Much has been said, no doubt, about the social satire inherent to Severance. It’s the most immediate aspect of the show—and only continues to become more aggressive as the series continues. But I am not the reviewer to talk about its accuracy to either the feelings inherent to such a type of work or the setting’s accuracy.
Playing with Fire marks the last Marvel Rising entry. As far as I can tell, the series died with this one. It’s been years since the last one. But, against all odds, they managed to end with the best episode.
This review of X-Men ’97 has a caveat to it. This review is not intended for fans of the original series. I haven’t seen much of the original series, and it’s been a very long time since then. No, this review is for the people who are aware of the hype and want to watch X-Men ’97—but don’t know if they need the background context.
Operation Shuri is a fun idea for an episode, let down by the last few minutes. Up until a single baffling conversation, I was on board with the storyline. Wakanda being so far ahead of most places with their technology, culture, education, etc. is one of the reasons the Black Panther movies are so interesting.
Battle of the Bands is basically a standard cartoon episode. After the main antagonist left the planet in Heart of Iron, I suspected things would turn out like this. And, frankly, this is better. I like it a lot more.
Heart of Iron partially reverses the downward slide after the abysmal Chasing Ghosts. It’s not as good as Initiation, but at least the plot setups actually go somewhere. It doesn’t feel like scenes are wasting the viewer’s time.
I don’t know what to make of The Marvels. Oh, I watched it. I enjoyed it. And I even laughed at the scenes where I was supposed to laugh. But I can tell—even as my memory still holds—that this is a forgettable movie.
Marvel Rising: Chasing Ghosts is terrible. I don’t like being this negative, but wow, is this the worst of the Marvel Rising projects I’ve watched. As a follow-up to Initiation, it’s just baffling how poorly everything was handled.
Marvel Rising: Initiation is one of the short, like micro short, series that are set in the same universe as the Secret Warriors movie. Kamala and Squirrel Girl are there. Patriot is there.
Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors is a Marvel movie you’ve likely never heard of before. I hadn’t. It’s a movie about a superhero team with some very familiar names if you keep up to date with the greater MCU canon.
Smash and Grab is adorable, heartwarming, and incredible for how short it is. This is the second Pixar SparkShorts I’ve ever reviewed, and once again, the quality is evident. This is better than some whole-length movies.
It was difficult limiting this to only ten favorite articles. Ultimately, it boiled down to a quirk of memory. Which ones, upon looking through the year, evoked the strongest memories, the most potent feelings.
