Reviews

I mean...when your baddies are folks who can take on the appearance and memories of absolutely anyone, then everyone we see on the screen can potentially be a Skrull. It is confusing, and you would think the scriptwriters could find a way to make it a little less so. Every time someone turned a corner, practically, I expected to find out they were a Skrull. So, for me, this aspect of the entire story is not fulfilling, as I sit here in a wash of confusion and expectations.

Also, it is true what many other reviewers have said: where is the rest of the help? Hill, Talos and Fury try to take down this powerful, renegade organization all alone? It seemed as though, since the first episode takes place in Moscow, that Bucky, for example, or maybe Yelena, would have been logical additions to the team. Maybe they will be in future episodes, though neither of their actors is on the cast list. Bucky and Sam's dealings in TFATWS seem to align quite well with the story we were given here in Episode 1; the Skrulls are basically alien versions of the Flag Smashers. Destroy existing society, make it our own.

We'll keep watching in hopes that (a) Hill isn't really dead and can come back to perform some girl badassery, (b), Fury stops looking like a tired old dude who can't remember what he's supposed to be doing, and (c), storyline picks up and becomes a little less confusing.

Until the conclusion of episode 8 my whole family was enjoying this as a lightweight way to kill half an hour midweek and see what MCU references or characters showed up. Not too intense but enjoyable. None of us are comic book readers but we have watched all the MCU stuff except Ms. Marvel, which was just a bit twee for us.

However, with the way the second half of Jen's last episode played out, it means that nothing that we saw in previous episodes had any consequences. We wanted to know:

* what happened to Josh (the guy she met at the wedding)

* anything about Titania - I mean, she burst into the courtroom in ep.1, and we got no real info or backstory about her. If she hates Jen, then why did she actively brand her products "She-Hulk"? This made no sense and I was hoping the backstory would be somehow explored more.

* What were the consequences of Jen's property destruction from the earlier episodes? Daredevil made a reference to this at one point but it seems like she just gets away with stuff.

All in all the last episode left everyone with disappointment. The whole season arc meant nothing once the second half of the last episode was processed. I would have probably rated it an 8 if everything had been satisfactorily wrapped up. That final episode really dragged my rating down.

I was really drawn into the original Matrix and saw it many times in the theater. The second and third, not so much, but I did see them. Can't remember much detail about them except the very ending, which resolved the saga satisfactorily.

So when this was announced, my immediate thought was "cash grab." What on earth could they plan to tell, that would advance the Matrix story, without invalidating the things that came before? I would have been more interested in a new Matrix story if it did *not* have Reeves and Moss...a story which was clearly the "next chapter" in the saga. But a Matrix story without Reeves and Moss wouldn't earn as much money, I'm sure.

But I watched it. And I wasn't impressed. These specific reasons:

1. "Bugs" - voice was too slushy or mumbly. Couldn't understand most of what she said, even with the volume turned way up.

2. Fight scenes - these were somewhat groundbreaking in the first movie but here it's just more of the same-old. Maybe there's nothing more to explore in this arena.

3. Neil Patrick Harris looked like he was wearing a 2,000-year-old Kryten spare head at first, but as the movie went on, his face became a more realistic human face for someone the actor's actual age.

4. Was upset by the lack of Fishburne inclusion. Yes, they addressed it, but.

5. Way too many clips recycled from the earlier trilogy. Like they needed something interesting on set, so they just cheaped out and reran certain scenes in the background instead of actively coming up with something interesting and new to look at.

6. Reeves totally acted like he was phoning it in. I know he has a reputation as somewhat "wooden," but this is rarely something I think about while watching him. Yet by the 25-minute mark I'd commented that he was acting really poorly (which he was) and he continued to be this stilted all throughout the movie. It's almost as if he thought "Hey, everybody knows Neo, I don't have to do anything special to portray him." Every word fell out of his mouth like a brick onto asphalt.

7. But worst: the story! The story makes no sense at all. Characters act in ways that don't make sense. Primarily what I found annoying is that Neo is willing to put a whole lot of people in danger just to rescue Trinity. This goes against all human ethics we've been taught.

Overall this had a sort of "filler" flavor, as if it was the center part of some other movie. Production values were good enough to be a Matrix movie, but it fell flat in all these other areas. Perhaps Lilly Wachowski had the right idea after all.

I was initially not interested in this show because as I understood it, the point was to have Barton pass along the title of Hawkeye to some girl before he retires. But hubby wanted to watch it (he is a Marvel completionist) so we did.

Pros: I feel the pacing is good. By contrast TFATWS seemed too fast-paced and we ended up missing bits of story. Action sequences are ok.

Cons, oh so many cons. Bishop is too overconfident and full of herself in a smug, unpleasant way. Possibly valid behavior from a rich 'only child.' Hawkeye has trick arrows that could have been well-used in the movies up to and including Endgame but they never were. Too much emphasis on the dog. Also, the whole plot line seems contrived: what is the problem with the Ronin suit being seen in public? Just let it go, Hawk. I'm also curious as to why Barton and his youngest kid use ASL to each other, when the kid clearly has no hearing issues (he speaks on the phone with Barton without a problem). Barton's hearing issues, since they can be corrected by hearing aids, are not severe enough for him to need to learn ASL.

Will finish the series hoping for better episodes.

During Season 1, we had not understood that each episode was working towards an overarching finale until we actually watched the finale. So for the preceding episodes, it was kind of frustrating, just seemed like some Disney/Marvel honcho's idea of weird twists to explore.

So for season 2, naturally we assumed that each episode was working towards an overarching finale! But it didn't. Other than Kahhori (basic Disney princess) and Captain Carter (who in particular is a nonentity in my book), nothing in the finale tied into the previous episodes except a few little visuals here and there. The 1602 episode and the Happy Hogan episode were just cutesy little standalones.

But my particular problem with season 2 is how overloaded it was with Captain Carter, and how much more, and more, and more, "Oh, Steeeeve!" stuff there was in it. We get it. Probably everyone in the world knows that Steve and Peggy were in love and couldn't be together, and I wish Marvel would stop harping on this. It's boring and does not advance the story anymore.

Another thing surprised me, which is that this second season kept drawing on older characters. I think Kahhori is the only newer character involved. All the rest were introduced to the MCU before Endgame. Give us Yelena, give us Shang-Chi, give us Adam Warlock! Spice things up a bit.

I can't believe all the 1-star reviews, but they seem to be from the fans of the comic books. I'm a casual MCU fan (haven't yet seen Black Widow or Shang-Chi or any of the Marvel TV shows that were early on, like Agent Carter and Agents of S. H. I. E. L. D. but keep up with most of the "big name" characters and have been watching the new Disney+ shows). Well, this was a great episode for me to watch. It was excellent to see which minor characters they decided to keep alive and use for this - and, haha, Bucky in the shower was a great surprise - and I didn't think the jokes were out of place at all. Some of them were corny, but the whole episode had a great comedic feel. I do agree with the disappointment of the ending. I saw Zombie Thanos appear and then it ended. What?! So, it may be a setup for a future episode or even a future animated show, and that would be highly amusing.

Another problem: Banner, Kurt and Spidey were all drawn very similarly. The real actors look different from each other but the animated ones were all quite similar, and if the outfit wasn't visible, it was hard to tell which one was doing what.

Also, yay Cloak of Levitation. Very helpful sentient item!

At first, before the show even premiered, I was not too concerned about plot. I expected and hoped to see a lot of Sam/Bucky humorous arguments and banter that would eventually evolve into friendship by the finale, as they learned to fight together and trust each other...plus some excellent action scenes. Well, the humorous arguments and banter were very minimal (I can only remember one instance), and other than the very first opening scene, the action sequences were nothing special. Bucky was mostly relegated to supporting character status. Karli's end goal was never clear. John Walker was the only character with any real development. Add to this the bland woke storyline and actions that didn't make any sense, and you will see why the only enjoyment I got from it was Sebastian Stan eye candy.

Everything about this episode is good and believable except for Sophie. We are watching 2 episodes a night, so all the preceding episodes are still fairly fresh in our minds. And what we've noticed is that up to this episode, the interaction we are shown between Nate and Sophie is light, flirtatious banter. There's no real emotional weight in their discussions; even the argument about when they first met (shown in "The Mile High Job") was fairly teasing. And then suddenly in this episode Sophie has become a very pushy, demanding woman. Her character seems to have jumped overnight into a possessive, domineering *partner* with a higher stake in the relationship than we've seen so far. Instantly. Granted the topic is Nate's drinking, but she comes the heavy on him in a very unpleasant way. I don't agree with his drinking but I certainly understand why this interaction irritated him so much. Bellman acts it well, but all of us watching feel that they moved too fast with the Nate/Sophie relationship this way. This is the behavior of a woman who's got a far more serious investment in a relationship than we have seen between her and Nate so far.

Given the antics at the start of the episode, I was convinced that the entire "election" campaign was a big giant manipulation by Rimmer, to get back at Kryten, and to saddle Kryten with what appeared (to me as a viewer) to be a completely lame job that no one would want. It seemed so obvious! And therefore I was very disappointed to find they had been playing it straight, and the episode ended with the election loser thinking about his fate. Otherwise quite funny and as always, I enjoy the banter between the Boys From The Dwarf.

...I am not that impressed. I feel that certain parts of the story were chopped out. For example, there was not enough of The Them and their childhood shenanigans to make me sympathize with the series' version. The use of Queen music was not explained in the show, whereas it was a pretty big point in the book. We didn't get any of the "Other 4 Horsemen." Stuff like that. I think a longer series might have worked better, taking the initial episodes to delve more deeply into each character or group. If I hadn't already known the story so well, I would have had no idea what was going on.

I didn't personally like Frances McDormand's voice; it was very soft and slushy and I had a hard time understanding what she was saying.

And my personal beef with the sets is that Crowley's apartment looked like the narrow, dark utility hallway of a Gothic church, where I'd always pictured it as a sleek, open, expensive-looking 'executive penthouse' type of thing.

For the first 4 episodes I basically sat and waited to see how they would handle familiar scenes, and it wasn't until the last 2 that I began to enjoy the show. I probably wouldn't watch it again, but will continue my annual reread of the book.

I only watched this because of Sebastian Stan. That said, I did go into it with an open mind. Unfortunately I was completely baffled. I don't understand Merricat's motivation, nor why Cousin Charles all of a sudden decided to show up now. Like, had he recently fallen into debt? We don't know. Maybe he's not even really their cousin!

I don't understand why Julian and Constance allow Merricat to do all the weird stuff she does, especially when Charles is around, without at least explaining that it's impolite or flat-out wrong, like when she puts the dirt and twigs in the bed. These and other specific actions Merricat takes, or did take, are not fully explained. Overall, it feels like an outline for a story that should have been fleshed out more. The only character that seemed interesting to me was the guy in the diner that was Constance's old beau. All of the Blackwoods are very one-dimensional, even Charles.

We saw the movie today, discussed it for about 10 minutes afterwards, and now have moved on. Overall, because of the "scenes in space," this movie felt more like a Guardians movie with a little extra Avengers, not an Avengers movie with a little bit of Guardians. None of the Avengers had enough screen time to satisfy any of us, but all the Guardians had quite a lot of screen time.

Because there were "scenes on Earth" and "scenes in space," the story felt chopped up; it was as if Thanos' minions were fighting one war and he himself was off fighting a different one.

Disappointing in its inability to grab and hold our interest - but nice to see the old gang on the screen again. This is the first movie in the MCU that we probably won't bother buying on disc. Also, I was really hoping Bucky and Dr. Strange would share some interactions, but they didn't :-)

Enjoyable enough for summer viewing, but there were a lot of loose threads in this story! One: Joe Bang says his brothers need to be in on the heist because one of them is a computer expert. Other than one joke that brother makes, there is never any reference made to any computers after this! Were there any computers used for the heist? We didn't notice any. Also, Joe's brothers said they had to be convinced of a 'moral reason' to do this heist because they'd gone straight. Jimmy convinces them. Later, the moral reason is eliminated due to scheduling, and the brothers complain that they no longer have the moral reason...but they go ahead and do their jobs without any more convincing.

Reason enough not to trust online sources: several reviews said Jimmy was a newly-unemployed coal miner, which is completely untrue.

Anyway, we puzzled over these few odd happenings for a while, and then decided it wasn't worth bothering about. This is probably better as a freebie on Netflix, and not something to pay for. (Though we did pay for it.)