SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME (Jon Watts, 2019)

(*** / *****): Somehow missed this one but, as with all of the MCU Spideys, it was nothing if not a good time. Holland, Zendaya, and Batalon terrific; Gyllenhaal (unsurprisingly) a great Mysterio: changes made to the source character to fit him into the MCU worked well, especially the ones going back to the first IRON MAN film (Jeff Bridges appearances are always a win). Still, though, it was an MCU film, so it could've been so much more: standard lackings in visual distinction, visceral web-slinging wonder (Insomniac's games are far better in this department), and narrative oomph abound. Night Monkey forever.

X-Men ‘97, s1 (2024)

(****+ / *****): A few stumbles in the early middle aside (the Rogue / Magneto stuff, especially, was pretty eh), this is how you do a revival: faithful yet fearless, unafraid to royally shake things up – but never for the sake of just doing it – and amplifying everything that made the original as special as it was into all that it could be today. Can’t wait for season two.

X-MEN ‘97 (trailer)

I still have the scars from that finale. Excited for this one.

ECHO (2024)

Favorite Marvel series since WANDAVISION: fantastic performances all around, especially from Alaqua Cox and D'Onofrio whose father/daughter dynamic proved particularly affecting. Wears its TV-MA proudly, especially in the first few episodes (the DD fight was solid), but waters things down (Skateland being its last great action moment) by the end of its brisk five-episode run. Ending elicited a solid cheer, but given its earlier penchant for gritty, weighty action, I'd hoped for something to rival the DD/Fisk throwdown at the end of Netflix's first (and still best series of Marvel TV) season of DAREDEVIL: there was room for it – emotionally (even more so than DD, TBH) and run-time wise (36 minutes for the final episode seemed a bit too brisk), certainly. Wouldn't have diluted the power of the denouement. That being said, hope we get more: Alaqua Cox's Maya is, by far, my favorite addition to the Marvel pantheon in the D+ era.

four quick notes on SECRET INVASION 06

• Well, that's over.

• Hodgepodge of standard climactic tropes ploddingly executed.

• Guess 05 was a fluke.

• On the other hand, I suppose Phase-whatever of the MCU being a war between the forces of Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Olivia Colman isn’t a terrible thing but still…

three quick notes on SECRET INVASION 05

• Finally, a good one. Pesky middle bits tripped you up, eh?

• The Olivia Coleman cinematic universe: needs to happen. She remains best part of the show.

• The only MCU title theme that's gone earworm

three quick notes on SECRET INVASION 03 + 04

• While I loved the first 1/3, I can't, at this juncture, figure how they intend to wrap up this story in a satisfying fashion with two episodes to go. Perhaps the plan is to kill everyone on the show one by one and then, when everyone's dead, the show ends?

• Thusly, the final episode will be Gravik killing all of the Graviks until there's none left except for himself...

• But, in the post-credits sequence, Nick Fury emerges from the pile of Graviks, points his gun at final Gravik and says, "Now go the fuck to sleep." Smash cut to black.

links/2023w27

• A teacher-turned-governor willing to use their line item veto pen as a middle finger directed at their opposition-stacked legislature is a grand thing: Tony Evers extends increases for public schools in perpetuity | The Guardian

• Sharing this only because I'm deeply disturbed that WaPo deems NXIVM "cultlike" in the opening when it's clearly, beyond any shadow of a doubt, a cult: Allison Mack released from prison early in NXIVM case | WaPo

• Yet another reason why I remain and will remain a lifelong proponent of amassing a personal, physical library: Disney Deletes Streaming Movie That Only Released In May 2023 | Kotaku

• Mycelium & orange peels were used to create these visually appealing + sustainable partitions | Yanko Design

• Fantastic document: THE AMAZING WORLD OF SUPERMAN: HOW A COMIC MAGAZINE IS CREATED | Tom Brevoort

• This is one beautiful home: Wabi-sabi philosophy guides design of accessible coastal home in Australia | Dezeen

three quick notes on SECRET INVASION 01 + 02

• First thing I’ve loved from the MCU since SHE-HULK, WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, and WANDAVISION and the only series from the Disney+ MCU whose cliffhanger has left me pining for next Wednesday.

• Olivia Colman is the best and that's that. The MCU doesn't deserve her.

• Far prefer this narrative to its namesake comic.

Three Quick (Spoiler-Free) Notes on THE MANDALORIAN S3 finale

• That was... nice.

• Now that that's all done(ish), maybe we can return to the LONE WOLF AND GROGU conceit that made the show so good in the first place, back to the days of yore when it didn't require hijacking a sub-par spinoff that coulda been shoulda been awesome which it would have had Ming Na Wen had led it, to reset itself?

• Or more things like that hallway / shield sequence? That'd be cool.