Welcome to The Morning After, where I share with you what movies I’ve seen over the past week. Below, you will find short reviews of those movies along with a star rating. Full length reviews may come at a later date.

So, here is what I watched this past week:

Eternals

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has an aging problem. Not that its core audience is getting older, which is true but immaterial, no it’s an issue with the lack of new blood in the franchise. With Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson out of the picture and original Avengers Mark Ruffalo and Chris Hemsworth finding different aspects of the series to work on, Disney needs to introduce even more new characters and plotlines to keep things going.

In this third feature film of Phase IV, the studio has taken a gamble on introducing a hefty slate of 11 new characters of importance to the future of the MCU. Some of them will be important, such as Gemma Chan’s Sersi, Angelina Jolie’s Thena, and Kit Harrington’s Dane Whitman, but others aren’t likely to be significant going forward: Richard Madden, Salma Hayek, and Don Lee. The rest all seem to be minor characters in search of validation.

Eternals is yet another entry to the MCU by a prominent indie filmmaker. This time, it’s recent Oscar winner Chloé Zhao. Zhao managed the massive project well, making it one of the best looking films in the franchise’s history. Unfortunately, the unwieldy story creates a significant impediment and while it’s wonderful to see some great moments, such as the first deaf character in the MCU, the first gay character, and the first sex-adjacent scene, the film struggles to feel more than its paint-by-number origins, the dread Disney formula.

As for the actors, all of them are affable figures and will make fine additions to the MCU, though it remains to be seen how the Celestials will insert themselves into the framework of the franchise and how much the television series will shape that narrative going forward. As for Eternals, it’s the weakest entry in some time with just barely enough within to warrant a recommendation.