💗

Hey, thanks for the tag! Okay 5 things:Harry PotterGames nights at my besties house that always end with someone laid on the floor laughingCycling in the summer, blue skies or warm nights, whilst listening to some cracking tunesThe Mighty BooshRafa Nadal’s forehand down the line 👌 sublime (and his little OCD ritual before every serve)

[the-shared-brain-in-retrograde]

Well, well, fuck me well... here we are, the pit of despair.

Brace yourself for Sunday, I feel like it might be a rough one.

[becksxoxo]

Now hear us out, every time someone says Bucky in Marvel's Captain America: Winter Soldier you take a shot, and anytime you feel it all might be too much for you you have to down your entire drink. First one to cry gets to watch him walk down the car. Let's not pretend you don't know what I mean. @cassandrafey I'll start stockpiling the drinks now.

[cassandrafey]

Let’s go here @becksxoxo We can get that schnapps and strudel you wanted.

“Riverside Kingdom” - Germany 🏰 | manueldietrichphotography

[ofsundropsx]

𝚃𝙰𝚂𝙺 𝟸𝟻; 𝙽𝙴𝚇𝚃 𝙶𝙴𝙽.

               REAGAN FITZHERBERT.

it took awhile for reagan to figure out her life. she was in search of a dream, at first it had been the lanterns and then soon her son ben. still, she craved adventure. there was a whole world for her to see. with the black rocks and her hair returning to it’s golden state reagan knew there was so much more for her to discover out there. the truth behind the sundrop was a long road. one where reagan discovered much about herself and soon stepped into her greatness. for awhile she was unsure if she wanted to be queen, wondering if it was really her or if she was just filling expectations. it turns out she just needed time. the truth of the sundrop and moonstone uncovered so much, not just for reagan but for eugene and cass as well. there were many bumps in the road. betrayal but all worked out in the end. reagan became the queen she was always meant to be and soon welcomed flynn and juliet once her journey had come to an end. as queen, reagan does her best to do right by her people. her pride and joy are for sure her three beautiful kids. even after all this time eugene is still her new dream. how lucky is she to be married to her best friend ?

𝙶𝙴𝙽𝙴𝚁𝙰𝙻

NAME. reagan willow fitzherbert. ( nee. cymbeline ) NICKNAMES. sunshine by her husband. DATE OF BIRTH.  may 12. SPECIES.   human. POWERS.  n/a. PLACE OF BIRTH.   corona, germany.  CURRENT RESIDENCE.   corona, germany. OCCUPATION.    queen of corona. 

𝙰𝙿𝙿𝙴𝙰𝚁𝙰𝙽𝙲𝙴

HEIGHT.  5′3" BUILD. a petite woman i tell you HAIR COLOUR/STYLE. brunette EYE COLOUR. green. GLASSES/CONTACTS ?  neither. FACECLAIM. mandy moore. VOICECLAIM. mandy moore. ( x / x )

𝙷𝙴𝙰𝙻𝚃𝙷

PHYSICAL AILMENTS.   none. ALLERGIES.   none. SLEEPING HABITS. she sleeps well for the most part. has nightmares at times whether it’s from gothel or the moonstone.  DRUGS / SMOKE / ALCOHOL ?  no / no / yes, wine and champagne only. 

𝚁𝙴𝙻𝙰𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽𝚂𝙷𝙸𝙿𝚂

CHILDREN.  benjamin teague, flynn & juliet fitzherbert. GRAND-CHILDREN.   none. SIGNIFICANT OTHER.  eugene fitzherbert.  CLOSEST FRIENDS. haven teague, aurora charmont, sorrel charmont, belle rosseau, saoirse bowie,

𝚂𝙺𝙸𝙻𝙻𝚂 & 𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚃𝚂

LANGUAGES SPOKEN.   english, german & french DRIVE ?   yes. JUMP START A CAR ?    no. CHANGE A FLAT TIRE ?  no. RIDE A BICYCLE ?   yes SWIM ? yes. PLAY AN INSTRUMENT ?  yes, many. PLAY CHESS ?  yes. BRAID HAIR ?  lmfao yes. TIE A TIE ?          yes. PICK A LOCK ?          yes, beck taught her. SEW ?   yes.

COMPASSION.         10/10.

EMPATHY.         10/10.

CREATIVITY.          10/10.

MENTAL FLEXIBILITY.          9/10.

PASSION.        10/10.

LUCK.         8/10

MOTIVATION.  10/10.

EDUCATION.          10/10.

INTELLIGENCE.         10/10.

CHARISMA.       10/10.

REFLEXES.          8/10.

WILLPOWER.          7/10.

STAMINA.          8/10.

PHYSICAL STRENGTH.         8/10.

BATTLE SKILL.          8/10.

INITIATIVE.     10/10.

RESTRAINT.          7/10.

STRATEGY.     10/10.

TEAM WORK.         10/10.

[the-shared-brain-in-retrograde]

It's the turn of our favourite Black Widow in this week's What If...?

We are sort of worried she may not be in the film as much as might be hoped for, but it's a really good film so allow us this one?

Anyway, this is a treat for Friday, and we must away for Thirsty Wednesday (as I have just this moment coined it), Pam and Tommy for @cassandrafey and Din Daddy Djarin for @becksxoxo #ourfinancesarefucked.

See you on Saturday!

love becks and cass

[the-shared-brain-in-retrograde]

WHAT?!

That's right, the idiots are back and ready to take on the big 6 in our own little What If series.

First on the list (sozzard @cassandrafey) is What If Steve Rogers wore cable knit...? A question some of us ask more than others.

I'll give you a heads up now, we will be discussing our very different reaction to Chris Evans, and I think dear viewers it will shock you.

It's been a hell of a week, so this is either going to make it or break it (lol @becksxoxo is broken already).

Stay tuned to hear our ramblings on Saturday.

And finally, we would like to wish all of you a very merry Large Boulder the size of a Small Boulder day to you all. 😘😘😘😘

love cass and becks

[the-shared-brain-in-retrograde]

Spider-Man: Far From Home

A joint review...

Despite Becks freezing her tits off and Cass being accidentally poisoned by her housemate we managed to both write practically the same notes. And for the vast majority of the film these were quite cheery notes, which is a welcome change of late. We both had a good time. The end...

Jokes.

We very much enjoyed the opening presentation, because we too have witnessed such (painfully accurate) art on social media of late (it's sort of become a problem and yet Becks can't stop looking! And then showing Cass!) but it did cause us to think of all the fan stuff there would be in that universe, and wouldn't it be weird as an Avenger to stumble across that sort of thing about yourself? In fact Cass has read some fanfic on a similar topic - (she would like to add she’s read that piece more than once, it really was very good!) Inception fanfiction (not fanfiction based on the film inception, just the concept of fanfiction within fanfiction, we'll stop now...). We too would be pissed off about having to repeat the school year. Voldemort would never. He may have had a lot of faults, but at least the Dark Lord was considerate of the education of those kids he was bothering. Another reason we HATE Thanos.

Before we embark on our European Tour, we would like to show our appreciation of Aunt May. Instead of chastising and worrying needlessly (well there may be a little need) about Peter, May has got him working the Charity circuit, donning his outfit and showing off his terrible public speaking skills, also giving Happy the opportunity to stammer adorably each time he sees her. We get it Happy, we know. We also would send Nick Fury to voicemail. It looks like a lot of fun.

I may not know much, but I know this. Europeans love Americans.

We love you Ned, and that's all that matters.

This school trip blows our minds. Why have they let Mr Harrington be in charge of another outing, when the last was so very perilous? He also seems to be going through some shit in his personal life, that Cass was oddly moved by, but Becks just found funny. Also, it’s classed as a science trip. But as Mr Dell points out towards the end, there was no science, and we didn't even see the chance for science. Science.

We once went on holiday to Venice, some of the highlights included an ice cream called 'Puffo?', getting shushed by a ghost that no one believes us about but definitely happened, and an incident with multiple blankets and the guilt with which Cass shrieked ‘it’s not what it looks like!’ in much the same way Peter did later in this movie. Other than that we were sort of sad that none of these things were replicated in the film, but we did enjoy seeing places we'd also been.

Are teenage boys usually that romantic? We don't recall them being so sweet and wholesome as Peter and Ned. We definitely recall them being more on the Flash scale of idiocy. Boys are stupid, throw rocks at them (does that age us terribly?)!

Speaking of boys, we now get formally introduced to Mysterio. With his magnificent cloak (which autocorrected to something quite different in Becks' notes) and his bizarre headwear. Becks questioned why he would wear a goldfish bowl on his noggin, whereas Cass went on a mind wander about a crystal ball.

Cass: What do you foresee, Crystal Ball Head?

Mysterio: Trouble!

*Becks sniggering in the background at the phrase ball head*

We also really appreciated this quote from Peter:

"I'm really strong, and I'm sticky!"

Cass had a moment but got it together as we watched the fight unfold. Lots of water, lots of damage, and a bizarre amount of green smoke emitting from ol' Mysterio. A strange choice to make. Did no one think what we were thinking? Really, no one did? No one stopped him, and were like, you look like you're powered by farts? Maybe that's the reason for the ball head.

The class stayed remarkably calm during the whole battle, they've seen too much before. We enjoyed the whole scene where they chatted on about it, Flash insulting Peter, and especially Mr Dell's explanation of the whole thing:

You know, being a man of science, witches.

Then Nick Fury comes to threaten some kids, and ruin a perfectly good holiday. Do you remember that time we used to be on Nick's side (I think as it turns out it might have just been one or two films...)? Well not any more buddy. He says that there was a time he used to know everything and we strongly disagree. He didn't know that his best friend was evil and that his organisation was riddled with HYDRA. They all looked like bad guys Nicholas, get a fucking clue! Anyway, he makes Peter dress up for a little moonlit boat trip through Venice to a convenient secret lair where he then says he may as well take the mask off cos everyone knows who he is. WHY DID YOU MAKE HIM DRESS UP NICK?! (We would like to point out we know it’s not Nick, but we're not going to stop calling him that, because we're sure he would have made the same choices, so just go with us.) He does however give us the line:

Bitch please, you've been to space.

So we will say he is not without worth. And he manages to deliver Tony's gift to Peter alright. Tony Tech as we both called it. Has anyone used that phrase before? Not that we're aware of. Did we both use it throughout our personal notes, independently of each other? Yes, yes we did.

We then find out Mysterio's name is Quentin, which made us both laugh. He then offends everyone else in the room. (In Becks’ notes it just says, fuck you smartest in the room, get fucked). Maria Hill (Becks loves Maria Hill) looks ready to slap him, and it begins the fifty millionth evidenced time we see Fury being a poor judge of character.

Then it’s away to Prague I guess, on a coach, even though we're in Venice. A slight logistical nightmare, but perhaps all the drones flew it across and nobody noticed. Another nightmare, their tiny luggage. They are away for two weeks, and can carry all their belongings in a single suitcase. Becks will go away for two nights and be at times physically incapable of lifting her suitcase from the train to the platform. (Cass has gone so far as to suggest that if Becks had been on the Titanic it would have sunk long before encountering any icebergs due to the weight of all of her belongings, but at least she would be okay having packed her shipwreck galoshes and deep sea divers helmet just in case.)

Sexualising Peter is a weird thing. We know Tom Holland is a grown up (although is he? He's a problem is what he is!) but he is playing a 16 year old boy, and it’s weird how often they make him take his shirt off. Right? Right. And when he uttered the phrase, it’s a little tight around the old web shooter, Cass nearly screamed. The more you think about it, the worse it gets. Is that what's coming out of his arms? Teenage boys are truly disgusting.

This all being said, he is very relatable trying to blow up Brad. We didn't like Brad. Brad who was technically younger than them, and yet looked the same age as us. Fuck off Brad. He deserved all the drone strikes.

Then Nick Fury tells him he isn't ready for this responsibility, after forcing it on Peter, after Peter has said he wasn't ready for this responsibility. Fucks sake Nick, he's a child. Fury is a terrible manager. SHIELD clearly never enforced mandatory wellbeing training, another reason we're glad of its demise. It did let us see Quentin begin to wriggle his way into Peter's heart, and the better the rip it out later on. Perhaps in 10 years time Peter will pen a little ditty about the whole thing: Drone Strike On My Heart (10 minute version) (Peter's Version). He does have good hair though.

Then we have the whole Night Monkey thing. We want to say we were really enjoying ourselves, but neither of us really wrote much at this point. Becks doesn't want to go to go to the Opera, and Cass wants to know your favourite fairground ride. Hers is the Flying Swings and Becks enjoys the teacups, but wouldn't say no to a go on the helta skelta. We would also both have a lovely time on a ferris wheel.

Peter than fucks up and Quentin explains the premise of the film, and his origin and just what the hell is going on in general, but he does it well. Very dramatic. He even prefaces it with an evil laugh, so we were fully on board. There was quite a bit of people indulging in exposition in this film. I don't think we hated it, but it was quite an obvious and reoccurring feature.

Quentin also, sort of, shows he might be as unstable as Tony accused him of being. 'BUT IS THAT A BAD THING?' Becks protests, as she's highlighted his strong Virgo energy that she's very on board with. Cass tries to disagree but is unfortunately busy going a bit wibbly at him saying 'Yeah, hi Honey' to a pair of AI glasses. We are fine.

We're leaving Prague now, because of witches. Peter to Berlin, and the rest of the class to London.

We then have a very trippy sequence, where we once again ask for them to leave this poor child alone. We also get to see Quentin and the team really go to town on the dramatics. They gave Peter a chance to leave well enough alone. Just goes to show he was right to get so upset with that fella not being bother with leaving bits of evidence scattered about for any child to work out what was going on. It’s really a shame that Quentin's last line wasn't, and I would have got away with it too if it hadn't been for you meddling kids.

We then have a brief jaunt in the Netherlands. Brief, but still enough time to really ruin that farmers tulip field.

We've just done something really stupid, but we can't tell you, but it was peak idiocy.

We enjoyed Peter having a little bit of support from those friendly Dutch fellas. And that Happy came to get him. And that they had the chance to be sad together. Then there's some actually science on the science trip, pity the rest of the classes didn't get any. Peter really embodied Tony here, and Happy feels that in his heart.

We’re going to take a very brief moment here to acknowledge that Peter (and Happy to some extent) have a lot of grief to work through over the loss of Tony. It is, of course, terribly sad, and throughout this film you constantly see evidence that the world is morning the passing of one of the OG Avengers. Seeing Tony’s face everywhere and being reminded of his death at every turn can’t be easy for Peter, and it is always sad to see. However, he is a brave, strong, resilient young man and he is doing his best with it, and really this is all we can ask for.

Here we point out some more learning points for Thor: The Dark World, as they have managed to get the routes around London all correct this time. We appreciated that. Also, it all happened a stone's throw from where Cass works, so that was nice too. Mr Harrington yelling:

I'm doing my best Julius!

was very good. And we loved them taking cover in the Tower of London. You can tell we were just having a reet good time. Peter's little spidey shoot, MJ eyeing up the mace, Happy trying to throw that bin lid of shield like Cap, WE JUST LOVED IT.

It then got quite violent, and we once again witnessed a grown man trying to kill a bunch children. Quentin (or Jakey G as we keep referring to him as) got to say one of the most American lines we've ever heard, "Fire all the drones now!" and even in dying got to manipulate things in his own way. Remember to never use the word execute, it will come back to bite you.

Then Peter gets to have his little romance moment with MJ, it’s very cute, we support it in full, and we're just sad that Ned's Holiday Romance couldn't have lasted longer, but their amicable break up was just as adorable. AAAWWWW.

We question what sort of a date flinging your new girlfriend round town for a short while, whilst she clings to you terrified, is. We assumed that was just getting them to the date but it turns out that just was the date and he was just gonna peace out on her, but the news got in the way.

BRING ME PICUTURES OF SPIDER-MAN!

Oh Jakey G, you really put the cat amongst the pigeons.

10/10 for the credits, very good.

Talos not knowing what he's doing at his job - very relatable.

Is Nick drunk in space? What is he playing at? Why, Nick, WHY!?

And that’s it. Phase 3 complete. We've done it, they said we couldn't (no one said we couldn't) but we have. We've concluded our first part of the MCU rewatch, but there is more to come.

We're having a brief intermission before Phase 4. A small week or two's hiatus (we have some little personal projects that we really HAVE to get finished) but then we will return with...

The Shared Brain curates What If?...

We're very excited about this. We're imagining a tentative 5 film first season, but we fully foresee eventually watching every film these delightful actors have ever done, even the very poorly rated ones.

Thank you to everyone who has ever liked our reviews, and the even stranger of you that have reblogged them. Honestly, the little notifications of interaction that pop up warm our cold dead hearts.

We'll see you all very soon.

love Cass and Becks.

[the-shared-brain-in-retrograde]

We're not dead...

But we are liars.

Life got a bit lifey and our What If...? Series hasn't quite come to fruition yet for reasons, but it will happen (as we're sure we're going to have a lot of indoor spare time on our hands quite soon).

In the meantime here is our year in review. A review of reviews as it were.

Did you change your opinion on any character during the re-watch than you'd had previously?

I think it’s fair to say that the Shared Brain kicked in hard here. We melded as one, and the answer was:

CLINT BARTON

We don't really remember feeling more than indifference towards him previously, but now we love him. We're right fond of him. For many reasons: A sensible man, very funny, he was often the voice of reason when science was happening and he knew how doors worked. We loved how he was with our other favourite characters, which in turn made us love him even more.

We have just finished watching the Hawkeye tv show, which again we loved (and in which nobody cried, because that would be stupid, wouldn't it?) He's just very very good.

What was the biggest surprise of the re-watch?

Captain America became a big problem for the both of us in very different ways.

For @cassandrafey it was realising how much of a senseless idiot she can become when faced with Sam Wilson, that he makes her forget the whole film that we've been watching. Was that a surprise? Becks sort of honked when it happened so clearly even she didn’t anticipate what a useless moron Cass is at times.

For @becksxoxo it was the raging Steve Rogers feelings she seems to have developed. She'd always enjoyed the Captain America trilogy the most out of the MCU (or at least out of the ones she remembered) but this re-watch has really opened up a can of something. We'd gone to a farmers market for a little drink one afternoon before all this *motions wildly at the blog* had happened and were discussing our favourites, and Cass did accuse Becks of hers being Steve, which she solemnly refuted, but here we are...

Becks would also like to add that it was a surprise to find out the true depths of hatred Cass felt for our Steve. In a piece of writing that will hopefully never see the light of day Cass really let those feelings out and it was A LOT.

Cass has explained that it was a cathartic exercise, brought on by the need to get those feelings out so that they didn’t come out elsewhere. It has worked actually and I feel somewhat more charitable towards Steve these days. Somewhat.

What is your favourite end credit scene?

Cass: I think Becks has put this in purely so that she can say Steve’s video in Spiderman.

Becks: So obvs I love the Cap school videos. 10/10 love love love...

Cass: No further comment your Honour..

But we did also love the Shawarma scene at the end of Avengers Assemble. It is comforting to the soul. Honourable mentions should also go to:

the one where Tony talks through his feelings with Bruce who is asleep,

the one where Bucky takes himself to a museum in his little hat and beautiful face,

the one with dancing baby Groot and Drax,

and the one with Kraglin trying to master Yondu's arrow and jabbing his pal with it instead.

What we really enjoy are the ones that have no real plot use, because plot often leads to Thanos and you know our feelings on that.

What was your favourite review to write?

After discussion, that definitely didn't end in a short argument (involving a previous unknown tiff we'd had that Cass had narrowed down to either being about Steve or the size of Becks' head), we're going with Ant Man for the following reasons:

It's a really good fun film,

It lifted our spirits as the films surrounding it got quite bleak,

We managed to keep our feelings in control (and sometimes that was a hard thing to do).

Other honourable mentions should also go to:

Rating the forward rolls in Captain America: The Winter Soldier,

Avengers: Age of Ultron, because we got to do it together in person,

Spider-Man Homecoming, again for the lack of bothersome feelings.

And finally a shout out to Avengers Assemble which actually nearly killed us.

Which movie are you most looking forward to when we get onto Phase 4?

Oh Phase 4! Holding such beloved treats! Again we became the same person. Due to stuff being as it is, we haven't yet seen the latest Spidey film, so we're both dead excited to see that. We have both seen Black Widow and Shang Chi and are looking forward to re-watching the shit out of them.

We can both agree though what we don't need another series of What If...? (That is of course unless our friend, Bath Time Bucky will be in every episode, then we will make an exception.)

What was your favourite moment of the blog?

Cass: I don’t know if I have a specific favourite moment because I’ve had such a blast doing this blog, and I would never have been able to do any such thing if it wasn’t alongside my shared brain.

And even though it was just a fun little project, we actually found it was quite a commitment and we stuck to it and I’m proud of it. You’ve got to have a bit of silliness and fun in life haven’t you? And there were times when we were howling on the phone to each other and that was a wonderful thing to do.

It’s been such an awful year, and this was genuinely something that I looked forward to doing every week and felt like an achievement each time we added to it. Plus we got to hang out with some of our faves again each week. I’ve had such a good time and I’m glad we did it.

You’re probs going to mention my boney jabbing finger again, or that time I quoted twilight to you.

Also, the amount of times that we wrote the exact same thing independently of each other (SCIENCE) was a joy and a delight everytime. And I do use the phrase ‘feeble minded men’ with regularity these days so there we go.

Becks: I feel like I need to say something flippant to make up for the niceness you've just said. It has been a good time hasn't it?

Who would you like to have seen more of and why?

Cass: Like physically, or…

Joke, joke.

Loki.

Because he’s my love, and I wanted so much for him to be there at the end somehow, fighting alongside them, and then flying off with Thor and helping him mess with Quail. Loki would be so good at messing with him. And I want his and Thor’s space adventures. Loki and Thor on a beach holiday. Just more of them together after they had learnt how to be with each other again. That’s what I wanted really, the pair of them, uncomplicated happy and full of mayhem.

Becks: So initially I was like, Maria Hill, I love Maria blah blah blah, and then there was a moment of silence and Cass was like, 'You're thinking of wanting to see more of Steve and a change to his ending." I was, I was thinking that. WHY DID YOU RUIN EVERYTING LIKE THAT MARVEL YOU BIG DICK WEEDS?!

Bonus Christmas question. Would you prefer a Ferraro Roche or a Guylians Seashell?

Cass: I’ve never really had the seashells but I’m not much for a Ferraro Roche either. I’d say toblerone but that’s reserved for my dad at Xmas. So it will have to be chocolate orange. Because you also get to slam it on something to break it open (although it’s weak these days so you don’t really need to use such force anymore).

Becks: Seashells

We've had a lovely time, and we're sorry our schedule fell apart but it’s December and we're entering plague season once again. Thank you for everyone that's interacted. This has been a very self indulgent little project for us both, but if any of it has brought you any joy then we're pleased. Each like and reblog we've had really made us insanely giddy (and brought about a dripping discussion about Beef Rage that dissolved into giggles).

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas, a fortuitous Yuletide and a better New Year. We shall be back in 2022 with our improved version of What If...? (apart from you, Cartoon Bucky sweetheart, you did great) and Phase 4.

love cass and becks

[the-shared-brain-in-retrograde]

Our @cassandrafey is 240 miles away from home this Yorkshire Day, so here are some comforting gifs and pictures to keep her going. Go stick kettle on and have a look.

Our favourite seaside destination, you can tell why our lad Drac went about so much in a cloud of smoke, those stairs are a killer.

I'm on to me third of the day so far, but then I did get up quite late.

Whilst looking for the perfect Wallace and Gromit gif I came across those BBC 2 shorts they put on at Christmas years ago, to advertise the BBC. It was very emotional, but I've hidden away so no one else can see.

Only in Yorkshire can you find the perfect stubs to pop an action pose. And an action pose is the only way to tell you are truly alive.

We've got a shit tonne of castles in Yorkshire, and if the radio guide breaks you can hire me to tell you the full history of them. Cos there's nowt like learning bout things from past. And I've been educated in the past, so I can tell you bout them things.

I'm including dear Jason in The Death of Stalin, an honorary Yorkshireman, because it was unexpected yet delightful.

And obviously there's me and you, only you left. Don't forget that Cass, cos I won't. Love you babe 😘😘😘😘

Love becks xoxo