Dianna Monk

The Marvels is a fun flick and definitely on-point with its characters. Carol, Kamala and the now-grown-up "Lieutenant Trouble" are engaging, making the audience care about them. There were also some sad-but-sweet scenes with Carol and Monica's mom. The flerkins were hilarious. I have to confess, Captain Marvel has been one of my favorite MCU movies because of its strong female characters and Carol's bonding with Nick Fury, so I was looking forward to more of the same. I do wish they had explained a few things in the sequel...how the Skrulls found their new home (before the Kree attacked again,) how Carol was able to contact Valkerie and how Valkerie would be able to help the Skrulls relocate, how Carol unplugged the Supreme Intelligence and when, how the heck Carol and the Prince got in a "convenient" relationship and how his planet fared after the Kree invasion...those holes would not take long to fill, I think, with some clever writing (and I honestly would have preferred that use of time to the endless "funny" destruction of most of Kamala's house.) By the way....where is Kamala's sister-in-law??? I also would have liked to see a little more sympathetic villainess. Rage in a character can be interesting...but not if it's the only emotion the character gets to express. Marvel knows how to make compelling villains (Loki? Gamora?) who make you care about them, even when you're rooting for the hero or heroine. It's a cool story, but it's kinda like the Cliff Notes version. It was a short film. I would have loved to have seen something more extended.

I loved the first five seasons of this show (although the Cicada storyline grated on me after a while.) What has made this a great series is the balance of humor and heroics. They work as a team to solve problems and banter with each other while they do it. That seemed to stop in Seasons 6 and 7. I occasionally watch, but I tend to fast forward through a lot of it. I'm truly tired of the doom-and-gloom-and-more-gloom. Nothing bright, fun or uplifting. Newsflash: people are not watching superhero shows to be depressed. And this show has become tragically depressing.