Finally got around to seeing this movie tonight, it's been a busy few weeks. Enjoyed it overall, but I feel as if some things weren't explained all that well. The first 30-40 minutes do drag, as many of you pointed out (I went into this movie spoiler-free still). Was great to finally see Nick Fury in an expanded role and Samuel L. Jackson gave a great performance. While Brie Larson did do very well, was she the right choice? I still have doubts. Someone like Jennifer Lawrence probably could've done a little more with the character. I also could've seen Olivia Wilde or Alicia Vikander in the role. But maybe Brie gave them exactly what they wanted out of the character, who knows.
As for Carol/Captain Marvel as a character... i'm not sure how I feel about her yet. She's basically Superman and I don't like Superman. She's too powerful of a force imo. I feel like up until now, most, if not all of the major characters in the MCU have their great strengths, but they also have their weaknesses and/or liabilities. Some of them can only do so much. So far as we've seen, she has God-like powers without having a real distinct weakness.
Overall I came away from the movie pumped for End Game, so it did it's job. As far as Phase 3 goes... i'm not sure exact rankings. It would probably be about in the middle. I wasn't a big fan of GotG 2 and while fun, I felt Ragnarok and Ant-Man & the Wasp didn't add much to the overall Universe like IW, BP, DS, SM:H, CM. Captain Marvel actually adds A LOT of context to the overall universe. Yes, AM&W did add a bit with the whole quantum realm stuff and the post credit scene, but I feel like ultimately it was more or less just popcorn fare and was skippable in the grand scheme of the MCU.
I actually liked the way they used the Skrulls here. It's how they use them going forward that will matter more to me.