Ghoulish Grin Films

 This year marks the 20th anniversary of the final installment of the Star Wars prequels and the final Star Wars film directed by The Maker Himself George Lucas, "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith." Being that the Prequel Trilogy was critically panned when they came out, many Star Wars fans regard this final film as the best of the prequels. And an important film in Star Wars canon.  So as it returns to the movie theaters in 2025, it brought back wonderful memories of this period of my life, starting in 1999 with "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace." It brought back memories of my childhood and that childhood was essentially extended into my 20s. I didn't know how to deal with it at first, being I was the last generation that followed tradition of leaving childish things behind. We didn't have a geek culture yet, and it was mostly off to work and becoming a young adult. But I was also the first generation to keep those childhood fires burning. ...

 After 2019's "Avengers: Endgame" gave Marvel fans and moviegoers the sweetest payoff in film history, the Marvel Cinematic Universe continued on its merry way. And most fans (including myself) felt a kind of anticlimactic down after that most satisfying conclusion to the stories of Tony Stark's Iron Man and Steve Rogers' Captain America. Plus the franchise (much like many other popular franchises) got caught up in a culture war among the fans and actors claiming to be fans but were grifters turning the fandom upside down. However, the films following "Endgame" were not up to the standard of the previous Phases, and it gave the grifters cause for criticism, right or wrong. Plus the main villain in the upcoming Phase became involved in his own controversy...causing the MCU to reverse course and bring back some of those familiar faces into the new Phase in unique ways, but staying true to the classic Marvel stories. But it's been a rough go for Marvel ...