The Olive Opinion

  Marvel Studios has been restructuring and repurposing lately due to how recent entries to the ever-growing franchise are being received (even if I think sometimes people are being too harsh). With a new banner introduced to the Marvel Studios umbrella called Marvel Spotlight, spotlighting the ground-level heroes and their stories, audiences are re-introduced to Echo aka Maya Lopez with her headlining a 5 episode series. Alaqua Cox reprises the role from the Hawkeye miniseries alongside Vincent D'Nofrio's Wilson Fisk, bringing the franchise to a new era of Marvel television.  This Echo TV show has been marketed as Disney Plus' first mature show featuring warnings of viewer discretion at the start of each episode. With expectations to be in a similar vein as the Marvel Netflix shows, Echo does not come to par with the tones and grittiness of what the Daredevil or Jessica Jones shows were and that might be a good thing. Echo realistically portrays fight scenes that are well-...

  Aquaman was the only film in the DCEU that made a billion dollars, which proved that the franchise was going on the right track of fan service. Still, as of late, DC's shared universe has been going through a slump, and with it being rebooted, Zack Snyder's vision of the infamous characters is finally being put to an end with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.  The sequel takes place a few years after the previous film, where Arthur, now the King of Atlantis, is married to Mera, and they have a kid, Arthur Jr. (pretentious, I know). When Black Manta returns for his revenge, he finds a dark trident once held by a dark force that threatened the seven seas. Arthur has to enlist the help of his half-brother, Orm to defeat Manta and stop his plans of causing a global crisis that is caused by the dormant dark force that not possesses Manta.  The film is fun by comic book standards as it meets the required parts of a superhero film, by including action, monsters, a beloved superher...

  This is probably the closest thing to a Marvel team-up we will get for a while, and it is unfortunate that the drama within the media surrounding this film is based on reasons that are not progressive. However, that is not what we are here to talk about. The Marvels is the latest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, bringing back Carol Danvers in her latest adventure with Nick Fury and some newfound partnerships with Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan.  The Marvels is set 33 years after the first Captain Marvel movie, where Carol is still trying to save the universe and she thinks she's the only one who can. After the events of WandaVision, Monica is now working with Fury with her new set of powers in his new project called S.A.B.E.R. while Kamala Khan continues to be the giddy, new superhero that protects the residents of New Jersey but an unworldly event connects her mysterious bangle to both Monica and Carol. Due to this cosmic event involving the Kree supremacist, Dar B...

With Marvel in a sort of whirlpool of viewers not having consistent reception towards the content, they seem to be missing a very important and well-done part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Loki lives up to that statement with its second season. Despite its new writers and directors at the helm, the show still showcases the best parts of Marvel's storytelling.  Taking place immediately after the end of season 1, Loki is dealing with the shenanigans of the TVA and the involvement of Kang variants with the release of the multiverse. It is up to Loki and co. (consisting of Mobius, Hunter B-5, and Casey) to deal with the consequences caused by Sylvie. The show still continues to be a trippy, timey-wimey time travel adventure but adds the Marvel-ous flair that made the franchise so memorable. With new rules and problems being thrown in the mix to deal with, the sci-fi logic continues to be expanded upon, solidifying the greatness of the show.  Unlike most of the Marvel shows tha...

Star Wars has spent a number of years not having theatrical releases but making a mark in the world streaming after the behemoth hit that is The Mandalorian. Since the success of the serialized introduction to a galaxy far, far, away, Disney is sticking with making a lot of the projects they wanted to develop to movies into TV shows due to their mixed reactions of The Rise of Skywalker, with some being more interesting than others. Ahsoka, like The Mandalorian, was overseen by George Lucas' padawan, Dave Filoni by making obscure parts of the franchise known.  Ahsoka in particular, not only brings a beloved character to live-action but pays homage to both those animated shows she was featured in. Like the last season of The Mandalorian, the show deals with the events were left Rebels fans hungry for,  and many years later, we finally get the answers we have been waiting for. The show works more like a live-action season of Rebels. Bringing back fan-favorite characters like Ahso...

  It has been a great few weeks with the amount of queer content lately and with yet another adaptation based on a best-selling novel that highlights not only a queer coming-of-age story but also a sense of representation of Mexican families in America in the 80s. Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets of the Universe is a different take on the genre as it provides another point of view on discovering oneself, especially at a time when the AIDs epidemic affected the perspective on being homosexual and being out. Despite the title of the film and the book of the same featuring both Aristotle and Dante, this is pretty much Ari's story. We are very much used to seeing the protagonist falling for the guy he thought was straight but was not. This time around, we finally get to see what goes on in the head of the other guy. Ari grew up with a family that kept things to themselves, and barely showed affection for one another. When he meets Dante, he is introduced to a world of affection...

DC is in a tough spot with the new reboot and the constant disinterest in the movies they have been providing, which is unfortunate since films like Shazam and The Flash , despite not being DC's best, had their credits due. Blue Beetle , however, should not be considered a part of that list of DC's mid-to-bad entries for it manages to pull through with its fresh takes on overdone superhero cliches that have managed to make the genre what it is today. Based on an obscure character from the DC catalog, the movie adapts the most recent iteration of the character, Jaime Reyes, who takes up the moniker after unintentionally finding a scarab that symbiotically fuses with him to become the Blue Beetle. This is very much an origin story that takes cues from other superhero movies, but it does not seem like a carbon copy of methods that worked for superhero movies, thrown in a blender to finish a script the same way Black Adam did. The film manages to capture what made superhero movie...