Hello. I’ve been cancelling some things lately. Not in the “Celebrity with Incorrect Opinion Is Cancelled” way. In the subscriptions and accounts way. I recently cancelled Disney+ because after watching the mostly cack Book of Boba Fett, they sent me an email saying it’ll be something like £80 to renew for a year! This was a mistake on their part, because showing me the full amount felt like a lot of money and got me thinking about how much I get out of Disney+. Why didn’t they say a monthly amount of £7.99 like my other 40 subscription services I’m not cancelling? Why didn’t they say that £80 is only £6.60 a month so you’ll save if you subscribe annually? Pure hubris, that’s why. They are Disney, you’ll come back you pathetic little consumer when they dangle another Star Wars thing at you.
I have also completely deleted my Twitter account because that website is a hellhole full of Americans with mental health problems arguing about anything and I keep getting myself sucked into it and reading crap for an hour a day and getting wound up about things that don’t matter in the real world. Buuuut…that has left me with nowhere to go to throw my own opinions into the meaningless void.
Then I remembered I have my own meaningless void – this blog.
So here we are. I watched Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness this week and really enjoyed it and it got me thinking about all of the Marvel Phase Four stuff so I churned out a blog post on the train on my way to work full of my meaningless opinions. I’m not really going into much detail about each film or show and there may be spoilers, so this update will make much more sense if you’ve seen any of these things. Enjoy.
Marvel Phase Four TV Shows
WandaVision
This series was a bit weird and I’m still not sure if I enjoyed it. I like that they tried something really different with the TV through the decades style, but it took ages to get going. My favourite part was the “It was Agatha all along” song.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Lots of people have told me they didn’t like this. I did! But I am a big Captain America fan in general and I really enjoyed the films so this was a good follow up to those for me. But unlike WandaVision, it was more of the same of old Marvel really, so I understand why you didn’t like it, but I did so shut up.
Loki
CACK! No, really. I loved the 70s aesthetic and bureaucracy of whatever the multiverse protection agency was called at the beginning, but then it just turned into Doctor Who, slightly cack CGI and whole episodes filmed in a quarry and everything (also, I do not like Doctor Who). I like Tom Hiddleston as Loki in the films, but even he was a bit cack in this. And then the big reveal at the end? You can’t just throw in a Marvel comics character and say “Ta da! There you go” and call it an ending. Write an ending!
What If…?
So at this point I was a like, a dislike and a maybe for the TV series and going into What If, I didn’t get my hopes up. And I really enjoyed it. I read a lot of comics so I like all this multiverse and possible characters business, and this did it much better than Loki by having actual stories. I also like anthologies, animation, and the Agent Carter series so all good for me.
Hawkeye
I really didn’t care about this either way because, you know, it’s Hawkeye. I hadn’t watched it but someone trustworthy recommended it without texting things like “OMG I’m screaming it’s so good” or posting a fake video of them crying whilst watching it, so I gave it a go and I really enjoyed it. Relatable old man character, really good new characters, some cameos from old characters you might not except and a nice tidy little story. I say give it a go. Sorry, I mean “This show is EVERYTHING”.
Moon Knight
I cancelled my Disney+ before this came out, so haven’t seen it. The CGI bandages or whatever he is wearing look at big rubbery though, don’t they?
Marvel Phase 4 Films
Black Widow
Haven’t seen it. Looks like Scarlett Johansson was contractually obliged to do one more film and couldn’t get out of it and it didn’t really appeal to me.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Haven’t seen it. Looks like Disney decided it’s time to really milk that lucrative Chinese cinema market and it didn’t really appeal to me.
Eternals
Haven’t seen it. Looks like Disney decided to really milk that lucrative Chinese cinema market with Shang-Chi so they could offset their loses to create Diversity: The Movie which would not make money in China and it didn’t really appeal to me looks really, really cack.
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Now this I did see, my first film at the cinema for nearly two years and the cinema is really fucking loud, isn’t it? I enjoyed this film, but was it a good film? I honestly don’t know because it was a cool nostalgia trip for me. Yes, I know, throw in some old Spider-men and say “Ta da! There you go” and I’m happy. If you haven’t seen the old Spider-man films it might not be as good. My main gripe would be that it was too long though. And too loud.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
My second film I have seen in the cinema in two years, and also too loud. I have aged incredibly during the pandemic. I really enjoyed this one though. A PG horror film exploring the multiverse that got a bit experimental in places and had a good ‘throw in some Marvel comics characters and say “Ta da! There you go”’ moment because they were also an integral part of the story. It had some good signature (albeit watered down) Sam Rami moments as well if you’re a fan of his films. And it did get me a bit excited for Marvel stuff again.
Conclusion
A conclusion! Like we used to write at school.
So I liked the 2 films I have seen, but the rest are just so…meh. I enjoyed all of the Avengers stuff and End Game was such a great climax to it all that I think it just peaked for me and I didn’t really need any more. Especially when I didn’t want to go sit in a sealed room with other people in a pandemic. I didn’t even bother with those other 3 films whilst I had Disney+. They were right there, all I had to do was press play but I didn’t care enough.
But I liked 3.5 out of 5 of the TV shows I watched and surely they are the core of Disney+ experience. With the Obi-Wan Kenobi series on the horizon and getting excited about a Marvel film again, I’m thinking about renewing Disney+ so I can also watch… Moon Knight, Ms Marvel and She-Hulk? Ha, okay no thanks, I’ll hold onto that £80.
Christmas Sandwich Reviews 